ABUSE TRACKER

[Trial opens for priest accused of pedophilia and former bishop accused of failing to take action]

FRANCE
La République du Centre

October 30, 2018

Le procès de l’abbé Pierre de Castelet, accusé d’agressions sexuelles sur mineurs, s’est ouvert mardi devant le tribunal correctionnel d’Orléans en l’absence de l’ancien évêque d’Orléans, Mgr André Fort, poursuivi lui pour non-dénonciation. Mgr André Fort, 83 ans, évêque d’Orléans de 2002 à 2010, est “affaibli par sa maladie à la suite d’une opération”, a déclaré son avocat Me Benoit de Gaullier à l’ouverture de l’audience, pour expliquer l’absence de son client.

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[The diocese of Vendée investigates sexual abuse in two institutions]

FRANCE
La Croix

November 1, 2018

By Julien Tranié with AFP

L’Église catholique en Vendée a annoncé, mercredi 31 octobre, qu’elle enquêtait sur des faits de pédophilie dans deux établissements du département entre 1950 et 1979. Ces enquêtes ont conduit l’évêque de Luçon, Mgr François Jacolin, à suspendre deux prêtres de tout ministère public.

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[The punishment of Father Pierre Vignon causes a stir]

FRANCE
La Croix

November 3, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

Fervent soutien des victimes de pédophilie dans l’Église, le prêtre qui avait lancé une pétition appelant à la démission du cardinal Barbarin, n’a pas été reconduit dans ses fonctions de juge à l’officialité interdiocésaine de Lyon.

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[Assembly of Bishops in Lourdes to hear testimony of clergy abuse victim]

FRANCE
La Croix

November 3, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

Sept victimes d’abus sexuels commis par des clercs seront reçues par les évêques à Lourdes, samedi 3 novembre, au premier jour de leur Assemblée plénière.

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[Canon judge who demanded the resignation of Cardinal Barbarin removed from office]

FRANCE
Le Monde

November 1, 2018

By Le Monde with AFP

Pierre Vignon a annoncé jeudi n’avoir pas été reconduit dans ses fonctions de juge auprès du tribunal ecclésiastique de Lyon. Une décision qu’il estime « directement liée » à sa pétition.

Il avait lancé en août une pétition appelant à la démission du cardinal Philippe Barbarin. Le père Pierre Vignon a annoncé jeudi 1er novembre n’avoir pas été reconduit dans ses fonctions de juge auprès de l’officialité interdiocésaine de Lyon.

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[In Lourdes, bishops will hear from sexual abuse victims]

LOURDES, FRANCE
Le Monde

October 31, 2018

By Cécile Chambraud

En organisant cette rencontre lors de son assemblée plénière d’automne, samedi, l’épiscopat entend montrer qu’il ne reste pas « sans rien faire » face aux scandales.

Comme tous les ans début novembre, les évêques de l’Eglise catholique se retrouvent à Lourdes pour leur assemblée plénière d’automne. Mais cette année, l’atmosphère de cette réunion, organisée du 3 au 8 novembre, sera dominée par la question des abus sexuels. Elle est omniprésente depuis l’avalanche de révélations de l’été : plongée dans les crimes pédophiles du clergé de Pennsylvanie pendant les dernières décennies, bilan des affaires du même ordre en Allemagne, mise en cause de l’ancien archevêque de Washington Theodore McCarrick, contraint de quitter le Collège des cardinaux.

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[Archbishop Ezzati’s lawyer defends his right to remain silent, citing lack of objectivity]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

November 3, 2018

By C. Díaz

“El defensor Hugo Rivera insiste en que el proceso no se ha desarrollado con la debida objetividad que corresponde a un proceso de estas características y que la decisión del cardenal fue siguiendo su “consejo profesional”.

Luego de que el cardenal arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, decidiera acogerse a su derecho de guardar silencio durante su declaración para el fiscal de O’Higgins, Sergio Moya, en la jornada del pasado 3 de octubre, su abogado defensor, Hugo Rivera, aseguró que la medida se trata de una decisión ante la falta de rigurosidad y objetividad que se ha expuesto en el caso.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
New Orleans Advocate

By John Simerman, Ramon Antonio Vargas and Matt Sledge

November 2, 2018

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday released the names of 57 former clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing minors — the first such disclosure in the history of the Catholic Church in Louisiana.

The list, released amid pressure from local Catholics and widespread demands for church transparency across the U.S., includes 34 clergy whose alleged abuses do not appear to have been previously exposed. According to Aymond, all 57 clergy were either removed from ministry as a result of the allegations or were already dead when the allegations arose.

In all, the disgraced clergy served across a wide swath of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Alleged abusers worked at some time or another in about 125 schools, parishes and other church-operated facilities. That figure represents about 25 percent of all such facilities under the archdiocese in the 1970s, when the largest share of known clergy sex abuse took place.

Many of the listed clergy served as modest parish priests or worked in local high schools while they allegedly preyed on children and young adults.

But a select few were once pillars of the city. J. Donald Pearce served as president of Jesuit High School from 1965 to 1968 and was earlier a legendary disciplinarian at the school. It turns out he sexually abused minors in the 1960s, according to allegations the archdiocese deemed credible.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press

November 2, 2018

A Catholic priest said Friday that he has been punished by church leaders in France after he gathered more than 100,000 signatures for a petition calling for a cardinal to resign over his handling of child sexual abuse cases.

The Rev. Pierre Vignon said he learned in an email Thursday that he would no longer be considered for the church court where he has served as a judge since 2002.

In a phone interview, Vignon said the decision showed church leaders are of two minds about how to deal with sex predators within the Catholic clergy.

“They say, ‘We want to do everything,’ but to whistleblowers, ‘We want to shut you up,’” Vignon said.

The email stated Vignon was no longer a church judge but did not explain the reason for the decision made by 12 bishops who oversee the area of southeast France where he ministers, the priest said.

Vignon’s online petition in August called for the resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who has been the archbishop of Lyon since 2002. Vignon faulted the cardinal’s handling of a notorious alleged pedophile priest suspected of abusing Boy Scouts in Lyon during the 1980s.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
NewsChannel5.com

November 2, 2018

By Ben Hall

The Catholic Diocese of Nashville has released the names of 13 former priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.

The Diocese reviewed records dating back to the 1950s.

The decision to release the list comes as other states are investigating whether church leaders covered up abuse.

Most of the priests named by the Nashville Diocese have been publicly accused in the past. But in some cases, this is the first time the diocese has acknowledged a credible accusation of sex with a child.

Nine of the 13 priests named are dead. Two are in prison, and the other two were long ago removed from the priesthood.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Diocese of Nashville

November 2, 2018

The Diocese of Nashville, as part of its ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and pastoral care, is publishing the names of the 13 former priests who served in the diocese who have been accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Of the 13, nine are dead and two are in prison. None are in active ministry.

The names are being released after consultation with the Presbyteral Council and Diocesan Review Board, which is made up almost entirely of lay people not employed by the diocese. Files on abuse cases were shared with the Davidson County District Attorney General’s office nearly 20 years ago.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennessean

November 2, 2018

By Holly Meyer

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville has published the names of 13 former priests accused of sexually abusing minors. The ex-clergy listed served as priests from the 1940s to the 1990s and held positions at Catholic parishes, schools and youth programs across the state.

Nashville Bishop J. Mark Spalding decided to release the names — many of which local media have already reported — in response to this summer’s damning Pennsylvania grand jury report that found allegations of widespread clergy sex abuse and cover-up in six of that state’s dioceses.

“It’s really a part of the ongoing effort that Bishop Spalding has been stressing of transparency and accountability and pastoral care for people of the diocese,” said Rick Musacchio, Nashville diocese spokesman. “He thought it would be appropriate for us to publish these names at this time as part of that effort.”

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DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

November 2, 2018

By Tyler J Davis

Reuben and Tania Ortiz were remorseful and wondering: Did we really invite a sexual predator to sleep under the same roof as our children?

Reuben said he had to patrol his own house, installing locks on bedroom doors and sleeping in his living room to keep watch on his 13-, 15- and 17-year-olds. Now, he worries that his efforts weren’t enough to protect his kids from admitted pedophile the Rev. Jerome Coyle.

“We knew (Coyle) for 13 years and he really spent a lot of time with us … in fact, people would even say ‘Hey, where’s Jerry?’ because he would go places with us,” Reuben said from his New Mexico home Wednesday. “He had already spent time, even by himself, with our (kids), at times; I don’t know what he did.”

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[Bishop of Los Angeles says presumed case of sexual abuse remains in posecutor’s office]

CHILE
BioBioChile

November 1, 2018

By Alejandra Soto and Carlos Agurto

El obispo de Los Ángeles, Felipe Bacarreza, aseguró escuetamente que continúa en la Fiscalía un presunto caso de abuso sexual en un colegio de la Iglesia Católica, en la provincia del Bío Bío.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

November 1, 2018

By Paul Wagner

Pushing for Statute of Limitations Reforms

Survivors of clergy sex abuse say they plan to keep up the pressure on state lawmakers to make it easier for them to file lawsuits.

