ABUSE TRACKER

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WIEN. Der Wiener Erzbischof Kardinal Christoph Schönborn fordert nach der Kritik des Papstes an der österreichischen Pfarrerinitiative die Rücknahme ihres “Aufrufs zum Ungehorsam”. “Es muss hier eine Klärung geben bezüglich des Aufrufs zum Ungehorsam”, sagte Schönborn am Freitag in der “Zeit im Bild” des ORF-Fernsehens.

“Das Wort Ungehorsam kann so nicht stehen bleiben”, so der Wiener Erzbischof. Es brauche hier “eine öffentliche Klärung und ich denke, wir müssen sie bald angehen”.

Die Pfarrer-Initiative hatte ihren “Aufruf zum Ungehorsam” im Juni 2011 im Internet (http://www.pfarrer-initiative.at) veröffentlicht und darin u.a. angekündigt, das Predigtverbot für “kompetent ausgebildete Laien und Religionslehrerinnen” missachten und sich für die Zulassung von Frauen und Verheirateten zum Priesteramt aussprechen zu wollen. Die Rücknahme dieses Aufrufs lehnt die Initiative ab, wie es auf der Homepage heißt: “Dies können wir guten Gewissens nicht tun, weil wir weiterhin zum Inhalt stehen. Der Ungehorsam gegenüber einzelnen geltenden strengen kirchlichen Regeln und Gesetzen ist bereits seit Jahren Teil unseres Lebens und Arbeitens als Seelsorger geworden.”

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DEUSCHLAND
netsworkB

10 Millionen Menschen sind in Deutschland von sexualisierter Gewalt betroffen

Laut einer Studie sind 12,5 Prozent der Bevölkerung in Deutschland, also mehr als 10 Millionen Menschen, von sexualisierter Gewalt betroffen.

Strassbourg – Der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte wird die Beschwerde von Norbert Denef an den Europäischen Gerichtshof gegen die Ablehnung der Petition ‘Verjährungsfrist für sexuellen Missbrauch im Zivilrecht aufheben’ durch den Deutschen Bundestag voraussichtlich binnen diesen Jahres prüfen. Das teilte der Europäische Gerichtshof in einem Schreiben vom 26. März 2012 mit.

Die meisten Betroffenen von sexualisierter Gewalt können viele Jahrzehnte nicht darüber sprechen, aus Angst, Scham und Schuldgefühlen.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Fox 8

[with video]

CLEVELAND – A Vatican decree issued last month had called for 13 closed Cleveland area churches to be reopened.

Parishioners of those churches had hoped they would be able to hold Easter Sunday mass once again inside their churches. But as of Friday, it was highly doubtful that would happen.

Bishop Richard Lennon of the Diocese of Cleveland has said he and advisers are reviewing the decree.

Bruce Godfray is a former parishioner of St. James Church in Lakewood, where his mother has been a member for more than 60 years.

He had hoped Bishop Lennon would have complied with the Vatican ruling in time for Easter services.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael K. McIntyre

One of the messages from supporters of shuttered parishes.

Catholics pushing for Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese to re-open 13 shuttered parishes have taken their message digital. An electronic billboard on Carnegie Avenue and East 14th Street alternately reads:

“Bishop Lennon, Rome has spoken. Restore our parishes.” … “How much longer must we wait?! Re-open and restore our parishes! Parishes decreed to be re-opened by the Vatican!” … “Bishop Lennon, We desire peace! We want to pray! Restore the parishes decreed to be re-opened by the Vatican!” … “Bishop Lennon, When will you re-open our church doors? Vatican decrees were issued on March 1st! … “The parishes decreed to be re-opened by the Vatican say, Grazie al Vaticano! Thanks to the Vatican!”

The Vatican ruled last month that the bishop violated procedures and church law when he merged or dissolved parishes and padlocked churches. Parish proponents say that means he must restore and re-open the churches and parishes. They hoped the diocese might do it quickly so that Easter Sunday services could be held.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday April 07 2012

YET another Irish institution is in crisis. Like all the other institutions, RTE stands in need of reform. And, as so often, it has to reform itself in an atmosphere of angst and confusion instead of our old friend calm deliberation.

An institution comparable to the Catholic Church, the political system or the banks? Certainly. Much as print journalists like myself may dislike it, television is the most powerful communications medium yet invented. It is far more influential than the “social media” and will remain so.

As a means of delivering serious information, of course, it can never come close to newspapers or even radio.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Neil Maddox

Saturday April 07 2012

MORE than a few eyebrows are likely to have been raised by the recent statement of the Christian Brothers that they no longer own or manage any of their schools.

This is because, in 2008, the Edmond Rice Trust assumed ownership of all Christian Brothers and Presentation Schools formerly under the ownership and control of the order.

This is not the only religious order subject to an obligation to contribute to the residential redress fund that has opted to transfer ownership of all of its school property by means of such a trust arrangement.

Five female religious congregations transferred over 100 secondary schools to the Catholic Education and Irish Schools Trust in 2007 (among them were the Sisters of Mercy and the Daughters of Charity).

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By David Quinn

Saturday April 07 2012

If RTE was really as impartial as it claimed, then why the need for new interim Journalism Guidelines issued by the station this week?

After all, if it was the very model of fairness that it claims to be, and the Fr Kevin Reynolds defamation was simply an unfortunate lapse, then these new guidelines should hardly be needed at all.

All the station would need is a new rule that says if you make a scientifically falsifiable claim against someone — like you fathered a child — get it scientifically tested first. But the problem at RTE goes very much deeper than this and involves a generalised and systemic bias.

However, in the new guidelines there is a hint or two that a tiny bit of a realisation might finally be dawning on some people at the station that it really does have a problem.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

Saturday April 07 2012

CHRISTIANS around the world are celebrating Easter. It is the most important feast in the Christian religious calendar. However, for many around the world, even baptised Christians, Easter means very little. Easter is a break. It is about children and chocolate. Many will celebrate in church; others might barely spare a fleeting thought about what Easter means.

The religious culture of Ireland is changing. We can read the change in different ways. Some will see in the recent census figures that Catholicism is still the largest religious tradition to which Irish people adhere, and will take that as a sign that the faith is as strong as ever. Others will see the same figures as hiding a faith that is weak and symbolic, rather than one which has the robustness to survive and be creative in a changing contemporary culture. …

There are many who tell me to stop talking about sexual abuse in the church. There is no way we can bury and hide a painful past; it remains with us and will remain with us. But that does not mean that we shy away from announcing the teaching and the person of Jesus Christ. We should have no fear in bringing his message on to our streets, into our media, to our younger generations.

Jesus is still there. What the church has to fear is the fearfulness of its own members.

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NETHERLANDS
Expatica

The first Dutch victims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church are to receive compensation payments within the next six weeks.

The commission charged with assessing the abuse cases has so far ruled that ten victims should receive financial compensation. In these first ten cases, the diocese or order concerned has been ordered to pay damages of between 5,000 and 20,000 euros, the compensation commission announced on Friday.

In the coming months, it is expected that compensation of up to 100,000 euros will be awarded in certain exceptional cases. To arrive at a ruling, in many cases the commission says it requires additional information from the claimant about the material damage they have suffered.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Penny Arevalo

An independent panel has concluded that JSerra Catholic High School officials acted in an “appropriate and prompt manner” regarding accusations that a teacher and Dana Point resident engaged in sexual misconduct with a former student.

A report released to the media exonerated school officials, while recommending some tightening of procedures. It also shed new light on accusations against Ricardo Aldana, a former Spanish teacher and coach of two school athletic teams.

In December, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Aldana on suspicion of having sex with the former student, who is a minor. JSerra officials immediately terminated him.

The 37-year-old is charged with seven felony counts of lewd acts on a child and faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison if convicted.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Stockton Record

By Jordan Guinn
Record Staff Writer

April 07, 2012

STOCKTON – The jury in a civil trial found that Father Michael Kelly should be held liable on three counts related to child molestation, according to the lawyer of his accuser.

Attorney John Manly said Friday a civil jury unanimously agreed his client, a 37-year-old man identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, was molested by Kelly while Kelly was a priest at Annunciation Cathedral in Stockton. The plaintiff was a student at Annunciation school in the 1980s.

“Kelly will never again have access to a child as a member of the Stockton Diocese,” Manly said.

Kelly, 62, was removed from the ministry immediately after the verdict, according to the Diocese of Stockton. Before the verdict, Kelly served as a pastor at St. Joachim Catholic Church in Lockeford.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan and Jimmy Woulfe

Saturday, April 07, 2012

The Irish priest muzzled by the Vatican for his liberal views has received overwhelming support from colleagues worldwide, with a senior member of the Irish Redemptorist order saying liberal priests are being subjected to FBI-like attention from ultra-orthodox “Catholic agents”.

Fr Adrian Egan, who heads the order’s Mount St Alphonsus monastery in Limerick, went on radio in Limerick yesterday to deliver a stinging attack on the Vatican.

Speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Redemptorists, he described himself as “dismayed, disappointed, flabbergasted, amazed, and hugely disappointed at the action by the Vatican”.

In a forceful interview, Fr Egan claimed priests were being subjected to FBI-like attention from Catholic agents who wanted to silence anyone brave enough to voice their opinions from the pulpit.

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STOCKTON (CA)
News 10

STOCKTON, CA – The Diocese of Stockton has removed a priest from its ministry after he was found guilty of child sex charges in a civil trial Friday.

Father Michael Kelly, who served at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford, was accused of molesting a former altar boy at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton in the mid-1980s.

Diocese Bishop Stephen E. Blair released the following statement regarding Kelly:

Today, a civil jury found in favor of the plaintiff in a case alleging sexual abuse by Fr. Michael Kelly in the 1980s. In light of this verdict, I have made the decision to remove Fr. Kelly from ministry, effective immediately.

The Diocese’s decision to defend this case was based on a careful analysis of the information available and on a genuine belief that the accusations are not true. Our view of the evidence has not changed, and Fr. Kelly continues to deny the allegations against him. Nevertheless, it is my belief that the jury verdict must be respected, and I have taken action in accord with our Church’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Saturday, April 7, 2012

By Maggie Creamer and Lauren Nelson/News-Sentinel Staff Writers

Three hours after hearing the verdict in his civil trial, a teary-eyed, choked up Michael Kelly faced an emotional congregation.

Earlier that afternoon, he was held liable on three counts of assault, sexual assault and abuse. He had been removed as a priest, stripping him of the ability to lead his congregation just before Easter.

“Practically speaking for now, and several years to come, I cannot be your pastor anymore,” he said as his voice cracked. “It breaks my heart, but I can’t. That is the way it is written. As much as I love all of you, I have to obey what the rules are.”

Yet he maintained that he is innocent, and reaffirmed his plans to keep fighting.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By The Record

April 06, 2012 5:58 PM

STOCKTON – The jury in a civil trial has found a local priest guilty of three counts related to child molestation, according to the the lawyer of his accuser.

Attorney John Manly said Friday that the civil jury unanimously agreed with the plaintiff, a 37-year-old man identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, was molested by The Rev. Michael Kelly while he was a priest at Annunciation Cathedral in Stockton and the plaintiff was a student at Annunciation school.

Kelly is currently at St. Joachim Catholic Church in Lockeford.

The second phase of the jury trial will focus on the Stockton Diocese’s role in the abuse, Manly said.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, April 6, 2012

News-Sentinel Staff

Father Michael Kelly was held liable on three counts of assault, sexual assault and abuse late Friday afternoon.

The 10-woman, two-man jury took just a matter of hours to determine whether Kelly was held liable for the charges brought against him.

The trial, which began Feb. 29, centered on a 37-year-old Fairfax man who sued Father Michael Kelly for sexually assaulting him when the plaintiff was an altar boy in the mid-1980s at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

The plaintiff remained unnamed throughout the trial because he was a possible victim of sexual assault.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on April 6, 2012

The jury came in with a unanimous verdict for Michael Kelly’s victim. If a jury can determine that in less than two hours, why did the Diocese of Stockton allow him to keep working with kids? For years?

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, April 6, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The case of a 37-year-old former altar boy who is accusing a Lockeford priest of sexually assaulting him is now in the jury’s hands.

The 10-woman, two-man jury was scheduled to began deliberations after lunch Friday and will continue until it reaches a verdict.

The trial, which began Feb. 29, centers around a 37-year-old Fairfax man who sued Father Michael Kelly for allegedly sexually assaulting him when the plaintiff was an altar boy in the mid-1980s at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

Kelly, pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford since 2004, has not been criminally charged. The statute of limitations for criminal complaints had expired by the time the plaintiff told his father about the alleged assault in 2007.

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VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

POPE BENEDICT XVI has begun the Catholic Church’s Easter celebrations in Rome with a sharp rebuke of those priests and laity who choose to question key tenets of church teaching.

In a homily during the traditional Maundy Thursday “Chrism” Mass in St Peter’s, the Pope issued a highly unusual rebuttal to those who question Church teaching on questions such as the ordination of women. “Recently a group of priests from a European country issued a summons to disobedience . . . even to the point of disregarding definite decisions of the church’s magisterium, such as the question of women’s ordination . . . But is disobedience really a way to do this? Do we sense here . . . a desperate push to do something to change the church in accordance with one’s own preferences and ideas?”

While the pope here seems to be making a clear reference to the “Pfarrer Initiative”, promoted by over 300 Austrian priests, his hardline rejection of the call for changes also fits in perfectly with reports yesterday that dissident Irish priest Tony Flannery is under investigation by the Holy See.

Furthermore, the pope’s words this week re-echo criticism of the Irish Catholic Church expressed last month in the Holy See’s summary of the recent Apostolic Visitation to Ireland: “ . . . the visitors also encountered a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the magisterium . . .”

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAUL CULLEN

LAWYERS FOR a second missionary named in the Prime Time Investigates programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds are seeking discovery of documents from RTÉ in a separate defamation case.

The statement of claim by former archbishop Richard Burke, who alleges he was falsely accused of child abuse when he was a priest in Nigeria, has been completed by Robert Dore, the same solicitor who represents Fr Reynolds.

Meanwhile, RTÉ has received the report commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into the Mission to Prey programme which libelled Fr Reynolds.

The broadcaster confirmed yesterday that director general Noel Curran had taken receipt of the report along with the authority’s decision on what fine is to be imposed, if any, for errors made in the programme

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff

A FINE of about €200,000 is believed to have been imposed on RTÉ for breaches of fairness in the Prime Time Investigates programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds.

Informed sources say the draft fine recommended by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is close to the €250,000 maximum allowed under legislation. One source told The Irish Times that it was substantial, while another described it as “circa €200,000”.

It is understood that there was disagreement on the board of the authority over the level of fine, before a majority decision was reached in favour of the imposition of a penalty at the upper end of the range allowed.

The report commissioned by the authority has found that the Mission to Prey programme broadcast last May was unfair to Fr Reynolds. Sources say the report, which was received by RTÉ last Thursday, “pulls no punches” in its criticism of the way the programme was made.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

Monseigneur Wim Eijk heeft een drukbezette agenda tijdens zijn eerste Pasen als kardinaal. De aartsbisschop reist niet af naar de paasviering in Rome, maar gaat in Nederland voor tijdens tal van vieringen en bijeenkomsten. Op de avond van eerste paasdag ontsteekt hij zelfs een paasvuur in het Overijsselse Hengelo met vuur uit de basiliek in die plaats.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

DEN BOSCH (RKnieuws.net) – De Contactgroep van de bisschoppenconferentie en de Konferentie Nederlandse Religieuzen (KNR) en KLOKK hebben mekaar donderdag ontmoet in Den Bosch. KLOKK is de grootste landelijke koepel van slachtoffergroepen kerkelijk kindermisbruik. Het was het tweede gesprek van KLOKK en de Contactgroep. Het eerste gesprek vond plaats op 1 maart jongstleden in Rottterdam.

De Contactgroep werd in januari 2012 ingesteld door de bisschoppenconferentie en de Konferentie Nederlandse religieuzen, als gevolg van het advies van het rapport van de Onderzoekscommissie onder leiding van de heer Deetman (‘Commissie Deetman’). De Onderzoekscommissie vroeg om een aanspreekpunt voor lotgenotengroepen en individuen, waarbij het onderscheid tussen bisdommen en congregaties en ordes en bijbehorende verantwoordelijkheden niet wordt gemaakt.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Julia Bayly, Special to the BDN

Posted April 06, 2012

FORT KENT, Maine — Attorneys consulting with the Rev. James L. Nadeau issued a statement Friday declaring that the Maine attorney general’s office investigation of unspecified allegations against the priest do not involve sexual impropriety.

“While we are unable to comment on the substance of the investigation at this time, we can state unequivocally what it is not about,” attorneys Scott G. Hunter of Solman & Hunter in Caribou and Richard S. Berne of the Law Offices of Richard S. Berne LLC in Portland said in the joint release. “We have been informed by the attorney general’s office that the investigation has absolutely nothing to do with anything sexual in nature.”

Late Friday afternoon, Hunter said the statement was released on behalf of Nadeau “in response to the speculation surrounding the initiation of an investigation.”

Nadeau, 50, has been on a voluntary leave of absence from his post as pastor of St. John Vianney Parish since Tuesday, when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the attorney general’s office announced the investigation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

April 6, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Kathy and I want to thank everyone who came to the vigil today. It was so nice to put faces to names. You all feel like old friends.

