ABUSE TRACKER

Legal Examiner

October 16, 2018

By Joseph H. Saunders

After Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro unveiled a bombshell 1,300-page grand jury report detailing the alleged sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children in his state by hundreds of Catholic priests, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched a statewide criminal investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

At a press conference announcing the investigation Bondi said, “We have reason to believe there are similar stories in Florida,” and asked victims to come forward with information. Before the investigation was announced 15 victims had contacted authorities. With an estimated 2 million Catholics in the state, that number is expected to grow as the inquiry proceeds.

Bondi was unsparing in her criticism, saying “Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the Church and a threat to society,” She then announced that investigators from offices including the statewide prosecutor and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will soon issue subpoenas in connection to the investigation. A spokesperson for Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops stated after the press conference that all seven Catholic dioceses in Florida were in dialogue with the statewide prosecutor and cooperating with the investigation.

It was apparent that the Florida Attorney General had been deeply affected by the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. She claimed, “When the case about Pennsylvania aired, I couldn’t sleep that night. The next morning I talked to my statewide prosecutor and said, ‘We have to look into this,’ and he wholeheartedly agreed,” In Pennsylvania it was revealed that 301 priests across six dioceses had been accused of child sex abuse. There are more than 1000 identifiable victims, almost all of them children when the abuse occurred, and that number is expected to continue to grow. Among the chilling accusations was the revelation that “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”

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UNITED STATES
Get Religion

October 15, 2018

By Terry Mattingly

So, how good was the news coverage of the very gentle fall of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, in terms of the stories published in the two elite newspapers that have been driving this story?

Well, that depends.

It appears that the crucial issue — once again — is whether the most important scandal linked to Wuerl at the the moment is (a) his role in efforts to hide the abuse of children and teens, overwhelmingly male, by clergy, (b) his ties to the career and work of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick or (c) some combination of both, since they are often connected.

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NEW YORK (NY)
SNAPnetwork.org

October 16, 2018

By Zach Hiner

For almost a year, Brooklyn Catholic officials refused to tell their flock about a credibly accused predator priest.

According to the Gothamist, the Diocese of Brooklyn “bypassed its own safety protocols” to hire Fr. Roberto Cadavid in 2012. Fr. Cadavid worked in Brooklyn from 2012 through 2017 until he abruptly left the country to return to his native Colombia. But the Diocese waited ten months after Fr. Cadavid’s departure to tell the truth about his absence to their parishioners: the Diocese of Medellin had come forward in June, 2017 to share “Cadavid’s long history of alleged abuse.”

This reckless behavior cannot continue. We call on police and prosecutors to investigate this secrecy, on Brooklyn’s bishop to explain it and on Brooklyn parishioners to protest it.

Brooklyn church officials claim that their overseas colleagues lied to them about Fr. Cadavid. If so, they should be hollering from the rooftops and insisting that Vatican officials discipline those who allegedly deceived them. Let us assume Brooklyn officials are right. This would mean that Catholic officials cannot even be honest with one another about accused predator priests. If that is true (and plenty of evidence in other cases shows this to be true), what are the odds that Catholic officials will be honest with police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public?

This is yet another example of why we call for independent investigations by law enforcement, backed by subpoena power and the ability to compel testimony under oath. Institutions cannot police themselves and cannot be trusted to adjudicate crimes that occur under their roof. We know that New York has already begun a statewide investigation into their dioceses and hope that this information is being brought to their attention.

We urge anyone, in Brooklyn or elsewhere, who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse in New York to make a report to law enforcement and to share their information with New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood by calling the New York state hotline at 1-800-771-7755 or by using their online form.

CONTACT: Zach Hiner, Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009)

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LANCASTER COUNTY (PA)
Lancaster Online

October 14, 2018

The LNP Editorial Board

THE ISSUE

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted Sept. 25 to send to the Senate an amended bill that would provide a two-year retroactive window during which victims of past child sexual abuse could seek justice in civil court. It also would end the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, and give future victims until age 50 to press civil claims. The House approved Senate Bill 261 by a vote of 173-21. The legislation was passed in the wake of a grand jury report released in August that found that 301 “predator priests” in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses had sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades. This week, the state Senate will consider Senate Bill 261.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation Friday of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who came under repeated fire in the grand jury report for his handling of abuse allegations when he served as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The grand jury found that Wuerl returned the Rev. George Zirwas to ministry even after the diocese had gotten reports that Zirwas had sexually abused a number of boys.

Zirwas, it turned out, was part of a ring of priests who circulated pornographic photos of their child victims and gave their victims gold crosses to wear — so they could be readily identified by other predatory priests.

To use the cross — the symbol of Christ’s suffering — in such a depraved way is beyond belief. And there are hundreds more stories of abuse in the grand jury report that left us horrified.

You’d think that report might have spurred the Pennsylvania Senate to act with great urgency on behalf of the victims of priestly abuse.

And yet, the Senate has put the matter off. Just three session days remain before the Nov. 6 election — Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

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SAGINAW (MI)
MIlive.com

October 16, 2018

By Cole Waterman

Months after announcing his cancer diagnosis, Saginaw Diocese Bishop Joseph R. Cistone has died at age 69.

Erin Looby Carlson, director of communications for the Diocese, confirmed Cistone’s death to MLive.

A statement on the Diocese’s website states Cistone died at his home during the night of Monday, Oct. 15. He had been scheduled for a medical procedure on Tuesday to relieve symptoms of his lung cancer.

“Please pray for the repose of his soul, for his family and friends, and for all of the Faithful of the Diocese of Saginaw,” the statement reads.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie.com

October 16, 2018

By Ed Palattella

The Rev. David L. Poulson, charged in May, is accused of molesting two boys between 2002 and 2010, including at his hunting camp in Jefferson County in the Erie diocese.

The Rev. David L. Poulson, a former priest in the Catholic Diocese of Erie, is scheduled to forgo a trial on child sexual abuse charges by entering a plea Wednesday morning at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Brookville.

The district court administrator for Jefferson County, Chad B. Weaver, said Poulson is scheduled for a plea hearing in a proceeding that starts at 9 a.m. on Wednesday before Jefferson County President Judge John H. Foradora, the only judge in the county.

Details of the plea were not immediately available. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office “will have more to say about this matter tomorrow,” spokesman Joe Grace said.

The lawyer listed for Poulson in court records, Christopher Mohney, of DuBois, was in court this morning and was not immediately available for comment, his office said.

Poulson, who is no longer in ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Erie, is accused of molesting two boys between 2002 and 2010, including at his hunting camp in Jefferson County, in the southeastern part of the 13-county diocese.

