A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
We are currently experiencing internet service problems but the company is working to fix the problem. No, we were not hacked. Tracker posting will continue at full speed when service is restored but we will use a slow alternate method in the meantime.
Kathy
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6
March 13, 2012, by Angelica Duria
MILWAUKEE — Local activists want the names of 100 alleged child abusers made public after a federal judge ruled that parents should not be concerned about sex abusers still working for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, otherwise called SNAP, is holding a news conference Tuesday to dispute the judge’s observations.
Last week, in Bankruptcy Court, federal judge Susan Kelly says she had not found evidence that people should be concerned about current employees of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. The judge made comments in court weeks after advocates for sex abuse victims said the Archdiocese faced a personal safety crisis.
“From my independent review, without an agenda, my review shows there is no public safety concern. None whatsoever,” Judge Susan Kelley said. Kelly claims that the comments made by SNAP are just a distraction.
Earlier this month, lawyers for victims of sexual abuse said there were 100 new sex offenders identified in more than 8,000 accounts of sexual abuse (in their claims). This number was well publicized.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CANADA
CBC News
Cap-Pelé council voted on Monday night to remove former priest Camille Léger’s name from the local arena, less than a week after stories of sexual abuse became public.
Village residents learned last week they would be asked in a plebiscite on May 14 if they wanted to change the name of the local arena. That prompted several people to come forward with allegations that Léger abused them when he was a priest in the area between 1957 and 1980.
Archbishop André Richard attended two masses over the weekend in the small southeastern fishing village and apologized for the actions of Léger. Léger died 22 years ago.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
BELGIE
De Standaard
Het Hof van Cassatie heeft dinsdag het arrest in de zaak rond Operatie Kelk uitgesteld tot 4 april. De procedureslag rond de zaak sleept al aan sinds juni 2010.
In juni 2010 voerde de federale gerechtelijke politie huiszoekingen uit bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen, in de kantoren en de privéwoning van kardinaal Danneels en in de Sint-Romboutskathedraal. Tegelijkertijd waren er huiszoekingen bij de Commissie Adriaenssens en bij het Rijksarchief in Brussel.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
News-Times
Jim Mellett
Published 05:05 p.m., Monday, March 12, 2012
So Cardinal Egan has retracted his apology for his callous inaction regarding clerical abuse in the Diocese of Bridgeport. Let us never forget that sexual abuse of children is a felony in every state, and not a matter that can be referred for a clerical referral. Incidents such as these should be reported to the police as soon as possible.
Recently, I visited my grandchildren in Chicago and ran geology lectures in their respective schools.
As I looked out over this sea of eager, innocent faces, it dawned on me that hundreds of thousands of children like these were fondled, caressed, abused, raped, and sodomized by Catholic clergy. Their lives were destroyed and the guilty priests got away with their crimes.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UTAH
Daily Herald
Jim Dalrymple – Daily Herald | Posted: Monday, March 12, 2012
PROVO — LDS bishop Amado Rojas stood silently beside his attorney Monday morning, then walked out only minutes later with a newly minted deal resolving allegations that he failed to report sexual abuse at a church activity.
Rojas, 32, was charged in September with failure to report child abuse, a class B misdemeanor, but Monday accepted a plea in abeyance agreement with prosecutors. The agreement requires Rojas to obey all laws for six months, after which he can file a motion to have his charge dismissed.
Rojas’s charge stems from allegations that a man sexually abused a 13-year-old girl at a church party in August. After a water fight at the party, the girl testified during a preliminary hearing, the man grabbed and groped her.
According to a police report, the girl then told Rojas about the incident. As an ecclesiastical leader, Rojas is legally required to notify authorities if an alleged victim tells him about abuse. However, police reported that Rojas did not contact authorities. The man was only arrested after his accuser later told a school counselor about the incident.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MISSOURI
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
An update on the story of Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City, who is under criminal indictment for shielding Father Shawn Ratigan, after child pornography was found on Ratigan’s computer and after Finn permitted Ratigan continued access to children: as Mark Morris reports in the Kansas City Star last Friday, prosecutors have petitioned the court for the criminal case to move forward. This is in response to a motion filed by Finn’s lawyers last month to have the charges against Finn dismissed without trial.
As these legal filings come before the court, the deposition that SNAP leader David Clohessy gave in January in response to court orders in Kansas City was made public by SNAP at the start of March, and Joshua McElwee reports on it at National Catholic Reporter, as does Nicholas Phillips at Riverfront Times (St. Louis)–both with links to the full deposition. Mark Serrano at SNAP has posted a rundown of what the courts in Missouri are asking of SNAP as they demand the disclosure of information SNAP leaders maintain is confidential. I’ve linked to this document in the past but want to remind readers of it again as David Clohessy’s deposition becomes public.
As Serrano’s statement notes, acting through their lawyers,
Catholic officials [in Kansas City and St. Louis] want private, personal records and e mails involving hundreds of individuals who have never even heard of or met the accused or the accusers in the two suits [in which SNAP depositions are being demanded]. This is a misuse of judicial processes designed to crush a support and advocacy group that protects the vulnerable and heals the wounded. It’s cleverly orchestrated to keep clergy sex crimes and cover ups concealed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MARYLAND
National Catholic Reporter
by Michael Sean Winters on Mar. 12, 2012
The Archdiocese of Washington suspended Fr. Marcel Guarnizo from ministry late last week, citing his intimidation of parishioners. Guarnizo landed on the archdiocese’s — and the nation’s — radar screen when he denied Communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral.
I have no inside information about why the archdiocese took the step it did, but I am betting that his decision to deny Communion led them to look more closely at the priest, and they found other instances of a troubling lack of judgment.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CLEVELAND (OH)
National Catholic Reporter
Mar. 12, 2012
Brian Roewe
Joyful in their victory, parishioners of 13 Cleveland parishes who successfully appealed to the Vatican a diocesan decision to disband their communities and shutter their church doors now await the response of their bishop, the Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon.
As they wait, it’s unclear what sticking power Rome’s decision to reopen their parishes will have. Those close to the parishes view the decrees from the Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy as a landmark decision, while others see it as a still murky scene where a possible appeal by Lennon could succeed.
“This decision was made on procedural, not substantive or pastoral, grounds,” said Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center, adding that if Lennon redoes the process under proper procedure, the closings will likely stand.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CALIFORNIA
Jeff Anderson & Associates
By: Jeff Anderson
3/12/12
This week, former Orange County priest Denis Lyons is heading to trial on four criminal counts of lewd acts on a child under 14. According to press reports, the trial has been delayed for more than two years—despite the objections of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which has been eager to try the case and get justice for victims. The alleged crimes took place at Costa Mesa’s St. John the Baptist Parish, which also houses an elementary school.
These criminal charges are only the latest in Lyons’ long history of suspicious and predatory behavior. Secret internal church files showed that Orange Diocese officials knew the Irish-born priest had allegations of abuse dating back to the 1970s, but instead of calling the police and helping victims, they sent Lyons to a church-run treatment center for child molesting clerics.
Despite mounting evidence, Lyons remained an active pastor with complete access to children. He was later transferred to St. Edward’s Parish in Dana Point, where he worked with John Lenihan, another former Orange County priest arrested for molesting minors. The Orange County Register called the parish “scandal-laden,” with at least four former priests arrested for sexually abusing children.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
VATICAN CITY
Fox News
VATICAN CITY – The personal data of journalists at Vatican radio was leaked online and the Vatican’s website hacked for the second time in several days — both attacks believed to be the work of the amorphous Internet activist group Anonymous.
The group last week claimed to have taken down the Vatican website to protest everything from Catholic doctrine to the sexual abuse of children.
The site, www.vatican.va, has been inaccessible for parts of Monday afternoon.
A statement posted online at Pastebin explains that the group blames signals from Vatican Radio radio for causing high cancer rates — a reference to a 2010 report by the National Cancer Institute into deaths near Vatican Radio transmitters. The group published the personal information to pressure the station into action.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County’s prosecutor wants a jury to decide whether a Kansas City bishop was required by Missouri law to tell police about suspected child pornography found on a priest’s laptop computer.
Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph were charged in October with failing to report suspicions of child abuse against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan after a diocese computer technician found disturbing photos on the priest’s computer, including a series of a young girl with her genitals showing, prosecutors said.
Ratigan is facing state and federal child pornography charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them.