It was a good turnout for a holiday weekend and FOX 29 recorded some footage. Grandparents, parents, children, a priest, three nuns, survivors, professionals and advocates joined in our vigil on the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral. A young priest even stopped by on his way to the Stations of the Cross to say he agreed with us. But my most meaningful Good Friday moment came when the mother of a clergy abuse victim reminded us of Mary’s pain watching her son suffer on the cross and asked us to pray the Hail Mary with her.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By LOUISE RED CORN World Correspondent
Published: 4/6/2012

PAWHUSKA –
A Pawhuska preacher who admitted to police that he had touched a teenage girl to “prepare her for her future husband” was convicted late Wednesday of three counts of child sexual abuse and one count of lewd molestation.

Creth Dean Hopkins, 62, was taken to the Osage County Jail at 11 p.m. with no bond allowed as he awaits formal sentencing June 13. The six-man, six-woman jury recommended he serve 20 years on each of the sexual abuse convictions and three years for lewd molestation, centering on the four most specific allegations that Hopkins himself described as part of his “teaching modality.” The jury acquitted him of seven other counts of sexual abuse.

Defense attorney Trevor Reynolds told jurors that the case was impossible to defend because only one charge, alleged to have occurred on the girl’s 14th birthday, was specific; the others were alleged to have occurred within a broad, four-year time frame.

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OKLAHOMA
Bartlesville Radio

An Osage County jury found 62 year-old Creth Hopkins guilty Thursday of three counts of felony child sexual abuse and one count of lewd molestation. Hopkins is the former pastor of Osage Indian Baptist Church and for the past seven years has pastored a non-denominational church he started at the Osage County Housing Authority’s Cedar Ridge housing development. The verdict came after a two-day trial. During the trial, jurors heard taped police interviews in which Hopkins admitted to some of the alleged acts with a teenage girl.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

This post by Beasley Firm attorney Max Kennerly is cross-posted on his Litigation and Trial blog.

As Ralph Cipriano reported, the defense attorney for Father Brennan spent a lot of time cross-examining the prosecution’s chief witness against Father Brennan by going into the alleged victim’s reaction to the molestation, including why the alleged victim — an adolescent boy at the time — did not call out to his mother afterwards, why the alleged victim took a subsequent motorcycle ride with Father Brennan, and why the alleged victim didn’t report the assault to authorities sooner.

Father Brennan’s attorney, coincidentally named William Brennan, has an important job to do — safeguarding his client’s constitutional rights and challenging the testimony of his accuser — so I don’t fault him for going into those issues, but these types of questions raise a common problem in both criminal sexual assault prosecutions and civil sexual abuse lawsuits: the persistence of rape myths in society and in the courts. The term “rape myths” was coined by psychologists as a means of describing false attitudes and beliefs that serve to deny allegations of sexual abuse and to thwart accountability for abusers.

Some of these rape myths are easy to spot. For example, many people will thoughtlessly say a victim “asked for it” by wearing the wrong clothes or by drinking alcohol, or they assume that victims are lying for attention or to cover up an affair. Myths like these are so pernicious and pervasive that the people perpetuating them don’t realize it. Thus, even people acting in good faith can end up applying rape myths to treat allegations of sexual abuse differently from other allegations of criminal conduct and to demand more proof from sexual abuse survivors (such as corroborating evidence in addition to testimony) than they do from other crime victims.

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TEXAS
Fox 13

April 6, 2012, by Ben Winslow

PALESTINE, Texas — Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs issued a revelation calling for “all peoples” to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday, by bowing and praying on April 6 at 7:18 a.m. It came the same day that Jeffs was given his privileges to make phone calls once again from prison.

In another revelation mass mailed to political leaders, including Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the imprisoned Fundamentalist LDS Church leader demanded world leaders mark the occasion or face the wrath of God.

“Let all peoples bow the knee, confessing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Jehovah Christ Ahman Holy Lord over all peoples. Amen,” he wrote.

The revelation, dated March 17, promised floods, winds, earthquakes, disease and other destruction if people refused to repent. April 6 is a significant date in the history of Mormonism: it is the date that Joseph Smith founded the Mormon faith.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

As the head of America’ bishops, we urge you to publicly denounce, and stop, the bullying tactics used by bishops and church defense lawyers against those seeking help from the support group SNAP, including victims of abuse by clerics, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors and journalists.

1,885 signatures

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ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

A blog from Phoenix New Times (see it here) reports that George Bredemann, a notorious pedophile priest who was protected by former local Bishop Thomas O’Brien, has died in prison.

Last November, when a local Catholic charity had plans to honor O’Brien I spoke to the father of one of Bredemann’s victims. (See that column here.)

The honor was withdrawn.

Whether or not Bredemann is “at peace” will be determined by a high authority.

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ARIZONA
Phoenix New Times

By Terry Greene Wednesday, Oct 25 1989

The road dips into rocky washes, winds through forests of saguaros and climbs up a windswept hill to a toppled wooden cross that marks the entrance to Father George Bredemann’s twenty-acre kingdom.

Father George spent practically every weekend at his “Castle.” Nestled a few miles south of U.S. 60-89, the highway that links Sun City West and Wickenburg, the priest’s desert hideaway is miles away from the nearest neighbors and can be reached only by the primitive dirt road.

The grounds are strewn with donations from Catholic charities and loving parishioners, gifts meant to help the priest as he built his retreat for altar boys, retarded Boy Scouts and troubled youths.

Even when Father George was there, the donations rotted and rusted randomly throughout the acreage–lawn chairs, loose nails, barbecue grills, stoves, wheelbarrows, mattresses, rolls of carpet and padding, used lumber, insulation, roofing, a children’s swimming pool. There are also empty beer cans and vodka bottles. At the far end of the hill there are thirteen old toilets and several sinks, and next to them is a grave marked by a wooden cross that bears no name. The grave contains the ashes of a Catholic who wished to be buried at the Castle, says deputy county attorney Cindi Nannetti, who prosecuted Bredemann.

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ARIZONA
Phoenix New Times

By Paul Rubin
Fri., Apr. 6 2012

Stories about pedophile Catholic priests have become de rigueur in recent years, in Phoenix and around the rest of the world.

But some of us “oldsters” remember some of the very first detailed accounts of the disgusting diddlers and how those in charge–Bishop Thomas O’Brien here in the Phoenix area–were going to extreme lengths to cover up the criminal goings-on.

We published one of those stories back in 1989, a startling piece entitled “Father Joe” by Terry Greene Sterling, who worked here for many years and was a great colleague.

It told the story of one George Bredemann, a priest whose young victims included many Phoenix-area boys, and how the church and (for a time) the criminal-justice system had continued to allow him to operate with impunity long after he should have been locked up.

Here is that story, which we re-read yesterday after learning of Bredemann’s death at the Arizona State Prison in Buckeye. He was 69.

It’s an ultimate creepy-crawler read.

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OSTERREICH
Radio Vatikan

Der Sprecher der Pfarrer-Initiative, Helmut Schüller, ist über die Kritik von Papst Benedikt XVI. am Aufruf zum Ungehorsam „angenehm überrascht“. Die Predigt am Gründonnerstag sei zum Teil „sehr sanft“ gewesen, sagte Schüller. Auch mit Sanktionen sei nicht gedroht worden. Schüller freut sich, dass die Pfarrer-Initiative vom Heiligen Stuhl und in der Öffentlichkeit wahrgenommen werde: „Er billigt zu, dass es um die Zukunft der Kirche geht.“ Ebenfalls positiv sei zu werten, dass der Papst von der „Trägheit der Institutionen“ gesprochen habe. Dass der Papst beim Thema Ungehorsam der Initiative nicht entgegenkomme, sei zudem zu erwarten gewesen. Der Papst hatte in der Predigt in der Chrisammesse am Gründonnerstag die Forderungen der österreichischen Pfarrer-Initiative abgelehnt.

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OSTERREICH
APA OTS

Wien (OTS) – Die reformorientierte Pfarrerinitiative rund um Helmut Schüller hat viel erreicht. Dass Papst Benedikt XVI. auf ihre Forderungen in der Chrisammesse vor 3000 Priestern eingegangen ist, wertet die Reformkräfte auf und zeigt: Sie werden ernst genommen. Auch wenn er “von einer Gruppe von Priestern in einem europäischen Land” gesprochen hat, war klar, wer gemeint ist. Benedikt XVI. billigt den Initiatoren sogar zu, dass es ihnen um die Zukunft der Kirche geht. “Wir wollen den Autoren dieses Appells glauben, dass sie von Sorgsamkeit für die Kirche bewogen sind, dass sie überzeugt sind, die Trägheit der Institutionen mit drastischen Mitteln in Angriff zu nehmen, um neue Wege zu öffnen, die Kirche wieder auf die Höhe des Heute zu bringen.”

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AUSTRIA
Austrian Independent

The head of the Austrian Preachers’ Initiative has reacted positively to the Pope’s criticism.

Pope Benedict XVI. said in his Maunday Thursday sermon held in Italian in the Vatican that disobedience was no solution. The Pope mentioned a “group of priests from a country in Europe” without directly referring to Helmut Schüller or his movement. He claimed that obedience was the only way to manage the challenges of the Church in the world of today. Pope Benedict XVI. took a clear stand against the Preachers’ Initiative’s appeal to stop women from becoming Catholic priests. He said that his predecessor John Paul II. determined that such a reform was unthinkable.

