ABUSE TRACKER

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Chicago Tribune

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, March 27 (Reuters) – A Catholic Bishop in Kansas City did not have a legal obligation to report suspected child sexual abuse by a local priest even if he knew about it, a
lawyer for the bishop said on Tuesday.

In a preview to the upcoming trial of Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, a lawyer for Finn asked Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence to dismiss the charge against him because he said there was another Diocese official who should have reported the priest to police.

“Bishop Finn had no statutory duty to report. We believe that this is clear,” said attorney J.R. Hobbs in arguing for Judge Torrence to dismiss the case against Finn.

Judge Torrence said he would take the matter under advisement and likely rule on the matter next week.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Smoking gun evidence for the prosecution and the defense as both sides cite the same couple of documents to make their case for guilt or innocence in the clergy abuse case. The evidence centers around a former co-defendant who last week admitted sexually abusing an altar boy.

The prosecution has presented evidence in the form of documents showing Monsignor William Lynn, who is charged with endangering children compiled a list of 35 suspected or admitted predator priests, found then Father Edward Avery was guilty of sexual misconduct with a minor but still allowed him to remain in ministry and Avery struck again.

He pleaded guilty to this assault last week.

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MAINE
NECN

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The leader of Maine’s Roman Catholics is holding a day of prayer and penance for harm done to the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Diocese of Portland Bishop Richard Malone will celebrate Mass on Wednesday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

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

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UNITED STATES
JTA

By Ben Harris · March 27, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) — 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 email 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, is slated to be screened at several Jewish film festivals across the United States. It was the subject of a lengthy feature article in The Washington Post.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Twice in 1993, Msgr. William J. Lynn received letters from parishioners at St. Therese of the Child Jesus church who were concerned because their pastor, the Rev. Edward V. Avery, took an unexplained leave.

As secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Lynn knew the reason: A 29-year-old man had told Lynn that Avery molested him in the 1970s. Lynn had recommended that the Mount Airy pastor get a confidential evaluation and treatment.

But Lynn didn’t disclose that in his replies to the two parishioners, a detective testified Tuesday. One letter warned a woman to disregard the rumors about Avery. A second said Lynn’s office never received “anything but compliments” about the priest.

“Another letter (and) no mention of the sexual abuse of a minor?” Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington asked Det. Joseph Walsh.

“That is correct,” Walsh said.

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NEDERLAND
de Volkskrant

vk opinie
‘Iedere katholiek draagt hoe dan ook bij aan het in stand houden van een instituut dat door de rigide standpunten ten opzichte van bijvoorbeeld voorbehoedsmiddelen en celibaat nog steeds schrikbarend veel ellende veroorzaakt. Aan die harde waarheid kan en mag je je als lid van een dergelijke organisatie niet onttrekken’, meent Erik de Kruijf.

En daar zat hij weer, Antoine Bodar, bij Pauw en Witteman. Dit keer om iets te zeggen over stress bij priesters en hoe erg de castraties wel niet waren die sommige door geestelijken misbruikte jongetjes in de jaren vijftig en zestig gedwongen hebben moeten ondergaan. Moegestreden zag hij er uit, maar plichtsgetrouw was de mediapriester toch maar weer komen opdraven voor een zoveelste mea culpa. Na de vele schandalen binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk een nogal ondankbare taak. Ook Bodar leek dat te beseffen, en de altijd zo beheerste spreekbuis van het Nederlandse katholicisme werd zelfs een beetje driftig gedurende het gesprek. Maar, eerlijk is eerlijk, hij nam zijn verantwoordelijkheid en ging in weerwil van veel van zijn snordrukkende collega’s, de confrontatie aan. Hulde.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

STOCKTON — Court was canceled today in the civil trial involving Lockeford priest Michael Kelly because one of the jurors was ill.

On Wednesday, San Francisco psychiatrist Dr. Anlee Kuo is scheduled to continue her testimony from last Friday, and the plaintiff’s wife is scheduled to testify Wednesday afternoon.

A 37-year-old man has sued Kelly, claiming that the Catholic priest sexually assaulted him in the mid-1980s, when the plaintiff was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. His name is not being released by court order because he is a potential sexual assault victim. Kelly has not been criminally charged.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Courthouse News Service

By REUBEN KRAMER

PHILADELPHIA (CN) – An unprecedented clergy sex-abuse trial began Monday with claims that a cardinal’s aide “did his damndest” at the nearly impossible job of identifying predatory priests.

Monsignor William Lynn, 61, is the highest-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church in America to go to trial on a child endangerment charge.

The case against Lynn is unique because it stems from his administrative role overseeing hundreds of priests as clergy secretary for the Philadelphia Archdiocese between 1992 and 2004.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors read dozens of confidential church documents aloud in court Tuesday to try to prove the Philadelphia archdiocese routinely buried complaints that priests were molesting children.

Monsignor William Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children by keeping accused priests in parish work.

The letters and memos read in court Tuesday centered on now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery, known as the Smiling Padre, adopted six Hmong children and moonlighted as a disc jockey at parties and nightclubs throughout his three-decade church career.

According to the documents, a medical student told the archdiocese in 1992 that Avery had molested him after a DJ gig when the priest and the high school freshman were drinking heavily at a West Philadelphia nightclub. It happened again at age 19 when the two shared a motel bed on a ski trip to Vermont with Avery’s brother, he said.

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LOUISIANA
KPLC

By Theresa Schmidt

The former Catholic priest arrested and booked for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight year old boy 25 years ago says he has hired his own attorney. 56 year old Mark Anthony Broussard appeared before a judge this morning for “right to counsel” court.

He indicated he has hired local defense attorney Tom Lorenzi. Broussard has been booked on two counts of aggravated rape and 52 counts of sexual battery. The case is expected to be presented to a Calcasieu Grand Jury.

Bishop Glen John Provost has asked Catholics to pray and fast Friday to, in part, ask God’s forgiveness for sins of the past and to alleviate suffering in the lives of victims of sexual abuse. The bishops full statement follows.

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ILLINOIS
WGIL

A condemned priest and former owner of Galesburg’s Holy Rosary Abbey church bailed out of Knox County Jail Wednesday morning.

Knox County Circuit Court officials say Reverend Ryan St. Anne Scott paid the required 10-percent of his $75,000 dollars bond, one day after being extradited from St. Louis County.

Records indicate Scott will make his first appearance in court April 30th. Prior to bonding out Tuesday morning, he was scheduled to before a judge Tuesday afternoon via video teleconference.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A Jackson County judge said Tuesday that he would rule by the end of next week on whether to dismiss charges against Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic diocese Finn leads.

Judge John Torrence made the announcement after hearing about two hours of arguments from prosecutors and defense lawyers.

“This is an unusual set of circumstances,” Torrence said. “The waters are difficult to navigate.”

The misdemeanor charges allege that Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph failed for five months to report suspected child abuse related to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest now facing federal child pornography charges.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

Posted March 27, 2012

PORTLAND — Bishop Richard Malone has designated Wednesday, March 28, as a day of prayer and penance for harm done to victims and the faithful by past incidents of clergy sexual abuse.

Malone, the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, will celebrate Mass at 12:15 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, according to a press release issued Monday by Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the diocese.

“Each year, I ask the clergy of the diocese to join me by marking a day of contrition for past offenses against minors,” Malone said in the press release. “Through prayer and reflection, may we become even more committed to healing the wounds of the past and preventing sexual abuse in the future.”

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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 was scheduled to begin this week, but instead has been pushed out for a status conference on Thursday.

“We’re not beginning at this point,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Vicki Gemetti, adding that presiding Superior Court Judge David Cena is in trial on another matter and scheduling for the high-profile case will be discussed then.

Lynch, 44, is being represented by Pat Harris and Mark Geragos, with the Los Angeles-based law firm of Geragos & Geragos.

Once a schedule is worked out, the trial will be set in motion, beginning with pre-trial motions, jury selection and the presentation of the evidence, Gemetti explained.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 by
Christian Peregin

The victims of clerical sex abuse will file a lawsuit against the Church only after the appeal case over the two priests found guilty of perpetrating the acts is concluded.

Last January, the victims’ spokesman, Lawrence Grech, said the Church had until the end of February to reconsider its decision not to grant financial compensation or face a court case the next day.

However, almost a month after the deadline expired, the victims have said they have dropped the ultimatum following legal advice.

Their lawyer, Patrick Valentino, told The Times the case against the Church would only be filed after the entire appeal process had been concluded.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Pembroke

By Kyle Cheney, State House News Service
State House News Service

Posted Mar 27, 2012

Boston —

House lawmakers are working to redraft a plan that would eliminate time restrictions on prosecuting perpetrators of sexual abuse against children, Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday, indicating that a “constitutionally correct” version of the proposal could be passed into law by the end of July.

“At the end of the day, we have to come up with a bill that will pass constitutional muster and you know that has to be something of a concern,” DeLeo told reporters after exiting a meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick. “Because at the end of the day if we do not do that, then the first time this bill is tested and is thrown out, you know, it will come back to fall on the Legislature as to why so-and-so wasn’t convicted because the statute wasn’t constitutionally correct.”

