ABUSE TRACKER
A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
November 15, 2019
VATICAN CITY
Reuters
November 14, 2019
By Philip Pullella
Pope Francis said on Thursday that technology company executives and investors must be held accountable if they put profit before the protection of children, including from easy access to pornography on the web.
Francis spoke at the start of a Vatican conference on “Promoting Digital Child Dignity” that brought companies like Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Microsoft Corp and Facebook together with child protection groups and law enforcement and judicial officials.
“Companies that provide (internet) services have long considered themselves mere suppliers of technological platforms, neither legally nor morally responsible for the way they are used,” Francis said.
“There is a need to ensure that investors and managers remain accountable, so that the good of minors and society is not sacrificed to profit.”
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.
BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB
November 13, 2019
By Marlee Tuskes
The Buffalo Diocese has denied a report coming out of Rome that Bishop Richard Malone’s resignation is “imminent.”
A correspondent for The Tablet – a Catholic news organization – tweeted the news Wednesday morning.
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.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Watch
Nov. 15, 2019
By Erica Jones
In the living room of his Marshall, Wisconsin, home, 62-year-old Ted Lausche has a clock that reads aloud Bible verses every hour.
For Lausche, these readings trigger memories of the years of physical and sexual abuse he endured at a Catholic orphanage in Louisiana. But he chooses not to shut them off because the readings also remind him of his late partner, a spiritual woman who loved him despite his personal demons.
In the decades since he escaped from the orphanage at age 13, Lausche has suffered from alcohol abuse, drug addiction, mental health problems, three failed marriages and homelessness. Now, he said he is choosing to “take the best and leave the rest,” looking for positivity in an often tough life.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
TOLEDO (OH)
The Blade
Nov. 15, 2019
By Allison Dunn
Despite years of sexual abuse at the hands of her church pastors, Taniece Temple never lost her faith in God.
Her trust in God helped her through some of her darkest days, when she was passed around solely for her body between Toledo pastors Anthony Haynes, Kenneth Butler, and Cordell Jenkins. Faith kept Ms. Temple on the right path and now leads her to help others through their struggles.
“I still called on God’s name even when I was in church and they would be up there preaching and they were sexually abusing me. I would pray to God in those moments,” Ms. Temple said. “… we all have free will and that is one of the things society needs to capitalize on — a person who chooses to hurt you, to set your house on fire, to kill somebody, to molest you, to do anything that is ungodly — that is on them because He gave them the choice to do right or wrong, and they chose wrong.”
While The Blade does not normally identify victims of sexual assault, Ms. Temple agreed to identify herself and publicly share her story in the wake of the criminal case against the pastors concluding.
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.
MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune
Nov. 15, 2019
By Erin Adler
Allegations that a Burnsville pastor had inappropriate sexual relationships with two 18-year-old women 17 years ago in Indiana have shaken the congregation at his south metro megachurch, resulting in a leave of absence for him and his removal from consideration for hire by a church in Tennessee.
“We understand the nature of these claims and we take them very seriously,” Berean Baptist Church elders said in a statement released on Twitter and given Sunday at the church. Berean Baptist has been noted in recent years as among the nation’s fastest-growing Protestant congregations. A neutral party has been enlisted to investigate, the statement said.
The Rev. Wes Feltner, now 41, is being accused of simultaneously dating the congregants in 2002 when he was a youth pastor in southern Indiana. The accusations have been deemed credible by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, where Feltner taught and has been suspended, and came to light after he applied for a position this fall at a church in Clarksville, Tenn.
In an e-mail to the Star Tribune, Feltner said he had permission from their parents to date both women but that he deeply regretted the hurt he caused. He said that he’s offered to speak to the women multiple times, including with a mediator, which he said was how the Bible says such accusations should be addressed.
He said that he and his family are facing “a withering barrage of online attacks,” some of them threatening.
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.
BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News
Nov. 14, 2019
By Fadia Patterson
After suffering in silence for decades, survivors of clergy sexual abuse are now speaking out and have formed a peer support group to help others do the same.
While doing so, the Buffalo Survivors Group hopes to educate the public about the signs of abuse.
The group met for the first time Thursday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in East Amherst, at a time when many are watching to see whether Bishop Richard Malone is going to resign.
For many in that room, the abuse they endured may have happened years ago, but the wounds are still fresh.
“We’re all in a club that I don’t think we signed up for,” said Angelo Ervolina, one of five founders and an abuse survivor.
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.
Patheos blog
Nov. 15, 2019
By Barry Duke
Last month Pope Francis put Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, head of the Brooklyn Diocese, in charge of investigating a sex-abuse scandal in the Buffalo Diocese.
This happened after Bishop Joseph Malone had come under fire for allegedly bungling that investigation.
Now its reported that DiMarzio is himself an abuser and that his alleged victim – Mark Matzek, 56 – had repeatedly been molested when he served as an altar boy at St Nicholas Church and a student at St Nicholas School in Jersey City between approximately 1974 and 1975
Matzek’s lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, told the New York Post that, at the time, Matzek was between 11 and 12 years old and DiMarzio was a parish priest in New Jersey in his 30s.
A second priest, the late Rev Albert Mark, also allegedly participated in the abuse, Matzek said. He and his lawyer are preparing a lawsuit against the church over the alleged abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC 9 TV
Nov. 14, 2019
By Emily Holwick
A priest who served in Kansas City, Kansas and Overland Park is being retried on charges of sexual misconduct with a child, stemming from incidents that prosecutors say happened in 2015. Fr. Scott Kallal faces two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. KMBC 9 spoke with the attorney representing one of his accusers, who says the process is grueling for her client.
Attorney Rebecca Randles has represented hundreds of alleged clergy abuse victims in her career, including one who testified against Fr. Kallal at his first trial in September. Randles says the mistrial was a shock. “Our client was devastated, she was absolutely devastated,” she said, “and I think the other witnesses were as well.”
Fr. Kallal had ties to St. Patrick’s Church in Kansas City, Kansas, but was most recently Associate Pastor at Holy Spirit Church in Overland Park.
Randles says the best-case scenario would be a plea deal. “Sometimes with a plea agreement, you can also include into it the terms of the probation, that could include not being with children, to a longer probation,” she said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
November 14, 2019
ARLINGTON (VA)
USA Today
Nov. 15, 2019
By Nicole Carroll
I’m USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll and this is the Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you’d like to get the Backstory in your inbox every Friday, subscribe here.
Reporter Lindsay Schnell and her editor, Cristina Silva, heard a disturbing story. A man told a state lawmaker that a Catholic school teacher had abused him 30 years earlier – and the teacher was still in the classroom.
How was that possible?
The answer is found in our investigation into former priests, Catholic brothers and Catholic school officials credibly accused of sexual abuse,but never brought to trial in part because so many state statute of limitation laws make it nearly impossible for victims to pursue criminal charges decades after alleged abuse.
The majority of U.S. Catholic dioceses have released names of credibly accused priests – many of whom were defrocked, or laicized, meaning they no longer work with the church. But neither the government nor the church keeps track of (or are required to keep track of) the credibly accused.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
BUFFALO (NY)
National Catholic Register
Nov. 13, 2019
By Peter Jesserer Smith
“How’d he get through?”
Huddled with his priest-secretary, vicar general and vicar for priests, Bishop Richard Malone repeated the question raised in the room: How did the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, end up with a priest whom they believed had not only aggressively pursued a seminarian for an inappropriate relationship and sought revenge when spurned, but had the ability to do an enormous amount of damage due to the blackmail he held over other priests?
As detailed in Part 1 of this report, Father Jeff Nowak, a graduate of Christ the King Seminary, faces allegations of sexually pursuing a seminarian, violating the seal of the confession, hearing invalid confessions via FaceTime and working with two other priests who came out of that seminary to emotionally blackmail and then slander in revenge his target after refusing his advances. That seminarian, Matthew Bojanowksi, quit in August, citing Bishop Malone’s failures to protect his seminary career and reputation.
But secret audio recordings taken in March by Father Ryszard Biernat, Bishop Malone’s former priest-secretary, reveal that the group is concerned about the seminary’s image if Father Nowak’s actions get out and that homosexual persons collectively would be unfairly blamed.
They characterized Father Nowak, and two of his seminary classmates who are now also priests, as an apparent “homosexual triumvirate” spreading rumors and “cat-fighting” against other priests in the diocese they wanted to take down, including Father Biernat.
The group noted the obvious signs that should have barred Father Nowak from ordination: He left seminary twice, refused to show up for seminary assignments; but despite this record, he was ordained in 2012.
Beyond looking into his file and wondering how he was deemed suitable for ordination, nobody in the recordings suggests the need for a formal investigation into how the priest made it through the seminary’s safeguards, or whether his actions and those of the other members of the alleged apparent “homosexual triumvirate” pointed to the existence of an active homosexual subculture at Christ the King Seminary.
In fact, the March recordings show Bishop Malone and his inner circle agree there is a “larger group” of possibly homosexual priests with “unresolved” personal issues, in addition to Father Nowak and his associates, who are “not gonna go down quietly” and “will take anybody down” they have issues with.
The fear of Bishop Malone and his inner circle regarding these priests, who are products of Christ the King Seminary, did not abate months later.
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.
DENVER (CO)
Patch
Nov. 14, 2019
By Amber Fisher
More than 100 Colorado Catholic clergy members are accused of sexual abuse in a new report published by a law firm that represents sexual abuse victims in the United States. The firm’s report was published several weeks after a long-awaited document on sexual abuse cases was released by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
The law firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, released information about 59 additional clergy members who were not named in the state attorney general’s 263-page document, which was authored by former Colorado U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. Both reports name clergy members in Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
Attorney Jeff Anderson said the attorney general’s report, which names 43 priests who are accused of assaulting at least 166 children, is “far, far from complete in revealing the true peril.”
Anderson’s law firm, which is based in Minnesota, held a news conference Wednesday with survivors of abuse by Catholic priests. One of the survivors, John Murphy, said he and his two brothers were molested by a clergy member at a camp in the 1950s.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
A Franciscan brother who has been convicted of child sexual abuse has quietly moved from California — where he was a registered sex offender — to Oregon, where he is not required to register. We call on Catholic bishops in Portland and Los Angeles to warn the public about him and seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.
Robert Van Handel, a monk who founded a boys choir and was principal of a seminary in Santa Barbara, admitted that he abused young boys for nearly 20 years. He pleaded guilty to “lewd and lascivious behavior,” went to prison and was required to register as a sex offender.
An investigation by USA Today found him living at Courtyard Fountains, a senior living center in Oregon, where he has been since 2013. But the Franciscan brother is not on the sex offender registry in that state because it has a different system for evaluating abusers.
We strongly suspect that few in Oregon know that Van Handel has been accused of abuse by nearly two dozen victims. Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, OR, should now take steps to warn parents and parishioners about the Franciscan’s presence, using all resources at his disposal including announcements on church websites, in parish bulletins and from pulpits.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 14, 2019
Once again, Catholic officials are trying to avoid consequences for clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by attempting to prevent all survivors from having their day in court. We hope this latest legal maneuver fails and that victims throughout New York can continue to exercise their legal rights.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island is arguing that the Child Victim’s Act is unconstitutional and that survivors who are currently bringing suits thanks to it should be stopped from doing so. However, there is no constitutional guarantee to a statute of limitations, so this last ditch effort seems like nothing more than a bald-faced attempt to prevent parishioners and the public from learning more about the extent of clergy abuse and cover-ups. Catholic officials have long lobbied against reform that benefits survivors, so this latest move is not a surprise.