Schüller described the Pope’s criticism as “relatively cautious”. The Probstdorf parish priest admitted in a television interview yesterday evening (Thurs) that he was surprised about the leader of the Catholic Church to speak about the points his movement had raised. The former Caritas Austria head stressed he appreciated the Pope’s estimation regarding his initiative’s intention. Benedict XVI said it seemed to him that the group of preachers got active to change the Church for the better. He acknowledged the movement’s concerns about the Church’s future.

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IRELAND
Herald

By Alan O’Keeffe

Friday April 06 2012

DEFAMED priest Fr Kevin Reynolds is being kept in the dark about the results of the investigation into his defamation by RTE.

The report completed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) was given to RTE but is being withheld from Fr Reynolds.

He has been told he will not get a copy of the report until RTE has finished studying it. The defamed priest may be kept dangling for a further fortnight as RTE was given until April 20 to respond to it.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Yael T. Abouhalkah

In a full-scale setback for Bishop Robert Finn, he lost a legal battle today when a judge ordered him to stand trial in a child abuse case.

You can read the full ruling regarding this nationally watched case by Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence here.

Finn essentially lost the most important bid he and his lawyers were making in court, which was to throw the whole thing out.

And here’s a key part of the Torrence ruling:

“The court finds that the evidence in this case is sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that Bishop Finn was a designated reporter as defined by Missouri law.”

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CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- Juan Carlos Cruz, una de las víctimas del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, se sumó a las críticas contra el arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, por no visitar al joven Daniel Zamudio durante los 25 días que agonizó en la Posta Central tras la brutal golpiza que recibió.

En su blog de radio Cooperativa, el periodista acusó un “doble estándar” de los “líderes morales” de la Iglesia Católica, aludiendo a la visita que realizó monseñor Ezzati al sacerdote Fernando Karadima a fines del año pasado.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

De eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk krijgen de komende tijd een schadevergoeding. De commissie die de zaken beoordeelt, heeft tot nu toe in tien gevallen definitief geoordeeld dat een financiële compensatie op z’n plaats is.

Het gaat in deze zaken om bedragen tussen de 5000 en 20.000 euro, zo heeft de compensatiecommissie vrijdag gemeld. Het bisdom, de orde of congregatie van het slachtoffer betaalt de schadevergoeding binnen 6 weken uit.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

De van ontucht beschuldigde pastoor Jan S. uit Maastricht heeft gerechtelijke stappen ondernomen tegen het bisdom Roermond. Het bisdom heeft dat weliswaar bevestigd, maar wil niet ingaan op de inhoud daarvan, aldus de Limburgse zender L1.

De pastoor is door het bisdom op non-actief gezet omdat hij wordt verdacht van seksueel misbruik op jongenspensionaat Bleijerheide in Kerkrade.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

UTRECHT (RKnieuws.net) – De Compensatiecommissie voor seksueel misbruik in de r.-k. Kerk heeft momenteel (1 april) 86 zaken in behandeling. In 10 zaken heeft de commissie inmiddels definitief geadviseerd en zijn uitspraken verstuurd naar het bisdom of de orde/congregatie waartoe de dader behoort of behoorde. Bisdom of orde/ congregatie zorgt voor uitbetaling aan het slachtoffer binnen 6 weken.

In deze 10 zaken vinden met name uitkeringen plaats binnen de categorieën 2 (7.500 Euro) en 3 (tussen de 10.000 en 20.000 Euro) en een enkele keer binnen categorie 1 (maximaal 5.000 Euro). Er zullen spoedig ook uitkeringen volgen binnen de categorieën 4 (25.000 Euro) en 5 (maximaal 100.000 Euro), maar veelal dient in die zaken nog een aantal vragen te worden beantwoord zoals hieronder aangegeven. De commissie werkt permanent aan het uitwerken van uitspraken zodat een volgend reeks uitspraken nog deze maand zal worden verzonden.

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NEDERLAND
Fok Nieuws

De rooms-katholieke kerk handelt binnenkort de eerste zaken van seksueel misbruik af. Tien misbruikslachtoffers binnen de kerk krijgen een schadevergoeding, laat het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik RKK weten.

De compensatiecommissie heeft de tien zaken goedgekeurd. De slachtoffers krijgen bedragen die variëren tussen de vijfduizend en twintigduizend euro. Het bisdom of congregatie betaalt het slachtoffer binnen zes weken.

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NEDERLAND
Hart Van Nederland

De eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk krijgen de komende tijd een schadevergoeding. De commissie die de zaken beoordeelt, heeft tot nu toe in tien gevallen definitief geoordeeld dat een financiële compensatie op zijn plaats is.

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NEDERLAND
HLN

Eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik Kerk krijgen geld in Nederland

De eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de rooms-katholieke Kerk in Nederland krijgen weldra een schadevergoeding. De commissie die de zaken beoordeelt, heeft tot nu toe in tien gevallen definitief geoordeeld dat een financiële compensatie op zijn plaats is. Het gaat in die zaken om bedragen tussen 5.000 en 20.000 euro, zo meldde de compensatiecommissie vandaag.

Het bisdom, de orde of de congregatie van het slachtoffer betaalt de schadevergoeding over zes weken uit. De komende maanden volgen naar verwachting ook uitkeringen voor uitzonderlijke gevallen van seksueel misbruik, waarbij een schadevergoeding tot 100.000 euro kan worden gegeven.

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NEDERLAND
Zita

De eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door leden van de rooms-katholieke kerk in Nederland krijgen weldra hun schadevergoeding uitbetaald. Tot nu toe wees de commissie in tien gevallen een compensatie voor de slachtoffers toe. Het gaat om bedragen tussen de 5.000 en de 20.000 euro.

De schadevergoedingen zullen over zes weken worden uitbetaald door het bisdom, de orde of de congregatie van het slachtoffer. De komende maanden volgen nog zaken, waarbij in bepaalde gevallen over bedragen gesproken wordt tot 100.000 euro. In die zaken gaat het om uitzonderlijk seksueel misbruik.

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NEDERLAND
Rijksoverheid

Aanbiedingsbrief van staatssecretaris Weekers (FIN) aan de Tweede Kamer bij de beantwoording van de Kamervragen over belastingheffing op smartengeld van slachtoffers uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog en mogelijke vergoedingen voor seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke kerk.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

I arrived into the Parochial House after spending some time with Jesus in the Garden, It was Holy Thursday night. He didn’t know what He was facing. Maybe the ordeal of arrest, false accusation, condemnation, suffering, and death! For he had continued saying what the religious authorities did not want to hear. He had just given us the Eucharist, ordained Priesthood, His New Commandment ‘Love one another as I have loved you’, and His example of humble service. I picked up my iPad to read the Journal as I do at the end of each day, and there in-front of me was the headline, ‘Priest confirms that he is under Vatican investigation.’

I am saddened that Fr. Tony is now being censored. I also admit to feeling shock, anger, and a little fear. As a member of the ACP – like the other 900 plus – we too are now open to censorship or worse still being ‘silenced’.

While I may not always agree with what Fr. Tony says or believes, I still respect and defend his right to hold those views and express them. Is this not part of what it means to be Christian? Are we as a Catholic Church not mature enough to listen to other opinions? We may not be a democracy, but we are certainly not a totalitarian regime!

As a ‘Northerner’, I ask ‘can our Church not learn lessons from what has happened in this part of our homeland’? The terrible conflict was brought to an end through respecting other people’s opinions, other cultures, and other traditions. Resolution was through respectful dialogue.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Mid-Ulster Mail

Published on Friday 6 April 2012

PARENTS in Pomeroy won’t allow their children to take part in a First Holy Communion ceremony if a priest embroiled in an indecent image scandal is in attendance, the MAIL understands.

Parish priest Father Martin McVeigh this week remained at the centre of a media storm after “indecent” pictures appeared on a projector to parents during a presentation at St Mary’s Primary School in the village.

On Tuesday night around 26 parents, a number of teachers, plus an eight year-old child, gathered for the First Communion meeting at the school with Father McVeigh.

During the course of the gathering parents were left “horrified and distracted” after a reported 16 obscene images of men appeared during a PowerPoint presentation after the priest inserted a memory stick into a connected computer.

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UNITED STATES
Christian News Wire

Contact: Rev. John Trigilio, PhD, Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, 717-957-9309

HARRISBURG, Penn., April 6, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ — Five hundred priests and deacons of the national association, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, pledge their complete loyalty and obedience to the Pope and Magisterium and, by means of fraternal correction, exhort their dissident Austrian brothers of the ‘Pfarrer Initiative’ to repent and recant. Disobedience among deacons, priests and bishops is not only scandalous to the faithful but injurious to the Mystical Body of Christ (the Church). We are not just resigned to the discipline of celibacy and merely tolerant of the doctrine of a male priesthood, we totally accept and embrace them. The marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic and apostolic) are personified in the Petrine ministry. Hence, to obey the Pope is to obey the Church, the Bride of Christ. Like Judas who betrayed Christ, dissident clergy betray the same Lord by their prideful refusal of submission to lawful authority.

