ABUSE TRACKER

UTAH
Deseret News

By John Hollenhorst, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — As a torrent of purported revelations flows from imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs , there are new allegations that underage girls are being secretly held by his followers, possibly for sexual purposes.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Wednesday he intends to look into the claim.

“I want to be involved in finding houses of hiding,” Shurtleff said, “I believe there’s still half-dozen to a dozen places around the country where girls are still being held. And I’m very concerned about that.”

Although Shurtleff’s spokesman later said it’s premature to call it an investigation, Shurtleff said he wants to pursue the allegation.

“The worry is that there are still children being trafficked in potential sexual crimes or being held for the prophet for that purpose. We don’t know exactly. But that is a concern and that is something I intend to look into.”

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UNITED STATES
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Peg McEntee
Tribune Columnist

Another year, another apocalypse in Short Creek.

From his Texas prison cell, Warren Jeffs has punished about 1,500 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by forbidding them from attending a main meetinghouse in Colorado City, Ariz.

It’s the latest such move from a man who, according to his “revelations,” considers himself the voice of Jesus Christ.

This time, those being punished are not necessarily banished from their settlement on the Utah-Arizona border. Some families have been split up, but according to former FLDS members, others have been told to renew their covenants with God and thus enable Jeffs to be released from a Texas prison.

He’s in that prison because he was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls he took as polygamous wives. Now his phone privileges have been revoked while prison officials investigate whether he used the phone to broadcast a Christmas sermon telling followers they had until New Year’s Day to be chosen to stay or be expelled.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Here’s something for St. Louis Catholics to think about when they pass the collection basket at church next Sunday: Lawyers for the Archdiocese and Archbishop Robert J. Carlson have launched a legal assault on the victims’ advocacy organization that helped expose the clergy abuse epidemic here and around the country.

The same tactic is being employed in the Diocese of Kansas City against the organization, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and its national director, David Clohessy. In St. Louis, the target is SNAP’s outreach director, Barbara Dorris. SNAP is an international organization, but Mr. Clohessy and Ms. Dorris are St. Louisans.

The effect of both efforts could be to force SNAP into expensive, drawn-out legal battles to protect the confidentiality of its communications with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers and news reporters. Mr. Clohessy said the Kansas City case already has strained SNAP’s finances, which, in turn, will reduce its effectiveness. Some victims of clergy abuse may hesitate to seek help, knowing that their communications no longer are private.

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CALIFORNIA
California Catholic Daily

Gabino Zavala, an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 1994, has resigned his position after revealing to his superiors he had fathered two children, apparently while holding the auxiliary’s post.

In a one-sentence announcement issued yesterday, the Vatican press office said Pope Benedict XVI had accepted Bishop Zavala’s resignation.

“I have some sad and difficult information to share with you,” said Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez in a brief statement issued by the archdiocese. “Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, informed me in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state.”

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CHILE
El Magallanews

Por CNN Chile

05 de Enero, 2012

“Los secretos del Imperio Karadima” es una investigación de 1 año y 8 meses, más de 150 entrevistas y la reconstrucción de 50 años de los abusos de Fernando Karadima y, además, el retrato de una parte de las familias de la élite chilena que buscaban la santidad refugiándose en la parroquia de El Bosque.

Mónica González, directora de Ciper Chile y que participó en la investigación, explicó que la publicación que salió a librerías el pasado 24 de diciembre, comenzaron a indagar al respecto en abril pasado cuando surgió la denuncia.”La gente se olvida que hubo un momento en que las víctimas eran atacada de todos lados, acusadas de todos los epítetos, descalificadas en su integridad moral, hasta psíquica y sexual”, rememoró.

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NIEDERLANDE
Kathweb (Osterreich)

Den Haag, 05.01.2012 (KAP) Gegen den früheren Niederländischen Bischofskonferenz-Vorsitzenden, Kardinal Adrianus Simonis, ist Anzeige wegen Meineids erstattet worden. Nach Berichten von niederländischen Medien vom Donnerstag wirft ein Missbrauchsopfer aus Breda dem Kardinal eine falsche Zeugenaussage vor Gericht vor. Demnach soll Simonis gegen besseres Wissen ausgesagt haben, ihm sei von Missbrauch durch einen anderen Geistlichen nichts bekannt gewesen. Der Kläger führte an, laut einem im Dezember 2011 veröffentlichten Untersuchungsbericht habe Simonis sehr wohl vom betreffenden Fall gewusst.

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CALIFORNIA
Muscatine Journal

Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012

California’s highest court is hearing a precedent-setting case that could expose California’s Roman Catholic dioceses to another round of clergy abuse lawsuits.

The case being argued Thursday before the California Supreme Court involves six brothers in their 40s and 50s who allege they were molested by an Oakland priest during the 1970s. The priest, Donald Broderson, was forced to retire amid abuse allegations in 1993.

The Oakland Diocese maintains the men are barred from suing because they did not do so during the one-year window the state Legislature opened in 2003 for such complaints to be filed.

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CANADA
MSN News

Top Roman Catholic church officials are expected to discipline a Canadian bishop convicted of importing child pornography.

Raymond Lahey, 71, the former head of the Diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison and two years probation.

He was released from custody Wednesday afternoon because he received a two-for-one credit for time served since he pleaded guilty 8 months ago and apologized for his actions.

Lahey pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography for the purpose of importation to Canada.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Gloucester Times

Eileen Ford

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” — Edmond Burke

The good weather allowed me to walk a lot last month along Atlantic Road in Gloucester, enjoying the salt air and waves crashing against the rocks.

Instead of exchanging gifts, I made my own cards, contributed to local causes, went to Mass on Christmas morning, and later enjoyed “War Horse,” an inspiring story of a young man, the horse he loved and a war that separated them.

In an age where the spirit of the season is overwhelmed by Black Friday sales that begin on Thanksgiving, it’s a joy to live on Cape Ann where the gifts of nature are available all year long.

News reports, however, were far from joyful, with repeated revelations of the sexual abuse of children by coaches at Penn State and Syracuse universities.

On Dec. 10, while listening to “Only a Game” on NPR, I heard a proud Syracuse graduate say that he would remember the good in both institutions, but that it was even more important “never to forget what happened there.”

I, too, will always be grateful for the good I found in the Catholic church, including many wonderful nuns and priests I’ve known throughout my life — but I cannot forget the darker side of a system that protected itself instead of children.

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CALIFORNIA
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

IRWINDALE – An auxiliary bishop for the Catholic Church’s San Gabriel pastoral region stepped down Wednesday after revealing to superiors that he had fathered two children.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than the normal retirement age of 75 if they’re sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.

The pope accepted the early resignation from Zavala, who since 1994 has overseen 67 parishes and several Catholic schools throughout East Los Angeles, Pasadena and the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

By Greg McNeil – Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY — Raymond Lahey’s sentence, handed out in an Ottawa court on Wednesday, was too light, according to an informal survey of area residents.

The former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish was sentenced to 15 months in jail and two years probation based on his 2009 arrest for possessing pornographic photos of young boys. He pleaded guilty in May to possession of child pornography for the purpose of importation.

“The issue here seems to be that the crime is more heinous in a sense because of the circumstances,” said Scott Stewart, chair of the department of philosophy and religious studies at Cape Breton University.

“He’s not just a priest, but a bishop, and I guess also the fact that he was in the middle of settling an abuse case, so certainly was aware of the problems with that. I guess (I’m) disappointed that those extra factors weren’t calculated into the penalty.”

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BOSTON (MA)
KTVQ

by Chris Boyette – CNN

(CNN) — Ten years after public recognition of serious sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests within the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the archbishop, issued a letter and his reflections on the “problem with a history far deeper than any … had imagined, that had been wreaking havoc along its course.”

On Wednesday O’Malley released a document contemplating the abuse crisis over the past decade.

“The life of the Church in the Archdiocese of Boston (and throughout the world) was forever changed by the revelations of clergy sexual abuse that dominated the news in January of 2002,” it began, “As an Archdiocese, as a Church, we can never cease to make clear the depth of our sorrow and to beg forgiveness from those who were so grievously harmed,” it went on.

The Archdiocese released O’Malley’s reflections two days before the 10-year anniversary of the first Boston Globe articles that broke the story in 2002, exposing decades of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, as well as bringing to light a veil of silence within the Church, implicating Church officials in covering up the abuse by shuffling pedophile priests around the diocese.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Brian MacQuarrie
Globe Staff
January 04, 2012

Ten years after revelations of clergy sexual abuse rocked the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, victims of the scandal said yesterday that they remained unmoved by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s plea for forgiveness.