The Attorney General’s Office charged Poulson, 64, based on a presentment from the same statewide grand jury that issued a scathing report in August on child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

October 16, 2018

By Josh Kovner

With fugitive priest Arthur Perrault jailed in New Mexico on aggravated sexual abuse charges, Naugatuck police are now looking into the accused pedophile’s brief tenure at the former St. Francis Parochial School, where he was assigned for a few months in 1965.

Perrault, 80, who was born in Connecticut, left St. Francis abruptly in 1965, and court records say he next surfaced at a small compound, Via Coeli, in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, where fallen priests were sent by the church for treatment of pedophilia.

A string of lawsuits say he would go on to sexually abuse at least 38 boys in New Mexico. Citing court records, the Associated Press reported that Perrault was accused of having inappropriate talks with boys at St. Francis after hours, including in his car. He has not been charged with committing a crime while at St. Francis.

In a news release on Tuesday, Naugatuck police Lt. Bryan Cammarata said officers would like to speak with alumni who attended St. Francis in 1965, and who can describe what the “atmosphere and the culture of student life was like during this time frame.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Advocate

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

October 16, 2018

The Archdiocese of New Orleans and dioceses in other parts of Louisiana on Tuesday committed to releasing the names of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors within the last half century, stepping up their language from last month, when they said they were only exploring the possibility.

In a prepared statement, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said the release “will be sooner rather than later,” though he stopped short of giving a firm date.

In New Orleans, more quietly settled, decades-old Catholic Church sex abuse cases surface
In New Orleans, more quietly settled, decades-old Catholic Church sex abuse cases surface
More cases have surfaced involving quietly settled, decades-old sexual abuse claims against the Catholic Church in New Orleans, naming a pair …

“The clergy files are being examined very carefully,” Aymond said. “It is important to note that the review of the files goes back at least 50 years to ensure the list is accurate and complete. We will publish the list as soon as this work is finished.”

The Diocese of Shreveport’s Diocesan Administrator, Father Peter Mangum, said in his own statement that his diocese as well as Alexandria’s “will follow the lead of New Orleans and release names.”

The announcements follow reports in The Advocate last month that revealed a number of unreported financial settlements over claims of sexual abuse involving personnel at Jesuit High School, as well as diocesan institutions in New Orleans.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

October 16, 2018

By Steven Martinez

A Pewaukee priest accused of groping a teenage congregant in a confessional has been released on bond and is scheduled to reappear in court in November for a preliminary hearing.

The Rev. Chuck Hanel, 61, appeared Oct. 15 in Waukesha County Circuit Court and signed a $10,000 signature bond, court records show. He was released on condition that he have no contact with the accuser or her family, no unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18 “in the context of his employment” and was ordered to surrender his passport.

Hanel stands accused of second-degree sexual assault of a child. A 14-year-old girl reproted to police in April that Hanel touched her breast and leg in a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church in December 2017, when she was 1

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UNITED STATES
Vox

October 16, 2018

By Rachael Denhollander

I’m appalled at the response from my own community on Kavanaugh.

The real litmus test of whether our society cares about sexual abuse is how we respond when the allegations are against someone in our community. We have failed that test.

Just a few days ago, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to take his seat on the highest court of our land. A contentious hearing followed Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as a teenager, and the impact of his confirmation will extend far beyond the decisions he may make while seated.

The entire process hit a little too close to home. I’m a sexual assault survivor who was forced to take a very public stand against a prominent abuser — Larry Nassar. I’m also an evangelical with primarily conservative political positions.

My religious community applauded me for standing against Nassar and his enablers while, in the same breath, condemned me for speaking against religious institutions that mishandled abuse. My knowledge of the law and dynamics of abuse were welcomed when it impacted the “secular” world of Michigan State University, and discounted completely when I expressed concerns about prominent religious leaders in my own church.

More often than not, we are only willing to support survivors so long as their allegations don’t impinge on our community, its members, or our overall goals. But as soon as it’s someone from our own tribe — when it actually costs us to care — the verbal and mental contortions ensue to explain why this allegation of abuse is “different.”

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TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL

October 16, 2018

By Emma Henderson

A priest of the Diocese of Toledo has been accused of sexually abusing a minor over 25 years ago.

Father Nelson Beaver has been put on administrative leave by Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, effective immediately.

WTOL 11 has obtained the list of Father Beaver’s assignments since 1976.

On the list are three parishes in the Toledo area. According to the Diocese, Father Beaver served as an associate pastor at the Most Blessed Sacrament Parish from September 25, 1979, until July 9, 1981.

Beaver went to serve as associate pastor at Saint John the Baptist Parish in Toledo from July 9, 1981, until July 2, 1984.

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SALISBURY (CT)
Connecticut Law Tribune

October 15, 2018

By Robert Storace

The prominent Hotchkiss School has been hit with another sex assault suit. This one is the second against former English teacher Roy G. Smith Jr. The school was the subject of a report released by a prominent law firm that claimed there was a pattern of sex abuse at the school going back decades.

On the heels of a report detailing decades of sexual abuse of children at the prestigious Lakeville-based Hotchkiss School, a Rhode Island man has filed a lawsuit alleging he was groomed for abuse and sexually assaulted by a former English teacher in the 1990s.

In the federal lawsuit filed late Friday evening in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, a former student, identified with the pseudonym of Richard Roe, said he was sexually assaulted in his junior year by Roy G. Smith Jr., also known at the school as “Uncle Roy.” The same attorneys who filed suit Friday alleging Smith sexually assaulted the boy wrote a similar complaint against the school in 2015 alleging Smith abused another boy. That suit is still pending, and was filed soon after Smith died in January 2015 at age 72.

The latest suit seeks unspecified monetary damages. Both complaints name the school as the defendant, claiming Hotchkiss knew about a culture of sex abuse and did nothing about it.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
WFMZ

October 15, 2018

By Jaccii Farris

Just after 10 a.m., a group of people standing in Pennsylvania’s state capitol building was given a cue: begin reading.

But the words were difficult to say, especially out loud.

Sentences like “One of the victims was as young as 13 years old,” began spilling from their lips.

Their words couldn’t be posted on Facebook or found in an adult bookstore. But they echoed down the hall outside Senate chambers.

“Like a bad dream that we have to be here doing this. They should’ve done the right thing by now,” said Catholic church sexual abuse survivor Julianne Bortz.

Bortz is among dozens of survivors who are reading the Pennsylvania grand jury’s clergy sex abuse report in the hopes of getting the senate’s attention just ahead of an important vote.

The grand jury made several recommendations, including eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

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MUNICH (GERMANY)
OVB Online

October 16, 2018

By Angela Walser

[Prosecutors request acts Sexual abuse is a crime.]

Staatsanwälte fordern Akten an. Sexueller Missbrauch ist ein Verbrechen.

