ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 9, 2018

By Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders

All Australian churches should be made to open their books to account more thoroughly for their billions of dollars in assets and revenue, a member of the child abuse royal commission has said.

Robert Fitzgerald AM, one of the six commissioners who oversaw the five-year royal commission, will call on Wednesday for the scrapping of special exemptions that have until now allowed half of church charities, including much of the Catholic and Anglican church networks, to avoid financial reporting to the charities watchdog, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission.

In an address celebrating the 10th anniversary of the not-for-profit law program of community legal group Justice Connect, Mr Fitzgerald will publicly declare for the first time that the arguments for the exemptions for “basic religious charities” do not hold up.

Mr Fitzgerald will explain how the exemptions had sent a “poor signal” to the wider community that some charities deserved special treatment simply because of their religious status.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Daily Caller

October 22, 2018

By Joshua Gill

The Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California publicly named 15 priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct, but failed to mention current allegations against one living offender.

Hernan Toro is one of six priests who are still alive out of the 15 that the Diocese of San Jose publicly named on Oct. 18 as having been credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Diocesan records show that Toro was convicted of sexually abusing a child in 1983, forced to register as a sex offender, and continued to serve as a priest for seven years afterward until he was permanently banned from ministry in 1990. The report failed to mention, however, that Toro has been in jail since October 2017 and currently faces six charges for allegedly molesting two girls between 2011 and 2015.

Liz Sullivan, spokeswoman for the diocese, said that the diocese was unaware of the current allegations against Toro and did not provide details as to how the diocese collected information on the 15 priests they named, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

October 22, 2018

By Cindy Wooden

While the clerical sexual abuse crisis did not dominate discussions at the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said it was discussed, and everyone in the room clearly believed the crisis has to be dealt with.

Cardinal DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke to Catholic News Service Oct. 22 as the synod was winding down and preparations for the U.S. bishops’ November general meeting moved into high gear.

The agenda for the November meeting will include multiple items for dealing with the abuse crisis and, particularly, the issue of bishops’ behavior and accountability, Cardinal DiNardo said.

One suggestion the bishops will examine, he said, is to draw up “a code of conduct for bishops,” similar to those that most dioceses have for priests and for lay employees. Another would be to establish a “third-party reporting system” that would allow someone with an abuse complaint against a bishop to report him to someone not connected with his diocese or the bishops’ conference.

“All of these involve issues that we are going to have to discern,” the cardinal said. “We want to do something that will help intensify our commitment to change.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

October 22, 2018

By Megan Keller

The District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Assistance Unit and the D.C. Superior Court Division’s Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section are launching a hotline and email for survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy to report the crimes.

U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu on Monday announced that victims or people with knowledge of incidents involving sexual abuse by clergy can contact the newly formed Clergy Abuse Reporting Line at 202-252-7008 or email USADC.ReportClergyAbuse@usdog.gov.

A group of criminal investigators, prosecutors and victim advocates from the Superior Court Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office will review any information provided and decide if the provider can be given victim services or criminal charges can be issued.

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[Steve Bannon received Gloria and Cardinal Müller]

BAVARIA (GERMANY)
Br.de

October 22, 2018

Der ehemalige Chefstratege von US-Präsident Trump, Steve Bannon, will eine rechte Sammlungsbewegung gründen. Gloria von Thurn und Taxis und Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller standen dabei auf seiner Gästeliste, berichtet der “Spiegel”.

Die Regensburger Unternehmerin Gloria von Thurn und Taxis und der frühere Regensburger Bischof und Chef der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation, Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, haben sich einem Bericht des Nachrichtenmagazins “Der Spiegel” zufolge mit dem früheren US-Präsidentenberater Steve Bannon getroffen. Der Rechtspopulist Bannon habe in der US-Hauptstadt Washington im September ein Abendessen für konservative Katholiken organisiert.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
The Washington Post

October 21, 2018

By Marisa Iati

In a yellow townhouse just steps from Georgetown University on a recent evening, members of the campus group Catholic Women at Georgetown talked about how the Virgin Mary strengthens them in hard times as they shared a dinner of Domino’s pizza.

In between swapping thoughts on homesickness and avoiding sin, the conversation turned to new allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in a church under siege.

The group’s president, Erica Lizza, asked the dozen students seated in a circle how they lean on Mary as the faith they’ve relied on for spiritual sustenance faces a crisis.

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PHILADELPHIA
Philly.com

October 22, 2018

By John Baer

In case you’re wondering (and you should be) how your legislature does, or doesn’t do, whatever it wants, allow me to refresh your memory.

It’s because its leaders maintain a culture to keep you out and keep them in.

It’s because this culture puts their interests and special interests ahead of public interests.

The latest example is the state Senate last week walking away from victims of child sex abuse.

This on the final scheduled voting day of the year.

This after a Pennsylvania grand jury in August released the nation’s most comprehensive report on decades of abuse and cover-up by Catholic clergy.

And this after that report triggered investigations in other states and a federal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice.

There are complexities in helping victims. Should private entities such as the Catholic Church be treated differently from public entities such as a school district? Does a compensation fund make more sense than open litigation?

But how did lawmakers resolve these complexities?

They walked away. Because they can.

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[Church of Santiago contributions grow by 1% while the number of donors decreases]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 22, 2018

By L. Zapata and S. Rodríguez

Cercanos al catolicismo aseguran que, de acuerdo con las cifras 2010-2017 entregadas por el Arzobispado, la caída de personas que aportan dinero estaría relacionada con los casos de abuso en el clero, chileno y mundial.

El 15 de enero pasado el Papa Francisco pisó suelo chileno. Después de 30 años un Pontífice regresaba al país, con una tarea titánica: reencantar al aparentemente alicaído catolicismo criollo. La visita generó expectativas en la Iglesia local, que no terminaba de sacudirse del impacto provocado por el caso Karadima y sus abusos en El Bosque, el cual se venía arrastrando desde 2011, además de otros episodios que tibiamente comenzaban a aparecer en el horizonte.

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[Court of Appeals President says there is still no ruling drafted in the Karadima victims’ lawsuit]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 22, 2018

En los próximos días la Novena Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones debería dar a conocer la resolución sobre el caso. Al ser consultada sobre si se había alcanzado a votar, Dobra Lusic señaló que “eso ya es reservado, forma parte del acuerdo”.

Dobra Lusic, presidenta de la Corte de Apelaciones, indicó esta tarde que aún no hay un fallo redactado con respecto a la demanda presentada por las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, en contra del Arzobispado de Santiago.

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[Former Bishop Duarte says “I did everything I had to do” in going to O’Higgins office for cover-up investigation]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 22, 2018

El religioso dijo que no sabía por qué estaba citado y que acordó con los fiscales reagendar la diligencia para noviembre.

“Hice todo lo que tenía que hacer”. Con estas palabras el obispo emérito de Valparaíso, Gonzalo Duarte, se refirió a las consultas de la prensa tras acudir a la fiscalía de O’Higgins en medio de las investigaciones por presunto encubrimiento en el caso del excapellán de la Fuerza Aérea, Pedro Quiroz.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

October 22, 2018

By Fr. Peter Daly

Two months into the sex abuse scandal that forced Theodore McCarrick to renounce his cardinal’s red hat and withdraw to a Capuchin friary in Kansas, Catholics are still asking, “How did this happen?” How does someone like McCarrick advance to the pinnacle of Catholic power and stay there for so long when he carries so much baggage of crime and sin? Was there no vetting? Were there no background checks? Was someone protecting him?

If there is any “malpractice” in this scandal, it belongs to the various papal nuncios (Vatican ambassadors) and the members of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, who are responsible for checking the backgrounds of candidates for the episcopacy. They did not do their jobs. It also belongs to McCarrick’s patrons and promoters in America and in Rome, including Cardinals Francis Spellman (archbishop of New York 1939-67) and Terence Cooke (archbishop of New York 1968-83) and Pope John Paul II. All three were enchanted by McCarrick’s fundraising skills.

In his August letter to the church, Pope Francis said that the explanation for the abuse crisis is “clericalism.” I agree if we define clericalism as the view that priests and bishops are set apart from and above other people. They feel they are accountable only to their religious superiors. Certainly not to the laity and often not even to the civil authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
New Matilda

October 22, 2018

By Liana Buchanan

Later today, our Parliament will deliver a formal National Apology to the victims of child abuse perpetrated at the hands of Australian institutions. Words have power, but action means a lot more, writes Liana Buchanan.

Today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison makes a national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Around 400 balloted tickets have been made available to attend the ceremony in Canberra, while another 400 organisational representatives will also attend and local ceremonies will see hundreds of others come together around Australia to witness the apology.

This historic event marks the rightful acknowledgement of decades of abuse that has been, until recently, hidden. It follows the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which exposed thousands of allegations, and made more than 2,500 referrals to police.

The abuse disclosed has, in many cases, led to catastrophic impacts on the lives of victims who survived, and their families and loved ones. For too many others, their lives have ended as a direct result of childhoods destroyed through abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

October 21, 2018

By Katharine Murphy

More than 1,000 people expected for apology following royal commission’s horrific findings

Scott Morrison will commit to a new museum to raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse as the centrepiece of what will be an emotional national apology to the survivors of institutional abuse in federal parliament on Monday.

More than 1,000 people are expected to be in Canberra for the apology, a symbolic gesture that follows the horrific findings of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. Julia Gillard, the prime minister who set the royal commission in train, is expected to attend.

The prime minister will commit in Monday’s speech to a museum that will be a place of remembrance and reflection, as well as a place cataloguing the events leading up to the royal commission and the national apology, with the scope of the project to be worked out in consultation with survivors.

