ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Daily Record

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
Updated: 01/13/2012

PHILADELPHIA—A Roman Catholic monsignor has taken the rare step of asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to intervene before he becomes the first church official in the U.S. to stand trial for allegedly transferring predator priests.

Lawyers have filed a King’s Bench petition on behalf of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn, 61, faces more than a decade in prison if he’s convicted of criminal conspiracy and child endangerment. He is set to stand trial in March, along with two priests and a former Catholic school teacher charged with raping two boys.

Lynn’s lawyers argue that child endangerment cannot apply to defendants who had no direct responsibility for individual children. Several trial judges in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas have rejected that defense in pretrial motions.

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CANADA
The News

NEW GLASGOW – Victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Antigonish will be getting lesser cash awards than expected.

A letter sent to members of the lawsuit in early November from their lawyer indicates that the victims will receive just under 62 per cent of the amount they had originally anticipated from the settlement reached with the diocese.

Initially, the settlement was supposed to cover approximately 80 victims of sexual abuse. But about 140 people have since joined the lawsuit, and part of the agreement signed by the participants was a clause that resulted in the individual settlements being pro-rated to the number that joined the class action suit.

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BOSTON (MA)
NPR

January 13, 2012

Ten years ago, Michael Rezendes and The Boston Globe colleagues broke a clergy sex abuse cover-up in the Boston Archdiocese. Host Michel Martin speaks with Rezendes about his investigative work. (Advisory: This segment may not be suitable for all audiences.)

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BELGIUM
U.S. Catholic

Friday, January 13, 2012

By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Belgium’s Catholic bishops have pledged a “culture of vigilance” against future sexual abuse by priests and said guilty clergy must compensate their victims even if their crimes are no longer punishable by law.

“We cannot repair the past, but we can take moral responsibility by recognizing sufferings and helping victims recover,” Bishop Guy Harpigny of Torunai and Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, the church’s delegates for abuse, told a Brussels news conference Jan. 12.

“Above all, we ask forgiveness for the suffering we weren’t able to prevent, and we commit to treat this problem differently in future.”

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MISSOURI
Webster-Kirkwood Times

January 13, 2012

Amidst critical school funding issues and a state budget shortfall that must be addressed, state Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, also has child sexual abuse prevention on his radar for the 2012 legislative session.

“As a father, I reacted to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, which is still unfolding, as I am sure many other fathers have. My reaction: How could this happen? How could anyone witness actual sex abuse of children and not report it to legal authorities?

“As a legislator, I think my natural reaction is: How can we address this in our state? What is on the books now? What kind of input do we need to put together a law on this to make sure children are protected and that criminal behavior victimizing them gets reported?” said Schmitt.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Bartek Obloj’s story defies description.

Before reaching his 14th birthday, Obloj hanged himself in 2007, leaving a note that his parish priest had molested him. (See: Polish church faces demands to confront sex abuse.)

The accused priest, Fr. Stanislaw Kaszowski, was moved to a new parish — but not before personally celebrating Obloj’s funeral Mass. Kaszowski continues in ministry and refuses to testify in court.

We grope for a reaction that matches the horror.

Despite assurances that most cases of abuse are in the past and that reporting procedures have been strengthened, the clergy sex abuse scandal continues. That is why the work of groups like the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is invaluable. And that work is now under threat.

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POLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 13, 2012
By Jonathan Luxmoore

WARSAW, POLAND — When Bartek Obloj, a 13-year-old altar boy, hanged himself in his home village of Hludno just before Christmas 2007, he left a letter to his mother complaining of being molested by his parish rector. Police were called and his shocked parents blamed the priest for their son’s death.

A month later, Poland’s Catholic Tygodnik Powszechny weekly reported that Fr. Stanislaw Kaszowski had been moved to a parish 20 miles away after personally saying the boy’s funeral Mass. He’d denied the accusations, the paper added, and defiantly failed to appear at a court hearing.

Hludno’s mayor, Stanislaw Gladysz, testified that locals had long complained of the priest’s “sadistic behavior” and “sexual exploits,” adding that for a decade he’d asked the local ordinary, Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, to move the priest. However, Michalik, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, had given Kaszowski his full confidence, the mayor said, and refused to discuss the claims.

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UNITED STATES
NPR

January 13, 2012

In the decade since The Boston Globe broke the story about the cover-up of pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese, countless Americans have shared their stories of clergy abuse. Bob Hoatson is a former priest who was abused as a teen by church leaders. He speaks with host Michel Martin. (Advisory: This segment may not be suitable for all audiences.)

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Doug McMurdo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: Jan. 13, 2012

A former high-ranking Las Vegas priest was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay full restitution Friday after admitting he stole $650,000 from a Las Vegas Catholic church to support his compulsive gambling.

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe told U.S. District Judge James Mahan he was sorry.

More than 90 parishioners from McAuliffe’s church were inside the courtroom, and many more were turned away.

The federal government sought a prison term of 33 months for McAuliffe, but the priest objected, citing his gambling addiction and prior good works as reasons for a shorter stint behind bars — or probation.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
New Zealand Herald

A 59-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for siphoning some $650,000 from his northwest Las Vegas parish to support his gambling habit.

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe made no reaction as US District Court Judge James Mahan faulted him for abusing a position of trust in his congregation.

Muffled sobs erupted from a courtroom packed with supporters.

Defence attorney Margaret Stanish asked the judge for probation and to let the McAuliffe continue getting counseling for his gambling addiction, keep practicing as a priest and pay restitution to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Summerlin.

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LA CROSSE (WI)
News 8000

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A La Crosse County judge has dismissed fraud charges brought against the Diocese of La Crosse that accused them of covering up a priest who allegedly had a history of child abuse.

In a civil case that began in 2008, Brenda Varga said she was assaulted by Father Raymond Bornbach in 1971, and that the Diocese knew Bornbach had a history of abuse, but did nothing about it.

Bornbach was removed from the ministry in 2004, and died in 2006.

Judge Scott Horne dismissed two counts of fraud, saying there was no evidence of a prior sexual assault.

In a statement, Diocese attorney James Birnbaum says “We are grateful that the court ruled what we have maintained from the start: that the Diocese of La Crosse engaged in no fraud toward Brenda Varga in her 41-year-old claims against the Diocese.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Jurgen Balzan

The defence lawyer for the two priests convicted of the sexual abuse of minors under their care, has asked the court to hear Bondiplus presenter Lou Bondì as a witness in the priests’ appeal

Defence lawyer Gianella de Marco will present new evidence and witnesses in the appeal of Fr Godwin Scerri and Fr Carmelo Pulis against their prison sentences. She said court should accept the new list of witnesses as they will provide new evidence which emerged after the court sentence was issued. de Marco added that it is up to the court to then decide whether the evidence is relevant or not.

de Marco was representing Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri who were last August given jail terms of six and five years respectively for the sexual abuse of minors under their care at the St Joseph Home in Hamrun. They faced accusations by 11 victims, who were then aged between 13 and 16, were resident at St Joseph’s Home in Sta Venera in the late1980s when the abuse took place.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

January 13, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Please click here to sign a petition to abolish the statute of limitations for child sex abuse in PA.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
NBC Action News

•By: Christina Medina

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man said he endured sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation. He said he complained to several people and was then fired last year. Now, Larry Probst is suing the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City –St. Joseph. The civil lawsuit was filed in federal court this week.

According the lawsuit, Probst worked as a part time employee in the Archives Department from 2005 to 2011. His supervisor was Rev. Charles Michael Coleman. He also worked with Rev. Robert Cameron.

The lawsuit said he was “subjected to a sexually hostile work environment” and a co-worker “made sexual advances towards him” and that the priests would talk about other make co-workers in “sexually suggestive ways.” The lawsuit also said co-workers left sexually offensive messages on office computers and even looked at pornography.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Eric Russell, BDN Staff

Posted Jan. 13, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — Though the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department has completed its investigation into the death of the Rev. Robert T. Carlson, Maine State Police are continuing to look into allegations of sex abuse against the longtime religious and civic leader who committed suicide on Nov. 13.

Carlson reportedly left no note before his death, and many questions remain about the man who did so much good for and was trusted in turn by the Greater Bangor community. Among them are questions about his training and background, and whether some claims were exaggerated or fabricated.

Sarah Dubay, director of executive services for Penobscot Community Health Care — Carlson’s final employer — provided the BDN with a biography that she said was drafted by Carlson himself.

When asked about particular claims in the biography and whether anyone at PCHC checked into them before or during Carlson’s employment, Dubay said she doubted it.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff

Posted Jan. 13, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — Just hours before the Rev. Robert Carlson was found dead in the Penobscot River on Nov. 13, he met with a local man who is the focal point of a child sex abuse investigation involving Carlson, according to the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, which recently closed its investigation into Carlson’s death.

The man was an 11-year-old boy when he first met Carlson in the early 1970s and had an ongoing sexual relationship with him, according to the man’s family. The Bangor Daily News is not identifying him because of the possibility that he is a victim.

