ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Fund for Investigative Journalism

Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church, by Jason Berry, has won the prestigious IRE Book Award for 2011. Berry wrote the book with a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The judges of the annual awards contest sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) praised the book with these comments: “Author Jason Berry delves deeply into a topic few have examined – the secretive finances of the Roman Catholic Church. Using voluminous background research that takes the reader back centuries, Berry uncovers abuses of the trust of church members by influential bishops who diverted funds intended for philanthropic purposes into accounts used for plugging Vatican operating deficits or defending priests accused of pedophilia. Berry details how the modern church is systematically closing churches in poorer parishes while at the same time opening churches in affluent suburbs where the weekly ‘take’ is greater. The author makes extensive use of public documents, leaked parish records, trial transcripts, interviews and a wide range of published reporting to paint a complete picture of a heretofore secret network of church financial dealings. For shining a bright light on the shenanigans and inner workings of the Catholic Church, IRE honors Jason Berry and ‘Render Unto Rome.’” Investigative Reporters and Editors is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to training and supporting investigative journalists around the world.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Two jurors were dismissed without explanation Monday in the archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial. Judge M. Teresa Sarmina started court an hour late with the announcement that Alternate Juror No. 1 would be replacing Juror No. 7, and Alternate Juror No. 2 would be replacing Juror No. 9.

Why were the jurors sent packing? The judge didn’t explain. There was courtroom chatter about medical emergencies and jurors who may have overheard things, but no official explanation was forthcoming.

The jury, which began with 12 regulars and 10 alternates last week, is now down to 12 regulars and 6 alternates. Two alternate jurors were also dismissed last week, without explanation. In a trial expected to last two at least months, losing two jurors a week doesn’t bode well, but it’s early yet.

The judge did announce that court will not be held on Fridays during the trial. Jurors have the option of gong to work on Friday, but “my preference is that you don’t go,” the judge said. She warned jurors that if they do show up for work on Fridays, she would prefer that they wear a sign that says, “Don’t talk to me.” The judge was smiling when she said this, but she may not be kidding.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

What do you do when the prosecution is using hardened police detectives to enter a pile of the archdiocese’s secret archive files into evidence against your client?

Jeff Lindy, representing Monsignor William J. Lynn, went through those same files on Monday, trying to point out whatever positive things they had to say about his client.

Lindy asked Detective Joseph Walsh about the files involving Father Michael Murtha. He’s the priest who was discovered to have a large gay porno collection in his bedroom at the rectory, as well as a love letter that he wrote to a seventh-grader named Drew.

Referring to the priest’s literary efforts as “that awful letter,” Lindy said isn’t it true that the priest admitted the letter was a fantasy, and that there was no allegation that the priest had ever touched the boy, or anybody else for that matter.

“That is correct,” Detective Walsh said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Jurors in a landmark priest-abuse trial heard Monday about a priest-turned-camp prowler and another who allegedly bragged about having sex with three boys in one week.

Also Monday, two jurors were replaced by alternates, but a gag order prevents lawyer from discussing the reasons for the move.

Monsignor William Lynn is on trial for child endangerment and conspiracy. Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. charged for his handling of priest-abuse complaints. Prosecutors say he helped the church bury them in secret files, far from the prying eyes of investigators, civil attorneys and concerned Catholics.

In the day’s most startling testimony, a detective read internal church memos about a priest who allegedly “joked about how hard it was to have sex with three boys in one week.” His accuser also stated that the priest had a “rotation process” of boys spending time sleeping with him.

Defense lawyers argue that Lynn tried to address the problem as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, but was blocked by the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and others in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

April 2, 2012

A Waukesha County Catholic priest ordered to spend the next year in prayer and penance for indirectly violating the seal of confession, is appealing his verdict to the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has confirmed.

Father David Verhasselt of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Mapleton notified the archdiocese that he would be seeking a due-process review by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a step known as an administrative recourse, said Father Paul Hartmann, judicial vicar for the archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Jamie L Manson on Apr. 02, 2012 Grace on the Margins

This is the second part of Jamie Manson’s interview with theologian and writer Matthew Fox. Part I can be found here.

You begin your most recent book, The Pope’s War, by taking a look at the childhood of Pope Benedict XVI and his time in Hitler Youth. How do you think that experience might have impacted his view of the church?

In fascism, there is always an obsession to control and to make obedience the first priority. That’s why fascism was allowed to thrive in Nazi times. As I point out in the book, the wonderful priest and moral theologian Fr. Bernard Haring, who was also conscripted into the Nazi army, did not learn from his experience that obedience is a primary virtue. He saw the horrible price that Europe paid for this distorted notion of obedience. So, he built his entire moral theology on the idea that the real meaning of obedience is responsibility.

We hear that there are some bishops who do not agree with the Vatican on some issues and who see how some of the Vatican’s positions do harm to people, but they obey and cooperate with the Vatican anyway. Do you see parallels to fascism there?

So often it comes down to preferring one’s job security or career advancement to the truth or to Jesus. Susan Sontag defines fascism as institutionalized violence: violence in the name of institution and the act of hiding behind an institution. A good example of this, of course, is the pedophilia crisis. I use the word fascism in the book because all fundamentalisms, not just the Catholic kind, are about freezing power.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

LOUISIANA
KPLC

By E’Lyn Taylor

The following is a Press Release from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office

Today, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office has re-arrested former priest Mark A. Broussard at the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged him with 100 counts of sexual battery and 40 counts of aggravated rape.

This victim is one of the four young boys Broussard indicated while he was a priest he had sexual contact with which is documented in his personnel file but never reported to law enforcement.

The investigation revealed the incidents involving this victim occurred between January 1986 and December 1991 when the boy was between the ages of 11-16 years of age. The victim is now 36 years old. He stated all of the incidents occurred at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church in Lake Charles, LA where Broussard was a priest and where the victim attended school and church.

Judge Clayton Davis set Broussard’s bond at $2,000,000.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

RONAN McGREEVY

RTÉ will find out in the coming days if fines of up to €250,000 will be imposed upon it as a result of the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel action.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has sent a copy of the independent report into the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel action along with notification of any sanction to RTÉ for consideration.

RTÉ will be given 14 days to respond or make submissions.

At the end of the process, the BAI will publish the report into the libel action and announce if it has imposed financial sanctions on the broadcaster.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The boys, nine of them, came forward in the early 1960s, each recounting how the Rev. John A. Cannon had molested them, sometimes repeatedly, at a summer camp run by their South Philadelphia parish, St. Monica’s.

A priest documented the accusations, Cannon was transferred to another parish, and a letter about the claims went into his personnel file at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

When one of the boys, now a man, came forward in 1992 and later threatened to sue, Msgr. William J. Lynn told him that Cannon would be immediately removed, as were all priests accused of abuse.

“He was told they are never assigned where children are concerned,” according to a memo on their meeting shown to jurors today at Lynn’s trial in Common Pleas Court.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Local News

The child endangerment trial of the Rev. Monsignor William Lynn resumes in Philadelphia. He has the dubious distinction of being the first Roman Catholic Church official to be charged in the United States in connection with clerical sexual abuse.

While the 61-year-old priest himself has not been charged with sexually abusing children, he has been accused of protecting known pedophile priests from criminal prosecution by not reporting them to civil authorities and instead placing them in assignments where they still had access to children.

Defense attorneys maintain that Lynn, who served as secretary of the clergy from 1992 to 2004 and was responsible for investigating clerical sexual abuse, was just following orders of his two superiors, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and Cardinal Justin Rigali, former archbishops of Philadelphia. Bevilacqua, who was battling cancer, died Jan. 31, the day after a judge ruled that his deposition videotaped last November could be included in Lynn’s trial.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Olympian

By MARYCLAIRE DALE | Associated Press • Published April 02, 2012

Two jurors in the landmark priest-abuse trial under way in Philadelphia were dismissed Monday, just one week into the trial that could last three months or more.

It’s not clear why the pair were removed before the trial resumed, but two of the eight alternates seated replaced them.

Monsignor William Lynn is on trial for child endangerment and conspiracy. Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. charged for his handling of priest-abuse complaints. Prosecutors say he helped the church bury them in secret files, far from the prying eyes of investigators, civil attorneys and concerned Catholics. …

The testimony Monday included a 1992 complaint about a priest who allegedly molested boys at a church-owned camp three decades earlier.

Several junior counselors complained in the early 1960s that the priest was on the prowl at night, molesting them in their tents. They said it was a well-known secret among teen counselors for several years.

The priest remained in ministry, working at three archdiocesan high schools and serving as assistant superintendent of Catholic schools in the mid-1960s. Confronted after a man complained to the archdiocese in 1992, the priest admitted to the “sin” of masturbation and said he had read up on that subject because so many people were mentioning it in the confessional.

The campers, too, referred to it as a “sin” that they had committed with the priest on various occasions. Some did not report it then because they “lacked courage” or feared the consequences, a detective testified, based on his reading of the church files.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MISSOURI
KY3

by Jay Scherder, KY3 News
jscherder@ky3.com

12:20 p.m. CDT, April 2, 2012
FORSYTH, Mo. — Kanakuk Kamps is dealing with its second sex abuse case within three years. Lee Bradberry, 22, of Auburn, Ala., is charged in Taney County with sexual crimes involving three campers at its Christian-themed sports camps.

Investigators believe the abuse happened last June. Kanakuk says it fired Bradberry last July and alerted law enforcement agencies after receiving reports of inappropriate behavior by Bradberry.

Two years ago, ex-camp leader Peter Newman pleaded guilty for sexually abusing several boys. He was sentenced to life in prison.
—-
News release from Kanakuk Kamps on Monday morning:

At Kanakuk the safety and protection of children is our number one priority. That is why we have implemented a comprehensive Child Protection Plan that combines rigorous policies, extensive staff training, age-appropriate education for campers and encouragement of all staff and campers to report any questionable behavior. Sadly we now believe that in 2011 that Child Protection Plan was needed to play a role in helping to identify and stop

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MISSOURI
The Turner Report

A $100,000 bond has been set for Lee Bradberry, 22, Auburn, Ala., the second Kanakuk Kamps staff member to be charged with felony sex crimes.

Online Taney County Circuit Court records indicate Bradberry faces two counts of statutory sodomy, two counts of child molestation, and single counts of sexual misconduct and attempted statutory sodomy, all allegedly taking place on June 21, 2011.

Conditions of Bradberry’s bond include his having no contact with the underaged victims.