Right now, the statute of limitations prevents most victims from suing.

Survivor and member of “Stop Child Predators,” Jim VanSickle, was in Erie urging the state legislature to pass a bill allowing a two year window for filing lawsuits.

The state house passed the legislation.

But it was never brought up for a vote in the senate despite marches, rallies and protests.

VanSickle says while the inaction is disappointing, he remains optimistic the bill will eventually pass.

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PEORIA (IL)
NewsTribune

November 2, 2018

Priests served at Illinois Valley parishes

Three retired priests who had served parishes in the Illinois Valley have been removed from the ministry, the Diocese of Peoria said in a press release issued Thursday.

The Rev. George Hiland, the Rev. Duane Leclercq and the Rev. John Onderko all have been required to step down from public ministry over what Bishop Daniel Jenky, in the release, termed “credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.”

The press release disclosed the following allegations:

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SYRACUSE (NY)
WKTV

November 1, 2018

By Kristen Copeland

The latest lawsuit to put a spotlight on the Catholic Church seeks to identify all priests in New York State who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

The latest lawsuit to put a spotlight on the Catholic Church seeks to identify all priests in New York State who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

However, the Diocese of Syracuse says it won’t do that.

The lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in New York City. The plaintiff is accusing a Brooklyn priest of sexually abusing him for two years, and accuses all eight dioceses in New York State of making sure similar allegations never became public.

49 priests face accusations in the Syracuse Diocese, which spans seven counties – including Oneida and Madison. 67 priests in the Albany Diocese face accusations as well. That covers all or parts of 14 counties, including Herkimer and Otsego.

The lawsuit is seeking the names of all agents, including priests, accused of child molestation; the history of abuse; the pattern of sexual behavior; and the alleged offenders’ last known address.

Syracuse Diocese officials explain why they won’t release the information of the accused.

“It’s certainly not right of any organization to put out a list of people accused. It should be a list of individuals found to have credible complaints of abusing a minor,” says Danielle Cummings, director of communications for the Diocese of Syracuse.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

November 2, 2018

By Drew Broach

Eight Roman Catholic priests whom the Archdiocese of New Orleans identified Friday (Nov. 2) as being credibly accused of sexually abusing children decades ago had been assigned to Hope Haven, a church-run orphanage in Marrero. Six of the accused are now dead.

All eight were members of the Salesians of Don Bosco order, said the archdiocese, which released a list of 57 accused priests who had served in its jurisdiction. The archdiocese said it learned of allegations against the eight between 2006 and 2011, and identified them as Paul Avallone, Stanislaus Ceglar, Paul Csik, Anthony Esposito, Ernest Fagione, August Kita, Joseph Pankowski and Alfred Sokol.

Hope Haven and the related Madonna Manor, directly across Barataria Boulevard, were founded by the church in the 1930s as group homes for children and teenagers from families in disarray. Some young residents were sent there by the courts as wards of the state; others were handed over to the church by desperate families unable to care for their children. Madonna Manor was for young children, Hope Haven for older children and teens.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

November 2, 2018

The church in the United States faces a crisis of both trust and hope. As the bishops gather for their first national meeting since this summer’s revelations of sexual abuse in the church, it is clear that while they must make reforms, they cannot succeed alone. Nonetheless, there is hope to be found on this slow and difficult path.

One reason for hope is that the zero-tolerance policies put in place by the Dallas Charter following the 2002 scandals have, in fact, worked; today, new allegations of misconduct are dealt with swiftly and through the proper legal channels. Yet the church is still haunted by the history of decades of failures.

In the wake of revelations of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s history of abuse and harassment and the Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing predation by more than 300 priests over 50 years, Catholics are left asking: Why should I stay? Who can I believe? How can I raise a child in this church?

The bishops can use their annual fall gathering to establish a baseline for credible reform.

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PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star

November 1, 2018

By Andy Kravetz

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria has removed three retired priests from public ministry because of credible allegations of sexual abuse that occurred decades ago.

In a news release, Bishop Daniel Jenky announced that George Hiland, Duane Leclercq and John Onderko can no longer function as priests in any public capacity, wear clerical garb or the Roman collar, and are to refrain from using the title reverend or father.

In the release, Hiland is alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor about 50 years ago. Leclercq was alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct about 30 years ago. Onderko allegedly did the same thing about 55 years ago.

Jenky said his office reported the allegations to the state’s attorney where the allegations occurred, per diocesan policy.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

November 2, 2018

Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday released the names of 30 diocesan priests, 25 religious order priests and two deacons who, in the last century, were removed from ministry after accusations that they sexually abused minors were deemed credible. This is the first time in the history of the Archdiocese of New Orleans that a Catholic archbishop has attempted to provide an accounting of the identities of the alleged abusers in church ranks.

Aymond’s list was compiled after a team of 10 people, including staff members and outside legal counsel, reviewed 2,432 personnel files. The archbishop has provided the complete work histories of diocesan priests, but only the New Orleans assignments of religious-order priests, claiming the archdiocese does not have complete records for those men. He also did not provide the years that clergy worked in different schools or parishes.

The list below, in alphabetical order, does not include employees of the church, or any other religious — such as nuns or brothers — who may have been accused. Clergy accused of sexually abusing a minor can try to clear their names through church tribunals, the outcomes of which are secret.

The biographies below combine information provided by the archbishop with information found in media reports, court documents and interviews.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

November 2, 2018

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and Matt Sledge

Archbishop Gregory Aymond has said he will soon release the names of clergy who, in the last 50 years, were removed from ministry after accusations that they sexually abused minors were deemed credible. Many of the allegations surfaced publicly in recent years, particularly after 2002 when the sex-abuse scandal in Boston caused the Catholic church to reform how it dealt with victims.

[UPDATE, Nov. 2, noon: Archdiocese releases official list of accused for 1st time in history]

Below are 16 priests and deacons who either admitted to the sex abuse allegations made against them, left the ministry on their own after being accused, or were removed from ministry. Based on information from media reports, other documents, and the website bishop-accountability.org, each appears to meet the criteria outlined by Aymond for inclusion on the list, though it’s possible that some may be excluded.

Any clergy accused of sexually abusing a minor could seek to clear his name through a secret church tribunal, a process whose outcome is hardly ever known.

In alphabetical order:

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC News

November 1, 2018

The pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Jeanerette has been placed on leave after allegations surfaced against him.

The report alleges that Rev. Jody Simoneaux was involved in improper behavior with minors more than 30 years ago, a statement from the diocese says.

The allegations center around the time Simoneaux was assigned to St. Anthony Church, St. Edmund High School in Eunice, and St. Anne Church in Youngsville.

Simoneaux has been placed on administrative leave pending a determination in this matter, the diocese says.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

November 2, 2018

By Olivier Savignac

Musician Olivier Savignac, who is also an abuse victim, will meet with a group of French bishops this weekend

With the Church still in the throes of a crisis generated by the sexual abuse scandals, La Croix has invited several leading Church personalities to look at possible solutions. In this article, musician Olivier Savignac, who was himself a victim of child sex abuse, shares his perspective on the issue.

To my dear Catholic family, who are battling to keep the faith.

Amid the current crisis that has affected all of us at the deepest levels of our faith lives, we all have an opportunity to respond as Christ would wish us to do.

Until the age of 13, I had a happy life, a loving family, friends and activities, which all helped me to develop.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

November 2, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

Event aims to raise the awareness of the entire episcopal body and initiate a process for joint work

It took many years, but their request was finally heard: Eight victims of sex abuses committed by clerics will be received by the bishops in Lourdes on Nov. 3, Day One of their Plenary Assembly.

“I hope we’re going to be able to look each other in the eye. May this meeting not be a conclusion, but the beginning of joint work to make the house safe.”

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FRANCE
La Croix International

November 1, 2018

By Gauthier Vaillant

A priest from the Diocese of Orléans on trial for sexually abusing young boys during a 1993 summer camp and a former bishop for his silence

“In my opinion, the Church must look reality in the face for the sake of its survival. And your trial must be a wake-up call.”

These were the final words of the prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, in his closing speech on Oct. 30, in the court of Orléans, France.

He had demanded a warrant of arrest and an exemplary sentence of one year in prison for retired Bishop André Fort of Orléans, and a sentence of three years in prison, with six months suspended, as well as three years probation with compulsory care for Father Pierre de Castelet.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Acadiana Advocate

November 1, 2018

By Ben Myers

Update, 10 p.m. Thursday

Lt. John Mowell, public information officer for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release late Thursday night that after talking with Gil Dozier, the attorney working on behalf of Diocese of Lafayette, that the diocese is not aware of any known victims living in Lafayette Parish.

The diocese, Mowell added, notified the Sheriff’s Office “out of an abundance of caution because the reverend who is on administrative leave (Jody Simoneau) worked in this parish.”