Maine State Police investigators began their investigation on Nov. 10, just three days before Carlson’s death, after receiving an anonymous letter that said he “sexually abused a young boy several years ago” while he was pastor at East Orrington Congregational Church. Carlson came to the church in 1979 and served there for 23 years, according to the church’s website. …

No charges ever were lodged against Carlson in the 1970s. Under current Maine law, the statute of limitations for prosecuting sex crimes committed against children under the age of 16 extends back to 1985. In 1991, the law was changed and there is no statute of limitations on child sex crimes that occurred after that year. The anonymous letter that sparked the state police investigation last fall did not say exactly what year the alleged abuse occurred.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
KATE HICKEY,
IrishCentral Editor

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin paid tribute to journalist and documentary maker Mary Raftery, who passed away on Wednesday.

Raftery famously made the 1999 documentary “States of Fear” and the “Cardinal Secrets” in 2002.

Her work was widely viewed as having led to the establishment of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. The Commission reported its findings in May of 2009.

Speaking to RTE radio Archbishop Martin said “Bringing the truth out is always a positive thing even though it may be a painful truth.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 13, 2012 by Susan Matthews

As things heat up in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, Kathy and I wanted to remind readers of our mission and comments guidelines.

Catholics4Change.com was created to serve as a forum for Catholics who would like to respectfully share their concerns and questions regarding Church accountability to laity on a variety of issues relating to the protection of children. Catholics4Change strives to create a system of meaningful communication and solutions between each other and Church leadership. Catholics4Change will offer related news, links and commentary from a variety of perspectives.

Catholics4Change.com reserves the right to withhold from publication comments deemed to be spam or unrelated. Comments that include personal attacks on other people taking part in comments at Catholics4Change.com may also be withheld from publication. Repetitive or rant-like comments may also be removed as they don’t promote meaningful communication.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

[Gallery of photos]

By Colm Kelpie

Friday January 13 2012

THE partner of pioneering broadcaster Mary Raftery has claimed that she faced opposition from RTE when making her landmark documentary ‘States of Fear’.

David Waddell told mourners at the journalist’s funeral yesterday that the health of his partner and that of her colleague, researcher Sheila Ahern, were affected by the lack of support for the 1999 programme.

Family, friends and colleagues of Ms Raftery packed the 17th-century Great Hall in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham for a poignant service peppered with humour and emotion.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

A small number of us priests who are out of ministry because of boundary issues realise that we can get through the sense of isolation and exclusion by being companions to each other.

This group is well on the way to organising a viable support group. They are in a fruitful dialogue with the Irish Episcopal Conference and CORI. They are in the process of establishing and Advisory Board.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Susie’s Budget and Policy Corner

The Committee on Human Services (Ward 1 CM Jim Graham, chair) is holding a public hearing on B19-466, “Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Amendment Act of 2011” January 13 at 11:00 am. The legislation would make the following changes to current law:
Not require the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to make reasonable efforts to reunify or preserve the family if a parent has committed certain crimes against a child or if the parent must register with a sex offender registry;

Require health care professionals to notify the CFSA when a child under 12 months of age is diagnosed with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD); and

Expand and clarify the definition of neglect to include an infant that has been diagnosed with FASD. (Language taken from DC Council website.)

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

January 12, 2012, by Kathy Quinn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former employee of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph claims he was the victim of sexual harassment and that the diocese knew, but did nothing about it.

Larry Probst started working as an assistant to the archivist at the chancery around 1999. Father Charles Michael Coleman served as the archivist for the diocese and was Probst’s supervisor. During that time, Probst said he was the victim of sexual harassment, consisting of unwanted sexual advances and gestures from a co-worker. Probst said after he complained, his colleagues ostracized and eventually terminated him in July 2011.

Probst filed a lawsuit, claiming the diocese failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent sexual harassment. Probst said he believes the real reason behind his termination is based on retaliation and his gender. The suit claims the diocese hired a woman with less experience to do Probst’s job. He’s asking for damages for mental and emotional pain.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Lucas, Green and Magazine

Posted on January 12, 2012 by James Magazine

It’s not surprising that in a Diocese rife with sexual abuse allegations another type of sexual abuse case surfaces. This time a former employee of the Diocese has filed a civil lawsuit against the Diocese for sexual harassment.

A whistleblower named Larry Probst has filed a new lawsuit that alleges more bad behavior on the part of diocesan administration officials. According to www.pitch.com, “Probst worked at the diocese as a part-time archivist at the Chancery office. He started in 1999 or 2000 on an intermittent basis and then “on a more regular, permanent, part-time basis” in 2007. His lawsuit says the “unwanted and unwelcome sexual harassment from his supervisory priests” and from a co-worker started in spring 2010 and continued until June 30, 2011, when he was fired for what he claims was retaliation for complaining about the unwanted advances.

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TEXAS
KTSM

By Sandra Ramirez – Producer

Friday, January 13, 2012

EL PASO – A local priest is facing major accusations.

Bishop Armando Ochoa accused Former San Juan Bautista Administrator, Father Michael Eodriguez of mishandling donated church money.

In a wrtiten statement, Bishop Ochoa said. “Fr. Rodriguez and those acting in concert with him, had no right to appropriate for themselves funds donated to the parish.”

Father Rodriguez responded saying, “I have always honored, respected, and made good use of the financial patrimony of San Juan Bautista.”

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CANADA
CBC News

The OPP and LaSalle Police have laid 18 more charges against a former Catholic priest.

The new charges against Father Linus Bastien of Chatham date back to the 1970s and 1980s, when he was serving at Churches in LaSalle and Lakeshore.

The seven latest complainants were children when the alleged assaults took place.

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TEXAS
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: January 13, 2012

EL PASO, Texas — A West Texas priest has been sued over his handling of parish finances in which some donation checks allegedly were made out to him, not the church.

Leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso have sued the Rev. Michael Rodriguez and his brother, David Rodriguez.

Rev. Rodriguez on Thursday denied wrongdoing. No criminal charges have been filed.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Bishop Armando Ochoa and Monsignor Arturo Banuelas, seeks an accounting and return of funds allegedly meant for San Juan Bautista Church.

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ITALIA
Il Secolo XIX

Genova – Dopo aver condiviso i segreti più inconfessabili, si ritroveranno in aula, uno contro l’altro. Don Riccardo Seppia, 51 anni, ex parroco di Sestri travolto dallo scandalo su minori e cocaina, testimonierà contro il suo sodale Emanuele Alfano, 24 anni, accusato di prostituzione minorile e detenzione di materiale pedopornografico. Lo ha deciso il giudice Nicoletta Cardino, nel corso della prima udienza del processo all’ex seminarista, che seguirà una strada parallela a quello in cui Seppia è imputato.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Apostolic Nuncio Baldisseri has been appointed secretary of the Congregation for Bishops. Crucial times lie ahead for the nomination of the new Patriarch of Venice.

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The new number two man in ‘bishop-making factory’, the Congregation for Bishops (the department that works together with the Pope to establish the new Catholic ruling class and that takes care of the nomination of new bishops for the Latin Church excluding mission territories), arrives from Brazil. The nomination of the new secretary of the Congregation for Bishops led by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has been announced. The nomination comes after the previous secretary, Manuel Monteiro de Castro from Portugal, was promoted to Grand Penitentiary on 5 January with his name featuring in the list of new Cardinals a few hours later. This time, the man chosen for the post of secretary, is the Apostolic Nuncio in Brazil, Lorenzo Baldisseri.

Baldisseri,71 years old, was born in Pisa on the 29 September 1940. A priest since 1963, he began working for the diplomatic service of the Holy See and became Apostolic Nuncio in 1992 when Pope John Paul II sent him to Haiti as his representative. There, Baldisseri directly witnessed the civil war. He was then moved to Paraguay in 1995, four years later he was appointed Nuncio in India and finally in 2002, almost ten years ago, he became the representative of the Holy See in the largest country of South America, Brazil.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Examiner

By:The Associated Press | 01/13/12

A high-ranking member of Philadelphia’s Catholic clergy wants the state Supreme Court to review the child endangerment charges filed against him following a grand jury investigation into alleged sex abuse by priests.

Attorneys for Monsignor William Lynn filed a motion Thursday asking for the review, claiming prosecutors misapplied the law in bringing charges against him.

Prosecutors say Lynn transferred predator priests to new parishes without warning while the archdiocese’s secretary of clergy.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

Editorial

Published: January 12, 2012

In the case of Cheryl Perich, a teacher fired by a church-run school, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom bars her from suing the church under federal workplace discrimination law.

Ms. Perich had gotten sick and missed a term of teaching. When the school asked her to resign, she refused and threatened to sue. The school fired her, saying church policy required that it resolve the dispute internally. She sued for retaliation.

