ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
CNN

By Dan Merica, CNN

Washington (CNN) – Even though Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group in the United States, the tradition has seen an exodus of members in recent decades. One in ten Americans is an ex-Catholic.

If ex-Catholics were counted as their own religious group, they would be the third-largest denomination in the United States, after Catholics and Baptists, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

If it weren’t for the infusion of Catholic immigrants, especially from Latin American, the American Catholic Church would be shrinking pretty fast.

A recent study by two college professor tries to get at a simple question: Why are they leaving?

Conducted William J. Byron, a professor of business at St. Joseph’s University and Charles Zech, founder of the Center for the Study of Church Management of Villanova’s School of Business, the anecdotal study conducted in late fall of 2011 processes the opinions of 300 non-churchgoing Catholics in Trenton, New Jersey. …

1. The sex abuse crisis

Byron and Zech asked ex-Catholics to cite their main reason for leaving: “If you could communicate directly with the bishop, what would you say?”

The most common answer: the church’s inadequate response to clergy sex abuse. “The bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts” did it for me, one man said, according to the report.

Several respondents said they had been victims of sexual abuse by church leadership.

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IRELAND
The Herald

By Clodagh Sheehy

Friday March 30 2012

A PRIEST has denied knowing how gay porn images appeared on a screen during a presentation he was giving to parents of children preparing for First Communion.

Fr Martin McVeigh was setting up the PowerPoint display when the explicit sex scenes flashed up on the screen.

He was about to give a talk to the parents of First Communicants but abandoned the presentation after the pornographic images appeared.

One of those present said the pictures appeared on the screen after the priest put a USB memory stick into the computer at St Mary’s School in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Wir Sind Kirche

München, 30. März 2012

Sehr geehrter Herr Bischof Dr. Ackermann,
sehr geehrte Herren Kardinäle, Erzbischöfe und Bischöfe,

die KirchenVolksBewegung Wir sind Kirche wendet sich wegen der Vorkommnisse im Bistum Trier in einem Offenen Brief an Sie. Wie den Medien zu entnehmen ist und vom Bistum Trier bestätigt wurde, sind derzeit sieben ehemalige Täter sexualisierter Gewalt im Bistum Trier im priesterlichen Dienst und in der Seelsorge eingesetzt. Dies halten wir für kein vorbildhaftes Zeichen für eine Umkehr und einen wirklichen Neuanfang im Umgang mit sexualisierter Gewalt in der Kirche.

Die Erklärung des Bistums, dass Sie, Herr Bischof Dr. Ackermann – der Sie seit Februar 2010 auch „Missbrauchsbeauftragter“ der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) sind – nicht gegen die geltenden Leitlinien der DBK verstoßen hätten, mag formal richtig sein, überzeugend ist sie keinesfalls. Um die Glaubwürdigkeit der Kirchenleitung in Deutschland wiederherzustellen, bedarf es mehr als nur Lippenbekenntnisse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Wir Sind Kirche

Die Aufstellung ist nicht vollständig. Mit Fehlern muss gerechnet werden, weil nicht immer klar ist, ob sich hinter dem Fall-Begriff jeweils (mindestens) ein Opfer verbirgt. Wenn die Täterzahl genannt wurde, nicht jedoch die Anzahl der Opfer, bin ich davon ausgegangen, dass jeder Täter ein Opfer hatte. In Bistümern und Orden wird von ca 1009 Tätern und auch Täterinnen und mehr als 2273 Opfern berichtet. Dem Überblick ist die Schwere eines Missbrauchs nicht zu entnehmen. Es muss unterstellt werden, dass eine erhebliche Zahl von Menschen, die im kirchlichen Kontext Opfer wurden, sich bei der Kirche nicht gemeldet haben, weil sie kein Vertrauen in deren Aufklärung haben.

(Herrn H. herzlichen Dank für die Fülle an Hinweisen! Stand: 15.1.2012)

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

The trial for a San Francisco man accused of beating a priest at the Los Gatos Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in May of 2010 is on schedule now after the parties involved agreed to proceed during a hearing Thursday.

Pretrial motions are set for 9:30 a.m., Friday, April 6, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Gemetti.

Jury selection will begin on May 14 and the presentation of the evidence is expected to start on or around May 29 before presiding Superior Court Judge David Cena.

“I don’t want to say the trial will start for sure because I’ve said that before, but the whole point of the conference today (Thursday) was to confirm everybody’s availability,” Gemetti said. “There may be some minor changes on how things go, but [the trial] will happen around that time frame.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Mar. 30, 2012 All Things Catholic

Pope Benedict XVI’s diplomatic high-wire act in Havana, pressing the case for religious freedom but avoiding direct clash with the Castro regime, was the main news flash out of his March 23-28 trip to Mexico and Cuba. Yet there was another leitmotif to the outing, more subtle but arguably more decisive for the church across Latin America.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the pope offered a gentle, yet unmistakable, debunking of clericalism. His focus seemed to be the gradual reshaping of ecclesial culture, not sexy short-term headlines, which puts it squarely into Benedict’s wheelhouse.

Catholicism in Latin America is wildly diverse, from the emotional popular Catholicism of various Marian devotions to the “base communities” that were the backbone of liberation theology. One important current, however, has long been a remarkably strong form of clericalism, perhaps the inevitable result of the faith being effectively a monopoly until quite recently.

Typical expressions of this clericalism include:
•Clergy see themselves as political powerbrokers, playing a direct role in affairs of state.
•The church projects an image of power and privilege, with its preferred spiritual imagery emphasizing God as a cosmic monarch.
•The role of the laity is conceived in largely passive terms — “pay, pray and obey.”
•Little premium is placed on evangelization or faith formation, with pastoral care understood largely in terms of administering the sacraments.

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UNITED STATES
New Jersey Jewish Standard

Ben Harris • Film
Published: 30 March 2012

Producer Scott Rosenfelt, whose credits include “Home Alone” and “Mystic Pizza,” is threatening a major Jewish film festival after its director raised concerns that Rosenfelt’s documentary about sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community amounts to a “witch hunt.”

Rosenfelt sent a scathing e-mail last week to the director of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival after learning that she had warned colleagues at other film festivals about “Standing Silent.”

The film, which features interviews with several victims of sexual abuse by Baltimore-area Orthodox rabbis, was featured at the Teaneck Film Festival held late last year. It is slated to be screened at several Jewish film festivals across the United States. It also was the subject of a lengthy feature article in The Washington Post.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

Jessica Stanley

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and this is an important time of year for many Christians across the country and right here in Western Massachusetts. So this week on 22News inFocus we’re going to be talking about the status of the Catholic Church here in the Pioneer Valley.

The Church has faced many challenges over the years, the clergy sex abuse scandal, declining membership, a rough economy, and recent church closures that devastated many local parishioners. We’ll discuss these issues, and talk about what the Church is doing to try and turn things around.

We invited the bishop to attend and answer our questions, but he declined our invitation. Instead, we’ll speak with a Church historian and the Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) program in Western Massachusetts.

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WILMINGTON (DE)
Wausau Daily Herald

WILMINGTON, Del. (WTW) — A Roman Catholic priest in Delaware has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing more than $300,000 from a parishioner.

The Rev. Michael Angeloni also was ordered Friday to pay $305,425 in restitution to the 86-year-old victim.

Angeloni faced up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty last year to one count of theft of more than $100,000.

Prosecutors say Angeloni stole the money from a parishioner of the Church of the Holy Child, where he previously served as assistant pastor. The investigation began last year after the attorney general’s office received a report from Wilmington Trust of suspicious financial activity on the victim’s account.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Archbishop Listecki’s deceptive statement that victims names would somehow be made public is a “false alarm” that will intimidate victims and mislead Catholics

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT: 414.336.8575

Archbishop Listecki, in an interview on WITI channel 6 yesterday, misleadingly stated that the unsealing of abuse depositions and documents of church officials in Federal bankruptcy court–a request being made in a motion filed by over 300 victim/survivors and to be argued in court next Thursday–would somehow result in the identities of victims being made public, presumably by Judge Kelley in a court order. That, Listecki says, is why the Archdiocese will oppose the motion. This statement by Listecki is absolutely false. Archdiocesan spokespersons, when opposing court release of documents in the past, have made these deceptive public inferences, but the Archbishop himself has never crossed the line and personally repeated them. Until now.

The motion filed in court by victim/survivors could not be any clearer. It states: “The motion seeks to have all information regarding survivors’ identities redacted and all information regarding alleged abusers who have not yet been publically identified redacted as well.” This motion was filed publically so it is available to anyone. One would guess that Listecki, who is a lawyer, and the 28 lawyers he has hired for the bankruptcy, have read it.

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CALIFORNIA
Leagle

TERRY QUARRY et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,
v.
DOE I, Defendant and Respondent.
No. S171382.
Supreme Court of California.

Filed March 29, 2012.

Zalkin & Zimmer, The Zalkin Law Firm, Irwin M. Zalkin, Michael H. Zimmer, Devin M. Storey and Michael J. Kinslow for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Jeff Anderson & Associates, Michael Finnegan and Sarah Odegaard for The National Association for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children, the National Center for Victims of Crime and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Nancy O’Malley, District Attorney (Alameda); Furtado, Jaspovice & Simons, Bill Lockyer and Richard J. Simons as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Reed Smith, Margaret M. Grignon; Foley & Lardner, Stephen A. McFeely, Tami S. Smason, Courtney R. Henning, Leila Nourani and Michael B. McCollum for Defendant and Respondent.