“We’ll take some more time and make sure at the end of the day we’ve got a bill that has that balance,” he added. “Some of the attorneys representing some of the victims have been to my office expressing concern. I’ve got some folks in my district expressing concern … Hopefully we’re going to be able to get something done.”

Eliminating the so-called statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes against children has been a wrenching issue on Beacon Hill over the years, with victims of abuse, and their attorneys, deluging lawmakers with appeals to loosen the statute of limitations or repeal it outright. In recent weeks, supporters of that change have claimed that more than 100 members of the 160-member House have signified support for the proposal (H 469) sponsored by Majority Leader Ronald Mariano.

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LOUISIANA
American Press

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 27, 2012

BY ASHLEY WITHERS / AMERICAN PRESS

Bishop Glen John Provost, head of the Lake Charles Diocese, has declared Friday “a day of prayer and fasting” in light of recent allegations against a former area priest.

Provost wants people to “pray with him asking God for the forgiveness of the sins of the past, for the grace and strength to pursue holiness in our lives, for reconciliation, and for the alleviation of suffering in the lives of victims of sexual abuse and their families, as well as for a spirit of peace and understanding to prevail,” he said in a news release.

Mark A. Broussard was arrested Thursday on two counts of aggravated rape and 52 counts of sexual battery. Broussard served as a priest at St. Henry Catholic Church in Lake Charles and at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Grand Chenier. He left the priesthood in 1994.

Provost spoke at all Masses at St. Henry over the weekend.

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IRELAND
New Ross Standard

Tuesday March 27 2012

AN ELDERLY former parish priest of Cushinstown, who taught at St. Peter’s College, has been charged with eight counts of gross indecency during the 1960s.

Seamus O’byrne (78), with an address at The Presbytery in School Street, Wexford, appeared at Wexford District Court on Monday.

The former priest, who was dismissed from the priesthood in 2005 on the order of the Pope, faces eight counts of committing acts of gross indecency with a male at St. Peter’s College in Summerhill on dates unknown in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

The alleged victim cannot be named for legal reasons.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The prosecution in the Philadelphia clerical child sex abuse case today presented potential “smoking gun” evidence as it tries to make its case against a Catholic monsignor who is charged with endangering children by allowing a predator priest to remain in ministry.

The evidence focused on Edward Avery, a defrocked priest who pleaded guilty last week (see related story).

The prosecution presented a series of memos and correspondence, many written or received by Msgr. William Lynn, which show that Avery was treated at the church’s mental health facility after a man came forward in 1992 with allegations of abuse by Father Avery.

According to the prosecution’s evidence, the church’s mental health experts recommended that Avery be excluded from ministering to adolescents, and Msgr. Lynn himself identified Avery as guilty of sexual abuse of a child.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Blog

Covering the landmark sex abuse case against Monsignor William J. Lynn and James J. Brennan of The Philadelphia Archdiocese

Ralph Cipriano

She came out whispering, and left behind a confusing pile of facts. But there weren’t any objections, mainly because even the lawyers seated nearby in the courtroom had a hard time hearing what the prosecutor had to say in her opening statement.

Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coehlo took center stage Monday as the archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case opened on the third floor of the Criminal Justice Center. The courtroom was packed with 30 journalists, including representatives from the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN. Four courtroom artists were ready to slap down some paint and chalk. Several priests also showed up in their collars, presumably to support their accused brethren.

But for more than an hour, as Coehlo rambled, the biggest challenge was hearing what she had to say. She spoke in a barely audible tone that had the press and courtroom clerks straining their ears, in a vain attempt to figure out what was going on. It’s not as if the district attorney’s office can’t be eloquent about the subject of pedophile priests; a 418-page grand jury report released by the DA in 2005 was a literary masterpiece. …

The defense lawyer reminded the jury that his client “sits cloaked in the presumption of innocence.” He quoted Kingman Brewter’s definition of the presumption of innocence: a generosity of spirit that presumes the best and not the worst of a stranger.”

He also quoted To Kill A Mockingbird, saying, “the jury box is the one place in the country where a man ought to get a fair shake.”

Investigating child sex abuse is “a tough job, an ugly job, but he did it,” Bergstrom said of his client. The defense lawyer told the jury that when the two alleged victims walk into the courtroom to confront Lynn, “he has never met them, he has never seen them … they are total strangers.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 27, 2012
By An NCR Editorial

We wholeheartedly second the invitation by Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson for a thorough and honest reexamination of the church’s teaching on sexuality. (See story.)

Robinson’s invitation, coming in a paper delivered in Baltimore at a conference sponsored by New Ways Ministry, is a gentle but elegant plea that offers hope for Catholics who want to stop the church’s headlong plunge into irrelevancy as a moral voice in our culture.

Robinson says that a careful study of the long arc of church teaching on sexuality comes to this foundational statement: “The church is saying that love is the very deepest longing of the human heart, and sex is a most important expression of love, so people should do all in their power to ensure that sex retains its ability to express love as deeply as possible.”

From this foundation, Robinson suggests three areas to reexamine Catholic teaching.

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SPANJE
Reformatorisch Dagblad (Nederland)

MADRID – De Spaanse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk is vorige week een online wervingscampagne voor priesters gestart. In het land waar veel werkloosheid heerst, belooft de kerk een vaste baan. Maar geen fantastisch salaris.

Dagblad Trouw schrijft over de Spaanse campagne op YouTube.

In het filmpje beloven priesters een vaste baan: „Ik beloof dat je onderdeel bent van een bijzonder project. Ik beloof geen luxe leven. Ik beloof eeuwige welvaart. Ik beloof dat je hoop kunt brengen, overal waar je bent. Je zult het ware geluk ervaren. En je zult priester zijn.”

Het gemiddelde salaris in Spanje ligt tussen de 700 en 800 euro per maand. Dat is iets onder het nationale gemiddelde, maar wel boven de armoedegrens.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

By Claire Galofaro, The Times-Picayune

A 44-year-old minister who had a three-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl has been convicted of two sex crimes by a St. Tammany Parish jury. Keith James Boyd, pastor of Open Door Apostolic Church in Slidell, was convicted Friday of carnal knowledge and indecent behavior with a juvenile.

His small church on the western fringe of the city was closed Monday afternoon and no one returned telephone messages inquiring about the conviction and about whether Boyd is still its pastor. But a sign remains tacked to the outside of the church reading: “Open Door Apostolic Church, Pastor Keith J. Boyd & Lady Kendra W. Boyd. Jesus Opens Doors That No Man Can Shut.”

Boyd reportedly met the teenager while visiting another church in St. Tammany Parish, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The pair exchanged some 2,000 text messages during their consensual sexual relationship that began in August 2010.

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FITCHBURG (MA)
Boston Herald

By Associated Press
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

FITCHBURG — A Roman Catholic priest who once served at a Fitchburg church has been indicted on child pornography and theft charges.

A Worcester County grand jury handed up indictments Friday charging the Rev. Lowe Dongor with possession of child pornography and larceny of more than $250.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Dongor, but his whereabouts are unclear and Massachusetts authorities think he has fled to his native Philippines.

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UNITED STATES
Trib.com

Associated Press | Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2012

A California boy attends only four days at a Kansas military boarding school where he is tormented by staff and students after breaking both his legs in separate incidents. A Tennessee student’s stomach is forcibly branded as a rite of initiation. A Florida cadet breaks his hand fending off a student with a history of sexual abuse who tries to grope him, and school officials refuse to investigate or inform his parents of the attack.

These claims are the latest additions to a growing list of former cadets who allege in a federal lawsuit they were abused at St. John’s Military School in Salina, Kan. An amended complaint filed Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., now includes six sets of named parents who have filed on behalf of cadets, plus one ex-cadet who is now an adult. The plaintiffs come from California, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas and Illinois.

The Episcopal boarding school, which charges families nearly $30,000 per year for students enrolled in grades 6-12, draws students from across the nation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WRAL

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors in Philadelphia are showing jurors memos to try to prove the Philadelphia archdiocese covered up complaints that priests were molesting children.

Monsignor William Lynn is the first Roman Catholic church supervisor in the U.S. charged with endangering children by keeping accused priests in ministry.

Letters read in court Tuesday show Lynn telling a parish that accused pastor Edward Avery was on a “health leave” in 1993, when Avery was undergoing sex-therapy treatment at a Catholic hospital.

The letters also reveal a church policy not to act on complaints unless a priest was diagnosed as a pedophile.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Twice in 1993, Msgr. William J. Lynn received letters from local Catholics worried about a leave of absence taken by their pastor, the Rev. Edward V. Avery.

As secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Lynn had recommended Avery for confidential treatment because Avery had been accused of molesting a teen in the 1970s.

But his letters to two of Avery’s parishioners, read aloud today to jurors at Lynn’s trial, praised the priest and urged them to disregard any unflattering whispers they might have heard.

“Let me assure you, that is what they are: rumors,” Lynn wrote one woman. “Father Avery had requested a health leave from Cardinal Bevilacqua, which was granted.”

The letters were among dozens of confidential memos and documents about Avery that prosecutors introduced as they opened the second day of the conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial against Lynn.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Sueddeutsche

Es ist der erste Prozess seiner Art in den USA: Seit Montag steht in Philadelphia ein ranghoher katholischer Geistlicher vor Gericht. Er soll Priester gedeckt haben, die unter Verdacht stehen, Kinder missbraucht zu haben. Der Kirchenmann weist die Vorwürfe zurück.

