ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Christian News Wire

Contact: Rev. John Trigilio, PhD, Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, 717-957-9309

HARRISBURG, Penn., April 6, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ — Five hundred priests and deacons of the national association, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, pledge their complete loyalty and obedience to the Pope and Magisterium and, by means of fraternal correction, exhort their dissident Austrian brothers of the ‘Pfarrer Initiative’ to repent and recant. Disobedience among deacons, priests and bishops is not only scandalous to the faithful but injurious to the Mystical Body of Christ (the Church). We are not just resigned to the discipline of celibacy and merely tolerant of the doctrine of a male priesthood, we totally accept and embrace them. The marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic and apostolic) are personified in the Petrine ministry. Hence, to obey the Pope is to obey the Church, the Bride of Christ. Like Judas who betrayed Christ, dissident clergy betray the same Lord by their prideful refusal of submission to lawful authority.

Dissent from Magisterial teaching and disobedience to Papal authority are incompatible with Catholic Christianity. Jesus founded the Church and instituted the Sacraments. Holy Orders is one of the sacraments and it is the essence of the hierarchy (which means an orderly chain of command). The soul of Holy Orders is obedience. Clergy must lead by example, as did Our Lord, who submitted to the will of His Father. When Deacons, Priests and Bishops disobey the Church and her chief shepherd, the Pope, they do a grave disservice to the people they have been sent to serve.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Friday April 06 2012

THE defamed priest at the centre of the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ controversy has been told that he will not get a copy of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s (BAI) report on the matter while RTE is studying it.

The state broadcaster received the report yesterday and has until April 20 to respond, before the BAI meets to determine its publication.

Although the BAI said the report was likely to be fully published, parts of it may be either redacted or blacked out. But the authority could not say at this stage if this would happen.

Fr Kevin Reynolds’s solicitor, Robert Dore, wrote to the BAI and requested a copy of the report before it was put into the public domain.

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KENYA
Africa Review

By DAILY NATION Correspondent
Posted Friday, April 6 2012

A former Catholic priest from the Nyeri archdiocese in Central Kenya was yesterday defrocked by the Vatican after he broke the vow on celibacy by getting married.

Quoting orders from Rome, Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri said Fr Peter Njogu Kibutu was no longer a Catholic priest.

He read Njogu’s letter of dismissal from Rome to the congregation attending mass at the Nyeri Our Lady of Consolata Catholic Church yesterday.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, April 6, 2012

Father Tony Flannery, a Catholic priest who has been outspoken in his criticism of the abuse crisis in Ireland, has found himself under investigation by the Vatican for his liberal views.

Founder of the Association of Irish Priests, Father Flannery told TheJournal.ie that the Vatican has contacted him to inform him of the investigation.

The effect of the investigation was immediate. This week The Irish Catholic newspaper reports that Father Flannery had to cease writing his monthly column in the Redemptorist Reality magazine in response to news of the investigation.

The Irish Catholic writer Michael Kelly reported that, “It is understood that while Fr Flannery has the support of his superiors in the Redemptorist Order, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome has expressed disquiet about some of his articles and publications.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – A Jackson County judge refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges accusing the Kansas City Diocese and its bishop of shielding an abusive priest.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse.

Prosecutors said Finn and the diocese are mandatory reporters of abuse under state law.

Defense attorneys claimed the law is unconstitutionally vague, and that Finn was not the diocese’s designated reporter.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

The Vatican has moved to suppress dissent in the Irish Catholic Church by clamping down on two well-known liberal Redemptorist priests as well as the congregation’s monthly magazine, Reality.

Restrictions have been placed on Fr Tony Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, whose monthly column in the magazine has been discontinued. A clampdown has also been imposed on the magazine itself and its editor, Fr Gerard Moloney, who, it is believed, is no longer allowed to write on certain issues. Neither priest would comment when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.

Fr Flannery, a brother of senior Fine Gael adviser Frank Flannery, is well known around Ireland through retreats he has conducted in Galway, Limerick, Belfast and elsewhere.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Friday, April 06, 2012

The founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, Fr Tony Flannery, is being investigated by the Vatican because of his liberal views.

For the past 14 years, Fr Flannery has written in the Redemptorist Order’s Reality magazine, but Rome has intervened and the column has been banned.

It is understood that Fr Flannery was informed of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s concerns two months ago, but would not comment on the matter yesterday.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Rome in recent months has reversed the closings of dozens of Catholic churches in the dioceses of Cleveland, Allentown, Pa., and Springfield, Mass., only one so far has been fully resurrected.

Last week, on Palm Sunday, more than 750 people packed St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Adams, Mass., for a standing-room-only Mass — the first Mass in the 110-year-old sanctuary since Bishop Timothy McDonnell closed it more than three years ago.

“We’re back in business,” parishioner Fran Hajdas, 75, said in a telephone conversation this week. “It feels good. Everybody’s happy.”

St. Stanislaus, like 50 churches in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, was closed as part of a finance-driven, diocesewide downsizing.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, una de las víctimas del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, llamó como católico practicante y en medio de la Semana Santa, a cambios profundos en la cúpula de la Iglesia que encabeza el arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati.

Inspirado por los recientes hechos que terminaron con la muerte del joven Daniel Zamudio, Cruz escribió en su blog de Cooperativa.cl “cómo un arzobispo de Santiago parte corriendo a dejarle chocolates a Karadima y no es capaz de tomarse un rato de su día para ir a ver a un muchacho inocente que se moría de a poco y que tenía consternado al país”.

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GADSDEN (AL)
CBS 42

Gadsden, AL (WIAT) Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp announced the conviction of Thomas Russell Reilly today. Reilly was accused of first degree rape and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. Reilly faces from 20 to 99 years in prison. Sentencing for Mr. Reilly is May 30. Read the full press release below.

Thomas Russell Reilly, 59, of Henderson Street, Gadsden, was convicted by an Etowah County jury today on charges of Rape in the First Degree, and four counts of Sexual Abuse of a Child under 12 years of age. The jury returned the verdicts after less than two hours of deliberation. Judge Allen Millican scheduled a sentencing hearing in the cases for May 30, 2012.

The charges against Reilly stemmed from incidents where he allowed numerous female children to spend the night with him in his home, on the premise that if they stayed the night, he could take them with him to church the next morning at the Tabernacle, on South 11th Street, here in Gadsden. Reilly, who lived alone, also picked the children up from school on Wednesdays to attend church with him that evening. Reilly told law enforcement that he worked as an usher and security guard for the church, as well as driving children to church in a van. He stated that he did not get paid for the services, and that he did not charge the parents of the girls for babysitting.

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GADSDEN (AL)
Fpx 6

Submitted by Brianne Britzius, Fox 6 Community Web Producer

Thomas Russell Reilly*, 59 was convicted today on charges of rape in the first degree and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 years of age. He will be sentenced May 30 and could face 20-99 years in jail or life imprisonment.

Reilly allowed multiple female children to spend the night at his house on the premise that he could take them to church the next morning. He would also pick the children up from school on Wednesdays to attend church that evening.

Law enforcment says that Reilly worked as an usher and security guard for the church and also drove children to church in a van. He told authorities he was not paid for any of these services and he didn’t charge the parents of the girls for babysitting.

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GADSDEN (AL)
The Gadsden Times

Times Staff Reports

A 59-year-old Gadsden man has been convicted of rape and sex abuse charges involving four young girls he befriended at the church where he volunteered, according to a news

Thomas Russell Reilly, 59, was convicted Thursday by an Etowah County jury on charges of first-degree rape and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 years old.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours after the trial that has taken place this week in Circuit Judge Allen Millican’s courtroom. Millican set sentencing for May 30.

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VATICAN CITY
The Journal of Turkish Weekly

Friday, 6 April 2012

Pope Benedict has issued a rare condemnation of priests who have questioned church teachings on celibacy and ordaining women during a homily in St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises made when they were ordained.

The pope said a group of priests in a European country recently published an appeal that gave examples of how to be disobedient.

He said the priests called for women to be allowed to join the clergy, but noted that his predecessor, Pope John Paul, said the Catholic church has received no authority from God to ordain women.

His comments were in response to a call to disobedience launched by a group of Austrian priests.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Tewkesbury Admag

THE disgraced former leader of Worcestershire County Council has been jailed for four years for indecent assaults on an underage girl and a sex attack on a vulnerable woman.

Dr George Lord was sentenced to four years in prison when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday. Lord had admitted three indecent assaults on a girl aged 14 and 15 in the late 1970s – when he was a church minister – and had already been found guilty after a trial in January of a sex attack on a 19-yearold woman at County Hall, Worcester, in October 2010.

