ABUSE TRACKER

DALLAS (TX)
Statesman

The Associated Press

DALLAS — A jury began deliberating on Thursday the fate of a former Roman Catholic priest accused of plotting the death of a man who accused him of sexual abuse.

John M. Fiala is facing a charge of solicitation of capital murder. Authorities say he tried to hire a neighbor’s brother to kill his accuser. That accuser had said Fiala abused him at the ex-priest’s rural West Texas parish in 2008 when the man was 16.

Fiala faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/LfSaxz ) reported that during closing arguments Thursday, prosecutors urged jurors not to believe Fiala’s claims that he told a purported hit man to kill his accuser only because he thought his own life was in danger.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

After calling nearly 50 witnesses and presenting close to 1,900 pieces of evidence, Philadelphia prosecutors rested their case Thursdau in the landmark trial over child sex-abuse by Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests.

The prosecution ended by letting jurors handle what they contend is the closest thing to a smoking gun in the case: a tattered gray folder that had been squirreled away in a locked safe at archdiocesan offices for more than a decade.

Inside were hand-written and typed documents, including a now infamous list that Msgr. William J. Lynn drafted in 1994 naming about three dozen archdiocesan priests who had admitted or were accused of sexual misconduct with children or teens.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington and Detective Joseph Walsh also gave jurors a timeline of significant points in Lynn’s tenure as secretary for clergy, noting that he told a grand jury in 2004 that he couldn’t find the list.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 17, 2012

Accused serial predator priest Fr. Francis E. McGlynn has passed away, and despite repeated pledges to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes, McGlynn’s supervisor Bishop Robert Finn apparently has told no one in the public or the parishes. We suspect he didn’t tell police or prosecutors either. Sadly, none of the hundreds of current or former KC diocesan employees saw fit to spread the news either.

Being honest about the death of a credibly accused predator priest matters for several reasons:

First, it’s comforting when victims know that their perpetrator can no longer hurt any other kids. But that doesn’t happen (or happens years later) if the predator’s death is kept secret.

Second, sometimes victims who are trapped in fear, shame and self-blame feel ‘liberated’ when their perpetrator dies. They are then more apt to speak up, get help, expose wrongdoing and start healing. But that doesn’t happen (or happens years later) if the predator’s death is kept secret.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on May 17, 2012

A support group for victims is admonishing the bishops of four Catholic dioceses for their “callous secrecy” about the death of a bishop who once worked at each location.

Leaders of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) are writing to the bishops of Knoxville TN, Jefferson City MO, Charleston SC and Palm Beach FL and urging them to disclose the death of Bishop Anthony O’Connell. O’Connell and “aggressively reach out” to “others he may have hurt.”

O’Connell, who died last week, is the first Catholic bishop in America to resign after the church’s abuse and cover up scandal began making international headlines in 2002. As best SNAP can tell, since his death, there has yet to be any announcement from any of the dioceses in which O’Connell worked or spent time.

“It’s hurtful and irresponsible for bishops to do with a predator’s passing exactly what most of them have done with a predator’s crimes – keep silent,” said SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

About the let’s-pretend game-playing that seems to be working with ever diminishing effectiveness for the Catholic magisterium and those who defend it (I have been talking about that a bit today, haven’t I?):

It now comes out that Legionary of Christ priest and professor of moral theology Fr. Thomas Williams, a darling of the right-wing Catholic talk-show circuit who was the go-to man for the right-wing Catholic media during the conclave that elected the current pope, has fathered a child with a woman he doesn’t name, after he was ordained a priest. This information, which Williams has substantiated, appears in a report that a former Legionary priest in Chile, who is now active in a group called Association of Aid for Victims of the Legion of Christ, has sent to senior Vatican officials.

National Catholic Reporter has received a copy of the report, and at this journal’s website, John Allen indicates that the report further states that Williams has had sexual relationships with students at the Legionary university in Rome, Regina Apostolorum, and with “the daughter of a prominent American Catholic personality.” Williams denies the former charge and as to the second, says he will not comment on particulars regarding specific individuals.

And when I read this breaking news, I could not help thinking–God save me–of this interview with Williams that Kathryn Jean Lopez published earlier this month in National Review Online, in which he defends the Catholic magisterial teaching about contraception as follows:

Concerning birth control, the Church has continuously taught that recourse to contraception is immoral and that responsible parenthood should be lived out through natural family planning, which is extraordinarily effective and respectful of God’s plan for sex within marriage. She believes that contraception is damaging to the relationship of husband and wife and ultimately unworthy of their love for one another. But the Church has no police force. She does not chase down and punish Catholics who fail to live up to her teachings. She appeals only to conscience, and has no power of persuasion other than the force of her teaching in the name of Jesus.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

Willliam D. Lindsey

Barbara Blaine of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests has released a press statement about the story of Legionary of Christ priest Thomas Williams about which I blogged yesterday. As she notes, Phillip Pullella of Reuters is now reporting that top Vatican officials and top Legionary of Christ officials have known about Thomas Williams’s reported transgressions for quite some time now, but have kept silent about them.

An excerpt from SNAP’s powerful and right-on-target statement about this situation:

And it’s important to remember that the Legion
–has a long, sordid history of secrecy about clergy sex crimes and misdeeds, and
— claims a recent “investigation” found that seven Legion priests are accused of molesting kids.
(We strongly suspect that’s a lie. We believe it’s very likely that most of these allegations were reported directly to Legion officials, not discovered through some “investigation.” And we suspect that, like with Fr. Williams, top Legion staffers have known for months or years about many of these accusations but have kept them hidden.)

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UNITED STATES
Notre Dame Magazine

BY Michael Garvey ’74

Published: May 17, 2012

“Of all the hostilities,” Dorothy Day once wrote, “one of the saddest is the war between clergy and laity.” She penned those words in the summer of 1964 as some controversy, long since forgotten, roiled the Catholic Church in America.

As a founder of the pacifist, anarchist and activist Catholic Worker movement, Day was no stranger to controversy. Although she never hesitated to describe herself as “a daughter of the Church,” she occasionally found herself in vigorous public disagreement with such hierarchs as New York’s archbishop Cardinal Francis Spellman. But even amid the most fiery of those disagreements — over an attempt by the New York archdiocese to break a gravedigger’s strike and over Cardinal Spellman’s enthusiastic support for the war in Vietnam — she kept in mind and wrote about Jesus’ rebuke to his disciples when they suggested a sort of divine drone missile strike on some inhospitable Samaritans: “You do not know of what spirit you are” (Luke 9:55).

True, a war in Southeast Asia was raging, she wrote then, “but as for the hostilities in our midst, the note of violence and conflict in all our dealings with others — everyone seems to contribute to it. There is no room for righteous wrath today.”

The plainspoken, outspoken and occasionally law-breaking Dorothy Day knew a thing or two about righteous wrath and may even have indulged in it a time or two, but it scared the hell out of her.

In heaven, where she surely is, Dorothy Day has other things to preoccupy her, but I wonder what she would have to say about the controversies swirling within and around the Church today. Even a cursory tour of airwaves, web and blogosphere reveals a perfect storm of righteous wrath brewing. There are, to name only a few of its inflowing currents, the endlessly festering clergy sexual abuse scandal, the Health and Human Services mandates, the Vatican’s takeover of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the president’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, the American bishops’ investigation of the Girl Scouts and the fact that (insert here the controversialist of your choice) has been invited to speak at a Catholic institution of higher learning.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WSET

Posted: May 17, 2012 12:28 PM

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – After eight weeks, Philadelphia prosecutors have rested in the trial of a Roman Catholic church official accused of helping bury complaints that priests were raping or molesting children.

Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official charged for his administrative role in the priest-abuse scandal. Prosecutors say the former secretary for clergy helped known predators stay in ministry. He is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy.

Defense lawyers counter that Lynn tried to address the problem, but took orders from Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Jurors have heard painful testimony from more than a dozen men and women who say they were abused by priests as children. And they have viewed about 2,000 documents, most unearthed from the secret archives.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Herald

COURTNEY GARNHAM

18 May, 2012

Extracts of intimate letters written by a Hunter priest to one of his alleged child sexual assault victims were revealed to a Sydney District Court jury on Thursday.

The priest, who is on trial for eight child sex offences against four complainants, referred to the boy in one letter as his “special little man”.

He wrote: “I miss you a lot and remember you in my prayers, so don’t forget me in yours,” and signed off with “lots of love.”

The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the priest’s barrister he had never replied to the

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IRELAND
Herald

By Cormac Murphy and Tim Healy

Thursday May 17 2012

THE High Court Taxing Master has slashed the fees of the solicitor who acted for Fr Kevin Reynolds by almost 70pc.

In a move likely to set an important precedent, RTE got its legal bill for defaming the priest reduced by €195,000.

But the broadcaster was facing fresh calls for its chairman, Tom Savage, to resign.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath told an Oireachtas committee that Mr Savage had been “making a laugh” of Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte. Mr McGrath described the defamation as “downright disgraceful”.

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DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

Ex-priest accused of hiring hit man to kill abuse accuser testifies he thought his life was in danger

By Scott Goldstein / Reporter
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
10:11 am on May 17, 2012

A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy at gunpoint testified this morning that he told a purported hit man to kill his accuser because he thought his own life was in danger.

John Fiala said his friend and neighbor Scottie Fisher told him the hit man was his brother. The brother would likely turn on Fiala if he wasn’t convinced the hit was on, Fiala said Fisher told him.

“I knew that if I didn’t do this, I’d be the one on the list, marked to be killed, according to what Scottie said,” Fiala said.

