ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although allegations of child sex abuse by U.S. priests and deacons continue to surface, the vast majority involve actions taken decades ago by clergy who have since died or been removed from ministry, according to a new report.

The 2011 survey of abuse-related allegations and costs conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington was released April 10 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It showed that there were 594 new credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by diocesan or religious-order priests or deacons during 2011, but only 23 of the new allegations (4 percent) involved children who were under the age of 18 in 2010 or 2011. The allegations were made by 588 people against 461 clergy members.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Brian Roewe on Apr. 10, 2012 NCR Today

In the Philadelphia sex abuse trial, the testimony this morning picked up where it ended Monday, exploring the career of former priest Fr. Edward M. DePaoli.

Msgr. William J. Lynn and the Rev. James J. Brennan both stand trial for their roles in an alleged conspiracy of covering up cases of priest sex abuse within the Philadelphia archdiocese. Lynn, the former secretary of clergy in the archdiocese from 1992-2004, is the first church official charged for his role in a cover-up of priest sex abuse.

According to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, the prosecution continued Tuesday to document the career of DePaoli. Defrocked in 2005, he pleaded guilty in 1985 to a child pornography charge and served a year’s probation while participating in mandatory mental health treatment.

DePaoli had been serving as a morals and ethics teacher at Bishop McDevitt High School in a Philadelphia suburb before his indictment.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

MARIE O’HALLORAN

THE BROADCASTING Authority of Ireland and RTÉ have expressed their “disappointment” at the leaking of information to The Irish Times about the Prime Time Investigates programme that defamed Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The authority said it “will review the matter to seek to ascertain how such information was made available”.

The paper received briefing notes of the report by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher, which heavily criticised both the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast and the role of management.

The Mission to Prey documentary falsely accused Fr Reynolds of raping a minor and fathering her child while he was a missionary in Africa. He sued the broadcaster, accepting an apology and a substantial out-of-court settlement.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY and PADDY AGNEW

REDEMPTORIST PRIEST Fr Tony Flannery, who was silenced by the Vatican because of his views on contraception, celibacy and women’s ordination, has been advised by Rome to go to a monastery for a period where he would “pray and reflect” on his situation.

Then, it was hoped, he would return “to think with the church” (sentire com ecclesia), according to the Rome-based website Vatican Insider.

Senior Vaticanologist Gerry O’Connell reported that Fr Flannery was summoned to Rome in mid-March for a meeting with Fr Michael Brehl, the Canadian Superior General of the Redemptorists.

Fr Brehl himself had been summoned to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) by the prefect, US Cardinal William Levada, who expressed his concern about the “orthodoxy” of views expressed by Fr Flannery in articles in the Redemptorist magazine Reality.

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UNITED STATES
SNAP Wisconsin

For virtually every new priest ordained in the US, a current one is removed from ministry for child sex abuse

Number of Catholic clergy who sexually assaulted children now tops 6,000 mark

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

New internal data released by the US Catholic Bishops today reveals that the total number of Catholic clergy who have raped or sexually assaulted children or minors over the past several decades is now 6,115 (a careful breakdown of the numbers in the report can be found at BishopAccountabilty.org). The number of accused clerics is, of course, larger.

Last year, 270 never before identified priests were reported to have committed child sex crimes. 184 of these priests were officially but quietly removed from ministry because these reports of criminal behavior against children were found to be credible and actionable. Quietly, that is, unless parishioners and the public found out about it.

In fact, the total number of newly accused clerics in the US for child sex abuse last year was virtually identical to the total number of newly ordained diocesan priests. The 275 newly ordained diocesan priests in the US outnumbered the number of newly accused child sex offender priests by only five. And, for every one or two priests ordained last year in the US, another priest was taken out of ministry for having sexually assaulted a child.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Number of Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Children As Reported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopswith Numbers of Persons Alleging Abuse

Compiled by BishopAccountability.org
From reports commissioned by the USCCB
Updated April 10, 2012

As of April 10, 2012, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has counted 6,115 clerics “not implausibly” and “credibly” accused in 1950-2011 of sexually abusing minors. The USCCB total omits allegations made in 2003.

As of April 10, 2012, the USCCB has counted 16,324 individuals who have alleged that they were abused as minors by priests. The USCCB total omits persons who made allegations in 2003.

In the table below, we provide year-by-year the USCCB’s data – on accused priests and persons making allegations – which add up to 6,115 accused priests and 16,324 survivors. The numbers in the table are color-coded for easier reference. We also provide links to all the USCCB source documents.

The USCCB hired the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to evaluate data submitted by member bishops regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, bishops, deacons, and seminarians. In its 2004 report, the John Jay College found that, according to survey forms completed by the bishops, they had received in 1950-2002 “not implausible” allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by 4,392 priests, including 12 bishops.

In 2004, the USCCB commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University to begin collecting annual data on allegations and settlements, and starting in Spring 2005, CARA has published a report each year. (See Bendyna’s 2/15/05 letter to Skylstad describing the commission, in the 2005 Report, PDF p. 12.) Among other data, that report counts the number of diocesan and religious order priests “credibly” accused of abuse during the previous calendar year, and states how many of those had been accused in prior years or are being accused for the first time. These data were obtained using a survey that was available to the bishops and superiors of religious orders online. See, for example, the 2009 diocesan and religious order surveys (with aggregate U.S. numbers filled in), and see below for the Manchester diocese’s summaries of its responses to the surveys.

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NEW YORK
The Post-Standard

By Emily Kulkus / The Post-Standard

Syracuse, NY — On Feb. 23, Robert Hoatson took the Syracuse University sex abuse scandal to a new level — which is how the former Catholic priest-turned-victims advocate does business.

At a panel discussion of news coverage at SU and Penn State, Hoatson made an announcement: He was counseling a new victim of sexual abuse by a head coach at SU.

Fingers stopped tweeting. Heads turned to neighbors. Feet fidgeted. It was as if the audience thought: “What did he just say?” …

And the sex scandals at Syracuse and Penn State, and in the Catholic Church, have vaulted him into the media and provided a growing audience for his bold statements.

Hoatson’s background as an alleged victim and a former Catholic priest make him an uncommon spokesman for the cause.

While a priest in New Jersey in 2002, Hoatson began making public statements about sex abuse in the Catholic church and its schools. He began to talk publicly about the abuse he said he suffered for a dozen years at the hands of at least four religious colleagues and superiors as a Christian Brother and while studying to become a priest. Hoatson, who was ordained in 1997 at age 45, blamed the abuse for his panic and anxiety attacks as well as severe depression that included suicidal thoughts.

Hoatson criticized Catholic bishops for covering up for pedophile priests while testifying at a legislative forum in Albany about a bill to help abuse victims in May 2003. Days later, the Newark diocese removed him from his post as headmaster of a school. Archdiocese officials said it was because Hoatson was having management problems and clashing with the finance committee.

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UNITED STATES
NewsMax

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO, April 10 (Reuters) – The number of credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by Roman Catholic priests or deacons in the United States rose 15 percent last year, and the church spent $144 million to deal with the ongoing scandal, according to a church-sponsored audit released on Tuesday.

A total of 489 people reported credible allegations of abuse by priests or deacons in 2011, the bulk of them involving adults victimized when they were children decades ago by now-deceased clerics, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a report on its ninth annual audit of the issue.

Twenty-one of the victims were younger than 19 and victimized more recently. Attorneys for victims say there are likely tens of thousands more victims who have never come forward since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

“We renew our promise to strive to the fullest to end the societal scourge of child sexual abuse,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the conference, said in an introductory letter to the report.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[page 59]

Promulgation Letters

The auditors have noted that, to meet the Charter requirements, dioceses/eparchies are increasingly relying on the public school systems to train and educate the children who are enrolled in religious education programs. In accordance with Bishop Aymond’s 2006 memo, bishops/eparchs must sign letters promulgating each public school program within the diocese/eparchy and state that each program is in accordance with Catholic moral principles.
Parish Accountability To continue to drive parish accountability, parish audits should be performed by diocesan/eparchial personnel on a regular basis and become a required
component of the on-site Charter audit process.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[page 3]

April 2012

This is the ninth Annual Report of the results of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Charter) audits. This year the audits were conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners and compiled by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection (SCYP). Article 9 of the Charter states,
“The Secretariat is to produce an annual public report on the progress made in implementing and maintaining the standards in this Charter. The report is to be based on an annual audit process whose method, scope, and cost are to be approved by the Administrative Committee on the recommendation of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. This public report is to include the names of those dioceses/eparchies which the audit shows are not in compliance with the provisions and expectations of the Charter.”

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

April 10, 2012

Dioceses of Lincoln, Nebraska, Baker, Oregon, six eparchies refused to participate
Almost three-quarters of allegations from 1960-1984
New auditors urge better recordkeeping

WASHINGTON—The 2011 Annual Report on the implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People reports that nearly all dioceses in the country are totally compliant with the 17-point Charter.

It also notes that, as in previous years, the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, and Lincoln, Nebraska, and six eparchies (Eastern rite dioceses) refused to participate in the audits and therefore are found non-compliant.

The full report can be found at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/2011-annual-report.pdf

The report notes that most allegations reported today are of incidents from previous decades. For example, 68 percent of allegations made in 2011, were of incidents from 1960-1984, and the most common time period for allegations was 1975-1979. It also found most of the accused have died or been removed from ministry and many had been accused previously.

