ABUSE TRACKER

ST. PAUL (MN)
Associated Press

January 28, 2020

Prosecutors announced Tuesday that they have ended four years of oversight of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as part of settlement designed to protect children from clergy sex abuse.

Ramsey County sued the archdiocese in 2015 for its failure to protect children. County and church leaders said children are now safer, and many improvements have been made, including child protection training and background checks for all employees and clergy, the Star Tribune reported.

But Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the work to protect children is a race with no finish line, and his office offered 25 recommendations for the archdiocese going forward. They include expanding the involvement of lay people, including women, in positions of influence, and permitting victims of abuse to testify before a review board as a matter of right so their voices may be heard.

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IRVINE (CA)
Turnto23.com (ABC-TV affiliate)

January 28, 2020

A California Catholic Diocese on Tuesday settled the first child sexual abuse case since the passing of the Child Victims Act back in September 2019.

Attorneys representing Richard Barrios, 47, allegedly abused as a child by convicted pedophile priest Lawrence Lovell, announced a $1.9 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Lawrence Lovell and the Claretian Missionaries.

In the lawsuit, Barrios alleged that he was sexually abused by Father Lawrence Lovell throughout a two-year period from 1982 through 1984 when the victim was 9 to 11 years old.

“For too many years a culture of silence protected child abusers within the Catholic Church,” said Barrios in a relase. “In my case, this corrupt culture allowed my abuser to continue molesting children. I encourage all his victims and those who were injured by him and other predator priests to speak out and demand justice.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Catholic News Service via Catholic Virginian

January 28, 2020

The Archdiocese of New Orleans said in a Jan. 24 statement that it has never called on any outside organization, like the New Orleans Saints, to help cover up information on abuse allegations.

It said it remains “steadfast in support” of victims of sex abuse by clergy and other Church workers and prays “for their continued healing.”

The statement was released in response to an AP story Jan. 24 that said the NFL team allegedly helped the archdiocese with public relations damage control on sex abuse claims.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC-TV

January 28, 2020

A request for retired Bishop Emeritus Matthew Clark to testify in the Diocese of Rochester’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case was filed on Tuesday.

The diocese declared bankruptcy in September amidst a series of lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act.

The motion filed on Tuesday argues that since one of Bishop Clark’s duties was assigning clergy to their posts, he was responsible for assigning them to positions where they would have access to children.

It also argues that many plaintiffs have alleged they were abused during Bishop Clark’s tenure, 1979 to 2012.

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CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
The Caller Times

January 28, 2020

By Alexandria Rodriguez

A lawyer is arguing retired Corpus Christi priests were wrongly included in a list of clergy “credibly accused of sexual abuse,” especially when one was exonerated multiple times.

In an Appellants’ brief submitted Monday to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, attorney Andrew M. Greenwell argues retired priests Michael Heras and John Feminelli were included in a Diocese of Corpus Christi list of priests “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.”

The list, which was also released in every Texas Catholic diocese, was made public in January 2019.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi includes Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio counties and some of McCullen County.

Feminelli and Heras have repeatedly denied they have sexually abused minors, the document states.

Both priests filed defamation lawsuits against Bishop Michael Mulvey and the Diocese of Corpus Christi after the list was released. The lawsuits were consolidated and were later dismissed by Texas District Judge David Stith in August. Greenwell later filed a notice to appeal on priests’ behalf.

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UNITED STATES
ProPublica

January 28, 2020

By Lexi Churchill, Ellis Simani and Topher Sanders

After decades of shielding the identities of accused child abusers from the public, many Catholic leaders are now releasing lists of their names. But the lists are inconsistent, incomplete and omit key details.

This story is co-published with the Houston Chronicle.

It took 40 years and three bouts of cancer for Larry Giacalone to report his claim of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a Boston priest named Richard Donahue.

Giacalone sued Donahue in 2017, alleging the priest molested him in 1976, when Giacalone was 12 and Donahue was serving at Sacred Heart Parish. The lawsuit never went to trial, but a compensation program set up by the archdiocese concluded that Giacalone “suffered physical injuries and emotional injuries as a result of physical abuse” and directed the archdiocese to pay him $73,000.

Even after the claim was settled and the compensation paid in February 2019, however, the archdiocese didn’t publish Donahue’s name on its list of accused priests. Nor did it three months later when Giacalone’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, criticized the church publicly for not adding Donahue’s name to the list.

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UNITED STATES
ProPublica

January 28, 2020

By Ellis Simani and Ken Schwencke with Katie Zavadski and Lexi Churchill

The Catholic Church has not released a public list of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct or assault. However, over the last year and a half U.S. dioceses and religious orders serving most of the Catholics in the country have released lists of “credibly accused” abusers who have served in their ranks, using their own criteria for whom to include. ProPublica collected these lists to provide a central location to search across all reports.

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NEW YORK (NY)
ProPublica

January 28, 2020

By Ellis Simani and Lexi Churchill

ProPublica’s reporting spanned several months and produced an original database containing each diocesan list as it was originally published online.

ProPublica published an interactive database on Tuesday that lets users search for clergy who have been listed as credibly accused of sexual abuse in reports released by Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

It is, as of publication, the only nationwide database of official disclosures. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the religious leaders’ national membership organization, does not publicly release any centralized, countrywide collection of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual assault.

But in the absence of any mandate or directive, 178 bishops, archbishops and religious community leaders across the U.S. have published individual lists of clergy members against whom credible allegations were made as of Jan. 20. Each diocese and religious order sets its own standard for determining the credibility of allegations.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

January 28, 2020

By Lewis Kamb

A group of prominent Catholics announced Tuesday that it’s pursuing a “lay-led,” independent review of the Seattle Archdiocese’s secret clergy files to fully expose the breadth and depth of the church’s sexual abuses in Western Washington and find a path forward for healing the damage caused to generations of the religion’s followers.

Calling itself “Heal Our Church,” the group, which includes former judges and law enforcement officials, abuse survivors, retired clergy and others, last week signed and delivered a letter and statement of key objectives to new Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne, requesting his support of the endeavor.

The letter invites the archdiocese’s participation in the “appointment of an independent, lay led Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine pertinent church archives in order to produce a fact-based reconstruction of this horrific chapter of our church history.”

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[Central African Republic: Establishment of a committee to combat sexual abuse of minors]

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Adiac-Congo

January 15, 2020

Face aux multiples cas d’abus sexuel qu’auraient commis certains responsables ecclésiastiques sur les mineurs, l’Eglise catholique est en train d’élaborer un document pouvant sanctionner toutes personnes impliquées dans ces scandales. C’est ce qu’a fait savoir le père Blaise Narcisse Kougomatchi, secrétaire de la commission des mineurs en Centrafrique.

[Google Translate: Faced with the multiple cases of sexual abuse allegedly committed by certain ecclesiastical officials on minors, the Catholic Church is in the process of drafting a document capable of punishing all those implicated in these scandals. This is what Father Blaise Narcisse Kougomatchi, secretary of the Central African miners’ commission, said.]

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BANGUI (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC)
ACI Africa

January 17, 2020

By Jude Atemanke

The Church in the Central African Republic (CAR) has admitted to incidences of sexual abuse of minors and has responded by taking steps toward the safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons by setting up a commission to examine cases of abuse.

“The situation of minors remains worrying, especially with the economic crisis that the country is going through,” the Secretary of the Commission on Minors in the CAR, Fr Blaise Narcisse Kougomatchi has been quoted as telling the news agency adiac-infos in an interview Wednesday, January 15.

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GREAT BRITAIN
Christian Today

January 28, 2020

Churches are seeking a change to the law to expand safeguarding protections in faith organisations and sports clubs.

The current provisions around ‘positions of trust’ make it illegal for teachers, care workers and youth justice staff to engage in sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old under their supervision. However, they do not extend to adults in similar positions of authority within churches or sports teams.

In a report launched on Tuesday, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Safeguarding in Faith Settings warned that the current loopholes are leaving 16- to 17-year-olds exposed to greater risk of grooming and abuse, and making it possible for faith leaders or sports coaches to engage in sexual activity with them “with impunity”.

The APPG wants to see the law changed so that the definition of ‘positions of trust’ is extended to any adult working with children while in a position of trust.

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ENGLAND
Church Times (Anglican)

January 28, 2020

By Adam Becket

SURVIVOR’s voices are “vital” to the running of a new trawl of the C of E’s safeguarding history, the director of the National Safeguarding Team, Melissa Caslake, has said.

The review of files of every living cleric and church officer for allegations of abuse or neglect is currently ongoing. The work, “Past-Cases Review (PCR) 2”, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and a report is due to be published in 2021.

Speaking last Friday, Ms Caslake said: “This is a substantial and significant task, to ensure that the Church is a safer place for all, and it is vital we ensure that survivors feel they can come forward in confidence.”

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

January 27, 2020

By Rio Lacanlale

Retana, who was arrested Dec. 20, remains held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center. The Metropolitan Police Department began investigating him last year after a girl told her parents that the pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Oasis De Paz had been sexually abusing her for more than a year.

The most recent criminal case against Retana, charging him with five felony counts of lewdness with a child younger than 14, was opened Jan. 15, after Metro detectives identified two more potential victims, bringing the total number of accusers to at least six.

Retana currently faces 40 felony counts in the three cases. The charges include lewdness with a child, first-degree kidnapping, child abuse and luring a child with a computer to engage in a sexual act, court records show.

The allegations range from the pastor kissing the girls’ feet to asking the girls to spit in his mouth when he was “thirsty,” according to his arrest reports.

Retana is due in court Feb. 3 for a preliminary hearings in all three cases.

Anyone with information about Retana, or anyone who believes he or she may have been a victim of abuse, may contact Metro’s juvenile sexual assault division at 702-828-3421. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

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COLORADO
Colorado Sun

January 28, 2020

By Jesse Paul

Lawmakers are considering eliminating the civil statute of limitations for child sex assault, but Colorado’s constitution appears to prohibit laws from working retroactively. Victims’ advocates think there is a path to address past abuse.

Colorado lawmakers plan to bring legislation this year that would give child sexual assault victims unlimited time to sue their abusers and the institutions that protect the predators.

But for people abused in the past — including the more than 150 victims of Catholic priests identified in a recently released report on sexual misconduct in Colorado — the change may be coming too late.

That’s because the legislature’s attorneys say Colorado’s constitution prevents laws from working retroactively and that once a statute of limitations has expired, a case cannot be reopened. Many survivors, however, don’t come forward until decades after their abuse.

Right now, child sex assault victims in Colorado have six years from the day they turn 18 to sue their abusers. They have just two years to sue an organization that acted negligently in allowing the abuse to continue or by shielding the perpetrator.

Even though other states have successfully changed their statutes to allow survivors to retroactively sue, lawmakers pushing for the alteration to Colorado law say their hands are tied. But victims and their advocates say the constitutional question isn’t settled and that they’d like to see a fight.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
KWOS Radio

January 28, 2020

[AUDIO]

The Bishop of the Diocese of Jefferson City admits that abuse of children by Catholic priests has been a major black eye for the church. Bishop Shawn McKnight says the church is taking responsibility for the crimes …

35 priests and religious brothers have been credibly accused or have been removed from service for having abused children in the Diocese.

Bishop McKnight was on KWOS Saturday Open Air.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

January 25, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

A Vatican cardinal at the center of a storm over a book about celibacy and the Catholic priesthood is denouncing the “brutality” of criticism directed at him and his collaborator, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

In an interview with Italian daily newspaper Il Foglio published Saturday, Cardinal Robert Sarah doubled down on his argument in the book, “From the Depths of Our Hearts,” that the Catholic priesthood is incompatible with marriage.

“If you weaken the law of celibacy, you open a breach, a wound in the mystery of the church,” Sarah told the newspaper.

Sarah, who heads the Vatican’s liturgical office, insisted on the sacramental link between the priesthood and celibacy, even though the Catholic Church has for centuries had married priests in its Eastern Rites as well as in the ranks of Anglican and other Protestant converts.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

January 28, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Mexico’s Catholic University continues to train members of the Catholic Church in addressing the clerical sexual abuse crisis, with a second diploma course on abuse prevention in the Latin American Church.

Organized by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Training for the Protection of Children (CEPROME), the Jan. 20-Feb 14, 2020 course is an intensive training for bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters and lay people who are committed to safeguarding.

Lecturers include Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who played a key role in addressing the clerical abuse crisis facing the Chilean Church; Jose Andres Murillo, a philosopher and abuse survivor from Chile; and Father Daniel Portillo, the director and founder of CEPROME.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

January 26, 2020

By Abigail Feldman

The Diocese of Fall River announced Sunday that it had suspended a retired priest after a review of his files revealed allegations that he had sexually abused a minor about 20 years ago.

Father Herbert T. Nichols, who has worked in several parishes around Bristol and Barnstable counties since he was ordained in 1975, denies the allegation, according to a statement from the Diocese.

Nichols retired in 2015 but has continued to participate in Masses around the area and within the Diocese’ Maronite community. His suspension precludes him from all ministry until the investigation is complete, the statement said.

Last year, the Diocese hired an independent consultant to review personnel files, officials said. Since last March, the diocese has suspended or removed at least five priests for alleged abuse or misconduct, including two retired priests earlier this month.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Boston.com

January 27, 2020

“It is time to end the secrecy, provide transparency and act in a positive manner.”

By Christopher Gavin

The Diocese of Fall River is facing calls to release a list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Last week, prominent attorney Mitchell Garabedian released his own list containing the names of seven priests, two clergy members, and one Catholic church employee who his office has successfully brought child sexual abuse claims against.

The move comes a year after Bishop Edgar da Cunha announced the diocese was readying a list for eventual publication, following a review of all its personnel records by former FBI assistant director William Gavin.