Die Geschichte dürfte symptomatisch für die Missbrauchsskandale der katholischen Kirche in vielen Ländern weltweit sein, doch es ist das erste Mal, dass in den USA ein derartiger Fall vor Gericht gebracht wird: Monsignore William Lynn aus Philadelphia soll Priester unter Missbrauchsverdacht gedeckt haben. Am Montag wurde der Prozess gegen ihn eröffnet.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Blaue Narzisse
Geschrieben von: Julian Islinger

Dienstag, den 27. März 2012

Es ist manchmal schon ein arges Kreuz mit seiner Kirche. Ostern steht vor der Tür und Christen bereiten sich weltweit auf ihr wohl wichtigstes religiöses Fest vor. Doch ausgerechnet in Deutschland dringt ein neuer Kirchenskandal an die Oberfläche. Wie der Spiegel in der aktuellen Ausgabe berichtet, beschäftigt das Bistum Trier sieben pädophil auffällig gewordene Pfarrer. Pikant: Der Bischof in Trier ist Stephan Ackermann, seines Zeichens erst 2010 von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) gewählter Missbrauchsbeauftragter in Deutschland.

Der junge Hirte

Ackermann ist einer der Jüngsten seiner Zunft. In seiner Laufbahn hatte er kein Problem, romkritische Pfarrer zu unterstützen, so zum Beispiel den kondombefürwortenden Priester Stefan Hippler, der in Südafrika tätig ist. Gerade weil er in seiner Position als Sinnbild für eine jugendlichere Kirche steht, hielt man ihn bei der Wahl 2010 für besonders geeignet, als zentraler Ansprechpartner im Bereich Missbrauchsfälle innerhalb der katholischen Kirche aufzuklären und aufzudecken.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spree Wild

Von Marie-Thérèse Harasim, 
21 Jahre

Stephan Ackermann ist der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland und Bischof von Trier. In der einen Position ist es seine Aufgabe, die Aufklärung der Missbrauchsfälle innerhalb der katholischen Kirche zu unterstützen, den Opfern zur Seite zu stehen und ein Ansprechpartner für ihre Belange zu sein. In der anderen beschäftigt er, scheinbar ohne zu zögern, pädophile Priester, die sich des Missbrauchs an Kindern schuldig gemacht haben, in Ämtern, in denen diese durchaus Kontakt zu Kindern und Jugendlichen haben können.

Dies kann nicht toleriert werden. Es sind die Kinder, die so ihrer ohnehin schon leisen Stimme beraubt werden. Nur selten schaffen sie es, für ihre Rechte einzutreten, in den meisten Fällen erst Jahre nachdem ihnen Leid angetan wurde. Sie sind die Leidtragenden solcher kirchenpolitischen Entscheidungen. Es ist nicht möglich, den Einsatz eines pädophil auffällig gewordenen Menschen in dem Bereich, in dem er wieder mit Kindern oder Jugendlichen Kontakt haben kann zu rechtfertigen. Tatsächlich hat dies außerhalb des Klerus, im Schulwesen zum Beispiel, harte Konsequenzen. Warum sollten Priester davon verschont bleiben?

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By Susan Campbell On March 27, 2012

To read the piece, go here.

And here is another Q&A piece put out by SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests:

What’s the crisis facing SNAP? Catholic officials in two Missouri dioceses are trying to force key SNAP staff people to answer hours of questions under oath about and turn over thousands of pages of confidential communicationswith victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and concerned parishioners. It’s an unprecedented assault on crime victims, on those who help crime victims and on our self help group.

Who’s affected by this? This potentially affects any crime victim who wants or needs privacy. It also affects police, prosecutors, journalists, witnesses, whistleblowers, victims, self help groups, counseling agencies – literally anyone who helps victims and exposes criminals. Emboldened by church officials’ legal successes, a rapist may now seek, and perhaps get, records and depositions from staff at the center his victim went to for help. A violent husband might get documents and depositions from staff at the domestic violence center where the spouse he battered sought refuge.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 26, 2012

There have been many different attempts by many different people to get bishops to act responsibly in child sex cases. But nothing seems to have much impact.

There have been thousands of civil lawsuits, media exposes, and financial settlements, There have been hundreds of criminal prosecutions. There’s been massive public and parishioner outrage.

Still, even now, most bishops continue minimizing and hiding heinous child sex crimes. They are shrewder about it and more effective with public relations. But in child sex cases, they are largely still acting in the same hurtful and deceitful ways they’ve acted for decades.

One approach, however, hasn’t really been tried: criminally charging the top Catholic officials who enable child molesting clerics to keep hurting kids. That’s what’s happening, for the first time, in Philadelphia. That’s why this trial is so significant.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

March 27, 2012

The findings of the broadcasting watchdog’s investigation into the defamation of a Galway priest by RTE are to be made public next week.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland met yesterday to consider the findings of an investigation into the Prime Time Investigates programme, A Mission to Pray, which wrongly claimed that Ahascragh priest Fr Kevin Reynolds had fathered a child while on mission in Africa.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Columbus Dispatch

By Erik Eckholm and Jon Hurdle
The New York Times
Tuesday March 27, 2012

The landmark trial of a senior official of the Philadelphia Archdiocese who is accused of shielding priests who sexually abused children and reassigning them to unwary parishes began yesterday with prosecutors charging that the official “paid lip service to child protection and protected the church at all costs.”

Monsignor William J. Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic supervisor in the country to be tried on felony charges of endangering children and conspiracy — not on allegations that he molested children himself, but that he protected suspect priests and reassigned them to jobs where they continued to rape, fondle or otherwise abuse boys and girls.

One of Lynn’s lines of defense was indicated in an opening statement when his lawyers suggested that he had acted responsibly and reported allegations of abuse to higher officials, including Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, who died in January.

The trial promises to further roil the 1.5 million-member Philadelphia Archdiocese, which was convulsed by grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 alleging that it had not responded forcefully to dozens of credible abuse complaints and had allowed known offenders to have continued contact with children.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
HLN (Belgie)

Proces ex-aartsbisschop die pedofiele priesters beschermde van start in VS

Bewerkt door: Ellen Provoost

In de Verenigde Staten is vandaag het eerste proces van start gegaan tegen een ‘topman’ van de katholieke kerk in verband met een reeks pedofiliedossiers. Voormalig aartsbisschop William Lynn staat in Philadelphia terecht omdat hij onder meer priesters zou beschermd hebben die beschuldigd waren van seksueel misbruik.

Lynn zou dossiers over seksueel misbruik van verscheidene priesters laten verdwijnen hebben. Voorts liet hij na twee van pedofilie beschuldigde priesters over te plaatsen. Hij riskeert 14 jaar cel.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

March 27, 2012 by Susan Matthews

The opening arguments in the landmark clergy sex abuse trial in Philadelphia began with a focus on Msgr. Lynn’s intent. Was he trying to protect children or the Church? My conclusion, after reading only 137 pages of absolutely damning evidence, is that Msgr. Lynn was protecting the institutional Church. I’m not a lawyer and it was crystal clear. I shared some of that evidence in a previous post – Exhibit Eight in Msgr. Lynn Trial: Evil.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

The primary accuser in this week’s high-profile criminal abuse trial in Philadelphia has a lengthy criminal record of fraud and deceit, including an alarming episode in which he fabricated an elaborate tale to the police about a violent home robbery that never occurred. Meanwhile, the media is largely ignoring the accuser’s background and is continuing instead to uncritically trumpet the prosecution’s salacious allegations of abuse.

In 2005, Mark Bukowski came forward with the shocking charge that Rev. James Brennan had raped him nine years earlier, in 1996, when Bukowski was reportedly 14 years old. Since that time, the media has breathlessly reported Bukowski’s allegations with scant interest in the accuser’s background. (Note: Bukowski has allowed his name to be made public – it’s in the grand jury report – although media outlets have chosen not to reveal it.)

Meanwhile, Bukowski has committed multiple and serious crimes in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that date both before and after the 2005 rape accusation against Fr. Brennan that call into question Bukowski’s veracity.

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FITCHBURG (MA)
Sentinel & Enterprise

FITCHBURG — A grand jury Friday indicted a former Fitchburg priest on charges that he stole from his parish and kept images of child pornography on his computers.

The Rev. Lowe Dongor, formerly assigned to St. Joseph Church on Woodland Street, is believed to have fled to his native Philippines.

“The last I knew was that he was gone in the wind and that we had a warrant out for his arrest,” said Timothy J. Connolly, spokesman for District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Bishop Robert McManus of the Diocese of Worcester removed Dongor from office when the accusations surfaced and has requested the Vatican defrock Dongor.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

Fr TOM DOYLE

RITE & REASON: THE REPORT on the apostolic visitation reflects an exercise in irrelevancy. The visitors listened but did they hear? The report includes the standard apologies, blame for the bishops and religious superiors, and praise for all the church has done in digging into the clerical culture to determine why the horrendous epidemic occurred.

But in reality, they looked for excuses rather than explanations. This “crisis” is not primarily about sexual molestation. It’s about the obsession with power and the corruption and stagnation of the clerical culture.