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UNITED STATES
NECN

Apr 10, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) — Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders said they received 594 credible claims of clergy sex abuse last year, with all but a few of the allegations involving wrongdoing that occurred decades ago, according to a study released Tuesday by American bishops.

Church officials reported paying more than $144 million in settlements and related costs last year, as the scandal over priests who molested children continued to batter the church.

The findings are from annual reports commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to check compliance with the 2002 child safety plan they adopted soon after the crisis erupted in Boston and spread nationwide. The policy includes a pledge to remove all credibly accused priests from church work, create support programs for victims and conduct background checks on employees who work with children. Dioceses have spent tens of millions of dollars on abuse prevention programs over the last decade.

The number of credible claims increased last year from 505 in 2010, while settlement-related costs, including attorney fees and counseling for victims and offenders, dropped by about $5.6 million. (Settlements are often not paid in the same year that a claim is brought.)

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on April 10, 2012

Since it was adopted a decade ago, the bishops’ extremely vague abuse policy has been consistently weakened and sporadically followed. So these alleged “audits” are nearly meaningless.

It’s ironic that bishops pat themselves on the back now when for the first time ever, two top Catholic officials (in Philadelphia and Kansas City) face criminal charges for ignoring, concealing and enabling heinous child sex crimes. Those horrific cases prove that, when it comes to kids’ safety, little in church hierarchy has changed.

And it’s ironic that this news release

— is sent on the eve of a California trial involving a predator priest who was only removed from his post after a jury found him guilty of molesting a child (Fr. Michael Kelly of Stockton),

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Bill White

Around here, many of us have been following the trial of Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn (left), accused of transferring pedophile priests to unwitting parishes to cover up their crimes, and Rev. William Brennan, accused of raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

It truly is a landmark case, since Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving predators in jobs around children despite prior complaints. The testimony has been horrifying.

Still, these allegations in many cases just further dramatize what already has been reported in two Philadelphia grand jury reports about the way the Philadelphia Diocese covered up child sex abuse. In the long run, you could argue that dragging all this out into the sunlight will be a positive thing for us as a society, including the church if it leads to genuine reform and changed attitudes.

So I think I’ve been even more disturbed by the news from the Midwest, where Catholic officials have gone on the offensive in what appears to be an attempt to stifle one of their most outspoken critics and to intimidate victims, whistle blowers and others.

As I’ve written about child sex abuse over the years, I’ve come to very much admire the organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, its local representatives and its executive director, David Clohessy. I’ve seen firsthand the way they’ve provided a desperately needed voice for the victims of clergy abuse, many of whom just needed someone who would listen to them, and have applied pressure to change the disastrous church policies of the past.

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CALIFORNIA
Bilingual Weekly

Posted by Dennis Rocha ⋅ April 10, 2012

Stockton, CA — Father Michael Kelly, pastor of Saint Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford, was found guilty of sexual assault on Friday, April 6th, by a civil jury following the charges of an altar boy in the 1980s.

“In light of this verdict, I have made the decision to remove Fr. Kelly from ministry, effective immediately,” said Dioceses of Stockton’s Bishop, Stephen Blaire, in a press release following the jury`s decision.

The plaintiff, a 37-year-old man, alleges that the priest sexually abused him back in the 80s when he was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation located in northern downtown Stockton.

In a call for solidarity towards their faith, “Kelly told the congregation not to blame Bishop Stephen Blaire for his removal because the church leader had no other choice.” The Lodi News Sentinel reported on Saturday, April 7th, that more than a hundred parishioners gathered at the Lockeford’s Catholic Church after the verdict.

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on April 10, 2012

We are glad that a jury has convicted Dean Hopkins of his crimes. Children are always safer when predators are in jail, and this conviction will certainly protect children in the Osage County area. When sentencing takes place in June, we look forward to a long sentence that will continue to protect children in Oklahoma.

We hope that those who were victimized by Hopkins are able to begin healing now that this predator is behind bars.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 10, 2012

A support group for victims of clergy sex abuse is calling on Stockton’s Catholic bishop to “rein in his flock” after parishioners rallied around a priest who was found guilty of sexually molesting an altar boy.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Bishop Stephen Blaire about some church-goers at St. Joachim Parish in Lockeford who are backing Fr. Michael Kelly. After a two month civil trial, jurors determined that Kelly sexually abused a child.

SNAP says that the public actions by parishioners – both during the trial and since – have been insensitive to victims and will likely deter others who may have seen, suspected, or suffered child sex crimes from coming forward.

During the trial, a minority of parishioners from St. Joachim and elsewhere packed the courthouse in support of Kelly. One parishioner approached a member of the jury, trying to persuade him to let Kelly go. Some of Kelly’s backers have also written letters to newspapers admonishing those who have accused Kelly of wrongdoing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times Literary Supplement

John Plender

Jason Berry
RENDER UNTO ROME
The secret life of money in the Catholic Church
420pp. Crown Publishers. $25.
978 0 385 53132 7

Published: 4 April 2012

The finances of the Church of Rome are notoriously opaque, but at least one thing about them is clear. The ability to deploy the large contributions of the Catholic laity for charitable purposes has been seriously impaired as a result of huge payments made to the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy. The bill in the United States alone is close to $2 billion. So a scandal which has severely undermined the credibility of the Church in the US and Ireland, while causing considerable embarrassment elsewhere, has cast a spotlight on the lack of transparency and accountability in the Church’s handling of the regular donations of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The charge sheet outlined in Jason Berry’s exploration of the financial impact of this crisis, which looks primarily at the US, is not pretty. His starting point is Boston, where the former Archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, and a clutch of auxiliary bishops failed to act against child-molesters while reaching court settlements that muzzled the victims. The predatory priests were given psychiatric therapy and then recycled to other jobs where they had access to more potential victims. When details finally emerged in 2002 courtesy of the Boston Globe, Pope John Paul II felt obliged to apologize, but exonerated the bishops, declaring that “a generalized lack of knowledge, and also at times the advice of the clinical experts, led bishops to make [the wrong] decisions” – a notably slithery shifting of blame. The Pope also turned down a request by US bishops for permission to defrock severe sex offenders. When Cardinal Law finally resigned as Archbishop, he landed a plum church job in Rome.

The Boston vigilantes took their case to Rome, where it became lost in a canon law hall of mirrors There followed an ineptly conceived and even more ineptly executed plan to sell off assets and close parishes under Law’s successor, Sean O’Malley, and his Vicar-General, Richard Lennon. This prompted a vigil movement. Angry parishioners occupied churches, many of them financially viable, that were scheduled for closure. In Boston, O’Malley was reluctant to bring in the police to eject them. Not so elsewhere. And when Richard Lennon subsequently became Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, a diocese plagued by financial scandal under his predecessor, he had to have a police escort when saying final Masses at closing churches. The Boston vigilantes, meanwhile, took their case to Rome, where it became lost in a canon law hall of mirrors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS News

PHILADELPHIA — Jurors in a landmark church sex-abuse trial in Philadelphia are hearing about a priest who was convicted of child pornography charges but wasn’t defrocked until years later.

Prosecutors presented a chronology of the Rev. Edward DePaoli on Tuesday as they continue building their case against a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. DePaoli was convicted in 1986 but served as a priest until 2002. He was defrocked in 2005.

DePaoli isn’t a defendant in the trial but prosecutors are using testimony about him and others in their case against Monsignor William Lynn. Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly transferring priests suspected of molestation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Internal church memos documenting the storied career of the Rev. Edward M. DePaoli – and what to do about him – were the focus of this morning’s session as prosecutors resumed their case in the clergy sex-abuse trial involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

On trial in the landmark case are Msgr. William Lynn, the first church official criminally charged with enabling or covering up sexual abuse of minors by priests, and the Rev. James J. Brennan, charged with attempting to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

DePaoli – who was finally defrocked in 2005 after 20 years of allegations that he subscribed for magazines featuring child pornography – was federally indicted on a child pornography charge in 1985 while teaching morals and ethics at Bishop McDevitt High School in suburban Cheltenham.

DePaoli pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year’s probation and mandatory mental health treatment, which he completed and was pronounced cured.

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NEDERLAND
Maastricht Dichtbij

MAASTRICHT – De van ontucht beschuldigde pastoor Jan Schafraad van de Koepelkerk in Maastricht zal er alles aan doen om de klachtencommissie seksueel misbruik RKK ervan te doordringen dat hij onschuldig is. Met het seksueel misbruik waar drie oud-leerlingen van jongensinternaat Blijerheide hem van beschuldigen. Dat zegt Schafraad (die nog eens benadrukt dat hij gewoon bij zijn naam genoemd wil worden) vandaag in een interview met Dagblad De Limburger.

,,Kijk nu naar mij, kunt u zich voorstellen dat ik aan een pieleke van een jongen van 14 jaar heb gezeten? Of dat ik een jongen van 17 jaar in zijn slaap bevredigd heb? Vreselijk. Bij seksueel misbruik komen ook verstoorde machtsverhoudingen kijken, gebaseerd op angst. Die jongens waren mij juist de baas”, aldus Schafraad, die tijdens de afgelopen paasdagen voor het eerst in tientallen jaren niet op het altaar stond.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Paul Thompson

A 13-year-old boy was forced to dig his own grave and partly buried alive after his mother went to a church pastor for guidance on how to discipline her son.

The terrified teen was driven into the desert by two men and handed a shovel and told to dig a grave.

He was also allegedly whipped with a belt and ordered to lie down in the grave where dirt was tossed on top of him.