But the man Fiala met with in November 2010 and instructed to murder his accuser in exchange for $5,000 was actually an undercover police officer. And the entire conversation was surreptitiously video recorded and played for the Dallas County jury yesterday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 May 2012

Sympathy with victims of sexual abuse should not be grounds for courts to extend the law on compensation “infinitely” and impose extra liabilities on employers, the court of appeal has been told.

In a test case that could alter relationships between many organisations and their staff, the trustees of a Catholic diocese are denying responsibility for crimes allegedly committed by a priest in a children’s home.

The claim has been brought by a 47-year-old woman – known to the court as JGE – who says she was sexually and physically assaulted at the Firs children’s home in Waterlooville, Hampshire, in the early 1970s.

The claimant maintains that the nun in charge of the home assaulted her and that Father William Baldwin, the local parish priest, who has since died, sexually abused and raped her.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rheinneckarblog

Mannheim, 17. Mai 2012. (red) Der Katholikentag in Mannheim bietet rund 1.200 Veranstaltungen an fünf Tagen. Zwei Veranstaltungen wurden “nach eigehender Prüfung” nicht ins Programm aufgenommen. Angeblich habe man “wohlwollend” versucht, “alle Vorschläge” zu berücksichtigen.

Uns liegt das entsprechende Schreiben der Absage vor, nach dem Vorschläge des Arbeitskreises des Alternativprogramms von den Organisatoren des Katholikentags abgelehnt worden sind. Nach unseren Informationen betrifft das vier Veranstaltungen, zwei werden im Schreiben explizit genannt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirke Heute

Sein Brief an potenzielle Betroffene sexueller Übergriffe im Berliner Canisius-Kolleg löste im Januar 2010 eine Lawine aus. Letzte Woche sprach Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes in Basel zu «Macht, Sexualität und Kirche» und beklagte die Herz- und Sprachlosigkeit der Kirche, wenn es um das Thema Sexualität geht.

Es begann am 14. Januar 2010 mit dem Besuch dreier ehemaliger Schüler des Berliner Jesuitengymnasium Canisius-Kolleg, die Klaus Mertes, dem damaligen Rektor, vom sexuellen Missbrauch durch zwei frühere Lehrkräfte berichteten. Am 20. Januar 2010 wandte sich Mertes mit einem Brief an rund 600 Schüler der potenziell betroffenen Jahrgänge. Es kam, wie es kommen musste: Der Brief gelangte an die Öffentlichkeit, und mit der Publikation am 28. Januar 2010 in der Berliner Morgenpost brach der Sturm los. Zweck des Briefs sei es gewesen, den möglichen Betroffenen Ansprechbarkeit zu signalisieren, sagte Mertes in seinem Vortrag in der Veranstaltungsreihe «Uni.Sex» der Katholischen Universitätsgemeinde Basel.

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NEW YORK
WABC

WILLIAMSBURG (WABC) — A controversial fundraiser for a man in Brooklyn who is accused of molesting a teenage girl is fueling outrage on the streets of Williamsburg.

At the center of the storm is Nechemya Weberman, a member of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Satmar community. He was charged last year with sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Hundreds of people came out to support Weberman’s defense fund Thursday night, and three people were arrested. Only about 100 people turned out to support the victim.

The victim said the abuse took place in Weberman’s apartment after he was hired by the girl’s family to counsel her when she was 12.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

By Andrew Siff

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Two people were arrested for disorderly conduct outside a tension-fueled Brooklyn fundraiser in support of a man accused of child molestation Wednesday night, officials said.

The arrests came outside an event raising money for Nechemya Weberman, where protesters rallied against the support of the accused molester, who is regarded as a sort of informal rabbi in his Orthodox Jewish community.

It’s not clear what led to the arrests, and the identities of the people arrested were not released by police.

But protesters outside the fundraiser made clear they were supporting the alleged victim, not her alleged abuser.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

As the work week ends, another outstanding and well-reserached essay by Jerry Slevin–this one arguing that more and more diverse Catholic voices are now harmonizing in an ever-increasing song calling for fundamental hierarchical reform in the Catholic church. What follows is Jerry’s posting:

The increasingly harsh Roman inquisition now underway, often directed at the US, Ireland and Austria, is often difficult to understand and evaluate in light of papal secrecy, intimidation and misinformation. Yet, cumulatively, a dark message is being heard by Catholics, as well as almost everyone else paying attention. Continuously misguided papal actions and/or inaction have steadily raised more fears among many groups, including many parents, most women, even nuns, many priests, even a few bishops, and gay persons generally.

Yet by contrast, Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope, has usually looked the other way at the misdeeds of key Cardinals, including earlier Cardinal Groer of Austria, several curial Cardinals, Cardinal Brady of Ireland and now Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia. Why the double standard? What is really going on? Is there any reason for Catholics to be hopeful in these dark hours?

CHILDREN:

It is unclear how much of this sudden surge of inquisitorial iniquity is really just a fearful response to the increasing and distressing public disclosures of hierarchical misdeeds, amidst also signs that more and more Catholics appear to have reached their limit with this unChristian hierarchical behavior.

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VATICAN CITY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s ability to reform the troubled Legion of Christ has again been thrown into doubt following revelations that a half-dozen priests are under Vatican investigation for allegedly molesting children and that the order’s leadership knew its most prominent priest had fathered a child yet did nothing to prevent him from teaching and preaching about morality.

The Vatican on Thursday expressed confidence in Benedict’s delegate running the congregation but acknowledged that the process of reform is “certainly long and complex precisely because it aims to be profound.” Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi rejected suggestions that the revelations proved that the reform process wasn’t working and that the Legion was too flawed to be saved.

On the contrary, he told The Associated Press, the revelations showed that the Legion under papal delegate Cardinal Velasio De Paolis is doing the right thing by taking action once the revelations became known.

“Even the recent public communications about the Legion seem to be new and a positive sign of transparency,” he said. “There is no reason then not to have confidence in the way Cardinal De Paolis is guiding this complex path of renewal.”

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

One of the disadvantages of media coverage of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) is that it is inevitable – and this is not a knee-jerk criticism of the media – that the message we seek to communicate is pushed through the sieve of personal predilection and commercial need. Sometimes unintentionally our position can be compromised when what is peripheral is presented centre stage with a spotlight placed upon it. It is clear too, of course, that those who oppose us can use the ensuing confusion to sow seeds of doubt about our platform and our intentions. One of the advantages of a web-site like ours is that it is possible to communicate ideas clearly.

So allow me to clarify a few points.

(i) Church teaching

The ACP does not seek to overturn the defined teaching of the Catholic Church. Confusion between what the teaching of the Church is and what some present as the teaching of the Church has led to unwarranted assumptions. Confusion between the teaching of the Church and Church governance has resulted in some people suggesting that we do not accept fundamental Church teaching. Like all true Catholics, we know and fully accept the Creed.

(ii) Debate

The ACP wants to have a conversation about the realities of Irish Church life today and about issues we believe the Irish Church urgently needs to discuss. We believe closing down debate and dialogue is a recipe for disaster at both public and pastoral levels. Opening up a conversation not only makes great sense but has a theological basis in the rights and obligations of the baptised and an equally strong basis in church law and, we believe, will produce a pastoral dividend.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

The Legion needs to break away from an embarrassing past. Cardinal De Paolis is working hard to purify a body that has been tainted by some very serious misdoings

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

There is no peace in the Legion which the Pope has placed under the supervision of the Pontifical delegate, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis. The process of “purification” wanted by Benedict XVI is shedding light on further abuses, offences and betrayals on the part of the religious order which had become one of the pillars of the universal Church, particularly the Latin American one, during Karol Wojtyla’s pontificate.

“All the new things that are emerging are showing that this issue will not simply be resolved by the order severing its ties with its founder because other representatives of the Legion are guilty of the same offences,” a qualified source told Vatican Insider. “All remaining irregularities need to be removed in order to save the majority within the Legion of Christ which did not have double standards.”

For a long time now, the pact of steel between the Legion’s leaders and some elders of the Roman Curia has guaranteed “extensive moral exemption” which Joseph Ratzinger put an end to the minute he was elected Pope. However, the recovery process is far from over, as has been proven by the latest scandals which have broken out in the order. Seven Legionaries of Christ are being investigated by the former Holy Office and in at least one of the cases, it was found that the abuse was committed recently.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Fiach Kelly Political Correspondent

Thursday May 17 2012

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Pat Rabbitte last night said he had “no hand” in a libel payout made by RTE over remarks he made about a garda investigation.

The case was reported to have cost the national broadcaster up to €100,000 in compensation and legal costs, but Mr Rabbitte rejected this figure.

Mr Rabbitte was due to be called as a witness in the libel action over comments he made on an RTE news programme about the gardai’s wrongful charging of Dublin man Dean Lyons with the murder of two women at the Grangegorman hospital complex in 1997. The libel action was settled before it was due to come to court on Tuesday last week, the same day Mr Rabbitte met the RTEboard over the Fr Kevin Reynolds affair.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Tim Healy

Thursday May 17 2012

A LEGAL bill from the solicitors representing Fr Kevin Reynolds in his libel case against RTE has been cut by €195,000.

The reduction in the bill of Fr Reynolds’s solicitor Robert Dore and his firm, Dore and Company, was imposed by High Court Taxing Master Declan O’Neill yesterday.

RTE will pay the costs as part of the settlement of the action brought against it by Fr Reynolds over defamation in the ‘Prime Time Investigates: Mission to Prey’ programme.

The settlement involved a public apology to the priest and a €1m payment.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Mark Hilliard

Thursday May 17 2012

THE ‘Prime Time Investigates’ reporter Aoife Kavanagh insisted she could stand over the allegations made in the disastrous ‘Mission To Prey’ programme days after it was broadcast.

