ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Saturday, April 21, 2012

A lay religious group will hold a silent vigil outside the residence of the papal nuncio in protest at the silencing of four liberal priests.

Participants are being encouraged to wear gags as a symbol of protest outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Dublin, on Sunday week.

It was revealed recently that Fr Tony Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, was ordered by Rome to discontinue writing for the Redemptorists’ magazine.

His editor, Fr Gerry Moloney, was also warned not to publish any content that ran contrary to church teachings.

Two years ago, Fr Owen O’Sullivan, a Capuchin, and Fr Sean Fagan, a Marist, were also silenced for controversial writing.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Posted by Mollie Wilson O’Reilly

The CDF’s “Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious” is, in my reading, rather short on evidence of the LCWR’s urgent need for reform. One of the few concrete examples given is a keynote address (pdf) delivered by Laurie Brink, OP, at the 2007 LCWR assembly:

The Cardinal [William Levada] offered as an example specific passages of Sr. Laurie Brink’s address about some Religious “moving beyond the Church” or even beyond Jesus. This is a challenge not only to core Catholic beliefs; such a rejection of faith is also a serious source of scandal and is incompatible with religious life. Such unacceptable positions routinely go unchallenged by the LCWR…

Was Sr. Brink rejecting core Catholic beliefs in her address? The Elizabeth Johnson affair has made me skeptical of such claims, so I decided I ought to read her talk for myself.

The subject of Sr. Brink’s address was the various ways congregations of women religious might confront their futures. After each section, there is an invitation for the sisters present to discuss the points raised among themselves, and I must say, reading it, I felt like I was eavesdropping. It wasn’t addressed to me, and their discussions should not be constrained by what outside observers might take out of context. But now that the CDF has made it a matter of general interest, I’m glad I read it. I found that the section referred to above was not at all what the CDF’s description led me to expect. I also found that the rest of the address was relevant to the CDF’s concerns in a number of suprising ways.

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VATICAN CITY
AGI

(AGI) Vatican City – The Church has created a child protection service to combat paedophilia. Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, in a statement broadcast by Vatican Radio, explained: “The healing of wounds, purification and prevention after the sex abuse crisis needs to be consolidated throughout the Church with the commitment of the various bishops’ conferences, in order to become a true service for the whole of society for the protection of minors.” The spokesman added: “We hope that the process of renewal of the Church in Ireland after the Apostolic Visit continues and is strengthened thanks to the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. . .

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

The Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC, Donald W. Wuerl is in Rome this week at the head of a delegation from the Papal Foundation – a US lay organization that supports the charitable works of the Holy Father. As part of their visit to Rome this week, Cardinal Wuerl and several delegates from the Foundation toured the Institute for the Works of Religion – the IOR. Philippa Hitchen asked Cardinal Wuerl about the reasons for his visit and especially to discuss the ongoing efforts to ensure transparency in line with international banking norms and procedures.

Below is a transciption of Cardinal Wuerl’s interview with Philippa Hitchen.

CW “Well we were invited to come and learn first hand directly from the people responsible for the Institute, how it functions and how it carries out its activities. And so, we were very pleased to have the board of the Papal Foundation have this experience and we spent two hours this morning reviewing with the leadership of the Institute what it does and how it does it. It was clearly an effort to be as transparent as possible with how this Institute that cares for funds to carry out the works of religion actually goes about its business. I found it to be a very reassuring thing as did the members of our, our board who were there, manyof whom are people who are deeply engaged in finance, they know the world of finance, they know the world of accountability and book keeping and they told me they were quite impressed with the whole procedure.”

PH So what kind of assurances did you receive that the IOR is really is committed to compliance with international norms because as you know there have been accusations of a lack of transparency in the past?

CW “One of the things that struck me as most convincing was the fact that they have outside auditors, they have just like we in the Church in the United States use outside auditing firms to come in and take a look at what we’re doing and then report on how well it complies with the regulations. Well, they do the same thing at the Institute, they’ve had on the level of just book keeping analysis and on the level of procedural analysis, they’ve had outside firms come in examine them and say you’re in complete compliance. They’ve also asked the entities that have the oversight on the part of international institutions to do the same thing and they were pointing out to us today that they have gotten a clean bill of the health every time they’ve asked for outside auditing.”

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Bronwyn Pike
April 21, 2012
Opinion

FOR many years, religious organisations have grappled with the need to improve the ways they deal with abusive behaviour by their own clergy. In my previous role as director of social justice in the Uniting Church during the 1990s, I worked with my colleagues to develop sexual abuse complaints procedures. In that task I gained an appreciation of just how challenging and complex this issue can be.

The inquiry announced this week into sexual abuse by clergy and community leaders provides a timely opportunity to heal historical wounds and ensure children are safer. However, unless the inquiry is informed by a deep understanding of the unique culture and doctrines of religious organisations, it may do more damage than good.

Most people are genuinely bewildered at the churches’ apparent inability to confront the systemic sexual abuse of children by priests and other religious leaders. In the face of overwhelming evidence and public dismay, the churches appear paralysed and insensitive to public sentiment by insisting on ”in-house” solutions that fail to meet the test that justice be done and be seen to be done. The reasons for this are complex and go to the very nature and theological basis of the churches.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

April 21, 2012

Editorial

By now, the story of predator priests in the Roman Catholic Church and the young victims they sexually abused is so sadly familiar that it’s hard to shock people. But fresh details are still cause for outrage, especially when they loop back to Boston and raise new questions about accountability.

As reported recently by the Globe, the Rev. Bradley M. Schaeffer was the leader of the Jesuits in the Chicago area when an anguished father came to him in 1993 with concerns about an inappropriate relationship between the charismatic retreat leader Donald J. McGuire and the man’s young son. Schaeffer never investigated the complaint or contacted police. Instead, he sent McGuire for treatment of a sexual disorder, and later expressed doubts that the treatment had been effective. But he didn’t take further steps against him, except to ban him from traveling with anyone under 21.

McGuire went on to commit more offenses, and today is serving 25 years in federal prison for repeatedly molesting a 13-year-old boy in the early 2000s. Meanwhile, the Jesuits face a lawsuit for their failure to protect one of McGuire’s alleged victims. Schaeffer, who looked the other way so long ago, went on to become a member of the Boston College Board of Trustees and leads a study center for future Jesuit priests that is affiliated with BC.

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WEST VIRGINIA
GoErie

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An aide to West Virginia’s Catholic bishop has been ordered to testify in a clergy sexual abuse trial under way in Philadelphia after a state judge declared him “a necessary and material witness.”

Ohio County Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson issued the ruling late Thursday, and Monsignor Kevin Quirk’s attorney, William Kolibash, provided it to the Associated Press on Friday.

Kolibash referred further questions to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

“We needed to have a valid legal process, which we do now have,” the diocese said in an e-mail. “Accordingly, Monsignor Quirk will appear.”

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Posted at: Friday, April 20, 2012
Author: Tom Beaudoin

Since June 2002 in the printed pages of America magazine and here on its blog (such as, more recently, here and here), I have tried to make occasional theological sense of the unfolding sexual/managerial abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church. As someone who works in the area of practical theology, the lived experience of faith, critically and appreciatively understood, is an important consideration for me in trying to do any theological work.

Reading today’s newspaper made me wonder anew at what Catholicism is facing (or not facing). Like some other commentators, I believe that this scandal is as much about the fundamental terms of the church and theology as it is about problematic “accretions” to an otherwise unproblematic ecclesial-theological substructure.

In today’s New York Times, I read about the testimony of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, part of the current trial in Philadelphia exploring sexual abuse and coverup at allegedly high levels of the Catholic Church there. According to news coverge, Bishop Bransfield was on the stand refuting claims that he himself was guilty of sexual abuse and that he also knew of abuse by another priest.

Of course, I don’t know what the truth is in this particular case, and as much as anyone, I hope for a fair trial and a just verdict.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A group that supports sexual abuse victims will have to turn over decades of records to lawyers representing accused Roman Catholic priests, a Jackson County judge said Friday.

The judge agreed, however, to limit the amount of information that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will have to search and disclose.

The broad demand for records going back more than 20 years has drawn national attention to the case, with some accusing the Catholic Church of bullying a victim advocacy group. Others have criticized the advocacy group, known as SNAP, for demanding transparency from the church while explaining little about its own role in holding the church to account.

Among a host of issues at play in the lawsuits, defense lawyers want to know whether SNAP has been coaching victims and potential plaintiffs on the controversial topic of repressed memory.

SNAP has denied doing so. But if defense lawyers can prove that the plaintiffs did not actually repress and later remember decades-old sexual abuse, judges would have to throw out the lawsuits under a five-year statute of limitations that the Missouri Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2006.

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MONTANA
Flathead Beacon

By Molly Priddy, 04-19-12

A Kalispell priest accused of possessing child pornography pleaded not guilty during an April 19 hearing at Flathead County District Court.

