ABUSE TRACKER

MISSOURI
Catholic News Agency

By Michelle Bauman

Clayton, Missouri, Mar 6, 2012 / 05:07 pm (CNA).- The leader of a group that works with clergy sex abuse victims admitted during a recent deposition that the organization has published false information and that he is unsure about whether the group employs licensed counselors.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, was deposed on Jan. 2 in Clayton, Mo. amid accusations that the group had printed restricted information in a press release.

The accusations centered around concerns that an attorney violated a court gag order by revealing information about an abuse lawsuit to the organization.

Clohessy was ordered by a judge to answer questions in an out-of-court testimony that may later be used for legal purposes in an ongoing attempt to determine whether the gag order had been violated.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Metro

Two retired Church of England priests, understood to be Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, and former parish priest Robert Coles, 70, have been arrested in Eastbourne in connection with a series of sexual assaults against children dating back almost half a century.

Sussex police said although the men were arrested on the same day it is not thought the two cases are linked.

Detectives have emphasised that no children are currently thought to be at risk.

The 73-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people at locations in Crawley in West Sussex, Barkingside in north-east London and Middle Wallop in Hampshire on various dates between 1965 and 1972.

The 70-year-old man meanwhile was arrested on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during late 1970s and mid-1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Pannone

A leading solicitor has voiced fears that the Church of England will put obstacles in the way of discovering the truth about allegations of abuse against two of its priests in Eastbourne.

Alan Collins, a specialist in abuse cases at the London office of law firm Pannone, says he has noted a change in the way the Church deals with abuse cases. “In the past the Anglican Church has been willing to face any problems and allegations of abuse honestly and openly. I’m sure it would say that its policy is still one of tackling problems in this way and compensating victims properly. However recent evidence is that the Church of England is, perhaps, taking a similar line to the Catholic Church in such matters by hiding behind legal technicalities and even denying any abuse took place. This may be to avoid paying compensation to victims and if that is the case, it is regrettable and reprehensible. I would urge the Anglican Church to cooperate fully on investigations.”

He added, “The challenge facing the Church of England is one that it is having to meet not just here in the UK but Australia too. The wider Anglican Communion has faced allegations of cover-ups in Australia with senior clergy becoming embroiled in controversy, leading to fears that it would row back on reporting allegations of child abuse to the police”

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MARYLAND
Patch

By Tyler Waldman

An Immaculate Conception priest’s trial for indecent exposure charges, scheduled today, has been postponed.

No further information on the postponement, including a date, was immediately available, Explore Baltimore County reports.

Rev. Mark Stewart Bullock was arrested on Jan. 16 in Abingdon after two sheriff’s deputies reportedly saw Bullock expose himself in an adult bookstore.

Bullock was released on his own recognizance, but was quickly suspended from his duties at Immaculate Conception and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The church distributed a letter to parishioners explaining what had happened and the Archdiocese of Baltimore launched an investigation into the incident.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Littlehampton Gazette

Published on Monday 5 March 2012

Two retired Church of England priests from the South East have been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing young men and children.

A 73-year-old man was arrested at his home near Eastbourne, East Sussex, on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people in Crawley, West Sussex, Barkingside, north east London, and Middle Wallop, Hampshire, between 1965 and 1972.

A 70-year-old man was also arrested at his home in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during the late 1970s and mid 1980s.

The men, named by sources as Canon Gordon Rideout and former parish priest Robert Coles, were arrested following a six-month investigation by a team of specialist Sussex Police child protection detectives.

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MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun

Staff Reports

March 6, 2012

The trial of a Towson-area priest who was arrested in January on charges of indecent exposure was postponed on Tuesday, March 6, with no information on a new trial date immediately available.

The Rev. Mark Stewart Bullock, known as “Father Stew” to parishioners at Church of the Immaculate Conception in Towson, had been scheduled to appear Tuesday in District Court in Harford County.

Asked which side requested the postponement and why, Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly responded in an email that it was, “a joint request for more time.”

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

[the deposition]

By Nicholas Phillips Tue., Mar. 6 2012

​On January 2, David Clohessy — director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) — sat down with lawyers representing Catholic priests.

It was not to chat over tea.

The attorneys deposed Clohessy for over six hours as part of a lawsuit that a anonymous victim has brought against Fr. Michael Tierney, a priest in Kansas City.

But many of the questions had rather little to do with Tierney or other priests accused of sexual abuse in Kansas City. Instead, they had a lot to do with how SNAP operates, and appeared to be an attempt to establish that SNAP is not a rape crisis center under state law.

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ARKANSAS
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

TEXARKANA, Ark. (ABP) – A Southern Baptist pastor was sentenced to five years in prison Feb. 28 after a jury in Texarkana, Ark., found him guilty of sexual assaulting a 3-year-old girl inside his church last April.

South Texarkana Baptist Church pastor Travis Payne, 67, was arrested in June and charged with second-degree sexual assault after a woman visiting the church told police that she caught him in the act of inappropriately touching the child a few minutes before the start of a church revival service on April 25.

“I was in shock. How could he do that in God’s house?” star witness Miriam Spiros said, according to trial coverage by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Spiros was visiting the church because her husband, Philip, music minister at Macedonia First Baptist Church in Fouke, Ark., was invited as a guest to sing at South Texarkana’s revival. She said she left the sanctuary a few minutes before the service for a quick trip to the restroom and happened to witness the crime.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Dispatch

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA—A year after the Philadelphia archdiocese suspended 23 priests amid a scathing grand jury report on child-sexual abuse, the priests remain in limbo.

In Swedesburg, parishioners at Sacred Heart have no word on the fate of their idled pastor, the Rev. Andrew McCormick.

Parishioner Bernard Gutkowski tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that no one knows what’s going on with the church’s internal investigation.

A former sex-crimes prosecutor is reviewing complaints lodged against the now-suspended priests.

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UNITED STATES
The Atlantic

Alex Hannaford

A parishioner, wracked with guilt, goes to his minister to confess the unthinkable: that he has been sexually abusing a child. But that minister, instead of going to police, decides to pray w­ith the abuser instead.

On the face of it, this seems a legitimate ethical dilemma for any minister — keep the confession confidential or turn that person in. But is it? This scenario actually happened in 2003 at Homestead Heritage, a religious community in Waco, Texas. The confessor ultimately gave himself up to police a year later, but the specter of his confession reappeared in 2009 when another man from the same community was also prosecuted for child sex abuse and was sentenced to 35 years earlier this month.

Secular society would say there is no choice: pedophiles should be stopped and children protected at all costs. But it’s a dilemma that has dogged some religious denominations for a while. Where penitent-clergy privilege is not protected by law, is a minister’s loyalty still to his confessor? The question is complicated by the fact that there is no legal uniformity across the U.S.; in some states, the law is gray at best. In Virginia, for example, the confession box is sacrosanct and a priest is not compelled to report a child abuser. In Texas, meanwhile, the clergy is offered no such privilege .

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CANADA
Lifesite

by John-Henry Westen

Tue Mar 06, 2012

March 6, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The internationally-reported child porn possession case of Bishop Raymond Lahey of Antigonish, Nova Scotia is indeed a sad one for the Catholic Church. Yet from it, many valuable lessons can and indeed should be learned, not only for the benefit of the Church, but also for the building of a culture of life.

Bishop Lahey was caught with child porn on his computer at the airport in 2009. Of the 155,000 pornographic images on the computer, 588 photos and 63 videos depicted young boys in sexual acts. Lahey was sentenced this past January 4th to eighteen months in prison, but was released right after the trial since he was given two-for-one credit for the 8 months in jail he had already served.

Lahey told the court that he was a homosexual and had been in a steady homosexual relationship for 10 years. He hoped, he said, to return to this relationship after prison.

One of the first lessons to glean from this sad story is the need for effective action by fellow clergy when they have knowledge of grave scandalous actions by their brother priests or even their bishops. How many of his fellow clergy, his brother bishops, his close friends and colleagues knew of Bishop Lahey’s dark secret – not only the porn addiction, but also his homosexual relationships and his repeated trips to Thailand, widely known as a major destination for those wanting to engage in pedophile adult/child sex?

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

Recently, German and Moldovan lawmakers have openly discussed using chemical castration as a viable treatment option for sex offenders. Because the offender will no longer be able to act on his desires (and in many cases will lose sexual desire altogether), castration is offered as one option to prevent recidivism, or repeat offenses.

This topic deserves further discussion.

Roman Catholic Church has centuries of experience and could aid the discussion. Unlike any other institution, the church has trained psychiatrists and psychologists who specialize in child predators; has operated predator treatment facilities; and has sponsored internal studies where child predators were carefully evaluated, recidivism was discussed and chemical castration was practiced.

The Roman Catholic Church has grappled for years with the question of what to do with bishops, priests, religious and employees after they have sexually abused minors. Thousands of pages of internal church documents outline topics like: “Post Treatment Options”, “What to do with the unassignable” and, “Where to place those given a sentence by a church court of a life of prayer and penance”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

TWO EASTBOURNE men, believed to be retired priests, have been arrested at their homes this morning in connection with historic sex abuse.