Morrison will also commit to reporting to parliament each year for the next five years on the progress being made implementing the recommendations of the royal commission.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Glamour

October 20, 2018

By Julyssa Lopez

The University of Southern California continues to reckon with sexual assault allegations leveled against its former campus gynecologist George Tyndall. On Thursday, two new lawsuits were filed on behalf of 93 additional women who claim the university purposefully concealed the abuse—which brings the total number of Tyndall’s accusers to about 500.

The new claims come after 51 women came forward back in July. They joined six women who had alleged in a lawsuit filed in May that USC had failed to protect them from Tyndall’s abuse and mishandled complaints about his behavior, as well as dozens of others, bringing the total number of accusers at that point to more than 200. Following backlash, USC’s former president C.L. Max Nikias announced he would step down.

Tyndall is now retired after working at the university for almost three decades. According to CNN, accusations of misconduct against him date back to 1990 and include allegations from women who say he abused or harassed them under the guide of medical treatment at the university’s student health center. The AP reported that Tyndall’s license was suspended in August.

A group of approximately 20 women announced the two new lawsuits at a press conference on Thursday, and some of them spoke publicly about their experiences.

“I am part of an accidental sisterhood of hundreds of women because the university we love betrayed our trust,” Dana Loewy, a woman who alleges that Tyndall assaulted her in 1983, was quoted as saying in Time.

Following the press conference, USC announced their agreement to a tentative settlement of $215 million on Friday, which, according to NPR, could make anyone who received treatment from Tyndall eligible to receive a minimum of $2,500 (victims who allege Tyndall abuse them could receive up to $250,000, the Los Angeles Times reports.) USC’s interim president, Wanda Austin, said in a public statement that its Board of Trustees supported the settlement.

“By doing so, we hope that we can help our community move collectively toward reconciliation,” Austin said. “I regret that any student ever felt uncomfortable, unsafe, or mistreated in any way as a result of the actions of a university employee.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

October 22, 2018

A year ago, several women walked into the annual Synod of the Sydney Anglican Diocese, shuffled through the rows of the public gallery in Pitt Street’s Wesley Theatre, and sat down nervously.

All of them were victims of domestic abuse, there to listen as the Diocese’s domestic violence taskforce presented its draft policy for responding to abuse in the church which, as ABC News would only weeks later reveal, was being perpetrated not just against parishioners, but against the wives of clergy — including me.

It’s been quite a year.

Last week, several hundred Sydney Anglicans returned to the same spot for the taskforce’s unveiling of the final version of the policy, having spent months consulting with experts and survivors.

I had been looking forward to seeing the finished product, and was hopeful it would reflect the voices of victims who’d shared their disturbing experiences of abuse by church workers, and desires to see leaders respond better.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

October 20, 2018

Over the last two decades, the Catholic Church has been rocked to its foundations by accusations of sex abuse of children by the clergy. Pope Francis apologised unreservedly to victims for the extent of the abuse and the cover-ups committed by senior churchmen across the world.

After a rocky period when secrecy was the order of the day, it has been encouraging to see the transformation in the way the Church in Malta and Gozo realised that the fundamental key to getting a grip on the culture and the causes that underlie clerical sex abuse lies through positive action.

The head of the Church Safeguarding Commission, Andrew Azzopardi, has just presented the annual report, in itself an act of transparency and accountability which demonstrates the Diocese’s readiness to face the issue head-on. Its publication shows unequivocally the Church is in earnest about rooting out a scourge that would otherwise threaten its moral authority, as it has done in so many other parts of the world.

In presenting the report, Mr Azzopardi said that last year three substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minors had been referred to the police by the commission, thus ensuring that such appalling crimes would be dealt with by the criminal justice system under Maltese law, not the Church authorities. In all three cases, the commission had imposed restrictions on the pastoral activities that could be carried out by the perpetrators – two priests and a lay person – as a precautionary measure pending police action.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

October 22, 2018

Dr Judy Courtin is a lawyer and advocate who represents survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

Duration: 9 minutes 31 seconds

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SAN JOSE (CA)
KRON

October 22, 2018

By Alexa Mae Asperin

Diocese of San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath is speaking out after new charges were announced against former priest Hernan Toro.

90-year-old Toro is currently jailed on accusations of molesting two girls between 2011 and 2015.

He is one of 15 former priests within the Diocese of San Jose who have been found credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

The statement from the Diocese of San Jose is as follows:

“Bishop McGrath is saddened and infuriated that additional innocent children are the recent victims of horrific acts by Hernan Toro, who was permanently banned from ministry in 1990. Bishop is relieved that the parents had the courage to notify law enforcement and that the authorities have arrested Toro.

Diocese was notified of the additional charges and Toro’s location Friday afternoon.

Prior to the Dallas Charter (more about The Charter can be found in FAQ #8), these cases were handled differently based on the clinical psychological standards at the time of their convictions. We now know, based on the current psychological best practices, that returning these men to ministry was a misguided attempt at rehabilitation and the Diocese has abolished this practice as part of Zero Tolerance established by the Dallas Charter of 2002. …”

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ROCKINGHAM (NC)
Rockingham Now

October 21, 2018

By Susie C. Spear

EDEN – A former Eden resident who alleges a past Catholic priest at St. Joseph of the Hills Catholic Church sexually abused him and his brother some 80 years ago, has asked city officials to change the municipal street that bears the disgraced priest’s name.

Father William J. Kuder, who allegedly committed crimes against the unnamed man and his brother, served as a priest at the church during the late 1930s and early 1940s, city officials said.

Kuder allegedly went on to abuse at least 10 children of an Asheville parish before his death in 1960. And he is known to the state’s Catholic leaders, who say they have no problem with a street name change.

While the church stands at 316 Boone Road, Kuder Street intersects with Boone Road just a few yards north. A dead end, the lane is home to one house and a city pump station.

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TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

October 20, 2018

When Toledo Catholic officials admitted that the Rev. Nelson Beaver has been accused of child sexual abuse, they took great pains to mention the alleged offense happened 25 years ago. But they refused to disclose a more important date (”Diocese places priest on leave to investigate sex abuse allegation,” Oct. 13).

The self-serving and carefully-orchestrated news release prepared by Bishop Daniel Thomas’ public relations team said nothing about when church staff received the accusation.

Parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners, and the public deserve to know whether Bishop Thomas and his colleagues acted within days or years after being told that Father Beaver allegedly assaulted a child .

DAVID CLOHESSY
St. Louis, Mo.
The writer is the former national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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IOWA CITY (IA)
Little Village Magazine

October 22, 2018

Americans in the Trump age are accustomed to atrocities flashing across editorial space and vanishing into the next outrage, but there are exceptions in longevity. Critics and accusers of the Catholic Church, while it remains a viable institution, must wrestle with the demon of pedophilia. Cardinal Wuerl, archbishop of D.C., recently resigned from some of his exalted church offices, facing grand jury findings that he presided over cover-ups for pedophilic priests.

Defending him in public interviews, his friend, John Carr, a big churcher and listed by Georgetown University as “adjunct professor in the Department of Theology,” reports that Wuerl was “better than most on sexual abuse…” but acknowledges that the Cardinal’s version of “better” still compels him to resign and the Pope to accept his resignation. Carr expresses his own regret but not any injustice. And to the credentials of this spokesman, we must add one more: he himself, when young, was a victim of clergical perverts and of the system that protected them

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UNITED STATES
Patheos

October 20, 2018

By Rebecca Hamilton

It appears that the he said/he said back and forth between Archbishop Vigano and the Vatican is still chugging down the road. The latest installment is Archbishop Vigano’s statement that the clergy sex abuse scandal is caused by “the scourge of homosexuality.”

While it’s true that 80% of the victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy are young men and boys, that number flips over almost exactly in the larger population where slightly over 70% of the victims of abuse are female.

Sexual abuse, assault and rape are not homosexual problems. They are, primarily, a male problem. Notice, I said “primarily.” While it’s true that 96% of the perpetrators of sexual assault, abuse and rape are male, 4% are female.

Does this mean that there’s something “wrong” with the Y chromosome? Does it have a sexual aberration gene on it that makes it unsafe to let men walk the streets without a jailor? Absolutely not.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Oct 22, 2018

While Ireland has long enjoyed a privileged place on the global Catholic map, the past few months have been particularly demanding for Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh -largely due to the fact that the successor of Saint Patrick has been spending a lot of time with the successor of Saint Peter.

In August, Ireland played host to the Vatican-organized World Meeting of Families, which drew over 30,000 pilgrims to Dublin for its Congress of Families, and hundreds of thousands more for events with Pope Francis. Now, Martin is in Rome for almost the entire month of October as a delegate at the Synod of Bishops on Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment.

Martin, whose official title is Primate of All Ireland, may speak at times with a soft and gentle voice, but his passion for young people and the family is hardly understated.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
The Washington Post

October 22, 2018

By Patricia Lawler Kenet

I worried about hell a lot when I was 11 years old. My older brother once coaxed me into saying the first syllable of “helicopter” aloud. I panicked and cried hysterically for an hour, certain I was destined to suffer for eternity for uttering a blasphemy. I spent afternoons in my bedroom closet pawing glow-in-the-dark rosaries as I sought atonement for my perceived misdeeds.

When I turned 12 in 1971 and could barely be coaxed out of bed, sick with worry about the state of my sin-soaked soul, my mother took me to a doctor who told her that I was suffering from “acute scrupulosity.” He explained that acute scrupulosity is a mental condition, a sub-variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which a person suffers a pathological degree of moral fastidiousness often based on the fear of committing a mortal sin. The illness is well documented in the psychological community as well as in the Church. Catholic leaders recognize the danger of this condition; even Saint Ignatius declared that acute scrupulosity was a “dangerous trap laid by the devil to keep the soul enslaved.” It has also been described as a “widespread pernicious ailment” by early popes.