The boy was later driven back to the home of church Pastor Lonnie Remmer’s where he was tortured with a pair of pliers and pepper spray.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By R. Scott Moxley
Tue., Apr. 10 2012

John C. Manly–arguably California’s best dirty priest hunter–scored another courthouse victory last week in Stockton when a jury sided with the Newport Beach lawyer’s civil case against a priest who raped an alter boy 20 years ago.

A Modesto Bee article describes how some community members are upset with the verdict because they believe Michael Kelly, a longtime Catholic priest, is too sweet to rape and molest little boys.

Indeed, Kelly refuses to concede the illegal sexual conduct and, until the verdict, had the firm backing of church officials.

But Manly told the Bee that it’s not surprising that people would like and defending offending priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NPR

by The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jurors in a landmark church sex-abuse trial were presented with documents Tuesday outlining the troubled clerical career of a priest who was convicted of child pornography charges yet remained in ministry for years despite similar and repeated complaints.

Prosecutors presented years of correspondence from mental health facilities, therapists and church officials regarding Edward DePaoli when he was a priest. The documents, kept in the archdiocese’s secret archives, outlined how DePaoli, after being convicted in federal court of child pornography charges in 1986, went through psychological treatment, rounds of therapy, and a half dozen church assignments for two decades before he was removed from the priesthood in 2005.

DePaoli is not a defendant in the trial but prosecutors are using the testimony about him and others to build a case against Monsignor William Lynn, who was the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004 and entrusted with investigating complaints against priests. Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly transferring priests suspected of molestation.

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IRELAND
RTE News

In a statement this afternoon, the BAI said it will review how such information was made available.

According to a report in today’s Irish Times, the report by the BAI will find that the programme was unfair, and breached the privacy of Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The report on the investigation into the programme, carried out by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher, has not yet been published.

However, The Irish Times claims to have seen briefing notes used in the preparation of the document.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

RTE says the steps already taken in the wake of the ‘Mission to Prey’ programme don’t cut across anything that may have to be done on foot of a BAI report into the case.

The state broadcaster has this afternoon made limited comments on the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report in light of leaks to the Irish Times, saying it is disappointed over the leaked BAI documents

According to documents published in today’s newspaper a report commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland will be heavily critical of the preparations for the programme.

The episode of the Prime Time Investigates series was broadcast last year and resulted in a defamation settlement with Ahascragh parish priest Fr Kevin Reynolds.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

April 10, 2012

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has expressed its dismay and disappointment that information regarding an ongoing BAI investigation has entered the public domain.

The BAI is responding to a report published in today’s Irish Times, giving details of briefing notes, prepared for the board of the BAI as part of its investigation into the RTE ‘Mission to Prey’ programme.

The episode of the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ series was broadcast in May of last year and resulted in a defamation settlement with Ahascragh priest, Father Kevin Reynolds.

The BAI says it doesn’t know how the Irish Times got access to these documents – but it plans to find out.

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IRELAND
Herald

By Alan O’Keeffe

Tuesday April 10 2012

DEFAMED priest Fr Kevin Reynolds said today that he is “not out for anybody’s blood”. The cleric declared he was not seeking “blood” or revenge in the aftermath of official investigations into the behaviour of the Prime Time Investigates news team.

The former missionary said forgiveness was at the core of his Christian message and he would be a hypocrite if he was seeking vengeance.

He was wrongfully accused of raping a minor and fathering a child in Africa in RTE’s Mission To Prey programme.

When asked today to respond to the leaking of briefing documents about the investigation by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Fr Reynolds told the Herald he would leave all such analysis to his solicitor.

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ROME/IRELAND
Vatican Insider

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has concerns about the writings of the well-known Irish priest, Fr Tony Flannery, on a number of sensitive issues.

Gerard O’Connell
Rome

The Association of Irish Priests (ACP) – which represents about a third of all the priests in Ireland – says it is “disturbed” at the silencing of Father Tony Flannery, one of its founder members. The ACP issued a press statement on the afternoon of Easter Monday, April 9, expressing its “extreme unease and disquiet” at this development. Its statement came after various Irish media, including The Irish Catholic (April 5) and The Irish Times (April 9), had already reported that the Vatican had imposed the silencing. While the ACP statement gave few details of what had actually happened, Vatican Insider has learned from informed sources that in mid-March Fr. Flannery, 65, a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, popularly known as “The Redemptorists”, was summoned to Rome for a meeting with his Superior General, Father Michael Brehl.

This happened about a week before the Vatican released the Summary Report of the Findings of the Visitation to the Irish Church ordered by Pope Benedict XVI following the sexual abuse of minors by priests’ scandal.

In Rome, Fr. Flannery learned that Fr.Brehl, his Canadian Superior General, had earlier been summoned to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), where, according to sources, its prefect, Cardinal William Levada, had informed him that the CDF had concerns about the “orthodoxy” of certain views expressed by Fr.Flannery in articles that he had written for the magazine “Reality”. The monthly magazine is published by the Irish Redemptorists, and has a circulation of around 6,500.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
JD Journal

While charges and stories of priests abusing children have been surfacing and being suppressed across the country for decades, a criminal prosecution of clergy engaged in cover-ups is rare. Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic leader facing criminal charges in connection with alleged child sexual abuse.

Bishop Finn is charged for failing to report a priest who kept pornographic pictures of girl children under the diocese on his computer. The defense of Bishop Finn argued that charges against him be dropped as he had no duty to report to the authorities of the alleged abuse by another priest. But, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Terence rejected the arguments and held that Bishop Finn had a duty to report after church officials found pictures of naked girl children on the computer of Father Shawn Ratigan.

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

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CANADA
Digital Journal

OTTAWA, Ontario, April 10, 2012 /CNW/ – September 19, 2012 is the Deadline for former Indian Residential Schools students to apply for an Independent Assessment Process (IAP) payment. The Independent Assessment Process (IAP) is an out-of-court process created to resolve claims of abuse at Indian Residential Schools. People who suffered sexual abuse, serious physical abuse, or certain other wrongful acts which caused serious psychological consequences while at a recognized residential school may receive money through the IAP. Awards are based on a point system for different abuses and resulting harms.

The IAP process is separate and different from the Common Experience Payment (CEP) application process. The CEP is a payment to those who lived at a recognized residential school. The IAP provides payments for specific abuse suffered while at a recognized residential school. Under the settlement, former students could apply for the CEP, or for the IAP, or for both the CEP and IAP. The CEP application deadline was September 19, 2011; however, where former students can establish that they were unable to submit their CEP application due to disability, undue hardship or exceptional circumstances they can still apply for CEP up until September 19, 2012.

Eligible former students can apply for an IAP payment if they experienced (1) sexual abuse, (2) serious physical abuse, or (3) certain other wrongful acts which caused serious psychological consequences, while they were either (a) living at residential school, (b) a student at a residential school, or (c) under the age of 21 and allowed to be at residential school to take part in authorized school activities. It is not a requirement to have lived at one of the recognized residential schools in order to make an IAP claim for abuse that may have occurred there. Decisions regarding a number of other schools are in progress. A complete and updated list of recognized residential schools is available at www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

BRUGGE – Bisschop Jozef De Kesel heeft in de Sint-Salvatorskathedraal een beeldje onthuld voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Het beeldje werd gemaakt in opdracht van de vzw Mensenrechten in de Kerk.

Dissident priester en voorzitter Rik Devillé van de Werkgroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk leidde op Paaszaterdag de ceremonie. Hij zei blij te zijn met de toelating van bisschop Jozef De Kesel om het beeldje een permanente plaats te geven in de doopkapel van de Brugse kathedraal. ‘De symbolische waarde hiervan is groot omdat de bom barstte na de onthulling van het misbruik door de voormalige Brugse bisschop Vangheluwe’, zei Devillé.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

10/04/2012
RTÉ has declined to comment on fresh reports surrounding an official inquiry into its ‘Mission to Prey’ programme which libelled missionary priest Fr Kevin Reynolds.

A report carried out by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has yet to be released (BAI).

However the Irish Times this morning published leaked details of briefing documents it says were prepared for the board of the BAI.

According to the Times, the report “has heavily criticised the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast”, concluding that the programme was “unfair and a breach of Fr Reynolds’ privacy”.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

April 10, 2012

RTE has declined to comment on fresh reports surrounding an official inquiry into its ‘Mission to Prey’ programme.

The programme libelled Ahascragh priest Fr.Kevin Reynolds.

A report from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has yet to be released, however the Irish Times has published details of briefing documents it says were prepared for the board of the BAI.

It claims that the report has heavily criticised the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast, and that a fine in the region of 200 thousand euro could be imposed.

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CANADA
VOCM

The case involving a Roman Catholic priest on the west coast has been postponed until next month. George Ansel Smith is facing 62 sex-related charges, and the RCMP laid the first 38 charges in December following a 16-month investigation. The charges are in relation to incidents that happened between 1969 and 1989, and include gross indecency and sexual assault. Smith has been in custody since February 23rd when he was charged with another 24 offences. The 74-year old will appear in Supreme Court in Corner Brook on May 7th.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Morning Call

By JOANN LOVIGLIO
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A nun testified Monday in a landmark church sex-abuse trial that she was fired from a southeastern Pennsylvania parish for reporting concerns to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia about explicit mail that a priest had received.