Die Täter müssen oft jahrelang hinter Gitter. In der katholischen Kirche blieb der aktenkundig gewordene Missbrauch bislang strafrechtlich ungesühnt. Ein geschlossenes System schützte die Täter. Doch die Generalstaatsanwaltschaft will das nun ändern.

München – Es ist immer der gleiche Satz, der fällt, wenn in der Missbrauchs-Problematik der Ruf nach der Staatsanwaltschaft laut wird. „Wir brauchen einen konkreten Anhaltspunkt, um ermitteln zu können“, sagen die Ankläger. Sie scheuen sich nicht vor der Arbeit, vor dem Umgang mit Opfern und Tätern und der Aufarbeitung eines Tabuthemas. „Doch so ist der Rechtsstaat“, erklärt die Münchner Oberstaatsanwältin Anne Leiding und fügt hinzu: „Auch das Handeln von Ermittlungsbehörden folgt Regeln.“ Sie und ihre Kollegen könnten nach dem Bekanntwerden der Missbrauchsstudie innerhalb der katholischen Kirche nicht wild in den Archiven herumstöbern. Selbst wenn ihnen ein Bischof drei Leitzordner übergeben würde, müsste er einen Grund nennen, „warum wir da reinschauen dürfen“, sagt Leiding.

Doch jetzt haben sich die Generalstaatsanwaltschaften München, Bamberg und Nürnberg eingeschaltet. Schriftlich forderten sie die Bischöflichen Ordinariate auf, einschlägige Fälle zur Anzeige zu bringen – vorausgesetzt Ort, Zeit, Handlungen und Beteiligte können genannt werden. Denn ein Hinweis auf eine verfolgbare Straftat muss immer sehr konkret sein. Es reicht nicht, dass jemand irgendwann etwas Halbwahres gesagt hat. Es muss etwas Greifbares geben, dann dürfen die Ermittler ran, dann können Akten beschlagnahmt werden, müssen die Ordinariate ihre Archive öffnen.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

October 15, 2018

It is a sign of the Catholic church’s peril that the question of who leads the Buffalo Diocese is among the least of its worries. Any organization that countenances pedophilia among its leaders is on the road to perdition. For a church to have done it is unimaginable.

Nevertheless, local leadership matters and, for the second time, a deacon has called for Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone to resign over his handling of credible accusations of sexual abuse by clergy. Malone, who has previously declared his intention to stay on, needs to heed the advice. He is a symbol of the church’s unwillingness to confront its culpability.

Following the August call of deacon and businessman Paul Snyder III for Malone to resign, another church leader this weekend added his voice, and it is an especially powerful one: Paul C. Emerson is not only a deacon at St. Joseph University Church in Buffalo, but a victim of sexual abuse by two area priests. He understands, as do Snyder and many other influential people, that Malone has lost the confidence of parishioners.

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[Raúl Hasbún defends Schoenstatt over Cox expulsion]

CHILE
Soy Chile

October 16, 2018

El sacerdote respondió en una carta a El Mercurio y dijo que también se deben conocer las garantías procesales que tuvo el ex obispo.

En una carta enviada a El Mercurio, el sacerdote Raúl Hasbún defendió la actuación de la congregación de Schoenstatt ante la situación del ex obispo Francisco José Cox, quien fue expulsado de la Iglesia este sábado.

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[Opinion: Church pushed to fideism]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 16, 2018

By Jorge Costadoat

El panorama es malo. La institución eclesiástica no se reforma. No se pueden desarrollar los cristianismos europeos, americanos, africanos, oceánicos o asiáticos, mientras la sede romana pretenda gobernarlos a todos por parejo, sin tener en cuenta las diversidades culturales. Esta exclusión cultural, la marginación de la mujer, la concentración del poder del clero, entre otros déficits, tienen como causa una institucionalidad anacrónica reticente a los cambios.

La crisis detrás de la crisis. Este puede ser también el título de esta columna. La crisis provocada por los abusos sexuales de algunos clérigos en la Iglesia católica es la expresión sórdida de otra profunda crisis, a saber, la del divorcio entre la institución eclesiástica y el pueblo de Dios, todos los bautizados y bautizadas. Estos abusos tienen varias causas, por ejemplo, la pedofilia y, como bien señalan la Royal Comisión australiana (2017) y el Forschungsprojekt sobre esta materia de los alemanes (2018), la institucionalidad eclesiástica los facilita.

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[Barros makes first statement in cover-up investigation, notes questionable incident involving former chaplain Pedro Quiroz]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

October 15, 2018

En su primera declaración como imputado por encubrimiento, el obispo emérito de Osorno sostuvo que el hecho habría involucrado al ex capellán castrense, Pedro Quiroz, con un joven mayor de edad, el cual habría sido desestimado.

El obispo emérito de Osorno, Juan Barros, descartó haber encubierto delitos sexuales cometidos por otros sacerdotes en su primera declaración como imputado en la investigación que instruía la Fiscalía sur y que fue traspasada a O’Higgins en las últimas semanas. No obstante, durante la interrogación realizada en dependencias de la Brigada Investigadora de Delitos Sexuales de la PDI, el sacerdote recordó un “incidente” protagonizado por el ex capellán castrense Pedro Quiroz con un joven mayor de edad, según El Mercurio.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

October 16, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

ROME – As bishops take part in a summit on young people this month at the Vatican, an expert on clerical sexual abuse said Monday that he’s confident the question of abuse in the Church will be a part of the document to emerge from the gathering.

“I have met a good number of participants at the synod, and I have talked to a good number of participants before it started, and they all told me that they would bring it up and they have brought it up. It has become a very important area of discussion, as I am informed,” said German Father Hans Zollner, President of The Center for Child Protection (CCP) at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, in an interview with Crux Oct. 15.

“I could not have imagined it otherwise. I am glad, but more than glad, I think it was obvious that it would be addressed,” he said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Patch

October 16, 2018

By Deb Belt

The release by the Archdiocese of Washington of the names of 31 priests deemed “credibly accused” of sexual abuse — along with the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Washington, D.C. archbishop, following criticism of his handling of child sex abuse cases — falls short of what critics say is a comprehensive list. The Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests said the release is a “hastily assembled PR stunt,” and only a full list of suspected and convicted abusers compiled by law enforcement would suffice.

The archdiocese posted on its website the names of 28 former clergy of the archdiocese, plus three religious-order priests who served in temporary roles in archdiocesan parishes or schools, who were “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors from 1948 onward,” according to a statement. The list was assembled as part of a review of the archdiocese’s archives ordered by Cardinal Wuerl last year.

