ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Alison Caldwell

Updated March 29, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Carol Mulligan/The Sudbury Star

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

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

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

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WOODRIDGE (IL)
Woodbridge Reporter

By David Heitz, dheitz@mysuburbanlife.com
Woodridge Reporter

Posted Mar 28, 2012

Woodridge, IL —

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

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

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

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

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

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

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

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Posted By The Catholic Free Press
March 28, 2012

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

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

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

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

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Worthy Adversary

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

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
Sudbury Northern Life

By: Laurel Myers – Sudbury Northern Life Staff

Robert Talach said it’s time society stopped turning a blind eye to the past and stepped up to bring justice to fruition.

The litigation lawyer with Ledroit Beckett addressed local media March 28 at the Radisson Hotel regarding the commencement of four new civil lawsuits against Father William Hodgson Marshall, a man found guilty of sexual abuse against a long list of his former students.

Also named in the lawsuit are the Basilian Fathers of Toronto, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro, all being either employers or supervisors of Marshall during the time of the crimes.

Marshall, also referred to as “Happy Hands” by former victims, was convicted and sentenced in June 2011 for the sexual abuse of 17 young people while he was serving as a Roman Catholic priest and educator.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post

By Michael McLaughlin | Posted: 03/28/2012

Msgr. William Lynn is on trial for allegedly not informing law enforcement officials about suspected cases of sexual abuse by clergymen.

In a far-reaching sex crimes coverup trial underway in Philadelphia, a former Catholic high school student testified today that a priest stalked him, locked him in a school conference room and ordered him to unzip his pants.

The student — now a 36-year-old man — said loud banging on the locked door halted the priest, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The explosive testimony came on the third day of a historic trial against two Roman Catholic priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese. The Rev. James Brennan is accused of attempting to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Monsignor William Lynn is accused of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child for covering up cases of molestation and abuse by members of the clergy.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
RI NPR

(2012-03-28)
(Reuters) –
By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The jury in the Philadelphia Archdiocese pedophilia case on Wednesday got a look at the lurid lives of priests that were allegedly ignored by a top church official now on trial for child endangerment.

Testimony by a former altar boy who said he was abused and by a priest who stumbled upon his fellow clergy’s misdeeds came during the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior church official to go to trial in the child sex abuse case rocking the Roman Catholic Church.

Lynn, 61, who served as secretary of the clergy under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy for covering up allegations against priests, many of whom were simply transferred to unsuspecting parishes.

Lynn, who was effectively the archdiocese’s personnel director, said he tried to expose suspect priests by giving a list of their names to Bevilacqua but his boss ordered the paperwork shredded.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Sun News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE – Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A string of Roman Catholic priests testified Wednesday in a landmark clergy-abuse case, saying they reported fellow priests to the archdiocese after finding them with pornography or in unhealthy relationships with children.

The priests, uncomfortably, are prosecution witnesses in the trial of a longtime supervisor in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Monsignor William Lynn. The former secretary for clergy is charged with endangering children by allegedly helping the church cover up abuse complaints.

The Rev. Joseph Okonski told jurors Wednesday that he found pornographic magazines and videos, and a sexually explicit letter to a seventh-grade boy, in another priest’s bedroom in 1995.

The graphic letter, which purported to be from a classmate, asked if the boy wanted oral sex. The author said he fantasized about seeing the boy getting spanked by his father. The boy was told to write “Yes” on a bulletin board at the parish school if he wanted to engage in sex acts with his “secret lover.”

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By MARYCLAIRE DALE

| Wednesday, Mar 28, 2012 | Updated 3:53 PM

Several Roman Catholic priests have testified in a landmark clergy-abuse case, including one who said Wednesday that he found pornography and a lewd letter to a boy in the rectory.

The priests are prosecution witnesses in the trial of a longtime supervisor in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Monsignor William Lynn. The former secretary for clergy is charged with endangering children by allegedly helping the church cover up abuse complaints.

The Rev. Joseph Okonski told jurors Wednesday that he found a box of pornographic magazines and videos in another priest’s bedroom in 1995.