A 73-year old man was arrested at his home in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people between1965 and 1972.

A second man, who is 70-years-old, was also arrested on the same morning at his address in connection with alleged sexual assaults against three young men in late 1970s and mid-1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
AFP

Two men in their 70s were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of sexual abuse of young men and children as police investigate claims of abuses by Church of England vicars decades ago.

Sussex police said that child protection detectives had been investigating the allegations for six months after a confidential review by former top judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss of abuse claims in the Diocese of Chichester.

The arrests come two days after the Church of England said it was “deeply sorry” for allowing a convicted paedophile to be ordained as a priest in the same diocese in 1966.

A 73-year-old man was arrested near Eastbourne on Tuesday on suspicion of nine sexual assaults on young people in West Sussex, Barkingside and Hampshire between 1965 and 1972.

The second man, aged 70, was arrested in Eastbourne over the sexual assaults of three young men in West Sussex in the 1970s and 1980s.

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BELGIE
Vandaag

Tot nu toe kreeg de Arbitragecommissie die schadevergoedingen moet toekennen aan slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk, gemiddeld zo’n 5 aanvragen per dag binnen. Er zijn al 63 Vlaamse en 45 Franstalige verzoeken binnen. Dat bleek zopas in de Kamercommissie Seksueel Misbruik in de Kerk.

Ook hebben al 36 Vlamingen en 41 Franstaligen zich kandidaat gesteld om arbiter te zijn in de commissie die moet beslissen over de schadevergoedingen. Het is echter nog niet beslist wie arbiter wordt.

Slachtoffers van verjaard seksueel misbruik in de Kerk hebben tot 31 oktober de tijd om een schadevergoeding te vragen bij een arbitragecommissie bij de Koning Boudewijnstichting. Ze kunnen van de Kerk tot 25.000 euro schadevergoeding krijgen. De hele procedure is gratis, ze kan ook als de dader overleden is en de feiten moeten niet helemaal bewezen zijn.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 March 2012

Two retired Church of England priests have been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing young men and children.

A 73-year-old man was arrested at his home near Eastbourne, East Sussex, on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people in Crawley, West Sussex, Barkingside, north-east London, and Middle Wallop, Hampshire, between 1965 and 1972.

A 70-year-old man was also arrested at his home in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

The men, named by sources as Canon Gordon Rideout and former parish priest Robert Coles, were arrested following a six-month investigation by a team of specialist Sussex police child protection detectives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Crawley and Horley Observer

A RETIRED priest has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting children in Crawley in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The 73-year-old was arrested on the morning of Tuesday March 6 at his home near Eastbourne, following a six-month investigation by a team of specialist Sussex Police child protection detectives.

The arrest was made in connection with assaults on nine youngsters in Crawley, London and Hampshire on dates between 1965 and 1972.

Several allegations against the man were made to police in 1972 but no criminal proceedings resulted. Another related allegation was made in 2001 and an arrest followed but there was insufficient evidence to justify criminal proceedings.

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CANADA
The Journal Pioneer

CORNER BROOK, NL — A Roman Catholic priest facing 62 sex-related charges will next appear in court on April 9.

George Ansel Smith, 74, was not present in Supreme Court of Newfoundland in Corner Brook when his matter was called before Justice Alan Seaborn on Monday. Smith’s lawyer, Thomas Williams, told the court his client is in lockup in St. John’s.

Smith has been in custody since Feb 23. At that time 24 more charges were laid against him when he appeared in provincial court in Corner Brook to answer to the 38 charges that had been laid in December.

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FLORIDA
The Palm Beach Post

ByMichael LaForgia
Updated: 12:52 p.m. Monday, March 5, 2012

The detective flips on a tape recorder and eyes the skinny man sitting across from her. She reads him his rights and starts in on the questions.

“What I’d like to find out is if anything happened between you and Michael. Did you molest Michael?” the detective asks.

“Uh, yes. If that’s the word you want to use,” the man says. He’s tall, better than 6 feet, and rail-thin. He has a long, strange neck and sharp features, like a bird’s. He seems comfortable making the admission.

“Tell me exactly what occurred.”

He does, explaining in graphic detail his encounters with the 14-year-old boy, whose mother had trusted the man and brought him into her St. Lucie County home. “If he wanted to do it, I, I always knew. Because of the hints that he would throw me,” the man begins.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Athiest Media Blog

Trier – Er ist 1,4 Tonnen schwer und 1,40 Meter hoch: Die Rede ist von einem Mühlstein, der am 5. März in Trier auf dem Hauptmarkt aufgestellt wurde und dort bis zum 12. April stehen wird. Es ist ein besonderer Mühlstein, ein Mühlstein, der mahnen soll. Die Aktion „Mahnender Mühlstein” der „Initiative gegen Gewalt und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugendlichen” will nach eigenen Angaben „ein Zeichen setzen und Erwachsene an ihre große Verantwortung gegenüber Heranwachsenden erinnern.” An der Eröffnung nahmen neben dem Vorsitzenden der Initiative, Johannes Heibel, auch die Trierer Bürgermeisterin Angelika Birk und der Trierer Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann teil.

[..] Auch Bischof Ackermann unterstrich, dass es wichtig sei, dem Thema der sexuellen Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Hartnäckigkeit immer wieder neu Gehör zu verschaffen. Nur so werde es gelingen, eine „Kultur der Achtsamkeit” zu etablieren. Vor allem gelte es, die Anstrengungen bei der Prävention zu verstärken, um sexuelle Gewalt, soweit das überhaupt möglich sei, zu verhindern.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Readers Edition

1 Einleitung

1.1 Das DJI-Projekt „Sexuelle Gewalt gegen Mädchen und Jungen in Institutionen“ im gesellschaftlichen Kontext

Nach einer langen Phase des Schweigens, der Sprachlosigkeit, des Wegschauens und des Nicht-für-möglich-Haltens ist sexuelle Gewalt zu einem Thema der Öffentlichkeit, der Medien, der Fachwelt und nicht zuletzt der Politik geworden. Das Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin, das badische Kolleg St. Blasien, die Klosterschule Ettal bei Garmisch-Partenkirchen, die Odenwaldschule in Heppenheim: Sie alle stehen stellvertretend und besonders prominent für eine Welle der Aufdeckung sexueller Gewalt gegen Mädchen und Jungen in Institutionen. Die unzulänglichen Versuche, die Folgen und Traumatisierungen des erfolgten Missbrauchs in den Einrichtungen diskret und intern zu regeln, haben durch die anhaltende öffentliche Berichterstattung ein Ende gefunden. Die Zeit der Ausflüchte und der Verharmlosungen ist vorbei. Viele Opfer haben oft erst nach vielen Jahren oder gar Jahrzehnten den Mut und die Sprache gefunden, ihre Erfahrungen mitzuteilen, die Mauer des Schweigens zu durchbrechen. Davon zeugt insbesondere die Auswertung der Anrufe bei der Anlaufstelle der Unabhängigen Beauftragten (UBSKM 2011, S. 40f.). Aus Gerüchten und Mutmaßungen, aus Verdächtigungen und Zweifeln sind damit Gewissheiten geworden, aus Einzelfällen wurde ein ganzes Geflecht des anhaltenden Missbrauchs in Institutionen sichtbar. Diese Initialzündung hat zu einem Dammbruch geführt. Nach einer ersten Phase der Schockstarre und des ungläubigen Befremdens über das in diesem Ausmaß nicht für möglich Gehaltene ist eine neue Kultur der Versprachlichung, des Hinsehens und der öffentlichen Konfrontation entstanden.

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SCHWEIZ
Der Bund

Sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern darf nicht mehr verjähren, so entschied das Stimmvolk vor drei Jahren. Der Nationalrat beriet die Umsetzung der Initiative. Die SVP scheiterte gleich mit mehreren Anträgen.

Schwere sexuelle Straftaten an bis zu 12-jährigen Kindern sollen nicht mehr verjähren. Mit diesem Grundsatz will der Nationalrat die Unverjährbarkeitsinitiative umsetzen. Anträge für höhere Alterslimiten hatten in der Debatte keine Chance.

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OSTERREICH
Salzburger Fenster

Opfer, die gehört werden wollen, fühlen sich auch von der Klasnic-Kommission nicht ernst genommen

Heucheln, abwiegeln, verschleppen: Eine zum System der katholischen Kirche gehörende Strategie scheint auch die „unabhängige“ Klasnic-Kommission zu beherrschen. Ein Psychotherapeut, der einige Missbrauchsopfer betreut, berichtet.

Als Psychotherapeut betreue ich einige der missbrauchten Menschen und weiß, wie sie sich fühlen, wenn sie – vergebens – gehört werden wollen. Konnte man die Opfer früher hinrichten, verbrennen, verbannen oder exkommunizieren – letzteres geht noch immer! – so bewährt sich heute die Strategie des Vertuschens, Totschweigens, Vertröstens, des nicht Hinsehens und nicht Hinhörens.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

1:55pm Tuesday 6th March 2012 in News By Ben Parsons, Crime Reporter

Two men in their 70s have been arrested after an investigation into alleged sex abuse by Church of England priests between the 1960s and 1980s.