I later learned that the onset of puberty combined with a tendency toward scrupulosity can land a one-two punch in the vulnerable psyche. It certainly did with me. Every sexual feeling or impulse, every fleeting jealous thought, every unkind word sent me into a spiral of worry, fear and anxiety. I wandered around in a daze, disassociated (Am I even real? Is the world real?) weepy, weak and feeling worthless. I tried to play the part of a free-spirited teen, but I lived in fear of missing Mass on Sunday.

Though I didn’t physically harm myself, my mind turned against me with constant accusations about what wrongs I committed. When I accidentally walked out of a Chinese restaurant holding onto the cloth napkin provided during dinner, I insisted on walking 10 blocks back to return it. If my mother became upset by something done by my brother, who was addicted to drugs, I scoured my conscience to glean whether there was something I had done or not done to cause her unhappiness. The internal verdict was always “guilty.”

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WOODLAWN PARK (NJ)
North Jersey Record

October 21, 2018

By Deena Yellin

As the pastor of one of the largest Catholic churches in New Jersey, the Rev. Robert Stagg ought to be on top of the world: His church membership is at 4,500 families, his Masses are packed and the church facility is undergoing expansion.

Yet the leader of the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River is hurting.

“I read the news about all these abuse cases and it makes me want to throw up,” Stagg said. “It’s a terrible thing.”

Stagg wants people to know that the predators don’t represent all priests.

“There’s a percentage of the population that are abusers, and that’s awful,” Stagg said. “But … we all have to be vigilant — it happens in every country in the world with all kinds of occupations.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NPR

October 21, 2018

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Maria Panaritis about the church sex abuse scandal that’s roiling Pennsylvania.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post Gazette

October 21, 2018 1

Now that Pope Francis has reluctantly accepted Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation as Archbishop of Washington, the time is ripe to begin dismantling the gerontocratic oligarchy that impedes repairing the damage clerical sexual abuse has inflicted on Mother Church.

The high-ranking antediluvian ecclesiastical cabalists who oppose needed reforms and doctrinal modernizations that would preclude the ordination and enabling of predator priests will only be neutralized by the fresh theology and thinking of youth. How? By fighting Methuselahs with a Methuselah-Pope Francis.

The current Vicar of Christ needs to replace Cardinal Wuerl with a successor who was ordained in the third millennium, long after the not-so-golden age of clerical sexual abuse had climaxed in the late twentieth century.

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SWARTHMORE (PA)
Delaware County Daily Times

October 22, 2018

By Mark Rozzi, Times Guest Columnist

And they call themselves leaders? What cowardice that state Sens. Joe Scarnati and Jake Corman couldn’t bring the statute of limitation reform bill up for a vote!

The Senate needed to do its job. And it didn’t.

I know this will not be lost on their constituents.

What did the Senate leaders not get about the statewide grand jury report? Did the leaders not comprehend that when predators harm children and their employers knowingly covered up the crimes, they violated the law and therefore subjected themselves to liability?

The Senate leadership demonstrated once again they are hell-bent on carrying the water for the Catholic Church and by extension, all the other organizations that have gotten away with raping children because of ridiculous statutes of limitation.

Sen. Scarnati accused me of not being willing to compromise on SB 261, which overwhelmingly passed the House 173 to 21 in September. He claimed that no one from the other side was willing to negotiate and that he was negotiating with himself. He claimed that no counter solutions were offered.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

October 22, 2018

By Inés San Martín

In a decision being hailed as historic, three Chilean survivors of the country’s most infamous pedophile priest reportedly have won a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Santiago. The court found two Catholic cardinals guilty of covering up for Fernando Karadima.

The court’s decision hasn’t yet been made official, but it was published on Sunday by local newspaper La Tercera, and the three survivors who were suing the archdiocese quickly released a statement celebrating the decision.

Assuming the report is correct, the Church either will have to pay the survivors US$600,000 or appeal the decision, which would bring the case to Chile’s Supreme Court. The survivors had previously lost before a lower court, but appealed the ruling citing new evidence discovered by a prosecutor during a raid on the archives of the Archdiocese of Santiago.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 22, 2018

By Haidee V Eugenio

Almost two weeks after his death, retired Guam priest Louis Brouillard continues to be a subject of clergy sex abuse allegations.

A plaintiff identified in court documents only as V.P., to protect his privacy, filed a $10 million lawsuit on Monday in federal court, alleging that Brouillard sexually molested and abused him when he was a 12- or 13-year-old member of the Yona Boy Scout Troop around 1973 or 1974.

V.P., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said in his lawsuit that Brouillard would pick him up and other boys for weekly outings in the guise of earning Boy Scouts merit badges but would abuse them while swimming.

“While swimming, Brouillard would swim completely naked and routinely instructed V.P. and the other boys to remove their clothes, and Brouillard would grope and touch their private parts,” the lawsuit said.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

October 19, 2018

News broke yesterday that the US Justice Department will be investigating the clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

Former US attorney David Hickton tells the KDKA Radio Afternoon News what the federal government will be able to do that the state prosecutors couldn’t.

Hickton says, “The abuse is not confirmed in only Pennsylvania, so obviously the federal sources which are nationwide and with other components can go worldwide; expanding the width and breathe of the investigation.”

“There are also a range of several crimes that are not on the book with the state, that could pertain here and so I think this is welcome news, I think for the victims it is good news, and for Catholics and the Catholic Church it is good news.”

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GREENSBURG (PA)
KDKA

October 20, 2018

The Diocese of Greensburg announced on Saturday that Father James W. Clark will not be returning to active ministry after an allegation against him was “found to be both credible and substantiated.”

The diocese made the announcement to all of its Uniontown parishes this weekend before releasing the information to the press.

“Because this allegation has been substantiated, Father Clark will not be permitted to return to ministry in the Diocese of Greensburg or in any other diocese. That means he will not be allowed to present himself as a priest, nor function publicly in ministry,” the Diocese of Greensburg said in a release on Saturday.

A credible allegation is one that has a believable narrative that fits the details of person, place, date and time. Substantiated means the allegation was proven to be supported by either an admission by the individual to the abuse, evidence or through a comprehensive canonical, civil or criminal investigation.

Father Clark was originally removed from ministry on June 29 after an allegation from almost 50 years ago came to light. The allegation stems from prior to Clark’s entrance into the seminary and ordination as a priest while he was working as a janitor at the former St. James School in Apollo, Pa.

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NEW YORK (NY)
National Review

October 21, 2018

In this time of turmoil, the editors of National Review asked five Catholic writers to weigh in.

In the most recent issue of National Review (“The Case against Pope Francis,” October 29, 2018), NR senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote, “The Francis pontificate was to be an era of mercy for sinners at the peripheries and accountability for malefactors at the Vatican. Instead, almost the opposite has taken place.” According to Dougherty, the Roman Catholic Church’s “twin scandals” — the calamitous handling and coverup of clerical sexual abuse, and the the pope’s efforts to foment a “Theological Revolution” on sex, marriage, and the sacraments — have exposed deep divisions within the Church. In this time of turmoil, the editors of National Review asked five eminent thinkers to weigh in.

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OAKLAND (CA)
KGO TV

October 21, 2018

By Dan Noyes

The ABC7 News I-Team has learned the California Attorney General’s Office is looking into the issue of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Since Pennsylvania announced the results of its massive grand jury investigation in August, the question’s been — when will California take action?

We contacted the AG’s Office back in August, to find out if they are investigating clergy sexual abuse. Their answer? “We can’t comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation.” But now, we have details on some steps they’re taking to tackle the issue.

Wednesday, September 26th, 2pm, on the 20th floor of the state office building in Oakland. High-level staff of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra met to consider how to investigate child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

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[Mauritius: Church punishes priest for sexual abuse]

PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS
cath.ch (Catholic news site in Switzerland)

October 19, 2018

By Ibrahima Cissé, Correspondent in Africa of cath.ch

En raison d’abus sexuel sur mineur, la Congrégation pour la Doctrine de la Foi (CDF) à Rome a imposé au Père Joseph-Marie Moctee, prêtre du diocèse de Port-Louis, sur l’Ile Maurice, “la peine perpétuelle de la défense de tout ministère et de tout contact avec des mineurs”. La CDF l’a informé que toute transgression de sa part comportera l’application de l’article 1393 du Code de droit canonique (CIC).

[Due to sexual abuse of a minor, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome imposed on Father Joseph-Marie Moctee, priest of the Diocese of Port Louis, Mauritius, “the life sentence of the defense of any ministry and any contact with minors “. The CDF informed him that any transgression on his part will involve the application of Article 1393 of the Code of Canon Law (CIC).]

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[Vatican: Mission burdened by the loss of faith]

VATICAN CITY
katholisch.de

October 20, 2018

Spendenbereitschaft lasse wegen Säkularisierung nach

[Donation readiness diminishes because of secularization]

Zur Finanzierung der Mission benötigt die Kirche Spenden. Doch gerade in Europa und Nordamerika würden weniger Menschen Geld geben wollen, beklagt der Vatikan. Schuld seien die immer säkulareren Gesellschaften.

[The church needs donations to fund the mission. But especially in Europe and North America fewer people want to give money, complains the Vatican. Increasingly secular societies are to blame.]

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
BBC News

October 19, 2018

By Frances Mao

On Monday, thousands of child sexual abuse survivors are expected to gather in Australia’s capital to hear a national apology.

The apology, to be given by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, follows a harrowing five-year inquiry which found tens of thousands of children had been abused in schools, churches, orphanages and other institutions.

For many survivors and their families, the apology in Canberra will mark a hard-fought moment of recognition. But for others it will feel hollow.