The Kansas City Star reported Finn’s lawyers were seeking to have the misdemeanor charges against Finn dismissed because the bishop isn’t the diocese’s designated reporter of child abuse, thus had no legal duty to report suspicions to state authorities.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
VATICAN CITY
AGI (Italy)
(AGI) Rome- The Holy See is being targeted by hackers from the gang Anonymous once again. Just days after a first attack which generated several problems for the official website, the hackers are back on the rampage. “It pains us to tell you that your systems are less safe than you would like to believe because, while the media furore focused on the vatican.va blackout, we took the liberty of penetrating your system a little”. The main target of the new strike is Vatican Radio: “it is now a renowned fact that you use equipment whose transmission strength exceeds legal limits by far, and the correlation between exposure to high-intensity electromagnetic emissions and serious illnesses such as leukemia, cancer and others is also a sad and proven fact.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
VATICAN CITY
CTV (Canada)
The Associated Press
Date: Monday Mar. 12, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican website has been hacked for the second time in several days, an attack believed to be the work of the amorphous Internet activist group Anonymous.
The group last week claimed to have taken down the Vatican website to protest everything from Catholic doctrine to the sexual abuse of children.
The site, www.vatican.va, has been inaccessible for parts of Monday afternoon.
Vatican officials declined to discuss the breach while the attack was still underway.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider
The Archdiocese of Washington has placed a priest on administrative leave for engaging in intimidating behaviour. According to the U.S. bishops’ agency, the woman was actually a Buddhist
Mauro Pianta
Rome
Suspended. Or as the cold prose of ecclesiastical bureaucratese reads: “he has been placed on administrative leave until an inquiry into the priest’s actions is complete and the confusion in the parish, caused by his “intimidating behaviour”, dies down.
The future of Fr. Marcel Guarnizo – the parish priest of St. John Neumann (Gaithersbur, in Maryland) who refused to give communion to a lesbian during her mother’s funeral last 25 February – is hanging on these few sentences written by Fr. Marcel Guarnizo.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Michael Divinney
Do not let them intimidate you. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed and nothing hidden that will not become known. MT 10:26
What is Hidden is a novel that enters the storm of the clerical sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and moves through the betrayal, confusion, denial, secrets and harm generated by the sexual abuse of a nine year old boy at the hands of his priest.
The story is set in 1997 when Tyler Kelvey, a new resident at a shelter for homeless men, visits his former eighth grade teacher and discloses for the first time that he was sexually molested by a parish priest when he was a altar boy at Sacred Heart parish. His life was shredded by the three years of sexual assault he endured at the hands of Father Mervin Kominsky and his family ties are all but severed. Estranged from his now divorced parents, Tyler still has sporadic contact with his sister Chloe. There is a bond between them but Chloe, who works in one of the offices of the Archdiocese, is afraid to hope that her brother can recover from his addictions. She is reluctant to get too close.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Thy Child’s Face
Timothy M. Dolan — archbishop of New York, newly appointed to the College of Cardinals, and Prince of the Church — represents the next generation of accomplices protecting sexual predators employed by the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
In the autumn of 2008, Dolan travelled from Milwaukee, Wisc., where he was the sitting archbishop, to St. Louis, Mo. He came home to visit an uncle hospitalized with a serious illness.
There he saw a priest who criticized him in a face-to face meeting about his handling of the clergy child molestation scandal in St. Louis and Milwaukee.
Dolan and the Wolf Pack: A Priest Tells the Truth about Clergy Sex Abuse
In particular, this priest was concerned about Dolan’s unwillingness to break with those who protect predator priests. Dolan responded with a derisive stare for this bold rebuke, offended that a lowly priest would accost
someone of his stature.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
SUISSE
Arcinfo
Le Conseil national a refusé mercredi de lever un coin du voile du secret professionnel des ecclésiastiques en excluant les abus sexuels de son champ d’application. Il a enterré une initiative parlementaire par 121 voix contre 47.
L’auteur du texte, Carlo Sommaruga (PS/GE), et une minorité de gauche ont estimé en vain que seule la pression politique pourra pousser l’Eglise à révéler les délits sexuels commis en son sein. Mais pour la majorité, il est problématique de limiter une telle règle à une seule profession et à une seule catégorie d’infraction.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
COLOMBIA
Radio Santa Fe
El Juez Penal 22 del Circuito de Cali condenó a una pena de 33 años de cárcel al sacerdote William Mazo por el delito de acceso carnal abusivo con menor de 14 años. El fallo condenatorio se logró luego de que la Fiscalía demostrara que el parroco abusó de cuatro menores que pernoctaron en 2009 en la casa cural de la iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, en el barrio Alfonso Bonilla Aragón, de Cali.
De acuerdo con diferentes versiones recogidas durante el juicio contra el pederasta, los niños, de edades entre los 10 y los 14 años, fueron engañados por el cura, haciendoles pensar que harían parte del coro de la parroquia, situación que el pervertido aprovechó para someterlos sexualmente.
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COLOMBIA
El Tiempo
Fue condenado a 33 años de cárcel por abusar de cuatro menores de entre 10 y 12 años.
El sacerdote William Mazo fue condenado “a la pena principal de 33 años de prisión” por ser responsable “del delito de acceso carnal abusivo con menor de 14 años”, según la sentencia leída por el juez penal 22 de Cali, Luis Hernando Castillo.
Este sacerdote, de la ciudad de Cali, abusó de cuatro menores, tres de los cuales eran hermanos, informó una autoridad judicial.
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COLOMBIE
Le Figaro (France)
Un prêtre de la ville de Cali, à 500 km au sud-ouest de Bogota, a été condamné vendredi à 33 ans de prison pour abus sexuel contre quatre mineurs de 10 à 12 ans, dont trois frères. Le prêtre William Mazo a été condamné “à la peine de 33 ans de prison” pour “le délit d’abus sexuel sur mineur de 14 ans”, a indiqué le juge de Cali, Luis Hernando Castillo.
Selon la sentence, Mazo, âgé de 59 ans, arrêté en juillet 2009 alors qu’il était curé de l’église de Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria, a abusé des quatre mineurs dans le presbytère où il les avaient invité à rester dormir après une répétition de la chorale qu’il dirigeait. Le prêtre avait offert de l’argent et des cadeaux aux enfants pour qu’ils ne le dénoncent pas.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CANADA
CBC News
People in the small southeastern New Brunswick village of Cap-Pelé say they’re pleased with Archbishop André Richard’s apology for the actions of a former priest.
Richard celebrated mass in the fishing village on the weekend and he addressed a controversy that has erupted in the community in recent days.
The community is going to hold a plebiscite on May 14 on whether to remove Father Camille Léger’s name from the local arena.
Several people came forward last week to talk for the first time about the abuse they experienced by Léger, who died 22 years ago.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CALIFORNIA
Patch
By Paige Austin
Nearly two decades after he allegedly molested a child in his church’s rectory, retired priest Denis Lyons is scheduled to stand trial today.
The trial of the Seal Beach priest was delayed three times last year despite objections by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. It’s possible that the start of the trial could get pushed back again as Lyons’ attorney wraps up another jury trial this week, but prosecutors are planning to get the trial under way this month.
Susan Kang Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office explained the prosecutor’s desire to get the trial under way following a previous continuance. “We want to try this case as soon as possible. We believe justice has been delayed long enough.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Eimear Ni Bhraonain
Monday March 12 2012
THE new Papal Nuncio to Ireland drove on the ‘wrong side’ of the road — for him — when he travelled to a Eucharistic Congress at the weekend.
Pope Benedict XVI’s representative here, Archbishop Charles Brown (53) from the US, who is used to driving on the right, drove himself to the Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in Carlow town, Co Carlow, on Saturday.
He had no entourage and made a low-key entrance to the Cathedral of the Assumption, where he attended prayer services, workshops, and concelebrated Mass.
He did not leave until late on Saturday evening and spent the day meeting Catholics from the diocese.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CANADA
VOCM
Victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers have until August 1st to file a claim. It’s because the Christian Brothers, who ran the Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, are filing for bankruptcy. A recent published ad shows the Christian Brothers Insitute and the Christian Brothers of Ireland Inc have filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in the United States. The Mount Cashel scandal in Newfoundland was one of the first major sex abuse scandals involving the clergy and the Roman Catholic Church to be revealed in North America.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
FLORIDA
The Northwestern
By Michael Laforgia, The Palm Beach Post
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (WTW) — By bedtime it already was too late for the boy. The lights blinked out and the camp counselor, a predator, lay down at his feet. Curled up in the dark, he was ready to attack.