The Rev. Rudolph Carl Bullman, 67, appeared before Judge Ted O. Lympus during an arraignment hearing, dressed in a red tie and gray jacket. Wendy Holton, Bullman’s Helena-based attorney, entered a not guilty plea to the charge of sexual abuse of children, a felony.

“That’s your plea, sir?” Lympus asked.

Bullman stood and replied, “Yes sir, it is.”

According to charging documents, last October a woman called the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office to report child pornography on a Nintendo DS – a handheld gaming system – she had purchased from Bullman.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

After a week of interstate legal maneuvering, a West Virginia judge has ordered a Catholic church official in Wheeling to testify in the Philadelphia trial involving alleged sex abuse by some priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The ruling late Thursday by Ohio County Circuit Judge Ronald E. Wilson ended an impasse over a demand from Philadelphia prosecutors for live testimony from Msgr. Kevin Michael Quirk.

Philadelphia prosecutors want Quirk to testify about his questioning of the Rev. James J. Brennan at a 2008 canonical trial where Quirk was one of three church judges.

Brennan, 48, is one of two Philadelphia clerics on trial in Common Pleas Court. He is accused of trying to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

April 21, 2012

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton has settled a civil lawsuit and will pay $3.75 million to a plaintiff who accused removed priest Michael Kelly of sexually molesting him.

After obtaining one of the diocese’s largest-ever individual settlements for sexual abuse, the plaintiff named in court papers as John TZ Doe identified himself as Travis Trotter.

Trotter, of Fairfax, was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton under Kelly’s direction more than 20 years ago. He said he recovered memories of the abuse years later and that the emotional fallout has prevented him from working as an airline pilot.

Trotter revealed his name to encourage other abuse victims to come forward and begin the healing process, he said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 20, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY. Mo. — A Missouri judge this afternoon (Friday) ordered the director of the leading advocacy group for victims of clergy sex abuse to give a second deposition and to turn over more documents to lawyers representing priests accused of sexual misconduct in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.

Lawyers representing at least four accused priests in the diocese will have access to a wide range of documents from the files of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). The judge ordered SNAP to handover nearly all its files “relating to sexual or other misconduct by priests in the diocese,” and for SNAP director David Clohessy to undergo a second deposition.

The order is yet to be officially filed but was handed down by Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle following nearly four hours of arguments between lawyers this afternoon.

SNAP is not a party to the lawsuit involving a Kansas City, Mo., diocesan priest, but the case made headlines in January when the judge allowed a defense motion to depose the SNAP director and for the organization to turn over documents, including letters and emails from victims and journalists. This was the first time SNAP had been forced to testify in an abuse case in its 23-year history.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
News 10

SAN DIEGO — A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a young woman at his home the day before New Year’s Eve pleaded guilty Friday.

Jose Davila, 53, also known as Father Alexis, pleaded guilty to battery after being accused of engaging in “unlawful touching of an intimate part of the victim’s body.”

Davila was sentenced to three years probation, ordered to complete 150 hours of volunteer work and will have to pay a $200 fine.

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SPANJE
IPS

MALAGA

20 april 2012

De Spaanse minister van Justitie heeft aangekondigd dat er een gegevensbank komt om geroofde baby’s bij hun biologische moeder terug te brengen. Van 1975 tot 1990 zijn duizenden baby’s geroofd door een netwerk van artsen en religieuzen. In Madrid loopt nu het eerste proces in deze zaak.

De gegevensbank moet genetische profielen en laboratoriumrapporten samenbrengen, kondigde minister van Justitie Alberto Ruiz Gallardón aan. Er komt ook een werkgroep, met vertegenwoordigers van Justitie, Binnenlandse Zaken en Gezondheidszorg.

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TEXAS
Houston Press

By Craig Malisow
Fri., Apr. 20 2012

A Dallas County man is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, and Bishop Curtis Guillory, over sexual abuse the man allegedly suffered by a now-deceased priest in 1976-1977.

Filed last week in Jefferson County District Court, the man — identified as John Doe 104 — claims that Father Ronald W. Bollich performed oral sex on the plaintiff, and requested that the plaintiff perform oral sex on him as well, when the plaintiff was in his early teens.

Bollich, who died in 1996 at age 59, was ordained by the Diocese of Galveston-Houston (now an Archdiocese) in 1964 and went to work in the Beaumont Diocese upon its 1966 founding, according to the suit. He was serving in the Tyler Diocese at the time of his death.

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STOCKTON (CA)
News 10

Written by
Paul Janes

STOCKTON, CA – The Diocese of Stockton reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit against Father Michael Kelly on claims of sexual abuse.

According to diocese spokesman Terry Davis, the diocese agreed to pay the plaintiff and his attorneys $3.75 million, $2 million of which would be paid by the diocese’s insurance.

In response to the settlement, the plaintiff agreed to dismiss his lawsuit and seek no further legal action against the diocese or Kelly, said Davis.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

Associated Press

Published: Friday, Apr. 20, 2012

STOCKTON, Calif. — The Catholic Diocese of Stockton has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a lawsuit by a former altar boy who said he was molested by a priest in the 1980s and church officials didn’t do enough to stop it, attorneys for the alleged victim and the diocese said Friday.

The altar boy, now in his 30s, said Michael Kelly abused him in the 1980s while Kelly was a priest at Cathedral of Annunciation in Stockton. A civil jury in the lawsuit found Kelly liable for the molestation earlier this month. Kelly was removed from the ministry and has since gone to his native Ireland, citing health problems.

The settlement was reached as the trial was in its second phase to determine whether the diocese was also at fault.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

Written by
Peggy Wright
Staff Writer

CHATHAM — A special tribute to the Rev. Edward Hinds, who was stabbed to death in 2009 in the rectory of St. Patrick’s Church, will be paid Monday at an observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is hosting a crime victims’ recognition and remembrance ceremony Monday at 6 p.m. at the church at 85 Washington Ave., Chatham, with particular focus this year on Hinds.

“We felt it appropriate to remember Father Hinds in the place that he knew and loved so well. The parish community of St. Patrick’s Church as well as the people of Chatham and Chatham Township were his family and friends,” stated an announcement of the event.

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SALINA (KS)
Salina Journal

4/20/2012
By the Salina Journal

The Rev. Allen Kent Scheer, a priest at Sacred Heart Cathedral, pleaded not guilty Friday in Saline County District Court to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery.

His trial is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 15.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

It is understood a meeting in Pomeroy to discuss the investigation of a parish priest has been told he has been exonerated.

Father Martin McVeigh has been under investigation after indecent images were shown to a public meeting in a primary school three weeks ago.

Parents from the school met representatives from the Archdiocese of Armagh on Friday evening.

Fr McVeigh remains parish priest but is taking a temporary leave of absence.

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CHILE
Catholic News Agency

Santiago, Chile, Apr 20, 2012 / 11:15 am (CNA).- Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago, Chile has decided to canonically disband the Priestly Union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, led for many years by disgraced priest Father Fernando Karadima.

“We are looking forward,” Archbishop Ezzati told reporters April 16. “The past is gone, of course it has consequences for the future, but we should emphasis the dynamism that the Resurrection of the Lord and the Gospel of the Lord offer us.”

In 2011 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the Chilean priest guilty of sexual abuse and ordered him to retire to a life of penance and prayer. In its decree, the congregation suggested that the Priestly Union receive an apostolic visitation.

The visitation was ordered to examine the economic management of the association as well as its formation program and was carried out by Uruguayan Bishop Carlos Maria Collazi of Mercedes between December 4-8, 2011, and January 25-27, 2012.

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TEXAS
Beaumont Enterprise

A Dallas County man has filed a sexual abuse claim against the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, alleging he was sexually abused by a priest in the late 1970s.

The plaintiff, who is identified only as John Doe 104 in the legal suit filed in a Jefferson County district court on April 12, claims the late Ronald Bollich routinely sexually assaulted him in 1976 and 1977.

Bollich was assigned to the Sacred Heart Parish in Nacogdoches, which was governed by the Beaumont Diocese, at the time of the allegations, according to the court filing.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger

CHATHAM BOROUGH — The former Chatham church custodian who in December was convicted of fatally stabbing a priest in a case that drew attention for its senselessness and unsubstantiated allegations of sexual blackmail, today was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Jose Feliciano, 66, was sitting down and looked away as Superior Court Judge Thomas Manahan imposed the sentence, which had been mandated by the jury’s verdict, before a crowded courtroom in Morristown.

A jury convicted Feliciano of murder and felony murder in the Oct. 22, 2009, attack.

Feliciano stabbed the Rev. Edward Hinds 44 times inside the rectory at St. Patrick Church in Chatham Borough, after the priest fired him, according to testimony. The courtroom today was packed with Hinds’ friends and relatives.

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SALINA (KS)
KAKE

Reporter: KAKE News
Email Address: news@kake.com

April 20, 2012

A Salina priest today pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual battery. Rev. Allen Scheer made his first court appearance in Saline County Court this afternoon.

