ABUSE TRACKER

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

January 10, 2021

By Jay Tokasz

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/trove-of-buffalo-diocese-abuse-records-turned-over-to-victims-in-bankruptcy-court/article_a43dd8ce-4e9a-11eb-bb44-93864abd9851.html

Lawyers and survivors of childhood sexual abuse are reviewing more than 25,000 pages of internal Buffalo Diocese documents relating to clergy abuse, diocesan finances and personnel files.

Diocese lawyers began handing over the files in December under the terms of an agreement that they hashed out with abuse survivors who make up the committee of unsecured creditors in the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, according to multiple sources.

Whether the general public will be able to examine the confidential records someday remains unclear and likely will be subject to intense negotiations during the bankruptcy proceedings.

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

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

January 10, 2021

By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert

Firms cut legal fees by $2K in church bankruptcy ahead of hearing

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/firms-cut-legal-fees-by-2k-in-church-bankruptcy-ahead-of-hearing/article_d8a53556-5176-11eb-91bb-03b877ffdddf.html

Two law firms in the Archdiocese of Agana’s two-year-old bankruptcy case reduced their legal fees by $2,162.50, ahead of a court hearing on the latest interim fee applications.

The fourth interim fee applications from law firms now amount to about $478,400.

The archdiocese’s bankruptcy marks its second year this month. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection is aimed at reorganizing the church’s finances, and compensating nearly 300 Guam clergy sex abuse survivors while also keeping all Catholic schools and parishes open.

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

NEW ZEALAND
Gisborne Herald

January 10, 2021

By Matthew Epsom

We must already know what the New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care will reveal about the Catholic Church in New Zealand. That’s because it has been said before, time and time again, across the globe, by many other inquiries into the exact same issue.

Independent inquiries worldwide have already looked into what happened to children, young people and adults at risk in the care of the Catholic Church over past decades. Australia’s Royal Commission, England and Wales’ IICSA Report, the McCarrick Report and Pennsylvania Report in the USA, Ireland’s Murphy Report, and the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, among others, have all reached the same conclusions — that thousands of cases of clerical and religious child sexual abuse, dating back to the 1950s, were routinely buried by bishops and congregational leaders of the Catholic Church across the globe.

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

IRELAND
The Journal

January 10, 2021

Micheál Martin is to give the apology on behalf of the State and wider society.

TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN is to apologise to those who were placed in mother and baby homes in the Dáil next week.

As first reported by the Sunday Independent, the Taoiseach will give the apology on behalf of the State and “wider society” on Wednesday, a government spokesperson has confirmed to TheJournal.ie.

In correspondence sent to survivors’ groups, Minister for Children and Equality Roderic O’Gorman said that he was “deeply angered” to see details of the Mother and Baby Home report leaked to a newspaper.

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

FALL RIVER (MA)
Courier Sentinel via Wicked Local

January 9, 2021

By Frank Mulligan

A list of Diocese of Fall River clergy accused of committing sexual abuse of a minor has been published by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha and includes five priests who had been assigned to St. Patrick’s Church in Wareham, two to St. Margaret’s in Buzzards Bay, and one assigned to St. Rita in Marion.

The priests who had been assigned to St. Patrick’s in Wareham include Mark R. Hession, born in 1958, ordination in 1984, faculties – permission granted to clergy that enables them to practice public ministry within a certain diocese – suspended. He was also assigned to St. Joan of Arc, Orleans; Holy Name, Fall River; St. Mary, New Bedford; Charlton Memorial Hospital, Fall River; St. Joseph, Taunton; Holy Rosary, Fall River; St. Patrick, Falmouth; Our Lady of Victory, Centerville; Our Lady of the Assumption, Osterville; Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Seekonk; Holy Family East Taunton. Assignment dates were not listed.

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

WAREHAM (MA)
Wareham Week

January 9, 2021

By Chloe Shelford

Five priests who served at St. Patrick’s in Wareham have been accused of sexual abuse, according to a list of 75 accused clergy published on Jan. 7 by the diocese of Fall River.

It is unclear when these priests worked in Wareham, and many served at more than eight churches over their careers.

St. Patrick’s declined to comment for this story.

Several of the priests are facing criminal charges:

Mark Hession has been charged with two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and battery on a child less than 14, and one count of intimidation of a witness.

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

UTTAR PRADESH (INDIA)
Hindustan Times

January 9, 2021

Edited by Abhinav Sahay

Priest Narain used to live in the temple premises, where the woman was gang raped and murdered.

The prime accused in the brutal gang rape and murder of a 50-year-old woman on Sunday night in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district was sent to judicial custody till January 18 by a local court on Friday.

The prime accused, a temple priest named Satya Narain (53), was arrested by a police team in a village in Ughaiti area of Badaun on Thursday night. An award of ₹50,000 had earlier been announced for his arrest.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had also tasked the special task force (STF) to hunt for the prime accused but he was finally arrested by a team of local police.

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

ATTLEBORO (MA)
Sun Chronicle

January 7, 2021

By David Linton

https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/over-two-dozen-attleboro-area-priests-on-sex-abuse-list-released-by-diocese/article_5941d60c-87db-5e5d-83a2-a442b993c477.html

Two dozen priests who served in the Attleboro area were among 75 clergy whose names were released by the Fall River Diocese Thursday as having been credibly or publicly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

“As I pray for a spirit of healing and reconciliation, I know that we cannot move on without an honest accounting of the past,” said Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha in a prepared statement.

“As your bishop, I am deeply and profoundly sorry for the abuse that was perpetrated by priests within this diocese and have recommitted myself to doing everything in my power to ensure this never happens again,” he said.

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

EVERETT (WA)
Heraldnet.com

January 10, 2021

By Caleb Hutton

Two former priests at St. Michael in Snohomish were among four “credibly accused” of molesting children.

The Archdiocese of Seattle has reached over $2 million in settlements in the past six months due to credible allegations of sexual abuse against four Catholic priests in Western Washington, including two former leaders of a parish in Snohomish and one in Everett.

The Rev. Michael C. OBrien led St. Michael Parish from 1974 to 1979.

He was succeeded by the Rev. Dennis Champagne from 1979 to 1999, who then became the priest of St. John Bosco Church in Lakewood. Church leaders put Champagne on leave in 2002, after someone accused him of sexual misconduct.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

January 9, 2021

By Annie Sweeney and William Lee

https://www.bluemountaineagle.com/life/national/longtime-advocate-for-community-lightning-rod-for-critics-pfleger-forced-to-watch-others-carry-on/article_16bee690-cfac-5579-ae92-8ce156c50a74.html

In his years of seemingly relentless advocating and fighting for social justice in Chicago, the Rev. Michael Pfleger has often charged into the center of controversy, publicly defying and rebuking his church and city leaders on everything from gun violence to race and economic disparities.

He has been arrested while protesting outside a suburban gun shop. He ran afoul of his downtown church bosses, earning suspensions. He lost a foster child to gun violence and faced hateful reactions in some Chicago enclaves after standing with victims of police shootings.

Throughout, Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest from a white working-class neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side, has built trust and amassed a dedicated following, leading with a righteous fury that garnered national attention from his base at St. Sabina in Auburn Gresham, the city’s largest Black Catholic congregation.

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

NEW JERSEY
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

January 5, 2021

In the closing hours of 2020, the Diocese of Camden made an outrageous strategic move to protect itself from scrutiny. On New Year’s Eve, Bishop Dennis Sullivan submitted a Plan of Reorganization that prioritizes the protection of the Diocese against scandal over accountability and compensation owed to those harmed by sexually abusive clergy. The plan sets a new low for the Diocese’s self-interest, doubling down on the callousness and contempt for survivors.

This plan will allow the Diocese of Camden to move at an extremely fast pace through their bankruptcy proceedings by setting a “bar date” of March 2021. To us, the fact that the Diocese was allowed to declare bankruptcy in the first place is absurd, and this incredibly swift process to limit claims and protect finances will only harm survivors at the expense of a wealthy institution.

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

NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

January 8, 2021

By Blake Nelson

Advocates for people sexually abused by clergy are opposing a plan from a New Jersey Catholic diocese to compensate victims.

The Diocese of Camden announced a proposal on Dec. 31 to speed up the process of setting aside millions of dollars for abuse claims, after the church filed for bankruptcy in October.

“The Diocese wants to continue to pay survivors rather than lawyers and other professional advisers,” the church said in a statement.

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

NEW ORLEANS
WVUE-TV

By Kimberly Curth

January 8, 2021

https://www.fox8live.com/2021/01/08/alleged-church-sex-abuse-survivors-say-they-feel-betrayed-by-joint-archdiocese-snap-new-orleans-statement/

Alleged church sex abuse victims tell Fox 8 they feel betrayed by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest, or SNAP, after one of the group’s leaders met with the New Orleans Archbishop.

SNAP’s Kevin Bourgeois and Archbishop Gregory Aymond released a joint statement this week saying while the two groups have appeared at odds over how the Archdiocese has handled sexual abuse claims by clergy in the past, they have common goals for healing victims and their families.