Instead, victims and advocates reacted to O’Malley’s written retrospective on the crisis with a demand that the church do more to make survivors confident that abusive clerics will be punished and that future cases will not be shrouded in secrecy.

“The church has failed miserably, miserably, miserably,’’ said Bernie McDaid, 55, of Peabody, who was abused in the late 1960s in Salem.

“Nothing has been done [except] whatever the court has made them do,’’ he said. “I’m so hurt by all this.

“After Penn State erupted, it put it right back in my face,’’ McDaid said, referring to a string of abuse charges filed recently against a former assistant football coach at the university. …

Questions about the archdiocese’s enthusiasm for the task were echoed by Phil Saviano, 59, of Roslindale, who founded the New England chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The changes outlined by O’Malley, Saviano said, are “basic, common-sense procedures that any organization that has a lot of contact with children would take.’’

“It’s probably good for him to enumerate the things they’ve done,’’ he said, “but they’re not things that are that remarkable. I don’t think it’s anything to brag about.’’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Daily Press

A man who was preyed on as a schoolboy by a monk jailed on Tuesday in the latest UK sex abuse scandal, has demanded the Catholic Church apologise for “brushing it under the carpet”.

Richard White, who taught at Downside School in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, pleaded guilty in November last year to charges of indecent assault and gross indecency in the 1980s.

Following White’s jailing for five years on Tuesday, his victim, in his 30s, has demanded the Church takes responsibility for failing to act after it learned of the abuse

Angela Dobbs, a legal expert specialising in sexual abuse cases, is representing the victim. “My client was first abused by White – known as Father Nicholas at the time – when he was just 12,” said Miss Dobbs, a partner with Fentons Solicitors LLP.

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

On 21 December, a man from Breda in the south of the Netherlands reported Cardinal Ad Simonis to the police for perjury.

The man says the cardinal lied to a court in Middelburg a year ago when he said he knew nothing of the abuse of children by Catholic clerics. Cardinal Simonis served as archbishop of Utrecht from 1983 to 2006.

The man, who says he was abused by a Salesian priest, went to the police as a result of the findings of the Deetman Commission which investigated child abuse in the Dutch Catholic Church. On an internet site he writes:

“I’m convinced that Simonis did indeed know about the abuse of children but didn’t say so during the hearing. He also knew about it at the time the abuse took place.”

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MONTANA
KFBB

[with video]

By Charlie Keegan

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings is reacting to a recent lawsuit filed against it. The civil suit claims a priest sexually assaulted a girl in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Paperwork says Father Emmett Hoffman sexually abused the plaintiff when she was a student at the St. Labre Mission School in Ashland.

She is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages and wants the defendants to acknowledge the abuse and pain the alleged assault has caused her.

Greg Hatley, an attorney for the diocese, says he hasn’t been formally served yet.

In the early 1990’s, the diocese formed a victim’s assistance position for victims of sexual abuse by the clergy. Hatley says the plaintiff did not file a report in that system.

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NEW YORK
Sheepshead Bites

by Randy Rojas on Jan 4th, 2012

Even after allegations surfaced of Monsignor Thomas Brady attempting “inappropriate sexual contact” with teenage boys, officials at Marine Park’s Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church still dedicated their Christmas tree lighting to him. Now, the family of an alleged victim is outraged.

“That’s a slap in the face,” said the father of one of the alleged victims in a New York Daily News article. “Take it down. That’s hurtful. You’re gaining support for Brady, but what about the victims?”

Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church (1950 Batchelder Street) in Marine Park posted a sign in Brady’s honor in front of their Christmas display. The sign reads “this year’s tree lighting is dedicated to Monsignor Thomas F. Brady for his service to and love for the People of Good Shepherd.”

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MICHIGAN
My Fox Detroit

[with video]

By BILL GALLAGHER
myFOXdetroit.com

(WJBK) – Chris Trombley says he was an emotionally troubled teen who struggled with his sexuality and the beginnings of alcohol abuse.

At 16, his parents urged him to see Father Gary Schulte for counseling. At the time, Schulte was the pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Parrish in Madison Heights. That was in 1991.

“I had no friends. I didn’t want to be around my father,” Trombley told Fox 2’s Bill Gallagher in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t want to be around my mother, and he took the role of friend only for one reason, you know. And that was sexual favors.”

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

By Cynthia Hubert chubert@sacbee.com

A few minutes after noon every Monday through Friday, Sylvia Chavez pulls her red Nissan Sentra into her regular parking spot alongside the thick walls and cyclone fences of the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Stepping out of her car without regard to the weather, she stands along Seventh Street, takes out her rosary and begins to pray.

In a stark cell eight floors above her, the Rev. Uriel Ojeda stands accused of charges that, if proved, could send him to prison and strip the young Catholic priest of his collar and vestments. He has been charged with having sex with a minor, and for the past month has been held in isolation at the downtown jail in lieu of $5 million bail. He is scheduled to be in court today for a hearing in which his lawyer will argue for a sharp reduction in bail.

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LOS ANGELES
The Associated Press

By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As an auxiliary bishop in the nation’s most populous Roman Catholic archdiocese, Gabino Zavala was an outspoken advocate for immigration rights, prison reforms and better conditions for the working poor.

Now parishioners and church officials in the region where the popular Zavala grew up struggled to come to grips with the announcement of his resignation and revelation that he fathered two children, a violation of canon laws of celibacy for priests.

Zavala, 60, who once urged Catholic media to report scandals such as clergy sex abuse “in a spirit of love and mercy,” had his resignation accepted Wednesday by Pope Benedict XVI. Roman Catholic canon law permits bishops to step down earlier than the normal retirement age of 75 if they are sick or otherwise unfit for office.

“This is unexpected, sad and disorienting news for many people who know and like Bishop Zavala,” said Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “Remember, he was raised here. He has deep roots in Los Angeles and so he’s very well-known here.”

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

January 5, 2012

By AARON BESWICK Truro Bureau

Philip Latimer spent Wednesday afternoon digesting what disgraced Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey’s sentence means for himself and other victims of sexual abuse.

Latimer, 50, alleges he was abused by a Catholic priest while a young boy in Havre Boucher, Antigonish County.

He said he worries that victims of sexual abuse who have not yet come forward will be deterred from doing so by seeing Lahey sentenced to time served plus two years probation and the recent overturning by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh’s convictions on charges of gross indecency and indecent assault.

“These decisions will make young victims scared to come forward by showing them that if the guilty have enough money to hire a good legal team, they will be protected,” said Latimer. “I don’t call this a justice system. I call it a legal system.”

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CANADA
The Telegram

Published on January 5, 2012

Andrew Robinson

St. John’s Archbishop Martin Currie is of two frames of mind when it comes to the sentencing of Bishop Raymond Lahey for importing child pornography.

“Today is a day of sadness, really,” he said on Wednesday upon learning of Lahey’s 15-month jail sentence, which he has already completed because of double credit received for remaining in jail after entering a guilty plea in May.

“It’s a day of sadness for myself and for the church in Newfoundland, Canada and Antigonish (N.S.), and for Lahey’s family.”

While the initial shock came more than two years ago when Lahey was first charged after he was caught with hundreds of pornographic photos of young boys, Currie said he hopes the sentencing will provide a sense of conclusion for those affected by Lahey’s conviction.

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CALIFORNIA
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

IRWINDALE – An auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region on Wednesday stepped down from his duties with the Catholic church after revealing to superiors that he fathered two children.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned Wednesday under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than the normal retirement age of 75 if they’re sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.

The pope accepted the early resignation from Zavala, who has since 1994 overseen 67 parishes and several Catholic Schools throughout East Los Angeles, Pasadena and the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. …

During his time as bishop, Zavala was politically active and would on several occasions ask Catholics to contemplate war, poverty, health care, capital punishment, immigration reform, racism and other issues.

In October, he wrote letters in support of about 350 Florida tomato pickers and their allies who marched to Trader Joe’s corporate headquarters in Monrovia in October to demand better wages and conditions for farm workers.

While he was a champion of human rights, Zavala’s revelation came as a shock to the Catholic community.

“It came as a surprise,” Covina resident and parishioner Lina Nolasco, 45, said. “You always suppose that Catholic priests are only supposed to devote themselves to God.”

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer

Published 07:35 p.m., Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Seventeen more Haitian street boys claim they were abused sexually by Douglas Perlitz, who created a program to feed, clothe, educate and even house them, and that nothing was done to stop the abuse by people and organizations involved in the program.

The suits, filed in federal court Wednesday by New Haven attorneys Steven Errante and Marisa Bellair, seek $20 million in damages for each plaintiff from each of the 18 defendants.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer who has successfully sued numerous Catholic priests for sexually abusing children, drafted the complaints and will seek permission to represent the plaintiffs at trial.