Most of the names anticipated to be released by the church have already been reported by the news media; however, the list is “necessary for greater transparency on our part in response to clerical sexual abuse,” da Cunha wrote in a letter to the diocese at the time.

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MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
UCA News

January 24, 2020

UNew office will provide canon law experts and professionals to tackle clergy sex abuse

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines are creating an office that aims to ensure the safety of minors and vulnerable people.

The Office on the Protection of Minors will help dioceses to address cases of clergy sex abuse by providing canon law experts and other professionals.

A bishop, to be elected during a meeting of prelates this week, will head the office, said Father Marvin Mejia, secretary-general of the bishops’ conference.

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KERALA (INDIA)
Hindustan Times

January 25, 2020

The 52-year-old nun accused the authorities of locking food but she said she will remain at FCC’s convent even if she was starved to death.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who was expelled from the Catholic Church, said on Saturday she was being starved at the convent as authorities have been depriving her of food to force her out.

The Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) had expelled Sister Lucy Kalapura in August last year citing “serious indiscipline” but the nun said she was victimised for supporting the agitation for the arrest of the deposed bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mullakkal, who is facing rape charges.

The 52-year-old nun accused the authorities of locking food but she said she will remain at FCC’s convent even if she was starved to death.

“I have filed three complaints against the convent authorities but police failed to take action in any of them. It seems the police are scared to take action against authorities who trouble me,” she said.

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PHILADELPHIA
The Inquirer

January 27, 2020

By Kathleen McDonough

I identify myself as a “lifer” from St. William parish in the Lawndale/Lawncrest community. For over 62 years, St. William parish has been my home — from attending St. William School as a student, to coming home to attend Mass as an adult, and the icing on the cake: teaching there for over 20 years until its 2012 closure.

During my youth in Lawncrest and neighboring Lawndale, most residents were white, blue-collar civil servants. Households were typically ones in which dad worked and mom stayed home. Children went to their neighborhood school, and you were identified as being a “Catholic” or “public.”

As the years marched on, Lawncrest and St. William changed. For 22 years, St. William’s pastor, Msgr. James E. Mortimer, embraced the changing demographics, calling the church “a welcoming community,” and establishing an after-school program, a day-care center, and a learning disabilities program. He helped the parishioners welcome priests from the Indian and Pakistani communities, as well as members and clergy from the Hispanic community.

In 2002, a new pastor, Nelson J. Pérez, arrived, just as the community was undergoing even more change.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News Global

January 27, 2020

By Bob Allen

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention said that local church autonomy does not excuse Southern Baptists from holding one another accountable in a mild rebuke of churches giving platform to a disgraced former leader accused of enabling sexual abusers.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear advised churches to “consider” former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson’s 2018 firing for conduct “antithetical to the core values of our faith” before inviting the Conservative Resurgence co-founder to speak or preach.

“Southern Baptist churches must take our mutual accountability to each other more seriously than we have in the past,” Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, is quoted as saying. “If our system of governance means anything, it means exercising due diligence and heeding what those whom we put in positions of trustee oversight have reported about official misconduct.”

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VATICAN CITY
Church Militant (blog)

January 27,.2020

By David Nussman

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is the new dean of the College of Cardinals, and some Catholics are hoping change after his predecessor appeared to resign in disgrace.

A native Italian, Cdl. Re is a former prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and a former president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The 85-year-old cardinal was elected dean by a group of 12 cardinals earlier this month. Pope Francis approved his election on Jan. 18, and an announcement was made by the Holy See this past Saturday.

Though dean of the College of Cardinals, the 85-year-old Re will be unable to vote in any future papal conclaves, because cardinals over the age of 80 are ineligible to vote.

The previous dean of the College of Cardinals, Cdl. Angelo Sodano, resigned in December.

In a motu proprio on Dec. 21, Francis thanked the 92-year-old Cdl. Sodano for his 15 years of service as dean. The Pope also changed the dean from a lifetime position to a five-year term with a two-term limit.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

January 27, 2020

Advocates and survivors of abuse perpetrated by priests of the Legionaries of Christ say that the religious order has no hope of authentic reform without wholesale replacement of the Legion’s leadership figures.

“As long as the same people are in power, there will continue to be manipulation, authoritarianism and cover up,” Adriana Lozano, a consecrated lay woman in the Legion’s Regnum Christi apostolate, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

She told ACI Prensa that although she reported for years to Legionaries leadership abuse allegations about a now laicized priest, Fernando Martínez, her allegations went unheard, even by current leaders of the religious institute.

“Nevertheless, I continued to inform each director in turn about the case, without getting a response,” she said.

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En las denuncias por abuso sexual que han cometido integrantes de congregaciones religiosas, éstas han actuado sin control por parte de la jerarquía católica. No hay alguien que ponga mano firme, aseguró la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abusos Sexuales por Sacerdotes (SNAP, por sus siglas en inglés) en México.

Las víctimas han encontrado en estos grupos protección para los agresores. La única manera para que tomen acciones es por la presión pública, por los medios, por las denuncias cuando se puede hacer algo, pero desgraciadamente a veces es muy tarde debido a que el delito prescribe, dijo Éric Barragán, vocero de la agrupación.

En el país, además de los Legionarios de Cristo, se han denunciado casos de pederastia en que se señala a los lasallistas, franciscanos y jesuitas, afirmó.

Algunos de los casos que se han hecho públicos son el de Rocío Cázarez Tamayo, quien en 2014, en Zapopan, Jalisco, denunció por abuso sexual al sacerdote franciscano Francisco Narez Fernández; en 2017 en Chihuahua, Ricardo Legarda Vázquez hizo lo propio con el cura jesuita Juan José Esquivias López.

En 2018, en Durango, se dieron a conocer los casos de seis jóvenes que también sufrieron este tipo de agresiones por parte del lasallista Alejandro Gaxiola; en ese mismo año, Jorge Flores Silva denunció al religioso de esa congregación, Francisco Serrano Limón, hermano de Jorge Serrano Limón, de la organización Provida.

Barragán destacó que ante esos casos la jerarquía católica poco ha podido hacer. Hemos solicitado el apoyo del episcopado o de un obispo, pero siempre salen con lo mismo: son congregaciones independientes, no tenemos acceso ni autoridad, no están obligados a hacernos caso.

En este sentido, el llamado de la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) para que estos grupos religiosos se sumen a su iniciativa de conformar comisiones para prevenir y atender los abusos ha tenido poco eco, pues apenas dos de ellos –los Agustinos Recoletos y los Legionarios de Cristo– han registrado estos procesos. La Conferencia de Superiores Mayores de Religiosos de México tiene aproximadamente 200 congregaciones.

Para Barragán, la falta de control y transparencia es lo que ha ocasionado que sigan los abusos y el encubrimiento… no ha habido realmente alguien que ponga la mano firme. La única persona que puede hacer algo así es el Papa.

Agregó que si bien la mayoría de los casos que han sido públicos fueron perpetrados varios años atrás, no se descarta que esto aún ocurra. Pero todavía es difícil para las víctimas denunciar.

El director del Centro Interdisciplinario para la Formación y Capacitación e Investigación para la Protección de Menores, Daniel Portillo, señaló que sería injusto decir que no hay prioridad por parte de las congregaciones, pues no todas han caído en omisiones.

En relación con los Agustinos Recoletos, su vicario provincial en México y Costa Rica, Francisco Javier Acero Pérez, señaló que cuentan con un protocolo para la prevención y atención de abusos que se trabajó desde 2012. Dijo que éste ya ha sido leído en todas sus comunidades, además hay procesos específicos para las escuelas y todos los involucrados han firmado una carta responsiva. Incluso, señaló, se han instalado cámaras de video en salones y sacristías.

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DETROIT (MI)
Associated Press

January 27, 2020

By Ed White

A Michigan priest accused of wrapping a teenager in bubble wrap was sentenced Monday to 60 days in jail for attempted false imprisonment.

The Rev. Brian Stanley appeared in Allegan County court, two months after pleading guilty in a deal with the attorney general’s office. He was initially charged with false imprisonment.

Stanley was accused of wrapping a boy in bubble wrap and tape in 2013 in a janitor’s room at St. Margaret Church. The boy’s eyes and mouth were also covered while he was left alone for an hour, according to the attorney general’s office.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
1420 WBSM Radio

January 27, 2020

By Barry Richard

The list of Catholic priests with ties to our area who have been accused of sexual misconduct with minors continues to grow but at a snail’s pace. The Fall River Diocese is clearly making an effort to deal with the problem but must find a way to expedite the process more quickly.

In the last three weeks alone, three retired priests have been suspended by the Diocese due to allegations they sexually molested someone’s kids decades ago. WBSM News reports that Father Herbert T. Nichols, Father James F. Buckley, and Father Edward J. Byington have been suspended by the Diocese “in response to information gathered during an evaluation of priestly personnel files pending further investigation, as required under its policies.” Some of the allegations have been referred for criminal investigation.

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ALLEGAN (MI)
MLive.com

January 27, 2020

By Ryan Boldrey

A former Otsego priest was sentenced to jail and probation Monday, Jan. 27, in Allegan County Circuit Court on one count of attempted unlawful imprisonment of a 17-year-old boy.

Brian Stanley, 57, was arrested Aug. 22 and charged with one count of unlawful imprisonment, a 15-year felony. As part of a plea agreement made at his pretrial hearing in November, that charge was dismissed at sentencing.

Stanley admitted at his pretrial hearing to tying up the boy and taping his eyes and mouth shut in September 2013, while “secretly confining” him for “approximately 30 minutes” in the janitor’s room of St. Margaret’s Church in Otsego. He will spend 60 days in jail, five years on probation and be required to register as a sex offender for a period of 15 years, according to the sentence issued Monday by Allegan County Circuit Judge Margaret Bakker.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 28, 2020

By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert

More than 40 years ago, a Barrigada altar boy aspiring to be a member of the Boy Scouts of America joined an outing at Lonfit River where a priest fondled and groped his private parts, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday, Jan. 27.

The plaintiff, identified in federal court documents only with the initials R.G.M. to protect his privacy, said in his $5 million lawsuit that Father Louis Brouillard falsely claimed he was teaching him how to swim.

“This event was shocking to R.G.M. and because of this, he stopped being an altar boy and he also lost interest in joining the Boy Scouts of America,” the lawsuit says.

R.G.M. was about 11 or 12 years old at the time, when Brouillard allegedly sexually abused him at the river, around 1977 or 1978. He was an altar boy at the San Vicente Ferrer and San Roke Catholic Church, while the priest was also a scout master.

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UNITED STATES
Get Religion (blog)

January 27, 2020

By Bobby Ross Jr.

Robert Downen almost burned out on newspapers and went into the insurance business.

Instead, the talented journalist, now 28, stuck it out and spearheaded what the Religion News Association chose as the No. 1 religion story of 2019.

I’m talking about the Houston Chronicle’s bombshell investigation that revealed more than 700 victims of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention and spurred reforms by the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Come April, Downen’s work on the “Abuse of Faith” project could earn him and his colleagues a Pulitzer Prize. For now, it has resulted in a new gig for the former City Hall reporter. As of last week, he’s covering religion full time for the Houston newspaper. This is wonderful news for Downen and Chronicle readers.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Metro.co.uk

January 27, 2020

By Jacob Geanous

A journalist was suspended after sharing a link to an old story about rape allegations made against Kobe Bryant hours after he died.

Felicia Sonmez, a national political reporter for The Washington Post, tweeted the link on Sunday after news broke that Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter were among nine passengers killed in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles.

Sonmez said she received thousands of comments of abuse and death threats after she shared the April 2016 story from The Daily Beast, titled: ‘Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s story, and the Half-Confession.’

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ST. PAUL (MN)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

January 27, 2020

By Rubén Rosario

Jim Richter, a Chicago native and pathologist, wanted a fresh start when he moved to the Twin Cities five years ago. After being sexually abused in his teens by a Catholic parish priest who similarly molested other members of his family as well as scores of others, the last thing the wanted to hear again were more clergy abuse scandals.

As he told an audience that attended a restorative justice and healing conference last Friday in Lake Elmo, his abuse still affects him in some way “every day of my life.” The most intimate and longest-lasting relationship he has had in his life following his abuse, he added with a bit of a quip in his voice, has been Charlie, his 18-year old schnauzer. Trust in people is hard.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Diocese of Fall River

January 26, 2020

The Diocese of Fall River today announced the suspension of retired priest Father Herbert T. Nichols for an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, alleged to have occurred approximately 20 years ago. The decision to suspend him was made based on information learned from a review of the personnel files of diocesan priests.

The allegation, which Father Nichols denies, is under investigation by the Diocese.

As a retired priest, he was not assigned to any parish but did help with the celebration of Masses in various parishes since retirement, including with the Maronite community within the Diocese. His suspension precludes him from all ministry until the investigation is completed and a determination on the matter is made.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
The Standard Times via the Taunton Gazette

January 27, 2020

In a Sunday press release, the Diocese of Fall River announced the suspension of another retired priest, Rev. Herbert T. Nichols for an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, alleged to have occurred approximately 20 years ago. The decision to suspend him was made based on information learned from a review of the personnel files of diocesan priests, the release said.

Ordained in 1975, Nichols’ assignments have included three New Bedford parishes: St. James; Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and St. Anthony of Padua Parish. He also had assignments at St. Anne Parish, Fall River; St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River; St. Joseph Parish, Taunton and St. Mary Parish, Taunton.

The allegation, which Nichols denies, is under investigation by the diocese, according to the release.