“What Mr. Bourgeois and I are doing together is for the good of people and for the healing of those who have been hurt and once again I deeply apologize to those who have been hurt by the sexual abuse of minors,” said Aymond.

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

NEW ORLEANS
WWL-TV

By David Hammer

January 8, 2021

Faced with a formal church investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a New Orleans altar boy in the mid-1970s, the Rev. Father Joseph deWater denies wrongdoing and suggests his accuser should not “dwell on things when he was a young boy.”

DeWater, who capped a 35-year career in the New Orleans area as a pastor, coach and educator by having a Roman Catholic school gymnasium named for him in 2003, granted WWL television an extensive interview at his home in the village of Voorhout, Netherlands, about 35 minutes south of the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

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

FALL RIVER
Standard-Times

January 9, 2021

By Kiernan Dunlop

https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2021/01/08/fall-river-diocese-releases-list-clergy-credibly-accused-sex-abuse-easton-immaculate-conception/6593393002/

Two years after announcing a review of allegations of sexual abuse against minors, the Diocese of Fall River on Thursday released a list of 75 clergy credibly or publicly accused, including two former Easton priests.

“As I pray for a spirit of healing and reconciliation, I know that we cannot move on without an honest accounting for the past,” Bishop Edgar M da Cunha said in a press release from the diocese. “As your bishop, I am deeply and profoundly sorry for the abuse that was perpetrated by priests within this diocese and have recommitted myself to do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.”

Diocese of Fall River Bishop Edgar M. DaCunha announced Thursday the release of a list of 75 clergy credibly or publicly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Jim Scanlan, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse that occurred during his time at Boston College High School, said it’s never a bad thing to have a list released.

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

DARTMOUTH (MA)
Dartmouth Week

January 8, 2021

By Kate Robinson

A Catholic priest who once worked at Bishop Stang High School is among those credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor in a list of 75 accused clergy published on Jan. 7 by the diocese of Fall River.

Father William W. Norton, who died in 2004, is one of 53 priests, seminarians, and other religious leaders against whom allegations of sexual abuse is considered considered “credible” by the diocese.

According to a diocese statement, credible allegations are those that meet a “semblance of truth” standard similar to that of probable cause (in which there is a reasonable basis for believing a crime was committed).

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

FALL RIVER (MA)
Associated Press

January 8, 2021

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts has released a list of 75 clergy credibly or publicly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

More than three-quarters of the names released by the diocese Thursday have already been made public through previous announcements from the church, media reports, or other means, according to a statement.

There are currently no priests in ministry who have been credibly accused.

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

KERALA (INDIA)
The News Minute

January 9, 2021

The KCBC said that all the verdict did was to satisfy falsely created public opinion.

Weeks after a CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram convicted Father Kottoor and Sister Sephy, an editorial on KCBC News, the newly launched website of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) claimed that the investigating agency could not prove charges against the accused. Sr Sephy and Father Kottoor were found guilty in December after 28 years under Sections 302 (Murder) and Section 449 (House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death) of the Indian Penal Code, and have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

January 9, 2021

By Patsy McGarry

Commission set to publish final report on outrageous abuse of women and children

It is probable that the most shocking revelations from the report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission investigation, due to be published next week, are already known to us.

In its fifth interim report, published in April 2019, it confirmed that at Tuam “the memorial garden site contains human remains which date from the period of the operation of the Tuam children’s home so it is likely that a large number of the children who died in the Tuam home are buried there”. Local historian Catherine Corless had established that 796 children died there.

That interim report continued: “The human remains found by the commission are not in a sewage tank but in a second structure with 20 chambers which was built within the decommissioned large sewage tank.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

January 7, 2021

Supporters of a popular and prominent Catholic priest in Chicago took to the streets to show their support for the accused cleric. While we understand that these supporters have a right to their opinion, we hope that in the future they will utilize alternative means of support that will not scare or shame victims into silence.

One of the things being harped on by the supporters of Fr. Michael Pfleger is that the allegations of abuse against him are from 40 years ago. To those who do not spend a lot of time thinking about sexual violence, this delay in reporting can seem baffling, but in reality delays like this are incredibly common. Data shows that the average age of a survivor of sexual violence to come forward is 52 and most survivors suffer in silence and self-blame for decades. This fact is only compounded when the abuser in question is someone who holds a prominent position in their community, like a valued coach, popular teacher, or trusted priest.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

January 8, 2021

By Mary Mitchell

A decades-old sexual abuse allegation against the Rev. Michael Pfleger has taken away one of Chicago’s most powerful voices.

Forty years is a lifetime.

I look back at where I was 40 years ago, and, while I marvel at how far I have come, I cringe when I consider where I have come from.

These are the thoughts that crossed my mind when I learned the Chicago Archdiocese announced there would be an investigation of an allegation that accused the Rev. Michael Pfleger of sexually abusing a minor four decades ago. It was a gut punch.

Father Mike? How is that even possible? The activist priest is as famous as a rock star. His civil rights activism includes turning St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church into a sanctuary for Black Roman Catholics and residents of Auburn-Gresham.

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

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald

January 9, 2021

By Ian Kirkwood

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7079148/new-study-to-produce-abuse-map-by-tracking-moves-of-catholic-figures-across-hunter-region/?cs=7573&utm_source=website&utm_medium=index&utm_campaign=sidebar

A Newcastle University academic and a colleague from Queensland are embarking on a Hunter version of a research project that analysed the movements of Catholic figures around Victoria to uncover an alleged 16 child abuse networks within the Melbourne and Ballarat dioceses.

Newcastle sociologist Dr Kathleen McPhillips and criminologist Dr Jodi Death of the Queensland University of Technology’s law faculty will lead the project, which recently received ethics approval from both institutions. Both Dr McPhillips and Dr Death (pronounced “Deeth”), have published widely on clerical child abuse.

The Melbourne mapping was carried out by one of Dr Death’s PhD students and drew on her work, including a 2017 book on the Royal Commission and other Australian inquiries.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

January 9, 2021

By Lauren Harte

A campaigner for victims of institutional abuse has resigned in disgust after some victims were offered as little as £10,000 in compensation.

Martin Adams, from Survivors Together, says many victims of historical abuse have lost all faith in the redress board that was part of the late Sir Anthony Hart’s Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry recommendations.

The HIA studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

There were 76 homes that operated during that time and abuse victims from all of them would be eligible to apply for compensation.

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

SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino Sun via the Press-Enterprise

January 8, 2021

By Joe Nelson
.
The former principal of Wildomar’s Faith Baptist Academy pleaded guilty Friday, Jan. 8, to molesting a teenage student who babysat for his family more than 30 years ago.

Laverne Paul Fox, 61, who also formerly served as the bus director for the affiliated Faith Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sexual abuse involving a minor before Judge Mark Mandio at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. Fox is scheduled for sentencing on April 30, and faces a maximum of four years, eight months in prison, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

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

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV

January 8, 2021

By David Hammer

In a remarkably candid interview from his native Holland, Father Joseph de Water took questions from WWL-TV about accusations that he abused a young boy years ago.

Faced with a formal church investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a minor in the mid-1970s, Father Joseph deWater is denying wrongdoing and suggests his accuser should not “dwell on things when he was a young boy.”

DeWater, who capped a 35-year career in the New Orleans area as a pastor, coach and educator by having a Catholic school gymnasium named for him in 2003, granted WWL-TV an extensive interview at his home in the village of Voorhout, Netherlands, about 35 minutes south of the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

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

LUBBOCK (TX)
CNA

January 8, 2021

The Catholic Diocese of Lubbock, Texas has asked its state Supreme Court to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought against the diocese by one of its former deacons, who claims he was wrongfully accused of child abuse.

The diocese holds that the suit should be dropped in order to protect the Church’s First Amendment rights to protect matters of theology, Church discipline, compliance with Church moral teaching and ecclesiastical governance from the jurisdiction of civil courts, according to Courthouse News Service.

In 2019, former deacon Jesus Guerrero, 76, filed a lawsuit against the diocese, after his name appeared on a public list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. The list was published on the diocese’s website in January 2019 in the wake of widespread abuse investigations throughout the Church in the United States.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal Magazine

January 7, 2021

By Paul Moses

How EWTN misreported the Viganò letter

EWTN’s website declares that “Our mission is simple. We aim to bring you reliable, accurate, trustworthy news, from a perspective of faith. We prize integrity, fairness, and a commitment to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

But in reporting one of the biggest stories to hit the Catholic Church in recent years, EWTN, which says it is the largest religion-news organization in the world, was neither reliable, nor accurate, nor trustworthy. Its coverage of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s bold call for Pope Francis to resign his office willfully ignored the gaps and contradictions in his claims (except to explain them away), promoted his credibility, and slanted the narrative against the pope.

This can be seen even more clearly now that the Vatican has released its report on the Holy See’s role in advancing the career of Theodore McCarrick to his pinnacle as cardinal-archbishop of Washington and elder statesman of the American Church—all the while concealing multiple allegations that he sexually harassed and abused seminarians and young priests. But from the start, EWTN shaped the story to fit its increasingly Fox News-ified agenda.