A 73-year old man was arrested near Eastbourne today (March 6) on suspicion of sexually assaulting nine young people, in Crawley, Barkingside in London, and Middle Wallop in Hampshire between 1965 and 1972.

A 70-year old man was also arrested at his home address in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

Sussex Police issued the following statement: “The arrests result from an investigation over the past six months by a team of specialist Sussex Police child protection detectives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Shane Croucher

March 6, 2012

Two retired Church of England priests in East Sussex have been arrested over allegations of child sex abuse going back to the 1960s.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, was arrested in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people in Crawley in West Sussex, Barkingside in North East London, and Middle Wallop in Hampshire, between 1965 and 1972.

Parish priest Robert Coles, 70, was also arrested in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during the late 1970’s and mid-1980’s.

Police treating the two arrests as separate enquiries.

They come after a six month investigation by Sussex Police’s child protection detectives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Two retired Church of England priests have been arrested in the Eastbourne area on suspicion of sexually abusing children and young men.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, is suspected of sexually assaulting nine young people between 1965 and 1972.

Former parish priest Robert Coles, 70, is suspected of sexually assaulting three young men in West Sussex in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

Detectives in East Sussex say they are not linking the cases at this stage.

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The Overwhelming journey in the paedophilia scandal that has swept over many communities

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

This book presents on one side the emblematic testimony of the abuse suffered by Fabio and on the other Fr. Sergio, a priest who dreams of love and writes raving messages to people he does not know, his anxiety, his life trapped in the Church, his own personal Calvary of loneliness. The story digs deep into the hearts and souls of both men, without judging, but bearing witness. It is is an example of two human tragedies, but it is important not to forget who the victim was and who the monster was. This tale is but one tile of the mosaic. In the United States, the number of reported cases of paedophilia in the Church has reached 4500 and so far 2.6 billion dollars have been paid out in compensation; in Brazil, 1700 priests have been accused of abuse; in Ireland 1000 priests have been called to answer allegations of 30,000 cases of abuse; in Australia 110 priests have been condemned and in Italy, 80 cases and 300 victims have been officially reported, but there are certainly many more cases that have not been brought to light. The Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) has never released any official figures.

The list of Churches overwhelmed by the scandal of paedophilia stretches across all five continents. Recently, William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly called the Holy Office, declared: “In the last decade over four thousand cases of sexual abuses perpetrated by clerics against minors have been brought to the attention of the Congregation.” This is a “dramatic increase”. The number of cases that actually went to trial is much smaller. And when finally one begins to acknowledge the scale of the problem, one still struggles to understand and recognize its nature and causes.

“Golgota, viaggio segreto tra Chiesa e pedofilia” (“Golgotha, secret journey into the Church and paedophilia”, Piemme publications) by Carmelo Abbate is far from being just a catalogue of numbers. It is a tapestry made of meetings stretching from Rome to New York, from Paris to Africa, a tapestry of disturbing confessions, testimonies and extraordinary revelations. In a thorough investigation as an undercover reporter the author revealed important documents. The book represents an extraordinary exploration of a reality that no one, starting from Church leaders, can now pretend to be ignorant about. This manuscript overturns many clichés, from the attitude of the ecclesiastical hierarchies towards paedophilia to the different approach to the problem adopted by Ratzinger compared to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

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TENNESSEE
News Channel 9

March 05, 2012

A 65-year-old church deacon is behind bars tonight charged with the sexual assault of a child.

Thomas C. McConnell was arrested yesterday and charged with the aggravated sexual battery of a 5-year-old child.

We’re told the incident happened at 200 Manufacturers Road, which is near Renaissance Park in Chattanooga.

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TENNESSEE
WRCB

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WRCB) — A deacon at St. Jude Catholic Church is in custody, accused of committing aggravated sexual battery against a five-year-old.

Sunday, investigators with the Chattanooga Police Department’s Family Investigations Unit arrested 65 year-old Thomas C McConnell for one count of Aggravated Sexual Battery.

The incident occurred Sunday at 200 Manufacturer’s Road.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News has confirmed McConnell is a Deacon at St. Jude Catholic Church, where he was involved in ministering to prison and jail inmates.

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TENNESSEE
The Chattanoogan

The director of the county schools JROTC program is facing child sex charges.

Investigators with the Chattanooga Police Department’s Family Investigations Unit arrested Col. Thomas C. McConnell, 65, for one count of aggravated sexual battery to a five-year-old child.

The incident occurred Sunday at a restaurant at 200 Manufacturers Road.

Col. McConnell, of 941 Brynwood Dr., is a deacon at St. Jude Catholic church. The Diocese of Knoxville issued this statement, “The Diocese of Knoxville became aware of the arrest of Deacon Thomas McConnell from Chattanooga, TN, who has been accused of committing aggravated sexual battery against a minor. Following diocesan policy, Bishop Richard F. Stika has temporarily suspended him from ministry pending the outcome of a police investigation.”

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on March 05, 2012

Twice in the last decade, 14 prosecutors have pressured Albany’s Catholic bishop to act more responsibly in child sex abuse cases. It’s disturbing that even now, a veteran church official who has repeatedly pledged to “reform” must be prodded to do what’s right for children’s safety. This should be very alarming to Albany area citizens and Catholics.

It’s inexcusable that Hubbard apparently insists on having his lawyers investigate child sex abuse reports BEFORE alerting police. It’s also inexcusable that Hubbard’s staff grills those who report child sex crimes, insist that they turn over their own medical records, and sign waivers. There’s only one explanation for this: Hubbard’s concern is not for the safety of kids. It’s for the protection of Hubbard and his colleagues.

It’s important to realize that Hubbard

–kept the agreement secret,

— delayed signing it,

–approved it only after reporters started asking questions about it, and

–deceptively pretended it was a “cooperative effort” when it wasn’t.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

Guest blog by Gerald T. Slevin, retired lawyer.

After 16 years of Catholic schools, followed by Harvard Law School, where he worked as a law student for Archibald Cox, the Watergate prosecutor, Gerald Slevin practiced law for over three decades at the Wall Street law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

Barely twelve months ago, the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Cardinal Rigali emphatically, but artfully, denied he had any active priest with “admitted or established ” allegations of child sexual abuse. This misleading statement was in the face of (1) the second devastating Philadelphia grand jury report on his watch describing a widespread priest pedophile conspiracy, and (2) the multiple criminal indictment of the former top priest personnel chief for the Archdiocese.

By Spring, Cardinal Rigali, under intense public scrutiny, reversed himself by suspending 21 priests on suspicion of abuse. Their fates still remain mainly unknown.

By Summer, the Cardinal’s Child Abuse Review Board lay chairwoman was accusing him of materially misleading her about priests suspected of child abuse.

By Fall, the pope apparently declined to give Rigali more time in Philadelphia by accepting his resignation and replacing him with Archbishop Chaput. Archbishop Chaput promptly threw a private party for Philadelphia priests, where he led the cheers for the indicted priest personnel chief and several of the suspended priests present at the party.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Republican & Herald

BY AMY MARCHIANO (STAFF WRITER amarchiano@republicanherald.com)

Published: March 6, 2012

SINKING SPRING – A priest who previously served at a Schuylkill County parish has been removed as an assistant pastor in Berks County on allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman who was 18 years old.

The Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, who previously served at St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church, Schuylkill Haven, was removed from his position at St. Ignatius Loyola Church. He has been sent to a treatment facility, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.

The move took place Friday, according to Matt Kerr, diocesan spokesman.

The Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of Allentown, announced the removal of the 44-year-old priest at the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday at St. Ignatius Church.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

[with video]

•Michael LaForgia, Palm Beach Post

By bedtime it already was too late for the boy. The lights blinked out and the camp counselor, a predator, lay down at his feet . Curled up in the dark, he was ready to attack.

Getting here was all too easy for James Roy Melton Jr. When the convicted child molester volunteered at this Palm City church summer camp, nobody stood in his way.

Not the church. It welcomed the tall, rangy 34-year-old as its newest youth chaperone without screening his background .

And not the state of Florida. For 30 years, lawmakers have passed measures to protect kids in child-care centers while ignoring harm at the hands of summer camp workers.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

[with video]

David Cappo March 05, 2012

The report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry is being read by many people, not only in Victoria but throughout Australia. It is a report par excellence that raises the benchmark on the work of government and community service organisations in the protection of vulnerable children.

The three authors, Philip Cummins, Dorothy Scott and Bill Scales have made a contribution to the needs of vulnerable children in Australia that demands firstly our deep gratitude to them, secondly implementation of their report by the Victorian Government, and thirdly the attention of the Commonwealth Government as well as other state governments.

A new and high benchmark has been set with a clear plan presented to achieve it. Our positive response to the report is our civic duty.