Dissent from Magisterial teaching and disobedience to Papal authority are incompatible with Catholic Christianity. Jesus founded the Church and instituted the Sacraments. Holy Orders is one of the sacraments and it is the essence of the hierarchy (which means an orderly chain of command). The soul of Holy Orders is obedience. Clergy must lead by example, as did Our Lord, who submitted to the will of His Father. When Deacons, Priests and Bishops disobey the Church and her chief shepherd, the Pope, they do a grave disservice to the people they have been sent to serve.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Friday April 06 2012

THE defamed priest at the centre of the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ controversy has been told that he will not get a copy of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s (BAI) report on the matter while RTE is studying it.

The state broadcaster received the report yesterday and has until April 20 to respond, before the BAI meets to determine its publication.

Although the BAI said the report was likely to be fully published, parts of it may be either redacted or blacked out. But the authority could not say at this stage if this would happen.

Fr Kevin Reynolds’s solicitor, Robert Dore, wrote to the BAI and requested a copy of the report before it was put into the public domain.

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KENYA
Africa Review

By DAILY NATION Correspondent
Posted Friday, April 6 2012

A former Catholic priest from the Nyeri archdiocese in Central Kenya was yesterday defrocked by the Vatican after he broke the vow on celibacy by getting married.

Quoting orders from Rome, Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri said Fr Peter Njogu Kibutu was no longer a Catholic priest.

He read Njogu’s letter of dismissal from Rome to the congregation attending mass at the Nyeri Our Lady of Consolata Catholic Church yesterday.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, April 6, 2012

Father Tony Flannery, a Catholic priest who has been outspoken in his criticism of the abuse crisis in Ireland, has found himself under investigation by the Vatican for his liberal views.

Founder of the Association of Irish Priests, Father Flannery told TheJournal.ie that the Vatican has contacted him to inform him of the investigation.

The effect of the investigation was immediate. This week The Irish Catholic newspaper reports that Father Flannery had to cease writing his monthly column in the Redemptorist Reality magazine in response to news of the investigation.

The Irish Catholic writer Michael Kelly reported that, “It is understood that while Fr Flannery has the support of his superiors in the Redemptorist Order, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome has expressed disquiet about some of his articles and publications.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – A Jackson County judge refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges accusing the Kansas City Diocese and its bishop of shielding an abusive priest.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse.

Prosecutors said Finn and the diocese are mandatory reporters of abuse under state law.

Defense attorneys claimed the law is unconstitutionally vague, and that Finn was not the diocese’s designated reporter.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

The Vatican has moved to suppress dissent in the Irish Catholic Church by clamping down on two well-known liberal Redemptorist priests as well as the congregation’s monthly magazine, Reality.

Restrictions have been placed on Fr Tony Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, whose monthly column in the magazine has been discontinued. A clampdown has also been imposed on the magazine itself and its editor, Fr Gerard Moloney, who, it is believed, is no longer allowed to write on certain issues. Neither priest would comment when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.

Fr Flannery, a brother of senior Fine Gael adviser Frank Flannery, is well known around Ireland through retreats he has conducted in Galway, Limerick, Belfast and elsewhere.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Friday, April 06, 2012

The founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, Fr Tony Flannery, is being investigated by the Vatican because of his liberal views.

For the past 14 years, Fr Flannery has written in the Redemptorist Order’s Reality magazine, but Rome has intervened and the column has been banned.

It is understood that Fr Flannery was informed of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s concerns two months ago, but would not comment on the matter yesterday.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Rome in recent months has reversed the closings of dozens of Catholic churches in the dioceses of Cleveland, Allentown, Pa., and Springfield, Mass., only one so far has been fully resurrected.

Last week, on Palm Sunday, more than 750 people packed St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Adams, Mass., for a standing-room-only Mass — the first Mass in the 110-year-old sanctuary since Bishop Timothy McDonnell closed it more than three years ago.

“We’re back in business,” parishioner Fran Hajdas, 75, said in a telephone conversation this week. “It feels good. Everybody’s happy.”

St. Stanislaus, like 50 churches in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, was closed as part of a finance-driven, diocesewide downsizing.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, una de las víctimas del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, llamó como católico practicante y en medio de la Semana Santa, a cambios profundos en la cúpula de la Iglesia que encabeza el arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati.

Inspirado por los recientes hechos que terminaron con la muerte del joven Daniel Zamudio, Cruz escribió en su blog de Cooperativa.cl “cómo un arzobispo de Santiago parte corriendo a dejarle chocolates a Karadima y no es capaz de tomarse un rato de su día para ir a ver a un muchacho inocente que se moría de a poco y que tenía consternado al país”.

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GADSDEN (AL)
CBS 42

Gadsden, AL (WIAT) Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp announced the conviction of Thomas Russell Reilly today. Reilly was accused of first degree rape and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. Reilly faces from 20 to 99 years in prison. Sentencing for Mr. Reilly is May 30. Read the full press release below.

Thomas Russell Reilly, 59, of Henderson Street, Gadsden, was convicted by an Etowah County jury today on charges of Rape in the First Degree, and four counts of Sexual Abuse of a Child under 12 years of age. The jury returned the verdicts after less than two hours of deliberation. Judge Allen Millican scheduled a sentencing hearing in the cases for May 30, 2012.

The charges against Reilly stemmed from incidents where he allowed numerous female children to spend the night with him in his home, on the premise that if they stayed the night, he could take them with him to church the next morning at the Tabernacle, on South 11th Street, here in Gadsden. Reilly, who lived alone, also picked the children up from school on Wednesdays to attend church with him that evening. Reilly told law enforcement that he worked as an usher and security guard for the church, as well as driving children to church in a van. He stated that he did not get paid for the services, and that he did not charge the parents of the girls for babysitting.

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GADSDEN (AL)
Fpx 6

Submitted by Brianne Britzius, Fox 6 Community Web Producer

Thomas Russell Reilly*, 59 was convicted today on charges of rape in the first degree and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 years of age. He will be sentenced May 30 and could face 20-99 years in jail or life imprisonment.

Reilly allowed multiple female children to spend the night at his house on the premise that he could take them to church the next morning. He would also pick the children up from school on Wednesdays to attend church that evening.

Law enforcment says that Reilly worked as an usher and security guard for the church and also drove children to church in a van. He told authorities he was not paid for any of these services and he didn’t charge the parents of the girls for babysitting.

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GADSDEN (AL)
The Gadsden Times

Times Staff Reports

A 59-year-old Gadsden man has been convicted of rape and sex abuse charges involving four young girls he befriended at the church where he volunteered, according to a news

Thomas Russell Reilly, 59, was convicted Thursday by an Etowah County jury on charges of first-degree rape and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 years old.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours after the trial that has taken place this week in Circuit Judge Allen Millican’s courtroom. Millican set sentencing for May 30.

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VATICAN CITY
The Journal of Turkish Weekly

Friday, 6 April 2012

Pope Benedict has issued a rare condemnation of priests who have questioned church teachings on celibacy and ordaining women during a homily in St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises made when they were ordained.

The pope said a group of priests in a European country recently published an appeal that gave examples of how to be disobedient.

He said the priests called for women to be allowed to join the clergy, but noted that his predecessor, Pope John Paul, said the Catholic church has received no authority from God to ordain women.

His comments were in response to a call to disobedience launched by a group of Austrian priests.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Tewkesbury Admag

THE disgraced former leader of Worcestershire County Council has been jailed for four years for indecent assaults on an underage girl and a sex attack on a vulnerable woman.

Dr George Lord was sentenced to four years in prison when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday. Lord had admitted three indecent assaults on a girl aged 14 and 15 in the late 1970s – when he was a church minister – and had already been found guilty after a trial in January of a sex attack on a 19-yearold woman at County Hall, Worcester, in October 2010.

Judge Nigel Godsmark, describing the assaults in the 1970s, spoke directly to the grim-faced 79-year-old, telling him he had groomed the youngster for his sexual self-gratification.

He said: “As a minister, you should have been her protector, not her abuser.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

BY LESLIE PARRILLA The Press Enterprise STAFF WRITER
lparrilla@pe.com
Published: 05 April 2012

The pastor arrested this week on allegations of abusing a 13-year-old boy applied to be a Corona police chaplain last year and was involved in the mayor’s task force on youth safety, city and police officials said Thursday.

Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, leader of the Heart of Worship Community Church, posted $35,000 bail Thursday and was released from the county jail in Riverside. He is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting injury on a child. Two other men — Nicholas James Craig, 22, and Darryl Duane Jeter Jr., 28 — remained in custody Thursday. They are charged with kidnapping, assault and other felonies.