The charges, which were filed Friday, are the latest bad news to hit the Branson-based Kanakuk. Kanakuk was rocked in 2009 when one of its camp directors, Pete Newman, was arrested for committing several sex crimes against underage boys.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage

Jerry Slevin, a retired Wall Street lawyer who frequently comments at Catholic blog sites about the abuse situation in the American Catholic church, has sent me a copy of an open letter he wrote yesterday calling on the Philadelphia Inquirer to keep light shining as brightly as possible on the case now going on in Philadelphia, as well as on the abuse situation in the archdiocese of Philadelphia. I’m very happy to post Jerry’s open letter here and at Open Tabernacle. It’s well-written, powerfully stated, and full of valuable information–as with everything he writes. It also fits right in with what I just posted about E.J. Dionne’s article critiquing centrist complicity in the extremist strategies of the far right.

—————————————

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer articles make clear that last week’s opening of the criminal trial of Monsignor Lynn, the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s former top priest personnel aide to two former Cardinals, was a watershed moment for Philly Catholics and potentially for worldwide Catholicism. Each of you are both witnesses to, and key participants in, the unfolding events. While the Associated Press and NY Times’ columnists and reporters, among others, have followed this story closely, this has mainly been the Philadelphia Inquirer’s story from the start.

The world is watching closely to see if America’s justifiably fabled free press can finally break through the countless diversions offered worldwide by the Catholic hierarchy and their well funded apologists and well placed advocates. Vatican experts recently indicated at an “abuse summit” in Rome that over 100,000 American children have been sexually abused by priests, yet no bishop has yet been held accountable under the American criminal law system. The Lynn trial may lead to changing that, assuming that Philly District Attorney, Seth Williams, doesn’t stop at Lynn and follows through by investigating diligently up the hierarchical ladder to the ultimate decision makers, the Philly Bishops and Cardinals.

The deceitful hierarchical myth that the priest child sexual abuse problem resulted from a few rogue “bad apples” has already been laid to rest forever by the trial, thanks to the exceptional reporting by you and others. The answers to the bigger questions, whether the full truth will be uncovered and whether the hierarchs ultimately responsible will receive justice, remain to be seen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The defense in the Philadelphia clergy child abuse case (see related stories) used some prosecution evidence today in the defense of Msgr. William Lynn, charged with endangering children by allowing predatory priests to remain in ministry.

Testimony has continued to focus on a despicable letter allegedly written by a priest to a boy soliciting sex — a letter that was never sent (see related story).

The defense has presented evidence through cross-examination that Lynn acted within days of learning of the letter, talking to Father Michael Murtha and ordering Murtha to treatment.

The defense told the jury Lynn did his job, but he was not responsible for priest placements.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

BEUNINGEN (ANP) – De overheid moet ook de rol van de psychiatrie en psychiaters bij seksueel misbruik in de kerk en andere instellingen onderzoeken. Dat bepleitte slachtofferkoepel Klokk maandag.

Volgens de organisatie is extra wetenschappelijk onderzoek nodig naar mogelijke medische ingrepen, maar ook naar verbanden tussen psychiatrie, justitiële instanties en kerkelijke organisaties.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
L1

De overheid moet ook de rol van de psychiatrie en psychiaters bij seksueel misbruik in de kerk en andere instellingen onderzoeken.

Daarvoor pleit slachtofferkoepel Klokk. Die zegt dat extra wetenschappelijk onderzoek nodig is naar mogelijke medische ingrepen, maar ook naar verbanden tussen psychiatrie, justitiële instanties en kerkelijke organisaties. Vorige maand ontstond ophef over een verhaal van de Heerlense journalist Joep Dohmen over mogelijke gevallen, in de jaren vijftig, van castratie om homoseksuele gevoelens bij jongens uit te bannen. Volgens Dohmen wist de commissie Deetman van deze praktijken, maar deed geen verder onderzoek.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

De koepelorganisatie van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk, KLOKK, wil dat de commissie Deetman aanvullend onderzoek gaat doen. Bij dat onderzoek moet worden gekeken naar de rol van onder meer psychiaters bij het misbruik.

KLOKK komt met deze oproep naar aanleiding van recente berichten over gedwongen castraties, uitgevoerd in opdracht van de kerk. Nieuwe onderzoek moet de rol van de psychiatrie, maar ook justitiële instanties, kerkelijke organisaties en de bestuurlijke cultuur van die tijd bij deze praktijken blootleggen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
technology update news

2nd April 2012

Newswise — Why do some persons stoop to post-traumatic highlight commotion (PTSD) while others who suffered a same distress do not? A new UCLA investigate sheds light on a answer.

UCLA scientists have related dual genes concerned in serotonin prolongation to a aloft risk of building PTSD. Published in a Apr 3 online book of a Journal of Affective Disorders, a commentary advise that ionization to PTSD is inherited, indicating to new ways of screening for and treating a disorder.

“People can rise post-traumatic highlight commotion after flourishing a life-threatening distress like war, rape or a healthy disaster,” clarified lead author Dr. Armen Goenjian, a investigate highbrow of psychoanalysis during a Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior during UCLA. “If confirmed, a commentary could eventually lead to new ways to shade people during risk for PTSD and aim specific medicines for preventing and treating a disorder.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

2 jurors removed from Philly priest-abuse trial for unknown reasons; trial enters 2nd week

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, April 2

Two jurors have been dismissed just one week into the landmark priest-abuse trial under way in Philadelphia.

It’s not clear why the pair were removed before the trial resumed Monday, but two of eight alternates replaced them.

Monsignor William Lynn’s child endangerment and conspiracy trial could last three months or more.

The 61-year-old Lynn is the first Roman Catholic church official in the U.S. charged for his handling of priest-abuse complaints. Prosecutors say he helped the church bury them in secret files.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Published Monday, 02 April 2012

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has said a priest who revealed pornographic images during a Holy Communion presentation is being investigated.

Father Martin McVeigh was to host a Powerpoint presentation to parents at St Mary’s School in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone last week.

Instead, around 16 pictures of gay porn which had been stored on a memory stick were shown to the 26 parents and an eight-year-old child who was also at the meeting.

Speaking to the Ulster Herald Fr McVeigh said, “I don’t know how it happened.

“There are people making innuendoes who weren’t even there, but in this day and age these stories grow.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Huffington Post UK

The Huffington Post UK | By Lucy Sherriff Posted: 2/04/2012

Parents got more than they bargained for when a presentation given by a priest at a primary school included some rather raunchy slides – of gay porn.

Father Martin McVeigh was setting up a slideshow for parents of children taking their First Holy Communion when the sexual images “inadvertently” appeared on the screen. The audience, which reportedly included an eight-year-old boy, were left “horrified and distracted”, according to the BBC.

The holy man is said to have quickly removed his memory stick from the hard drive and “bolted out of the room”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 April 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed:

– Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge of Canberra and Goulburn, Australia, as archbishop of Brisbane (area 65,000, population 2,760,007, Catholics 643,371, priests 239, permanent deacons 13, religious 890), Australia.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
De Telegraaf

BEUNINGEN – De overheid moet ook de rol van de psychiatrie en psychiaters bij seksueel misbruik in de kerk en andere instellingen onderzoeken. Dat bepleitte slachtofferkoepel Klokk maandag.

Volgens de organisatie is extra wetenschappelijk onderzoek nodig naar mogelijke medische ingrepen, maar ook naar verbanden tussen psychiatrie, justitiële instanties en kerkelijke organisaties. Vorige maand ontstond ophef over berichten over mogelijke gevallen, in de jaren vijftig, van castratie om homoseksuele gevoelens bij jongens uit te bannen. Klokk roept de Tweede Kamer op bij de regering aan te dringen op het aanvullende onderzoek.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

VUGHT (RKnieuws.net) – Klokk wil aanvullend onderzoek door de heer Deetman en voortzetting van het toezicht op de uitvoering van aanbevelingen door Deetman en de voormalige commissie, samen met de bij KLOKK aangesloten slachtoffergroepen. Dat is op dit moment noodzakelijk voor het proces van erkenning, genoegdoening, hulp, compensatie en zorg.

Met dit standpunt reageren de vertegenwoordigers van groepen aangesloten bij Klokk op de recente berichtgeving in NRC Handelsblad en de reactie van de heer Deetman hierop.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Mea Culpa is het niet eens met de voortzetting van de commissie Deetman. Zeker nu de heer Deetman zelf wordt gehoord over het weglaten van feiten over castraties en de hele problematiek rond oud-minister-president Marijnen, een partijgenoot van de heer Deetman. Het weglaten van deze feiten komt het vertrouwen van de slachtoffers in de commissie Deetman niet ten goede. De opdrachtgever van de commissie Deetman is de Rooms Katholieke Kerk. Daarom is het geen onafhankelijk onderzoek en zal een vervolgonderzoek door de commissie Deetman niet voldoende meerwaarde hebben. Wij als Mea Culpa United blijven op het standpunt dat er een onafhankelijk onderzoek moet worden ingesteld door de politiek in de vorm van een parlementaire enquête.

Er zijn veel slachtoffers die het eindrapport van de commissie Deetman niet hebben omarmd!! Slachtoffers bij wie het beetje vertrouwen dat er nog was een gigantische deuk heeft opgelopen na het in de publiciteit komen van de gedwongen castraties en de affaire Marijnen. Wij als Mea Culpa United vragen ons af er nog meer zaken door de commissie Deetman niet zijn benoemd.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

End Times News

The detention of an 83-year-old priest in Brazil for allegedly abusing boys as young as 12 has added to the scandals hitting the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, even as Chile’s bishops asked pardon on Tuesday for past sexual abuse cases.

The allegations against Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa — and two other Brazilian priests — have made headlines throughout the world’s most populous Catholic nation and come amid accusations of sexual abuse by priests across the world.

The scandal erupted when Brazilian television network SBT last month broadcast a tape purportedly showing Barbosa in bed with a 19-year-old that was widely distributed on the Internet.

The station said the video was secretly filmed in January 2009 and sent anonymously to the network. It was not clear if the 19-year-old, identified as a former altar boy who had worked with Barbosa for four years, had previous sexual relations with the priest.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Journal

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ARMAGH has launched a formal investigation into how a parish priest inadvertently showed pornographic images to a group of parents at a primary school last week.

Fr Martin McVeigh was setting up a PowerPoint presentation in the school last week, at a presentation to the parents of the First Communion class at a school in Co Tyrone.

It was reported that the pictures – depicting gay pornography – appeared on the screen after the priest inserted a USB key containing his presentation.

The Ulster Herald newspaper quoted Fr McVeigh as saying the images could be “legitimately explained”, but that he did not know how the images had appeared on the computer.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Central

By
KERRY O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, April 2,

Parents at a Tyrone parish had the shock of their lives when gay pornography flashed on screen during a presentation from the parish’s own Fr Martin McVeigh. Fr McVeigh was giving a presentation to the parents of First Communicants from the parish.