Okonski said he informed his pastor, who did nothing. But he soon called an archdiocesan official after finding the sexually explicit letter to a seventh-grade boy, which purported to be from a classmate and asked if the boy wanted oral sex.

“You are soooo cute. I have been thinking about you for a long time. … You’re the cutest in our grade,” the typed letter said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 28, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

CHICAGO — The roots of the decades-long clergy sex abuse scandal lie not in any set of rules or practices, but are found deep in the culture of the church itself, retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson said Wednesday in a wide-ranging talk at the historic Newberry Library in downtown Chicago.

The “major fault” of the church in the scandal, Robinson said, is that it “refuses to look at any teaching, law, practice or even attitude of the church itself as in any way contributing” to the crisis.

“In studying abuse, we must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads rather than impose in advance the limitation that our study must not demand change in any teaching or law,” he continued. “We must admit that there might be elements of the ‘Catholic culture’ that have contributed either to the abuse or to the poor response to abuse.'”

Peppering his talk with personal stories of bishops and priests, Robinson spoke of 12 areas of Catholic culture he said deserved “serious consideration” for their role in contributing to the abuse crisis, including our understanding of God as a being who is frequently angry and a hierarchy that is prone to a “culture of obsessive secrecy.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der katholischen Kirche, Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann, steht erneut wegen der Beschäftigung eines pädophilen Priesters in der Kritik. Ein wegen sexueller Übergriffe zu einer Bewährungsstrafe verurteilter Geistlicher soll einen Gottesdienst mit Kinder gehalten haben.

Das berichtet der “Trierische Volksfreund” (Donnerstagausgabe). Dem Bericht zufolge verböten die Regeln der Kirche dies jedoch. Als pädophil bekannte Priester dürften nicht mit Minderjährigen arbeiten. Die geistliche Leiterin der katholische Jugendorganisation KSJ, Jutta Lehnert, forderte Konsequenzen. “Priester, die straffällig geworden sind, gehören nicht mehr in die Seelsorge”, sagte sie der Zeitung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Trier. Viele Eltern einer Gemeinde im Nordsaarland sind entrüstet: Ausgerechnet ein vor 17 Jahren wegen Dutzender sexueller Übergriffe auf Mädchen zu einer zweijährigen Bewährungsstrafe verurteilter Trierer Bistumspriester hat vor zweieinhalb Wochen einen Gottesdienst gehalten, in dem die diesjährigen Kommunionkinder der Kirchengemeinde vorgestellt wurden (Veröffentlicht am 28.03.2012)

Trier. Viele Eltern einer Gemeinde im Nordsaarland sind entrüstet: Ausgerechnet ein vor 17 Jahren wegen Dutzender sexueller Übergriffe auf Mädchen zu einer zweijährigen Bewährungsstrafe verurteilter Trierer Bistumspriester hat vor zweieinhalb Wochen einen Gottesdienst gehalten, in dem die diesjährigen Kommunionkinder der Kirchengemeinde vorgestellt wurden. Das habe im Nachhinein für “viel Unruhe in der Bevölkerung” gesorgt, sagte der Bürgermeister der Gemeinde dem “Trierischen Volksfreund”, in deren Kirche die Messe gehalten wurde.

Zuvor war bekannt geworden, dass der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann mindestens sieben pädophile Geistliche beschäftigt. Dafür gibt es Auflagen, etwa dass die Männer nicht in der Kinder- und Jugendarbeit eingesetzt werden dürfen. Dies sei in der Praxis kaum zu überprüfen, wie die geistliche Leiterin der katholische Jugendorganisation KSJ, Jutta Lehnert, sagt. Sie sieht nur eine sinnvolle Konsequenz: “Priester, die straffällig geworden sind, gehören nicht mehr in die Seelsorge.” Diese Forderung erheben auch Opferorganisationen sowie die von haupt- und ehrenamtlichen Kirchenmitarbeitern gegründete Saarbrücker Initiative. In der betroffenen Gemeinde gab es am Dienstagabend eine Krisensitzung von Pfarreienrat und Seelsorgeteam. “Es war kontrovers, aber sachlich”, berichteten Teilnehmer. Der betroffene Geistliche war nicht dabei.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Bistum bekommt Problem mit pädophilen Priestern nicht in den Griff