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GUAM
KUAM News

January 27, 2020

Attorney Vincent Camacho has filed a motion to intervene in the ongoing Archdiocese of Agana bankruptcy case. He represents 33 Catholic parishes and schools. As we reported the Archdiocese submitted its bankruptcy reorganization plan which is offering $21 million to settle its more than 200 clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

There is however a separate lawsuit pending against the church to included local Catholic schools and parishes to increase the settlement fund. Although the church opposes this, the Intervenors argue that the church is not in a position to fully understand each parish or school’s finances or operating structures and “thus cannot properly make all of the Intervenor’s arguments.” Such information will permit a more complete disclosure of necessary facts for the court to make a proper determination.

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FLORIDA
The Legal Examiner (law firm blog)

January 27, 2020

By Joseph H. Saunders

At a 2018 press conference, then Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a statewide investigation into child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests saying, “Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the Church and a threat to society,”

Shortly before the investigation was announced 15 victims had already contacted authorities. Now after more than a year victims are continuing to come forward yet the state has been tight lipped about the number of tips reported through the statewide hotline. With an estimated 2 million Catholics in the Florida, I expect the number of potential cases still to be reported to be substantial.

Consider just some the recent history we know. Here in Tampa Bay the Catholic diocese, from 1996-2006, paid nearly $3 million in settlements to people abused by church representatives. Most, but not all, of the cases were settled in in 2004 when the diocese agreed to pay over $1 million to a dozen men who accused former priest Robert Schaeufele of sexually abusing them between the ages of 9 and 14 beginning in the mid-1970s. Schaeufele served 12 years after he pleaded guilty to charges he sexually abused three boys. There were over two-dozen credible sex abuse allegations against the priest, but most couldn’t be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out. Schaeufele used the Florida statute of limitations to his advantage and got away with raping and abusing dozens of young boys. His crimes should have earned him a life sentence; he was released after only 12 years.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
WPRI FM (NPR affiliate)

January 26, 2020

By Jacqui Gomersall

A retired Catholic priest has been suspended from the Fall River Diocese following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Father Herbert T. Nichols denies the allegation, which is alleged to have occurred twenty years ago, according to the Diocese of Fall River.

We’re told, the allegation remains under investigation by the diocese and Nichols is suspended from all ministry until a determination on the matter is made.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

January 27, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

A gym teacher who left a Catholic school in South Buffalo in the 1960s after being accused of molesting a boy moved to another parochial school a mile away, according to the plaintiff in a recent lawsuit filed against the Buffalo Diocese.

John Maloney of West Seneca said Robert F. “Ollie” Weber left St. Thomas Aquinas parochial school shortly after his parents complained to a South Buffalo priest that Weber had molested their son multiple times. Maloney said he remembers that the parents of another student also complained about Weber at around the same time.

Maloney said a parish priest, the Rev. William G. Dickenson, talked his parents out of taking legal action against the school or Weber.

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SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Reuters

January 27, 2020

By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

A Chilean sexual abuse victim who took on the Catholic Church has announced plans to form a new political party, one of several that has emerged since protests rocked the country late last year.

James Hamilton, a doctor who was one of the first people in Chile to come forward claiming he was the victim of child sexual abuse by clergy, has called his party Dignity.

The name is a reference to the public square in the Chilean capital where protesters have gathered over the past three months to denounce inequality and high living costs.

Hamilton is seeking to unite his countrymen around “principles” rather than ideologies of left and right.

He was one of several men who accused now-defrocked Santiago parish priest Fernando Karadima of sexually abusing them as boys. Karadima, who denied wrongdoing, was found guilty in a Vatican investigation but not prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

January 21, 2020

By Cindy Wooden

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, said he asked Pope Francis about the Vatican investigation into Theodore E. McCarrick and the release of a promised report on how the former cardinal managed to rise through the church ranks.

The bishop, who was making his “ad limina” visit to Rome, drew widespread attention in August 2018 for a public statement saying he found “credible” the allegations made by retired Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former nuncio to the United States, regarding McCarrick.

Archbishop Vigano alleged that top Vatican officials, including Pope Francis, knew for years that McCarrick had been accused of sexual misconduct.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGNO

January 25, 2020

New Orleans – The New Orleans Saints have issued a statement in response to reports that the team’s public relations staff assisted the Archdiocese of New Orleans in matters relating to the Archdiocese’s ongoing sex abuse scandal.

News of the connection between the Saints and the Archdiocese surfaced this week in an Associated Press story detailing the team’s involvement.

Nearly 300 emails between members of the Saints PR staff and the communications department of the Archdiocese have become a factor in a lawsuit filed by about two dozen men claiming abuse at the hands of clergy, according to the AP.

That lawsuit, Doe v. Archdiocese, is currently in the discovery stage.

While the Archdiocese declined to comment on the issue, the Saints released a statement confirming that Greg Bensel, Senior Vice President of Communications for the New Orleans Saints, did in fact assist the Archdiocese with messaging before the Archdiocese released a list of clergy who had been “credibly accused” of the sexual abuse of children.

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HYANNIS (MA)
Cape Cod Times

January 26, 2020

By Denise Coffey

A retired priest with ties to the Cape has been suspended by The Diocese of Fall River over an allegation that he sexually abused a minor 20 years ago.

The decision to suspend Rev. Herbert T. Nichols was based on information from a review of personnel files of diocesan priests, according to a statement from the diocese.

Nichols has denied the allegation, the statement said.

Nichols, who was ordained in 1975, served at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Orleans as well as parishes in Fall River, New Bedford, Taunton and Raynham. His ministry included Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Community in New York.

As a retired priest, Nichols was not assigned to a parish at the time of his suspension. However, he participated in celebration Masses in various parishes, including with the diocese’s Maronite Community.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

January 25, 2020

By Sara Dorn

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio canceled his visit to a Park Slope school Tuesday after parents raised concerns that the cleric accused of child molestation would be around their kids, The Post has learned.

DiMarzio was scheduled to participate in a Q&A with kids at St. Saviour Catholic Academy on Tuesday, as part of Catholic Schools Week activities, according to parent Gloria Pellegrino, who took her concerns to Principal Susan Walsh.

“I do not want someone with an open investigation for child sex assault to be around my child or to speak to [them]. I think it is highly inappropriate for him to come to school and speak to the children, while the investigation is pending,” Pellegrino wrote to Walsh.

“Please let me know the planned program for that day,” the email said. “I will keep [my child] home for part or all of the school day depending on the agenda involving the Bishop.”

Pellegrino said several other parents were also upset by DiMarzio’s plans, as well as the PTA.

Enlarge ImageBishop Nicholas DiMarzio at the ordainment of Msgr. Paul Sanchez and Msgr. Raymond Chappetto to become an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The school announced last week that DiMarzio’s visit had been cancelled. “As the Diocese has heard the concerns of some of our families, Bishop DiMarzio will not visit the school at this time,” Walsh wrote.

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QUINCY (MA)
Patriot Ledger

January 24, 2020

By Wheeler Cowperthwaite

As of Friday, pending complaints made to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination are no longer public record. The idea is to make people more comfortable coming forward, but critics say it only protects those accused of wrongdoing.

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As Boston University communications professor Maggie Mulvihill sees it, MCAD’s decision on the complaints shows that Massachusetts learned nothing from the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals, in which judges allowed entire lawsuits alleging abuse by priests to be kept secret.

“How many cases were impounded and the judiciary has never been held to account for that?” she said. “Why are we sealing off records that belong to the people?”

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented victims of sexually abusive Catholic priests, said the public release of allegations such as those in the discrimination complaints, as well as the abuser’s name, often results in a “triggering effect” for other victims and can empower them to also come forward.

“Victims often feel alone and isolated and at fault when they’ve been sexually abused,” he said. “When they learn there’s another victim out there, they realize they’re no longer alone and shouldn’t think of themselves as at fault.”

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PASADENA (CA)
Courthouse News Service

January 24, 2020

By Daniel Jackson

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday two bishops in the United Methodist Church must answer questions about what they did to prevent child sex abuse around the time a boy was allegedly victimized by a former youth leader.

“Today’s decision puts church leadership on notice that when children are alleged to have been harmed through the church, church officials will be called upon to answer for what steps they took to investigate allegations of child sex abuse and what they have done and are doing to prevent child sex abuse,” the boy’s attorney Gregory Zarzaur said in a statement.

In 2015, the boy – named J.N. in the court documents – filed a suit in Talladega Circuit Court claiming that while he attended the First United Methodist Church of Sylacauga he was abused by youth pastor Charles Terrell, the 24-page decision said.

J.N. asked the former bishop of the North Alabama Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, William Willimon, and the current bishop, Debra Wallace-Padgett, about their efforts to prevent child sex abuse.

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BENGALURU (INDIA)
The News Minute

January 26, 2020

Franco Mulakkal is the prime accused in the case of sexually assaulting a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation in Kerala, multiple times between 2014 and 2016.

In a move to delay the trial proceedings of Kerala nun rape case, accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, on Saturday, filed a discharge petition in the court. The petition was filed by Franco’s counsel to Judge Gopakumar of Additional District Court in Kottayam.

Franco Mulakkal is accused of sexually assaulting a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation in Kerala, multiple times between 2014 and 2016.

Franco Mulakkal, who is on bail, filed the discharge petition, asking to relieve him from the accused list without facing the trial. The reason cited by Franco’s counsel is that the charges in the case will not stand against Franco as the case was only based on the statements of witnesses who have resentment against him, reports the Times of India.

As per reports, Franco Mulakkal’s counsel also stated that most of the witnesses against him in the case do not have a good relationship with the church.

The court will consider the discharge petition on February 4. The same court had denied Franco Mulakkal’s earlier plea seeking more time in the case.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic Spirit – Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

January 25, 2020

By Maria Wiering

http://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/whats-next-ramsey-countys-oversight-of-the-archdioceses-child-protection-efforts-is-ending-going-forward-leaders-say-the-church-is-ready-to-hold-itself-accountable/

A marathon with no finish line.

That’s the metaphor John Choi uses for the Church’s safe environment efforts.

Choi, the Ramsey County attorney since 2011, and his staff have been deeply involved in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ efforts over the past four years to improve their policies, procedures and practices around protecting children from sexual abuse.

The period of his office’s official oversight is almost over. However, Choi’s convinced that the strides taken by the archdiocese have resulted in a sustainable culture change that makes it possible for the archdiocese to continue to move in the right direction. And that includes an ever-present effort to improve what’s already been done.

“(The archdiocese has) accomplished a culture in which they’re constantly evaluating themselves in terms of the settlement agreement and the promises they’ve made and the progress that they’re undertaking,” he told The Catholic Spirit Jan. 20. “Just a lot of things have changed for the better, and it wouldn’t have changed unless we would have come to this arrangement where we came to a settlement agreement.”

That doesn’t, however, mean that everything is done, he cautioned. People should not believe “that somehow all the efforts are completed.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

January 24, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

An 87-year-old Erie County man is suing the Buffalo Diocese, alleging that he was abused in the early 1940s by a Catholic priest and two nuns at a Catholic school in Silver Creek.

The man claimed in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Erie County State Supreme Court that Monsignor Edmund O’Connor and Sister Mary and Sister Veronica “engaged in unpermitted, forcible and harmful sexual contact” with him on church and school grounds, beginning when he was in third grade and continuing through eighth grade at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church and School.

The man, who is not named, is the oldest plaintiff in Western New York to file a Child Victims Act case to date. The priest he is accusing of abuse died more than 55 years ago.

The lawsuit alleges that O’Connor, Sister Mary and Sister Veronica “groomed” the plaintiff by giving him “special praise and attention, bringing him on trips, giving him ice cream and/or gifts, and other forms of compensation.” The lawsuit marks the first time O’Connor has been publicly accused of child sexual abuse. The suit did not include last names for the two nuns.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

January 25, 2020

by Jeremy Roebuck and Justine McDaniel

After back-to-back mass shootings one weekend last August prompted calls for stricter gun laws, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput publicly argued that “only a fool” would believe that gun control could deter such violence.

The people using the guns were to blame, twisted, he wrote in a pointed column, by society’s “culture of sexual anarchy, personal excess, political hatreds, intellectual dishonesty, and perverted freedoms.”

But when a gunman killed one person and injured three at a California synagogue in April, Chaput’s designated successor, Cleveland Bishop Nelson J. Pérez, applied a softer approach. He condemned the “evil act of violence” and offered prayers for “those who were injured, loving care for the person who was killed, and comfort and consolation for their families.”

The tragedies that triggered their remarks may have little to do with meaty questions of church dogma, but the manner in which both men responded might help the region’s 1.3 million Catholics see a distinction between the outgoing archbishop and the man whom Pope Francis has named as his replacement.

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That understated profile “actually says a lot about him,” said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a scholar at the University of Notre Dame. “He’s not making hot-button issues his platform. He’s a moderate voice and who seems interested in building bridges instead of sewing divisions.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer via MSN

January 24, 2020

By Mike Newall

It seems Pope Francis was paying close attention when he rolled through Philly in 2015. Maybe the Rocky theme that greeted him at the airport got stuck in his head. Maybe he thought back to it when it came time to choose our new archbishop, and thought: A town like this needs a native son.

a man holding a microphone: Bishop Nelson J. Perez, who was named to lead the Philadelphia Archdiocese, holds the crucifix that hangs around his neck. It was given to him by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, when he was first made a bishop.

And in Bishop Nelson Perez, named Thursday as the new leader of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, we get that — or pretty close to it.

The son of Cuban immigrants, he grew up in Jersey and served as a priest for two decades in the Philadelphia area, including stints in Olney and Lawncrest. It is almost certain that our new prelate has strong, long-held opinions on our sports teams, our cultural touchstones, our culinary heritage. By which I mean, he’s definitely got a favorite cheesesteak spot, and there’s something very comforting in that.