The Herald reports on the shocking story that comes out of St Mary’s School in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone. Fr. McVeigh was reportedly setting up a PowerPoint presentation for the parents of the parish when the pornography flashed on screen, at which point Fr. McVeigh promptly ended the presentation.

The images allegedly came on screen after Fr. McVeigh inserted a USB drive into the computer.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

An investigation is under way after indecent images were “inadvertently” shown by a Catholic priest during a presentation at a primary school in County Tyrone.

Father Martin McVeigh projected the images onto a screen during a meeting for parents in Pomeroy in preparation for First Holy Communion. One child was also present.

Parents said 16 indecent images of men were displayed. The priest said he had no knowledge of the offending imagery.

Cardinal Sean Brady said the PSNI had indicated that no crime had been committed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Independent

Austrian priest Franz Lauterbacher is hailing success for a project to win back the faithful to the country’s scandal ridden Catholic Church by inviting people who have left the church to discuss their lack of faith – in a brewery run by monks.

The Augustiner Bräu brewery was founded in 1621 in Salzburg and is still owned by and run by the monks.

Austria’s Catholic Church has seen record numbers of people leaving if after a series of sex abuse scandals and growing pressure from reformists who want to see women priests and who want to allow priests to marry.

Father Lauterbacher said that at his first meeting in the brewery nine people decided to return to the church and that numbers had been consistently high at the regular meetings since then.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Followed By Glory …

I always get choked up during the Passion narrative. It always makes me so sad when we yell out “crucify him!”

I was thinking about how the great religious leaders of the day completely missed it when Jesus was smack in their midst. I cannot help but think about what our religious leaders are missing right in front of them.I think the Passion should be a huge warning to Christians, especially the devout and pious ones, what happens when we are so sure we understand God. When we treat theology as if it is a big math problem and we can give answers in our sleep about right conduct. If we are devout and practicing Catholics, we should walk away from the Passion narrative in complete humility.

Think about it. A hooker, a nobody, takes an EXTREMELY expensive bottle of perfume and dumps it on Jesus. All the proper folks are completely and properly scandalized by such behavior. This hooker then takes her hair and she debases herself at Jesus’ feet. Jesus defends her.

Today, in our Church in America and abroad, our Hierarchy is attacking those who survived being brutalized and raped by God’s priests and representatives. In PA and MO Church lawyers, paid for by faithful Catholics who continue to tithe to their Churches, are attacking volunteer organizations of survivors of those abused by priests. SNAP (Survivors Networks of Those Abused by Priests) has been subpoenaed as lawyers defending the Church seek out any and all means of destroying the case against the Church.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ADAMS (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

By Derek Gentile, Berkshire Eagle Staffberkshireeagle.com

Posted: 04/02/2012

ADAMS — For Sandra Mod erski, hearing the bells tolling at her church Sunday morning was the most beautiful sound in the world.

“It was so wonderful to hear them again,” she said.

After three years of silence, the bells summoned the faithful to celebrate Mass on Sunday, and Moderski and about 300 other parishioners gathered at the former St. Stanislaus Kostka Church for Palm Sunday services.

Sunday’s service was the first since the church was closed in 2009 following an announcement by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield that the parish would be consolidated at Notre Dame Church as part of a new Pope John Paul the Great parish. After a vigil by parishioners lasting 1,150 days and an appeal that went all the way to the Vatican, the church was reopened as a “chapel/mission” of the parish. But what is most important is that the church has now reopened for worship, as well as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ADAMS (MA)
CBS 3

By Cherise Leclerc

ADAMS, (WSHM) –
Parishioners at one Berkshire County church are thankful after their church re-opened.

The St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams has been closed for three years.

During that time the parishioners held round-the-clock vigils.

That story may sound familiar.

The embattled Mater Dolorosa Church parishioners in Holyoke have been holding round-the-clock vigils for the past seven months since their church doors were officially closed.

Around 60 of their parishioners headed out to Berkshire County on Sunday morning to help celebrate the grand re-opening of St. Stanislaus.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

Editorial

A long overdue step of accountability in the sex abuse of children by wayward Catholic priests — the first-ever trial of a diocesan supervisor for allegedly covering up the scandal — has opened in Philadelphia. The issue of hierarchal responsibility is finally front and center.

Msgr. William Lynn, the supervisor of Philadelphia priests for 12 years, is defending himself from criminal conspiracy charges by alleging that culpability for the scandal extended to the head of the archdiocese — via a secret archive he compiled on predator priests that he said was ordered shredded in 1994 by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Whether the jury believes Monsignor Lynn’s contention that he innocently did his duty by compiling the archive and handing it on to his superiors is an open question. But its value in shedding light on backroom maneuvering is already clear. A copy was found in a diocesan safe six years ago and turned over to authorities this year as criminal investigators looked into years of alleged rapes and other abuses of schoolchildren. Cardinal Bevilacqua was expected to testify but died earlier this year.

The trial is recapitulating painful aspects of the nationwide scandal in which more than 700 priests had to be dismissed in a three-year period while the church’s upper echelons faced no criminal charges. The trial unfolds eight years after a review panel of laity appointed by the nation’s bishops urgently warned that to repair the church’s reputation “there must be consequences” for ranking church officials who engineered cover-ups.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, April 2, 2012 – For a couple of weeks, the Vatican documents concerning Catholic doctrine have been more easily accessible in all the major languages of the world.

On March 16, in fact, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, CDF, while still keeping its documents on the official website of the Holy See, inaugurated a new website to make it easier to consult them:

> Congregation for the doctrine of the faith

On it one can read all of the postconciliar pronouncements of the congregation. In practice, this means all of those issued after the congregation changed names – with the December 7, 1965 motu proprio “Integrae Servandae” from Paul VI – from congregation of the Holy Office to congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

For easier consultation, the links to the documents are offered not only in a general list, but also in three thematic lists: those of a doctrinal nature (74 documents), those of a disciplinary nature (33), and those concerning the sacraments (39).

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Friday 30 March 2012

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has issued a statement in response to an article in The Age newspaper (29/03/12) in which Father Tony Kerin, Episcopal Vicar for Justice and Peace, appeared to be supporting demands for a public inquiry into the Church’s handling of sex abuse by clergy.

Archbishop Hart pointed out that whether or not an inquiry is called is a matter for the State, not for the Church. He reaffirmed his position as stated in The Age on 15 March 2012 that the Melbourne Archdiocese has nothing to hide from an independent inquiry.

“I am confident that any inquiry into the Melbourne Response process would confirm this,” writes the Archbishop. “The Melbourne Response has functioned effectively since 1996.”

The Archbishop states that Father Kerin is not his “advisor on sexual abuse issues” as was reported.

“Father Kerin has spoken to me to express his concerns about the article in The Age on 29 March. Contrary to what was reported, he [Father Kerin] has told me that he has not “called for an inquiry”. He has said that what he told The Age is that an inquiry would clear the air”, states Archbishop Hart.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A NOTICE on the Spiritans (former Holy Ghosts) congregation’s website announcing it has invited an audit of its handling of clerical child abuse allegations has been welcomed by abuse victim Mark V Healy.

The review follows a lengthy campaign by Mr Healy to have it put in place. The audit, by the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children, will take place in May, and its findings will be published.

Mr Healy was abused as a pupil at St Mary’s College, Rathmines, Dublin, by a Spiritans priest who was convicted in the courts. He said the audit was “a first regarding an Irish review of a missionary order” and “a first to be carried out anywhere in the world” on a missionary order.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

2/04/2012

by Staff writer

The Cummins Report, which was the outcome of an inquiry into the protection of vulnerable children in Victoria, was released on 28 February. The Report made 90 recommendations, including that the reporting of child abuse should be mandatory for clergy, and that a separate inquiry should be conducted into religious organisations.

Archbishop Freier made the following media statement in response to the Report on 29 February:

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne strongly welcomes the intent of the Cummins Report which is to improve outcomes for Victoria’s vulnerable children.

The Diocese is presently working through the detail and recommendations of the report but can confirm that:

•Clergy and church workers within the Diocese of Melbourne have an existing obligation to report criminal offences and matters of child sexual abuse;
•The Anglican Church takes its responsibilities to the community very seriously and has well established and independent processes for complaints and reporting;
•The Anglican Church strongly welcomes any measure which strengthens protection for vulnerable children, and in 2009 the Church undertook an independent study of child sexual abuse within the Anglican Church of Australia, the findings of which were made public and made available in June 2009.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A TIPPERARY parish priest returned to his ministry on Saturday night with an unblemished character after an abuse allegation against him was stood down.

Fr Tadhg Furlong (62) will now return to his post as parish priest of Cappawhite, Co Tipperary.

Speaking at Mass on Saturday evening, the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford said Fr Furlong “has endured the prolonged ordeal of his standing aside with outstanding courage and honour. His approach has been fully in keeping with the dedication which he has shown throughout his priestly life to selfless service of church and community.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

[The Gallup Independent is now completely online; however, readers must pay for access to the website]

Published on March 26, 2012 in the Gallup Independent:

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
ALBUQUERQUE — A new, online support network for clergy sex abuse survivors is being formed to assist survivors from New Mexico, Northern Arizona and Native American communities.

The group, Hope Heal Help, has a website — www.hopehealhelp.net — and is sponsoring two meetings in Albuquerque this week. One of the group’s organizers, Hank Estrada of Moriarty, talked about the goals of the group in a telephone interview Wednesday. Estrada, who said he is a survivor of both family sex abuse and clergy sex abuse, is the author of “UnHoly Communion — Lessons Learned from Life among Pedophiles, Predators, and Priests.”

“We’re starting from the ground up,” Estrada said of the group. “We’re helping ourselves out because we’re not getting help any other way.”

According to Estrada, Hope Heal Help is a grassroots, online volunteer network open to clergy sex abuse survivors, their partners and family members. It will offer safe, confidential and non-professional support to help individuals emotionally heal from their abuse and move on to live healthy and happy lives, he said.

“It doesn’t have to run your life,” Estrada said of sexual abuse. “You can put your energies elsewhere.”

The group formed after the recent death of former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez, Estrada said. A number of clergy sex abuse survivors were dismayed to see many Catholic Church officials, lay people and even news media representatives heap praise on Sanchez while giving little recognition to the role Sanchez played in covering up sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and in his own personal life, he said.

However, Estrada said, the Hope Heal Help group is not affiliated with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Although Estrada said he once volunteered as a SNAP representative and admires some of the work they’ve done, he said the members of Hope Heal Help are more interested in offering personal support for clergy sex abuse survivors rather than pursuing SNAP’s more confrontational tactics with institutional church leaders.

“Our interest is not in confronting the church. … In my opinion, that’s a waste of time,” Estrada said. “We need to focus on ourselves and how we can heal ourselves.”