The BBC has spoken to several survivors who feel conflicted about the occasion.

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LEWISTON (PA)
The Sentinel

October 22, 2018

The Roman Catholic Church, so much at the center of bad news over the past couple of years due to the child sex-abuse scandal involving hundreds of priests over much of the past half-century, experienced a happy, proud and prayerful day last Sunday as Pope Francis elevated to sainthood a former pope and a martyred Salvadoran church leader.

The new saints are Pope Paul VI, who served as pontiff from 1963 to 1978, presiding over the modernizing church reforms of the 1960s, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, who voiced fearless denunciations of the military oppression at the start of El Salvador’s 1980-92 civil war and who was murdered as he celebrated Mass on March 24, 1980, in a hospital chapel.

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[In Karadima case, Errázuriz denies cover-up, says he reopened abuse investigation in the face of new circumstances]

CHILE
Emol

October 19, 2018

By Juan Peña

El ex arzobispo de Santiago defendió la investigación contra el ex párroco de El Bosque, tras la carta que las víctimas presentaron y en la que el religioso reconoce que la cerró sin interrogarlo.

“En uno de los párrafos se señala que en su momento se cerró la causa, lo que efectivamente ocurrió, con el mérito de los antecedentes que existían en ese momento. Pero es necesario aclarar que poco tiempo después procedí a reabrir el proceso, con nuevos antecedentes, y que fue remitido a la Santa Sede”.

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[Conflict continues among Osorno laity after Bishop Barros leaves: “There is no healing yet”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 21, 2018

By Nicole Briones

Frente a la crisis que atraviesa la diócesis en nuestro país, las agrupaciones aseguran que es nula la posibilidad que exista la reconciliación entre laicos y adherentes del exobispo de Osorno, Juan Barros, inculpado como presunto encubridor en casos de abusos al interior de la Iglesia Católica.

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[Former acolyte of Márquez supports accusations of improper touching]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 19, 2018

By Yerko Roa and Tatiana Risso

Una nueva denuncia contra el sacerdote Hugo Márquez recibió el Arzobispado de Concepción. Se trata de un testimonio que confirma el caso del joven Jonathan Garrido, cuya familia asegura que reveló abusos del cura antes de suicidarse el año pasado. El segundo denunciante afirma que también fue víctima de conductas impropias del conocido sacerdote.

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[“Total impunity:” Victims of Marist sexual abuse criticize the congregation’s response]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 19, 2018

A través de una carta, el provincial de la orden de los Maristas, Saturnino Alonso Arteaga, dio respuesta a un grupo de víctimas que exige expulsar a los sacerdotes implicados en los delitos de abusos sexuales. Respecto a la solicitud, la orden aseguró que en algunos casos “han surgido dudas e interrogantes, motivo por el cual hemos solicitado algunas asesorías especializadas”, y de paso negó que exista una “cultura de encubrimiento en nuestra institución”.

Jaime Concha, uno de los denunciantes de los abusos sexuales cometidos en la congregación Marista, acusó que esta organización sacerdotal busca instaurar una “total impunidad”.

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[Two priests acquitted in “La Cofradía” case are returning to parishes]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

October 20, 2018

De esta manera volverán a ejercer a las parroquias de Pumanque y La Compañía de Graneros. Además el administrador apostólico de Rancagua, monseñor Fernando Ramos, insistió en que el grupo “no existe”.

Los sacerdotes de la Diócesis de Rancagua, Aquiles Correa Reyes y Gino Bonomo Ugarte, ambos sobreseídos el pasado 27 de septiembre por el Juzgado de Garantía de Pichilemu en la investigación desformalizada que el Ministerio Público desarrolla en torno a la presunta existencia de una asociación ilícita denominada “La Cofradía”, reasumieron sus funciones sacerdotales en sus respectivas parroquias.

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[Prosecutor confirms that Valparaíso church lied to him: he found “other” files about hidden abuses]

CHILE
BioBio Chile

October 19, 2018

By Nicolás Parra and Nicole Martínez

El Obispado de Valparaíso mintió al fiscal Sergio Pérez, quien lideró el allanamiento a las dependencias de la iglesia porteña, en el marco de la investigación por delitos sexuales que involucran a clero nacional. Al menos así quedó en evidencia en un informe firmado por el propio persecutor, ratificando lo dado a conocer por Radio Bío Bío.

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[Spain’s government avoids criticizing the Church for pedophilia]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 19, 2018

By Carlos E. Cué

El Ejecutivo mantiene una prudencia extrema antes del viaje de la vicepresidenta al Vaticano

Por primera vez desde que EL PAÍS empezó a publicar las informaciones que muestran la opacidad de la Iglesia española con los casos de pederastia y abusos sexuales sufridos en su seno, el Gobierno no tuvo más remedio que emitir una opinión en la rueda de prensa tras el Consejo de Ministros. Pero el Ejecutivo evitó cualquier reproche a la Iglesia por ese silencio de décadas y no mostró ninguna intención de entrar en el asunto creando algún tipo de comisión, preparando algún informe o replanteándose el Concordato, que exime a los sacerdotes de dar cuenta de las agresiones sexuales que conozcan en el ejercicio de su ministerio.

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SANTIAGO, CHILE
Reuters

October 21, 2018

By Aislinn Laing

Chile’s Court of Appeal has ordered the office of Santiago’s Archbishop to pay $450 million pesos ($650,000) to three men who alleged they were sexually abused for decades by Chilean priest Fernando Karadima, a local newspaper said on Sunday.

Citing a copy of a leaked judgment, La Tercera said the three judges who heard the case on Thursday found in favor of an appeal for “moral damages” against the church for allegedly covering up the crimes. The case was previously rejected by a lower court for lack of evidence.

Reuters could not independently confirm the report. The Santiago Archbishopric, which could appeal to Chile’s Supreme Court, said it would not comment on La Tercera’s account.

If confirmed by the court on Monday, it would be the first damages order to have been leveled against Chile’s powerful Roman Catholic Church for a scandal of sex abuse and cover-up that prompted Pope Francis to apologize to its faithful.

Legal experts have said it could pave the way for more claims amid a new climate of discovery which has seen hundreds of people come forward to allege they were abused and criminal prosecutors launch scores of new investigations.

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[Karadima victims react to ruling against Archdiocese of Santiago: “Should mark the end of impunity in clerical sexual abuse cases”]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 21, 2018

La Corte de Santiago falló a favor de la demanda por $ 450 millones presentada por las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton y José Murillo, quienes reaccionaron hoy a través de un comunicado. “La justicia chilena y el Vaticano están en la misma línea por acabar con la cultura del abuso y el encubrimiento, cultura de la que los Cardenales son fieles representantes”, señalan.

El jueves 18, en un fallo unánime, los ministros Miguel Vásquez, Javier Moya y el abogado integrante Jaime Guerrero decidieron dar curso a la demanda de indemnización con la que el Arzobispado de Santiago deberá pagar $ 450 millones a las víctimas de Karadima por el perjuicio que les significó haber encubierto las denuncias contra el expárroco de El Bosque.

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[Santiago Archdiocese will wait for ruling before determining next steps]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 21, 2018

By Angélica Vera

El revés judicial se dio debido a nuevos antecedentes en el marco de la investigación del llamado caso Karadima. Esta es la compensación más alta que ha debido dar la Iglesia hasta ahora.

El Arzobispado de Santiago se refirió a través de corta declaración pública al fallo a favor de la demanda de las víctimas del ex párroco del Bosque, Fernando Karadima y que obliga a la institución el pago de $ 450 millones a los denunciantes por el perjuicio que les significó haber encubierto las denuncias.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
PennLive.com

October 20, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

The Catholic Church has historically responded to the crisis of the sexual abuse of children by priests as a pastoral challenge.

Victim after victim has been offered counseling and therapeutic services. Priests too were sent off to counseling and, in time, returned to ministry.

To this day, hundreds of victims have letters from bishops expressing regrets over the moral failings of priests. Indeed, few clerics or church officials in the U.S. Catholic Church have met with adjudication or criminal convictions.

Much has changed.

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[The other victory for Karadima’s victims: Court orders Church to pay out millions]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 21, 2018

La Corte de Santiago falló a favor de la demanda por $450 millones presentada por las víctimas de Fernando Karadima tras la entrega de nuevos antecedentes en los que se comprobarían actos de encubrimiento de la jerarquía eclesiástica.

“La verdad es esta: era necesario pedir la intervención del promotor de justicia, conforme al acuerdo de la Conferencia Episcopal. La presentación de las denuncias ante el promotor normalmente calma la agresividad de los acusantes. Por respeto al P. Karadima no le pedí al promotor que lo interrogara; solo le pedí a mons. Andrés Arteaga su parecer. Él consideró que todo era absolutamente inverosímil. Como se trataba de hechos prescritos, cerré la investigación. Así quise protegerlos, consciente de que mi manera de proceder, si los acusadores llevasen algún día el caso a la prensa, se volcaría en contra de mí”.

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WASHINGTON (PA)
Observer-Reporter

October 21, 2018

We’ve become rather accustomed, unfortunately, to our state lawmakers failing to successfully tackle major issues, whether it be properly funding our public schools or reducing the size of our obscenely expensive Legislature. Now we can add aiding victims of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal to that list.

Members of the state Senate packed up and left town Wednesday, presumably for the last time in this session, without acting on a House bill, or a substitute measure more to its liking, aimed at helping those who were abused by pedophile priests. There are re-election campaigns to be run, don’t you know.

The House bill would have provided a window for abuse victims to sue the church for its systemic failure to protect children from predatory priests, as outlined in the report issued by the grand jury called by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to look into clergy abuse in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses. But state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, proved to be an unmovable obstruction.