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More comforting though, is that, in addition to speaking Philly’s language, Perez speaks Francis’ language. Literally — as one of few American bishops who can speak to the pope in his native Spanish tongue — and figuratively.

Unlike his predecessor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, a staunch conservative gifted with the ability of saying the exact wrong thing at so many times of crisis and challenge, Perez talks about the church as it should be: universal. Chaput seemed at every opportunity to draw a line in the pews: These are the beliefs. You’re either with us or against us. Perez has said that the diversity of the church is its greatest strength.

Hopefully that means us wayward Catholics, too. The ones who have watched in dismay as our current archbishop has too often kowtowed to President Trump — calling on us to support a man who has no concern for morality, or religion, or the immigrants who make up so much of Philadelphia’s church.

So, perhaps our new archbishop will walk us into the 21st century. Perez has spoken out against Trump, and he’s backed it up with actions: Directly intervening in a migrant’s deportation case with a personal call to ICE. While Chaput railed against “perverted freedoms,” Perez has confronted the president, saying the nation had lost its moral compass.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

January 25, 2020

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus has created a task force to examine its policies regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus has taken steps to examine its policies regarding the sexual abuse of minors with the creation of a task force, and has hired a law firm to determine whether more names should be added to a list of credibly accused priests.

The diocese in the days before Bishop Robert Brennan’s installation last March released a list of 34 clergy members accused of sexual abuse. The list now includes 50 names.

Brennan said he wants to look at the issue of sexual abuse of minors by clergy with “new eyes,” The Columbus Dispatch reported.

“I need to know for my own conscience that I’m doing the best I can,” Brennan said.

In addition to examining policies, the task force has been looking at how the diocese reaches out to abuse survivors to help them heal.

A diocesan official said the task force will provide Brennan with a report outlining its recommendations this month.

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NEW YORK (NY)
FOXBusiness

January 25, 2020

Use of official NFL emails are targeted by attorneys for sexual abuse plantiffs

Many pro football experts thought the New Orleans Saints would be heading to the Super Bowl next week, now it appears they are heading to court instead amidst reports of the team’s involvement in the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal.

The NFL team is asking the civil district court in the Parish of Orleans to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, In a story, first brought to light by the Associated Press Friday, attorneys for about two dozen men are suing the church and say in court filings that the 276 documents they obtained through discovery demonstrate that the NFL team, whose owner — Gayle Benson — is devoutly Catholic, aided the archdiocese of New Orleans in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”

Late Friday, the Saints released a statement acknowledging that some of its employees including Greg Bensel, the team’s senior vice president of communications, worked with the archdiocese in 2018 as it was preparing to release a list of former priests and church officials “credibly accused” of abuse. However, the team disavowed any implications it took part in covering up any information.

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CORK (IRELAND)
Irish Examiner

January 23, 2020

By Noel Baker

An Irish-based organisation which offers support to children born of Catholic clergy around the world has welcomed Vatican Guidelines on the issue which it says were largely unknown up to now.

Coping International, now in its seventh year of operation, has been endorsed by the Vatican and has seen more than 100,000 individual people from 175 countries access its free mental health and advocacy service. It has estimated that there are at least 10,000 children of priests globally and has also worked alongside the Irish Catholic Bishops here on its approach to the issue.

Coping International founder, Vincent Doyle, who is also a psychotherapist, said he has now received confirmation from the Holy See that guidelines — the existence of which were first revealed last year by the New York Times — are the official template which is globally disseminated to episcopal conferences.

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NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News Think

January 21, 2020

By Celia Viggo Wexler

Failing to empower women narrows the church’s vision and makes it less equipped to be a force for good in the world.

Recently, the Catholic Church took two small steps for womankind: This month, Pope Francis named the first woman to a managerial position in the Vatican’s most important office, the Secretariat of State. And in October, the world’s bishops suggested that Francis reconvene a commission he had created, at the urging of nuns, to study the ordination of women as permanent deacons — church ministers who are able to perform some of the duties of priests, but not to say Mass or hear confessions.

Yet these reforms only make clear how little power women hold in the church, where they constitute about half of Catholicism’s 1.2 billion adherents. Not only are women barred from ordination to the priesthood, they are not even allowed to vote at Vatican synods, convened to advise the pope about challenges facing the church.

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Women, in comparison, have led the charge for action and accountability. In 1988, Barbara Blaine, who had been sexually assaulted by her parish priest, founded the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and petitioned Catholic clergy to do more to respond to the crisis. As the scandals increased, Catholic women continued to raise alarm bells and urged that the laity be more involved in ensuring that the church protect children.

In 2014, abuse survivor Marie Collins was named to a Vatican commission on protecting minors from abuse. But in a sign of how marginalized women’s voices were, she resigned in 2017 out of frustration that Vatican bureaucrats failed to implement the group’s recommendations.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic Spirit – Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

January 25, 2020

By Joe Ruff

For Frank Meuers, a victim-survivor of clergy sexual abuse, the impact is far-reaching and never-ending.

“It’s like a stone in a pond,” he said, “the hole disappears, but the ripple effects go on and on.”

A member of St. Joseph Parish in New Hope and director of the southwest Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, Meuers described the anger he lived with for years – and the help he received through therapy. He shared that and more as part of a five-person panel of victim-survivors at a Jan. 23 conference organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

More than 60 people listened – most of them also victim-survivors on a day especially set aside for them. They nodded in recognition or teared up in empathy and understanding as Meuers and others on the panel discussed broken but healing families, difficulties forging lasting relationships and struggles with their faith.

The conference was remarkable for many reasons. It brought together victim-survivors, Church officials and Ramsey County law enforcement, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda, County Attorney John Choi and Tim O’Malley, archdiocesan director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. It was one of several final steps this month toward the archdiocese satisfying terms of its settlement agreement over civil charges that the county filed in 2015 alleging the archdiocese was negligent in the case of an abusive 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.

BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Brisbane Times

January 26, 2020

By Samantha Hutchinson

Xavier College is grappling with the challenge of marking the death of a former principal who died suddenly in December after being named in relation to child sex abuse allegations on a controversial website run by old boys.

The prestigious Catholic boys school in Kew, which counts former Labor leader Bill Shorten and former archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart among its alumni, is understood to be preparing an obituary for the former principal Philip Wallbridge, which will be circulated in the first newsletter of the year.

Mr Wallbridge, who resigned as principal in 1993 and went on to run the AFL’s SportsReady program for more than a decade, died by suicide in the days before Christmas, at least 18 months after his name was published on a website of alleged sex offenders at Xavier run by former students.

The school operates under the Society of Jesus in Australia, which is better known as the Australian Jesuits, and has referred all questions on the allegations and the website to Australian Jesuits.

Australian Jesuits confirmed it had cooperated with a police investigation into Mr Wallbridge last year. The organisation handed information and documents regarding the former priest and principal to police investigators.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 24, 2020

By Susan Matthews

Pope Francis announced Archbishop Nelson Perez as the next leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It’s a homecoming of sorts. After graduating St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1989, Perez was ordained by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Bienvenido a casa

During my time at The Catholic Standard and Times, the archdiocesan newspaper, Perez served as the first director of the Catholic Institute for Evangelization. Bevilacqua created the institute as a public relations bandaid for the wounds inflicted on the Hispanic community after he closed St. Henry’s Parish in North Philadelphia. There was outcry over removing the Catholic presence in a community where it was arguably needed most.

Perez was tasked with outreach to balance out the abandonment. Then the newspaper was told to cover it. Bevilacqua had his PR consultants review and edit out any negative quotes before we went to press.

While every effort in his role may have been genuine and helpful to the faithful, Perez was a pawn. He was ordained into a clerical culture of power, greed, hypocrisy, manipulation and well-documented secrecy. The clergy sex abuse coverup was in full swing. Memos were shredded, priests were shuffled and victims were silenced. What did Perez know and ignore? Did he merely survive and manage to thrive in spite of it?

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BROOKLYN (NY)
The Tablet – Diocese of Brooklyn

January 23, 2020

By Christopher White

Investigation of Bishop DiMarzio Follows Accountability Guidelines; Secular News Leaves Out Context and Facts in Reports

Under the new protocols for bishop accountability, Cardinal Timothy Dolan will formally conduct an investigation into an allegation against Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio that he abused an altar boy nearly 50 years ago.

Bishop DiMarzio has consistently denied the allegation and said he looks forward to “having his good name cleared and restored.”

The New York Post on Jan. 18 first reported that Cardinal Dolan was “ordered” to investigate Bishop DiMarzio. The Post’s report, however, didn’t mention that this is part of a standard process for any U.S. bishop facing an allegation of abuse.

Under the Vatican guidelines of “Vos estis lux mundi,” which were initially issued last May, Cardinal Dolan, as the metropolitan archbishop of New York, is responsible for carrying out the investigation initiated by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

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BROOKLYN (NY)
The Tablet – Diocese of Brooklyn

January 22, 2020

By Jorge I. Dominguez-Lopez

The New York Post’s headline on Jan. 18, “Vatican Orders Cardinal Dolan to Probe Bishop DiMarzio Sex Abuse Allegation,” immediately caught my attention.

I spotted how the story was lacking context and omitted important facts that would give readers a clear picture of what is going on. Unfortunately, other news publications picked up the Post’s story, also leaving out the important details.

As you may have read on page six of this edition of The Tablet, Christopher White’s article adds clarity for Catholic readers. I don’t expect the secular press to have deep knowledge of every protocol and rule of the Catholic Church, but the facts are the facts. All too often, today’s media is too quick to report stories, without doing the necessary research and fact-checking.

The Post’s headline leads the reader to believe that the Vatican made a spontaneous decision to have Cardinal Dolan investigate an allegation against Bishop DiMarzio. That is not true. Under rules set forth by Pope Francis in his apostolic letter “Vos estis lux mundi” last May, metropolitan bishops are in charge of investigating allegations against bishops in their suffragan dioceses. What is taking place is part of a protocol that had already been established.

On the other hand, and to be fair, the Post article does include Bishop DiMarzio’s comments on the original allegation: “In my nearly 50-year ministry as a priest, I have never engaged in unlawful or inappropriate behavior and I categorically deny this allegation […] I am confident I will be fully vindicated.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 24, 2020

We have long held unabashed admiration for Pope Francis. But events keep raising issues about the shortcomings of Vos Estis Lux Mundi, his signature intervention to address the church’s sex abuse crisis.

Latest case in point: According to press reports and statements from the dioceses involved, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, under Vos Estis provisions, is investigating Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, his neighbor across the East River.

DiMarzio has been publicly accused of sexual abuse of a minor dating back 45 years to a parish in Jersey City, when he was a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. DiMarzio has adamantly denied the charge. He has won a reputation as a no-nonsense responder to sex abuse issues both in Brooklyn and in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, where he previously served. DiMarzio should earn the presumption of innocence. And it’s proper to keep in mind that while a lawsuit has been threatened, as of this writing it has not been filed.

Yet for ecclesial purposes, for the confidence of the people of God in New York and beyond, the serious charges cry out for an investigation. Our problem is with making Dolan responsible for leading an inquiry.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

January 23, 2020

By Nichole Manna

The priest at the center of a small uprising within the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth admitted that he never planned to report knowledge he had of a sexual relationship between a Dallas-area priest and a church employee, according to court documents obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Furthermore, he admitted to joking with a supporter about putting a hit out on Bishop Michael Olson to have his knees broken, according to the documents.

The Rev. Richard Kirkham left the diocese in June 2018 after writing that he was “reluctantly” resigning. He later retained an attorney and moved to rescind his resignation. Olson declined to reinstate the priest. Kirkham has appealed his resignation with the Vatican.

In the year and a half since the resignation, about 1,500 parishioners who represent 20 parishes petitioned to the Vatican to remove Olson. Though Kirkham’s resignation from St. Martin de Porres in Prosper is a small part of the reason they seek Olson’s removal, Kirkham leaving is what sparked the group to step up.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

January 23, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

The Vatican women’s magazine is blaming the drastic drop in the number of nuns worldwide in part on their wretched working conditions and the sexual abuse and abuses of power they suffer at the hands of priests and their own superiors.

“Women Church World” dedicated its February issue to the burnout, trauma and exploitation experienced by religious sisters and how the church is realizing it must change its ways if it wants to attract new vocations.

The magazine published Thursday revealed that Pope Francis had authorized the creation of a special home in Rome for nuns who were kicked out of their orders and all but left on the street, some forced into prostitution to survive.

“There are some really tough cases, in which the superiors withheld the identity documents of the sisters who wanted to leave the convent, or who were kicked out,” the head of the Vatican’s religious orders congregation, Cardinal Joao Braz di Aviz, told the magazine.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

January 24, 2020

By Dan Herbeck

A second allegation of sexual abuse of a child has been filed against a Catholic priest who was recently returned to ministry by the Buffalo Diocese after it ruled a prior complaint was unsubstantiated.

The diocese allowed the Rev. Paul M. Nogaro to resume practicing as a priest on Jan. 17, after saying it was unable to substantiate the allegations made against him in a Child Victims Act lawsuit last August that accused him of molesting a child about 50 years ago.

On Thursday, Nogaro was accused in a second lawsuit, by a man who alleged Nogaro molested him when he was 10 to 12 years old. The lawsuit claims the alleged abuse occurred in the 1990s, when Nogaro was assigned to St. Gregory the Great Church in Williamsville.

Paul K. Barr, the attorney for both of the men who accused Nogaro, said he believes the diocese has made “a big mistake” by allowing Nogaro to return to his duties as a priest.