Hope Heal Help will offer a free support and discussion group at 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at 609 Gold St. SE in downtown Albuquerque. The group is open to male and female clergy abuse survivors, their partners and supporters. Estrada said the group will use some meeting guidelines from 12 Step programs to insure that participants can respectfully share and listen in a safe and confidential manner. Individuals interested in attending are being asked to call or email in advance to confirm their attendance. The group is scheduled to meet on the last Wednesday of each month at the same time and location.

On Saturday, Estrada will be the featured speaker at a lecture and book signing at 10 a.m.-noon at the Hear Better, See Better store, located in the Cost Plus World Market shopping center, just west of Menaul and Carlisle. Estrada’s presentation, “Healing the Unspeakable: Life After Abuse,” will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a book signing. The event is open to anyone, but there is a $15 admission fee, which Estrada said will help cover the cost of renting the facility. Interested participants are also asked to confirm their attendance in advance via phone or email.

Estrada said he will discuss six steps that he believes contribute to healing from sexual abuse: researching sources, disclosing what happened, seeking appropriate counseling, finding support, volunteering to help others, and moving forward. Estrada will also have copies of “UnHoly Communion” for sale.

In his book, which he published in 2011, Estrada writes about the abuse he endured in his home and church. According to Estrada, he was sexually molested as a child for more than a decade by an uncle who lived with his family, and he was also emotionally and physically abused by a violent, alcoholic father. After high school, Estrada was accepted into a Catholic seminary for training into the priesthood. It was then, Estrada said, he was sexually assaulted in his sixth year of studies by the Rev. John Raab, a member of the Claretian Missionary Order who served as his spiritual director. Estrada then left the seminary and abandoned his goals of becoming a priest.

In the years since, Estrada said, he has learned that Raab subsequently supervised seminarians in India and Nigeria. Estrada said he eventually reported the abuse to the Claretian order and later outed Raab in his book. Estrada said he believes Raab has not been laicized, but his work as a priest has been significantly limited.

Information: www.hopehealhelp.net or hopehealhelp@yahoo.com or Hank Estrada at (505) 515-8230

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ADAMS (MA)
iBerkshires

ADAMS, Mass. — The congregation restrained itself until the church began to empty. Then a hoot and a cascade of applause filled the historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Church on Sunday morning in celebration of a reopening that some thought would never come.

The Mass on Palm Sunday marks a new beginning after three years of vigil, appeals to the Vatican and, finally, an agreement brokered in hopes of healing a rift that had threatened to tear the Catholic Community of Adams apart.

“It was a great day in Adams, a great day for the church, a tremendous day,” said a beaming Rev. Daniel J. Boyle afterward. “It’s the unity and peace we need in this community … it’s been a tough three years.”

He likened the attendance of the packed church for the 8 a.m. Mass to that of Christmas Eve.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota SNAP

[with map of the state]

122 accused villainous clerics

1) Adamson, Thomas [St. Paul Park]
2) Andert, Thomas (Prior) [Abbey] ^
3) Bates, Christopher [Buffalo]
4) Bennett, Andre [Abbey] ^
5) Berres, Peregrin [Abbey] ^
6) Bik, Michael [Anoka, Shoreview] ^
7) Blumeyer, Robert P [Hastings] ^
8) Boyd, Richard [Bagley, Fosston]
9) Brisson, Pascal [Abbey] ^
10) Brom, Robert (Bishop)
11) Bussman, John [Robbinsdale, Rogers] **
12) Carriere, Henry [Crookston, Bemidji, Roseau]
13) Caskey, John [Morris, Chokio,]
14) Chateauvert, Victor [Bull Dog Lake]
15) Connolly, Isaac [StJohn Abbey] ^
16) Dahlheimer, Cosmas [St. Paul]
17) Dean, Mark [Buffalo, International Falls] **
18) DeSutter, Gilbert J [Fridley, Prior Lake]
19) DeSutter, Terry [Abbey staff] ^
20) Dinya, Patrick J [St Paul] ….

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
AlterNet

Joey Piscitelli April 1, 2012

What’s a fool? The dictionary defines it as ; “A person lacking in judgment; one who is victimized; or made to appear foolish; a harmlessly deranged person lacking in understanding; a jester; clown,” etc.

And today happens to be “April Fools Day,” which Wiki defines as a day when people play jokes, hoaxes, and foolishness on one another. Practical jokes are played on friends, family, teachers, colleagues, etc. The person who the hoax is played on, or is fooled, is often called a victim.

When the hoax is successfully played on the victim, then the event can be concluded by saying “April Fool!” And this tradition can be celebrated by all involved in the hoax; to laugh, and share in the merriment of the foolish experience.

No harm done.

Well, maybe. That’s up to interpretation and argument, like everything else. Sometimes, people do not like to be the recipient of a hoax, or to be made a fool by a person who was successful in taking advantage of their trust – as in the definition of a fool as “a person lacking in judgement; or one who is victimized”.

In that sense, I believe, that I am a fool- because that definition haunts me.
I was the victim of a hoax years ago, and I’m reminded of that almost everyday of my life. Especially today, when being a fool is commemorated. I’m still trying to figure out who was it that played the hoax on me. Was it God? Was it the Catholic Church? Was it my belief that priests are the representatives of God on this earth? Or was it myself?
Perhaps it was all of the above. The hoax was complicated.

You see, I was born and raised Catholic, and I had been programmed to believe that God was everywhere, and that he protected me, and that priests were the closest men on earth to God, and that the world was a safe place for me as a child. So I was a happy, fun loving kid, and April Fools Day was something to look forward to. It was a day of clowning, and joking, and nobody was really hurt, because the hoax always ended in a laugh. I was always excited to be the victim in an April Fools antic.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

April 1, 2012 by Susan Matthews

During last Sunday’s homily, a priest at St. David in Willow Grove, asked congregants to pray for the victims of clergy sex abuse this Easter season as we enter the clergy sex abuse trial and what could be called the “passion of the Philadelphia Church.” It’s not enough to pray alone at home. More than one victim has explained that they survived the abuse but are still victimized by the turned backs of fellow Catholics. They lost their community when they weren’t believed or were blamed. It’s time to let them know we stand with them against child sex abuse.

This isn’t a protest against the Church, this is a prayer service for the Church. And by Church, I mean us – all of us. What would Jesus do for the victims and to protect children? We are called to be Christ-like. On Good Friday we carry the cross with Jesus. What will you do? Please join us.

Who: Moms, Dads, Survivors, Students, Priests, Nuns, Christian Brothers, Deacons, Teachers… all Catholics

What: Prayer service for the victims of clergy sex abuse and the faithful of the Catholic Church of Philadelphia who have been betrayed by the hierarchy. There will be speakers. April is child abuse awareness month, so we ask attendees to wear the official awareness color – blue. Signs are welcome.

Where: At the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul, 1723 Race Street (on the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy)

When: 11 a.m. to noon this Friday, April 6 – Good Friday. (Prayer Service held inside the Cathedral from noon until 3 p.m.)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Trouw

Artsen en geestelijken overtraden de wet, de regels van de kerk en de ethische beroepscode toen ze in in 1956 een twintigjarige jongen lieten castreren om hem van zijn vermeende homoseksualiteit af te helpen. Dat zegt Peter Nissen, hoogleraar cultuurgeschiedenis van de religiositeit aan de Radboud Universiteit.

Hij reageert op een artikel dat zaterdag verscheen in NRC Handelsblad over Henk Heithuis, een voogdijkind dat in de jaren vijftig in een katholieke instelling in Harreveld werd misbruikt. Hij kaartte het aan, maar werd weggestopt in een inrichting en gecastreerd omdat hij homoseksueel zou zijn. Een jaar later kwam hij om het leven bij een auto-ongeluk.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

April 1, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Area Catholics are digesting the full scope of priest sex abuse crimes this Palm Sunday as they read the Inquirer. Some clergy tried to prepare their parishes last Sunday for what one called “the passion of the Philadelphia Church.” But what could ready congregations for the details that have emerged during the trial that began on Monday?

I beg Catholics to get past the sickening salacious details to the realization that this happened to terrified children – children just like their own. I don’t like the word scandal so much anymore. Scandal is fluffy stuff compared to what happened.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

INDIA
Hindustan Times

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, April 01, 2012

The Delhi high court has upheld the seven-year jail term to a priest for raping a 16-year-old girl repeatedly in a temple here, ruing that the “dehumanising act” has been committed by a “trustworthy and respected” person of the society.

“The heinous offence was committed by a priest who is respected in the society and considered to be a trustworthy person. But disregarding morality and consequence of his act, he committed such a barbaric offence upon a young girl repeatedly.

“In my considered opinion, the prosecution has brought home the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt,” Justice M L Mehta said and dismissed the plea of the convict.

Justice Mehta upheld the lower court’s conviction and award of seven years rigorous imprisonment to Prem Dass, a priest with Lord Shiva temple in North West Delhi here who repeatedly raped the school-going girl inside the temple.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW JERSEY
Times of Trenton

By Erin Duffy/The Times

Pamela Thoresen first left the Catholic Church in the early ’90s, when she was still living in California. Asked to sign her name to a prewritten statement opposing a right-to-die voter referendum after listening to a long recording by Pope John Paul II on the sanctity of life, Thoresen felt her personal opinions weren’t welcome or appreciated.

“The Church uses the term ‘flock’ for its members, and it isn’t just a euphemism — they treat their congregants, in my opinion, like sheep,” she said. …

“Eliminate the extreme conservative haranguing,” one respondent wrote.

Some survey respondents pointed fingers at church leadership, blaming the Church for its response to the clergy sex-abuse crisis and characterizing some pastors as haughty and unapproachable, “with a holier-than-thou bearing.” In one of the most striking responses, one woman said a priest refused to attend her 9-year-old son’s burial because it wasn’t at a Catholic cemetery.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ADAMS (MA)
Albany Times Union

By Paul Grondahl

Published 08:19 p.m., Saturday, March 31, 2012

ADAMS, Mass. — You can’t keep a strong Polish church down.

On this Palm Sunday, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 600, including busloads from out of town, is expected at the 8 a.m. reopening Mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.

It is the first time in more than three years that the Eucharist is to be consecrated within the twin-steepled, yellow-brick Gothic landmark known affectionately as St. Stan’s. The Mass follows a contentious dispute set off by the church’s December 2008 closure that reached to the highest level of the Vatican courts and resulted in an unprecedented victory for the occupying force.

For 1,150 consecutive days, church members kept a vigil at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in defiance of Bishop Timothy McDonnell in Springfield and stood their ground.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

Several times during the first week of a landmark criminal trial involving sex abuse and cover-ups by priests, a top official at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was described as a glorified human resources manager.