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
The Vindicator

November 2, 2018

Vindicator Editorial staff

In one sense, Tuesday ranks as one of the darkest days in the 75-year history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown. On that day, Bishop George V. Murry and other church leaders released a long-awaited list of 34 names of priests and other church authorities who have been credibly accused of the most horrid and heinous of crimes: sexually abusing minor children.

In another sense, however, Tuesday rose as the dawn of a new day for the six-county diocese as the results of the intensive investigation could now pave the way for a cleansing of some of the many stains the long-standing sex-abuse scandal have left on the Catholic church in our region, state and nation.

To be sure, however, the report does not bring full closure to the abominable abuse scandal. The deep psychological wounds of dozens of young children who were victimized at the hands of those on the list even decades ago will continue to fester.

But knowing that their voices were heard and taken seriously should at least provide those victims some degree of comfort and closure. For the broader church, the report at last lets in a few rays of hope, healing, transparency and accountability in openly acknowledging the many years of aberrant behavior on the part of priests who committed the unseemly acts and on the part of some church leaders who covered up abusive acts or minimized their destructiveness.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

November 1, 2018

By Carol Zimmermann

Although the current sexual abuse crisis in the Church is similar to what the Church faced in 2002 when reports of past abuse and cover-up came out of Boston, how Catholics are responding this time is different.

As one panelist explained it during a recent discussion at Georgetown University, the big difference between 2002 and 2018 is the “cumulative effect of collective outrage.”

Beyond echoes of anger and frustration from years ago, many Catholics are demanding real change, transparency with Church leaders and more lay involvement, particularly from women.

These views came across during the Oct. 24 panel discussion at Georgetown University called: “A Path Forward on the Clerical Sexual Abuse Crisis,” sponsored by the university’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

October 31, 2018

By Joseph Dunstan

Key points:
– A lawyer says there are likely “hundreds” of abuse survivors hoping to put old settlements aside
– The Coalition has committed to introducing laws giving survivors a chance for fresh compensation
– Labor says the idea of new legislation has “merit” and it will consider an interstate example
“I’ve had this trouble with being able to stick at things … it was just one crisis after another over the past 30-odd years,” he says.

The sexual abuse Phil O’Leary suffered as a child has followed him throughout his life.

He cites broken relationships, abandoned career and study opportunities and a conviction for white collar crime as just some of the legacies of his abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest.

“I’ve had this trouble with being able to stick at things … it was just one crisis after another over the past 30-odd years,” he says.

The abuse started when the priest began to visit his family home when he was 14.

“[The priest] groomed my parents as much as me, to inveigle himself into the family, being invited over for dinner and lunches, things like that,” Mr O’Leary says.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
The Tablet

October 31, 2018

By Jorge I. Domínguez-López

At a news conference on Tuesday in New York City, Minnesota-based attorney Jeff Anderson announced a lawsuit against the eight dioceses of the New York State Catholic Conference on behalf of sexual abuse survivor Paul Dunn.

The lawsuit is requesting an order to force each diocese to release the names of all priests accused of child molestation, including the release of documents attached to those cases.

Dunn says a Queens priest, Fr. Cornelius T. Otero, who died in 1998, sexually molested him as a boy in the late 1970s. At that time, Otero was assigned to St. Joan of Arc parish in Jackson Heights.

The lawsuit claims that in 1979 “Fr. Otero was arrested for selling books containing obscene photographs of children to undercover law enforcement officers.” After his arrest and release, it states that the Brooklyn Diocese “sent Fr. Otero out of the state of New York to receive medical care,” but didn’t inform the public about his crime.

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TROY (MI)
Click on Detroit

October 31, 2018

By Rod Meloni

Hurmiz Risko Ishak faces 3 counts of first-degree felony criminal sexual conduct

A Catholic deacon in Troy is under arrest for the alleged sexual abuse of a child, according to officials.

Hurmiz Risko Ishak, 63, of Fraser, has long been a sub-deacon at St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church on Big Beaver Road in Troy.

He was in 54-4 District Court on Wednesday afternoon for his arraignment.

Troy police arrested Ishak earlier in the day after an investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a young boy at the church.

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VATICAN CITY
La Croix International

October 31, 2018

Reforms to see pedophilia offenses have no statute of limitations

The Spanish deputy prime minister has conveyed to the Vatican secretary of state reforms that will see pedophilia offenses have no statute of limitations, putting them on the same level as terrorism.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

October 31, 2018

Class action seeks admissions and the release of internal Church files rather than monetary compensation

A class action lawsuit in the United States, rather than seeking financial ‘damages’ compensation from the Catholic Church over widescale clerical child sex abuse, aims to obtain admissions of a cover-up.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

October 31, 2018

By James J. Heany

Clericalism, not heresy, caused the crisis

Ten years ago, I believed a myth. In the beginning, there was Vatican II. It was good but messy, and the Bad Catholics hijacked it to undermine doctrine. They took over seminaries and turned them into cesspools where heresy was mandatory and depravity rampant.

Then Pope John Paul II came along. He drove out the Bad Catholics and cleaned up the seminaries. Too late!

The Bad Catholics had already committed terrible crimes, which were covered up without the pope’s awareness. In 2002, their abuses exploded into public view, and the JPII Catholics got blamed for crimes committed by a dying generation of clerics.

The JPII bishops took it on the chin, but they fixed the problem with the Dallas Charter. Then Benedict XVI, the great theologian, appointed orthodox bishops who would carry forward the renewal. The horrors of the Scandal were behind us.

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[French bishops publish abuse report]

PARIS (FRANCE)
katholisch.de

October 31, 2018

Verfahren gegen Priester und einen Bischof laufen

Nach den Berichten über Missbrauch durch Geistliche in den USA und in Deutschland hat nun auch die Französische Bischofskonferenz Zahlen vorgelegt. Der Bericht nennt nicht nur Opferzahlen, sondern auch die derzeit laufenden Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Priester – und den Prozess gegen einen Bischof.

Die Französische Bischofskonferenz hat einen Bericht über gemeldete Missbrauchsfälle veröffentlicht. 211 Opfer sollen sich demnach zwischen 2017 und 2018 bei französischen Bischöfen gemeldet haben, heißt es in dem am Dienstagabend in Paris veröffentlichten Bericht. Über die Hälfte der angezeigten Fälle geschah vor dem Jahr 2000, 31 danach, wie die französische Zeitung “La Croix” am Mittwoch berichtete.

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FRANCE
La Croix International

October 31, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

Latest report clearly aims to ensure transparency and accountability

The Bishops Conference of France (CEF) has published an interim report on the battle against sex abuse crimes in the Church.

Issued on Oct. 30, the latest report on the battle to combat pedophilia highlights the Church’s new concern to openly address the issue.

Over the past 18 months, 211 victims of sexual abuse by clergy have lodged reports with the bishops. This is nearly as many as for the six previous years combined (222). Only 14 out of 100 French dioceses did not receive a report.

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[Fight against pedophilia, the Church of France highlights its efforts]

FRANCE
La Croix International

October 20, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

À trois jours de leur assemblée d’automne, la Conférence des évêques de France publie un rapport d’étape sur sa lutte contre la pédocriminalité dans l’Église, que La Croix publie en exclusivité.

Ce rapport manifeste un souci de transparence dans un contexte particulièrement difficile.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Archdiocese of New York

October 31, 2018

By Cardinal Timothy Dolan

Dear Member of the Family of the Archdiocese of New York:

I regret once again having to be the bearer of bad news, but I write to inform you that the archdiocese has received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor brought against Bishop John Jenik, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese.

The Lay Review Board has carefully examined the allegation, which concerns incidents from decades ago, and concluded that the evidence is sufficient to find the allegation credible and substantiated. Although Bishop Jenik continues to deny the allegation, he has stepped aside from public ministry and has moved out of his parish.

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FORT DODGE (IA)
The Associated Press

October 31, 2018

By Ryan J. Foley

A Roman Catholic diocese acknowledged Wednesday that it concealed for decades a priest’s admission that he sexually abused dozens of Iowa boys — a silence that may have put other children in danger.

The Rev. Jerome Coyle, now 85, was stripped of his parish assignments in the 1980s but never defrocked. And it was not until this week, after The Associated Press inquired about him, that he was publicly identified by the church as an admitted pedophile, even though the Diocese of Sioux City had been aware of his conduct for 32 years.

The diocese recently helped Coyle move into a retirement home in Fort Dodge, Iowa, without informing administrators at the Catholic school across the street.

In 1986, Coyle reported his “history of sexual attraction to and contact with boys” to Sioux City’s bishop, revealing that he had victimized approximately 50 youngsters over a 20-year period while serving in several Iowa parishes , according to a private letter written in February by the diocese vicar general and obtained by the AP.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 31, 2018

By Sharon Otterman

An auxiliary Catholic bishop in New York, John Jenik, has been accused of sexual abuse and removed from his public ministry, Catholic officials said, the latest scandal to hit an institution already reeling from revelations of inappropriate behavior by its clergy around the globe.