Getting here was all too easy for James Roy Melton Jr. When the convicted child molester volunteered at this Palm City church summer camp, nobody stood in his way.
Not the church. It welcomed the tall, rangy 34-year-old as its newest youth chaperone without screening his background.
And not the state of Florida. For 30 years, lawmakers have passed measures to protect kids in child-care centers while ignoring harm at the hands of summer camp workers.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish Times
PATSY McGARRY
The Northern Ireland Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia) group is to meet Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady this morning to seek guarantees of his total co-operation with the forthcoming abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland.
They will also seek, through him, “the unconditional co-operation from the orders who ran institutions where children were placed”. They expect the meeting will be attended by officials of the religious congregation which managed the institutions against whom claims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and neglect were made.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Patheos
Posted on March 11, 2012 by Christian Piatt
From time to time I revisit the question: why are young adults walking away from religion? Although the answer(s) vary from person to person, there are some general trends that I think apply in most cases.
In the list below, when I refer to “we,” “I” or “me,” I’m referring to younger adults in general, and not necessarily myself.
We’ve Been Hurt: I can actually include myself in this one personally. Sometimes the hurtful act is specific, like when my youth leader threw a Bible at me for asking the wrong questions. Sometimes it’s rhetorical, either from the pulpit, in a small group study or over a meal. Sometimes it’s physical, taking the form of sexual abuse or the like. But millions claim a wound they can trace back to church that has never healed. Why? In part, because the church rarely seeks forgiveness.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CANADA
VOCM
Monday, March 12 2012
The clock is ticking for victims of the Mount Cashel sex abuse scandal who have not yet come forward to make a claim for compensation. The Christian Brothers are seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States and that affects claimants in this province and elsewhere.
The Mount Cashel Orphanage scandal hit the province in the late ’80’s and early 90’s as young men started to come forward about sexual abuse at the hands of the Irish Christian Brothers. It was one of the first scandals involving sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in North America, and sparked an intense investigation and inquiry that rocked both the Church and the province’s criminal justice system. Lawyer Geoff Budden represents 46 men who were abused as children. He says the bankruptcy is something his firm has been preparing for. Budden says those seeking compensation will have to do so before August 1st. After that time he says it’s unlikely there will be any further prospects for compensation.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV
Published Monday, 12 March 2012
Victims of clerical and institutional abuse are meeting with the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland in Armagh.
It is the first time that Cardinal Sean Brady has met the group.
Officials from the religious congregations which ran institutions at the centre of the claims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and neglect are also in attendance.
The group Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) want guarantees from the Primate that the Church will co-operate fully with the Northern Ireland Executive’s statutory inquiry.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CALIFORNIA
Chicago Enterprise-Record
By RYAN OLSON – Staff Writerchicoer.com
OROVILLE — An arrest warrant has been issued for a former associate pastor of a Chico church charged with misdemeanor child molestation.
Jesse Daniel Ruhl, formerly of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, is being sought after he missed a Jan. 18 arraignment hearing in Butte County Superior Court for an alleged relationship with a 16-year-old girl that was first reported in February 2011.
The church is also being sued in local court for a 2002 incident where then-teacher and associate pastor David Joseph Jorgensen committed lewd acts on a female student when she was 14.
Reached for comment Friday, Ruhl’s father, senior pastor Tim Ruhl, said he was unaware of the pending case against his son and did not want to comment further without knowing more.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
PARK RAPIDS (MN)
Fox 9
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. – The former pastor of a small Lutheran church in northern Minnesota has charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl.
Rev. Darwin Frederick Schauer was being held in the Hubbard County jail on conditional bail of $750,000. The 70-year-old led Trinity Lutheran Church of Lake George from 1998 until about 2006.
Schauer was charged in Hubbard County District Court last week with 15 counts of felony criminal sexual conduct with a minor. The criminal complaint says the girl told police Schauer had sex with her twice a week from the spring of 2009 until late last month. She told investigators that she was afraid he’d hurt her if she didn’t comply.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ILLINOIS
The State Journal-Register
By STEVEN SPEARIE
The State Journal-Register
Posted Mar 11, 2012
Erin Sanchez has helped out as a volunteer for her son’s kindergarten parties and book fairs at Little Flower School in Springfield.
Like potentially thousands of volunteers throughout the Springfield Catholic Diocese, Sanchez will now be required to attend a child-safety program and undergo a criminal-background check as the diocese tightens rules designed to prevent sexual abuse of minors by chto urch personnel.
The new rules go into effect July 1.
“If it’s to safeguard the children, I see no problem with it,” said Sanchez, a Little Flower parishioner and a former teacher with the Springfield public schools.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MARYLAND
Washington Blade
By Lou Chibbaro Jr. on March 11, 2012
A priest who refused to serve communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral service last month at a Catholic church in Gaithersburg, Md., has been removed from the church and placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to a letter from the Archdiocese of Washington to all of its priests.
The March 9 letter, written by Bishop Barry C. Knestout, chief of staff to Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who heads the Archdiocese, said the action taken against Father Marcel Guarnizo was based on allegations that he engaged in “intimidating behavior” against members of the staff and “others” at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, where he served as a parish priest.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Blade, makes no mention of the allegation by D.C. resident Barbara Johnson that Guarnizo “humiliated” her at her mother’s funeral Mass at the church on March 25 when he reportedly refused to allow her to receive communion as she and others approached the church altar, saying she was living in sin.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MARYLAND
Washington Post
By Michelle Boorstein
A Gaithersburg Catholic priest who triggered national debate late last month when he denied Communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral Mass has been placed on administrative leave from ministry in the Washington archdiocese.
Specific details about why the Rev. Marcel Guarnizo was barred from ministry – a severe penalty – were not immediately available. The Post learned of the suspension from a letter dated March 9 that is written to other archdiocesan priests.
The letter from the Rev. Barry Knestout, a top administrator in the archdiocese, which covers Washington and the Maryland suburbs, says the suspension was for “engaging in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry.” …
According to Johnson, this weekend’s homily from St. John Neumann’s pastor, the Rev. Thomas LaHood, repeated that the suspension was unrelated to her case. Some local Catholic bloggers have reacted angrily, though, calling for a boycott of donations to the archdiocese.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ROME
Voice from the Desert
Occupy the Vatican
Rome:
Survivors of church terror and their allies are taking direct action against the world’s oldest and most ruthless criminal, starting Palm Sunday, April 1.
Occupy the Vatican and survivor’s groups in eight countries will launch church occupations, teach-ins, protests, and even “public defrockings” that day that will include the issuing of a New Reformation Charter, containing a ten point program to abolish the power of the Vatican as a criminal body.
The April 1 campaign will include actions by a new group within the churches called Not in Our Name, comprising Catholic and Protestant clergy who support the legal disestablishment of criminal church corporations like the Vatican and the Church of England, and a return to an egalitarian, congregational system of Christianity devoid of the genocidal legacy of Christendom.
Joining this Occupy movement will be traditional indigenous elders in Canada from the Mohawk, Squamish and Ojibway nations who survived Catholic and Protestant “Indian residential schools”, and who will be issuing new banishment orders to evict these churches from their lands.
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AUSTRALIA
Waverley Leader
12 Mar 12 @ 06:00am by Tim Michell
AN OAKLEIGH couple devastated by church sexual abuses hope they can finally get closure from a State Government investigation.
Chrissie and Anthony Foster have been fighting for justice for their two daughters after they were abused by a Monash primary school priest.
But they feel as if they’re closer than ever to an inquiry into the reporting of sexual abuses after the Cummins’ report last week.
The report recommended an investigation into the reporting of sexual abuses in religious organisations, including victims’ evidence.
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CANADA
CBC News
The archbishop of Moncton has told parishioners at Ste Therese d’Avila, in the small village of Cap Pelé, that he believes the men who have come forward alleging that a deceased priest abused them.
Archbishop André Richard spoke during Sunday mass. He went on to praise the men for speaking out about the abuse, which they say happened when Father Camille Léger was a priest in the village, from 1957 to 1980.
Léger died in 1990 and was never charged – his accusers came forward after his death.
Archbishop Richard went further, apologizing for what happened to the men, personally and on behalf of the church.