As secretary for clergy, Msgr. William J. Lynn oversaw priests’ arrivals, departures, successes, struggles, and sins. His attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, called the high-ranking position “awful” and “ugly.” Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho compared Lynn to a police officer in Internal Affairs assigned to spy on fellow cops.

Lawyers likened the archdiocese to both a corporation and the military. Based on witness testimony and internal documents introduced as evidence, the archdiocese came off as dysfunctional as The Office, but minus the laughs of MASH.

Priests, Coelho told jurors in her opening statement, are “different . . . elevated.” You can’t just apply and be hired for a job as “God’s representative on earth.” But once ordained, almost anything goes.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Stalking. Groping. Gay bondage porn.

A sexually graphic love letter to a grade-school boy.

The topics discussed in a third-floor Philadelphia courtroom last week might unnerve most observers.

That they emerged in testimony about priests – and at times, from priests – only amplified the uneasiness. After all, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of this landmark clergy sex-abuse trial in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, priests are viewed as God’s agents on Earth.

Though much of the evidence introduced against Msgr. William J. Lynn had been outlined in two grand jury reports, the first week of his trial added a dimension to a scandal that has roiled Catholics for a decade.

Aired for the first time were secret church records, typed and hand-written, chronicling what Lynn and the local church hierarchy allegedly knew and did about priests suspected of abuse. There on the stand were victims describing as creepy predators men they had been taught to revere.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

INDIA
Deccan Chronicle

March 31, 2012
By Jose Kurian

While the Catholic Church is still struggling to come out of the impact of Amen –The Autobiography Of A Nun, penned by Sr Jesme, another nun, 76-year-old Sr Mary Chandy, who had served the Presentation Convent for more than five decades, is all set to rock Kerala with yet another tale of bitter truth replete with incidents of sexual abuse, rape attempts and killing of new-born babies, through her autobiography, Swasthy.

In an exclusive interview to DC on Saturday, the nun said that almost all those who choose the cloister are more vulnerable to the ‘call of the body than the call of the spirit’.

Fondly called Sisteramma, the saree-clad, soft but strong willed nun was at the tiny rented house of Santhisadhan Balamandiram on the outskirts of the border town here, where she lives with 17 abandoned children whom she calls ‘children of God’.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA
Catholic News Agency

[Quarry v. Doe]

Sacramento, Calif., Mar 31, 2012 / 04:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Oakland’s Catholic diocese cannot be sued over alleged abuse cases falling outside the legal time limit and a subsequent one-year extension, the California Supreme Court ruled on March 29.

“We believe the court made the right decision today and are gratified at the justices’ conclusion that the legislature meant what it said when lawmakers enacted a one-year exemption to the statute of limitations,” said Bishop Gerald E. Wilkerson, president of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops.

“Nothing in the court’s ruling, however, changes the fact that the protection of young people has been, and remains, our top priority,” said Bishop Wilkerson, who promised that California dioceses “will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to keep children safe.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MASSACHUSETTS
Cape Cod Times

By George Brennan
gbrennan@capecodonline.com

April 01, 2012

FORESTDALE — The consultant hired by Camp Good News officials to help overcome a tarnished image and reopen the 77-year-old camp has personal experience with a sex abuse scandal.

Rick Braschler, director of CircuiTree Solutions, was hired to review the Camp Good News policies and procedures and recommend ways to improve safety for children.

Next month, he will also offer a workshop to teach camp leaders and others in the community willing to pay $100 how to protect children from predators. But the training goes beyond criminal background checks and establishing protocols to report abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

The bishop emeritus of Sidney has declared this in Baltimore during a symposium of catholic homosexuals

MARIA TERESA PONTARA PEDERIVA
Rome

It has been known for a while that the Church is often perceived as an agency that claims to teach people what they should or should not do, like an oasis of control inside a secular culture of “freedom”. This is a misleading image that contains a series of prejudices that have to be dispelled, but where nobody can call themselves free of responsibilities. The idea that the path to holiness is not an simple passing of an exam of good conduct, but an increase in closeness to God and His freedom is not very widespread nowadays, not even among Catholics, who – according to studies and polls in this regard – end up making their own independent decisions on matters of morality.

In the subject matter of sexual morality, the gap is even more evident. In the United States, for example, the bishops and some catholics invoke religious freedom to oppose the health care reform that would provide coverage for contraception. At the same time, there are endless polls that suggest contraceptive use by more then 98% of women, independently of their religious convictions.

It is also known that the recourse to freedom of conscience and personal freedom is one of the conciliar acquisitions more used in the matter of family pastoral matters, and that various moral theologians prefer expressing themselves with extreme caution. The complexity of current issues makes it more and more difficult, if not impossible, to draw a neat demarcation line anywhere in this matter, and there are a lot of little observations whispered by many and put in writing by a few.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

…Two St. Louis prelates will reunited in Manhattan next week, according to well-connected Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo. Cardinal Tim Dolan, Palmo tweets, has invited Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia to St. Patrick’s to preach on Holy Thursday. Given the scandal in Philly under Rigali, SNAP is upset with the move and accuse Dolan of “rubbing more salt into already deep and still fresh wounds of hundreds of church clergy sex abuse victims and thousands of betrayed Catholics.” The group is urging Dolan to replace Rigali with Winona Bishop John Quinn , who, earlier this month warned his flock about a notorious, defrocked serial predator priest, Thomas Adamson who moved back into the area recently (and who was the first child molesting cleric that current Archbishop Robert Carlson had to deal with years ago).

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Breaking News

A Tipperary priest who had been asked to step aside from his duties two years ago while a complaint against him was investigated, is back on the altar this evening.

Fr Tadgh Furlong is celebrating Mass in the parish of Cappawhite tonight after the complaint against him was stood down.

The Advisory Board established by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has found that the complaint was not substantiated.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Park Rapids Enterprise

By: Sarah Smith, Park Rapids Enterprise

Three decades ago, a district judge suggested Darwin Schauer might be too self-righteous to appreciate the seriousness of his fall from grace.

Schauer, then principal of a Lutheran elementary school in southern Minnesota, was entering a guilty plea in Nicollet County to having a lengthy sexual relationship with a teenager that started when the victim was in second grade.

Schauer was angry, according to 1983 court transcripts, incensed that authorities had come into his home and hauled him off to jail in front of his family. He thought he’d been “stereotyped” as a sexual pervert. He verbally disagreed with the judge during his arraignment as to the charges he was facing.

Today he is jailed in Hubbard County on 15 charges of criminal sexual conduct with another minor who came forward earlier this month. Bond has been set at $1 million unconditional and $750,000 on the conditions he surrenders his passport, remains law-abiding and stays away from children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

This post by Max Kennerly is cross-posted on his Litigation and Trial blog.

From the war on drugs to criminal copyright infringement, a number of commentators, legal scholars, politicians and even sitting judges have criticized the breadth of American criminal law, like the prevalence of non-violent or “victimless” crimes that don’t have a direct victim, and the Draconian mandatory penalties that are meted out, even where the judge and jury applying those laws think that less severe penalties would be appropriate. As a consequence of this “overcriminalization,” the United States has by far the highest incarceration rate in the world, so that, with only five percent of the world’s population, we nonetheless have twenty-five percent of its prisoners, most of them imprisoned for non-violent offenses, typically drug offenses.

Historically, and continuing to the present, there have been two glaring exceptions to this expansion of criminality: abuse within the family (whether spousal abuse or child abuse) and criminal conduct by large institutions (like corporations, universities, or churches), both of which have generally gone unpunished, without prosecution, and without even investigation. Child abuse was not considered a crime until the 1870s, when Mary Connolly was prosecuted for “attacking her foster child with a pair of scissors and repeatedly beating her with a rawhide whip and cane.” (Quote from the Logan article discussed below.) She was convicted, and after that various “children’s guardian” boards were created. The prosecution of child abuse, however, remained rare until the 1960s, when new mandatory reporting laws were enacted that required healthcare professionals to report suspicions of child abuse to government authorities. Similarly, in the 1980s, public awareness of the sexual abuse of children increased dramatically, so that today child abuse prosecutions are no longer the rare, newsworthy events that they once were.

Prosecutions of crimes that occur within the context of a large institution are even less common than prosecutions for spousal abuse or child abuse, and they even more rarely result in a conviction. Outside of a handful of prominent examples — like Bernie Madoff and Jeffrey Skilling — financial institution fraud prosecutions have fallen over the past 20 years, down to under 1,400 a year across the entire country. Many prosecutions of alleged crimes that occurred inside a corporation with the knowledge of other employees, like the prosecution of GlaxoSmithKline associate counsel Lauren Stevens, ended in failure, dismissed prior to a jury ruling.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Detective James Dougherty is a silver-haired former Philadelphia police homicide investigator now assigned to the district attorney’s Special Victims Unit. He’s an expert on the archdiocese’s “secret archive files” that detail the sins of pedophile priests.

This week, prosecutors in the archdiocese sex abuse trial had Dougherty take jurors on a two-day excursion through 160 formerly classified documents regarding the 40-year career of one offender, Father Raymond O. Leneweaver.

Father Leneweaver was identified in the 2005 grand jury report on archdiocese sex abuse as a “chronic abuser” of altar boys. The priest had special T-shirts printed up for his victims that identified them as “Philadelphia Rovers.”

The details in the grand jury report are sickening.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NPR

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The long, typed letter fantasizes about a seventh-grader’s body, and asks if the boy wants to try various sex acts.

“You are soooo cute. I have been thinking about you for a long time. … You’re the cutest in our grade,” the author wrote in a rare G-rated line.

But the anonymous author was not a classmate at the boy’s Catholic school in northeast Philadelphia. It was a parish priest. One with a cache of gay pornography and sadomasochistic videos in the rectory.

Files show the letter-writing priest was sent to a church-run treatment center for priests, where staff concluded he did not have “a pathological interest in children or adults.” Doctors racked the letter up to a single fantasy. And they believed him when he said he hadn’t sent it — or acted out with children.

“Cardinal Bevilacqua is granting him a health leave, and that should be the announcement to the (St. Anselm’s) parish,” reads a December 1995 memo, found in secret personnel files at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABC News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA March 31, 2012 (AP)

The long, typed letter fantasizes about a seventh-grader’s body, and asks if the boy wants to try various sex acts.

“You are soooo cute. I have been thinking about you for a long time. … You’re the cutest in our grade,” the author wrote in a rare G-rated line.

But the anonymous author was not a classmate at the boy’s Catholic school in northeast Philadelphia. It was a parish priest. One with a cache of gay pornography and sadomasochistic videos in the rectory.