The suits bring to 21 the number of plaintiffs who claim they were abused by Perlitz in his Project Pierre Toussaint program between 1998 and 2008. The suits allege that the youngest student was 9 years old when first abused and the oldest 21; most were between 14 and 16, according to the lawsuits.
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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Stephanie Barry, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Opposing portrayals of protesters holding around-the-clock vigils at the closed Mater Dolorosa church in Holyoke continued in an ongoing court battle in Hampden Superior Court on Wednesday.

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield argued the 100-plus protesters who packed a second-floor courtroom were comparable to “Occupy Boston” squatters recently ejected from Dewey Square, while protesters countered that they are simply exercising their constitutionally protected religious rights.

The Most. Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, filed a lawsuit against the protesters in October after they began holding 24/7 prayer vigils since the church closure on June 30.

The crux of the complaint boils down to diocesan officials attempting to enforce a no-trespass order on parishioners, who have refused to go quietly to Our Lady of the Cross, the new, merged parish about a mile from Mater Dolorosa.

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NEDERLAND
Fok

Een misbruikslachtoffer van de rooms-katholieke kerk heeft aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis. De Bredanaar beschuldigt Simonis van meineed. Volgens hem heeft de kardinaal begin vorig jaar gelogen bij een verhoor in een rechtszaak over seksueel misbruik door de inmiddels overleden pater Jan N.

De man, die bij de rechtszaak betrokken was omdat hij naar eigen zeggen zelf is misbruikt door N., is naar de politie gestapt naar aanleiding van het rapport van de commissie-Deetman. Dat zegt hij in een interview met dichtbij.nl. Uit het vorige maand gepubliceerde rapport van Deetman bleek onder meer dat het misbruik bekend was binnen de ordes en bisdommen.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Reformatorisch Dagblad

LONDEN (ANP) – Paus Benedictus XVI heeft het ontslag aanvaard van de rooms-katholieke hulpbisschop Gabino Zavala van Los Angeles. De prelaat blijkt twee kinderen te hebben die nu in hun tienerjaren zijn. Zij wonen met hun moeder buiten de staat Californië, waarin Los Angeles ligt, meldde de BBC woensdag.

Aartsbisschop Jose Gomez van Los Angeles schreef in een brief aan de gelovigen in het aartsbisdom dat de 60-jarige Zavala hem in december had verteld dat hij – in strijd met het verplichte priestercelibaat – twee kinderen had verwekt. Het aartsbisdom heeft het gezin „geestelijke hulp” aangeboden. Ook zal het de opleiding van de kinderen medefinancieren.

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NEDERLAND
De Puttenaer

04-01-2012

PUTTEN – Bestuurslid Astrid van Schaik van de regionale St. Lucasparochie (onder meer Putten, Barneveld, Nijkerk, Achterveld) noemt het de onjuist dat zij zou zijn afgetreden omdat zij het niet eens zou zijn geweest rond het onmiddellijk op non-actief stellen van pastoor Bert Sturkenboom door het aartsbisdom Utrecht. ,,Dat is de omgekeerde waarheid. Ik ben juist afgetreden omdat het aartsbisdom Utrecht vorige week dinsdag geen openheid van zaken wilde geven omtrent het misbruik.”

Door Jeanne Dijkstra

Volgens Van Schaik wilde mgr. Hans Zuijdwijk van het aartsbisdom aanvankelijk niet melden dat het om seksueel misbruik zou gaan. ,,Dat was voor mij reden om af te treden. Het was namelijk voor mij een absolute voorwaarde dat hier melding van gemaakt zou worden. Maar het aartsbisdom wilde geen openheid van zaken geven. Dat hebben zij de dag daarop wel gedaan, maar toen was ik al opgestapt. De enige die alles weet over aard en inhoud van de aanklachten is het bisdom, zij zijn partij en verantwoordelijk voor de gang van zaken in deze. Zij zijn niet transparant en open en ik kan niet werkzaam zijn voor een instituut wat daardoor zo tegen mijn principes ingaat, dat is de reden voor mijn aftreden.”

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

GEORGE JACKSON

A DISTRICT judge yesterday adjourned for two weeks the court appearance of a 65-year-old priest accused of committing a number of indecent assault offences against a female.

Fr Eugene Boland, a native of Moville in Co Donegal, whose address was given as the Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, is alleged to have committed the offences between June 1990 and June 1992.

A preliminary enquiry hearing for Fr Boland, who since his ordination in 1973 has served in parishes on both sides of the Border in the Derry diocese, was listed for the Magistrate’s Court in Derry yesterday.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

6:44 p.m. EST, January 4, 2012

St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and one of its insurers have settled with another eight of the 150 victims who sued after they were sexually abused as children by the hospital’s former chief endocrinologist, Dr. George Reardon.

The most recent settlements, all of which involve insurance coverage provided solely by The Travelers Cos., leave about 39 suits pending. Resolution of the remaining cases has been complicated by a dispute among hospital insurers over what kind of coverage is triggered by the abuse and how the cost of damages should be divided.

Reardon worked at the hospital from 1963 until 1993, when complaints about his behavior reached state medical regulators. He used a so-called study of child growth rates as a pretext to abuse and collect obscene photographs of 500 or more children over the 30 years.

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

By WBUR News & Wire Services
Jan 4, 2012

BOSTON — Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is marking the 10th anniversary of the start of the clergy sex abuse crisis with reflections on events he says “forever changed” the Roman Catholic church worldwide.

O’Malley released a letter and his reflections on Wednesday, two days before the anniversary of a 2002 Boston Globe story that sparked a wave of revelations about dozens of pedophile priests and the church leaders who transferred them between parishes while hiding their crimes.

O’Malley said Wednesday that the crisis will never be behind the church, and it can never cease to “beg forgiveness” from those who were harmed. …

“We don’t know what process he uses when he decides whether a priest must be removed, but a big misconception is that Cardinal O’Malley is immediately removing priests upon receipt of an allegation,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, of bishopaccountability.org. “He absolutely is not. His policy doesn’t even require him to do that.”

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CHILE
Diario el Divisadero

Valparaíso-. Ayer miércoles los diputados René Alinco, Alejandra Sepúlveda, Enrique Accorsi, Tucapel Jiménez y Carlos Abel Jarpa, presentaron un proyecto de ley que modifica el Código Penal para aumentar las penas por este tipo de delitos, además de declarar la imprescriptibilidad de éstos.

“A propósito de casos como el de Fernando Karadima es que urge hacer un cambio en la legislación vigente porque la gran mayoría de las violaciones, abusos sexuales o estupros son denunciados mucho tiempo después, sobretodo en menores de edad. Estos delitos no debieran prescribir y así puedan ser perseguidos e investigados en cualquier tiempo” manifestó el parlamentario aisenino.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star

An advocacy group for clergy sexual abuse victims on Wednesday urged the public to continue to contact it despite a judge’s recent order that it release emails and other documents.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle required that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and its national director, David Clohessy, produce an extensive amount of correspondence with alleged victims, whistleblowers, journalists and others.

In a news conference in Kansas City, Clohessy declined to comment about the order but said the group was not deterred and is continuing to assist those who say they were abused by clergy, church staff and volunteers.

“Those who call us for help, please keep coming forward and reach out,” he said. “Please don’t be intimidated or bullied, don’t let anything keep you from finding the strength and the courage to report child sex abuse crimes and to get the help that you need.”

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Petition for Writ of Certiorari

WASHINGTON (DC)
Supreme Court of the United States

By Marci Hamilton et al.

January 3, 2012

This is a paradigmatic case about child sex abuse in a religious organization. With full awareness that one of its priests had previously molested a child, the St. Louis Archdiocese placed Fr. Thomas Cooper in a new position with access to children and took no action to ensure the protection of the children that would inevitably fall into his sphere of influence. Petitioner John Doe AP, a child in a devout Catholic family, who knew Cooper only through the parish, became ensnared in Cooper’s web, and was subjected to intense grooming, seduction, oral rape, and attempted anal rape.

The Archdiocese was aware of past instances of child sexual abuse involving Cooper, and knew that leaving him alone with children was likely to result in harm; yet disregarded that known risk when it placed Cooper in a role of unsupervised proximity to Petitioner and other children, resulting in subsequent instances of child sex abuse. App. 22. The Archdiocese’s defense was twofold: (1) reliance on Gibson v. Brewer, 952 S.W. 2d 239 (Mo. 1997), for the proposition that the First Amendment shields them from liability for negligence and negligent supervision and retention of clergy abusing children, and (2) a reading of Gibson that the sex acts must occur on their premises, not just the relationship, grooming, and seduction that leads to the sex acts.