“Although the alleged incidents occurred decades ago, the Lay Review Board has concluded that the evidence is sufficient to find the allegation credible and substantiated,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The allegation involves an inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy in the 1980s, according to the accuser and his lawyer. Bishop Jenik, 74, denied the allegation, which will be investigated by the Vatican.

In an Oct. 29 letter to his parishioners, he wrote: “I continue to steadfastly deny that I have ever abused anyone at any time. Therefore I will ask the Vatican, which has ultimate jurisdiction over such cases to review the matter, with the hope of ultimately proving my innocence.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Business Insider

November 1, 2018

By Zoë Bernard

– Thousands of employees walked out of Google headquarters worldwide on Thursday.
– At roughly the same time that the walkouts were finishing up at Google’s Silicon Valley HQ, Google CEO Sundar Pichai gave an expansive interview at New York Times DealBook conference in Manhattan.
– Pichai said that Google “didn’t always get it right” and that the company hopes to do better when it comes to dealing with issues of sexual misconduct.

The same day that thousands of employees walked out of Google headquarters in protest of sexual misconduct allegations against company executives, Google CEO Sundar Pichai gave an expansive interview at New York Times Dealbook conference in New York.

“How do you feel…right this second, when you see these headlines, what are you thinking?” asked New York Times editor at large Andrew Ross Sorkin on stage at the conference.

“This anger and frustration within the company — we all feel it,” said Pichai. “I feel it too. At Google we set a high bar and we clearly didn’t live up to our expectations. The first thing is to acknowledge and apologize for past actions. Words alone aren’t enough, you have to follow up with actions.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
TechCrunch

November 1, 2018

By Kate Clark

Shouting “women’s rights are worker’s rights” and a number of other #TimesUp and #MeToo chants, upwards of 1,000 Google employees gathered at San Francisco’s Harry Bridges Plaza Thursday to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment and misconduct cases.

Staffers from all of Google’s San Francisco offices were in attendance. An organizer who declined to be named told TechCrunch there were 1,500 Google employees across the globe that participated in the 48-hour effort to arrange a worldwide walkout. The effort was a success. More than 3,000 Googlers and supporters of the movement attended the New York City walkout alone. The organizers said that the 1,000 people who came out for the San Francisco walkout was double the number they expected.

Cathay Bi, a Google employee in San Francisco and one of the walkout organizers, told a group of journalists at the rally that she was conflicted with participating in the walkout and ultimately decided not to go public with her own story of sexual harassment.

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STEUBENVILLE (OH)
WTOV

October 31, 2018

The Diocese of Steubenville has voluntarily released the names of 16 priests and a seminarian who have been credibly accused or admitted to sexual abuse of a minor and removed from active ministry.

The list dates back to the beginning of the formation of the diocese in 1944, and most of the allegations involve cases from decades ago.

“It will help survivors of sexual abuse find the strength to come forward and these innocent victims can begin the process of healing,” Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton said. “I pledge to do everything possible to protect our youth.”

The list of those credibly accused was developed with the assistance of the diocese’s Child Protection Review Board and the diocesan attorney.

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STEUBENVILLE (OH)
Herald-Star

November 1, 2018

By Linda Harris

Sixteen priests and a seminarian were “credibly accused” or admitted to sexual abuse of a minor during the past 74 years, the Diocese of Steubenville reported Wednesday.

The list does not include Monsignor Mark Froehlich, 75, who is facing a Belmont County Sheriff’s Department inquiry into an allegation that he sexually abused a minor several years ago. The diocese suspended Froehlich, who, though retired, had been helping with Masses, confessions and church functions in Belmont County.

It does include the Rev. Christopher Foxhoven, 45, who was suspended from the ministry Saturday when diocesan officials learned he had admitted to having sex with an underage girl in Athens County.

In addition to Foxhoven, the Diocesan list includes:

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STEUBENVILLE (OH)
National Catholic Reporter

October 31, 2018

By Jenn Morson

The Portiuncula Chapel on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, is, according to university material, “a grace-filled haven for quiet meditation … set aside for private prayer and Eucharistic adoration.”

The chapel is a pilgrimage site and the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary has decreed that Catholic faithful who pray there receive a “plenary indulgence,” releasing them, according to church teaching, from temporal punishment due to sin and reducing their time in purgatory after their deaths.

Its construction was the passion of Franciscan Fr. Samuel Tiesi, a revered campus minister at Franciscan University who died in 2001. Tiesi proposed the project, designed the chapel and raised most of the money to build it.

A plaque stood at the entrance to the chapel walkway, dedicating the chapel to Tiesi. His portrait hung in the chapel until Sept. 10, when the plaque was covered and the portrait removed. Eventually, the plaque was also removed, an empty pedestal left in its place. That small action exposed a 30-year-old secret: that Tiesi — part of the trinity of Franciscan priests including Michael Scanlan and Augustine Donegan, best friends, who made Franciscan University a model conservative Catholic university — was a serial abuser of young women.

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DE PERE (WI)
We Are Greenbay

October 30, 2018

By Robyn Oguinye

Students at an area college are fighting to make changes to their school’s Title IX program.

This comes after they say cases of sexual assault have been mishandled by St. Norbert’s administration for years.

The U.S. Department of Education defines Title IX as the statute that protects individuals from discrimination based on sex in education programs.

In April, 217 current St. Norbert students signed a letter to the school’s president that said they want sexual assault on campus to actively be addressed.

Alumni shared their stories of assault on St. Norbert’s campus with Local 5.

According to the alleged victims, the common denominator: their cases were mishandled or ignored.

Including Jordyn Gaurkee, a student at UWGB.

She joined St. Norbert’s ROTC program and was raped by someone who was not only a cadet, but a campus safety officer.

When word eventually got to the school’s Title IX office Jordyn was interviewed multiple times.

The second interview was not what she expected.

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MADRID
EL PAÍS in English

November 1, 2018

By Julio Núñez

For many years, V. C. kept quiet about the assaults she suffered at the hands of a priest in Villaviciosa, Asturias. Her testimony is one of several making up an EL PAÍS series exposing decades of offenses by the clergy

For many years, V. C., 36, kept quiet about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the local priest between the ages of six and 13 in Villaviciosa, in the northern Spanish region of Asturias. Then, in 2015, she finally felt ready to report the priest and sent a handwritten letter to the archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, in which she described what had happened and the devastating effect it had on her.

When she met the archbishop in person, he held her letter in one hand and told her that nothing could be done. “He said it was my word against his, that they had sent [her assailant] away some years earlier due to other problems, and that he was under observation,” she says.

I WAS ALREADY HAVING ANXIETY ATTACKS WHEN I WAS 14

The archbishop did not encourage her to file a legal complaint, as established by the Spanish Episcopal Conference’s abuse protocol since 2010. Nor did he launch ecclesiastical proceedings against the priest in question.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

November 2, 2018

By Holly V. Hays

It’s been 30 years, and Brian Cook is still trying to understand what happened to him during the summer of 1980.

As his friends mowed lawns, played baseball and rode through Fort Wayne on their 10-speed bikes, Cook stood at the precipice of a dark, decades-long journey.

Cook was sexually abused by a priest in the St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Fort Wayne during a series of meetings in 1980, he told IndyStar during a recent interview.

The former Fr. Michael Buescher is among 20 priests or deacons identified by the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese as being “credibly” accused of sexually abusing minors. He was assigned to Cook’s parish, St. Charles Borromeo, from 1979 to 1984.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

November 1, 2018

By Mark Pattison

When Father David Poulson of the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Oct. 17 to felony counts in connection with sexual assaults against one boy and the attempted assault of another boy, Jim VanSickle was there to witness it.

VanSickle, 52, said Poulson assaulted him when he was a teenager.

“It was very rewarding for me in the sense that I was able to look at him (and) watch him plead guilty to sexual charges,” VanSickle told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 31 telephone interview from Pittsburgh, where he now lives.

According to VanSickle, Poulson was one of just two priests – out of 301 clerics and other church workers named in the August Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse claims in six Pennsylvania dioceses – to be subject to criminal charges for abuse committed within the state’s statute of limitations.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Daily News

November 1, 2018

By Ella Torres and Leonard Greene

The Bronx bishop ousted over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage boy was not only a pedophile, he was a fraud, too, his accuser said Thursday.

Bishop John Jenik, the longtime pastor of Our Lady of Refuge, owned a reputation as an anti-drug crusader who wore a bulletproof vest along the streets of the Bedford-Fordham area, where he worked against neighborhood dealers.

But his accuser, Michael Meenan, who said Jenik plied him with alcohol during overnight sexual assaults in the ’80s, said the pervy bishop was no neighborhood saint.

“He no more ended drug abuse in my old neighborhood than he stopped the sun from rising,” Meenan, 52, said. “Look, I was in a car with this guy when I was 14 years old getting bombed. This man has no more ended drug abuse than he made sure I was safe and taken care of.”