For the first time, the court found that a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws applied to her as a church employee, who had “a role in conveying the church’s message and carrying out its mission.” In his opinion for the unanimous court, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. seems to minimize the scope of the ruling by avoiding “a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister” and by not saying how the exception would apply in other circumstances.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

January 12, 2012|By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Attorneys for the Philadelphia monsignor accused of enabling priests to molest altar boys asked Thursday that the state’s highest court review the charges, an unusual legal maneuver that could scuttle or delay the trial.

In their motion, the attorneys for Msgr. William J. Lynn urged the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to step in before Lynn and the other priests begin their trial in March.

The lawyers contend that prosecutors misapplied the law when they charged Lynn with endangering children. They also say the outcome of his case will be far-reaching, because Lynn, 61, was the first church official nationwide to be charged with covering up clergy sex abuse.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

De gewezen Brugse bisschop Roger Vangheluwe gaat op vraag van de Belgische bisschoppen een extra financiële inspanning leveren voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik. Vangheluwe zal dus niet alleen betalen voor de slachtoffers die hij zelf maakte.

“Afgezien van de feiten waarbij hij zelf betrokken is, hebben we hem gevraagd om ook bij te dragen aan het fonds dat wordt opgericht om slachtoffers van verjaarde feiten na arbitragerechtspraak te vergoeden”, vertelt de Antwerpse referent-bisschop Johan Bonny.

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BELGIE
Kerknieuws

VR 13 jan 2012 | 10.07
De Belgische oud-bisschop Roger Vangheluwe gaat niet alleen een schadevergoeding betalen aan de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik die hij zelf maakte, hij zal ook een bijdrage leveren aan het speciale fonds waarmee slachtoffers van verjaarde zaken worden betaald.

Dat melden de Belgische media. Vangheluwe doet dat op verzoek van de Belgische bisschoppen. “Afgezien van de feiten waarbij hij zelf betrokken is, hebben we hem gevraagd om ook bij te dragen aan het fonds dat wordt opgericht om slachtoffers van verjaarde feiten na arbitragerechtspraak te vergoeden”, aldus de Antwerpse bisschop Johan Bonny. “We willen als bisschoppenconferentie een duidelijk signaal geven dat we de schadevergoedingen heel ernstig nemen.”

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BELGIE
Katholiek Nieuws

De Belgische Kerk gaat van priesters die schuldig zijn aan misbruik eisen dat zij schadevergoedingen betalen aan de slachtoffers.

De Belgische bisschoppen moedigen slachtoffers aan om naar civiele rechtbanken te stappen. Als de rechtbank een zaak door verjaring niet meer in behandeling kan nemen, zal de Kerk na arbitragerechtspraak zelf straffen opleggen. Een daarvan is dat zij van de dader zal eisen dat hij een schadevergoeding betaalt.

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UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

January 12, 2012

Paul Kendrick

COMMENTARY

The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue pays himself $408,000 per year to manage a small budget nonprofit group.

Should the Catholic League lose its tax-exempt status?

Will Bill Donohue make public his detailed expense reports?

Although Bill Donohue’s Catholic League is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Donohue pays himself a salary and benefits of $408,000 per year.

Wouldn’t you think a Catholic Christian like Bill Donohue would have as his first priority the raising of funds to help establish programs and services to enable the poor and needy? Donohue’s group has $28 million in the bank, but there’s no record of him helping anyone other than himself to the Catholic League’s cookie jar (and his top aide who receives salary and benefits of $206,000 per year).

By the way, Donohue’s exorbitant salary is “explained” on the Catholic League’s 2010 tax return. “A compensation committee exists within the Board of Directors. This committee compares the salaries of other top management officials at other nonprofit organizations. This information is obtained by reviewing the Form 990 for other comparable organizations, which can be obtained from Guidestar.org.”

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BELGIE
Nieuws

De Belgische Kerk pakt uit met een globale aanpak om seksueel misbruik te voorkomen, anderhalf jaar na de bekentenis van Roger Vangheluwe, de ex-bisschop van Brugge. Er komt een nieuwe commissie waar slachtoffers terecht kunnen met hun vragen.

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BELGIE
Reformatorisch Dagblad

BRUSSEL (ANP) – De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in België wil daders van seksueel misbruik in de kerk verwijderen uit hun gezagspositie. Zij moeten ook als eersten bijdragen aan de financiële tegemoetkomingen voor slachtoffers.

Dat stellen de Belgische bisschoppen in een beleidsdocument over de aanpak van seksueel misbruik, dat donderdag in Brussel werd gepresenteerd. Daders moeten, waar het nog kan, worden berecht, aldus de bisschoppen.

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BELGIE
RKnieuws

ANTWERPEN (RKnieuws.net) – Het Interdiocesaan Pastoraal Beraad (IPB) is positief over de vandaag voorgestelde beleidstekst van de bisschoppen en de hogere oversten rond de aanpak van de problematiek van seksueel misbruik.

IPB-voorzitter Josian Caproens noemt ‘Verborgen verdriet – Naar een globale aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke Kerk’, zoals de in brochurevorm gegoten beleidstekst is getiteld, een waardevol en evenwichtig document. De bisschoppen en hogere oversten van België zijn er in geslaagd om in een serene maar duidelijke taal de stilte rond seksueel misbruik te doorbreken. Met hun document geven ze effectief blijk van aanspreekbaarheid en daadkracht, tekenen van een nieuw beleid voor een kerk van vandaag en morgen.

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BELGIE
Vandaag

Flemish

French

De bisschoppen hebben hun beleid voorgesteld rond seksueel misbruik. “We willen ons laten adviseren en onszelf laten superviseren”, zei de Antwerpse bisschop Johan Bonny.

Bonny presenteerde gisteren samen met de Doornikse bisschop Guy Harpigny de brochure ‘Verborgen verdriet, naar een globale aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk’. De brochure geeft vijf krachtlijnen. Zo zal de Kerk resoluut de kant van de slachtoffers kiezen, de stilte van slachtoffers proberen te doorbreken en meewerken aan erkenning en herstel in al zijn vormen (ook financieel). De daders (‘die veel te lang ongemoeid bleven’) moeten geconfronteerd worden met het leed dat ze hebben aangericht, waar het kan worden berecht en als eerste bijdragen in de financiële tegemoetkoming.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The defence lawyer of two priests found guilty of sexually abusing boys in their care wants new witnesses to be heard during the appeals, including TV presenter Lou Bondi, who was the victims’ spokesman for a number of years.

Last year, Carmelo Pulis and Godwin Scerri were jailed for six and five years, respectively after they were found guilty of abusing the boys. The priests were later defrocked.

Both the priests and the Attorney General appealed the judgement, handed down by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli.

This morning, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco said she wanted the court to hear new witnesses as there was new evidence which had to be presented.

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MALTA
DI-VE

During the appeal of the two priests who were jailed after being convicted of sexually abusing boys at the St Joseph Home in Santa Venera, the defence lawyer asked for new witnesses including the T.V. presenter Lou Bondi.

The T.V. presenter was the victim’s spokesman.

In a statement, Lou Bondi said that he has no difficulty to confirm under oath what he had written on his blog.

“The statements made by Lawrence Grech about me at the time were untrue. At the same time, this has no bearing on my views on whether the sexual abuse had taken place. I never had and still do not have doubt that it did, as confirmed already by the court,” Mr Bondi added.

Last year, Fr Charles Pulis was jailed for 6 years while Fr Godwin Scerri was jailed for 5 years by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli, who also ruled that the case should no longer remain behind closed doors. The defence had asked for the case to be heard behind closed doors, prompting the victims to declare that this helped it ask certain questions without public scrutiny.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Written by
SISTER MAUREEN PAUL TURLISH

Delaware is scheduled to execute Robert Gattis on Jan. 20. Mr. Gattis admitted he killed Shirley Slay in May of 1990. He has petitioned for clemency in part because of the repeated sexual abuse he suffered as a child, beginning as early as age 3.

Experts have called the abuse “catastrophic” and found that it caused profound psychological damage that was directly linked to Mr. Gattis’ impaired thinking and behavior on the day of the tragic killing.

Questions have arisen about the truthfulness of Mr. Gattis’ sexual abuse claim because he did not report the abuse sooner. I write to answer those questions.

As a member of the Voice of the Faithful and a founding member of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, organizations dedicated to supporting individuals who were sexually abused as children, I know what experts in the field have all acknowledged: Sexual abuse survivors, particularly men, are extremely reluctant to disclose their abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Modern Ghana

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D

In the Los Angeles diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, the New Year rang in with a sweet and fundamental truth which the Vatican has been trying to ignore for decades, and perhaps even for centuries. And that fundamental truth is that, by and large, human beings are sexual organisms whose religious fervor and/or devotion cannot be regulated by the faux-godly law of celibacy.

In the Los Angeles case, an auxiliary bishop, Mr. Gabino Zavala, of Mexican-Hispanic descent, reportedly confessed to having fathered two teenage children and tendered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI, who promptly accepted the same (See “U.S. Catholic Bishop With Secret Family, Gabino Zavala, Quits” BBC-World News 1/4/12).