“This list is a painful reminder of the grave sins committed by clergy, the pain inflicted on innocent young people, and the harm done to the Church’s faithful, for which we continue to seek forgiveness,” said Cardinal Wuerl. “Our strong commitment to accompany survivors of abuse on their path toward healing is unwavering, but it is also important to note that to our knowledge there has not been an incident of abuse of a minor by a priest of the archdiocese in almost two decades. There is also no archdiocesan priest in active ministry who has ever been the subject of a credible allegation of abuse of a minor.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 16, 2018

By Peter Smith

A Philadelphia-based Ukrainian Catholic bishop said his jurisdiction will respond to a grand jury subpoena for documents related to the sexual abuse of children — the first indication that another grand jury probe into clergy abuse may be underway in Pennsylvania.

Auxiliary Bishop Andriy Rabiy of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia told Catholic News Service that the church would comply with providing its files at an upcoming Oct. 24 court hearing.

“The archeparchy and I will fully cooperate with the law enforcement agencies,” he said.

He said the relatively small archeparchy has not had an allegation made against any of its clergy to date.

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MANITOBA (CANADA)
Daily News

October 16, 2018

A retired Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, dating to more than three decades ago.

The alleged victim was a youth when the offences occurred, the Winnipeg Police Service said Monday, while announcing Roland Lanoie, 70, had been arrested Oct. 3.

Police said they began investigating earlier this year, after an adult male came forward to say he was the victim of a series of sexual assaults while he was a resident student at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary (now the St. Philip Minh Roman Catholic Church) between 1982 and 1988.

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NORFOLK (VA)
WTKR TV

October 16, 2018

The Archdiocese of Washington released a list Monday of 28 former priests “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.” A group representing survivors of clergy sex abuse quickly responded by labeling the list “incomplete.”

SNAP called for the attorneys general in Virginia, Maryland and Washington to begin independent investigations when it released its findings. Virginia’s Attorney General is Mark Herring.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) named three other priests it said had been convicted of or admitted sexual abuse offenses since 1997.

“Given such easily found omissions, the integrity of the entire list is called into question,” the SNAP statement said.

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CUMBERLAND (MD)
WCBC Radio

October 16, 2018

Although his office will not confirm it, a number of sources have reported that Maryland’s attorney general is delving into records of the Baltimore archdiocese as part of an investigation into child sex abuse accusations. If true, Maryland would be the latest U.S. state seeking confidential church files since a Pennsylvania grand jury released an explosive report alleging widespread abuse and a cover-up scandal. Archbishop William Lori said in a statement that he has written priests and deacons in the archdiocese advising them he’s been informed by Attorney General Brian Frosh of “an investigation of records related to the sexual abuse of children.” Unlike other U.S. states including New York that have recently announced probes into clergy sex abuse, Frosh’s office only said it doesn’t confirm or deny the existence of any investigations…

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LAWRENCE (KS)
KCTV

October 15, 2018

By Angie Ricono

A Kansas family says their son’s sexual assault was ignored by church leaders who were more interested in protecting the church than the 10-year-old boy.
A Kansas family says Kansas clergy should be mandated reporters.

They have started an online petition calling on Kansas lawmakers to change the law.

They feel former church leaders at Eagle Rock Church in Lawrence compromised their son’s criminal case by how they handled the allegations. The church denies the claim and says they followed state statutes.

The debate exposes the different ways churches across the nation handle allegations of sex abuse.

In Missouri, clergy are mandated reporters, but that is not the case in Kansas.

Across the nation, it’s a split issue with a little more than half of all states requiring clergy to directly report allegations to police.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NPR

October 16, 2018

By Emily Sullivan

The Catholic archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has released a list of 31 clergymen who have been “credibly accused” of abusing children over a decades-long period — a move that comes just days after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl for allegedly covering up sexual abuse in the Church.

The list documents cases dating back as far 1948 and as recently as 1996. Eighteen priests were arrested and 17 of them are now dead. None of those still living are currently active clergymen.

“Where credibility could not be determined,” the archdiocese says, allegations are “treated as credible for purposes of tracking and responding.” It also says that no new allegations of abuse have been reported to them in two decades.

The release of the list comes amid upheaval in the archdiocese.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
WSKG Radio

October 16, 2018

By Katie Meyer

The state Senate has started its last scheduled session week for the year–and all eyes are on a measure that aims to make it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers.

The effort got renewed attention this summer after a grand jury probe alleged widespread abuse in Pennsylvania Catholic churches. But disagreement over one provision could make the whole thing fall apart.

Demonstrators lined the hallway outside Senate offices Monday as discussion on the bill resumed after an off-week, lighting battery-powered candles and holding up posters of loved ones who they say, as children, fell prey to abusive clergy members.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Statter911

October 16, 2018

By Dave Statter

After 70 years, dark secrets of Washington’s Archdiocese are finally seeing the light of day. The church officially outed 31 pedophiles Monday who were members of the clergy, writing that each was “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors”. Scanning the list, a name immediately caught my eye. R. Joseph Dooley.

Father–and later Monsignor–Dooley was the chaplain for the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington and the District of Columbia Fire Department from the 1960s through at least the mid-1980s. He also founded the International Conference of Police Chaplains in 1973 (more here) and was the chaplain for other police departments, including the United States Park Police.

Upon reading Dooley’s history it’s hard not to think of the Netflix documentary series “The Keepers”. That story centers on a Baltimore pedophile priest and the cover-up surrounding the unsolved murder of a young nun. To be very clear, there are no murder and intrigue claims like that with Msgr. Dooley, but some parallels are interesting.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV

October 15, 2018

By Kimberly Curth

As the Archdiocese of New Orleans prepares to release the names of child sex abusers within the church, one alleged victim questions how complete that list will be.

We first introduced you to Richard Windmann last month in a TV exclusive. He told us Jesuit High School janitor Peter Modica repeatedly raped him as a child in the late 70s, while priest Cornelius Carr watched. Windmann says he received a $450,000 confidential settlement from Jesuit High School for that abuse several years ago.

“I didn’t go for money. I went for counseling and spiritual guidance, and they’re like, ‘Nah here’s a whole bunch of money. Shut up, go away,’” said Windmann.

Windmann wants the Archdiocese of New Orleans to release the names of pedophile priests. But, he questions how detailed that list would be. That’s why he believes a statewide investigation into church sex abuse should also be done.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

October 15, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington released a list Monday of 31 priests credibly accused of abuse since 1948, saying in a letter to clergy that the move is “a necessary step toward full transparency and accountability and the process of healing.”

The letter says the list includes the names of all priests credibly accused in the past 70 years. It includes 28 priests of the archdiocese and three priests not based in the archdiocese but who worked in its schools or parishes. The three were members of religious orders, or independent communities.

It says there are no archdiocesan priests in active ministry who have faced a credible allegation of abuse of a minor, and that “there has not been an incident of abuse of a minor by a priest of the archdiocese in almost two decades.” It does not say how recently accusers came forward, how many victims of the priests there are, nor whether the cases were taken to civil authorities.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the list would be news to members of any of the accused priests’ communities. Some of the cases were well-publicized, while others were not. While 18 of the 31 were arrested, 13 never were, and of those, only five of the 13 were listed in a publicly searchable database of accused priests.