The visitors were not about to pierce the protective veil that covers the institutional church, a veil that hides the reason the clericalised church is unravelling and the communion between bishops and people is ruptured. The total lack of accountability by the authoritarian model of the church is the root of the crisis.

The Irish people didn’t deserve the insulting claim that the “shortcomings of the past” caused an inadequate understanding of the “terrible phenomenon of the abuse of minors”. The people named the causes head on: the secretive clerical culture, the lopsided theology of sexuality, seminary training disconnected from reality and the “church’s” obsession with control.

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MIDLAND (TX)
CBS 7

Shannon Murray
CBS 7 Reporter
smurrary@cbs7.com
Marcch 26, 2012

Midland, TX – We are continuing to learn more about a Midland County man under investigation for child molestation.

57-year-old Harold Carden Thompson Jr. is charged with felony indecency with a child by sexual contact.

He is out of a jail on a $50,000 bond.

There is one child labeled as a victim of Thompson’s alleged sexual abuse…but there are about 6 others that have come forward and will be interviewed in the coming days.

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter says Thompson is considered a mentor in the church where he met the boys.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Washington Post

Kansas City judge to hear motions to dismiss in case against Roman Catholic bishop

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, March 27

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge was scheduled to consider motions to dismiss a misdemeanor charge against a Roman Catholic bishop in Kansas City who is accused of violating Missouri’s mandatory reporter law.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph were charged last year with failing to report to the Missouri Children’s Division hundreds of photos of young children found on the laptop computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, including a series that showed the exposed genitals of a girl believed to be 3 or 4 years old.

Finn is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be accused of shielding an abusive priest, and a conviction could send shock waves through a church hierarchy unaccustomed to being held legally accountable for failing to report suspected sexual abuse by clergy members.

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MEXICO
Latin American Herald Tribune

LEON, Mexico – A representative of the victims of sexual abuse committed by late Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, on Monday reproached Pope Benedict XVI “for having ignored” that group of people on his just-concluded visit to Mexico.

“Why, in Mexico, did you not want to be close to the victims of that most ignominious priest Marcial Maciel?” former Legion of Christ member Juan Jose Vaca told MVS radio.

The pontiff met with victims of clerical sexual abuse during visits to the United States, Australia, Portugal, Malta and Germany.

Vaca had asked for a meeting in an email he sent to the papal nuncio Christophe Pierre and on his own in the name of the victims of Maciel (1920-2008) before the pope’s arrival in Mexico last Friday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Calgary Herald

Agence France-Presse March 27, 2012

A Catholic priest tasked with assigning priests jobs protected the dark “secrets” of his child-abusing subordinates, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark trial.

The trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior church official in the United States to be charged with covering up priests’ sexual abuse of children, began under heavy media scrutiny in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors are targeting Lynn, who they claim shuffled two priests suspected of child abuse to other positions, enabling the crimes to continue.

Assistant district attorney Jacqueline Coelho described Lynn as the “keeper of the secrets,” tasked with protecting the church from scandal and keeping parishioners in the dark. “The protection of children was the furthest thing from defendant Lynn’s mind,” said Coelho, who promised the jury a painstaking review of church archives in which Lynn would be incriminated by his own words.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Chronicle-Herald (Canada)

March 27, 2012 – By MARYCLAIRE DALE The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia protected sexual predators in its ranks for more than 70 years, putting the church’s reputation over the safety of children, a prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark priest abuse case that’s shaken the Roman Catholic establishment.

The church kept secret files dating back to 1948 that show a long-standing conspiracy to doubt sex abuse victims, protect priests and avoid scandal, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho said in opening statements.

Coelho called the case “a battle between right and wrong within the archdiocese and the office of secretary for clergy.”

She outlined the decades-old sexual abuse complaints found buried in secret archives to build a case against Monsignor William Lynn, who supervised priests as secretary for clergy from 1992 through 2004. Lynn is the first U.S. church official charged for his administrative role in the sex abuse crisis.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Jurors were asked a central question: Was Msgr. William J. Lynn trying to protect children – or the church?

READ: Grand Jury Presentment (.pdf)
Who was charged?
The list of 21 suspended priests

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

It was one of the most graphic details in a grand jury report filled with uncomfortable passages: A sentence on Page 37 stating that after the Rev. James J. Brennan anally raped a 14-year-old, the priest remained inside his body as the boy cried himself to sleep.

Yet in Monday’s opening statements at the long-awaited clergy sex-abuse trial in Common Pleas Court, both the prosecution and a defense attorney offered a sharply sanitized version of that night, which casts doubt on the case against Brennan and could weaken the conspiracy charge against Msgr. William J. Lynn, charged with protecting abusive priests and placing children in harm’s way.

Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho said the accuser had his underwear on when he was “almost raped” by Brennan.

Defense attorney William Brennan, no relation to his client, dismissed what transpired between the priest and the boy as a “pelvic bump between clothing.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

[video]

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

A landmark trial over child sex abuse by Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests opened Monday with a prosecutor and defense lawyer clashing over a central question:

Was Msgr. William J. Lynn trying to protect children or the church?

As the official responsible for investigating allegations of clergy sex-abuse around Philadelphia, he couldn’t do both, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho told jurors. So Lynn, she said, chose to spare church leaders and his fellow priests from scandal at the expense of victims and the public.

“You can’t protect the church without keeping the allegations in the dark,” Coelho said in her opening statement. “He kept the parishioners in the dark, and he kept the faithful in the dark.”

Lynn’s lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, provided a starkly different portrait. He said that as secretary for clergy between 1992 and 2004, Lynn devoted himself to comprehending the scope of clergy sex-abuse around the archdiocese and trying to isolate problem priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

Find the latest headlines from the Philadelphia Archdiocese child sex abuse scandal since the District Attorney released the Grand Jury report which charged three priests, a parochial school teacher, and a monsignor with sexual abuse against a minor or failing to prevent abuse. The report also found 37 priests who had been connecting to allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct still active and practicing in local parishes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

March 26, 2012
By Eric Walter

The trial of Monsignor William Lynn, which began this week, signifies a major crisis for the Catholic Church. While priests have been accused or convicted of sex crimes against children, this marks the first time a church leader has been criminally charged with covering up such abuse.

The case is drawing national attention for that reason, and it is stirring up renewed outrage from Catholics and critics of the church alike.

Lynn’s lawyers say that widespread coverage of the case, especially in light of the recent last-minute guilty plea from defrocked priest Edward Avery to sexually abusing a young boy, will have tainted the jury.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

“First of all, this is not television.”

With those words, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina ended her orientation for 20 jurors – 9 women and 11 men – who Monday began hearing what could be up to three months of testimony in the trial of a church official and priest involving the clergy sex-abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Not television? That’s an understatement.

It’s not just a reality check for jurors. Judges don’t bang gavels to open and close court sessions and most people understand that TV, movies and theater alter reality for dramatic effect.

For jurors, the trial is a crash course in logic and philosophy: learning to live according to a new reality that exists only in a courtroom and has its own language and rules of behavior.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Press TV (Iran)

As one of the most closely-watched sex abuse trials involving the Catholic church kicked off on Monday, a prosecutor charged Monsignor William Lynn was the “keeper of secrets” who failed to protect children and then covered-up the crimes.

Lynn, 61, the most senior cleric to go to trial in the wave of sexual abuse cases against the Catholic Church, is charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for covering up allegations against priests.

Lynn served as secretary of the clergy under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Philadelphia’s archbishop from 1988 to 2003. That made Lynn, in effect, the personnel director for priests.

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DUITSLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

TRIER (ANP/DPA) – Via de speciale telefoonlijn voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in Duitsland zijn tot nu toe ongeveer 8200 gesprekken gevoerd. Dat heeft de woordvoerder van het bisdom Trier maandag gezegd. De Duitse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk opende de lijn 2 jaar geleden. Hij zal in ieder geval tot eind april blijven bestaan.

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NEDERLAND
Historisch Nieuwsblad

De onvrijwillige castratie van de minderjarige Henk Heithuis in een katholiek internaat in de jaren vijftig zorgt voor veel commotie. De vraag rijst waarom commissie-Deetman het voorval niet heeft opgenomen in haar rapport. Historicus Hans Renders meent dat de commotie terecht is, maar dat castraties bij psychiatrische instellingen in de jaren veertig en vijftig de normale gang van zaken was.

Door Wendy Dallinga

Heithuis deed in 1956 aangifte van misbruik in het katholieke jongensinternaat Harreveld. Hij werd door de politie naar de psychiatrische instelling Huize Padua gebracht om vervolgens gecastreerd te worden. De castratie zou hem afhelpen van zijn homoseksuele gevoelens. Cornelis Rogge, een kind van het pleeggezin waar Heithuis later werd opgenomen, deed hiervan melding bij de commissie-Deetman, die seksueel misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk in Nederland onderzocht, maar het voorval werd niet in het rapport opgenomen. De commissie stelt dat zij onderzoekstechnisch te weinig aanknopingspunten had voor verder onderzoek.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Times of India

PHILADELPHIA: A landmark sex abuse case that rocked the Roman Catholic Church went to trial Monday, marking the first time a U.S. church official faced a jury on allegations he endangered the welfare of children by covering for predator priests.