Salina Police said Scheer was arrested for inappropriately touching another man. The Salina Diocese said Father Scheer has been placed on administrative leave.

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NEW JERSEY
WPVI

Associated Press

MORRISTOWN, N.J. – April 20, 2012 (WPVI) — A former church janitor has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of killing a New Jersey priest.

Jose Feliciano didn’t deny stabbing the Rev. Edward Hinds to death in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham in 2009.

Feliciano, who testified during his trial, was unable to persuade a jury he had killed Hinds in a fit of rage over sexual blackmail.

Feliciano, of Easton, Pa., was sentenced Friday in state superior court in Morristown.

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STOCKTON (CA)
CBS 13

STOCKTON (CBS13) – The attorneys for the rape victim of a Catholic priest who fled the country announced on Friday the Stockton Diocese has agreed to pay their client $3.75 million to settle the civil case.

Michael Kelly was found liable of sexual assault of a 10-year-old altar boy in the 1980s earlier in the civil trial and the second phase was to determine the diocese’s liability. The settlement was reached late Thursday and announced to jurors in court on Friday morning.

Kelly informed Bishop Stephen Blaire in a letter dated April 15 that he had fled to his native Ireland because of health reasons related to the trial. He also continued to maintain his innocence.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

The Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC, Donald W. Wuerl is in Rome this week at the head of a delegation from the Papal Foundation – a US lay organization that supports the charitable works of the Holy Father. As part of their visit to Rome this week, Cardinal Wuerl and several delegates from the Foundation toured the Institute for the Works of Religion – the IOR. Philippa Hitchen asked Cardinal Wuerl about the reasons for his visit to the “Vatican bank” – as it is commonly known – and especially to discuss the ongoing efforts to ensure transparency in line with international banking norms and procedures.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Trustees of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, which donates millions of dollars to papal charities each year, spent two hours at the Vatican bank April 20 and came away convinced that the institution’s bad press was undeserved, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington.

“I found it very reassuring,” the cardinal told Catholic News Service in Rome. “The effort of the Holy See to be transparent is demonstrable.”

The bank, which is formally called the Institute for the Works of Religion (known by its Italian initials, IOR), “is just that — a work of religion,” said the cardinal, who is chairman of the Papal Foundation’s board of trustees.

Having a bank allows Vatican offices, international religious orders and Catholic institutions to handle money in a variety of currencies and move resources to where they are needed, he said.

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IOWA
KCRG

By Dennis Magee, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

WAVERLY, Iowa — Pastor Dennis Brown of rural Eldora intends to change his plea and admit he engaged in a sex act with a 15-year-old boy, according to court documents.

Waverly police arrested Brown, 67, in July, and he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony.

Brown and the boy allegedly became acquainted online through a website and arranged to meet in Waverly. The teenager’s family found out and contacted law enforcement officials, according to court records.

Brown indicated he had been pastor of a church in Grundy County for four years. He also maintained a home in Verona, Va.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — One day after a West Virginia bishop responded to sex abuse allegations in the Philadelphia clergy abuse case (see related story), another issue related to the Wheeling-Charleston diocese has been settled.

Prosecutors in the case against Father James Brennan and Monsignor William Lynn want Monsignor Kevin Quirk as a witness against defendant Father Brennan, who is charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 1996, but had suggested Quirk’s appearance was being obstructed.

Prosecutor Patrick Blessington told the court this week that Quirk, a judge at Brennan’s canonical trial, had taken statements from Brennan that were inculpatory, and that Quirk, who now reports directly to Bishop Michael Bransfield in the Wheeling-Charleston diocese, was ready and willing to appear — until he checked with the diocese and trouble began.

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WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette

By Paul J. Nyden
The Charleston Gazette
Advertiser

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Pat Hussey and Barbara Ferraro, former Roman Catholic nuns who lived in Charleston for many years, criticized Pope Benedict XVI for launching a crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

LCWR is a group of organizations that represents 80 percent of the 55,000 Catholic nuns in the United States.

On Wednesday, Pope Benedict released a document criticizing LCWR for focusing too much on efforts to eliminate poverty and economic injustice. The Pope also attacked the group’s failures to speak out strongly against allowing women to become priests, abortion and gay marriage.

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CLEVELAND
NPR

April 20, 2012

After Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese announced he was closing several churches, one parishioner took her church’s case straight to the Vatican and won. Host Michel Martin speaks with Christine La Salvia of St. James Catholic Church.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton

For Immediate Release to the Press
April 20, 2012
Contact: Sr. Terry Davis 209.466.0636
Director of Communications,
Diocese of Stockton

Statement from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire

The Diocese of Stockton has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Fr. Michael Kelly.

The Diocese agreed to pay the plaintiff and his attorneys $3.75 million, with $2 million of this amount being paid by the Diocese’s insurance carriers. In response, the plaintiff will dismiss his lawsuit and seek no further action against the Diocese or Fr. Kelly.

The settlement brings an end to litigation that began more than 4-1/2 years ago and that has occupied a great deal of time and focus. We respect the right of everyone to have their day in court and we abide by the decisions that were made.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Modesto Bee

[PDF: Statement from Bishop Blaire]

The Stockton Record

STOCKTON — The Diocese of Stockton has reached a settlement with the plaintiff who accused a former priest of molesting him while the two served at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton years ago. The plaintiff, identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, said he recovered memories of the abuse only after the statute of limitations had expired, so he sued. A jury earlier this month found that Father Michael Kelly was liable for sexual molestation. Kelly, who was removed from his office by the diocese after the jury’s finding, has since left for his native Ireland. On Friday, the diocese announced that it will pay the plaintiff and his attorneys $3.75 million, bringing to a close any further litigation against the diocese or Kelly in this case.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage

Jerry Slevin has sent another strong statement about the situation in Philadelphia, where, as he notes, the ongoing seamy revelations in the trial of Msgr. Lynn have become more HBO than MSNBC–though as Jerry notes, the American mainstream media appear to a great extent to remain reluctant to deal with the abuse story, even as they give the U.S. Catholic bishops extensive face-time to spread talk about their “religious liberty” crusade.

The following is Jerry’s statement:

The daily revelations, as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, coming from the Philly criminal trial of Msgr. Lynn, former top aide to Cardinal Dolan’s mentor, Cardinal Rigali, are becoming increasingly sordid and shocking, much more like HBO’s “Rome” series and Showtime’s “Borgias” series than any MSNBC or CNN news analysis.

These revelations included details of (1) a near naked children’s “Passion Play” organized by a “sick” priest, and (2) testimony under oath of two unrelated witnesses relating to some alleged sexual misconduct with young boys involving Philly native, Bishop Michael Bransfield. He is the current treasurer of Dolan’s US bishops’ group, the USCCB, as well as head of the elite US Catholic donors’ group, the Papal Foundation.

Information and details about the Papal Foundation, with pictures of its elite members, are included in the Foundation’s annual report available at the organization’s website. Videos of Bransfield’s and the group’s 2010 and 2011 annual personal meetings with the pope at the Vatican are accessible On YouTube here and here. Some of the group’s members are also involved with other wealthy US Catholic donor groups, such as LEGATUS, FADICA, the Leadership Roundtable and the Knights of Malta.

Many of the members of these groups apparently benefit from the continuance of the Bush tax cuts favoring disproportionately the top 1% of American taxpayers. The pope’s strong efforts to replace Obama with Romney are apparently well appreciated by many of these groups’ members, since the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy will likely expire if Obama wins re-election. The pope surely is aware of this.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian and John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

A West Virginia judge has ordered a Catholic church official formerly from Philadelphia to testify at the clergy sex-abuse trial now under way in the city.

The ruling late Thursday by Ohio County Circuit Judge Ronald E. Wilson ends a weeklong stalemate over testimony by Msgr. Kevin Michael Quirk.

Philadelphia prosecutors want Quirk to testify about his questioning of the Rev. James J. Brennan during a 2008 canonical trial at which Quirk served one of three church judges.

The trial is adjourned until Monday.

Brennan, 48, is one of two Philadelphia clerics on trial in Common Pleas Court; he is charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

Lee Bradberry, 22, Auburn, Ala., the former Kanakuk counselor charged with six felony charges involving sex with underage boys, is free after posting $100,000 bond, according to online Taney County Circuit Court documents.

The arraignment for Bradberry, is set for May 14.

Bradberry is charged with two counts of statutory sodomy, two counts of sexual molestation and single counts of sexual misconduct and attempted statutory sodomy, all involving underage boys who were under his charge as a counselor at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson.

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KANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on April 20, 2012

We applaud the Kansas Board of Education for revoking the teaching license of woman who delayed in reporting suspected child sex crimes to law enforcement.

Their action is a powerful statement that protecting children is not something to be taken lightly. Every employer and teacher must immediately report any suspicion of abuse, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant. There must be no doubt about this. And there must be clear consequences for those who endanger kids by breaking this simple law.