The letter comes amid huge turmoil in a part of the U.S. church that had seemed to have evaded the abuse crisis. But in June, the previous archbishop — Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a popular figure in the U.S. church — was suspended amid allegations that he abused children and adults. He later resigned. Four days ago, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, a top ally of Pope Francis, retired after months of criticism that he had mishandled abuse allegations when he was in the Pittsburgh diocese, and hasn’t been completely transparent in D.C., either.

There are 196 Catholic dioceses or archdioceses — organizing regions — in the United States, according to the Web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More than 50 of those have in recent years published lists of accused priests, said Terry McKiernan, whose site BishopAccountability.org advocates for such lists to come out.

Even when the accused priests are long deceased or removed from ministry, it can still be psychologically powerful for victims to see a comprehensive list of names published, McKiernan said Monday evening.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
WBAP/KLIF News

October 15, 2018

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth says it believes a thorough investigation has been done ahead of releasing names of those who were credibly accused of sexual abuse.

All 15 dioceses in Texas are set to release a list of names of those credibly accused on January 31, 2019.

Bishop Michael Olson told the Chris Salcedo Show on WBAP it won’t be a situation where priest’s reputations are ruined without proper investigation first.

“There’s more than narrative that’s involved here,” Olson said. “And I think there are sufficient safeguards to avoid a false allegation precisely.”

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WAUKESHA (WI)
FOX6 News

October 15, 2018

Father Chuck Hanel made his initial appearance in Waukesha County court on Monday, Oct. 15 — charged with second degree sexual assault of a child. Hanel has been ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with any child under 18 while his case moved forward.

Fr. Hanel is the pastor of Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in Pewaukee. He is accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl during confession. Hanel remains on administrative leave until the charge is resolved.

“I am dumbfounded and heartbroken to be accused of harming a child. I have never hurt or abused a minor in my over 35 years of priesthood, nor have I ever contemplated doing so. In the meantime, as this process plays out, I will continue to pray for my accuser and her family every day — and, even though I am innocent of this crime,” Hanel said to reporters after his court appearance on Monday.

There was a group of parishioners in the courtroom — to show their support for the pastor.

“It really makes me feel stronger that so many people are supporting me and believe in me,” Hanel said.

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GREENSBURG (IN)
CNHI NEWS INDIANA

October 14, 2018

By Amanda Browning

Three priests with ties to the Greensburg area are included on a list of 30 clergy accused of sexual abuse released by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis Oct. 11.

The religious were alleged to have committed abusive acts against 103 children and adolescents. Of those, there were seven potential area victims.

“I pray the release of this list of credibly accused clergy will help all survivors of sexual abuse find the strength to come forward and will set them on the path to healing,” said the Most Rev. Charles Thompson, archbishop of Indianapolis. “I apologize to all victims for the abuse that was done to them and for the failure of the church to keep them from harm. I pledge to do everything within my power to protect our youth.”

The list includes 19 priests for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, as well as four priests who were members of religious orders serving the archdiocese back through the 1940s. The list of the credibly accused was compiled on the recommendation of the Archdiocesan Review Board, which includes five laypersons and one clergy member, who work to investigate and review each abuse allegation. Board members have current or former positions in law enforcement, the prosecutor’s office, child protective services, education, child development, social work, psychology and law, according to Thompson.

The archdiocese said an allegation was considered credible if “after a thorough investigation and review of available information the accusation was determined to be more likely to be true than not.” The list is separated into those found to have credible claims against them, those accused of improper relationships with “vulnerable” adults, and those who were deceased before claims were made against them.

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JOHANNESBURG (SOUTH AFRICA)
Times Live

October 12, 2018

By Silusapho Nyanda

A South African man who accused a Catholic priest of sexual abuse has received the apology he has sought for 27 years.

On Thursday‚ the now 84-year-old former Catholic priest issued an apology.

“I recognise that my behaviour towards Mr Segodisho in the 1980s violated the trust he had put in me as a Catholic priest. I deeply regret the pain that I have caused Mr Segodisho‚ and would like to apologise to Mr Segodisho unreservedly‚” the UK-based priest wrote.

Earlier this week‚ William Segodisho‚ now 46‚ detailed at a press briefing in Johannesburg how he had been abused by the priest in the 1980s.

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INDIA
First Post

October 15, 2018

The Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the case of a nun’s rape. The high court granted him relief on some conditions, including that Mulakkal would have to surrender his passport. This was one of the concerns put forth by the prosecution.

Additionally, Mulkkal is no longer allowed to enter Kerala and is required to report to the investigating officer in the rape case at least once in two weeks.

The Jalandhar bishop applied for bail for the second time on 10 October. The plea stated that since he was not in a position of power any longer, he cannot intimidate witnesses anymore, as the prosecution had earlier claimed.

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MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
LA Croix International

October 15, 2018

By Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz

Despite the criticism the church endures it is still battling against the unseen forces of evil in the world today

Having spent a week in Rome, I remain moved by my encounters with holy priests. (Yes, they exist!)

To all my priest friends whom I look up to as fathers and older brothers, please know there is someone who prays for you specially — little me.

I have no words to tell you what an agonizing privilege it is for you to be alter Christus (another Christ), for you to have the power to call Jesus down from heaven during the Mass, to have Our Lady loving and caring for you with the same intensity of love she had for Jesus.

You didn’t earn it, it’s just there — a gift.

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VATICAN CITY
La Croix International (with Catholic News Service)

October 15, 2018

The decision over the sex abuse scandal is not subject to appeal

Pope Francis has dismissed two Chilean former bishops accused of sex abuse from the priesthood after meeting with Chilean Prime Minister Sebastian Pinera to discuss the scandal affecting the Church in the South American country.

The pope’s decision on Oct. 11 to dismiss from the clerical state 84-year-old Francisco Jose Cox, the former archbishop of La Serena, and 53-year-old Marco Antonio Ordenes, the former bishop of Iquique, is “not subject to appeal,” the Vatican said.

The decision was not taken lightly but followed the edicts laid down by Benedict XVI regarding serious crimes committed by members of the clergy after they have been given the chance to defend themselves, Catholic News Service reports.

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CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Daily Echo

October 15, 2018

THE Catholic priest accused of raping a schoolboy in South Africa worked as an assistant priest in Boscombe’s Corpus Christi parish for a decade.

Father William MacCurtain, who lives in a home for retired Jesuit priests in Boscombe, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy in Johannesburg during the 1980s.

The 84-year-old, a resident of the Corpus Christi Jesuit Community (CCJC) in Christchurch Road, has apologised to the alleged victim and said he “deeply regretted the pain” he had caused.