One misguided First Amendment decision stood in the way of justice in this case: Gibson v. Brewer, which held that the First Amendment bars holding religious organizations accountable for their role in creating and maintaining the conditions for children to be sexually abused.

John Doe AP and his family were parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic parish in St. Louis, Missouri. App. 32. While John Doe AP attended the church, Fr. Thomas Cooper, as part of his employment, worked with, mentored, and counseled him, all the while seducing and grooming him to the point where he could sexually abuse him. The grooming started with special attention and gifts, then graduated to trips to Cooper’s special “clubhouse,” where Cooper took boys from the parish to initiate sexualized games, initially showing Petitioner pornography and then walking around naked in front of him and other boys. Finally, on one of Petitioner’s trips with Cooper alone, the grooming and seduction escalated into oral rape and attempted anal rape.

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HOLYOKE (MA)
WWLP

Published : Wednesday, 04 Jan 2012

Shannon Halligan

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – They packed the courthouse, but neither side of the Mater Dolorosa Church controversy got the answer they have been waiting for.

It’s been over 6 months since the Springfield Diocese closed the Mater Dolorosa Church in Holyoke. But since then, parishioners have held a constant vigil inside vowing to stay.

Wednesday, a hearing was held to determine if these parishioners are in fact trespassing, but the judge has not yet made a decision.

More than 60 parishioners of the closed down Mater Dolorosa church poured into the Springfield courtroom.

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CANADA
National Post

Angry scenes erupted inside an Ottawa courthouse Wednesday after a Catholic bishop with an addiction to Internet pornography walked free despite admitting to possessing images of naked boys wearing rosary beads and crucifixes.

Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland sentenced Raymond Lahey to 15 months in jail Wednesday, time that he will be credited with already having served, prompting an outburst from one man in the court.

“You’re not a pedophile, you’re a demon, you f–king idiot,” the man yelled at Lahey.

“I’m a survivor, I got to live with it. He’s a f–king demon!” the man shouted, as the judge called for security.

Lahey, who once negotiated a $13-million settlement for victims of child sex abuse by priests as the bishop of Antigonish, N.S., pleaded guilty in May to possession of child pornography for the purpose of importation.

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CANADA
Metro

JESSICA SMITH
METRO OTTAWA

Published: January 04, 2012

The key witness in Raymond Lahey’s sentencing is working on research he believes will show that sexual deviants who consume child pornography are less likely to abuse children now that child porn has gone online.

Dr. John Bradford, Head of the Division of Forensic Psychiatry of the University of Ottawa, has testified as expert in numerous criminal trials and recently testified as a defence witness at former Bishop Raymond Lahey’s sentencing hearing in December.

His conclusion that Lahey was not a risk to children and, in fact, not a pedophile, despite possessing images and videos of children and teens, was a key part of the defence argument for a lesser sentence.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

The Most Rev. Gabino Zavala, an important figure in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a venerated champion for social and economic justice, resigned his post as auxiliary bishop Wednesday after revealing to the Vatican that he is the father of two teenage children.

Zavala, 60, had overseen the archdiocese’s San Gabriel region since 1994. One of the church’s five pastoral regions, San Gabriel is home to hundreds of thousands of the area’s five million Catholics, 66 parishes and 13 high schools — and a diverse community considered vital to the future of the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. …

Gomez declined to be interviewed, and the church declined to reveal additional details. Asked whether Zavala is involved with the children’s lives, and why the information suddenly surfaced after so many years, archdiocese spokesman Tod M. Tamberg said: “Those are questions for Bishop Zavala to answer.”

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BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley on Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the clergy sex abuse crisis by reflecting on the enduring pain of the scandal, which he said is never “over or behind us.”

O’Malley released a letter to Catholics and five pages of reflections two days before the anniversary of a Boston Globe story that broke news of the scandal. The story sparked revelations about scores of pedophile priests and the church leaders who transferred them between parishes while hiding their crimes.

The reflections touched a range of topics, from the effect on priests to the media’s role in exposing crimes that have forever changed the church.

“As an archdiocese, as a church, we can never cease to make clear the depth of our sorrow and to beg forgiveness from those who were so grievously harmed,” O’Malley said.

The Catholic watchdog group, BishopAccountability.org, said O’Malley’s words sound good, but he’s blocked real reform by refusing to release a more complete list of accused clerics and opposing laws to remove the statute of limitations on child sex crimes.

“Sean O’Malley has mastered the trick of false transparency,” the group said in a statement. “He speaks like a healer but acts like a CEO whose priority is protecting his organization’s image and assets.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

One of the Philadelphia area priests charged with sexually abusing altar boys in the 1990s on Wednesday lost a bid to have his case heard separately.

After a brief hearing on the matter, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said the Rev. Charles Engelhardt will be tried with three other priests accused of child-sex assault or conspiring to enable the alleged abuse, the judge’s office said.

Through his lawyer, Michael J. McGovern, Engelhardt had argued that it was unfair to try him with the others because he belongs to an independent religious order, the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, while his co-defendants are priests supervised by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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BOSTON (MA)
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

The professional victims’ lobby is meeting in Boston this weekend for the “10th Anniversary Celebration & Conference.” Shamelessly, they are “celebrating” the 10th anniversary of media reports on the Boston clergy sexual abuse scandal. The speakers have quite a resume. We know from past experience what drives them.

• Actors and artists will set the tone with melodramatic precision
• Activists from SNAP, along with a suspended priest, will discuss their conspiracy theories about the “evil institution”
• Two psychiatrists and a psychologist will entertain the crowd with their fully discredited notions about “repressed memory”
• Bigoted lawyers will delight the audience by drawing analogies between Islamic terrorists and the Vatican
• Reporters and columnists who are so full of hate that they can’t see straight will recount their paranoid stories

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

Lindsay Whitehurst

Up to 1,500 people were halfway cast out of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this weekend, told they were unworthy to attend church but that they could go to separate meetings at school houses to repent in an effort to become “worthy” again.

Willie Jessop, former FLDS spokesman currently opposed to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, sent me a copy of a document he says Short Creek bishop Lyle Jeffs used to determine which FLDS members are “worthy.”

He says this list of questions was asked after the member had signed over everything they had to bishop Lyle Jeffs and agreed to new “covenants” including staying out of restaurants. (This along with no sex and getting rid of children’s toys).

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TEXAS
The Washington Post

Convicted polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has prison phone privileges halted for improper calls

By Associated Press, Wednesday, January 4

HOUSTON — Texas prison officials have suspended indefinitely the phone privileges of convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs while they investigate whether he violated rules with improper telephone calls on Christmas Day.

Officials believe the calls Jeffs made to two approved people on his phone list were broadcast on a speakerphone to his congregation, a violation of the prison phone rules.

At this point, he’s unable to make phone calls pending the outcome of the investigation,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said Wednesday.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal grand jury has indicted a Churchill priest already charged in state court with possession of child pornography.

The Rev. Bartley A. Sorensen, 62, of St. John Fisher Church, now faces federal charges of receiving and accessing pictures of minors engaged in sex acts.

The indictment did not detail the accusations but sought the forfeiture of a computer, a camera and more than 100 CDs, DVDs, books and photo albums.

According to affidavits in state court, Rev. Sorensen had thousands of images of young boys, including some of boys posing naked or involved in sex acts.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC Southern California

By Olsen Ebright

Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Gabino Zavala amid news the Los Angeles bishop fathered two children more than a decade ago.

“Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, informed me in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state,” wrote LA Archbishop Jose H. Gomez.

“Bishop Zavala also told me that he submitted his resignation to the Holy Father in Rome, which was accepted. Since that time, he has not been in ministry and will be living privately,” said Gomez in a statement.

Gomez described the news as sad, and added that the Archdiocese will assist with the children’s college tuition.

City Councilman Jose Huizar, a Catholic, told City News Service was shocked by the news. Huizar said he knew Zavala from running into him at public events and described the former bishop as “very down to earth. You almost felt like he was a neighbor.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

A Catholic priest has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he possessed thousands of images of child pornography that county detectives said they found when searching his office and residence last month after a church employee reported seeing the cleric viewing an image of a naked boy on his office computer.

Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 62, has been suspended by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, which is cooperating in the investigation. The Associated Press could not immediately locate a phone number for Sorensen.

Sorensen’s defense attorney did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday on the two-count grand jury indictment charging the priest with receiving child pornography on his computer and possessing child pornography.

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UNITED STATES
San Antonio Express-News

Posted on 01/04/2012 by Abe Levy

Should the Catholic Church relax its celibacy requirement for its priests?