Someone no doubt believes this punishment is too severe. We argue that anytime there is a remote suspicion that a child might be abused, it is critical to act on that suspicion. If there was no abuse, then they’ve caused some trouble and some paperwork. But if there is abuse and it goes unreported, then that official is complicit in causing lifelong trauma and the pain that comes from childhood abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
Irish Central

New questions about Father Michael Kelly’s guilt or innocence — Case seen as similar to story of priest accused in the movie “Doubt”

Niall O’Dowd

I had occasion to speak to a person from California who is a long time friend of Father Michael Kelly, the California-based priest who flew to his native Ireland after losing a civil case against him on an abuse charge.

Yesterday we wrote that Kelly was found liable on the civil charge despite the fact that the accusations against him by a 37-year old man, a pilot for Southwest Airlines, were based on “recovered memories” a highly dubious method as recent history has shown in cases such as the McMartin preschool case.

The man alleged that Kelly abused him when he was a young altar boy back in the mid 1980s.

The person who knows Kelly for over twenty years says they believe that Kelly was likely innocent but they could not be absolutely certain.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

April 20, 2012

By JOHN McCABE – Managing Editor , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

WHEELING — Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson has ruled that Monsignor Kevin Quirk must testify as a material witness in a clergy sex abuse trial taking place in Philadelphia.

Wilson issued the order late Thursday. Wheeling attorney William Kolibash, who is representing Quirk, confirmed that his client will now testify in the case of the Rev. James Brennan, who’s on trial in Philadelphia for an alleged 1996 child-sex assault. Brennan has denied those charges.

Kolibash says Quirk will testify between April 29 and May 1.

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia judge says Monsignor Kevin Quirk must testify as a material witness in a clergy sexual abuse trial under way in Philadelphia.

Quirk’s attorney, William Kolibash, said Friday that Hancock County Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson has ruled that Quirk is a material witness in the case against the Rev. James Brennan.

Kolibash says his client must appear to testify between April 29 and May 1.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office couldn’t subpoena Quirk because he lives outside Pennsylvania. It needed a West Virginia judge to issue the subpoena.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Mid-Ulster Mail

Published on Friday 20 April 2012

THE result of an investigation into how indecent images were inadvertently displayed by a Pomeroy priest at a First Holy Communion meeting will be revealed to parents this week.

The MAIL understands that Armagh Diocese is set to speak to parents this Friday about the scandal which happened after Father Martin McVeigh inserted a USB device into a computer during the meeting at St Mary’s Primary School.

It follows escalating calls for the cleric’s suspension from shocked parents who witnessed a reported 16 obscene images of men flash up on the projector screen last month.

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SALINA (KS)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina

April 19, 2012 – Yesterday, Father Allen Scheer was charged with a misdemeanor for inappropriate sexual conduct with an adult in Salina. The Diocese will fully cooperate with the investigation conducted by local law enforcement, and Father Allen Scheer has been placed on administrative leave. Father Randall Weber has been appointed as Parochial Administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral.

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SALINA (KS)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 19, 2012

Cases like these serve as painful reminder that sexual abuse is not only perpetrated against children, but can affect vulnerable adults as well. We hope that the arrest of Fr. Scheer will help encourage anyone else who may have seen suspected or suffered any misdeeds by Scheer – or other clergy – to step forward, get help, expose wrongdoing and protct others.

Our gratitude goes out to the Salina police for their prompt actions in this case.

According to the Diocese of Salina’s website, Fr. Scheer has been placed on administrative leave. We urge Bishop-elect Edward Weisenburger to personally visit the parishes that Fr. Scheer may have worked or volunteered at and beg others with knowledge or suspicions of his misconduct to speak up.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

April 20, 2012

By JOHN McCABE – Managing Editor , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

WHEELING — Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson is expected to rule Friday on whether Monsignor Kevin Quirk will be required to testify as a material witness in a clergy sex abuse trial taking place in Philadelphia.

A law clerk in Wilson’s Hancock County office said the judge, who currently serves as chief of the 1st Judicial Circuit, held a hearing April 12 regarding the validity of the material witness petition issued by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office seeking Quirk to testify.

A secretary in Wilson’s office inadvertently informed The Intelligencer on Wednesday that the judge was not involved in the case.

The clerk, Heather Wood, said Wilson was assigned the case after Wheeling attorney William Kolibash, who is representing Quirk, indicated his client would contest the petition.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on April 20, 2012

Yesterday, a Jesuit cleric resigned from a college board under pressure because he did little or nothing to stop a prominent Chicago priest from molesting dozens of children.

Today, we call on Loyola University of Chicago to kick that Jesuit off its board.

He is Fr. Bradley M. Schaeffer. Yesterday, he stepped down from the Boston College board of trustees. Yet he remains on several other boards, including Loyola’s.

Earlier this week, the Boston Globe reported on pages and pages of long-secret church records about Donald McGuire’s crimes and Schaeffer’s refusal to take decisive action to stop him.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

There are some people commenting on the ACP Opinion Poll who do not seem to understand what an opinion poll is, and who interpret it as a list of demands about the way the church should be: they see it as a type of disloyalty or rebellion.

An opinion poll is just that: a way to establish what a particular group of people think about specific issues. It’s like a first step towards the Assembly in Dublin on 7 May: Naming the Reality. This is an important element in our being members of the Church. It is particularly important with those entrusted positions of authority for the service of the people. Parents, for example, may decide that a child should be in bed by 8pm. This may or may not be a good decision ast the time, or it may be imposed in a good way or bad way; but it will be helpful for the parents to know whether the child is doing what they think the child should be doing, and whether they may revise their decision. The Opinion Poll is descriptive, not prescriptive. And it is useful to know that 35% of those who declare themselves Catholic say that they go to Mass at least once a week. That’s about 1,300,000 people every week – they would fill Croke Park more than 15 times. This, of course, does not make headlines.

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DORCHESTER (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
| Globe Staff
April 20, 2012

In an extraordinary outpouring of support for a priest accused of sexual abuse, hundreds gathered at St. Brendan’s Parish in Dorchester Thursday evening to attend a Mass for the Rev. James H. Lane, the parish’s beloved longtime pastor.

It was a quiet, intensely felt service until the end, when one of Lane’s oldest and closest friends, Harry Uhlman, rose to speak.

“I don’t care what anybody says,’’ he said. “Father Lane never abused a child.’’

People in the packed church shot to their feet, and crashing applause filled the sanctuary for more than a minute. …

At Thursday’s service, Connolly cautioned parishioners to express their feelings about Lane’s case in a way that would not alienate victims of sexual abuse. Three Boston priests who served at St. Brendan’s appear on the archdiocese’s list of priests accused of abuse.

In a poignant letter to the congregation distributed over the weekend and posted on the parish website, Connolly spoke of his astonishment and sadness about the accusation.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Herald

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) – A former church janitor convicted of murdering a New Jersey priest is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Jose Feliciano didn’t deny stabbing the Rev. Edward Hinds to death in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham in 2009.

But Feliciano was unable to persuade a jury he had killed Hinds in a fit of rage over sexual blackmail.

Prosecutors say Feliciano, of Easton, Pa., stabbed the priest more than 30 times after Hinds fired him. Investigators say Hinds had discovered Feliciano had an outstanding arrest warrant in Philadelphia from the 1980s for sexually touching a child.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Labour yesterday called for political responsibility to be carried for an mistake that led to a defrocked priest being cleared of raping a boy due to a mistake in the charges.

The mistake, which came to light at the end of the case in question, was made by the office of the Attorney General.

However, the party’s justice spokesman Jose Herrera avoided of blaming anyone in the office itself, saying that the Attorney General was left under-resourced by the Justice Ministry and did not have an adequate staff complement.

The Justice Ministry retaliated with a statement pointing out that, according to the Constitution, the AG was independent of government. No minister had the authority to interfere with the way the office operated.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Francesca Vella

Article published on 20 April 2012

The case of the priest who was cleared of rape because of a mistake in the charge sheet could have been revised when there was the opportunity to do so, and then Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici should assume political responsibility for the lack of investment in the office of the attorney general, according to the Labour Party’s spokesperson for justice José Herrera and spokesperson for security and home affairs Michael Falzon.

Addressing a press conference outside the Law Courts building, Dr Herrera also referred to the need to tackle the issue of bomb threats at the Law Courts, saying they naturally slow down the work of the courts and have been happening too often.

On the case of defrocked priest Godwin Scerri, who was acquitted of rape, Dr Herrera said the rape charge could have been revised.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Tyrone Times

A GROUP of Pomeroy parishioners have rallied behind their parish priest who is embroiled in an indecent images scandal.

Father Martin McVeigh remains at the centre of a media storm after the pictures appeared on a projector to parents during a presentation at St Mary’s Primary School in the village.

While some parishioners have called on the priest to be suspended, another group has emerged to accuse elements of the media of portraying Fr McVeigh in a harsh light.