Judge Nigel Godsmark, describing the assaults in the 1970s, spoke directly to the grim-faced 79-year-old, telling him he had groomed the youngster for his sexual self-gratification.

He said: “As a minister, you should have been her protector, not her abuser.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

BY LESLIE PARRILLA The Press Enterprise STAFF WRITER
lparrilla@pe.com
Published: 05 April 2012

The pastor arrested this week on allegations of abusing a 13-year-old boy applied to be a Corona police chaplain last year and was involved in the mayor’s task force on youth safety, city and police officials said Thursday.

Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, leader of the Heart of Worship Community Church, posted $35,000 bail Thursday and was released from the county jail in Riverside. He is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting injury on a child. Two other men — Nicholas James Craig, 22, and Darryl Duane Jeter Jr., 28 — remained in custody Thursday. They are charged with kidnapping, assault and other felonies.

Investigators say Craig and Jeter drove the teen to the desert March 18, forced him to dig a grave, threw dirt on him and beat him with a belt. Remmers later used a pair of pliers to inflict pain on the boy, police said.

His physical injuries were not serious, authorities said.

On Thursday, police were still investigating the boy’s mother. She had turned him over to Remmers and the others for intervention because she believed he had been involved in sexual misconduct, police said. It was unclear if she knew how the men were planning to discipline her son, Corona police Capt. Jerry Rodriguez said.

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PENNSYLVANIA/OHIO
The Altoona Mirror

By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

Michael Hutchison, the young man who received $2.7 million after a landmark civil case in which he charged the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown with covering up child sexual abuse, died this week.

Attorney Richard Serbin, who represented Hutchison in the case, said he was informed Wednesday by Hutchison’s mother, Mary, who brought the civil charges on Michael’s behalf in 1988.

The case was tried in Blair County in 1994, and the jury initially awarded Hutchison more than $1 million.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Antonio Express-News

JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A second day of cross-examination of a key witness in a landmark priest abuse trial was marked by more hostile exchanges Thursday between a man who claims he was molested as a teen and the attorney representing the man’s accuser.

The accuser, who is now 30, testified that he was 14 years old when the Rev. James Brennan sexually abused him at the priest’s apartment in West Chester, outside Philadelphia. An attorney for Brennan continued grilling the man on inconsistencies from his earlier accounts of the 1996 incident and ticked off a list of reasons why he would lie about being abused, from financial gain to jealousy of the priest for spending too much time with the man’s mother.

“You’re going to sit here and tell me that … I put myself through this to get this man out of my life?” the man responded. “You are reaching, my man, you are way off.”

When the defense attorney stated that the accuser’s parents remained friends with the priest for years after the alleged abuse, then suggested that was because the accuser never told his parents because the abuse never happened, the former Marine exploded on the witness stand.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
WSBT

Carey Gillam
Reuters

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

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

His trial is set to start September 24.

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

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TEXAS
KFOX 14

EL PASO, TX —

According to the El Paso Times, three men have filed separate lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former Cathedral High School principal and a priest in Las Cruces.

Two of the lawsuits named as defendants Brother Samuel Martinez, the El Paso Catholic Diocese and the New Orleans-Santa Fe District formerly known as Brothers of the Christian School of Lafayette, La.

One of the lawsuits involving Martinez alleges religious leaders used the Sangre de Cristo Retreat Center in Santa Fe to hide priests who were accused of assaulting or molesting minors instead of reporting them to the authorities.

The other lawsuit involves a defendant only know as Santiago, and the El Paso Catholic Diocese, the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese and Our Lady of Health Parish in Las Cruces.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

He broke down several times on the witness stand. His face turned red. At times he cried so hard, he covered his face with paper towels, just to hide his embarrassment.

But when it was all over, after three hours of cross-examination, Mark Bukowski stubbornly and defiantly clung to his story: that in 1996 when he was just 14 years old, he was sexually abused by Father James J. Brennan, and that the abuse he endured haunts him to this day. And even though Brennan’s lawyer, William J. Brennan (no relation), went over every aspect of the story, and found some minor discrepancies, he could not budge Bukowski from his talking points.

“He tried to have sex with me as a kid,” Bukowski yelled at the defense lawyer at one point. “It’s his fault, and not mine.”

The prosecution witness who had a meltdown on Wednesday, crying and getting too confused to continue, made a remarkable comeback on Thursday. “We had him yesterday,” one defense lawyer was overheard lamenting. And that was bad news for Father James J. Brennan, on trial for the attempted rape of Bukowski.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Stockton Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

April 06, 2012

STOCKTON – Jurors in the child sex-abuse trial of popular priest the Rev. Michael Kelly began hearing closing statements Thursday, summarizing the six-week civil trial that was focused on a 37-year-old man’s repressed memories.

Kelly, currently pastor at St. Joachim’s Church in Lockeford, is accused of molesting a former altar boy, identified in court documents only as John TZ Doe, at Cathedral of the Annunciation during the mid-1980s.

The plaintiff filed suit after learning there would be no criminal charges because the statute of limitations had run out.

“It’s not easy hearing about a child raped,” the plaintiff’s attorney, John Manly, addressed jurors. “He didn’t ask for this.”

Meanwhile, the defense countered that, while the plaintiff believes the abuse to be real, he’s clinging to recovered memories that were made up.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, April 6, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The jury in the Michael Kelly clergy abuse trial received conflicting messages as attorneys gave their closing arguments in a case that has lasted more than a month.

Attorney John Manly, representing a 37-year-old man accusing Kelly of sexual assault, painted the Lockeford priest as a pedophile and blatant liar who has an unsavory interest in children.

Attorney Jim Goodman, representing the Stockton Diocese, and Tom Beatty, representing Kelly, told the jury that the plaintiff has not borne the burden of proof that Kelly sexually assaulted the plaintiff or anyone else.

Closing arguments, which lasted all day Thursday, will continue today. The case is likely to go to the jury this afternoon and continue on Monday. Jurors will meet until a verdict is reached.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

During this morning’s chrismal mass, Benedict XVI referred to the appeal signed by Austrian priests and called for “the Church not to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas”

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

In his homily said during this morning’s chrismal mass in St. Peter’s, Benedict XVI referred explicitly to the appeal by dissenting Austrian priests for reforms and the possibility for women to be ordained to the priesthood. Speaking of a priest’s “faithfulness to Christ” and the difficulties in achieving this, “given the often dramatic situation in the Church today,” the Pope said: “A group of priests in a European Country recently published an appeal for disobedience, which should even ignore definitive decisions set out in the Magisterium – for example on the question of women’s ordination. The Blessed Pope John Paul II had made a definitive statement on the subject, saying that the Church had received no authorisation from the Lord on this matter.”

“Is disobedience a way of renewing the Church?” Ratzinger asked himself. “We want to believe the authors of this appeal – he added – when they claim that they are motivated by their concern for the Church; that they are adamant that the slowness of Institutions should be dealt with by taking drastic measures to open up new paths – so that the Church can keep up with the pace of today’s world. But is disobedience really the way forward? Is it possible to perceive, in this, elements of faithfulness to Christ – which is the prerequisite for real renewal – or is it just a desperate push for something to be done, for the Church to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas?”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

After the homily addressed today by Benedict XVI to rebel Austrian priests, their leader Mgr. Helmut Schüller took the floor

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

At first it might seem like an extreme attempt to keep a stiff upper lip: the leader of the “rebel” Austrian priests, Mgr. Helmut Schüller, stated he was satisfied with the homily pronounced today by Pope Benedict XVI who responded directly to the Pfarrer Initiative which he supports. In an interview with TM News, Schüller said that the Pope’s homily was “an open explanation” and “There was no threat or sanction implied.”

Indeed, the Pope did not make any harsh remark about the group or its initiative and, unusually, engaged in a “dialogue” with the priests who supported the initiative, in an attempt to put himself in their shoes and even raised potential objections to his own reasoning. Benedict XVI focused on the subject of “disobedience”, frequently asking himself and the priests present whether this really was the path to a “true renewal” of the Church, “or just a desperate push to do something, to transform the Church according to our wishes and ideas?”

The Pope’s attitude was similar to the one adopted by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who, right from the early days of the Pfarrer Initiative – which was kick-started in 2006 but “exploded” as a national and then international phenomenon in 2011 with the “Appeal to Disobedience” cited today by the Pope – discussed, responded and criticised the priests who were involved in it and their ideas, but never punished them with outright excommunication as other Church “princes” would have liked.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 05, 2012

We are pleased that the case against Bishop Finn will move forward. This is the first time that a Bishop has faced criminal charges for his role in a cover-up, and we are hopeful that the full truth will come out in a trial.