Those who say yes have more fodder for their argument in the case of a revered California bishop who admitted recently to fathering two children now teens.

Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala tendered his resignation to Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez — formerly of San Antonio – who accepted it.

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CANADA
Global News

August 7, 2009 – Then Bishop Raymond Lahey issues a historic apology and $15 million settlement to victims of sexual abuse, committed by a priest in the Antigonish Diocese during the 50s and 60s.

September 15, 2009 – Bishop Raymond Lahey, returning from a trip to London, was arrested for possessing child pornography including 588 images, 33 videos and several graphic stories of boys engaging in sexual acts.

Border officials flagged Lahey to be searched after noticing stamps in his passport for Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – all destinations for sexual predators and producers of child porn.

September 30, 2009 – The former Bishop for the Antigonish Diocese, in Nova Scotia, charged with importing and possessing child pornography. He turned himself the next day. Police released him on bail. He has stayed at the Diocesan Centre in Ottawa since that time.

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NEDERLAND
Breda Dichtbij

EXCLUSIEF – Bredanaar Gideon Uvyn heeft aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis. Aanleiding is de uitkomst van het eindrapport van de Deetman-commissie over seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. Volgens Uvyn heeft Simonis meineed gepleegd tijdens een verhoor begin vorig jaar, bij een rechtszaak over seksueel misbruik door oud-pastoor Jan N.

Uvyn was betrokken bij de rechtszaak tegen de pastoor, omdat hij zelf is misbruikt door Jan N. De zaak werd aangespannen door een oud-klasgenoot, die ook seksueel werd misbruikt door de oud-pastoor. Via een getuigenverhoor van kardinaal Simonis en oud-bisschop Huub Ernst van bisdom Breda wilde het slachtoffer vaststellen of een eis tot smartengeld kans van slagen had.

Misbruik
Jan N. was in de jaren zeventig oud-directeur van een jeugdcentrum in Rijswijk. Daar vergreep hij zich aan meerdere jongens en kreeg daarom ontslag. Toen N. in 1984 solliciteerde naar de functie van pastoor in Terneuzen, is niet over het misbruikverleden gesproken, bijvoorbeeld met toenmalig bisschop Huub Ernst van het bisdom van Breda. In Terneuzen vergreep hij zich opnieuw aan meerdere jongens, waaronder Uvyn. Jan N. gaf toe, maar overleed kort daarna op 89-jarige leeftijd.

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NEDERLAND
BNR Juridische Zaken

Een man uit Breda heeft aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed. Volgens de man heeft Simonis gelogen dat hij niet wist van seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk.

De man zegt dat hij is misbruikt door de vorig jaar overleden salesiaanse pater Jan N. Op basis van de uitkomsten van het onderzoek door Wim Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk stapte de man naar de politie. Hij gelooft dat Simonis tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg niet naar waarheid heeft gesproken.

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NEDERLAND
De Telegraaf

BREDA – Een misbruikslachtoffer van de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk heeft aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis. De man uit Breda beschuldigt Simonis van meineed.

Dat meldt Dichtbij.nl. Aanleiding voor Bredanaar Gideon Uvyn om aangifte te doen is het eindrapport van de commissie Deetman over seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. Daarin wordt geconcludeerd dat het kerkbestuur wel degelijk op de hoogte was van het misbruik.

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NEDERLAND
rtl

Een man uit Breda heeft op 21 december aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed. De man meent dat de kardinaal tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg heeft gelogen toen hij zei dat hij niet wist over misbruik van kinderen door geestelijken.

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MISSOURI
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy, and its outreach director, Barbara Dorris:

Yesterday I said, “[David] Clohessy never tires of lecturing the Catholic Church on the need for transparency, yet when he is in the hot seat he rebels.” I was referring to his anger at being subpoenaed to testify in a St. Louis court on Monday regarding public statements he made that were allegedly taken from lawyer Rebecca Randles in violation of a court gag order. Now Clohessy is justifying a double standard.

“We believe that there are two standards of transparency,” Clohessy said. He maintained there is one standard for “institutions that have enabled thousands of pedophiles,” and another for “organizations that enable kids to be safer and expose heinous crimes.” In other words, there should be one standard of justice for the Catholic Church, and another for SNAP.

A defense lawyer seized the moment. He noted that Clohessy wants bishops to suspend accused priests “the minute they are sued for abuse.” Accordingly, he then asked, does this mean SNAP should close its doors immediately if it is sued for defamation or libel? Clohessy flatly said, “No.” Interestingly, Clohessy refused to answer many questions during his deposition, complaining that “Church defense lawyers will likely ask that we be found in contempt of court and possibly fined or possibly jailed.” Reporters described him as looking “shaken and teary-eyed.”

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Jan. 4 2012

​The era of Cirilo Flores–just named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of San Diego–is ending the same way it started: with people trying to remember who he was.

Flores joined the Diocese of Orange in 2009 as an auxiliary bishop, really just filling the token Mexi bishop seat for head pedo-protector Tod D. Brown (the same way Dominic Luong is there to make Vietnamese Catholics happy). He did nothing of note in his three years here (tomorrow is the anniversary of his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI)–no outspoken protector of undocumented immigrants like his predecessor, Jaime Soto, or a pedophile protector supreme like Brownie. No, his pedophile protecting ways was while he was a plain ol’ priest.

What’s a coadjutor bishop for non-Papists? Essentially the heir to the bishop’s seat. Flores will take over for current San Diego Bishop Robert Brom when he retires.

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MISSOURI
Pitch

Posted by Ben Palosaari on Tue, Jan 3, 2012

Catholic dioceses and priests accused by people alleging they were abused as children earned a legal victory Monday when the Missouri Supreme Court let stand a judge’s decision to force Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to turn over documentation to defense lawyers in a civil case accusing a St. Joseph priest of abuse.

The Associated Press reports that attorneys for the Rev. Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph requested thousands of pages of records and e-mails from SNAP because they suspect the alleged victim’s lawyers leaked information to SNAP. On Monday the state Supreme Court chose not to intervene on SNAP’s behalf. But the group’s director, David Clohessy, told the AP that he will fight to keep the organization’s records private.

Tierney is facing five lawsuits from people alleging abuse. Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle ordered SNAP to hand over the documents, saying Clohessy “almost certainly has knowledge concerning issues relevant to this litigation.” SNAP is now required to hand over all records related to Tierney and his diocese, priests currently or formerly associated with the diocese, communication with the unnamed man who filed the suit, and anything related to repressed memory.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh-area Catholic priest has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he possessed thousands of images of child pornography on his computer, discs, books and photo albums seized by county detectives last month.

The defense attorney for the Rev. Bartley Sorensen did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday, when the indictment was unsealed.

Sorensen is expected to surrender and be arraigned by a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Friday.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

By Lane Lambert
The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jan 04, 2012

[the letter]

BRAINTREE —

Ten years after the Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal became public, Cardinal Sean O’Malley says the church’s work to repair the damage from the crimes is far from over.

“There will never be a time to presume that the crisis is over or behind us,” the cardinal writes in a pastoral letter posted Wednesday. “As a church we must continue to express the depth of sorrow and contrition for how badly we failed those entrusted to our care.”

His letter and a related statement, “Ten Years Later – Reflections on the Sexual Abuse Crisis” come the same week that the Archdiocese, priest victims and their families will mark the 10th anniversary of the first reporting of sexual abuses in Jnauary 2002. Archdiocese records opened by a court ruling revealed that church leaders had known about predatory priests and covered up their actions for decades.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by PHILIP MOORE
01/04/2012

TUCSON, Ariz. — For more than eight decades, the centuries-old Pamplona Crucifix was on the wall in the vestibule of St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson, Ariz., a battered and neglected gift from a forgotten donor.

Now carefully restored, the 12th-century artifact of medieval Spanish Catholicism has a new place, over the high altar of the Diocese of Tucson’s remodeled and renovated cathedral.

At a cost of $75,000, the restoration of the crucifix was only a small item in the diocese’s $28 million “Our Faith, Our Hope, Our Future” campaign. However, as a symbol for a diocese recovering from scandal and bankruptcy, it has become something greater.

On Sept. 20, 2004, the Diocese of Tucson was the second in the nation to seek protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. And it was the first to emerge, on Sept. 26, 2005, having settled with victims of clergy sexual abuse and their attorneys at a cost of $22.2 million.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Cirilo Flores, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Orange County, will become bishop in San Diego next year upon the retirement of Bishop Robert Brom, church officials announced Wednesday.

Flores, 63, who has been auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Orange for three years, will become coadjutor bishop in San Diego immediately.

