ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Sexual abuse of students in the New York City schools is exploding, yet New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey turns a blind eye to it. She recently introduced legislation, as she does annually, that exclusively targets private schools for cases of abuse that occurred a long time ago. The cover story in today’s New York Daily News reads, “Record 14 School Staff Busted Already: Readin’ Writin’ & Rikers.” It details crimes ranging from sexual abuse to assault (Rikers is a jail).

To his credit, New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is cracking down. He reviewed 250 employee records dating to 2000 and is seeking to oust the guilty. But Walcott doesn’t have time to deal with old cases—he’s got an epidemic on his hands right now. For example, after a school aide was arrested February 10 for molesting a boy (boys are frequently the victims these days), we learned that he got a slap on the wrist for offensive sexual behavior in 2006.

Sexual molesters in the schools are not always given a mere oral reprimand—they are simply moved to another school. It happens so often in the public schools that it is called “passing the trash.” Last month, the New York Times did a story on Walcott’s efforts. “In two of the cases,” it reported, “the teacher or teacher’s aide had been found to have acted inappropriately with students at previous schools, but had been able to transfer. Education officials acknowledged on Friday that they had failed to notify the principals of the new schools of the earlier accusations.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Oliver Tree

March 20, 2012

The Vatican bank is facing a possible money-laundering scandal after it emerged JP Morgan was closing one of its accounts due to a lack of information about the source of deposits, Italian newspapers report.

The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR in Italian), reportedly failed to provide a Milan affiliate of JP Morgan with details about payments into the account, in which €1.8 billion has been deposited in the last 18 months.

earlier this month the bank was listed by the U.S. State Department as being potentially vulnerable to money-laundering, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported.

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IRELAND
New Ross Standard

Tuesday March 20 2012

Changes should be made to seminaries and admission criteria for would-be priests, a Vatican report on the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland has warned.

A probe into the handling of clerical sex abuse cases found that while guidelines to protect children against paedophile priests are being followed, academic programmes in seminaries should put more focus on the issue.

Senior churchmen were sent by Rome to investigate safeguarding procedures and protocols in the Catholic Church in Ireland after it was rocked by several reports which unveiled decades of abuse and cover-ups by church and state authorities.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

March 20, 2012 by Susan Matthews

[The List Cardinal Bevilacqua Didn’t Want You to See]

The following 2004 testimony of Msgr. William J. Lynn in regard to a document dated Feb. 18, 1994 is admitted as evidence of conspiracy in the upcoming trial. Msgr. Molloy did not shred his copy as instructed by Cardinal Bevilacqua in 1994. It was recently recovered from a safe. It’s a good thing considering Msgr. Lynn’s faulty memory.

Q. And the first paragraph of this document reads: Father Beisel and I reviewed the 323 files that are presently stored in the secret archives. Attached is a list of priests who have been guilty of or accused of sexual misconduct with a minor according to the file material…

…Well, let me ask you this question then, Monsignor (Lynn): After you prepared this document, what action did you take as a result of having gone through the secret archive files? Did you make changes to anybody’s assignment? Did you say hey, we better take a look at this person because you know what, I realize that this person is in assignment and they have a history? Did you do anything like that after reviewing all of the secret files?

Msgr. Lynn: I – we may have.

Q. You don’t have any recollection of it?

Msgr. Lynn: I don’t.
….

Q. And this memo, apparently attached to it was the list of the priests; is that correct?

Msgr. Lynn: That’s right.

Q. And you can’t find that document?

Msgr. Lynn: I cannot.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., to be the new archbishop of Baltimore, and he also named new bishops for the dioceses of Rockford, Ill., and Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla.

The Vatican announced the appointments Tuesday.

Monsignor David Malloy, 56, who was general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2006 to 2011, has been named bishop of Rockford. He is currently pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church in Lake Geneva, Wis.

Fr. Gregory L. Parkes, vicar general of the Diocese of Orlando, Fla., and pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Celebration, Fla., was named bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee. He will turn 48 April 2.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

“Paedophilia”, “obscurantism” and other issues are spurring hackers to take action against the Holy See

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

It seems to have become a habit: over the past few weeks, the Anonynous hacker group has targeted the Vatican website www.vatican.va three times, each time making it impossible to access for about an hour or so. The first attack took place on 3 March, the second – which also targeted Vatican Radio servers, hosted by a foreign provider and not by an internal Vatican provider – took place on 12 March an the third and apparently most brief attack took place today.

But why so much viciousness against the Vatican? It is hard to tell reading the communiqués sent by the group of computer pirates, published on the anon-news.blogspost.it website. The first time, the accusations against the Vatican took on the classical anti-clerical tone – from the killing of Italian philosopher and heretic Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake, to accusations of obscurantism. The second time Anonymous focused its accusations on the affairs discussed on Vatican Radio. The third time, the collective communiqué only made reference to the paedophilia scandal, denouncing the violence a priest allegedly shown against a girl who was a friend of one of the hackers.

In all three cases, Anonymous seems to have been unable to get into the Vatican server directly – although it supposedly managed to hack into the Vatican Radio servers, at least partially – also because, as the Holy See stated, on all three occasions when Vatican websites were attacked, traffic was quickly re-directed to other servers.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

[the report]

Two years ago exactly Benedict XVI ordered a Visitation of Irish dioceses, seminaries and religious houses in the wake of the sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious. Today, in Ireland, the Vatican will publish a summary of its findings

Gerard O’Connell
Rome

A summary of the findings of the Visitation to the Irish Church ordered by Pope Benedict XVI in the wake of the sexual-abuse of minors by priests’ scandal will be published today in Ireland.

The news was broken late on the night of March 19 by the Communications Office of the Irish Bishops’ Conference in an email to the media. It said a press conference would be held at Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth at 10.00 a.m. (Irish time) on March 20, to coincide with the publication of the “Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland.” It announced that “senior members” of the Irish Bishops’ Conference and of the Conference of Religious of Ireland would attend.

The publication of the Visitation’s findings comes exactly two years after Pope Benedict first announced it in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, released by the Vatican on 20 March 2010.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 20, 2012

This is a callous choice and a terribly disappointing one for anyone who cares about kids.

Again, Pope Benedict elevates a corrupt cleric with a long and troubling track record of protecting predator priests and church secrets over innocent kids. As long as the Vatican keeps rewarding wrongdoers, wrongdoing will continue.

Lori has kept more secrets and more accused priests in ministry than most bishops. He pretends to be a reformer but his public relations and actual performance conflict.

Under Lori, the Bridgeport diocese

–kept Fr. Martin Ryan in a parish for nine years after he was accused, in 2002, of molesting a girl, despite having paid her a settlement. (He was suspended just last year after being accused of sexually harassing a woman.)

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FLORIDA
Fox 10

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) – Pope Benedict XVI has named 48-year-old Father Gregory L. Parkes as the Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

Bishop-elect Parkes has served the Orlando diocese as Vicar General and Chancellor for Canonical Affairs and as the pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Celebration, Florida.

In addition to serving as vicar general and chancellor for canonical affairs for the Orlando diocese, Bishop-elect Parkes has also served at the diocesan level on the College of Consultors, the Finance Committee, the Priest Placement Board, the Presbyteral Council, and the Incardination Committee. He serves on the Board of Trustees of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida.

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IRELAND
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 March 2012

Every trainee Catholic priest in Ireland must attend child protection classes, the Vatican has recommended in a major report on how the church handled the republic’s clerical abuse scandals.

Vatican Radio released the findings of the Holy See’s widespread investigation into seminaries and dioceses across the island of Ireland. It was ordered directly by Pope Benedict XVI as Rome sought to address the child abuse crisis that has severely undermined its reputation and authority in the republic.

The apostolic visitation led by the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, noted that there had been some “progressive steps” towards reforming church structures and in particular the handling of allegations of child abuse. Several Irish judicial inquiries found the Catholic hierarchy had covered up allegations of abuse, often by moving accused priests to other dioceses or even out of the country.

The Vatican proposed new restrictions and vetting procedures on entrance to seminaries for priests, and new child protection training for all would-be clergy in Ireland.

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National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Tuesday, March 20, 2012

In an important news day from the Vatican today, Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., has been named as the new Archbishop of Baltimore. He replaces Cardinal Edwin O’Brien who last week took up his new post here in Rome as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Bishop Lori was one of three appointments to U.S. dioceses announced today:

* Msgr. David Malloy, until now a priest of the diocese of Milwaukee and a former general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been appointed Bishop of Rockford, Ill., replacing Bishop Thomas Doran.
* Fr. Gregory Parkes, who has been serving as Chancellor and Vicar General of the Diocese of Orlando, is appointed Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, taking over from Bishop John Huston Ricard who stood down in March last year.

In Canada, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of Montreal, has stood down and will be replaced by Archbishop Christian Lépine, until now an auxiliary bishop in Montreal.