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

ROME
Crux

January 8, 2021

By Elise Ann Allen

Following a 5-month investigation into the charismatic Community of Jesus the Savior, the Archdiocese of Malta has issued a decree forbidding participation in the group after finding what it described as abusive tendencies causing harm to members.

In a Jan. 8 communique, the bishops’ conference of Malta, consisting of the Malta and Gozo dioceses, said they “reaffirm the decision to disassociate themselves from Komunità Ġesù Salvatur,” referring to the group by its Maltese name.

They said this decision was the product of a 5-month investigation conducted by a Church commission which conducted interviews with the leaders of the community, and others who were willing to speak.

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

LUBBOCK (TX)
The Texan

January 7, 2021

By Isaiah Mitchell

The Diocese of Lubbock defended their choice to publish the name of a credibly accused sex abuser yesterday before the court.

A priest and a lawyer crossed through a bar — in court, that is. Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Texas heard a case between a Lubbock deacon who claimed his diocese defamed him by putting him on a list of credibly accused sex abusers. The Lubbock Diocese believes a ruling in the deacon’s favor would set a precedent against the freedom of churches to discipline their clergy in the manner they see fit.

The case, Diocese of Lubbock v. Guerrero, begins with a sexual incident between deacon Jesus Guerrero and an adult woman that landed him on a list of credibly accused abusers. The Diocese of Lubbock originally labeled him among “Clergy with a Credible Allegation of Sexual Abuse of a Minor,” but later corrected themselves to include “vulnerable adults” alongside children.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

January 7, 2021

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

A Deerfield-based organization contracted by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is seeking help from clergy sexual abuse survivors as it develops recommendations for the diocese to improve prevention and accountability.

The announcement that recruitment of survivors who were sexually abused by Catholic priests, sisters and other members of the church community is underway by Stop It Now! for an independent report to the diocese was made during a press conference Thursday afternoon outside the Bishop Marshall Center on Elliot Street.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP

January 7, 2021

By Hector Molina

An independent task force announced an initiative on the response to sexual abuse within the Diocese of Springfield.

Bishop William Byrne joined members of the independent task force along with representatives from the Stop It Now! organization Thursday at 2:30 p.m. outside the Bishop Marshall Center on Elliot Street in Springfield.

According to a news release sent to 22News from the Diocese of Springfield, the news conference is about an initiative to conduct listening sessions and surveying those who were sexually abused by members of the Catholic clergy.

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

VATICAN CITY
CNA

January 7, 2021

Australia’s financial crime watchdog said Thursday that it is conducting a “detailed review” of Vatican-linked transfers worth $1.8 billion.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), a government agency, said Jan. 7 that it was seeking to shed light on the mystery transfers in cooperation with the Vatican.

“AUSTRAC is currently undertaking a detailed review of the figures and is working with the Holy See and Vatican City State Financial Intelligence Unit on this matter,” the agency said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Reports of a money transfer from the Vatican to Australia date back to Oct. 2, when Italian media claimed that an alleged transfer was part of a dossier being compiled by Vatican investigators and prosecutors against Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

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

[MEDIA STATEMENT] Official Communiqué of the Archdiocese of Belém

BELÉM (BRAZIL)
Archdiocese of Belém

January 3, 2021

A Arquidiocese de Belém reitera ao povo de Deus, com transparência e serenidade, que está acompanhando as investigações em curso, com a certeza e a confiança de que, ao final, prevalecerá a verdade.

Informa ainda que, devido ao sigilo imposto e em respeito às leis, não pode divulgar mais informações.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: The Archdiocese of Belém reiterates to the people of God, with transparency and serenity, who are following the investigations underway, with the certainty and confidence that, in the end, the truth will prevail.

He also informs that, due to the secrecy imposed and in compliance with the laws, he cannot disclose more information.]

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

FALL RIVER (MA)
Diocese of Fall River

January 7, 2021

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V.

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we begin this New Year, I pray that God will bless us all with His grace and bring peace to those in our community who have suffered greatly during the pandemic and the many other challenges we have all faced in 2020.

The scourge of clergy sexual abuse has deeply wounded so many people in our Church. It has touched every diocese worldwide and continues to affect us all – laity and clergy – in significant ways. Today, it is with a contrite heart and commitment to the healing process that I have published a list of clergy, diocesan and religious related to the Diocese of Fall River who have been credibly or publicly accused of committing sexual abuse of a minor.

The review of Diocesan records, some going back 70 years, was incredibly arduous and time consuming. While this review has taken longer than first anticipated, it was crucial that we took the time needed to do it right.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
The New York Times

January 7, 2021

By Allyson Waller and Marie Fazio

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, known for his social activism, was accused of abusing a minor 40 years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago said this week.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, an influential Catholic priest with an activist streak, has stepped aside from his parish on Chicago’s South Side while the authorities and the Archdiocese of Chicago investigate an allegation that he sexually abused a minor more than 40 years ago.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, told the parishioners of St. Sabina Church, where Father Pfleger is the senior pastor, about the allegation in a letter on Tuesday, saying that the archdiocese’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review had been notified about it the day before.

The archdiocese, he said, reported it to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The archdiocese did not disclose details of the accusation against Father Pfleger, nor did the state’s attorney’s office, which said it had referred the matter to the Chicago Police Department. The Police Department said it had opened an investigation but declined to release additional information.

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

SEATTLE (WA)
Archdiocese of Seattle via Northwest Catholic

January 7, 2021

The Archdiocese of Seattle has reached settlements totaling just over $2 million in three separate cases involving allegations of sexual abuse against four priests of the archdiocese.

During the past six months, settlements were reached in the following cases:

Allegations of sexual abuse by Father Dennis Champagne and Father Michael C. OBrien at St. Michael Parish in Snohomish in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The settlement was reached July 16, 2020. Champagne, who was pastor from 1979 until 1999, was put on administrative leave in 2002 after the archdiocese received an allegation of sexual abuse. He remained on administrative leave until a canonical process was completed, then was placed on permanent prayer and penance, removing him from ministry. OBrien was St. Michael’s pastor from 1974 to 1979. After the archdiocese received a credible complaint of sexual abuse, a canonical process was completed, and in 2010 OBrien was laicized (returned to the lay state).

An allegation of sexual abuse by Father Paul Conn, who served as parochial vicar at Queen of Angels Parish in Port Angeles from 1985 to 1988. In 1988, the archdiocese learned of the sexual abuse allegations and facilitated a report to the police. Conn was arrested and charged, pled guilty to six counts of indecent liberties and served time in prison. From the time of his arrest until 2005, he was not allowed to serve as a priest, and in 2005 he was laicized. The archdiocese reached a settlement in the case on November 19, 2020.

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

SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

January 7, 2021

Finally, after years of refusal, Catholic officials in Fall River have followed the lead of nearly 160 other dioceses around the country and released a list of priests known to have abused children. This step is long overdue and must be followed by extensive outreach campaigns to ensure victims are informed, parishes are alerted, and the public can learn the true scope of clergy abuse within Fall River’s borders.

We appreciate that Diocesan leaders in Fall River went a step further than many of their counterparts and chose to list, from the outset, religious order priests and clergy who spent time in Fall River but abused elsewhere. Hair splitting over who had jurisdiction over these clerics is not valuable when it comes to informing the public about dangerous men, an exhaustive list of abusers and their information is.

One critical piece of information that is missing from this list, however, is when Catholic officials first learned of the allegations against each priest and what steps were taken in response. We hope that Bishop Edgar da Cunha will update his list to include those critical details. In order to fix what is broken one needs to have all the pieces first, and a clear look at how Diocesan leaders handled each allegation is an important piece.

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

FALL RIVER (MA)
WJAR-TV

January 7, 2021

By Amanda Hoskins

The Diocese of Fall River released the names of 75 credibly or publicly accused of sexually abusing a minor Thursday after a long review of internal records.

Some of the records and accusations date back 70 years, with most cases involving conduct that happened between the 1960s and 1980, according to a release from the diocese.

“We did it for the victims, the survivors to bring a sense of justice and healing for them,” said Bishop Edgar da Cunha.

Cunha had been criticized in the past for not releasing the list sooner.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
The Standard-Times

January 7, 2021

Two years after announcing a review of allegations of sexual abuse against minors, the Diocese of Fall River on Thursday released a list of 75 clergy credibly or publicly accused.

“As I pray for a spirit of healing and reconciliation, I know that we cannot move on without an honest accounting for the past,” Bishop Edgar M da Cunha said in a press release from the diocese. “As your bishop, I am deeply and profoundly sorry for the abuse that was perpetrated by priests within this diocese and have recommitted myself to do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.”

The diocese’s review revealed that 44 of the 650 priests who have served as a Fall River Diocesan priest since the diocese’s founding in 1904, or roughly 7%, have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

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GERMANY
The Tablet

January 5, 2021

By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

In the escalating crisis that is reverberating across the German Church several priests in the archdiocese of Cologne have called for their archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, to resign.