The decision to elevate Flores was made by Pope Benedict XVI. The announcement was made by the Vatican and the Diocese of San Diego, which spans Imperial and San Diego counties. The diocese is responsible for a Catholic population of 982,000, 99 parishes and 53 Catholic schools.

Flores was born in Corona and graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Stanford Law School. He practiced law for a decade before entering St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo in 1986. He was ordained a priest in the diocese of Orange in 1991.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

On 10th anniversary, Cardinal O’Malley recaps church response to sex abuse scandal; critics are unimpressed

By Brian MacQuarrie and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The Archdiocese of Boston has settled approximately 800 clergy sexual abuse claims, is providing care to about 300 abuse survivors at any given time, and has given anti-abuse training to nearly half a million children and adults, Cardinal Sean O’Malley said in a report issued today outlining the church’s response in the wake of the scandal that first broke 10 years ago this month.

But critics said they were unimpressed. “To this point, the church has failed miserably, miserably, miserably,” said Bernie McDaid, 55, of Peabody, who was abused in the late 1960s in Salem.

“Nothing has been done but whatever the court has made them do,” McDaid said.

O’Malley also said in his report that the church had strengthened its training standards for priests and made the candidate screening process “the strongest possible, with particular attention to any issues related to child safety.” The church conducts more than 60,000 criminal background checks a year on priests, teachers, volunteers, and other people working with children, according to the report, “Ten Years Later – Reflections on the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston.” …

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, also assailed O’Malley’s statements. “I’m very underwhelmed,” McKiernan said, adding that the cardinal “basically recycles the usual claims that we’ve heard a lot already, that they’ve experienced a learning curve, that they really didn’t understand the situation.”

Although criminal background checks of clergy and increased educational awareness about abuse are positive developments, McKiernan said, ‘it shows not so much that the church wants to do the right things here, but that they’ve been forced to do the right thing.”

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CANADA
Injury Board Blog Network

Posted by John McKiggan
January 04, 2012

Raymond Lahey, the former Bishop of Antigonish, found out today that he is a free man after pleading guilty last May to possession of child pornography.

Lahey surprised the court last year by abruptly withdrawing his not guilty plea and pleading guilty. What was a bigger surprise was that Lahey told the court he wanted to go to jail immediately pending his sentencing hearing.

I speculated at the time that Lahey’s guilty plea was less a sign of contrition and more likely a legal tactic to gain advantage during his sentencing. Courts in Canada have typically granted a two for one credit for time served while awaiting sentencing.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—A disgraced Roman Catholic bishop who got busted with hundreds of pornographic photos of young boys has been sentenced to 15 months in jail and two years probation.

But because Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland gave Raymond Lahey double credit for the eight months he has served since last spring, the cleric has essentially finished his jail sentence and will be released on probation.

Kirkland also imposed a series of stringent probation rules.

Among other things, Lahey will have to submit a DNA sample and register as a sex offender. He will also have to allow searches of his personal and office computers when required by the authorities.

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CANADA
London Free Press

By TONY SPEARS, QMI Agency

Last Updated: January 4, 2012

OTTAWA – A former bishop caught with child porn at the Ottawa airport in 2009 will be freed after a judge sentenced him Wednesday to time served.

Raymond Lahey, 71, got 15 months in jail and two years of probation. He has already spent eight months in jail, but received two-for-one credit for the time served.

Lahey pleaded guilty in May to importing child pornography. Border agents had discovered child porn on Lahey’s laptop when he re-entered the country on Sept. 15, 2009.

Among 155,000 gay porn files, cops found 588 photos and about 60 videos of child pornography. They also found stories about child slavery, sex and torture.

“Not only is a child victimized … But the violation of the child rises like a phoenix every time that child is viewed,” Judge Kent Kirkland said.

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CANADA
CBC News

Raymond Lahey, the disgraced Roman Catholic bishop who admitted he was addicted to looking at child pornography, will be released from prison after being sentenced to time served.

He was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison and two years probation but will receive a two-for-one credit for time served. Lahey pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography for the purposes of importation to Canada.

Lahey, 71, a Newfoundlander and former head of the Diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia, was caught in 2009 at Ottawa’s airport after authorities checked his personal computer and found a large cache of child pornography.

Terms of Lahey’s probation include:

Being subject to a computer search at any time at work or home.
Advising his probation officer if he leaves Canada for more than 48 hours.
Forfeiting electronic devices seized at the airport when he was arrested.

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CANADA
CTV

[with video]

By: CTVNews.ca Staff

Date: Wednesday Jan. 4, 2012

Disgraced Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday for importing child pornography, but was released on probation within hours.

After receiving his sentence and providing a DNA sample for the national sex offender registry, Lahey left court Wednesday afternoon, escorted into a car by one of his lawyers. Lahey made no comment to reporters.

Before he left, Lahey’s lawyer, Michael Edelson, said his client’s career with the Church was over and that Lahey would return to layman life. As for what Lahey plans to do next, Edelson wouldn’t say.

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CANADA
AFP

By Michel Comte (AFP)

OTTAWA — A former Catholic bishop in Canada was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison for importing child pornography — including some laced with religious imagery — but will be freed after already serving time in jail.

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

He pleaded guilty in May 2011 to charges of possessing for the purpose of importing child pornography. The more than 600 photographs and videos found by police included scenes of bondage and boys in sex acts wearing a crucifix and rosary beads.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Andrew Seymour, Postmedia News
January 4, 2012
OTTAWA — A Catholic bishop with an addiction to Internet pornography won’t spend another day in jail for possessing child pornography that included naked young boys wearing rosary beads and crucifixes.

Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland sentenced Raymond Lahey to 15 months in jail Wednesday, time that he will be credited with already having served.

Lahey, 71, pleaded guilty in May to possession of child pornography for the purpose of importation.

The sentencing prompted an outburst from one man in the court.

“You’re not a pedophile, you’re a demon, you f–king idiot,” the man yelled at Lahey.

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CANADA
USA Today

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

A disgraced Canadian Roman Catholic bishop arrested at Ottawa airport in possession of an extensive child porn collection has been sentenced to time served in jail, plus two years probation, and must register as a sex offender, the Canadian Press reports. The official sentence was for 15 months.

A judge in Ontario also ruled that 71-year-old Raymond Lahey, who has been in jail for 8 months, will also be required to allow his personal and office computers to be searched.

Lahey voluntarily went to jail after pleading guilty last year to one count of importing child pornography.

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CANADA
ctvottawa.ca

Disgraced former Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey who was caught with hundreds of pornographic photos of young boys will be released from jail Wednesday after receiving credit for time already served.

Lahey was sentenced to 15 months in jail and 24 months of probation. But since Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland gave Lahey double credit for the time he has served since last spring, the cleric has already completed his sentence.

The former bishop pleaded guilty last May to one count of importing child pornography to Canada after being nabbed at the Ottawa airport with hundreds of sexual images of young boys. He voluntarily went to jail.

At today’s hearing, a man named Roger Touchette yelled an obscenity at Lahey and claimed that he had sexually assaulted him when he was 11-years-old.

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CANADA
The Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, January 4

TORONTO — A Canadian Roman Catholic bishop who admitted he was addicted to looking at child pornography has been sentenced to 15 months in jail, but he should be released Wednesday with credit for time served.

Bishop Raymond Lahey was arrested at the Ottawa airport in 2009 after customs authorities found almost 600 pornographic photos of young teen boys on his laptop and a handheld device.

Some of the porn involved adolescent boys engaged in sex acts while wearing a crucifix and rosary beads.

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BRASIL
Correio da Manha

Um padre foi preso em Brasília, capital do Brasil, acusado de abusar sexualmente de pelo menos seis crianças. Ao ser detido, em casa, Evangelista Moisés de Figueiredo, 49 anos, estava com uma mulher, que se encontrava nua.

Por:Domingos G. Serrinha, Correspondente Brasil

Segundo as autoridades, as vítimas são cinco irmãos, quatro meninas e um menino, e uma outra menina, com idades entre os cinco e os 14 anos e residentes na zona rural do Jardim Botânico, uma região pobre de Brasília.

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BRASIL
Gazeta do Povo

A Polícia Civil do Distrito Federal prendeu nesta sexta-feira (30) o padre Evangelista Moisés Figueiredo, acusado de estupro e atentado violento ao pudor contra seis crianças, sendo cinco irmãos. O padre trabalhava havia 10 anos na Igreja São Francisco de Assis, na cidade-satélite de São Sebastião e frequentava a casa dos pais das crianças. De acordo com os menores – cinco meninas e um menino -, os abusos eram cometidos havia um ano.