His apology sparked a number of calls for his extradition to South Africa to face charges.

Previously, the Daily Echo reported Father MacCurtain moved to Bournemouth in 1989 because he needed nursing care – and that he never had a ministry in the town nor links with the nearby Corpus Christi School.

However, Father Paul Nicholson, Assistant to the Provincial Jesuits Church in Britain, has now confirmed Father MacCurtain did indeed work as an assistant priest in Boscombe’s Corpus Christi parish between 1990, shortly after his return from South Africa, and 2000.

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HAGATNA (GUAM)
The Associated Press

October 13, 2018

A retired priest accused in more than 130 sexual abuse lawsuits and who admitted to molesting children on Guam has died.

The Pacific Daily News reports the Archdiocese of Agana says Louis Brouillard, who was ordained on Guam in 1948, died Wednesday in his native Minnesota. He was 97.

The archdiocese, in a statement released Friday, said Brouillard’s health had been declining in recent months.

Brouillard served on Guam until 1981 as a parish priest in Mangilao, Chalan Pago, Barrigada, Malojloj and Tumon, and as a teacher at Father Duenas Memorial School.

Brouillard, in a 2016 interview with a Pacific Daily News reporter, stated “it’s possible” he sexually abused boys while serving on Guam. He later signed an affidavit admitting to abusing 20 or more boys on the island.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

October 14, 2018

By Moriah Balingit

On a somber, gray Sunday afternoon, parishioners streamed into the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Columbia Heights, many to celebrate the canonization of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was slain in 1980 after speaking out against military repression in El Salvador.

But as they celebrated the elevation of one beloved archbishop, many also were celebrating their first Mass after the downfall of their own.

On Friday, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the cardinal who for 12 years oversaw the archdiocese where more than a half-million Catholics worship.

Wuerl stepped down after a report from a Pennsylvania grand jury that depicted decades of systemic sexual abuse within the church — some of it occurring in Pittsburgh, where Wuerl served as bishop.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
Gothamist

October 15, 2018

By Taylor Dolven

For five years, Father Roberto Cadavid led mass, heard confessions and guided children through the confirmation process as a priest at Catholic churches in Brooklyn and Queens, until he returned to his native Colombia in the summer of 2017. It wasn’t until 10 months later that his old parishioners were informed of why he left the United States: children in Colombia had come forward to accuse Cadavid of sexual abuse.

A review of records and correspondence by Gothamist shows that the Diocese of Brooklyn bypassed its own safety protocols to hire Cadavid in 2012. When the Diocese of Medellín eventually informed Brooklyn about Cadavid’s long history of alleged abuse in June 2017, the diocese let Cadavid go quietly.

By the time Cadavid arrived in Brooklyn in December 2012 to start his work here, at least four young boys had come forward accusing Cadavid of abusing them, starting in 2005 when he was director of a school half an hour outside of Medellín.

Cadavid was moved from church to church around Medellín as abuse allegations at his new assignments would emerge. One victim said Cadavid paid him 88 million Colombian pesos in 2009 (about U.S. $46,000) to remain silent about the abuse.

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LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM)
La Croix

October 15, 2018

By Elena Curti

The Oct. 21 event is believed to be the first by a religious order in Great Britain

There was a time when members of the Benedictine community at Ealing Abbey in west London felt too ashamed to leave their monastery. The seemingly endless tide of complaints of sexual abuse by former pupils at their school caused the community to close in on itself.

In a YouTube testimony, Father James Leachman OSB describes the monks’ reactions as they gradually absorbed what happened to former pupils at St. Benedict’s School.

“We weren’t talking to each other,” said Father Leachman. “Some of the monks were not able to speak about it. Some were pretending it never happened, some could not go into the street because of the shame. Some were insulted and asked, ‘how can you belong to an organization like this?’ It was so very shocking.”

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MUMBAI (INDIA)
La Croix

October 12, 2018

By Myron J. Pereira

The synod assembly on youth is being planned and discussed by senile old men. Amusing, but also tragic.

It is sometimes said that the Catholic Church today faces three crises, all of its own making.

The first is the crisis of a celibate clergy, which has exploded into the crisis of paedophile priests and a corrupt hierarchy that colluded with them.

This used to be passed off as an “American” problem — until we realized that it is global — there are priest predators in Latin America, Europe, Africa and even in India, the sexual molesters of Catholic women.

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GERMANY
Der Tagesspiegel

October 13, 2018

By Frank Bachner

[“Bishops are driving this church to the wall”]

Matthias Katsch wurde an einem Jesuiten-Kolleg missbraucht. Der Opfer-Sprecher fordert, dass sich die katholische Kirche ihrer Schuld stellt.

Die Missbrauchsstudie der katholischen Bischofskonferenz offenbart tausendfachen Missbrauch durch Klerikale. Kardinal Reinhard Marx, der Vorsitzende der Bischofskonferenz, ist „tief beschämt und erschüttert von der Realität des Missbrauchs“. Diese Realität ist allerdings seit vielen Jahren bekannt. Nehmen Sie ihm die Reue ab?

Ich bezweifle nicht seine Betroffenheit. Aber mich verwundert, dass er verwundert ist. Die Zahlen sind ja keine Überraschung. Zudem gehe ich davon aus, dass die tatsächliche Dimension noch viel größer ist als in der Studie dargestellt.

Sie gehen von einer viel höheren Dunkelziffer aus?

Von einer deutlich höheren.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

October 15, 2018

By Ed and Pat Fortney

When you realize that the whole dynamic and legacy of your family and grandchildren have been altered dramatically because of the actions of another, then and only then do you grieve the loss of what could have been.

Finding out that one of our daughters was abused was life altering for us.

Then years later, to find out that not only one but five of our children have been victims of a man we trusted — the Rev. Augustine Giella, who served at St. John the Evangelical Church in Enhaut, Dauphin County, for 5½ years in the 1980s — it alters the very fabric of your family and your family’s legacy for years to come.

We have experienced grief at its lowest depth. How do you survive that? How do you come to terms with the guilt as a parent? How do you grasp the failure of protecting your own children?

We hold onto our faith in God that he will move the mountains in the minds of Pennsylvania’s state senators. Right now they are our last hope.

The balance of justice for all victims lies in their hands. The day of the release of the state grand jury report (Aug. 14), we saw the pain of our children’s abuse being forced back into the forefront on those pages.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News/The Why Factor

October 15, 2018

Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far; Producer: Clare Spencer

Open secrets exist in the business world, religion and even in families. Nastaran Tavakoli-Far asks why people keep quiet – even in the face of serious wrong-doing.

So why do some open secrets not come out sooner?

Nastaran Tavakoli-Far looks at the Catholic church, the trading floor and to the wrestling ring to find out why very different open secrets have continued for so long and why they eventually came out.