My interest was drawn to this report particularly because of my work in social inclusion and as a social worker in the 1970s in the City of Elizabeth, working in the child protection system of the South Australian government, as well as my role in the mid 1990s coordinating the developing of the Towards Healing document and the Integrity in Ministry document for the Catholic Church in Australia.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Daily Press

The trial of a former Somerset church organist who is accused of a string of sexual offences against children has started.

Nigel Parkin, 56, denies eight charges of rape, five of indecent assault and four of sexual assault alleged to have been committed against two girls on dates between August 1998 and October 2009.

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TENNESSEE
The Christian Post

By Luiza Oleszczuk , Christian Post Reporter

More women could come forward amid allegations that Joseph Walker III, head pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., and five other church members subjected women to sexual exploitation for at least a decade, the attorney representing a woman who has sued Walker told The Christian Post.

Mount Zion Baptist Church made headlines last week when a sexual exploitation lawsuit filed against Bishop Walker and five current and former members was made public. The lawsuit, brought by accuser Valencia Batson, also features supporting testimonies from three unidentified female former church members; all four women allege they were sexually exploited and abused during counseling sessions sponsored by Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and that church leaders regularly recruited women for exploitation and sex for nearly 10 years.

Connie Allison, Batson’s attorney, suggested Monday to The Christian Post that “more and more [women] are emerging” with similar accusations.

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TEXAS/NEW MEXICO
Santa Fee New Mexican

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican
Posted: Monday, March 05, 2012

An unidentified Texan alleges in a lawsuit filed last week in Santa Fe that retired Christian Brother Samuel F. Martinez sexually abused him 32 years ago when Martinez was principal of a parochial school in El Paso.

The Texas resident, identified only as “B.C.,” and two other former students at Cathedral High School in El Paso filed a similar lawsuit in 2009 against Martinez and the Christian Brothers’ regional organization known as NOSF Inc. (for New Orleans/Santa Fe).

The two classmates, identified as J.A. and A.M., recently settled their cases with NOSF for $1.6 million, but B.C.’s case was dropped by state District Judge Sarah Singleton.

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TENNESSEE
Times Free Press

by Beth Burger

The head of Hamilton County schools’ Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program faces charges of aggravated sexual battery after he was accused of groping a 5-year-old girl in a restaurant Sunday.

Thomas C. McConnell, 65, of Hixson, a retired Army colonel, runs the school district’s junior ROTC program, which has about 25 instructors at about 10 local high schools.

Hamilton County school district officials said McConnell has been placed on suspension pending the outcome of the case.

McConnell also is a deacon at St. Jude Catholic Church in Chattanooga. Since his arrest, the Diocese of Knoxville issued a statement that McConnell will be suspended from the ministry pending the outcome of the investigation.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

March 6, 2012 at 5:00 am by TU Editorial Board

Our opinion: An agreement between the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese and local district attorneys on sexual abuse reporting is fine, but the real solution is a state law to make clergy mandated reporters.

An agreement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and 14 district attorneys is certainly a step forward in how the church deals with allegations of sexual abuse. As state law now stands, it may be about the best we can hope for.

What’s really needed, though, is a law that would designate clergy as mandated reporters — requiring them to report instances of suspected abuse or maltreatment of children.

Year after year, however, the Legislature, specifically the Senate, has failed to support the idea.

So we’re left with ad hoc solutions like the latest one worked out between DAs and the diocese.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Ken Stone and Annie Lane

Sandusky at Penn State. Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. A 60 Minutes episode on the pedophile priest scandal in Ireland.

Recent cases of child sex abuse at the hands of trusted adults are tragically sad, but seem far removed from the Jewel of the Hills. But in the 1980s, a priest at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church may have been the Jerry Sandusky of La Mesa.

The Rev. John Keith, who later served as a chaplain at Grossmont Hospital, went to his grave denying he had molested an altar boy named Jeremy Norton.

A year before his death in May 2003, Keith told the Union-Tribune: “I swear to God none of this happened. But I have an idea [Jeremy] was convinced it happened, by his mother.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Sacred Heart is a tightly knit Catholic parish in Swedesburg, a working-class town across the Schuylkill from Norristown.

Ethnic roots run deep at the century-old church. It’s the kind of place that still offers a monthly Mass in Polish, where parishioners linger on Sunday mornings to chat after the final hymn.

That’s when Bernard Gutkowski, president of the parish men’s group, typically gets the question: What do you hear about Father Andy? His reply rarely changes. Not much.

Father Andy is the Rev. Andrew McCormick, Sacred Heart’s pastor since 2004 and a priest Gutkowski credits with reinvigorating the church.

Then, in a blink last March, McCormick was gone.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

By David Chang

Monday, Mar 5, 2012

The Diocese of Allentown removed a Berks County priest after they say he admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a young woman.

The Diocese claims Reverend Cletus Onyegbule, 44, began a relationship with the woman when she was 18 years old. Onyegbule has served as the assistant pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Sinking Spring since March of 2009. The Allentown Diocese is handling the case which is not being considered criminal since the woman was of legal age.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Ending a two-week screening process, lawyers on Monday chose a retired nurse and an airport security guard as the final alternate jurors for the conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial of three current and former Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests.

The 10 alternates will join six male and six female jurors in the courtroom during the trial but participate in deliberations only if any of the original 12 are removed or withdraw from serving.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin March 26, and the trial is projected to last as long as four months.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Antonio Express-News

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ten alternates have been chosen to join a dozen jurors for a landmark priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn is set to go on trial March 26 on child-endangerment and conspiracy charges.

Lynn was the long-time secretary for clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Prosecutors say he endangered children by transferring priests accused of child sex-abuse from parish to parish.

The 61-year-old Lynn has pleaded not guilty and says he took orders from the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH’-kwah).

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CANADA
The Western Star

Published on March 5, 2012

Diane Crocker

CORNER BROOK A Roman Catholic priest facing 62 sex-related charges will next appear in court on April 9.

George Ansel Smith, 74, was not present in Supreme Court of Newfoundland in Corner Brook when his matter was called before Justice Allan Seaborn on Monday.

Smith’s lawyer Thomas Williams told the court, via telephone, that his client is in the lockup in St. John’s.

Williams asked the court to set Smith’s matter over to the next arraignment day to allow him time to review the particulars of the charges. The Crown agreed and Seaborn set the case to April 9.

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IRELAND
America Magazine

[with video]

Posted at: Monday, March 05, 2012
Author: James Martin, S.J.

I found this interview with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin on “60 Minutes” last night to be deeply moving. The archbishop of Dublin is resolute about confronting the sex abuse crisis in his country; he has rightly apologized to victims; he correctly states that the crisis is far from over; he uses the plainest language when describing the crimes committed; and, towards the end of the interview, weeps when he thinks of the rape (the right word to use) of an eight-year-old boy by a priest. A true pastor, who weeps over those in his flock whose lives have been ruined, and who lets compassion move him to action.

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UNITED STATES
The State Journal

By Andrea Lannom

If a person confesses a crime to a member of the clergy, would it still be private?

According to some lawyers, it depends.

Ashley Pack, a member of Dinsmore & Shohl’s Charleston office said there is national debate whether clergy members should be required to disclose information if it pertains to certain crimes.

“There has also been a religious basis of ‘are you putting a legal obligation above a religious obligation,'” Pack said.

According to the FindLaw blog, confessor/clergy privilege began in the 1813 case of People v. Phillips, where a man was charged with trafficking stolen goods. Although the defendant confessed the crime to his priest, the court concluded that the priest could not be called in to testify.

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IRLAND
Radio Vatikan

Der Missbrauchsskandal ist nicht vorbei, unsere Wachsamkeit darf nicht nachlassen, Kinderschutz muss weiter oberste Priorität haben. Daran hat der Primas von Irland, der Dubliner Erzbischof Diarmuid Martin, kurz vor Beginn der Frühjahrsvollversammlung der irischen Bischöfe erinnert. Er äußerte sich in einem Interview mit dem amerikanischen Fernsehsender CBS, das am Sonntag ausgestrahlt wurde.

Zurücklehnen kann sich die irische Kirche nicht, ja das wird sie wohl nie mehr können, lässt der Dubliner Erzbischof im Interview mit CBS durchblicken: Probleme im Zusammenhang mit dem Missbrauchsskandal sind keineswegs gelöst, erinnert jener Kirchenmann, der schon kurz nach Bekanntwerden der Missbrauchsfälle den Skandal ungeschönt beim Namen nannte. Und so klingt Diarmuid Martins Statement im amerikanischen Fernsehen dann auch wie sein Wunschmotto für Irlands katholische Kirche, deren Oberhirten sich ab diesem Montag zur Frühjahrsvollversammlung treffen:

„Es gibt heute die echte Gefahr, dass die Leute sagen: Der Missbrauchsskandal ist vorbei, lasst uns doch nach vorne schauen, weitergehen. Er ist nicht vorbei. Kinderschutz muss für den Rest unserer Tage und in Zukunft weitergehen, denn das Problem gibt es immer noch.“

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UNITED STATES
The Feminist Wire

March 5, 2012
By Catherine Morrisey-Ribeiro

Last September, Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), teamed with the Center for Constitutional Rights(CCR) to persuade the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for crimes against humanity.