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UNITED STATES
Minnesota SNAP
By Vinnie Nauheimer
Speaking at a diocesan convocation on public policy last week freshly minted cardinal; Timothy Dolan made his New York debut as a comedian. The critics all agree that the funniest line of the night was, “If you want an authoritative voice, go to the bishops. They’re the ones that speak for the truths of the faith.” The line was uttered with such solemnity that one almost forgot it was a comedy sketch. It immediately brought the house down and left them rolling in the aisles from belly laughter. Which bishop should we go to for the truth Timothy Dolan? Should we go to Bishop Keith Symons or Bishop Anthony J O’Connell both of who resigned because they themselves were sexual abusers? How about Bishop Raymond Lahey who was caught bringing child pornography into Canada on his computer? What about Bishop Patrick Ziemann who was caught, in his car, getting oral sex from a priest forced to wear a pager so he could be summoned when the bishop had an urge. Perhaps we should consult Bishop Roger Vangheluwe who sexually abused two of his nephews. Okay, enough with the bishops, this could turn into a litany.
Maybe Dolan meant that we go to a higher level of authoritative voice, like that of a cardinal. Edward Cardinal Egan appointed a known abuser in 2002 to St. Benedict’s, a parish with an elementary school, the priest was subsequently defrocked. According to the Bronx Press Review, a parishioner, called Cardinal Egan insane, did Egan speak for truth? In Chicago we have Cardinal George whose faux pas’ are legendary. The most recent involved Fr. McCormack, a known abuser from his days in the seminary, but Cardinal George refused to remove him. This despite Cardinal George being a signatory and to the Charter for Protection of Children produced in Dallas in 2002. I’m sure he speaks for the truth. Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles is another stellar truth teller who spent untold dollars fighting survivors with his adamant refusal to release records of sexually abusing priests. Who would look to anyone but him for the truth? Maybe we should ask for the truth from Philadelphia’s recently deceased Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua who ordered aides to shred a 1994 memo that identified 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of sexually abusing children? Now there was an authoritative voice that speaks the truths of the faith!
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CLEVELAND (OH)
Fox 8
[with video]
by Todd Meany
CLEVELAND, Ohio –
Catholics kicked out of their churches three years ago met Saturday to prepare to go back into their parishes, once again.
The group “Endangered Catholics” met at West Side Hungarian Evangelical to discuss a ruling by the Vatican.
The group’s attorney, Peter Borre, says the congregation of the clergy ruled last week that Cleveland’s Bishop Richard Lennon failed to follow procedure in the closings three years ago.
Saturday’s meeting was designed to bring representatives from parishes together to discuss what happens next.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board
Some Greater Cleveland Roman Catholics are breathing a sigh of relief amid church activists’ reports that a Vatican agency has issued a landmark decision to reverse Bishop Richard Lennon’s closure of 13 churches.
The activists say this means the churches, which have been padlocked and kept secure during their appeal, must open their doors and let the parishioners return.
They may be right, but Lennon still has cards to play, should he choose to appeal. The diocese’s own canon lawyers have not yet reviewed the decisions of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy to see what they mean.
So far, the congregation’s decisions in Greater Cleveland appear to go beyond reversals it ordered in other U.S. dioceses last year.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Mercury
Chelmsley Wood sex abuse victim set to sue Catholic Church after ex priest Alexander Bede Walsh is jailed
Mar 11 2012 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury
A SEX abuse victim is set to sue the Catholic Church after a former priest who attacked him was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his sickening crimes.
Michael Clifford, of Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, was just 11 years old when he was assaulted by Alexander Bede Walsh at Father Hudson’s Home in Coleshill.
The pervert, aged 58, was found guilty of sexually abusing eight boys aged eight to16 between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s.
Last night Mr Clifford, now aged 44, further revealed that he was prompted to report the abuse he suffered at the hands of Bede Walsh following an investigation into Father Hudson’s Home by the Sunday Mercury.
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LAKEWOOD (OH)
Patch
By Colin McEwen
If the St. James Catholic Church were to reopen its doors, after the Vatican reversed Bishop Richard Lennon’s decision to close the parish, would you go back?
According to news reports, the Vatican made a decision to overturn Bishop Lennon’s move to close 50 parishes in 2010.
According to reports, 13 of them would reopen.
Attorney Peter Borre told the Associated Press that the Cleveland diocese failed to follow church law and procedure in its closings of the Cleveland-area parishes.
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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
They decrease in South America and Europe, increase in Africa and South East Asia
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
Rome
Catholics in the world are just under 1,196 million, while they were about 1,181 million in 2009. That is, an absolute increase of 15 million faithful, representing 1.3 percent. Moreover, over the past two years the presence of baptized Catholics worldwide has remained stable at 17.5 percent. As regards geographical distribution, Catholics have decreased in South American and especially in Europe.
Instead they have increased in Africa and South East Asia. The figures are obtained from the 2012 Papal Yearbook, presented this morning to the Pope by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Archbishop Angelo Becciu, respectively Secretary of State and Deputy to the Secretary of State.
The Yearbook also provides a series of figures on bishops, religious, priests and students of the Catholic Church, thereby enabling a concise analysis of major trends concerning the Church and 2,996 ecclesiastical districts on the planet.
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POLAND
Vatican Insider
The presentation of a report on Church finances is just days away but the Country has not yet unravelled the nub of the financing issue
Marek Lehnert
Rome
Even though for fourteen years Poland has had an agreement that is almost identical to the one Italy had in 1984, it has not yet unravelled the issue of funding for the Catholic Church operating on the Country. Until yesterday, both State and Church utilized legal tools dating back to the People’s Republic whose memory would be best forgotten. Firstly the Ecclesiastical Fund (Fundusz kościelny) formed in 1950, in theory to help the so-called patriot-priests, but in practice to finance the opposition to the Church and its employees, guilty of being faithful to the Pope and the Vatican. The high clerics themselves have highlighted this when solicited by the notice given by the second government led by Tusk, according to which it’s time to review the relations between State and Church.
In his keynote speech to the Sejm (lower house) on the last 18 November, the Prime Minister announced his intention to include priests in the national pension scheme. It would therefore be safe to presume that the ecclesiastical fund will be fully dismantled. If necessary, said Tusk “we are ready to change the agreement.” As a first reaction to the news, the Church representatives, aside from requesting to have a say in the proposed changes, admitted to the necessity of creating a “new, global model to fund the Church.” The current fund was deemed “anachronistic” and its balance for years has reportedly been ‘difficult to calculate’.
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HANSON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Jenna Russell
Globe Staff
March 11, 2012
HANSON – Their graceful new church had risen quickly from the ground, and in September 2002, after years of planning and praying, parishioners gathered to celebrate Mass in it for the first time.
It was a bright day, full of joy and hope. But a darkness had descended as the church was being built. As the service began, protesters, gathered across the street from the church’s freshly-hung front doors, shouted angrily into a bullhorn. “Cardinal Law is a disgrace!’’ they cried, their voices not quite drowned out by the ringing church bells.
St. Joseph the Worker, a close-knit Catholic parish in a small town south of Boston, opened its new building – and with it, a new chapter – at a moment when the Catholic Church was mired in deep despair. As the parish marked a milestone, Catholics across the Archdiocese of Boston recoiled at revelations that their highest-ranking leaders had covered up sex crimes against children for decades.
The Hanson parish was spared the worst of the turbulence. It was not convulsed by a priest’s removal, or placed on a list for closure. Ten years later, it is in many ways the same place. Its growth continues; its airy, well-lit sanctuary still looks new. The same tall, good-natured pastor stands upfront on Sunday mornings.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC
[with video]
CLEVELAND — This is the first Sunday since the Vatican overruled the closing of 13 local churches. Feeling hope for the first time in a long time, many displaced St. Casimir parishioners are gathering outside the church doors for a special prayer vigil.
According to organizers at 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning, parishoners will come together at St. Casimir Church. They along with other church memebers are hoping to unite with a sense of renewed hope that their church will soon reopen its doors again.
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NEDERLAND
Dichtbij
OOST – In de Hofkerk (Parochie HH.Martelaren van Gorcum) op het Linnaeushof wordt zondag 25 maart een bijzondere viering gehouden met aandacht voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik van kinderen door ambtdragers van de R.-K. kerk.
Dit naar aanleiding van het eindrapport van de Commissie-Deetman: Onderzoek naar Seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-katholieke kerk. De conclusie was duidelijk en schokkend: er zijn in de onderzoeksperiode tussen de 10.000 -20.000 minderjarigen misbruikt in instellingen en internaten.
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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
The former pastor of a small Lutheran church in northern Minnesota has been jailed on charges that he regularly had sex with a teenage girl over whom he was in a position of authority.