For too long have church officials been able to stymie justice and truth by hiding behind legal technicalities and high-priced attorneys. We are excited that the public now has the opportunity to hear the full story of what really has gone on in Kansas City.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Milwaukee Bankruptcy Judge’s unprecedented decision significantly harms archdiocese, even more than victims of clergy abuse

Milwaukee bankruptcy Judge’s unprecedented decision significantly harms archdiocese, even more than victims of clergy abuse

Kelley’s ruling to keep depositions of top church officials secret, along with 50,000 pages of documents leaves Catholics to carry the “endless shame” of child sex crimes, cover up

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director and John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

In a devastating blow not only to victim/survivors but to Catholics and the public, Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled today that the testimony of bishops Rembert Weakland and Richard Sklba will remain under court seal. All other church bankruptcies, including the most recent this year in Wilmington, DE, have resulted in the public release of internal church abuse files, once victims’ names and identities have been removed.

Archbishop Weakland and his deputy Bishop Sklba oversaw and enabled the rape and sexual assault of countless children in our community. Their depositions, and some 50,000 pages of documents which record a quarter of a century of criminal activity will, at least for now, and perhaps permanently, be kept concealed not only from victims and their families, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, from Catholics in the archdiocese.

Breaking ranks with all other church bankruptcy judges in the US, Kelley suggested that releasing the depositions and documents would somehow violate victim confidentiality, although that has never occurred in a single instance, and can easily be remedied by redacting victims’ names and identities. She also said that the depositions were “scandalous” and would “embarrass” bishops who covered up these crimes, particularly Weakland.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley on Thursday morning denied a motion by attorneys to unseal certain documents in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s federal bankruptcy case, saying the material is scandalous and could potentially identify victims.

If unsealed, the documents may have shed light on the scope of the church sex abuse scandal in southeastern Wisconsin and how the archdiocese handled allegations involving children over decades.

Among the documents that victims’ attorneys had wanted unsealed were the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who led the archdiocese for 25 years, and others, along with related documents, all redacted to remove the names of victims and some alleged offenders.

Victims’ attorneys had argued that the public’s right to know outweighed any privacy interest of the archdiocese.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Public Radio

Marge Pitrof

A federal judge has sided with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee regarding the release of depositions. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley will not order investigators to publicly release statements given by top-ranking church officials about how they handled allegations of priests sexually abusing children decades ago.

Kelley says the depositions have already served their purpose, and making them public now could enable people to figure out the identity of survivors who want to remain anonymous.

The judge is overseeing the church’s bankruptcy filing.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

MILWAUKEE — A federal judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case said she won’t order the public release of depositions in which top-ranking church officials discuss how decades-old allegations of child sexual abuse were handled.

The depositions were taken in recent months in connection with the bankruptcy filing.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley ruled Thursday that the depositions were intended to serve specific purposes, and those purposes have already been achieved.

She said making them public now could enable others to piece together the identity of sexual-assault survivors who want to remain anonymous.

Catholic clergy sex abuse victim Mike Sneesby stood outside Milwaukee’s federal courthouse disappointed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Sun News

By JOANN LOVIGLIO – Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A second day of cross-examination of a key witness in a landmark priest abuse trial was marked by more hostile exchanges Thursday between a man who claims he was molested as a teen and the attorney representing the man’s accuser.

The accuser, who is now 30, testified that he was 14 years old when the Rev. James Brennan sexually abused him at the priest’s apartment in West Chester, outside Philadelphia. An attorney for Brennan continued grilling the man on inconsistencies from his earlier accounts of the 1996 incident and ticked off a list of reasons why he would lie about being abused, from financial gain to jealousy of the priest for spending too much time with the man’s mother.

“You’re going to sit here and tell me that … I put myself through this to get this man out of my life?” the man responded. “You are reaching, my man, you are way off.”

When the defense attorney stated that the accuser’s parents remained friends with the priest for years after the alleged abuse, then suggested that was because the accuser never told his parents because the abuse never happened, the former Marine exploded on the witness stand.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC

[with video]

Written by
Dave Summers

CLEVELAND — The parishioners of the 13 closed Cleveland churches hold out hope they will reopen by Easter Sunday.

Since Saint Patrick’s of West Park closed, parishioner Pat Singleton decorates the doors for Holy week every year.

“The longer it goes, the more painful it is,” Singleton said.

From the beginning, Singleton has been on the front lines fighting for her church and 12 others.

Last month, the Vatican sent Bishop Richard Lennon a decree, by most accounts, it is reversing the church closure decision.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

Michael Kelly

Founder of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) Fr Tony Flannery is under Vatican investigation for some of his liberal views The Irish Catholic newspaper has learned.

Fr Flannery, who is a well-known author and retreat-giver, has ceased writing his regularly monthly column in the Redemptorist Reality magazine. The Irish Catholic understands that this is as a direct consequence of the Vatican’s intervention. It is the first time in 14 years that Fr Flannery’s regular column has not appeared.

It comes just two weeks after the report of the Apostolic Visitation noted what it described as “fairly widespread” dissent among priests, religious and laypeople from the teaching of the Church.

The move against Fr Flannery is likely to signal a more hardline approach from the Vatican when it comes to dissent from the Church’s teaching.

It is understood that while Fr Flannery has the support of his superiors in the Redemptorist Order, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome has expressed disquiet about some of his articles and publications.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

STEYR. Das Ermittlungsverfahren gegen den Benediktiner und früheren Lehrer am Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster, Pater A. (77) wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs unmündiger Zöglinge geht nun in eine heiße Schlussphase, die Erhebung einer Anklage wird immer wahrscheinlicher.

Der Grund ist ein nun vorliegendes Gutachten der Gerichtspsychiaterin Heidi Kastner zur Frage der Schwere der psychischen Dauerfolgen der mutmaßlichen Opfer. Kastner untersuchte im Auftrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr bei 14 mutmaßlichen Opfern, inwieweit deren dauerhafte psychische Schäden durch sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kindheit verursacht worden sind. Die Klärung dieser Frage ist strafrechtlich sehr bedeutend. Denn an sich wäre der Großteil der Missbrauchsvorwürfe bereits verjährt. Doch bei schweren Dauerfolgen beträgt die Verjährungsfrist nicht fünf, sondern 20 Jahre.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Trier/Köllerbach. Der Trierer Bischof und Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann, hält nach der Kritik am Umgang des Bistums mit pädophilen Priestern ein Umdenken für notwendig. Ackermann sagte gestern in der so genannten Chrisam-Messe im Trierer Dom, die Kirche müsse die Frage der Glaubwürdigkeit derjenigen, die sich des sexuellen Missbrauchs schuldig gemacht hätten, neu bedenken.

Ackermann unterstrich, dass es “kein Abrücken von der Null-Toleranz-Linie gegenüber dem Verbrechen des sexuellen Missbrauchs” gebe. Der Mensch dürfe nie einfach Mittel zum Zweck sein, da sonst doch seine Würde verletzt werde. “Deshalb ist auch sexueller Missbrauch etwas so Schändliches”, sagte der Bischof.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zartbitter

Das Bistum Trier ist bezüglich der Weiterbeschäftigung von pädosexuellen Priestern in der Seelsorge ins Kreuzfeuer der Kritik geraten. Obgleich man bemüht war, sicher zu stellen, dass die Sexualstraftäter im Rahmen ihrer seelsorgerischen Tätigkeit nicht mehr mit Kindern und Jugendlichen in Kontakt kommen, war bekannt geworden, dass ein pädosexueller Priester im Rahmen eines Vertretungsgottesdienstes Kommunionkinder in einer Gemeinde vorgestellt hatte.

Das Bistum Trier bedauerte den Vorfall und versuchte sich zugleich damit zu rechtfertigen, es habe die pädosexuellen Priester entsprechend der Leitlinien der Bischofskonferenz weiterbeschäftigt. Im Interview mit dem domradio erklärte Herr Koronenburg, Pressesprecher von Bischof Ackermann und des Bistums Trier, diese Leitlinien seinen unter der breiten Beteiligung einer größeren Öffentlichkeit von Experten am Runden Tisch im Gespräch mit Opferschutzverbänden entstanden. Es habe eine relative Einigkeit darüber gegeben, dass man insbesondere unter Gesichtspunkten der Prävention und Kontrolle pädosexuelle Seelsorger nicht aus dem Priesterstand entlassen solle. Mit dieser Vernebelungstaktik versucht der Pressesprecher des Bistums die Verantwortung des Trierer Bischofs Ackermann und der Bischofskonferenz für die Weiterbeschäftigung von Tätern im Priesteramt zu leugnen.