What makes the preceding case peculiarly fascinating is the fact that at about the same time that Bishop Zavala’s resignation was accepted by the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI also announced the appointment of a married Anglican priest, newly converted to Catholicism, as head of the office in charge of American Anglicans, or Episcopalians, who decided to join the Holy See as converts. The apparent hypocrisy here, of course, inheres in the fact that in deciding to father his children, Bishop Zavala, according to Roman Catholic law, stood unpardonably guilty of spiritual contamination for willfully breaching his oath of celibacy.

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UNITED STATES
Jezebel

Anna North

Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided that a religious institution can fire a minister at will, regardless of federal employment laws. And religious groups may get to choose who they consider to be “ministers.” Here’s why that’s a terrible idea.

According to the Times, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission involved a teacher named Cheryl Perich, who said she was discriminated against at her Lutheran school due to her narcolepsy. The school ultimately fired her when she pursued a lawsuit against them, saying that was a violation of church doctrine. Now the Supreme Court has decided that though Perich’s religious teaching “consumed only 45 minutes of each workday,” with the rest devoted to secular education, she could be consider a “minister,” whom the school had the right under the First Amendment to fire as it saw fit. In his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that requiring the school to rehire Perich “would have plainly violated the church’s freedom,” and that awarding her damages “would operate as a penalty on the church for terminating an unwanted minister.” It’s unclear exactly who counts a minister, but that could be interpreted extremely broadly — according to the Times, “Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the courts should get out of the business of trying to decide who qualifies for the ministerial exception, leaving the determination to religious groups.”

So basically, this decision could mean that a religious group could designate any employee as a minister, and thus circumvent all discrimination and other employment laws with respect to that employee.

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WILMINGTON (NC)
Star News

By F.T. Norton
Fran.Norton@StarNewsOnline.com

A former Wilmington youth basketball coach who was sentenced to short prison terms in both North Carolina and New York for sexually abusing an autistic female player in 2008 is being sued by the victim.

Court documents filed in August indicate that defendants Freddie Lamont Wilson, the now-defunct Southeastern North Carolina Youth Basketball Association he founded and Grace Harbor Church have until Jan. 30 to answer a complaint seeking a jury trial filed on behalf of the now-19-year-old victim.

Her name is being withheld because the StarNews does not name victims of sex crimes.

The complaint, which asks for damages in excess of $5 million for inflicting severe and permanent traumatic, mental, psychological and emotional injuries, alleges negligence on behalf of the basketball group and Grace Harbor Church for which the group was an outreach ministry.

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NEW JERSEY/VIRGINIA
NBC New York

By Dena Potter

Thursday, Jan 12, 2012

A Benedictine monk who headed a Virginia abbey was removed from his position over allegations of sexual misconduct while he was assigned to a prestigious New Jersey preparatory school.

The Rev. Luke Travers was replaced Wednesday after a letter was sent to church officials outlining sexual misconduct claims by two male former students at New Jersey’s Delbarton School, an elite prep school attended by Gov. Chris Christie’s son. Travers was headmaster at Delbarton School from 1999 through 2007, and he taught at the school before and after that time.

One alleged victim claims that Travers grabbed his crotch and butt and asked him inappropriate questions about his girlfriend in the 1980s, when he was about 14. According to the letter, another claims that Travers “crossed boundaries which betrayed the inherent trust which is sacred to his position as a teacher and a priest” while he was a student at Delbarton around 1990. The man says that he returned to Delbarton after graduating, where Travers offered him alcohol and kissed his neck and ears. When the man said he protested the affection, he said Travers told him there was “nothing wrong with what he was doing because he loved me.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Jan. 13, 2012

With just weeks to go before a Feb. 1 deadline in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is casting a wide net in search of clergy sex abuse victims who might seek to file claims, publishing ads in state and national newspapers and asking its parishes and schools to spread the word.

At the same time, victims advocates say, the archdiocese is embarking on a legal strategy that could result in the vast majority of the nearly 200 sex abuse claims filed to date being thrown out of court, leaving those victims ineligible for a financial settlement from the church – and perhaps changing the trajectory of the bankruptcy case.

That strategy will be tested Feb. 9, when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley hears arguments on a motion, filed in No vember by the archdiocese under court seal, objecting to three victims’ claims for compensation.

Lawyers for victims and a church official declined to identify the cases or the legal reasoning behind the move, citing the court seal.

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ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer

Published 08:41 p.m., Thursday, January 12, 2012

ALBANY — Two men who attended a former Catholic elementary school in Albany allege they were sexually abused there by a longtime school custodian when they were 12 and 13 years old.

The accusations, which were not made public by the diocese, were first leveled last year against Eugene Hubert Jr., who worked as a janitor at the former St. Teresa of Avila school on New Scotland Avenue in the 1970s, when the alleged abuse took place.

Hubert died in 1997 at the age of 54. His last known residence was in Warrensburg, Warren County. The allegations are under investigation by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese said it also has launched an internal investigation.

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GERMANY
BBC News

A German Catholic priest has admitted 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys in the past decade, saying he did not think he was doing harm.

Named only as Andreas L, the priest told a court in Braunschweig that he had first abused the nine-year-old son of a widowed woman parishioner.

After being banned by his diocese from making further contact with the boy, he abused two brothers, aged nine and 13.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A large attendance at journalist and broadcaster Mary Raftery’s funeral this morning included many abuse victims as well as representatives from the worlds of politics, media and the arts.

A humanist ceremony, it took place at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin and was conducted by Brian Whiteside. “Mary”, he said, “very much identified with the humanist world view, based on a concern for humanity in general and the individual in particular.”

The ceremony was prepared by Mary Raftery herself before her death last Tuesday. …

Abuse victims present included John Kelly of Soca Ireland, Carmel McDonnell-Byrne of the Aislinn Centre, Michael O’Brien of the Right to Peace group, Colm O’Gorman, founder of the One in Four Group, Mannix Flynn, Paddy Doyle, Marie Collins, musician Don Baker, Andrew Madden, and Darren McGavin whose evidence led to former priest Tony Walsh being jailed for 16 years in December 2010.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The funeral of journalist Mary Raftery has taken place in Dublin.

The 54-year-old who was behind documentaries such as ‘States of Fear’ and the ‘Prime Time Investigates: Cardinal Secrets’, passed away on Monday.

A large crowd attended the humanist service at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, including representatives for President Higgins and the Taoiseach and a number of abuse survivors.

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IRELAND
New York Times

By BRUCE WEBER

Published: January 12, 2012

Mary Raftery, a journalist whose television documentaries exposed decades of abuse of needy children in state-sponsored, church-run schools in Ireland, prompting an apology by the prime minister and a government investigation, died on Tuesday in Dublin. She was 54.

The cause was cancer, her niece Isolde Raftery said.

Ms. Raftery uncovered the child abuse as a producer for Ireland’s national broadcasting service, RTE, and brought it to national attention in “States of Fear,” a three-part documentary series broadcast in April and May 1999. In examining the state child-care system in Ireland, the series brought to light a Dickensian network of reformatories and residential schools for poor, neglected and abandoned children known as industrial schools.

The schools, which were financed and supervised by the government and managed largely by religious orders, mainly Roman Catholic, served about 30,000 children from the 1930s to the 1990s, according to a government report in 2009.

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 12, 2012
By Thomas P. Doyle

APPRECIATION

Mary Raftery, an Irish journalist whose documentary series States of Fear exposed abuse in Irish Catholic schools, died in Dublin on Monday. She was 54.

Mary was a journalist by profession, but by vocation, she was a deeply honest and compassionate woman who fearlessly challenged the Irish Catholic Church, and in doing so, made the present and the future a safer place for children.

Mary may not be as well-known in the United States as she is in her native Ireland, yet her life has made a profound difference for victims of clergy abuse everywhere. She did more than any one person to force the systemic vicious abuse in the Irish industrial schools into the open. She continued with her passion to help victims with her documentary Cardinal Secrets, an expose of the cover-up of sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin.

In 1999, Mary produced States of Fear. The ground-breaking documentary series revealed the almost-unbelievable and certainly horrifying degree of physical and sexual abuse in Irish industrial schools run by religious orders. The revelations chilled Ireland to the bone and resulted in what came to be known as the Ryan Commission to investigate the abuse.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

Germany’s Catholic Church has been hit by another case of clerical sexual abuse, with a priest admitting to abusing three boys between the ages of 9 and 15 some 280 times since 2004.

A Catholic priest admitted to a German court on Thursday that he sexually abused three boys over several years, amounting to a total of 280 cases.

The priest, identified as 46-year-old Andreas L. from the city of Salzgitter in Lower Saxony, confessed to charges of sexually abusing the boys, who ranged from nine to 15 years old. The abuse began in 2004, he said.