A spokesperson for the group supporting Fr McVeigh listed the priest’s achievements, including the building of an adoration chapel which is attended by over 100 people each week to pray and reflect.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A former priest has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a boy and a girl between 30 and 40 years ago.

71-year-old Joseph Michael Steele, with an address at Kimmage Manor, Crumlin in Dublin, admitted five counts of indecent assault, and two of gross indecency, against the boy on dates between January 1967 and January 1971.

The former member of the Holy Ghost Order also pleaded guilty to three counts of indecently assaulting the girl on dates between August 1979 and July 1983.

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UNITED STATES
Indie Theology

by Michele Madigan Somerville

I was not at all surprised to read about the Vatican’s fresh attempt to crack down on nuns in the United States. When the class bully strikes out with the tough guys in the schoolyard, what, in his desperation, does he do? He moves on to the girls. A “Get the nuns!” strategy makes perfect sense at this point in time.

The Vatican is losing the war of public opinion in the pews. Prominent practicing Catholic politicians are refusing to budge on equal marriage rights and medical insurance coverage of contraception. The sexual abuse stories keep coming – I think they are getting uglier. In the United States, the Vatican has failed to muster adequate support in the pews for its (secular) political agenda. The Holy See’s efforts to strong-arm American politicians have failed and are likely to backfire. Some of the Vatican’s own bishops are refusing to campaign against equal marriage rights in their dioceses. The hierarchy itself is sharply divided. In the US, the Vatican has struck out with the president its long-shot dream of an Opus Dei in the Executive Office has gone the way of ripples on a pond.

The Vatican needs to flex its muscles. More urgent, still, is its need to push tales of Vatican corruption, child molestation and news of its colossal failure to convince Catholics to vote in accordance with the Magisterium off of what we once called “the front pages.” The Vatican needs to create fresh fear.

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PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Murtha was found by another priest to have sadomasochistic pornography in his bedroom, including images of violent sex acts against children. Also found was a sexually explicit “love letter” written by Murtha to a seventh grade boy. The fellow priest reported his find to archdiocesan officials. Murtha admitted the materials were his, and was sent to treatment. Secretary of Clergy, Msgr. William Lynn, is said to have agreed with Murtha to tell parishioners Murtha was being hospitalized for high blood pressure and weight control. Murtha was kept in ministry until at least 2008.

Ordained: 1993
Incardinated: Philadelphia

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

By Michael Muskal

April 19, 2012, 5:46 p.m.
The Vatican has ordered an overhaul of the most important group of nuns in the United States after an investigation found what Roman Catholic Church officials called “radical feminist themes” that questioned official positions on homosexuality and the ordination of women.

In a bluntly worded report, the Vatican’s watchdog of orthodoxy, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, found what it called “serious doctrinal problems” with some of the comments and actions by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, based in Silver Spring, Md. The Vatican on Wednesday named Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle to oversee changes in the group, a process that could take up to five years.

The Leadership Conference, which says it has more than 1,500 members representing more than 80% of the 57,000 women religious in the United States, stated it was “stunned” by the official assessment.

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WICHITA (KS)
The Kansas City Star

The Associated Press

WICHITA — The Kansas Board of Education has taken the unusual step of revoking the license of a teacher who was accused of failing to promptly report suspected child abuse.

The Wichita Eagle reported that Donna L. Ford, 51, surrendered her license to the state board. Members voted 6-2 on Tuesday to accept the surrender and revoke Ford’s license.

But some education officials are alarmed by the step.

“It’s an absolute atrocity. What this does is send a shiver down the spine of every teacher in the state,” said board member Walt Chappell, who cast one of the no votes.

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UNITED STATES
The News Tribune

Cheryl Tucker

When I read the story Thursday about how the Vatican plans to rein in its more uppity nuns, I wondered what my friend – a former priest at a Tacoma parish – thought about it. Here’s his take:

It is amusing that a group of conservative men have been appointed to change the bylaws of a group of women concerning matters that generally deal with sexual orientation.

Granted, a group of nuns may not know as much about sex as the standard adult Catholic female population, but they still probably know a hell of a lot more than the “Congregation for The Doctrine of the Faith,” probably more than the three bishops who were appointed to the panel, and could probably well instruct both groups about the direction for real Catholic social teaching.

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UNITED STATES
Anglocat on the Prowl

Ah, here we go again. Cardinal Dolan approvingly links the analysis of William Donohue of the deposition of David Clohessy, Director of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (“SNAP”) (Donohue and Dolan, by quotation, mistakenly call him the President; according to SNAP, Barbara Blaine, the organization’s founder, holds that position.) Clohessy was deposed in a case where neither he nor SNAP is a party. Dolan quotes Donohue’s “report” to the effect that:

Clohessy proved to be uncooperative, refusing to comply with a request for internal documents; he only released a small portion of them. On the stand, he was similarly recalcitrant, refusing to answer many questions. He took refuge in a Missouri law which protects the confidentiality of rape crisis centers. But there are serious reasons to doubt whether SNAP meets the test of a rape crisis center.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

netzwerkB Pressemitteilung 19.04.2012 (als PDF herunter laden)

Verjährungsfristen im deutschen Zivilrecht verstoßen gegen Menschenrechte

Betroffene von sexualisierter Gewalt beteiligen sich an einer Sammelklage gegen den deutschen Staat

Betroffene sexualisierter Gewalt stoßen häufig auf das Problem, dass sie ihre Ansprüche auf Entschädigungsleistungen und somit auf Anerkennung als Opfer von Gewalttaten gegen die sexuelle Selbstbestimmung nicht durchsetzen können. Verursacht wird dies durch die im deutschen Zivilrecht derzeit sowie in der Vergangenheit geltenden Verjährungsfristen. Gegen diese Regelung wollen wir gemeinsam vorgehen, bitte unterstützen sie uns, indem sie sich beteiligen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Neckar-Chronic

Biberach Die Mutter nicht da, der Vater nicht da, im Heim St. Josef Ordensschwestern als Ersatz. Immer wieder Schläge, Drill und Strafen wie Einsperren in einen Schrank – und die Gedanken an einen Friedhof mit weißen Grabkreuzen neben dem alten Schloss in Hürbel (Kreis Biberach). “Da hatte ich irgendwann Angst, selber drauf zu landen”, sagt E. heute. Der 49-Jährige kam als Baby in das katholische Säuglingsheim im Oberschwäbischen. Das Jugendamt hatte den Eltern das Baby weggenommen.

Später kam E. in ein Heim für Jugendliche, 16 Jahre war er insgesamt Heimkind. Bis heute trägt er diese Zeit als schwere Last. Vor einem Jahr gingen zwei Leidensgenossen, die auch in Hürbel im Heim waren, zusammen mit E. an die Öffentlichkeit. Mit ihren Kindheitserinnerungen. Erinnerungen an das rätselhafte Gräberfeld, das schon lange eingeebnet wurde. Wurden da verhungerte und misshandelte Kinder aus dem Heim anonym verscharrt? Erinnerungen an Tabletten, die die Schwestern den Kindern gegeben haben. Psychopillen, die Schäden anrichten? Erinnerungen an Schläge statt Zuwendung. Essensentzug, Misshandlung mit System?

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Friday April 20 2012

What is the endgame of the Association of Catholic Priests? Suppose it can’t force the church to allow women priests, or to approve the use of artificial contraception or to change its teachings on sexuality more generally, what then?

Obviously the ACP would never think that on its own it can bring about these changes. Presumably it hopes that in alliance with like-minded Catholics around the world it can do so, but what if it can’t?

In that event, does it formally go into schism? Do its members leave the church? Or do they eventually accept that these are the unchanging teachings of the church and learn to live with them?

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IRELAND
UTV

Published Friday, 20 April 2012

A wheelchair-bound former priest has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a boy and a girl, more than 16 year after confessing to a litany of other offences against children.

Joseph Michael Steele, 71 and with an address at Kimmage Manor in Dublin, was a member of the Holy Ghost Order who served as a pastor and chaplain of a children’s home when the offences occurred.

On Friday, he admitted five counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency committed against the boy between 1967 and 1971. He also admitted three counts of indecently assaulting the girl between 1979 and 1983.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Las het artikel in de Limburger omtrent oud broeder Eymard

Hij stelt dat hij zachtaardig was??? Een grotere beul kwam niet uit. Het was de tijd vd chambretten op Bleyerheide toen ik er kwam. Lodewicus zat de klas voor tijdens huiswerk en was een botte boer. Bij Eymard moest ik een keer komen voor spijbelen ik ging extern op school. Hij nam een aanloop en sloeg als een beul. Daarna pakte hij me vast blijkbaar om spijt te betuigen. Ik heb mijn koffer gepakt ben naar Heerlen gefietst en nam daar de trein naar Maastricht. Dit na 8 weken Bleyerheide! Daarna kwam ik in Eikenburg waar ik wel een heerlijke tijd had. Deze man liegt nog steeds dus hij is allesbehalve zachtaardig

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

UTRECHT (RKnieuws.net) – Gisteren hield de vaste commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie van de Tweede Kamer een rondetafelgesprek met onder meer vertegenwoordigers van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik en de Katholieke Kerk. Als vertegenwoordiger van Katholieke Kerk was mr. J. Bakker uitgenodigd om aan het gesprek deel te nemen. J. Bakker is econoom van het Bisdom Rotterdam, voorzitter van het Economencollege van de Nederlandse Kerkprovincie, lid van de Contactgroep inzake seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen.