Der Trierer Bischof und Missbrauchsbeauftragte der katholischen Kirche, Stephan Ackermann, steht abermals in der Kritik. Pädophile Priester dürfen nach den Regeln der Kirche nicht mit Minderjährigen arbeiten. Aber dies geschah kürzlich in einer Kirche in Ackermanns Bistum.

Über diesen erst zweieinhalb Wochen zurückliegenden Vorfall in einer nordsaarländischen Gemeinde sind viele Eltern entrüstet: Ausgerechnet ein vor 17 Jahren wegen Dutzender sexueller Übergriffe auf Mädchen zu einer zweijährigen Bewährungsstrafe verurteilter Trierer Bistumspriester hielt einen Gottesdienst, in dem die diesjährigen Kommunionkinder der Kirchengemeinde vorgestellt wurden.

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ALLEMAGNE
Le Monde (France)

Par Frédéric Lemaître

L’église catholique allemande est au cœur d’une nouvelle polémique en raison de son laxisme à l’égard de prêtres pédophiles. L’hebdomadaire Der Spiegel (du 19 mars) révèle qu’au moins sept prêtres pédophiles continuent d’exercer dans le diocèse de Trêves. Celui-ci présente pourtant une particularité : c’est justement à l’évêque de Trêves, Stephan Ackermann, que la conférence épiscopale allemande a confié la gestion de ce délicat dossier.

Circonstance aggravante : dans le cadre de ces fonctions, Stephan Ackermann parle de “tolérance zéro” à l’égard des prêtres pédophiles. Or, selon le Spiegel qui s’appuie sur les travaux d’un historien et les témoignages de catholiques mis en ligne sur deux sites Internet (MissBiT, Schafsbrief), ce principe est loin d’être en vigueur dans l’évêché. Trois prêtres -un responsable d’internat qui avait contraint un élève à avoir des relations sexuelles et deux autres prêtres chez qui l’on a trouvé des films pédopornographiques- ont été condamnés par la justice.

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DEUTSCHLAND
The European

Was in der Politik von rechts nach links diskutiert wird, kann analog auf die Kirche angewandt werden. In 500 Jahren seit der Glaubensspaltung hat sie Grundlegendes nicht geändert. Hatten die Reformatoren doch recht?

Das Reich Gottes, so hören wir bei Jesus, ist wie ein Acker, in dem ein Schatz gefunden wird. Der Vorbote dieses Reiches Gottes ist die Kirche. Die katholische Kirche. Hat sie vielleicht auch ein paar Schätze im Acker? In Deutschland: Im Moment keine. Die Kirche hat hier keinen Acker anzubieten, sondern einen Ackermann. Er ist Bischof von Trier und hat den Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz angenommen, die Missbrauchsskandale in der Kirche aufzuklären und neue zu verhindern.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Emily Wax

A controversy erupted this week over “Standing Silent”, a documentary film about sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community, reported the JTA, a news service that covers the Jewish world.

It all started in September, when L.A.Jewish Film Festival chief Hilary Helstein wrote an email to other Jewish film festival directors warning about the danger of showing “Standing Silent,” and saying that while it was well made, “Our committee felt with a community that reveres it’s [sic] rabbis this was not something they wanted to show.”

That email was not made public until last week during a March 20 screening of the film in Hartford. Steve Shaw, a member of the Hartford Jewish Film Festival, showed the film’s producer, Scott Rosenfelt, a copy of the Helstein email. Shaw wanted to use it during a Q and A session after the film to demonstrate that,“our rabbis in West Hartford not only endorsed showing the film, but they actually sponsored the entire evening,” Shaw said in a telephone interview with The Washington Post.

“I read a quote from the email at the Q and A to show that the response in other communities had not been as welcoming,” Shaw said.