The trial will be closely followed by Catholics across the country, including some who say their lives were destroyed.

Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia pleaded not guilty.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
msnbc

By msnbc.com staff and news services

PHILADELPHIA — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia protected sexual predators in its ranks for more than 70 years, putting the church’s reputation over the safety of children, a prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark priest abuse case that’s shaken the Roman Catholic establishment.

The church kept secret files dating back to 1948 that show a long-standing conspiracy to doubt sex abuse victims, protect priests and avoid scandal, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho said in opening statements.

“You can’t protect the church without keeping the allegations in the dark,” Coelho told jurors, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “He kept the parishioners in the dark and he kept the faithful in the dark.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Los Angeles Times

By David Zucchino

March 26, 2012

The first Catholic Church official to go on trial for allegedly covering up sexual abuse of children by predator priests was described by prosecutors Monday as more concerned with protecting the church than children.

Prosecutors in Philadelphia told jurors in opening statements that Monsignor William J. Lynn, who was in charge of reviewing complaints about abusive priests, tried to save the church from scandal by covering up child sexual abuse.

“You can’t protect the church without keeping the allegations in the dark,’’ said Assistant Dist. Atty. Jacqueline Coelho, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “He kept the parishioners in the dark and he kept the faithful in the dark.’’

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA | Tue Mar 27, 2012

(Reuters) – One of the most closely watched child sex abuse trials involving the Roman Catholic Church began on Monday with a prosecutor asserting that Monsignor William Lynn was the “keeper of secrets” and his lawyer countering that he alone tried to stop the abuse.

At the center of opening arguments in the case against Lynn, the most senior cleric to stand trial in the church’s sex abuse scandal, was the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s “secret archive” of files containing information about hundreds of suspect priests.

Lynn, 61, is charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for covering up allegations against priests. He faces a maximum of 28 years in prison if convicted of all counts.

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WEST HARTFORD (CT)
The Hartford Courant

By Susan Campbell On March 26, 2012

…then SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — is going to need funds to fight back.

In two clergy sex abuse cases in Missouri, church lawyers 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
though SNAP is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the cases. (I wrote about that here.)

The organization — with three paid staff members, and volunteers who lead 55 chapters in this country and eight overseas — was providing support for victims of clergy abuse years before any one else was paying attention. And they will need help fighting back.

You can meet David Clohessy, SNAP’s national director, at a Connecticut fundraiser at 6 p.m. Tuesday at 20 Westmont St. in West Hartford.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

Susan Campbell

4:39 p.m. EDT, March 26, 2012

Earlier in March, reports began circulating that lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexually abusing children were going to court to force SNAP —- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests —- to release more than two decades of correspondence.

Their attempts are unprecedented. SNAP is not directly involved in any court cases, though it has served as a support system to victims since its inception in 1989. The national organization has members in Connecticut who have provided support for individuals abused by George Reardon, St. Francis Hospital’s former head of endocrinology, and priests, as well as lobbied for change in the state’s statute of limitations laws.

David Clohessy, national director for SNAP, will be in West Hartford on Tuesday for a fundraiser. (You can find out more about the fundraiser here: http://bit.ly/GQNcjQ). He answered a few questions in preparation for his time in Connecticut.

Q: You’re in town for a fundraiser on Tuesday. Are you doing more fundraising these days?

A: Considerably. Because of the church hierarchy’s legal attack, we’ve incurred roughly $50,000 in legal expenses that we didn’t expect and can’t afford. We’ve had to work harder than ever to continue, as we have for years, protecting the vulnerable and healing the wounded and seeking donations to help us afford (and hopefully prevail over) the mean-spirited legal moves by Catholic officials in St. Louis and Kansas City.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic League

[Archbishop Chaput’s War on Obama Is Bad for Philadelphia]

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an article that appears today as a post on the Philadelphia magazine blog site by Joel Mathis:

Joel Mathis isn’t Catholic, but that doesn’t stop him from giving some heady advice to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput: just tend to the problems in the archdiocese and drop your criticisms of the Obama administration. Mathis is angry that Chaput has a new e-book coming out tomorrow, A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America, that addresses recent attacks on religious liberty. Mathis counsels Chaput to “concentrate on fixing the Catholic Church in Philadelphia,” adding that the archbishop’s alleged “anti-Obama crusade” amounts to “a distraction.”

Catholics like to lecture the outspoken archbishop as well. Last September, no sooner had Archbishop Chaput taken over in Philly when Catholic attorney Nicholas Cafardi offered his instructions. Noting that Chaput likes to comment on the big issues of the day, he said, “Chaput would be well-advised to leave politics aside.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Wall Street Journal

By PETER LOFTUS

PHILADELPHIA—A former high-ranking Roman Catholic Church official placed the church’s reputation above children’s safety by concealing allegations that priests sexually abused minors, said a Philadelphia prosecutor at the start of a landmark criminal trial Monday.

“He paid lip service to children’s protection,” Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho said in an opening statement of a trial that could last for several months. “His concerted effort was to protect the church from scandal.”

Msgr. William Lynn is the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy to have his case reach trial on charges related to coverup allegations. He served as secretary for clergy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, a job that included handling allegations of sexual abuse by priests. He is charged with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children and has pleaded not guilty.

Ms. Coelho said Msgr. Lynn was aware of allegations of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior with minors that had been lodged against several priests, but he failed to keep two of those priests out of assignments that involved contact with children; the two priests allegedly went on to sexually abuse two boys in separate incidents in the 1990s.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 26, 2012
By Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA — As two of his former colleagues prepared to face trial on abuse-related charges, a former priest of the Philadelphia Archdiocese was sentenced to two and a half to five years in prison March 22 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy.

Edward V. Avery, 69, who was removed from the priesthood in 2006, admitted in an appearance before Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina that he was guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in the 1999 assault. He also said he conspired with co-defendant Msgr. William J. Lynn, then secretary for clergy in the archdiocese, to endanger children.

Msgr. Lynn, who is not charged with any sexual wrongdoing, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and endangering children. Another co-defendant, Father James J. Brennan, is accused of raping a boy in 1996 and has also pleaded not guilty. Their trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

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UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

Monday, March 26, 2012

By Scott Alessi

Today begins the much anticipated trial of Msgr. William Lynn, a Philadelphia priest accused of child endangerment for his role in the cover up of child sex abuse allegations. The trial has major implications for the church, as it marks the first time a church official is facing criminal charges for failure to remove an accused priest from ministry.

Lynn, in his role as secretary for clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese, was responsible for investigating abuse allegations and ensuring that appropriate action was taken against priests who posed a threat to children. A Philadelphia grand jury determined that he failed in that role and recommended he face charges along with the priests who actually committed the abuse.

Meanwhile Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is facing his own legal trouble for failure to report to authorities a priest who was in possession of child pornography. Finn avoided indictment in one county last fall by making a deal with the prosecutor but he may not be so lucky in the second county where he faces charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Maroondah Weekly

BY MELISSA CUNNINGHAM

27 Mar, 2012

IAN Lawther still has faith in God – but he doesn’t attend the Catholic Church to prove it any more.

The Healesville father said he doesn’t “accept dogma from any church” since his son was abused by a convicted St Brigid’s parish priest more than 10 years ago.

Over the years, Mr Lawther and his family have faced heartbreak and turmoil in their fight for justice. The crippling trauma caused him to lose three-quarters of his sight after he went into a “fit of rage” reading over his son’s court documents, and burst the blood vessels in his eyes.

When the Weekly spoke to Mr Lawther last week, he welcomed the recommendations of the landmark Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, which was tabled to Parliament at the end of last month.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

With the beginning of the clergy sex abuse and cover-up criminal trial in Philadelphia, as well as the recent guilty plea from Orange County (CA) priest Denis Lyons, I wanted to post a list of all of the currently active clergy criminal cases in the United States. If I have missed any, let me know. All of these are for sexual abuse or conspiracy to commit abuse, except for Fr. McCloskey in Albany. He was charged with fleeing from the police, reckless driving and auto theft.

■Diocese of San Diego – Reverend Jose Davila
■Diocese of Sacramento – Reverend Uriel Ojeda
■Diocese of Kansas City/St. Joseph – Bishop Robert Finn
■Diocese of Venice, Florida – Reverend Bernard Chojnacki
■Archdiocese of Philadelphia ■Reverend Edward Avery – plead guilty to conspiracy and felony child abuse
■Monsignor William Lynn
■Reverend Charles Engelhart O.S.F.S.
■Diocese of Brooklyn – Reverend Thomas Brady
■Diocese of Albany – Reverend Francis McCloskey

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

[with video[

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

updated 2:28 PM EDT, Mon March 26, 2012

Philadelphia (CNN) — Opening arguments started Monday in the first case in which a Roman Catholic archdiocese official is accused of covering up evidence of suspected sexual abuse of children.

Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan appeared before Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina inside a nearly filled Philadelphia courtroom. The attendees had to pass through a metal detector and surrender all electronic devices before entering the courtroom.

Commonwealth prosecutor Jacqueline Coelho told jurors in her nearly hour-long opening statement that Lynn’s role was to protect priests, the church and privacy “at any cost.”