“They’ve done this before and it’s gotten them into trouble – restoring a priest to duty after he’s been accused,” Barr said.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

January 24, 2020

By Christopher Knaus

Lismore diocese plans to seek permanent stay in court to stop priest suing for abuse he suffered while a 12-year-old altar boy

The Catholic church is attempting to stop one of its own priests from suing it for child abuse because he took too long to come forward, prompting criticism that it has learned nothing from the royal commission.

The Lismore diocese plans to seek a permanent stay in the New South Wales supreme court to prevent one of its priests from suing for abuse he suffered as a 12-year-old altar boy.

Court documents allege the altar boy was abused in the 1960s by Clarence “David” Anderson, a now-dead priest. The abuse is said to have occurred at a church on the north coast of New South Wales, which sat on the grounds of a boarding school.

Anderson was a priest and religious teacher and the boy was a boarder. On one occasion, the accuser alleges he was abused in the sacristy of the church, where he had been the altar boy, following morning mass.

The Catholic church is defending the claim and last week wrote to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Barrow of Ken Cush and Associates, demanding the priest drop the case by 6 February, warning it will pursue him for legal costs if he doesn’t.

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ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS (NJ)
CNBC

January 24, 2020

New Orleans – The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis.

Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church say in court filings that the 276 documents they obtained through discovery show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”

“Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints’ public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia,” the attorneys wrote in a court filing. “The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself.”

Saints attorneys, in court papers, disputed any suggestion that the team helped the church cover up crimes, calling such claims “outrageous.” They further said that the emails, exchanged in 2018 and 2019, were intended to be private and should not be “fodder for the public.” The archdiocese is also fighting the release of the emails.

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ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS (NJ)
CNBC

January 24, 2020

By Dan Mangan

New Orleans – Lawyers say they want the New Orleans Saints and its spokesman to testify about that football team’s public relations assistance to the Archdiocese of New Orleans regarding clergy sexual abuse cases, court documents reveal.

The lawyers represent a man who is suing the archdiocese on claims he was sexually abused as a boy by a Catholic lay minister.

The Saints said in a statement Friday that the NFL team provided the PR help to the Catholic archdiocese after being asked for assistance by church officials.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
New Orleans Saints

January 24, 2020

While there is current litigation relative to the New Orleans Archdiocese and clergy sex abuse, our comments are limited only to the scope of our involvement. The New Orleans Saints organization has always had a very strong relationship with the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese reached out to a number of community and civic minded leaders seeking counsel on handling the pending media attention that would come with the release of the clergy names in November of 2018. Greg Bensel, Senior Vice President of Communications for the New Orleans Saints, was contacted and offered input on how to work with the media. The advice was simple and never wavering. Be direct, open and fully transparent, while making sure that all law enforcement agencies were alerted. The New Orleans Saints, Greg Bensel and Mrs. Gayle Benson were and remain offended, disappointed and repulsed by the actions of certain past clergy. We remain steadfast in support of the victims who have suffered and pray for their continued healing.

Further, the Saints have no interest in concealing information from the press or public. At the current discovery stage in the case of Doe v. Archdiocese, the Saints, through their counsel, have merely requested the court to apply the normal rules of civil discovery to the documents that the Saints produced and delivered to Mr. Doe’s counsel. Until the documents are admitted into evidence at a public trial or hearing in the context of relevant testimony by persons having knowledge of the documents and the events to which they pertain, the use of the documents should be limited to the parties to the case and their attorneys. If admitted into evidence of the case, the documents and the testimony pertaining to them will become part of the public record of the trial of the case.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
4 WWL CBS

January 24, 2020

By Paul Murphy

The plaintiffs are now asking a judge to release hundreds of emails between the Archdiocese and the Saints.

The Saints are trying to keep private emails between team officials and the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

In a story first reported by the Associated Press, attorneys for men now suing the Archdiocese claim the Saints helped the church cover-up crimes.

They said Saints staffers, including Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel, used their team email to advise church officials on “messaging” and how to soften the impact of the archdiocese’s release of a list of clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.

The plaintiffs are now asking a judge to release hundreds of emails between the Archdiocese and the Saints.

Kevin Bourgeois reached a settlement with the Archdiocese last April.

He claims a priest abused him in high school.

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DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency via Angelus News

January 10, 2020

The bishops of the United States have narrowly approved an increase on the amount dioceses must contribute to the national bishops’ conference. The measure initially failed to pass when put to a vote during their November 2019 meeting and additional votes had to be collected by mail to ensure the measure passed.

On the first day of their November meeting last year, the bishops voted in favor of a three percent rise in the amount each diocese in the country is required to contribute for the funding of the USCCB, based in Washington, DC, for the year 2021. But the vote of 111 to 55 in favor failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority to pass.

The conference leadership ruled the vote “inconclusive” and determined to send additional postal ballots to bishops not present at the meeting. Two months after the initial vote in Baltimore, the measure passed with a final tally of 130 in favor, 62 against, and three abstentions.

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CENTENNIAL (CO)
Colorado Public Radio

January 25, 2020

By Hayley Sanchez

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who held the same post in Denver almost a decade ago.

Chaput led Denver churches from 1997 to 2011. He was an outspoken bishop on matters both political and cultural and played a role in addressing some clergy sex abuse allegations both in Colorado and Philadelphia. He helped Philadelphia’s archdiocese after it dealt with its own series of allegations. But Chaput’s poor handling of allegations in Colorado also garnered criticism.

In 2007, allegations of sexual abuse involving Rev. Kent Drotar, a leader at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, came up. Drotar was sent to therapy for a few months but was reassigned to another parish with a school.

Chaput was confronted about the assignment and said he had documentation from the therapist that Drotar was fit to serve in a parish. After a victim of Drotar’s abuse, Stephen Szutenbach, confronted him, Chaput put together a conduct response team that removed Drotar from the parish within weeks.

Szutenbach said the only new information he gave Chaput during their meeting was that he threatened to go to the media if something wasn’t done.

“The reaction of Archbishop Charles to protect himself and his reputation and the seminary’s reputation is a complete act of clericalism,” Szutenbach told CPR News in 2018.

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IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

By Father Raymond J. de Souza

For more than 30 years, Archbishop Chaput has been a model of creativity and collaboration in preaching and preserving the Gospel.

The news was reported this week as one voice. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, a “conservative” — sometimes styled a “prominent conservative” or “archconservative” — was retiring after having reached the age of 75.

This paper has already profiled the remarkable three decades that Archbishop Chaput ministered in Rapid City, Denver and Philadelphia. Yet the term “conservative” bears examination. Does it apply to Chaput?

The New York Times characterized Chaput as a “theological and political conservative.”

The first may well apply, as it is commonly used. For example, Chaput would interpret Amoris Laetitia in continuity with St. John Paul II’s encyclical on the moral life, Veritatis Splendor. Pope Francis wrote Amoris Laetitia as if Veritatis Splendor was never written; there is no mention of it whatsoever, despite the nearly 400 footnotes. Does that mean that Chaput is conservative and the Holy Father is liberal?

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic News Service via Catholic Philly

January 23, 2020

Hagatna, Guam – In an investiture ceremony Jan. 19, Tanzanian Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, apostolic delegate to the countries of the Pacific Ocean, conferred the pallium on Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes of Agana.

The ceremony took place during Mass at Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna.

Archbishop Byrnes originally received the pallium from Pope Francis at the Vatican last June during the annual pallium Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Guam prelate was among 30 newly named archbishops from throughout the world who traveled to Rome to concelebrate the Mass, with Pope Francis presiding. The pope blessed the palliums, which were then to be conferred on the archbishops in their respective dioceses.

*

Archbishop Byrnes was an auxiliary bishop of Detroit when Pope Francis sent him to Guam in October 2016 as the coadjutor bishop with special powers in the midst of accusations of sexual abuse and financial mismanagement against Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

The former Archbishop Apuron was later found guilty of abuse against minors by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On April 4, 2019, the congregation rejected his appeal and upheld its guilty judgment — and fully affirmed Archbishop Byrnes’ leadership as the shepherd of the Catholic faithful on Guam and the metropolitan archbishop of Agana.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

January 23, 2020

By Massimo Faggioli

The publication of From the Depths of Our Hearts, Cardinal Robert Sarah’s book on clerical celibacy “co-authored” with Pope Benedict XVI, illustrates once more the problem with the institution of the emeritus papacy as it’s currently functioning. Much has already been said about this aspect of the latest controversy, but less about what Benedict’s contribution to the book signifies in terms of his continued revisionist thinking on Vatican II, where he played a significant role as a theological expert. Italian theologian Andrea Grillo has astutely remarked that “Benedict is one of the fathers of Vatican II, but full of remorse.” Indeed, the defense of clerical celibacy put forth in From the Depths of Our Hearts is built on a view of Scripture, liturgy, and the church that makes no reference whatsoever to the documents of Vatican II.

Of course, it’s hard to know at this point just how direct a hand the “pope emeritus” has had in the writing that has appeared under his name in the past year (including his musings on the genesis of the abuse crisis last April). Nevertheless, it fits within a pattern of theological drift dating back much farther than Francis’s papacy. Some see signs of Ratzinger distancing himself from the council as early as August 1965, while Vatican II was still underway and the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes was taking shape. Others date it to the student protest movement in Germany in 1968 and 1969, when he was teaching at Tübingen before moving to the quieter University of Regensburg in Bavaria. The German national synod of 1972–1975 seems to have contributed to his disillusionment.

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MALTA
Independent

January 23, 2020

https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2020-01-23/local-news/Carnival-float-linking-Archbishop-Church-home-to-child-abuse-draws-widespread-condemnation-6736218779

A Carnival float linking Archbishop Charles Scicluna and a Church home to child abuse has drawn widespread condemnation, and will not be allowed to participate in Carnival, reports read

The float features the Archbishop, flanked by two babies with devil’s horns and pointy teeth, in front of St Joseph children’s home, with the writing ‘Jude’s hell.’ Jude is Archbishop Scicluna’s middle name.

The Facebook post was accompanied by the following text: ‘Carnival 2020 loading … Let the children come to me … shhh don’t tell them anything.”

Lovin Malta reports that Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government, José Herrera confirmed that Festivals Malta will be communicating with the float owner, and it will be prevented from participating.

Archbishop Scicluna earlier in the day told Times of Malta that, while he is not against satire, the float is “highly inappropriate”, especially for an event attended by children.

Fr Louis Mallia MSSP, who runs St Joseph Home, said he was concerned by the reaction children could have if the float is paraded through Valletta next month. He invited the float builders to visit the children’s home, to see that the real situation was very different from that depicted in the float.

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MALTA
Malta Today

January 24, 2020

By Matthew Vella

Social workers say banned carnival float was homophobic and minimised gravity of crime of child abuse with gratuitous links to Vatican prosecutor of sex abuse cases

The Maltese Association of Social Workers has said a carnival float linking Archbishop Charles Scicluna to the historic St Joseph Home child abuse saga was likely to cause distress to the home’s residents by depicting it as unsafe.

The carnival float was banned for participation in the Maltese carnival defilé by the minister culture for juxtaposing the Catholic archbishop with two-horned cherubs and the name ‘St Joseph Home’, as well as inserting an LGBTQI rainbow in the pastiche.

The St Joseph Home was the site of repeated child abuse of orphans who resided there in the 1980s until police investigated the case in 2003. In 2011, Carmelo Pulis, then 69, and Godwin Scerri, then 78, were defrocked and jailed for five and six years respectively after a court found them guilty of sexually abusing ten boys in their care in the 1980s.

The home still houses orphaned residents.

But even Lawrence Grech, one of the survivors who has been repeatedly denied compensation from Scicluna’s archdiocese, yesterday insisted the carnival float should not be banned.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

January 25, 2020

A float linking Archbisop Charles Scicluna and a Church home to child abuse, caused a whole uproar this past week, with many arguing that it is in bad taste.

The float features the Archbishop, flanked by two babies with devil’s horns and pointy teeth, in front of St Joseph children’s home, with the writing ‘Jude’s hell.’ Jude is Archbishop Scicluna’s middle name. The float also contains a wedding cake with two men holding hands.

Festivals Malta took a decision to ban the float in its current form, and in this newsroom’s opinion this was the right move. While Freedom of Expression is of course sacred, there are defamatory considerations which must also be made. Archbishop Scicluna is a man who has spearheaded the fight against child abuse in the church, and depicting in such a way can be seen as linking the Archbishop to such abuse.

Scicluna is considered to be the Vatican’s main investigator into priestly sexual abuses, with the Maltese Archbishop being sent to countries like Chile and Poland to deal with such cases. He also led a Vatican summit which was aimed to draw up guidelines for the church to tackle this subject.

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ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

January 23, 2020

By Cayla Harris

Six months after the Child Victims Act went into effect, survivors and lawyers say hundreds of lawsuits have stalled in the pre-trial discovery stages.

In August, the act opened a one-year look-back period temporarily eliminating the civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, allowing survivors of all ages to lodge lawsuits against their alleged offenders. The first filing day, Aug. 14, saw more than 400 lawsuits – and there have been about 1,000 more statewide in the months since.

But as attorneys await evidence from defendants, several cases have reached an impasse, leaving survivors waiting far after the closure of the look-back window to take their cases to trial or pursue settlements. Only a handful of cases have been settled, and the earliest trials are expected to take place in 2021 – but some have been scheduled as far as out 2023, attorneys said.

“We hear mostly from clients – in any case – it’s a longer process than a person who’s not in the legal system expects or wants,” said Jennifer Freeman, an attorney with Marsh Law Firm, which has offices in Manhattan and White Plains. “You think you can go to trial in a few months, and it just doesn’t work like that.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Bleacher Report

January 24, 2020

By Adam Wells

A court-appointed special master will hear arguments from the New Orleans Saints to prevent the release of emails from team executives that reportedly show them offering public relations help to the city’s Roman Catholic archdiocese as it dealt with multiple allegations of sexual abuse against its clergy members.