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.
BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN News
Nov. 13, 2019
A report from Rome indicates that Bishop Richard Malone’s resignation as head of the Diocese of Buffalo may be imminent, but the Bishop is disputing that claim.
Christopher Lamb, Rome correspondent for The Tablet, is reporting reliable sources have told him Malone’s resignation may be close.
The apostolic visitation into the troubled diocese has been completed by Bishop DiMarzio
Bishop Malone is under fire for mishandling sexual abuse in his diocese
However, Catholic Herald reporter Chris Altieri said that Malone himself told him on Thursday that report was false.
“Bishop Malone continues to serve as the leader of the Diocese of Buffalo. He is currently engaged with the other bishops of New York State in their Ad Limina visit, discussing with officials of the Holy See and with Pope Francis the areas of challenge and progress of the Catholic Church in New York State and the scope of the vibrant ministries serving the needs of New Yorkers, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike,” the Diocese of Buffalo said in a prepared statement.
“When Bishop Malone returns to Buffalo he will be communicating further about his meeting with the Holy Father and the other participating bishops.”
Malone was in Rome on Wednesday and said Mass in Vatican City at St. Paul’s Basilica. An investigation into Malone and the Diocese conducted by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio from the Diocese of Brooklyn concluded on October 31. Any resignation would need to be accepted by The Pope. Lamb said that the papal nuncio to the United States first learned of the bishop’s resignation last week.
“The wheels of the Vatican bureaucracy can run very slow at times,” Lamb said. “Sometimes things can be held up that can be a slip between cup and lip. “From what I’m hearing it’s in the days zone (for his resignation).”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK (NY)
VICE News
Nov. 13, 2019
By Carter Sherman
A Roman Catholic diocese wants the New York supreme court to throw out new lawsuits filed by childhood sex abuse survivors, challenging the constitutionality of a groundbreaking law that lets survivors sue no matter how much time has passed.
The motion, filed Tuesday by the diocese of Rockville Centre, comes three months after the law, the Child Victims Act, took effect in New York. The Act temporarily suspends statutes of limitations on childhood sex abuse for a one-time, one-year window. But it has already triggered an avalanche of lawsuits against the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and other groups that allegedly sheltered abusers.
Those lawsuits will probably force New York dioceses to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars. They’ve already led at least one, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
New York isn’t the first state to open up a so-called “lookback window”: At least 16 other states and Washington, D.C., have set up similar legislation, according to Child USA, an anti-child abuse group that supports the windows.
But the Rockville Centre’s filing argues that the Child Victims Act violates the New York state constitution’s due process clause. Survivors could have sued before the statute of limitations on the abuse ran out, the motion also argues.
The average age when childhood sex abuse survivors come forward is 52, according to Child USA.
The diocese’s opposition to the Child Victims Act breaks with the Catholic Bishops of New York State’s lobbying arm, the Catholic Conference. That group had long opposed the Act — but days before it passed, when its success looked all but assured, the Conference tweeted that it would now support the bill after an amendment made it clear that public institutions could be sued.
“We therefore remove our previous opposition and pray that survivors find the healing they so desperately deserve,” the Conference wrote.
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.
SUPERIOR (WI)
Catholic Herald
Nov. 14, 2019
By Anita Draper
Thomas Ericksen, a former priest of the Diocese of Superior, was sentenced Sept. 26 in Sawyer County Circuit Court to the maximum 30 years in prison for molesting boys while serving in diocesan parishes decades ago.
Although the church long ago settled the question of Ericksen’s fitness for the priesthood – he was removed from ministry in 1983, began a counseling program in the Twin Cities and was permanently removed from the priesthood through laicization in 1988 – Catholics may still have questions.
First, why was Ericksen permitted to stay in ministry for so long? Second, why wasn’t he prosecuted decades ago? Third, how much has abuse cost the Diocese of Superior? Finally, what has the diocese – and the wider church – changed to ensure such crimes are never again perpetrated by priests?
The bishop
Bishop George Albert Hammes, a Diocese of La Crosse native who instituted Second Vatican Council reforms from 1960 to 1985, was holding the crosier when Ericksen was a priest. Hammes died in 1993.
Ericksen was ordained June 2, 1973, in Phillips. He was in active ministry, mostly as an associate pastor, but also as a chaplain and pastor, until his removal in August 1983. He had 10 assignments in as many years – Rice Lake, Cumberland, Ladysmith-Bruce, Superior, Hudson, River Falls, Webster, Eagle River, Merrill and Winter.
Information shared at Ericksen’s sentencing indicates as many as 11 victims have come forward from those 10 years. Articles about Ericksen, which can be traced online back to at least 2010, include many inconsistencies and do not conclusively tell when Bishop Hammes was first notified of Ericksen’s behavior.
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.
KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star
Nov. 14, 2019
By Katie Bernard
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office intends to bring a new trial against a Kansas City, Kansas, Roman Catholic priest accused of child molestation.
The trial against the Rev. Scott Kallal, 37, will likely be scheduled in April and held in May, Jonathan Carter, the office’s spokesman, told The Star on Wednesday.
Kallal faces two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. His original trial, held in September, ended in mistrial after the jury could not agree on a verdict.
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas suspended Kallal in July 2017 after receiving allegations of inappropriate conduct involving two people, one a minor.
Witnesses at the trial and other hearings detailed two alleged 2015 incidents.
The first was at a friend’s graduation party in Bonner Springs, according to testimony at a 2017 preliminary hearing. Kallal allegedly tickled a 10-year-old girl’s breasts twice, against her wishes.
The second came a few months later in the parish hall gymnasium at St. Patrick’s Church when he allegedly touched another young girl’s breasts.
The second victim’s adoptive mother testified in September that she did not see Kallal touch her daughter’s breasts but that she did see him carrying the girl in a way he shouldn’t have.
According to the woman’s testimony she was helping to coordinate appointments for the church’s pictorial directory when she heard her daughter, who was in the gym, scream.
Her daughter ran out the gym door and into the women’s restroom, where she tried to lock herself in a stall, her mother said. Kallal followed behind her, and came out carrying the girl.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK (NY)
Crux
Nov. 13, 2019
By Christopher White
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is strongly refuting an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s while he was still a priest in the archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey.
“I am just learning of this allegation,” DiMarzio said in a statement sent to the priests of the Diocese of Brooklyn on Nov. 12. “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.”
DiMarzio’s statement comes in response to lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has notified the Archdiocese of Newark that he intends to sue for damages of $20 million next month when New Jersey opens its two-year “look-back” window that will allow sex abuse victims to file lawsuits without a statute of limitations.
A report from the Associated Press on Nov. 13 based on Garabedian’s notice, claims that when DiMarzio was a priest at St. Nicholas Parish in Jersey City that he repeatedly abused now 56-year-old Mark Matzek when Matzek was an altar boy at the church. The alleged victim also claims he was abused by a second priest, the late Father Albert Mark.
DiMarzio submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Francis in June as required by church law when a bishop turns 75. Francis, however, has yet to accept the resignation.
In early October, DiMarzio was appointed by the Vatican to lead an investigation into the Diocese of Buffalo’s embattled Bishop Richard Malone, who has been accused of covering up clerical sexual abuse of minors. DiMarzio completed his investigation late last month, and his report will be submitted to Francis for a review and findings of fact.
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.
DENVER (CO)
CBS 4 News
Nov. 13, 2019
By Rick Sallinger
An attorney who represents victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests called on Colorado legislators to drop the statute of limitations on such crimes on Wednesday. Jeff Anderson also presented names and photos of around 100 priests who served in Colorado who have been accused sex abuse.
One name on the list was now-former Jesuit Father Patrick O’Liddy. CBS4 featured him in a news story several years ago.
“Hi Rick Sallinger from Channel 4. We’d like to talk to you about why you left the priesthood.”
In 2002, he was convicted of sexting with a minor. His picture is now on a board that was presented at a news conference in Denver. Several who said they were victims from different priests stood by as Anderson spoke.
“If a law would pass it would help survivors like Joe McGee who sign.d agreements for $10,000.”
McGee was about 9 years old in Iliff, Colorado when he says he was abused. Father John Francis Stein was later convicted of taking indecent liberties with another minor boy.
“I am sorry to say my sex education comes from a Catholic priest at the hand of a Catholic priest,” he told CBS4.
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.
BUFFALO (NY)
National Catholic Register
Nov. 13, 2019
By Peter Jesserer Smith
The scandalous allegations that have engulfed the Diocese of Buffalo — and especially its center for forming priests, Christ the King Seminary — is sufficiently grave that it triggered a Vatican decision in September to authorize an apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Buffalo.
Now, as Catholics in Buffalo and elsewhere in the U.S. await the findings of that visitation, the Register is publishing an in-depth report on the allegations of a long-standing culture of sexual misconduct at Christ the King, dating back more than 20 years and apparently still present today.
The highest-profile recent scandals involving the seminary include allegations of adult sexual abuse made in September 2018 against Father Joseph Gatto, its then-rector and a longtime member of its formation team, who was chosen by Bishop Richard Malone in 2013 to lead the seminary. Following those allegations, Father Gatto stepped down as rector.
The seminary came under greater scrutiny in April 2019, after a Christ the King employee leaked a report indicating a handful of Buffalo priests, including a Christ the King spiritual director, had invited seminarians to a pizza party and allegedly engaged them there in pornographic, misogynistic and humiliating conversations.
While the seminary acted swiftly to address that situation, seminarians allege they were subjected afterward to retaliation by deacons, priests and employees in the Diocese of Buffalo for reporting the abusive conduct.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times Picayune
Nov. 13, 2019
By Ramon Antonio Vargas
A new lawsuit filed by a man who alleges he was in his first year at Jesuit High School in the late 1970s when a predator janitor raped him on campus claims the school has used millions of dollars in parent and alumni money to cover abuse-related settlements.
The 19-page suit is the latest in a series of complaints attributing acts of sexual abuse to Peter Modica, a former minor league baseball player who got a job on Jesuit’s groundskeeping staff despite having previously pleaded guilty to molesting two teenagers.
Yet the suit stands out for a couple of reasons. Others who have identified themselves as victims of Modica were not Jesuit students but instead lived in the surrounding neighborhood. And this filing is the first to claim to know how the 172-year-old Catholic prep school has paid out settlements involving abuse allegations blamed on Modica as well as clergy and other religious personnel.
In a statement Wednesday, Jesuit officials said, “We received the (former student’s) claim when it was first brought forward out of pastoral concern and in keeping with school policy. But, as with any claim, we have the responsibility to thoroughly assess the efficacy and legitimacy of the claim.”
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.
DENVER (CO)
News Channel 9
Nov. 13, 2019
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By Janet Oravetz
A law firm that has published more than two dozen reports about sexual abuse in the Catholic church released a report Wednesday that includes information about 102 clerics who are accused of child sexual abuse and worked within the Archdiocese of Denver, and the dioceses of Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
The report from Jeff Anderson and Associates includes 95 names. Seven priests in the report are unidentified.