Also published today was a summary of the Apostolic Visitation of Ireland. The document makes a series of observations and recommendations. In particular, it notes: “Among the pastoral priorities that have emerged most strongly is the need for deeper formation in the content of the faith for young people and adults; a broad and well-planned ongoing theological and spiritual formation for clergy, Religious and lay faithful; a new focus on the role of the laity, who are called to be engaged both within the Church and in bearing witness before society, in accordance with the social teachings of the Church.”

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Published March 20, 2012

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican said Tuesday that archdioceses in Ireland are making an “excellent” progress in efforts to implement norms to protect children in the wake of decades of pedophile priest scandals.

The Vatican released a summary of findings of its yearlong investigation ordered by Pope Benedict XVI after the uproar over widespread child abuse by priests and allegations of cover-ups by the church.

The Vatican said its investigators saw for themselves “how much the shortcomings of the past” caused an inadequate reaction “not least on the part of various bishops and religious superiors.”

It expressed a “great sense of pain and shame” that innocent young people were abused by priests and nuns “while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively.”

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

[the report]

Background

On 19 March 2010, following a meeting in the Vatican with the bishops of Ireland, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI issued a Pastoral Letter to the Catholics in Ireland. The Pastoral Letter expressed his deep sorrow and regret regarding abuse perpetrated by priests and religious on victims “You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry” and addressed how such cases had been responded to in the past. The Pastoral Letter also announced a number of “concrete initiatives” including an Apostolic Visitation of certain dioceses in Ireland, as well as seminaries and religious congregations. The Apostolic Visitation was “intended to assist the local Church in her path of renewal.”

A press conference was held today in the Columba Centre, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, to mark the publication of the Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland. In attendance at the press conference were Cardinal Seán Brady, Primate of All Ireland and President of the Irish Bishops’ Conference; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Primate of Ireland and Vice-President of the Irish Bishops’ Conference; the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, His Excellency Archbishop Charles Brown; and, the Director General of the Conference of Religious of Ireland, Sister Marianne O’Connor. Please see below Cardinal Brady’s opening statement at the press conference:

Comments by Cardinal Brady:

On behalf of the Catholic community in Ireland I welcome the publication of the findings of the recent Apostolic Visitation. This visitation arose from the concrete initiatives proposed by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland of March 2010. We thank Pope Benedict, and those who collaborated in carrying out the Visitation of the four archdioceses, the religious congregations and seminaries. We acknowledge with gratitude all those who contributed to this important and historic initiative by meeting the visitors and making submissions to them. Special priority was given to meetings with survivors of abuse who were assured of the particular closeness of the Holy Father to them in this process. The Visitators also met with a broad representation of the Catholic faithful.

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IRELAND
UTV

A major new report from the Vatican into clerical abuse expresses a “great sense of pain and shame” and calls for the church to continue devoting time to victims.

Senior Catholic leaders visited Ireland in early 2011 to investigate the implications of child abuse in each of the four archdiocese.

Publishing their findings on Tuesday, the Apostolic Visitation said the scandals have “opened wounds” and led people to lose trust in their pastors.

They found that “innocent young people were abused by clerics and religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 20 March 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, U.S.A., as archbishop of Baltimore (area 12,430, population 3,119,000, Catholics 499,529, priests 543, permanent deacons 158, religious 1,249), U.S.A.

– Appointed Msgr. David J. Malloy of the clergy of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, U.S.A., pastor of the parish of St. Francis de Sales at Lake Geneva, as bishop of Rockford (area 16,717, population 1,665,000, Catholics 451,509, priests 288, permanent deacons 136, religious 184), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Milwaukee in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1983. He studied in Rome then served for a number of years in the diplomatic service of the Holy See before becoming an official of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. From 2006 to 2011 he was secretary general of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He succeeds Bishop Thomas G. Doran, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

– Appointed Bishop Christian Lepine, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Montreal, Canada, as metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese (area 1,103, population 2,574,000, Catholics 1,640,000, priests 1,163, permanent deacons 100, religious 4,158). He succeeds Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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BRIDGEPORT (CT)
CT Post

Bishop William E. Lori, who led the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese through a burgeoning sexual abuse scandal left behind by his predecessor, has been named the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore.

Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement Tuesday.

Lori will succeed Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, who served as Baltimore’s 15th archbishop from October 2007 to August 2011 when he was named grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
VIS

Città del Vaticano, 20 marzo 2012 (VIS).Dal 14 al 16 marzo si sono svolti in Vaticano alcuni incontri di lavoro fra le Autorità della Santa Sede e dello Stato della Città del Vaticano, e gli esperti del Moneyval, Divisione del Consiglio d’Europa che si occupa della valutazione dei sistemi antiriciclaggio dei Paesi Membri.

Un Comunicato, reso pubblico sabato 17 marzo, rende noto che: “Le riunioni, (…) hanno consentito di proseguire nella raccolta di informazioni sui passi compiuti nel processo di adeguamento agli standards internazionali in materia di prevenzione e contrasto del riciclaggio e del finanziamento del terrorismo, come l’adozione del Decreto N. CLIX del 25 gennaio 2012, (…) nonché la ratifica e l’adesione ad alcune Convenzioni internazionali rilevanti in materia. (…) La presente fase condurrà alla redazione di un rapporto, che, come era stato previsto, sarà esaminato dall’Assemblea Plenaria di Moneyval del luglio prossimo”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 16 March 2012 (VIS) – The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has opened a new domain (www.doctrinafidei.va) within the official website of the Holy See. In this way, the congregation hopes to facilitate the consultation of its documents which, having the express approbation of the Holy Father, participate in his ordinary Magisterium as the Peter’s Successor. Attentive reception of these texts is important for all members of the faithful and in particular for those who are engaged in theological and pastoral work.

The major documents are available in eight languages: Latin, French, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Polish. Certain documents are also available in Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, and Dutch. There is a general list of all the texts organised chronologically, and three subgroups of these texts, divided into doctrinal, disciplinary and sacramental documents.

The new domain also presents information on the Congregation’s series “Documenti e Studi”, which are individual printed volumes presenting a major document of the Congregation together with commentaries by noted theologians. There is also a description of the volumes containing the proceedings of various symposia organised by the Congregation in recent years, as well as speeches and other contributions by cardinal prefects.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 20 March 2012 (VIS) – Given below is a note released this morning by the Holy See Press Office concerning the summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland. It is, the English-language text reads, “a synthesis of the results of the Visitations to the four archdioceses, to religious institutes and to the Irish seminaries. It has been approved by the offices which conducted the Visitation and it also contains some further observations from the Holy See, in addition to those that the individual dicasteries communicated to the leaders of the respective archdioceses or institutes.

“There follows a list of some of the principal elements contained in the summary:

“(a) The Holy See reiterates the sense of dismay expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland and the closeness that he has often manifested towards the victims of these sinful and criminal acts committed by priests and religious.

“(b) The Visitation, which was pastoral in nature, was able on the one hand to acknowledge the seriousness of the shortcomings that gave rise, in the past, not least on the part of various bishops and religious superiors, to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible phenomenon of the abuse of minors. On the other hand, it is clearly pointed out that, beginning in the 1990s, decisive progress has been made, leading to a greater awareness of the problem and profound changes in the way of addressing it. It is recommended that bishops and religious superiors keep up their commitment to welcoming and supporting victims of abuse.

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NEDERLAND
de Volkskrant

Een op de drie katholieke priesters heeft zoveel last van stress en psychologische problemen dat hij een burn-out oploopt. Voornaamste oorzaken zijn de toenemende werkdruk bij pastorale activiteiten en het besmeurde imago als gevolg van de vele schandalen van seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen door katholieke geestelijken.

Dit blijkt uit een onderzoek dat de Italiaanse pater en psychotherapeut Giuseppe Crea onlangs presenteerde op een congres met de opmerkelijke titel ‘Priesters op de divan’. Aanwezig op de bijeenkomst aan de Salesiaanse universiteit in Rome waren ruim tweehonderd geestelijken, psychologen, therapeuten en Vaticaan-watchers. Unaniem kwamen ze tot de conclusie dat het bepaald geen pretje is om anno 2012 priester in de katholieke kerk te zijn.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Carl Siciliano

Cardinal Dolan, I write to you as the director of the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth. I am writing to you on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youths who have been driven from their homes by parents unwilling or unable to accept their own children because they are gay. And I write to you as a member of the Archdiocese of New York who is deeply ashamed by the ways that his bishop contributes to the abuse and harm suffered by these youths.

I want you to understand how you, and other religious leaders who fight against the acceptance of LGBT people, are helping to create a national tragedy. As youths find the courage and integrity to be honest about who they are at younger ages, hundreds of thousands are being turned out of their homes and forced to survive alone on the streets by parents who cannot accept having a gay child. Parental rejection has become so prevalent that LGBT youths make up an astonishing 40 percent of the nation’s homeless youth population.