Bakker lichtte voor de leden van de vaste commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie toe hoe de Katholieke Kerk, hoewel feiten niet ongedaan kunnen worden gemaakt, probeert te werken aan herstel van vertrouwen. “De aanbevelingen van de Onderzoekscommissie onder leiding van de heer Deetman zijn en worden geïmplementeerd. Het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik RKK kent vier pijlers: melding, klacht, hulp, compensatie.”

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Een meerderheid van de Tweede Kamer wil nader onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik door rooms-katholieke geestelijken in de archieven van het Openbaar Ministerie.

Een eigen onderzoek van het OM naar het opsporingsbeleid van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken, in de jaren vijftig en zestig, leverde deze week nieuwe informatie op. Tijdens een rondetafelgesprek vertelde Han Moraal van het College van procureurs-generaal (de top van het OM) dat bij een onderzoek in het archief van de voormalige procureur-generaal in Den Bosch 54 dossiers spontaan zijn opgedoken, een toevalstreffer, zo hoorden wij Mea Culpianen op vijf meter afstand van de heer Moraal deze treffer keihard inslaan. Gek, dat die hele katholieke kwestie over al die misstanden, je steeds van die typische namen tegenkomt, de heer Moraal die eerst vriendelijk voor ons ging zitten in afwachting van zijn ‘verhoor’ door de kamer, en als eerste het woord nam.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

American nuns are pushing ‘radical-feminist themes,’ according to a damning new Vatican report. Barbie Latza Nadeau on why the U.S. sister act is too hot for the men of the Holy See.

For the past three years, Mother Mary Clare Millea has been scouring convents, on the lookout for deviant nuns. The matronly American, who has a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, was given this mandate as part of a Vatican-ordered investigation called Apostolic Visitation. She has had no trouble finding sisters on the edge, but the nuns’ main infractions weren’t sins of the flesh or succumbing to vices. Instead, the offending nuns were simply speaking their minds.

Based on a summary of her findings, which she submitted to Cardinal William Levada, head of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for a final, yet-unpublished, report approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the vast majority of American nuns are pushing “radical-feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” But rather than preaching against church doctrine, the sisters are often just staying silent on the hot-button issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the ordination of women. Their silence is interpreted as endorsement, so by not speaking out against such “evils,” the report says the sisters are effectively showing their approval.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Melinda Henneberger

There were two Santa Maria! stories out of the Vatican this week. First, the bad news: The ultra-traditionalists of Marcel Lefebvre’s Society of St. Pius X are another step closer to being welcomed back into the fold — though church fathers have yet to sort out the problem of the dissident group’s Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson, whose Pope Benedict XVI (Getty Images) excommunication Pope Benedict XVI lifted two years ago.

Then there was the even worse news, by my votive lights, that the Vatican is cracking down on American nuns – who as one of my fellow Catholics noted over a cup of unconsecrated wine last night, “Only do what Jesus told us to do,’’ in their hospitals, schools and orphanages, “so no wonder they’re in trouble.’’

After a lengthy investigation by the office formerly known as the Inquisition, Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle has been signed up to oversee a forced reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Catholic nuns in this country.

That’s because, according to the Vatican report released Wednesday, a number of the good sisters appear to investigators to have been influenced by “radical feminism,” and to have fallen out of step with church teaching on homosexuality and women’s ordination.

Maybe timing isn’t everything, but the juxtaposition of these two announcements on the same day was perfect. If, that is, the intent was to send the message that while schisms may come and go, feminism won’t be tolerated. Or that a man who says, as Williamson did, that history is “hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed” will be waved back in, but women accused of dissent can leave if they like.

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UNITED STATES
WWNO

By editor

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The Vatican has clamped down on the largest group of Catholic nuns in the U.S., citing what it calls grave concerns about serious doctrinal problems. The Holy See says the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR, has promoted radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in some programs. And it has named an archbishop to oversee the nuns and approve their work. In a statement, the LCWR says it is stunned by the Vatican’s conclusions and will prepare a response.

We reached Sister Simone Campbell for her reaction. She heads NETWORK, a Catholic social Justice lobby that works with the LCWR and is named in the Vatican’s report.

SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL: Quite frankly, it’s very visceral. It’s like a sock in the stomach. I wish I knew what was in their brains. I don’t know. But it looks like from the outside that they are not used to strong women who took the urging of Pope Pius XII very seriously. Pope Pius XII urged women religious, way before I was in the community, to be educated in theology, to get educated in advanced degrees.

So, we took it seriously and we did it. The leadership doesn’t know how to deal with strong women. And so, they’re way is try to shape us into whatever they think it should be, not realizing that we’ve been faithful to the call this whole time.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Rossilynne Skena, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 20, 2012

A Roman Catholic nun from Western Pennsylvania was tapped to lead the group representing the majority of the nuns in the nation, just days before the Vatican slapped the organization with sanctions for promoting “certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

Sister Janet Mock, a Johnstown native affiliated with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, was appointed executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious this month, according to the Silver Spring, Md., group’s director of communications, Sister Annmarie Sanders.

The Leadership Conference represents 80 percent of the 57,000 Catholic nuns in the nation.

The Vatican, which oversees the Leadership Conference, announced Wednesday a full-scale overhaul of the group, accusing it of taking positions that undermine Roman Catholic teachings on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting radical feminist themes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Archbishop Denis Hart
April 20, 2012
Opinion

Sins of the past cannot be undone, but there has been no cover up.

AS CATHOLIC Archbishop of Melbourne for the past 11 years, I welcome the government’s announcement of the inquiry into how religious and other organisations in Victoria handle allegations of criminal abuse of children within their organisations.

The form of the inquiry is a matter for government. I welcome the Premier’s confirmation that the parliamentary committee will be provided with the resources necessary for it to discharge its important responsibilities.

I am committed to the archdiocese’s full participation in the inquiry.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
My Fox DC

[with video]

WASHINGTON – D.C. Police have made an arrest in the sexual assault of a three-year-old boy at a daycare center.

21-year-old Randolph King is charged with first-degree sex abuse with aggravated circumstances.

The alleged incident happened at a daycare center at the Zion Baptist Church in the 1200 block of Kenilworth Avenue in Northeast D.C.

It is unknown what King’s connection is to the daycare.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Cathy Kezelman
April 20, 2012
Opinion

The Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse within religious organisations is to be applauded. The long overdue announcement this week by the Baillieu government has come on the back of years of lobbying by victims, their families and victims’ groups.

The report into the appalling number of suicides by victims of clergy abuse in that state has delivered, it appears, the final momentum needed for the inquiry to be announced.

To those of us who work in the child abuse arena, such statistics, while always chilling, are not surprising. A 2008 Victorian study established that survivors of child sexual assault are up to 18 times more likely to commit suicide than people who haven’t been abused.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

Editorial

The Vatican is reining in the leadership conference that represents 80 percent of American Catholic nuns, accusing the group of “serious doctrinal problems” and promoting “radical feminist themes.” That seems a misreading of the very fine work in schools, charities, prisons and impoverished neighborhoods being done by about 60,000 nuns across the nation.

These nuns and their leaders continued to bolster the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church even as it suffered one of its greatest scandals in the sexual abuse of schoolchildren by rogue priests and the cover-ups by diocesan authorities.

The Vatican has now appointed a bishop to oversee the operations of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious — the 1,500 superiors who run the sisters’ communities — citing individual nuns at conference gatherings challenging church teaching on homosexuality and the male-only priesthood. The announcement also accused the group’s leaders of focusing too much on poverty and economic injustice while allegedly keeping “silent” on abortion and same-sex marriage.

A crucial focus in the inquiry appears to be the fact that dozens of American nuns involved in the conference and in antipoverty and hospital work provided prominent support to President Obama’s health care reform. Conference leaders said Vatican investigators had pointedly raised the issue and the fact that the conference had split with American bishops, who opposed reform.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun

Pastor Leon W. Jones, who founded the Renewed Hope Christian Church on the 700 block of N. Paca St., was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting a teen-age girl, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office announced.

The abuse occurred during a two-year period from April 2000 through March of 2002, prosecutors said. The girl, now 27, was introduced to Jones by her mother, who participated in the abuse and was convicted of five counts of child sexual abuse.