It comes on the heels of an independent review from former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, which named 43 Catholic priests who were accused of sexually abusing children in those same three dioceses.
The report from Troyer was limited and did not include religious order priests or other religious clerics associated with the dioceses. It only included “credible” abuse reports since 1950.
The so-called “Anderson Report” is one of 26 released in various jurisdictions where Anderson said there was a “gross underreporting of the perils that have existed both past and present.”
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.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Associated Press
Nov. 13, 2019
By David Crary and Rgina Garcia Cano.
A new national hotline to report sexual misconduct accusations against Catholic bishops in the U.S. could be operating by the end of February, three months ahead of the deadline set by Pope Francis.
That forecast came Wednesday from Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as the bishops concluded a three-day national assembly. The early start-up date would require all of the nearly 200 dioceses to be ready; church officials sounded optimistic that would happen.
The closing session also featured a blistering denunciation of the Trump administration’s tough policies for asylum seekers trying to enter the U.S. via Mexico. Anna Marie Gallagher, head of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, assailed the policies as cruel and illegal.
The abuse-reporting hotline, to be operated by a private company, was approved by the bishops in June in response to a new wave of damaging developments in the church’s long-running clergy sex abuse crisis. The bishops had previously established a reporting system covering abusive priests and deacons that did not extend into their own ranks.
Picarello said the committee assigned to develop the new system obtained bids from three companies, and subsequently signed a two-year contract with Convercent, a Denver-based firm which describes itself as expert in the field of corporate ethics and compliance.
The Vatican has set May 31 as the global deadline for new anti-abuse measures that encompass Catholic bishops. However, Picarello said the U.S. reporting system could be operating by the end of February.
Several bishops questioned Picarello about the next steps in the process. He replied that each diocese could decide how to publicize the toll-free number that will be created for people to make reports.
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.
COVINGTON (KY)
WCPO TV 9
Nov. 13, 2019
By Craig Cheatham, Paula Christian and Dan Monk
The Diocese of Covington hired two former FBI agents to review its records on priests over the past 59 years to determine if all allegations of child sexual abuse have been reported to authorities.
A diocese spokeswoman announced the independent review on Tuesday, just days before the WCPO I-Team is scheduled to publish and air a three-month investigation into how local Catholic Church leaders handle allegations of priest sexual abuse.
Spokeswoman Laura Keener did not respond to the I-Team’s numerous requests for information or an interview over the past several weeks, until she forwarded a Messenger story to the team on Tuesday. Messenger is the Catholic newspaper for the Diocese of Covington.
In the online story , Keener wrote that an independent review of priest files began after Bishop Roger Foys announced it at a priest retreat in early October. Chief Investigative Reporter Craig Cheatham first reached out to the diocese in September.
“Bishop Foys and the Diocesan Review Board initiated the independent review as a way to continue to assure the priests and people that the Diocese of Covington has, as far as is humanly possible, addressed the scourge of sexual abuse of minors by its priests,” Keener wrote.
The Diocese of Covington has never published a list of credibly accused priests and is one of only 10 dioceses nationwide that has not announced an intention to do so, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
A new report is giving strength to rumors that the top Catholic official in Buffalo may soon be resigning. Regardless of whether or not this happens, we hope that that there will still be an investigation into the multiple scandals and lies that have come out of the Diocese of Buffalo.
Bishop Robert Malone is under investigation not only by Church officials in Rome, but reportedly also by federal and state law enforcement officials. His resignation – deserved though it may be – should not prevent the results of these investigations from being released to the public. And while we would prefer to see Bishop Malone disciplined by Catholic leaders for his deception instead of being allowed to quietly resign, we are most concerned about the other secrets and actors within the Diocese of Buffalo.
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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press
Nov. 13, 2019
By Michael Rezendes
A Roman Catholic bishop named by Pope Francis to investigate the church’s response to clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo, New York, has himself been accused of sexual abuse of a child, an attorney for the alleged victim notified the church this week.
The attorney informed Catholic officials in New Jersey that he is preparing a lawsuit on behalf of a client who says he was molested by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in the mid-1970s, when DiMarzio was a parish priest in Jersey City.
DiMarzio said there is no truth to the accusation.
“I am just learning about this allegation,” he said in a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press. “In my nearly 50-year ministry as a priest, I have never engaged in unlawful or inappropriate behavior and I emphatically deny this allegation. I am confident I will be fully vindicated.”
In a letter sent Monday to the church’s Newark, New Jersey, archdiocese, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian said 56-year-old Mark Matzek alleges he was repeatedly abused by DiMarzio and a second priest, the late Rev. Albert Mark, when he was an altar boy at St. Nicholas Church and a student at St. Nicholas School.
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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW T V
Nov. 13, 2019
By Charlie Specht
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Buffalo said Wednesday that she has received “no information” that Bishop Malone has submitted his resignation to Vatican officials.
“We have received no information in that regard,” diocesan spokeswoman Kathy Spangler said in an email to 7 Eyewitness News.
Spangler was responding to widespread speculation that the embattled bishop, who is in Rome with other bishops to meet with Pope Francis, is about to become the first bishop in the 172-year history of the Diocese of Buffalo to resign.
Speculation began after Christopher Lamb, the Rome correspondent for The Tablet, a British publication, wrote on Twitter — citing “reliable sources” — that Malone’s resignation was “imminent.”
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
An accused priest from the Diocese of Steubenville, Elwood Bernas, until recently had a job near Seattle that gave him access to vulnerable young people. We call on bishops in both states to aggressively seek out anyone else he may have been hurt to warn police, prosecutors, parents and the public about him.
A year ago, Elwood Bernas’s name appeared on the Steubenville diocese list of credibly accused priests. And according to a newly-released investigation by USA Today, Bernas has been working as “a compliance specialist at Newport Academy, a treatment center outside Seattle for teens who struggle with substance abuse.” Additionally, since 2009 Bernas has been an active figure in a Bremerton, Washington church where he has worked as an organist.
In both of his roles, Bernas has access to children and vulnerable adults. This is exactly why it is so irresponsible for bishops to recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, supervise, transfer and shield abusive priests, only to oust them when their crimes surface and do little or nothing to alert vulnerable families, neighbors and co-workers.
Seattle’s Archbishop Paul D. Etienne must now take steps to warn parents and parishioners about Bernas’ presence, using all resources at his disposal including announcements on church websites, in parish bulletins and from pulpits.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
We are deeply disappointed that the head of the Kansas City, Missouri diocese has won his bid to head a national panel on child sexual abuse. This choice will almost certainly maintain the troubling status quo and do little or nothing to stop abuse or cover ups.
At the annual meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop James Johnston of Kansas City beat Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City for the chairmanship of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. SNAP had backed McKnight for the position.
Bishop McKnight hasn’t been a bishop long and has been both criticized and praised by our organization. But Bishop Johnston did a poor job in Springfield MO initially and is doing a poor job in Kansas City currently.
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Catholic Culture blog
Nov. 13, 2019
By Phil Lawler
Just about one year ago, the members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted down a resolution that would have, in respectful terms, “encouraged” the Vatican to release documents relevant to the case of the disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
This week, in a report to the USCCB, Cardinal Sean O’Malley said that he expected the Vatican to provide a report on the McCarrick affair “soon.”
When they voted against that resolution last year, the American bishops were expressing their confidence that the Vatican would provide some clarity “soon,” without unnecessary prodding. No such luck.
Last year at this time, “soon” might have meant prior to the meeting in Rome this past February, at which bishops from around the world discussed the abuse scandal and the resulting crisis of conscience in Church leadership. But No.
We know where to look for the documents in question. They’re in the files of the apostolic nuncio in Washington, and/or the offices of the Roman Curia. It shouldn’t take a year to dig them out.
Cardinal O’Malley reported this week that he has reminded the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, that the American bishops want to know “who knew what and when” about McCarrick’s misconduct. He said: “The long wait has resulted in great frustration on the part of bishops and our people and indeed a very harsh and even cynical interpretation of the seeming silence.”
The seeming silence? If it seems to you that the Vatican is silent, there’s a reason for that impression. Sixteen months after the scandal became public—sixteen months after outraged American Catholics began demanding honest answers to obvious questions—the Vatican has not responded.
But don’t worry, and above all don’t become “even cynical.” We’ll have the answers—well, we’ll have some answers—“soon.”
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AUKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
NZ Catholic
Nov. 13, 2019
By Dan Stollenwerk
Like so many of the faithful, I was greatly saddened to read that Bishop Charles Drennan had resigned — a complaint having been made against him of “unacceptable behaviour of a sexual nature”.
He was the new face of the hierarchy: young, able, polished, strong in financial discipline, a spokesman for economic justice and committed to cleansing the Church of the scourge of paedophilia.
And now this.
“Jerusalem Athens Alexandria / Vienna / London / Unreal.” T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland comes to mind. To which we might now add Palmerston North.
Things are falling apart.
I suppose, like so many as well, I’ve become weary of the scandals — financial, sexual, paedophiliac. Angry too, of course. Especially if one knows victims of sexual exploitation, one understands a bit of the soul-destroying nature of the sin.
There’s a reason why Dante Alighieri places traitors in the innermost circle
of hell — Judas getting the centre seat. Traitors break trust. And it’s but a short leap from political traitor to sexual betrayer. Adultery, after all, is one of the top 10 Mosaic sins.
Sexual betrayal consumes not just the victim; it poisons a web of social
relations in ways that the sinner could never imagine. As Genesis pointed out ever so long ago and Sigmund Freud confirmed much more recently, sexuality runs deep — very, very deep.
Which is why the sexual scandal of the Church will not go away. In fact, the repercussions of the scandal have only just begun. (Whence, for example, our future leaders?)
Some have said that a healthy ecclesial purification may be in store. Maybe. Not all fire destroys.
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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
Nov. 11, 2019
By Carol Zimmermann
On the agenda for the U.S. bishops’ Nov. 11-13 meeting in Baltimore were elections and discussions of key challenges in the church and the nation. Unlike recent previous meetings, their response to the clergy abuse crisis was mentioned but was not the primary focus.
On the second day of the meeting, Nov. 12, the bishops elected Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles to a three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit as conference vice president.
Archbishop Gomez, the first Latino to be elected to this role, was chosen with 176 votes from a slate of 10 nominees. He has been USCCB vice president for the past three years and his new role begins at the end of the Baltimore gathering.
Among the other votes Nov. 12, the action item that received the most discussion was about new materials to complement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting. The bishops voted to approve the additions, including the addition the statement prompting the discussion that called abortion the preeminent social issue of our time.
The second day of bishops’ meeting coincided with oral arguments at the Supreme Court over the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA and bishops at the Baltimore meeting spoke up in defense of DACA recipients on the floor and in interviews with Catholic News Service.
Bishops also heard a wide-ranging report on immigration Nov. 12 which included updates of policy, how programs to resettle refugees, including those run by the Catholic Church have closed or reduced activity because the administration has moved to close the country’s doors to those seeking refuge, and efforts on the border to help asylum cases.
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UTICA (NY)
Nov. 13, 2019
Nov. 13, 2019
By Jim Rondenelli
A Healing Service for victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse will be held Thursday night at 7:00 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church on Burrstone Road in New Hartford.
The service was planned by two victims-survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Syracuse, Dan Paden and Matt FitzGibbons.