Per Jim Mustian of the Associated Press on Friday, attorneys for the 12 plaintiffs in the lawsuit found through discovery that the Saints “aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its ‘pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.'”

A full list of Saints executives involved wasn’t listed, but the team’s senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel was mentioned. “Multiple” team personnel were also said to have used their team-affiliated email addresses to advise church officials about their messaging and “how to soften the impact of the archdiocese’s release of a list of clergy members ‘credibly accused’ of sexual abuse.”

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UNITED STATES
Patheos

January 23, 2020

By Mary Pezzulo

I want to say a few words about gaslighting, and about how abusive people manipulate their communities.

The other day on Facebook, I met a woman who has been the victim of some extreme domestic violence. For the record she’s not the same domestic violence survivor as the one we all helped with a gift registry in December; this is a new friend of mine. She’s told her own story publicly for the very first time this week. It’s extremely graphic and horrifying, and she promises there’s a lot more that she’s left unsaid which she’ll reveal later. But what there is now is terrible enough. You can see it yourself on facebook, complete with a picture of her burned arm.

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BAD AXE (MI)
Huron Daily Tribune

January 23, 2020

By Scott Nunn

Ventline scheduled for sentencing Feb. 6

Former priest and Port Austin resident Lawrence Ventline, 70, pleaded no contest to indecent exposure Jan. 15.

Ventline had been charged following a complaint made by an area business that he had exposed himself. He was scheduled for jury trial Jan. 28.

According to Huron County Prosecutor Timothy Rutkowski, the complainant stated that Ventline walked around the business for approximately 10 minutes exposing himself. Rutkowski said he had a video clip of the incident from the surveillance that was about 30 seconds in duration. In his statements to the police Ventline alleged the exposure was due to a medical issue.

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UNITED STATES
SNAP

January 22, 2020

Catholic officials in Rome have opened an abuse investigation into a New York prelate who three months ago they had selected to lead an abuse investigation of his own. This situation is a clear example of the need for external, secular investigations instead of church-run ones.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was accused of abuse in a lawsuit filed in November of last year, alleging that he had abused a boy while he was a priest in Jersey City. That accusation came after Bishop DiMarzio had been tapped by Vatican officials to lead an investigation into Bishop Richard Malone, the former head of the Diocese of Buffalo who resigned in December in disgrace.

The fact that a Bishop accused of abuse was the man investigating another Bishop’s cover-up abuse is a clear example of why internal, church-run investigations cannot be counted on to get to the bottom of clergy abuse crimes and cover-ups. Too many prelates – as many as 130 sitting bishops, according to a Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer investigation – have been accused of mishandling abuse allegations or being abusers themselves for internal investigations to have any merit. There is an obvious need for oversight and investigations to come from external, secular sources.

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

UNITED STATES
SNAP

January 23, 2020

Philadelphia has a new Archbishop, a man who is tasked with the tall order of bringing transparency and openness to an archdiocese that has long taken an antagonistic position towards survivors of clergy abuse.

Nelson Perez, the former Bishop of Cleveland, has been elevated to the Archbishop of Philadelphia by Pope Francis. He replaces Archbishop Charles Chaput, a man whose signature achievements included actively fighting against legislation that would benefit survivors and wantonly ignoring the church’s zero tolerance policy for priests accused of abuse.

Archbishop Perez has a lot of work in front of him. We have concerns that, as a product of St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia and as one who knows how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has repeatedly failed victims, he may adopt a “business as usual” approach. We hope for the complete opposite and that we see Archbishop Perez be true to his motto, “trust and hope,” two things that survivors in Philadelphia have long found wanting in their Catholic leadership. The archbishop has the opportunity to, as he said many times in Cleveland, “do the right thing.”

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

UNITED STATES
SNAP

January 22, 2020

Another priest has been added to the Oklahoma City Archdiocese’s list of abusers. We call on Catholic officials to do outreach in every community where this priest worked to encourage other possible victims to come forward and make a report.

The case of Fr. Martin Leven is another example of the Church’s playbook to avoid scandal and minimize abuse allegations. Fr. Leven was first accused of abuse in 1993 and was sent to a church-run treatment facility in 1995. However, since the archdiocesan list does not include assignment dates or additional information on the allegation, we are unclear as to when the abuse was alleged to have occurred, only where.

The treatment facility found the allegation “possible.” Their recommendation was that the priest have no unsupervised contact with minors and seek intensive outpatient psychotherapy. Fr. Leven was then returned to parish ministry with the instruction that he “not be permitted to have ministerial contact with minors unless other adults are present.”

We do not know whether that instruction was actually enforced, or who was in charge of supervising its implementation. We do know that a recommendation is not enough to protect children from abuse, and that a second allegation of abuse by the priest, apparently from the same time period as the first, has also been “substantiated.” We are not told when the archdiocese received the second allegation, but Fr. Leven remained in parish ministry until 1999, in hospital ministry until 2013, and only had his faculties removed this year.

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.

Un exseminarista venezolano denunció a un sacerdote mexicano de haber abusado sexualmente de él cuando tenía 13 años. Le ha seguido la pista por Chicago, La Habana, Ciudad de México. Al presunto perpetrador se le vio en la Basílica de Guadalupe haciendo trabajo eclesiástico para los paulinos.

La congregación religiosa Sociedad de San Pablo, conocida como Paulinos, resguarda en México al sacerdote católico Juan Huerta Ibarra, acusado penalmente de abuso sexual y pederastia ante la justicia venezolana, país al que fue enviado para realizar funciones eclesiásticas.

Pese a que el proceso penal en su contra sigue abierto en la ciudad de Mérida, territorio ubicado en el nacimiento de la cordillera andina, al norte de Venezuela, el religioso retornó a México y desde julio de 2019 realiza actividades sufragadas por la congregación y la jerarquía Paulina, que han rechazado diversas solicitudes periodísticas para hablar del caso.

El abogado venezolano José Leonardo Araujo Araque, actualmente de 31 años, denunció penalmente a Huerta Ibarra en 2019.Lo acusa de haber abusado sexualmente de él en reiteradas ocasiones, cuando tenía tan sólo 13 años de edad y Huerta Ibarra era superior y fundador de la comunidad “Reina de los Apóstoles”, casa de formación de los aspirantes a ingresar a la congregación.

La Sociedad de San Pablo conoció oficialmente la denuncia del joven por correos electrónicos enviados a Roma al superior general Valdir José De Castro. También informó a José Faustino Hernández Estévez, superior provincial de México-Cuba, quien se comprometió a investigar a fondo. 

Dr. José Rafael Bastos
Fiscal Superior del estado Bolivariano de Mérida
Su despacho-
Denuncia: Abuso sexual contra un adolescente
Partes: José Leonardo Araujo Araque Vs. Sacerdote Juan Huerta Ibarra
Sr. Fiscal Superior:
Yo, José Leonardo Araujo Araque, titular de la cédula de identidad N9 V-18124059,
soltero, abogado en ejercicio; domiciliado actualmente en la ciudad de Caracas, Distrito
Capital; y aquí de tránsito, ante usted con la venia de estilo y como mejor procede en
derecho, acudo en este acto a denunciar conforme a la legislación penal nacional al
sacerdote JUAN HUERTA IBARRA, mexicano, nacido en fecha 29 de noviembre de
1954, residenciado actualmente en el departamento de Chicago, Estados Únidos de
Norteamérica; perteneciente a la congregación religiosa de Derecho Pontificio,
Sociedad San Pablo, fundada en Venezuela como ASOCIACIÓN CIVIL SOCIEDAD SAN
PABLO DE VENEZUELA, Asociación Civil sin fines de lucro, inscrita por ante el Registro
Público del Segundo Circuito del Municipio Libertador del Distrito Capital y bajo el N°6,
Folio 15, Protocolo Primero, Tomo 1, en fecha 5 de Abril de 1954 y cuya última
actualización de su junta directiva fuera registrada por la Oficina de Registro antes
mencionada en fecha 7 de mayo de 2018, bajo el N°45, Tomo 19, Protocolo
Transcripción, suficientemente facultado por los estatutos sociales de la Asociación en
el Capítulo Ill, e inscrita en el Registro de Información Fiscal (RIF) bajo
el
No. J000638357, cuyo presidente es el Religioso Vittorio Favaretto Scapinello, titular de
la cédula de identidad N° V-6913875, domiciliada en la ciudad de Caracas; por haber
cometido abuso sexual contra mi persona conforme a la narración de los hechos que a
continuación expondré:

Página 1 de la denuncia presentada por Leonardo Araujo.

CHICAGO, LA HABANA, MÉXICO

La nunciatura apostólica en Venezuela, al conocer la denuncia, respondió que el responsable de la investigación sería el cardenal Baltazar Porras y recomendó que no era oportuno “que muchas personas entren en casos así de delicados, con el riesgo de complicar las cosas”.

Huerta Ibarra, nacido en Jalisco en 1954, fue ordenado sacerdote en los años ochenta. Desde entonces se integró a la Sociedad de los Paulinos y en el 2001 fue nombrado Superior y fundador de la comunidad Reina de los Apóstoles.

José Leonardo, quien ha recorrido todas las instancias oficiales de la iglesia católica para presentar su denuncia, ha dado seguimiento a los traslados del padre Huerta Ibarra.

En entrevista vía Skype con EMEEQUIS y Sexta W, recuerda que su perpetrador fue enviado de Mérida a Caracas en misión pastoral en 2002 y que, durante varios años, desconoció su paradero. Pero en noviembre de 2018 lo ubicó en Chicago, Estados Unidos, a través de mensajes de WhatsApp en los que el religioso acepta los abusos.

“El padre Huerta nunca niega lo sucedido. De hecho, él me dice que  iba a juntar dinero para que yo fuera a México y pedirme perdón frente a la Virgen de Guadalupe, pero él no quería que yo sufriera más por él. Después, él me pedía, porque así me lo dijo, él era quien hacía las llamadas desde Estados Unidos… me pedía que le protegiera su ministerio”.

Ahora bien, es el caso, que en el año 2017, especificamente a partir del mes de octubre
comencé a presentar una serie de malestares físicos y emocionales, tales como llanto,
dolencias físicas, insomnio, ansiedad; lo que fue diagnosticado como un estado
depresivo mayor, con una pronunciada ideación suicida. Inclusive, se dieron intentos
de suicidios, felizmente frustrados por mis familiares. En la actualidad padezco un
trastorno de ansiedad, originado por aquel triste episodio en mi vida, siendo
actualmente, paciente de psiquiatría, sexología e intervenciones terapéuticas
continuas.
En fecha 18 de noviembre del año 2018, le escribi a través del servicio de mensajería de
whatsapp al número +1 32.
,122 del sacerdote JUAN HUERTA IBARRA, donde le
manifesté todo lo acontecido y él no negó estos hechos. Por el contrario, los acento.
Dejo a disposición del experto que decida competente, la revisión y verificación de mi
teléfono celular, así como pueden llamar al número de teléfono antes indicado y
constatar que efectivamente lo posee el precitado ciudadano; con el fin de constatar la
certeza de estos hechos. Asimismo, podrían llamar al Pbro. Victor Manuel Angulo Peña
y/o al Pbro. John González y corroborar que el número de teléfono antes indicado
pertenece al Sr. Huerta Ibarra.
En el mismo orden de ideas, en fecha 22 de marzo del corriente, presenté ante el
despacho de su Excelencia el Dr. Baltazar Cardenal Porras Cardozo, la denuncia por
escrito contra este sacerdote, cuya copia simple acompañada de su original consigno
acompañada de este escrito constante de trece (13 folios), quien remitió al seno de la
congregación religiosa el escrito para que sea examinado y se inicien los procesos en
instancias canónicas. Recibi dos (2) correos electrónicos de la Sociedad San Pablo,
indicando que se iniciarian los procedimientos prescritos en la iglesia católica para
llegar a un acercamiento de la verdad. No obstante, es mi obligación denunciarlo ante
esta instancia a fin de que sea penado, conforme a las regulaciones penales.

Página 5 de la denuncia en la que se describe el contacto por Whatsapp

José no fue la única víctima. Recuerda que no sólo abusaba de él, sino de otro joven: “Hubo un muchacho que era de tez oscura, robusto él, le decía el Goldo. Lo llevaba a su habitación. Era mayor que yo, quizá tendría unos 15 años. Lamentablemente no recuerdo el nombre de ese muchacho, pero él lo llevaba a su habitación”.

El religioso llegó a Chicago en diciembre de 2015, para atender el Centro Bíblico de San Pablo, distribuidor de las ediciones paulinas, además de prestar servicios eclesiásticos.

Otro lugar en donde fue comisionado para atender la librería paulina fue La Habana, Cuba, con estancias cortas. Finalmente, su traslado a la Provincia de México se da en julio de 2019.

El Papa Francisco, en la Carta Apostólica en forma de Motu Proprio ‘Vosotros sois la luz del mundo’ giró instrucción expresa a todos los superiores eclesiásticos del catolicismo, para que inicien investigación y separen inmediatamente de sus funciones a presuntos abusadores.

LA COSTUMBRE: TRASLADARLOS DE CIUDAD

La víctima de abuso sexual Jesús Colín y el especialista en religión Bernardo Barranco aseguran en entrevistas con Sexta W y EMEEQUIS que trasladar a los pederastas de un lugar a otro se ha convertido en una verdadera práctica sistemática de la iglesia católica, paraque los sacerdotes acusados de delitos sexuales evadan la justicia.

Como reconocieron los Legionarios de Cristo en noviembre de 2019, al revelarse el caso del sacerdote Fernando Martínez Suárez, denunciado por abusos desde 1969 en el Instituto Cumbres Lomas, éste fue trasladado a diversas ciudades en México, posteriormente a España y a Roma. Y después de 50 años se inició un proceso canónico en su contra.