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

November 1, 2018

By Helen Drinan

On Aug. 16, 2018, Cardinal Sean O’Malley issued a statement responding to the Pennsylvania grand jury report about the cover-up of decades-long sexual abuse by priests in that state. Attempting to offer some assurance to beleaguered Catholics, O’Malley stated: “The clock is ticking for all of us in Church leadership. Catholics have lost patience with us and civil society has lost confidence in us.”

He further urged “a spiritual conversion” within the church and insisted upon “legal transparency and pastoral accountability.”

As a 71-year-old lay Catholic woman who has worked for the Archdiocese of Boston under Cardinal O’Malley, I feel called by the Holy Spirit to share my professional encounters with the cardinal and our church, because they suggest just how unlikely it is that transparency, pastoral accountability, or spiritual conversion are ever going to happen under its present leadership structure.

In 2006, I was head of human resources for Caritas Christi, the Catholic hospital system run by the archdiocese under O’Malley. I oversaw the investigation of sexual harassment charges brought against Dr. Robert M. Haddad, then the CEO of Caritas Christi. These complaints included unwanted hugs, back rubs, and kissing on the lips of female employees as well as inappropriate discussions of personal matters.

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GET RELIGION
Washington DC

November 1, 2018

By Terry Mattingly

You would think that this would be an easy question.

What is a “boy”?

Now, I am not talking about all those cute posters about what happens when you mix noise and dirt. I am actually talking about a term linked to some of the most important facts at the heart of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis.

As it turns out, “boy” is an almost useless word, in the context of news coverage. If you look in one major online dictionary and this is what you will find:

boy

noun …

1 a: a male child from birth to adulthood

OK, so we are dealing with a male somewhere between birth and, what, age 21?

With that question in mind, consider the top of the following Associated Press report — “Church covered up priest’s abuse of 50 boys” — about another horrible case that has jumped off the back burner and into the headlines:

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

November 1, 2018

By Mary Cooley

The bishop of the Belleville Diocese in southern Illinois apparently had two very different visits to Catholic schools this week.

At Our Lady Queen of Peace in Belleville, he told fifth- and sixth-grade students that there is no Santa Claus and they should not celebrate Halloween, according to parents.

At Blessed Sacrament School, he answered students’ questions about clergy sex abuse and famous people he had met, and asked what they would dress as for Halloween, the principal said.

Bishop Edward Braxton’s office did not offer any comment to messages left on Wednesday afternoon. The Queen of Peace School office confirmed the bishop had been at the school Tuesday but had no further comment.

“It was something that shouldn’t have been said,” one parent said Wednesday of the bishop’s remarks to the fifth- and sixth-graders.

Boyd Ahlers, father of a fifth-grade boy and sixth-grade girl, said his son had believed in Santa.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

November 1, 2018

With the priest abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo now receiving national attention, an organization of concerned lay Catholics has announced an initiative designed to rebuild trust in the church.

Canisius College President John Hurley is following up on his letter from August which called for more transparency in the priest sex abuse scandal affecting the Buffalo Diocese and Bishop Richard Malone.

On Thursday, he organized a news conference with members of his newly formed group to address the crisis.

“We are committed to the church but also to truth and justice,” Hurley told members of the media.

The group announced a plan with six points as they try to restore trust in the church:
Co-Responsibility
Transparency
Accountability
Competency
Justice for survivors
Trust
“There is a culture that has to change,” said Dr. Nancy Nielsen as she announced the effort.

“It troubled me to no end what this scandal has done to our beloved church,” said Carl Montante. “We have to hold Bishops accountable.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Associated Press

November 1, 2018

By James Neiss

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has placed another priest on administrative leave amid an investigation into alleged clergy sexual misconduct.

Diocesan officials said in a statement that Bishop Richard Malone has placed Father Michal Juran on leave after receiving an abuse complaint. Juran is the 16th Buffalo diocese priest to be suspended. There are at least 80 members of the clergy who have been publicly accused of misconduct.

Malone’s former assistant, Siobhan O’Connor, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in a recent interview that she secretly copied and leaked confidential files about the alleged misconduct. O’Connor said she left the diocese after seeing documents indicating Malone had allowed accused priests to continue working.

Malone has said he made mistakes handling allegations. He has resisted calls to resign.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO)
CBC News

Oct 30, 2018

By Andrew Lupton

Former priest and professor David Norton, 72, faces five counts of sexual assault involving boys from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)
A powerful man more than six feet tall broke down in tears today as he told the court about being sexually abused as a 10-year-old at the hands of his priest, David Norton.

Standing in the witness box and stroking an Indigenous eagle feather, the witness — now in his 40s — described how he first met Norton when he was 10. At the time, he was dealing with the tragic death of his father six years earlier. The witness, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban typical in sex abuse cases, said he was at first overcome by the kindness of a man who would quickly to fill the role of a father figure.

“I had heard about him being a nice guy in our community,” said the man, who at one point became so distraught while testifying the court had to break for a 15-minute recess.

The man described how he met Norton who was the priest at the St. Andrew’s Anglican Church at the Chippewas of the Thames, a First Nations community south of London, Ont.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI TV

October 31, 2018

Survivors of child sexual abuse in the Catholic church are again calling on state lawmakers to get back to work and update protections for victims.

Neither Jim Van Sickle or Ryan O’Connor have seen their day in court.

The two victims won’t ever have justice for the abuse they endured at the hands of their predator priests, which is why they called for action Wednesday in Westmoreland County.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

November 1, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

More than a year after the head of a lay movement in southern Italy was accused of sexually abusing underage girls, the local diocese has not exercised any new form of oversight and has suspended a trial against one of its priests who allegedly broke the confessional seal to inform the group’s leaders of a police investigation.

“From the Church and from the Diocese of Acireale I haven’t even heard a ‘how are you?’ Total silence,” said the mother of one of the victims, who wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter’s identity, in a phone interview with Crux Oct. 31.

“It’s as if I didn’t exist,” she said, “as if my daughter and the other girls who were abused were nonexistent.”

In August 2017, Piero Alfio Capuana, 75, was taken into custody after a police investigation found credible proof that he had abused at least six underage girls who were members of his lay group, the “Catholic Culture and Environment Association” or ACCA, headquartered in the town of Acireale, near Catania, in Sicily.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 31, 2018

The Diocese of Steubenville publicly named 16 priests that have been removed from their duties due to “credible” allegations of sexual abuse.

Despite stressing that most of the allegations are “decades old,” the release of the list comes a day after a priest in the Diocese of Steubenville, Fr. Christopher Foxhaven, was arrested for the grooming and rape of a teenage girl. Notably, the list excludes the name of Fr. Sam Tiesi, a priest who operated within the Diocese of Steubenville and was a notorious abuser of young women while he served at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Given this omission, we fear that there may be others who were also left off the list for unknown reasons.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Daily News

October 31, 2018

By John Annese

Bishop John Jenik is accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s. (Simone Weichselbaum)
A Bronx bishop — known as a tireless crusader against drug dealers who’d walk the streets in a bulletproof vest — has stepped down from his post after a “credible and substantiated” allegation of his sexual abuse of a child, the Archdiocese of New York announced Wednesday.

Bishop John Jenik, the longtime pastor of Our Lady of Refuge, has “stepped aside from public ministry and has moved out of his parish,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan wrote in a letter posted on the Archdiocese website.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 31, 2018

For more than 30 years Iowa Catholic officials knew a priest had abused at least 50 kids but kept silent. By protecting Fr. Jerome Coyle, the Diocese of Sioux City actively put other children at risk.

According to the Associated Press, Sioux City Catholic officials have “hidden for decades a priest’s admission that he sexually abused dozens of Iowa boys.” Also according to the AP, Fr. Coyle is still alive and resides in a retirement home in Fort Dodge, across the street from a Catholic school. The priest spent years and years living “under the radar” in New Mexico before a recent move back to Iowa.

What happens next is crucial. Every single Sioux City church employee – from bishop to bookkeeper – should mount an aggressive effort to find and help others who may have been hurt by Fr. Coyle. Chancery officials should turn over every page of his personnel file to law enforcement. From pulpits this Sunday, priests should beg victims, witnesses and whistle blowers to call police. On church websites and in parish bulletins, similar pleas should be made. The bishop must visit every site where Fr. Coyle worked, prodding those with information or suspicion to come forward. And he must hire outside investigators to determine which church staff helped Fr. Coyle evade detection. Those still on the job should be fired.

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[Bishop of Rancagua reinstates priests accused of abuse in their posts]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 31, 2018

By Jonathan Flores

El administrador apostólico de la Diócesis de Rancagua, Fernando Ramos Pérez, restituyó en sus funciones sacerdotales a los presbíteros Hugo Yáñez Canales y Sergio Farías Vergara.

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[Ten ideas from the secular world to address the crisis in Chilean Church]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 1, 2018

By Juan Pablo Sallaberry

En medio de las críticas a las autoridades eclesiásticas por los casos de abusos y encubrimiento, diversos grupos de laicos católicos han comenzado a organizarse y a elaborar propuestas de reformas para la institución.