Paden and FitzGibbons have openly discussed the affects of their abuse on their lives and their journey to survive and heal.
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DENVER (CO)
Crux
Nov. 13, 2019
By Shannon Levitt and Ines San Martin
[Editor’s note: This is part one of an hour-long interview with Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a member of Pope Francis’s commission for the protection of minors. Part two will be published tomorrow.]
Last week, Father Hans Zollner, a German Jesuit who is a member of Pope Francis’s Commission for the Protection of Minors, showed an uncharacteristic moment of impatience during a Q&A when he was asked by a priest why he wasn’t focusing on homosexuality as the real cause of clerical sex abuse.
The moment came after one of the talks he gave during a Nov. 6-8 conference on abuse prevention in Latin America organized by the interdisciplinary center for child protection of Mexico’s Pontifical University, CEPROME.
In an interview following the event, he explained that he was a bit under the weather so he was off his game somewhat, however, he stood by the core of his response to the priest: “There are things that you can repeat over and over again and people don’t get it. As I said in my response to him, it’s the same when people repeat over and over again that it is celibacy that causes the abuse.”
“You can quote whatever scientific report and government report out there stating that it is not the case, but people still think so,” Zollner said.
Some people continue to insist that the root cause for clerical sex abuse is either celibacy or homosexuality, but having reviewed the evidence, the priest – who also heads the Center for Child Protection at Rome’s Gregorian University – believes both of these ideas demonstrate that “people ask for simple answers to very complex problems, and they cling to a certain kind of idea simply because it seems to explain very easily where the problem is and how you can get rid of it.”
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ARLINGTON (VA)
USA Today
Nov. 11, 2019
By Lindsay Schnell
The Catholic Church has been under scrutiny from survivors, victims’ advocates and, in some cases, law enforcement, since early 2002, when the sex abuse crisis that involved church administration covering for thousands of priests first became public knowledge.
In the last two decades, there’s been major church reform, including the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which established guidelines for dealing with allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Meanwhile, dioceses across the country have released lists of credibly accused priests, many of whom are deceased.
Most of these men have never faced criminal prosecution, often because of statute of limitation laws that advocates across the country are trying to change. And some claim they have been wrongly accused.
How many Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse?
There’s some debate about the total number of Catholic priests, brothers and school officials who have been accused of sexual abuse.
As of Nov. 11, Bishop Accountability, a website that tracks accusations, has named 6,433 priests, brothers and Catholic school officials accused of abuse. Additionally, 154 archdioceses and dioceses have released the names of 4,771 credibly accused clerics, according to Jeff Anderson & Associates, a Minnesota-based law firm that specializes in representing sex abuse survivors.
The church has drawn scrutiny from survivors’ groups for sometimes leaving known abusers off its credibly accused lists and for naming the same clergy members multiple times. Some archdiocese and dioceses have declined to release lists.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
In a blow to victims of clergy sexual abuse and a challenge to the Australian criminal justice system, a cardinal, unanimously convicted of six charges of sexual abuse of a minor by a full and impartial jury of his peers, has been granted special leave to appeal his convictions.
We are disappointed that Cardinal George Pell and his lawyers will have yet another opportunity to attack and revictimize the former choirboy from St Patrick’s Cathedral. We are especially dismayed at the aspersions of credibility cast on the survivor after a full jury and the majority of appellate judges ruled to the contrary. While the final arbitration has now been granted Cardinal Pell, the circumstances are working against future victims coming forward to expose wrongdoing and citizens performing their civic duty and devoting a portion of their lives to the search for truth and justice on a criminal trial jury. May the High Court weigh all the matters before them in the appeal by Cardinal Pell and guarantee the integrity of the Australian legal system.
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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit News
Nov. 13, 2019
By Beth LeBlanc
After resigning from Holy Redeemer Parish in 2002, the Rev. Vincent DeLorenzo penned a letter to Burton parishioners admitting to “inappropriate sexual contact with a minor” in the 1980s.
The former Flint area priest was removed from ministry and moved to Florida a little less than six years later, free of charges because the statute of limitations barred prosecution.
More than 17 years later, DeLorenzo was arrested in the backyard of his Summerfield, Florida, home on remarkably similar allegations by the Michigan attorney general’s office.
On May 23, police collected the 80-year-old priest’s medicine and took him to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, where he waived his Miranda rights and allowed police to search his phone, according to a Michigan State Police report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
DeLorenzo is one of at least five priests charged this year with sexual misconduct in Michigan who had been reported by the state’s dioceses to police or prosecutors years before — in some cases multiple times by multiple victims. The other priests are the Revs. Neil Kalina, Jacob Vellian, Brian Stanley and Timothy Crowley.
But, in large part, charges earlier weren’t filed because the statute of limitations had run its course and barred prosecution, or because a victim was unwilling to file a police report,according to a Detroit News review of government documents.
Each of the priests charged by Nessel had been removed from ministry in Michigan by their dioceses based on the allegations months or years prior to being charged.
Some of the latest misconduct charges are possible due to new allegations or old victims who finally filed a police report. In others, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel used a legal provision to charge priests whom local prosecutors believed couldn’t be prosecuted due to the passage of time.
The state has “an obligation, a responsibility and the authority” to pursue justice in the clergy abuse investigation, Nessel said in a Tuesday statement.
“One of the most important things our office can do for crime victims — especially those victims who have suffered in silence and have been ignored for so long — is to honor them and their stories by aggressively continuing to pursue the investigation begun by my predecessor,” Nessel said.
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BELLEVILLE (IL)
Associated Press
Nov. 12, 2019
A priest who served at several Southern Illinois parishes has pleaded guilty to the distribution of child pornography and the possession of methamphetamine.
The Rev. Gerald Hechenberger faces up to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty last week to three counts of possessing pornographic photos of children and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
Hechenberger was arrested at Holy Childhood Church in Mascoutah by Belleville police on Jan. 8, 2018, after they received a tip from the organization Internet Crimes Against Children. He was stripped of his priestly duties the same day.
Hechenberger had been serving as an associate pastor of Holy Childhood of Jesus Parish in Mascoutah, St. Pancratius Parish in Fayetteville and St. Liborius Parish in St. Libory when he was arrested.
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CORK (IRELAND)
Echo Live
Nov. 12, 2019
By Liam Heylin
A JURY failed to reach a verdict today in the case against an 86-year-old priest who denied indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy 50 years ago.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to six charges of indecent assault which allegedly occurred on unspecified dates between September 1969 and June 1971.
Judge Brian O’Callaghan asked the nine men and three women of the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court if any further time would be of benefit after three-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
The jury indicated that more time would not be of any benefit to break the deadlock. In those circumstances, a disagreement was recorded as the outcome of the trial.
It will now be a matter for the DPP to decide on the possibility of a re-trial in front of a new jury.
The accused is not named for legal reasons.
The complainant said in respect of the six alleged incidents of indecent assault that it actually happened 12 times.
The 86-year-old defendent said: “I state categorically and without any qualification that what [complainant’s name] alleged, is totally untrue with regard to me.
“I never touched him or any person male or female in a wrong sexual manner.
“If after 50 years he thinks — he honestly thinks so — then he is gravely mistaken.”
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NEWTON (KS)
KWCH TV
Nov. 12, 2019
North Newton police say multiple women are coming forward with accusations of sexual battery after the arrest of an 84-year-old man with ties to Bethel College.
Ted Mueller was arrested in October, accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his North Newton home on Aug. 1, 2018.
“The female victim contacted the North Newton Police Department this past January about the incident,” said Harvey County Attorney David Yoder in a news release. “Police investigated, submitting their information to the Harvey County Attorney’s Office in February.”
Mueller is charged with two counts of sexual battery and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct.
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LAKE CHARLES (LA)
KPLC TV
Nov. 13, 2019
By Theresa Schmidt
They call themselves Catholics of Louisiana for Church Reform.
They are convinced the future of the church depends on total transparency concerning the sexual abuse scandal and cover-up.
Despite the release of lists of credibly accused clergy, victims and their advocates have challenged the completeness and accuracy of the information made public in Southwest Louisiana and beyond. Luke Jones founded Catholics of Louisiana for Church Reform.
“This is an issue that’s going to continue unless people at the ground level in every church in every parish stand up to bishops and say, ‘No! We’re not going to stand for cover-up anymore. We want full transparency. We want full disclosure of documents from the past. We want to know what the past bishops were guilty of to go forward. How can you expect us to forgive you if you’re not willing to let us know what you did wrong?’“
Take for example, Mark Broussard, an ex-priest in prison for crimes against children.
The Lake Charles list indicates the Diocese first became aware of complaints against Broussard in 1994 yet a letter from the late Monsignor Irving DeBlanc to Broussard was written six years before in 1988, while Broussard was at Servants of the Paraclete treatment center in New Mexico. The letter, with a note to then Bishop Jude Speyrer, discusses DeBlanc’s decision to pay Broussard’s salary and other fees including insurance, and a car allowance while Broussard is in treatment. In all, DeBlanc agrees to pay $1021 a month. He also mentions the need for a Diocesan policy for such circumstances.
Jones had this reaction to the letter and DeBlanc’s decision to pay Broussard’s salary and other needs.
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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal
Nov. 5, 2019
By Thomas J. Healey & Michael J. Brough
Catholic church officials have made significant strides in recent months to address bishop accountability on sexual abuse and other failures of leadership. Whether they can actually restore trust remains to be seen. In June 2019, one month after Pope Francis issued the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi calling on episcopal conferences around the world to put measures in place for holding bishops accountable, the USCCB reacted swiftly and approved a series of directives and protocols aimed at doing just that. But it defined no mechanisms for external oversight or mandatory audits, without which it’s hard to know whether these, or any other procedures put in place since the 2002 Dallas Charter, are being adequately monitored. What happens when there is no meaningful oversight of bishops was made freshly clear last summer with the case of Michael J. Bransfield, the Wheeling-Charleston bishop accused of financial malfeasance, sexual misconduct, and an ensuing cover-up. At their general assembly meeting next week, the bishops have the opportunity to further demonstrate their commitment to accountability and transparency by adopting a principle from corporate best practices: What gets measured gets managed.
This would be the obvious next step, given the measures the bishops adopted in June. These included the establishment of a third-party reporting process, and implementation of a new model whereby reports of abuse or misconduct by bishops would be referred to the appropriate metropolitan archbishop and the papal nuncio. The metropolitan, in turn, would be responsible for making these reports available to civil authorities and for cooperating in any investigation that may ensue. Bishop Jaime Soto, of the diocese of Sacramento, also made a proposal to mandate an audit-review process of the newly approved bishop-accountability procedures.
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The Conversation
November 12, 2019
By Laura Griffin
Following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, we are witnessing a wave of legal reforms across Australia aimed at helping survivors seek justice.
Most visibly, there is the National Redress Scheme, which provides victims access to counselling, a response from the institution where they were abused and payment of up to $150,000.
But for those who slip through the cracks of the scheme, as well as future victims, pursuing justice through civil litigation is still hugely important.
As traumatising as legal action can be, suing is not just a means to access compensation. It can also provide formal legal recognition of the abuse, and is a powerful way to hold the institution directly accountable.