Woelki is accused of failing to inform the Vatican about a serious sexual abuse allegation involving a priest after he took office as Archbishop of Cologne in 2014.

In a carefully worded Christmas Eve address Woelki did not apologise for the fact that he himself – as the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” alleged in mid-December – is supposed to have covered up for a suspected child molester.

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UTTAR PRADESH (INDIA)
Hindustan Times

January 7, 2021

Police arrested the two accomplices, Jai Pal alias Jaspal and Vedram Pal, under charges of gang rape and murder on Tuesday but the main accused, Satyaveer alias Satya Narayan , is still on the run, said Badaun special superintendent of police Sankalp Sharma.

A temple priest and two accomplices allegedly gang-raped a 50-year-old anganwadi worker, fractured her leg and ribcage, before leaving her bleeding to die in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district, state police said on Wednesday.

Police arrested the two accomplices, Jai Pal alias Jaspal and Vedram Pal, under charges of gang rape and murder on Tuesday but the main accused, Satyaveer alias Satya Narayan , is still on the run, said Badaun special superintendent of police Sankalp Sharma. The crime was allegedly committed on Sunday when the woman went to the local temple, said the victim’s family members in the police complaint

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

[TV Globo’s ‘Fantástico’ report exposes alleged abuses by Dom Alberto Taveira]

BRAZIL
OLiberal.com

January 3, 2021

By Ana Carolina Matos

Matéria televisiva traz novos detalhes e relatos sobre as denúncias contra o Arcebispo Metropolitano de Belém

[Television piece brings new details and reports on allegations against the Metropolitan Archbishop of Belém]

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

[“I don’t know why I accepted being subjected to all of this. You are fragile, stuck to that ”, says ex-seminarian victim of sexual abuse]

BRAZIL
El Pais

December 21, 2020

By Aiuri Rebello

Ex-seminarista diz que foi chantageado para aceitar abuso sexual do qual afirma ter sido vítima por parte do arcebispo metropolitano de Belém

[Ex-seminarian says he was blackmailed to accept sexual abuse of which he claims to have been a victim by the metropolitan archbishop of Belém]

https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2020-12-20/nao-sei-por-que-aceitei-ser-submetido-a-tudo-isso-e-uma-construcao-voce-fica-muito-fragilizado-preso-aquilo.html?rel=listapoyo

No relato abaixo, um dos quatro ex-seminaristas que fez a denúncia ao MP e às autoridades eclesiásticas, hoje um estudante universitário de 26 anos, conta sua história e fala sobre a relação com a Igreja Católica, sua religiosidade e sobre o assédio e abuso sexual do qual afirma ter sido vítima por parte do arcebispo metropolitano de Belém, dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: In the report below, one of the four ex-seminarians who made the complaint to the MP and ecclesiastical authorities , today a 26-year-old university student, tells his story and talks about his relationship with the Catholic Church , his religiosity and about harassment and abuse of which he claims to have been the victim of the metropolitan archbishop of Belém , Dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa.]

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

January 6, 2021

By Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com, and David Hammer, WWL-TV

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond and one of the local Catholic Church’s most vocal critics announced a detente Wednesday, pledging to ensure justice for victims of sexual molestation by clergy and to collaborate on preventing further abuse.

Local SNAP chapter leader Kevin Bourgeois, left, and Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced on Jan. 6, 2021, that they would collaborate on resolving the local Catholic Church’s ongoing clerical molestation scandal. This photo was taken during a meeting on Dec. 15, 2020, which preceded their joint pledge to work together.

In a joint statement from Aymond and Kevin Bourgeois, the leader of the New Orleans chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the two sides said they would create “a program for healing for victims of abuse” aimed at “rebuilding trust between them and the church.”

“Though we may have different ideas and methods, we have common goals: healing for victims, their families and prevention of abuse,” the statement from both men said. “Let us be clear: clergy sexual abuse is a scandal, it is a sin, and it cannot be tolerated.”

The release didn’t provide information on any specific plans or initiatives. Still, it marked a notable thawing of relations between two men who had been clashing publicly for nearly 18 months.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic News Agency

January 6, 2021

Father Michael Pfleger, an outspoken activist Chicago priest, has issued a short response after the Archdiocese of Chicago announced it is investigating an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over 40 years ago.

“I am devastated, hurt and yes angry, but I am first, a person of faith, I trust God,” Pfleger said on his Facebook page Jan. 6. “Please keep me in prayer and the faith community of St. Sabina. I have been asked by the diocese not to speak out at this time. I am blessed with good leadership and amazing members, whom I love.”

Referring to the person who made the allegation, Pfleger said “Pray also for the person, my life is more than a 40-year-old accusation, and on that and my faith I will stand… The Lord is my Shepherd… I love you…”

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AKWA IBOM STATE (NIGERIA)
Premium Times

January 6, 2021

By Cletus Ukpong

Some officials of the Deeper Life High School have been detained by the police.

The police in Akwa Ibom State are preparing to arraign some officials of the Deeper Life High School over the alleged sexual abuse of an 11-year-old student of the school in Uyo.

Some officials of the school were said to have been detained after attending a meeting at the police headquarters, Uyo, summoned by the Commissioner of Police, Andrew Amiengheme, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

David Okokon, lawyer to the parents of the boy said to have been sexually abused by two senior students of the Deeper Life High School, told PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday morning, he would be in court today for the arraignment.

“They (the police) are arraigning those people found culpable, this morning,” said Mr Okokon who flew into Uyo from Abuja for the case.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates (plaintiffs’ law firm)

January 6, 2021

For decades, Reverend Michael Pfleger has earned the praise of peers, parishioners and community members alike, particularly in his role as a prominent priest and advocate in the Archdiocese of Chicago. That is undeniable. And because of this, many in the community have immediately rallied in support of him, decrying the actions of the Archdiocese and protesting his administrative removal pending investigation of sexual abuse allegations naming him as perpetrator.

It’s time for understanding and data gathering; understanding of the dynamics of childhood sexual abuse by an authority figure. When that authority figure is a priest, the child is unable to process what has happened to them, to report it, or take any action. If they do, it is often decades later. This level of understanding requires all of us to realize it takes time for these things to come to the surface and be reported. As advocates for and attorneys of survivors of sexual abuse for four decades, working with thousands of survivors in the Chicagoland area and across this country, we understand the dynamics of childhood sexual abuse by clergy.

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Angelus News

January 5, 2021

By Inés San Martín | Crux Now

There was no “bang” when most of Latin America rang in the New Year due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, but in Venezuela, Mexico, and Brazil, 2021 brought “new” concerns. …

***

Brazil, a bishop under investigation for abuse

Archbishop Alberto Taveira Correa, from the Brazilian city of Belem do Para, is under investigation both by local police and the Vatican, for alleged sexual abuse against four seminarians who were between 15 and 18 when the abuse reportedly happened, between 2010 and 2014.

The prelate is being investigated after a journalistic investigation by the Brazilian news site G1. The website interviewed all four alleged victims.

According to one of the accusers, the abuse took place every three months, during a span of two years. Three out of the four alleged victims ended up leaving the seminary, while the fourth was expelled for disciplinary reasons.

After the report, the Vatican dispatched a delegation to investigate the case. The archdiocese released a statement in which it “reiterates to the people of God, with transparency and serenity, that the investigations are ongoing, with the certainty and confidence that, in the end, truth will prevail.”

In the meantime, the archbishop is still in his position, denying all allegations and calling them the “action of the devil.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU-TV

January 6, 2021

For the first time, two organizations who have been at odds amid a growing list of victims of sexual assault at the hands of Catholic clergy have come together.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans and New Orleans-area advocate SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) have had a strained relationship ever since the list of accused priests started.

Both organizations issued the following statement saying that first steps were taken to work together for victims:

“For the past 18 months, the Archdiocese of New Orleans and local SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) leadership have appeared at odds, often publicly and in the media, over how the archdiocese has handled claims of sexual abuse by clergy.

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

GERMANY
Independent

January 6, 2021

By Andy Gregory

Cardinal who commissioned report and sat on it for months faces calls to resign

Journalists have stormed out of a press conference in Germany after Catholic Church officials asked for their “absolute silence” on a long-awaited report into child sex abuse.

A vast and comprehensive report investigating decades of alleged sexual abuse of young people at the hands of clerics and the resulting institutional cover-up in the Archdiocese of Cologne – the world’s wealthiest Catholic diocese, and Germany’s largest – had been pledged back in 2018 by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.

But Cardinal Woelki, who is also accused of failing to notify the Vatican about alleged abuse by a now-deceased priest known as Father O and faces calls to resign from fellow priests and abuse victims, has been withholding the report since its completion in March.

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

COLOGNE (GERMANY)
Deutsche Welle

January 5, 2021

Reporters walked out of a press event in Cologne after church officials asked them to sign a confidentiality agreement. The officials were due to discuss issues around a key report on child abuse. Journalists were asked to keep the contents of the report a “secret”

With the Catholic Church shaken by the child abuse scandal in Germany, journalists walked out of a press event organized by church representatives on Tuesday.