“El edificio está en llamas por el abuso, el encubrimiento, la jerarquía renunciada, y los cimientos también están debilitándose. No puede ser que el laicado esté tan pasivo y silencioso ante algo así, somos parte del pueblo de Dios”. El economista Joseph Ramos habla con carácter de urgencia. El exdecano de Economía de la Universidad de Chile dejó la academia y renunció a todos sus trabajos remunerados para centrarse en escribir y reflexionar sobre el tema que le apasiona: la religión y la fe. En junio pasado escribió junto a otros laicos mayores, como Alvaro Covarrubias y Jorge Mardones, un documento con propuestas sobre las reformas necesarias que debería realizar la Iglesia Católica. El informe firmado por 50 personalidades fue entregado al delegado del Papa Francisco para los casos de abusos en Chile, Charles Scicluna, y enviado a cada uno de los obispos chilenos.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO)
London Free Press

By Jonathan Juha

October 30, 2018

A Catholic affiliate of Western University is doubling its campus size, acquiring lands from the area diocese in London in a deal that will help to restore a nearby seminary and pay off debts including from clergy sex-absue lawsuits.

The deal will see King’s University College take over 7.3 hectares of land east of Waterloo Street and north of Huron Street near St. Peter’s Seminary, a large green space many area residents think of as parkland.

The land transfer from the Diocese of London, announced Monday, negates the prospect of commercial development on the land, which a school official said wouldn’t fit with the neighbourhood, in favour of future educational use and green space, a move the area’s city councillor applauded.

“I think the positive of this is, hopefully, a really compatible use of the land with the community,” Ward 6 Coun. Phil Squire said.

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MEADVILLE (PA)
Meadville Tribune

October 27, 2018

In legalese, former Crawford County Roman Catholic priest David L. Poulson’s recent guilty plea to one count each of corruption of minors sexual in nature and endangering the welfare of children sounds bad but not awful.

Reading what Poulson did to corrupt and endanger two boys — ages 8 and 15 when the abuses started — reveals details that are much worse.

The disgusting things Poulson did to two boys who trusted the priest, a disciple of God, were so explicit. In fact, the information is so graphic we don’t want to repeat it in this space.

By pleading guilty to the two charges, each a third-degree felony, Poulson faces up to 14 years in jail and a $30,000 fine and plus registering as a sexual offender for at least 10 years when he is sentenced.

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VALENCIA COUNTY (NM)
News-Bulletin

November 1, 2018

By Julia M. Dendinger

A former pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Peralta has been accused of the rape and molestation of an alter boy in the 1970s.

The alleged victim, identified only as John Doe 92, has accused Monsignor Albert Chavez of years of sexual abuse, and filed a civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Peralta parish.

The suit, filed by Albuquerque attorney Brad D. Hall, alleges Chavez also spent time at parishes in Santa Fe, Taos, Truth or Consequences, Mora and Santa Rosa, as well as in the Diocese of Las Cruces.

“Monsignor Albert Chavez appears to be one of those classic Catholic priests whose alter boys were in great danger, and those who were raped and abused have paid for it for many decades while the priest remained protected,” said Hall in a press release issued on Monday, Oct. 29.

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ATHENS (OH)
Athens News

October 30, 2018

By Conor Morris

Father Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, of Glouster, was charged with eight counts of sexual battery in Athens County Municipal Court Tuesday for alleged sexual conduct with a 17-year-old minor, who was a member of his parish in Glouster.

Foxhoven is being held in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail on a $1 million, cash-only bond with no 10 percent allowed.

According to a press release from the Athens County Sheriff’s Office, the minor attended Holy Cross in Glouster, one of Foxhoven’s two parishes (the other is St. Mary of the Hills parish in nearby Buchtel).

“The Diocese in Steubenville reported the allegations to the Athens County Sheriff’s Office when they became aware of them on Oct. 27, 2018, and have continued to cooperate with the investigation,” the release reads. “Foxhoven was immediately suspended from practicing all religious services and was barred from church property by Bishop (Jeffrey) Monforton of the Diocese in Steubenville.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

November 2018

An Ohio priest is facing charges after his diocese said he admitted to having a relationship with 17-year-old girl who is now pregnant.

Father Christopher Foxhoven, 45, was the pastor at Holy Cross and St. Mary of the Hill parishes in the Diocese of Steubenville near Pittsburgh, 10TV reports.

According to the Athens County prosecutor, the teen was an altar girl at Holy Cross in Glouster.

Both Foxhoven and the girl told her parents that she was pregnant.

Foxhoven is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with the girl between August and October of this year, however the prosecutor said their relationship lasted three years.

The Diocese in Steubenville reported the allegations to the Athens County Sheriff’s Office when they became aware of them on October 27.

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SAN RAFAEL (CA)
KGO TV

October 31, 2018

By Dan Noyes

A Marin County man was forced to confront his past, after his name appears on a list of clergy accused of child sexual abuse.

I-Team Reporter Dan Noyes has an extraordinary interview.

This former priest was very forthcoming, answering most of the questions. He’s trying to explain himself-not just to us, but to his family and friends and coworkers.

63-year-old Michael Sintef has a nice home in West Marin, a wife and daughter in college, a job where he’s appreciated.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting in January, Marin County Supervisor Katie Rice told Sintef, “Very well deserved. Thank you for what you do for the community.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WENY TV

November 1, 2018

By Dan Schrack

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York, is firing back at a former assistant-turned-whistleblower who says Bishop Richard Malone should resign over his response to reports of clergy sexual misconduct.

In a statement just before midnight Tuesday, the diocese calls statements made by Siobhan O’Connor during an earlier news conference “embarrassingly contradictory.” It attached emails from O’Connor praising Malone.

O’Connor secretly copied and leaked confidential files she says show Malone allowed an accused priest to remain on the job and excluded dozens of others from a list of problematic priests released publicly this year.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

October 31, 2018

By Deb Erdley

Clergy sexual abuse survivors say they have the votes to pass a state bill establishing a window for older victims to sue their abusers, and they’re challenging the Pennsylvania Senate to return to Harrisburg for a vote.

“We have the votes. The votes are there to pass SB 261 as it stands,” said Ryan O’Connor. “We just need the majority to allow it to come to a vote.”

O’Connor, 47, of Verona, who has written of his abuse as a child at the hands of a parish priest in Johnstown, is traveling the state with Jim Van Sickle, another survivor who serves as Survivor Advocacy Coordinator for Stop Child Predator, a national nonprofit group.

“There is a lot of support in the Senate for this bill, and we’re asking that they return and vote on it,” Van sickle said.

Van Sickle and O’Connor spoke in Greensburg on Tuesday after making previous appearances in Lancaster, Allentown, Reading, Ebensburg, Scranton and Pittsburgh.

The bill that passed the state House by an overwhelming margin in September stalled in the Senate last month when Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, refused to bring it to the floor for a vote.

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DETROIT (MI)
Opus Bono Sacerdoti

October 2018
The accounts presented here are based on real events. Names have been changed and identifying details have been modified to protect the privacy of the people involved.

Because of your faithful prayers and continued generous support for our priests in need of caring assistance, when Father Jerry sent me the email below, you helped us immediately respond to him and assist him through some very troubling and difficult transitions.

“Dear Joe, I was informed that a man whom I do not recall ever meeting reported that sometime between 1983 to 1985, while giving him a blessing in his home, I had touched [him inappropriately]. The investigator who interviewed me informed me that the man has emotional problems and that his own father did not believe him. From my investigations, with the help of a private investigator, I have reasonably established that during the period in which this allegation is reported to have occurred, his family was not living in our state nor in our parish.

“Later in August, [my] bishop announced this accusation in all the parishes in which I had served. He informed the people that it had most likely occurred He removed me from ministry.

“[My] bishop has taken care of my material needs, food, insurance, a place to live. My health is somewhat poor, with a weak heart, and I walk with a cane and a walker . . .

“This evening, our Vicar for Priests gave me a surprise visit. He said that some parents from a public school, about a block from our residence, were protesting my living near their school. (I never go on the school property and have no contact with any of the children in any way.) He said they are demanding that the bishop evict me from my residence. He said they are planning to stage a protest march at a neighboring Catholic Church this Sunday. He said that [my] Bishop will evict me from here to some other location.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

October 31, 2018

By Charlie Specht

he Diocese of Buffalo has suspended another priest after an allegation of abuse.

Fr. Michael P. Juran was placed on administrative leave Wednesday evening, the diocese announced on its website.

Neither a spokeswoman for Bishop Richard J. Malone nor Fr. Juran responded to messages left for comment.

Juran was listed in the 2018 Buffalo Diocese directory under a Florida address, but Juran is not your average Buffalo priest.

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[Orléans: Pedophilia and silence of the Church at the center of a trial]

ORLÉANS (FRANCE)
Le Télégramme

October 30, 2018

Vingt-cinq ans après les faits, l’abbé Pierre de Castelet, accusé d’atteintes sexuelles sur mineurs, a évoqué, ce mardi, un « dérapage » devant le tribunal correctionnel d’Orléans, en l’absence de l’ancien évêque de la ville, poursuivi, lui, pour non-dénonciation.