Scarnati was fine with granting a reprieve from the statute of limitations and providing a window for sex-abuse victims to sue, but he wanted to allow these victims to sue only those who assaulted them, and not the church institutions that stand accused of covering up abuse.

In a story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Shapiro called that approach “disgraceful.”

“A priest earns about $25,000 a year and will have no ability to pay for the mental-health counseling and the drug and alcohol counseling, the services that these victims need,” said Shapiro. “The only entity that can help support these victims, ironically, is the institution that enabled the abuse, and they are exempt.”

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BURLINGTON (VT)
VTDigger

By Kevin O’Connor

October 21 2018

Before Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne invited questions at a recent press conference pledging cooperation with a current local and state investigation of past church-related misconduct, he turned to reporters with his own inquiry.

“Want me to mike up?” he asked. “Any problem with the sound?”

Longtime observers of the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington couldn’t believe what they were hearing. They remember the church’s muzzling response regarding the late priest Michael Madden, who was charged with sexual improprieties during a 20-year career at five parishes and the local St. Joseph’s Orphanage — the latter the subject of a recent BuzzFeed story that sparked the new probe.

In the 1980s, a county state’s attorney tried to subpoena then-Bishop John Marshall, who served from 1972 to 1992, to testify in court. The diocese, citing the Bible and the U.S. Constitution, argued its leader was immune from such calls.

“In order for the church, its priests and bishops … to enjoy the constitutional right to freely exercise their ecclesiastical or religious functions,” one of its lawyers argued, “it is essential that they have independence from state authority.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

October 21, 2018

By Judy L. Thomas

The call last year from Pope Francis’ representative in Washington took the Rev. Steven Biegler by surprise.

A priest in South Dakota, Biegler learned he was the choice to become the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyo., leading the state’s 55,000 Catholics.

Though sad to leave his parishioners in Rapid City, Biegler was eager to begin ministering to a diocese that encompasses the entire state of Wyoming and covers nearly 100,000 square miles.

Biegler said he was excited to be continuing his journey “of saying yes to the Lord.”

But as it turned out, one of his first major decisions upon arriving in Cheyenne involved saying no.

No to a man who for nearly a quarter century had run the diocese he was now going to lead. A man who spent his first two decades as a beloved priest in Kansas City. And a man who — in large part because of Biegler’s persistence — could become the first Roman Catholic bishop in the country to be prosecuted for sexual abuse of a minor.

Bishop Joseph Hart, 87, stands accused of multiple acts of sexual abuse now deemed credible by both the Missouri and Wyoming dioceses that he served. And though the allegations involve incidents from decades ago, Wyoming stands out from most states when it comes to criminal prosecutions. It has no statute of limitations on criminal cases.

Biegler learned about the complaints against Hart from outgoing Bishop Paul Etienne on his initial visit to Cheyenne.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

October 21, 2018

BY Jill Toyoshiba

Susie McClernon is still dealing with the trauma of the sexual abuse her youngest brother, Kevin Hunter, suffered years ago. Hunter died in 1989.

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SPAIN
EuroWeekly

October 20, 2018

By Tara Rippin

A SPANISH bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse is to lead a commission against paedophilia in the church.

Juan Antonio Menendez has proposed to update its protocols for action against these crimes.

The Bishop of Astorga is reported as saying it will be ‘a matter of recovering and bringing back everything that the civil and canonical regulations have been issuing these years’.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference intends to outline its actions, up to now governed by agreements signed between Spain and the Vatican in 1979, and the Protocol of Action Against Abuses the institute activated in 2010, before many of the documented cases became public.

It comes after Pope Francis declared he wants to open an ‘internal debate’ at a meeting scheduled for February 2019, to which all presidents of the conferences are expected to attend.

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

October 21, 2018

The Roman Catholic Church, so much at the center of bad news over the past couple of years due to the child sex-abuse scandal involving hundreds of priests over much of the past half-century, experienced a happy, proud and prayerful day last Sunday as Pope Francis elevated to sainthood a former pope and a martyred Salvadoran church leader.

The new saints are Pope Paul VI, who served as pontiff from 1963 to 1978, presiding over the modernizing church reforms of the 1960s, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, who voiced fearless denunciations of the military oppression at the start of El Salvador’s 1980-92 civil war and who was murdered as he celebrated Mass on March 24, 1980, in a hospital chapel.

Many Latin Americans used the words “historic day” in referring to the canonization and the fact that Francis, the first Latin American pope, presided over the important canonization ceremony.

But despite the joy that last Sunday brought to Catholics around the world, the stain on the church stemming from the sex-abuse scandal remains imprinted now and is destined not to be forgotten.

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LEHIGH VALLEY (PA)
Lehigh Valley Live

October 21, 2018

By Express-Times opinion staff

The timing was probably coincidental.

Late Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Senate adjourned without acting on a bill to give adult victims of child sexual abuse their day in court.

On Thursday, the Associated Press broke the news that a U.S. attorney in Philadelphia has launched a federal investigation into the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal, following up on a state grand jury report that ripped open long-held secrets.

The state investigation showed more than 1,000 children had been abused by 300-some priests in six dioceses, including Allentown. It detailed the lengths to which church authorities went to ignore or cover up the crimes.

Prosecutors in other states are opening investigations. The federal probe will examine the extent that children were exploited, determine whether federal laws were broken — and see whether efforts to hide evidence and subvert justice within the church rise to the level of racketeering.

This is a welcome follow-up to the grand jury findings. Have at it.

The state Senate, however, still doesn’t get it.

Instead of adopting a House-passed bill that would open a two-year window for older survivors to sue their alleged abusers and the institutions that protected them, the Senate punted. Senate President Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, offered a compromise — allowing adult victims a limited period to sue their abusers, but not the church. As an alternative, he supports a church-backed fund to make out-of-court settlements to victims.

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ERIE (PA)
Outside the Beltway

October 21, 2018

By Doug Mataconis

Based in no small part on the recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury report that uncovered thousands of child victims of sexual abuse by Catholic Priests that was covered up by Catholic authorities in power at the time, the Justice Department is opening its own investigation:

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania accused of covering up sex abuse for decades, a significant escalation in scrutiny of the church.

The inquiry is believed to be the first statewide investigation by the federal government of the church’s sex abuse problems. And it comes two months after the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office released an explosive grand jury report charging that bishops and other church leaders had covered up the abuse of more than 1,000 people over a period of more than 70 years.

Seven of the eight dioceses in the state, Philadelphia, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Allentown all said they had received federal grand jury subpoenas from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania requesting documents. The eighth, Altoona-Johnstown, did not respond to a request for comment.

“This subpoena is no surprise considering the horrific misconduct detailed in the statewide grand jury report,” said the Diocese of Greensburg in a statement. “Survivors, parishioners and the public want to see proof that every diocese has taken sweeping, decisive and impactful action to make children safer.”

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QATAR
Al Jazeera

October 20, 2018

by Heidi Zhou-Castro

The US Justice Department has opened an investigation into child sex abuse by priests in Pennsylvania.

At least one sexual abuse survivor discovered that the very church official to whom he had reported abuse now faces sexual abuse accusations of his own.

The survivor, who now leads a group of clerical abuse survivors that is demanding reform and justice from the Catholic Church, spoke with Al Jazeera.

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CANADA
Yahoo News

October 18, 2018

This story is based on a report by Anne Panasuk of the investigative program, Enquête. Watch Enquête’s full report here, in French.

“He’d let us drive. He knew how to do everything. We were impressed to see a priest act that way,” recalls Jason Petiquay.

Petiquay was 11 when he was sexually abused by Raynald Couture, an Oblate missionary who worked in Wemotaci, Que., from 1981 to 1991.

The Atikamekw community 285 kilometres north of Trois-Rivières was one of many remote First Nations communities in Quebec where priests belonging to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) were spiritual leaders and authority figures for generations.

Petiquay described how Couture would lure young boys to his cabin by inviting them for a ride on his all-terrain vehicle or in his pick-up truck.

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

October 19, 2018

Even when stressing the importance of reporting abuse, Pope Francis manages to miss the mark.

Last weekend, while addressing seminarians who were visiting The Vatican, the Pope told the visitors to report any suspicions of abuse to their bishops instead of local law enforcement.

Despite decades of evidence that institutions are incapable of properly handling these kind of suspicions or investigations, Pope Francis is essentially endorsing the church’s centuries-old practice of trying to handle crimes internally. By giving this bad advice to prospective priests, he’s endangering kids.

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

October 19, 2018

Yesterday we learned about a sweeping investigation by the Department of Justice into Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. Today we have learned that the investigation is wider than we thought.

The news that the DOJ investigation has spread to the Diocese of Buffalo shows that this investigation is deeper and more encompassing than we had previously imagined. It is also not surprising.

In March, Bishop Malone made news by releasing a list of 42 names of priests “credibly accused” of abuse. In September, he made news again when CNN revealed that the list was incomplete and that dozens of priests had gone unreported due to their inclusion in “secret archives” kept by the Diocese. It was clear then as it is clear now that institutions cannot be relied on to police themselves. For that reason, we are glad that the Department of Justice has decided to do it for them.

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NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald

October 18, 2018

By Joanne McCarthy

NSW Parliament has abolished the “vile and unjust” legal defence that allowed the Catholic Church to hide behind property trusts and deny child sexual abuse survivors fair compensation.

The abolition of the “Ellis Defence”, named after the survivor who tried to sue the Sydney Archdiocese and lost because there was no entity to sue, ends more than a decade of survivors accepting settlements after advice they would not win in court while the defence was available to the church.