Do you know that a recent study of family rejection found that parents who identify themselves as “strongly religious” are much more likely to reject their LGBT children?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

Bischof Ackermann verteidigt Leitlinien gegen Missbrauch

Bonn – Er hat einen Zusatz-Job, um den ihn keiner beneidet: Seit Februar 2010 ist der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. In einer der größten Krise der katholischen Kirche seit Jahrzehnten hat der damals 46-Jährige eine wichtige Position übernommen und die Aufgabe seither ziemlich souverän gelöst.

Doch jetzt hat Ackermann in seiner eigenen Diözese Probleme. Mitte März hatte der “Trierische Volksfreund” berichtet, dass ein 1995 wegen mehrerer Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs zu zwei Jahren auf Bewährung verurteilter Priester im Saarland als Aushilfspfarrer eingesetzt werde. Er sei vor allem in der Krankenhausseelsorge tätig und feiere in einer Pfarrei heilige Messen, so der Bericht, den das Bistum bestätigte.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Braunschweiger Zeitung

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, sagte, vier Monate nach dem Ende des Runden Tisches hätten die zuständigen Bundesministerien noch kein Konzept vorgelegt. «Vier Monate sind aus Sicht der Betroffenen eine sehr lange Zeit», sagte er. «Die Betroffenen drängen. Und das auch zu recht», sagte Rörig, der das Amt von Christine Bergmann übernommen hatte.

Der Runde Tisch hatte sich auf ein Maßnahmenpaket verständigt. Dabei geht es um schnelle Hilfen für Opfer, um Therapien und Entschädigungen, aber auch um Prävention. Ein zentraler Vorschlag besteht darin, ein Hilfesystem mit einer finanziellen Ausstattung von 100 Millionen Euro einzurichten, um Opfern zu helfen, für die kein anderer einspringt. Der Bund zeigte sich damals bereit, die Hälfte zu finanzieren. Die Länder sollen die andere Hälfte stemmen.

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GROSSBRITANNIEN
Moment Mal

UK: “ Priester und Gemeindemitglieder wurden aufgefordert, die Augen offen zu halten bei der Suche nach Kinderschändern innerhalb der Geistlichkeit der Gemeinschaft.

Der amtierende Bischof von Chichester, Reverend Mark Sowerby, warnte die Mitglieder des Klerus in der ganzen Grafschaft, wachsam zu sein und forderte auf, die Straftäter auszurotten.

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BELGIEN
Deredactie

Untersuchungsrichter Wim De Troy, der die Ermittlungen im Zusammenhang mit den sexuellen Missbrauchsfällen in der Katholischen Kirche leitete, gibt seinen Auftrag zurück. Für die Anwälte der Opfer ist dies ein schwerer Schlag.

Meldungen verschiedener belgischer Medien, nach denen Untersuchungsrichter Wim De Troy (Foto oben) bei Bundesjustizministerin Annemie Turtelboom (Open VLD) um eine Beendigung seines Mandats bitten werde, wurden inzwischen bestätigt.

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OSTERREICH
Skydaddy’s Blog

Anlässlich zweier Zivilklagen weist Altabt Kassian Lauterer darauf hin, dass er einen Pater seiner Abtei 1982 sofort aus dem Schuldienst entfernt habe, als er von Eltern über sexuellen Missbrauch informiert wurde. Im Fall eines anderen Paters blieb Abt Kassian allerdings jahrzehntelang untätig. Es handelt sich dabei um einen Fall, über den ich 2010 mehrfach berichtet habe.

Die österreichische Zisterzienserabtei Wettingen-Mehrerau am Bodensee, die auch ein Internat betreibt, sieht sich Zivilklagen von Missbrauchsopfern gegenüber, die bis März 1982 von einem Pater des Klosters missbraucht worden sein sollen. Der betreffende Pater war bereits 1967 wegen Missbrauchs von Minderjährigen verurteilt worden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
taz

Der Mann, der in der Öffentlichkeit das Gesicht der Kirche für Aufklärung und Prävention sexualisierter Gewalt ist, soll selbst Pädosexuelle beschäftigt haben.

von Christian Füller

Wer wissen will, wie man sexuelle Gewalt und Missbrauch nicht aufklärt, der muss sich wenden an: den Chefaufklärer der Katholischen Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann. Ackermann, der zugleich Trierer Bischof ist, musste sich von dem exzellent informierten Opferverein MissBit (Missbrauch im Bistum Trier) vorhalten lassen, dass er sieben Pädosexuelle beschäftigt.

Das ist für Ackermann und die katholische Kirche ein, freundlich gesagt, schwerer Rückschlag: Ist der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Täterorganisation Kirche gar kein Aufklärer, sondern ein Pate der Pädophilen?

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DEUTSCHLAND
taz

Kommentar von Matthias Katsch

Vor zwei Jahren wurde von der Politik ein Runder Tisch eingesetzt, um auf Missbrauchsfälle in kirchlichen und anderen Institutionen zu reagieren. Zwei Jahre später ist klar: Das wichtigste Ziel wurde nicht erreicht. Klarheit und Wahrheit über das Ausmaß in der Katholischen Kirche zu erreichen.

Angesichts der Vorgänge im Bistum Trier, wo mehrere pädophile Priester weiter beschäftigt werden sollen, muss man sich fragen: Wie lange wollen es sich die von ihren Hirten gerne als Schäfchen bezeichneten zahlenden Mitglieder der Körperschaft öffentlichen Rechts noch gefallen lassen, dass ihr Ruf von uneinsichtigen oder überforderten Vertretern der Katholischen Kirche vollends ruiniert wird? Und wie lange will sich die Gesellschaft noch gefallen lassen, dass eine Institution sich in dieser Weise selbst aufklärt?

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NETHERLANDS
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Jill Reilly

PUBLISHED: 07:39 EST, 20 March 2012

Shocking reports have emerged that reveal at least 10 males under the age of 21 were castrated ‘to get rid of homosexuality,’ in the 1950s by the Dutch Roman Catholic Church.

The findings are even more controversial as an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church published last year, did not include the shocking revelation, even though it had been reported.

The NRC Handelsblad, a daily evening newspaper in the Netherlands, newspaper identified a man Henk Heithuis as one of the young men who were castrated as well as nine other minors.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

[with video]

By Dean Jones Jr., The Baltimore Sun

7:31 a.m. EDT, March 20, 2012
Bishop William E. Lori, previously of the diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., was named as Cardinal Edwin O’Brien’s replacement as head of the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Pope Benedict XVI, the archdiocese announced Tuesday.

Lori, 60, becomes the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore. He replaces O’Brien, who served as archbishop from October 2007 to August 2011 before leaving the post to become the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

Archbishop-designate Lori will be introduced at a news conference at 10:30 a.m. today at the Baltimore Basilica.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop William E. Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, 60, as the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore.

He will succeed Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, who served as Baltimore’s 15th archbishop from October 2007 to August 2011.

O’Brien has served as Apostolic Administrator of the nation’s oldest Archdiocese since his appointment Aug. 29 as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By JD Watson

Rev. John P. Bambrick, pastor of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Toms River, has requested and been granted a transfer by the Most Rev. David M. O’Connell, bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, Bambrick announced to parishioners on Sunday.

Rev. G. Scott Shaffer, pastor of St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church in Jackson, has accepted a transfer to become the 11th pastor of St. Joseph’s, the parish where he first served as a priest 20 years ago. …

Bambrick has had a notable career. He was widely hailed for his efforts at St. Thomas More in Manalapan, unifying his parish after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. A victim of sexual abuse at the age of 15 by a priest and mentor, Bambrick tracked down his abuser and arranged for him to be removed from the priesthood. Bambrick went on to confront other abusive priests, becoming a champion for the rights of the sexually abused.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A DELEGATION of high-ranking Catholic officials sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict to deal with the aftermath of successive abuse scandals has proposed a series of reforms to tackle the Church’s difficulty.

The findings of the Apostolic Visitation, led by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, propose imposing new restrictions on admission to seminaries, and including new child protection classes in the academic programme for trainee priests.

The Visitation has also proposed reforming the structure of Ireland’s 26 Church dioceses “and their ability to respond adequately to the challenges of the New Evangelisation”.

A summary of their findings, issued this morning by Vatican Radio, also outlines the need for a new focus on the role of lay people in the affairs of the Church, and the need to harness “new Ecclesial movements” (such as the World Youth Day event) to better reach the young generation.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Vatican has published its report on the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

It recommends that Irish diocesan authorities and those of religious institutes should continue to devote time to listening to victims and providing support for them and their families.

The findings are based on an apostolic visitation to the four archdioceses, religious congregations and seminaries.

The report found that the current guidelines on child protection were being followed.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

The Apostolic Visitation to Ireland says “excellent” efforts are being made by the clergy to implement and improve child protection measures.

However it also stresses that the Church should continue to examine and update the protection guidelines in place and to continue to provide support to clerical child sex abuse victims.