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Get Religion blog
Nov. 12, 2019
By Terry Mattingly
If you follow mainstream news coverage of clergy sexual abuse cases in the Catholic church, you know that there are two common errors that journalists keep making when dealing with this hellish subject.
First, there is the timeline issue. Many editors seem convinced that the public first learned about this crisis through the epic Boston Globe “Spotlight” series that ran in 2002.
This may have been when Hollywood grasped the size of this story, but religion beat reporters and many other journalists had been following the scandal since the Louisiana accusations against the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe, which made national headlines in 1984. Jason Berry’s trailblazing book “Lead Us Not Into Temptation” was published in 1992. Reporters covering the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chased this story all through the 1980s.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 12, 2019
A new investigation into Catholic clerics who have left or been expelled from the priesthood has confirmed many of our deepest fears about this scandal: that dangerous men are set loose upon unsuspecting communities, without oversight, allowing them to find jobs, positions, and homes near children and the vulnerable.
The USA Today report echoes findings from an Associated Press report earlier this year, showing how Catholic leaders have simply washed their hands of abusive priests after laicizing them or otherwise forcing them out of the Church. And while taking steps to remove clergy who abuse children or vulnerable adults is an obvious and necessary result, as these investigations show it is not enough. Church officials cannot ordain and train abusive priests only to ignore their responsibility to monitor and warn communities about them after they have hurt children.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 12, 2019
As US Catholic officials are set to vote on new leadership, survivors of clergy abuse are hoping that this new leader will immediately take steps to improve how the body has addressed cases of clergy abuse and cover-up.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will elect their new president tomorrow. This new leader will succeed the outgoing Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, a prelate who leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have castigated as continuing the cover-up and failing to take decisive action to protect children and support survivors.
“The new president has an opportunity to address this scandal better than any prior leader has,” said Becky Ianni, SNAP Board Member and volunteer leader in the Washington D.C. and Virginia areas. “We hope that he will listen to our asks and take steps to protect children from sexual abuse today.”
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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB TV
Nov. 11, 2019
By Daniel Telvock
The Rev. Roy Herberger may have been cleared by the Diocese of Buffalo of sexual abuse allegations, but he’s still scarred by the bishop’s decision to publish his name before anyone looked into the veracity of the claims.
Herberger is a priest at University at Buffalo’s Newman Center, where he returned to active ministry in December after a six-month investigation of allegations that he sexually abused a child beginning in 1985.
News 4 Investigates obtained the secret investigative report that the diocese used to clear Herberger, who described the time off waiting for a decision as “hell.”
Although Herberger was eventually reinstated, he said he is disappointed with Bishop Richard Malone, who he said should resign, and the Diocese of Buffalo for running an “unfair” process to vet sexual abuse allegations.
Similar to the sentiments of his fellow priest The Rev. Samuel Venne, who remains suspended from the diocese pending a decision from Rome on sexual abuse allegations against him, Herberger said the process the Diocese of Buffalo follows makes priests feel guilty before any fact-finding begins.
For starters, Herberger takes offense to the diocese releasing the name of accused priests, alive or dead, prior to any investigation.
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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
Nov. 12, 2019
By Jonathan Luxmoore
Poland’s Primate has said that the paedophile scandal in the Catholic Church has contributed to a drastic fall in priestly vocations, which have plummeted by a fifth this year, according to newly published Church data.
“Of course, demography has an important part in these falling numbers, but it most certainly isn’t the only cause”, Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno told the Catholic Information Agency (KAI). “I’d also pose questions about the faith life of contemporary young people, and about our witness to faith in the Church and the world – about testimony within our families, and about our capacity and determination to resolve difficult and shameful issues in our Church life”.
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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill
Nov. 12, 2019
By Scott Altman
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in sexual harassment and assault cases are now at the center of a heated feminist debate. On one side, #MeToo leaders point out that repeat predators like Harvey Weinstein have used NDAs to silence victims and avoid detection and punishment while continuing to offend. The Catholic Church followed the same pattern in protecting pedophile priests. These scandals came to light in part because brave victims came forward in defiance of NDAs. The recent book “She Said” suggests that victims’ lawyers share some blame for abuse because they advise clients to sign NDAs.
On the other side, some feminists defend the use of NDAs. Gloria Allred, a feminist lawyer who has been targeted for such criticism, has defended her regular use of non-disclosure agreements. Allred points out that many victims value their privacy and reasonably prefer not to relive their assaults and harassment in public or to become publicly known as victims. As well, she argues that victims often have good reason to settle their claims rather than litigating, and without NDAs, perpetrators will not settle. According to Ms. Allred, NDAs expand victim choice — letting them decide whether to speak or be silent and whether to litigate or settle. Demanding that they sacrifice these benefits for the common good is unreasonable.
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BELLEVILLE (IL)
News Democrat
Nov. 12, 2019
By Hana Muslic
A Mascoutah priest who was charged last year with possessing and distributing child pornography and possessing meth has pleaded guilty to both crimes.
Rev. Gerald R. Hechenberger, a former associate pastor of Holy Childhood Catholic Church and school, entered his plea during a hearing in St. Clair County in front of Circuit Judge Zina Cruse on Nov. 7.
Hechenberger pleaded guilty to four of the 17 counts against him, including three counts of possessing pornographic photos of children and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
The case was handled by special prosecutor Jennifer Mudge, who stepped in to oversee the case when James Gomric was announced as the new St. Clair County State’s Attorney last year.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 11, 2019
It shows he destroyed abuse records
SNAP: Revelations are ‘very alarming’
Group seeks two investigations of him
It also seeks more funding for KBI investigation
Probe was requested by KS attorney general one year ago
And SNAP ‘outs’ another local predator priest not on bishop’s list
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose
–excerpts of a just-released church report that reveals “serious wrongdoing” by the former head of the Salina diocese, and
–the name of another credibly and publicly accused child molesting cleric who was in the Salina diocese but is NOT on the official diocesan ‘accused’ list and has attracted no local attention.
They will urge
–Catholic officials in Rome, Salina and Arizona to investigate his handling of ALL abuse cases, in each diocese where he worked, and
–local and state law enforcement to also investigate him for potentially destroying evidence and other potential crimes.
They will also urge
–the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to issue an update on its statewide probe of clergy sex crimes and cover ups,
–lawmakers to increase funding for the on-going investigation, and
–“every current and ex-church staffer and member who has seen, suspected or suffered abuse to call the KBI immediately so kids are safer, wrongdoers are exposed and cover ups are deterred.”
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NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek
Nov. 11, 2019
By Rosie McCall
An Alabama priest is due to attend court Wednesday having been accused of sexually harassing a masseuse aboard a cruise ship in August.
According to The Associated Press, Reverend Amal Samy from the Archdiocese of Mobile in southwest Alabama is being trialed after allegations emerged revealing the priest had tried to get a female technician aboard the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship to touch his genitals. It has also been claimed Samy had repeatedly attempted to touch the technician, federal court documents show.
Witness statements additionally allege that Samy had exposed himself to the masseuse by removing the covering sheet during his massage. However, Samy himself denies committing any wrongdoing.
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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News
November 12, 2019
By Jay Tokasz
“Enlighten & Empower: An Evening with Survivors” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the parish center of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, 6919 Transit Road, Swormville.
Survivors of childhood sexual abuse will discuss how the abuse has affected them over their lifetimes.
The event is being organized by the Buffalo Survivors Group, formed by five men who said they were sexually abused as minors by priests in the Buffalo Diocese. Among the founders are Michael Whalen, whose public accusation in 2018 against the Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits helped prompt dozens of people to report that they had been abused by a priest, and Christopher Szuflita, who first went public with his claim of abuse against the Rev. Joseph Friel with a lawsuit in 1994. Kevin Koscielniak, Gary Astridge and Angelo Ervolina are the other founders of the group.
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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
siadvance.com
November 11, 2019
By Maura Grunlund
A lawsuit accuses a priest who was a prominent member of the Augustinian Order on Staten Island of sexually abusing a child at St. Sylvester’s R.C. Church in Concord in the 1960s.
The Child Victims Act lawsuit was filed by Jeff Anderson & Associates on Aug. 14 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on behalf of an anonymous alleged victim identified only as ARK63 DOE. Named as defendants in the lawsuits are the Archdiocese of New York, the Augustinian Order and related entities, including the former Augustinian Academy on Grymes Hill, and St. Sylvester’s Parish.
Accused in the lawsuit is the Rev. Thomas Burke, whose Island assignments included leadership positions at the former Augustinian Academy.
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LOURDES (FRANCE)
CNA
November 11, 2019
The bishops of France on Saturday approved plans to offer financial compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
According to the Associated Press, any person recognized by their bishop as a victim will be eligible to receive money, and the Church in France will appeal for donations to cover the costs.
The French bishops also voted to allocate 5 million euros, or $5.5 million, to an independent commission examining Church sex abuse in France and to support prevention efforts, the AP reported.
The bishops made the decision at their biannual assembly in Lourdes. They plan to consider additional details of the plan, including compensation amounts for victims, at their next meeting in April 2020.
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POLAND
The Tablet
November 12, 2019
by Jonathan Luxmoore
Poland has seen a 60 per cent drop in priestly recruits in the past two decades.
Poland’s Primate has said that the paedophile scandal in the Catholic Church has contributed to a drastic fall in priestly vocations, which have plummeted by a fifth this year, according to newly published Church data.
“Of course, demography has an important part in these falling numbers, but it most certainly isn’t the only cause”, Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno told the Catholic Information Agency (KAI). “I’d also pose questions about the faith life of contemporary young people, and about our witness to faith in the Church and the world – about testimony within our families, and about our capacity and determination to resolve difficult and shameful issues in our Church life”.
The 54-year-old was speaking after November figures from Poland’s Church Statistics Institute showed 498 ordinands had begun training this year at the country’s 83 Catholic seminaries, 20 percent fewer than in 2018, confirming a 60 per cent drop in priestly recruits in the past two decades.
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SIKESTON (MO)
Standard Democrat
November 11, 2019
By David Jenkins
A second allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been made against a priest that spent time in the southeast Missouri area.
According to a release from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, a second allegation was made against Fr. William E. Donovan that occurred between 1968 and 1972. Donovan, who died Feb. 9, 1975, is already listed as a clergy against whom prior allegations of the abuse of a minor occurred.
Civil authorities have been notified of the allegation following procedures outlined in diocesan Safe Environment Policies.
Donovan was born in 1930 in Rome, NY and was ordained a priest in 1955 in St. Louis for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was formed in 1956 from territory that was prior to 1956, part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Diocese of Kansas City.
Donovan was the assistant pastor at Guardian Angel Parish in Oran, Mo., from 1955-1958 and the assistant pastor at St. Mary of the Annunciation Cathedral in Cape Girardeau, Mo., from 1958-1960. He was the area director of Catholic scouting in Cape Girardeau from 1960-1962 before becoming the pastor at St. John Valley Parish in Mountain View, Mo. and chaplain of Mountain View Memorial Hospital in 1962.
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ROME
WBFO
November 12, 2019
By Marian Hetherly
Bishop Richard Malone is in Rome Tuesday through Friday with the bishops of New York State. The bishops are meeting with the Pope as part of their “Visit to the Treshold of the Apostles,” also known as “ad limina.”