Greens MP and justice spokesperson David Shoebridge, a barrister who played a key role in the 2012 campaign for a child sexual abuse royal commission, welcomed the legislative reform which was passed in the NSW Parliament late on Wednesday night, but said it should have happened years earlier.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KYW Newsradio

October 19, 2018

By Steve Tawa

While U.S. Justice Department follows up on subpoenas it issued to eight Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania in the priest sex abuse scandal, seeking private files and records, victim advocates point to what they call a culture of silence and coverup. There is some speculation as to whether a tool used to take down mobsters could come into play.

Former prosecutors and defense lawyers involved in famous Philadelphia mob cases in the 1980s, mostly centering on Nicodemo Scarfo, the former crime family boss, shared some thoughts on whether the feds will employ the federal RICO statute. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, was originally passed to bring down the Mafia.

Most agree that it would be “interesting if the feds employ the RICO tool, to go after the upper hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.” To prove a RICO violation, prosecutors must prove a pattern of criminal activity in two or more predicate acts connected to the enterprise. While there may be a statute of limitations dating back just ten years, a former leading prosecutor says if one of them is within the time frame, the others can date back to infinity. He adds the “Roman Catholic Church is as much an enterprise as the mob.”

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DE PERE (WI)
WLUK

October 19, 2018

By Ben Krumholz

FOX 11 has learned that St. Norbert College has hired a third-party investigator to look into allegations that an administrator mishandled reports of sexual assaults on campus.

St. Norbert President Brian Bruess confirms the investigation into Rev. Jay Fostner is in response to a request from hundreds of alumni.

Fostner is the Vice President for Mission and Student Affairs as well as an assistant professor of psychology.

Margaret Uselman, a 2017 graduate of St. Norbert, wrote a lengthy social media post in September outlining incidents involving Fostner. She accused Fostner of, “gaslighting, manipulating, and blaming students, using his volatile temper in a manner that kept students in a state of dis-ease, and covering up for abusers on campus.”

Uselman’s post led to a letter to St. Norbert President Brian Bruess, which has now been signed by more than 300 graduates. The letter asks Bruess for a transparent investigation of Fostner. It states among the stories of survivors being shared regarding Fostner, “there is a consistent pattern of covering up sexual misconduct, disregard for the Title IX process, and placing survivors under duress with the goal of silencing them.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Crux

October 20, 2018

By Dennis Sadowski

The firestorm surrounding the clergy sex abuse crisis and the way some bishops handled allegations of abuse against priests will be an important part of the agenda of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall general assembly.

The bishops have had to deal with seemingly endless revelations of allegations of abusive clergy since June, most of which referred to long-past incidents. New reports from media outlets also were expected as the Nov. 12-14 assembly in Baltimore approaches.

Bishops nationwide also are facing new challenges as several state attorneys general have opened investigations into the handling of abuse allegations. The investigations follow the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August that linked more than 300 priests and church workers to abuse claims and identified more than 1,000 victims over a 70-year period dating from 1947.

The USCCB has not directly addressed the investigations and has not offered any indication that it will advise bishops on how to respond.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

October 19, 2018

By Jacob Tierney

Bishop Edward Malesic will visit seven parishes in the Greensburg Diocese starting next week to listen to concerns and questions regarding the wide-ranging accusations of sexual abuse and cover-ups included in a grand jury report released in August.

The diocese created a Safe Environment Advisory Council that will attend the sessions and advise the church on how to best protect children. The council is composed of both Catholics and non-Catholics, including an abuse survivor, a psychologist and a retired state trooper.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

October 19, 2018

By Megan Cassidy

One of 15 former priests named by the Diocese of San Jose this week as credibly accused child sex abusers is facing new allegations of molesting young girls in Santa Clara County.

The diocese report made public Thursday states that 90-year-old Hernan Toro was convicted of sexual misconduct with a child 35 years ago while in Santa Clara. He went on to spend seven more years working in South Bay and Peninsula churches before being permanently banned from the ministry in 1990, church officials said.

But the report makes no note of the current allegations against Toro, who is now in jail and accused of molesting two girls between 2011 and 2015.

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SANTA CLARA (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

October 20, 2018

By Dan Morris-Young

Priest, abuse survivor stresses importance of listening to victims

Calls for radical structural reform, a more pastoral understanding of clerical sex abuse, and an informed-rather-than-emotional approach to the church’s sex abuse and authority crises were issued by panelists during an Oct. 9 public discussion at Santa Clara University.

Titled “The Catholic Church and the Catastrophe of Clergy Sexual Abuse,” the livestreamed event packed the auditorium of the Jesuit university’s de Saisset Museum with a cross-section of students and community members and drew significant Bay Area media attention.

Fr. Brendan McGuire, first of the four panelists to present, recounted his own sexual abuse at the age of 18 nearly 35 years ago by a priest he knew well.

McGuire, who is pastor of San Jose’s Holy Spirit Parish and the San Jose Diocese’s vicar general for special projects, traced how he had been “groomed” by the cleric for nearly four years until he was 18 when the now-deceased abuser forced his “final play” on McGuire, by then legally an adult

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SAN JOSE (CA)
KRON

October 19, 2018

By Haaziq Madyun

The Catholic Diocese of San Jose has released 15 names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of children.

The church says it attempted to make this list as accurate and complete as possible. The list includes the names of priests, the allegations, the year the abuse allegedly occurred, the year it was reported to the Diocese of San Jose, the current status of the priest, and if they are either permanently banned from the ministry, retired, or no longer living–and a history of their assignments.

There is only one priest on the list with a report made in 2018, Father Phil Sunseri. He has a previous report of abuse in 1987.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
NBC Bay Area

October 19, 2018

By Michael Bott, Stephen Stock, and Jeremy Carroll

A man who says he was sexually abused by a San Jose priest said he’s speaking out for the first time after the priest dismissed those allegations on the news Thursday night as a “misunderstanding.”

That priest is Father Phil Sunseri, a Jesuit priest dismissed from the Society of Jesus in the late 1980’s after he was accused of sexual misconduct. He was one of 15 priests the San Jose Diocese said Thursday have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse in the South Bay. One of Sunseri’s accusers said he’s now telling his story publicly for the first time to encourage other victims to report abuse.

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POWAY (CA)
Fox 5 TV San Diego

October 18, 2018

It was another packed house at the Saint Gabriel’s Conference Hall in Poway Thursday evening where the Catholic Diocese of San Diego held another in a series of “listening sessions” regarding systemic sexual misconduct by church leaders reported across the country.

Church officials say the sessions are designed to give members of the public a chance to speak out, ask questions and suggest ways the church can do better. “A lot of it really boils down to: ‘How do we make sure the church is accountable, that this church is accountable, and that their voices count,'” said Kevin Eckery the Vice Chancellor of the San Diego Diocese.

The meeting was the seventh in a series of eight meetings planned across San Diego County. The last is scheduled for Nov. 5 at University of San Diego.

Previous meetings have been filled to maximum capacity and Thursday was no exception.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

October 19, 2018

By Maryclaire Dale and Eric Tucker

Two years ago, a federal prosecutor in Pittsburgh considered filing a racketeering lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese over its handling of child sex-abuse complaints, but left office before he could make the bold move.

However, a colleague in Philadelphia is now taking aim at the church this month, sending grand jury subpoenas to dioceses throughout Pennsylvania as he tries to build a federal criminal case centered on child exploitation.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain of Philadelphia has a head start on the work, given the sweeping state grand jury report released this summer, which found that 301 priests molested more than 1,000 children over seven decades. McSwain, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Marine sniper platoon commander, was appointed by President Trump and took office just four months ago.

“It’s a courageous move, whenever prosecutors take on something that there’s no precedent for, that is uncertain. You’re investing resources with potentially no return. But it needs to be done,” said David Hickton, the former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh who looked at the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in 2016.

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VATICAN CITY
The Wall Street Journal

October 19, 2018

By Francis X. Rocca and Ryan Dube

The pope’s keen instincts as a communicator have abandoned him at crucial moments, especially in Chile, which is no longer dominated by the church

Pope Francis took charge of the Catholic Church promising a new style of leadership that would make the church more open, candid and dedicated to the vulnerable. His response to the long-running clerical abuse scandal is undermining those goals.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 19, 2018

By Laurie Goodstein

As Catholic bishops try to reassure the flock that the church is finally confronting the scourge of sexual abuse by priests, it has fallen to Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the president of the American bishops conference, to lead the effort.

“I have no illusions about the degree to which trust in the bishops has been damaged by these past sins and failures,” said Cardinal DiNardo, in one of the many statements he has issued on sexual abuse in recent weeks. “It will take work to rebuild that trust.”

Yet Cardinal DiNardo himself has recently been criticized for allowing a priest accused of abuse to serve in a parish in his archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, disregarding the warnings by a young woman who said she told the cardinal in person seven years ago that this priest had molested her when she was 16.

The priest, who also served as the vicar for Hispanics for the archdiocese, was not removed from ministry until August, when a second victim stepped forward and the priest was arrested and charged with four counts of indecency with a child.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

October 20, 2018

The U.S. Justice Department is finally investigating seven Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania for violating child pornography laws and the Mann Act, which bans crossing state lines for sex. Where was the U.S. attorney general 16 years ago when we first learned about the priest sex abuse cover-up? Why aren’t RICO laws being enforced in every state? Why has Timothy Cardinal Dolan suddenly hired retired federal prosecutor Barbara Jones to vet how the New York Archdiocese handled pedophile priests? There are too many unanswered questions. According to USCCB 19,001 children were abused by 6,846 Catholic priests. The church has to be held accountable. The late Fr. Andrew Greeley estimated that priests molested well in excess of 100,000 kids. If every U.S. diocese opened its files and financial books to the DOJ authorities we may have fewer sex assault victims in the future. Thomas Patrick Folan

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 19, 2018

By Michael McDonald

SNAP Philadelphia Leader Michael McDonnell has called on the Pennsylvania State Senate to add additional legislative days to this years calendar and revive their work on statutes of limitations reform. On Wed. Oct. 17th, Senate GOP leaders pushed a bill that would have allowed victims of childhood sexual abuse by the clergy to file a civil suit but only on their perpetrator, leaving institutions like the Catholic church without fault. We believe that this proposal is unacceptable because the institutions who enabled the years of cover-up must be also held accountable alongside the abusers themselves.