Instances of abuse occurred at a parsonage, on ski vacations, at the parents’ home, on a trip to Disneyland in Paris and at a church shortly before Mass.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Becky Plumly Ianni on January 12, 2012

A Virginia Catholic cleric has been suspended because of allegations of sexual misconduct in New Jersey.

We’re sad that it takes a letter from an advocate to prompt the church hierarchy to act. When will Catholic officials act on abuse reports without having to be prodded by outsiders?

We hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered misdeeds by this cleric or any cleric will get help, call police, protect others and start healing.

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CANADA
The Windsor Star

Linus Bastien, a former Catholic priest in Essex region faces 18 additional charges of sexual assault, OPP said in a statement on Thursday.

Seven victims have come forward and, as a result, Bastien was arrested and charged with counts of indecent assault, sexual assault and sexual interference.

The charges relate to events that allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 1980s when Bastien was assigned to St. Paul’s Catholic Church in LaSalle and St. Joachim Parish in Lakeshore.

The 85-year-old man was already charged last fall with counts of indecent assault and gross indecency after two former altar boys from St. Mary’s Parish in Maidstone made complaints to police.

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UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Call to Action
Media Contact: Nicole Sotelo, 773.404.0004 x285, Nicole@cta-usa.org

For Immediate Release

January 12, 2012

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the original Boston Globe series that began the revelations of widespread clergy abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, a decade after the bishops vowed things would change, church officials continue to ignore their own norms intended to protect children and battle against survivors seeking justice. In a recent twist, church officials in two dioceses have ignited a legal battle against survivors, requesting that confidential files of abuse survivors be released without their consent. Today, Call To Action issued this statement:

Call To Action stands in solidarity with SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests, in decrying the recent request by lawyers defending the Archdiocese of St. Louis and lawyers defending Fr. Michael Tierney of the Diocese of Kansas City to release SNAP documents dating back more than 23 years.
Rape crisis centers and other groups that support abuse survivors or other crime victims are typically protected by law from being forced to release such documents so that survivors feel secure coming forward to these organizations; confident their information will be kept private.

SNAP has been one of the only places for those affected by sexual abuse by religious officials to turn, be they witnesses, survivors or family members. We have deep concerns that should SNAP be forced to disclose their confidential files, those affected by sexual abuse in the Church will no longer feel safe in reaching out to SNAP or similar organizations when they desperately need that support. The recent request for documents sends a chilling message to survivors who may be considering coming forward and sends an alarming message to those who have come forward in the past that their privacy may be violated even though their personal experiences may have nothing to do with the case at hand.

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NEW YORK
The New Civil Rights Movement

by Scott Rose on January 12, 2012

In August, 2011, Father James (aka Jaime Duenas) of Nativity of Our Blessed Lady Catholic Church in the New York City borough of The Bronx, was arrested on allegations that he had repeatedly molested a 16-old girl working in the rectory.

Prosecutors say Duenas told them the girl was “wearing short skirts” and that she didn’t mind “the massage.”

Wouldn’t you think that given the Catholic Church’s notorious history with child sex abuse, orders would have come down from on high that in no circumstance whatsoever was any employee of the Church to blame a victim, or even an alleged victim?

Yet prosecutors say Duenas told them that the alleged victim “liked it” and that she was wearing “short skirts.”

A victim advocacy group attempted to educate the community about the realities of how sexual abusers operate. But many in the community circled wagons in defense of their priest, with an implied negative judgement about the complaining witness in the case, the 16-year-old girl.

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GERMANY
Reuters

BERLIN | Thu Jan 12, 2012

(Reuters) – A Catholic priest admitted in a German court on Thursday to sexually abusing three boys over eight years, including one he was preparing for his first communion and two brothers during trips that included Disneyland in Paris, German media reported.

The 46-year-old, named in court documents as Andreas L., admitted to charges of abusing the boys from 2004.

“The worst aspect is that he exploited their trust,” said Klaus Ziehe, lead court prosecutor in the central city of Braunschweig, in comments published by Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

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BELGIUM
The Journal (Ireland)

Flemish

French

BELGIUM’S CATHOLIC CHURCH announced today that priests and clergy who abused children will be required to pay damages, even when victims make their claims after the country’s statute of limitations has expired.

The church — in an overall response on how to deal with the abuse scandals that have enveloped it — urged victims to initially take their cases to civil authorities.

But it also said it was willing to impose penalties ranging from apologies to financial compensation, both for recent cases and for those so old they can no longer be brought to court. Over the past two years, more than 500 witnesses have come forward with accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy in Belgium, spanning several decades.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

A former employee of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic diocesan archives is suing the diocese, claiming he was sexually harassed at work then fired after repeatedly complaining about it.

The civil lawsuit, filed by Larry Probst this week in U.S. District Court, alleges that Probst was subjected to sexually offensive language, sexual advances and pornography on the computers at work. The suit seeks relief under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The diocese said in a statement that Probst worked part-time in the archives on an intermittent and as-needed basis when funds were available from June 2005 until June 2011.

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NETHERLANDS
America Magazine

Leading politicians in the Netherlands have called for the resignations of Catholic bishops in the wake of a damning report on sexual abuse in the Dutch church. On Dec. 17, 2011, Holland’s deputy prime minister, Maxime Verhagen, said the church has been “profoundly damaged” and bishops should consider resigning. Released on Dec. 16, 2011, the report found that somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 Dutch children suffered abuse, ranging from unwanted sexual advances to rape, during the period of 1945 to 2010.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pitch

Posted by Justin Kendall on Thu, Jan 12, 2012

In late November, a whistle-blower named Larry Probst accused the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph of fostering a “sexually hostile workplace.” Two months later, Probst is the latest person to file a lawsuit against the diocese.

Probst worked at the diocese as a part-time archivist at the Chancery office. He started in 1999 or 2000 on an intermittent basis and then “on a more regular, permanent, part-time basis” in 2007. His lawsuit says the “unwanted and unwelcome sexual harassment from his supervisory priests” and from a co-worker started in spring 2010 and continued until June 30, 2011, when he was fired for what he claims was retaliation for complaining about the unwanted advances.

The lawsuit says the Rev. Charles Michael Coleman, who served as Archivist for the Chancery, hired his friend, a man named Michael St. George, to do data entry from the sacramental records into a computer program called “Parish-Soft.” The lawsuit alleges that Coleman and the Rev. Robert Cameron “fawned over” St. George in front of Probst. The lawsuit says Coleman, Cameron and others would talk “about St. George in sexually suggestive ways … in the presence of” Probst.

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BELGIE
Knack

donderdag 12 januari 2012

Brugge – Een brochure moet kerkleiders en priesters helpen in een éénduidige aanpak van seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk. De afgelopen maanden werkten de Belgische bisschoppen samen met enkele professoren aan het beleidsdocument. Het kiest duidelijk de kant van de slachtoffers, en bevat vijf krachtlijnen.

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IRELAND
Inside Ireland

By David Richardson

The funeral of journalist Mary Raftery, who died earlier this week, has taken place today in Dublin.

Among the mourners at the funeral were husband David, son Ben and mother Ita.

While Taoiseach Enda Kenny and President Michael D Higgins were unable to attend, both were represented at the emotional event by their Aide de Camps.

Also in attendance were many high-profile figures from the fields of broadcasting and journalism including RTÉ’s Director General Noel Curran and editor of the Irish Times Kevin O’Sullivan.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The funeral has taken place in Dublin of the journalist Mary Raftery, who died earlier this week.

Chief mourners were her husband David, son Ben and mother Ita.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and President Michael D Higgins were represented by their Aide de Camps.

Also in attendance were many leading figures from the worlds of broadcasting and journalism including RTÉ’s Director General Noel Curran and editor of the Irish Times Kevin O’Sullivan.

Survivors of child abuse and those who represent them were also among the mourners.

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UNITED STATES
The Denver Post

By Adam Liptak
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious-liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment-discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.

“The interest of society in the enforcement of employment-discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote in a decision that was surprising in both its sweep and unanimity. “But so, too, is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith and carry out their mission.”

The 9-0 decision gave only limited guidance about how courts should decide who counts as a minister, saying the court was “reluctant to adopt a rigid formula.”

Whatever its precise scope, the ruling will have concrete consequences for countless people employed by religious groups to perform religious work. In addition to ministers, priests, rabbis and other religious leaders, the decision appears to encompass, for instance, those teachers in religious schools with formal religious training who are charged with instructing students about religious matters.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

January 11, 2012

WASHINGTON—“It’s a great day for the First Amendment,” said Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

Bishop Lori spoke January 11, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold a church’s right to determine who its ministers are and banned government interference in the process. His statement follows.

The Supreme Court decision marks a victory for religious liberty and the U.S. Constitution. Freedom of Religion is America’s First Freedom and the Court has spoken unanimously in favor of it. The Founding Fathers would be proud. Respect for the long-standing “ministerial exception,” which is grounded in the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, prevents the government from interfering in the employment relationship between a Church and its ministers. This decision makes resoundingly clear the historical and constitutional importance of keeping internal church affairs off limits to the government—because whoever chooses the minister chooses the message.It’s a great day for the First Amendment.