Lombardi, Loper & Conant, Peter O. Glaessner and Lori A. Sebransky for The Ordinary Mutual as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, Daniel H. Bromberg; Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, James C. Geoly and Nora Flaherty Couri for The Order of Carmelites, Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, The Order of the Friar Servants of Mary, USA Province and The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman, J. Michael Hennigan and Lee W. Potts for the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Sweeney & Greene, James F. Sweeney, Stephen J. Greene, Jr., and Laura Borden Riddell Jr. for California Association of Private School Organizations as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and Nicholas W. Heldt for Boy Scouts of America and Masonic Homes of California, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Neumiller & Beardslee, Paul N. Balestracci, Lisa Blanco Jimenez; McNamara Law Firm and Gary A. Watt for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sacramento as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

—————
CANTIL-SAKAUYE, C. J.

Plaintiffs brought an action against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland, alleging that defendant bore responsibility for sexual abuse committed during the 1970’s by a priest then assigned to the Oakland diocese. Plaintiffs allege that in 2006 they discovered for the first time that the cause of their adult psychological injuries was the sexual abuse inflicted by this priest when they were children. It is our task to determine whether their claims are timely within the limitations period established by Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1.1

Section 340.1 governs the period within which a plaintiff must bring a tort claim based upon childhood sexual abuse. The statute must be understood in an historical context. Over the years, the limitations period for claims alleging sexual abuse against children continually was expanded as to actions that were brought against those persons who were the direct perpetrators of the sexual abuse. Moreover, in 1990 the Legislature elected to specify that such causes of action against direct perpetrators could be brought within eight years of majority or within three years of the time the plaintiff discovered that psychological injury was caused by childhood abuse. It was only in 1998, however, that the statute was amended to include third party defendants within its purview, and as to such defendants the Legislature elected not to embrace the open-ended discovery provision past the plaintiff’s 26th birthday. On the contrary, drawing a clear distinction between direct perpetrators and third party defendants, in 1998 the Legislature provided that claims against third party defendants must be brought prior to the plaintiff’s 26th birthday. The claims of plaintiffs in the present case clearly were lapsed by 1998, because by that date plaintiffs all had passed their 26th birthdays.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Chelsea Record

By Record Staff

News that our representative Gene O’Flaherty may be stepping down from his chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee caught many by surprise. After all, O’Flaherty tends to be a steady Eddy, so to speak.

But when his feathers are ruffled as they were last week by a Boston Globe columnist, he threw a bit of a fit and why not?

He was made out to be in the eyes of the public an unfeeling, Roman Catholic with no interest in seeing justice done for those abused by priests. Obviously, this is not the case but when it is made to appear that way in a Boston Globe column written by a widely read columnist, such an assertion is hard to dodge or to talk your way out of.

The issue discussed by the Globe columnist concerned the present statute of limitations discussion going on in the House of Representatives, where 100 of O’Flaherty’s colleagues are considering a bill which would end the statute of limitations.

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UNITED STATES
The Revealer

13 March 2012

It’s been more than a decade since the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal rocked Boston. In that time, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has provided national support to victims of abuse. But recently SNAP is finding that the Church’s new approach to managing national lawsuits is not apology and reparation but counter-attack. Seeking to prove that SNAP is not a “rape crisis center” the Church is subpoenaing to access confidential communication between SNAP and victims, thus exposing victims to public scrutiny.

From Laurie Goodstein’s fantastic New York Times article today, “Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group”–which includes perhaps one of the most telling statements*, from William Donahue, on the Church’s impatience with these cases:

The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

SNAP WI letter to Archbishop Listecki on unsealing Weakland, Sklba depositions; Mass of Atonement

To: Archbishop Jerome Listecki
From: Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
Re: Mass of Atonement and motion to release court depositions of Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba

This letter is sent as an expression of our desire for justice. It is a desire we victims of childhood sexual violence by clergy share, with Christ, who also suffered the fate of so many nameless and forgotten children. In our own archdiocese, according to attorneys representing 350 of the 570 victim claimants in Federal Bankruptcy Court, at least 8,000 individual acts of child sex abuse have occurred in the archdiocese committed by 100 alleged offenders not included on the church’s “official” 2004 list of 43 priests with credible reports of child sex abuse.

So, it is fitting that we join with you today, at least those of us who still consider ourselves Catholic, in a shared prayer for justice and, specifically, to support and encourage you on the difficult and liberating path of atonement, repentance, and conversion from the sins of sexual abuse by clergy and the cover up of those crimes by church officials.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

Pope Benedict XVI visited Mexico and Cuba between March 23 and March 29 and like the Cardinal Archbishop of New York he seems to have a new strategy towards sexual abuse victims, too.

Beginning with his trip to the United States in 2008, the pontiff has been meeting with survivors of sexual abuse by clergy during his international travels.

But no meetings with survivors were on the agenda for the Mexico or Cuba visits.

The Vatican’s spokesman said no bishops requested meetings with survivors and therefore none were placed on the schedule.

Huh?

Mexico, let’s remember, is the land of the alpha and omega of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionnaires of Christ. Maciel was born in Mexico and is buried there – a far place and a far cry from the Roman stage where he held forth with great panoply and power backed by Pope John Paul II.

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CALIFORNIA
The Salinas Californian

Written by
SUNITA VIJAYAN

Palma High was among those named in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by a man claiming he was molested by a Crosier priest while he attended the Salinas school.

The lawsuit filed by St. Paul, Minn.-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates on behalf of Christopher Spedden, the former Palma High School student, accuses ex-teacher, the Rev. Gerald Funcheon, of sexually abusing him at the age of 13 during a ski trip in the 1980s at a resort near Bend, Ore.

Also named in the lawsuit filed in Minnesota are Funcheon, now 73, and his religious order, the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross, which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

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PAYS BAS
myeurop

Par Marco Bertolini (Amsterdam)

Des prêtres catholiques néerlandais ont ordonné la castration de jeunes hommes mineurs pour les punir de leur homosexualité. C’était dans les années 50, mais l’affaire éclate aujourd’hui aux Pays-Bas.

Les affaires de pédophilie au sein de l’église catholique ont suscité un énorme scandale dans divers pays d’Europe, et les Pays-Bas n’ont pas été en reste. Comme en Belgique, une “Commission d’enquête sur les abus sexuels de mineurs dans l’église catholique romaine” a été créée, la Commission Deetman, du nom de son président.

Mais, au-delà des récits d’attouchements et de viols répétés, c’est une révélation plus effarante encore qui vient d’être faite au quotidien néerlandais NRC Handelblad: un jeune homme mineur, Henk Heithuis, a été castré en raison de “son comportement homosexuel” après avoir déposé plainte contre les prêtres de l’orphelinat dans lequel il était placé.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Digital Journal

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

The Beasley Firm is proud to announce its sponsorship of the Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog by Ralph Cipriano, author of Jim Beasley, Sr.’s, biography Courtroom Cowboy.

Beginning March 26, 2012 in the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, the trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn marks the first time a Catholic Archdiocese official has been criminally prosecuted on charges of child endangerment and conspiracy. Lynn, a senior official of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, stands accused of attempting to protect the church by covering up years of allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. The prosecution has drawn international media attention, and the trial is expected to take several weeks.

Ralph Cipriano is the featured writer for the Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog. Cipriano covered religion for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the early 1990s, and as a freelancer for the National Catholic Reporter. In his investigative journalism work, Cipriano examined secrecy and lavish spending under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, as well as the findings of the grand jury that investigated sex abuse in the archdiocese. Cipriano is a credentialed member of the press reporting on the Lynn trial.

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UNITED STATES
TBogg – firedoglake

By: TBogg Wednesday March 14, 2012

Taking time out from refusing to sanction the whoredom of their flock of Catholic girl slutskanks (whom they have obviously failed to reach) the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have decided to do unto advocates for the victims of priestly abuse what the priests did unto the actual victims:

Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose more than two decades of e-mails that could include correspondence with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.

The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a battery of lawyers for more than six hours this year. A judge in Kansas City ruled that the network must comply because it “almost certainly” had information relevant to the case.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher

Article posted 30 March 2012

In December 2011 the Catholic religious order of Marist Brothers finally agreed to make out-of-court settlements with two former pupils of a prominent Australian Catholic school — Red Bend Catholic College, situated on the Lachlan River at Forbes, 380 kilometres west of Sydney.

Broken Rites Australia helped these two ex-pupils to obtain their settlements.

The two pupils, born in the early 1950s, attended this school in 1965-66 while Brother Kevin Hogan (also known as “Brother Callixtus”) was the principal. The school, then known as Marist Brothers College Forbes, took boys as boarders from a large rural region in western New South Wales.

The two ex-pupils (let’s call them “Paddy” and “Rupert” — not their real names) are not connected with each other and were not the same age (one was 12 and the other was 14 when they encountered Brother Callixtus Hogan).

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CALIFORNIA
AlterNet

March 29th, 2012

Joey Piscitelli

A major setback for child abuse victims was decided today by the Supreme Appellate Court in San Francisco. This decision will have a crucial effect on not only the plaintiffs in this case, but numerous child sex abuse victims cases throughout the State of California. The legal representative of the plaintiffs in this case was the Zalkin Law Firm of San Diego, California.

Originally, the lawsuit known as “Quarry Doe 1 vs. Oakland Diocese”, case # HG0731364, was initially filed by the Quarry brothers, 6 alleged victims of admitted serial Molester Fr. Don Broderson, a priest who was employed by the Oakland Diocese.