Given that so many survivors were abused as children, they often do not come forward with their experiences until many years later. Providing for a two-year window would not only give survivors their much-asked-for day in court but will afford a chance at accountability for both those who prey on children and vulnerable adults as well as the institutions that have enabled them.

“We hope the Pennsylvania State Senate sees the importance of getting S.B. 261 to the floor, with Rep. Mark Rozzi’s amendment, for a full Senate vote,” said McDonnell. “Victims deserve their day in court.”

CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, (mcdo1268@gmail.com, 267-261-0578)

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post Gazette

October 19, 2018

By Liz Navratil and Angela Couloumbis

A complicated game of calculus ensued Thursday after the Senate failed during its last voting session to reach any agreement on changes that would allow victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits for decades-old damage.

Was there still a glimmer of hope or was the “window” to temporarily loosen the civil statute of limitations to allow lawsuits closed? Nobody seemed certain.

Everything screeched to a halt about 11 p.m. Wednesday as support seemed to teeter for a compromise measure championed by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson. The plan would have given some abuse victims two years in which to sue for decades-old abuse — but only to sue their abusers, not the institutions that may have ignored or covered up the crimes.

That was unacceptable to the victims and their supporters in the Senate, so neither Mr. Scarnati’s plan nor the House-passed bill temporarily opening up liability to institutions such as the Catholic Church went anywhere.

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AUSTRALIA
STARTS AT 60

October 18, 2018

Child abuse survivor, social worker, fierce campaigner; these are just a few ways to describe the inspirational Steve Fisher, whose fighting spirit has helped to change the future of thousands across the country.

Sexually abused by notorious pedophile priest Garth Hawkins when just a teenager, the Beyond Abuse founder has made it his mission to ensure other victims across the country receive the justice they deserve.

For the past 18 years Steve has fought for a change in laws to lift the veil of secrecy currently protecting priests from reporting sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy.

Now, the survivor has finally reached success in his home state of Tasmania, as the government moves to enforce the law, following in the lead of South Australia.

Although incredibly rewarding, the battle for change hasn’t been easy for Steve, who was one of seven victims Hawkins abused throughout the 1970s and ’80s. While the pedophile priest, who now goes by the name of Robin Goodfellow, was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2003, it hasn’t dulled the pain and emotions brought up by the experience.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Deseret News

October 19, 2018

By Jerry Earl Johnston

I just read another news story about the sex-abuse scandal inundating the Catholic Church.

For Catholics, it is becoming a moral holocaust.

And yet, for decades, there have been inklings of a serious issue.

While jokes and cartoons about priests and altar boys might have been around for more than 50 years ago, even appearing occasionally in mainstream magazines, nobody’s laughing at those cartoons today.

The Catholic sex scandal has exploded, leaving thousands of victims in its rubble. Like a hand grenade, it has produced collateral damage. Millions of bystanders continue to be hit by shrapnel.

I am one.

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BREVARD COUNTY (FL)
Florida Today

October 19, 2018

By John Byron, Community columnist

You’d have to be living off the grid to not know the Catholic Church is going through tough times — of the church’s own making:

• Sexual abuse of children by priests;

• Senior clergy coercing seminarians into sexual relations;

• Sex crimes by priests routinely covered up by church officials;

• U.S. Catholic Church membership down 20 percent;

• Church membership plummeting in Catholic strongholds such as Ireland, Brazil and the rest of Latin America;

• Over 3,000 sex-abuse lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church in the United States;

• Eight Catholic dioceses gone bankrupt paying restitution to victims;

• More than 1,000 Pennsylvania children found to have been abused by hundreds of priests;

• Recent report of 3,600 sexual abuse cases involving Catholic clergy in Germany;

• State investigations of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Florida and a new federal investigation in Pennsylvania;

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

October 19, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

In a new and now third public letter, a former Vatican envoy to the United States said the Vatican’s top official for overseeing bishops confirmed many of his accusations of negligence in the handling of an infamous ex-cardinal charged with sexual abuse and once again pointed to homosexuality as the cause of the abuse crisis facing the Catholic Church.

“Cardinal [Marc] Ouellet concedes the important claims that I did and do make, and disputes claims I don’t make and never made,” said Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in a letter published on the blog of Italian conservative journalist Marco Tosatti Oct. 19.

Earlier this month, Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, published a letter accusing Viganò of a political “frame job” and a “deplorable and incomprehensible attack” on Pope Francis, after Viganò accused the pontiff of knowing about sexual misconduct concerns regarding ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 and taking no action. In his original letter released Aug. 26, Viganò called on Francis to resign.

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[Judges and prosecutors defend reforms that would force Catholic Church to denounce all cases of pedophilia]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 16, 2018

By Julio Núñez

Entre los cambios se encuentra la tipificación del delito como público y la prolongación de los plazos de prescripción

Las asociaciones mayoritarias de fiscales y jueces españoles proponen una reforma legislativa sobre los abusos sexuales que faciliten la denuncia y la persecución de dichos delitos. Las modificaciones planteadas son: eliminar o prolongar los plazos de prescripción del crimen (en España el delito prescribe a los 10 años después de que el menor haya cumplido 18 años) y cambiar su tipificación: de delito semipúblico (en el que solo puede denunciar la víctima o su tutor si es menor de edad) a delito público, en el que cualquier persona estaría obligada a denunciarlo. Con estos cambios legislativos, la Iglesia católica estaría obligada a denunciar todos los casos de pederastia, sean de mayores o de menores, que conociese o instruyese a través de su proceso eclesiástico.

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[Spanish Church plans to force clergy to report abuses to prosecutors]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 19, 2018

By José Manuel Romero and Julio Núñez

El presidente de la comisión episcopal antipederastia defiende actualizar los protocolos para adecuarlos a la ley del menor. Los fiscales consideran insuficiente la medida

La Iglesia española pretende actualizar sus protocolos ante los casos de abusos a menores de manera que, a partir de ahora, los obispos o sacerdotes estén obligados a notificar a la fiscalía las denuncias que reciban. El protocolo de la Conferencia Episcopal vigente desde 2010 señala tan solo que “la autoridad eclesiástica invita o aconseja a las víctimas a denunciar ellos mismos los hechos ante la policía, el ministerio fiscal o el juzgado”.

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[The Chilean Church’s other secret]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 19, 2018

By Michelle Chapochnick

En un hermetismo infranqueable permanecen ocultos los casos en que, producto de una relación afectiva, un sacerdote tiene un hijo con una mujer. La jerarquía de la Iglesia católica chilena tiene una política definida para abordar esa situación. Se pueden encontrar diferencias en el tratamiento de un caso y otro, pero la norma es que se otorgue protección económica a los hijos de un religioso si es que sigue en el camino sacerdotal y, al mismo tiempo, se le instruye que se desvincule totalmente y para siempre del menor.

Hace varios años, en medio del caso Karadima, llegaron a mis manos antecedentes desconocidos sobre la Iglesia católica chilena. Inicié una investigación al respecto, que por diversos motivos –que no vale la pena explicar en detalle ahora –nunca terminé entonces ni tampoco más tarde, a pesar de varios intentos.

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[In Rancagua, two accused priests of “the brotherhood” are reinstated]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 18, 2018

Luego que las investigaciones canónicas y de la justicia arrojaron que las denuncias “no son verosímiles”, los párrocos Aquiles Correa y Gino Bonomo retomarán sus labores religiosas.

El administrador apostólico de la Diócesis de Rancagua, obispo Fernando Ramos restituyó en sus funciones a los sacerdotes Aquiles Correa y Gino Bonomo, quienes fueron involucrados en el caso de abusos sexuales dentro de una organización denominada la “Cofradía”.

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[Letters indicate that Errázuriz did not take statements in investigation into Karadima]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 18, 2018

By María José Villarroel and Nicole Martínez

La Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago revisó el recurso de casación y apelación por la demanda civil de víctimas del expárroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, contra el Arzobispado capitalino por encubrimiento. La audiencia se extendió por más de tres horas, la mitad de ella fue utilizada para leer los antecedentes de este caso. El recurso pretende que se revise el rechazo que tuvo esta demanda civil en un principio, en la cual piden indemnización por encubrimientos de delitos sexuales.

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[Errázuriz’s letter describes Karadima as “not very intelligent” and demanding to be treated as a saint]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 19, 2018

By María José Villarroel and Nicole Martínez

En el marco de la demanda civil de las víctimas del expárroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, contra el Arzobispado de Santiago por encubrimientos a casos de abuso sexual, la defensa dio a conocer un nuevo antecedente que podría ser considerado por la Corte de Apelaciones. Se trata de una carta del 1 de febrero de 2009 que envió el cardenal emérito Francisco Javier Errázuriz para el nuncio Ivo Scapolo, en la que le cuenta los procedimientos que realizó con respecto a esta denuncia en contra de Karadima.

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ROME
Crux

October 19, 2018

By Elise Harris

Paola Ugaz, an investigative journalist and co-author of the blockbuster book Half Monks, Half Soldiers, that details years of abuse inside the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), is the second journalist to be sued by Archbishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura, a member of the group, on charges of defamation.