Newly published legal documents reveal a fresh insight into who knew what and when during the build-up to the massive libel settlement with Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The Galway priest had strenuously offered a paternity test before its broadcast on May 23, accusing him of raping an African woman and fathering her child.

Amid a flurry of legal correspondence, reporter Aoife Kavanagh — who has since resigned her position with RTE — insisted that ‘Prime Time Investigates’ could stand over all of the allegations.

It has also emerged that Sheila Mudi — whom RTE falsely identified as Fr Reynolds’ illegitimate child — had written a letter in or around July of last year detailing how Fr Reynolds was not her father.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – After two months of testimony and evidence, including evidence yesterday from a secret church archive safe, the prosecution in the clergy abuse case is expected to rest today.

Evidence from inside church safes showed the aptly named secret archives were protected by locks and alarms. Old documents were shredded and discs were electronically wiped clean.

Among the documents that survived is an infamous list of 35 alleged and even admitted predator priests compiled by defendant Monsignor William Lynn, which was later allegedly shredded by other church officials.

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NEW YORK
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Zoë Blackler in New York
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 May 2012

Until last year, Nechemya Weberman was a therapist in Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn. From the apartment building he owns in Williamsburg, he counselled teenage girls from ultra-Orthodox Jewish families. Girls, who through improper dress, flirtations with boys or a curiosity in life beyond the confines of their sects, were risking disrepute. In the antiquated world of the ultra-Orthodox, the stigma of immodesty can wreck a girl’s marriage prospects and her future in the community.

In 2007, two worried parents sent their 12-year-old daughter for counselling with Weberman, at the insistence of her school. For three years, the girl consulted him, seeing him often several times a week. The girl had been questioning her religious teachers, and her parents hoped that Weberman, who had raised his own pious, god-fearing children, would lead her back to the right path.

Later this summer, a jury in Brooklyn – home to the largest Orthodox population outside Israel – will be asked to decide exactly what took place during those many counselling sessions. Whether Weberman repeatedly raped the young girl as she alleges, or whether, as the defence claims, he is the object of misplaced revenge.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Protesters clash over fund-raising for Brooklyn rabbi Nechemya Weberman, accused of molesting teenage girl

By Pearl Gabel AND Sarah Armaghan / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, May 17, 2012

TWO PEOPLE were charged with disorderly conduct Wednesday during a night of fund-raising in Brooklyn for a rabbi charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl, police said.

More than 100 protesters faced off against thousands of supporters rallying for Nechemya Weberman, 53, who was collared in February 2011 after a 16-year-old girl complained he had forced her to perform oral sex and other acts.

The teen claimed Weberman was her therapist and the abuse, which she said started when she was 12, occurred during therapy sessions.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

Editorial

At long last, the Roman Catholic Church is taking action to investigate allegations concerning priests from the Legion of Christ, whose U.S. headquarters is in Connecticut.

Although the Vatican assumed direct leadership of the scandal-plagued religious order two years ago, this is the first evidence that the church will actually do something about accusations that seven of its priests sexually abused minors.

The Legion (also known as Legionaries of Christ) runs a seminary in Cheshire. It has acknowledged that its founder, the Mexican-born Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, abused underage Legion seminary students over the years and fathered at least one child out of wedlock. But all along, despite complaints to the contrary, the order has insisted that any Legion-based crimes were isolated incidents committed by Father Maciel alone.

Now, to its credit, the Legion has referred the cases of seven priests accused of abusing minors to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates sex crimes.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

Online Taney County Circuit Court documents indicate an Auburn, Ala., man may be about to plead guilty to sex charges involving underaged boys.

The arraignment for Lee Bradberry, 22, a former Kanakuk counselor, scheduled for May 14, was canceled. Case.net indicates a disposition hearing, usually indicating sentencing, is set for 9 a.m. June 11.

On April 11, Bradberry’s attorney, J. Eric Mitchell, filed a motion to shorten time, indicating that his client might be ready for a plea.

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NEW YORK
My Fox New York

[with video]

MYFOXNY.COM –
A debate over how to report sexual abuse crimes in the orthodox Jewish community was tense and at times violent as it spilled into the streets on Wednesday night.

Police arrested at least two people from Jewish community after rushing the gate where protesters carried signs and voiced criticism for the fundraiser intended to raise money for a man accused of abusing a teenaged girl.

At the center of it all is Nechemya Weberman, a Jewish counselor charged with forcing a girl to have sex with him over a three year period.

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CANADA
Dunnville Chronicle

By Maryanne Firth, The Tribune

ST. CATHARINES – While former Roman Catholic priest Donald Grecco was convicted of child molestation in 2010, a multimillion-dollar civil suit launched by three of his victims it still making its way through the courts.

In March 2010, Grecco pleaded guilty to three counts of gross indecency fter he sexually abused three teenaged altar boys in the 1970s and parts of the 1980s in Welland and Cayuga.

In December of the same year, he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars and two years probation.

He has since been released.

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SWEDEN
The Local

Six out of ten mosques in Sweden gave women advice about how to deal with spousal abuse and polygamy that contradicted Swedish law, a media investigation has revealed.

Using hidden cameras and telephone recording equipment, two women posing as abused spouses visited ten of Sweden’s largest mosques as part of a report put together by Sveriges Television (SVT) investigative news programme “Uppdrag granskning”.

The women then asked leaders at the mosques for advice about how to address issues such as polygamy, assault and non-consensual sex.

Six out of the ten mosques visited by the women, who had also claimed that their husbands had multiple wives, told them that they should nevertheless agree to have sex with their husbands even if they didn’t want to.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WOIO

[with video]

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) –
Catholics from a dozen northeast Ohio churches got what they’d been praying for when Rome announced, back in Mach, that their churches must be reopened.

The long, difficult and unprecedented process of reopening those churches began Wednesday after a two year fight.

The Diocese and parishioners of closed churches have to work together to make this a reality.

“Because it hasn’t been done anywhere else, we will work through the process together,” said Phillis Fuller Clipps of St. Adalbert parish.

Bishop Richard Lennon called reps from St. Adalbert and St. James to the Diocese office for the first of several meetings — before the doors of their beloved churches can open again.

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LAKEWOOD (OH)
Patch

By Colin McEwen

St. James Catholic Church is expected to reopen sometime this summer.

But that’s about where any certainty regarding the parish ends.

Questions remain about the church’s leadership and physical restoration — and no firm date has been set.

The shuttered church on Detroit Avenue is slated to open its doors again after Bishop Richard Lennon reversed his 2010 decision to close 12 parishes in Northeast Ohio.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
newsnet5

[with video]

Tracy Carloss, newsnet5.com

CLEVELAND – Parishioners of 12 closed Catholic churches have began meeting with Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. They’re discussing the process of re-opening the dozen parishes which were closed then re-opened by the Vatican under appeal.

Parishioners from the closed St. James Church in Lakewood and St. Adalbert in Cleveland met with Bishop Lennon on Wednesday.

“We had a very positive meeting. We talked about where we have been, where we will go. We know we have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Phillis Fuller Clipps, a St. Adalbert church-goer.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Fox 8

[with video]

May 17, 2012, by Dave Nethers

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Members of each of the 12 northeast Ohio Catholic churches ordered reopen by the Vatican have started to hold private meetings with Bishop Richard Lennon about what happens next for each of their parishes.

A delegation from St. Barbara Church on Dennison Avenue in Cleveland was first to meet with the Bishop on Tuesday.

Michael Minnich described the tone of the meeting as “cordial” and “informal,” telling Fox 8 News that there was a great deal of give and take between the church representatives and the Bishop.

Minnich said the Bishop seemed particularly interested in hearing about the experience each member of the delegation has had at their church in the past and what their expectations are for the future.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

As part of its ongoing effort to combat charges of secrecy and financial scandals, the Holy See’s Institute for Works of Religion – often called the Vatican bank – this week invited a group of around 35 ambassadors to make a fact-finding visit. The diplomats were encouraged to ask questions about the Institute and the services it provides, as well as about its response to money laundering investigations and compliance with international standards.

Among those who visited the Institute on Tuesday was Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, who talked to Philippa Hitchen about this important process of opening the bank up to very public scrutiny……

Listen:

“For some time ambassadors have been encouraging the IOR (Istituto per le Opere di Religione) to open up their doors to help us understand them better. Very often we hear fairly justified complaints that there’s a lot of commentary about the IOR, the so called Vatican bank, that’s either ignorant or not well founded or very much based in the past. So we’ve been saying for some time – and we had a chance as European ambassadors to talk to the board of IOR some months ago – well, we’d like to come and see for ourselves. So they invited us to visit, to hear what they had to say, to see a presentation of what they really are up to now, their great efforts, stimulated especially by pope Benedict XVI, to improve their levels of transparency and compliance, particularly in relation to a range of international norms and the processes they’re going through to reach that and fundamentally to demystify their work. So we found it extremely useful, we had the chance to ask questions and I understand they will be doing something also for financial journalists in the near future – which I encourage.

Do you think this will be enough to lay to rest the concerns?

Not immediately no, I think it’s a process. It’s only really been a year or so since new regulations have come into place improving the governance of IOR, improving its compliance with a range of recommendations of the international financial action task force. It is only since last year that the Council of Europe’s expert committee – called Moneyval for short – on money laundering and financing of terrorism has had the chance to come to the Vatican to look at the IOR and other Vatican institutions that manage finances to see how they’re doing, to provide recommendations and advice and to rate them, later on this year, against a range of international norms. I think that process will be bumpy because there will be some things where the IOR can’t yet say we’ve reached full international compliance and indeed other Vatican institutions.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By ZACH BRAZILLER

Ernie Lorch, the controversial founder and director of the powerhouse Riverside Church Hawks AAU program who mentored numerous inner-city youth into NBA basketball careers, passed away Monday morning of natural causes at the age of 80, The Post has learned.