The Rev. Darwin Frederick Schauer, 70, who led the congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church of Lake George from 1998 until about 2006, was being held in the Hubbard County jail in lieu of $1 million bail or $750,000.
Schauer was charged last week with 15 counts of felony criminal sexual conduct with a minor teenage girl. The girl told police Schauer had sex with her twice a week from the spring of 2009 until late last month, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hubbard County District Court.
The girl told investigators that she was afraid Schauer would hurt her if she didn’t comply. District Judge Robert Tiffany appointed a public defender, who did not respond to a request for comment.
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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Republic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County’s prosecutor wants a jury to decide whether a Kansas City bishop was required by Missouri law to tell police about suspected child pornography found on a priest’s laptop computer.
Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph were charged in October with failing to report suspicions of child abuse against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan after a diocese computer technician found disturbing photos on the priest’s computer, including a series of a young girl with her genitals showing.
Ratigan is facing state and federal child pornography charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them.
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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record
By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer
March 11, 2012
STOCKTON – A Fairfax man who said he was sexually molested as a child by the Rev. Michael Kelly, a popular Lockeford priest, continued his courtroom testimony Friday describing the abuse in a still-unfolding civil case.
The 37-year-old former military man, who had served as an altar boy under Kelly’s direction at Stockton’s Cathedral of the Annunciation more than 20 years ago, is suing the priest and Bishop Stephen Blaire of the Diocese of Stockton as a way to seek justice, he said.
Identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, the plaintiff said he tried filing criminal charges.
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UNITED STATES/INDIA
iWatch News – The Center for Public Integrity
[Fugitives from justice: Roman Catholic priests – via Chicago Tribune]
Rev. Sleeva Raju Policetti fled to India after being accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Chicago girl; decade-long extradition effort now in peril
By David Jackson, Gary Marx and Ritu Sarin*
This story is a collaboration between the Chicago Tribune and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, led by the Tribune. The article is part of the series “Fugitives from Justice,” which exposes the flaws of the international fugitive apprehension program in the U.S. Tribune reporters Gary Marx and David Jackson tracked more than 200 fugitives charged with murder, rape and other serious felonies who evaded trial simply by fleeing U.S. borders.
Accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Chicago girl, the Rev. Sleeva Raju Policetti fled Illinois nearly a decade ago to his native India, where the Roman Catholic archbishop of Hyderabad soon issued an order barring him from ministry.
In 2008, after a canonical trial, the Vatican took the rare and severe step of defrocking Policetti over the allegations, meaning he is no longer a priest.
But civil justice never caught up to the fugitive ex-priest, whose lawyers in India have fought efforts to extradite him to Chicago to face 20 felony counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
And now it’s apparently too late.
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VATICAN CITY
MercoPress (Uruguay)
The Vatican on Friday sought to explain its presence for the first time on a US list of countries that are a potential hub for money laundering, saying it was only natural to be included given its recent efforts to conform to international standards.
The US State Department this week released its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, which identified the Holy See as one of 68 countries or jurisdictions “of concern” for money laundering or other financial crimes.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi noted Friday that all the world’s major economies — the US, Japan and even Italy — are identified as countries of “primary concern” for money laundering. That more serious designation is because of the sheer size of their economies.
Lombardi said it wasn’t surprising that the Vatican was placed on the list of jurisdictions “of concern” since it joined a European evaluation process in 2011 to try to conform to international anti-money laundering standards.
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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin
March 10, 2012
Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT 414.336.8575
The former Director of Communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), Joel Hochmuth, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of possessing child pornography. Hochmuth was arrested in November after the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force determined he had downloaded and shared child pornography over the internet.
Hochmuth’s guilty plea, in exchange for two other charges being dropped, will avert a jury trial which was scheduled to begin this week. Hochmuth has since been terminated from his position at the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The president of the WELS, Reverend Mark Schroeder, issued a statement following Hochmuth’s arrest in which he stated that the “WELS has absolutely no tolerance for the kind of behavior that has been alleged”. Despite this stated policy the FBI agents who searched Hochmuth’s office at the WELS found 310 images and 38 videos of child pornography.
In the aftermath of Hochmuth’s arrest and guilty plea it is imperative that Schroeder immediately inform the community and the Synod of the actions he intends to take to ensure that children in his church are safe. It is not enough to state that there will be “no tolerance” for this behavior, rather concrete policies and procedures must be implemented to secure the safety of children in the church’s care.
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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
March 10, 2012
By David Jackson and Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune reporters
Accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, the Rev. Sleeva Raju Policetti fled nearly a decade ago to his native ndia, where the Roman Catholic archbishop of Hyderabad soon issued an order barring him from ministry.
In 2008, after a canonical trial, the Vatican took the rare and severe step of defrocking Policetti over the allegations, meaning he is no longer a priest.
But civil justice never caught up to the fugitive ex-priest, whose lawyers in India have fought efforts to extradite him to Chicago to face 20 felony counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
And now it’s apparently too late.
In recent days, Policetti’s case took a dramatic turn when an attorney for Policetti’s alleged victim indicated to Cook County prosecutors that she was no longer willing to pursue charges — a decision that would effectively force prosecutors to dismiss the case and abandon the years-long extradition effort.
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UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune
Few clergy who fled the U.S. after being accused of sexual abuse of minors have been returned to face the charges
Web application by David Eads, Katie Nieland, Joe Germuska, Brian Boyer
Research and reporting by David Jackson, Gary Marx, Brian Boyer
March 11, 2012
Since 1985, at least 32 Roman Catholic priests have left the United States for their home countries while facing criminal charges or a police investigation over allegations that they sexually assaulted or abused minors, according to federal warrants, news reports and law enforcement sources. Only five have been returned to the U.S. to face trial; some died abroad. The number of fugitive priests grows by more than two dozen if it includes those who left the country while facing internal church probes or civil allegations of child sex misconduct, instead of a criminal investigation, and those who were transferred to foreign countries by church authorities before or after allegations surfaced. Many have maintained their innocence. Authorities also have pursued religious leaders from other faith traditions who fled the U.S. amid abuse allegations.
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UNITED STATES/IRELAND
Voice from the Desert
Joey Piscitelli
Victims Advocate
Martinez, Ca. 94553
Bishop Dennis Brennan
Diocese of Ferns
Bishops House
P.O. Box 40,
Summerhill, Wexford, Ireland
email:adm@ferns.ie
mr. dennis brennan,
I write to you as an equal, and not as a servant, or an admirer. I do not recognize you as a person who holds a title that I should bow to. I recently read in the news that you are asking the parishioners of your diocese to pay for the filthy misconduct of your misguided clergy molesters and child rapists. It must have occurred to you that the criminals who violated the kids in your diocese are not the parishioners; the criminals in your diocese are the clergy that your church has intentionally allowed to abuse children, and has also condoned, protected, shuffled, and covered up for.
Your criminal syndicate’s actions and implications go all the way to the top of your organization- the hierarchy at the Vatican, and that is where you should seek money to pay for the unconscionable deeds of your despicable child violators. If your catholic organization had acted responsibly, and not allowed the criminal conduct, molestation, rape, and sodomy of innocent children, you would not be experiencing the financial troubles you are experiencing today.
Your actions of demanding that the parishioners pay for the sordid acts of sexual misconduct and criminal coverup by your peers is a testament to the continued audacity of your church, and a reminder to the world that you have no decency or respect for the innocent people in your diocese. Instead, you display an arrogant disrespect for both the violated victims, and the parishioners – all of whom are not the guilty parties in this continuing atrocious scandal.
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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer
The 37-year-old man suing Father Michael Kelly for alleged sexual abuse testified Friday that Kelly sexually assaulted him when the man was in the fifth grade.
He said the pain of the act made him cry.
The plaintiff, whose name is being withheld by court order because he claims to be a sexual assault victim, is suing Kelly and the Stockton Diocese, saying that Kelly sexually assaulted him at least once in the 1980s when the plaintiff was in the fifth grade at Annunciation School in Stockton.
Kelly, 62, has been pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford the past eight years. The alleged assault took place when Kelly was a priest at Cathedral of the Annunciation, located next door to the school of the same name, according to the plaintiff.
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CANADA
Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY — Prompted by difficulties and the need for periodic examination and revitalization the Diocese of Antigonish is embarking on a period of self reflection as it determines pastoral direction for a five year period.
In a letter issued to the Cape Breton Post and other media, Bishop Brian Dunn outlined the reasons for and goals of “Rebuilding My People — The Church: Diocesan Renewal 2013.”