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PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The prosecution in the clergy abuse case presented disturbing evidence Wednesday as it tries to make its case that defendant Monsignor William Lynn was part of a decades long conspiracy to protect predator priests while endangering children.

The priests from these old cases have not been charged.

A man testified he was targeted on the street. A priest in civilian clothes spotted him buying pornography as a teen in 1991, noted his Bishop Neumann High School jacket, and then tracked him down to the school, pulled him from class and then molested him.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Voice from the Desert

Hunger Strike for Justice by Clergy Abuse Survivor to Continue: Days 4, 5, and 6 of the Hunger Strike will be at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA

Contact:
Kevin O’Connor, 434-327-6543
Mark Lyman 518-852-7295

A victim of clergy sexual abuse by a Jesuit priest began a Hunger Strike for Justice on March 25, 2012 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. It began there because the victim, although abused by a Jesuit priest, was badly treated by Cardinal O’Malley when she told him about Jesuit non-responsiveness. The Cardinal said the Archdiocese would not get involved because “the Jesuits are working it out with you”. This was false. The victim was sexually assaulted on a study abroad program sponsored by the College of the Holy Cross in 1983.

She tried to report it the same year, but the college did nothing about it. She made several other attempts to report it over the next ten years, but the abuser remained in ministry and teaching. In 2003, the Jesuit abuser was finally removed from ministry and teaching and banned from ministry and teaching forever. The abuser’s family immediately began to harass the victim, because the Jesuits had provided her name. In 2006, the Jesuit abuser breached the ban on ministry; he was on the staff of a parish in Berlin, Germany. He also taught at Georgetown and Fordham. The victim learned this in 2009 after she googled the abuser’s name.

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HARTFORD (CT)
WFSB

[with video]

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) –
Members from SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is asking Hartford Hospital to reach out to potential victims of Father Ivan Ferguson, who is accused of child abuse.

Feruguson, who worked at Northwest Catholic, was transferred to Hartford Hospital in the 1980s by the Archdiocese, where many said the abuse continued.

In Waterbury, Father Raymond Paul is accused of abusing children during his two year tenure as Chaplain at Saint Mary’s Hospital during the 1970s. Before that, he was accused of abuse while presiding over Saint Thomas Church.

“We believe that it’s just really tragic how Catholic officials take accused priests out of a parish or school and put them in a hospital where kids are even more vulnerable,” said David Clohessy, the director of SNAP.

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PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
The Seattle Times

Several Roman Catholic priests have testified in a landmark clergy-abuse case, and one says he found pornography and a lewd letter to a boy in the rectory.

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA —
Several Roman Catholic priests have testified in a landmark clergy-abuse case, and one says he found pornography and a lewd letter to a boy in the rectory.

The priests are prosecution witnesses in the trial of the longtime secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese. Monsignor William Lynn is charged with endangering children by allegedly helping the church hide abuse complaints.

Father Joseph Okonski told jurors Wednesday that he found a box of pornographic magazines and videos in another priest’s room in 1995.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: March 28, 2012

CLEVELAND — Parishioners of 13 northeast Ohio churches closed by the bishop but spared by the Vatican must wait to find out if they will re-open.

Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon said in a letter to be distributed at weekend Masses that the issue of re-opening the churches “is not nearly as clear-cut as it may appear.”

He says there is no easy or perfect solution and he hasn’t made any decisions. He pledges to respect church authority.

Two weeks ago a Vatican office took the extraordinary step of ordering the churches re-opened. The Congregation for the Clergy ruled that Lennon failed to follow church law and procedure in the closings.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
dotCommonweal

March 28, 2012

Posted by David Gibson

This is not going to end well, even if Bishop Finn gets off. Coverage of a motion to dismiss, via Reuters:

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. …

Finn’s lawyers argue that Monsignor Robert Murphy was the “designated reporters” so Bp. Finn did not have the technical legal responsibility. Perhaps that argument could work legally, and the bishop has hired a team of the best lawyers in the state. But will that fly in the court of public opinion?