Files show the letter-writing priest was sent to a church-run treatment center for priests, where staff concluded he did not have “a pathological interest in children or adults.” Doctors racked the letter up to a single fantasy. And they believed him when he said he hadn’t sent it — or acted out with children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MASSACHUSETTS
Voice from the Desert

kate Says:
March 29, 2012 at 10:04 pm

I tried to post this comment yesterday, but for some reason it did not appear. Here it is again, with an update at the end:

All is well. This was planned for six months and medical/health people were part of the vetting and preparation. One reason this was done is there is little doubt the Jesuits and/or the Archdiocese of Boston will try to shut it down with a manufactured “psychiatric emergency”.

In fact, the reason for the Hunger Strike for Justice is every other process the church and Jesuits use is broken down and futile. Years of time are wasted. When the medical/health people asked “Why a hunger strike?”, the answer was straightforward: “It takes much less than three years.”

Tea is a great hunger deterrent and milk is a great hunger quencher. A few hours every day are brutal — not the whole day — and milk makes it better. That was the Day 3 and Day 4 surprise. Day 5 is tomorrow.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Voice from the Desert

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

March 30, 2012

One would hope the three Philadelphia Archdiocesan priests who testified on March 28, 2012 at the trial of Msgr. William Lynn and Fr. James Brennan voluntarily offered their services to the prosecution in the cause of truth and justice and were not forced under threat of sanction to describe the depravity of rectory and church life that permeates the Catholic clerical life. What they described in court was the clerical culture, a culture so depraved that shutting it down immediately should be reviewed by independent agencies. The porn, the stalking of high school boys, the abuse of children inside and outside of rectories and churches, the sadomasochistic and sexually stunted behavior of priests, the alcoholism and drug use; it was all testified to in open court. The black and white code of silence was shattered. The clerical culture was out in the open for the public to see. These stories were not unusual and sadly are the norm in most United States Catholic dioceses.

Does anyone think for one minute that the Philadelphia clerical culture is any different than the culture of any diocesan clergy or religious order anywhere in the United States or the world, for that matter? Should prosecutors throughout the United Stated choose to convene grand juries to investigate the clerical culture in their regions, the same results would occur, and invariably more bishops and their henchmen would be prosecuted. I know because I existed (not lived) in that culture for nearly forty years. I had to seek voluntary laicization to get away from it. I no longer work in or for “that company.”

In 1969, I was placed against my will into the honors’ English class of a serial religious brother pedophile. That so-called religious man abused boys in every school to which he was assigned. His best friend, another religious man, abused my first cousin. Both of us were groomed and then abused. I survived. My cousin killed himself at age 29. I was a Christian Brother at the time of my cousin’s death because I joined that religious order at eighteen years of age and left when I was forty-two, only to join another “sect” of the clerical culture, the priesthood.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea, Ph.D.

February 23, 2012

Voice of the Faithful of Southwest Florida
Naples, Florida

When I was a doctoral student at Adelphi University in the 1980s, Morris Eagle, a respected senior psychoanalyst gave an afternoon colloquium during which he was asked to reflect on what characterized a successful therapeutic journey. He responded that, after decades of practice, he could say that patients who “got better” were those who could and would mourn while those who could not or would not mourn tended to experience more limited growth over the course of a psychoanalysis.

Now with almost as many years of practice experience as Morris had then, I can say that I agree with him wholeheartedly. While Eagle referred to psychological growth that afternoon, I propose that a failure to mourn impedes psychological, relational, social, political and spiritual growth. Further, I contend that the Catholic crisis of corrupted power, mis-defined as a sexual abuse crisis, has been marked by a colossal failure of mourning among too many within almost every Church constituency. This failure to mourn has influenced corrupt power plays among the hierarchy; manic attempts to restore the forever gone among some victims; denial, silence and empty platitudes among many priests; and studied naivete among a large portion of laity. So – in other words, I may offend everyone sitting here tonight! But, let me begin anyway……

Introduction to Mourning

No one makes it from the cradle to the grave without confronting deep, even heartbreaking, disappointments, betrayals, and losses. There are life’s inevitable losses. From the pre-schooler who is rushed to the ER with a burst appendix and has to spend Halloween in the pediatric ward instead of trick or treating with his fellow goblins and ghouls; to the high school senior who gets only a one-page rejection from her first choice college; to the husband and father who comes back from lunch on Friday to find a pink slip announcing his part in the latest corporate downsizing; to the marathon running 50-something year old whose annual mammogram shows a nasty lump; to the ninety-year young senior widowed after 60 years of good enough marriage; we all are subject to assaults that shift the ground we once found firm and challenge much of what we thought we knew about life, people, ourselves and the Divine.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

JAMES KELLER
Vancouver— The Canadian Press

Polygamous marriages in the religious commune of Bountiful, B.C. are once again under the scrutiny of the RCMP, following two decades of similar investigations that have so far failed to lead to a single conviction.

The Mounties have investigated plural marriages in Bountiful since the early 1990s, but persistent questions about the constitutionality of the law and a successful legal challenge three years ago have meant only two people have ever been charged and no one has been convicted.

The RCMP launched an investigation last year focusing on allegations that dozens of teen brides were spirited across the U.S. border to marry older men, but officers weren’t actively considering charges of polygamy because of an ongoing constitutional reference case examining the law.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By The Associated Press

PASSAIC — Authorities in New Jersey have arrested a rabbi from Argentina on child pornography charges.

Passaic County sheriff’s detectives arrested 50-year-old Rabbi Gabriel Toledo at a kosher food distribution company in Moonachie on Thursday.

The Record newspaper reports Sheriff Richard Berdnik issued a statement saying the rabbi was in possession of more than 1,000 images.

Toledo does not lead a local congregation and is in the U.S. on a visa. He’s been living in Passaic.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW JERSEY
The Record

Friday, March 30, 2012

BY MARLENE NAANES AND NICK CLUNN
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

PASSAIC — A rabbi has been accused of possessing more than 1,000 pornographic images involving children following a four-month investigation that culminated in the search of the man’s home, authorities said Friday.

Rabbi Gabriel Toledo, 50, was arrested Thursday at his home on Pennington Avenue. His 22-year-old roommate, who is also charged, had not been apprehended by police Friday and is considered a fugitive.

The Passaic County Sheriff’s Office has charged both men with possession of child pornography. The roommate, Joseph Vasquez, also is charged with distribution of child pornography.

Toledo has worked at Foremost RAM Caterers in Moonachie, assisting the company in making ensuring its food is glatt kosher, a strict standard for cooking and eating that is rooted in Jewish law. The rules define the kinds of food, particularly meat, that’s permitted to be eaten and how it should be prepared.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

“Is the Vatican Accountable Under International Law?” Discussion on the complaint to the International Criminal Court on the Vatican and clerical sexual abuse, 11:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Monday, University of Toledo Law Center Auditorium. Free.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Offener Brief an den Bischof von Trier, Dr. Stephan Ackermann

Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen im Bistum Trier

,Niemals tut der Mensch das Böse so vollkommen und fröhlich, als wenn er es aus religiöser Überzeugung tut.‘ (Blaise Pascal)

Sehr geehrter Herr Bischof,

gemäß uns vorliegender Dokumente haben sich in der zu ihrem Bistum gehörenden saarländischen Pfarrei Herz Jesu, Püttlingen-Köllerbach zahlreiche Missbrauchsfälle ereignet.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

door Joep Dohmen

De commissie-Deetman vindt dat haar rapport over misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk “berust op feiten en zorgvuldige afwegingen die de betrouwbaarheid ervan staven”. Dat schrijft de commissie in een notitie aan de opdrachtgevers van hun onderzoek, de kerkbestuurders. De commissie reageert op publicaties in NRC Handelsblad.

De krant berichtte eerder deze maand dat een melding aan de commissie, over de castratie van een minderjarige jongen na zijn aangifte van seksueel misbruik in internaat Harreveld, niet diepgaand was onderzocht en niet in het rapport van de commissie kwam. Volgens de commissie toonden de melding over de castratie en de gegevens die de commissie had, geen “verband aan tussen het seksuele misbruik van een aantal minderjarigen, de aangifte en de castratie”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Omroep Gelderland

DEN HAAG – De commissie-Deetman heeft geen informatie achtergehouden in het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de Katholieke kerk, zegt de commissie.

“Het onderzoek over het misbruik berust op feiten en zorgvuldige afwegingen,” dat schrijft de commissie-Deetman vrijdag in een notitie aan de Tweede Kamer. Aanleiding voor de brief zijn de berichten over castraties in de jaren ’50 in het jongensinternaat Harreveld.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TEXAS
KCSG

by Matthew Waller

Published – 03/30/12
(Midland, TX) – A Midland jury has sentenced Wendell Loy Nielsen, a former president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and close associate of its imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, to the maximum 10 years and $10,000 fine on each of three counts of felony bigamy. The jury had found the former leader of the sect guity of marrying three women in bigamy on Wednesday. The penalty phase of the trial end Friday with the maximum allowed under Texas law.

The defense said the FLDS practice of multiple “spiritual” or “celestial” marriages and argued that those marriages didn’t count as marriages under the bigamy laws because they were not intended to be legal marriages.

The jurors didn’t agree, and after deliberating for about 45 minutes Tuesday night and 45 minutes Wednesday morning, they found Nielsen guilty on all counts.

Nielsen was charged with marrying three women in 2006 when they were 43, 58 and 65, marrying two on the same day.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MICHIGAN
WMUK

[with audio and video]

By: Andy Robins
Kalamazoo, MI
March 30, 2012
WMUK

The federal government says about one in every six boys in this country will be sexually abused by the time they are 16. Two events at Western Michigan University this month will help male sexual abuse survivors come to terms with their trauma. And organizers say they hope the wider community will learn about the issue.

Western is one of several colleges and universities around the country showing the new film Boys and Men Healing. The documentary by Kathy Barbini and Simon Weinberg tells the stories of three men who sexually abused as children.

[Tony Rogers] “While he was raping me, I felt like I left my body because I thought I was going to die. So, I wasn’t present there. And actually I had agreed to die at that point.”

That’s Tony Rogers, who’s now a teacher, from a YouTube trailer for film. Also featured are David Lisak, a therapist who calls on his own experience to counsel other male survivors, and Mark Crawford, an advocate for changes in laws on child sexual abuse.

[Tony Rogers] ‘I just experienced many symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. And I thought it was uniquely me.”

[David Lisak] “Boys are sexually abused in vast numbers and vastly more frequently than as a society we are recognizing.”