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BELGIE
Knack

donderdag 12 januari 2012

(Belga) De Belgische bisschoppen hebben een beleidsdocument klaar rond seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Met de tekst willen ze de stilte rond het misbruik doorbreken en coherent en krachtdadig handelen. De bleek op een persconferentie van de Bisschoppenconferentie.

De tekst draait rond vijf krachtlijnen en wil uitdrukkelijk de kant kiezen van de slachtoffers. Hij pleit voor een rechtmatige aanpak van de daders die “veel te lang ongemoeid bleven”. Om het document in praktijk om te zetten, worden een aantal concrete maatregelen genomen. Zo zijn er sinds 1 januari tien opvangpunten operationeel die de slachtoffers moeten helpen een klacht bij het gerecht te melden. Er komt, zoals bekend, ook een arbitragecommissie die zich zal buigen over verjaarde dossiers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Daarnaast wordt een interdiocesane commissie jongeren opgericht. Die moet operationeel zijn op 1 juli 2012 en zal bestaan uit experts in verschillende domeinen. (MVL)

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BELGIE
BNR

België pakt de daders van seksueel misbruik in de kerk aan. De RK-Kerk van onze zuiderburen wil misbruikers uit hun gezagspositie verwijderen.

Zij moeten ook als eersten bijdragen aan de financiële tegemoetkomingen voor slachtoffers.

Dat stellen de Belgische bisschoppen in een beleidsdocument over de aanpak van seksueel misbruik, dat donderdag in Brussel werd gepresenteerd.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

De Belgische bisschoppen hebben een beleidsdocument klaar rond seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Met de tekst willen ze de stilte rond het misbruik doorbreken en coherent en krachtdadig handelen. De bleek donderdag op een persconferentie van de Bisschoppenconferentie.

‘Verborgen verdriet – Naar een globale aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk’ draait rond vijf krachtlijnen en wil uitdrukkelijk de kant kiezen van de slachtoffers. Hij pleit voor een rechtmatige aanpak van de daders die ‘veel te lang ongemoeid bleven’.

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BELGIE
KerNet

BRUSSEL (KerkNet/IPB) – Het Interdiocesaan Pastoraal Beraad (IPB) is positief over de vanmiddag in Brussel voorgestelde beleidstekst van de bisschoppen en de hogere oversten rond de aanpak van de problematiek van seksueel misbruik. IPB-voorzitter Josian Caproens noemt ‘Verborgen verdriet – Naar een globale aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke Kerk’, zoals de in brochurevorm gegoten beleidstekst is getiteld, een waardevol en evenwichtig document. De bisschoppen en hogere oversten van België zijn er in geslaagd om in een serene maar duidelijke taal de stilte rond seksueel misbruik te doorbreken. Met hun document geven ze effectief blijk van aanspreekbaarheid en daadkracht, tekenen van een nieuw beleid voor een kerk van vandaag en morgen.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

C. Brian Smith

I was saddened to learn of the resignation this week of Gabino Zavala, Auxiliary Bishop of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

This is not another sexual abuse case involving a priest. Like many, I am skeptical of the Catholic Church. It’s a sketchy place. And yet, as a resident of Los Angeles, I benefit from the Church’s moral and financial presence here — a presence that lifts up entire sections of the city. This is particularly the case in Latino communities, which make up 65 percent of the 5 million Catholics living in Los Angeles. The strength of these communities is the strength of LA.

By all accounts, Gavino Zavala is not just one of the good guys, he’s one of the very best guys. One who has served the tragically underserved Latino community of East LA for 35 years. One who has been an outspoken advocate for immigration rights. One who is largely responsible for widespread prison reform. One who has worked tirelessly to improve conditions for the working poor.

It turns out, like billions of people, he is also a parent. And because of this, he is no longer a priest.

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BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
Belgian Bishops and Religious Superiors

January 12, 2012

[Below we provide a translation of the table of contents and of the first paragraphs of the report. The report was released in Flemish and French versions.]

Table of Contents

Part I: Lessons learned from painful stories
1. Breaking the silence 9
2. Origin of sexual abuse 11
3. Proximity and distance 14
4. Do not let abusers in peace 15

Part II: Milestones for the treatment and prevention of sexual abuse
1. Towards a comprehensive and integrated approach 19
2. Roads of recognition and repair services 21
3. Barred and non-barred offenses 22
4. Ten local collection points 24
5. Restorative mediation 29
6. Arbitration 30
7. Criminal procedure 32
8. Future of the abuser 35
9. Increase prevention 37
10. Transparency and cooperation among all those responsible 41
Conclusion 45
Bibliography 47
Appendices (Contact Information) 51

In recent months we have been deeply affected by a wave of poignant stories of sexual abuse within the Church Catholic. As bishops and religious superiors, we first kept silent, except to answer questions from the Special Commission on the treatment of sexual abuse and acts of pedophilia in positions of authority, especially within the Church and to present an initial response through the media. This silence was not indifference. It had nothing in common with a desire to conceal the facts. It revealed our amazement; we humbly bowed our heads, and beneath the shock, we wondered how serious these occurrences were. Over the last eighteen months, the opportunity was offered to us personally to listen to victims, most often, unfortunately, for the first time. The stories were then associated with the names and faces, often after years of hidden suffering and sadness. The harm inflicted on victims by our failure to recognize the facts filled us, the leaders of the church, with sadness. It is true that sexual abuse and ethics contradict the message that the Church would spread.

After a period of in-depth study, the time has come for us to act in a consistent and energetic manner. Thanks to the help of experts from various disciplines, we have developed a comprehensive plan of action on sexual abuse in the Church and its impact on victims. The thrust of this action plan is summarized in the text presented below.

First and foremost, we would like to listen to victims of abuse sex and those who assist them. We want to spend time and provide the space so that they can express their grief, their pain and anger. We cannot retrieve the past [to change it]. We can only, as far as possible, try to offer what was then most lacking in the first place — humanity and solidarity. In dialogue with the victims, we want to find the best way to assist them. In this policy document, we offer several ways of doing so.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

By: Kristen Green | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: January 12, 2012

The Catholic monk in charge of the Mary Mother of the Church Abbey in Goochland County, which owns and operates Benedictine College Preparatory school, has been removed from the position pending the outcome of an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct.

The Rev. Luke Travers, a former headmaster of the elite Delbarton School in New Jersey, was removed from his role as the Virginia abbey’s canonical administrator Wednesday pending the outcome of the inquiry, said Hugh Anderson, president of the American Cassinese Congregation. Travers is also prohibited from having contact with juveniles or young adults.

The decision to remove Travers came after a letter was sent this week to Anderson and the Most Rev. Francis Xavier DiLorenzo, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, asking them to re-evaluate Travers’ role. The letter from Patrick J. Marker, a resident of Washington who advocates for victims of monk misconduct, outlined allegations of misconduct by Travers against two unidentified male victims. Marker said the misconduct was sexual in nature, included the kissing of one victim’s neck and ears and the touching of another victim’s crotch, and happened in New Jersey.

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NEDERLAND
RTV Utrecht

DRIEBERGEN – Ook al zijn de misbruikzaken rond pastoor Bert Sturkenboom verjaard, toch maken de slachtoffers nog kans op een schadevergoeding. Dat vertelde advocaat Martin de Witte in U Vandaag op RTV Utrecht.

Hij vertegenwoordigt twee van de drie slachtoffers die aangifte deden van seksueel misbruik in de periode dat de pastoor in Driebergen werkte. Dat was ongeveer dertig jaar geleden en daarom zijn de zaken strafrechtelijk gezien verjaard.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

HENGELO (RKnieuws.net) – Frank Oude Geerdink, slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk, heeft andere slachtoffers opgeroepen voor een stil protest op zondag bij de eucharistieviering in de Lambertuskerk in Hengelo.

De viering wordt rechtstreeks uitgezonden op tv. Hoofdcelebrant in de viering is aartbisschop Wim Eijk. De basiliek hoopt op veel tv-kijkers en een volle kerk. Oude Geerdink, die in zijn jeugd werd misbruikt door een pastoor in zijn woonplaats Albergen, wil met andere slachtoffers een statement maken maken tegen het kerkmisbruik.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

Er moet één centraal meldpunt komen voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk. Dat zeggen slachtofferorganisaties Klokk en Slachtofferhulp Nederland. Ook moet er een campagne komen om het meldpunt bekendheid te geven. Er is hiervoor inmiddels een subsidie van 700.000 euro aangevraagd.

Na het opheffen van de commissie Deetman is het onduidelijk voor slachtoffers waar ze met hun verhaal terecht kunnen. Deetman adviseerde zelf ook al een dergelijk meldpunt op te richten.