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A former student at a Catholic high school in South Philadelphia today described how an Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest stalked him, had him removed from a class, locked him in a conference room, touched his leg and pressed him to talk about homosexuality.

“I told you I’d find you,” the Rev. Francis Trauger allegedly told the boy, then 15.

The priest ordered the boy to kneel and unzip his pants, but the forced encounter abruptly ended when a faculty member began banging on the door, the student said.

Now 36, the man was the second witness to testify at the conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial of two archdiocesan priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

March 28, 2012 by Susan Matthews

There’s a new blog in town and it’s worth a daily visit: The Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog – by Ralph Cipriano.

Cipriano was a religion reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer during the early 90s while I was an editor at The Catholic Standard and Times. I was impressed at his willingness to report on the late Cardinal Bevilacqua’s Machiavellian style of leadership back in the day. He is currently a freelancer for National Catholic Reporter.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk|Mar 28, 2012

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

Lawyers do what lawyers are paid to do, of course, and in these cases it is to get their clients off the criminal hook. But it’s hard to imagine a better way to drive Catholics further away from the church than by such denials and shifting of responsibility. Sure, over the past decade many apologies have been made and new rules and vetting procedures put in place. What’s clear from Philadelphia and Kansas City, however, is that when push comes to shove, the apologies can turn out to be lip service and the rules are honored in the breach.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Click2Houston

[with video]

Author: Ryan Korsgard

HOUSTON –
A Houston family sued the Trinity Lutheran School claiming the school and its administrators failed to protect students as a teacher allowed students to correspond with a now convicted child molester.

“Just disbelief over the whole situation,” said the mother, who asked that her identity not be revealed.

She said her 10-year-old son was corresponding with Rickey Rea Rowlett while he was in jail. Last week, Rowlett was convicted of continuous sex abuse of a child under 14 years old.

“The school that I trusted to protect my child had sent his personal information out,” the boy’s mother said.

She said her son was one of a dozen students who started corresponding with Rowlett in December as a class pen-pal project at Trinity Lutheran School. She said the correspondence started without her permission.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Courthouse News Service

By CAMERON LANGFORD

HOUSTON (CN) – Parents claim in court that their son’s fourth-grade teacher at Trinity Lutheran School had her class start a pen pal correspondence with an accused child molester without telling them, and he shared the letters with other jail inmates convicted of sex crimes against children.

John and Jane Doe sued Trinity Lutheran Church / The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod dba Trinity Lutheran School, in Harris County Court.

Jane Doe on her own behalf and as next friend of the couple’s children, Child Doe 1 and Child Doe 2, who both attended the school until the pen pal assignment was made known to parents.

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NEDERLAND
Friesch Dagblad

Zwolle | Christenen vanuit allerlei kerken en organisaties gaan vrijdag op de knieen in Zwolle. Ze doen dat allereerst om de relatie met God, elkaar, zichzelf en de stad te herstellen. Jongeren gaan in de middag midden in het centrum van de stad bidden. Volwassenen en jongeren hebben ’s avonds de gelegenheid om met elkaar te bidden in de Noorderkerk aan de Thorbeckegracht of de Plantagekerk bij het Kerkbrugje.

,,Het bijzondere van het samenkomen van de jongeren is dat ze worden opgeroepen via de Sjofar, een oud blaasinstrument van duizenden jaren oud uit de geschiedenis van het joodse volk. De Sjofar was het twitterinstrument in die tijd”, aldus Mink de Vries, voorzitter van het Podium van Kerken in Zwolle.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Mar. 28 2012

​Not even a week after Denis Lyons pleaded guilty to being a child molester, another civil lawsuit has been filed against him and his longtime protector, the Catholic Diocese of Orange.

The lawsuit was actually introduced into Orange County Superior Court in September but was just delivered to Lyons, Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown and others by Santa Barbara-based lawyer Tim Hale.

The lawsuit claims that Lyons repeatedly molested a boy starting in 1979, when he was a fifth-grader at St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa, the same parish where Lyons molested the boy that led to his arrest.