Investigators say Craig and Jeter drove the teen to the desert March 18, forced him to dig a grave, threw dirt on him and beat him with a belt. Remmers later used a pair of pliers to inflict pain on the boy, police said.

His physical injuries were not serious, authorities said.

On Thursday, police were still investigating the boy’s mother. She had turned him over to Remmers and the others for intervention because she believed he had been involved in sexual misconduct, police said. It was unclear if she knew how the men were planning to discipline her son, Corona police Capt. Jerry Rodriguez said.

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PENNSYLVANIA/OHIO
The Altoona Mirror

By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

Michael Hutchison, the young man who received $2.7 million after a landmark civil case in which he charged the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown with covering up child sexual abuse, died this week.

Attorney Richard Serbin, who represented Hutchison in the case, said he was informed Wednesday by Hutchison’s mother, Mary, who brought the civil charges on Michael’s behalf in 1988.

The case was tried in Blair County in 1994, and the jury initially awarded Hutchison more than $1 million.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Antonio Express-News

JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A second day of cross-examination of a key witness in a landmark priest abuse trial was marked by more hostile exchanges Thursday between a man who claims he was molested as a teen and the attorney representing the man’s accuser.

The accuser, who is now 30, testified that he was 14 years old when the Rev. James Brennan sexually abused him at the priest’s apartment in West Chester, outside Philadelphia. An attorney for Brennan continued grilling the man on inconsistencies from his earlier accounts of the 1996 incident and ticked off a list of reasons why he would lie about being abused, from financial gain to jealousy of the priest for spending too much time with the man’s mother.

“You’re going to sit here and tell me that … I put myself through this to get this man out of my life?” the man responded. “You are reaching, my man, you are way off.”

When the defense attorney stated that the accuser’s parents remained friends with the priest for years after the alleged abuse, then suggested that was because the accuser never told his parents because the abuse never happened, the former Marine exploded on the witness stand.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
WSBT

Carey Gillam
Reuters

(Reuters) – A Catholic bishop in Kansas City must stand trial on charges that he failed to report a priest found with pornographic pictures of young girls on his Church computer to police, a judge said on Thursday.

Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, faces one misdemeanor charge that he failed to tell authorities that Church officials had found disturbing pictures of unclothed little girls that appeared to have been taken by a popular local priest, Father Patrick Ratigan.

His trial is set to start September 24.

Finn’s lawyers had asked that the case against him be dismissed and argued in a hearing last week that Missouri statutes requiring clergy, school teachers and others to report suspected child sexual abuse were “vague.”

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TEXAS
KFOX 14

EL PASO, TX —

According to the El Paso Times, three men have filed separate lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former Cathedral High School principal and a priest in Las Cruces.

Two of the lawsuits named as defendants Brother Samuel Martinez, the El Paso Catholic Diocese and the New Orleans-Santa Fe District formerly known as Brothers of the Christian School of Lafayette, La.

One of the lawsuits involving Martinez alleges religious leaders used the Sangre de Cristo Retreat Center in Santa Fe to hide priests who were accused of assaulting or molesting minors instead of reporting them to the authorities.

The other lawsuit involves a defendant only know as Santiago, and the El Paso Catholic Diocese, the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese and Our Lady of Health Parish in Las Cruces.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

He broke down several times on the witness stand. His face turned red. At times he cried so hard, he covered his face with paper towels, just to hide his embarrassment.

But when it was all over, after three hours of cross-examination, Mark Bukowski stubbornly and defiantly clung to his story: that in 1996 when he was just 14 years old, he was sexually abused by Father James J. Brennan, and that the abuse he endured haunts him to this day. And even though Brennan’s lawyer, William J. Brennan (no relation), went over every aspect of the story, and found some minor discrepancies, he could not budge Bukowski from his talking points.

“He tried to have sex with me as a kid,” Bukowski yelled at the defense lawyer at one point. “It’s his fault, and not mine.”

The prosecution witness who had a meltdown on Wednesday, crying and getting too confused to continue, made a remarkable comeback on Thursday. “We had him yesterday,” one defense lawyer was overheard lamenting. And that was bad news for Father James J. Brennan, on trial for the attempted rape of Bukowski.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Stockton Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

April 06, 2012

STOCKTON – Jurors in the child sex-abuse trial of popular priest the Rev. Michael Kelly began hearing closing statements Thursday, summarizing the six-week civil trial that was focused on a 37-year-old man’s repressed memories.

Kelly, currently pastor at St. Joachim’s Church in Lockeford, is accused of molesting a former altar boy, identified in court documents only as John TZ Doe, at Cathedral of the Annunciation during the mid-1980s.

The plaintiff filed suit after learning there would be no criminal charges because the statute of limitations had run out.

“It’s not easy hearing about a child raped,” the plaintiff’s attorney, John Manly, addressed jurors. “He didn’t ask for this.”

Meanwhile, the defense countered that, while the plaintiff believes the abuse to be real, he’s clinging to recovered memories that were made up.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, April 6, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The jury in the Michael Kelly clergy abuse trial received conflicting messages as attorneys gave their closing arguments in a case that has lasted more than a month.

Attorney John Manly, representing a 37-year-old man accusing Kelly of sexual assault, painted the Lockeford priest as a pedophile and blatant liar who has an unsavory interest in children.

Attorney Jim Goodman, representing the Stockton Diocese, and Tom Beatty, representing Kelly, told the jury that the plaintiff has not borne the burden of proof that Kelly sexually assaulted the plaintiff or anyone else.

Closing arguments, which lasted all day Thursday, will continue today. The case is likely to go to the jury this afternoon and continue on Monday. Jurors will meet until a verdict is reached.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

During this morning’s chrismal mass, Benedict XVI referred to the appeal signed by Austrian priests and called for “the Church not to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas”

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

In his homily said during this morning’s chrismal mass in St. Peter’s, Benedict XVI referred explicitly to the appeal by dissenting Austrian priests for reforms and the possibility for women to be ordained to the priesthood. Speaking of a priest’s “faithfulness to Christ” and the difficulties in achieving this, “given the often dramatic situation in the Church today,” the Pope said: “A group of priests in a European Country recently published an appeal for disobedience, which should even ignore definitive decisions set out in the Magisterium – for example on the question of women’s ordination. The Blessed Pope John Paul II had made a definitive statement on the subject, saying that the Church had received no authorisation from the Lord on this matter.”

“Is disobedience a way of renewing the Church?” Ratzinger asked himself. “We want to believe the authors of this appeal – he added – when they claim that they are motivated by their concern for the Church; that they are adamant that the slowness of Institutions should be dealt with by taking drastic measures to open up new paths – so that the Church can keep up with the pace of today’s world. But is disobedience really the way forward? Is it possible to perceive, in this, elements of faithfulness to Christ – which is the prerequisite for real renewal – or is it just a desperate push for something to be done, for the Church to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas?”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

After the homily addressed today by Benedict XVI to rebel Austrian priests, their leader Mgr. Helmut Schüller took the floor

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

At first it might seem like an extreme attempt to keep a stiff upper lip: the leader of the “rebel” Austrian priests, Mgr. Helmut Schüller, stated he was satisfied with the homily pronounced today by Pope Benedict XVI who responded directly to the Pfarrer Initiative which he supports. In an interview with TM News, Schüller said that the Pope’s homily was “an open explanation” and “There was no threat or sanction implied.”

Indeed, the Pope did not make any harsh remark about the group or its initiative and, unusually, engaged in a “dialogue” with the priests who supported the initiative, in an attempt to put himself in their shoes and even raised potential objections to his own reasoning. Benedict XVI focused on the subject of “disobedience”, frequently asking himself and the priests present whether this really was the path to a “true renewal” of the Church, “or just a desperate push to do something, to transform the Church according to our wishes and ideas?”

The Pope’s attitude was similar to the one adopted by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who, right from the early days of the Pfarrer Initiative – which was kick-started in 2006 but “exploded” as a national and then international phenomenon in 2011 with the “Appeal to Disobedience” cited today by the Pope – discussed, responded and criticised the priests who were involved in it and their ideas, but never punished them with outright excommunication as other Church “princes” would have liked.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 05, 2012

We are pleased that the case against Bishop Finn will move forward. This is the first time that a Bishop has faced criminal charges for his role in a cover-up, and we are hopeful that the full truth will come out in a trial.

For too long have church officials been able to stymie justice and truth by hiding behind legal technicalities and high-priced attorneys. We are excited that the public now has the opportunity to hear the full story of what really has gone on in Kansas City.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Milwaukee Bankruptcy Judge’s unprecedented decision significantly harms archdiocese, even more than victims of clergy abuse

Milwaukee bankruptcy Judge’s unprecedented decision significantly harms archdiocese, even more than victims of clergy abuse

Kelley’s ruling to keep depositions of top church officials secret, along with 50,000 pages of documents leaves Catholics to carry the “endless shame” of child sex crimes, cover up

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director and John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

In a devastating blow not only to victim/survivors but to Catholics and the public, Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled today that the testimony of bishops Rembert Weakland and Richard Sklba will remain under court seal. All other church bankruptcies, including the most recent this year in Wilmington, DE, have resulted in the public release of internal church abuse files, once victims’ names and identities have been removed.