The 6 brothers filed suit in Alameda County Court in 2007 against the Bishop of Oakland, alleging molestation at the hands of Fr. Broderson, but the lower court dismissed the case, stating that the California statute of limitations allowed only a one year window in 2003 to file a claim for sex abuse that was previously barred by the statute. The Bishop of Oakland was represented by Stephen McFeely, of Foley and Lardner, from Los Angeles, California.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

City Council unanimously approved a resolution urging the state legislature to move forward on bills that would protect victims of childhood sexual abuse.

“No one really understands what these young men and women experience unless you’ve been there,” State Rep. Louise Bishop (D., Phila.), who said she was a victim of abuse at age 12, told Council. “No one understands how to treat them. No one understands what it feels like and no one is able to help them until a law is put into place.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

March 29, 2012|BY JAN RANSOM, Daily News Staff Writer

STATE REP. Louise Bishop was 12 years old when her stepfather stripped her of her innocence in the middle of the night inside their Georgia home.

The Philly Democrat shared her story Thursday with City Council, which voted 16 to 0 to pass a resolution sponsored by Councilmen Bill Greenlee and Denny O’Brien urging the state Legislature to move forward on bills that would protect victims of childhood sexual abuse. Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez was absent.

“No one really understands what these young men and women experience, unless you’ve been there,” said Bishop. “No one understands how to treat them. No one understands what it feels like and no one is able to help them until a law is put into place . . . .”

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

[with document]

For the first time, here is the 2006 letter written by haredi ‘gadol’ Rabbi Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg affirming that he ruled in 1985 that Rabbi Yehudah Kolko was innocent of all allegations of pedophilia and should not be fired from his teaching job.

Kolko, a notorious pedophile, pleaded guilty more than 20 years later to endangering the welfare of two children who were not yet born when Scheinberg ruled.* Other victims out of the statute of limitations also have come forward including David Framowitz, who says Kolko molested him 42 years ago.

Note that despite all the additional evidence against Kolko amassed over the 21 years between the beit din and this letter, Scheinberg does not change his ruling.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBS 2) — Finding sexual abusers of children and prosecuting their cases is one of law enforcement’s top priorities.

But in Brooklyn, District Attorney Charles Hynes’ office has come under fire what not vigorously pursuing cases in the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities, a charge Hynes vehemently denies.

On Friday afternoons in Williamsburg families prepare for the Sabbath. It is a sheltered community known for its devotion to old world values, but some say its a community with a secret made worse by decades of cover-up and law enforcement that looks the other way.

“We have a wonderful community, a beautiful community, but we have some of the same of the problems the rest of the world have,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind recently told CBS 2’s Chris Wragge.

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IRELAND
The Mayo News

Fr Kevin Hegarty

It has been ironically said that the three greatest lies in human history are “the cheque is in the post”, “of course I’ll still love you in the morning”, and “we’re from head office, we are here to help you”.

So the Irish Catholic hierarchy must have felt some trepidation akin to that felt by teachers when a whole-school evaluation is in the offing, after Pope Benedict announced in March 2010 that he was sending apostolic visitors to Ireland to examine church institutions.

The announcement came in the wake of the publication of the Murphy Report in December 2009 after which the Pope had summoned the bishops to Rome to account for their stewardship.

The report was a devastating indictment of the archdiocese of Dublin. It revealed the horrifying extent of the sexual abuse of children by clerics in the diocese and multiple cover-ups by successive superiors.

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TEXAS
KHOU

by Associated Press

Posted on March 30, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas court has dismissed the appeal of Warren Jeffs after the convicted polygamist sect leader made almost no progress on his case.

The 3rd District Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday wrote in a two-page order that Jeffs has failed to meet filing deadlines and has altogether not responded to notices from the court.

Jeffs is the head of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is serving a life sentence after being convicted last year of sexually assaulting two of his underage brides at the remote West Texas ranch built by his followers.

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

UNITED STATES
PR Web

Jacksonville Beach, FL (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

“I applaud school districts around the country for looking for ways to keep the kids safe. But background checks that strictly review driving history, criminal history, or looking at the sex offender registry and other databases won’t identify all the adults that pose a threat to children,” stated Don Dymer, president and chief executive officer of SingleSource Services background screening corporation.

Don Dymer was commenting on recent stories in the news, including Governor Branstad’s upcoming signing of Iowa’s new state law mandating school bus drivers undergo a background check before being hired. Statistics from the Child Molestation Research & Prevention Institute tell us that less than 5% of all child molesters have a criminal history. The Institute through years of research also points to the fact that 90% of all children are abused by people they know, trust and love. Because of that convoluted association of child, parent and abuser, the sexual abuse goes unreported. The vast majority of child abusers won’t be found in the system because they have no fingerprints or criminal history that would tie them to child sexual abuse.

Checking into the past won’t help prevent children in the future from child sexual abuse. The Foundation Darkness to Light also has done studies suggesting far fewer than one third of child abuse incidents are ever even identified or reported in any official capacity.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Adelaide Now (Australia)

A WITNESS in a landmark priest-abuse cover-up trial in Philadelphia described feeling “helpless and trapped” as a 13-year-old, because her priest was fondling her when she worked weekends at the rectory.

The woman says she didn’t tell anyone for years, and later learned the same priest had fondled her younger sisters.

The woman testified on the fourth day of the child-endangerment trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in Philadelphia. Lynn is the first Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving predators in jobs around children.

Defense lawyers say Lynn took orders from two archbishops. No other church administrators are charged.

The priest who allegedly fondled the woman at a suburban parish in Bristol around 1970 was removed from ministry after the church sex-abuse scandal broke in 2004. By then, he had admitted to an archdiocesan review board his “longstanding habit” of fondling girls’ breasts, according to a 2005 grand jury report. The Associated Press is not naming him because he was never charged.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Metro

STEVE ANNEAR
BOSTON

A Roslindale reverend under fire for using church resources to raise cash to pay the legal expenses of a clergy member suspended for allegedly sexually abusing a child, apologized Thursday.

The Rev. Francis H. Kelley, pastor at Sacred Heart Church, said in a statement he would no longer use a church bulletin to solicit donations for the Rev. John Mendicoa, who was placed on leave in August after being accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s.

Representatives from BishopAccountability.org stood outside of the church Thursday and called on Cardinal Sean O’Malley to put an end to the public fundraising.

“Its very disturbing to see a pastor publicly raising money for an accused priest. It will intimidate and silence anyone who has [been harmed]. They will fear they won’t be believed,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director.

Doyle said a parishioner contacted her to alert them about the fundraising efforts.

David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, joined Doyle in Roslindale and called Kelley’s actions “callous.”

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

By Richard Weir
Friday, March 30, 2012

Victim rights advocates are blasting the pastor of a Boston Catholic church for placing a blurb in a Sunday bulletin asking for donations to support a parish priest suspended last year over child sex abuse allegations.

“It is callous and risky and hurtful to publicly raise funds using church resources for an accused child molester,” said David Clohessy, head of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

“If anything, there should be a plea placed in the parish bulletin asking for anyone who may have seen or suspected or suffered his crimes to call police and get help.”

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

MONTANA
The Daily Inter Lake

An arraignment hearing for child pornography charges against the Rev. Rudolph “Rudy” Bullman of Risen Christ Parish was continued Thursday in Flathead District Court.

Bullman, 67, Kalispell, is charged with felony sexual abuse of children after investigators allegedly found pornographic images of children between 12 and 18 years old during a search of his computer. Knowingly possessing such material makes one guilty of sexual abuse of children under Montana law.

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

STOCKTON (CA)
The Modesto Bee

By Ross Farrow
Lodi News-Sentinel

STOCKTON — The plaintiff’s wife in the sexual assault trial of Catholic priest Michael Kelly broke down in tears this week as she testified about the time her husband told her he was sexually assaulted as a child.

The wife, whose name is not being disclosed in San Joaquin County Superior Court because her husband says he is a sexual assault victim, testified that her husband broke the news to her in 2006, when he was stationed in Japan with the U.S. Air Force. She met the plaintiff in 2000 and married him in 2002. They have two children.

The plaintiff, who grew up in Stockton and now lives in Fairfax, became angry and subject to panic attacks in recent years, his wife said during testimony Wednesday that lasted about 30 minutes.

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

CALIFORNIA
Pretoria News (South Africa)

March 30 2012
By LISA LEFF

California’s highest court sided with Oakland’s Roman Catholic bishop and refused on Thursday to reinstate a lawsuit brought by six brothers who allege they were molested by a priest during the 1970s.

The ruling could doom at least eight other pending cases involving decades-old clergy abuse claims.

The California Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the brothers had waited too long to bring their abuse claims involving the priest, Donald Broderson, who was forced to retire amid similar allegations in 1993 and died in 2010.

The state Legislature opened a one-year window for old clergy abuse complaints in 2003, and the men lost their chance to sue the diocese that hired Broderson as an associate pastor in Hayward when that timeframe ended, the court said.

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

MONTANA
KAJ

EVERGREEN- A Catholic priest accused of child sex abuse was supposed to appear make his first court appearance Thursday but his attorney asked for a continuance before further court proceedings.

Rudolph Bullman was the Catholic priest at Risen Christ Parish in Evergreen for over 10 years.

Bullman sold a handheld gaming system that contained naked photos of boys.