A summary of the findings of the 7 Visitations last year has been published by the Vatican but the full reports will not be released.

They were ordered by Pope Benedict XVI.

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IRELAND
The Journal

[the report]

CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, said he “welcomed” the findings of a panel appointed by the Vatican to visit the four Irish archdioceses to look at how they were responding to the child abuse scandal.

A summary of the findings of the ‘Apostolic Visitation’ was published today. It suggested that new restrictions be placed on admission to seminaries and made other recommendations which it felt would help the “renewal” of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It also proposed a restructuring of the 26 dioceses in the country.

The Irish Bishops’ Conference held a press conference on the publication this morning. It said it was grateful to those who had co-operated in their meetings with the Vatican-picked panel, including survivors of child abuse, religious congregations, seminaries and the four archdioceses.

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IRELAND
Galway News

March 20, 2012

The Archbishop of Tuam has described the Vatican report into the country’s four archdioceses as ‘hopeful’ and ‘positive’.

Archbishop Michael Neary was speaking ahead of the reports publication in Rome today.

The Vatican sent visitation teams to the archdiocese of Tuam, Cashel and Emly, Armagh and Dublin following the release of the Murphy report into clerical child sex abuse.

Canadian Archbishop Terence Prendergast and his assistant Fr.James Conn completed his third and final visit to the Tuam archdiocese last March.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

A delegation of senior Catholic Church officials sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict in the wake of a series of clerical sex abuse scandals has proposed a number of reforms to improve child protection.

A seven-page summation of the report by the apostolic visitation was published at the Columba Centre in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth this morning at a briefing attended by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown.

The report was completed after seven teams of Vatican-appointed church leaders visited Ireland. The teams visited the four Irish Archdioceses, two seminaries and the male and female congregations.

The report said changes should be made to seminaries and admission criteria for would-be priests. It found that while guidelines to protect children are being followed, academic programmes in seminaries should put more focus on the issue.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

[the report]

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Changes should be made to seminaries and admission criteria for would-be priests, a Vatican report on the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland has warned.

A probe into the handling of clerical sex abuse cases found while guidelines to protect children against paedophile priests are being followed, academic programmes in seminaries should put more focus on the issue.

Senior churchmen were sent by Rome to investigate safeguarding procedures and protocols in the Catholic Church in Ireland after it was rocked by several reports which unveiled decades of abuse and cover-ups by church and state authorities.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

The case of the young boy who was castrated while in the care of catholic priests does not stand alone. On Tuesday, Dagblad de Limburger wrote that in the fifties underage boys were castrated without their parents’ permission in psychiatric institutions in the provinces of Noord-Brabant and Limburg. So how common was this practice? The Volkskrant talked to two historians.

Nothing unusual

Psychiatrists, politicians, lawyers and doctors were all agreed that castration was the cure-all for what were considered sexual ills’, historian Theo van der Meer tells the paper. ‘It was nothing unusual’, fellow historian Marnix Koolhaas adds.

The boy who was castrated in 1956 after having been sexually abused by catholic priests was sent to a psychiatric institution. It was one of the places where men who were considered to be sexually deviant – the boy was allegedly homosexual – were castrated, a practice that was allowed to continue until the late sixties, the Volkskrant writes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Telegraph

A VICAR has been suspended after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an 11-year-old boy.

Rev Joe Fielder, 44, the priest-in-charge at St John’s Church in Baxenden, was arrested at the village Vicarage in Langford Street.

He has been suspended from his role at the church, which he has held for three years, while an internal church investigation is completed, diocese officials have confirmed.

Police said the alleged victim called police at 7.20am on Tuesday, February 7, to report an assault.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Catholic Review

[New Archbishop: Watch Live Press Conference at 10:30 AM]

By Jennifer Williams
jwilliams@CatholicReview.org

Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop William Edward Lori, 60, of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., as the 16th archbishop of Baltimore. Archbishop Lori will be formally installed as head of the Premier See May 16.

Archbishop Lori succeeds Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, who took the helm of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2007. Cardinal O’Brien was named grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher in August 2011 and continues to serve as apostolic administrator for the Baltimore archdiocese until his successor’s installation.

Archbishop Lori will be introduced to the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Cardinal O’Brien at a news conference today at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at 10:30 a.m.

Archbishop Lori, who hails from Louisville, Ken., was installed as the fourth bishop of the Bridgeport diocese in 2001. The Connecticut leader, who has a bachelor’s degree from St. Pius X Seminary in Kentucky, is acquainted with the Archdiocese of Baltimore, having earned a master’s degree from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg in 1977.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WBAL

BALTIMORE — Baltimore’s new archbishop will come from Connecticut, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed to WBAL-TV 11 News.

William Edward Lori, who currently serves as bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., will replace Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, who was elevated by the pope last month to serve in Rome.

Lori will be introduced during a news conference at 10:30 a.m. at the Baltimore Basilica. 11 News will carry it live on WBALTV.com and on WBAL Plus.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Vatican says Irish church making progress in implementing norms to protect children

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, March 20, 7:15 AM

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says archdioceses in Ireland are making an “excellent” progress in efforts to implement norms to protect children in the wake of decades of pedophile priest scandals.

The Vatican on Tuesday released a summary of findings of its own yearlong investigation ordered by Pope Benedict XVI after the uproar over widespread child abuse by priests and allegations of cover up by the church.

The Vatican said its investigators saw for themselves “how much the shortcomings of the past” caused an inadequate reaction “not least on the part of various bishops and religious superiors.”

It expressed a “great sense of pain and shame.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

Now that the Apostolic Visitation to certain Dioceses, Seminaries and Religious Institutes in Ireland has been concluded, it is intended here, in accordance with what was stated in the Communiqué of 6 June 2011, to offer an overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects highlighted by the Visitation.

It should be borne in mind that the Visitation was pastoral in nature; the Holy Father’s intention was that it should “assist the local Church on her path of renewal” (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010). It was not intended to replace or supersede the ordinary responsibility of Bishops and Religious Superiors, nor to interfere “with the ordinary activity of the local magistrates, nor with the activity of the Commissions of Investigation established by the Irish Parliament, nor with the work of any legislative authority, which has competence in the area of prevention of abuse of minors” (Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office, 12 November 2010).

In communicating this summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis.

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INDIA
IBN

Mumbai: Two 26-year-old men, who were promised jobs in Dubai by a priest and later sexually abused by him, have conducted a sting operation to bare the man of God in rather unbecoming circumstances. MiD DAY has a copy of the CD in which the priest — identified as Kanak Kubdiya, resident of Dadar — is allegedly seen sodomising one of the victims at the quarters of a temple in Shahpur, Thane. The two youths, whose identities have been concealed, have submitted the evidence to Indore police.

According to one of the victims — who hails from Surat in Gujarat — he was in the vocation of dressing up idols at temples. “I was contacted by Kubdiya and on December 1, 2011, I went along with him to Dadar where I dressed up the gods at a temple for 30 days. Kubdiya then offered me a similar position in Dubai and lured me with money. I agreed. However, he took me to Shahpur and sodomised me at a temple over several days,” he said.

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NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

HARREVELD – Burgemeester Henk Heijman van Oost Gelre houdt vertrouwen in de commissie-Deetman, die onderzoek deed naar seksuseel misbruik in de katholieke kerk. De commissie zou een melding over castratie van jongens uit het internaat Harreveld terzijde hebben geschoven.

„Ik heb vertrouwen in Wim Deetman, ik ken hem van vroeger”, reageert de burgemeester van Oost Gelre, waartoe ook Harreveld behoort. „Deetman is geen man die dingen verdoezelt of in de doofpot stopt.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – While the unprecedented clergy abuse trial of former Monsignor William Lynn and two priests is set to begin Monday, the latest pre-trial hearing in the case makes clear the defendants won’t be the only ones on trial.

Two priests — one now defrocked — allegedly abused children, and Monsignor William Lynn is charged with endangering children by allowing these and other alleged predator priests to remain in ministry.

But, prosecutor Patrick Blessington said yesterday, they plan to present evidence showing there was “a diocese-wide policy that was criminal in nature.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bolletino

The Summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland, published herewith, offers a synthesis of the results of the Visitations to the four Archdioceses, to Religious Institutes and to the Irish Seminaries. It has been approved by the Offices which conducted the Visitation and it also contains some further observations from the Holy See, in addition to those that the individual Dicasteries communicated to the leaders of the respective Archdioceses or Institutes:

Now that the Apostolic Visitation to certain Dioceses, Seminaries and Religious Institutes in Ireland has been concluded, it is intended here, in accordance with what was stated in the Communiqué of 6 June 2011, to offer an overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects highlighted by the Visitation.