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NEW YORK
Minnesota SNAP

By Vinnie Nauheimer

April 5, 2012

The subtleties of Cardinal Dolan’s mind are unmatched. New York’s newest comedic cardinal has outdone himself in devising a strategy to bring the house down at Last Supper services on Holy Thursday. Cardinal Dolan, never accused of being shy, has come up with an incredibly unique way to imprint the message of the Last Supper on the minds of New York’s Catholic elite who attend services on Thursday at St. Patrick’s. All we can do is marvel at Dolan’s sharp and rapier like wit. After asking God to allow Judas to speak on the subject of betraying Christ and being turned down, Dolan came up with the perfect living substitute. He invited Cardinal Justin Rigali in his stead!

Let’s hear it for the newly minted cardinal for having the audacity to pull off a stunt like this! Who better to speak about the betrayal of Jesus Christ than the disgraced former head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia? Who knows more about turning his back on the teachings of Jesus Christ than Cardinal Rigali whose former diocese is now steeped in disgrace and scandal? Disgusting graphic reports hit the papers on a daily basis as testimony is given describing the seamy underbelly of the church and sexually disturbed priests having lurid sex with minors. Excellent qualifications for someone to speak to the betrayal of Jesus. What will this pitiful, contemptuous former Vatican secretary to the pope have to say about his equivalent of thirty pieces of silver?

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

BY TOM MCILROY

05 Apr, 2012

BALLARAT’S Catholic parishioners attending Easter mass will not receive a controversial letter calling for an independent inquiry into clergy sexual abuse in Victoria.

Bishop Peter Connors said yesterday he had not received the letter from a group calling itself Commission of Inquiry Now, or COIN, and priests in the Diocese of Ballarat would not discuss the issue during homilies at masses this weekend.

COIN chairman Bryan Keon-Cohen QC and victims of sexual abuse by clergy wrote to parish priests in Melbourne and Ballarat this week, asking them to read the letter during Holy Week masses.

The group is calling for a state-established independent inquiry into the handling of abuse, and adopted the tactics of church leaders who sent more than 80,000 letters expressing opposition to same-sex marriage from Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart to parishioners last week.

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NEDERLAND
ED

Auteur: door Pascale Thewissen | donderdag 05 april 2012

Een politie-inval in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis in Mechelen, compleet met koevoet en breekijzer om de crypte in de Sint-Romboutskathedraal open te breken.

Zelfs het kantoor en de privé-woning van kardinaal Godfried Danneels worden doorzocht op die bewuste 24 juni 2010. Maar zo voortvarend als het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik en een mogelijke doofpotoperatie binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk in België begint; zo geruisloos dreigt het nu dood te bloeden. Tot grote frustratie van de slachtoffers.

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VATICAN CITY
Perth Now

From correspondents in Vatican City
From: AP
April 05, 2012

POPE Benedict XVI has issued a rare and explicit denunciation of priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women.

Saying they were being selfish in disobeying his authority, the Pope made the criticism from the altar of St Peter’s Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfaffer Initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening up the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

Last June, the group essentially threatened a schism, saying the Vatican’s refusal to hear their complaints left them no choice but to “follow our conscience and act independently”.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Na eerst een gepensioneerde psycholoog uit Maastricht een brief te hebben laten schrijven aan drie slachtoffers, die een klacht tegen hem hebben ingediend bij het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik RKK, heeft Jan S. een (charme) offensief ingezet.

Deze week ontvingen een aantal oud leerlingen van het jongenspensionaat Maria ter Engelen in Bleijerheide na meer dan 40 jaar via een oud leerling, daarbij ingesloten de smeekbede van broeder Eymard. Foto’s met zijn beeltenis duidelijk zichtbaar (voor hun die hem niet herkennen).

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NEW YORK
Playbill

By Andrew Gans
05 Apr 2012

A benefit reading of Frank J. Avella’s Vatican Falls, which is set against the backdrop of the Catholic sex abuse scandal, will be presented May 15 at 6:45 PM at the National Comedy Theatre.

Directed by Laura Caparrotti, the performance will benefit SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).

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

Stage directions will be read by Cali Gilman. The evening’s musical director and arranger is Brad Gardner. Songs were written by Claudio Procopio and playwright Avella.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 05, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

Updated 1:36 p.m. KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first criminal case against a sitting U.S. bishop in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis will go forward after a county judge’s decision Thursday that Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, must stand trial on charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.

The decision, rendered Thursday morning by Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge John Torrence, denies several motions Finn’s lawyers had brought in the case, arguing that charges against the bishop should be thrown out over questions of constitutionality and whether Finn can be considered a “mandated reporter” according to Missouri law.

“The Court finds that the evidence in this case is sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that Bishop Finn was a designated reporter as defined by Missouri law,” Torrence wrote in his decision.

The charge against Finn centers on the case of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a diocesan priest who was arrested last May on charges of possession of child pornography. While the bishop said he was aware of questionable images on the priest’s laptop as early as December 2010, Ratigan was not reported to police by the diocese until May 2011.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
A Jackson County judge will not dismiss charges against Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City Catholic Diocese.

Finn is the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Charges allege that he failed to report suspected child abuse in the church for nearly half a year. Rev. Shawn Ratigan is now facing federal child porn charges.

Prosecutors have said Finn and the Catholic Diocese should have reported possible sexual abuse by Ratigan in 24 hours as required by state law. Prosecutors said the diocese knew about the abuse in December 2010 but did not report in until May 2011.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

A Jackson County judge today refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Bishop Robert Finn.

Circuit Judge John Torrence ruled that the case should be heard by a jury to determine if Finn and the diocese violated the law by failing to report suspected child abuse by the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.

Torrence also denied a joint defense request to have separate trials for the bishop and the diocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

April 5, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Thursday, the Jackson County Circuit Court denied the request of Bishop Robert Finn’s attorney to dismiss the charges against Finn that he failed to report suspected child abuse.

Finn appeared in court last Tuesday with his attorney, who argued the phrases “immediately report” and “reasonable cause to suspect” were vague and that Finn was not the “designated reporter” for the diocese to report offenses to law enforcement.

Prosecutors say Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph failed to report that they suspected Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, of child abuse. Prosecutors say the diocese discovered child pornography on Ratigan’s computer in December but didn’t turn them over to police until May. Ratigan faces federal and state charges of child pornography possession and has pleaded not guilty.

The judge decided, citing past cases, that “persons of ordinary intelligence have no difficulty understanding the meaning of ‘immediately report.’”

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IRELAND
Herald

By Kevin Doyle

Thursday April 05 2012

DETAILS of the probe into how RTE came to falsely accuse a priest of fathering a child may be censored, the Herald can reveal.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has finalised its report into the scandal and was today giving the national broadcaster its findings.

However, sources revealed that the public may not be told the full background of how the Prime Time Investigates programme came to defame Fr Kevin Reynolds.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, Fr Tony Flannery, has confirmed that he is being investigated by the Vatican for his liberal views.

The Vatican intervened directly to stop Fr Tony Flannery contributing his monthly column to Reality magazine, according to reports

Today’s Irish Catholic newspaper reports that the Vatican intervened directly to stop the Redemptorist author contributing his monthly column in his order’s Reality magazine.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The lawyer for an Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest charged with trying to rape a 14-year boy battled again Tuesday with the priest’s accuser, hammering him over discrepancies in his account and suggesting the teen concocted the allegation because his mother had been spending so much time with the cleric.

“What better way to get the subject of her attention out of your life than to come up with a story?” attorney William Brennan asked.

As he did when he first took the stand Wednesday, the 30-year-old Bucks County man pushed back.

He called the lawyer’s cross-examination “pathetic” and accused him of quibbling over insignificant details, such as whether the priest, the Rev. James J. Brennan, used a laptop or desktop computer to show him pornography before allegedly assaulting him one night in 1996.

On the details that matter, the accuser said, he has never wavered.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

by Ben Handelman, updated on: 12:45pm, April 5, 2012

MILWAUKEE — A judge in Federal Bankruptcy Court ruled Thursday to keep all depositions in priest abuse cases against the Milwaukee Archdiocese sealed.

Judge Susan Kelley heard arguments from church lawyers who asked the Court to keep sealed new court depositions of top church officials, including bishops Rembert Weakland and Richard Sklba.

Lawyers for the victims in these cases wanted the depositions unsealed. They say doing so would allow the public to see what the church knew or didn’t know — and what was done or not done.