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

IRELAND
The Cork News

Trainee priests are being warned that their collar may make them a target for verbal abuse, as increased public anger towards the Church has become an unfortunate modern-day reality of their job. Chiefs of the Diocese of Cork & Ross are hoping to breathe new life into the region’s parishes by attracting new seminarians at their annual recruitment drive and information day for the priesthood tomorrow (Saturday).

Would-be clerics have been invited to find out first-hand the reality and sacrifices necessary for life in the priesthood from experienced churchmen at a gathering, organised by Bishop John Buckley to combat the dwindling number of priests and new vocations across the diocese’s parishes.

Long-serving parish priests will also inform attendees of their own experiences of being at the receiving end of verbal assaults, triggered by the damning revelations in recent years of clerical abuse scandals.

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

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Appeal

The California Supreme Court today rejected a bid by six brothers to sue the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland for alleged sexual abuse by their parish priest in Hayward in the 1970s.

The court, in a ruling issued in San Francisco, said by a 5-2 vote that the brothers’ lawsuit did not fit into exceptions allowed by the Legislature for lawsuits filed against employers of abusers by adults who discover psychological harm long after the abuse allegedly occurred.

The brothers–Terry, Ronald, Michael, Jerry, Gordon and Tony Quarry–were between the ages of 43 and 49 when they filed their lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court in 2007.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

It was a job that she never applied for. Anne Margevicius was 13 years old when her mother accepted the position on Anne’s behalf. Anne’s mother went to Mass every day; sometimes twice a day. The only thing that mattered to Mom was that the church was in need.

Margeret, the parish cook at St. John of The Cross in Roslyn, had phlebitis, so she needed help serving meals to priests on weekends. Anne was the help. For a weekly salary of $5, Anne served dinner on Saturday nights to the priests in the rectory, and then she came back on Sunday mornings to serve breakfast.

Sunday mornings were the worst. That’s when Father Albert T. Kostelnick waited at the end of a long mahogany table. The priest would hold the girl’s hands in his, and make small talk. Meanwhile, the priest’s hands would wander up to the girl’s chest.

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

AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

Mandy Squires | March 30th, 2012

GEELONG’S top Catholic priest has called for an independent inquiry into the church’s treatment of sexual abuse complaints.

St Mary’s parish priest Father Kevin Dillon yesterday said the church’s moral authority had been “compromised to an extraordinary degree” by its failure to independently review the handling of sexual abuse claims.

“People from both within and outside the church are saying as long as you haven’t got this right … then why should we listen to anything else you say and that’s fair comment,” he said.

The church had a duty of care to the people who had suffered abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy, teachers and carers to ensure the processes it had in place to handle complaints were just, transparent and compassionate, he said.

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

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 29, 2012

We are sorely disappointed that the California State Supreme Court did not agree with the legislative intent of the law and have now deprived many victims the right to use the civil courts for justice and accountability.

When California State Legislators wrote the law, they understood the devastation of child sexual abuse on a child and the community. They also knew that, according to studies and the US Department of Justice, it takes many victims 10, 20 or even 30 years to come forward and report. During that time, predators are still hurting children and communities have no warning of the danger.

One in four girls and one in eight boys are molested. So we must make it easier for victims to expose predators. In light of this tragic ruling, California lawmakers have to get busy revising predator-friendly laws so that more child molesters can be caught and jailed, so that our kids will be safer.

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

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle

(03-29) 15:20 PDT San Francisco (AP) —

California’s highest court has sided with Oakland’s Roman Catholic Diocese and refused to reinstate a lawsuit brought by six brothers who allege they were molested by a priest during the 1970s.

The California Supreme Court ruled 5-2 Thursday that the brothers had waited too long to bring their claims involving the now deceased priest, Donald Broderson, who was forced to retire amid similar allegations in 1993.

The state Legislature opened a one-year window for old clergy abuse complaints in 2003. But the brothers’ lawyers contended the time limit should not apply to the men because they did not make the link between their problems and what happened to them as children until later.

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

WEST BEND (WI)
Fox 6

March 29, 2012, by Myra Sanchick

WEST BEND — A group representing survivors of priest abuse is asking that the Milwaukee Archdiocese open all its documents relating to its investigations and recent depositions in court. This, on a day of reflection and remorse for the church.

For the second straight year, Archbishop Jerome Listecki began Child Abuse Prevention Month with a Mass of Atonement. The Mass involves the Archbishop lying down in front of the altar at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in West Bend Thursday, to symbolize humility as a church before God.

Also on Thursday, a group of victims’ advocates for those who have been abused by priests urged the Archbishop to release all documents regarding the cases they’ve investigated over the years. Some victims planned to join in Thursday’s Mass of Atonement.

Peter Isley with the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused By Priests says he will ask a judge to released these documents when the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy case is heard next Thursday, April 5th. 570 people have filed claims against the Archdiocese, alleging they were abused by priests as children. “The people who need to be held responsible have not been held responsible. What you have in these documents is the truth. The gospel tells us that the truth shall set us free,” Isley said.

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

CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Bay City News Service

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court today rejected a bid by six brothers to sue the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland for alleged sexual abuse by their parish priest in Hayward in the 1970s.

The court, in a ruling issued in San Francisco, said by a 5-2 vote that the brothers’ lawsuit did not fit into exceptions allowed by the Legislature for lawsuits filed against employers of abusers by adults who discover psychological harm long after the abuse allegedly occurred.

The brothers — Terry, Ronald, Michael, Jerry, Gordon and Tony Quarry — were between the ages of 43 and 49 when they filed their lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court in 2007.

They alleged that the late Father Donald Broderson, who was associate pastor of the St. Joachim Parish in Hayward, sexually abused and molested them by grabbing, fondling and kissing them and engaging in other inappropriate conduct in 1972 and 1973.

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

UNITED STATES
Joyful Heart Foundation

When 1in6’s founding Board member, Dr. David Lisak, and I were talking with a group of students and staff at Brown University recently, someone asked for ideas about how to best support a friend or family member who is coming to terms with unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood.

We had just watched a powerful film, “Boys and Men Healing,” a portrayal of the lives of three courageous men (David being one of them) who were sexually abused as children and then, as adults, found healing for themselves and have since helped many others. The film also shows scenes from a support group of men who experienced abuse, beautifully highlighting the value of men finding a safe place to share their stories.

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

VATICAN CITY
NPR

[with audio]

by Sylvia Poggioli

March 29, 2012

The Vatican has launched a rare criminal investigation to uncover who is behind leaks of highly sensitive documents that allege corruption and financial mismanagement in Vatican City.

The documents also shed light on purported infighting over the Vatican Bank’s compliance with international money-laundering regulations.

A television show in late January on an independent network first revealed letters addressed last year to Pope Benedict XVI from the then-deputy governor of Vatican City, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

Vigano complained of corruption within the church and protested orders to remove him from his post and send him to be the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to Washington.

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

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

Posted March 29, 2012, at 4:30 p.m.

PORTLAND, Maine — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has been found in compliance with the standards and effectiveness of its child protection policies and practices, according to a diocese statement released Thursday.

The external audit by StoneBridge Business Partners of Rochester, N.Y., examined the year ending June 30, 2011, and included visiting parishes and schools to make sure only personnel with clear background checks were working with the children, said Sue Bernard, diocese communications director, in the statement.

The audit was conducted as part of the diocese’s efforts to comply with the Bishops of the United States Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which includes mandates such as reporting allegations of sexual abuse of minors to civil authorities, thoroughly investigating complaints of abuse of minors in a timely manner, removing clergy or other church representatives who have sexually abused minors, abuse prevention training and background checks for church personnel and volunteers who work with minors, and outreach to victims and survivors of abuse.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Nicole Radzievich”, Of The Morning Call

4:41 p.m. EDT, March 29, 2012
A Northampton County grand jury will investigate three unsolved homicides and allegations of sexual misconduct involving a priest, District Attorney John Morganelli said Thursday. …

The grand jury will also be looking into possible criminal misconduct by the Rev. Cletus Onyegbule, a Catholic priest recently removed from his Berks County parish after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman. Authorities are trying to determine whether abused his position of authority at his former parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bethlehem Township, to groom the girl for a sexual relationship with him before she turned 18.

According to a source close to the investigation, a day after the girl’s 18th birthday in February 2006, she consented to sex with Onyegbule while in the rectory office at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The source said the woman had an abortion in March 2006. County officials have not established the identity of the father, but the source said Onyegbule denied being the father.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) – A Roslindale priest has apologized after attempting to raise a legal defense fund for another priest accused of sexually abusing a child.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Lana Jones reports

Monsignor Francis Kelley of Sacred Heart Church in Roslindale is apologizing for putting an item in the church bulletin urging financial support for Father John Mendicoa.

Kelley issued his apology and promised that it won’t happen again as advocates for children abused by priests went to Sacred Heart to protest.

David Clossey of the survivors network for those abused by priests says those who wish to support Mendicoa should do so privately, without any use of church resources.

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

[NCR endorses call for a new sexual ethic]

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial featured on the website of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR):

It’s been obvious for a long time, but now it is official: the National Catholic Reporter rejects the teachings of the Catholic Church on sexuality. In an editorial titled, “NCR Endorses Call for a New Sexual Ethic,” it supports retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s plea for the Church to change its teachings on sexuality.

Bishop Robinson wrote a book a few years ago called Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church. Here is what the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said about it in 2010: “Catholics believe that the Church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him with a teaching office which endures through time. This is why the Church’s Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ. The book casts doubt upon these teachings. This leads in turn to the questioning of Catholic teaching on, among other things, the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church’s moral teachings.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC South West Victoria

There is anger at comments made by a senior Melbourne Catholic priest who has joined calls for an inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse complaints in the Melbourne diocese.