Length: 17 minutes

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

October 13, 2018

By Marty Schladen

The clergy-abuse scandals that have ravaged many states have landed squarely in the middle of the Ohio attorney general campaign.

Steve Dettelbach, the Democratic former U.S. attorney who is seeking the seat, used the controversial issue to bash his Republican opponent, state Auditor Dave Yost, and current Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee for governor.

“Both their failure to act and their insistence that they’re rendered unable to act are not surprising, of course,” Dettelbach said in a written statement. “It’s what Ohioans have come to expect from the duo.”

Yost criticized his opponent for seeking to make political hay from the issue.

“It is shockingly inappropriate for Steve to politicize this long-simmering and painful issue for his selfish political gain,” Yost spokesman Carlo LoParo said. “He could’ve impaneled a federal grand jury when he was U.S. attorney. He didn’t do it, and his silence then betrays his opportunist speech now.”

Yost and DeWine also say that a major part of Dettelbach’s proposal conflicts with state law.

Dettelbach’s call comes on the heels of an investigation by a statewide Pennsylvania grand jury whose report in August said 300 priests had engaged in child sexual abuse over seven decades.

As with many other states, Ohio youth also have experienced abuse by Catholic priests and cover-ups by the hierarchy that oversees them.

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PORTLAND (OR)
UP Beacon

October 13, 2018

By Wes Cruse

This is part three of a series of articles

For the third article in a three part series, The Beacon sat down with Rev. James Gallagher, director of Campus Ministry and pastoral resident of Mehling Hall, to discuss how the news of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report releasing the names of more than 300 clergymen accused of sexual abuse in August.

And in September, a report also released the names of 18 additional priests “credibly accused” for the abuse of minors in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.

Gallagher shared the impact these reports have had on his vocation as a priest and provided advice for students struggling with their faith because of the recent news.

The Beacon: What were your initial thoughts and feelings with the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report was released?

Gallagher: When I was first in the seminary was when all the news from 2002 came out. One can’t even call that the first wave, because there were times in the ‘80s and the ‘90s where news of this broke. But that was, in my awareness, one of the biggest breaking openings of this. So I had done a lot of processing already about the fact that people in the Church who are meant to do good can also do a great deal of harm. And so, it may not have been the best thought, but my initial thought was wondering about what was new about this in relation to what had broken in 2002.

The Beacon: Why do you think we’re experiencing this again?

Gallagher: In 2002 and in the years after that, there were certain areas in the country that the spotlight was on and there was a lot of this brought to the surface. But I think what’s going on now is the realization that there were also things happening in Pennsylvania, that there were things happening in many other places. For there to be healing, the people who were hurt in those places also need their stories told.

So this is why this is coming up again because the story hasn’t been told in Pennsylvania, and I’m guessing it will come up again in the future as other places are able to have their story told. There’s an aspect of the healing process that requires these things to be told and revealed. Not just that there are abusers in the Church, but who they are and where they worked needs to be acknowledged.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 14, 2018

By Peter Smith

When the Rev. James Farnan arrived as pastor at St. James Catholic Parish in Sewickley earlier this year, he said one longtime parishioner told him bluntly that over the decades, “we only had one priest change the Mass schedule, and we ran him out of town in six months.”

Now the Mass schedule is changing again, not just at St. James but throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh as a massive, long-anticipated parish consolidation process gets underway officially Monday.

That includes new and often reduced Mass times, and Father Farnan pointed out that it wasn’t his doing but part of a diocese-wide effort in response to long-running declines in priests, parishioners and participation.

But even a historic reorganization like this is hardly the biggest of his worries — not in the wake of the Aug. 14 release of a statewide grand jury report into sexual abuse in six Roman Catholic dioceses over the past seven decades. A half-dozen priests who served or resided at St. James were accused of abuse in the report.

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MADRID (SPAIN)
El Pais

October 15, 2018

By Jose Manuel Romero and Julio Nunez

The ecclesiastical leadership in the country refuses to provide any data on the incidents that it is aware of, with just three of the 70 dioceses passing on information to the prosecutor

For decades, the Spanish Catholic Church has been keeping quiet on the majority of sexual abuse cases involving minors of which it had knowledge or tried in its ecclesiastical courts. The facts of these incidents were not passed on to the public prosecutor, nor were sentences imposed against pedophile priests made public, apart from a handful of exceptions – most of which were forced.

The problem that most concerns Pope Francis, pedophilia in the Church, is only partially public knowledge in Spain thanks to cases that have been dealt with by the regular courts.

According to judicial records, judges have issued 33 rulings against priests over the last 30 years, for the abuse of 80 minors. The sentences have ranged from economic fines to up to 21 years in jail. Some of the sentences included compensation payments to the victims of between €1,200 and €70,000.

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MANSFIELD (OH)
Mansfield News Journal

October 14, 2018

By Emily Mills

A Mansfield-area priest has been placed on leave after an allegation was recently made of sexual abuse of a minor more than 25 years ago, the Diocese of Toledo announced Saturday.

Bishop Daniel E. Thomas said in a press release Father Nelson Beaver, a priest of the Diocese of Toledo, has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately.

Beaver is the pastor of Resurrection Parish, 2600 Lexington Ave., Lexington, and St. Mary of the Snows Parish, 1630 Ashland Road, Madison Township. The allegation was not made in relation to those parish assignments, according to the press release.

Beaver is no longer residing at those parishes while on administrative leave, according to the press release. Beaver denied the allegation, the only one that’s been made against him, according to the Diocese of Toledo.

“We take every allegation of abuse of a minor with the utmost seriousness,” Thomas said in the press release. “Administrative leave is a first, precautionary step that safeguards and protects children while we start a canonical process of determining whether the allegation can be substantiated and whether a priest should remain in ministry.”

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

October 12, 2018

By Sean Philip Cotter

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has brought on a high-profile former U.S. attorney as it expands its investigation of sexual misconduct from one to all three of the area seminaries in a move critics pan as “spin control.”

Along with the investigation into St. John’s Seminary, where two former seminarians in August alleged sexual misconduct took place, the probe will also cover Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston and Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Chestnut Hill.

“I have concluded that to meet the generally expected levels of transparency and accountability, it is best to expand the review to include all three seminaries,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, said in a statement yesterday. “I want to reassure the seminary communities and the wider public that these are institutions committed to the highest standards of integrity, respect and safety for our seminarians, faculty and staff.”

The archdiocese said it has not heard allegations of impropriety at the other two seminaries.

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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
SI Advance

October 15, 2018

By Kyle Lawson

The message Sunday at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church in West Brighton was pretty straight forward.

“There’s good, there’s bad… it’s been that way since the beginning of the world,” said Monsignor Peter Finn. “But guess what, the good will always win the battle… here on Staten Island, here at Blessed Sacrament Church.”