They argue the Vatican—the world’s smallest nation-state, geographically speaking—has for years used its enormous power to facilitate the systematic sexual abuse of children by clerics. On SNAP’s behalf, the CCR filed a detailed complaint with the ICC, along with thousands of pages of supporting documents. Blaine says that the battle to protect kids in the face of the Vatican’s long-standing intransigence led her to the ICC.

Nearly a decade after the Boston Globe’s exposé on church predators set off chain reactions in dioceses across the world—and a decade after U.S. bishops supposedly adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for sex abuse—the crimes continue. Priests rape kids, bishops cover for them, and the Vatican still stands behind it all.

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TENNESSEE
Times-News

By Kacie Breeding

Published March 5th, 2012

A former Kingsport priest convicted last July of raping an altar boy three decades ago wants his convictions overturned, but a hearing on the issue has been postponed.

William Casey, 77, 740 Shakerag Road, Greeneville, was originally scheduled for a hearing Monday afternoon on a motion filed Dec. 22, 2011, in which he seeks a “new trial, arrest of judgment or judgment of acquittal.” At trial, Casey was represented by Rick Spivey and Matthew Spivey. The hearing reportedly was postponed because Matthew Spivey was unavailable Monday. As of 2 p.m. a new hearing date had not been decided.

Casey was sentenced last November to 15 to 20 years on first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two concurrent 20-year terms on two aggravated rape counts. His convictions stemmed from allegations he sexually abused a young altar boy shortly after becoming priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Kingsport in the 1970s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

A priest of the Diocese of Allentown has been removed from his assignment at a parish in Berks County after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman, according to a release from the diocese.

The Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, 44, had been assistant pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Sinking Spring since March 2009.

A native of Nigeria, he served as a deacon at St. Joseph the Worker Church in 2001, according to a report in The Morning Call. Parishioners there had donated $10,000 to bring his family to the Lehigh Valley for his ordination in 2002, the report said.

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UNITED STATES
The Association of Religion Data Archives

By David Briggs

The Rev. Dick Darr and his wife, Anne, were model missionaries. They sent their children to boarding school so they could focus on saving the souls of others in remote African villages.

In 1957, while in the country today known as Mali, Darr said he found out his 9-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were sexually molested by another missionary. When Darr reported it, the missionary was sent back into the mission field. Darr said he was told by the president of United World Mission, “You know the first thing some people want to do is ruin a man’s ministry.”

He left United World Mission in protest, and joined the Gospel Missionary Union, eventually becoming its president. In the early 1990s, he learned his children and others had been the victims of sexual and physical abuse at Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea, West Africa.

For years, despite his efforts, the Gospel Missionary Union turned its back on the victims, neither admitting responsibility nor offering counseling.

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SALINAS (CA)
KION

By Ayli Meyer

SALINAS, Calif. – New information on sexual abuse allegations at Palma High School, the Monterey Herald reports a second man has come forward with accusations of his own. The same attorney is reportedly filing claims for both men, who say a priest at the school sexually abused them as children.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Barney Zwartz
March 6, 2012

CATHOLICISM is in one of the darkest periods of its history – and the worst ever in the United States – according to a visiting priest who has just finished an international 10-part television series about the church.

Media expert Robert Barron says the sexual abuse crisis has ”undermined the church in almost every aspect of its life”, but because ”the wrong people are telling the story” (the secular media) only the negative side emerges.

”There’s always been a shadow side over the church: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch burnings. But that doesn’t undermine the beauty and integrity of the church,” he said yesterday.

Father Barron is in Melbourne as a Catholic evangelist, speaking to young people, churches and theological faculties, as part of a 13-day national tour.

”If you’d asked me 20 years ago about the worst time in US Catholic history, I would have said the 19th century, when they were pulling down convents and burning rectories, but the sexual abuse scandal has been worse.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons

Updated 07:28 a.m., Monday, March 5, 2012

ALBANY -— Fourteen district attorneys whose counties are within the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese have called on Bishop Howard J. Hubbard to reshape the diocese’s handling of sexual abuse complaints against clergy and other employees.

Citing “concerns about how these cases are being handled,” the district attorneys all signed a proposed memorandum of understanding that was presented to Hubbard early last month. Hubbard, who has been bishop since 1977, signed the document Friday, a day after the Times Union asked the diocese questions about it. He declined a request for an interview.

The district attorneys signed the memorandum in alphabetical order of their counties, which include the greater Capital Region and an area covering dozens of churches and Catholic schools from Delaware to Washington counties.

The memorandum was shown to the Times Union by two people not authorized to comment publicly. It marks the second time since 2002 that the district attorneys have banded together and privately raised questions about the diocese’s handling of sexual abuse cases, including whether church leaders had once systematically shielded accused priests from law enforcement scrutiny.

In the letter to Hubbard, the district attorneys said the diocese’s current practice is problematic because church officials screen people who come forward with allegations of sexual abuse before law enforcement officials are notified. The victims are also required to fill out detailed forms about the abuse and the effect it has had on them, and to sign waivers giving the church access to their medical records.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Bob Schwiderski on March 02, 2012

We applaud Winona Catholic officials for taking the simple but responsible step of warning parents about a dangerous serial predator. The church hierarchy rarely does this.

Now, they should go one step further and permanently post on their website the names and whereabouts of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric who has ever lived or worked in their diocese.

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CANADA
Calgary Herald

By Jeremy Klaszus, Calgary Herald March 5, 2012

As Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills grapples with allegations of sexual abuse, its leaders should note a recent and unsettling example of how not to handle such a situation.

Incidentally, the example involves somebody with Prairie roots. Mark Archibald, a former Prairie student who went on to manage a Bible camp, was recently sentenced to 12 months of house arrest and six months of curfew for indecent assault against three teenage boys. The assaults occurred in the 1970s; decades passed before victims found the courage to speak out.

The significance of this courage was apparently lost on John Hand, a former chairman of the camp’s board, who suggested in comments to the Herald that the victims should forgive Archibald and get on with life: “There seems to be an unwillingness to forgive and to grow and to move on from where people are at. I think that’s why it comes back so many years later.”

Of the ways to respond to victims of childhood sexual abuse, suggesting they get over it is one of the worst.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Morning Call

By Peter Hall and Michael Duck, Of The Morning Call

March 4, 2012
READ THE STORY: Cullen had secret list: New court filing says Allentown bishop, four others knew of 35 allegedly abusive priests

Nearly two decades ago, Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was one of two or three high-ranking clergy present when the head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese ordered the shredding of a list of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a recent court filing in Philadelphia.

A copy of that list and a 1994 memo recording Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s instructions to destroy it has turned up in the case of Monsignor William Lynn, a former archdiocesan official charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for allegedly enabling priests to molest children.

Below are several key excerpts from the most recent filings in Lynn’s case.

From Lynn’s motion to dismiss (click to read the full document)

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UNITED STATES
The UWM Post

Posted on 05 March 2012.

By Brian Holmes

President Obama’s recent mandate proposal that employer funded insurance companies give women free access to contraceptives has outraged many religious organizations, primarily Catholics. However, these days it’s hard to see how the Catholic Church has the clout to condemn anything.

It would seem a woman’s right to choose disgusts the archdiocese more than a grown man having sexual intercourse with children. If as much effort was put into ridding their institution of individuals involved in this cover-up as condemning a woman’s right to choose, their moral outrage wouldn’t be so absurd.

It is common knowledge that the Vatican has vast riches from rare historical documents to statues and sculptures worth billions. Catholic churches spend countless dollars beautifying their buildings. Paying compensation to the lives destroyed by their negligence should be the number one priority. However, the answer for many Catholic institutions has been to file for bankruptcy.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

THE ISSUE:

The quest for justice for the victims is fraught with legislative barriers.

THE STAKES:

Normal rules for reporting crimes are impractical here.

Six years ago, only the die-hard fans of Syracuse basketball knew who Bernie Fine was. And who can know, really, about the anguish that two grown men who have accused Mr. Fine of sexually assaulting them long ago were experiencing in 2006?

But there was Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, D-Queens, speaking with absolute clarity six years ago about the need to give victims of sexual abuse more time to seek justice.

She’s still at it. Her quest brought her to the Capitol Tuesday, along with the men who say they didn’t come to terms with the abuse that they allege that Mr. Fine, then an assistant coach at Syracuse, inflicted upon them as teenagers until they were well into their adulthood.

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IRELAND
Newser

By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 5, 2012

(Newser) – Catholic officials’ failure to adequately police and punish molesters in the clergy has placed the Irish church at a “breaking point,” Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin tells Sixty Minutes. The Irish Catholic leader has angrily criticized the church hierarchy for moving pedophiles from parish to parish, and defied Vatican orders by releasing thousands of pages of investigations of molester priests. He calls the abuse of children “devastating.” Abuse “isn’t just the actual sexual acts, which are horrendous,” Martin adds. “But sexual abuse of a child is a total abuse of power. It’s saying to a child, ‘I control you.’ And that is saying to the child, ‘You’re worthless.'”