Mgr André Fort, 83 ans, évêque d’Orléans de 2002 à 2010, ne s’est pas présenté au tribunal, « affaibli par sa maladie à la suite d’une opération », a déclaré son avocat, Me Benoit de Gaullier, à l’ouverture de l’audience. Le père Castelet, 69 ans, crâne dégarni, lunettes fines et regard droit, s’est donc assis seul sur le banc des prévenus, en présence de trois jeunes hommes d’une trentaine d’années sur le banc des parties civiles.

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[Kohlgraf sees no misbehavior of predecessors in the case of abuse: “The records give no evidence for that”]

COLOGNE (GERMANY)
Domradio.de

October 31, 2018

Im Zuge der Missbrauchsaufarbeitung sahen sich Bischof Heiner Wilmer und Erzbischof Stephan Burger mit Fehlverhalten der Vorgänger konfrontiert. Bischof Peter Kohlgraf hat ebenfalls Akteneinsicht genommen und äußerte sich am Dienstag.

Der Mainzer Bischof Peter Kohlgraf sieht bislang kein Fehlverhalten seiner Amtsvorgänger beim Umgang mit Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch. “Dafür geben die Akten auf den ersten Blick nichts her”, sagte Kohlgraf am Dienstagabend in Mainz. Seine Amtsvorgänger Kardinal Karl Lehmann und Kardinal Hermann Volk hätten das Thema sexueller Missbrauch allerdings “unter den Maßgaben und Erkenntnissen ihrer Zeit” beurteilt, erklärte Kohlgraf bei einer Podiumsdiskussion.

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[Diocese of Würzburg shows pastors from the region for possible sexual offenses]

WÜRZBURG (GERMANY)
Main-Echo

October 31, 2018

Die Diözese Würzburg hat am Mittwoch einen Priester wegen des Verdachts einer Sexualstraftat bei der Staatsanwaltschaft Aschaffenburg angezeigt. Der Vorwurf beziehe sich auf Aktivitäten in den Sozialen Medien, heißt es in einer Erklärung des Bistums.

Nach Rücksprache mit Bischof Franz Jung habe Generalvikar Thomas Keßler den Pfarrer mit sofortiger Wirkung von seinen priesterlichen Aufgaben beurlaubt, bis die Vorwürfe geklärt seien.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Youngstown Vindicator

By Cristen Manion

October 31, 2018

The Youngstown Diocese released a list of priests who have been removed from their ministries over what the diocese calls credible allegations of sexual abuse spanning 75 years.

Bishop George Murry of the diocese announced Tuesday that 31 men have been found to have had credible inappropriate incidents. A number of them are deceased.

Our print partner, The Vindicator, combed through their archives to find information on where the ten living priests served

The Youngstown Diocese released a list of priests who have been removed from their ministries over what the diocese calls credible allegations of sexual abuse spanning 75 years.

Bishop George Murry of the diocese announced Tuesday that 31 men have been found to have had credible inappropriate incidents. A number of them are deceased.

Our print partner, The Vindicator, combed through their archives to find information on where the ten living priests served

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

October 31, 2018

By Dave Altimari

The Diocese of Bridgeport said Wednesday it has paid $52.5 million to settle 156 allegations of priest sexual abuse since 1953 and that it is still paying eight priests who abused children.

It is the first time that the diocese has given an overview of how much the priest-abuse scandal has cost. Bishop Frank J. Caggiano had promised to give a financial accounting in a letter to parishioners in September.

The diocese has hired former state Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg to report on how it has handled allegations of sexual abuse. His report is due in the spring.

The diocese has been criticized for keeping secret many of the claims against its priests and for protecting priests who faced multiple abuse claims. One of its most notorious priests, Laurence Brett, fled the country and hid for years, while others were moved to other churches in the diocese with impunity. Former Bishop Edward R. Egan once said in a deposition that sexual abuse by clergy “happen in such small numbers.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
Associated Press

By Carolyn Thompson

October 31, 2018

Reacting to a whistleblower’s calls for Bishop Richard Malone to resign over his response to clergy sexual misconduct, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo called her statements “embarrassingly contradictory” and released glowing emails about Malone that she sent while she was an employee.

Malone was “stunned and dismayed” by statements made by his former executive assistant, Siobhan O’Connor, at a news conference Tuesday, the diocese said in a statement just before midnight. It said O’Connor’s critical comments contradict what she told Malone when she worked for him and after she left.

“In truly countless ways you have inspired and edified me. I am the better for having known and worked with you,” O’Connor wrote Aug. 21, shortly before leaving her job, the diocese said. The next day, WKBW-TV aired a damning story about Malone based on classified material secretly provided by O’Connor.

On Wednesday, she called the bishop’s response “needless deflection.”

“The documents under discussion should not be my emails to Bishop Malone,” O’Connor said in a statement through her Boston attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, who represents victims of clergy abuse.

Malone has resisted widespread calls to step down amid reports that he allowed an accused priest to continue to minister and excluded dozens of others from a list released publicly this year of problematic priests. O’Connor copied and leaked confidential files that included emails between Malone and diocesan attorneys and a 2015 letter of recommendation from Malone for a previously suspended priest who was seeking appointment as a cruise ship chaplain.

“Her prior, written communications to the Bishop demonstrate her complete admiration for the Bishop and his efforts to lead the Diocese,” the diocese’s statement read. “Her comments now are plainly and embarrassingly contradictory.”

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UNITED STATES
The Slowly Boiled Frog

October 30, 2018

Dorothy Cummings McLean, a prolific Catholic writer from Scotland, is very upset. She is dismayed to note: Jesuit-run America mag runs article denying link between homosexuality and clergy sex abuse. I give her some credit for a proper explanation:
The Jesuit-run publication America has carried an article by a professor-psychologist who claims that homosexuality is not the “root cause” of clerical sexual abuse. The photo accompanying the article contained an angel with a rainbow in the background.

Dr. Thomas G. Plante, a professor of psychology at the Jesuit Santa Clara University and an adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, had his article published on October 22 in which he states that sexual orientation is “simply” not a factor in the clerical sex-abuse of minors.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 31, 2018

Reporters have a tough job. They need to churn out content quickly, accurately, and often on several different subjects over the course of the day. Reporters also have a powerful job in that their writing can affect the way people think about issues of the day and the way readers talk about those issues, whether gathering around the water cooler or dinner table.

But as the famous quote goes, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

Some recent reporting around a case of sexual abuse in Ohio has brought up an example of a subtle – yet pernicious – error in reporting. In this case, a priest in the Diocese of Steubenville spent years grooming and sexually abusing a young girl. The sexual abuse was revealed when the victim, now 17, became pregnant. Yet several articles on the subject have instead referred to this case as “a relationship” that “lasted three years.”

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[Chilean Court receives formal criminal complaint against Cardinal Errázuriz for false testimony in abuse and cover-up case]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 30, 2018

La acción judicial fue presentada por el abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla un día después que la Corte de Apelaciones llamara a los denunciantes de Karadima y al Arzobispado de Santiago a una conciliación, consignó El Dínamo. En el texto, se acusa a Errázuriz como “autor del delito de falso testimonio, en grado de consumado, previsto y sancionado en el artículo 209 del Código Penal”.

El Octavo Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago admitió a trámite la querella criminal que presentaron los denunciantes de Fernando Karadima contra el cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz.

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[The silence that weighs on abuses in the Society of Jesus]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 31, 2018

By Alejandra Carmona López

Las últimas declaraciones de Marcelo Gidi aparecieron en días agitados para los jesuitas, porque hace dos semanas la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe les ordenó abrir un proceso contra el sacerdote Jaime Guzmán Astaburuaga, por denuncias de abusos a menores, y eso puso inevitablemente el foco sobre una de las comunidades eclesiásticas de las que menos se había hablado públicamente, hasta ahora, en este contexto de crisis que atraviesa la Iglesia católica. Las víctimas acusan indolencia cada vez que golpearon las puertas para denunciar a sacerdotes.

Ezzati tiene que aclarar toda su participación en todo lo que se le imputa, porque mientras no se aclare eso, las pedidas de perdón de él no tienen llegada, no son acogidas por nadie”, dijo Marcelo Gidi, el respetado sacerdote de la Compañía de Jesús, el fin de semana en la revista Sábado. Sus palabras causaron felicidad entre quienes pedían más sacerdotes como él en redes sociales, pero también provocaron incomprensión entre aquellos que han golpeado –sin resultados– las puertas de los jesuitas para relatar los abusos a que fueron sometidos.