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — A Roman Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography and stealing from his Fitchburg parish has been indicted on related charges.

A Worcester County grand jury handed up indictments Friday charging the Rev. Lowe B. Dongor with possession of child pornography and larceny of more than $250. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Rev. Dongor, who authorities believe has fled the country and possibly returned to his native homeland of the Philippines.

State police allege that one of Rev. Dongor’s laptop computers contained images of girls 10 or 11 years old in various states of undress. The 36-year-old priest also allegedly admitted to investigators that he stole “$40 or $50” from St. Joseph parish in Fitchburg on a number of occasions to send home to his family in the Philippines.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KTAR

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
March 26th, 2012

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A lawyer for a high-ranking Catholic monsignor on trial in Philadelphia says his client won’t run from the church’s sex abuse crisis.

The defense says Monday that Monsignor William Lynn is perhaps the only person in the Philadelphia archdiocese who tried to address it.

Lynn supervised more than 800 priests as the longtime secretary for clergy. He’s the first U.S. church official ever charged over his handling of abuse complaints.

Prosecutors say Lynn helped the church cover up the abuse complaints and endangered children by keeping dangerous priests in ministry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Canada.com

By Daniel Kelley, AFP March 26, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — High-ranking Catholic priest Monsignor William Lynn protected the dark “secrets” of child-abusing subordinates, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark trial.

The trial of the most senior church official in the United States to be charged with covering up priests’ sexual abuse of children began under heavy media scrutiny in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors are targeting Lynn for allegedly shuffling two priests suspected of child abuse to other positions, thereby enabling the crimes to continue.

Assistant district attorney Jacqueline Coelho described Lynn as the “keeper of the secrets,” tasked with protecting the church from scandal and keeping parishioners in the dark. “The protection of children was the furthest thing from defendant Lynn’s mind,” Coelho said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Jamie L Manson on Mar. 26, 2012 Grace on the Margins

It has been 20 years since Matthew Fox was expelled from the Dominican order after a 12-year battle with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In the decades since, Fox has continued writing, teaching and ministering to various communities. In 1994, he was welcomed into the Anglican Communion as an Episcopal priest. Fox has authored 28 books, the most recent being The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved. The book has been translated into German, and the Italian version will be released this week.

In addition to this work, Fox spends much of his energy engaging with young adults who are interested in activism and spirituality. In a telephone interview last week, I talked with Fox about the key themes from his recent book and about his current projects with young spiritual activists.

Manson: You have been an Episcopal priest for 14 years, yet you’re still writing about the Catholic church and speaking to Catholics. Do you still consider yourself a Catholic?

Fox: I consider myself an Episcopal priest, but I never found any documents that said I’m no longer a Catholic priest or a Catholic. As I say in my most recent book, I’m for dropping the word Roman from Catholic and getting it back to its real meaning.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

March 26, 2012

Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki will prostrate himself before the altar at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church on Thursday in a special Mass of Atonement meant to acknowledge the church’s sins in the handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis and steps it has taken to reform.

Although all Catholics are welcome, the archdiocese specifically invited sex abuse victims in its announcement. It is unclear how the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, in which it has taken steps that would block large numbers of victim’s claims, would affect that turnout.

St. Frances was selected for its size and location, not its history, according to a church spokeswoman. Two archdiocesan priests who had served at the parish, Father Charles W. Walter (1987-1993) and the late Father Edmund Haen (1955-1972), appear on the archdiocese’s list of priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse against them. Haen died in 1997; Walter remains fully restricted from ministry, according to the list.

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NETHERLANDS
The Algemeiner

Within the past week, three incidents of depravity have been the subject of news coverage. Of course, in the world at large, many outrages have occurred, but these three affecting young people had a special impact, and I would like to bring them to your attention.

On March 20th, The New York Times reporter Stephen Castle wrote, “A young man in the care of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands was surgically castrated decades ago after complaining about sexual abuse, according to new evidence that only adds to the scandal engulfing the church there.”

Castle went on, “In 2010, about 2,000 people complained of abuse by priests, church institutions or religious orders in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church commissioned an inquiry. It finally concluded that the number of actual victims over several decades could be 10 times higher.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Local 10

Author: By Sarah Hoye CNN

Published On: Mar 26 2012

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) –
Opening arguments started Monday in the first case in which a Roman Catholic archdiocese official is accused of covering up evidence of suspected sexual abuse of children.

Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan appeared before Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina inside a nearly filled Philadelphia courtroom. The attendees had to pass through a metal detector and surrender all electronic devices before entering the courtroom.

Commonwealth prosecutor Jacqueline Coelho told jurors in her nearly hour-long opening statement that Lynn’s role was to protect priests, the church and privacy “at any cost.”

Lynn, dressed in all black and wearing a priest collar, listened intently as Coelho argued that he knowingly covered up incidents of sexual abuse, including alleged acts by Brennan, and “ignored common sense and placed children at risk.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Vatican Insider

Philadelphia’s first trial against a monsignor is taking place after it was discovered that he covered for subordinates who had committed sexual abuse against minors

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

A grand jury is accusing Mgr. William Lynn of protecting two priests suspected of paedophilia, allowing them to carry on abusing their victims. One of the priests, Edward Avery, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two and half years in prison.

The other priest, Rev. David Brennan is being tried for abuse against minors carried out in the 90’s. This is the first court proceeding to be launched in the U.S. against cases of paedophilia in Catholic Church institutions.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A ranking monsignor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia chose to ignore or conceal information about sexually abusive priests because protecting the church was more important than protecting children, a prosecutor said Monday morning.

“You can’t protect the church without keeping the allegations in the dark,” to Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho told jurors as the landmark sexual abuse case got under way. “He kept the parishioners in the dark and he kept the faithful in the dark.”

Coelho’s opening statement came after lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn and the Rev. James J. Brennan lost a bid to seek a new jury or delay the trial.

The proceedings were delayed nearly 90 minutes while Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina and attorneys met individually with the jurors to make sure none had been unduly influenced by news that a third defendant, defrocked priest Edward V. Avery, pleaded guilty last week. When it ended, the panel of 22 jurors and alternates had dropped to 20. But the judge did not explain why.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

March 26, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Breaking News: John Martin reported in the Inquirer a few moments ago that the Judge has rejected a bid to delay the trial. Opening statements are set to begin! Link to follow.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
AFP

By Daniel Kelley (AFP)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — The first Catholic priest in the United States to be charged with covering up his subordinates’ sexual abuse of children arrived in court Monday for a landmark trial in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors are targeting Monsignor William Lynn for allegedly shuffling two priests suspected of child abuse to other positions around the Philadelphia, thereby enabling the crimes to continue.

The role of such a senior official, whose co-defendant Reverend James Brennan is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990’s, makes the trial the first of its kind in the United States.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newser

By MARYCLAIRE DALE | Associated Press
Prosecutors say the Archdiocese of Philadelphia engaged in a long-standing criminal effort to protect sexual predator priests, putting the reputation of the church over the safety of children.

Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coehlo (coh-EHL’-oh) told a jury Monday during opening statements of a landmark trial against a priest and high-ranking church official that a decades-long conspiracy met victims with skepticism “at all cost.”

Monday marked the beginning of prosecutors’ case against Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Global News

PHILADELPHIA – A landmark sex abuse case that rocked the Roman Catholic Church went to trial Monday, marking the first time a U.S. church official faced a jury on allegations he endangered the welfare of children by covering for predator priests.

The trial will be closely followed by Catholics across the country, including some who say their lives were destroyed.

Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia pleaded not guilty.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Anmerkungen donec venias

Aus gegebenem Anlass, möchte ich hier einmal kurzgefasst das wiedergeben, was ein Bekannter zu sagen hat. Ich habe mich bemüht, alle Details herauszunehmen, die ihn identifizierbar machen. Seinen Namen habe ich natürlich sowieso geändert. Vielleicht ist er ein Ausnahmefall. Vielleicht gibt es noch mehr wie ihn. Denn wer erfährt so etwas? Er hat mich nicht beauftragt das zu schreiben. Er resigniert eher und hat Angst, dass, gleich was er tut, alles nur noch schlimmer wird. Also, hier seine Geschichte:

“Mein Name ist Josef. Ich bin Priester – und Sie sind alle meine Richter. Bevor Sie das endgültige Urteil fällen, nehme ich dankend die Möglichkeit an, wenigstens alles aus meiner Sicht schildern zu können:

Zu meiner Berufung fand ich, als ich als Jugendlicher schwer verletzt im Krankenhaus lag und der Ortspfarrer mich besuchte. Er setzte sich zu mir und betete den Rosenkranz. Dabei wurde mir klar, dass ich in Maria eine liebende Mutter habe. Das war für mich sehr wichtig. Denn meine Mutter hatte mich nicht gewollt, meinen Vater kannte ich nicht. Ich durfte nur leben, weil eine Verwandte sich bereit erklärt hatte, mich großzuziehen. Dort wuchs ich auf, meine Mutter sah ich selten. Ich wollte sein wie dieser Pfarrer, der Kranke besucht und Verlassenen wie mir eine Mutter zeigt.