It should be borne in mind that the Visitation was pastoral in nature; the Holy Father’s intention was that it should “assist the local Church on her path of renewal” (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010). It was not intended to replace or supersede the ordinary responsibility of Bishops and Religious Superiors, nor to interfere “with the ordinary activity of the local magistrates, nor with the activity of the Commissions of Investigation established by the Irish Parliament, nor with the work of any legislative authority, which has competence in the area of prevention of abuse of minors” (Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office, 12 November 2010).

In communicating this summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

A Vatican report which was ordered in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan reports into clerical child sex abuse is to be published this morning.

The inquiry was carried out by the Apostolic Visitation to Ireland.

It involved teams visiting all 4 Catholic archdioceses, seminaries and religious congregations.

The Irish bishops will give their reaction to the findings at a press conference in Maynooth later this morning.

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WISCONSIN
Post-Crescent

APPLETON — Attorneys say an attempt to settle the civil lawsuit brought by two sexual assault victims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay was unsuccessful as a two-week jury trial draws near.

Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger held a motions hearing Monday in the lawsuit filed by brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield stemming from their childhood sexual abuse at the hands of former priest John Feeney.

Krueger considered sanctions Monday against Troy Merryfield for participating in a recent mediation session by telephone instead of in person. Krueger didn’t order sanctions, but asked attorneys to discuss the possibility of another mediation session.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Darf ein ehemals vom Trierer Landgericht wegen Missbrauchs zu einer Bewährungsstrafe verurteilter Geistlicher noch Gottesdienste feiern und die Sakramente spenden? Nein, sagen Opferverbände und die katholische Jugendorganisation KSJ. Beim Bistum Trier sieht man dies offenbar anders: Der jetzt im Saarland tätige Pfarrer sei mit Einschränkungen einsetzbar, sagt ein Bischofssprecher.

Trier/Saarbrücken. “Zu seinen Aufgaben als Kooperator gehören Messfeiern, Taufen, Hochzeiten, Beerdigungen, die Mitarbeit in der Krankenhausseelsorge und in der Erwachsenenbildung.” So schrieb die Saarbrücker Zeitung vor genau zwei Jahren über den Geistlichen, als er in einer saarländischen Pfarrei offiziell vorgestellt wurde.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Wim De Troy, de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter die bekend is van de Operatie Kelk, stapt op. Hij liet justitieminister Annemie Turtelboom weten dat hij zijn mandaat niet wil verlengen. De Troy leidde de voorbije jaren het onderzoek naar het seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Dat schrijft Het Laatste Nieuws.

De Troy viel in de zomer van 2010 binnen in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis in Mechelen, nam de computer van kardinaal Danneels mee en nam bij de commissie-Adriaenssens de dossiers rond honderden pedofiele geestelijken in beslag.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

Bij de huiszoekingen die gisteren zijn uitgevoerd op een 30-tal verschillende plaatsen in Oost- en West-Vlaanderen en Brabant, hebben speurders van de Brusselse federale gerechtelijke politie een kleine honderd persoonlijke dossiers van geestelijken in beslag genomen. Dat meldt het federaal parket.

De huiszoekingen en het gerechtelijk onderzoek van onderzoeksrechter De Troy lopen daarmee op hun eind. Voorlopig is er nog geen sprake van inverdenkingstellingen.

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BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

Wim De Troy, de Brussels onderzoeksrechter bekend van Operatie Kelk, stapt op. Hij liet justitieminister Annemie Turtelboom weten dat hij zijn mandaat niet wil verlengen. De Troy leidde de voorbije jaren het onderzoek naar het seksueel misbruik in de Kerk.

De Troy viel in de zomer van 2010 binnen in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis in Mechelen, nam de computer van kardinaal Danneels mee en nam bij de commissie-Adriaenssens de dossiers rond honderden pedofiele geestelijken in beslag.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

1 IT’S NOT ABOUT CATHOLIC PRIESTS

FACT: Catholic priests do not offend at a higher rate than clergy of other religious denominations or employees of other institutions that deal with youth.
Read more

2 STRANGE DAYS INDEED

FACT: The media’s frenzied Catholic priest sex abuse storyline stems only from a historical anomaly, as the vast majority of allegations occurred during a narrow band of time from the 1960s to the early 1980s. During this period the Church sent abusive priests to treatment, conforming to the then-prevailing societal view that offenders could be successfully rehabilitated but resulting in a high rate of recidivism.
Read more

3 YESTERDAY’S NEWS: CURRENT ACCUSATIONS AGAINST CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE VERY RARE

FACT: Almost all accusations against Catholic priests date from decades ago, and indeed nearly half of all abuse accusations concern priests who are already dead. In an institution of 77 million people, contemporaneous accusations of abuse against Catholic clergy in the United States are very rare, recently averaging only 8.5 “credible” allegations per year.
Read more

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann hat am Montag Kritik an seinem Umgang mit Missbrauchstätern zurückgewiesen. Indirekt sprach sich Ackermann allerdings für eine Verschärfung der Leitlinien aus.

Trier. Als Papst Benedikt XVI. vor vier Jahren über den großen Teich in die Vereinigten Staaten flog, da äußerte er sich im Flieger über den Wolken zu den Missbrauchsfällen durch pädophile Priester. Er sei “tief beschämt”, sagte der Pontifex, “wir werden alles tun, dass dies in Zukunft nicht mehr passieren kann”. Und dann fügte der Papst einen Satz hinzu, der an Deutlichkeit eigentlich nichts vermissen lässt: “Wir werden Pädophile vom Priesterdienst absolut ausschließen.” Wenn der katholische Missbrauchsbeauftragte Stephan Ackermann sich an diesen Satz des Papstes halten würde, hätte der Trierer Bischof jetzt nicht so ein großes Problem. Denn seit dem Wochenende sorgt eine Spiegel-Geschichte für mächtig Aufsehen, in der von sieben pädophilen Priestern die Rede ist, die nach wie vor im Bistum eingesetzt würden.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

Thirty years after it was entangled in a scandal involving the mafia, money laundering and the mysterious death of the man nicknamed “God’s banker”, the Vatican bank faces fresh controversy.

By Nick Squires, Rome

9:01PM GMT 19 Mar 2012

The bank – formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion or IOR – has suffered the ignominy of having one of its accounts closed by JP Morgan after stone-walling requests for information.

The sanction came less than two weeks after the US State Department listed the Vatican as being potentially vulnerable to money laundering.

A Milan affiliate of JP Morgan said it will shut the account by the end of the month after revealing Vatican bankers had been “unable to respond” to requests for details about payments into the account.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Post

‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community

By Emily Wax, Published: March 19

One by one the victims stood and described their alleged molesters: the Torah teacher, the rabbi, the ice cream truck driver, the man at the mikvah.

That meeting, held nearly six years ago in a small room in a synagogue in Pikes­ville, just outside Baltimore, went on for four hours. Seated in a circle with the other victims was Phil Jacobs, a Baltimore Jewish Times journalist. He was not there as a reporter. He was there because he, too, had experienced sexual abuse.

But after the meeting, a young man who knew Jacobs was a journalist approached and asked to be interviewed, to have his story told. That was the beginning of Jacobs’s effort to document sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community, bringing the harrowing experiences shared by the 18 victims in that room out into the open.

The first of his stories, “Today, Steve is 25” was published in February 2007, 10 months after the Pikes­ville meeting.

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BELGIE
Knack

Onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy stopt met het onderzoek Operatie Kelk naar seksueel misbruik van kinderen in de Kerk. De Troy stapt op als onderzoeksrechter. Naar verluidt is hij de tegenwerking achter de schermen beu.

Wim De Troy, de Brussels onderzoeksrechter bekend van Operatie Kelk, stapt op. Hij liet justitieminister Annemie Turtelboom weten dat hij zijn mandaat niet wil verlengen. De Troy leidde de voorbije jaren het onderzoek naar het seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Dat schrijft Het Laatste Nieuws.

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DEUTSCHLAND
taz

von Christian Füller

BERLIN taz | Der Nationale Beauftragte gegen sexuelle Gewalt Johannes Wilhelm Rörig ist erschrocken über die Vorgänge in der Katholischen Kirche. Es sei „sehr misslich“, dass Bischof Ackermann Pädosexuelle in seinem Bistum beschäftige, sagte Rörig der taz. Der Beauftragte drängt darauf, dass auch die Kirche bereit ist, mit der Bundesrepublik Deutschland einen Vertrag über Aufklärung und Prävention zu schließen.

Bischof Stephan Ackermann, in dessen Bistum sieben pädosexuelle Täter beschäftigt sind, ist nicht irgendwer. Er ist der Beauftragte der Katholischen Bischofskonferenz gegen sexuellen Missbrauch. Ackermann sagte am Montag in einem Radiointerview, „dass wir versuchen, mit den Tätern als Menschen und Priestern umzugehen – ohne das Verbrechen zu tolerieren“.