However, lawyers for the Milwaukee Archdiocese said there is no guarantee if the documents were unsealed, names that were not supposed to be made public would be accidentally leaked. They also maintained this case is about getting claimants paid, not embarrassing victims.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Bellingham Herald

By BILL DRAPER – Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Missouri judge refused Thursday to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a Kansas City diocese and its bishop, who is the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official criminally charged with shielding an abusive priest.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Prosecutors say each is a “mandatory reporter” under the state law. Defense attorneys argued the law is unconstitutionally vague, and that Finn wasn’t the diocese’s designated reporter.

“This Court finds and concludes that persons of ordinary intelligence have no difficulty understanding the meaning of ‘immediately report,'” Circuit Judge John Torrence wrote in his ruling.

Torrence also denied a request by attorneys for Finn and the diocese to have the cases tried separately if they advanced, saying there is no reason to have two separate trials in a case involving most of the same facts.

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VATICAN CITY
Star News

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

Published: Thursday, April 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI issued a blistering denunciation Thursday of priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women, saying they were being selfish in disobeying his authority.

Benedict made the rare and explicit criticism from the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfarrer Initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening up the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

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VERENIGDE STATEN
RKnieuws (Nederland)

WASHINGTON (RKnieuws.net) – De Amerikaanse katholieken verlaten de katholieke Kerk omdat zij niet akkoord zijn met sommige standpunten – onder meer over het homohuwelijk, de wijding van vrouwen, het huwelijk van priesters en contraceptie – of wegens het slechte imago van de Kerk, bijvoorbeeld door het pedofilieschandaal. Dat blijkt uit een studie die de jezuïet William Byron presenteerde aan de katholieke universiteit van Amerika in Washington.

Uit het onderzoek blijkt onder meer ook dat de kerkverlaters excuses van de bisschoppen eisen voor het seksueel misbruik in de Kerk, dat er meer aandacht is voor de armsten en dat er minder oproepen worden gedaan voor giften aan de Kerk.

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NEDERLAND
GeenStijl

De katholieke beerput borrelt weer. Eerder berichtten we over pastoor Jan Schafraad, alias Broeder Eymard alias Dino. Schafraad werkte vroeger in pensionaat St. Maria ter Engelen te Bleijerheide, één van de vuigste misbruikhaarden van katholiek Nederland. Daarna werd hij overgeplaatst en was tot februari van dit jaar gewoon niksaandehand in functie als pastoor van de Koepelkerk te Maastricht. Ondanks tegenwerking door het door de kerk opgerichte en beheerde Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik hebben drie slachtoffers van Eymard hun aanklacht gebundeld en ze hopen de pedopaap alsnog voor het hekje te krijgen. En wat doet Schafraad? Stilzitten als hij geschoren wordt? Zich diep schamen voor het kapotmaken van kinderen die aan zijn zorg werden toevertrouwd? Nee.

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NEDERLAND
Politiek

Wim Deetman verwerpt de kritiek op zijn commissie die seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk onderzocht. Tot groot verdriet van Deetman werd vorige maand de suggestie gewekt dat een castratiezaak bewust uit het rapport zou zijn gehouden.

Ondertussen buigt de Tweede Kamer zich over de vraag of er een eventueel vervolgonderzoek moet komen naar de geschiedenis van seksueel misbruik in Nederland.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Illawarra

The New South Wales Premier has jumped to the defence of his Attorney-General, Greg Smith, who has come under fire over comments he allegedly made about a woman who claims she was sexually abused by a priest when she was a child.

Yesterday the ABC’S 7.30 program aired allegations that Mr Smith told a different Catholic priest that the woman was only complaining to try to get $1 million from the church.

No charges have been laid and in a statement the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, says he has been assured the Attorney-General did not influence legal authorities regarding the matter.

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TEXAS
El Paso Times

By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 04/05/2012

Three men recently filed separate lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former Cathedral High School principal and a priest in Las Cruces, according to court records.

Two of the lawsuits named as defendants Brother Samuel Martinez, the El Paso Catholic Diocese and the NOSF Inc. (New Orleans-Santa Fe District), formerly Brothers of the Christian Schools of Lafayette, La.

One of two lawsuits involving Martinez alleges religious leaders used the Sangre de Cristo Retreat Center in Santa Fe to hide priests who were accused of assaulting or molesting minors, instead of reporting them to the authorities.

The other lawsuit, which is against the El Paso Catholic Diocese, the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese and Our Lady of Health Parish in Las Cruces, involves a former priest identified in the court records only as “Santiago.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Priest’s accuser to return to the stand in clergy abuse trial under way in Philadelphia

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, April 5

PHILADELPHIA — More emotional testimony is expected at a clergy abuse trial under way in Philadelphia.

A 30-year-old former Marine who says he was molested as a 14-year-old by the Rev. James Brennan in 1996 is expected back on the stand.

After hours of blistering cross-examination by Brennan’s attorney, the man was getting upset and said he was exhausted. The judge decided to have him continue on Thursday.

Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly keeping predator priests in parish work. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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VATICAN CITY
Oklahoman

[The Pfarrer Initiative]

NICOLE WINFIELD | Published: April 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Austrian priest who founded a group of clergy who question church teaching on celibacy and women’s ordination has downplayed Pope Benedict XVI’s denunciation.

The Rev. Hellmut Schueller said Benedict was merely asking for reflection on whether their disobedience can help reform the church. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Schueller noted that Benedict didn’t forbid what the dissident priests were doing or advocating.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WHBL

UNDATED (WSAU) A bankruptcy judge will hold a hearing today on a request to disclose evidence that would expose the scope of previous sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Milwaukee archdiocese.

Judge Susan Kelley is being asked to unseal a court deposition made several years ago by former Archbishop Rembert Weakland. It apparently identifies the offending priests and the children they molested over the last few decades. And attorney Jeff Anderson says it would demonstrate the church’s liability as the judge considers damage claims by about 570 victims of priest sex abuse. The claims were filed as part of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Chapter-11 bankruptcy case.

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NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

door Annemarie Coevert

De Tweede Kamer koerst aan op vervolgonderzoek naar de geschiedenis van seksueel misbruik in Nederland. Dat bleek vanochtend uit een hoorzitting met de commissie-Deetman.

Aanleiding voor de hoorzitting vormde een artikel in NRC Handelsblad van enkele weken terug waarin de castratie werd onthuld van een slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik. De commissie-Deetman had daar in haar rapport geen melding van gemaakt, hoewel zich wel iemand bij de commissie had gemeld met gedetailleerde informatie hierover. Journalist en auteur van dit artikel Joep Dohmen is vanochtend gehoord over dit artikel.

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NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

DEN HAAG – “Ik word er bijna emotioneel van.” Wim Deetman kan de suggestie in de media niet verkroppen dat hij met zijn onderzoekscommissie naar het seksueel misbruik in de kerk, zaken uit zijn rapport zou hebben gehouden. Dat bleek woensdag bij een hoorzitting erover in de Tweede Kamer.

,,Het is nergens op gebaseerd en ik daag iedereen uit om anders te bewijzen”, zei Deetman. ,,Wat vermeld moest worden is vermeld, zonder aanzien des persoons.” Vorige maand onthulde de NRC de castratie, ruim een halve eeuw geleden, van een jongeman die eerder het slachtoffer was geworden van seksueel misbruik in het Sint Vincentiusgesticht in Harreveld. Die zaak komt in het rapport van Deetman niet voor.

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NEDERLAND
Omroep Gelderlander

[met video]

DEN HAAG/HARREVELD – De commissie-Deetman heeft geen verband kunnen vaststellen tussen seksueel misbruik in een katholiek internaat in Harreveld en het castreren van een misbruikte jongen in een psychische instelling in Noord-Brabant.

Voorzitter Wim Deetman reageerde woensdag op berichtgeving in NRC Handelsblad. Volgens het NRC zijn in de jaren 50 jongens die in Harreveld zijn misbruikt later gecastreerd. Er zou zeker één geval zijn gemeld.

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NEDERLAND
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal

Direct naar sprekers

Termijn – Regering
1.Minister Opstelten
2.Staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten-Hyllner

Termijn – Kamer
1.De heer El Fassed (GroenLinks)

Termijn – Regering
1.Staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten-Hyllner

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NEDERLAND
NOS

Voorzitter Deetman wijst met kracht van de hand dat zijn onderzoekscommissie opzettelijk informatie heeft achtergehouden uit het rapport over seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk.