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IRELAND
Wexford People

Wednesday March 28 2012

AN ELDERLY FORMER priest 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 appeared at Wexford District Court on Monday.

The former parish priest of Cushinstown 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. Garda David Beale gave evidence of arresting the defendant on Sunday and charging him with the offences.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Barney Zwartz
March 29, 2012

SENIOR Melbourne Catholic clergy, including the archbishop’s adviser on sexual abuse issues, have broken ranks by backing a call for an independent inquiry into the handling of abuse complaints.

The adviser, Father Tony Kerin, said yesterday that he had told Archbishop Denis Hart that an independent review would clear the air and should be held, although the cost to the church would be high.

”This is really a crunch issue for the church. If we are to be a church, we need to minister to the victims and do it much better,” he said.

More than 300 sexual abuse victims have received compensation from the Catholic Church in Melbourne. More than 60 Melbourne Catholic clergy and members of religious orders have been convicted of sexual abuse since 1993.

The abuse issue is intensifying worldwide. It started in Boston in the US, spread to Ireland and is now surfacing in Europe and South America. A public inquiry in Ireland, long opposed by the bishops, uncovered decades of institutional abuse but allowed a fresh start, Irish Catholics say.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Von Miriam Hollstein

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig ist ein geduldiger Mann. Einer, der sich von Absagen nicht irritieren lässt. Der ehemalige Arbeitsrichter verliert auch dann nicht die Ruhe, wenn er wieder einmal mit vorwurfsvollen Fragen konfrontiert ist. Geduld braucht der 52-Jährige bei seiner jetzigen Tätigkeit mehr denn je. Seit rund 100 Tagen ist Rörig der Unabhängige Beauftragte für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs . Seither kämpft er dagegen, dass das Thema in Vergessenheit gerät.

Vor gut zwei Jahren, am 24. März 2010, beschloss die Bundesregierung die Einrichtung eines Runden Tisches „Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch“. In den Wochen zuvor hatten immer weitere Enthüllungen über Missbrauchsfälle in katholischen und anderen Einrichtungen die Republik erschüttert.

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CANADA
CBC News

William Hodgson Marshall will have more civil lawsuits launched against him Wednesday.

He’s the retired priest and convicted sex offender who taught at schools around the province, including Assumption College and Holy Names in Windsor.

Four more alleged victims will speak alongside their lawyers in Sudbury on Wednesday.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Morgenpost

Von Uta Keseling

33 Knöpfe, daran erinnert er sich noch genau. 33 Knöpfe der priesterlichen Soutane, die nacheinander geöffnet wurden. Die Erinnerung an das, was folgte, war über Jahre in einem Nebel verschwunden, den man in der Psychologie Trauma nennt: Erfahrungen, die zu schlimm sind, um sie zu verarbeiten, werden beiseitegeschoben. Manchmal dauert es Jahrzehnte, bis sie wiederkommen.

So wie bei Stefan K. (Name geändert). Er war elf Jahre alt, als ein Kaplan ihn sexuell missbrauchte. Erst jetzt, mit Mitte 40, ist K. in der Lage, öffentlich darüber zu sprechen. Seine Vorwürfe treffen einen Geistlichen, gegen den schon einmal wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs ermittelt wurde – Peter W., zuletzt Pfarrer der Heilig-Kreuz-Gemeinde in Hohenschönhausen.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Morning Sentinel

BY BILL DRAPER, Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge said Tuesday he hopes to rule on motions by the end of next week in a misdemeanor case involving the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official accused of shielding an abusive priest.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph each are charged with one count of failure to report suspected child abuse to the state. Finn’s attorneys have asked to have his case dismissed, contending he was not the diocese’s mandatory reporting agent.

Defense attorney J.R. Hobbs also asked Circuit Judge John Torrence on Tuesday to sever the cases so they can be tried separately.