Sister Joan Scary said she lost her job as director of education at St. Gabriel’s in the rural Montgomery County town of Stowe, near Pottstown, after she complained to then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua about the Rev. Edward DePaoli shortly after his arrival in 1995. She said she was concerned about mail DePaoli began to receive, including computer disks from Denmark and magazines containing “deplorable” content, none of which included DePaoli’s clerical title or indicated that his address was a rectory.

Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) DePaoli, who was defrocked in 2005, is not a defendant in the trial but prosecutors are using the testimony about him and others to build a case against Monsignor William Lynn, who was the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004 and entrusted within investigating complaints against priests.

Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly moving priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of previous sex-abuse complaints. He is on trial with the Rev. James Brennan, who is charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, April 10, 2012

In a remarkable development, the 800-strong Association of Irish Priests told the Vatican they were deeply disturbed over the recent decision by the Holy See to silence one its members for his liberal views.

The Irish group said in a statement: ‘At this critical juncture in our history, the ACP believes that this form of intervention – what Archbishop Diarmuid Martin recently called ‘heresy-hunting’ – is of no service to the Irish Catholic Church and may have the unintended effect of exacerbating a growing perception of a significant ‘disconnect’ between the Irish Church and Rome.’

Alongside his well known opposition to the Church’s ban on contraception and women priests, Father Flannery has also backed Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s unprecedented criticism of the Catholic hierarchy in the aftermath of the Cloyne Report, an investigation into the mishandling by Church authorities of allegations of child sexual abuse, released last year.

Forcing Father Tony Flannery to stop writing for a Redemptorist magazine will only fuel the Irish public’s belief in a growing disconnect between Irish Catholics and Rome, the group told the Irish Examiner.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

JANUARY 2011

A Prime Time team travels to Kenya to research allegations – later proven to be false – that Fr Kevin Reynolds raped a minor while working as a missionary in Africa and fathered a child by her.

MAY 7th, 2011

Fr Reynolds is approached by a team from Prime Time Investigates. He denies the allegations put to him by the reporter. He later instructs his solicitors to write to RTÉ seeking an immediate retraction of the allegations and an apology for the distress caused to him.

MAY 23rd, 2011

RTÉ broadcasts the Mission to Prey programme, despite an offer from Fr Reynolds prior to the broadcast to undertake a paternity test to provide a definitive answer to the allegations.

JULY 5th, 2011

After his lawyers wrote a series of letters over the course of June, Fr Reynolds announces plans to seek a High Court order aimed at prompting RTÉ to provide its defence to his claim of innocence.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter

Anna Carragher found a failure in RTÉ to recognise the potential for a grave injustice

A REPORT commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into the Prime Time Investigates programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds has heavily criticised the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast.

The report by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher was submitted to RTÉ last week.

According to briefing documents prepared for the board of the Broadcasting Authority, Ms Carragher’s report found that RTÉ failed to comply with its statutory obligations under the Broadcasting Act relating to fairness and breach of privacy.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Report is unequivocal in finding significant editorial and managerial lapses and oversights

IT IS clear, from the findings of an independent investigation into the Prime Time Investigates: Mission to Prey programme, where direct responsibility for that debacle lay. The fault was with management or, rather, the lack of it. The programme was allowed to freewheel to disaster with little or no management “interference”.

Former BBC Northern Ireland executive Anna Carragher investigated the programme for the Broadcast Authority of Ireland’s compliance committee. Her findings, as outlined in a briefing document presented to the BAI board, were unequivocal. “There was a significant failure of editorial and managerial controls within the organisation,” the document states, paraphrasing from Ms Carragher’s report.

Repeatedly, she makes comments along such lines as “concern was raised that the editor did not interrogate this more closely” or that neither the reporter’s “producer nor her editor interrogated this aspect more closely”. There was also the assumption “that members of staff working on the programme were familiar with the guidelines but RTÉ had no way of verifying that this was the case”.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY and CARL O’BRIEN

A report commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into the Prime Time Investigates programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds has heavily criticised the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast.

Former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher – who was commissioned by the authority to investigate breaches of broadcasting law – has concluded that the programme was unfair and a breach of Fr Reynold’s privacy.

The report’s findings are also heavily critical of the production team behind the programme.

Among its findings are that:

* Interviews with significant sources were not documented and there was an almost complete absence of documentary evidence.

* At all stages of the production of the programme, note taking was either nonexistent or grossly inadequate.

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IRELAND
BBC News

The long-running saga over the Roman Catholic priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds, who was defamed by the RTE Prime Time television programme, took another turn on Tuesday.

The programme, Mission to Prey, falsely accused the priest of raping a minor and fathering her child while he was a missionary in Africa.

Fr Reynolds received an apology and accepted substantial undisclosed damages from the Irish state broadcaster.

Tuesday’s Irish Times newspaper said that a report by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) will find that the Prime Time Investigates programme was unfair, and breached the privacy of Fr Kevin Reynolds.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

Leading journalists are ignoring a critical component of the current high-profile Catholic abuse trial in Philadelphia.

Mark Bukowski has accused Rev. James Brennan of raping him as a 14-year-old back in 1996. However, around the very same time that he accused the priest of the crime – in 2005 – Bukowski filed a very detailed false police report about a violent home robbery that never occurred.

Details about Bukowski’s shocking crime have been completely nonexistent in media coverage of the trial.

In his false report, Bukowski relayed a number of astonishing details about his fabricated “crime,” including that $675 from an employer, a DVD, prescription medicines, and a wristwatch were stolen from him. Bukowski also displayed cuts on his body and a t-shirt to police in an attempt to show evidence of a violent struggle.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

The Association of Catholic Priests, which claims to represent more than 800 clergy, has strongly defended Fr Tony Flannery, recently silenced by the Vatican. It described the move as “extremely ill-advised”.

Fr Flannery, a member of the association’s leadership team, has had his monthly column with Redemptorist magazine Reality discontinued at Vatican direction, while Fr Gerard Moloney, the magazine’s editor, can no longer write on certain issues.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Tuesday April 10 2012

A GROUP representing more than 800 priests has branded the silencing of a Redemptorist cleric over his liberal views as unfair.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) said the intervention by the Vatican against Fr Tony Flannery was ill-advised and said it could exacerbate the perceived “disconnect” between the Irish church and Rome.

Fr Flannery, a founding member of the association established less than two years ago, has had his column with the religious magazine ‘Reality’ discontinued after the Vatican stepped in. In its statement, the ACP said it was “disturbed” Fr Flannery was “being silenced”.

“We affirm in the strongest possible terms our . . . solidarity with Fr Flannery and wish to make clear our view that this intervention is unfair, unwarranted and unwise.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Stephen Rogers

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Association of Catholic Priests has accused the Vatican of trying to silence its founding member Fr Tony Flannery and warned the move will exacerbate the perceived “disconnect” between the Irish Church and Rome.

In a statement, three other leaders of the 800-strong association, Fr Brendan Hoban, Fr Sean McDonagh, and Fr PJ Madden, said they were disturbed by the fact that Fr Flannery was being silenced.

It emerged last weekthat the priest’s monthly column with Reality, the Redemptorists’ monthly magazine, had been discontinued on the orders of the Vatican.

The magazine’s editor, Fr Gerard Moloney, is also banned from writing on certain, controversial issues.

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IRELAND
BBC News

By Shane Harrison
BBC NI Dublin correspondent

The body that represents priests in Ireland has said it is disturbed over the Vatican’s silencing of one of its members for his liberal views.

The leaders of the 800-strong Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) have warned that forcing Father Tony Flannery, who is based in Athenry in County Galway, to stop writing for a Redemptorist Order magazine would fuel belief of a disconnect between Irish Catholics and Rome.

“We believe that such an approach, in its individual focus on Fr Flannery and inevitably by implication on the members of the association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland,” the group said.

Fr Flannery, who has written on religious matters in the Redemptorist magazine for 14 years, is under investigation by the Vatican over his views, including an opposition to clerical celibacy.

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NEW YORK
The Daily Pleasantville

by Robert Michelin

THORNWOOD, N.Y. – After the Legion of Christ announced it will be selling its location in Thornwood, the town of Mount Pleasant is left to speculate about what could eventually take over the 262-acre location.

“I definitely wouldn’t want to see some sort of department store move in, or Costco or anything like that,” Thornwood resident Miriam Thompson said. “It would cause too much commotion here around town.”

The Legion of Christ announced early last week that it will be forced to close the Thornwood facility after experiencing a severe decrease in donations to the Roman Catholic congregation. Jim Fair, a spokesperson with the legion, attributed the lack of funding to the poor economy and a sexual-abuse scandal connected to the legion’s founder, Marcial Maciel. The facility, located off of Columbus Avenue, first opened in Thornwood in 1996.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota SNAP

10:30 am to 12:30 pm – Saturday, April 14, 2012
Edina Public Library
5280 Grandview Square, Edina, MN

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

Katholieke gestichtsartsen, een gelijkgestemde minister, en een fanatieke protestantse arts zorgden ervoor dat castratie in Nederland mogelijk werd, en dertig jaar mogelijk bleef.

Castratie van een jongen van 21 jaar oud, die door paters was misbruikt: dat onderwerp stond deze week centraal in de hoorzitting waarin Wim Deetman, voorzitter van de commissie die het misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk onderzocht, zich verdedigde tegen het verwijt dat hij deze zaak niet verder had onderzocht. In Nederlandse klinieken was castratie toen een uitzonderlijke, maar geaccepteerde behandeling, voerde Deetman aan.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian and John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writers

Sister Joan Scary said she got one clear instruction when the Rev. Edward M. DePaoli arrived at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in September 1995: Don’t ask questions.