In een hoorzitting in de Tweede Kamer zei hij dat hij “bijna emotioneel” wordt van de suggestie dat er geschrapt is. “Dat zijn fantasieverhalen”, zei hij.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bolletino

[with translations in Italian, French, Spanish, Portugese, Polish and German]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At this Holy Mass our thoughts go back to that moment when, through prayer and the laying on of hands, the bishop made us sharers in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, so that we might be “consecrated in truth” (Jn 17:19), as Jesus besought the Father for us in his high-priestly prayer. He himself is the truth. He has consecrated us, that is to say, handed us over to God for ever, so that we can offer men and women a service that comes from God and leads to him. But does our consecration extend to the daily reality of our lives – do we operate as men of God in fellowship with Jesus Christ? This question places the Lord before us and us before him. “Are you resolved to be more united with the Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him, denying yourselves and confirming those promises about sacred duties towards Christ’s Church which, prompted by love of him, you willingly and joyfully pledged on the day of your priestly ordination?” After this homily, I shall be addressing that question to each of you here and to myself as well. Two things, above all, are asked of us: there is a need for an interior bond, a configuration to Christ, and at the same time there has to be a transcending of ourselves, a renunciation of what is simply our own, of the much-vaunted self-fulfilment. We need, I need, not to claim my life as my own, but to place it at the disposal of another – of Christ. I should be asking not what I stand to gain, but what I can give for him and so for others. Or to put it more specifically, this configuration to Christ, who came not to be served but to serve, who does not take, but rather gives – what form does it take in the often dramatic situation of the Church today? Recently a group of priests from a European country issued a summons to disobedience, and at the same time gave concrete examples of the forms this disobedience might take, even to the point of disregarding definitive decisions of the Church’s Magisterium, such as the question of women’s ordination, for which Blessed Pope John Paul II stated irrevocably that the Church has received no authority from the Lord. Is disobedience a path of renewal for the Church? We would like to believe that the authors of this summons are motivated by concern for the Church, that they are convinced that the slow pace of institutions has to be overcome by drastic measures, in order to open up new paths and to bring the Church up to date. But is disobedience really a way to do this? Do we sense here anything of that configuration to Christ which is the precondition for all true renewal, or do we merely sense a desperate push to do something to change the Church in accordance with one’s own preferences and ideas?

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Closing arguments by attorneys in the sexual abuse case against Lockeford priest Michael Kelly will begin at 10 a.m. today in San Joaquin County Superior Court. Closing arguments are expected to last all day and possibly continue Friday morning.

Kelly, 62, pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church the past eight years, was sued by a 37-year-old Fairfax man who alleges that Kelly sexually assaulted him in the mid-1980s, when Kelly was a priest at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton and the plaintiff was an altar boy there. Criminal charges have not been filed against Kelly.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Edel Kennedy

Thursday April 05 2012

THE Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) report into the Fr Kevin Reynolds controversy will be delivered to RTE bosses today.

Sources have confirmed that the report was submitted to the BAI’s lawyers for checking and is now ready to be given to RTE. The broadcaster has 14 days to examine it and respond.

The investigation was launched after ‘Prime Time Investigates’ falsely accused Galway priest Fr Kevin Reynolds of fathering a child in Africa.

The inquiry, ordered by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, was set up to consider whether segments had breached the Broadcasting Act.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
PADDY CLANCY,
Irish Voice Reporter

Published Thursday, April 5, 2012

Major changes are being introduced at RTE over its libel of a Catholic priest and, separately, there are to be redundancies and cutbacks in a bid to save €25million.

On Tuesday afternoon RTE’s head of current affairs Ed Mulhall announced his retirement and the editor of Prime Time Investigates — which libeled the priest — Ken O’Shea has resigned from the program over the libel.

Father Kevin Reynolds is understood to have received a settlement of €1 million for the libel.

The program, which was broadcast last May, falsely accused Reynolds of raping a minor while working as a missionary in Africa and fathering a child by her. Mulhall had had been director of news and managing director of news and current affairs for a total of 14 years.


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VATICAN CITY
Monsters and Critics

Apr 5, 2012

Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday marked the first of a series of traditional Easter rituals with a mass during which he criticized a group of Austrian clerics championing the ordination of women as priests in the Catholic church.

Benedict did not directly name the so-called Pfarrer-Intiative (Priest’s Initiative), which in recent years have also been pushing for the admittance of married men into the priesthood.

But in his homily – which dealt with the renewing by priests of their vows, including celibacy and obedience to Catholic teaching – Benedict noted how a ‘a group of priests from a European country’ have ‘issued a summons to disobedience.’

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IRELAND
Journalism (United Kingdom)

Posted: 5 April 2012 By: Paul McNally

Journalists at Irish public broadcaster RTE are to undergo further training and be issued with new editorial guidelines, after a major legal error that has led to two resignations and a significant out-of-court libel settlement.

RTE said the range of measures aimed to “rebuild trust”, including “improved editorial controls”, the setting up a new editorial standards board and a revised complaints procedure.

It comes after the broadcaster settled a libel claim brought by a priest who was falsely accused of raping a minor and fathering a child in Kenya 30 years ago.

Father Kevin Reynolds accepted a significant out-of-court settlement over the defamatory claims, made last May in RTE’s flagship Prime Time Investigates programme. In a statement issued this week, the broadcaster announced that the programme strand would not be returning.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

by Angelica Duria

MILWAUKEE — Local activists want the names of alleged child abusers made public after 100 new sex offenders were identified in court documents. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, will be asking federal judge Susan Kelley Thrusday to release testimony made by former Archbishop Rembert Weakland and his Chief Deputy Bishop Richard Sklaba.

Last month, lawyers for victims of sexual abuse said there were 100 new sex offenders identified in more than 8,000 accounts of sexual abuse (in their claims). This number was well publicized.

Members of SNAP (The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) along with members of BishopAccountability.com, called those numbers a “personal safety crisis.” The group wants an investigation by the attorney general into who these people are in case there are current members of the Archdiocese identified in court documents. “The people who need to be held responsible have not been held responsible. What you have in these documents are the truth. The gospel tells us the truth shall set us free,” SNAP Midwest President Peter Isely said.

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VATICAN CITY
Times of Malta

Pope Benedict XVI issued a rare condemnation of disobedient priests today, saying those who questioned the Church over celibacy and the ordination of women were being self-serving.

“Recently, a group of priests in a European country published an appeal for disobedience, giving concrete examples of how to be disobedient,” the pope told 1,600 cardinals, priests and bishops during his homily on Holy Thursday.

The appeal was for women to be allowed to join the clergy, which was rebuffed by Benedict, who said: “As Jean Paul II irrevocably said, the Catholic Church did not receive authorisation (to ordain women) from the Lord.”

His comments were a response to an “appeal to religious disobedience” launched by a group of Austrian priests in 2011.

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VATICAN CITY
The Australian

AFP

POPE Benedict XVI has issued a rare condemnation of disobedient priests, saying those who questioned the Catholic Church over celibacy and the ordination of women were self-serving.

“Recently, a group of priests in a European country published an appeal for disobedience, giving concrete examples of how to be disobedient,” Pope Benedict told 1600 cardinals, priests and bishops during his homily on Holy Thursday.

The appeal was for women to be allowed to join the clergy, which was rebuffed by Benedict, who said: “As Jean Paul II irrevocably said, the Catholic Church did not receive authorisation (to ordain women) from the Lord.”

Benedict’s comments were a response to an “appeal to religious disobedience” launched by a group of Austrian priests in 2011.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Victims and creditors in archdiocesan bankruptcy want new abuse testimony unsealed

Evidence includes depositions of former Archbishop Weakland and Bishop Sklba on decades of cover-up

Archbishop Listecki wants evidence to remain in archdiocesan “secret archive”

Regardless of ruling, victims say Archdiocese can still turn over all records to Attorney General

WHO
Victim/survivors of clergy sexual assault, including members of SNAP, their families, and supporters will attend a court hearing in Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy Court which could determine whether new clergy abuse testimony by top church officials, along with tens of thousands of pages of internal church files related to the cover up of decades of sex crimes against children will be made public. Victims/survivors will be available after the hearing for comment.

WHEN
Thursday April 5th, the court hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. SNAP leaders and victim/survivors will be available for comment following the conclusion of court proceedings.

WHERE
The U.S. Federal Courthouse, 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee

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MAINE
WMTW

PORTLAND, Maine –
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has announced temporary assignments for priests to serve in the place of a Fort Kent priest on leave while allegations against him are investigated.

Rev. James L. Nadeau, 51, of St. John Vianney Parish in Fort Kent, went on voluntary leave on Tuesday, said Sue Bernard, communications director for the diocese. She did not say what the allegations were.

Retired members of the clergy in Aroostook County will serve the parish during Holy Week and Easter. Rev. Robert Vaillancourt, 58, will serve as temporary administrator for the parish at the end of next week, Bernard said.