Ugaz received the complaint, filed before the Fifth Single-Judge Criminal Court and liquidator of the Superior Court of Justice of Piura, at her home in Lima, charging her with defamation and asking that she pay a fine of more than $60,000 dollars and spend three years in jail.

Nearly three months ago, on July 31, Pedro Salinas, a former SCV member and a co-author of the book, was served by the archbishop with similar charges and asked to pay the same fine and serve jail time. The complaint followed the publication by Salinas of a series of articles and interviews making various accusations against Eguren Anselmi, which he refused to retract when asked to do so by the archbishop.

In comments to Crux, the Archdiocese of Piura said they are handling the case against Ugaz in the same way as the case against Salinas, which is to “leave it in the hands of justice.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Guardian

October 19, 2018

By Harriet Sherwood

The church is reeling from the fallout as at least 13 states have launched investigations, and pews are emptying

A few weeks after the devastating extent of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania was laid bare in a 900-page grand jury report, Father Michael Stumpf was approached by one of his parishioners.

“She demanded: ‘What do you know?’ And with a shock, I realised that because I’m a member of the clergy, people think I’m complicit. And I can totally understand why,” said the priest at St Mary of the Mount, which overlooks downtown Pittsburgh.

“I’ve had feedback in the last few weeks that I’ve never experienced before. It’s been challenging and disturbing – but also encouraging. The candour with which people have spoken has been refreshing. There’s an awakening and an empowerment because of this.

“Are we seeing fewer people coming to church, a decrease in people’s giving? Yes, some – a little. People let their voices be heard in one way or another.”

One of his parishioners, who did not want her name published, was more blunt: “Close friends of mine feel the church is tainted. Some won’t attend mass any more.”

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Courier Journal

October 18, 2018

By Caitlin McGlade

The Archdiocese of Louisville on Thursday touted reforms implemented since 2002, when hundreds of people revealed that priests had abused them as children.

Abuse survivors and their advocates dismissed the effort as nothing new and underwhelming.

“They’re like Marlboro cigarettes,” said Jeff Koenig, who was abused by a priest as a child. “They’re just trying to make their name brand look good and keep their name brand alive.”

While revealing no new information about sex-abuse allegations, church leaders professed their allegiance to rules and training programs designed to create safe environments for children and healing support for survivors.

They did acknowledge that more should be done. Chancellor Brian Reynolds pledged to take advice from child sex-abuse survivors as the church creates new ways to offer them support.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Gatehouse Media Illinois

October 18, 2018

This isn’t the first such lawsuit that Jeff Anderson & Associates has jointly filed against Catholic dioceses in the U.S.

Earlier this month, Anderson’s firm filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the Vatican. That suit seeks the release of files maintained by church leaders and the names of all offenders worldwide, “held secret by the Vatican, who sexually abused kids, many of whom remain in ministry and in our communities today.” That suit also seeks the disclosure “of all top officials held secret by the Vatican who were known and found to be complicit in the cover-up of child sexual abuse, including Vatican officials, Cardinals, Bishops, and religious superiors worldwide.”

In September, a lawsuit was filed in Hawaii by Kailua lawyer Mark Gallagher and Anderson’s firm on behalf of a man who alleged he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1980s. That lawsuit, naming as defendants the Diocese of Honolulu and the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, a religious order, accused the priest of molesting the man when he was a child.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
CNHI

October 19, 2018

By John Finnerty

Advocates aren’t giving up on the crusade to get the state to open a window to let adults who’d been molested as children sue beyond the normal statute of limitations, even though the state Senate failed to pass legislation to allow that to happen before ending its session on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the findings of a statewide grand jury into sexual abuse by clergy and church leaders’ conduct are now being investigated by the U.S Department of Justice.

As the Associated Press first reported Thursday, the Justice Department has opened an investigation of child sexual abuse inside the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, using subpoenas to demand confidential files and testimony from church leaders.

The subpoenas, served last week, follow a scathing state grand jury report over the summer that found that 301 “predator priests” in Pennsylvania had molested more than 1,000 children over several decades and that church leaders had covered up for the offenders.

“The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg will cooperate fully with this inquiry, just as it has with the Office of Attorney General’s investigation,” a statement from Rachel Bryson, executive director of public relations for the diocese, said. “The Diocese has worked to be open and transparent regarding the issue of child sexual abuse and its past.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
KMTV

October 18, 2018

By Maya Saenz

Omaha archbishop name mentioned in lawsuit

The scandal rocking the Catholic church is hitting closer to home. This time an accuser says she met with Archbishop George Lucas after making complaints about two priests.

Lucas was the bishop in Springfield, IL at the time of the claims. On Thursday, one of the plaintiffs specifically mentioned Lucas by name at a news conference in Chicago announcing a lawsuit.

Lucas is not being sued, however, he was mentioned by a plaintiff as having done nothing to investigate claims of priests sexually abusing kids.

During a press conference, three men and a one woman who say they were sexually abused by priests decades ago filed a lawsuit against every diocese in Illinois for an alleged ongoing scheme to cover up sexual assault by priests.

“I remember clearly in the late 80s. In my late teens, early twenties. I said, someday I will be healthy enough and I will be healed enough that I will do something about this,” said plaintiff Cynthia Yesko.

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CHICAGO (IL)
GLT 89.1 FM

October 18, 2018

By Eric Stock and Ryan Denham

UPDATED 4:10 p.m. | The Catholic Church in Illinois has been sued by four people who claim they were sexually abused by priests and that the church protected the priests by concealing the abuse.

Two of the victims claim they were abused in the Peoria diocese.

The public nuisance lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cook County names the Catholic Conference of Illinois and each of the six Catholic dioceses in Illinois.

“(It’s) a conspiracy of silence, a conspiracy of secrecy, a conspiracy of self-protection and scandal avoidance,” attorney Jeff Anderson said at a news conference in Chicago.

The 54-page complaint asks the Catholic church to release the names of each priest or church leader accused of child molestation and to implement policies that would “better protect children and the general public from further harm.”

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
WAND

October 18, 2018

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of victims alleging clergy abuse against each diocese and bishop in the Catholic church in the state of Illinois.

The suit, filed in Chicago, seeks to force the church and its bishops to open files on abuse by priests and by what lawyers call a cover-up to hide those abuse cases. Some of those cases date back decades and many of the priests involved are either dead or no longer in active ministry.

Among those claiming to have been abused is Cindy Yesko. Yesko says she was abused in the Springfield Diocese beginning at the age of six.

“I was abused, sexually abused, by two different priests,” said Yesko of the two priests who are now dead. “At the time I was too little to do anything about it. I was really scared and it was overwhelming.”

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BROOKVILLE (PA)
The Associated Press

October 17, 2018

A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing two boys and having one confess afterward is scheduled to appear in a western Pennsylvania courtroom Wednesday for what is described as a plea hearing.

The case’s online court record does not specify the type of plea that involves the Rev. David Lee Poulson, 65, of Oil City, who was arrested in May.

Poulson is one of two priests charged as a result of a statewide grand jury investigationthat concluded about 300 priests had abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades. The report has roiled the Catholic church and prompted calls for Pennsylvania state legislation to allow people to file civil lawsuits over child sexual abuse allegations that would otherwise be too old to pursue.

The other, the Rev. John Thomas Sweeney of the Greensburg Diocese, pleaded guilty to indecent assault this summer and awaits sentencing.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN9/The Associated Press

October 18, 2018

By Gaynor Hall

Three men and one woman who say they were sexually abused by priests decades ago filed a lawsuit Thursday against every diocese in Illinois for an alleged ongoing scheme to cover up sexual assault by priests.

The lawsuit was filed in Chicago by attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented clergy abuse victims across the country, and seeks to compel dioceses throughout Illinois to provide the names of all their priests accused of child molestation.

“Defendants have, for decades, and continue to adopt policies and practices of covering up criminal activity… (that) have endangered numerous children in the past and these practices will continue to put children at risk in the future,” reads the lawsuit against all six dioceses in Illinois, as well as the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Courier Journal

October 19, 2018

By Michael Norris, Opinion contributor

I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at the age of 10 at a summer camp. At that age, I knew nothing about sex, so I did not fully comprehend what this man was doing to me.

On top of that, the fact that I was taught that a Catholic priest is an extension of God, it was as if God was molesting me.

Because my mother was a devout Catholic, I knew she revered priests and their status in the community. I felt it was easier for me to not talk about the abuse than to tell my mother, thinking she wouldn’t believe me anyway.

My teenage years were very difficult as a result of the abuse. I lacked constructive coping mechanisms, which led to drug and alcohol abuse, culminating with a suicide attempt. At the age of 17, after dropping out of high school, I joined the Navy. I held the story internally for 15 years, not telling anyone.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

October 18, 2018

By Sam Charles

Four survivors of sexual abuse by priests filed a public nuisance and conspiracy lawsuit against every diocese in the state Thursday, asking a judge to order the release of all records related to every abusive priest in Illinois.

Jeff Anderson, one of the attorneys who filed the suit, said the goal was to expose “a conspiracy of silence, a conspiracy of secrecy, a conspiracy of self-protection and scandal-avoidance that is causing a hazard and a danger in real time today.”

Anderson said the dioceses have long maintained records of abusive priests who no longer are involved in ministry, as well as records of top church officials “complicit” in covering up abuses.

Three plaintiffs chose to identify themselves; the fourth opted to remain anonymous. None of the alleged attacks occurred within the Archdiocese of Chicago, though Cardinal Blase Cupich heads the Illinois Catholic Conference, which is a defendant in the lawsuit.

Plaintiff Darin Buckman said he was sexually assaulted by a priest in the Peoria Diocese between the late ’70s and early ’80s; he was 8 to 14 years old at the time.

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