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WYOMING
Billings Gazette

By TOM MORTON Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Monday, March 19, 2012

CASPER, Wyo. — The defendants in a federal civil lawsuit have denied a woman’s allegations that a deacon at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Casper imposed a sexual relationship on her, according to court documents filed last week. An attorney for the Diocese of Cheyenne also asserts the court cannot involve itself in the church’s personnel policies because of the First Amendment, and should dismiss the lawsuit.

Kathy Seeley, who now lives in Colorado, claimed the Rev. Michael Carr in 2002 referred her for grief counseling from Deacon Don Stewart, whose “vicious physical assaults and physical sexual relationship” caused physical and emotional damage, according to her complaint filed on Jan. 17.

The lawsuit also names two priests and two former bishops of the Diocese of Cheyenne.

“The other named defendants knew or should have known of this inappropriate and meretricious sexual relationship imposed upon plaintiff by Defendant Stewart in the course and scope of his employment,” according to the complaint filed by her attorneys, Traci Mears of Casper and William Fix of Jackson.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Vatican report ordered by Pope Benedict XVI in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan inquiries into clerical child sex abuse is to be published in Rome later.

The inquiry was carried out by the Apostolic Visitation to Ireland and involved teams visiting all four Catholic archdioceses, seminaries and religious congregations.

The Irish bishops will give their reaction to the findings at a press conference in Maynooth this morning.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican will publish a report this morning on the Catholic child abuse scandals in Ireland.

It was compiled following visits to Ireland by teams of Vatican-appointed foreign church leaders.

It will also look at the church’s dealings with survivors of abuse and current child protection policies.

The report was promised two years ago by Pope Benedict XVI in his letter to Catholics in Ireland.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

A summation of the Vatican’s report into the handling of cases of clerical child sexual abuse in Ireland is to be published today.

The report was completed after seven teams of Vatican-appointed church leaders visited Ireland.

The teams visited the four Irish Archdioceses, two seminaries and the male and female congregations.

The visits followed Pope Benedict XVI’s Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland which was published two years ago today.

The letter came after the publication of the Murphy Report into clerical sexual abuse in November 2009. The report documented some 70-years of child abuse by a number of priests across the State.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Vatican’s report on the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland is to be published in Rome this morning.

It was compiled following visits to Ireland by teams of Vatican-appointed foreign church leaders.

It is expected to impose greater orthodoxy on seminaries and a rationalisation of dioceses.

It will also report on the church’s dealings with survivors of abuse and current child protection policies.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, March 20, 2012 – “How a schism was born”: this is the title of an article that appeared recently in “L’Osservatore Romano” with the byline of the Bavarian cardinal Walter Brandmüller (in the photo). An article with an historical slant, but with explicit references to current events.

An article that from the very beginning recalls the anti-Roman movement “Los von Rom” that emerged in Austria between the 19th and 20th century, which “was able to drive about a hundred thousand Austrian Catholics to separate from the Church.”

This movement – the cardinal continues, coming up to the present – “was revived following Vatican Council II.” But not only that. “Similar tendencies seem to be reemerging from time to time in our days as well, in some of the appeals for disobedience toward the pope and the bishops..”

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IRELAND
The Journal

POPE BENEDICT XVI’S hand-picked team of high-ranking clerics will today publish their findings of a visit to Ireland following the fallout from the various clerical abuse scandals.

The Apostolic Visitation, led by the Archbishop of New York now-Cardinal Timothy Dolan, visited in 2010 after the Pope issued a letter to the people of Ireland expressing his dismay at the Murphy and Ryan reports into abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin and in residential institutions.

The pontiff had assigned six teams to visit all four of Ireland’s archdioceses, seminaries and other religious orders.

The report is expected to make the case for a rationalisation in the number of dioceses in Ireland (of which there are 26 at present), as well as imposing greater oversight on training seminaries.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

March 19, 2012|By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia fought Monday to keep private 12 documents that could reveal how its lawyers advised church leaders to handle claims that priests were molesting children.

The records include correspondence between the lawyers and Msgr. William J. Lynn, the church official criminally charged over his alleged role in responding to abuse allegations in the 1990s. Most concern the “development of policy” by the archdiocese, its attorney, Robert Welsh, said during a Common Pleas Court hearing.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANK BRUNI

Published: March 19, 2012

If Catholicism is measured by obeisance to the pope, his cardinals and the letter of Vatican law, then Rick Santorum is the best Catholic to ever get this far in presidential politics.

He doesn’t just oppose abortion as a private matter of personal conscience. He has made that position a defining crusade. …

The Catholic hierarchy, meanwhile, keeps giving American Catholics fresh reasons for rebellion. As The Times’s Laurie Goodstein reported last week, lawyers for the church in Missouri have begun a campaign of intimidation against a support group for victims of sexually abusive priests: they’re trying to compel the group to release decades of internal documents.

This may be cunning legal strategy, but it’s lousy public relations and worse pastoral care. Which isn’t any surprise.

I’ve been monitoring and occasionally writing about the church’s child sex-abuse crisis since 1992, and most of church leaders’ apologies and instances of constructive outreach have come about reluctantly, belatedly or with a palpable sense from many bishops and cardinals that they were the aggrieved, victimized ones.

As they complained about excessive media attention, they frequently lost sight of its heinous root: a great many priests molested a great many children, who were especially vulnerable to them — and especially damaged by them — because they called themselves men of God. And for a great many years, church leaders actively concealed these crimes, which continued.

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Care2

by Paul Canning

This post was inspired by comment and information from Care2 members Rob and Jay B. They commented on a post about the latest scandalous push back by some Catholics against allegations of child abuse in Missouri.

Much has been written about child abuse and the Catholic Church. But other religions are also being criticized for failing to do enough to tackle the problem of those who abuse their positions of authority. This post covers just some recent examples.

In Indonesia, authorities are being accused of dragging their heels on the prosecution of Habib Hasan bin Jafar Assegaf, a popular Muslim cleric.

The alleged abuse took place about eight years ago but was only recently reported. The 11 men involved claimed in December that Habib told them when they were teenage children that he needed to touch them to remove evil spirits while giving them “healing treatments.”

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NETHERLANDS
Capital FM (Kenya)

ROTTERDAM, Mar 20 – Underage sexual abuse victims were castrated in Dutch Roman Catholic psychiatric wards in the 1950s, according to the Rotterdam-based newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

Castration was performed on young men who were thought to be homosexual, but also as a means of punishing those who blew the whistle on abusers, the paper quotes sources as saying.

NRC discovered proof of the forced castration of one young man and strong evidence that at least ten other abuse victims were subjected to the removal of their testicles.

The proof includes court documents, medical records, letters from lawyers and private correspondence.

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UNITED STATES
Holland Sentinel

By Marcia Meoli
Community columnist

Posted Mar 20, 2012

Holland —

The controversy surrounding regulations mandating coverage of birth control in health insurance demonstrates once again the persistence our culture wars and the manipulation of women’s issues. No one challenged the fact that the vast majority of American women, including Catholic women, use birth control. No one challenged the fact that birth control has become a matter of public health for women. No one claimed that any employer would have to pay directly for any birth control — it would only be paid by insurance companies.

When it comes to women, and specifically the independence of women to make decisions about their lives, our society cannot seem to act rationally.

There are any number of uses of health insurance to which an employer might have religious objections. How about an objection to all extramarital sexual activity or drug use? Should an employer be able to exclude coverage from sexually transmitted diseases by claiming that most of these come from promiscuous sexual activity? There are any number of issues that could arise, including restrictions on end-of-life decisions. …

Who started the debate? America’s Catholic bishops, with conservative enemies of President Obama only too happy to oblige in supporting them. The argument was really one of purity. The bishops did not want any of their money going to support birth control, over which they have a moral objection. Where was that purity when the bishops were faced with the horrible sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests? Pedophiles were kept on by American bishops for years, sometimes allowing further contact with children.

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NETHERLANDS
Calgary Herald

Agence France-Presse
March 20, 2012

Dutch lawmakers have called for a parliamentary debate after a media report that local Catholics castrated children in the 1950s to “cure” homosexuality, a party spokeswoman said Monday.

The call followed an NRC Han-delsblad newspaper investigation published Saturday that said at least a dozen children were castrated to “cure them of their sexual orientation.”

It focused on the case of a man named Henk Hethuis who, it said, was castrated by priests in 1956 after testifying in a police investigation about child abuse in a Catholic boarding school.

After he testified, Hethuis was taken to a Catholic psychiatric institution and was “castrated because of his homosexual behaviour,” the paper said.

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NETHERLANDS
Irish Independent

By Bruno Waterfield

Tuesday March 20 2012

AT LEAST 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s.

Evidence of the castrations has emerged amid controversy that it was not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year.

The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.

Joep Dohmen, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Heithuis case, also found evidence of at least nine other castrations. “These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced,” he said. “There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Kevin Manahan/The Star-Ledger

MORRIS COUNTY — Two former Mendham residents are planning to file a lawsuit Tuesday in Morris County, alleging sexual abuse by two Delbarton School monks in the 1970s, when the men were adolescents, according to the complaint, obtained by The Star-Ledger.