Lorch, a multimillionaire corporate attorney who turned Riverside Church into arguably the nation’s elite program before allegations of sexual abuse of a former player led to his resignation in 2002, died while at a Yonkers nursing home, close family friend Seldon Jefferson said.

He had a stroke two years ago, was in declining health and suffered from diabetes and dementia, those close to him said. His family declined to speak to the media, Jefferson said. Arrangements have yet to be made.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle PI

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

A Seattle minister and former foster parent whom prosecutors say sexually assaulted multiple children may have additional victims who haven’t come forward, police said.

King County prosecutors contend Timothy L. Dampier sexually assaulted at least three boys and likely molested many more. Dampier, formerly a licensed foster parent, had been employed by at least eight organizations serving children.

Police said his work included time at Samuel House, a Kent group home, and the Union Gospel Mission. When Dampier was arrested he was working at the Bellevue Boys and Girls Club, but was suspended after the investigation was launched.

“We want to ensure that any and all victims receive not only the assistance they need, but justice,” Detective Jeff Kappel said in a statement. “Just because the suspect is in custody is not a reason to not come forward with information about additional crimes that may have

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Sun Chronicle

“I dislike the word victim. I’m a survivor. We were all survivors,” said John Robitaille in “Father Porter: Remembering the evil,” a story on Sunday’s front page.

Call this a semantical argument, if you wish, but the distinction is given weight in recovery programs for those who have suffered from abuse. Victims can carry the weight of victimhood throughout their lives. Survivors move on toward the goal of becoming thrivers again.

Formerly of North Attleboro, Robitaille suffered in the most notorious child sex abuse incidents ever to come to light in The Sun Chronicle area. It was committed a half-century ago by the then Rev. James Porter, an assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Church in North Attleboro.

But it was not until 20 years ago that Porter, who had since been defrocked, was brought to trial. Accusations were made that he raped and otherwise abused at least 131 children – the number is believed to be higher – but due to statutes of limitation, he only faced charges from 28.

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GEORGIA
AccessNorthGA

By B.J. Williams Editor

FLOWERY BRANCH – One local child advocacy group says most churches are not prepared to handle the responsibility of a new Georgia law that mandates pastors report child abuse that may surface in their congregations.

Steve Collins with Adults Protecting Children says House Bill 1176, passed in the legislature this year and signed into law recently by Governor Nathan Deal, is going to push churches to address the issue of child sexual abuse, but it’s an issue most are not ready to handle adequately.

“It still, unfortunately, is an issue that either is a taboo subject in too many churches or too many churches are just afraid of the issue,” said Collins.

He said Protestant churches likely will face the biggest challenge.

“It [HB 1176] will make pastors mandated reporters, which has never happened in the state of Georgia,” said Collins.

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SEATTLE (WA)
KING 5

[with video]

by JIM FORMAN / KING 5 News

When Timothy Dampier first went before a judge a year ago, he was accused of sex crimes against three boys – adding three counts to the original five counts.

Over the course of the last 12 months, police say, the number of his alleged victims has exploded exponentially.

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed an amended case against Dampier.

The man friends called “the Bishop” was a popular pastor, musician, group home counselor and licensed foster parent who was last working at the Boys and Girls Club in Bellevue

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CALIFORNIA
The Valley Catholic

By Roberta Ward
The national audit of U.S. dioceses has been published in keeping with the mandates of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

Enrique Flores, second Director of the diocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults, who has been in the position since last fall, said that hundreds of parish and school employees and volunteers have gone through safe environment training.

He said that computer files are currently being updated and that many people, especially volunteers, are presently in the process of training and that an updated report would be available for the current fiscal year soon.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

Reuters

2:45 p.m. CDT, May 16, 2012

* Corrects that cardinal is Italian, not Spanish, in para 4

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, May 16 (Reuters) – Leaders of the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order knew that their most famous priest had fathered a child for many months
before they acknowledged it this week, a top Vatican official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The once influential religious order, still in crisis following revelations that its founder was a sexual abuser with two secret families, suffered another major blow on Tuesday when
American Father Thomas Williams admitted to having fathered a child with a woman in Rome.

The question left hanging was how long the order’s leaders knew about Williams’s secret life and why they continued to let him preach, teach and appear on television around the world,
particularly in the United States.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By RAY RIVERA

Published: May 16, 2012

The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, on Wednesday defended his record in the face of criticism over his handling of accusations of child sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

In an op-ed article in The Daily News, Mr. Hynes wrote that it was absurd “to suggest that we cover up, downplay or in any way ‘give a break’ to sex offenders in the Orthodox Jewish community.”

Mr. Hynes also had a pointed e-mail exchange with former Mayor Edward I. Koch, who questioned the district attorney’s policies in a blog post in The Huffington Post.

Both men were reacting to an article in The New York Times last week that examined Mr. Hynes’s record in these cases and his relationships with influential rabbis in Brooklyn’s growing ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

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APPLETON (WI)
Fox 11

APPLETON – The two brothers who sued the Green Bay Catholic Diocese provided emotional testimony Wednesday about the abuse they endured decades ago. It was day three of the civil trial.

Todd and Troy Merryfield are suing the diocese for fraud. They claim the diocese knew, before they were abused, that former priest, John Feeney, had a history of inappropriate sexual contact with children.

The abuse by John Feeney left both Merryfield brothers shaken. They testified that as a priest, Feeney was someone they trusted.

“They’re the hand of god on earth. Who else are you supposed to trust?” asked Todd Merryfield.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Published: May 16, 2012

As thousands of supporters of a Brooklyn man accused of being a child molester attended a fund-raiser for his legal defense Wednesday night, a group of about 100 people supporting the young woman who alleged that he sexually assaulted her rallied outside.

It was a scene of anger and division over the issue of child sexual abuse that residents of the insular neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said they had never before seen. In front of the Continental catering hall on Rutledge Street, where the fund-raiser was being held, a tightly packed crowd of Hasidic men who supported the accused man, Nechemya Weberman, stood and stared down the young woman’s supporters, who stood behind police barricades. “Protect victims, not abusers,” their signs said.

“I’m here to support the young girl, the victim, who has been vilified and dragged through the mud,” said Robert H. Hoatson, a former Catholic priest who stood with ultra-Orthodox supporters of the girl, other victims of child sexual abuse and their advocates.

At about 8 p.m., a Hasidic man from the fund-raiser rushed the protesters’ barricades. The police grabbed him, put him in handcuffs and led him away.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Verdict

Marcia A. Hamilton

The most developed record in the country of a cover-up of child sex abuse by an entire Roman Catholic diocese now exists in Philadelphia. Why? Because recent Philadelphia prosecutors have proactively sought the truth, even when it was far from flattering to the diocese’s hierarchy. For an elected official, that takes guts. Fortunately, both former District Attorney Lynne Abraham and current District Attorney Seth Williams have plenty of guts.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese is being unmasked, day by day, as an institution that operated in such a way as to endanger children. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Msgr. William Lynn for his integral role in suppressing the identities of priest perpetrators. The policies that Lynn implemented have now been put under the harsh glare of the public spotlight, for the first criminal trial of a member of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is now underway. Each and every day of the trial—which already has lasted six weeks, and is expected to last up to three months—the prosecution further peels back the diocese’s veneer, exposing it as a truly horrific place for children. Recently, it has also added to its profile of callousness by re-victimizing the victims it had a hand in creating.

This trial is only going forward because of former D.A. Abraham’s steely determination to know the truth of what happened in Philadelphia. A decade ago, she instituted the first grand jury investigation of the Archdiocese, knowing in all likelihood that she might not find victims whose cases she could prosecute, because Pennsylvania statutes of limitations regarding child sex abuse were so short. But once they got the go-ahead, Abraham’s dogged and brilliant attorneys, including Charlie Gallagher and Mariana Sorenson, pursued the truth in just the way we want our public servants to do so: They cared about the truth first, and the political fallout second.

Compare Abraham and her Office to the many District Attorneys and their Offices, across the country, who have refused, when asked, to investigate dioceses, saying that they can’t do anything until a victim comes forward whose claims fall within the statute of limitations. Abraham’s work reveals those excuses as being more political than prosecutorial.

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DALLAS (TX)
Odessa American

DALLAS Trial has begun in Dallas of a former Roman Catholic priest accused of plotting the death of a man who accused him of sexual abuse.

A neighbor of John M. Fiala when the former priest lived in suburban Dallas accused Fiala of asking him to kill his accuser. That accuser had said Fiala abused him at Fiala’s former rural West Texas parish in 2008 when the man was 16.

The Dallas Morning News reports prosecutors told a Dallas County jury Wednesday that Fiala was distraught over the four-count indictment, which is still pending in Edwards County.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The News

Published on Thursday 17 May 2012

THE Catholic church is hoping to overturn a ruling in the case of a Waterlooville woman who claims she was abused by a priest as a child.

The 47-year-old woman who can only be identified as JGE says she was sexually abused by Father William Baldwin, while living at The Firs Children’s Home, in Waterlooville, for two years in the 1970s.

She is seeking compensation from the order of nuns who ran the home – The English Province of Our Lady of Charity – and the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust.

The church had previously asked the High Court to consider whether they could be held responsible for the actions of their priests and ministers.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Written by
JIM WALSH
Courier-Post Staff

CAMDEN — A North Carolina woman has sued the Diocese of Camden, alleging church officials failed to protect her from an abusive priest in the early 1980s.

Lisa Syvertson Shanahan alleges the Rev. Thomas Harkins molested her on multiple occasions in 1980 and 1981 at a Hammonton church. The assaults stopped, the lawsuit says, when Harkins “suddenly” left St. Anthony of Padua parish in 1982.