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GALESBURG (IL)
WCF Courier

By DENNIS MAGEE, dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com | Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2012

GALESBURG, Ill. — Ryan St. Anne Scott used his influence as a spiritual adviser to steal from a former admirer, according to a criminal complaint filed in Knox County in Illinois.

Scott duped his alleged victim, Sheila Anderson, by “holding himself out to be an ordained priest and member of the Order of St. Benedict,” Assistant State’s Attorney Erik Gibson added.

According to the complaint, Scott “knowingly and by deception” gained control over Anderson’s property, including bank accounts. He is facing three counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person, three counts of theft and one count of deceptive practices.

“The charges are not unusual. We see those all the time,” Gibson said. “What makes this a little more interesting is the relationship between the parties.”

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WOODBRIDGE (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Brian Slodysko, Chicago Tribune reporter

March 27, 2012

A Catholic priest retired three months earlier than planned recently after news that he was arrested 20 years ago for soliciting sex in a forest preserve spread through the Woodridge parish he served, according to Diocese of Joliet officials.

The Rev. Gerald P. Riva chose to retire on his own after serving for 13 years at St. Scholastica’s Parish and was not forced out, according to Doug Delaney, spokesman for the diocese. Delaney added that the diocese was not aware of Riva’s arrest until recently.

The diocese declined to provide specifics on why or how news of the arrest came to light.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchensite

Berlin. Der Präsident des Zentralkomitees der deutschen Katholiken (ZdK), Alois Glück, rechnet mit einem wachsenden Bedeutungsverlust der Kirchen in der Gesellschaft. “Das Christentum generell wird nicht mehr lange die dominante Stellung behalten”, sagte er am Dienstag (27.03.2012) der Tageszeitung “Die Welt”.

In München bildeten die Mitglieder beider christlicher Konfessionen nur noch knapp 50 Prozent der Einwohner. “Das so genannte katholische München ist damit noch nicht antikirchlich, aber die Sonderrolle der Kirche wird längerfristig nicht mehr gegeben sein.”

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CANADA
The Salt Lake Tribune

Lindsay Whitehurst

A set of “expanded powers” for a Canadian special prosecutor could mean new charges against polygamists in and around the Warren Jeffs-led settlement of Bountiful.

Previous polygamy charges filed against rival leaders there crashed and burned amid concerns about religious liberty in 2009. Story here.

But then a judge took up the question of whether the law violates religious freedom — and last year decided it should stay.

Could charges be filed again against Winston Blackmore, who broke from Jeffs several years ago, and Jimmy Oler, the FLDS leader ex-ed more than a year ago?

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PENNSYLVANIA
Huffington Post

Pennsylvania Church Kidnaps Teens, Holds Them At Gunpoint, For ‘Learning Exercise’ (VIDEO)

The Glad Tidings Assembly of God church in Middleton, Pa., has sparked outrage after a teaching exercise traumatized its youth group and left some with physical bruises, WHTM TV reports.

A shaken 14-year-old told the station two men came into the room with guns, pulled pillow cases over some of their heads, and pushed them into a van.

“They pulled my chair out from underneath me and then they told me to get on the ground,” the unnamed girl tearfully told WHTM. “And I was the first person to go into the van. I had my hands behind my back they said ‘just do as I say and you won’t be hurt.'”

The “kidnapped” youth group was then taken to their pastor’s house, where it looked like the minister was being attacked.

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IRELAND
New Ross Standard

The way I see it

By FR BRIAN WHELAN

Tuesday March 27 2012

THE LONG awaited Vatican Report into the Irish Church was published last week. A couple of weeks ago, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin was quoted as saying that the Church in Ireland is at breaking point.

The statement was of course headline fodder for the newspapers, and reading the reports of the interview he gave in the US, one can easily see why such a statement would raise eyebrows. To think that the Church is at breaking point is quite disconcerting, and really I suppose it could be perceived as a very negative idea.