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MAINE
The Portland Press Herald

By Dennis Hoey dhoey@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

FORT KENT — Father Robert Vaillancourt will serve as the temporary administrator at St. John Vianney Parish in Fort Kent while the state investigates allegations against the parish’s former priest.

Bishop Richard Malone assigned Vaillancourt to the Aroostook County position on Wednesday, one day after he announced that Father James L. Nadeau had agreed to take a temporary leave of absence.

The Bishop said that Nadeau is being investigated by the Maine Attorney General’s Office. His leave of absence will allow their investigation to proceed unimpeded, Malone said. Authorities are not being specific as to what type of allegations have been made.

“The diocese is cooperating fully with the Attorney General’s office and at their request, I can not discuss the allegations or anything about the investigation. I am hopeful that this process will go smoothly in order to lead an expeditious and just conclusion,” Malone said, in a prepared statement.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

For a lying, scheming criminal and junkie, he cleaned up well, and, under bruising cross-examination, more than held his own.

If I had to score Round One of the most important testimony to date in the trial concerning sex abuse and conspiracy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I’d give it to the beleaguered – yet believable – 30-year-old victim staring at his alleged abuser in court.

“Mark,” as he was labeled in the 2011 grand jury report, is the Bucks County man charging a criminal breach of trust by the Rev. James J. Brennan, a priest and family friend he thought of as an uncle.

Brennan stands accused of the 1996 attempted rape of Mark in a West Chester apartment. But for nearly three hours Wednesday, it was Mark – who has spent the last decade in jail, on suicide watch or undergoing psychiatric treatment – who found himself on trial.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE

Published: April 4, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A 30-year-old man said Wednesday that a priest’s actions took the man down a path that included more than a decade of drug and alcohol abuse, multiple criminal convictions and three suicide attempts.

The accuser, a former Marine, took the witness stand during the second week of a landmark trial of two Roman Catholic priests. One of them, the Rev. James J. Brennan, is charged with trying to rape the accuser in 1996, when he was 14.

In sometimes tearful testimony, the man said the assault took place at Father Brennan’s apartment in West Chester, Pa., during an overnight stay.

The alleged attack, and an occasion three years later when the accuser said Father Brennan exposed himself, combined to traumatize the man, he said, and led to a pattern of behavior that also included getting discharged from the Marine Corps and using drugs in an attempt to be rid of the pain of what he endured.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Inquirer Staff Writer

DURING THREE hours of emotional and sometimes contentious testimony, a former Bucks County altar boy on Wednesday described how a priest in the landmark child-sex-abuse and conspiracy trial molested him during an overnight visit when he was 14.

The man, now 30, broke down several times recounting a 1996 assault by the Rev. James J. Brennan that he said plunged him into a spiral of drugs and crime and still haunts him.

He said Brennan, his onetime parish priest and a longtime family friend, showed him online sex-chat rooms, proposed that they masturbate and ordered him into a bed where, clad in plaid boxer shorts, the cleric pulled him close and pressed his private parts against the boy.

“He kept pulling me forward, forward, forward,” the witness said, fighting tears. “I couldn’t get off the bed. I still feel the sensation today. It’s horrible.”

The testimony didn’t stand unchallenged.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WTAQ

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A tearful former Marine testifying in a sex abuse case rocking the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Archdiocese recalled on Wednesday the day he became deathly afraid of a priest he said had been a family friend but molested him as a teenager.

The former Marine said Reverend James Brennan, 50, molested him at the priest’s apartment in suburban West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1996 when he was 14. Brennan is charged with attempted rape.

Also on trial is Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy, who is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy over accusations he covered up abuse allegations against priests, many of whom were simply transferred to unsuspecting parishes.

Wednesday’s witness, who said he was released from a mental health facility only days ago and has abused drugs and alcohol for years, said Brennan had been a family friend.

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CALIFORNIA
KABC

[with video]

John Gregory and Rob McMillan

CORONA, Calif. (KABC) — A church pastor and two other men are accused of kidnapping and abusing a 13-year-old boy left in their care. The pastor runs a group home in Corona. The three men were arraigned in Riverside Wednesday.

Police say the three men were asked by a mother to give her 13-year-old son “guidance.” The pastor and two of his followers could face years behind bars for their alleged actions.

Police say the boy’s mother, 30, brought the 13-year-old to a men’s home in Corona run by Heart of Worship Community Church on March 18, asking the people there to discipline her son. Police said she had hoped the people running the home would help discipline her son, who had been misbehaving.

Police say that’s when Pastor Lonnie Remmers, 54, ordered two church members, Nick Craig, 22, and Darryll Jeter, 28, to drive the boy more than 100 miles north to Barstow.

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CALIFORNIA
Inland News Today

CORONA – (INT) – The director and two residents of the Heart of Worship group home are accused of torturing and abusing a 13-year-old boy.

Police say the boy’s mother took him to the home for guidance. Pastor Lonnie Remmers allegedly ordered the two men to drive him to the desert to ‘scare’ him. After arriving in the Barstow area, the pair threatened to kill the boy and forced him to dig a grave.

They returned to Remmers’ Corona home for Bible study. Instead, the youth was physically assaulted.

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CALIFORNOA
NBC Southern California

By Irene Moore

Three men, including a pastor, pleaded not guilty for allegedly torturing and kidnapping a 13-year-old child after his mother sent him to a men’s group home and bible study for guidance.

Shackled and clad in orange jump suits, Lonnie Remmers, 54; Darryl Jeter, 28 and Nicholas Craig, 22, entered their plea in front of Judge Becky Dugan at a Riverside County Superior Courthouse.

The three belonged to the Heart of Worship church in Corona which operated a men’s group home where some of the alleged crimes are said to have occurred.

The young boy was allegedly driven by Jeter and Craig to an unknown area in Barstow under the direction of Remmers, the pastor of the church.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

The pastor of a small church in Corona and two other men have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing a boy.

Pastor Lonnie Remmers, 54, along with Nick Craig, 22, and Darryll Jeter, 28, face several charges.

The teen’s mother took him to a men’s group home in Corona on March 18 for help with discipline, according to authorities.

The home was operated by Heart of Worship Ministry under Remmers’ direction. Police say Craig and Jeter took the boy to Barstow, where they allegedly beat him with a shovel and forced him to dig a grave, KTLA-TV reported.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox News

Associated Press

CORONA, Calif. – The pastor of a Riverside County storefront church and two of his followers have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and assaulting a 13-year-old boy.

Lonny Remmers, Nick Craig and Darryll Jeter Jr. entered their pleas Wednesday afternoon in Riverside County Superior Court.

Prosecutors say the men pinched the boy with pliers, beat him with a shovel, forced him to dig a grave and threatened him with death as a harsh form of discipline.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By CHARLES THOMPSON, The Patriot-News

Eliminating a statute of limitations in child sexual assault cases was among the changes victim advocates called for during a rally Wednesday at the Capitol.

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape also called for legislative action on bills to make a specific state crime out of human trafficking for “commercial sexual activity” and to permit prosecutors to present expert testimony explaining variances in victims’ reactions in criminal sexual assault cases.

Advocates are seizing the moment amid the case against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, plus a criminal trial against a top Roman Catholic Church official in Philadelphia accused of enabling abusive priests to continue having access to children.

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

If you suspect child abuse but fail to report it, you could wind up in jail.

A recently passed revision of the Georgia law that requires teachers, doctors and other professionals to report suspected child abuse is so broad that just about anyone who comes into contact with kids could fall under its mandate.

Volunteers at churches, colleges, clubs, summer camps or soccer fields or parents who chaperone a field trip could go to jail if they fail to report suspected abuse under the new provision approved by lawmakers last week.

Child abuse can range from neglect and beatings to sexual abuse.

“If you volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club or volunteer with your church doing a children’s service, that would make you a mandatory reporter,” said Melissa Carter, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University.

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CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

BY DAVID DANELSKI, BRIAN ROKOS The Press Enterprise AND RICHARD K. DeATLEYSTAFF WRITERS
ddanelski@pe.com | brokos@pe.com | rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 04 April 2012

A Corona pastor accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy with pliers and directing two church members to discipline the youth has served time in federal prison for an investment fraud scheme.

The two church members drove the boy to the desert March 18, forced him to dig a grave, threw dirt on him and then beat him with a belt, according to authorities.

On Wednesday, the pastor, Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, was charged with felony assault and inflicting injury on a child. The other men — Nicholas Craig, 22, and Darryl Duane Jeter Jr., 28 — were charged with kidnapping, assault and other felonies.