The lawsuit asserts that Harkins was removed from the parish after another girl accused him of assaulting her, but that church officials did not make that public. Harkins was removed from the priesthood in 2002, after the diocese had settled two complaints in the 1980s that alleged he had abused young girls in Hammonton.

This is the second lawsuit brought against the diocese this year alleging sexual abuse by a priest. An Ohio man, Mark Bryson, sued in January, alleging he had been abused about 45 years ago by the Rev. Joseph Shannon at a Camden parish, also called St. Anthony of Padua.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Monsignor William J. Lynn confessed to a grand jury back in 2004 that he wasn’t qualified to investigate sexually abusive priests.

The monsignor’s admission came in response to a grand jury prosecutor, who asked Lynn if he realized that he needed more training to investigate sex crimes committed by priests against minors in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“Today I do,” the monsignor told the grand jury back in 2004. When the grand jury prosecutor asked Lynn point-blank if he was qualified to investigate sex abuse, he responded simply, “No.”

The monsignor told the grand jury that he studied theology and philosophy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and also had a master’s degree in education administration. But when you’re trying to outwit a pedophile, “a degree in psychology, that would help,” the monsignor told the grand jury. So would some law enforcement seminars.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU

NEW ORLEANS –
A local church leader recently appointed to an area economic development board is facing two lawsuits filed by a man who claims he was sexually abused by the preacher.

Bishop Kevin Boyd Sr. Leads the Church at New Orleans — formerly named the Apostolic Church at New Orleans. The church is located just off Chef Menteur Highway in the eastern part of the city.

And according to court documents obtained by the WDSU I-Team, that is where, nearly 12 years ago, the alleged abuse began.

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INDIA
Times of India

TRICHY: All the five accused in the Sister Florence Mary rape case appeared before the mahila court in Trichy on Wednesday, even as the victim submitted a petition before the judge, seeking permission to officially engage a lawyer for the prosecution, along with the public prosecutor before the start of the trial.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer A Rajendran, who appeared for Fr Rajarathinam, a Jesuit priest and accused number one in the case, asked the judge to grant more time to counter the victim’s plea. Judge Rahman posted the hearing to May 28.

Fr Rajarathinam, the former principal of St Joseph’s College, Trichy was accused by Florence Mary (31), a former member of St Anne’s congregation in Trichy, of rape in 2006 and later in 2008. The priest was granted anticipatory bail by the Madras high court on November 3, 2010 after he allegedly went underground for over a month.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee on May. 16, 2012 NCR Today

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The lawyer representing the priest at the center of the first criminal trial of a bishop in the decades-long clergy sexual abuse crisis has requested the priest’s federal trial be delayed.

The priest, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, is charged with 13 federal felony counts relating to the possession and production of child pornography.

Ratigan’s bishop, Robert W. Finn, and his diocese, that of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., face separate criminal trials in a local jurisdiction on charges of suspicion of child abuse, stemming from questions surrounding when they reported Ratigan to police.

The motion for a continuance, filed in federal court today and first reported by The Kansas City Star, would delay Ratigan’s trial from June until Aug. 27. Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Kuchar says in the filing that he only recently received some 1,000 pages of material from prosecutors and needs time to study it.

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MISSOURI
St. Joseph News-Press

Kim Norvell
St. Joseph News-Press
On Twitter: @KimNorvell

A federal public defender has requested to delay a jury trial for a Catholic priest accused of sexually exploiting children.

Robert Kuchar filed a motion Wednesday to move the Rev. Shawn Ratigan’s federal trial to August, citing more than “1,000 pages of new discovery” recently handed over by the prosecution.

“Counsel needs additional time to finish reviewing the discovery and then to discuss the contents of the discovery with Mr. Ratigan,” the assistant federal public defender wrote in the motion. “In light of the additional discovery Counsel needs more time to conduct a complete investigation into the newly discovered material.”

Rev. Ratigan’s trial is currently scheduled for June 4 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Mr. Kuchar requested the case be moved to Aug. 27, which would be more than a year since Rev. Ratigan was indicted for 13 counts of sexual exploitation of minors and children.

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CANADA
AFP

OTTAWA — A former Catholic bishop convicted of importing child pornography — including some laced with religious imagery — into Canada has been stripped of his religious duties, the church said Wednesday.

“The Holy See has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state, one of the most serious penalties that the church can impose,” said a statement from Brian Dunn, the new bishop of Antigonish.

Raymond Lahey, 71, resigned as head of the Nova Scotia diocese in 2009 after a search at the Ottawa airport of his laptop computer uncovered a cache of child pornography.

He pleaded guilty in May 2011 to charges of possessing for the purpose of importing child pornography and was later sentenced to 15 months in prison but walked out of court a free man in January after already serving time in jail.

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CANADA
London Free Press

By Doug Hempstead, QMI Agency

Last Updated: May 16, 2012 4:26pm

Disgraced Roman Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey, convicted in January of importing child pornography, has been dismissed from the clerical state.

The announcement came today from Lahey’s former diocese in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

In a statement released to the media, the diocese explained Lahey can no longer work as a cleric or preside over religious services and sacraments following the decision by the Holy See in Rome.

It is among the most serious penalties in the Catholic Church.

“This decision reminds all of us of the serious harms that come from all forms of pornography, especially child pornography,” Antigonish Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn said in a statement.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — With the prosecution winding down in the clergy abuse case, a last segment of testimony by defendant William Lynn before a grand jury back in 2004 was presented Wednesday.

Lynn has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and endangering children by allowing predator priests to remain in ministry.

Monsignor William Lynn, Secretary for Clergy from 1992 to 2004, acknowledged before the grand jury that, in hindsight, he did not have the training, background and experience he should have for that job. But he told the jury he still did an adequate job. He also explained his methods–he says an admission by a priest or a diagnosis of pedophilia or ephebophilia, a sexual attraction to adolescents, would result in removal from ministry even though a number of cases cited during this trial did not. He also told the jury that on instruction from Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, he ignored any anonymous or secondhand allegations and indicated that on more than one occasion, the priest’s reputation was a significant concern.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Diocese of Portsmouth is challenging a High Court ruling that the Roman Catholic Church can be held liable for the sex crimes of priests.

Last year Mr Justice MacDuff gave a decision in favour of a woman, who claims she was raped and assaulted as a child by a priest of the diocese.

The woman, now aged 47, alleges she was abused by the late Father Wilfred Baldwin at a Hampshire children’s home.

The judge ruled the diocese “may be vicariously liable” for his actions.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

Door: Kim Herbots − 16/05/12

Op lange termijn heeft de zaak-Vangheluwe geen negatieve impact op het imago van de kerk. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek aan de KU Leuven. ‘Hoe vreselijk zijn daden ook zijn, mensen kunnen het onderscheid maken tussen de persoon en het instituut.’

Studenten van de KU Leuven ondervragen sinds een paar jaar systematisch leerlingen, leerkrachten en ouders in katholieke scholen over het katholieke geloof. Sinds bekend raakte dat de voormalige bisschop van Brugge, Roger Vangheluwe, zijn neefje jarenlang misbruikte, wordt er ook gepolst naar hoe dat dossier het beeld van de kerk beïnvloedt.

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CANADA
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

On May 4, 2011, then Bishop Raymond Lahey entered a plea of guilty in civil court to the possession of child pornography. He was sentenced in accordance with civil law on January 4, 2012. It remained for the Holy See to follow the canonical procedures in effect for such cases to determine what appropriate disciplinary or penal measures would be imposed. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has now been informed by the Holy See that Raymond Lahey has been dismissed from the clerical state. According to Canon 292 of the Code of Canon Law, the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state has the following effects: loss of the rights and duties attached to the clerical state, except for the obligation of celibacy; prohibition of the exercise of any ministry, except as provided for by Canon 976 of the Code of Canon Law in those cases involving danger of death; loss of all offices and functions and of all delegated power, as well as prohibition of the use of clerical attire. Raymond Lahey has accepted the Decree of Dismissal, which also requires him to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in reparation for the harm and the scandal he has caused, and for the sanctification of clergy.

May 16, 2012

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CANADA
National Catholic Reporter

May. 16, 2012
By Catholic News Service

OTTAWA, Ontario — Raymond Lahey, the retired bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who was convicted of importing child pornography, has been laicized by the Vatican, said the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A statement on the CCCB website Wednesday said the conference learned from the Vatican that “Raymond Lahey has been dismissed from the clerical state.” As such, he loses all rights and duties associated with being a priest, except the obligation of celibacy, said the bishops’ statement.

“Raymond Lahey has accepted the Decree of Dismissal, which also requires him to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in reparation for the harm and the scandal he has caused, and for the sanctification of clergy,” the statement said.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

ANTIGONISH — The Vatican has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state.

This will mean that the former bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish will no longer function as a cleric, will no longer have the rights and duties of being a cleric, is not permitted to exercise any ecclesiastical offices or functions and is not permitted to preside at any of the sacraments or religious services.

However, any sacraments that he performed prior to this decision continue to be valid.

Lahey was convicted of possessing child pornography.

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DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By Jennifer Emily/Reporter
jemily@dallasnews.com
1:12 pm on May 16, 2012

Testimony got under way today in the Dallas County trial of a former priest accused of engaging in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a man who accused the priest of molesting him as a boy.

Prosecutors allege that John Fiala was distraught over indictments that accused him of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in his rural West Texas parish when he asked a neighbor to kill his accuser.

Fiala faces a charge of solicitation of capital murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison. He’s also been indicted on four charges of sexual assault in Edwards County.

The neighbor, Scottie Fisher, testified that Fiala told him about his legal troubles in November 2010 when they were renting rooms at a house in Garland. Fisher said that Fiala was crying and that he tried to comfort the man he had known just three weeks by patting him on the back.