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UNITED STATES
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

WASHINGTON • In a groundbreaking case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held for the first time that religious employees of a church cannot sue for employment discrimination.

The court’s unanimous decision in a case involving a church and school in Michigan owned and operated by a member congregation of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod was the first time the high court has acknowledged a “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination laws.

This doctrine — developed in lower court rulings — says the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion shields churches and their operations from the reach of such laws when the issue involves religious employees of these institutions.

The ruling does not, however, specify the distinction between a secular employee, who can take advantage of the government’s protection from discrimination and retaliation, and a religious employee, who can’t.

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UNITED STATES
The Chronicle of Higher Education

By Peter Schmidt

Washington

[Updated with additional reaction and details about the concurring opinions, 5:38 p.m.]

In a decision with major implications for church-affiliated colleges and their employees, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously held that the First Amendment precludes the application of federal employment-discrimination laws to religious institutions’ personnel decisions involving workers with religious duties.

Many federal appeals courts and state courts had previously declared that there exists a “ministerial exception” to employment-discrimination laws rooted in the First Amendment’s clauses protecting religious freedom. Wednesday’s ruling, however, is the first in which the Supreme Court formally recognized the “ministerial exception” as legal doctrine.

Although the case involved a lawsuit brought by a teacher who had been fired from a now-defunct religious elementary school, it was watched closely by many religious colleges, which had urged the court to safeguard their religious freedom, and advocates for the employees of such institutions, who had argued that a Supreme Court decision in favor of the school could leave colleges emboldened to cite the ministerial exception as a pretext for trampling employees’ rights.

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UNITED STATES
Detroit Free Press

[Supreme Court decision via BishopAccountability.org]

By Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

In a landmark decision hailed by conservative Christians and advocates for religious liberty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in favor of a Redford Township church’s firing of a teacher.

The case centered on Cheryl Perich, who developed narcolepsy and sought to keep her job, which the church said she no longer could perform.

The court’s ruling upheld the legal principle that houses of worship have what’s called a ministerial exception, meaning they are exempt from some government laws, such as anti-discrimination laws. Such an exception allows the Catholic Church to ban women from being priests, for example.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that it was legal for Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford Township to fire Perich after she complained she was being discriminated against because of a disability.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

Conservative religious groups have long predicted that church freedom would perish at the hands of “activist judges.” But the Supreme Court’s new exemption of religious groups from discrimination laws should silence the false alarms.

In its first major religious-freedom case in decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a Pennsylvania Lutheran school that fired a teacher after she took disability leave for narcolepsy, then returned mid-year demanding her job back. The Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Luther School, part of a church of the same name, told the teacher they had hired a contractor to take her place through the end of the year, and that they were concerned about her physical readiness to return to work. Church members offered to help pay her insurance bills if she resigned, but she threatened to sue instead. She made good on her promise when the school fired her, claiming it had illegally discriminated against her because of her disability.

The court based its decision in Hosanna-Tabor v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on a long history of reverence for the “ministerial exception”—the idea that it violates the First Amendment for the state to interfere in who religious groups hire and fire. The decision hinged on a broad definition of “minister,” arguing that because she was ordained, considered “called” by God to her position, and collected religious-tax breaks, the teacher is the type of person religious groups should be able to select—and get rid of—without state interference. “The church must be free to choose who will guide it on its way,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. Though this case itself didn’t involve a hot-button issue, it firmly established that churches have the right to discriminate in hiring.

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UNITED STATES
AFP

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the right of churches to discriminate in their employment decisions, calling it a matter of separation of church and state.

In the decision reached Wednesday, the court defended the so-called “pastoral exception” in the case of a Michigan teacher who was fired from a religious school after taking an extended sick leave.

She filed a complaint with the government based on laws prohibiting discrimination against Americans with disabilities, but the court ruled it had no jurisdiction over the employment decisions of religious institutions.

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UNITED STATES
KFYO

By: Chad Hasty

Church’s can hire and fire anyone they want and the government can’t get involved. That was the decision handed down yesterday by the United States Supreme Court. According to FOX News: “

The Supreme Court has sided unanimously with a church sued for firing an employee on religious grounds, issuing an opinion on Wednesday that religious employers can keep the government out of hiring and firing decisions.

In the case of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, Cheryl Perich, a “called” teacher, argued that the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich., had discriminated against her under the Americans With Disabilities Act by refusing to reinstate her to her job after she took leave for narcolepsy.

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CALIFORNIA
Bakersfield Now

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A man who was molested by his priest as a boy is getting a new civil trial against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

In an earlier trial, it was found that the priest had molested many children, but because of the statute of limitations, the Diocese wasn’t liable. Brothers George and Howard Santillan were molested for years, starting in 1959, by their priest Monsenior Anthony Herdegen.

In 2009, the Santillan brothers took their case to court. During that trial it was proved that Herdegen had molested them and other children. However, the jury found that the Diocese had no knowledge of the abuse and therefore wasn’t responsible.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegan Review-Journal

Jane Ann Morrison

THE THIEVING, GAMBLING MONSIGNOR WHO STOLE $650,000, MOSTLY FROM HIS CHURCH’S VOTIVE CANDLE FUND, HAS HIS SUPPORTERS WHO WANT HIM TO RECEIVE PROBATION FRIDAY

Posted: Jan. 12, 2012

I’m not one of them.

Nor is the U.S. Department of Probation, which recommends he spend 33 months in prison, which is the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines. The high end would be 41 months.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan won’t be bound by the probation recommendation when he sentences Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe at 10 a.m. Friday. He can show leniency. Or not.

McAuliffe’s attorney, Margaret Stanish, has an uphill battle when she argues his gambling addiction and his mental disorders and depression are reason to give him clemency. She’s arguing for probation, so he can stay an active priest and help other gambling addicts.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abused and Healing

Virginia Jones

All priests and members of religious orders should sign each reply (to this survey) submitted, and included their own estimate of how much money they personally intend to pay for the damages to victims and when. Responses will then be initialed by their immediate supervisors, collated and tabulated by their superiors, audited by victim owned accounting firms, results published in all the places named in Question 8b, which would be mandatorily subscribed to by every church, and placed daily on the dining table in every residence inhabited by priests and members of religious orders. The independent auditor would also be hired by priests and members of religious orders to conduct an evaluation of effectiveness for the aforementioned process with continual review and change, in perpetuity.

–Anonymous survivor of clergy abuse

I really appreciate this survivor’s support. I quite agree with him, but I can’t even remotely attempt to do this without much more support from many more people. Please help for the sake of this survivor and many other survivors. Both survivors and their family members or loved ones can fill out this survey — please, only one response per survivor.

You can take the survey of survivor wants and needs here: Survey of Survivor Wants and Needs for Healing

Origin of the Survey

I started working on this survey on what clergy abuse survivors want and need for healing in the Fall of 2006, after contacting Olan Horne. Olan is a Massachusetts resident who was abused by the very prolific abuser, Fr. Joseph Birmingham. He worked with other survivors abused by Fr. Birmingham to organize meetings between survivors and both Cardinal Law and Cardinal O’Malley. He later met with Pope Benedict XVI. Olan also participated in an advisory group for the US Conference of Bishops on a survey of survivors and their experiences with the Catholic Church. Olan advised me to conduct a survey of what survivors wanted and needed for healing. It seemed obvious to me that he was correct. I wrote down a list of things survivors had suggested to me from Olan, Ray Higgins (father of a survivor and founder of the Therapy Trust for Victims of Clergy Sex Abuse) of Santa Barbara, California, and Elizabeth Goeke, then the SNAP support group facilitator here in Portland, Oregon, as well as ideas I had seen in numerous newspaper articles. Some ideas included in the survey were inspired by the work of Aaron Lazare MD, former Dean of the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. Dr. Lazare studied apology for more than 20 years and is an expert on the healing power of effective apology. I presented my ideas to three different Victims’ Assistance Coordinators who worked for the Catholic Church, but they were not interested in my in put. So I sought advice on the construction of the survey from an instructor and researcher in the School of Social Work at Portland State University. She advised me on the construction of the survey.

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KANSAS
Huffington Post

A Kansas pastor’s wife says her husband was marrying other people while they were together — and in at least one case he wasn’t acting as the officiant.

Toni Darnell says that her husband of 17 years is a bigamist. He allegedly applied for a new marriage license as the couple continued to work out a messy divorce, KCTV first reported.

The pastor and his other wife allegedly exchanged vows, the TV station reports.

In the summer of 2010, Pastor Keenan Darnell moved his wife and three children from Missouri to lead the Glorious Life Church in Derby, Kansas. That’s when Toni says Keenan abandoned her.

“I didn’t see it coming. He left me for another woman in the church. I moved to Wichita to pastor a church. He left me homeless and broke, so I had to move back home to the KC area,” said Toni Darnell.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

In 2009, Dr. Steve Taylor, a Louisiana psychiatrist, faced serious trouble for downloading child pornography and “possessing more than 100 sexually explicit pictures of children.”