“The recent events that have touched every person in our diocese have led to a great deal of reflection upon the church’s need to bring justice, compassion, healing, hope and new life to the people of God,” Dunn wrote.
“I am asking that all Catholics participate in this diocesan project, knowing that we all have a voice to achieve colloboration, co-responsibility, healing and direction for our diocesan family.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
U.S. Catholic
Friday, March 9, 2012
By Scott Alessi
In a verdict that was both surprising and refreshing, a Vatican congregation this week overruled the decision of Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon to close 13 parishes in his diocese, ruling in favor of a group of parishioners who’ve been fighting to keep their parishes open.
The parishioners, who formed a group called Endangered Catholics, had been pursuing an appeal under canon law to challenge Lennon’s closings. A few weeks ago I interviewed Pat Schulte-Singleton, one of the parishioners involved in the canonical appeal, about the efforts of lay Catholics who challenge decisions of the church hierarchy. At the time, more than two years into the appeal process, she was frustrated yet hopeful, awaiting a decision that seemed like it would never arrive.
Perhaps most frustrating was the fact that her parish, St. Patrick in West Park, Ohio, remained empty as the appeal dragged on. The bishop had closed the parishes and parishioners were instructed to register elsewhere even though a canonical appeal was still pending. The same scenario has played out in parishes around the country.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC
[with video]
Written by
Maureen Kyle
CLEVELAND — We are still waiting to hear from Bishop Richard Lennon on the Vatican’s ruling to re-open 13 area churches. It’s been a fight thousands across our area took on to worship where they had their roots.
“Denial. I would tell you it couldn’t happen,” says St. Peter’s parishioner Kate Uhlir.
But the threat to shut down their church became more than a reality.
“To walk across the threshold of the church to the outside and know that you will never walk across and never come back in, that was really hard.”
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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer
By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Catholic activist who represented some of the 13 Northeast Ohio churches that just won Vatican appeals of their closings wants to see the sanctuaries reopened for worship services by Palm Sunday, which is April 1.
Or if any of the 13 parishes want to reopen sooner, they can do so because Bishop Richard Lennon of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland can no longer deny the scattered congregations access to their padlocked churches, said Peter Borre of Boston.
Borre for years has been traveling to Rome on behalf of closed parishes in Boston and Cleveland.
Working with canon lawyers in the Holy See, Borre announced earlier this week that the Congregation for the Clergy, a Vatican panel that handled the 13 Cleveland appeals, reversed Lennon’s closings.
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NEDERLAND
Haarlems Dagblad
HAARLEM – De klachtencommissie van het Meldpunt Kindermisbruik RKK heeft de klachten tegen de Haarlemse pastoor die wordt verdacht van het seksueel misbruik van een groot aantal jonge meisjes gegrond verklaard.
Op 20 februari jl. zijn de pastoor en drie zusjes die hij heeft misbruikt verschenen voor de klachtencommissie en verhoord over de zaak. Het advies van de klachtencommissie is dat de pastoor uit zijn ambt wordt gezet en dit zal openbaar gemaakt dienen te worden door Bisschop Punt van het bisdom Haarlem Amsterdam. De pastoor, die als moderator heeft gewerkt aan het Sancta Maria te Haarlem en als kapelaan in de Josephkerk, kan echter ook nog beroep aantekenen tegen het advies van de klachtencommissie.
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NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant
Auteur: Jan de Vries
EINDHOVEN – De gemeente Eindhoven heeft het Ereteken van de Stad Eindhoven afgenomen van de congregatie Broeders van Liefde in de stad. Aanleiding is het rapport Deetman waarin staat dat sommige broeders in het verleden ontucht hebben gepleegd.
Het Ereteken werd in 2007 uitgereikt aan wijlen Broeder Ton van Heugten. Dat gebeurde omdat de congregatie toen 200 jaar bestond. Van Heugten vertegenwoordigde toen de Broeders van Liefde.
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IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Eimear Ni Bhraonain
Saturday March 10 2012
THE new papal nuncio will face a “growing sense of disillusionment” with the Catholic Church when he visits a diocese for the first time today, because no new bishop has been appointed there.
Archbishop Charles Brown makes his first formal visit to the Kildare and Leighlin diocese this morning, where a diocesan eucharistic congress is taking place in Carlow town.
His visit comes after a number of priests have privately criticised church leaders for not appointing a successor to Bishop Jim Moriarty, who resigned in the wake of damning revelations of the church’s handling of child-abuse allegations in the Dublin archdiocese.
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OMAHA (NE)
World-Herald
By Christopher Burbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Meeting with Omaha Archbishop George Lucas and other U.S. prelates Friday, Pope Benedict IXV posed questions about the American contraception insurance controversy and offered encouragement to American church leaders in the position they have taken on the matter, Lucas said from Rome.
Lucas and fellow bishops from Nebraska and Kansas met Friday with Benedict in an office of the Apostolic Palace, the pope’s official residence in Vatican City. The prelates are in Rome for what’s called an ad limina visit to the Vatican, a periodic trip required of all Roman Catholic bishops from around the world. Groups of U.S. bishops have been traveling to Rome for several months. Iowa and Missouri bishops also are in the current contingent there. …
During Lucas’ visit, news broke in Cleveland, Ohio, that the Vatican had ordered the reopening of 13 Catholic parishes that the Cleveland Diocese had closed in 2009 as part of a diocese-wide reconfiguration. A Vatican decree found that Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon did not follow church law or procedures in closing the parishes, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
The Omaha Archdiocese has embarked on a study and planning process that could lead to mergers or closings of parishes and schools in Omaha. Lucas’ schedule in Rome included a meeting with the Congregation for Clergy, the panel that issued the Cleveland decree.
“We actually did talk about (the Cleveland situation),” Lucas said. “Not just Omaha, but it faces every diocese.”
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NEDERLAND
Hartvannederland
De gemeente Eindhoven heeft het Ereteken van de Stad Eindhoven van de congregatie Broeders van Liefde afgepakt.
Dit meldt Omroep Brabant. De aanleiding is het rapport van de commissie-Deetman over het seksueel misbruik van jongeren in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk. Uit het rapport bleek dat ook sommige broeders zich aan kinderen hebben vergrepen. In 2007 kreeg de congregatie het ereteken.
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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
Chrissie Foster
March 10, 2012
FORGET religion. Forget God. This is about the safety of children.
The landmark Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children inquiry, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Philip Cummins, has made powerful recommendations about Victorian churches’ handling of child sex crimes.
Citing the Catholic Church’s system as an example of inadequate child protection, the Cummins report said: ”Any private system of investigation and compensation which has the tendency, whether intended or unintended, to divert victims from recourse to the state, and to prevent abusers from being held responsible and punished by the state, is a system that should come under clear public scrutiny and consideration … Crime is a public, not a private, matter.”
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COLORADO
The Denver Post
A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for sexually assaulting four young men from 2002 through 2009.
The man, James Craig Bird, from Jefferson County, was a pilot for a church leader at the Heritage Christian Center when he first met the boys, three of whom are brothers.
Bird first cultivated a relationship with the boys and their mother by helping them financially.
According to a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the man bought the boys expensive cars, motorcycles and season tickets to hockey games, and also provided them with drugs and alcohol.
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CANADA
London Free Press
By Jane Sims, The London Free Press
Last Updated: March 9, 2012
Disgraced pastor Royden Wood stood up Friday in the courtroom to speak and the women who were once part of his cult-like flock watched him warily.
“I’ve spent my life trying to be a help to those around me,” he said to Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid, especially “the disadvantaged.
“I’ve been greatly grieved by those who have been injured by these proceedings.”
It wasn’t clear to whom he was referring. His wife and son sat in the front row behind the prisoner’s box at the sentencing hearing for the former Ambassador church pastor.
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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
Jackson County prosecutors urged a judge Friday to allow a trial in the misdemeanor criminal case against Bishop Robert Finn and the local Catholic diocese.
They filed their pleadings in response to motions to dismiss that Finn’s lawyers filed last month.
The indictment, returned in October, alleges that Finn failed to report suspicions of child abuse against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who is charged with possessing and producing child pornography.
In a motion filed in February, defense lawyers argued that the charge should be dismissed before trial because the bishop was not the legal “designated reporter” for the diocese, and thus had no legal duty to report such suspicions to state authorities. A response team headed by Vicar General Robert Murphy had that responsibility, defense lawyers argued.