The Archdiocese of Cologne had called for a press conference to discuss an unpublished child abuse report. Specifically, church officials were to explain issues regarding the report’s methodology. These issues, at least according to Cologne Archbishop Reiner Maria Woelki, were the reason for withholding the document from the public in its current form.

Church representatives said they would show journalists a redacted version of the document. They also asked reporters to sign a pledge to keep the contents “secret,” including information on crimes, alleged perpetrators and implicated church officia

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JAKARTA (INDONESIA)
UCA News

January 7, 2021

By Ryan Dagur

Syahril Marbun handed 15 years following first sexual abuse trial in a civil court involving Indonesian Catholic Church

A church worker in Indonesia has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting altar boys following the first-ever sexual abuse trial in a civil court involving the Indonesian Catholic Church.

Depok District Court in West Java convicted Syahril Marbun on Jan. 6 for abusing two altar boys at St. Herkulanus Parish in Depok in Bogor Diocese, where he served as liturgical coordinator.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of 200 million rupiah (US$14,360) and to compensate the two victims, aged 14 and 15, with 6.5 million and 11.5 million rupiah respectively.

The sentence was harsher than the 11 years demanded by prosecutors. The judge said it was because Marbun abused his position as an educator and guide to the boys.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
The Catholic Spirit

January 6, 2021

By Dave Hrbacek

As archdiocese’s safe environment deputy takes national AMBER Alert role, former St. Paul Police community affairs chief steps in

Janell Rasmussen remembers a press conference held by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi several years ago. As the deputy director of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, she stood on one side of Choi’s podium with other representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to address clergy sexual abuse.

On the opposite side stood law enforcement officers. Among them was Paul Iovino of the St. Paul Police Department. Little did Rasmussen and Iovino know then that they would someday work on the same team.

Thanks to some big moves in December, they will now serve together in the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. Rasmussen is leaving her full-time position but staying on part time, while Iovino comes in as her replacement. Rasmussen, who joined the archdiocese in 2016, was hired last month as the national AMBER Alert administrator, replacing Jim Walters, who is retiring. She will start full-time in that position in March.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2 TV

January 6, 2021

[VIDEO]

Activists and community members are rallying around Rev. Michael Pfleger, after the Archdiocese of Chicago removed him from his post at St. Sabina, after claims he sexually abused a minor more than 40 years ago. CBS 2’s Mugo Odigwe reports.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Fox 32 Chicago

January 6, 2021

[VIDEO]

Heidi Schlumpf, executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter, talks about the Catholic community’s reaction to the temporary removal of Father Pfleger from St. Sabina’s Church in lieu of sexual abuse allegations.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Associated Press

January 6, 2021

By Don Babwin

Activist Chicago priest the Rev. Michael Pfleger has been asked to step aside due to an allegation of sexual abuse

Nationally known activist Chicago priest the Rev. Michael Pfleger has been asked to step aside due to an allegation of sexual abuse that occurred decades ago, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago announced.

The archdiocese said Tuesday that its Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review received an allegation that the 70-year-old Pfleger sexually abused a minor more than 40 years ago. Cardinal Blase Cupich in a letter to members of the South Side church Faith Community of Saint Sabina, which is pastored by Pfleger, noted the allegation hasn’t been proven as true or false and guilt or innocence should not be assumed.

Pfleger, who has garnered attention for taking on everyone from drug dealers to Jerry Springer, responded to the allegation Wednesday by asking for prayers for himself and the person making the accusation.

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TEXAS
Courthouse News Service

January 6, 2021

By Cameron Langford

The Catholic Diocese of Lubbock urged the Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by a former deacon who claims it falsely outed him as a child molester.

Texas Catholic bishops say the case threatens to uproot tenants of church autonomy enshrined in the First Amendment and open churches up to crippling liability simply for following their principles.

Jesus Guerrero said he was “shocked, confused, hurt and I knew that it wasn’t true” when the diocese published a list of clergy it said had been “credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor” in January 2019 and his name was on it, according to his brief with the state high court.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media

January 5, 2021

By Matt Gray

A New Jersey priest has acknowledged he had an affair with a woman who recently filed a lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted her.

The Rev. Robert L. Sinatra, of St. Padre Pio Parish in Vineland, admitted the affair in a Jan. 2 letter to parishioners, but denied that he assaulted the woman.

“With a deep sense of embarrassment and shame, I write to let you know that in late 2018 I had a two-month affair with an unmarried woman,” Sinatra wrote.

The letter and the woman’s lawsuit do not identify her by name. The suit describes her as a parishioner who participated in church activities.

Sinatra remains at his post with the parish and the Camden Diocese has no plans to remove him at this time, a spokesman said.

Sinatra met with Bishop Dennis Sullivan, head of the Camden Diocese, to report the transgression and ended the affair, according to the letter, which notes that the woman also met with Sullivan in July 2019.

Sullivan allowed Sinatra to continue serving as a priest while he “agreed to seek spiritual direction and counseling to prevent any future lapses.”

Sinatra, who was named pastor of the St. Padre Pio Parish in 2015, said he paid for a year of counseling to help the woman deal with the situation and Sullivan agreed that the diocese would pay for additional counseling.

“Although ending this relationship was difficult for me, it was obviously very difficult for her as well,” Sinatra wrote.

Though Sinatra said he blocked the woman’s phone number and severed any known social media connections with her, “she still found occasions to be in my presence,” he wrote.

She filed the civil suit in state Superior Court on Dec. 18.

It names the parish as defendant and accuses supervisors of failing to recognize that Sinatra posed a danger to others.

“Fr. Sinatra exploited his position of authority over Plaintiff as a priest, counselor and spiritual director,” the suit states. “Defendant and the Diocese knew or should have known that Fr. Sinatra was a danger to parishioners before Fr. Sinatra sexually assaulted Plaintiff.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times via Daily Herald

January 5, 2021

Father Michael Pfleger, the longtime pastor at St. Sabina Church and an outspoken anti-gun violence advocate, has been removed from the Auburn Gresham parish following revelations of a decades-old sexual abuse allegation against a minor.

Cardinal Blase Cupich announced “the difficult news” in a letter to the St. Sabina community Tuesday, saying he has “asked Father Pfleger to step aside from ministry following receipt by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago.”

Cupich said Pfleger agreed to his request and will live away from the parish during the course of the archdiocese’s investigation. The allegation has also been reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, Cupich said.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
NBC-TV Chicago / Channel 5

January 5, 2021

[VIDEO]

The Archdiocese of Chicago has asked Father Michael Pfleger to step aside from his ministry following an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor that was received by the Archdiocese’s Office of Child Abuse Investigations and Review.

According to a letter from Cardinal Blase Cupich, the allegation stems from an incident that occurred more than 40 years ago.

“Father Pfleger has agreed to cooperate fully with my request and will live away from the parish while this matter is investigated,” Cupich said in the letter.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS-TV / ABC7

By Eric Horng

January 5, 2021

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich sent a letter to the St. Sabina parish Tuesday informing them Father Michael Pfleger will be stepping away from his ministry after being accused of sexually abusing a child.

In the letter, Cupich said the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review received an allegation of sexual abuse of a child that happened more than 40 years ago.

Cupich said Pfleger agreed to step aside from his ministry and will live away from the parish during the investigation. Father Thulani Magwaza will temporarily serve as administrator of St. Sabina parish, and will attend to the church and the school.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune via The Southern

January 6, 2021

The longtime pastor of the city’s largest Black Roman Catholic parish has agreed to step away from ministry after a 40-year-old sex abuse allegation surfaced, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Tuesday.

In a statement, the archdiocese gave no details about the allegation other than it involved a minor more than 40 years ago. “Allegations are claims that have not been proven as true or false. Therefore, guilt or innocence should not be assumed,” the statement read.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic News Agency

January 5, 2021

By Kevin Jones

The outspoken activist Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger faces an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over 40 years ago, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has said, adding that the claims have not been proven true or false and are under investigation.

Cardinal Cupich shared what he said was “difficult news” in a Jan. 5 message to members of Saint Sabina Church and the Saint Sabina Academy. Pfleger has served as a priest at the southside Chicago church since 1983 and is presently described as its senior pastor.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Archdiocese of Chicago

January 5, 2021

By Cardinal Blase J. Cupich

The Archdiocese of Chicago Distributed the Letter Today to The Faith Community of Saint Sabina and Saint Sabina Academy Community. Parishioners ask for prayers, patience and privacy at this time.

Dear members of the Faith Community of Saint Sabina and the Saint Sabina Academy Community,

I write to share some difficult news about your senior pastor, Father Michael Pfleger. In keeping with our child protection policies, I have asked Father Pfleger to step aside from ministry following receipt by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago. Allegations are claims that have not been proven as true or false. Therefore, guilt or innocence should not be assumed.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholc Reporter

January 5, 2021

By Christopher White

A popular Chicago priest has stepped aside from ministry following allegations that he sexually abused a minor more than 40 years ago.

In a Jan. 5 letter to St. Sabina Parish and Academy, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich informed the historic parish on the city’s south side that senior pastor Fr. Michael Pfleger had agreed to step aside and cooperate while the allegation is investigated.