But I feel that while Archbishop Martin is right in some ways, the truer overall picture isn’t quite so bad. The institutional church, the hierarchy, and the perceived ‘all-powerful church’ is of course a shadow of its former self. But this needn’t necessarily be a bad thing. What had evolved, particularly over the last couple of centuries in Ireland, was an institution, which had strayed hugely from what the church should be all about.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

By Justin Schmidt, Multimedia Journalist

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
A judge will rule by the end of next week whether to dismiss criminal misdemeanor charges against Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Lawyers made arguments in Jackson County Court for about two hours Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors said Finn and the Catholic Diocese should have reported possible sexual abuse by Rev. Shawn Ratigan in 24 hours as required by state law. Prosecutors said the diocese knew about the abuse in December of 2010 but did not report in until May of 2011. Attorneys representing Finn said he wasn’t the designated reporter for the diocese and charges against him should be dropped.

“We await the court’s ruling,” said Gerald Handly, an attorney for Finn. “We’re not in a position to prejudge one way or the other. We hope for the best always. The bishop is in good spirits and says he appreciates your attention.”

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MAINE
The Portland Press Herald

By Dennis Hoey dhoey@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has designated Wednesday as a day of prayer and penance for harm done to the victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

In Portland, the day will be recognized by Bishop Richard Malone with a 12:15 p.m. celebration of Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

“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 a prepared statement. “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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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Although many Catholic priests have been prosecuted and then convicted of abusing children, this trial is unique because Monsignor Lynn is the first Catholic official prosecuted and brought to a jury trial on criminal charges of endangering the welfare of children by failing to investigate and report allegations of child abuse. The only similar case in the United States involves Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, and that case is still in its early stages, with a judge poised to rule on whether the prosecution can continue at all.

The prosecution of Monsignor Lynn thus raises a number of novel legal issues that do not arise in a typical child molestation prosecution, even one involving religious figures. In many ways, the prosecution is closer to a white collar fraud prosecution than a molestation prosecution, because Lynn’s relationship with the rest of the church is central to the case. In his opening statement, Lynn’s lawyer confirmed months of speculation that Lynn was going to defend himself by conceding that he knew about the allegations, that he tried to act on them, but that he was stymied in his efforts by others in the Archdiocese, including Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. As Lynn’s lawyer told the jury in his opening statement, “You’re going to see that Msgr. Lynn did his damndest to get a handle on this awful issue.”

To tell if that’s true or not, the jury is going to have to see inside the Archdiocese. Although the church itself is not on trial, on many levels it is impossible to separate the two. Lynn was acting in his duties as a church official the entire time, and was also a participant in many investigations of — or the failure to investigate — other allegations of child abuse. Lynn’s lawyers had argued strenuously for the court to exclude from the trial any evidence of other abuse allegations beyond those made specifically against his co-defendants, Priests Avery and Brennan, but Judge Sarmina denied that request, ruling that the prosecutors could bring in evidence of “prior bad acts” including Lynn’s failure to properly follow-up on more than two dozen other allegations of abuse by priests under his supervision.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

“Father Ed” Avery liked to hang out at Smokey Joe’s and drink beer with college kids. He was into sleepovers with altar boys. He also preferred to spin records as a DJ rather than say Mass.

In Common Pleas Court over the past two days, the prosecution opened up “The Avery Files” — more than 100 confidential documents dealing with accusations of sex abuse against Father Edward V. Avery.

The priest, a defendant in the archdiocese sex abuse case, pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old, and conspiracy, and faces a prison sentence of 2 1/2 to 5 years. But that guilty plea didn’t end Father Ed’s role in the ongoing archdiocese sex abuse case. The Avery files were introduced by Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington while he examined Detective Joseph Walsh, a Philadelphia police officer investigating archdiocese sex abuse since 2002.

Monsignor William J. Lynn began his investigation of Father Avery on Oct. 19, 1992, when he got a call from Robert Fisher, a married 29-year-old medical student. The accusations that Fisher made against Father Avery allegedly took place 10 to 15 years earlier, when Fisher was a teenager. At the time, Avery was associate pastor at St. Philip Neri, where Fisher went to church. Fisher said that Father Avery used to take him along when he worked as a DJ at Smokey Joe’s, a bar on the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia.

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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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