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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald
ANTIGONISH — Bishop Brian Dunn is asking parishioners to help determine the pastoral direction for the Antigonish diocese for the next five years.
In a news released issued this week, Dunn said the initiative is prompted in part by the diocese’s recognition that the past few years have featured “some difficult times.”
In referring to these difficult times, Dunn mentions “issues of the sexual abuse by clergy, the crimes of Bishop (Raymond) Lahey, the reorganization of parishes, the closure of churches, the sale of parish and diocesan assets (and) the anger and sadness of many Catholics as they question the direction of the church.”
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UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Times
A PAEDOPHILE priest was yesterday branded shameless by a judge as he jailed him for 22 years for sexually abusing young boys.
Alexander Bede Walsh a priest at St John the Evangelist Church in Banbury from 1999 until 2004, was convicted last month of 21 sexual offences over a period of 18 years.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that the Catholic clergyman used his status to prey on his victims, abusing boys in Coventry, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The abuse, described as “serial and predatory”, took place between 1975 and 1993.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail
by Ben Hurst, Birmingham Mail
Mar 10 2012
A PAEDOPHILE Staffordshire priest has been branded “shameless” by a judge and jailed for 22 years for a campaign of sexual abuse of young boys.
Alexander Bede Walsh, from Abbots Bromley, was convicted last month of 21 sexual offences, spanning a period of 18 years.
A ten-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that the Catholic clergyman used his “revered” status to prey on his victims, abusing boys in Coventry, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The abuse, described to the court as “serial and predatory”, took place between 1975 and 1993.
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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel
PERVERT priest Bede Walsh is today starting a 22-year prison sentence after sexually abusing eight boys.
Judge Paul Glenn labelled Walsh “shameless” as he sentenced the defendant for 21 child sex offences spanning 18 years.
Since last month’s convictions, four more men have come forward to claim that they were also abused by Walsh.
Now Staffordshire Police are reviewing the claims and the length of Walsh’s sentence before deciding what to do about the new allegations
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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Online
Obama admin list Vatican as ‘potential money-laundering center’
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
3/9/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
It isn’t, but the US State Department has listed it anyway.
The US State Department has added an unlikely name to the list of countries that are considered money-laundering centers – the Vatican. The listing was published Wednesday in the 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, and lists 190 countries.
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – The list is divided into three categories, primary concern, concern, and monitored. The Vatican has been listed with 67 other countries which also includes Poland, Egypt, Ireland, Hungary, and Chile.
A State Department official did confess that the Vatican had recently established programs to prevent money laundering.
The apology continued, as Susan Pittman of the State Department explained, “To be considered a jurisdiction of concern merely indicates that there is a vulnerability to a financial system by money launderers. With the large volumes of international currency that goes through the Holy See, it is a system that makes it vulnerable as a potential money-laundering center.”
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VATICAN CITY
USA Today
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Friday sought to explain its presence for the first time on a U.S. list of countries that are a potential hub for money laundering, saying it was only natural to be included given its recent efforts to conform to international standards.
The U.S. State Department this week released its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, which identified the Holy See as one of 68 countries or jurisdictions “of concern” for money laundering or other financial crimes.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi noted Friday that all the world’s major economies — the U.S., Japan and even Italy — are identified as countries of “primary concern” for money laundering. That more serious designation is because of the sheer size of their economies.
Lombardi said it wasn’t surprising that the Vatican was placed on the list of jurisdictions “of concern” since it joined a European evaluation process in 2011 to try to conform to international anti-money laundering standards.
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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat
…After weeks with no representation, SNAP has found two attorneys who are volunteering to help in its battle against Kansas City Catholic officials who are trying to get 20+ years of the group’s private communications. They are Kirkwood native Brian Bacon (now of Columbia) and Brendan Donelon of Kansas City. Bacon himself was abused as a youngster by a Marianist teacher, Brother William Mueller, at Vianney High here. (Mueller faces more than 50 allegations of abuse in three states and also taught at Chaminade. Donelon’s a lifelong Missourian and grad of UMKC law school.
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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt
Haben Lehrer eine sexuelle Beziehung zu Schülern, soll ihnen in Zukunft leichter gekündigt werden können. So reagieren die Kultusminister auf ein heftig umstrittenes Urteil.
Lehrern soll im Falle von sexuellen Beziehungen zu Schülerinnen und Schülern künftig leichter gekündigt werden können. In allen Schulgesetzen der Länder solle dazu das besondere Obhutsverhältnis strenger gefasst werden, kündigte der Hamburger Schulsenator Ties Rabe (SPD) als Präsident der Kultusministerkonferenz zum Abschluss der jüngsten Plenartagung an.
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DEUTSCHLAND
RP Online
Bonn (RPO). Der Redemptoristenorden hat einen neuen Missbrauchsbericht vorgelegt. Das der Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA) in Bonn vorliegende Dokument berichtet über 16 Patres, die zwischen 1949 und 1968 sowie vereinzelt bis in die 80er Jahre hinein Kinder und Jugendliche misshandelten. 9 der Patres hätten insgesamt 28 ehemalige Internatsschüler sexuell missbraucht, heißt es in dem Bericht des Leverkusener Amtsgerichtsdirektors Hermann-Josef Merzbach, der seit 2003 Missbrauchsbeauftragter des Ordens ist. Seit 1990 habe es keine Fälle mehr gegeben.
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WAUKESHA (WI)
WISN
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A former high-ranking official with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod pleaded guilty Friday to one count of possession of child pornography.
Joel Hochmuth, 52, pleaded guilty to the first count in exchange for two other counts being dropped by the Waukesha County District Attorney’s office.
The plea deal cancels Hochmuth’s jury trial, which was scheduled for next week.
Hochmuth was the director of communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod at the time of his arrest Nov. 15, 2011.
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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent
Danielle Dwyer
Friday 09 March 2012
A paedophile priest was today branded “shameless” by a judge and jailed for 22 years for a campaign of sexual abuse of young boys.
Alexander Bede Walsh was convicted last month of 21 sexual offences, spanning a period of 18 years.
A 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that the Catholic clergyman used his “revered” status to prey on his victims, abusing boys in Coventry, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The abuse, described to the court as “serial and predatory”, took place between 1975 and 1993.
At the same court this afternoon, Judge Glenn told him: “Shameless accurately describes your attitude to these proceedings, you have shown no remorse at any time.
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WILMINGTON (DE)
The Review
By Erin Quinn
Published: Monday, March 5, 2012
Following the release of more than 30,000 documents related to sexual abuse cases by the Diocese of Wilmington, survivors’ activists are calling for the resignation of three monsignors who have received the support of the local bishop.
The diocese released the documents at the end of January as part of nonmonetary provisions of a lawsuit, when a survivors’ advocacy group based on the website BishopAccountability.org released the information to the media. The group singled out diocese Monsignors J. Thomas Cini, Joseph Rebman and Clement Lemon as architects of a cover-up, by not reporting abuses to law enforcement officials.
Bishop W. Francis Malooly, who presides over the diocese, stated that he backed the accused priests in the Dialog, the Diocese of Wilmington’s newsletter on Feb. 24.
“None of these three dedicated priests ever engineered a strategy to conceal priest sex abuse,” Malooly said. “None of these men have ever put children at risk by placing an abusive priest back in ministry nor would they ever have had the authority to do so.”
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WAUKESHA (WI)
Patch
By Sarah Millard
The former communications director for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Joel W. Hochmuth, who was fired from his position upon his arrest on child pornography charges, pleaded guilty Friday morning to one felony count of possessing child pornography.
As a result of the 52-year-old Waukesha man’s plea, two additional counts of possessing child pornography were dismissed. The Waukesha County district attorney’s office will recommend an unspecified amount of prison time when Hochmuth is sentenced at 2 p.m. June 4.
“We have gone over it ad nauseam,” said Paul Bucher, who is Hochmuth’s defense attorney.
“It is my decision,” Hochmuth told Judge Kathryn Foster shortly before pleading guilty to the charge. The case was set for a jury trial next week, which has been canceled as a result of the guilty plea.
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WAUKESHA (WI)
Fox 6
March 9, 2012, by A.J. Bayatpour
WAUKESHA — Joel Hochmuth, a former Lutheran church official, accused of having child pornography, pleads guilty one of three counts of possession of child pornography. In exchange for the guilty plea, the state dropped two of the three counts.
Prosecutors say Hochmuth had pictures and videos of young boys in sex acts. He was fired from his post at the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, where he served as Director of Communications.