No momento da prisão, Figueiredo estava na cama com uma mulher nua – a secretária da Igreja São Camilo, onde o padre também trabalhou durante 9 anos. Na casa foi encontrada uma cartucheira calibre 36. O padre negou a acusação de estupro e do atentado violento ao pudor. Afirmou que a arma era de outra pessoa, mas não explicou as razões de ela estar na sua casa. Ele também será acusado por porte ilegal de armas.

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CALIFORNIA
New York Daily News

By Nancy Dillon / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, January 4 2012

A prominent Catholic bishop in Los Angeles has resigned after confessing he broke his vow of celibacy — and is the father of two teens.

Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, was granted early resignation Wednesday under a church law that allows bishops to step down before the normal retirement age of 75 due to sickness or other serious reasons.

“I’m shocked. I can’t believe it,” Arcelia Encinas, a relative by marriage who watched Zavala grow up, told the Daily News.

“He’s a really playful, nice person,” the 68-year-old woman from Chino, Calif., said. “He was mischievous as a young boy, but he grew up in the Catholic Church and was very dedicated.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA News

10:07 a.m. PST, January 4, 2012
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — An assistant bishop with the archdiocese of Los Angeles has stepped down from his position in the Catholic Church after admitting he fathered two children.

Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of 60-year-old Gabino Zavala, who was an auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel region, the Vatican confirmed Wednesday.

Church law allows bishops to apply for early retirement before the age of 75 for medical reasons, or if they are otherwise unfit to carry out their jobs.

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CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star

A Los Angeles bishop who was once rector of St. John’s seminary in Camarillo has resigned after admitting he fathered two teenage children.

Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned today under canon law that allows bishops to retire earlier than the standard age of 75 if they are sick or considered unfit for office. Roman Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy when they are ordained.

Zavala was named rector at St. John’s in 1992. He also attended the college, which prepares priests for the Catholic church.

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CALIFORNIA
EnerPub

by Martin Barillas

Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles, California, has resigned after disclosing that he is the father of two children. In a terse statement, the Vatican announced on January 4 the resignation while citing canon law on resignation for illness or other serious reasons. Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles said in a statement that this is “sad and difficult” news for Catholics.

According to the statement, Bishop Zavala informed him in early December 2011 that he was the father of two minor teenage children who live with their mother elsewhere in the U.S. Bishop Zavala had submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI and has not been in ministry since then. He will now be living privately. Archbishop Gomez gave Catholic reassurances, declaring “The archdiocese has reached out to the mother and children to provide spiritual care as well as funding to assist the children with college costs. The family’s identity is not known to the public, and I wish to respect their right to privacy.” He asked for prayers for all involved.

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CALIFORNIA
My Fox New York

By NEWSCORE

SAN GABRIEL, Calif. – A Los Angeles bishop has resigned after revealing he is the father of two teenage children, The Vatican announced Wednesday.

Gabino Zavala, the auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel pastoral region, informed his superiors in December that he had fathered two children, who are living out-of-state with their mother, according to the Catholic News Service .

Catholic law demands a strict vow of celibacy for all priests.

Zavala, 60, reportedly relayed his long-held secret to Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez before submitting his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

A Los Angeles bishop stepped down from his duties with the Catholic church on Wednesday after acknowledging he fathered two children.

Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, told the archdiocese in December that he was the father of two teenagers who live out of the state with their mother, the Associated Press reported.

Zavala submitted his resignation with the Vatican shortly thereafter. Under Catholic doctrine, priests must take a vow of celibacy.

Zavala filed his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to apply for retirement before the age of 75 for medical purposes or for reasons making them unsuitable for their jobs, according to the AP.

Zavala grew up in L.A. and, after being ordained in 1977, was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in East Los Angeles, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was named rector of St. John’s Seminary in 1992, and two years later, Cardinal Roger Mahony ordained him auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel region.

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CALIFORNIA
NPR

by Bill Chappell

A Catholic bishop in California has resigned his post after revealing in December that he has two children.

“The Vatican announced the bishop’s resignation Jan. 4 in a one-line statement that cited church law on resignation for illness or other serious reasons,” reports the Catholic News Service from Vatican City.

Pope Benedict reportedly accepted the resignation of Gabino Zavala, an auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, in December.

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, Gabino Zavala, after he confessed to having fathered two children.

“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the post of Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles Gabino Zavala,” the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, without spelling out why he quit.

The pontiff has demanded action be taken in the case of priests who are homosexual or married, calling on those concerned to hand in their resignations if they cannot abide by their vow of chastity.

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BOSTON (MA)
Archdiocese of Boston

January 4, 2012

Ten years ago, in the early days of 2002, a problem with a history far deeper than any of us had imagined, that had been wreaking havoc along its course, exploded in the Church. We never can and never will forget our shock and revulsion a t the revelations that for decades, children had been subjected to sexual abuse, devastating their lives and those of their families and loved ones. The magnitude of these horrendous crimes was made even greater by the abuse having been perpetrated by Catholic priests, who shattered the bond of trust placed in them by the people they had promised to serve.

As a Church we must continue to express the depth of our sorrow and contrition for how badly we failed those entrusted to our care. I reflect on this in my prayer every day. As leaders in the Church we must accept our responsibility for those failings and clearly acknowledge that Church leadership could have and should have responded more quickly and more forcefully. We cannot change the tragic implications of past failures, but we must, we can and we will do everything in our power to ensure that these crimes, these sins, never occur in the community of the Church again.

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BOSTON (MA)
Archdiocese of Boston

January 4, 2012

The life of the Church in the Archdiocese of Boston (and throughout the world) was forever changed by the revelations of clergy sexual abuse that dominated the news in January of 2002. Since that time much has happened in the Church and in society concerning recognition of the sexual abuse of minors, confronting these crimes and instituting protections to prevent these tragic violations of innocence from ever happening again. At this time, with a spirit of contrition and humility, with a commitment to vigilance and with gratitude for all who have given their time and effort to ensure that such abuse never again occur in the Church, we offer our reflections on the journey of the past decade.

I. The Survivors

The survivors of clergy sexual abuse, with their families and loved ones, must always be the central focus of all dimensions ofour ongoing response to the crisis. Their courage in coming forward and sharing the accounts of their abuse has been of immeasurable help to so many who tragically shared that terrible experience. The survivors’ strength in proclaiming the truth allowed others to acknowledge their own pain and take steps to begin healing.

It is indisputable that the survivors of clergy sexual abuse have suffered greatly. As an Archdiocese, as a Church, we can never cease to make clear the depth of our sorrow and to beg forgiveness from those who were so grievously harmed. We also must acknowledge and express our gratitude for all that survivors and their loved ones have done, and continue to do, to help make the Church, and all of society, safer for children. We are humbled as many survivors have offered forgiveness to the Church and encouraged others to re-establish their relationship with the God who offers all of us the gifts of love and healing.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

VATICAN CITY — The pope has accepted the early resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who recently acknowledged being the father of two teenagers.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned Wednesday under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than the normal retirement age of 75 if they’re sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.

In a letter to the faithful, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said Zavala had told him in December that he had two children who lived with their mother in a different state. Zavala subsequently submitted his resignation to the pope.

The archdiocese has offered spiritual and financial aid to help the children with college costs, Gomez said in the letter posted on the blog of the Catholic News Service of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Vatican Insider

Marco Tosatti
Rome

The Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, has decided to sell the sixteen-room stone building, which was the residence of the Cardinal of the Catholic Church in that city for 76 years, and move to a much more modest house. The decision, which will be published soon, is connected to the expectation that in coming years it will soon be necessary to close schools and parishes in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

A source which is well-informed on the subject said that Chaput, who has taken possession of the archdiocese in September, does not want faithful to suffer hardship due to the closure of schools and parishes while he lives in a “stately” residence. The sale of the building could reinforce the trend in Catholic dioceses to sell the lavish archbishop residences and move to less luxurious homes.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP

Updated: Wednesday, 04 Jan 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Diocese of Springfield will head to court Wednesday, to make their case to remove protestors holding vigil at the Mater Dolorosa Church in Holyoke.

The protesters have been holding vigil inside the closed church building since the Diocese closed the parish and merged it with Holy Cross back in June to form Our Lady of the Cross Parish. Protestors appealed their case to the Vatican, which upheld the Diocese’s action.

Wednesday’s court appearance is Bishop Timothy McDonnell’s second attempt to have the protestors removed. In October, a judge rejected an injunction request from the Springfield Diocese that would have evicted the protesters.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Russell Jones and Walker

4 January 2012

Maga v The Trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church
2010 [EWCA] Civ 256

Unfortunately, in recent years, those cases involving vicarious liability which have reached the higher courts have had a sinister aspect to them. The oft cited examples of employees throwing snowballs or taking part in pranks, which ultimately injure one of their colleagues, have been replaced by shootings, significant fraud and, most recently, child abuse.