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MEXIKO
N-TV

Wusste Papst Benedikt XVI. von den Machenschaften Marcial Maciels? Der führende Geistliche soll in Mexiko Kinder missbraucht und mehrere selbst gezeugt haben. Als Mitglied der Glaubenskongregation behinderte er die Aufklärung des Falles, so die Anklage von Opfern und Experten. Und das gemeinsam mit Papst Johannes Paul II.

Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch in Mexiko haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen Papst Benedikt XVI. erhoben. Der 84-Jährige habe in seiner Zeit als Chef der Glaubenskongregation im Vatikan die Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandal um den inzwischen verstorbenen Gründer des Ordens der Legionäre Christi, Marcial Maciel, behindert, heißt es in einem Manifest, das die Opfer aus Anlass des Papstbesuches in Mexiko veröffentlichten. Eines der Opfer, José Barba, beklagt in der Videobotschaft, dass sie über Jahre nicht gehört worden seien.

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MEXIKO
Spin

Papst Benedikt XVI. hat Mexiko zu einer friedlichen Beilegung seiner Konflikte im Land aufgerufen. Christi Herrschaft bestehe “nicht in der Kraft seiner Armeen, andere mit Macht und Gewalt zu unterwerfen”, sagte das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche bei einer Messe unter freiem Himmel nahe der Stadt León. Viele hätten die Herrschaft “falsch verstanden oder verstehen sie falsch”.

Benedikt XVI. sprach wie üblich keine konkrete Situation an, sondern betonte vor den mehr als 350.000 Gläubigen im Bicentenario-Park in Silao die Grundwerte des katholischen Glaubens. Das mexikanische Volk und weitere lateinamerikanische Länder erlebten derzeit “Momente des Schmerzes und der Hoffnung”, sagte er.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bospace

Trier – Gegen den Missbrauchsbeauftragten der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann, gibt es neue Vorwürfe. Nachdem bekannt worden war, dass Ackermann in seinem eigenen Bistum pädophile Pfarrer als Seelsorger beschäftigt (“Spiegel” 12/2012), werfen nun zwei Pfarrer aus dem saarländischen Ort Köllerbach dem Trierer Bischof und dessen Ordinariat “Vertuschung statt Aufklärung” vor, berichtet der “Spiegel” vorab. Die beiden Geistlichen hatten 2010 von mehreren Verdachtsfällen sexueller Gewalt in der Köllerbacher Gemeinde St. Martin erfahren und daraufhin unverzüglich die Bistumsleitung informiert.

Statt der erhofften Aufklärung wurden in einem Schreiben im Auftrag der Bistumsleitung die von Pater Klaus Gorges innerkirchlich gemeldeten Vorfälle in Köllerbach lediglich als “Gerüchte” bezeichnet, “die sich nicht erhärtet” hätten. Dabei hatten Zeugen auch gegenüber dem Priester Guido Ittmann die Vorfälle bestätigt. Ittmann und ein Opfer stellten Strafanzeige, die allerdings wegen Verjährung nicht weiter verfolgt werden konnte. Das Bistum fühlt sich zudem für die mutmaßlichen Täter kirchenrechtlich nicht zuständig. Nach seinem Aufklärungsbemühungen bekam Pfarrer Ittmann neben Drohbriefen auch einen Sack mit Tierkadavern vor die Haustüre und tote Fledermäuse in den Weihwasserkrug seiner Kirche gelegt. Ackermanns Personalchef habe ihn angewiesen, sich still zu verhalten und den Missbrauchsfällen nicht nachzugehen, so Ittmann. Das Bistum wollte sich zu dem Vorwurf nicht äußern. Das Generalvikariat schrieb ihm, Veröffentlichungen des Pfarrers müssten vorher abgezeichnet werden. Ittmann: “Ich kann nicht fassen, das dies die Reaktion des Bistums auf einen Missbrauchsverdacht ist.” Einige der mutmaßlichen Täter seien in der Diözese immer noch aktiv.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Wochenblatt

„Vertuschung statt Aufklärung von Missbrauchsfällen in der katholischen Kirche”

Gegen den Missbrauchsbeauftragten der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann, gibt es neue Vorwürfe. Bereits letzte Woche hatte der Spiegel berichtet, in der Diözese Ackermanns seien Priester nur versetzt worden, denen man sexuellen Missbrauch vorwerfe.

Nachdem bekannt worden war, dass Ackermann in seinem eigenen Bistum pädophile Pfarrer als Seelsorger beschäftigt (SPIEGEL 12/2012), werfen nun zwei Pfarrer aus dem saarländischen Ort Köllerbach dem Trierer Bischof und dessen Ordinariat “Vertuschung statt Aufklärung” vor. Die beiden Geistlichen hatten 2010 von mehreren Verdachtsfällen sexueller Gewalt in der Köllerbacher Gemeinde St. Martin erfahren und daraufhin unverzüglich die Bistumsleitung informiert. Statt der erhofften Aufklärung wurden in einem Schreiben im Auftrag der Bistumsleitung die von Pater Klaus Gorges innerkirchlich gemeldeten Vorfälle in Köllerbach lediglich als “Gerüchte” bezeichnet, “die sich nicht erhärtet” hätten.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KSRO

MARYCLAIRE DALE

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The high-ranking Roman Catholic official charged with shuffling predator priests to unwitting parishes has pleaded not guilty in front of a Philadelphia jury as the landmark case against him and a priest begins.

The trial of Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan began Monday morning after a brief delay. Opening statements are next.

A defrocked priest who had been a co-defendant in the case entered a surprise guilty plea last week following weeks of legal wrangling in the case. Defense attorneys had asked for a new jury, saying it could be tainted if jurors learned of Avery’s plea.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philly Post

The head of the Catholic Church should spend less time pandering to the Republicans and more time dealing with local problems.

By Joel Mathis 3/26/2012

It can’t be a fun time to be Catholic in Philadelphia.

On Friday, defrocked priest Edward Avery pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a Northeast Philadelphia altar boy in 1999. This week—assuming all goes as planned—Monsignor William Lynn goes on trial, accused of covering up many more allegations against many more priests while he served during Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s reign in the city. And there are the non-rape problems: The diocese has struggled with massively declining enrollment in the city’s parochial schools. They ain’t exactly packing them in at the parishes, either.

So what’s Archbishop Charles Chaput’s plan to fix a diocese in crisis? Apparently, it’s to turn the church into the Republican Party at Mass.

Suddenly Philadelphia Catholics under Chaput are rallying against President Obama. This week they’ll be fasting and praying in protest against the president. And Chaput himself is now releasing an 99-cent e-book—A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America—that plainly takes aim at the president and his policy that employers provide contraceptive coverage as part of health insurance plans. Under Chaput, the local church has been busy, busy, busy reminding everybody that Obama is coming to take your religious freedom away.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A judge is expected to rule this morning on a request to delay the landmark trial of Philadelphia priests accused of conspiring to cover up clergy sex abuse.

Opening statements had been scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in a third-floor courtroom at the city’s Criminal Justice Center. But as of 10:15 a.m., the parties remained behind closed doors.

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn and the Rev. James J. Brennan said that publicity over last week’s unexpected guilty plea by a third defendant might have tainted the jury.

As of 10:15 a.m., the parties remained behind closed doors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KTAR

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
March 26th, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The start of a landmark priest abuse case involving a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was delayed Monday while a judge weighed a defense request for a new jury after the abrupt guilty plea last week of a co-defendant.

Attorneys for Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan planned to attack the credibility of the priests’ troubled adult accusers, but that strategy took a hit last week when defrocked priest Edward Avery entered a last-minute guilty plea, confirming one accuser’s account of a brutal 1999 sexual assault inside a church sacristy.

The trial for Lynn and Brennan was scheduled to begin Monday morning after weeks of jury selection and pretrial wrangling. Both men were in court for the start of the trial, but the judge and jury were not.

All three priests were to be tried together before Avery pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to an assault on a then-10-year-old altar boy.

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INDIANA
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 26, 2012
By Melinda Henneberger

On her way back to St. Mary’s College from the University of Notre Dame, just across the street in Notre Dame, Ind., freshman Lizzy Seeberg texted her therapist that she needed to talk ASAP. “Something bad happened,” read her message, sent at 11:39 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2010. A sophomore in their dorm bolted from her study group after getting a similar message. When they talked a few minutes later, Lizzy was crying so hard she was having trouble breathing: “She looked really flushed and was breathing heavily and talking really fast; I couldn’t understand her. I just heard her say ‘boy,’ ‘Notre Dame,’ ‘football player.’ She was crying and having the closest thing to a panic attack I’ve seen in my life. I told her to breathe and sit down and tell me everything.”

What she eventually did tell both her therapist and her friend that night — then committed to paper, in a handwritten statement she and the other young woman carefully signed, dated and handed over to campus police the next day, is that a Notre Dame football player sexually assaulted her in his room after two other students left them alone there. Yet Notre Dame police, who have jurisdiction to investigate even the most serious crimes on campus, still had not interviewed him when she committed suicide 10 days later — and wouldn’t for another five days. “He started sucking my neck and I started crying harder,” Lizzy wrote.