[Mark Crawford] “I was absolutely amazed that it, in fact, it was so common among sexual abuse survivors of feeling alone, or feeling it was only you.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
The Wall Street Journal

By JAMES TARANTO
New York

The president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops is careful to show due respect for the president of the United States. “I was deeply honored that he would call me and discuss these things with me,” says the newly elevated Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York. But when Archbishop Dolan tells me his account of their discussions of the ObamaCare birth-control mandate, Barack Obama sounds imperious and deceitful to me. …

The “flash point,” the archbishop says, was “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical reasserting the church’s teachings on sex, marriage and reproduction, including its opposition to artificial contraception. It “brought such a tsunami of dissent, departure, disapproval of the church, that I think most of us—and I’m using the first-person plural intentionally, including myself—kind of subconsciously said, ‘Whoa. We’d better never talk about that, because it’s just too hot to handle.’ We forfeited the chance to be a coherent moral voice when it comes to one of the more burning issues of the day.”

Without my having raised the subject, he adds that the church’s sex-abuse scandal “intensified our laryngitis over speaking about issues of chastity and sexual morality, because we almost thought, ‘I’ll blush if I do. . . . After what some priests and some bishops, albeit a tiny minority, have done, how will I have any credibility in speaking on that?'”

Yet the archbishop says he sees a hunger, especially among young adults, for a more authoritative church voice on sexuality. “They will be quick to say, ‘By the way, we want you to know that we might not be able to obey it. . . . But we want to hear it. And in justice, you as our pastors need to tell us, and you need to challenge us.'”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

INDIA
The Times of India

P Sudhakaran, TNN | Mar 31, 2012

KANNUR: Young nuns leaving the order unable to cope with the rigors of convent life is nothing unusual in Kerala. But in recent times, some of them have not just left the order to return to secular life, but have talked about the sexual frustrations that go behind the closed doors.

Sister Mary Chandy (67), a former nun with Catholic Church’s Presentation Convent in Kerala, had quit the order 12 years ago when a priest tried to rape her. Or, that’s her side of the story.

Now she is writing her autobiography — Swasthi.

To be published by Kairali Books in Kannur, Mary wants to expose the debauchery she witnessed in the convents during her stint as a nun through her book.

More than a decade after stepping out of the convent at Perumpunna in Peravoor (Kannur district), Mary continues to live an austere life in a rented house-cum-orphanage (Santhisadan Charitable Society) with 17 orphan children in Pulpally, Wayanad.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Journal

A SURVIVORS’ SUPPORT group is asking survivors of clerical abuse in Ireland to take part in a research project to discover the extent of the assistance offered to them by the Catholic Church.

The appeal has come in the wake of the recent Vatican Apostolic Visitation.

The Visitation, a group of high-ranking officials from the Vatican which came here in November 2010, was led by Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Their mission was to inspect the country’s four archdioceses and seminaries in Maynooth, Milltown, Belfast and the Pontifical College in Rome, along with other religious institutes, to see how child protection guidelines were being understood, implemented and operating.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local West Roxbury

Monsignor at Roslindale’s Sacred Heart apologizes after soliciting donations for accused priest

By Todd Feathers/Wicked Local correspondent
GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 30, 2012

Roslindale —

The Archdiocese of Boston and the Rev. Msgr. Francis H. Kelley, pastor of Roslindale’s Parish of the Sacred Heart, issued quick apologies Thursday, March 29, after victims advocacy groups protested the use of parish resources to solicit donations for the legal defense of a priest accused of sexually abusing children.

Representatives from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and BishopAccountability.org held a press conference outside Sacred Heart at 169 Cummins Highway on Thursday, and passed out copies of the parish’s March 17 news bulletin, containing directions for how to donate to the defense fund for the Rev. John Mendicoa. Last August, Mendicoa was accused of sexually abusing children in the 1980s and was suspended by the Archdiocese which notified local authorities. His case is still in process, according to the Archdiocese website.

“I wish to express my apology to all impacted by this action,” wrote Kelley in a statement. “I now recognize that this announcement was not an appropriate use of the parish bulletin. I offer my personal assurance that such announcements will not be permitted going forward.”

Anne Barrett-Doyle, of BishopAccountability.org, said a concerned parishioner notified her organization of the bulletin. She worried that a statement of support in a parish publication would make it harder for potential victims to come forward.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CLEVELAND (OH)
National Catholic Reporter

by Brian Roewe on Mar. 30, 2012 NCR Today

This post has been updated to include today’s action by the appealing parishes.

Responding to their bishop’s delayed response, three Cleveland parishes have filed motions in Rome requesting the Congregation of the Clergy “order” the immediate restoration of their parishes and reopening of their churches.

The three are among the 13 parishes who successfully appealed to the congregation Bishop Richard G. Lennon’s decision to suppress their parishes and close their churches.

The motions, filed this morning to a congregation official by a canon advocate, read, “The approach of Holy Week creates expectations and apprehensions among the faithful who fear experiencing another Easter far from the parish to which they legitimately belong.

“And while it is understandable and agreed that His Excellency the Bishop should have time to consider the decision regarding his procedural stance, it must be also clear that the decree has immediate effect, restoring the status quo ante.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Spiritans

(AN AUDIT OF THE REALITY OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY SPIRITAN MEMBERS AND CURRENT SAFEGUARDING PRACTICE)

Following the Ferns, Dublin and Cloyne reports the Irish State and public have sought complete disclosure on the part of all the dioceses and institutions of the Catholic Church inIreland as to the reality of the sexual abuse of children and minors by clergy, religious or church workers.

Catholic dioceses, religious congregations and institutions have responded positively to this desire of the State and public, believing that until a complete picture is known of past and present abuse, within the Church, there can be no possibility of authentic accountability or renewal for the future.

An independent and objective audit is of primary importance for the State and Irish public. In the three reports mentioned above, the State undertook the investigation and was responsible for the published audit. The State, at this time, recognises the competency and independence of the NBSCCCI (National Board for Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland) and entrusts to it the task of completing the audits of remaining dioceses, religious congregations and other Catholic institutions. In November 2011 the first audits by the NBSCCCI were completed for the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnois,Derry, Dromore, Kilmore, Raphoe and Tuam.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE IRISH province of the Spiritans (Holy Ghost Fathers) congregation will be the first Catholic male religious order internationally to undergo an audit to establish “the reality of the sexual abuse of children and minors by clergy, religious or church workers”.

The audit, at the Spiritans’ own request, was announced on its website ( spiritans.ie) yesterday and will be conducted by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding of Children. It will take place in May.

The Spiritans manage some of the best-known schools in Dublin, at Willow Park, Blackrock College, St Michael’s College, St Mary’s College, Templeogue College and Rockwell College in Co Tipperary.

The congregation said it believed “only a public audit of the reality of abuse committed by Spiritans can free the congregation to carry out its mission of service among God’s people. That mission includes the congregation’s outreach to those who were abused.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philly Post

Richard Rys

In a recent story about Tuesday’s release of Archbishop Charles Chaput’s e-book, A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America, the Philadelphia Inquirer called it an “e-lamentation.” It’s really a challenge to today’s Catholics who, Chaput says, share the blame for the moral and spiritual weakness of our country. “We … helped shape it with our eagerness to fit in,” Chaput writes, “our distractions and overconfidence, and our own lukewarm faith.” And while Philadelphia’s top priest never mentions any candidates by name, he makes reference to the importance of this election year. Chaput isn’t just calling out his congregation; he’s issuing a political and societal call to arms. Consider his choice of quote from Father John Courtney Murray, a Jesuit theologian who wrote this in 1940: “In view of the fact that American culture is built on the negation of all that Christianity stands for, it would seem that our first step toward the construction of a Christian culture should be the destruction of the existing one. In the presence of Frankenstein, one does not reach for baptismal water, but for a bludgeon.”

That’s some tough talk, and in the course of Chaput’s compact essay, he smartly and eloquently states his case for what he sees as a growing sense of religious intolerance in this country, stoked by an ill-informed and biased media and a populace that’s turned its collective back on faith. He writes of “the inhuman parody we call ‘modern American culture’” and “sexual minorities [who] now routinely use the state’s power and friendly mass media to break down traditional definitions of marriage and family.” Chaput wistfully remembers the good old days, “when the word gay had more connection to joy than sexual identity.” …

Chaput, the church and its lobbyists want to shape this country to fit their morality. The oppressed—if you believe that’s what Catholics in America have become—intend to be the oppressors. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has orchestrated a cover-up of child sexual abuse that spans the globe and reaches all the way up to the Pope himself. As we hear the horror stories in our own back yard, like those of disgraced Archbishop Ryan principal Charles Newman, and read grim daily testimony from the trial of Msgr. William Lynn and Rev. James Brennan, it seems an awfully curious time to declare the way the rest of us live to be “inhuman.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Omroep Gelderland

DEN HAAG – De commissie Deetman heeft geen informatie achtergehouden in het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de Katholieke kerk.

“Het onderzoek over het misbruik berust op feiten en zorgvuldige afwegingen,” dat schrijft de commissie-Deetman vrijdag in een notitie aan de Tweede Kamer. Aanleiding voor de brief zijn de berichten over castraties in de jaren ’50 in het jongensinternaat Harreveld.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

DEN HAAG (ANP) – Het onderzoek over misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk berust op feiten en zorgvuldige afwegingen. Dat schreef de commissie-Deetman vrijdag in een notitie aan de Tweede Kamer.

De volledigheid van het rapport, dat in december verscheen, werd de afgelopen tijd in twijfel getrokken. Volgens NRC Handelsblad ontbreekt in het rapport informatie over castraties in de jaren ’50 in het jongensinternaat Harreveld en de bemoeienis van Vic Marijnen, in de jaren ’50 bestuursvoorzitter van Harreveld en later minister-president. De commissie verwierp die kritiek vrijdag en stelt dat de informatie in de artikelen niet berust op feiten.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Trouw

NRC Handelsblad moet haar berichtgeving rectificeren over een kwalijke rol die KVP-er Marijnen zou hebben gespeeld in de zaak van seksueel misbruik in het jongensinternaat Harreveld, schrijft Wim Deetman in een notitie aan de Tweede Kamer.

In deze notitie weerspreken commissievoorzitter Wim Deetman en secretaris Bert Kreemers dat zij belastende feiten achtergehouden hebben in hun eindrapport over misbruik in de rk kerk.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Nu

DEN HAAG – Het onderzoek over misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk berust op feiten en zorgvuldige afwegingen.

Dat schreef de commissie-Deetman vrijdag in een notitie aan de Tweede Kamer. De volledigheid van het rapport, dat in december verscheen, werd de afgelopen tijd in twijfel getrokken.