In Lister v Hesley Hall Limited [2002] 1 AC 215, a warden sexually assaulted those in his care at a school boarding house. The House of Lords (Lord Steyne giving the lead judgement) held the school vicariously liable for the warden’s actions. The foundation on which the decision was based was the “relative closeness of the connection between the nature of the employment and the particular tort”. In relation to the specific facts, Lord Millet stated that the employee “did not merely take advantage of the opportunity which his employment gave him, but he abused the special position”. Without the job title and the role that went with it the warden would not have had the opportunity to abuse the children.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

A Catholic bishop who fathered two children has stepped down.

Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of Gabino Zavala, an auxilliary bishop of Los Angeles, the Vatican said.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, wrote in a letter to worshippers that Bishop Zavala told him in December that he was the father of two minor teenage children.

The children live with their mother in another state.

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NEDERLAND
ND

Een misbruikslachtoffer van de rooms-katholieke kerk heeft aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis. De Bredanaar beschuldigt Simonis van meineed. Volgens hem heeft de kardinaal begin vorig jaar gelogen bij een verhoor in een rechtszaak over seksueel misbruik door de inmiddels overleden pater Jan N.

De man, die bij de rechtszaak betrokken was omdat hij naar eigen zeggen zelf is misbruikt door N., is naar de politie gestapt naar aanleiding van het rapport van de commissie-Deetman. Dat zegt hij in een interview met dichtbij.nl. Uit het vorige maand gepubliceerde rapport van Deetman bleek onder meer dat het misbruik bekend was binnen de ordes en bisdommen.

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NEDERLAND
Spits

Naar nu bekend is geworden heeft een man uit Breda op 21 december aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed. Gideon Uvyn meent dat de kardinaal tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg heeft gelogen toen hij zei dat hij niet wist over misbruik van kinderen door geestelijken.

De man zegt dat hij is misbruikt door de vorig jaar overleden salesiaanse pater Jan Nelissen. Op basis van de uitkomsten van het onderzoek door Wim Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk stapte de man naar de politie.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY Jan 4 (Reuters) – An assistant bishop of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles in the United States has resigned because he had a secret family, including two teenage children.

The Vatican said on Wednesday that Pope Benedict had accepted the resignation of Gabino Zavala, an auxiliary bishop of the diocese which has been plagued by sexual scandals.

A brief Vatican announcement did not give the reason for Zavala’s resignation, saying only that the pope had accepted it under the norm in canon (Church law) that says a bishop who is ill or otherwise unfit to carry out his duties should resign.

But Zavala’s direct superior, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, has prepared a letter for the faithful in the archdiocese explaining the circumstances of the departure of Zavala, who was assistant bishop for the San Gabriel region of California.

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VATICAN CITY
dotCommonweal

January 4, 2012, 9:28 am

Posted by Grant Gallicho

Official word came this morning at the bottom of the Vatican Information Service bulletin, under “Other Pontifical Acts”: “Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of Los Angeles, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Gabino Zavala, in accordance with canons 411 and 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.” Canon 401, para. 2 holds that ”a diocesan bishop who, because of illness or some other grave reason, has become unsuited for the fulfillment of his office, is earnestly requested to offer his resignation,” and canon 411 applies that law to auxiliary bishops.

CNS has the story:

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced the “sad and difficult” news in a letter to Catholics in the archdiocese. He said Bishop Zavala, who was auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, had informed him in early December that he was the father of two minor teenage children who live with their mother in another state.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

Wednesday 04 January 2012

A man who claims to have been sexually abused as a child by a Catholic priest has made a formal complaint against cardinal Ad Simonis for perjury, Trouw reports on Wednesday afternoon.

The man accuses the cardinal of lying when he told a court hearing in Middelburg he did not know that children were being abused by church officials.

‘I am convinced that Simonis knew about the abuse of children but did not say anything during the hearing. He also knew about the abuse at the time it was taking place,’ the man told local news website Breda Dichtbij.

A recent church commission into the sexual abuse scandal concluded that church officials, bishops and lay people were aware of what was going on but failed to take action to protect children.

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IRELAND
UTV

A hearing to determine whether a court case will proceed against a Roman Catholic priest accused of sex offences has been adjourned.

Father Eugene Boland, from Moville in Co Donegal worked as a priest in Counties Londonderry and Tyrone.

He is accused of four indecent assault charges which date back almost 20 years.

Fr Boland stood aside from clerical duties as St Mary’s in Killyclogher, Co Tyrone in August 2010 when a police investigation into child safety and welfare began.

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CANADA
Halifax News Net

I know it was the law when he was arrested and charged, but it’s too bad disgraced bishop Raymond Lahey qualifies for a 2 for 1 credit when he’s sentenced today on child porn charges. Lahey’s been in jail since May when he pleaded guilty after hundreds of images of young boys in sexual situations were found on his laptop during a customs search after his return from overseas. 588 photos and 63 videos were presented as evidence by the Crown, some showing young boys engaged in sex acts while wearing a crucifix or rosary beads. And this guy was a freakin’ bishop!! Sick. But it is possible Lahey could walk away a free man today becasue of the 2 for 1 deal which gives him two months credit for every month served in jail. The Harper government axed the provision, however, because it was in effect when Lahey first has his run in with the law, he gets the deal. Again, too bad.

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CANADA
Global News

OTTAWA – Disgraced Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey will learn Wednesday how long he will spend behind bars.

The former bishop of Nova Scotia’s Antigonish Diocese pleaded guilty in May to importing child pornography. His sentencing is set to come down after 10 a.m. ET at the Elgin St. Courthouse in Ottawa.

Lahey was arrested in September 2009 after border officials at Ottawa International Airport discovered illicit materials on his laptop, including pornographic stories and close to 588 images and 63 videos of young boys and adolescents – some engaged in explicit sex acts.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 4 JAN 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop Cirilo Flores, auxiliary of Orange in California, U.S.A., as coadjutor bishop of San Diego (area 22,942, population 3,118,990, Catholics 981,211, priests 319, permanent deacons 114, religious 384), U.S.A.

– Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of Los Angeles, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Gabino Zavala, in accordance with canons 411 and 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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VATICAN CITY
Montreal Gazette

Agence France-Presse January 4, 2012

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles in the United States, Gabino Zavala, on Wednesday, after he confessed to having fathered two children.

“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the post of Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles Gabino Zavala,” the Vatican said in a statement, without spelling out why he quit.

The pontiff has demanded action be taken in the case of priests who are homosexual or married, calling on those concerned to hand in their resignations if they cannot abide by their vow of chastity.

“Bishop Zavala informed me in early December that he is the father of two teenage children who live with their mother in another state,” L.A. Bishop Jose Gomez said in a separate statement announcing the “sad and difficult” news.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala has resigned after disclosing to superiors that he was the father of two children.

The Vatican announced the bishop’s resignation Jan. 4 in a one-line statement that cited church law on resignation for illness or other serious reasons. …

Here is the text of Archbishop Gomez’ letter, dated Jan. 4:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I have some sad and difficult information to share with you. Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, informed me in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state.

Bishop Zavala also told me that he submitted his resignation to the Holy Father in Rome, which was accepted. Since that time, he has not been in ministry and will be living privately.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY January 4, 2012 (AP)

The pope has accepted the early resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who recently acknowledged being the father of two teenagers.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned Wednesday under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than the normal retirment age of 75 if they’re sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.

In a letter to the faithful, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said Zavala had told him in December that he had two children who lived with their mother in a different state. Zavala subsequently submitted his resignation to the pope.

The archdiocese has offered spiritual and financial aid to help the children with college costs, Gomez said in the letter posted on the blog of the Catholic News Service of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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NEDERLAND
De Pers

Een man uit Breda heeft op 21 december aangifte gedaan tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed. De man meent dat de kardinaal tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg heeft gelogen toen hij zei dat hij niet wist over misbruik van kinderen door geestelijken.

•Deetman: 800 daders

De man zegt dat hij is misbruikt door de vorig jaar overleden salesiaanse pater Jan N. Op basis van de uitkomsten van het onderzoek door Wim Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk stapte de man naar de politie. ,,Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat Simonis het misbruik van kinderen wel heeft geweten maar tijdens de rechtszitting niet heeft verklaard. Hij heeft het ook geweten in de tijd dat het misbruik zich afspeelde’’, zegt de aangever woensdag op de internetpagina Breda Dichtbij.

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