The Pope holds the ad limina every five to seven years with the bishops of each geographic region to receive detailed reports about what has been happening in local dioceses, express concerns and share advice.
In a statement from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, Malone said he is “carrying with him the prayers and intentions of all the people” of the diocese, as well as his “prayer for the healing of the diocese.”
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WESTMINSTER (ENGLAND)
CNA
November 9, 2019
By Christine Rousselle
Cardinal says priests would sooner die than violate the Seal of Confession
The Archbishop of Westminster has admitted that he did not properly handle an accusation of abuse in his archdiocese, as he also rejected calls for priests to violate the seal of confession.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols said during an independent inquiry hearing earlier this week that he “failed” a woman who claimed she was sexually abused by a member of the Servite Order. Nichols did not answer her emails, and agreed that he effectively “shut out” the victim from any assistance.
The first Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse hearing was held in 2016. The IICSA works to investigate child sexual abuse in various institutions throughout the UK, including the Catholic Church, the Church of England, and by members of parliament.
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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB
November 11, 2019
By Daniel Telvock
Fr. Roy Herberger last year was accused of sexually abusing a child in 1985. But the diocese returned him to ministry. Why?
The Rev. Roy Herberger may have been cleared by the Diocese of Buffalo of sexual abuse allegations, but he’s still scarred by the bishop’s decision to publish his name before anyone looked into the veracity of the claims.
Herberger is a priest at University at Buffalo’s Newman Center, where he returned to active ministry in December after a six-month investigation of allegations that he sexually abused a child beginning in 1985.
News 4 Investigates obtained the secret investigative report that the diocese used to clear Herberger, who described the time off waiting for a decision as “hell.”
Although Herberger was eventually reinstated, he said he is disappointed with Bishop Richard Malone, who he said should resign, and the Diocese of Buffalo for running an “unfair” process to vet sexual abuse allegations.
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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian
Nov.12, 2019
By Harriet Sherwood
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has given evidence in person twice in the past year to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty
Lawyers acting for child abuse survivors have called for the resignation of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in England and Wales, saying the church has treated survivors with disdain.
In a letter to the Catholic weekly, The Tablet, the lawyers say Nichols, who is the archbishop of Westminster and was formerly the archbishop of Birmingham, “cannot credibly lead the Catholic church on these issues in the future”.
Nichols has given evidence in person twice in the past year to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), first on his period as archbishop of Birmingham and last week on safeguarding and support for survivors in the archdiocese of Westminster.
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CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press
November 11, 2019
By Rod McGuirk
The most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children will learn this week whether Australia’s highest court will hear his appeal against convictions for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral two decades ago.
The High Court of Australia confirmed on Monday that two judges will announce their decision Wednesday morning on whether all seven judges will hear Cardinal George Pell’s appeal next year. The names of the two judges who will make the decision won’t be announced until Wednesday.
A unanimous Victoria state County Court jury in December found Pope Francis’ former finance minister guilty of molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the late 1990s shortly after Pell became archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city.
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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic News Agency
November 11, 2019
Australia’s High Court will announce on Wednesday whether it will hear Cardinal George Pell’s appeal of his conviction on sexual abuse charges.
Two judges on the country’s highest court will announce whether the full court’s seven judges will hear their appeal, the Associated Press reports.
The court rejects about 90% of appeals.
In August, sources close to the cardinal told CNA that they thought Pell’s case would likely be accepted given the controversy triggered by the split decision of the Court of Appeals of Victoria, which rejected the cardinal’s appeal.
The cardinal, now 78, was convicted Dec. 11, 2018, on five charges that he sexually abused two 13-year-old choir boys after Sunday Mass while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and 1997.
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ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times-Union
November 11, 2019
By Cayla Harris
Fund would offer aid to nonprofits pursuing civil suits against alleged abusers
State lawmakers are proposing legislation to create a state-operated private fund to help survivors of child sex crimes pursue civil cases against their alleged abusers.
The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. James Gaughran, D-Long Island, would create a “Child Victim Foundation Fund” run jointly by the Department of Taxation and Finance, the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the comptroller’s office. New Yorkers would be able to donate to the fund when they file their taxes, and people convicted of child sex crimes would contribute to the pool in the form of a $1,000 fine.
Under the proposal, the state would also allocate grants to nonprofit organizations that help survivors litigate child abuse claims.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
Associated Press
November 11, 2019
By David Crary and Regina Garcia Cano
US Catholic bishops received a challenging to-do list Monday as they opened their national assembly — notably to support immigrants and refugees, extend the campaign to curtail clergy sex abuse and work harder to combat gun violence. They also were urged by Pope Francis’ envoy to be more vigorous in promoting sometimes-divisive segments of the pope’s agenda.
“The pope has emphasized certain themes: Mercy, closeness to the people… a spirit of hospitality toward migrants, and dialogue with those of other cultures and religions,” Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio, told the bishops as they opened a three-day meeting. “Do you believe these are gradually becoming part of the mindset of your clergy and your people?”
Pierre said the bishops should find tangible ways of showing they supported the pope’s merciful message and flexible doctrine, which includes an emphasis on protecting the environment. The remarks came just weeks after Francis acknowledged he was under attack by some conservative Americans and spoke openly about the risk of “schism.”
The meeting’s opening session also featured the last presidential address from Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, who is ending his three-year term as head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic News Agency
November 11, 2019
By Matt Hadro
The results of the Vatican’s investigation of Theodore McCarrick should be published by early 2020, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston told U.S. bishops on Monday.
“The intention is to publish the Holy See’s response soon, if not before Christmas, soon in the new year,” Cardinal O’Malley said on Monday afternoon
O’Malley presented a brief update on the status of the Vatican’s McCarrick investigation during the annual fall meeting of the U.S. bishops in Baltimore, Maryland, held from Nov. 11-13.
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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW-TV
November 11, 2019
By Charlie Specht
[VIDEO]
Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone is on his way to Rome for a face-to-face meeting with Pope Francis.
It’s part of a regular visit to the Vatican by New York State’s Catholic bishops, but this time the visit comes on the heels of a massive sexual abuse scandal exposed in part by the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team over the last two years.
Now, a state judge is taking the rare step of speaking out against a sitting bishop.
“He goes on and it’s like an actor on the stage,” retired State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Drury said in a recent interview, speaking about Bishop Malone. “He’s got his crook. He’s got his mitre. And there he is, on the stage again, thinking he can do this.”
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ARLINGTON (VA)
USA Today
Nov. 12, 2019
By Lindsay Schnell and Sam Ruland
John Dagwell said he’s earned the right to live in peace as he tries to put his past behind him.
The former Roman Catholic brother, 75, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey criminal case in 1988 to molesting a student when he taught at a parochial school. His religious order, the Xaverian Brothers, transferred him to the Boston area, where he went to work in a homeless shelter and soon faced new abuse accusations that were never reported to police. Four years later, personnel files from the Boston Archdiocese revealed Dagwell as a clergyman accused of sexual abuse. His name was also included in a list released by the Xaverian Brothers.
Despite his past, Dagwell was never required to register as a sex offender. He moved on to a new life in a new community, a place where children fill the local pool during school vacations and where his history remained a secret from neighbors. He began teaching again, this time at Keiser University, a 16,000-student school based in Fort Lauderdale.
“I’ve stayed away from adolescents. I’ve been trying hard not to put myself in a situation where I was going to be tempted,” Dagwell said recently while sitting in an apartment he shares with his sister. As he spoke, three teddy bears sat on his television and a half-dozen stuffed Disney dolls – Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket – were carefully arranged on a China cabinet.
Dagwell is one of more than 1,200 former priests, Catholic brothers and Catholic school officials identified in a USA TODAY Network investigation who were accused of sexual abuse but were able to move on with little or no oversight or accountability. Most never faced criminal charges.
As thousands of abuse victims across the U.S. continue to search for justice and closure decades after being molested by some of the most trusted people in their lives, these men have become the priest next door. They live near schools and playgrounds, close to families and children unaware of their backgrounds or the crimes they’ve been accused of. In some cases, they’ve taken on leadership roles in new communities, becoming professors, counselors, friends and mentors to children. Their movements are unchecked by both the government and the Catholic Church in part because laws in many states make it nearly impossible for victims to pursue criminal charges decades after alleged abuse.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Tablet
November 11, 2019
By Christopher White
In his final remarks as president of the U.S. bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo encouraged the U.S. Church to continue to press ahead in the fight against clergy abuse and in defense of migrants and unborn human life.
DiNardo began his remarks on Monday at the start of the general assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by recalling several highlights of his time as president of the conference over the past three years.
Among the stories he recounted were those of visiting a border detention center and seeing the hand drawn pictures of Jesus and Mary made by children separated from their families, the work of crisis pregnancy centers across the country, and meeting with clergy abuse survivors.
“When too many within the Church sought to keep them in the darkness, they refused to be relegated to the shadows,” DiNardo said.
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WORCHESTER (MA)
Holy Cross College
Nov. 11, 2019
It’s been months since the New York Child Victims Act was signed into law allowing adult survivors of child sexual abuse to sue an abuser or a negligent institution regardless of when the abuse took place, and hundreds of new cases are still flooding the courts, many of them targeting members of the Jehovah’s Witness organization.
In a recent VICE article, Mathew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross, comments on the unique challenges faced by sexual abuse survivors within the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith, especially given its controversial “two-witness rule.”
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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Nov 11, 2019
By Michael Sean Winters
It was the best of our church. It was the worst of our church. It was a time for evangelization and a time for churlish retrenchment. It was a time for looking out. It was a time for looking in. It was the spirit of the Gospel and it was the demon of self-pity. It was the age of Francis. It was the age of Pio Nono.
It was last Thursday.
About midday, I was pleased that NCR published the text of a speech given by San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. Asked to address how the church in this country should move forward after the bitter return of the sexual abuse issue, McElroy began by recalling his participation in the synod of the Amazon last month. Turning to the situation of the church in this country, he said, “My suggestion would be to embrace the type of synodal pathway that the church in the Amazon has been undergoing — one filled with deep and broad consultation, the willingness to accept arduous choices, the search for renewal and reform at every level, and unswerving faith in the constancy of God’s presence in the community.”
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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
Nov. 11, 2019
By Jay Tokasz
While most of the U.S. Catholic bishops are gathered in Baltimore this week for the 2019 Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Buffalo Diocese Bishop Richard J. Malone and other bishops from New York State traveled to Rome to meet with Pope Francis.
The “ad limina” visit to the Vatican, today through Friday, comes as New York bishops grapple with hundreds of new child sex abuse lawsuits allowed under the state’s Child Victims Act.
Malone and the heads of the seven other dioceses and archdioceses in New York prior to the visit each prepared quinquennial reports giving a detailed overview of the life of the Catholic Church in their diocese. Various departments of the Vatican reviewed the information and will meet with the bishops to discuss the material.
It’s not clear if Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Brooklyn Diocese, who was tapped by the Vatican to conduct an investigation into Malone and the Buffalo Diocese over a clergy sex abuse scandal, will deliver a report on his findings to the pope.
DiMarzio made three trips to Western New York and spent seven days interviewing area clergy and lay people before wrapping up the Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation at the end of October.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ TV
Nov. 11, 2019
By Rachel Menitoff
Survivors of clergy sex abuse and their supporters are outlining their requests for Catholic Church leaders ahead of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which began Monday in Baltimore.