Otro caso más reciente es el del padre Nicolás Aguilar, acusado de abusar de niños en 1986 enTehuacán, Puebla. En 1987 fue trasladado a Los Ángeles, California, en donde también abusó de por lo menos 26 niños más. Al ser acusado de esos delitos, es trasladado a México, a donde llega en enero de 1988.

La Arquidiócesis de México le dio cobijo en los templos del Perpetuo Socorro y en la parroquia de San Antonio de las Huerta. En ese mismo sitio, el sacerdote violó a un menor más, el monaguillo Joaquín Aguilar, para finalmente ser denunciado en Tehuacán por violar a niños al atender a los fieles de las iglesias de la Virgen de Juquilita y San Vicente Ferrer. Es prófugo de la justicia desde 2006; actualmente tiene 78 años de edad.

La llegada a México de Huerta Ibarra sería responsabilidad del entonces Provincial de los Paulinos, Faustino Hernández Estévez, quien tiene su oficina en la alcaldía de Iztapalapa, en la Ciudad de México.

Hernández Estévez conoció la denuncia de abusos cometidos a José Leonardo Araujo. 

En abril 2019 confirmó haberla recibido: “Las reclamaciones de esta naturaleza serán investigadas a fondo. El asunto será supervisado por nuestro asesor legal para que las partes estén protegidas”, dijo.

Se buscó a Hernández Estévez para hablar sobre este asunto, vía telefónica en sus oficinas de la casa provincial. Se negó a contestar o dar respuesta escrita a la solicitud de entrevista.

SE LE VIO EN LA BASÍLICA

Entre el 3 y el 11 de agosto de 2019, el sacerdote Huerta Ibarra fue visto en México: estaba designado como responsable de atender al público que asistió al pabellón de las ediciones Paulinas en la XXI Feria del Libro Católico, celebrada en el atrio de la Basílica de Guadalupe.

El religioso fue visto en México el año pasado en esta Feria del Libro. Foto: Eugenia Jiménez Cáliz

Ahí pudo comprobarse también que el sacerdote convivía con seminaristas. Según el Motu Proprio “Vosotros sois la luz del mundo”, mientras un sacerdote está sometido a proceso de investigación canónica, no debe permitirse que tenga acercamiento con jóvenes.

Este detalle se suma al hecho de que en agosto pasado estuvo en México el Superior general de los Paulinos, Valdir José de Castro, quien vive en Roma, para presidir el XIII Capítulo General, donde se estableció el Plan de Acción de la congregación, en el cual se designó como nuevo provincial al padre Oliverio Mondragón.

La congregación Paulina en México no es muy numerosa: son cerca de 70 integrantes, pero en la Ciudad de México hay aproximadamente 23, por lo que es probable que Castro estuviera enterado de la presencia del sacerdote Huerta Ibarra durante su visita. 

“EL PADRE ME MANOSEABA…”

A la edad de 13 años, como miembro de la Cofradía del Santísimo Sacramento de la parroquia Inmaculada Concepción de la Azulita, Araujo acudió a la ciudad de Mérida a una asamblea de ese movimiento eclesial. De ahí se trasladó a la librería San Pablo donde conoció al sacerdote Huerta.

El siguiente relato forma parte de ladenuncia No MP-186133-2019 presentada por José Leonardo Araujo Araque ante la Fiscalía 10ª del Ministerio Público Superior de la Circunscripción Judicial del Estado Mérida, en Venezuela, el 25 de julio de 2019:

A partir de este momento, relata José Leonardo, comenzaron a realizarse una serie de encuentros, a los cuales fue invitado, bajo la premisa de ser aspirante a ingresar como formando a la comunidad.

“Durante estos encuentros se fueron generando nexos a tal punto que el Sr. Huerta, visitó en dos oportunidades mi hogar: donde era atendido sin ningún tipo de miramientos, dada la autoridad moral que como sacerdote ostenta”.

En esa época el clérigo tenía 46 años de edad y había sido nombrado superior y fundador de la comunidad que fungía como casa de formación para los aspirantes a ingresar a la congregación en la ciudad venezolana. Su nombramiento entonces corrió a cargo del Superior de los Paulinos, Gabriele Celadin. 

“Durante aquellos momentos se fue acrecentando la amistad entre nosotros, entregándome obsequios tales como franelas, medallas, libros religiosos, lámparas, llaveros, invitaciones a viajes a la ciudad de San Cristóbal, Estado de Táchira y a la ciudad de Caracas. 

“Mis padres, atendiendo a la condición de clérigo y considerándolo como una persona respetuosa, me autorizaban para que realizara estos viajes, tanto fuera de la jurisdicción emeritense, como al Valle Estado de Mérida, sitio donde se hallaba la casa de formación religiosa”.

En el relato que elabora José Leonardo, el padre Huerta fue escalando los niveles de intimidad con adolescente, precisamente en esos viajes fuera de la ciudad de Mérida.

“En una de las ocasiones que yo pernoctaba en el sitio, me invitó a su habitación personal y me pidió que durmiera allí, lo cual repitió durante un año. Durante estos encuentros, que se dieron de forma continuada, se suscitaron una serie de hechos donde él me hablaba, pues yo dormía en una cama que estaba bajo la suya y me conminaba a acostarme al lado suyo:

“El padre Huerta me manoseaba mis genitales con sus manos, provocándome erecciones, besaba mis labios e introducía su lengua dentro de mi boca, frotaba los genitales hasta que él eyaculaba. Tomaba mis manos y las conducía hasta sus genitales para masturbarse, todo esto con una intención manifiestamente libidinosa”.

En la denuncia detalla pormenores de la habitación, así como elementos decorativos, un clóset de madera, una computadora de mesa y sobre ésta un teléfono que recibía faxes, “como prueba de certeza de los lamentables hechos que empañaron mi niñez y hasta el día de hoy llevo”. 

Araujo en una imagen reciente mientras exponía su caso a los medios. 

“ABSOLUCIÓN DEL CÓMPLICE”

La narración es precisa y contundente en la descripción de los sucesos: “La última vez que lo realizó fue el 27 de marzo del 2002, en la iglesia de la población de Chacantá: me tomó en la sacristía y me besó en idénticas condiciones supra expuestas, friccionando sus genitales con los míos.

“La noche del Jueves Santo de aquella Semana Santa yo me sentía mal por lo que pasaba, pues vengo del seno de un hogar católico, mis padres eran humildes agricultores, pero nos educaron y nos enseñaron que nada de eso era correcto, por lo tanto yo, apesarado por lo que pasaba, me confesé, escribí mis pecados, su pregunta fue si estaba arrepentido y sin miramientos me absolvió de la falta…”. 

Esta acción en el Derecho Canónico se denomina “absolución del cómplice” y es un pecado, el cual se castiga con la excomunión “latae sententiae” (inmediata) del sacerdote y está reservada a la Santa Sede, según se establece en el canon 1378§ del Código de Derecho Canónico.

De acuerdo con la denuncia, el entonces adolescente padeció una serie de afectaciones emocionales y ha llevado “una vida entristecida por estos hechos,sintiendo vergüenza ante los demás, sintiendo asco conmigo, sintiéndome sucio, vulnerado, incluso llegando a evitar cualquier contacto sexual por la vergüenza que tengo, surgiendo; inclusive, dudas acerca de mi sexualidad”.

José Leonardo señala que en octubre del 2017 comenzó a presentar una serie de malestares físicos y emocionales, como llanto, dolencias físicas, insomnio, ansiedad, que le fueron diagnosticados como un “estado depresivo mayor, con una pronunciada ideación suicida”.  Incluso se dieron intentos de suicidio. 

“En la actualidad padezco un trastorno de ansiedad, originado por aquel triste episodio en mi vida, siendo actualmente, paciente de psiquiatría, sexología e intervenciones terapéuticas continuas”.

DEDIRLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA
MINISTERIO DEL PODER POPULAR PARA
RELACIONES INTERIORES, JUSTICIA Y PAE
VICEMINISTERIO DEL SISTEMA INTEGRADS
DE INVESTIGACION PENAL
SERVICIO NACIONAL DE MEDICINA Y CIENCIAS FORENSES ) MUD!
MERIDA. ESTADO MERID/
MEC
SIGUE…
Degle hace 7 años desempeña labres como abogado, actualmente coordinador de juicios laborales en
CANTV caracas,
Desde hace 1 año y 3 meses recibe atención psiquiátrica y psicológica debido a presentar cuadros de
depresión, acivalmente bajo medicación
V.- INSTRUMENTOS UTILIZADOS,
ENTREVISTA CLINICA.
VI.-RESULTADOS:
AREA INTELECTUAL:
Para el momento de la evaluación. el funcionamiento cognitivo del consultante se encuentra comprendido
dentro de los limites que definen a la Inteligencia como Normal Promedio. Atención y Concentración sin
alteraciones.
ARA EMOCIONAL-SOCIAL:
Cal consultante, adulto de 31 años de edad, se muestra abordable y colaborador. Emocionalmente evidencia
eginslantemente. Por otro lado refiere, insomnio bajo medicación, rabia, senlimientos de culpa, rechazo hacia
conductes ejercidas por el denunciado e incapacidad para establecer retaciones de pareja de manera formal
y plena capacidad para diferenciar entre el bien y el mal. Socialmente con lendencia a la introversión
VIl.- DIAGNÓSTICO (Según CIE-10):
Trastorno de Estrés Post – Traumático (F43.1)
VIll.-CONCLUSIONESYRECOMENDACIONES:
Posterior a la evaluación psicológica forense se concluye que la ciudadana José Leonardo Araujo Araque, de
personalidad estruciurada, presenta un trastorno de Estrés Post – Traumático, que surge como consecuencia
de los hechos que narra, manteniendo conservadas sus capacidades de juicio y discernimiento. Recomiendo
brindar medidas de protección y resguardo, asi como, atención por psiquiatria y psicología clinica.
LIC. CAR
LAMANNAS
PSICÓLOGO FORENSE
CICkcic
Gobierno
Bolivariano
de Venezuela
Ministerio del Poder Popular
para Relaciones Interiores, Justicia y Paz

Diagnóstico en el que se recomienda atención psicológica para el afectado. 

ESTRÉS POSTRAUMÁTICO

La Fiscalía Venezolana solicitó a sus especialistas practicar una evaluación psicológica y psiquiátrica a José Leonardo. En las conclusiones de las evaluaciones entregadas en octubre por Carla Ceballos Vivas, psicólogo forense, en el documento No 356-1428-P-0897-2019, se precisa:

“Presenta un trastorno de estrés post traumático que surge como consecuencia de los hechos que narra, manteniendo conservada sus capacidades de juicio y discernimiento. Recomiendo brindar medidas de protección y resguardo, así como de atención por psiquiatría y psicológica clínica”.

Recomendación que coincide con la del psiquiatra Javier Piñero Alvarado, de la misma autoridad.

Después de la denuncia penal, José Leonardo solicitó a los paulinos sufragar los gastos de los medicamentos y el pago del psiquiatra, requerimiento que fue aceptado.

En entrevista, José Leonardo Araujo expuso que el proceso penal continúa y se investiga si se puede precalificar como violación presunta, “puesto que él llevó mis manos a sus genitales para masturbarse; ese delito no está prescrito y debe ser enjuiciado en Venezuela”. Porque la denuncia de violación por actos lascivos que presentó en junio ya prescribió. También comenta que “la Fiscalía lleva adelante las investigaciones útiles y necesarias para esclarecer el caso, (y) actúa con determinación”.

INVESTIGACIÓN ECLESIAL

En noviembre de 2018, José Leonardo entró en contacto, vía la aplicación WhatsApp, con el padre Huerta Ibarra, a quien le comentó sobre sus malestares psicológicos y su estado depresivo.

A través de los mensajes establecieron “un acuerdo amistoso” en donde el religioso reconocería el daño ocasionado por el abuso sexual y pediría perdón. Además de ofrecer una indemnización a cambio de no perjudicarlo en su ministerio sacerdotal.

Pero el religioso incumplió. Para comprobar estos hechos el joven entregó a la Fiscalía su teléfono celular para que revisara los mensajes. También reconoció que “fue un error tratar de recomponer esa situación tan dramática”.

Por el incumplimiento del acuerdo, el joven estableció contacto con el abogado del padre Huerta, quien se identificó como Gregory Ryan, del despacho Ryan & Associates de Los Angeles, Estados Unidos. Al intercambiar emails el 20 de marzo de 2019, éste respondió:

“La Sociedad toma sus acusaciones seriamente y las rechaza por completo. No hay evidencia independiente, ni siquiera un testigo neutral, disponible que respalde sus afirmaciones. Además, ni usted ni ninguna otra parte informaron los supuestos incidentes en los últimos 18 años”.

Y en otro email, agrega: “No ha habido admisiones de conducta ilícita. El supuesto acuerdo nunca fue firmado aprobado o ratificado por P-Huerta. No se realizó ningún pago en virtud del acuerdo ejecutado”. 

Desde mayo 2019 el joven venezolano perdió comunicación con ese despacho.

El 22 de marzo del 2019, presentó la denuncia canónica en el despacho del cardenal Baltazar Porras Cardozo de Venezuela, por “actos lascivos continuados, administración y absolución del pecador como autor” en contra del religioso.

El 6 de agosto del 2019, el padre Hernando Jaramillo Osorio, superior regional de Sociedad de San Pablo en Venezuela, le envió una carta mediante la cual le informa que Arturo Peraza Celis, sacerdote jesuita y abogado, será el responsable de la investigación y que el padre Huerta pertenece “actualmente a la Provincia de México”.