“Can you go out and kill him?” Fisher testified that Fiala asked.

“I said ‘Hell no.’”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Courts Service has revealed RTE’s bill for defamed priest Fr Kevin Reynolds’ legal team was more than €150,000.

Declan O’Neill, Taxing Master, ruled Fr Reynolds’ solicitor Robert Dore be paid €80,000 for his work on the defamation case.

Mr Dore, and his firm Dore and Company, had originally sought an instructions fee of €275,000.

He had argued the case occupied his time between mid-June and mid-November, that it pervaded his office, and that the amount of time spent by his practice was enormous.

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APPLETON (WI)
Post-Crescent

Written by
Jim Collar
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON — A Port Washington man testified Wednesday that a sense of failure accompanied his long-held secret of being molested in 1978 at the hands of a priest.

“I didn’t protect my brother,” Todd Merryfield told a jury as he fought back tears. “I’m the oldest brother. That’s my job and I failed.”

Merryfield, 48, opened the second day of testimony in an Outagamie County civil trial alleging fraud by the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. Merryfield and his brother, Troy Merryfield, are suing the diocese for unspecified compensation, claiming the diocese knew priest John Feeney sexually assaulted other children prior to 1978 and misrepresented his safety around children.

The diocese denies the allegations.

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INDIA
Deccan Herald

May 17, 2012
By Nalla Ram

A Sanskrit scholar burnt the hands of a seven-year-old girl on Tuesday for stealing Rs 2 from a temple’s offering plate on Tuesday. The callous incident, which took place in a temple at Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam, came to light on Wednesday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

“On the job training,” was what Msgr. William J. Lynn told the grand jury in 2004, describing the preparation he had to be the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s chief investigator of allegations about priests sexually molesting minors.

There was little direction from then Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua and only “rare” questions from the archbishop when he filed a report on a wayward priest, Lynn’s testimony reads.

That portrait of Lynn drawn from his grand jury testimony — an innocent, inexperienced priest thrust into a job that required the training of a lawyer, detective and psychologist — has been a mainstay of his defense in the landmark Common Pleas Court trial in which he accused of enabling pedophile priests to continue to prey on children.

City prosecutors today continued trying to undercut that portrait using documents from the church’s Secret Archives on abusive priests that were turned over to prosecutors in February on the eve of the trial.

A 2002 memo from Bishop Joseph Cistone to Lynn, introduced by Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, refers to the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the church’s lobbying arm in Harrisburg, and its effort to prevent the legislature from extending the deadline for purported victims of sexual abuse by priests to file lawsuits against the church.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kanas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A lawyer representing a Catholic priest charged with producing child pornography today asked a Kansas City federal judge to delay the trial until August.

If granted, the continuance would put trial dates for the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and his boss, Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, within a month of each other.

Ratigan is charged with 12 federal felony counts relating to the possession and production of child pornography. Finn is charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with misdemeanor failure to report suspicions of child abuse for the six-month delay in reporting Ratigan to child welfare authorities after church officials learned of lewd photographs on the priest’s laptop.

Finn’s trial currently is scheduled to open Sept. 24.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

[This is first in a continuing series of profiles of individuals whom the media often cites in its coverage of the Catholic Church abuse narrative.]

When the media is seeking a voice to blast away at the Catholic Church over the sex abuse issue, one reliable source is often Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., a Dominican priest and canon lawyer. What the media will never tell you, however, is that Doyle has a storied history of contempt for the Church and a penchant to misrepresent the faith.

Fr. Doyle’s desire to seek justice and compassion for innocent victims of Catholic clergy abuse is to be commended, and Catholics can learn much from his seemingly unrestrained fervor to provide healing. However, Doyle’s open disdain for the Catholic Church is so exaggerated and over the top, one cannot help but wonder why he still remains a Catholic priest.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Article by: MARYCLAIRE DALE , Associated Press
Updated: May 16, 2012 – 2:19 PM

PHILADELPHIA – Evidence in a groundbreaking priest-abuse trial shows the men running the Philadelphia archdiocese used byzantine methods to keep child sex-abuse complaints from prying eyes.

Memos unearthed from long-secret archives show the complaints were not just under lock and key — but protected by locks, keys, alarms, safes, computer passwords and other measures.

One 1994 list shown to jurors Wednesday lists three diagnosed pedophile priests and 13 more deemed “guilty” of abuse, often because they had admitted it.

Yet most remained active priests until the “zero tolerance” policy adopted by U.S. bishops in 2002. And some remained priests years later.

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CANADA
570 News

ANTIGONISH, N.S. – A Roman Catholic bishop who was convicted of importing child pornography into Canada has been stripped of his clerical duties.

The Holy See in Rome has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state in what is one of the most serious penalties that the Roman Catholic Church can impose, the Diocese of Antigonish, N.S., said Wednesday.

The decision means Lahey, a former bishop of Antigonish, can no longer work as a cleric nor preside at any religious services or sacraments.

“This decision reminds all of us of the serious harms that come from all forms of pornography, especially child pornography,” Antigonish Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn said in a statement.

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NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

[Jan Schafraad, niet ‘Jan S.’]

Advocaat Titus Weller heeft bij de deken van de Amsterdamse Orde van Advocaten een klacht ingediend tegen de advocaat van de Maastrichtse pastoor Jan S., Geertjan van Oosten. Advocaat Van Oosten zou zich in een interview in deze krant onnodig grievend hebben uitgelaten over twee Limburgers die een aanklacht tegen de pastoor hebben ingediend wegens seksueel misbruik. In de krant zei Van Oosten niet uit te sluiten dat de aanklagers van de pastoor ‘etterbakken’ zijn die op geld uit zijn.

ANP

De twee Limburgers zeggen door S. misbruikt te zijn toen deze nog broeder was in jongensinternaat Bleijerheide in Kerkrade. S. ontkent.

Van Oosten liet woensdag desgevraagd weten geen reden te zien voor excuses, omdat het tweetal S. publiekelijk heeft beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik. Naar zijn mening is er een hetze ontstaan tegen de pastoor. Hij herhaalt dat de motieven van de aangevers mogelijk niet zuiver zijn.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Joan Chittister on May. 16, 2012 From Where I Stand

This month, it was the Leadership Conference of Women Religious that bishops were concerned about. Before that, it was Catholic Charities in the United States. Then it was Caritas, the church’s umbrella organization for the coordination of international charity. And now it is the Girl Scouts. Each of them has been curtailed, “investigated” or put in some kind of canonical receivership because of their reputed lack of orthodoxy on sexual issues or because of association with other groups that, according to the bishops, have the same problem. And all of that in the face of the sex abuse debacle of the church itself, still to be resolved, never monitored, and totally closed to outside investigation.

The question is, Where has all this energy for empirical destruction come from in a church now projecting its own serious problems with sexual issues onto everything that moves?

In his new book, Pius XII: The Hound of Hitler, noted historian Gerard Noel traces the history of this pope’s “Great Design.” The material starts with the rise of the young canon lawyer Eugenio Pacelli to a position of power in the Vatican. It winds its way through Pacelli’s election as Pius XII and the suppression by Pacelli himself of Germany’s Catholic Centre Party and even Catholic social action groups in pre-WWII Germany, the only bodies in Germany strong enough to have checked the rise of Nazism. It concludes with the rise of another man, Adolf Hitler, whose reach for power matched his own but whose rise his very Concordats assured.

Pacelli rose to power, Noel explains, on the arm of a canon law degree in a church still smarting from the loss of the Papal States and the consequent unification of Italy. Pacelli dreamed of using a system of Concordats — particular legal agreements with the major powers in Europe — to restore the quasi-imperial power that went with the temporal power and wealth the Papal States had assured. Pacelli’s life goal became the centralization of the church, the control of all its organizations. Under Pacelli, law became the power of the church; the Gospel, its victim.

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DEUTSCHLAND
News4Press

Klaus Michael Beier – * 1961 – ist ein deutscher Mediziner, Psychotherapeut und Sexualwissenschaftler. Er ist Direktor des Instituts für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualmedizin an der Charité in Berlin. Klaus Michael Beier begann 1979 sein Medizinstudium und 1980 zusätzlich ein Philosophiestudium an der Freien Universität Berlin. 1986 promovierte er in Medizin, zwei Jahre später in Philosophie. Ebenfalls 1988 wurde er wissenschaftlicher Assistent für Sexualwissenschaft < / > Sexualmedizin am Klinikum der Universität Kiel an der dortigen Sexualmedizinischen Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle. Seine Habilitation für Sexualmedizin erfolgte 1994, 1996 wurde er Facharzt für Psychotherapeutische Medizin und Psychoanalytiker und zum Professor für Sexualwissenschaft < / > Sexualmedizin an der Charité sowie Leiter des Instituts für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualmedizin. Beier leitete die Berliner Männer-Studie vom August 2002 bis Juni 2005, bei der von 600.000 Männern im Alter zwischen 40 bis 79 Jahren aus Berlin 6000 angeschrieben wurden, von denen 1700 antworteten und sich 1400 Männer im zweiten Teil in einem Interview befragen ließen. Unter anderem wurden die Teilnehmer zu ihrer Sexualfunktion und ihrem sexuellen Erleben sowie persönlichkeitspsychologische Aspekte befragt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Etwas Verpasst

Die katholische Kirche steckt in einer tiefen Krise. Der Missbrauchsskandal hat viel Vertrauen gekostet. Mehr als 180.000 Gläubige sind 2010 aus ihrer Kirche ausgetreten. Die Kirche hält jedoch an ihren Strukturen fest, es gibt immer weniger Priester. Deshalb wollen die Bischöfe Kirchen schließen und Pfarreien zu Seelsorgeeinheiten und Megagemeinden zusammenlegen. Stoppen soll den Negativtrend ein “Dialog- und Gesprächsprozess”. Bischöfe, Priester und Laien streiten bis 2015 darüber, wie die Zukunft der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland aussehen soll. Dabei ist klar: die heißen Eisen wie Zölibat, Sexualmoral und Weiheämter für Frauen bleiben in der Schublade. Ein Höhepunkt soll der Mannheimer Katholikentag im Mai 2012 werden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Suite 101

Der Eisenstädter Bischof Paul Iby hat im Jänner 2010 mit Erreichen der Altersgrenze von 75 Jahren sein Rücktrittsgesuch an den Vatikan abgegeben. Dieses wurde von Papst Benedikt XVI. “nunc pro tunc”, “jetzt für später” angenommen. Der Rücktritt des burgenländischen Oberhirten werde zu einem noch offenen Zeitpunkt wirksam.