Pfleger, age 71, is a long-time social activist and has led the historically African American parish since 1981. He has become known throughout the country as a prominent crusader for racial justice, gun control and against drugs. He has previously adopted two children and one foster child. In 2011, he was previously temporarily suspended by Cardinal Francis George after refusing to take another assignment as the head of a local high school.

“Allegations are claims that have not been proven as true or false,” wrote Cupich. “Therefore, guilt or innocence should not be assumed.”

Cupich’s letter also stated that the allegation was reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

January 6, 2021

By Sophie Vodvarka

The 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse sent shock waves through the U.S. Catholic Church. For Bridget Gramme, the moment felt like a “call to women” to improve the church.

“I’m a cradle Catholic, it’s my community and my identity and my kids go to Catholic schools,” Gramme said. “It’s something we really believe in and the community is so important to us. Maybe it’s time we step it up and not just sit around and let these things happen.”

Gramme is an attorney and member of the advisory board of the Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at the University of San Diego.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Catholic News Agency

January 5, 2021

By Christine Rousselle

An 18-month-long investigation into child sexual abuse in North Dakota’s two dioceses has concluded, the state’s attorney general announced Monday.

The investigation focused on a list of 53 men who had previously been identified by the dioceses of Bismarck and Fargo as being accused of sexual abuse. The dioceses considered the allegations against these 53 priests “substantiated.”

The state identified one person, Fr. Odo Muggli, a priest of the Order of St. Benedict, whom they suspect abused at least one child. Muggli was not on the list of initial 53 names as he is not a diocesan priest. Muggli is accused of abusing a child in the 1970s.

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WARSAW (POLAND)
Associated Press

January 6, 2021

A liberal Roman Catholic magazine in Poland that recently criticized some high-ranking church officials says local church authorities in Krakow have terminated the publication’s office lease after almost 76 years.

The Tygodnik Powszechny (General Weekly) said on Facebook and on its website that a letter from the Krakow Curia delivered Monday gave the magazine three months’ notice to move out. The curia owns the building at 12 Wislna St. that has housed the magazine since 1945.

The publication did not say if it was given an explanation. But it said that moving from the old downtown building to a new location would be an opportunity for a technological upgrade.

The curia did not respond to an email seeking comment.

In its editorials and articles, Tygodnik Powszechny recently criticized anti-LGBT comments by the head of the Krakow diocese, Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski. It also criticized some prominent church leaders, including Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former secretary to the late pope St. John Paul II, for having taken an evasive approach to the issue of pedophile priests in Poland and elsewhere in the world.

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[Police and Vatican investigate allegation of harassment and sexual abuse against archbishop of Bethlehem]

BRAZIL
EL PAÍS

January 4, 2021

By Aiuri Rebello

https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2020-12-20/policia-e-vaticano-investigam-acusacao-de-assedio-e-abuso-sexual-contra-arcebispo-de-belem.html

Investigação contra Arcebispo Metropolitano de Belém

[Investigation Against Metropolitan Archbishop of Belém]

Quatro ex-integrantes do Seminário São Pio X formalizaram denúncia ao Ministério Público em agosto deste ano acusando Dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa de usar suposta terapia para ‘curar’ a homossexualidade como pretexto para tocar seus corpos nus e promover abusos como testes à ‘tentação’ do sexo

[Google Translation: Four former members of the São Pio X Seminar filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor in August this year accusing Dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa of using alleged therapy to ‘cure’ homosexuality as a pretext to touch their naked bodies and promote sex abuse as tests of ‘temptation’.]

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SÃO PAULO (BRAZIL)
Crux

January 6, 2021

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Archbishop Alberto Taveira Corrêa of Belém, an archdiocese with more than 2 million residents in the Amazon region in Brazil, faces criminal and ecclesial investigations after being accused of sexual harassment and abuse by four former seminarians.

The accusations were disclosed by the Brazilian edition of the Spanish newspaper El País at the end of December and became a high-profile scandal on January 3, when TV Globo’s weekly news show Fantástico aired a report on the story.

The names of the former seminarians have not been revealed. All of them studied at the Saint Pius X seminary in Ananindeua, in Belém’s metropolitan area, and were between 15 and 20 years old when the alleged abuse happened.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

January 5, 2021

By Inés San Martín

Australia’s bishops are seeking answers after the country’s financial watchdog reported that there have been over 47,000 separate transfers from the Vatican or affiliates worth $1.8 billion in the past seven years.

Both the Vatican and the Australian church have denied knowledge of the transfers, made public in December by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC), in response to a parliamentary question by Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. The amount of the transactions was first reported by the local newspaper The Australian.

The transfers from the Vatican to Australia rose rapidly from $71.6 million in 2014 to $137.1 million in 2015 before doubling again to $ 295 million in 2016 and peaking at $581.3 million in 2017, according to Austrac disclosures in response to Fierravantti-Well’s questions during Senate estimation hearings.

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BRAZIL
VerietyInfo.com

January 4, 2021

In Fantasy (3) this Sunday, it was revealed that 4 former seminarians were accusing the House of Albert Taveira Correa, Archbishop of Belen do Par, of sexual violence.

The archbishop was defended by the religious.

Among them are Father Marcello Rossi and Fabio de Mello.

“At this hour of battle we are together in prayer,” Father Marcelo Rossi said.

“Don Alberta has supported me many times. I would like my prayers and my commitment to do the same for him right now, ”Melo said.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL)
Agence France-Presse

January 5, 2021

Police in Brazil said on Monday they were investigating the archbishop of the city of Belem for alleged sexual abuse against underage seminary students.

Confirmation of the investigation came after four alleged victims of Archbishop Alberto Taveira Correa accused him of years of abuse in a sweeping investigative report aired Sunday night on Brazil’s biggest broadcaster, TV Globo.

The alleged victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused the 70-year-old archbishop of abusing them from 2014 to 2018, when they were between 15 and 18 years old.

The former seminarians recounted a pattern of abuse by the archbishop of the northern city.

He would invite them to his home, bring them to his bedroom, ask them questions about sexuality and masturbation, then have them remove their clothes and begin touching and fondling them, sometimes while praying, they said

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[‘He touched me’, says ex-seminarian who accuses archbishop of Belém of sexual abuse]

BRAZIL
Globo.com

January 3, 2021

Quatro ex-seminaristas denunciam Dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa de usar seu poder para investidas sexuais não consentidas em encontros privados. A Polícia Civil e o Vaticano investigam o caso.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Four former seminarians denounce Dom Alberto Taveira Corrêa of using his power for sexual advances not allowed in private meetings. The Civil Police and the Vatican are investigating the case.]

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CHARLESTON (SC)
WCSC

January 4, 2021

By Nick Reagan

The Catholic Diocese of Charleston is facing a new lawsuit. Court documents filed late Monday afternoon accuse a member of the church of sexual abuse and a systematic cover up of that abuse.

The charges were filed by a woman referred to as Mary Roe 1818. She alleges one of the priests, Frederick Austin McLean, repeatedly abused her and her sister when they were kids.

According to the suit, the abuse took place during the victim’s formative years as a child between 1961 and 1966.

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NORTH DAKOTA
The Forum

January 5, 2021

By C. S. Hagen

“The effort behind this is to send a message of hope to survivors. It’s really sending a message of hope and that we care,” said Rep. Austin Schauer, R-West Fargo.

Three state legislators, a Republican and two Democrats, aim to revise North Dakota’s statute of limitation laws this legislative session to open up windows of time for survivors of child sex abuse to pursue legal avenues in civil courts.

Planning on the bills began before North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem released a report Monday, Jan. 4, stating that because of current statute of limitation laws, criminal charges won’t be filed against any of the 53 priests named in the Fargo and Bismarck dioceses lists of priests who faced substantiated allegations of child sex abuse.

Much of the abuse occurred from the 1950s to the 1980s, and many of the priests named on the lists are dead. Current state law stipulates that the statute of limitations for child sex abuse is 21 years. Failure to report child abuse, a misdemeanor, has a statute of limitation of two years.

Rep. Austin Schauer, R-West Fargo, Sen. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, and Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, are working together on bills that would create an “open window” of two years for sexual abuse victims to file a civil lawsuit, and would extend the statute of limitations from three to 10 years for sexual abuse of a minor, Schauer said.

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NORTH DAKOTA
The Forum

January 5, 2021

By C. S. Hagen

“The effort behind this is to send a message of hope to survivors. It’s really sending a message of hope and that we care,” said Rep. Austin Schauer, R-West Fargo.

Three state legislators, a Republican and two Democrats, aim to revise North Dakota’s statute of limitation laws this legislative session to open up windows of time for survivors of child sex abuse to pursue legal avenues in civil courts.

Planning on the bills began before North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem released a report Monday, Jan. 4, stating that because of current statute of limitation laws, criminal charges won’t be filed against any of the 53 priests named in the Fargo and Bismarck dioceses lists of priests who faced substantiated allegations of child sex abuse.