Father Tony Kerin wants an independent inquiry but has told the ABC he does not think it will find “anything majorly untoward”.

Judy Courtin represents men who were abused by convicted Christian Brothers and Catholic paedophiles in Ballarat in the 1960s and 70s.

She says the matter needs to handled by a Royal Commission and investigated much more broadly than one diocese of one church.

She says most victims are unhappy with the process.

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

CALIFORNIA
KTVU

KTVU And Wires

SAN FRANCISCO —

The California Supreme Court Thursday rejected a bid by six brothers to sue the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland for alleged sexual abuse by their parish priest in Hayward in the 1970s.

The court, in a ruling issued in San Francisco, said by a 5-2 vote that the brothers’ lawsuit did not fit into exceptions allowed by the Legislature for lawsuits filed against employers of abusers by adults who discover psychological harm long after the abuse allegedly occurred.

The brothers — Terry, Ronald, Michael, Jerry, Gordon and Tony Quarry –were between the ages of 43 and 49 when they filed their lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court in 2007.

They alleged that the late Father Donald Broderson, who was associate pastor of the St. Joachim Parish in Hayward, sexually abused and molested them by grabbing, fondling and kissing them and engaging in other inappropriate conduct in 1972 and 1973.

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

UNITED STATES/PHILIPPINES
The Asian Journal

29 March 2012 11:14 Joseph Pimentel | AJPress Los Angeles

A ROMAN Catholic Filipino priest, who is believed to be hiding in the Philippines after being accused of possessing child pornography and stealing from his parish in Worcester, Massachusetts, has been officially indicted on those charges, according to the Worcester Telegram.

The Telegram reported a grand jury in Worcester County on Friday indicted Rev. Lowe B. Dongor with possession of child pornography and larceny over $250.

Authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Dongor, who is believed to have fled to the Philippines after being charged with possession of child pornography and stealing from his parish last year. Several Philippine media outlets have reported that Dongor has returned to his hometown of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, in October.

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

TEXAS
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Lindsay Whitehurst
| The Salt Lake Tribune

A Texas appeals court dismissed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs’ appeal of his conviction on sexual assault of a child charges Thursday.

Jeffs is representing himself, but has done little to advance his case and missed two essential deadlines, according to a memorandum opinion handed down Thursday by the Third Court of Appeals.

Jeffs, 55, was convicted in August of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 12 and 15, who he took as polygamous wives. He fired his team of high-powered attorneys as the trial opened, and continued to represent himself on appeal.

The appeals court ruled Thursday that Jeffs had not taken first steps on his case: submitting a clerk’s record and reporter’s record that were due in December.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
SR

[mit Video]

Verurteilte Pädophile im Priestereinsatz – erneut steht das Bistum Trier deswegen in der Kritik. Und nach Angaben der Opfer-Organisation “MissBit” soll es sogar noch weitaus mehr Fälle geben als bisher bekannt. Das Bistum kündigte nun an, die Leitlinien auf den Prüfstand zu stellen.

(29.03.2012) Geistliche, die trotz sexueller Übergriffe auf Kinder weiterhin in der Seelsorge eingesetzt werden – das sorgt seit Wochen im Saarland und bundesweit für Schlagzeilen. Jetzt wurde bekannt, dass ein vorbestrafter Priester im Nordsaarland ausgerechnet einen Gottesdienst mit Kindern gehalten hat.

Das Bistum Trier verteidigt den Einsatz verurteilter Straftäter und rechtfertigt ihn damit, dass die betroffenen Personen nicht so eingesetzt würden, dass Gefahr für Kinder bestehe.

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IRELAND
Religion in the News (United States)

by Christine McCarthy McMorris

The afternoon was slowly winding down in Dublin last July 20 as the Dáil, Ireland’s lower House of Parliament, prepared to close for its summer break. Its last order of business was to debate a motion to “deplore” the Vatican’s role in the state’s fourth investigation of the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church, this one involving 19 priests of the diocese of Cloyne in County Cork from 1996 to 2009.

Only a few lawmakers and members of the press were on hand when Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny opened the discussion not with the expected mild criticism but by declaring that the Cloyne Report “exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago. And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, and the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

In an unequivocal declaration of independence, Kenny drew a line between Ireland’s past relationship with the Catholic church and its present:

“[T]his is not Rome. Nor is it industrial-school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane
smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish-Catholic world.
“This is the Republic of Ireland 2011. A republic of laws.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

BY TOM MCILROY

30 Mar, 2012

VICTIMS of paedophile Christian Brother Robert Charles Best have backed new calls for an independent inquiry into clergy sexual abuse in Ballarat and around Victoria.

As momentum gathers among clergy and victims’ advocates, a Melbourne lawyer preparing a class action against the Christian Brothers order said she had 45 people registered to take part.

The calls come a day after The Age reported that senior Melbourne Catholic clergy, including an adviser to Archbishop Denis Hart, have called for an independent inquiry into the handling of abuse complaints.

Father Tony Kerin said this week that he had told Archbishop Hart a review would clear the air after more than 300 compensation payouts and the conviction of 60 priests and members of religious orders.

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

NEW YORK
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Zoë Blackler in New York
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 March 2012

When Mordechai discovered his mentally disabled child was being molested, he reported the crime to the police. A local man was arrested and charged with repeatedly raping the boy in their synagogue’s ritual bath. When news of the arrest got back to their Brooklyn community, the neighbours launched a hate campaign. But the object of their anger wasn’t the alleged perpetrator, Meir Dascalowitz, it was the abused boy’s father.

For the last two years, Mordechai says he’s been hounded by his community. “The minute this guy got arrested I started a new life, a life of hell, terror, threat, you name it.” There were bogus calls to the fire department resulting in unwelcome late night visits, anonymous death threats, banishment from synagogue, even a plot to derail his move to a new apartment. “I lost my friends. I lost my family. Nobody in Williamsburg can talk to me. Nobody means nobody. We are so angry, so broken.”

Mordechai’s persecution is part of a widespread cover-up of child sexual abuse among Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jews. With echoes of the Catholic priest scandal, for decades rabbis have hushed up child sex crimes and fomented a culture in which victims are further victimised and abusers protected.

After the first claims of a cover-up surfaced in the mid 2000s, the rabbis’ stance was outright denial – not only that crimes were being concealed, but of the very existence of ultra-Orthodox child molesters. In the years since, victim advocates and whistle-blower blogs have forced open the issue. Today, the religious leadership claims to co-operate with law enforcement. The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles Hynes, long vilified by advocates for his inaction, now cares to be seen to be prosecuting – though how enthusiastically is in dispute. And attitudes within the community have shifted marginally.

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UNITED STATES
Paul’s Passing Thoughts

Blight in the Vineyard, and Clergy Sex Abuse: Some Initial Thoughts Provoked by John Immel’s Book

I am presently reading, “Blight in the Vineyard” by John Immel. One should probably read this book a couple of times before they review it (this isn’t the formal review), but my present understanding of the book has provoked some thoughts that are perhaps worth writing about. That’s because the book is very thought provoking. The subtitle is, “Exposing the Roots, Myths, and Emotional Torment of Spiritual Tyranny.”

Let’s face it: spiritual abuse; clergy sexual abuse; clergy manipulation; clergy intimidation; clergy control mania, and everyday spiritual tyranny is rampant in today’s church. Without hardly any effort at all I compiled the blogroll under “Abuse” in this website’s sidebar.

What’s going on? Obviously, something is. And John Immel offers a thesis concerning the root cause in his book. That’s important—endless discussions concerning symptoms will leave us all dressed up with nowhere to go. Immel outlines the historic philosophies that have led to the present spiritual tyranny of our day. And spiritual tyranny often comes with the unspoken clergy perk of selected concubines. Willing and unwilling. That’s my angle here; one of the symptoms of spiritual tyranny.

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

MISSISSIPPI
Legal Newsline

BY JOHN O’BRIEN

JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) – The Mississippi Bar is reportedly filing a complaint against Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.

The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson reported Thursday that the Bar is expected to file a complaint over one of Hood’s campaign ads from last year. The complaint would follow one filed in November by the lawyer for a man accused of killing a Catholic priest.

Jeremy Wayne Manieri was charged with robbing and killing the Rev. Ed Everitt of Hammond, La., in July. Manieri told police he shot Everitt after he woke up to find the priest fondling him. He has not been indicted by a grand jury.

In the commercial, Hood’s campaign showed a photo of Manieri with a voiceover saying the attorney general’s GOP opponent in last year’s election, Steve Simpson, let a “child molester” out of jail and then the child molester “murdered a 70-year-old priest in cold blood.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

She was a 13-year-old girl, fifth child of seven in a devout Catholic family in suburban Roslyn whose mother attended Mass once or twice daily.

But the girl dreaded Sunday mornings.

Not because of a crisis of faith but because she knew it would mean another morning of groping by the Rev. Albert T. Kostelnick.

The woman, now in her mid-50s, told a Philadelphia jury this morning about how Kostelnick, now retired, fondled her for two years as she worked in the rectory of St. John of the Cross church in Roslyn – and then did the same to two of her sisters who followed her into the job.

“I didn’t know what to do,” the woman told the Common Pleas Court jury. “I felt helpless and trapped. My parents expected me to work.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The prosecution in the Philadelphia clergy sex abuse case has alleged a history of coverup and enabling by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (see related stories).