Volgens NRC Handelsblad ontbreekt in het rapport informatie over castraties in de jaren ’50 in het jongensinternaat Harreveld en de bemoeienis van Vic Marijnen, in de jaren ’50 bestuursvoorzitter van Harreveld en later minister-president.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 28, 2012
By Jerry Filteau

WASHINGTON — Francis J. Butler — who usually worked quietly behind the scenes but may have been as influential as almost any other layperson in the U.S. Catholic church over the past 40 years — retired Feb. 3 after 32 years as president of FADICA, Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities.

During his tenure, FADICA and its member foundations and donors have played key roles in some of the most fruitful Catholic initiatives of recent decades in the United States and abroad. Just a short list of FADICA initiatives that have borne fruit under his guidance would include:

•A substantial role in creating the bishops’ Religious Retirement Office, leading to their biggest annual national collection ever, the collection for retired religious.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
NOS

De commissie-Deetman bestrijdt dat er opzettelijk informatie over castratie in de jaren 50 uit het eindrapport is weggelaten.

Datzelfde geldt volgens de commissie voor de rol die oud-premier Marijnen (KVP) zou hebben gespeeld bij een gratieverzoek voor een broeder die voor ontucht was veroordeeld. Dat blijkt uit een notitie die de commissie naar de Tweede Kamer heeft gestuurd.

Volgens de commissie blijkt uit de informatie die zij tot haar beschikking heeft niet dat er een verband is tussen de castratie van een minderjarige jongen en eerder seksueel misbruik.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW YORK
Voice from the Desert

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Executive Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

Noted Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo (of “Whispers in the Loggia”) reports that Cardinal Tim Dolan is bringing disgraced Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to preach next Thursday.

Like he did last year with a New York teenager, Cardinal Dolan is callously and needlessly rubbing even more salt into already deep and still fresh wounds of hundreds of clergy sex abuse

Tens of thousands of Catholic clerics could preach in St. Pat’s next week. Almost any of them would be less upsetting and hurtful than Rigali.

Nine years after bishops promised to “reform,” Rigali, under pressure, was forced to suspend 21 accused Philly priests on one day in March of 2011. These suspensions took place exactly one month after Rigali wrote his flock assuring them that there were no credibly-accused priests remaining within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In 2005, Rigali kept silent as his lawyer blasted prosecutors as “anti-Catholic” in the wake of a second scathing report about widespread clergy sex crimes and cover ups in his archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Child Protection News

Written on March 30, 2012 by Patrick Noaker

8 minutes. Researchers discover sexual predators “groom” children for sex online in just 8 minutes. In an article in the Irish Independent newspaper, researchers at Middlesex University in London revealed that online predators appear to be much more aggressive in the way that they approach children in cyberspace. The study found that online sexual predators “cut to the chase” and turn online chat conversations with children to sexual topics within 3 minutes of meeting the child. In addition, the study showed that a bond was formed between the child and the predator just 5 minutes later, often leading to a sexual exchange of information, sexual photographs and even online sexual activity.

This information is significant because previous beliefs that there was a period of grooming by sexual predators may be inaccurate in an online setting. Historically, sexual predators engaged in a period of trust-building with a child victim where the predator would have secrets with the child, give gifts or build an emotional bond with the child. Knowing this, parents took some comfort in believing that their supervision would lead to discovery and termination of any inappropriate relationship involving their child before the relationship turned sexual. It appears that this grooming grace period simply does not exist online. This leaves parents without time to intercept predators before they can exploit our kids.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
CNN

By Dan Merica, CNN

Washington (CNN) – Even though Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group in the United States, the tradition has seen an exodus of members in recent decades. One in ten Americans is an ex-Catholic.

If ex-Catholics were counted as their own religious group, they would be the third-largest denomination in the United States, after Catholics and Baptists, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

If it weren’t for the infusion of Catholic immigrants, especially from Latin American, the American Catholic Church would be shrinking pretty fast.

A recent study by two college professor tries to get at a simple question: Why are they leaving?

Conducted William J. Byron, a professor of business at St. Joseph’s University and Charles Zech, founder of the Center for the Study of Church Management of Villanova’s School of Business, the anecdotal study conducted in late fall of 2011 processes the opinions of 300 non-churchgoing Catholics in Trenton, New Jersey. …

1. The sex abuse crisis

Byron and Zech asked ex-Catholics to cite their main reason for leaving: “If you could communicate directly with the bishop, what would you say?”

The most common answer: the church’s inadequate response to clergy sex abuse. “The bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts” did it for me, one man said, according to the report.

Several respondents said they had been victims of sexual abuse by church leadership.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Herald

By Clodagh Sheehy

Friday March 30 2012

A PRIEST has denied knowing how gay porn images appeared on a screen during a presentation he was giving to parents of children preparing for First Communion.

Fr Martin McVeigh was setting up the PowerPoint display when the explicit sex scenes flashed up on the screen.

He was about to give a talk to the parents of First Communicants but abandoned the presentation after the pornographic images appeared.

One of those present said the pictures appeared on the screen after the priest put a USB memory stick into the computer at St Mary’s School in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Wir Sind Kirche

München, 30. März 2012

Sehr geehrter Herr Bischof Dr. Ackermann,
sehr geehrte Herren Kardinäle, Erzbischöfe und Bischöfe,

die KirchenVolksBewegung Wir sind Kirche wendet sich wegen der Vorkommnisse im Bistum Trier in einem Offenen Brief an Sie. Wie den Medien zu entnehmen ist und vom Bistum Trier bestätigt wurde, sind derzeit sieben ehemalige Täter sexualisierter Gewalt im Bistum Trier im priesterlichen Dienst und in der Seelsorge eingesetzt. Dies halten wir für kein vorbildhaftes Zeichen für eine Umkehr und einen wirklichen Neuanfang im Umgang mit sexualisierter Gewalt in der Kirche.

Die Erklärung des Bistums, dass Sie, Herr Bischof Dr. Ackermann – der Sie seit Februar 2010 auch „Missbrauchsbeauftragter“ der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) sind – nicht gegen die geltenden Leitlinien der DBK verstoßen hätten, mag formal richtig sein, überzeugend ist sie keinesfalls. Um die Glaubwürdigkeit der Kirchenleitung in Deutschland wiederherzustellen, bedarf es mehr als nur Lippenbekenntnisse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Wir Sind Kirche

Die Aufstellung ist nicht vollständig. Mit Fehlern muss gerechnet werden, weil nicht immer klar ist, ob sich hinter dem Fall-Begriff jeweils (mindestens) ein Opfer verbirgt. Wenn die Täterzahl genannt wurde, nicht jedoch die Anzahl der Opfer, bin ich davon ausgegangen, dass jeder Täter ein Opfer hatte. In Bistümern und Orden wird von ca 1009 Tätern und auch Täterinnen und mehr als 2273 Opfern berichtet. Dem Überblick ist die Schwere eines Missbrauchs nicht zu entnehmen. Es muss unterstellt werden, dass eine erhebliche Zahl von Menschen, die im kirchlichen Kontext Opfer wurden, sich bei der Kirche nicht gemeldet haben, weil sie kein Vertrauen in deren Aufklärung haben.

(Herrn H. herzlichen Dank für die Fülle an Hinweisen! Stand: 15.1.2012)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

The trial for a San Francisco man accused of beating a priest at the Los Gatos Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in May of 2010 is on schedule now after the parties involved agreed to proceed during a hearing Thursday.

Pretrial motions are set for 9:30 a.m., Friday, April 6, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Gemetti.

Jury selection will begin on May 14 and the presentation of the evidence is expected to start on or around May 29 before presiding Superior Court Judge David Cena.

“I don’t want to say the trial will start for sure because I’ve said that before, but the whole point of the conference today (Thursday) was to confirm everybody’s availability,” Gemetti said. “There may be some minor changes on how things go, but [the trial] will happen around that time frame.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Mar. 30, 2012 All Things Catholic

Pope Benedict XVI’s diplomatic high-wire act in Havana, pressing the case for religious freedom but avoiding direct clash with the Castro regime, was the main news flash out of his March 23-28 trip to Mexico and Cuba. Yet there was another leitmotif to the outing, more subtle but arguably more decisive for the church across Latin America.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the pope offered a gentle, yet unmistakable, debunking of clericalism. His focus seemed to be the gradual reshaping of ecclesial culture, not sexy short-term headlines, which puts it squarely into Benedict’s wheelhouse.

Catholicism in Latin America is wildly diverse, from the emotional popular Catholicism of various Marian devotions to the “base communities” that were the backbone of liberation theology. One important current, however, has long been a remarkably strong form of clericalism, perhaps the inevitable result of the faith being effectively a monopoly until quite recently.

Typical expressions of this clericalism include:
•Clergy see themselves as political powerbrokers, playing a direct role in affairs of state.
•The church projects an image of power and privilege, with its preferred spiritual imagery emphasizing God as a cosmic monarch.
•The role of the laity is conceived in largely passive terms — “pay, pray and obey.”
•Little premium is placed on evangelization or faith formation, with pastoral care understood largely in terms of administering the sacraments.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
New Jersey Jewish Standard

Ben Harris • Film
Published: 30 March 2012

Producer Scott Rosenfelt, whose credits include “Home Alone” and “Mystic Pizza,” is threatening a major Jewish film festival after its director raised concerns that Rosenfelt’s documentary about sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community amounts to a “witch hunt.”

Rosenfelt sent a scathing e-mail last week to the director of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival after learning that she had warned colleagues at other film festivals about “Standing Silent.”

The film, which features interviews with several victims of sexual abuse by Baltimore-area Orthodox rabbis, was featured at the Teaneck Film Festival held late last year. It is slated to be screened at several Jewish film festivals across the United States. It also was the subject of a lengthy feature article in The Washington Post.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

Jessica Stanley

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and this is an important time of year for many Christians across the country and right here in Western Massachusetts. So this week on 22News inFocus we’re going to be talking about the status of the Catholic Church here in the Pioneer Valley.

The Church has faced many challenges over the years, the clergy sex abuse scandal, declining membership, a rough economy, and recent church closures that devastated many local parishioners. We’ll discuss these issues, and talk about what the Church is doing to try and turn things around.

We invited the bishop to attend and answer our questions, but he declined our invitation. Instead, we’ll speak with a Church historian and the Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) program in Western Massachusetts.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Wausau Daily Herald

WILMINGTON, Del. (WTW) — A Roman Catholic priest in Delaware has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing more than $300,000 from a parishioner.

The Rev. Michael Angeloni also was ordered Friday to pay $305,425 in restitution to the 86-year-old victim.

Angeloni faced up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty last year to one count of theft of more than $100,000.

Prosecutors say Angeloni stole the money from a parishioner of the Church of the Holy Child, where he previously served as assistant pastor. The investigation began last year after the attorney general’s office received a report from Wilmington Trust of suspicious financial activity on the victim’s account.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.