Ein unliebsamer Kritiker

1959 wurde Paul Iby zum Priester geweiht . Promotion in Rom 1967, danach Caritas-Chef und Schulamtsleiter und später Generalvikar in Eisenstadt. 1992 wurde er zum Bischof der Diözese Burgenland bestellt. Möglicherweise wird sein Rücktrittsgesuch vom Vatikan jetzt noch schneller angenommen als erwartet. Mit der Infragestellung des Pflichtzölibats machte sich der Bischof in einem am 12. Mai in der österreichischen Tageszeitung “Die Presse” erschienenen Interview auch unter seinen Glaubensbrüdern im Bischofsrang keine Freunde. Jahrhundertelange Dogmen werden nicht gerne in Frage gestellt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
n-tv

Helmut Schüller spricht konzentriert und unaufgeregt, doch was er sagt, hat es in sich. Der Pfarrer fordert die Zulassung von Frauen zum Priesteramt und das Ende des Zölibats. Die Kommunion gibt er auch an Geschiedene, die wiederverheiratet sind – ein krasser Tabubruch. Schüller ist ungehorsam. Selbst der Papst spricht bereits öffentlich über seine Initiative.

n-tv.de: Herr Schüller, Sie lehnen eine ganze Reihe von zentralen Grundregeln der katholischen Kirche ab – müssten Sie nicht eigentlich die Kirche verlassen, anstatt darauf zu hoffen, dass die Kirche so viele Positionen aufgibt?

Helmut Schüller: Aber wir lehnen keine einzige Grundregel der Kirche ab.

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OSTERRIECH
der Standard

Graz – Wenn es um männliche Initiationsriten geht, kennt der steirische Brauch neuerdings auch recht schlüpfrige Varianten. Als Ergebnis einer Schwerpunktaktion der Polizei in Sachen Jugendschutzgesetz notierten zu Wochenbeginn erhebende Beamte, dass immer wieder steirische Kinder, die in diesen Tagen vom örtlichen Pfarrer das Sakrament der Firmung empfangen, für diesen kirchlichen Anlass höchst weltlich beschenkt werden: mit einem Bordellbesuch.

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ROME
RP – Online

Rom (RPO). Ein neuer Skandal um ihren bekanntesten Vertreter erschüttert die Legionäre Christi. Thomas Williams, das öffentliche Gesicht der katholischen Ordensgemeinschaft, gestand am Dienstag ein, vor Jahren ein Kind gezeugt zu haben.

Ein prominenter US-amerikanischer Priester der “Legionäre Christi” hat eingeräumt, Vater eines Kindes zu sein. Der als geistlicher Autor und TV-Kommentator bekannte Thomas Williams gab bekannt, er habe “vor einigen Jahren ein Verhältnis mit einer Frau gehabt”, aus dem auch ein Kind hervorgegangen sei. Williams bitte um Entschuldigung für sein mit dem Priesteramt unvereinbares Verhalten. Er wolle sich jetzt für die weitere Zukunft orientieren, heißt es in einer Mitteilung der Mitteleuropäischen Ordensprovinz der Legionäre in Düsseldorf.

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DEUTCHLAND
Readers Edition

Dierk Schäfer aus Bad Boll, Pfarrer im Ruhestand, erhielt eine E-Mail und geht in seinem Blog darauf ein (1). Im Betreff dieser E-Mail ist lediglich der Begriff „Sülze“ zu lesen. Ihm wurde ein Link zugesandt, der zur Homepage der „Diakonischen Stiftung Wittekindshof“ führt (2). Schäfer fragt sich, wo auf dieser Homepageseite der E-Mail-Absender „Sülze“ ausgemacht hat und studiert in diesem Zusammenhang das Geleitwort des Stiftungsleiters der Behinderteneinrichtung in Bad Oeynhausen (3), Prof. Dr. Dierk Starnitzke (4)zum Buch: „Als wären wir zur Strafe hier – Gewalt gegen Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung – der Wittekindshof in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren“ (5).

Schäfer stellt fest, dass Starnitzke in seiner „Aufarbeitung der Geschichte“ (2) „in sehr deutlicher Sprache die schlimmen Erlebnisse der ehemaligen Heimkinder an prominenter Stelle“ benennt. Schäfer weiter: „In Ihrem Geleitwort nennen Sie dagegen zunächst die damals allgemein schlimmen Verhältnisse und der Leser fragt sich, wer mehr zu bedauern ist, das Personal oder die Kinder. Was Sie nirgendwo erwähnen, ist die Behandlung der Heimkinderfrage durch den Runden Tisch, die von Beginn an auf Übervorteilung aus war.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Unabhangiger Beauftraghter

Richtigstellung: Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Bundesregierung hat keinen Maßnahmenkatalog zur Prävention aufgestellt

Berlin, 15.05.2012. Die Vereinbarungen zwischen dem Unabhängigen Beauftragten und Dachorganisationen zur Umsetzung der Empfehlungen des Runden Tisches „Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch“ zu Prävention und Intervention enthalten keinen konkreten Maßnahmenkatalog, wie in der Märkischen Allgemeinen Zeitung (MAZ) vom 12.05.2012 berichtet.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on May 16, 2012

Despite a decade of vigorous public relations, a new survey shows that most Catholics don’t believe their bishops are “reforming” how they deal with clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

In what must be sobering news for the Catholic hierarchy, the survey, conducted by US Catholic magazine of its readers, finds that

— only one third say Catholic parishes and schools are now safer for children,

— almost 60 % say church leaders have “done the bare minimum and should be doing much more,”

— barely half of the respondents say bishops are less likely to cover up abuse cases today than in the past

— 76% believe that “those who should get credit for the church’s reform after the sex abuse crisis include “victim advocacy groups, such as SNAP” and

— 44% say they were abused or know someone who was abused by a priest.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 16, 2012

Today, a new bishop has been officially installed as the Archbishop of Baltimore. Bishop William Lori previously worked as the Bishop of Bridgeport, CT, having led the diocese there since 2001. During Lori’s tenure, he has made several questionable and objectionable decisions.

One particular case was the handling of Fr. Jean Marie DeGraff. Last December, a Connecticut newspaper disclosed that Fr. DeGraff was arrested in October for allegedly molesting at least one child in Canada in 2010 and 2011. From 2007 to 2008, DeGraff worked at St. Mary Parish on Greenwich Avenue and other churches in western Connecticut, and during that time he had been the subject of allegations of abuse. Rather than remove Fr. DeGraff, Bishop Lori instead sent him to Canada where he was able to abuse another child.

Earlier, in 2010, Bishop-Accountability.org released hundreds of pages of files that illustrated how the Diocese of Bridgeport had allowed at least five priests who had been credibly accused of abuse to move to other dioceses. Despite knowledge of the accusations that these priests faced, Bishop Lori saw no harm in moving them out of his diocese, although he knew it was bad enough to warrant making the moves as quiet as possible.

We do not believe that Bishop Lori has demonstrated the ability to protect children in his flock well enough to warrant such a promotion. The Archdiocese of Baltimore would do well to choose a different individual who has a better track record on abuse. Even better would be if the Archdiocese were to promote someone from the lower rungs of the hierarchy such as a local parish priest, since their removal from abuse cover-ups would make them a better fit than someone who actively participated in them.

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VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on May 16, 2012

Reuters is reporting that a top Vatican official has kept silent for months about a high profile Catholic priest’s fathering a child.

Will Catholic officials ever start being more honest and prompt about clergy sex crimes and misdeeds?

The Vatican official is Spanish Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who was appointed two years ago by Pope Benedict to oversee the Legion of Christ. Yesterday, the Legion’s most prominent priest, Fr. Thomas D. Williams, admitted he had an “affair” and fathered a child which neither he nor his Legion supervisors are financially supporting.

It’s important to remember that Fr. Williams is also accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with

–college students in Rome, and

–the daughter of a prominent US Catholic figure.

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DETROIT (MI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 16, 2012

A prominent Catholic priest from the Detroit area has returned home in the wake of his admission that he had an “affair” and fathered a child whom neither he nor his Catholic institution are supporting.

He’s Fr. Thomas D. Williams of the controversial Legion of Christ, a scandal-wracked and cult-like Catholic religious order. He also faces other accusations (see below).

Our hunch is that at least a few people in Detroit Catholic circles have knowledge or suspicions of Fr. Williams’ exploitation of women. If so, we hope they’ll find the courage and strength to do what’s right and report these to secular and church authorities. It’s wrong to let wrongdoers escape responsibility for their wrongdoing, or experience minimal consequences.

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APPLETON (WI)
NBC 26

[with video]

By Brian Miller

Appleton– The jury heard opening statements in a civil suit against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese. Brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield filed the suit in 2008. The brothers allege the Diocese knew that John Patrick Feeney had sexually abused children before coming to a church in Freedom in the 1970’s. Attorneys for the diocese call the allegations of fraud outlandish.