Though she had been director of religious education at the Pottstown-area church since 1989, Scary told a Philadelphia jury Monday that St. Gabriel’s pastor, the Rev. James Gormley, warned her that if she talked about DePaoli, “I could pack my bags and leave.”

But Scary testified that she remembered that DePaoli had been arrested for something 10 years earlier and kept trying to find out what. Eight months later, Gormley angrily confronted her and reminded her about “spreading rumors about Father DePaoli. . . . He told me to get the hell out of here.”

What Scary learned was that DePaoli, a moral and ethics teacher in a local Catholic high school, had been arrested on child pornography charges in 1985, convicted, and sentenced to probation.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Katherine Donnelly

Tuesday April 10 2012

THE first official steps towards a historic handover of Catholic primary schools to other patron bodies will get under way shortly.

A softly, softly approach to the transfer is recommended with about 50 schools expected to be involved in initial efforts to switch patron.

Up to 47 towns and suburban areas of Dublin have been targeted for the first phase of the process.

These areas have 250 schools between them so, on average, one Catholic school in each area could be transferred to a new patron, such as the multi-denominational body, Educate Together.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By CLYDE HABERMAN

In the sexual-misconduct nightmare that has forced the city’s school system to wake up to distasteful realities, there are several models to consider. Two that come to mind are “The Children’s Hour” and the Roman Catholic Church in America.

“The Children’s Hour” was a 1934 drama by Lillian Hellman, about two school teachers whose lives are destroyed when a vicious student falsely accuses them of having a lesbian affair. In that era, such a relationship was deemed so abhorrent that The New York Times’s theater critic, the esteemed Brooks Atkinson, could only bring himself to describe the women coyly as being charged with displaying “an unnatural affection for each other.”

The play could easily serve as a reference point for some city teachers who have been accused of indecent behavior in the classroom, and say that they themselves are the true victims.

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DEUTSCHLAND
NDR

von Christoph Heinzle, NDR Info

Ahrensburg – die Stadt vor den Toren Hamburgs steht auch für den größten Missbrauchs-Skandal in der evangelischen Kirche. Pastor Dieter K. hatte in seiner Gemeinde in den 70er- und 80er-Jahren Mädchen und Jungen missbraucht. Von 13 Fällen spricht die Nordelbische Kirche. Von mehr als hundert geht die Opferinitiative “Missbrauch in Ahrensburg” aus.

Nach Recherchen von NDR Info finden sich diese Fälle nicht nur – wie bisher angenommen – im Umfeld der Gemeinde, sondern auch in der Stormarnschule: dem renommierten Gymnasium in Ahrensburg. Dort war Dieter K. als Religionslehrer tätig. NDR Info Reporter Christoph Heinzle hat eine frühere Schülerin getroffen, die sich als ein Opfer des Pastors bezeichnet.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Trier. In Mönchskutten hat am Ostersonntag das Opferbündnis „MissBiT“ vor dem Trierer Dom friedlich gegen den Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann protestiert.

Die Betroffenen von Missbrauch durch Angehörige des Bistums Trier hatten sich mit dem Dokumentartheater Berlin und der Duisburger Kanzlei Sehr & Baier zusammengetan. Während Ackermann die Heilige Messe hielt, demonstrierten die Betroffenen vor dem Dom stumm gegen seine Haltung als Missbrauchs-Beauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Der 68-jährige frühere Gymnasiallehrer aus Neuwied-Oberbieber amtiert als ehrenamtlicher Vorsitzender der „Frauenwürde Neuwied“ (Schwangerenberatungsstelle). Zugleich ist er Ansprechpartner von „Wir sind Kirche“ in der Diözese Trier und engagiert sich ehrenamtlich in der Pfarrei St.Bonifatius Neuwied als Pfarrgemeinderat, Kommunionhelfer und Lektor. Weiterhin ist er in der Asylarbeit und bei der Neuwieder Tafel aktiv. Schladt fährt begeistert Fahrrad.

Von Hanspeter Schladt

“Schon seit mindestens einem halben Jahr kommt das Bistum Tier nicht zur Ruhe, und man wird den Eindruck nicht los, dass Bischof und Generalvikariat überfordert sind. Altfälle tauchen auf wie im Saarland, über die die Gläubigen zu spät informiert wurden. Oder im Hunsrück, wo selbst Verantwortliche in der Gemeinde nicht im Bilde waren. Auf der anderen Seite steht der Meinungsaustausch zum Thema „Sexueller Missbrauch“, zu dem Bischof Stephan Ackermann Anfang Januar nach Trier einlud, sich den Vorwürfen seiner Kritiker stellte und Fehler bei der Aufarbeitung einräumte. Es ging um relevante Fragen wie die Aufarbeitung von Fällen sexueller Gewalt, einen angemessenen Umgang mit den Opfern und den betroffenen Gemeinden – sicherlich gut gedacht, aber nicht weit genug. Wie Jutta Lehnert, die geistliche Leiterin der Katholischen Studierenden Jugend (KSJ) im Bistum Trier, äußerte, geht man nicht auf die grundsätzliche Frage nach den begünstigenden Strukturen der Kirche ein. Laut dieser Zeitung bezeichnete sie die katholische Kirche Anfang Januar als offenes Scheunentor für Sexualstraftäter.

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OKLAHOMA
Oklahoman

BY SHEILA STOGSDILL | Published: April 10, 2012

PAWHUSKA— An Osage County preacher who confessed to police he sexually abused a teenage girl because he was trying to prepare her for her future husband was convicted of sexual abuse, court records show.

After deliberating more than four hours Thursday, the jury convicted Creth Dean Hopkins, 61, of Pawhuska, of lewd acts to a minor and three counts of child sexual abuse, according to court records. Hopkins was acquitted of seven counts of child sexual abuse.

The jury recommended Hopkins serve 20 years on each of the child sexual abuse counts and three years on the lewd acts conviction, records show.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE

Published: April 9, 2012

A Roman Catholic nun testified Monday that she was fired from her job as director of religious education at a Pennsylvania parish after reporting her suspicions about a priest who had been convicted of receiving child pornography. Sister Joan Scary said at the landmark sexual abuse trial of two priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that she reported her suspicions about another priest, Edward M. DePaoli, to Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua in 1996.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

BY JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN
Inquirer Staff Writer

A CATHOLIC sister testified Monday that she was fired from her religious-school job in a Pottstown-area parish after questioning why a priest had received porn in the mail.

The priest – the Rev. Edward M. DePaoli – had been arrested on child-pornography charges in 1985 and convicted and sentenced to probation.

But in 1995, Sister Joan Scary – then in her sixth year as director of religious education at St. Gabriel’s parish in Stowe, Montgomery County – was unaware of the details of DePaoli’s past.

What she did know, Scary told a Common Pleas jury, was that DePaoli’s recent assignment at St. Gabriel’s was ambiguous and that St. Gabriel’s pastor, the Rev. James Gormley, warned that if she talked about DePaoli, “I could pack my bags and leave.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Father Thomas F. Shea was “very emotional,” Msgr. William J. Lynn wrote in his secret archdiocese files. “Why now after 20 years?” the priest wanted to know.

Father Shea was upset because a former altar boy hired a lawyer in 1994 to press a legal claim against the archdiocese, saying he had had sex with the priest numerous times between 1972 and 1977.

Msgr. Lynn asked Father Shea if the young man’s accusations were true.

“Maybe it might be true,” Father Shea replied, according to the secret files. Then the priest changed his story. “Yes, it did happen,” Father Shea confessed. The lawyer for the former altar boy had also told Lynn about a second victim who claimed to have had sex with Father Shea.

Lynn asked if there had been genital contact between the priest and the two boys. Yes, Father Shea admitted. Where did it happen, Lynn wanted to know. In a motel and the rectory, the priest responded. How many times? The priest couldn’t remember.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

April 10, 2012

STOCKTON – There’s a wave of support for former Catholic priest Michael Kelly even after a civil jury found him liable for sexually molesting an altar boy more than 20 years ago.

Friday’s verdict disheartened a slew of parishioners from St. Joachim Church in Locke-ford and other supporters even while advocates of the plaintiff rejoiced.

They said civil justice would have to suffice, since criminal charges couldn’t be filed because of the statute of limitations.

The Diocese of Stockton removed Kelly from ministry Friday immediately after the verdict at San Joaquin County Superior Court.

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CALIFORNIA
California Catholic Daily

Stockton priest removed from ministry after jury finds he molested boy in mid-1980s, bishop says he still believes the priest is innocent

Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire has removed a longtime diocesan priest from ministry even though the bishop says he believes the priest is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Bishop Blaire took the action on Friday, April 6, after a San Joaquin County Superior Court jury found Fr. Michael Kelly, 62, liable for damages in a civil suit filed against him alleging he sexually molested a former altar boy in the mid-1980s at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

Fr. Kelly, until Friday pastor at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford, vigorously denied the allegations and testified in his own defense at the trial. But the jury apparently believed his now 37-year-old accuser, identified in court records only as “John TZ Doe,” who maintained that, until recently, he had repressed memories of being sexually molested when he was around 10 years old.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

KEVIN HEGARTY

RITE AND REASON: Liberal Catholics have arrived at their views of church teaching on contraception, married and women priests, and homosexuality as a result of honest and honourable reflection

THE PAINTER Tony O’Malley had a custom of creating an artwork every Good Friday. When news broke during Holy Week of the Vatican censure of Fr Tony Flannery and the Redemptorist magazine Reality, I wished I could paint a picture to express my sadness.