Archbishop Weakland and his deputy Bishop Sklba oversaw and enabled the rape and sexual assault of countless children in our community. Their depositions, and some 50,000 pages of documents which record a quarter of a century of criminal activity will, at least for now, and perhaps permanently, be kept concealed not only from victims and their families, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, from Catholics in the archdiocese.

Breaking ranks with all other church bankruptcy judges in the US, Kelley suggested that releasing the depositions and documents would somehow violate victim confidentiality, although that has never occurred in a single instance, and can easily be remedied by redacting victims’ names and identities. She also said that the depositions were “scandalous” and would “embarrass” bishops who covered up these crimes, particularly Weakland.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley on Thursday morning denied a motion by attorneys to unseal certain documents in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s federal bankruptcy case, saying the material is scandalous and could potentially identify victims.

If unsealed, the documents may have shed light on the scope of the church sex abuse scandal in southeastern Wisconsin and how the archdiocese handled allegations involving children over decades.

Among the documents that victims’ attorneys had wanted unsealed were the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who led the archdiocese for 25 years, and others, along with related documents, all redacted to remove the names of victims and some alleged offenders.

Victims’ attorneys had argued that the public’s right to know outweighed any privacy interest of the archdiocese.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Public Radio

Marge Pitrof

A federal judge has sided with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee regarding the release of depositions. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley will not order investigators to publicly release statements given by top-ranking church officials about how they handled allegations of priests sexually abusing children decades ago.

Kelley says the depositions have already served their purpose, and making them public now could enable people to figure out the identity of survivors who want to remain anonymous.

The judge is overseeing the church’s bankruptcy filing.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

MILWAUKEE — A federal judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case said she won’t order the public release of depositions in which top-ranking church officials discuss how decades-old allegations of child sexual abuse were handled.

The depositions were taken in recent months in connection with the bankruptcy filing.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley ruled Thursday that the depositions were intended to serve specific purposes, and those purposes have already been achieved.

She said making them public now could enable others to piece together the identity of sexual-assault survivors who want to remain anonymous.

Catholic clergy sex abuse victim Mike Sneesby stood outside Milwaukee’s federal courthouse disappointed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Sun News

By JOANN LOVIGLIO – Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A second day of cross-examination of a key witness in a landmark priest abuse trial was marked by more hostile exchanges Thursday between a man who claims he was molested as a teen and the attorney representing the man’s accuser.

The accuser, who is now 30, testified that he was 14 years old when the Rev. James Brennan sexually abused him at the priest’s apartment in West Chester, outside Philadelphia. An attorney for Brennan continued grilling the man on inconsistencies from his earlier accounts of the 1996 incident and ticked off a list of reasons why he would lie about being abused, from financial gain to jealousy of the priest for spending too much time with the man’s mother.

“You’re going to sit here and tell me that … I put myself through this to get this man out of my life?” the man responded. “You are reaching, my man, you are way off.”

When the defense attorney stated that the accuser’s parents remained friends with the priest for years after the alleged abuse, then suggested that was because the accuser never told his parents because the abuse never happened, the former Marine exploded on the witness stand.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC

[with video]

Written by
Dave Summers

CLEVELAND — The parishioners of the 13 closed Cleveland churches hold out hope they will reopen by Easter Sunday.

Since Saint Patrick’s of West Park closed, parishioner Pat Singleton decorates the doors for Holy week every year.

“The longer it goes, the more painful it is,” Singleton said.

From the beginning, Singleton has been on the front lines fighting for her church and 12 others.

Last month, the Vatican sent Bishop Richard Lennon a decree, by most accounts, it is reversing the church closure decision.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

Michael Kelly

Founder of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) Fr Tony Flannery is under Vatican investigation for some of his liberal views The Irish Catholic newspaper has learned.

Fr Flannery, who is a well-known author and retreat-giver, has ceased writing his regularly monthly column in the Redemptorist Reality magazine. The Irish Catholic understands that this is as a direct consequence of the Vatican’s intervention. It is the first time in 14 years that Fr Flannery’s regular column has not appeared.

It comes just two weeks after the report of the Apostolic Visitation noted what it described as “fairly widespread” dissent among priests, religious and laypeople from the teaching of the Church.

The move against Fr Flannery is likely to signal a more hardline approach from the Vatican when it comes to dissent from the Church’s teaching.

It is understood that while Fr Flannery has the support of his superiors in the Redemptorist Order, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome has expressed disquiet about some of his articles and publications.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

STEYR. Das Ermittlungsverfahren gegen den Benediktiner und früheren Lehrer am Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster, Pater A. (77) wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs unmündiger Zöglinge geht nun in eine heiße Schlussphase, die Erhebung einer Anklage wird immer wahrscheinlicher.

Der Grund ist ein nun vorliegendes Gutachten der Gerichtspsychiaterin Heidi Kastner zur Frage der Schwere der psychischen Dauerfolgen der mutmaßlichen Opfer. Kastner untersuchte im Auftrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr bei 14 mutmaßlichen Opfern, inwieweit deren dauerhafte psychische Schäden durch sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kindheit verursacht worden sind. Die Klärung dieser Frage ist strafrechtlich sehr bedeutend. Denn an sich wäre der Großteil der Missbrauchsvorwürfe bereits verjährt. Doch bei schweren Dauerfolgen beträgt die Verjährungsfrist nicht fünf, sondern 20 Jahre.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Trier/Köllerbach. Der Trierer Bischof und Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann, hält nach der Kritik am Umgang des Bistums mit pädophilen Priestern ein Umdenken für notwendig. Ackermann sagte gestern in der so genannten Chrisam-Messe im Trierer Dom, die Kirche müsse die Frage der Glaubwürdigkeit derjenigen, die sich des sexuellen Missbrauchs schuldig gemacht hätten, neu bedenken.

Ackermann unterstrich, dass es “kein Abrücken von der Null-Toleranz-Linie gegenüber dem Verbrechen des sexuellen Missbrauchs” gebe. Der Mensch dürfe nie einfach Mittel zum Zweck sein, da sonst doch seine Würde verletzt werde. “Deshalb ist auch sexueller Missbrauch etwas so Schändliches”, sagte der Bischof.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zartbitter

Das Bistum Trier ist bezüglich der Weiterbeschäftigung von pädosexuellen Priestern in der Seelsorge ins Kreuzfeuer der Kritik geraten. Obgleich man bemüht war, sicher zu stellen, dass die Sexualstraftäter im Rahmen ihrer seelsorgerischen Tätigkeit nicht mehr mit Kindern und Jugendlichen in Kontakt kommen, war bekannt geworden, dass ein pädosexueller Priester im Rahmen eines Vertretungsgottesdienstes Kommunionkinder in einer Gemeinde vorgestellt hatte.

Das Bistum Trier bedauerte den Vorfall und versuchte sich zugleich damit zu rechtfertigen, es habe die pädosexuellen Priester entsprechend der Leitlinien der Bischofskonferenz weiterbeschäftigt. Im Interview mit dem domradio erklärte Herr Koronenburg, Pressesprecher von Bischof Ackermann und des Bistums Trier, diese Leitlinien seinen unter der breiten Beteiligung einer größeren Öffentlichkeit von Experten am Runden Tisch im Gespräch mit Opferschutzverbänden entstanden. Es habe eine relative Einigkeit darüber gegeben, dass man insbesondere unter Gesichtspunkten der Prävention und Kontrolle pädosexuelle Seelsorger nicht aus dem Priesterstand entlassen solle. Mit dieser Vernebelungstaktik versucht der Pressesprecher des Bistums die Verantwortung des Trierer Bischofs Ackermann und der Bischofskonferenz für die Weiterbeschäftigung von Tätern im Priesteramt zu leugnen.

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NEW YORK
Minnesota SNAP

By Vinnie Nauheimer

April 5, 2012

The subtleties of Cardinal Dolan’s mind are unmatched. New York’s newest comedic cardinal has outdone himself in devising a strategy to bring the house down at Last Supper services on Holy Thursday. Cardinal Dolan, never accused of being shy, has come up with an incredibly unique way to imprint the message of the Last Supper on the minds of New York’s Catholic elite who attend services on Thursday at St. Patrick’s. All we can do is marvel at Dolan’s sharp and rapier like wit. After asking God to allow Judas to speak on the subject of betraying Christ and being turned down, Dolan came up with the perfect living substitute. He invited Cardinal Justin Rigali in his stead!