Among the changes victims want to see are archdioceses nationwide releasing the names of clergy and anyone in the church who has been accused of abuse.
Leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP) group said that list can be validating for victims.
“When survivors see the names of their abusers listed, they feel a sense of validation and that they are not alone. I know I felt this way when I saw my priests name listed in the Arlington Arch Diocese,” said Becky Ianni with SNAP.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 11, 2019
KBI should issue ‘preliminary report,’ SNAP says
Group also wants more outreach and funding for it
KS attorney general asked for investigation one year ago
Bishops must update & expand their ‘accused’ lists, SNAP pleads
Victims to prelates: “Warn your flock about clerics who prey on adults too”
WHAT
Clergy sex abuse victims will hand out fliers door-to-door near churches listing recently-disclosed predator priests who are or were in eastern Kansas. Holding signs and childhood photos at sidewalk news conference, they will urge the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to
–issue an update on its statewide probe of clergy sex crimes and cover ups,
–do more outreach so that “every victim, witness and whistleblower can be heard.”
They will also urge lawmakers to
–increase funding for the on-going investigation, and
–reform archaic, predator-friendly Kansas child safety laws.
And they’ll urge all four Kansas bishops to
–expand their recently but ‘inadequate’ lists of accused clerics, and
–add clerics who sexually exploited adults.
Finally, they’ll urge “every current and ex-church staffer and member who has seen, suspected or suffered abuse to call the KBI immediately so kids are safer, wrongdoers are exposed and cover ups are deterred.”
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 11, 2019
We applaud the court’s decision to extradite Fr. Denis Alexander for the harm he has caused. Too often priests abuse and then flee to other countries to avoid justice. The worldwide shuffling of abusive priests will not end until secular authorities step in using the full power of their offices – arrests, subpoenas and the like, to stamp out this problem.
The excuse that the abuser is “old” is disingenuous. Pedophiles are dangerous whenever they are in society at whatever age. In California, a 90 year old ex-priest, Hernan Toro, is in jail after he sexually molested two minors when he was 87.
Just as important, the victims of Fr. Alexander deserve justice and the acknowledgement that this extradition represents. Too often, victims of sexual violence are denied their day in court. We are grateful that this will not happen in this case.
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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 11, 2019
We applaud Fr. Hans Zollner for his skill in articulating a major problem that exists within the Catholic church today: the referral of allegations of sex abuse by clerics to Catholic church lawyers, canonists and psychiatrists who then crush the victim and obscure the truth.
Fr. Zollner points out excuses that are often bandied about by defenders of the Church’s record on sexual abuse, highlighting the myths and catch-phrases succinctly,:
“…I fear for the church…”
“…. other institutions are just as bad…”
“….I can’t deal with it anymore…”
“….it’s the media’ fault…”
And Fr. Zollner rightfully debunks these as the excuses they are. He even speaks the dreaded truth by saying the cover-up continues. Indeed, there are media stories nearly every day about contemporary sex abuse by priests and nuns against children and vulnerable adults. As often as not, these are also stories about cover-up and the priority of the church’s financial assets over its most precious human asset, the children. Just read the recent Colorado AG report for the latest version of the cover-up story.
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SAULT STE. MARIE (CANADA)
Sault Star
Nov. 11, 2019
By Brian Kelly
The morning after Rev. William Hodgson Marshall molested Patrick McMahon, he celebrated mass in the same residence for priests where the assault happened.
McMahon served as an altar boy.
“It was like the darkness of the night just covered the whole memory too,” said McMahon. “It wasn’t like I got up in the morning and thought about what he did. I never thought about it, until I’d hear the door open the next night.”
McMahon estimates he was assaulted by Marshall, a close friend of his parents, over about a two-year span in the early 1980s. Some of those assaults happened during March breaks in 1982 and 1983 at Crawley Hall, the residence at St. Mary’s College in Sault Ste. Marie for members of the Basilian Fathers. Marshall was principal of the Catholic high school for boys. The McMahons travelled from Windsor to ski at hills including Searchmont Resort and Boyne Highlands in Michigan.
McMahon’s father and brothers were put up in the hall’s second floor. Marshall directed McMahon to “the bishop’s suite” on the floor below. He’d come in at night and abuse him.
“I don’t generally talk about it in great detail,” McMahon told The Sault Star in a telephone interview from his Windsor home. “For me, he always came in darkness.”
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BALTIMORE (MD)
WBFF TV
Nov.10, 2019
By Maxine Streicher
Survivors of clergy abuse and their supporters gathered in downtown Baltimore ahead of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting that begins Monday.
They came together to announce which candidate they are supporting for the next President of the U.S.C.C.B.
Becky Ianni remembers when she became a victim of clergy abuse.
“He abused me over a period of four years. He became a friend of the family so he would come and have dinner. He went on vacation with us. He bought us our first color television so it was a very grooming process,” she said.
Ianni says she wasn’t his only victim, there were many including her own brother.
“I felt like it was my fault and that I was a bad dirty little girl so I didn’t think about it, and I came across a picture of myself with my perpetrator when I was 48 in 2006 and everything came rushing back,” she said.
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Patheos blog
Nov. 10, 2019
By Barry Duke
FOR years, former Catholic monk Fr Denis “Chrysostom” Alexander, 83, has been fighting attempts by the Scottish authorities to have him extradited from Australia to face charges of sexually abusing six children aged between 11 and 15. He was arrested in Sydney at the beginning of 2017.
The Crown Office launched extradition proceedings against Alexander, who taught at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in December 2016 but since then he has contested the move on health grounds.
But the federal court has finally ruled that he must be sent back for trial.
The 13-page federal court ruling includes a summary of the charges the ex-monk faces.
It is alleged that between 1970 and 1976 he “engaged in acts of physical and sexual abuse” against six complainants, aged between 11 and 15.
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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
Nov. 11, 2019
By Tom Heneghan
The community announced in 2013 that Fr Marie-Dominique, who died in 2006, had sexually abused several women
The Brothers of Saint John, a Catholic movement launched in France in 1975, have officially renounced their sexually abusive founder Fr Marie-Dominique Philippe and pledged to revise their rules without reference to him.
A general chapter held near Lyon concluded the community could no longer recognise the Dominican priest as its inspiration.
The community also decided to take down his photographs in their houses and stop selling his books and promoting their study.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
November 11, 2019
By Alison Knezevich
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-brett-connecticut-report-20191111-4utipcm7ivgnznhikktsdidvzq-story.html
The case of a notorious Baltimore-area Catholic priest is cited in a recent report as a key example of how church officials shuffled clergy accused of sexual abuse, leaving more children at risk.
Church leaders in Bridgeport, Connecticut knew about allegations against Laurence Brett in the 1960s, according to an independent review of how the diocese there handled abuse cases. Brett later went on to teach at Calvert Hall College, a Towson high school where more than a dozen students eventually accused him of abuse.
The Bridgeport diocese has paid more than $2.7 million in settlements to people who accused Brett of abuse — representing 5% of all its abuse payouts, according to the report released last month. The report does not specify the number of people who received settlements related to Brett.
In Baltimore, the archdiocese has reached voluntary settlements totaling $326,000 with six people who accused Brett of abuse, spokesman Sean Caine said in response to an inquiry from The Baltimore Sun.
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WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Reporter
Nov. 11, 2019
By Heidi Schlumpf
After last week’s announcement that retired West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield had been formally disinvited from the Nov. 11-13 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, representatives of dioceses where other bishops have resigned or been removed for sexual misconduct or cover-up say they are unlikely to initiate similar action.
Visit EarthBeat, NCR’s new reporting project that explores the ways Catholics and other faith groups are taking action on the climate crisis.
Three dioceses and archdioceses contacted by NCR — Milwaukee, Cheyenne and St. Paul-Minneapolis — indicated that the prelates in question already do not attend the bishops’ twice-yearly meetings.
The only bishop convicted of the crime of failure to report a priest suspected of abuse to civil authorities, however, continues to show up.
Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn reportedly was in the room this past June when the bishops passed the new “Protocol Regarding Available Non-Penal Restrictions on Bishops,” under which Bransfield was disinvited.
Section 12 of that protocol allows the bishops’ conference president, in consultation with the administrative committee, to disinvite any retired bishop “who resigned or was removed from his office due to sexual abuse of minors, sexual misconduct with adults, or grave negligence in office, or who subsequent to his resignation was found to have so acted or failed to act.”
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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Catholic News
November 11, 2019
Source: IICSA
During the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last week, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said he had failed to support a survivor of abuse.
Cardinal Nichols was questioned on Wednesday by the lead counsel for the inquiry, Brian Altman QC. Mr Altman asked the Cardinal about the treatment of one survivor who had approached him for help two years ago. Identified as A711, she was abused as a teenager by a priest in the Servite Order, and raped when she was 24. She was not pursuing a criminal case or seeking compensation. In May 2017, she went to Cardinal Nichols in his capacity as Archbishop of the Westminster Diocese, to complain.
Altman said: “She wrote to him again repeatedly. She was directed by Cardinal Nichols’ private secretary to the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, but the NCSC told her it had no jurisdiction over individual dioceses, effectively leaving her with nowhere to go.”
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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
November 11, 2019
A decision on whether disgraced cardinal George Pell can appeal his child sexual abuse conviction in the High Court will be made this week.
The court will announce its decision at 9.30am on Wednesday in Canberra.
Pell, 78, was found guilty by a jury of the rape of a 13-year-old choirboy and sexual assault of another at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996 but Australia’s most senior Catholic has always denied any wrongdoing.
If the leave is granted, the jailed cardinal’s lawyers will need to lodge a formal appeal.
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BUFFALO (NY)
The Tablet
November 6, 2019
By Christopher White
Buffalo’s embattled bishop, Richard Malone, will be in Rome next week as part of the New York region’s scheduled meetings with Vatican officials.
Kathy Spangler, a spokesperson for the diocese, confirmed on Wednesday that Malone will be in attendance.
The meetings, known as the ad limina visits, are part of the regularly scheduled meetings between bishops and officials from the Roman Curia which normally occur every five years, however the last time the U.S. bishops traveled to Rome for their ad limina was eight years ago in 2011 and 2012.
Among the regularly scheduled meetings is a session with the pope, which will bring together face to face, Francis – who has pledged an “all-out battle” on sex abuse – and Malone, the most senior U.S. bishop currently being investigated for his handling of abuse cases.
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WHEELING (WV)
WBOY-TV (Channel 12)
November 8, 2019
Brand new details now on the ongoing lawsuit against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese.
A Wood County judge has dismissed the case and sent it to the state Supreme Court for guidance.
The case alleges that the diocese and its former bishop knowingly employed pedophiles.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed the case in March.
Officials are waiting on the Supreme Court to rule whether the case violates rules about the separation of church and state.
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AUSTRALIA
Patheos (blog)
November 10, 2019
By Barry Duke
FOR years, former Catholic monk Fr Denis “Chrysostom” Alexander, 83, has been fighting attempts by the Scottish authorities to have him extradited from Australia to face charges of sexually abusing six children aged between 11 and 15. He was arrested in Sydney at the beginning of 2017.
The Crown Office launched extradition proceedings against Alexander, who taught at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in December 2016 but since then he has contested the move on health grounds.