The alleged victims, referred to in the Superior Court document only by their initials, will remain unnamed until a press conference at the Morris County courthouse at 10:30 Tuesday morning, said the men’s attorney, Gregory Gianforcaro of Phillipsburg.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the private all-boys school and St. Mary’s Abbey, which runs the school. Both are located in Morris Township.

The allegations, made against Rev. Justin Capato and Rev. Luke Travers, are the latest in a string of accusations that have rocked the elite school in the past three months.

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MONTANA
Missoulian

By MATT VOLZ Associated Press | Posted: Monday, March 19, 2012

HELENA – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena has pledged to open its books and attempt to use a mediator to settle claims that priests and nuns sexually abused about 250 people as children in western Montana.

Attorneys for the diocese and for the plaintiffs in the two lawsuits asked District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena last week to temporarily halt court proceedings as they begin the process.

The sides plan to meet next month to set up interviews of each alleged victim to determine the validity of claims.

The diocese also has said it would open its financial records and share its files on accused priests with the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

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WISCONSIN
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on March 19, 2012.

Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church is starting to take some of their child sexual abuse problem seriously. Father Mark Molling of St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin has been placed on leave during an investigation started by the Archdiocese of Wisconsin. They are investigating allegations of sexual abuse of a minor back in the mid 1990′s.

According to Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Molling denies the allegations, and they were reported to the Waukesha County district attorney’s office, which has not filed charges. Molling has worked as a resident chaplain at the state juvenile corrections facility Ethan Allen School for Boys in Wales, Wis. John Pilmaier, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Wisconsin director, stated “The way the diocese made the statement, it’s unclear if the DA declined to prosecute because the statute of limitations ran out or if there were other problems.”

According to the Journal Sentinel:

The report of the alleged sexual abuse by Molling was filed with the federal bankruptcy court as part of the Archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy claims process. Before the Feb. 1 deadline, 570 claims of sexual abuse by individual victims were filed, and Molling appears to be one of at least 100 unidentified persons accused of committing at least 8,000 instances of sexual abuse against children in the archdiocese, according to SNAP.

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MINNESOTA/INDIA
Chicago Tribune

By David Jackson and Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune reporters

March 20, 2012

A fugitive Roman Catholic priest has been arrested in India after seven years on the run from charges that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Minnesota girl who sought his advice about becoming a nun.

The Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul’s case was included in a March 11 story in the Tribune. His alleged victim, Megan Peterson, who is now 22, said in an interview Monday that she was taken off guard by the arrest after so many years of waiting.

“I find it quite ironic that we did that interview and then a week later he is in handcuffs,” Peterson said. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen this fast.”

Peterson said she was still firmly committed to testifying against Jeyapaul if he is extradited to Minnesota to face trial. “I am ready — it’s about time,” she said. “If my voice can help, then I’ll be there.”

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NETHERLANDS
AMERICAblog

By Chris in Paris on 3/19/2012

Just when you think the Catholic church abuse stories couldn’t get any worse, something else is reported. Like castrating a young boy for having the temerity to report that his priest abused him. In this case, a politician even participated in the coverup according to the report. DutchNews:

At least one boy under the age of 16 was castrated to ‘help’ his homosexual feelings while in Catholic church care in the 1950s, the NRC reported on Saturday.

But there are indications at least 10 other boys were also castrated, the paper said. The claims were not included in the Deetman report on sexual abuse within the Catholic church published at the end of last year.

The paper says the one confirmed case concerned a boy – Henk Heithuis – who reported being sexually abused by priests to the police in 1956. After giving evidence, he was placed in a Catholic-run psychiatric institution where he was then castrated because of his ‘homosexual behaviour’.

As Joe noted the other day, the Catholic church is still attacking their own victims (quoting the NYT):

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

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NETHERLANDS
Huffington Post

The Huffington Post | By Laura Hibbard

Shocking reports have surfaced that reveal at least ten teenage boys were castrated in the 1950s by the Dutch Roman Catholic Church as a “treatment” for homosexuality, the Telegraph reports.

Dutch journalist Joep Dohmen, reporting for the NRC Handelsblad uncovered ten cases of the castrations, one of which was suffered by Henk Heithuis, who was castrated as a minor for reporting to police sexual abuse by a priest that he endured while in the boarding home.

Although the priests were convicted of the abuses, Heithuis was still transported to a Catholic hospital, and underwent a surgical castration as a treatment for homosexuality and, according to the report, a punishment for tattling on the clergy.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports that the new information wasn’t included in the large Deetman Commission report published three months ago on sexual abuses in the church — and furthermore — that the commission received a complaint about the castrations last year, but claimed there was a “lack of sufficient leads” to warrant an investigation.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist Joint Committee

The U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in a lawsuit attempting to hold the Archdiocese of St. Louis responsible for child sexual abuse committed by one of its priests who has since passed away. The Catholic Church argued that the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom denies courts the ability to scrutinize personnel decisions it makes regarding its clergy. The Missouri Court of Appeals agreed, and today’s decision by the Supreme Court leaves that ruling in place.

In throwing out [the plaintiff]’s lawsuit, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District noted that courts in Missouri have declined to recognize a cause of action for negligent failure to supervise clergy. Such an inquiry would impermissibly inject the courts into matters of religious doctrine, the state’s courts have ruled.

“The [Missouri] Supreme Court has held questions of hiring, ordaining, and retaining clergy, necessarily involve interpretation of religious doctrine, policy, and administration, and such excessive entanglement between church and state has the effect of inhibiting religion, in violation of the First Amendment,” the state appeals court said.

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WISCONSIN
Channel 3000

GENESEE DEPOT, Wis. — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has placed a Waukesha County priest on leave following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

An email from Archbishop Jerome Listecki stated the Rev. Mark Molling of St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot was placed on temporary administrative leave after allegations contained in the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Molling denies the accusations.

Listecki said there’s been no substantiation of the allegations, which will be reviewed by an independent investigator.

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MINNESOTA/INDIA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Stephen J. Lee, Grand Forks Herald

A former Greenbush, Minn., Catholic priest appeared in court today in New Delhi related to charges filed in 2006 in Roseau, Minn., alleging he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, according to The Associated Press in a report out of India.

But the extradition process to return the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul from his native India to Roseau to face the charges in state district court could take three months, Indian government officials said.

Jeyapaul, 57, was arrested Friday near the southern Indian town of Erode based on a warrant from Interpol, according to Indian news reports.

He was a visiting priest in the Catholic Diocese of Crookston from September 2004 to September 2005, serving in Thief River Falls for a month or so, then about 10 months in Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush and a nearby parish in Karlstad, Minn.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

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

Two of the three Catholic priests who will go on trial next week in the clergy-child-abuse case are themselves being victimized by their troubled accusers, defense lawyers said today during a pretrial hearing.

The two former altar boys who allege that they were raped in the 1990s by Rev. James Brennan, 48, and defrocked priest Edward Avery, 69, are longtime drug addicts with criminal records who have made false allegations hoping to improve their situations, lawyers for the two priests said.

They asked Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to allow them to tell the jury about what they believe to be the alleged victims’ motivations.

Sarmina is expected to make a ruling tomorrow.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

Written by
Abbott Koloff
Staff Writer

Two former Morris County men plan to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Delbarton School alleging sexual misconduct by former headmaster Luke Travers and another monk, their attorney said on Monday.

Greg Gianforcaro, a Phillipsburg attorney, issued a press release Monday afternoon announcing the lawsuit and a press conference to be held Tuesday morning in front of the courthouse in Morristown. He offered few details and said the identities of the men alleging the abuse would not be revealed until Tuesday.

Gianforcaro said the two victims, both minors at the time the alleged abuse occurred and now in their 40s, are expected to attend the press conference along with several victims’ advocates including Pat Marker, who lives in Washington state and runs a website devoted to allegations against Delbarton monks.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Corporate Counsel

Gina Passarella and Shannon Green
Corporate Counsel

March 20, 2012

This article was written in collaboration with The Legal Intelligencer, a sibling publication of CorpCounsel.com.

The decision by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to place its general counsel on administrative leave appears to be the latest move in an effort by the new archbishop to bring in new outside and in-house legal counsel.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported Saturday that Archdiocese General Counsel Timothy Coyne was placed on administrative leave.

A source with knowledge of the decision told The Legal Intelligencer Monday that the parameters of the administrative leave are unclear even to the source, but said the expectation is that Coyne will not be returning.