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IRELAND
CBS – 60 Minutes

[Watch the segment]

(CBS News) An Irishman named Diarmuid Martin says the Catholic Church in Ireland has reached a breaking point, a crisis that he says results from the sexual abuse of children by priests and the cover-up by the Church. Martin has provided tens of thousands of pages of evidence against specific priests, and his words and actions carry extraordinary weight. That’s because Diarmuid Martin is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Bob Simon reports.

The following script is from “The Archbishop of Dublin” which aired on March 4, 2012. Bob Simon is the correspondent. Tom Anderson, producer.

The head of the Catholic Church may be in Rome, but its heart has always been in Ireland. From the early fifth century, when Saint Patrick was named a bishop and started converting the Irish, Catholicism has been more than a religion. It’s been a culture and a way of life.

But in recent years – the faith of the Irish has been sorely tested, not their faith in God necessarily, but their faith in the Church, after several damning investigations provided appalling detail on the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Irish Independent

Sunday March 04 2012

Did Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George mean to snub Enda Kenny? George denies it, but a report last weekend in Chicago’s Sun-Times suggested otherwise.

When Taoiseach Enda Kenny arrives in Chicago on March 16, he will be following in the footsteps of his party’s founder, WT Cosgrave. When Cosgrave made the first American trip of any serving Irish prime minister (then known as ‘President of the Executive’), he was met by massive crowds and addressed 5,000 guests at the venue where Kenny will speak next week.

Reporting the decision by Cardinal Francis George to attend a retreat instead of dining with Kenny, Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times speculated last weekend that his absence is part of an Ireland-Vatican tiff that has seen the Irish Government close its embassy to the Holy See.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

A priest at St. Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church in Whitfield was removed from his assignment after acknowledging he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman, according to the Diocese of Allentown.

Diocese officials said the relationship between the Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, 44, and the woman began when she was 18 years old.

Bishop John O. Barres announced the dismissal to the parish Saturday during the 5:30 p.m. Mass.

Onyegbule served as an assistant pastor at St. Ignatius since March 2009. He was ordained in 2002 and served at St. Ambrose Church in Schuylkill Haven and Our Lady at Perpetual Help Church in Bethlehem Township before his assignment at St. Ignatius.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

By Matt Assad, Of The Morning Call

2:52 p.m. EST, March 4, 2012
The Allentown Catholic Diocese has removed a Berks County priest for having an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old woman.

Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, 44, was dismissed from his post at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Sinking Spring, where he’d been assistant pastor since 2009.

Onyegbule was ordained in 2002. He served at St. Ambrose Church in Schuylkill Haven and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bethlehem Township before his assignment to Sinking Spring.

Bishop John O. Barres announced his removal to the parish at the Saturday evening mass.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Express-Times

Sunday, March 04, 2012

By Express-Times staff

The Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, 44, who once served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bethlehem Township, Pa., was removed from his assignment with a Berks County parish after he acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with a woman that began when she was 18, a spokesman for the Allentown Diocese announced today.

Onyegbule, a native of Nigeria, was serving as assistant pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Sinking Spring. A church official said the matter was reported to the appropriate authorities and the priest is at a treatment facility.

Diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said he would not release specifics about the circumstances “in respect for the parties involved.” He would not say which authorities were alerted about the relationship.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
WFMZ

Author: Gina Gasper, Web Producer

Published On: Mar 04 2012

ALLENTOWN, Pa. –
Officials with the Diocese of Allentown announced Sunday that a priest serving in Berks County has been removed from his assignment after having an inappropriate relationship with a woman.

Diocesan officials said Reverend Cletus Onyegbule, 44, was having an inappropriate relationship with a woman that began when the woman was 18.

Onyegbule was serving as assistant pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Sinking Spring since March 2009.

Bishop John O. Barres made the announcement to parishioners at the 5:30 pm mass Saturday, officials said.

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UNITED STATES
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Robert Nemeth

The seemingly unending flow of stories of sexual abuse prompted me to make these comments. It all started on Jan. 2, 2002, when The Boston Globe published an article with revelations about priests abusing children and church leaders who failed to stop them. The story hinted at a coverup.

Dozens of other stories followed, and the expression “clerical abuse” became part of the vocabulary. The issue went global, and thousands of alleged abuse victims came forward. The stream of accusations created a lucrative compensation industry, with enterprising lawyers specializing in sex abuse cases, and professional victim organizations producing a steady supply of clients. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned and moved to the Vatican, where he remained the target of his detractors’ venom.

While few of the cases went to court, dioceses in America have paid about $3 billion in settlements and other costs related to more than 15,700 abuse claims. The Boston archdiocese settled 800 claims, training 300,000 children and 175,000 adults to spot and prevent abuse. It spent $7 million to provide counseling and medication for victims. Massive reparations depleted resources, causing the closing of several churches. The scandal undermined confidence in the church and caused many of the faithful to turn away.

Even though statistics show that most of the alleged abuses happened between the 1960s and 1980s — indicating that church authorities have dealt with the problem — the issue is being kept alive. Victim advocates held an event in Boston they called “The 10th Anniversary Celebration & Conference: Confronting the Crime & Cover-up of Sexual Abuse by the Boston Clergy.” It featured media and legal panels, workshops, lectures and a play, “For Pete’s Sake,” written and performed by alleged victims. Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer specializing in clergy abuse cases, announced that the pressure on the Boston archdiocese must continue because church reforms amount to “hollow gestures.”

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons
Updated 07:33 a.m., Sunday, March 4, 2012

Fourteen district attorneys whose counties are within the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese have called on Bishop Howard J. Hubbard to reshape the diocese’s handling of sexual abuse complaints against clergy and other employees.

For the full story buy a copy of the Sunday Times Union at your favorite newsstand. It will appear later this week on timesunion.com.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Sunday, March 04, 2012

The Justice for Magdalenes group is holding an event at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin this afternoon to remember the women of the Magdalene Laundries.

‘Flowers for Magdalenes’ aims to remember every woman who passed through the laundries.

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TENNESSEE
The Tennessean

[Walter F. Roche and Brandon Gee contributed to this report.]

Written by
Bob Smietana
The Tennessean

The Wednesday noon Bible study at Mt. Zion Baptist Church drew 400 worshippers this week, most of them women, almost all with a Bible in one hand and an offering envelope in the other.

They’re drawn by their beloved pastor, Bishop Joseph Walker III, whose prosperity gospel message combines Bible verses and motivational slogans.

In a few weeks, Walker will celebrate 20 years as pastor of Mt. Zion. When he arrived as a 24-year-old Vanderbilt University Divinity School graduate, the church had 175 members. Today, it claims 25,000 members and holds eight services a week in three locations.

He and his wife of two years, Dr. Stephaine Walker, a Vanderbilt neonatologist, have a new book out called Becoming a Couple of Destiny. He also doles out advice as the “Relationship Doctor” on the syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, broadcast on 21 radio stations across the country.

But after two decades of unmitigated success, Walker is facing controversy on two fronts.

Four former parishioners have filed suit, claiming Walker and other church leaders sexually abused them.

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ALLENTOWN/PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Morning Call

By Peter Hall and Matt Assad, Of The Morning Call

Nearly two decades ago, Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was one of two or three high-ranking clergy present when the head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese ordered the shredding of a list of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a recent court filing in Philadelphia.

A copy of that list and a 1994 memo recording Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s instructions to destroy it has turned up in the case of Monsignor William Lynn, a former archdiocesan official charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for allegedly enabling priests to molest children.

Lynn’s attorneys have claimed the documents are proof of a conspiracy by Bevilacqua; Cullen, who was then the cardinal’s top aide; Cullen’s then assistant, Monsignor James Molloy; and Lynn’s then assistant, the Rev. Joseph Cistone, to hide sexual abuse allegations. They called for the dismissal of charges against Lynn, which were filed last year after the second of two Philadelphia grand jury investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

“This startling revelation raises clear issues as to whether Cardinal Bevilacqua, Bishops Cullen and Cistone and Monsignor Molloy obstructed justice in connection with grand jury I,” Lynn’s lawyers Jeff Lindy and Thomas Bergstrom wrote in a motion to dismiss the case.

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NEW YORK
Glens Falls Post-Star

Sexual abuse strikes deeply at children’s sense of the world and themselves, and can warp their personalities for the rest of their lives.

Many people endure these horrible attacks, usually at the hands of adults they know and trust, and many people find the strength to go on with constructive and, often, happy lives.

But that doesn’t mean victims of child sexual abuse talk about what happened to them, and if they do, it’s usually in the way of confiding in a spouse or sibling or best friend. Few have the confidence and resilience to come out in public and name and shame their accusers.

Because of the stigma of sexual abuse and because of the great interest society has in stopping abusers, New York should afford child victims every opportunity to have their accusers charged.

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SALINAS (CA)
Monterey Herald

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
Herald Salinas Bureaumontereyherald.com

March 4, 2012

The claim forms are in the mail and the clock is ticking for Palma High School alumni who allege they were molested by someone affiliated with the school.