Today, as they built their case against Msgr. William Lynn and another priest, prosecutors presented evidence of similar actions by the archdiocese going back decades.

In one case dating back to the 1960s, prosecutors say, an alleged serial pedophile priest was allowed to remain in ministry for two decades after admitting his crimes.

Prosecution evidence alleges that Fr. Raymond Leneweaver repeatedly admitted to the archdiocese that he was having sex with boys at various times from the late ’60s to the late ’70s.

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CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

By Howard Mintz hmintz@mercurynews.comcontracostatimes.com
Posted: 03/29/2012

The California Supreme Court on Thursday made it much tougher to bring new lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church over long-past instances of clergy abuse, barring a case against the Oakland diocese brought on behalf of six brothers who maintain a priest molested them during the 1970s.

In a 5-to-2 decision, the Supreme Court concluded that the statute of limitations barred the case because the brothers did not capitalize on a new one-year window to bring such old claims the Legislature set in 2002. The Legislature opened the door for suits against the church in response to a widening scandal over allegations of priests abusing children decades ago.

The Supreme Court case centered on the brothers who were in their 40s and 50s in 2006 when they linked their adult psychological problems to the abuse allegations. The brothers alleged in their lawsuit that they were molested as children by Donald Broderson, an Oakland priest who was forced to resign in 1993 as a result of abuse allegations. He died two years ago.

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CANADA
The Sault Star

By Mike Verdone The Sault Star

Legal action against Father William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall — a former St. Mary’s College principal in Sault Ste. Marie from 1980-85 — began 10 years ago when a 46-year-old man filed suit in a Sudbury courtroom.

Nineteen people have come forward in Sudbury, Windsor, Toronto and Saskatoon since then, and Marshall has pleaded guilty to 17 charges of indecent assault.

He was sentenced in June 2011 to two years in prison, which he is serving in Kingston Penitentiary.

No victims are known to have come forward in the Sault.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

March 29, 2012

Hours before Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki is scheduled to prostrate himself before the altar at a special Mass of Atonement for the church’s sins in the sex abuse crisis, victim advocates are calling on Listecki to show true remorse by agreeing to unseal documents and depositions in its bankruptcy case that lawyers say would shed light on the scope of the crisis in southeastern Wisconsin.

“Atonement, if it is genuine, means that you must first stop hurting victims right now and covering up right now,” victim-survivor Michael Sneesby, Milwaukee director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement.

SNAP said it would be emailing its request to Listecki, and members and that members and supporters would gather outside St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, 1025 S. 7th Ave. in West Bend before the 7 p.m. Mass.

A spokeswoman for the archdioceses did not immediately comment, saying she’d just received SNAP’s statement and hadn’t had a chance to read it.

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IRELAND
Bray People

By MYLES BUCHANAN

Wednesday March 28 2012

A DAUGHTER and her father have been reunited 38 years after she was forcibly removed by the church from his home in Dublin.

Christy Cox and his daughter Wendy (Suzanne) Parle were torn apart from one another when Wendy was just three months old.

The pair spent decades trying to track one another down only to find out that they lived a mere 45-minute drive away from one another across the Wicklow Gap, with Wendy residing in Rathdrum and Christy in Dunlavin.

Wendy was placed up for adoption as a baby, without Christy’s permission, after a priest called around to his family home in Crumlin and demanded the child be handed over.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Reporter

MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
First Posted: March 29, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia trial witness has described feeling “helpless and trapped” as a 13-year-old because a priest was fondling her at the rectory where she worked.

The woman says she was later told he was fondling her younger sisters. She earned $5 on weekends to cook for priests in about 1970.

She says she remains deeply wounded.

The woman is testifying on the fourth day of the child-endangerment trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in Philadelphia.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Sensibility

It all depends on whether they’re alive or dead. Mark Silk at RMS spells it all out, and it’s not pretty, by any definition:

At the sexual abuse trial in Philadelphia yesterday, counsel for the defense contended that Msgr. William J. Lynn, whose job it was to oversee the archdiocese’s 800 priests, should not be held responsible for covering up abuse cases because his boss, the late Anthony Bevilacqua, was the “puppet master.” Meanwhile, at the sexual abuse hearing in Kansas City yesterday, counsel for the defense sought dismissal of the coverup indictment of Bishop Robert Finn on the grounds that Finn wasn’t the “designated reporter.”

Alive, you’re not the “designated reporter;” dead, you’re a “puppet master.” Alive, your defense goes after those puppets of anti-Catholicism … SNAP. Dead, and you get thrown under the bus.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

| Thursday, Mar 29, 2012

Jurors in the Philadelphia priest-abuse trial are hearing about one of the most notorious priests named in a 2005 grand jury report.

Church documents show the priest admitted in the 1970s that he had sexually assaulted three eight-grade boys in one year alone. He remained in ministry through 1980, and taught Latin at a Main Line Philadelphia public school in 2004.

Monsignor William Lynn is charged with child endangerment for allegedly keeping him and other accused predators in ministry.

Defense lawyers say Lynn, the secretary for clergy, took orders from the archbishop.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El líder del Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual (Movilh), Rolando Jiménez, criticó que la Iglesia Católica se de el tiempo para visitar a “un pedófilo y a un abusador” -en alusión al sacerdote Fernando Karadima- y que no se haya pronunciado sobre la agresión en contra de Daniel Zamudio, quien falleció este martes en la Posta Central.

Jiménez expuso que “tenemos la convicción de que el sacrificio de Daniel no va a ser en vano. El dolor de su familia no va a ser en vano. El se ha convertido en un símbolo de la lucha por la dignidad, por los derechos fundamentales de las personas que tenemos un orientación sexual distinta”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Von Anna Loll und Peter Wensierski

Vertuschung statt Aufdeckung: Schont ausgerechnet der Missbrauchsbeauftragte und Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann Kinderschänder? In seinem Bistum scheinen die Aufklärer zum Schweigen verdammt zu sein.

Pater Klaus Gorges öffnet die Tür zu seiner kleinen Einliegerwohnung mit der beeindruckenden Sammlung orthodoxer Ikonen. Der 56-Jährige trägt Priesterrobe mit steifem Kalkkragen und war stets ein frommer und folgsamer Diener der katholischen Kirche. Doch inzwischen ist er tief erschüttert über seine kirchlichen Oberen. Weil er versucht hat, in der Pfarrei St. Martin in Köllerbach im Bistum Trier drei Missbrauchsfälle aufzuklären.

Er ist entsetzt über seinen langjährigen Vorgesetzten und Dechanten, entsetzt über den Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann und das ganze Ordinariat. Darum packte der konservative Pater seine ganze Enttäuschung dieser Tage in einen Brief an seine Kirchenoberen. Darin wirft er ihnen Vertuschung statt Aufklärung vor und fordert vom Bistum Trier, “endlich reinen Tisch zu machen”.

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OSTERREICH
Der Standard

Jutta Berger, 28. März 2012

Mutter Kirche beweist im Umgang mit straffällig gewordenen Söhnen Langmut. Nach Missbrauch ist in Klöstern Versetzungspolitik und Intransparenz üblich, wie zwei Fälle aus der Abtei Mehrerau zeigen

Bregenz – Über Fragen des Daseins lange nachzudenken, ist eine der Aufgaben von Kirchenmännern. Die Frage, wann und wie lange ein wegen Missbrauchs verurteilter Priester suspendiert wurde, scheint zu den ganz kniffligen zu gehören. Kassian Lauterer, Altabt der Bregenzer Abtei Mehrerau, brauchte zur Beantwortung neun Tage. Am 19. März teilte er den Medien mit, er habe “Pater J.” 1982, nachdem er von den Eltern eines missbrauchten Schülers informiert worden war, “sofort aus dem Schuldienst entfernt, als Priester suspendiert und versetzt”. Wie lange die Suspension dauerte, wollte er nicht sagen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Aufregung im nördlichen Saarland: Ein vor Jahren wegen sexueller Übergriffe verurteilter Geistlicher hat dort einen Gottesdienst mit Kommunionskindern zelebriert. Die Eltern der Kinder sind entsetzt.

Trotz anderslautender Auflagen hat ein pädophiler Pfarrer im Trierer Bistum einen Gottesdienst mit Kindern gefeiert.

Der vor 17 Jahren wegen Dutzender sexueller Übergriffe auf Mädchen zu einer Bewährungsstrafe verurteilte Priester habe vor zweieinhalb Wochen einen Gottesdienst gehalten, bei dem Kommunionkinder vorgestellt worden seien, sagte eine Bistumssprecher am Donnerstag und bestätigte damit einen Bericht des „Trierischen Volksfreunds“.

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DEUTSCHLAND
domradio

[mit Video]

Die Verantwortlichen des Bistums Trier sehen sich erneut mit Vorwürfen zum Umgang mit pädophilen Priestern konfrontiert. In einer Gemeinde des Bistums soll ein Priester mit Kommunionkindern einen Gottesdienst gefeiert haben. Der Mann war vor 17 Jahren zu einer zweijährigen Bewährungsstrafe verurteilt worden, weil er Mädchen sexuell missbraucht hatte. Im domradio.de-Interview nimmt der Sprecher des Bistums, Stephan Kronenburg, Stellung.

domradio.de: Schon vor diesem Fall war bekannt geworden, dass mindestens sieben pädophile Geistliche im Bistum Trier weiterhin beschäftigt sind. Die katholische Kirche hat inzwischen klare Auflagen, zum Beispiel, dass die Männer nicht in der Kinder- und Jugendarbeit eingesetzt werden dürfen. Viele Eltern sind jetzt entrüstet, wie konnte es dennoch dazu kommen?