Pope Benedict’s address at a Holy Thursday Mass in Rome copperfastened my gloom. Responding to a call to disobedience by Austrian priests and laity on celibacy and women priests he asserted that they had challenged “definite decisions of the church’s magisterium”.

Church leaders often talk of the right of free speech, most recently the Pope himself on his visit to Cuba. The recent Vatican moves are designed to create a climate of fear among liberal clerics. To echo a comment some years ago of the English writer AN Wilson, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has “ways of making you not talk”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

April 9, 2012
By Shannon McDonald

The South Philadelphia high school baseball coach accused of sexual and moral corruption is seeking a trial.

Louis Spadaccini was charged last Fall with with corrupting the morals of a minor, simple assault, furnishing alcohol to a minor and rape. He’s being accused of serving alcohol to and engaging in sex acts with boys he coached at Ss. John Neumann and Maria Goretti High School.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 09, 2012

We are hopeful that this trial will bring healing to the victims of Louis Spadaccini. It is very rare that victims of childhood sexual abuse are given a chance to have their day in court , and while it may be difficult for them to go over the sexual violence inflicted on them by this alleged predator, we remain optimistic that hearing the truth become public will prove cathartic.

These brave victims deserve applause for coming forward and protecting other children from being abused by this coach. We hope others who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes by Spadaccini will come forward and add their voices to those of these young men.

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NEDERLAND
Tubantia

HENGELO – Met zijn drieën trekken ze de doeken over de Madonna met de twee spelende kinderen weg: kardinaal Wim Eijk, aartsbisschop van Utrecht, pastoor Koos Smits van de Hengelose Goede Herderparochie en glaskunstenaar Frans Houben uit Ootmarsum, zelf slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik in de RK Kerk.

In de gebedsdienst in de Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk in Hengelo toont kardinaal Eijk in zijn overweging veel compassie met slachtoffers: „Ze zijn door het seksueel misbruik als minderjarigen beroofd van hun innerlijke vrijheid en persoonlijke waardigheid. Een zwarte episode in de kerkgeschiedenis.” Eijk hoopt dat het monument bijdraagt aan ‘heling’ en ‘herstel van vertrouwen’ bij slachtoffers. „Dat gaat me zeer ter harte.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Days after court agrees to keep “scandalous” testimony sealed, Listecki chooses Bishop Sklba to lead Easter celebration at St. John’s Cathedral

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

Only days after Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled that his testimony detailing decades of covering up child sex crimes was so “scandalous” that she will not unseal it, retired Milwaukee Bishop Richard Sklba was selected by current Archbishop Jerome Listecki to lead the Easter Mass for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

It was mistakenly reported by WTMJ Channel 4 Milwaukee this morning that former Archbishop Rembert Weakland also celebrated the Easter Mass. He did not.

Attorneys and the Creditors Committee representing the claims of 570 victim/survivors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court had sought the release last week of Sklba’s deposition, along with retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, and some of the 50,000 pages of internal church documents related to the concealment and transfer of dozens of clergy child molesters. Kelley was persuaded by lawyers representing Weakland and the Archdiocese that the release of the depositions would, among other things, “humiliate” Weakland and others.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Religion Dispatches

By Anthea Butler

“That man molested me. He knows it. He knows it. He knows it.”

So was the testimony of “Mark” on April 5, Holy Thursday, in the case of Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan, currently on trial in Philadelphia. Lynn is accused of attempting to hide evidence of abuse by clergy, moving pedophile priests among parishes, and of endangering the welfare of two children. Brennan is accused of raping a 14-year-old boy, “Mark,” whose abuse is described in court documents.

Mark has endured a troubled life, no doubt in part to the violation of his body and soul by someone entrusted to care for his spiritual life.What struck me about his testimony is the gut-wrenching manner in which victims of sexual abuse are crucified for speaking out. The defense’s cross-examination of Mark is not only in service of defending Rev. Brennan, it is on behalf of the institution who is paying the legal bill, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In that sense, the cross-examination was an inquisition.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A Catholic sister and religious educator told a Philadelphia jury today that she was summarily fired from her job at a Pottstown-area parish after questioning adult literature received by a priest recently assigned to the parish.

The priest – the Rev. Edward M. DePaoli – had been arrested on child pornography charges in 1985 and convicted and sentenced to probation.

But in 1995 Sister Joan Scary – then in her sixth year as director of religious education at St. Gabriel’s parish in Stowe, Montgomery County – was unaware of the details of DePaoli’s past.

What she did know, Scary told a Common Pleas Court jury, was that DePaoli’s assignment at St. Gabriel’s was ambiguous and that St. Gabriel’s pastor, the Rev. James Gormley, warned that if she talked about DePaoli “I could pack my bags and leave.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MENSAH M. DEAN
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Staff Writer

Louis Spadaccini, the Catholic high school baseball coach and city court employee arrested in September for allegedly drugging and sexually molesting boys from his team, has decided not to plead guilty.

“Coach Lou,” as he was known at Ss John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, was expected to admit his guilt Monday morning, but instead his attorney told a judge that Spadaccini, 37, wants a jury trial.

While Spadaccini was kept out of sight in a holding cell, his alleged victims – in school uniforms – and their parents were in court waiting for a confession that did not come.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Tracy Press

by Maggie Creamer and Lauren Nelson / San Joaquin News Service

Apr 09, 2012

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

Earlier that afternoon, the onetime priest at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church was held liable on three counts of assault, sexual assault and abuse. He has been removed as a priest, stripping him of the ability to lead his congregation just before Easter.

“Practically speaking for now, and several years to come, I cannot be your pastor anymore,” he said as his voice cracked Friday, April 6. “It breaks my heart, but I can’t. That is the way it is written. As much as I love all of you, I have to obey what the rules are.”

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

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Years ago Nikita Khruschev was lamenting the past errors and the decisions made by his predecessors. “You were part of the regime, why did not not speak then?” a voice called out from the crowded Douma. “Who said that?” shouted Khruschev…….. silence…. a long silence followed. “And thats exactly why i didn’t speak out” said Khruschev.

The word “scary” has been mentioned as a reaction to the “silencing ” of Tony. That’s exactly my reaction. I have lived with fears daily for years. Suffering an illness that brings fear and anxiety every day on awakening, every day – for hours, I am not not a brave person, I know fear in my daily life, daily for over 40 years. Call it ” free floating anxiety” or whatever, it is my unwanted companion, an interrupted message system from one messenger to another in my brain. I live with that but little did I think that the greatest real fear would come from The Church.

The message that has been sent by authorities in the Church into which both Tony and myself are baptised members is frightening, alarming and unnerving. I stand by Tony as my brother in baptism, I stand by him in our sharing in ordination. I stand by the courageous stance that “Reality” has over the years in asking questions, seeking truth and Gospel values with the charism of Ligouri reaching out to the world with the message of Jesus. I also respect those here who have written replies that do not agree with Tony. We can dialogue on these things.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) is disturbed that Fr Tony Flannery, a founding member of the Association, is being ‘silenced’. We believe that such an approach, in its individual focus on Fr Flannery and inevitably by implication on the members of the Association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland.

We affirm in the strongest possible terms our confidence in and solidarity with Fr Flannery and we wish to make clear our profound view that this intervention is unfair, unwarranted and unwise. The issues surfaced by the ACP since its foundation less than two years ago and by Tony Flannery as part of the leadership team are not an attack on or a rejection of the fundamental teachings of the Church. Rather they are an important reflection by an association of over 800 Irish priests – who have given long service to the Catholic Church in Ireland – on issues surfacing in parishes all over the country.

While some reactionary fringe groups have contrived to portray our association as a small coterie of radical priests with a radical agenda, we have protested vehemently against that unfair depiction. We are and we wish to remain at the very heart of the Church, committed to putting into place the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

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IRELAND
U.S. Catholic

Monday, April 9, 2012

By Michael Kelly Catholic News Service

DUBLIN (CNS) — The Irish Association of Catholic Priests said it is “disturbed” that the group’s founder, Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery, is under investigation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In an April 9 statement, the priests’ association — which represents about 20 percent of Ireland’s 4,000 priests — affirmed “in the strongest possible terms our confidence in and solidarity with Father Flannery, and we wish to make clear our profound view that this intervention is unfair, unwarranted and unwise.”

The statement said the group “is disturbed” that Father Flannery is being “silenced.”

“We believe that such an approach, in its individual focus on Father Flannery and inevitably, by implication, on the members of the association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland,” the statement said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Sacramento Bee

Associated Press

Published: Monday, Apr. 9, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A landmark church sex-abuse trial in Philadelphia has entered its third week with testimony from a nun who said she was fired from a suburban parish for complaining about a priest.

Sister Joan Scary said Monday she lost her job at St. Gabriel’s in the Montgomery County town of Stowe after she complained to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH’-kwah) about the Rev. Edward DePaoli. She said she was concerned about a men’s magazine DePaoli received in the mail.

DePaoli was at St. Gabriel’s after being convicted in 1986 of using the mail to buy child porn.

Prosecutors are trying to show that Monsignor William Lynn transferred predator priests into unwitting parishes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

April 9, 2012 by Susan Matthews

The National Catholic Reporter has published an insider’s view of the the Philly clergy sex abuse trial by Rocco Palmo, Whispers In the Loggia creator and blogger. Click here to read: In Philadelphia Church, at a Crossroads,” April 9, 2012. As always the comments are very pointed and interesting. Frequent site commenter Gerald Slevin’s observations are included in the string.