The jury heard from Feeney’s former colleagues in the priesthood and about how much they were aware of Feeney’s past, which included showering with boys and swimming in the nude, all before he came to St. Nicholas parish in Freedom.

“The evidence will show that when the diocese placed Feeney into the congregation it was deliberately indifferent to a known risk that the Catholic children of Freedom were being exposed to harm,” said John Peterson, attorney for Troy Merryfield.

Attorneys for the Green Bay Diocese say there is no evidence the bishop knew Feeney was a danger to kids. “These claims are false and wrong they are untrue and we will show with evidence in this case otherwise,” said Patrick Brennan, attorney for the Green Bay Diocese.

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APPLETON (WI)
WBAY

[with video]

By Tony Ullrich

Appleton –
The attorneys for two brothers claim the Green Bay Catholic Diocese knew one of their priests was a problem before he molested them as children.

The Merryfield brothers, who squared off in court Tuesday with the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, are seeking $900,000 in damages.

Opening statements began Tuesday morning in Outagamie County court.

The Merryfields claim the diocese knew about former priest John Patrick Feeney’s history of sexual abuse and repeatedly transferred him to other parishes without telling anyone.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Catherine Pepinster
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 May 2012

One of the heartaches of being a Roman Catholic in recent years has been the clerical abuse scandal. No pain that any of us suffers from discovering that some of our priests abused children – and even worse – that senior clergy covered up their crimes – can compare with the victims’ plight, of course, but it has knocked for six many devout Catholics’ faith. Some have left the church because of it; others are certainly more sceptical, or even more cynical about the way the church is run and the way that power is used and exploited. Quite a few are clinging on by their fingertips, fretting not only about the abuse crisis but the way that a church that flung open the shutters to the world 50 years ago because of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, appears to be going backwards, becoming more clerical, more obsessed with ritual and gesture.

According to novelist Hilary Mantel, we’re all guilty by association. This weekend the author of Wolf Hall and the newly published Bring Up The Bodies told interviewer Lynn Barber that Catholics weren’t quite the ticket. “I think that nowadays the Catholic church is not an institution for respectable people”, she said. Even Barber, one of the most experienced interviewers around, seemed taken aback, describing this remark as “strong”, although it also had a curiously quaint and dated feel to it, as though being genteel is what counts. When she got Mantel to expand, she discovered that much of her remark was down to the abuse crisis. But there was more, with Mantel going on to damn priests and nuns for being “among the worst people I knew”.

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APPLETON (WI)
WTAQ

APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Jurors in Appleton will hear a second day of testimony in a civil fraud trial against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.

Former pastor John Feeney spent 8 years in prison for molesting Todd and Troy Merryfield in 1978, when Feeney served at a church in Freedom in Outagamie County.

Now, the Merryfields contend that the late Bishop Aloysius Wycislo committed fraud, by not telling parishioners about Feeney’s history of sexual assaults.

In Tuesday’s opening arguments, Troy’s lawyer John Peterson said the evidence would show that Feeney was a known risk to children at the Merryfields’ former parish.

But church attorney Patrick Brennan said showing risk is not enough proof. He said the plaintiffs must prove that the late bishop knew that Feeney had molested others before the Merryfields were assaulted. And Brennan said there’s not enough evidence to back up what he called an “outlandish claim.”

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UNITED STATES
Irish Independent

A PRIEST whose movie star good looks landed him frequent appearances on US TV, has admitted to fathering a child.

Father Thomas Williams who was described by US TV anchor woman Katie Couric as ‘Father What-A-Waste’ is well known for his frequent appearances on US TV, where he talks of theological and ecumenical matters.

Father Williams, who is a Dean of Papal Morality at a university in the Vatican, has admitted to having an affair with a woman who gave birth to his child some years ago. It is unknown if he is supporting or in touch with the child.

In a statement Williams admitted: “A number of years ago I had a relationship with a woman and fathered her child. I am deeply sorry for this transgression and have tried to make amends.”

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IRELAND
The Bourne Local (United Kingdom)

The chairman of RTE has said he still finds it inexplicable that the hugely-damaging Mission to Prey programme in which Father Kevin Reynolds was defamed was allowed to air.

Tom Savage said there were grave and exceptional failures implicit in the case which raised questions that go to the very heart of the State broadcaster’s public purpose.

He said RTE accepts the findings of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) report that found the station was guilty of failures in editorial and managerial controls over the now-defunct Prime Time Investigates.

“RTE accepts the findings and can offer no excuse,” said Mr Savage.

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NEDERLAND
De Telegraaf

DEN HAAG – Nederland is verplicht pedofielenvereniging Martijn te verbieden, omdat deze club een verzamelplek biedt aan onder anderen daders van zedenmisdrijven. Dat is een van de redenen die het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) woensdag bij de rechtbank in Assen gaf voor het verbieden en ontbinden van Martijn.

Een andere reden is dat de pedovereniging seks tussen volwassenen en kinderen goedpraat en zelfs verheerlijkt, zei officier van justitie M. de Meijer. Beide zaken zijn volgens het OM niet alleen in strijd met de algemene normen en waarden, maar ook met het beleid van de overheid in Nederland en daarbuiten om kinderen te beschermen tegen seksueel misbruik.

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NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

EDE – De kerk moet zich open, eerlijk en authentiek presenteren in de media. Niet somber, maar vrolijk. „Relativeer niet de boodschap, wel uzelf.”

Dat adviseert „mediapriester” dr. Antoine Bodar. Hij sprak dinsdag op het symposium ”Geloof in de media?!” op de Christelijke Hogeschool Ede. Bodar kritiseerde het gebrek aan kennis van religieuze zaken bij seculiere kranten en omroepen. „Als je over religie schrijft, hoef je niets te weten. Die gedachte zorgt voor veel misverstanden.”

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: May 15, 2012

A telegenic American priest, widely known for his media commentary from Rome on popes, prayer and personal morality, has publicly acknowledged having an affair and fathering a child — the latest jolt to hit his scandal-torn religious order, the Legionaries of Christ.

The priest, the Rev. Thomas D. Williams, apologized in a statement on Tuesday “for this grave transgression” and “to everyone who is hurt by this revelation.” He said he would take a year off from public ministry to reflect on his transgressions and his “commitments as a priest” — a decision he said he made with his superiors.

Father Williams was the most visible American member of the Legionaries, a powerful and conservative Roman Catholic religious order that has been in turmoil since 2006, when its charismatic founder was banished by the Vatican to a life of prayer and penance.

The order’s founder, a Mexican priest named Marciel Maciel Degollado, died in 2008 amid revelations that he had sexually abused young seminarians, misappropriated money and fathered several children, some of whom say they were also victims of his sexual abuse. Only last Friday, the Legion acknowledged that seven of its priests are being investigated by the Vatican in connection with the sexual abuse of minors.

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NEW YORK
WABC

[with video]

N.J. Burkett
Eyewitness News

WILLIAMSBURG (WABC) — A controversial fundraiser for a man in Brooklyn who is accused of molesting a teenage girl is fueling outrage on the streets of Williamsburg.

At the center of the storm is Nechemya Weberman, a member of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Satmar community. He was charged last year with sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Posters in Hebrew and Yiddish are promoting a fundraiser for Weberman at a catering hall on Wednesday night.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A controversial fundraiser that’s dividing an Orthodox Jewish community will be held tonight in Brooklyn.

The dinner is raising legal funds for Rabbi Nechemya Weberman, 53, who was arrested last year when a 16-year-old female accused him of molesting her during years of counseling sessions dating back to when she was 12-years-old.

Weberman has pleaded not guilty to charges of committing a criminal sex act, rape, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

Philip Pullella
Reuters

7:02 a.m. CDT, May 16, 2012

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Leaders of the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order knew that their most famous priest had fathered a child for many months before they acknowledged it this week, a top Vatican official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The once influential religious order, still in crisis following revelations that its founder was a sexual abuser with two secret families, suffered another major blow on Tuesday when American Father Thomas Williams admitted to having fathered a child with a woman in Rome.

The question left hanging was how long the order’s leaders knew about Williams’s secret life and why they continued to let him preach, teach and appear on television around the world, particularly in the United States.

“I found out about it this year,” Spanish Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who was appointed by Pope Benedict in July, 2010 to oversee the restructuring of the order, told Reuters in a telephone conversation from his home.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

By JEREMY SHARON

The Jerusalem District Court accepted the state attorney’s request to add five new witnesses to the trial of Rabbi Mordechai “Moti” Elon, who is accused of indecent assault against two minors.

The testimony of the new witnesses will be used to support the claims of the two plaintiffs against Elon.

Judge Haim Liran said that some of the testimonies of the new witnesses were significant and their inclusion in the trial is therefore justified.

Elon’s defense team opposed the introduction of the new witnesses as an “attempt to breathe life into the corpse of an already dead indictment which anyway lacked substance.”

His attorneys also alleged that the prosecutors’ new material was first leaked to the press before being given to the defense team and accused the prosecution of trying to conduct the trial through the media.

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AUSTRALIA
San Diego Jewish World

Compiled by Garry Fabian

MELBOURNE, 9 May – One of Australia’s leading rabbis told a man whose son had been allegedly sexually abused by a youth group leader at a Melbourne Jewish school that the child would not need counselling because he was under eight years old, court documents say.

The former security guard at the Yeshivah Centre in St Kilda East, has been charged with 53 offences, including six counts of rape, allegedly committed against 12 boys between 1982 and 1991.

He is contesting the allegations at a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. In court documents, the parents of two separate boys said they went to Yeshivah Centre director Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner in the 1980s to complain about alleged molestation.

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