Sexual abuse victims have until Aug. 1 to file a claim as a “creditor” in the bankruptcy filed last year by the Irish Christian Brothers and the Christian Brothers Institute in New York in reaction to mounting molestation claims.

Palma High School has been identified as one of the schools where alleged perpetrators were employed and was required by the federal bankruptcy court to provide its alumni list for notification.

Jim Stang, the Los Angeles attorney appointed to represent the “unsecured creditors committee,” said some alumni will be confused by the packet of information.

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SALINAS (CA)
Monterey Herald

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
Herald Salinas Bureaumontereyherald.com

March 4, 2012

A second man has reportedly come forward alleging sexual abuse by a priest at Palma High School, but details of both of the claims could remain out of the public eye.

Southern California attorney Mike Reck confirmed Friday that the second man contacted him after The Herald reported an initial claim involving the Rev. Gerald Funcheon, who was a chaplain and teacher at Palma from 1984-85.

Reck said he is about to file the first man’s claim, and will likely file another on behalf of the second man, in the bankruptcy case of the Irish Christian Brothers and the Christian Brothers Institute in New York. The two jointly filed Chapter 11 last year in the wake of mounting sex abuse allegations against its brothers.

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ILLINOIS
Christianity Today

Morgan Feddes

A Wheaton College professor noted for his work on the spiritual formation of children was arrested Thursday for allegedly possessing child pornography.

Donald Ratcliff, the Price-Lebar Professor of Christian Education at Wheaton, was charged after an investigation that tracked Web users trading child porn. Investigators say they found pornographic images of preteen children on at least six computers seized from Ratcliff’s home.

Police also seized two guns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition from his home. Ratcliff did not have a firearm owner’s identification card and faces charges for possession of the munitions. Ratcliff’s attorney told The Daily Herald the guns are “family heirlooms,” but added no further comment on the case.

Judge Elizabeth Sexton set Ratcliff’s bail at $750,000 Friday morning. Sexton also ordered that should he post bond, Ratcliff cannot have contact with anyone under 18 or use a computer or the Internet until his March 8 hearing. Ratcliff would have to post 10 percent of the bail to be released.

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ILLINOIS
The Courier-News

A Wheaton college professor who has authored 10 books on children’s spirituality had pornographic images of kids younger than 13 on computers police took from his suburban home, DuPage County authorities said Friday.

Donald Ratcliff, 60, remained jailed on $750,000 bail after his arrest Thursday on two counts of aggravated child pornography.

Ratcliff has taught Christian education since 2006 at the religious college best known as the alma mater of evangelist Billy Graham, but in a YouTube video Ratcliff describes teaching an online class in children’s spirituality.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Clifford Ward and Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune

March 4, 2012

A Wheaton College professor who taught a class and wrote books about children’s spirituality was ordered held in lieu of $750,000 bail Friday on possession of child pornography and weapons charges.

Donald Ratcliff, 60, was arrested Thursday by Carol Stream police after authorities learned his computer Internet address was associated with trading child pornography, including images of children younger than 13, DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney Anne Therieau said.

Also, police found two handguns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition, Therieau said. He was charged with possession of a firearm without a valid FOID card and possession of ammunition without an FOID card.

Ratcliff’s attorney, Dan Collins, said the pistols were family heirlooms. He declined to comment further.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

By Charlotte Eriksen

A Wheaton College professor accused of possessing child porn, weapons and ammunition has a bond hearing this Thursday, March 8.

Donald Ratcliff, 60, was charged Thursday with:
•Two counts of aggravated possession of child pornography
•Two counts of possession of a firearm without a FOID card
•One count of possession of ammunition without a FOID card

Ratcliff teaches an online course in children’s spirituality. He was unable to post bond Friday morning.

Dan Collins, attorney for Ratcliff, requested next week’s hearing in front of DuPage County Judge Elizabeth Sexton Friday morning. Officials said Ratcliff had 1,600 rounds of ammunition and the weapons were pistols. Collins said Ratcliff’s weapons were “family heirlooms.”

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ILLINOIS
The Chronicle of Higher Education

March 3, 2012

A Christian education professor at Wheaton College was arrested Thursday on charges of possessing child pornography and weapons, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Police took six or seven computers from the home of the professor, Donald Ratcliff, and found two handguns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition, according to the report. College officials said that Mr. Ratcliff had been placed on administrative leave with pay.

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ILLINOIS
The New Civil Rights Movement

by David Badash on March 3, 2012

A married man and father of three children was arrested Thursday on charges of child pornography and illegal gun possession after Internet task force police raided his home and computers. Donald Ratcliff, 60, a Professor of Christian Education at Wheaton College in Illinois, and a Southern Baptist pastor, had bail set at $750,000, and was instructed to have no contact with anyone under 18, and not to use any computer.

“The Wheaton College professor charged with two counts of aggravated child pornography also faces charges for possession of two handguns and ammunition without a firearm owners identification card, prosecutors said Friday in DuPage County court,” The Daily Herald reports:

Assistant State’s Attorney Anne Therieau said investigators found two guns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in Ratcliff’s home.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 3 March 2012

Irish Catholicism is at “breaking point” over the child sex abuse scandals involving the clergy, the leader of Ireland’s largest Catholic diocese will say on Sunday.

The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, will also warn that the paedophile priest controversy is far from over for the Irish church.

In a frank admission of the church’s failings on American primetime TV , Martin will say: “There’s a real danger today of people saying: ‘the child abuse scandal is over, let’s bury it, let’s move on’.

“It isn’t over. Child protection and the protection of children is something which will go on for the rest of our lives and into the future because the problems are there.”

Regarded as one of the most progressive thinkers in the Irish Catholic church, Martin will appear on CBS’s top current affairs show 60 Minutes. He is one of the most senior Catholics to openly criticise the way the hierarchy has handled the abuse allegations.

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WISCONSIN
Wisconsin State Journal

Investigators optimistic after taking a new look at 1998 murder of Catholic priest

ROB SCHULTZ | Wisconsin State Journal | rschultz@madison.com | 608-252-6487 | Posted: Saturday, March 3, 2012

New technology and some potentially new leads have a Dane County Sheriff’s detective feeling optimistic that the mystery surrounding the 1998 slaying of a Catholic priest may soon be solved.

Veteran detective Mary Butler recently took over the case and said the state Crime Laboratory is providing a full-time analyst to take a new look at evidence that could shed light on the murder of the Rev. Alfred Kunz, pastor of St. Michael Church in Dane.

Sunday is the 14th anniversary of the murder of Kunz, 67, who was found with his throat slit in an adjoining parochial school. He had been pastor of the church for 32 years.

“Absolutely I think this case could get solved. If the right piece of information comes forward I feel confident we could move forward and charge somebody on this,” Butler said. “I think there’s somebody out there who knows something.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

A local priest, father Patrick Mccormick, has been arrested for allegedly trying to pick up a prostitute.

Police announced today that it happened around 11pm on Thursday February 23rd. Mccormick tried to pick up a woman police officer who was posing as a prostitute.

The archdiocese says it learned of the alleged incident friday and released this statement calling it “deeply troubling.”

The statement reads in part, on Friday February 24th, father Mccormick informed the archdiocese that he had been arrested the day before, but that the charge was dui. Father Mccormick has been placed on administrative leave.

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NEW YORK
Adirondack Daily Enterprise

March 3, 2012

By CHRIS KNIGHT, Adirondack Daily Enterprise

SARANAC LAKE – The Rev. Christopher Courtwright-Cox was at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church when he realized that he no longer could be affiliated with it.

It was at the height of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal in 2004, and Cox was living in Vatican City. He had just completed his seminary training and been ordained as a priest.

“I had this growing sense of anxiety and depression while I was over there, and I couldn’t really articulate it,” said Cox. “But when (the sex abuse scandal) happened, to hear behind closed doors the amount of secretiveness and homophobia, and the amount of misogyny within the hierarchy of the church, it dawned on me why I was struggling so much. …

The term “Old Catholic Church” refers to a number of Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, primarily the belief that the pope can make infallible statements on church doctrine.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

A priest from a Northeast Philadelphia parish was arrested last week on charges that he tried to pick up a prostitute in Kensington, police said.

The Rev. Patrick McCormick, the parochial vicar of St. Timothy Church in Mayfair, allegedly approached a police officer posing as a prostitute as part of a citywide vice unit operation on Kensington Avenue near I Street about 11 p.m. on Feb. 23, police said. McCormick, 48, was charged with patronizing a prostitute and entered into the Accelerated Misdemeanor Program. He was ordered to perform 18 hours of community service and pay $200 in fines, according to court records.

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PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
Courier Post

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested as part of a prostitution sting in Philadelphia.

Police said the Rev. Patrick McCormick approached a police officer posing as a prostitute during a vice unit undercover operation Thursday night and offered her money to perform a sex act.

Investigators said he was arrested on the spot and charged with patronizing a prostitute. He was ordered to perform 18 hours of community service and pay $200 in fines.