Much of the abuse occurred from the 1950s to the 1980s, and many of the priests named on the lists are dead. Current state law stipulates that the statute of limitations for child sex abuse is 21 years. Failure to report child abuse, a misdemeanor, has a statute of limitation of two years.

Rep. Austin Schauer, R-West Fargo, Sen. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, and Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, are working together on bills that would create an “open window” of two years for sexual abuse victims to file a civil lawsuit, and would extend the statute of limitations from three to 10 years for sexual abuse of a minor, Schauer said.

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BISMARCK (ND)
Office of the Attorney General

January 4, 2021

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem today announced that the investigation by his office into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the North Dakota Catholic Dioceses has concluded.

The eighteen month long criminal investigation commenced around the time the two North Dakota Catholic Dioceses, headquartered in Fargo and Bismarck, compiled and released a list of 53 individuals for whom they felt allegations of child sexual abuse had been substantiated. Stenehjem met with Bishops David Kagan and John Folda in June of 2019, and requested access to inspect all the records of the church relating to clergy abuse, and the Bishops agreed.

Stenehjem assigned four seasoned agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to the cases. The Dioceses cooperated with the Attorney General’s office in allowing the agents to review all complaints, records and files, including allegations for those not previously designated as “substantiated” by the Dioceses.

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BISMARCK (ND)
Grand Forks Herald

January 4, 2021

By April Baumgarten

Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of the Fargo and Bismarck dioceses releasing their lists of 53 priests and other Catholic officials who faced substantiated allegations of child sex abuse.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says that after a lengthy investigation, criminal charges won’t be filed against any priests or other Catholic officials accused of sexually abusing children in the state.

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation found that two living priests could have faced criminal charges for allegedly abusing children. However, the statute of limitations has run out, Stenehjem said Monday, Jan. 4.

“I regret it will not be possible to have these men face their victims at a trial and face the potential consequences, but I hope it brings a measure of comfort to the victims that these crimes were eventually investigated,” Stenehjem said in a statement.

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NORTH DAKAOTA
Knox Radio

January 4, 2021

By Pat Sweeney

North Dakota’s attorney general says his office’s 18-month investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the state’s two Roman Catholic dioceses will not result in any charges.

Wayne Stenehjem says too much time has passed to prosecute the two lone living clergy members. The investigation began when the Fargo and Bismarck dioceses provided the state a list of 53 clergy members who have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

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NORTH DAKOTA
Williston Herald

January 4, 2021

https://www.willistonherald.com/news/public_safety/nd-attorney-general-announces-end-of-investigation-into-sexual-abuse-by-clergy/article_4224ead6-4eba-11eb-8cad-93476a8fe62c.html

Issues with the statute of limitations on allegations mean no criminal charges will come from the state’s investigation into decades-old allegation of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

The investigation started about 18 months ago, when the Catholic Dioceses of Fargo and Bismarck released a list of 53 people who had been accused of sexual abuse in cases the diocese believed were substantiated.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem met with Bishops David Kagan and John Folda in June 2019, and asked to inspect all the records of the church relating to clergy abuse.

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NORTH DAKOTA
KXNet.com

January 4, 2021

By Keith Darnay

Stenehjem: Deaths, statute of limitations preclude any prosecution of sex abuse crimes committed by ND Catholic Dioceses clergy

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem today released the results of an investigation by his office into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the North Dakota Catholic Dioceses.

The bottom line: Of the 53 people named by the Dioceses, and an additional person identified by the state during its investigation, all but two have died.

And the allegations against the remaining two date back to the 1970s, meaning the statute of limitations in effect at the time had run out, precluding any current prosecutions.

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BISMARCK (ND)
KFYR

January 4, 2021

An investigation conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Investigations into the North Dakota Catholic Dioceses found two clergy members accused of child sex abuse cannot be charged because the statue of limitations has run out.

According to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, an 18-month investigation looked into 53 individuals with the North Dakota Catholic Dioceses accused of child sex abuse.

Of the 53 names, only two were alive at the time the investigation began, Norman Dukart of Dickinson and another clergy member who moved to Minnesota.

BCI agents say during the course of the investigation another clergy member, Odo Muggli of the Assumption Abbey in Richardton, was identified as another suspect.

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BISMARCK (ND)
KVRR

January 4, 2021

By Jim Monk

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says an 18-month investigation by his office into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the North Dakota Catholic dioceses has concluded.

Stenehjem says the investigation began around the time when the Diocese of Fargo and the Diocese of Bismarck released a list of 53 people whom they believed that allegations of child sexual abuse had been substantiated.

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NORTH DAKOTA
AM 1100

January 4, 2021

By Chris Larson

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem today announced that the investigation by his office into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the North Dakota Catholic Dioceses has concluded.

The eighteen month long criminal investigation commenced around the time the two North Dakota Catholic Dioceses, headquartered in Fargo and Bismarck, compiled and released a list of 53 individuals for whom they felt allegations of child sexual abuse had been substantiated. Stenehjem met with Bishops David Kagan and John Folda in June of 2019, and requested access to inspect all the records of the church relating to clergy abuse, and the Bishops agreed.

Stenehjem assigned four seasoned agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to the cases. The Dioceses cooperated with the Attorney General’s office in allowing the agents to review all complaints, records and files, including allegations for those not previously designated as “substantiated” by the Dioceses.

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FARGO (ND)
KEGO

January 4, 2021

By Paul Jurgens

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said Monday that the investigation by his office into allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the two catholic dioceses in the state has concluded.

The 18-month criminal investigation began around the time the two North Dakota Catholic Dioceses, in Fargo and Bismarck, released a list of 53 people for whom they felt allegations of child sexual abuse had been substantiated. Stenehjem met with Bishops David Kagan and John Folda in June of 2019, and requested access to inspect all the records of the church relating to clergy abuse.

Stenehjem assigned four agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to the cases. The Dioceses cooperated with the Attorney General’s office in allowing the agents to review all complaints, records and files, including allegations for those not previously designated as “substantiated” by the Dioceses.

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AUSTRALIA
Quadrant Online

January 3, 2021

By David Ward

State institutions have good and bad pandemics like war correspondents have good and bad wars. The lockdown came at a convenient time for Victoria’s criminal courts, where jury trials quietly resumed last month. It allowed the unresolved questions about the state’s judicial leadership to be shuffled down the priority line, south of the interim settings and subject to operational requirements. The problem for the courts is that applying the law correctly is generally regarded as an operational requirement. It’s a problem because the courts are operating again and the questions are still unresolved.

You wouldn’t necessarily have known it from the analysis but George Pell’s High Court appeal was decided on the facts, law and “judicial method”. That’s extraordinary, and the divergence between the state and national court on all three was clear-cut and irreconcilable. There was no disputing which authority prevailed, nor where the corrections had to be made, and seen to be made. That was in April.

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AUSTRALIA
Quadrant Online

January 3, 2021

By David Ward

State institutions have good and bad pandemics like war correspondents have good and bad wars. The lockdown came at a convenient time for Victoria’s criminal courts, where jury trials quietly resumed last month. It allowed the unresolved questions about the state’s judicial leadership to be shuffled down the priority line, south of the interim settings and subject to operational requirements. The problem for the courts is that applying the law correctly is generally regarded as an operational requirement. It’s a problem because the courts are operating again and the questions are still unresolved.

You wouldn’t necessarily have known it from the analysis but George Pell’s High Court appeal was decided on the facts, law and “judicial method”. That’s extraordinary, and the divergence between the state and national court on all three was clear-cut and irreconcilable. There was no disputing which authority prevailed, nor where the corrections had to be made, and seen to be made. That was in April.

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Open Tabernacle (blog)

January 4, 2021

By Betty Clermont

Plans for the election of the next pope are well under way. In the last quarter of 2020, there have been indications as to what the next pontiff will say and do. He will continue to make meaningless policies and procedures about child sex abuse. So thousands upon thousands of children around the world will remain at risk of being sexually tortured. All will be severely traumatized for life. Many will die.

The next pope will maintain his predecessors’ opposition to women’s and LGBTQ person’s human rights while appearing to be liberal on issues pleasing to the American mainstream media.

In contrast to the major portion of Pope Francis’ pontificate, leaders of the Catholic rightwing are uniting behind the pope and will continue in the future, doing whatever is necessary to bolster the prestige and importance of the head of the Church.

As has been true since the 1978 election of Pope John Paul II, the pontiff will reign, but Opus Dei* will govern.

Signs of the Time

A report on the former archbishop of Washington D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was released on Nov. 10. It had been started more than two years earlier. Pope Francis had ordered this account be made only after the New York Archdiocese found that an allegation of sex abuse of a minor by Cardinal McCarrick was “credible and substantiated” in June 2018. After the announcement, two other accusations of sexual abuse of minors by McCarrick were revealed.

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OHIO
News-Herald

January 3, 2021

By Andrew Cass

https://www.news-herald.com/news/trial-of-former-st-helens-seminarian-now-scheduled-for-may/article_70baadfe-4dd4-11eb-8bb2-278c4bf471e5.html

The trial of a Strongsville priest with Geauga County ties is now scheduled for late May, federal court records show.