But the federal court has finally ruled that he must be sent back for trial.
The 13-page federal court ruling includes a summary of the charges the ex-monk faces.
It is alleged that between 1970 and 1976 he “engaged in acts of physical and sexual abuse” against six complainants, aged between 11 and 15.
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UNITED STATES
Associated Press
November 10, 2019
By David Crary
Clergy sex abuse is once again on the agenda as U.S. Catholic bishops meet this week — but so is a potentially historic milestone: Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, an immigrant from Mexico, is widely expected to win election as the first Hispanic president of the bishops’ national conference.
Gomez, 67, is currently the conference’s vice president — a post that by tradition serves as springboard to the presidency. In terms of doctrine, Gomez is considered a practical-minded conservative, but he is an outspoken advocate of a welcoming immigration policy that would include a path to citizenship for many immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
November 10, 2019
By Phil Davis
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] endorsed a Texas bishop to become the new president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying several other candidates are tainted by the church’s history of sexual abuse in the clergy.
At a news conference Sunday, the day before the annual meeting of the conference, members of the group said they endorse Bishop Daniel E. Flores from Brownsville, Texas.
Becky Ianni, the director of SNAP, said the group is recommending Flores because the conference “should be looking to younger bishops like Flores” to combat the church’s problems with child sex abuse.
“We need someone who’s willing to step outside the box and take the necessary steps to protect children,” Ianni said.
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WASHINGTON (DC)
Georgetown Hoya
Nov. 8, 2019
By Caroline Hecht
Including leaders from diverse backgrounds is critical to reestablishing the Catholic Church’s credibility as it works to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis, panelists said at a Nov. 4 event.
The panel included Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean survivor of clergy sexual abuse who challenged Pope Francis to take decisive action on the crisis; Bishop Steven Biegler, the bishop of Cheyenne, Wyo., who reopened an investigation into one of his predecessors for child sexual abuse; Christopher White, a journalist who reports on the crisis; and Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, who is vocal about the lasting costs of the crisis.
The Gaston Hall event, “Where Are We Now? Where Do We Need To Go?”, was moderated by John Carr, director of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, and Kim Daniels, associate director of the initiative and an adviser to the Vatican.
At the event, Daniels shared the results of the report from the June 2019 “National Convening on Lay Leadership for a Wounded Church and Divided Nation,” which gathered over 50 invited Catholic leaders, survivors, journalists and others. The National Convening was organized by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life and focused on strategizing responses to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
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WHEELING (WV)
News-Regsiter
Nov. 10, 2019
By Mike Myer
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, filed in Wood County, is an interesting attempt to hold the diocese accountable for years of failure to crack down on predator priests. He filed it under the Consumer Credit and Protection Act, accusing diocesan officials in the past of knowingly hiring sexual predators to work at schools and summer camps for children.
Parents who trusted the church — and paid tuition and camp fees — did so in the belief they could trust diocesan officials but found they could not. In effect, the church misrepresented itself in selling the parents a product — education and summer recreation.
But last week, Wood County Judge J.D. Beane ruled against Morrisey — tentatively. He put the lawsuit on hold and asked the state Supreme Court to answer two questions. Both involve the doctrine of separation of church and state that is central to religious freedom.
Beane wrote that the lawsuit is “an excessive entanglement of government and religion which is prohibited under federal and state constitutions.” He suggested dismissing the suit is necessary “to remain vigilant in protecting religious freedom and in protecting religious institutions from substantial government intrusion.”
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TRENTON (NJ)
WKXW Radio
Sergio Bichaon
Nov. 9, 2019
A teacher accused of sexually assaulting a former student she adopted after he was kicked out of his family’s home has lost her teaching credentials while she defends herself in court.
The State Board of Examiners, the governing body that regulates teaching certificates, voted in September to suspend Rayna Culver’s Grades K-8 certificates and principal and supervisor certificates beginning this month until the criminal charges against her are resolved.
Culver has been on leave from her middle school job in Trenton since she was arrested in May 2017.
She was indicted in July 2018 on two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, four counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree child endangerment.
Culver first met the boy when he was a student at Rivera Middle School. She became his guardian when he was 15 in 2016.
Her attorney has said that the troubled boy fabricated the allegations.
Even though she has not been found guilty, the State Board of Examiners this month said that “Culver’s potential disqualification from service in the public schools of this State because of her indictment for such serious offenses provides just cause to take action against her certificates.”
It was one of many actions the board took against suspected and convicted perv teachers this month.
The board revoked the Russian teaching certificate of Eric Komar, of Hillsborough, who pleaded guilty in February 2018 to distributing images of child sexual abuse. Prosecutors said Komar had more than 600 such images of minors younger than 12. Komar told authorities that he had “thousands of images and videos,” and that he “masturbates to images of child pornography on a daily basis.”
He was sentenced October 2018 to 82 months in federal prison and supervised release for 10 years with computer monitoring, restricted contact with minors and treatment for sex offenders.
The board also revoked the principal certificate of James Kuntz, a priest who was head of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City in the 1980s. He was working at St. Peter’s College as a vice president when he was arrested in 2008. He was sentenced in 2009 to 40 months’ imprisonment followed by five years of supervised released.
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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
November 10, 2019
By Jay Tokasz
About two dozen Catholic Diocese of Buffalo priests removed from ministry due to child sex abuse complaints continue to collect a salary or pension from the diocese.
Three of those suspended priests remain on the diocese’s payroll even though they haven’t functioned as clergy in more than 25 years, and six priests removed at least 15 years ago continue to get monetary support from the diocese, according to a Buffalo News analysis.
If each priest were to receive $25,000 annually, an amount that’s at the low end of the priest pay scale, the diocese would pay $600,000 per year in “sustenance” to the 24 suspended priests.
In the three cases dating back decades, diocese officials have yet to send legal paperwork to Rome asking the Vatican to rule on whether the priests should be defrocked.
Since 2002, the church has required that bishops send child molestation claims against priests to the Vatican for adjudication, a process that can result in priests being “dismissed from the clerical state” or “laicization” – Catholic phrasing for defrocking.
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MEAWW News
Nov. 10, 2019
By Smita M
An Italian priest has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl recorded herself being sexually abused on her mobile phone. Father Michele Mottola, the accused priest, began grooming the girl in 2017, soon after he took up his post as parish priest of Trentola Ducenta located in Campania, near Naples, according to the Church Militant report. The abuse began when the girl was 10 and lasted till February 2018. The girl, too ashamed to talk about the abuse with her parents, first approached two parishioners who refused to believe her. This is when she made the recording on her mobile phone as evidence.
In the recording, the priest is heard saying: “Do you want a kiss?” While the girl protests, he said: “There is no one here. Are you afraid? Kiss me, hug me.” In a second recording, after the sound of heavy breathing and sounds of the girl protesting, he is heard saying: “Take this to dry yourself.” After the girl told the priest she had reported the matter to other parishioners, he said: “You didn’t have to do it, because now they will understand other things. Things will get very bad. I will come to your home to talk to your parents.”
He also told her: “You can tell lies. Did you understand you can lie? You’re like Islamic suicide bombers, throwing a bomb, killing people and leaving. The mud ends up also on your family and on you.” The parishioners intervened and spoke to the girl’s family and the girl’s mother finally reported the crime to the bishop.
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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
Nov. 10, 2019
By Mark Zimmermann
Four Catholic priests who serve in various ministries and are on the front lines facing the aftershocks of the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church gave their perspective on helping the church address the problem.
They participated in an Oct. 29 panel discussion sponsored by the Catholic Project, an initiative of The Catholic University of America. The event was held at the university’s Heritage Hall.
“These men have felt the same anger and betrayal in recent months as the rest of us, but they have also borne the sins of their brothers,” said Stephen White, executive director of the Catholic Project, who moderated the discussion on “Shepherds to a Wounded Flock: How our Priests See the Crisis.”
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PARIS (FRANCE)
International Business Times
By Thomas Kika
November 9, 2019
A group of French bishops this weekend voted to offer payments to known victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. The bishops now intend to reach out to victims and offer them a lump sum. The movement was approved by the 120 attendees of the biannual meeting of the Conference of French Bishops in Lourdes, France.
Acknowledging that neither the Church nor the French government has made such payments a requirement, the bishops said that they are intended to recognize the transgressions of the Church and not to act as any sort of reparations. The set amount for these payouts has yet to be decided, as the fund has yet to be established.
“It aims to recognize that the victims’ suffering hangs on various failings within the Church,” the group said in an official statement.
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CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
November 10, 2019
The Catholic catechism says a bishop is to act “as Christ’s vicar.” But circumstances force some, including the late Richard G. Lennon, emeritus Catholic bishop of Cleveland, to be crisis managers, too.
Bishop Lennon, born into a family of suburban Boston firefighters, died Oct. 29 at age 72, apparently from complications of vascular dementia. The condition had forced him to retire in 2016 after ten years as Cleveland’s bishop.
As bishop of a diocese serving eight Northeast Ohio counties, Bishop Lennon faced heavy challenges. Population is one. The number of Catholics is dropping nationwide, the Pew Research Center reports, adding that Catholicism has had “a greater net loss due to religious switching than [any] other [U.S.] religious tradition.” American Catholicism’s geographic center also is moving South and West. And, as recognized in the choice of Lennon’s successor, Nelson J. Perez, a growing proportion of adult Catholics claims Hispanic heritage.
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BILLINGS (MT)
Billings Gazette
November 10, 2019
A room at RiverStone Health has become a safe place to break the silence on crimes against children. The Yellowstone Valley Children’s Advocacy Center exists to start the healing process for children who have been sexually abused.
The CAC team includes two deputy county attorneys, two professional therapists and representatives of Billings Clinic, Billings Police Department, Laurel Police Department, Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, Child Protective Services and Youth Court.
The CAC team strives to avoid re-traumatizing children with repeated interviews about their abuse. Instead, one specially trained interviewer will talk to the child. The goal is to get the truth when the child is ready to talk. The interviewer doesn’t ask leading or unnecessary questions.
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PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press
November 10, 2019
By Claire Parker
French bishops on Saturday approved plans to financially compensate people abused sexually within the Roman Catholic Church.
Any person recognized by their bishop as a victim will be eligible to receive money, they said, and the church will appeal for donations to foot the bill. Bishops also voted to allocate 5 million euros ($5.5 million) to an independent commission examining church sex abuse in France and to support prevention efforts.
Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the archbishop of Reims and president of the Conference of French Bishops, said payments to victims will recognize both their suffering and “the silence, negligence, indifference, lack of reaction or bad decisions or dysfunction within the Church.”
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NEW YORK ( NY)
TIME Magazine
Nov. 9, 2019
By Rachel Bunyan
The Roman Catholic Church says it would reject any recommendation from a U.K. inquiry that would require priests to break confession to report child sexual abuse.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, told the Independent Inquiry into Sexual Abuse in the U.K. on Thursday that he views confession as “a nexus between my sinful humanity and the mercy of God.”
“The history of the Catholic Church has a number of people who have been put to death in [defense] of the seal of the confession. It might come to that,” he said.
The public inquiry was set up following serious concerns that institutions in the country—including churches—had failed to protect children from sexual abuse, and continue to do so. The inquiry, which covers England and Wales, is expected to make recommendations in 2020.
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