Shockingly, Barbara Blaine, the founder of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), wrote a passionate letter to the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners on behalf of the criminal doctor.

Because Dr. Taylor had worked extensively with SNAP, Blaine reportedly pleaded that the Board “consider Taylor’s humanitarian work and professional contributions to victims of childhood sexual abuse” before punishing him.

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IDAHO
Standard Journal

JOYCE EDLEFSEN

Mailings by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filled with revelations by imprisoned Warren Jeffs are going unopened in Madison and Fremont counties.

The polygamist sect, led by Jeffs, has included officials in the two counties on its mailing list. Using scripture-like language, the letters and packets of information proclaim Jeffs’ teachings and encourage recipients to buy books and other materials. Some of Jeffs’ revelations mentioned in the letters include messages that God will “send a full tidal wave of tsunami judgement,” and decries the sin of “outward abuse of women.” The letter also warns the President of the United States saying he “heedeth not the God over all.”

Fremont County Commission Chairman Skip Hurt says county officials have been receiving the documents, some via Priority Mail packaging, for several weeks.

Most of the packages have been thrown away without being opened, with the last batch arriving on the commissioners’ desks Monday.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

By Barb Pacholik, Leader-Post
January 11, 2012

An allegation that dates back decades has a 65-year old former Saskatchewan man before the court on a sex-related charge.

The charge against George Lyons Cargo, now of Neepawa, Man., is scheduled to return to Kamsack Provincial Court on Feb. 7. He’s accused of indecent assault on a female, an offence alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 1979 when the complainant was age seven. With subsequent changes to the Criminal Code, such an allegation today would result in a sexual assault charge.

According to a news release issued Tuesday by Kamsack RCMP, a 38-yearold woman came to police in July last year to report an incident alleged to have occurred at her residence in the Togo district in 1979. The woman had not previously disclosed the allegation to police.

At the time of the 1979 allegation, Cargo was residing in Canora.

As a minister in the United Church, Cargo has worked in several communities around Manitoba and Saskatchewan, including Canora and, in more recent years, Neepawa and area.

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NEW JERSEY
Shore News Today

Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Brian Cunniff

The news that more than 40 Catholic schools, including five high schools, in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are in line for closure at the end of the current scholastic year has torn through the region over the last week.

With so many residents here at the Jersey Shore originally from the Philadelphia area, the news has affected many people locally, many of whom have a great chance to see their grammar and/or high schools merged with others or closed altogether.

It’s a stark reality in the current Catholic education system and the current Catholic Church in general – economics, declining enrollment in schools and attendance at mass, the changing demographics of many neighborhoods, lack of available priests, etc.

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UNITED STATES
NRP

[with audio]

[Supreme Court decision via BishopAccountability.org]

January 11, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court for the first time has declared that the Constitution exempts ministers from the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Wednesday’s decision was unanimous and groundbreaking — but it left unresolved some of the thorniest questions in determining who is a minister and who is not.

The court’s ruling came in the case of Cheryl Perich, a teacher at the Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church and School in Michigan. In 2004, Perich took leave when she was diagnosed with narcolepsy. But when her doctor certified her to return to work, the school asked her to resign, so she threatened to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Their response was to fire me,” Perich said. “I can’t fathom how the Constitution would be interpreted in such a way as to deny me my civil rights as an elementary school teacher.”

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UNITED STATES
PhillyBurbs

By HARRY WOODRUFF

“That Sorry Decade” the 1960s! Columnist J.D. Mullane embraces minor changes in Catholic Church liturgy but laments a time of great changes in the 1960s and refers to that period as “That Sorry Decade.” He apparently did not experience that decade but must have heard about it from others of his conservative ideology. Conservatives don’t like change. Progressive means change.

Our society and culture were changed dramatically in the 60s and for the better when civil rights, gender equality, and a rejection of a failed war by American citizens forever altered the landscape of this great country.

History has shown that “real change” always brings upheaval as the “old” way of doing things is no longer acceptable nor possible. In the 60s decade, black and brown people refused to accept discrimination and demanded inclusion in the “American Dream.” Women became empowered and refused to accept their second-rate status in employment, education and other areas. Homosexuals began their quest to be treated equally in the “Land of the free and the home of the brave.” Young adults subject to the draft and other conscientious members of society protested the government’s reasons for and participation in the costly, disastrous war in Vietnam. The “Sexual Revolution” also emerged as young adults and others began to reject the puritanical societal and religious views on sexuality.

There were some “sorry” activities that were happening also; increased drug use and abuse, riots in the streets, subversive militant groups formed. Change was and is not always positive.

It was also a time when child sexual abuse was buried in the culture. A “sorry” time when allegations of child sexual abuse by priests were routinely resolved by moving the priest to a new parish often able to continue with their criminal behavior. Decisions that the Catholic Church deals with to this day.

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MUNCIE (IN)
The Star Press

Written by
DOUGLAS WALKER

MUNCIE — Matthew Kidd’s attorney failed in a bid to have a mistrial declared on Wednesday, when a second witness testified he had been subjected to groping and fondling by the Muncie pastor.

Kidd, 55, is charged with child molesting, sexual misconduct with a minor and vicarious sexual gratification over his alleged dealings with three teenage members of his then-Pentecostal church.

The pastor’s accusers are brothers, and defense attorney Steven Bruce has suggested their allegations are motivated by greed. The alleged victims — two of whom are now in their 20s — and their family are also pursuing a civil lawsuit targeting Kidd, his church and other defendants.

One of the brothers testified Tuesday. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Judi Calhoun called his two siblings to the stand Wednesday.

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IRELAND
Pannone

Catholic Priests requested to pay 60 euros a month into a fund to cover pay-outs for clerical abuse

It has been reported by the BBC that Catholic Priests in a diocese in the Republic of Ireland have been asked to pay into a fund. This request was made by Rev Dermot Clifford, the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly diocese in the Republic of Ireland. A fund already existed to cover clerical abuse, but this is dwindling.

Curates have been requested to pay 50 euros per month and Parish Priests have been asked to pay 60 euros into the fund, to allow compensation to victims of Clergy Abuse.

The diocese said the request had stemmed from a recent meeting of the diocese’s Council of Priests, where it was suggested that the Archbishop make an appeal to Priests asking them to help restore the abuse fund.

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CALIFORNIA
Sokolove Law

by Sokolove Law Staff on Jan 11 2012

Six brothers now in their 40s and 50s are suing a Catholic diocese in California over sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of a priest years ago in what may turn into a landmark child abuse lawsuit.

According to the Legal Intelligencer (subscription required) the brothers brought their request to the California Supreme Court. The brothers have filed an abuse lawsuit against the diocese that they say allegedly knew that the priest, Donald Broderson, had molested children in the past. While the molestations occurred in the 1970s, the brothers were only able to link the incidents to ongoing distress in 2006.

While abuse cases such as this are usually limited by a statute of limitations, California law allows for adults who have connected psychological problems to events childhood events to pursue a lawsuit in some cases.

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GERMANY
Vatican Insider

German weekly “Stern” has published the results of a survey, which have sparked much debate

Alessandro Alviani
Berlin

If Germans had to choose between the Dalai Lama and “their” Pope as a spiritual model from which to draw inspiration, they would choose the Tibetan spiritual leader without a doubt. This is according to the results of a survey carried out by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, for weekly newspaper Stern, on newsstands from tomorrow, 12 January.

Just a third of federal citizens (32%) see Benedict XVI as a model; the Dalai Lama on the other hand is favoured by 69% of Germans and ranks third in the list of individuals Germans consider to be exemplary figures. The former South African President and leader of the anti-apartheid movement Nelson Mandela takes first position (82%), followed by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (74%).

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAMELA DUNCAN

TRAINEE PRIESTS at Ireland’s national seminary in Maynooth are to be separated from the rest of the student body, according to an article in the current edition of the Irish Catholic.

This would see seminarians separated from the 8,000-strong student body of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. The report says that doors have been installed at the college, separating the seminarians’ living quarters from the rest of the campus; a new entrance to the seminary has been constructed to the rear of the building; and proposals that the trustees of the college create a separate dining room for the seminary community have been put forward.

Msgr Hugh Connolly, president of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, told the Irish Catholic that he was “trying to get the balance right between the need for the seminary to be a distinctive, prayerful community and ensure that the seminarians have all the benefits that the Maynooth campus has to offer.

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NEW YORK
Queens Ledger

by Margaret Markey

Details continue to unfold about the shocking scandals over allegations of child sexual abuse and coverup at Penn State University and at Syracuse University here in New York.

Shocking as these cases are, the rape and sexual abuse of children is sadly a national epidemic. The statistics about this national plague are startling:

• 20 percent of America’s children suffer sexual abuse, according to the National Institute of Justice;

• Of those, 56 percent suffer their abuse at the hands of family members or other people they trust and respect; and

• Only 10 percent of predators are ever exposed

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