Prosecution A jury convicted Jones of eight counts of second-degree sexual offense, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum of 160 years in prison at his sentencing, set for June 26.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WMAR

BALTIMORE (WMAR) – A Baltimore jury found a local pastor guilty Wednesday of sexually abusing a teenaged girl from April 2000 to March 2002.

Leon W. Jones, 61, was first introduced to the then 15-year-old girl by her mother. The victim’s mother plead guilty to her role in the sexual abuse. She is now serving 5 years in prison for five counts of sexual child abuse.

At the time of the crime Jones was the pastor at the Renewed Hope Christian Church in Baltimore.

The jury found Jones guilty on eight counts of second degree sexual offense.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Imperfect Parent

April 19th, 2012 by Ella Desrosiers

On Wednesday, a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury found Pastor Leon W. Jones, 61, guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl from April 2000 until March 2002.

According to a report in The Baltimore Sun, the girl, now 27, was introduced to Jones by her mother, who participated in the abuse.

The girl’s mother plead guilty and was convicted of five counts of child sexual abuse. She is currently serving five years in prison.

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BOSTON (MA)
Patch

By Melanie Graham

A member of the Boston College Board of Trustees has stepped down after allegations surfaced that he covered up for an abusive priest.

According to a report on WBUR, Father Brad Schaeffer resigned today after eight years on the school’s Board of Trustees.

Information released from a Chicago-based lawsuit recently revealed that Schaeffer knew about abuse by Donald J. McGuire, a priest who is currently in jail after being convicted for child sexual abuse, the WBUR report said.

The Boston Globe reported today that Schaeffer was McGuire’s supervisor in the 1990s while at a Jesuit province in Chicago. Although several complaints surfaced about McGuire’s conduct, Schaeffer allowed McGuire to continue his ministry, the Globe reported.

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MONTANA
NBC Montana

KALISPELL, Mont. — A Kalispell priest charged with sexual abuse of children pleaded not guilty Thursday morning in Flathead County Court.

Prosecutors claim they found child porn on Rudolph Bullman’s home computer. The investigation started when a woman told Flathead County sheriff’s deputies that a Nintendo gaming system she had bought from Bullman contained images of child porn.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

The Government should accede to the call by the Stop Church Child Abuse campaign for a full independent inquiry to force religious institutions to disclose files on priests accused of sexual exploitation. Both the Catholic and Anglican churches insist that most cases are historical and that effective safeguards are in place.

But new cases continue to trickle into the public domain. Only this week, detectives arrested a retired priest on sex allegations from the 1960s. It is true that the safeguards put in place by both churches since the implementation of the 2001 Nolan report are some of the strongest in the world. But they are still policed only by churches rather than an independent body.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE

Published: April 19, 2012

Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston issued a statement saying that to hear the “horrific” allegations against him was “unbelievable and shocking.”

Bishop Bransfield, 68, a native of Philadelphia, was formerly a priest in the city’s archdiocese, which grand juries in 2005 and 2011 said had failed to stop the widespread abuse of children by its clergy. He was named the bishop for the West Virginia diocese in 2004.

A man alleging sexual abuse by a member of the clergy testified in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday that Stanley Gana, a former priest in the city, once told him that Bishop Bransfield was having sex with a teenage boy. The conversation occurred when the man was in high school.

The man, who is now 48, described Bishop Bransfield as a “personal friend” of Father Gana’s. He said he had been working on Father Gana’s farm in upstate New York when Bishop Bransfield drove up with several teenage boys in his car. …

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, criticized the bishop for issuing a written statement rather than taking questions openly and for questioning the court testimony under oath of two alleged victims.

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MONTANA
KTVQ

KALISPELL- A Flathead Valley Catholic Priest accused of sexual abuse of children pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Rudolph Bullman was the priest at Risen Christ Parish in Evergreen for more than 10 years but was put on administrative leave in December 2011. Bullman allegedly sold a handheld gaming system that contained photographs of nude boys.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

In formerly secret grand jury testimony that was read into the court record Thursday, Msgr. William J. Lynn tried to explain back in 2002 why the archdiocese chose not to investigate when told about minors who were possible victims of sex abuse.

The issue came up when a prosecutor in the grand jury asked Lynn about an interview he had with Robert D. Karpinski, a seminarian studying for the priesthood who came forward in 1992 to allege that he had been sexually abused as a 13-year-old by Father Stanley M. Gana.

Karpinski, who testified in court earlier this week, told Lynn back in 1992 that the abuse from Father Gana, namely oral and anal sex, continued for five years. Karpinski also told Lynn that Father Gana was living with himself and two other boys at a 110 acre farm in northern Pennsylvania that the priest owned. The priest used the boys as farm hands, and put them on a nightly rotation, so they could take turns sharing his bed.

Karpinksi identified the other two boys being abused by Gana as “Toby” and “Mark.” But the archdiocese decided not to talk to either boy, Lynn told the grand jury. As a result, Father Gana continued in active ministry and the archdiocese did nothing until 1995, when Mark Berkery came forward and essentially told Lynn the same story that Karpinski did, namely that Berkery had been abused by Father Gana for years, including oral and anal sex, beginning when he was 14.

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MONTANA
Daily Inter Lake

The 67-year-old Catholic priest charged with possessing child pornography pleaded not guilty Thursday in Flathead District Court.

The Rev. Rudolph “Rudy” Bullman, who for 11 years led Risen Christ Parish in Evergreen, is charged with felony sexual abuse of children.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena placed Bullman on administrative leave the same day that he was interviewed by detectives.

Bullman was charged after pornographic images of children between the ages of 12 to 18 were found in the Internet cache files on his computer and a further 23 images were found to have been deleted.

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ZAMBIA
Zambian Watchdog

Dear Sir,

I write to seek clarification on your utterance in the Post news paper about the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation. In a brief quote below, you argued that Zambia can not qualify to be a Christian Nation due to corruption, intimidation, fighting and thieving.

“That is why for me and the Catholic Church, the proclamation of Zambia as a Christian nation is a non-event. It’s a useless proclamation because not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of God. How Christian are we? Just take a look at what happens when we have a simple by-election. Corruption, intimidation, fighting, thieving…is that Christianity?” Archbishop Mpundu.

If indeed Zambian can not be declared a Christian Nation due corruption and other things you mentioned; may I ask you a question? Why should the Catholic Church be a church with so many reported abuses, corruption and scandals at the increase? If the absence of corruption can qualify Zambia to be a Christian Nation, why should the Catholic qualify to be a church with so many shortcomings? If it is required for a society to attain certain qualities to be civilized what more about the church?

MORALITY

The Church should support morality; but this is contrary to the Catholic Church that is in forefront brewing beer as reported by Lusaka Times and times of Zambia.

“The Catholic Church Mansa Diocese in Luapula Province is embroiled in disagreement with a business executive over shareholding in an alcohol business from which the Church has been planning to withdraw. The Mansa Diocese has been in the business of brewing opaque beer through a company called Top Star Breweries, in which it has a strong ordinary shareholding that stands at two million, representing 20 per cent since 2004.”

SEXUAL ABUSE as reported by BBC

In Austria: “A series of claims of sexual abuse by priests has emerged in the Vorarlberg region. Some 16 people have reported 27 alleged incidents there, spanning half a century.”

SWITZALAND: “A commission set up by the Swiss Bishops Conference in 2002 has been investigating allegations of abuse involving the Catholic Church there. A member of the commission, Abbot Martin Werlen, said in a newspaper interview this month that about 60 people have said they were abused by Catholic priests. The alleged incidents are reported to have occurred over the past 15 years”

ITALY: “In June 2010 a high-profile former priest was charged with sexual abuse. Pierino Gelmini, 85, is alleged to have abused 12 young people at a drug rehabilitation center he founded. Meanwhile, a number of deaf men have come forward to say they were abused as children at the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf in the northern city of Verona between the 1950s and the 1980s.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

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

Complaining that he was blindsided while on church business in the Vatican, the bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., on Thursday angrily denied trial testimony in Philadelphia alleging that he sexually abused a child during the late 1970s.

“I have never sexually abused anyone,” Bishop Michael J. Bransfield said in a statement the diocese released.

Bransfield, 68, issued his statement after two witnesses at the child sex-abuse and conspiracy trial involving Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests referenced him while describing their own alleged abuse, and a prosecutor said Bransfield had been accused in a separate instance of fondling a minor.

On Wednesday, a 48-year-old man identified only as “John” in the 2005 Philadelphia grand jury report, told a Common Pleas Court jury how he was molested for more than six years beginning in the eighth grade by the Rev. Stanley Gana, a priest in his Kensington parish.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 19, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

Women religious and others attend a 40th anniversary event for Network, the national Catholic social justice lobby, April 14 at Trinity University in Washington. The Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has called into question the relationship between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and Network. (CNS photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)

As the largest leadership organization for U.S. women religious begins to discern what steps to take following news Wednesday that the Vatican has ordered it to reform and to place itself under the authority of an archbishop, experts say the options available to the group are stark.