Hochmuth was charged with three counts of possessing child pornography, after a sting operation by the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force found child porn images and videos on Hochmuth’s personal and work computers, as well as thumb drives.
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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A former Roman Catholic priest from Staffordshire has been jailed for 22 years for sexually abusing eight boys.
Alexander Bede Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, carried out the attacks while working at children’s homes and churches between the 1970s and 1990s.
Walsh, 58, was found guilty of two serious sexual offences and 19 counts of indecent assault at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
He was convicted of offences against boys aged between eight and 16.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Shropshire Star
A paedophile priest has been branded “shameless” by a judge and jailed for 22 years for a campaign of sexual abuse of young boys.
Alexander Bede Walsh was convicted last month of 21 sexual offences, spanning a period of 18 years.
A 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that the Catholic clergyman used his “revered” status to prey on his victims, abusing boys in Coventry, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The abuse, described to the court as “serial and predatory”, took place between 1975 and 1993.
At the same court this afternoon, Judge Glenn told him: “Shameless accurately describes your attitude to these proceedings, you have shown no remorse at any time.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News
Lisa Dowd, Midlands correspondent
A Catholic paedophile priest who used his “revered” status to wage a campaign of abuse against vulnerable young boys has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Alexander Bede Walsh was convicted last month of 21 sexual offences, spanning a period of 18 years.
The offences took place between 1975 and 1993, during periods Walsh worked at an orphanage in Coleshill, Warwickshire, at a Catholic boarding school in Staffordshire, and at All Souls Church in Coventry.
Six of the victims had attended All Souls School in the city which was linked to the church.
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UNITED STATES
Blog Talk Radio
[with audio]
by God Discussion
in Spirituality
Thu, March 8, 2012
SNAP – the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – is fighting for its financial life in order to deal with what has been called an assault on private communications, leading to victims fearing that their privacy will be lost to the Catholic Church. SNAP’s Midwest Associate Director, Judy Jones, joins to show to give us an update.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Christian Century
Mar 09, 2012 by Michael O’Malley
Religion News Service CLEVELAND (RNS) In an extraordinary move, the Vatican has reversed the closure of 13 churches in the Diocese of Cleveland, saying the parishes must be restored and the sanctuaries reopened for worship, according to activists who fought the closings.
The diocese and Bishop Richard Lennon, who ordered the closures as part of a downsizing plan in 2009 and 2010, could appeal the reversals.
The 13 parishes had filed appeals with the Vatican after Lennon closed 50 churches, citing changes in demographics and shortages of priests and cash.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald
Published on Friday 9 March 2012
GORDON RIDEOUT, a former rural dean who spent 25 years as a vicar at All Saints in Carlisle Road, is suspected of sexually assaulting nine young people between 1965 and 1972 in Crawley, London and Hampshire.
It was also revealed this week that several allegations were made to police in 1972 against Mr Rideout and again in 2001, but although he was arrested, there was not sufficient evidence to justify criminal proceedings.
Mr Rideout conducted services at All Saints Church until 2010.
He was also chaplain at Moira House Girls School until 2003 and chair of governors at Bishop Bell School.
In the 1960s he was a chaplain at two Barnado’s homes in London.
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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Permissive attitudes toward sex, cohabitation before marriage and acceptance of same-sex marriage can damage individuals and are harmful for society, Pope Benedict XVI told a group of U.S. bishops at the Vatican.
“It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost,” the pope said March 9. …
Acknowledging the clerical sexual abuse scandal, the pope said, “It is my hope that the church in the United States, however chastened by the events of the past decade, will persevere in its historic mission of educating the young and thus contribute to the consolidation of that sound family life, which is the surest guarantee of intergenerational solidarity and the health of society as a whole.”
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HOUSTON (TX)
KTRH
By NIK RAJKOVIC
A local woman accuses Methodist preacher Kendall Graham abused her for years and says church officials did nothing to stop it. She’s seeking $25 million in damages.
Referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, the victim claims Graham and his wife invited her move in with them when she was 10-years-old after her mother died, but by age 14 the pastor was sexually abusing her.
Graham and his wife eventually divorced, the victim gave birth to her own child then married her abuser.
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UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert
Road to Recovery, Inc.
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.
Co-founder and President
Paul Kendrick of Freeport, Maine, who has championed the cause of dozens of sexual abuse victims of Doug Perlitz at the Haiti-based Project Pierre Toussaint has been served with a subpoena by the lawyer for Fr. Paul Carrier, SJ, one of the principals of the project, former Campus Minister of Fairfield University and Chairperson of the Haiti Fund where the project was birthed and sustained.
The subpoena commands Mr. Kendrick to produce documents, electronically stored information, etc. regarding communications between the abuse victims and Mr. Kendrick in a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of 21 Haitian victims in Connecticut federal court.
Road to Recovery wishes to express its support of Paul Kendrick in his confidential and protected work with courageous and damaged Haiti victims, and its outrage over the request of a lawyer to secure information from those victims and their advocate.
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
Barney Zwartz
March 10, 2012
THE state government must stop stalling over an independent inquiry into the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse and hold one ”immediately”, victims and advocates said yesterday.
Last October Attorney-General Robert Clark was able to defer several separate demands for an independent inquiry by asking Justice Philip Cummins to consider some questions as part of his inquiry into vulnerable children in Victoria. His report, released last week, unequivocally urged a specific inquiry.
Advocate and author Chrissie Foster said victims were being re-abused, bullied and paid a pittance under the Catholic Church’s own processes. Only an independent inquiry could give victims a true sense of justice.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer
By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese did not follow church law or procedures when he closed St. Patrick Church in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood nearly two years ago, according to a Vatican decree. (StPats.pdf)
The decree was publicly disclosed Thursday at a news conference held by St. Patrick parishioners who appealed to the Vatican when Lennon closed the church.
The decree, which reversed Lennon’s decision, was emailed to St. Patrick parishioners by their lawyer in Rome Wednesday. Twelve other Northeast Ohio parishes also won their appeals, but most are awaiting official word from Rome.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
dotCommonweal
March 8, 2012
Posted by Paul Moses
Back in July, Cleveland’s Bishop Richard Lennon welcomed a Vatican inquiry into his decision to close parishes, and interpreted it as a review of his leadership of the diocese. “This visit will be an opportunity to gather extensive information on all aspects of the activities of the Diocese and will allow for an objective assessment of my leadership,” he said.
The result is a startling decision [PDF from Cleveland Plain-Dealer] to reverse Bishop Lennon’s closure of 13 parishes. As the FutureChurch organization put it, “This is a landmark decision. For the first time the Vatican has powerfully upheld the rights of Catholics to have an appropriate voice in determining the future of their parish by overruling a diocesan bishop’s decision to suppress 13 parishes.”
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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC
Written by
Eric Mansfield
CLEVELAND — A letter from the Vatican to Bishop Richard Lennon seems to spell out mistakes the Church feels the Bishop made in closing a local parish.
The three-page letter — obtained by Channel 3 — upholds the appeal of St. Patrick Church, which was forced to close along with dozens of other parishes between 2009 and 2010.
In the letter, the Vatican find the Cleveland Diocese did not validate its case for closure writing “The Bishop of Cleveland, even after being advised of these shortfalls by the Congregation’s letter … declined to clarify the matter either by allowing the Church to remain open for divine worship and the devotion of the faithful, or by following the procedure for relegation.”
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CLEVELAND (OH)
Zanesville Times Recorder
CLEVELAND (AP) — Critics of church closings in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese want the bishop to implement an extraordinary Vatican ruling and reopen 13 churches.
The calls came Thursday from an outspoken opponent of the closings, Patricia Schulte-Singleton, and the group FutureChurch, which promotes a stronger voice for lay Catholics.
Bishop Richard Lennon must decide whether to abide by the ruling from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy or appeal it.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch
By Michael O’Malley
THE PLAIN DEALER
Friday March 9, 2012
CLEVELAND — Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese did not follow church law or procedures when he closed St. Patrick Church in the city’s West Park neighborhood nearly two years ago, according to a Vatican decree.
The decree was publicly disclosed yesterday at a news conference held by St. Patrick parishioners, who had appealed to the Vatican when Lennon closed the church.
The decree, which reversed Lennon’s decision, was emailed to St. Patrick parishioners by their lawyer in Rome on Wednesday. Twelve other northeastern Ohio parishes also won their appeals, but most are awaiting official word from Rome.
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