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MEXICO
Vatican Insider

The majestic Basilica Cathedral of Our Holy Mother of the Light hosts a sort of ‘Latin American conclave’ of South American bishops

Giacomo Galeazzi

An eco resounds in the neoclassical aisles of the Cathedral, it is the invite extended to the audience by the pope as pastor and theologian not to “give into the intimidation campaign of evil forces”, because “ Evil does not have the last word in history” and “God can present new grounds for a hope that does not disappoint”. In the Majestic Cathedral of Leon in Mexico, which has been transformed into a sort of “Latin conclave” as all the continent’s bishops have flocked together, Benedict XVI attacked the bishops who have collaborated with the drug lords and the powerful founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Maciel, who is a paedophile. During the recital of the vespers the Pope deplored “weaknesses and faults”, but also sent a message of hope: “ The cruelty and ignorance of men do not stop the divine plan for salvation. Evil cannot do much”. This warning was directed at people within the Church but also outside, including the leaders of countries “that suffer due to poverty, corruption, domestic violence, drug trafficking, the collapse of moral values, criminality and emigration because it splits families up”

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Aljazeera

Chris Arsenault Last Modified: 26 Mar 2012

As Pope Benedict XVI makes his way through Mexico and Cuba, rallying the faithful, his advisers are likely having backroom discussions about an impending threat to the Catholic Church’s historic dominance in the region: The rise of evangelical Christianity.

Home to about eight per cent of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics – more of the faithful than any country outside Brazil – Mexico has seen a slow but steady decline in people who self-identify with the faith. Currently about 82.7 per cent of Mexicans consider themselves Catholic, down from 88 per cent in 2000 and 96 per cent in 1970. Evangelical protestant denominations are believed responsible for much of the drop.

“The Vatican is extremely concerned about competition with evangelicals,” Daniel Levine, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies religious movements in Latin America, told Al Jazeera. “They are worried about losing their position as ‘the’ spokesperson for religion and morality in the region. It is a big change from a generation ago.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newser

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 26, 2012

(Newser) – Two Catholic priests are set to go on trial in Philadelphia for charges related to alleged child sexual abuse today, and their chances of victory look a lot lower than they did last week. Monsignor William Lynn is the first church official charged with child endangerment for failing to remove two alleged abusers from their posts, the AP reports. One of those alleged abusers, Rev. James Brennan, is on trial alongside him, charged with raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996. But the other, Edward Avery, submitted a last-minute guilty plea.

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BELGIE
Humo

De Wonderjaren van Maaike Cafmeyer (39) spelen zich af op het platteland van Torhout, diep in het West-Vlaamse Houtland. De actrice houdt goede herinneringen over aan haar kindertijd, hoewel haar tienerjaren niet zonder slag of stoot verlopen zijn.

Maaike Cafmeyer «Ik ben een plattelandskind. Als ik aan mijn lagereschooltijd terugdenk, zie ik mezelf in het groen, spelend tussen de koeien, de schapen en de bomen met vogelnesten. Ik heb als kind de stad niet gezien. …

•Cafmeyer «Als kind heb ik ook altijd intuïtief heb aangevoeld dat er iets niet pluis was met al die geestelijken.

»Neem nu Roger Vangheluwe. Ik heb die man verschillende keren ontmoet. Ik ben zelfs ooit samen met hem met de witte Lourdestrein op bedevaart geweest. Hij zat in het midden van die trein op een hoge stoel met zijn staf, meestal met een kind op zijn schoot, terwijl hij door een micro het onzevader voorlas. Ook mijn broer heeft zo bij hem op de schoot gezeten, toen hij één jaar was. Als ik daaraan denk, word ik niet goed.

»Het typeert de tijdgeest van toen en het soort mensen tussen wie ik in het katholieke West-Vlaanderen van de jaren zeventig en tachtig ben opgegroeid. Maar het typeert ook de hoogmoed van dat soort priesters, en hoe ze zichzelf zagen ten opzichte van ‘hun’ gelovigen: ze zaten, als goede herders, met hun mijter en staf op een troon, op een übertrip naar een verschijning van de maagd Maria, terwijl alle schapen in de trein lijdzaam toekeken en lofliederen zongen. Als je in zo’n machtspositie zit, kunnen grenzen snel vervagen.

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BELGIE
Knack

maandag 26 maart 2012

Torhout – Actrice Maaike Cafmeyer heeft het in het weekblad Humo deze week over haar ‘Wonderjaren’, haar jeugd die ze doorbracht op het Torhoutse platteland. Ze heeft het over de leuke tijd die ze beleefde met haar zus, haar rebelse jaren toen ze ‘s nachts wegsloop om te gaan fuiven, maar ook over toenmalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe.

“Als kind heb ik ook altijd intuïtief heb aangevoeld dat er iets niet pluis was met al die geestelijken”, zegt Maaike Cafmeyer in het interview. Roger Vangheluwe ontmoette ze verschillende keren, ook op bedevaart. “Hij zat op een hoge stoel met zijn staf, meestal met een kind op zijn schoot. Ook mijn broer heeft zo bij hem op de schoot gezeten. Als ik daaraan denk, word ik niet goed.”

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC

[with video]

Written by
Pamela Osborne

CLEVELAND — It’s been a little over two weeks since the Vatican ruled that the 13 churches closed by Bishop Richard Lennon reopen. The bishop has yet to respond, and the churches have yet to be reopened.

But it didn’t stop displaced parishioners from joining for a special prayer of thanks. Hundreds of parishioners gathered at St. Colman’s church for a special mass. They called it the “Mass of Thanksgiving.” Their thanks went to the Vatican for overturning the bishops ruling.

But there was a deeper meaning to the prayer that took place. Parishioners were asked to spend some time thinking about forgiveness. Forgiveness is something some have had a hard time with, since many of them say their churches closed down and they were left with no place to go.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

I’ve a sneaking suspicion that there are plans afoot in Rome to put a squeeze on us a la carte Catholics — those of us who can’t quite decide whether we’re in or out. We’re the ones who believe they should be glad to have us at all; and who love a bouncy castle on Holy Communion Day. Will we soon be told to shape up or ship out?

Now there is no clear word, on this but the summary of the report from the ‘Apolostic Visitation” published this week was most interesting in parts. It was not that it contained any great surprises in terms of clerical abuse and the rape of children. It was pretty much the same old same old there.

But what did surprise me was the fairly clear message regarding orthodoxy. In other words, we were reminded that the rules are the rules. It doesn’t matter what the “background music” may be in our country with regard to sexual abuse, or the historical dominance of the church, which had such a negative effect on our society. The rules, we were reminded, must be adhered to — religiously, as it were.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Associated Press | Posted: Monday, March 26, 2012

Defense lawyers plan to attack the credibility of the troubled adult accusers when two Roman Catholic priests go on trial in a landmark child sex-abuse case involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

But that strategy took a hit Thursday when co-defendant Edward Avery entered a last-minute guilty plea, confirming one accuser’s account of a brutal 1999 sexual assault inside a church sacristy. The victim was then a 10-year-old altar boy, Avery a 57-year-old priest.

Avery’s plea leaves Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan on trial on Monday. Brennan, 48, is charged with raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
UPI

PHILADELPHIA, March 26 (UPI) — A former high-ranking Catholic official accused of hiding Philadelphia alleged priest sex abuse acted as if his job was to shield the abuser, a prosecutor said.

Msgr. William Lynn “would have done something about the allegations” if he were “thinking about kids first” when he handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests from 1992 to 2004, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington said at a pretrial court hearing Friday ahead of opening arguments set to begin Monday.

Lynn, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of endangering the welfare of children, is the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy to have his case reach trial on charges related to coverup allegations.

The opening arguments at the state Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, were to begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT, but might be postponed, lawyers said.

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BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

Sexual abuse of children by priests went unchecked for decades because church leaders ignored the problem or worked to keep it secret. We are nearing the 20-year mark of the bishops finally acting against pedophile priests and the scandal becoming public in the Belleville Diocese.

It seemed that the lessons of secrecy’s insidious nature had dawned on diocesan leaders. Open declarations about accusations and actions were made, bringing forth other victims. Sunshine was used to cleanse the pulpit.

Yet here we are still dealing with the legacy of secrecy, paying victims $7.5 million in damages. That was before this past week, when three more lawsuits were settled for “substantial” sums.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
God Discussion

In lawsuits involving pedophile priests within the Catholic Church, typically it is the priest accused of abuse who stands trial. But in a case that will start this week in Philadelphia, a priest alleged to have covered up the crime will also be tried.

Monsignor William Lynn is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy for allegedly failing to remove predator priests from the ministry. He will be the first Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. to go on trial on allegations of transferring accused priests to new assignments.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian specializes in sexual abuse cases, although he is not connected with this one. Garabedian told the Associated Press that Lynn’s case is very rare and may set legal precedent if there is a conviction. “Given the fact that a monsignor, Monsignor William Lynn, of the Catholic church is being prosecuted means that the government has taken the next step and going after, criminally, supervisors of pedophile priests within the Catholic Church and not only the pedophile priests themselves. I believe that a conviction will have a chilling effect on the Church, and that it will make the Church more moral. And supervisors of the Church may realize that they are also susceptible to criminal charges and that they will not transfer pedophile priests.”

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