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VIDEO

[Ombudsman for Children, Patricia Muñoz, discusses abuses of minors by Catholic clergy: “We follow closely, can set a precedent”]

CHILE
Emol TV

October 31, 2018

La Defensora de la Niñez, Patricia Muñoz, se refirió a las causas que lleva el ministerio público ante abusos a menores por parte de sacerdotes en la iglesia católica. La entrevista completa la puedes revisar en el siguiente link

Entrevista completa

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[“If you want financial compensation, ask for it and we will see:” recordings of Salamanca Bishop illustrate how Church tried to to silence victims and delay accusations]

SALAMANCA, SPAIN
El País

October 29, 2018

By Íñigo Domínguez and Julio Núñez

EL PAÍS accede a unas grabaciones al obispo de Salamanca, que ilustran las tretas de la Iglesia para acallar a las víctimas y dilatar las denuncias

La Iglesia católica presenta el proceso canónico como un arma idónea y estricta para actuar contra los abusos sexuales sobre menores, pero la experiencia de algunas víctimas que han pasado por ello es muy distinta. Además de que el máximo castigo es la expulsión del estado clerical, lo describen como un procedimiento opaco, distinto en cada caso y que cada obispo lleva como le parece, del que llegan a saber muy poco y en el que al final también se sienten engañados. Cuanto termina no tienen ni un papel, aunque tendrían derecho a ello. El sacerdote acusado puede recurrir la decisión, pero a la víctima se le ponen trabas. Y lo normal es que no reciban una compensación económica. Es más, el dinero se puede convertir en un arma de presión. Primero, para que las víctimas guarden silencio y, después, para echarles en cara que solo buscaban un beneficio económico.

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AUSTRALIA
Echo Net Daily

October 31, 2018

A Catholic priest formerly attached to the Lismore diocese has been jailed for four years and 10 months on charges of having sexually abused two teenage boys who stayed with him at the church house in Mallanganee in the 1980s.

The allegations against John Patrick Casey, 70, included performing oral sex on one of the boys, masturbating in the boy’s presence, and digitally penetrating the other boy’s anus.

Casey denied all the charges.

The jury found him guilty of sexual assault (category three) of a person under the age of 16 years, sexual assault (category four), indecent act with a person under 16.

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[The Church admits “terrible and disgusting” situations within but describes them as isolated]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 30, 2018

El responsable de Asuntos Económicos de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, defiende que “el rostro real de la Iglesia es el de los que dan su vida por los más necesitados”

El responsable de Asuntos Económicos de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, ha admitido que se han producido situaciones “terribles puntuales, que causan estupor” y “repugnancia” en su seno, pero ha asegurado que el rostro real de la Iglesia no es ese.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum Local News

October 31, 2018

By Mark Goshgarian

A former employee of the Diocese of Buffalo revealed Tuesday why she blew the whistle on Bishop Richard Malone and the church abuse scandal.

Siobhan O’Connor started her comments with a prayer.

“By your infinite mercy, you bring great comfort and consolation to all those who’ve suffered abuse from clergy.”

O’Connor had worked at the Diocese offices for three years as an administrative secretary. She decided to serve as a whistleblower after people who say priests abused them as children started to come forward.

“If you’d ever told me in the beginning, back in July and August, that I would have to go on national television, I might have hesitated, because it’s very overwhelming,” she said.

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ORCHARD PARK (NY)
WIVB

October 30, 2018

By Jenn Schanz

Father Paul Seil told News 4 recent revelations about the Buffalo Diocese’s handling of alleged clergy sex abuse is disturbing and sad.

He said he’s heartbroken to say it, but believes Bishop Richard Malone should step down.

Seil is the pastor at Saint Bernadette’s in Orchard Park.

He said the Church’s handling of clergy sex abuse allegations has affected his own congregation; several families have left his parish over how Church leadership responded to abuse claims.

Following a 60 Minutes report on the Malone’s alleged covering up of abuse, Seil called the Bishop’s former executive assistant Siobhan O’Connor and fellow priest Father Robert Zilliox, both featured in the report, “heroes.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB/News 4 Staff

October 30, 2018

Siobhan O’Connor has been called the “whistleblower” who leaked secret records from the Diocese of Buffalo.

60 Minutes says those documents reveal that for years, Bishop Malone allowed priests accused of sexual assault, such as statutory rape and groping, to stay on the job.

On Tuesday, she joined survivors of sexual abuse in Buffalo and shared why she decided she needed to expose this information to the community.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

October 30, 2018

Siobhan O’Connor held a news conference outside the Buffalo Diocese headquarters on Main Street in Buffalo.

The whistleblower who says Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone knew about sexual abuse allegations against priests and did nothing, held a news conference Tuesday morning to talk about why she stepped forward.

Siobhan O’Connor, answered questions from the local media about why she finally came forward. O’Connor, is the former executive assistant to Bishop Malone, and has leaked records to the media from the Diocese of Buffalo.

She says she is cooperating with authorities.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN

October 30, 2018

By Brendan Keany

“I tried to do what I could from the inside, and I couldn’t”

There is now even more pressure on Bishop Richard Malone and the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo after a former executive assistant to Malone spoke with “60 Minutes,” detailing the bishop’s inaction regarding the widespread reports of clergy sexual abuse.

Siobhan O’Connor spoke to local media today following her national appearance on Sunday, and she says that going to the media was the only way to see tangible change.

“I tried to do what I could from the inside, and I couldn’t,” said O’Connor. “I knew that this was the way that action would be taken. So, going to that national platform, I thought was important, because I believe that our diocese is not alone in this crisis.”

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BUFFALO NY)
WKBW TV

October 29, 2018

Charlie Specht explains what’s next for the Buffalo Bishop after a woman comes forward exposing mishandling sex abuse claims in the Catholic church.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

October 30, 2018

In a Tuesday morning news conference, the attorney for Catholic Diocese of Buffalo whistleblower Siobhan O’Connor called on Pope Francis to instruct Bishop Malone to resign.

O’Connor said, “I also want people to understand that this is truly happening, and we have to stand up and fight for the soul of our church.”

O’Connor was joined by her attorney, Mitch Garabedian, and survivor advocates Bob Hoatson and Jim Faluszczak. In addition to O’Connor’s private push for change in the diocese, the three men have publicly put pressure on diocesan leaders for several months.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

October 29, 2018

By Alan Pergament

If Buffalo’s Bishop Richard J. Malone thought silence is the way to treat the prestigious CBS news magazine “60 Minutes,” he was sadly mistaken.

The “60 Minutes” story Sunday about the alleged sexual abuse by priests in the Buffalo Diocese over decades was as powerful as could be and even more.

CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker did a great job, calmly doing the interviews with whistleblower Siobhan O’Connor, Deacon Paul Snyder III and the Rev. Robert Zilliox.

And the three people being interviewed were exceptional detailing their stories, their motivation for coming forward and the outrage that resulted from the revelations.

Their stories were so powerful they practically demanded answers from the Buffalo bishop.

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BUFFALO (NY)
CNS

October 30, 2018

How the Diocese of Buffalo handles cases of priests suspected of abuse was the subject of a report Oct. 28 by the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” which talked to a woman who leaked diocesan files on those priests to a local TV station.

“60 Minutes” also interviewed a priest who resigned his role as a counselor to Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo citing lack of action by the bishop, and spoke to a permanent deacon who has called on the bishop to resign.

Bishop Malone “respectfully” declined a request by “60 Minutes” for an on-camera interview and sent the program a statement that said in part: “We continue to reach out to victims, remove clergy with substantiated allegations from ministry and cooperate with federal and state investigations.”

Acknowledging the show was free to interview “whomever they wish for this story,” he said: “It is clear to me and my staff that your roster of interviews did not include those who are aware of the full extent of the efforts of our diocese to combat child abuse.” Bishop Malone’s statement added, “Nor does it include those who urge me every day to stay the course and restore the confidence of our faithful.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

October 30, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

The former Buffalo Diocese employee who leaked clergy sex abuse documents to a local television station has recently turned over to the FBI some of those documents.

Siobhan O’Connor said she gave “the most pertinent documents I had” to FBI agents about two weeks ago and answered whatever questions they had.

“I knew that law enforcement needed to step in,” O’Connor said in an interview Tuesday. “I want people to be as much at ease as possible that the authorities have the proper information. My goal always was to go to law enforcement.”

She declined to comment further on what information the FBI agents sought.

At a news conference outside the diocese headquarters where she had worked for three years, O’Connor said Bishop Richard J. Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz should resign over their handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 30, 2018

By Cameron Houston & Tammy Mills

The Catholic Church is about to be inundated with Supreme Court writs from Victorian survivors of clerical abuse who previously received modest ex gratia payments and will now attempt to sue the church for further compensation.

At least four Melbourne law firms have been briefed by dozens of victims seeking to challenge the validity of church settlements on the basis that payments were manifestly inadequate for the long-term suffering inflicted by paedophile priests.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 29, 2018

By Angus Thompson

A former Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing 36 children over more than 20 years took over the running of a homeless shelter after pleading guilty to separate abuses, a court has heard.

David Joseph Perrett, 81, was refused bail by a NSW Supreme Court judge on Monday following fresh charges being laid in a case that has so far seen 115 alleged counts of sexual abuse levelled against the retired clergyman.

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