Ultimately, several canon lawyers told NCR, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious has two choices: Either comply with the order or face ouster as a Vatican-recognized representative of sisters in the United States.

What’s more, the lawyers say, LCWR has no recourse for appeal of the decision, which the U.S. bishops’ conference announced Wednesday in a press release. That release stated that, following a three-year “doctrinal assessment” by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain had been appointed to review and potentially revise the organization’s policies.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

The Catholic Church is in deep crisis. We are all familiar with most of the contributory factors and manifestations: recent revelations regarding abuse of children by clergy and the subsequent handling of same by church authorities; growing alienation among Catholics in respect of the position adopted by Rome relating to celibacy, women, contraception; the perceived irrelevance of the church for an increasing number of people, particularly young people; the authoritarian nature of the church, as practiced by the Pope and Curia.

Furthermore, recent decades have seen serious efforts made by Rome to reverse many of the changes introduced following Vatican 2. The latter envisaged a more collegiate church where the Pope would be primus inter pares; where the local church would have more autonomy with an increased role for lay people; serious and sustained dialogue would be held with other Christian Churches, in a spirit of mutual respect; a proper respect for scriptural scholarship and for dialogue with the sciences would be shown. Sadly we have witnessed a more centralised and authoritarian church; emasculation of the local church; the elevation of non-essential teachings (celibacy, ban on women priests, for example) to articles of faith.

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WEST VIRGINIA
My Fox Philly

West Virginia Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Bransfield on Thursday denied sexual abuse accusations made by a witness at a priest abuse trial in Philadelphia. “I have never sexually abused anyone,” Bransfield, the leader of West Virginia’s 76,000 Catholics, said in a statement released through the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

Bransfield said he’s deeply saddened by the child-abuse scandal that’s been linked to former colleagues and friends from a Pennsylvania seminary where he graduated in 1971.

“Over the years, I have felt devastation for both the victims and the church as I learned about the terrible actions they took with innocent victims,” Bransfield said. “To now be unfairly included in that group and to hear the horrific allegations that are being made of me is unbelievable and shocking.” …

Advocates for abuse victims criticized Bransfield for issuing a statement instead of taking questions.

“It’s important to remember that both accusers gave testimony yesterday under oath. Bransfield didn’t,” said David Clohessy, St. Louis director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Earlier this week, a prosecutor at the trial complained of problems getting a Wheeling priest to come testify. The would-be witness, Monsignor Kevin Quirk, is an aide to Bransfield. A Wheeling judge now wants proof he’s a material witness.

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LOUISIANA
The News Star

The former Kentucky youth pastor arrested in West Monroe last week has been transported to Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he was booked into the Routt County Jail with a $500,000 bond.

John Brothers Jr., 43, was arrested Friday by Routt County Sheriff’s deputies in West Monroe with assistance from the West Monroe Police Department.

Brothers was arrested on eight charges of first-degree burglary, eight charges of sexual assault on a child and seven charges of sexual assault.

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BOSTON (MA)
My Fox Boston

BOSTON (AP) – A Boston College trustee has resigned after criticism of his supervision of a former Jesuit priest convicted of child sexual abuse in the Midwest.

The Rev. Bradley Schaeffer resigned on Thursday. His term was to end in June. The Boston Globe reports Schaeffer said in a letter to the board he didn’t want to harm the college “or be a distraction.”

The Globe reported Sunday that Schaeffer allowed Donald McGuire to continue ministry despite complaints about McGuire’s behavior with boys in the early 1990s when Schaeffer led the Chicago Jesuit province. He has expressed “deep regret” for failing to stop McGuire, who’s in prison on state and federal convictions.

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SILVER SPRING (MD)
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

[Silver Spring, Maryland] The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Because the leadership of LCWR has the custom of meeting annually with the staff of CDF in Rome and because the conference follows canonically-approved statutes, we were taken by surprise.

This is a moment of great import for religious life and the wider church. We ask your prayers as we meet with the LCWR National Board within the coming month to review the mandate and prepare a response.

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

By Deborah Becker
Apr 19, 2012, 2:39 PM

BOSTON — A longtime member of the Boston College Board of Trustees has stepped down amid allegations he covered up for an abusive priest. As advocates for clergy abuse victims were protesting at the Boston College, the school announced that its board accepted the resignation of Father Brad Schaeffer as a trustee.

Recent information from lawsuits in Chicago show that Schaeffer was aware of abuse by another priest — Donald McGuire — but did not inform authorities. McGuire is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for abusing children.

“Father Schaeffer unfortunately allowed Father McGuire to continue abusing children after he was specifically and personally was notified in 1993 that Father McGuire was doing this,” said Terry McKiernan, with the group BishopAccountability.org.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Jerome Taylor
Thursday 19 April 2012

Survivors of childhood abuse by members of the Anglican and Catholic churches have called on the government to conduct a full independent inquiry which would force religious institutions to disclose any files they have on clergy who have been accused of sexual exploitation.

It is the first time abuse victims have joined forces with lawyers, charities and child safeguarding specialists to launch a dedicated national campaign demanding such an inquiry.

Members of the newly formed Stop Church Child Abuse campaign argue that both the Anglican and Catholic churches have “lost the right to police themselves” following a long history of covering up abuse claims.

They also say safeguards which were put in place following a string of sex abuse scandals in the late 1990s are not strong enough to reinstate trust in the institutions.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

By Dario Thuburn (AFP)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has issued a scathing condemnation of the main association of Catholic nuns in the United States for taking liberal stances on contraception, homosexuality and female priests.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) said in a statement on Thursday it was “stunned” by the Vatican report which pointed to “serious doctrinal problems” and “unacceptable positions” on a range of issues.

It accused members of LCWR, which represents around 45,000 US nuns, or 80 percent of the total, of “corporate dissent” with the Church’s teachings against homosexuality and said it was pursuing “radical feminist themes”.

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ITALIA
Genova Oggi Notizie

Genova – La sentenza su don Riccardo Seppia è stata slittata al 3 maggio. Oggi intanto il giudice ha ascoltato gli esperti informatici della polizia postale.

Don Seppia, che deve rispondere di induzione alla prostituzione, tentata violenza sessuale e cessione di droga, rischia una condanna – secondo la richiesta del pm – a undici anni e otto mesi di carcere.

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ITALIA
AGI

(AGI) – Genova, 19 apr. – “E’ plausibile che le immagini di natura sessuale trovate nel computer dell’imputato fossero dei pop up (file scaricati autonomamente dalla rete, ndr) in quanto si tratta di file temporanei”. Lo ha detto stamani un agente della polizia postale nella penultima udienza del processo a carico di don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco della chiesa dello Spirito Santo di Sestri Ponente arrestato nel maggio scorso perche’ accusato di avere molestato sessualmente un chierichetto, di avere tentato di adescarne altri due anche offrendo cocaina e di avere ceduto droga.

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ITALIA
Il Seccolo XIX

Genova – Sarà letta il prossimo 3 maggio la sentenza a carico di Riccardo Seppia, l’ex parroco di Sestri Ponente accusato di tentata violenza sessuale su minori, plurima offerta di droga a minori, tentata induzione alla prostituzione minorile.

Nell’udienza di oggi è stato sentito un tecnico della polizia Postale che aveva esaminato le foto trovate nel computer dell’ex parroco. «Sono file temporanei – ha spiegato il tecnico – che potrebbero essere finiti per caso nel pc. Finestre temporanee che si aprono automaticamente durante la navigazione su Internet».

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 19, 2012

For the first time in the history of the Sacramento Catholic diocese, a judge has ruled that two adults can seek punitive damages in a clergy sex abuse and cover up case involving a priest who is now a fugitive from justice.

The plaintiffs in the civil case, John Doe and Jane Doe, say they were molested by Fr. Gerardo Beltran when they were 10 and 11 years old, respectively. The alleged crimes happened between 1989 and 1991 when they were altar servers at St. Joseph’s Parish in Sacramento.

According to the lawsuit, Fr. Beltran – a native of Mexico – was known to the diocese to be a sexual predator as early as 1988, and had been sent for counseling and treatment before being moved to St. Joseph’s. In the abuse trial of a different priest (Fr. Michael Dermody), then-Bishop Francis Quinn testified that he “had an awareness” of sexual misconduct by Fr. Beltran as early as 1990, and he was being monitored by the diocesan “sensitive issues committee” in 1991. Despite these facts, however, on April 21, 1991, Bishop Quinn assigned Fr. Beltran to a parish in Winters, CA.

Thursday’s ruling by Judge David Brown allows the plaintiffs to seek punitive damages as a result of the Diocese of Sacramento’s negligent retention and fraudulent concealment relating to their handling of Fr. Beltran. In the ruling, Judge Brown notes that the “plaintiffs will meet the clear and convincing standard of proof,” and that “the Diocese had advanced knowledge or ratification of Beltran’s conduct.”

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.