Al asumir la representación legal, Peraza Celis se entrevistó con el denunciante, quien le solicitó tomar el testimonio de cinco testigos, entre ellos dos sacerdotes.

¿EPISCOPADO MEXICANO LO SABE?

 juan huerta 7

Captura de pantalla del mail enviado a la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano. 

El asunto pudiera agravarse ante el indicio de que el Episcopado Mexicano, máxima autoridad eclesiástica en México, conoce el asunto.

En un correo electrónico enviado al arzobispo Rogelio Cabrera, presidente de la Conferencia del Episcopado, el joven venezolano advirtió que el religioso estaba en México.

En el correo, cuya captura de pantalla obra en poder del afectado, se solicita la colaboración de la máxima jerarquía católica mexicana para “poner a este sacerdote a la orden de las autoridades locales” de Venezuela. 

Añade: “Resulta para mí preocupante que este sacerdote siga en el ejercicio de sus funciones; particularmente tratando con niños, sé de su modus operandi y con toda propiedad Monseñor Cabrera puedo decir que existieron otras víctimas que están en el anonimato”.

La comunicación fue enviada el pasado 16 de diciembre de 2019 a las 01:46 horas, directamente a la cuenta de correo de la Arquidiócesis contacto@arquidiocesismty.org, que está vigente y habilitada.

No recibió respuesta.

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ENCINITAS (CA)
The Coast News

January 23, 2020

By Tawny McCray

Alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse by now-deceased priests who operated throughout San Diego County, including in Encinitas, are looking for a little bit of closure as they pursue legal action against the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

Six lawsuits were filed Jan. 2 against the Diocese and numerous local parishes on behalf of the 20 alleged victims — 14 of them male and six of them female.

The suits allege that the abuse took place in the 1960s and 70s and involves accusations of priests engaging in inappropriate behavior with minors that includes touching, fondling and massaging; kissing; oral copulation; masturbation; and simulated anal intercourse.

The victims were previously unable to pursue legal action against the Diocese, but recently enacted AB 218 expands the statute of limitations and opened a three-year window, starting this year, for victims to file suit.

Attorney Irwin Zalkin, whose office filed the six lawsuits, said his clients are seeking some sort of monetary compensation for the harm that’s been done.

“For these victims they’ve lived a life of incredibly difficult emotional distress, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxieties, depression, difficulties in relationships, and substance abuse,” Zalkin said Jan. 20. “The impact of child sexual abuse is devastating, it’s lifelong and it really derails the normal development of a human being.”

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WOODLAND PARK (NJ)
NorthJersey.com

January 23, 2020

By Kaitlyn Kanzler

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/essex/verona-cedar-grove/2020/01/23/newark-archdiocese-sued-victim-alleged-sex-abuse-verona-priest/4540653002/

Chris Rodgers is no longer a man of faith.

After struggling for years just to get up each morning after allegedly being sexual abused by a man he trusted, Rodgers’ faith is limited to believing there is a spiritual side to things.

Rodgers, who now lives in New York, is among the latest to file suit against the Catholic Church after New Jersey extended its civil statute of limitations on Dec. 1, allowing survivors a two-year window to bring a sex abuse case. Rodgers filed his suit against the Archdiocese of Newark for alleged sexual abuse by the Rev. Eugene Heyndricks, a former priest at Our Lady of the Lake in Verona.

Heyndricks, who died in 2007, was already on the list of credibly accused priests that the Archdiocese of Newark released last year. Heyndricks was placed on administrative leave in the early 2000s after he was caught in a police sting in Montreal soliciting an underage male prostitute. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation.

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GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
M Live

January 23, 2020

By Cole Waterman

Bad Axe MI – A former Catholic priest has pleaded no contest to a criminal charge stemming from him exposing himself in public.

Lawrence M. Ventline, 70, on Jan. 15 appeared in Huron County District Court and pleaded no contest to the lone count he faced, that of indecent exposure. The charge is a one-year misdemeanor.

Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski said his office had surveillance video footage recorded the morning of Aug. 26 showing Ventline inside Murphy’s Bakery, 110 W. Huron Ave. in Bad Axe, with his privates exposed.

In pleading no contest as opposed to guilty, Ventline did not admit to having committed a crime. The presiding judge relied on court documents to enter a conviction on the record.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

January 23, 2020

By Jack Lyons

South Bend IN – As dioceses across the country continue to face multi-million dollar payouts related to clerical sex abuse, some bishops have relied on advice from lawyers to reconfigure the property of their dioceses into charitable trusts.

The practice – which has been implemented by several dioceses after the clerical sex abuse revelations of the early 2000s – creates significantly different outcomes for dioceses and abuse victims in the case of bankruptcies.

Critics say the moves shield assets that could be paid to victims of clerical abuse and may even be illegal. However, Church officials defend the practice, saying their actions were intended to better align the dioceses’ corporate status with canon law. Other dioceses say they acted to ensure the long-term viability of the Church.

In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s bankruptcy, which was resolved in 2016, the archdiocese calculated its assets at $45 million, while advocates for abuse victims argued that other church entities brought the sum up to $1.7 billion. That means individual victims could receive tens of thousands of dollars more in a bankruptcy settlement depending on how courts define the assets of the archdiocese.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

January 23, 2020

By Elizabeth Dias and Jason Horowitz

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011, has long been known as a theological and political conservative, often at odds with Pope Francis.

Washington – Pope Francis, facing growing conservative opposition to his papacy from Catholics in the United States, on Thursday replaced the popular archbishop of Philadelphia, one of his most prominent critics and a prelate admired by church traditionalists.

Pope Francis announced in a statement that he had accepted the resignation of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, who had reached retirement age, and that he would elevate Bishop Nelson J. Perez of Cleveland, a Cuban-American born in Miami and relative newcomer to the national scene, to the role.

The move is a sign that the pope, who has installed key allies in Chicago and Newark, is still intent on changing the ideological direction of the American church by setting a new tone in one of its most traditionalist dioceses.

Though Archbishop Chaput will move to an emeritus role, he plans to maintain an active speaking presence around the country. That means he will almost certainly remain influential as a prominent conservative thought leader in the church.

*
[Perez] also acknowledged the complexities of his new assignment, apologizing directly to victims of clergy sexual abuse, and he addressed Hispanic Catholics, at times in Spanish, raising concerns about anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States.

*
Archbishop Chaput was also a firm administrator, tapped to reform a region in financial and spiritual disarray after extensive allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in the area. A county grand jury in 2005 reported that leaders of the Philadelphia archdiocese, including two cardinals, had covered up extensive sexual abuse of minors.

A second grand jury in 2011 accused the archdiocese of not stopping the abuse, and Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Chaput to lead the archdiocese about five months later.

Archbishop Chaput removed priests accused of abuse, closed 49 schools and sold the archbishop’s mansion for $10 million as part of a plan to reduce the operating budget deficit.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
MassLive

January 23, 2020

By Jackson Cote

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/01/9-catholic-priests-1-church-employee-within-fall-river-diocese-accused-of-sexually-abusing-children-decades-ago-attorney-says.html

Nine Catholic priests and one church employee within the Diocese of Fall River were accused of child sexual abuse, an attorney announced this week.

The 10 men allegedly sexually abused at least one minor during a span of nearly 40 years, from 1947 to 1986, attorney Mitchell Garabedian said in a statement.

The diocese announced Sunday that two other retired Catholic priests, James F. Buckley and Edward J. Byington, were suspended from the ministry over allegations of child sexual abuse committed decades ago.

“I believe that the Catholic Church, although saying the right things, has not made meaningful changes to protect children and help victims try to heal,” said Garabedian, who is representing one of Byington’s alleged victims.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
WPRI

January 21, 2020

By Bill Tomison and Kim Kalunian

Fall River MA – Dr. Robert Hoatson drove up to Massachusetts from New Jersey with one goal: demand the Diocese of Fall River release a list of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse against minors.

Hoatson is the president of Road to Recovery, a group for sexual abuse survivors. On Tuesday, he stood outside the Diocese’s Chancery Office and held a sign reading, “Bp. da Cunha release abusive clergy list.”

“We think it is outrageous that victims in Fall River are continuing to live with the fact that secrecy continues and cover-up continues,” he said. “The longer that Bishop da Cunha does not release the list of abusive clergy in this Diocese, the less safe children are and the more revictimized victims are.”

Hoatson is a former priest and has been running Road to Recovery since 2003. He said he served with Bishop Edgar da Cunha in the Archdiocese of Newark.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

January 24, 2020

By Danae King

Bishop Robert Brennan, of the Diocese of Columbus, has started a task force to look into diocesan policies regarding sexual abuse of minors by priests. The diocese has also hired a local law firm to look into its records and see if more priests should be added to a list of 50 clergy members who have been accused thus far.

Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan says he wants to look at the sexual abuse of minors by clergy members with “new eyes.”

Since being installed as the 12th bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus in March 2019, Brennan has started establishing what he calls a baseline of knowledge about the topic.

Brennan said he has hired a law firm to audit diocesan files to see whether more priests should be added to a list of clergy members accused of child sexual abuse that was released on March 1, 2019. He also has started a task force to examine diocesan policies related to sexual abuse and how the diocese reaches out to survivors to help them heal.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

January 22, 2020

By Cory Shaffer

A Strongsville Catholic priest pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Cuyahoga County court to a 21-count indictment that charged him with possessing child pornography.

The Rev. Robert McWilliams, who is also charged with possessing child pornography in Geauga County, made his first court appearance since a grand jury last week handed up the indictment.

Common Pleas Court Judge Shannon Gallagher continued McWilliams’ original bond of 10 percent of $50,000.

McWilliams is also under a $150,000 bond that a Chardon Municipal Court judge set at his first appearance in that courtroom on Jan. 8. McWilliams will have to post that bond in order to be released from custody.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC

January 22, 2020

By Eliza Borrello

An elderly man who was sexually abused by the Christian Brothers as a child has described the pain and fear he experienced being repeatedly raped as a nine-year-old boy at a group home for vulnerable children.

WARNING: This story contains material that some readers may find upsetting

Perth man John Thomas Lawrence, 75, has become the first child sex abuse survivor to testify about his ordeal in court since Western Australia removed time limits on such cases being heard.

Today, he detailed to the court the protracted abuse he suffered at the hands of Christian Brother Lawrence Murphy.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
ChurchMilitant

January 22, 2020

By William Mahoney, Ph.D.

Peter’s Pence donors invited to join lawsuit

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is being sued for obtaining millions of dollars in charitable donations under false pretenses and privately investing that money into ventures such as luxury condominium developments and Hollywood movies.

Texas-based legal firm the Stanley Law Group filed a class-action lawsuit against the USCCB on Wednesday, alleging the organization fraudulently promotes Peter’s Pence as a papal charity when recent reports show as little as 10% of donations are used for its stated purpose.

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RHODE ISLAND
LifeSiteNews

January 22, 2020

By Lianne Laurence

The suit alleges that US bishops ‘actively’ misled Catholics into believing their millions of dollars in donations to Peter’s Pence would be used to help the poor.

A Dallas law firm filed a class action lawsuit Wednesday against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for “unlawful, deceptive and fraudulent practices” in promoting and collecting funds for the papal charity Peter’s Pence.

The suit alleges the American bishops “actively” misled Catholics into believing their millions of dollars in donations to the collection would be used to help “victims of war, oppression, natural disaster, or disease,” when in fact much of the money was funneled into private investments, such as Hollywood’s sexually explicit Elton John biopic, “luxury condominium developments” and “hefty, multi-million dollar commissions” to fund managers.

Stanley Law Group filed the lawsuit January 22 in the United States District Court in Rhode Island on behalf of David O’Connell, a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in East Providence, who is seeking a jury trial, it stated in a press release.

“USCCB must come clean and give back the money it took from well-intentioned people who thought they were giving urgently-needed funds to help the destitute around the world,” said lead attorney Mark Stanley.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Associated Press

January 23, 2020

The bishop of Cleveland will become the new leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Vatican announced Thursday, making him the first Hispanic archbishop to lead the region’s 1.3 million-member flock.

Nelson Perez, who spent most of his early pastoral career in the Philadelphia area, was introduced Thursday in a news conference at the archdiocese’s Philadelphia headquarters. He will succeed Archbishop Charles Chaput, a conservative culture warrior who is stepping down after turning 75 last year, the traditional retirement age for Catholic bishops.

Chaput welcomed Perez to his new post, which he will assume Feb. 18. He called his successor “a man who already knows and loves the church in Philadelphia.”

Perez shared his enthusiasm for the city, saying “it’s awesome to be back in Philadelphia with people who are faith-filled, who love the Lord, love the church.” Perez also praised Chaput’s tenure in the diocese, saying he faced challenges in Philadelphia with “great courage and steadfastness.”

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MEXICO
Catholic Herald

January 22, 2020

By Christopher Altieri

A new scandal shows that only the ‘nuclear option’ will help to restore the Church’s credibility

The Legion of Christ is back in the news, with AP reporting on a gruesome story in Mexico, not only of abuse and cover-up, but also of failure to reform in the wake of revelations regarding the outfit’s founder: a charismatic sociopath called Fr Marcial Maciel. He started the Legion, which served him as a front for his perverse criminal double-life. He also founded a lay arm, Regnum Christi, which served as his cash cow.

“The papal envoy who ran the Legion starting in 2010,” AP reports, “learned about the case [in Mexico] nearly a decade ago and refused to punish or even investigate the priest or the superiors who covered up his crimes, many of whom are still in power and ministry today.”

AP noted that the story “has been corroborated by other victims and the Legion itself” and “has sparked a new credibility crisis for the once-influential order, 10 years after the Holy See took it over after determining that its founder was a pedophile”.

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