From Susan:

Palmo is an encyclopedia of Philadelphia Church history which gives him a comprehensive context in which to analyze the crisis. He also has international Catholic news reporting experience. It’s a pleasure and an education to speak with him about both. Palmo has described Archbishop Chaput as a mentor and was close with the late Cardinal Bevilacqua. Even the best reporter’s observations would be filtered through those friendships. I desperately want the same Church for which his mother hopes. However, I’m a bit cynical that this “is being cleaned up.” I still see lots of filth.

The trial may or may not put one priest in jail for a cover up that involved many more. Clergy sex abuse cover ups have occurred and continues to occur in other cities around the world – until civil authorities step in. Until the root causes of moral corruption in the clergy are addressed – we haven’t accomplished a clean up. It’s a top-down problem. The Pope is awaiting recommendations from Bishops this Spring. I wonder what Bishop Finn will suggest?

We must do the cleaning up. Here’s two ways:

1. Let the DA know you expect him to leverage the full force of justice in regard to protecting children from all sex abuse.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Reuters

By Carey Gillam

Mon Apr 9, 2012

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

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

His trial is set to start September 24.

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die Verzweifelten sitzen hinten. In den letzten Reihen der kleinen Kirche, im Halbdunkel; die kleinen Fenster lassen nur wenig Licht herein. Es ist ein karger Raum, es gibt keinen Weihrauch hier, keine Wandmalereien, keine Reliquien, kein Pomp, nur ein Holzkreuz, das den Altarraum überragt.

Die Verzweifelten tragen Strickpullover und Westen. Sie tragen keine Talare mehr, keine Gewänder. Bis vor Kurzem waren sie Priester, Nonnen und Mönche. Was sie jetzt sind, wissen viele von ihnen nicht genau, zumindest im Moment nicht.

Die Mittagsandacht ist fast vorüber, als die Orgel verstummt und ein Mönch des Benediktinerordens aus dem Altarraum ans Pult tritt. Der bärtige Mann liest Vers 17, Psalm 25: “Die Enge meines Herzens mache weit, und führe mich heraus aus meinen Bedrängnissen.” Dieser Vers ist häufiger zu hören in den Andachten hier. Er passt zu den Gästen in den letzten Reihen. Sie rufen im Chor “Amen”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Trier. Nach anhaltender Kritik am Einsatz pädophiler Priester im Bistum Trier hat sich der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann für eine Verschärfung der Missbrauchsleitlinien ausgesprochen. In den Leitlinien heißt es bisher, dass Missbrauchstäter nicht mehr in der Kinder- und Jugendarbeit eingesetzt werden dürfen, in der Seelsorge unter Auflagen dagegen schon, wenn ein Gutachten grünes Licht gibt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
epd

In Mönchskutten hat am Ostersonntag das Opferbündnis MissBiT vor dem Trierer Dom friedlich gegen den Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann protestiert. Die Betroffenen von Missbrauch durch Angehörige des Bistums Trier hatten sich mit dem Dokumentartheater Berlin und der Duisburger Kanzlei Sehr & Baier zusammengetan. Während Ackermann die Heilige Messe hielt, demonstrierten die Betroffenen vor dem Dom stumm gegen seine Haltung als Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz.

Ackermann schütze in seinem Bistum pädophile Triebtäter, schrieb Thomas Schnitzler für das Bündnis auf Flugblättern, die die Demonstranten neben Ostereiern auf dem Domvorplatz verteilten. “Wir sehen es jetzt als einen Erfolg unserer Arbeit an”, dass Bischof Ackermann nach ARD-Informationen zwei Priester seines Bistums von seelsorgerischen Aufgaben entbunden habe, erklärte der Duisburger Jurist Heinz Sehr. Er klagt derzeit vor dem Kölner Verwaltungsgericht gegen die Kölner Bezirksregierung, sie habe als Schulaufsicht jahrzehntelangen Missbrauch am Bonner jesuitischen Aloisiuskolleg nicht unterbunden.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Corner Brook – A Roman Catholic priest facing 62 sex-related charges could be facing even more charges when he appears in court again in Corner Brook next month.

The case of George Ansel Smith, 74, was called in Newfoundland Supreme Court in Corner Brook ths morning.

The former local priest was not present, and his lawyer Thomas Williams appeared via telephone.

The case was set over to May 7 as Crown attorney Trina Simms informed the court she is awaiting the transfer of another charge — involving one of the current victims — from Nova Scotia. She said there is a possibility further charges may come out of New Brunswick, as well.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA — A young man took the stand for two days and repeated numerous times that he had been allegedly abused by Father James Brennan, one of two priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on trial in the landmark case.

At turns both emotional and combative with Father Brennan’s defense lawyer, William Brennan, who is no relation to his client, the now 30-year-old witness described in his testimony April 4 an incident in 1996 that he called rape. But state prosecutors have charged the priest with attempted rape in the alleged incident.

Conviction or acquittal on the charge would be significant not only for Father Brennan, 48, but also because the case represents a charge of endangering the welfare of a child against former archdiocesan secretary for clergy Msgr. William Lynn, 61.

As head of the office that dealt with troubled priests and recommended clergy assignments to Philadelphia’s archbishop from 1992 to 2004, he is the highest ranking Catholic Church official to be charged for crimes connected with the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the United States.

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NEW YORK
Grace Notes

Impetus Ensemble will present a semi-staged reading of Frank J. Avella’s Vatican Falls, May 15 at 6:45 PM at NYC’s National Comedy Theatre (347 West 36th Street), to benefit SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Laura Caparrotti will direct. Musical director is Brad Gardner.

With songs by Claudio Procopio and Frank J. Avella, Vatican Falls is based on factual material and follows the life of one survivor who struggles with understanding how those closest to him could damage him the most.

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

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CANADA
CBC News

Posted: Apr 9, 2012

Former Roman Catholic priest George Smith is facing more charges related to an ongoing sexual abuse investigation.

Smith was supposed to appear at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in Corner Brook Monday morning for arraignment.

The Crown prosecutor says Smith’s case had to be postponed because the investigation uncovered more allegations, this time from Nova Scotia.

The Crown says there’s at least one more charge to be added to the list of 62 already laid against Smith.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, April 9, 2012

An Irish priest who openly supported Irish Prime minister Enda Kenny’s critique of the Vatican over the sex abuse scandal in Ireland is related to a strategist in Kenny’s party, according to the Sunday Independent.

Fr. Tony Flannery, who is a brother of Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery, was a big supporter of Kenny’s negative view of the Vatican’s handling of the sex abuse scandals that rocked Ireland.

“I was happy with the Taoiseach’s statement . . . Many of us priests are frustrated with the way the Vatican conducts its business,” said Flannery of Kenny’s message to Rome.

The priest was silenced by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and he was forbidden from talking to the press, from writing in Redemptorist Order’s Reality magazine and from contributing to the Association of Irish Priests’ website.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
CBS Las Vegas

(Las Vegas, NV) – A former singer at the Tropicana hotel’s “Folies Bergere” show has died of bone cancer. Fifty-nine year-old Michaelina Bellamy, who passed away Friday, had been the show’s principal singer for a decade, and performed on the road with Bob Hope and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2007, Bellamy was assaulted by the priest of a local Catholic church where she served as a singer and entertainment director. The priest, George Chaanine, is serving time in prison. Funeral services for Bellamy are pending.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 09, 2012
By Rocco Palmo

First Person

In the tumult that followed last year’s second grand jury report to allege a staggering history of sex abuse and cover-up in the Philadelphia archdiocese, the most striking response I heard from a reeling faithful came not from any cleric, staffer or abuse survivor, but from my mother.

Over a late-night cup of coffee as the revelations were still sinking in, all Mom could bring herself to say was, “It just feels like there’s been a death in the family.”

What she was implying seemed clear, but I wanted to be sure. “You mean your trust in the wider church, outside the parish?”

“That’s exactly what I meant,” she shot back.

If that was how Mom, a South Philly Italian named for a nun, now a lay minister and caretaker for my ailing grandmother — in other words, a pillar of the faith — felt at the start of a year whose turns since have read like a surrealist novel, one could forget about finding credibility anywhere else.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

De BC en KNR hebben een brief gestuurd naar onze minister van Veiligheid en Justitie.

FANTASTISCH wat een goede wil ECHTER;

Nog steeds wordt er geredeneerd vanuit HUN systeem, het pontificaat met al zijn ondemocratische ordes, congregaties en bestuursvormen, nog steeds stellen zij zich boven HET VOLK (de parlementaire democratie), nog steeds denken ze dat ze weg kunnen komen met mooi weer en nu vooral heel vroom de opdrachten uit het rapport blijven volgen toch?

Bodar zei het laatst pakkend bij P&W “Gelukkig ben ik in de gelegenheid te wisselen tussen het Vaderland en het Vaticaan”. (heeft hij een dubbel paspoort dan? Of wordt hij nou eindelijk eens aangesproken op zijn verantwoordelijkheid als Nederlands Staatsburger) Tweede kamer, laat u niet misleiden door het SYSTEEM en de politiek van religieuze levensbeschouwelijke stromingen, het is misdadig, angst dwang repressie en schuld zijn/ waren de uitgangspunten. (zal uit het eventuele komende onderzoek gaan blijken) Verder de scheiding tussen kerk en staat problematiek maar weer eens op de agenda lijkt mij. Iedereen mag geloven wat hij/zij wil maar wel getoetst aan onze democratische rechtsorde en niet aan een instituut dat veel macht veroverd heeft in de afgelopen eeuwen en daar nog steeds mee wegkomt.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Monday, 9 April 2012

An 800-strong group of Irish priests has said it is disturbed over the Vatican’s silencing of one of its members for his liberal views.