The priest, Robert McWilliams, 40, is facing charges of two counts of sex trafficking of a minor, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of transportation of child pornography, one count of receipt and distribution of visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and one count of possession of child pornography.

McWilliams is a former seminarian at St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Newbury Township.

A trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio was previously scheduled for Feb. 18, but in December defense attorney Robert A. Dixon asked for the case to be continued, citing ongoing challenges stemming from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Dixon’s motion was unopposed by federal prosecutors. Northern District of Ohio Judge Sara Lioi set a new jury trial date of May 24. The new deadline for a plea deal in the case is set for April 9, court records show.

McWilliams was arrested Dec. 5, 2019, at St. Joseph in Strongsville after the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force raided his office and living space. He was facing criminal charges in Cuyahoga and Geauga counties, but prosecutors in both ultimately dropped their cases after a federal complaint was filed Feb. 21 in the The Northern District of Ohio U.S. Court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

January 4, 2021

By Paul Osborne

Hundreds of applications by abuse survivors for redress will start to flow through in the wake of more institutions joining the support scheme.

But Families Minister Anne Ruston said she remained concerned three organisations had still not signed, meaning 77 applications from abuse survivors could not be progressed.

About 450 institutions have signed up to the national redress scheme covering more than 60,650 sites including churches, children’s homes, schools, swimming centres and sports clubs.

Having named and shamed a number of institutions in July, more than 100 bodies signed up before December 31.

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GERMANY
La Croix International

December 21, 2020

By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

Top papal advisor criticizes fellow German cardinal, saying refusal to disclose independent findings on abuse will hurt everyone

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, who is one of Pope Francis’ closest advisors, has criticized fellow German Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki for refusing to publish an independent report on clerical abuse in the latter’s Archdiocese of Cologne.

“What the public now perceives is lawyers squabbling about quibbles on the backs of the (abuse) victims,” Marx told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung in a long interview on December 15.

“That is disastrous for all of us,” said the 67-year-old Bavarian, a member of the pope’s Council of Cardinals and coordinator of the Holy See’s Council for the Economy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

January 1, 2021

By Will Stewart and Imogen Braddick

A Russian priest has reportedly been arrested after allegedly filming sick sex attacks on more than 50 children.

Yury Abramov, 39, a former activist in the pro-Putin political party United Russia, faces multiple charges of abuse from the last decade.

Known as Father Spiridon, the alleged paedophile is accused of molesting children aged 12 to 16, and making pornographic videos of his victims.

The now-suspended priest is also a computer sciences teacher at a school in Amurzet, eastern Russia.

A church bell ringer named Sergey Moos, 27, is suspected of acting as an accomplice.

A total of 53 children are suspected to be victims of Abramov, state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing a law enforcement source.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

December 21, 2020

By Mélinée Le Priol

Exclusive interview with Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon, successor to Cardinal Philippe Barbarin

Archbishop Olivier de Germay has officially taken over as the head of the Archdiocese of Lyon, one of France’s oldest and most important local Churches.

The 60-year-old native of Tours, whom Pope Francis appointed last October to succeed the scandal-damaged Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was formally installed last Sunday in Saint Jean Cathedral.

He served the last eight years as Bishop of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. He now takes up the reins in Lyon, which, since 2016, has been seen as the epicenter for the clergy sex abuse crisis in France.

Archbishop de Germay spoke with La Croix’s Mélinée Le Priol about his desire to work for the unity of his new archdiocese.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Catholic News Herald

December 29, 2020

Former Capuchin Franciscan priest Robert Yurgel, who was dismissed from his religious order and removed from the priesthood in 2010, has been accused by a second man of child sexual abuse in the late 1990s while Yurgel served as a parochial vicar in the Diocese of Charlotte.

A California man, now 28, alleges in a civil lawsuit that Yurgel abused him at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte when the man was about 5 to 7 years old. Yurgel was assigned by his New Jersey-based religious order to work in the Charlotte diocese from 1997 to 1999.

The lawsuit was filed Dec. 14, 2020, in Mecklenburg County Superior Court against Yurgel, the Diocese of Charlotte, and Yurgel’s former religious order, the Capuchin Franciscans’ Province of the Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis in Union City, N.J.

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AUSTRALIA
Al Jazeera

December 15, 2020

By Ali MC

The landmark inquiry gave survivors a chance to talk, while legal changes have allowed them to seek redress.

Kym Krasa was just eight years old when she was first sexually abused by a member of the Catholic Church.

A so-called “part” Aboriginal child, she had been taken from her impoverished family and placed in an orphanage.

But instead of being cared for, she was abused, and the abuse would continue for the next decade at the hands of a priest and church parishioners, and as a teenager, by a man for whom she was forced to work as a domestic servant.

It was not until the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in 2012 that Krasa, now 67, could finally talk about her experiences. It is now three years since the commission completed its work.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

January 1, 2021

By Brian MacQuarrie

After nearly 40 years, a middle-age man with five children remains haunted by the memory of a Boy Scout camping trip to New Hampshire.

Kevin Hannon had been sleeping during a rainy night in 1981, sheltering in a tent near Adams Pond in Barnstead. He woke suddenly to a hand groping his genitals, he recalled recently. Shocked and confused, he did not say a word as the perpetrator withdrew and walked away.

The 14-year-old recognized the man who had touched him, someone Hannon had trusted, a respected member of the West Roxbury neighborhood where they both lived, and the scoutmaster of his troop.

“I was afraid to tell anybody, afraid to be ridiculed, and afraid of how people would think of me,” Hannon said in an interview at his kitchen table. “When I came home from camp, I felt a little lost. I contemplated hurting myself.”

This autumn, Hannon finally came forward with the allegation, becoming one of more than 95,000 people to file sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America before a Nov. 16 deadline set by US Bankruptcy Court. The 110-year-old organization had asked for bankruptcy protection in February as the rising cascade of allegations posed a potentially crippling blow to its finances.

The bankruptcy proceedings, which have paused previous lawsuits, are expected to cause a dramatic restructuring of the Boy Scouts, which has reported more than $1 billion in assets but is beset by dwindling membership and revenues.

Hannon is among 105 former Boy Scouts represented by Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer who filed suit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston during the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church.

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

STATEN ISLAND (NY)
Staten Island Avance

January 2, 2021

By Kyle Lawson

Former priest Ralph LaBelle has again been accused of sexually abusing a young male parishioner on Staten Island.

According to a civil complaint filed last week in Richmond County state Supreme Court, St. George, the victim was “groomed” and sexually abused between the ages of 13 and 16-years-old.

At the time, LaBelle was assigned to St. Clare’s R.C. Church in Great Kills. He was there from 1979 to 1985.

The plaintiff, Donald O’Brien, is seeking damages from the Archdiocese of New York and St. Clare’s for “severe and permanent” injuries that have included “pain, suffering, emotional trauma and humiliation.”

LaBelle already was included on a list of clergy credibly accused of abuse unveiled in April 2019 by the Archdiocese of New York. He was laicized in 2005, after several victims had come forward.

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

AUSTRALIA
Pearls and Irritations (blog)

January 3, 2021

By Michael Kelly

[For more about the impact of Bishop Robinson, see: Case Study 31: Retired Catholic Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse; Australian bishop testifies on prevalence of child sex abuse in the church, by Kieran Tapsell, National Catholic Reporter, September 10, 2015; and ‘I was abused too’: The bishop who fought for sex abuse victims, by Anne Lim, Eternity News, December 15, 2017.]

Saying farewell to Bishop Geoff Robinson as we did when he died on December 29, 2020, is saying goodbye to one of the few Australian Catholic bishops with his integrity and reputation for honesty and championing the defence of the weak and the abused still intact.

He was outstandingly intelligent and compassionate. He lent his considerable knowledge of Church law to ease the burden of those who suffered the effects of failed marriages. He focused on what is essential in Christianity by his very accessible, popular commentaries on the Synoptic Gospels. His commentaries were well appreciated by preachers and believers of all denominational allegiance

While our paths overlapped from time to time, it is what he will be best remembered for most – caring for and promoting the rights of children abused by Catholic officials, including priests – that brought about a very significant intersection of our paths in 1997.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Weekly

December 30, 2020

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, died on 29 December after a long battle with terminal illness. He was 83.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP paid tribute to the late Bishop, who recently marked 60 years of priesthood and had been a bishop for 36 years.

“I saw Bishop Robinson before his death and he was impressively peaceful, prayerful and looking forward to going to the Father,” Archbishop Fisher said in a statement issued after Bishop Robinson’s death.

“In this life he served in parishes, as a canon lawyer and law lecturer, and as an auxiliary bishop of Sydney. In the latter role he was very helpful to me when I was first appointed as an auxiliary bishop alongside him. He long contributed to the governance of Catholic education in NSW and, again, graciously helped with the ‘handover’ to me of the Catholic schools portfolio in Sydney and statewide.

An outspoken voice

“Bishop Robinson was an outspoken voice for the victims of child sexual abuse within the Church and the need for just redress and effective child protection going forward. He was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in moving the Church forward on these matters,” the Archbishop said.

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