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UNITED STATES
Religion in the News

by Andrew Walsh
As the Catholic clerical sexual abuse scandal grinds into its fourth weary decade, the costs tote up: thousands of abused victims, about 700 predator priests removed from ministry, scores convicted of molestation of minors and other crimes, billions in legal settlements and costs, devastating grand jury reports about hierarchical collusion and cover up, and an unfathomable sum of heartbreak and shattered faith.

How goes the struggle to reform? Not so well, at least according to prosecutors in Kansas City and Philadelphia. In 2011, for the first time in American history, criminal indictments were pressed against high church officials for failing to report suspected child abuse and child endangerment. In both cases, the charges deal with administrative decisions made by church leaders in the recent past, not old cases dating decades back. Both trials are expected to begin this spring.

Why, despite the largest, longest scandal in the history of religion in America, are some Catholic bishops still struggling to evade or escape legal requirements that they automatically call the cops whenever clergy are accused of sexual misconduct?

One plausible answer is that old habits die hard. For the last 1,800 years, the Catholic Church has pretty much consistently argued that its bishops have the exclusive right to discipline their clergy, a standard that entered Roman law as early as 412, when the Emperor Theodosius II agreed that only bishops—and not imperial courts—should prosecute and punish clergy accused of crimes.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

As Listecki seeks to “atone” this week, his lawyers will fight victims next week to stop release of explosive new testimony

Victims will be asking Listecki before “Mass of Atonement” Thursday to “demonstrate genuine remorse” by dropping his opposition to unsealing depositions of Archbishop Weakland and Bishop Sklba next week

Recent court hearings reveal that at least 8,000 acts of childhood sexual assault and abuse occurred in archdiocese, by at least 100 never before identified alleged offenders

WHO
Victims of clergy sexual abuse, displaying childhood photos and candles in a makeshift memorial, will discuss before attending a “Mass of Atonement” conducted by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki a court motion filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court to make public new videotaped court testimony of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba. Both Weakland and Sklba were deposed for their extensive involvement in the cover up of thousands of child sex crimes by dozens of clerics for several decades. The motion will be heard on Thursday, April 4th. Victims will be asking Listecki, as a concrete sign of “genuine remorse and change,” to instruct his lawyers to withdraw the archdiocese opposition to the release of the depositions.

WHERE
Outside of St. Francis Cabrini Parish, 1025 S. 7th Avenue, West Bend

WHEN
Thursday, March 29h, 6:30 p.m. Mass of Atonement will begin at 7:00 p.m.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

For over a year, the media has whole-heartedly embraced and loudly trumpeted the graphic and shocking details of last year’s high-profile Philadelphia grand jury report.

The report, which depicted stomach-turning allegations of depraved abuse and cover-ups by Catholic clergy, has served as the foundation for this week’s highly watched trial.

The media has never so much as aired a peep of criticism or skepticism about the report or the criminal charges against the clergy – until now.

However, in a startling article this week at the start of the Philadelphia trial, Monica Yant Kinney at the Philadelphia Inquirer appears to be the first journalist in the United States to openly acknowledge that there may be serious credibility issues with the criminal charges in the current cases.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland Leader

By Julie Kent. Published on 03/28/2012

In a letter to be distributed this week at weekend masses, Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Dioceses says that the issue of reopening the 13 churches that were recently spared by the Vatican has yet to be resolved.

Earlier this month, the Vatican ruled that Bishop Lennon had improperly closed 13 churches in 2009. It was a decision that shocked many, including the lawyer representing the closed churches.

In the letter, Lennon says that the issue of reopening the churches “is not nearly as clear-cut as it may appear.” He writes that there is no easy or perfection solution. Lennon says that hasn’t made any decisions yet, but promises to respect church authority.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio –Bishop Richard Lennon said in a prepared statement today that he has not yet decided whether to appeal recent Vatican rulings that reversed his closings of 13 churches in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

The bishop’s statement comes two weeks after he officially received word from Rome that he did not follow church law or procedures when he closed the churches between 2009 and 2010.

The 13 churches — out of 50 he closed in a finance-driven, diocesewide downsizing — had appealed to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, arguing they were self-sustaining communities that shouldn’t be closed.

The Congregation issued decrees in favor of the churches and gave Lennon 60 days from March 14 to appeal.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Fox 8

by Jennifer Jordan, updated on: 06:07pm, March 28, 2012

CLEVELAND — Several Catholic churches in our area are still empty nearly a month after the Vatican ruled they were wrongfully shutdown.

And now, the head of the Cleveland Diocese is speaking out for the first time.

Bishop Lennon did not speak on-camera, but sent out a letter addressing the latest decree from the Vatican on the closing of 13 parishes in our area.

In the letter, the Bishop Richard Lennon said he, members of the clergy and experts in church law are carefully looking into what he calls a “complex matter.”

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland

Bishop sends letter to parishes regarding status of Vatican decrees

the priests, deacons and parish life coordinators within the Diocese of Cleveland.

The letter is an update about the recent decrees from the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome regarding the closing of certain parishes.

Read the complete letter>

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OHIO
Akron Beacon Journal

[the bishop’s letter]

By Colette Jenkins
Beacon Journal staff reporter
Published: March 28, 2012

Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon has issued a letter to the more than 700,000 Catholics in the eight-county diocese to assure them that he is working on a response to Vatican rulings that upheld appeals from parishioners challenging the bishop’s orders to close 13 parishes.

Lennon received documents from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy on March 14, a week after Peter Borre, a Boston activist who has fought the closing of churches in the Cleveland diocese, told the Associated Press that the Congregation of the Clergy had ruled Lennon did not follow proper procedures in closing the 13 parishes.

While Borre and other critics of the closings have interpreted the documents to say that the bishop’s mandates to shutter the parishes have been overturned, diocesan officials say the documents must be analyzed before they can reach that conclusion.

“The language in the decrees is being carefully studied to see what is being said by the Vatican,” said Robert Tayek, spokesman for the diocese. “This is pretty new territory. We can’t find a precedence for it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Independent

By Andrew Hough

Thursday March 29 2012

PAEDOPHILES can “groom” children for sex through the internet in as little as eight minutes, a study has concluded.

In a new warning for parents, criminologists discovered that online predators are exploiting an array of techniques to “break the ice” with children aged as young as 12.

The Middlesex University, London, study found that within less than three minutes of web-based chatting, sex offenders “cut to the chase” and turn the conversation to sexual-related topics.

The four-year study, published on Wednesday, found that just five minutes later a bond was formed with the child as predators maintain a calm and innocent atmosphere.

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MICHIGAN
The Ionia Sentinel-Standard

By Staff reports
The Ionia Sentinel-Standard

Posted Mar 28, 2012

IONIA, Mich. —

After hearing oral arguments from the prosecution and defense, Eighth Circuit Court Judge Susanne Hoseth Kreeger agreed with the district court’s decision for Prominski to not face charges for failure to report in a suspected child abuse case in 2009.

“The circumstances that Prominski was presented with were unique,” said Kreeger. “(The victim’s mother) was seeking guidance. There was that expectation for privilege.”

After Kreeger stated her decision, those present in the courtroom started cheering. Supporters made their way to hug and shake hands with Prominski as they exited the courtroom.

“The people here are wonderful,” said Prominski, adding he was surprised by the amount of people who came to show support. “You can’t live in fear when doing God’s calling. Doing good for God and the people of the community, that is what I am called to do. You can’t minister in fear.”

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MICHIGAN
CBS Detroit

IONIA (WWJ/AP) – A judge has ruled a western Michigan minister was not obligated to report to authorities when a woman told him she suspected her husband of sexually abusing her children.

Ionia Circuit Judge Susanne Hoseth Kreeger has upheld a district court judge’s decision dismissing a misdemeanor charge against the Rev. John Prominski of Resurrection Life Church.

Kreeger said the minister was protected by penitent privilege.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

By Dani Carlson

IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) – An Ionia County circuit court judge said a pastor who invoked clergy-penitent privilege was within his rights when he did not report suspicions of a man molesting his stepchildren to authorities.

Dozens of members of Prominski’s church packed the Ionia County circuit courtroom Wednesday morning to show support for the pastor. They erupted in applause and cheers when Judge Suzanne Kreeger announced her decision.

“Our church has grown to know each other and to love each other and to love our pastor and, you know, we love him so much that we wanted to come and support him,” said church member Greg Saurbeck, one of the men who turned out Wednesday.

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MARYLAND
News-Post

By Cara R. Anthony
News-Post Staff

A Walkersville resident and former pastor was sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but four suspended Wednesday for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in February 2010, according to State’s Attorney Charlie Smith.

Joe Nix Ivey, 74, will serve at least four years of the sentence ordered by Judge G. Edward Dwyer. Ivey pleaded guilty to a second-degree sex offense on Feb. 7 in Frederick County Circuit Court.

During an investigation, Ivey told the girl that what happened was between “you, me and God” and that she shouldn’t tell anyone about it, according to charging documents in the case.

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FREDERICK (MD)
ABC 27

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) – The former pastor of a Montgomery County church is going to prison for molesting a 10-year-old girl.

Seventy-4-year-old Joe Ivey of Walkersville was sentenced Wednesday in Frederick to four years, with another 16 suspended.

The former senior pastor of the Barnesville Baptist Church pleaded guilty last month to second-degree sex offense. He allegedly abused the girl in February 2010 while she visited his home.