The Association of Catholic Priests has warned that forcing Father Tony Flannery to stop writing for a Redemptorist magazine will fuel belief of a disconnect between Irish Catholics and Rome.

“We believe that such an approach, in its individual focus on Fr Flannery and inevitably by implication on the members of the association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland,” the group said.

“We wish to make clear our profound view that this intervention is unfair, unwarranted and unwise.”

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 09, 2012
By Brian Roewe

With the jury seated and one less defendant, the first case against a church official accused of covering up child sex abuse has moved into the courtroom, as a national audience turns its attention to the scandal in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

The trial for Msgr. William J. Lynn and Fr. James J. Brennan began March 26.

“This is a huge event for the entire church in the United States and really the world,” said Marci Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Cardozo School of Law at New York’s Yeshiva University.

Lynn, 61, is the former secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese, working under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua from 1992 to 2004. He faces charges of felony child endangerment and conspiracy. The archdiocese has not been charged, but is listed by the prosecution as an unindicted co-conspirator.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Regency Hotel: Monday, May 7th; 10.30am to 4.30pm

(Under the auspices of the Association of Catholic Priests)

First Session: Naming the Reality.
◦There will be four speakers giving short input.
◦Followed by a general forum.

Tea/Coffee Break

Second Session: The Vision
◦Three speakers outlining their vision for the Church.
◦Followed by general forum.

Break for Lunch (available in the hotel)

Third Session: Where to from here.

A presentation of a statement, coming out of the morning sessions. This might contain something like the following:
◦A call for a new model of Church
◦Calling lay groups to work together to make this model a reality
◦Asking that this process continue towards a full assembly of the Irish Church.
◦This presentation will be followed by a general forum which, hopefully, will shape the final document.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

‘We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song.’ Augustine was and is right. We cannot lose heart. We cannot be dragged down by ‘protectionist policies’ in Rome. I feel sad about Tony Flannery. He has been a breath of fresh air in the Irish Church. The ACP has lifted the spirits of priests in Ireland and given them a space/forum to work together as Church people. This is then a difficult time and a wearying moment. That Summary report (from the Visitation) said very little but it probably said too much. And this may be an indicator of how it sees the way forward for the Renewal of the Church in Ireland. This method breaks the hearts of those of us who try so hard, to make sure the Word becomes Flesh daily in Ireland.

The action around Ton reminds me of an article written by Bernard Haring (many years ago). He wrote of how he was treated by the Nazis and wrote of how he was treated by the Vatican. He said that the treatment by the Vatican hurt him much more. It tore his heart apart to think of such people (his companions in faith) savaging his efforts to make sense of the living Gospel. That was a strong comment.

Anselm gave us that memorable phrase – ‘fides querens intellectum ‘ (faith seeking understanding) as the way of life for the thinking Christian; the struggling prophet; the active priest; the searching theologian. Was Tony condemned for this? But then – do we know the actual charge? Is it specific? Will it be made clear? That aspect too is serious.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

I am saddened but not surprised that Tony Flannery has been silenced and Gerry Moloney and Reality Magazine reined in. The attempts by Rome to suppress any discussion about issues such as ordination of women and compulsory celibacy are surely a sign of fear. Jesus questioned the religious institution in which he had been brought up, its attitudes, laws and practices, and the understanding of God which those attitudes and practices revealed, a God whose passion was the observance of the Law. He revealed, instead, a God of compassion, who required different attitudes and practices. The God of compassion is incompatible with the God of the Law. He too incurred the wrath of the religious authorities of his time. Perhaps young people today are leaving the Church because they no longer find God there.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Sarah Smith, Forum Communications

Editor’s note: This story is excerpted from a two-part series that appeared last week in the Park Rapids (Minn.) Enterprise.

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — A former Lutheran pastor in Lake George, Minn., southwest of Bemidji near Itasca State Park, faces an omnibus court hearing today in Park Rapids on 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor.

Now, questions have been raised about how much officials of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod knew of Schauer’s previous conviction for sexually abusing a pre-teen minor and whether his parishioners in Trinity Lutheran at Lake George knew of his criminal past at all.

Darwin Schauer was a trained lay pastor since 1990, first at Immanuel Lutheran in Cass Lake, Minn., then at Trinity at Lake George when the two parishes merged in 2000.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On one of Christianity’s holiest days, Catholics from throughout Greater Cleveland packed the pews Sunday at the 1,200-seat Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland for Easter Mass.

Adorned in white vestments, Bishop Richard Lennon of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland presided over the holy ritual as the faithful joined him in song and prayer.

In his sermon, Lennon talked about three adult converts to Catholicism — a woman and two men — whom he had baptized during Holy Saturday services the previous day.

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QUINCY (MA)
Fox 25

[with video]

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – A church in Quincy which has been placed on the Boston Archdiocese’s list to be closed and sold celebrated Easter services on Sunday without a priest.

More than 100 parishioners fighting to keep the doors of the Mary Star of the Sea Chapel open congregated on Sunday and had a priest-less Mass.

“It’s unique in that it doesn’t have a priest. It’s special because it reinforces the importance of community,” Maureen Mazrimas told FOX 25.

Mary Star of the Sea Chapel was founded in 1945, but was forced to close its door in September 2010.

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CANADA
VOCM

A Roman Catholic priest from western Newfoundland facing 62 sex-related charges will appear in court today. George Ansel Smith has elected to be tried by judge alone, and has been in custody since February 23rd. At that time, 24 more charges were laid against the 74-year-old priest when he appeared in Corner Brook provincial court to answer to the 38 charges that had been laid in December. In the meantime, a publication ban has been put in place to protect the identity of any complainants or witnesses in the case.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: April 09, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A landmark church sex abuse trial is set to resume in Philadelphia.

Last week’s testimony featured two days of confrontational exchanges between a defense attorney and the lone alleged victim of one of the defendants, the Rev. James Brennan.

Lynn says his efforts to investigate reports of abuse were thwarted by officials above him.

Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with child endangerment for allegedly transferring predator priests into unwitting parishes.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholica

Professor Leonard Swidler was a former teaching colleague with Pope Benedict at the University of Tübingen. Professor Swidler, like many people today who were excited and energized by the Second Vatican Council, has become increasingly disturbed in recent times by the endeavours to turn back the insights and reforms of that Council. Headlines over Easter generated by Pope Benedict have driven Dr Swidler to address this open letter to his former colleague.

Dear Joe,

Some years back when you were still the head of the Holy Office (“of the Sacred Inquisition” is, as you know, stilled chiseled in stone over its dark building immediately next to St. Peter’s square), I wrote you an open letter concerning the role of women in the Catholic Church. At that time I addressed you with a familiar “Dear Joe,” relying on our relationship from the late 60s/early 70s when I was frequently a Visiting Professor at the Catholic Theology Faculty of the University of Tübingen, and you were Professor Ordinarius there. I did so in the thought that this form of address would tell you that I seriously hoped you might open your mind and heart to hear what I wanted to say to you. I have no way of knowing what success I may have had, if any, in that regard. However, relying on our former “collegiality,” I am approaching you once again in this fraternal fashion.

I am disturbed that especially of late you have been giving signals that are in opposition to the words and spirit of Vatican Council II, during which you as a leading young theologian helped to move our beloved Catholic Church out of the Middle Ages into Modernity. Further, while a professor at our Alma Mater University of Tübingen, you, along with the rest of your colleagues of the Catholic Theology faculty, publicly advocated 1) the election of bishops by their constituents, and 2) limited term of office of bishops [see the book Democratic Bishops for the Roman Catholic Church, LINK].

Now you are publicly rebuking loyal Catholic priests for doing precisely what you earlier had so nobly advocated. [See NYT article at right.] They, and many, many others across the universal Catholic Church, are following your youthful example, trying desperately to move our beloved Mother Church further into Modernity. I deliberately use the word “desperately,” for in your own homeland, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, the churches are empty, and also are so many Catholic hearts when they hear the chilling words coming from Rome and the “radically obedient” (read: “yes-men”) bishops. In my own homeland, America, the birthplace of modern freedom, human rights, and democracy, we have lost—in this generation alone!—one third of our Catholic population, 30,000,000, because the Vatican II promises of its five-fold Copernican Turn (the turn toward 1. freedom, 2. this world, 3. a sense of history, 4. internal reform, and above all, 5. dialogue) have all been so deliberately dashed by your predecessor, and now increasingly by you.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WOIO

[with video]

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) –
On this Easter Sunday the faithful everywhere celebrated the resurrection of Christ but for some local Catholics this holy day takes on a new meaning as they pray their closed churches will come alive again too.

Since before they could walk or talk Ray Kasperski and Ray Michalski have been parishioners at St. Casimir church in Cleveland.

“I went to school here,” said Ray Kasperski.

“I was baptized, married and hopefully will be buried here,” said Ray Michalski.

Despite a lifetime of membership for the second Easter in a row Ray and Ray are forced to worship outside their home church along with other lifelong parishioners. St. Casimir remains locked up — even though the Vatican has ordered the church to be re-opened.

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