Let’s hear it for the newly minted cardinal for having the audacity to pull off a stunt like this! Who better to speak about the betrayal of Jesus Christ than the disgraced former head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia? Who knows more about turning his back on the teachings of Jesus Christ than Cardinal Rigali whose former diocese is now steeped in disgrace and scandal? Disgusting graphic reports hit the papers on a daily basis as testimony is given describing the seamy underbelly of the church and sexually disturbed priests having lurid sex with minors. Excellent qualifications for someone to speak to the betrayal of Jesus. What will this pitiful, contemptuous former Vatican secretary to the pope have to say about his equivalent of thirty pieces of silver?

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

BY TOM MCILROY

05 Apr, 2012

BALLARAT’S Catholic parishioners attending Easter mass will not receive a controversial letter calling for an independent inquiry into clergy sexual abuse in Victoria.

Bishop Peter Connors said yesterday he had not received the letter from a group calling itself Commission of Inquiry Now, or COIN, and priests in the Diocese of Ballarat would not discuss the issue during homilies at masses this weekend.

COIN chairman Bryan Keon-Cohen QC and victims of sexual abuse by clergy wrote to parish priests in Melbourne and Ballarat this week, asking them to read the letter during Holy Week masses.

The group is calling for a state-established independent inquiry into the handling of abuse, and adopted the tactics of church leaders who sent more than 80,000 letters expressing opposition to same-sex marriage from Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart to parishioners last week.

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NEDERLAND
ED

Auteur: door Pascale Thewissen | donderdag 05 april 2012

Een politie-inval in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis in Mechelen, compleet met koevoet en breekijzer om de crypte in de Sint-Romboutskathedraal open te breken.

Zelfs het kantoor en de privé-woning van kardinaal Godfried Danneels worden doorzocht op die bewuste 24 juni 2010. Maar zo voortvarend als het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik en een mogelijke doofpotoperatie binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk in België begint; zo geruisloos dreigt het nu dood te bloeden. Tot grote frustratie van de slachtoffers.

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VATICAN CITY
Perth Now

From correspondents in Vatican City
From: AP
April 05, 2012

POPE Benedict XVI has issued a rare and explicit denunciation of priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women.

Saying they were being selfish in disobeying his authority, the Pope made the criticism from the altar of St Peter’s Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfaffer Initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening up the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

Last June, the group essentially threatened a schism, saying the Vatican’s refusal to hear their complaints left them no choice but to “follow our conscience and act independently”.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Na eerst een gepensioneerde psycholoog uit Maastricht een brief te hebben laten schrijven aan drie slachtoffers, die een klacht tegen hem hebben ingediend bij het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik RKK, heeft Jan S. een (charme) offensief ingezet.

Deze week ontvingen een aantal oud leerlingen van het jongenspensionaat Maria ter Engelen in Bleijerheide na meer dan 40 jaar via een oud leerling, daarbij ingesloten de smeekbede van broeder Eymard. Foto’s met zijn beeltenis duidelijk zichtbaar (voor hun die hem niet herkennen).

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NEW YORK
Playbill

By Andrew Gans
05 Apr 2012

A benefit reading of Frank J. Avella’s Vatican Falls, which is set against the backdrop of the Catholic sex abuse scandal, will be presented May 15 at 6:45 PM at the National Comedy Theatre.

Directed by Laura Caparrotti, the performance will benefit SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).

The cast will feature Francesco Andolfi, Carlotta Brentan, Drew Bruck, Matthew Crooks, Carlos Dengler, Joshua Dixon, Kalen J. Hall, Liza Harris, Carmit Levite, Devon Talbott and Rob Ventre.

Stage directions will be read by Cali Gilman. The evening’s musical director and arranger is Brad Gardner. Songs were written by Claudio Procopio and playwright Avella.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 05, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

Updated 1:36 p.m. KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first criminal case against a sitting U.S. bishop in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis will go forward after a county judge’s decision Thursday that Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, must stand trial on charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.

The decision, rendered Thursday morning by Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge John Torrence, denies several motions Finn’s lawyers had brought in the case, arguing that charges against the bishop should be thrown out over questions of constitutionality and whether Finn can be considered a “mandated reporter” according to Missouri law.

“The Court finds that the evidence in this case is sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that Bishop Finn was a designated reporter as defined by Missouri law,” Torrence wrote in his decision.

The charge against Finn centers on the case of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a diocesan priest who was arrested last May on charges of possession of child pornography. While the bishop said he was aware of questionable images on the priest’s laptop as early as December 2010, Ratigan was not reported to police by the diocese until May 2011.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
A Jackson County judge will not dismiss charges against Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City Catholic Diocese.

Finn is the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Charges allege that he failed to report suspected child abuse in the church for nearly half a year. Rev. Shawn Ratigan is now facing federal child porn charges.

Prosecutors have said Finn and the Catholic Diocese should have reported possible sexual abuse by Ratigan in 24 hours as required by state law. Prosecutors said the diocese knew about the abuse in December 2010 but did not report in until May 2011.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

A Jackson County judge today refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Bishop Robert Finn.

Circuit Judge John Torrence ruled that the case should be heard by a jury to determine if Finn and the diocese violated the law by failing to report suspected child abuse by the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.

Torrence also denied a joint defense request to have separate trials for the bishop and the diocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

April 5, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Thursday, the Jackson County Circuit Court denied the request of Bishop Robert Finn’s attorney to dismiss the charges against Finn that he failed to report suspected child abuse.

Finn appeared in court last Tuesday with his attorney, who argued the phrases “immediately report” and “reasonable cause to suspect” were vague and that Finn was not the “designated reporter” for the diocese to report offenses to law enforcement.

Prosecutors say Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph failed to report that they suspected Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, of child abuse. Prosecutors say the diocese discovered child pornography on Ratigan’s computer in December but didn’t turn them over to police until May. Ratigan faces federal and state charges of child pornography possession and has pleaded not guilty.

The judge decided, citing past cases, that “persons of ordinary intelligence have no difficulty understanding the meaning of ‘immediately report.’”

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IRELAND
Herald

By Kevin Doyle

Thursday April 05 2012

DETAILS of the probe into how RTE came to falsely accuse a priest of fathering a child may be censored, the Herald can reveal.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has finalised its report into the scandal and was today giving the national broadcaster its findings.

However, sources revealed that the public may not be told the full background of how the Prime Time Investigates programme came to defame Fr Kevin Reynolds.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, Fr Tony Flannery, has confirmed that he is being investigated by the Vatican for his liberal views.

The Vatican intervened directly to stop Fr Tony Flannery contributing his monthly column to Reality magazine, according to reports

Today’s Irish Catholic newspaper reports that the Vatican intervened directly to stop the Redemptorist author contributing his monthly column in his order’s Reality magazine.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The lawyer for an Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest charged with trying to rape a 14-year boy battled again Tuesday with the priest’s accuser, hammering him over discrepancies in his account and suggesting the teen concocted the allegation because his mother had been spending so much time with the cleric.

“What better way to get the subject of her attention out of your life than to come up with a story?” attorney William Brennan asked.

As he did when he first took the stand Wednesday, the 30-year-old Bucks County man pushed back.

He called the lawyer’s cross-examination “pathetic” and accused him of quibbling over insignificant details, such as whether the priest, the Rev. James J. Brennan, used a laptop or desktop computer to show him pornography before allegedly assaulting him one night in 1996.

On the details that matter, the accuser said, he has never wavered.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

by Ben Handelman, updated on: 12:45pm, April 5, 2012

MILWAUKEE — A judge in Federal Bankruptcy Court ruled Thursday to keep all depositions in priest abuse cases against the Milwaukee Archdiocese sealed.

Judge Susan Kelley heard arguments from church lawyers who asked the Court to keep sealed new court depositions of top church officials, including bishops Rembert Weakland and Richard Sklba.

Lawyers for the victims in these cases wanted the depositions unsealed. They say doing so would allow the public to see what the church knew or didn’t know — and what was done or not done.

However, lawyers for the Milwaukee Archdiocese said there is no guarantee if the documents were unsealed, names that were not supposed to be made public would be accidentally leaked. They also maintained this case is about getting claimants paid, not embarrassing victims.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Bellingham Herald

By BILL DRAPER – Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Missouri judge refused Thursday to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a Kansas City diocese and its bishop, who is the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official criminally charged with shielding an abusive priest.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Prosecutors say each is a “mandatory reporter” under the state law. Defense attorneys argued the law is unconstitutionally vague, and that Finn wasn’t the diocese’s designated reporter.

“This Court finds and concludes that persons of ordinary intelligence have no difficulty understanding the meaning of ‘immediately report,'” Circuit Judge John Torrence wrote in his ruling.

Torrence also denied a request by attorneys for Finn and the diocese to have the cases tried separately if they advanced, saying there is no reason to have two separate trials in a case involving most of the same facts.

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VATICAN CITY
Star News

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

Published: Thursday, April 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI issued a blistering denunciation Thursday of priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women, saying they were being selfish in disobeying his authority.

Benedict made the rare and explicit criticism from the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfarrer Initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening up the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

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