Coyne has been with the archdiocese for six years, and prior to that was with Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, which had served for several decades as outside counsel for the Philadelphia church.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

. . .Sources have it that the former pastor of Wildwood’s St. Alban Roe Catholic parish, Fr. Charles Manning, has left his post in Colorado and is back in our town after having been suspended by his pal and boss, Bishop Michael Sheridan, another ex-St. Louisan. Manning faces a pending criminal investigation that he may have molested a youngster in Colorado Springs. Manning was at churches in Wildwood from 1997-2001, in Bridgeton from 2002-2004 and in Imperial, MO from 2004-2007.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Culture

March 19, 2012

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has refused to release some documents for the sex-abuse trial of a former archdiocesan official, saying that the documents are protected by the lawyer-client privilege.

Lawyers for Msgr. William Lynn are seeking to subpoena letters from an exchange he had with archdiocesan attorneys while he was secretary for clerical affairs.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on March 19, 2012

New revelations are surfacing about Catholic employees castrating boys in the Netherlands and Catholic nuns essentially stealing babies in Spain.

The Pope has set up a new church investigation, but not into these crimes. Instead, it’s focused on “leaks” in the Vatican hierarchy.

Again, the church hierarchy shows its true, and tragic, priorities. The priests and nuns who abuse and torture children are rarely pursued and punished. Instead, those who allegedly leak details of the Vatican’s mishandling of child sex cases are.

On Saturday it was revealed that during the 1950s, psychiatric wards under the auspices of the Dutch Roman Catholic church were castrating young boys for suspicions of homosexuality.In the late fall of last year, Spain was rocked by thousands of reports of babies being stolen by nuns and priests and sold for a profit, a practice that continued for decades Despite the horrors of these crimes, Church officials have responded more quickly – and devoted greater resources – to uncovering those who hacked its website and which officials leaked information.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

An alleged victim of priest sexual abuse has failed to convince a federal appeals court that he did not wait too long to make a claim for money damages against the Archdiocese of Portland.

John Doe 150, as he is identified in court papers, had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a federal judge’s ruling that his lawsuit is time-barred.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to accept a church-state case that involves the Archdiocese of St. Louis:

A man claims he was abused by another man back in 1971 when he was a teenager. The alleged offender is dead, and the alleged victim never knew what supposedly happened to him until one day in therapy ten years ago. Then, all of a sudden, it hit him like a ton of bricks—bingo, his memory was restored. Sound familiar? It happens all the time to priests. For some strange reason, this jarred-memory-phenomenon does not happen very often when the alleged molester is a school teacher.

Those issues, while important, were not at the heart of this case. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear this case because the Missouri Court of Appeals reached an eminently defensible conclusion in 2010: in order for the courts to determine whether the Archdiocese of St. Louis was negligent in its handling of the accused priest, Father Thomas Cooper, it necessarily had to involve itself in the internal affairs of the Church. Such a level of intrusion would cross church-state lines, and therefore violate the First Amendment.

This is a big loss for Marci Hamilton, an attorney who is notoriously partisan against the Catholic Church. It also signifies a loss for the editorial board of the New York Times; last week it called the Missouri decision “bizarre.”

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MINNESOTA
WGN

By David Jackson and Gary Marx
Tribune reporters

1:53 p.m. CDT, March 19, 2012
A fugitive Roman Catholic priest has been arrested in India after seven years on the run while facing charges that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Minnesota girl who sought his advice about becoming a nun.

The Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul’s case was featured in a March 11 story in the Tribune. His alleged victim, Megan Peterson, who is now 22, told the newspaper in an interview today that she was taken off guard by the arrest after so many years of waiting.

“I find it quite ironic that that we did that interview and then a week later he is in handcuffs,” Peterson said. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen this fast.”

But Peterson said she was still firmly committed to testifying against Jeyapaul should he be extradited to Minnesota to face trial. “I am ready — it’s about time,” she said. “If my voice can help, then I’ll be there.”

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UNITED STATES/UGANDA
The Africa Report

From Oregon to Uganda: A “Lively” Legal Debate on Gays, Sex, and Christianity

By Joseph Hellweg

Most people have never heard of Scott Lively, an evangelical pastor living in the United States. But in Uganda he has developed quite a following—whether his followers know his name or not.


As the founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, he has played a leading role in furthering the so-called “anti-homosexuality bill” in the Ugandan parliament. First introduced in 2009 and subsequently revised, the bill would punish by fines and imprisonment anyone engaging in various forms of same-gendered sexual activity as well with those who shield such persons from the punishments the bill would impose.


Opposing the bill is Frank Mugisha, who heads Sexual Minorities Uganda, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, and transgendered Ugandans. Mugisha accuses Scott Lively and other evangelical leaders from the U.S.—one might add Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer to the list—of having helped draft Uganda’s anti-gay legislation. Mugisha has since secured the help of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights to file a law suit on March 14, 2012 against Lively in a U.S. federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts. The suit charges that Lively has conspired to violate the human rights of lesbian and gay people in Uganda.

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NETHERLANDS
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

At least 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s.

By Bruno Waterfield

5:31PM GMT 19 Mar 2012

Evidence of the castrations has emerged amid controversy that it was not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year.

The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.

Joep Dohmen, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Heithuis case, also found evidence of at least nine other castrations. “These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced,” he said. “There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story.”

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Isureveille

By Nicholas Pierce
Columnist

Bishop Charles Brown of the Church of God in Christ was reinstated last week to his position as chief clergyman of the New Orleans and Houston areas.

Not much to see here — except that the right reverend had been suspended due to multiple counts of sexual misconduct, including a charge of forcible rape.

None of the charges stuck, though, and Rev. Brown slipped out the back door via the statute of limitations.

Lucky him, I guess. I get the impression Brown is a slippery guy.

How do things like this happen? Simple. A crime committed in the past is restricted to the statute of limitations that was on the books then, not now. Since Brown’s alleged assaults, the laws have been changed. Had his actions taken place only a few years later, his case would still have merit.

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MINNESOTA
Crookston Daily Times

By Staff reports
Crookston Daily Times

Posted Mar 19, 2012 @ 12:28 PM

Crookston —

A Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting one and possibly two underage girls in Greenbush while assigned to the Diocese of Crookston in 2004 has been arrested in India, where he had been preaching since 2006 and considered a fugitive. The Associated Press reports that the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 57, appeared in court today, Monday. He will be held in custody pending a formal U.S. request for his extradition, to be filed along with case evidence, government officials said. It could take up to three months to process the extradition request.

Police detained Jeyapaul on Friday, March 16 near the southern Indian town of Erode after Interpol issued an alert, according to police Subinspector Pugal Maran.

Jeyapaul was one of many foreign priests brought to the United States to help fill shortages in American parishes.

“We are grateful to the police and prosecutors in Minnesota and elsewhere for getting this dangerous cleric behind bars. But most of all, we are grateful to Jeyapaul’s victim, for having the courage to report to secular authorities and the compassion to cooperate with them so that this arrest could be made and so that children might be spared unspeakable pain,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Sacramento Bee

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press

Published: Monday, Mar. 19, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Lawyers for two priests accused of raping boys in the mid-1990s plan to attack the victims’ motives when the landmark trial starts next week in Philadelphia.

Defense lawyers revealed their strategy at a pretrial hearing Monday.

The Rev. James Brennan’s lawyer will tell jurors that his client’s accuser sought the priest out as an adult when he needed to do court-ordered community service.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery’s accuser was expelled from an archdiocesan high school at age 14 and began a long battle with drug addiction.

His lawyer will argue that the accuser hoped to get money from the church and get revenge for the expulsion.

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NETHERLAND
Radio Netherlands

The revelation that a number of minors abused in Dutch Roman Catholic institutions were forcibly castrated has shocked the Netherlands. It casts grave doubt upon the recent findings of a commission of inquiry. RNW’s Robert Chesal, who first brought the sex abuse scandal to light, argues that only parliament can be trusted to investigate further.

We now know that former Dutch cabinet minister Wim Deetman did not meet the expectations he raised when he chaired the commission of inquiry into sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church. He did not get to the bottom of the abuse scandal or reveal all he could find about the horrors that took place behind church doors in the Netherlands.

Whistle blowers punished
We know this thanks to investigative journalist Joep Dohmen of the newspaper NRC Handelsblad. Dohmen wrote about a boarding school student who had been sexually abused by a Dutch monk. When the former student reported the abuse to the police, he was brought to a Roman Catholic psychiatric ward, declared a homosexual and then castrated. The same surgery was probably performed on at least ten other schoolmates of his who tried to blow the whistle on abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on March 19, 2012 ·

Today, the US Supreme Court announced that they will not review the case of John Doe AP versus Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. This is a tragedy that will only make kids in Missouri, Utah, and Wisconsin more vulnerable to child molesters and employers from those states more reckless about children’s safety.

We feel it’s morally wrong for the St Louis archdiocese officials to use legal technicalities to avoid taking responsibility for letting this known predator hurt more kids.

The loophole Archbishop Carlson is using is that this child molester abused his victim “off premises,” on private property, not church property. Carlson should be ashamed for making this claim.

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