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CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

BY FRANK SHYONG / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO A report from a committee investigating JSerra Catholic High School’s handling of sexual-misconduct claims against a teacher says the school “did all that could be reasonably expected” to vet the teacher and that the accusations against him before his arrest were insufficient cause for the school to contact authorities.

Ricardo Aldana, 39, a Spanish teacher and volleyball coach from Dana Point, was arrested Dec. 14 and later charged with seven counts of lewd acts with a 14-year-old female student.

JSerra fired Aldana the day after his arrest. He pleaded not guilty in January. He could face up to seven years in state prison if convicted.

The mother told the Register in December that she had approached the school with concerns about sexual misconduct months before she went to law enforcement about it.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News – AM

[with audio]

Updated April 05, 2012

A group representing victims of church sexual abuse is asking Catholic priests to read a letter from the pulpit over Easter calling for an independent inquiry into abuse allegations. COIN’s (Commission of Inquiry Now) letter mimicks the Melbourne Archdiocese’ move last weekend to send anti gay-marriage letters to 80,000 parishioners.

TONY EASTLEY: It’s a cheeky move but serious all the same. A group representing victims of church sexual abuse is asking Catholic priests to read a letter from the pulpit over Easter calling for an independent inquiry into abuse allegations.

Mimicking the Melbourne Archdiocese move to send anti gay-marriage letters to 80,000 parishioners last week, the group known as COIN has sent its own message.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: Written by a group representing victims of church sex abuse the letter asks parishioners to lobby the Catholic Church to support an independent inquiry into the handling of their complaints.

BRYAN KEON-COHEN: Some people consider my initiative a little cheeky. Well, so be it if it enables Catholic priests or their congregations to consider the facts and attempt to reform the Church from outside since it seems incapable of reforming itself adequately from inside.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

An accuser in the Philadelphia priest-abuse trial took the stand today. The former Marine gave an emotional testimony that Rev. James Brennan made sexual advances on him when he was 14-years-old.

The victim, now 30-years-old, outlined the events that led up to the alleged sexual assault in 1996, and went into great detail about his struggles with drug abuse, mental illness and multiple suicide attempts that he says are partially a result of his sexual abuse from Brennan.

The man said Brennan was close to his family, and would come over to the home every weekend. He described him as a “drinking buddy” of his mother, and an uncle figure. He said, “When the collar came down, he was Jim. He was one of the guys.”

In the summer of 1999, the victim said that Brennan took him to his apartment in West Chester to watch movies and then golf the next day. He testified that at the apartment, Brennan showed him pornography on his laptop, tried to masturbate with the victim, and got into bed with him.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Local 10

Author: By Sarah Hoye CNN

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) –
A tearful former altar boy testified Wednesday that one of two Philadelphia priests on trial in a clergy abuse case molested him during an overnight visit at the priest’s apartment.

The witness, now in his 30s, cried on the stand as he described the incident with the Rev. James Brennan, who is accused of raping the witness in 1996, when he was 14. The man is a former Marine, who was discharged because of mental health issues.

“I was a little boy. I didn’t know what to do,” the man testified through sobs.

The witness testified before Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina that Brennan, who he described as a close family friend he considered to be like an uncle, viewed online sex chat rooms with him and suggested they masturbate together before insisting the witness sleep with the priest in the same bed.

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FARGO (ND)
WDAY

By: WDAY Staff Reports, WDAY

A former Fargo-area priest is being extradited to the US from the Philippines to face child sex abuse charges.

Fernando Sayasaya was charged in 2002 with gross sexual imposition, accused of fondling 2 boys in the mid-90s. He served parishes in Fargo and West Fargo.

Authorities believe he fled to the Philippines to avoid the charges.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy will hear arguments Thursday on whether to unseal evidence expected to shed light on the scope of the church sex abuse scandal in southeastern Wisconsin and how the archdiocese handled allegations involving children over decades.

Attorneys for hundreds of victims who have filed claims in the bankruptcy are asking Judge Susan V. Kelley to make public the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who led the archdiocese for 25 years, and others, along with related documents, all redacted to remove the names of victims and some alleged offenders.

“This is presumptively public information generated in a public case,” said attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who represents about 350 of the 570 men and women who have filed sex abuse claims against the archdiocese.

“And we will argue strenuously that the public’s right to know outweighs any privacy interest the archdiocese is asserting,” he said.

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FARGO (ND)
The Bismark Tribune

Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, April 5, 2012

FARGO, N.D. — A former Fargo-area priest is being extradited to the United States from the Philippines to face child sex abuse charges.

Fernando Sayasaya (Say-ah-say-ah) is accused of fondling two boys in the mid-1990s, when he served parishes in Fargo and West Fargo. He was charged in 2002 with gross sexual imposition.

A court in the Philippines has ordered Sayasaya to return to the United States. Authorities believe he fled to the Philippines to avoid the charges.

Former Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Wade Webb says he is pleased with the development.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP
Updated April 5, 2012

NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith has shown a lack of judgment by making derogatory comments about a woman who accused his friend and former parish priest of sexual abusing her when she was a child, the state opposition says.

Mr Smith said one of the alleged victims of Father Finian Egan was “just trying to get $1 million from the church”, an email from an unnamed Catholic priest who met the attorney-general last July claims.

The email to alleged victim Nikki Wells, broadcast on ABC Television on Wednesday night, has raised questions about the long delay in prosecuting the case against Father Egan.

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SWITZERLAND
swissinfo

by Morven McLean, swissinfo.ch

A light-filled chapel forms the heart of the seminary in Villars-sur-Glâne near Fribourg. Built 30 years ago to hold 40 young men, it currently houses five.

It’s the same story at most of the country’s centres for training Roman Catholic priests. Researchers predict that in 2029 there will be one third fewer priests than there were in 2009.

They and progressive voices in the Church are calling for an open and honest discussion of its future.

In Basel, Catholics have even urged the dropping of the celibacy requirement* and demanded that women be admitted as priests.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff

THE BROADCASTING Authority of Ireland has defended the involvement of its chairman, former RTÉ director general Bob Collins, in assessing the penalty to be imposed on the State broadcaster over the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel affair.

The authority also defended itself yesterday against criticism by Fr Reynolds’s solicitor, Robert Dore, who said the priest should have been contacted during the investigation ordered by the BAI into his libelling in a Prime Time Investigates programme.

A spokeswoman said Mr Collins was appointed as an independent chair of the regulator and would in his daily work have “all kinds of responsibilities” affecting RTÉ.

Mr Collins, who worked in RTÉ for 28 years and was director general for six years, wasn’t asked and did not offer to absent himself from the board discussion this week on the investigation ordered by the compliance committee of the authority into the Mission to Prey programme broadcast last May, she said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

The prosecution witness testified that he had just checked out of a recovery facility ten days earlier. On the witness stand, he admitted to a criminal past, and told a story about being sexually abused by a defendant priest, a story drastically different from the original charges in last year’s grand jury report. Then on cross-examination, the witness began crying, and told the judge he was “messing up” his testimony.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina called for a recess shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday, about 90 minutes earlier than usual. For members of the prosecution team, it was time to regroup as the witness attempted to compose himself in the bathroom.

Day Six of the archdiocese sex abuse trial began shortly after 10 a.m. when Mark Bukowski, 30, from Newtown, Bucks County, took the witness stand to testify against Father James J. Brennan, on trial for charges of attempted rape and conspiracy. Bukowski, according to Brennan’s defense lawyer, is the priest’s sole accuser, so the case against Father Brennan could rise or fall with Bukowski. If so, the prosecution may be in trouble.

Bukowski testified that he was a former altar boy whose family had befriended Father Brennan. “He was over our house every weekend,” Bukowski testified.

“He was almost like an uncle figure, Bukowski said. The witness described Father Brennan as a close friend and drinking buddy of his mother’s. “They really hit it off,” he said. “They would drink alcohol heavily together.” And then the priest would hop on his motorcycle and drive home drunk, the witness testified.

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ROME
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on April 4, 2012.

In June of 1983, Emanuela Orlandi disappeared. She was the fifteen year old daughter of a Vatican employee, and now prosecutors in Rome are saying that someone in that vast edifice knows what happened to her. Almost three decades ago, she was kidnapped by unidentified men, and her disappearance may be connected to the alleged financial misdeeds of the Vatican bank.

According to the Telegraph:

One theory is that the girl’s father, a Vatican employee, had stumbled on documents that connected the Vatican’s bank with organised crime in Rome and that she was seized in an attempt to silence him. The alleged mastermind of the kidnapping was Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis, the leader of the Magliana gang, Rome’s most ruthless criminal band.

He was shot dead by rival gangsters in a street in central Rome in 1990 and his body interred in a crypt in the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare.

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