State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says Ivey must register as sex offender after his release.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
WPRO

A support group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy is calling on the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence to reach out to potential abuse victims who may have attended a Warwick parochial high school.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says two brothers who worked at Bishop Hendricken High School have been ‘credibly accused’ of abuse, and a judge in the bankruptcy filing of their Irish Christian Brothers order has set a deadline of August 1, 2012 for abuse victims to come forward to seek justice and compensation.

“A judge has given victims an August first deadline, by which they must come forward and seek justice and expose predators or else they’re left out in the cold,” said David Clohessy, Executive Director of the St. Louis, Missouri based SNAP.

“We obviously believe that the bishop should err on the side of openness and transparency and child safety, and reach out to anybody who either saw, suspected or suffered any crimes,” said Clohessy.

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CANADA
CTV

Emily Senger, ctvtoronto.ca

Date: Wednesday Mar. 28, 2012

Four Sudbury men are launching civil lawsuits against a priest and former Catholic schoolteacher who has already pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault.

Father William Hodgson Marshall, who is now approaching his 90s, is currently serving a two-year prison term for the abuse of 17 young people between the 1950s and 1980s, crimes to which he pleaded guilty.

At least one of those incidents of abuse occurred at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto in the 1950s.

On Wednesday, four more men stepped forward at a press conference in Sudbury, alleging abuse at the hands of the man who was their Grade 9 teacher at St. Charles College in Sudbury in the ’60s.

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Cruz Sentinel

[with documents]

By JULIA REYNOLDS
Herald Staff Writer
montereyherald.com
Posted: 03/28/2012

A former Palma High School student filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing the Rev. Gerald Funcheon, a former Palma teacher, of molesting him on a school trip in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, in another court case, copies of letters from and about Funcheon indicate a long history of suspicions about the Catholic priest, who taught at the Salinas school during the 1984-85 school year.

Named in the new lawsuit, filed in a Minnesota court, are Palma High School, Funcheon and the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, a Catholic order also known as the Crosiers, which at the time had headquarters in Minnesota. Funcheon was a member of the order, which is not affiliated with Palma.

The complaint alleges that Chris Spedden, now in his early 40s and living out of the area, was 13 when he was molested while on a ski trip to Bend, Ore., a trip chaperoned by Funcheon.

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PORTLAND (ME)
The Portland Press Herald

The leader of Maine’s Roman Catholics held a day of prayer and penance Wednesday for harm done to the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Diocese of Portland Bishop Richard Malone celebrated the annual Mass of prayer and penance, first held in 2002, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Malone said he hopes through prayer and reflection that Catholics can become even more committed to healing the wounds of the past and preventing sexual abuse in the future.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

BY JOHN P. MARTIN & JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN
Inquirer Staff Writers

A HAVERTOWN pastor testified Wednesday that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sent a priest to his parish in 2002 without telling him that the man had been caught with gay sadomasochistic videos and a sexually graphic love letter he’d written to a seventh-grade boy.

The Rev. Henry McKee, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, said that nearly three years passed before he learned of the Rev. Michael Murtha’s background.

“It was the last two to three weeks he was there,” McKee told a Common Pleas Court jury.

McKee was one of four priests who testified Wednesday as prosecutors sought to show how Msgr. William J. Lynn and other church leaders shuffled and protected priests suspected of sexual misconduct or abuse.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The issue of child sexual abuse cuts across all ethnic and religious lines.

But some say in the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities of Brooklyn, the problem is compounded by religious taboos that make reporting abusers to police very rare.

They say it is a secret and that children continue to suffer.

Mordechai Jungreis said he was victimized twice — once when his son was sexually abused by a member of the community and again when he was shunned trying to get him help.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Father Joseph Okonski had a pained look on his face. The veteran priest was telling a jury how back in 1995, he walked into the bedroom of his rectory roommate, Father Michael Murtha, and discovered a trove of pornographic magazines and videos.

“Certainly, I was disturbed by it,” the priest told the jury Wednesday. The porn was being mailed to the rectory of St. Anselm’s Church in Northeast Philadelphia in plan wrappers. The priest played one video. “It was sado-masochistic male-on-male pornography,” he testified.

The priest reported the porn to the pastor of St. Anselm’s, but he didn’t do anything about it, Father Okonski told the jury. Then, Father Okonski made a second visit to Father Murtha’s bedroom and discovered in a closet a love letter Father Murtha had written to a seventh-grader named Drew.

“Dear Drew,” Father Murtha wrote. “You are so cute … would you like it if I sucked your dick? I bet you would.” In the letter, which was displayed to the jury, Father Murtha told the seventh grader that he wanted to kiss his nipples and spank “his cute ass.” The priest told the seventh-grader that if he decided to take the priest up on his offer of fellatio, he should leave a letter behind the bulletin board where the parish school advertised the student of the week.

The letter from the archdiocese priest was signed, your “secret lover.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Alison Caldwell

Updated March 29, 2012

Senior clergy in Melbourne’s Catholic Church say there is a groundswell of support in their ranks for an independent inquiry into the handling of sexual abuse complaints.

Among those supporting calls for an independent inquiry is the Archbishop’s adviser on sexual abuse issues.

Father Tony Kerin, the Episcopal Vicar for Justice and Peace in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, says an independent inquiry would be costly but it would help.

Along with several other priests, he has recently been meeting with victims of sexual abuse through a victim’s advocacy group.

“I would say there is growing appreciation among the clergy of the seriousness and significance of this problem of church sexual abuse,” Father Kerin said.

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CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Carol Mulligan/The Sudbury Star

The sexual abuse of students decades ago at St. Charles College by a Roman Catholic priest is “the white elephant in the room in Sudbury” and must be aired publicly, says the lawyer representing victims of the disgraced clergyman.

Father William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall, 89, is serving two years in Kingston Penitentiary after pleading guilty in June 2011 to 17 charges of indecent assault, six involving Sudbury men.

Some of those men are now seeking justice from authorities they say knew about the abuse they were subjected to and did nothing to stop it.

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WOODRIDGE (IL)
Woodbridge Reporter

By David Heitz, dheitz@mysuburbanlife.com
Woodridge Reporter

Posted Mar 28, 2012

Woodridge, IL —

In the days following the early departure of one of its pastors after a 20-year-old public indecency charge came to light, the Diocese of Joliet has refused to answer remaining questions.

Nearly two weeks ago, the Rev. Gerald Riva left St. Scholastica Roman Catholic Church in Woodridge after a 13-year tenure there as a priest and pastor. His retirement came three months earlier than scheduled and just days after his 1992 arrest and subsequent guilty plea on misdemeanor public indecency charge came to light.

The diocese initially said it had launched an investigation into the incident in 1992, in which a plain-clothed DuPage County Forest Preserve Police officer arrested Riva for masturbating and grabbing the male officer’s genitals

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

A former altar boy told a jury Wednesday how he was stalked by a pedophile priest.

Daniel J. Guida, 36, took the witness stand to testify in the Catholic sex abuse trial. Guida told the jury how back in 1991, when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Bishop John Neumann High School, he was in a book store browsing through gay pornographic magazines when he realized he was being watched.

Guida described hismelf as a “tiny” five-foot-one, 110-pound kid “with big hair and a moustache” who was wearing his Bishop Neumann jacket. Father Francis X. Trauger was at least 6-foot-3, Guida testified, dressed in black, but not wearing a collar.

“He taps me on the shoulder and confronts me,” Guida recalled. He had a half-dozen mags rolled up in his hand. “What are you buying?” the priest wanted to know. “I just have some magazines,” Guida recalled saying.

“I know what you have, let me see the magazines,” Guida quoted the priest as saying. The priest grabbed the magazines from Guida and browsed through them. He handed the mags back to Guida and asked the boy his name. Guida refused to answer. The priest asked Guida what school he went to. When Guida again refused to answer, the priest reminded him, “It’s on your jacket.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you,” the priest said, before he left.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Posted By The Catholic Free Press
March 28, 2012

A Worcester County grand jury indicted Father Lowe B. Dongor Friday on charges of possessing child pornography and larceny of more than $250.

Father Dongor, 36, is believed to have fled the country, possibly to the Philippines, his family home.

State Police charge that he admitted stealing “$40 or $50” at various times from St. Joseph’s Parish in Fitchburg, where he was serving as associate pastor, and sending the money home to his family. State Police also said one of his computers contained pictures of 10- or 11-year-old girls in various states of undress.

A warrant for his arrest has been issued and, if he is returned to Massachusetts he will be prosecuted, said Timothy J. Connelly, spokesman for the District Attorney.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 28, 2012 in Clergy Abuse Crisis

Serve on a Diocese lay review board, and you can go to jail. Or at least that’s what Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn says.

Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are each being charged with one misdemeanor of failure to report suspected child abuse. The charges stem from the case of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a priest in the diocese who now faces 13 federal counts of child pornography. According to legal accounts, whistleblowers, and media reports, Bishop Finn knew about Ratigan’s suspicious behavior for at least a year, possibly more, and sat on Ratigan’s child pornography collection for six months before turning it over to the police.

Finn also didn’t inform his own lay review board until six months after Finn learned of the pornography and a month AFTER he finally notified the police. This is a year after the school principal wrote Finn a detailed letter outlining Ratigan’s suspicious behavior, including the fact that parents had found toys in his house and children’s underwear in his bushes.

The lay review board learned about the principal’s letter in the media. Not from Finn.

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