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NEW YORK
NewsLI

March 3, 2012

Co-sponsors legislation to extend statute of limitations for child-sex-abuse crimes

(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Dean Murray speaks at a press conference for the Child Victims Act of New York while Assemblywoman Margaret Markey looks on.

Assemblyman Dean Murray (R, C – East Patchogue) joined Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D – Maspeth) and survivors of child abuse at a press conference on February 29. The press conference was held in support of Child Victims Act of New York legislation that Assemblyman Murray is co-sponsoring.

“Sexually abusing a child is the most heinous offense a person can commit,” said Murray. “For too long, past victims have had to suffer in silence while their offender has walked free. The legislation I am proudly co-sponsoring will extend the current statute of limitations for child-sex-abuse crime by five years, helping to expose older crimes and make it possible to identify previously hidden abusers and bring them to justice. I want to thank Assemblywoman Markey for taking a leadership role in this fight and her ongoing efforts to win passage of this bill.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

Friday, March 02, 2012, 9:00 PM

By John Simerman, The Times-Picayune

An Orleans Parish judge quashed a five-count indictment Friday against the 59-year-old spiritual head of a local Pentecostal church, ruling that the three purported victims waited too long to lodge their allegations against Bishop Charles E. Brown. Criminal District Judge Karen Herman ruled that the statute of limitations, as it was written when the alleged sexual attacks took place, had long ago run out.

Brown, the jurisdictional bishop for Greater New Orleans in the Church of God in Christ, based in Memphis, Tenn., also was pastor of Full Gospel Church of God in Christ in New Orleans, though he spent much of his time leading a congregation in Houston. The Church of God in Christ suspended him after learning of the first allegation, which came to light in September.

Police booked Brown with aggravated rape on June 28, after an unidentified 39-year-old woman called the NOPD’s child abuse unit in March to report that he had molested her between the ages of 14 and 16.

Afterward, two other women came forward with accusations against him. One of them, now 47, claims Brown committed indecent behavior and sexual battery sometime between her 13th and 17th birthdays, according to the indictment. Identified only as “C.B.,” she reached 17 in 1981.

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PAKISTAN
Menschenhandel Heute

by Lea Mera

Missbrauch an Jungen: Ein Thema, bei welchem viele Menschen sofort an die Missbrauchsskandale in kirchlichen Institutionen denken. Geschlechtertrennung, Zölibat und Ablehnung des Weiblichen werden oft als Erklärung für die begangenen Verbrechen herangezogen. Doch wie sieht es in Ländern aus, in denen Geschlechtertrennung zum Alltag gehört und nicht auf wenige Enklaven beschränkt ist?

In Pakistan, wie auch in vielen anderen islamischen Ländern, stellt die Abschottung von Frauen, dort purdah, genannt, eine weit verbreitete Tatsache dar.[2] Diese Trennung von Männern und Frauen wird von vielen Organisationen und AutorInnen für ein anderes weit verbreitetes Phänomen des pakistanischen Alltagslebens verantwortlich gemacht: Für den geradezu institutionalisiert zu nennenden Missbrauch und/oder Zwangsprostitution von Jungen. Statistiken sind schwer zu erstellen. Laut

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ROM
Radio Vatikan

[mit Audio]

Einer der Höhepunkte auf der internationalen Konferenz zum Thema Missbrauch war der Vortrag des Psychologen Stephen Rossetti. Der Priester, Autor und Absolvent der „United States Air Force Academy“ in Colorado ist einer der bekanntesten Missbrauchs-Experten der USA; er unterrichtet unter anderem an der Katholischen Universität von Amerika in Washington. Vor seinen Zuhörern aus aller Welt berichtete er an der römischen Universität Gregoriana über seine Arbeit mit Missbrauchstätern.

„Sie haben doch womöglich alle in Ihrer Familie jemanden mit einem Alkohol- oder Drogenproblem. Und dann wissen Sie doch auch, wie schwierig es ist, diese Leute dazu zu bringen, dass sie überhaupt zugeben: Ja, ich habe da ein Problem. Es ist sehr schwer, da rational heranzugehen. Ich habe den Bischöfen gesagt: Die Täter von Kindesmissbrauch sind in dieser Hinsicht genauso – nur mit zehn multipliziert. Die sind groß im Lügen, im Manipulieren, die wissen ihr Gegenüber in der Regel völlig hinters Licht zu führen. Bischöfe sind eine leichte Beute für sie: Wenn ein Pfarrer vor seinem Bischof steht, und der fragt ihn: Hast du das wirklich getan?, dann schaut ihm ein solcher Priester direkt ins Gesicht und sagt: Nein, natürlich nicht. Die führen ja oft sogar Psychologen hinters Licht! Darum arbeiten wir an meinem Institut in der Regel mit drei Psychologen – alle drei zu täuschen, das gelingt denn doch keinem Täter. Den Täter also zu einem Eingeständnis zu bringen, ist wirklich schwer, aber auch der erste Schritt, um das Problem anzupacken.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
YouTube

Der sagt er hat sie nur lieb gehalten auch am Po und das wäre ja kein Sexueller- Missbrauch, was diese Kinderficker-Sekte sich alles erlauben zu dürfen.

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GERMANY
U.S. Catholic

Friday, March 2, 2012

By Catholic News Service

REGENSBURG, Germany (CNS) — The president of the German bishops’ conference welcomed progress in a national dialogue on the Catholic Church’s future, inaugurated in the wake of sexual abuse scandals.

“This process is on the right track — we’re all getting a chance to make our voices heard,” Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg said March 1, at a news conference marking the end of the bishops’ four-day meeting.

Archbishop Zollitsch said he hoped the dialogue would be advanced by the church’s Katholikentag festival in May and a national eucharistic congress in 2013.

The Dialogue on the State of the Church, launched in June by 30 German bishops and 300 invited clergy and lay representatives, is to run till 2015, with each year examining a church task, including liturgy and witness.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
RTE News

[video clip via CBS]

The Catholic Church in Ireland is at “a breaking point” over the child sexual abuse scandals, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has told America’s most popular news programme.

Dr Martin told of CBS’s “60 Minutes” programme, which will be broadcast on Sunday, that the crisis is not over.

“60 Minutes” asked Archbishop Martin whether the church here has reached its breaking point.

He responded that it is at a very difficult stage and that this is “enormously” due to the scandals.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Examiner

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said that the scandal of clerical child sexual abuse is not over and that safeguards for children must remain in place.

“There is a real danger today of people saying: ‘The child abuse scandal is over. Let’s bury it. Let’s move on’,” he said in an interview to be broadcast on US network television tomorrow.

“It isn’t over. Child protection and the protection of children is something that will go on for the rest of our lives and into the future. Because the problems are there.”

In the interview with CBS television’s ’60 Minutes’ programme, Dr Martin said the Irish Catholic Church has reached “a breaking point” due to the scandals.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Examiner

By Stephen Rogers

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned the Church is at a breaking point due to the sex abuse scandals — and said “problems” with child protection still remained.

In an interview which is to be broadcast to millions of Americans on Sunday night, Archbishop Martin tells the primetime CBS news programme, Sixty Minutes about the effect of the abuse revelations.

He is asked whether the Church has reached breaking point.

“It has reached a breaking point,” he said. “It is at a very difficult stage.”

He is then asked to what extent the crisis in the Church is due to the sexual scandals to which he replies: “Enormously.”

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Saturday, March 3, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Three more people testified in the Michael Kelly civil sexual abuse trial Friday, with two of them saying that he touched children inappropriately.

However, there was no indication by witnesses whether any incidents were sexual in nature.

A man who grew up in Modesto, whose name was withheld by the court, testified about Kelly roughhousing in the family swimming pool and touching the man in an inappropriate location when the witness was a boy. The man was identified only as John C.D. Doe.

“It hurt a little bit,” the witness said. “It was a little bit rough, maybe too intimate.”

Kelly faces a clergy sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a 37-year-old man whose name was released in court on Thursday, but Judge Bob McNatt ruled on Friday that the plaintiff’s name not be released. Court records show the plaintiff’s name as John T.Z. Doe.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Staff Report
Philadelphia Daily News

A priest from a Northeast Philadelphia parish was arrested last week for allegedly trying to pick up a prostitute in Kensington.

Rev. Patrick McCormick, the parochial vicar of St. Timothy’s Church, allegedly approached a police officer posing as a prostitute as part of a citywide vice unit operation on Kensington Avenue near I Street around 11 p.m. on Feb. 23, police said.

After offering money in exchange for sexual favors, McCormick, 48, was arrested on the spot, according to police.

He was charged with patronizing a prostitute and entered into the Accelerated Misdemeanor Program. He was ordered to perform 18 hours of community service and pay $200 in fines, according to court records.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: March 02, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested as part of a prostitution sting in Philadelphia.

Police said the Rev. Patrick McCormick approached a police officer posing as a prostitute during a vice unit undercover operation Thursday night and offered her money to perform a sex act.

Investigators said he was arrested on the spot and charged with patronizing a prostitute. He was ordered to perform 18 hours of community service and pay $200 in fines.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, in a written statement Friday, called the information “deeply troubling” and said McCormick has been placed on administrative leave.

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