A week prior, he was among the church officials who addressed sex abuse claims against former Monsignor Francis Boyle. The alleged allegations have been substantiated by investigators; Monsignor Boyle awaits punishment from the Vatican.

“He was a very quiet man,” said Kevin Genereux, who attended mass on Sunday with his wife. “He didn’t come across as somebody who had any issues, but you never know.”

They said two of their children were altar servers when Monsignor Boyle was leading mass on Staten Island, but they never detected signs of abuse.

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TEXAS
Texas Standard

October 11, 2018

By Brooke Vincent & Rhonda Fanning

Church leaders say they will release names of those “credibly accused,” a term that has alarmed some survivors who want independent investigations.

People are calling for greater accountability from the Catholic Church following the reports of wide-ranging child sexual abuse by priests over several decades. In Texas, the church had originally admitted that 134 clergy members, out of 4,600 nationally were perpetrators of child sexual abuse, since the 1950s. But that’s about to change. Catholic leaders in Texas say they’ll soon release the names of all clergy who were “credibly accused” of child sexual assault.

Eileen Flynn DeLaO, a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism, a former reporter and a member of the Religion Newswriters Association, says she was surprised by the news that Catholic leaders would reveal names, but she also says that it should have happened sooner.

“It’s long overdue. The bishops in Texas had the opportunity to publish more information about accused preists 14 years ago and they decided not to name names,” DeLaO says.

DeLaO says the church in Texas is taking this step so many years after initial allegations of clergy sex abuse because, in some ways, the public became complacent after the revelations from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation into child sex abuse by priests in Boston in the early 2000s. She says people trusted that the church was taking steps to fix the problem – in some ways, that was true. DeLaO says the church had done a lot of training to prevent sexual abuse, but by 2018 the problem resurfaced.

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AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN

October 14, 2018

By Madison Hever

By Jan. 31, 2019, the Catholic Church will release names of clergy members in Texas who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

“We realize how important it is that we do all we can to prevent future abuse,” said Emily Hurlimann, the Director of Ethics and Integrity in Ministry for the Austin Diocese.

The list will name clergy members dating back to 1950 and Bishop Joe Vásquez says that by releasing the list, people can move forward in healing and it will create more trust in the Church.

“The sexual abuse of minors is a terrible thing. It’s a sin, but it’s a crime as well,” Vásquez said.

Hurlimann says that the Ethics and Integrity in Ministry program was put in place in 2002 to protect and help victims who have been sexually abused.

“Our program is focused on two different aspects: protecting children, preventing abuse from happening in the future, and then also for those that have experienced abuse in the past,” she said. “We’re supporting them, helping them report their stories and providing support for them as needed.”

The Catholic Diocese of Austin says it will be looking to hire outside investigators to help with compiling the list of victims by the deadline. Vásquez says that by hiring outside investigators, independent of the church, it will not be able to keep cases under wraps.

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OAKLAND (CA)
KTVU

October 11, 2018

By Cristina Rendon

A survivor of clergy sex abuse spoke out Thursday in front of the Diocese of Oakland about a priest who molested him, claiming the man is still being protected by the Catholic Church.

Joey Piscitelli said he was 14 years old when he was molested by Father Stephen Whelan in 1969 and 1970 at Salesian High School in Richmond. Whelan was found liable for the molestation by a civil jury in 2006 and the verdict was upheld in several appeals.

“They sent a therapist from this diocese to ask me what happened even though I hadn’t reported it,” he recalled.

Piscitelli said he recently discovered Whelan was listed in an official Catholic directory as being a part of the Institute of Salesian Studies at Don Bosco Hall in Berkeley under the auspices of the Oakland Diocese. Piscitelli said he felt compelled to speak out because Whelan is a violent predator.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

October 14, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

A Catholic church deacon who said he was molested by a priest as a teenager has become the second cleric to call for Buffalo Diocese Bishop Richard J. Malone to resign over his handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations.

Paul C. Emerson, a deacon at St. Joseph University Church in Buffalo, said in an interview with The News that Malone is complicit in a cover-up of the abuse and needs to step down for healing in the diocese to begin.

“I think he should resign,” said Emerson. “The guy has lost the confidence of a great number of people, people that need to trust their bishop.”

“I think there should be a cleansing of the bishops that were involved in this in any way, shape or form,” he added.

Emerson joined Paul L. Snyder III, a deacon at St. Mary Church in Swormville, in urging Malone to step aside immediately, as a clergy sex abuse scandal continues to rock the Buffalo Diocese.

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CHILE
AFP Videos

October 13, 2018

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera says he has had a “frank meeting” with Pope Francis about the “difficult situation” facing the Church in Chile, a country hit hard by the cleric abuse scandal, on a visit to the Vatican.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

October 14, 2018

By Sam Ruland

A Diocese of Pittsburgh priest has been put on leave after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor were presented to Bishop David Zubik, the diocese announced Saturday.

Father Joseph Reschick, 67, who was serving as pastor of St. Rosalia Parish in Greenfield, is accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Father Reschick denies the allegation, but has been placed on administrative leave.

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ERIE (PA)
Go Erie

October 15, 2018

For many pundits and critics, the legacy of the 2017-18 legislative session will be determined by the final outcome of Senate Bill 261, a measure that addresses the criminal and civil statutes of limitations in cases of childhood sexual assault.

I want to stress that as the Senate again takes up this bill, the welfare and redress of victims remains the focus of this legislation. That has been the case ever since we unanimously approved and sent the bill to the House of Representatives on Feb. 1, 2017.

Unfortunately, it languished there for 20 months. We could have held public hearings to determine the best path forward if the House had sent it back in a more timely fashion. Instead, we were given a handful of days to consider the many ramifications of the amendments made by the House.

Anyone who has taken the time, as I have, to read through the grand jury report detailing the horrendous crimes that occurred in the Catholic Church over several decades knows that this has to be made right.

I have met with Sen. Joseph Scarnati, the president pro-tempore of the Senate and prime sponsor of Senate Bill 261, on several occasions over the past month and I’ve talked to many constituents and legislators. To be sure, there is a wide spectrum of thoughts about how to “make this right” for victims.

I strongly believe the final version of Senate Bill 261 that is sent to the governor must include the four provisions detailed in the grand jury report:

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SWARTHMORE (PA)
Delaware County Daily Times

October 15, 2018

By Phil Heron

Victims of domestic abuse in Pennsylvania are a little safer today.

They received justice.

Now it’s time for another group of victims to get their day in court.

But the jury remains out on whether they will ever get that opportunity.

Let me try to explain.

On Friday Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation that would go a long way toward safeguarding victims of domestic abuse. And the legislation has Delaware County’s fingerprints all over it.

Not just from victims crying out for protection. But by senators and representatives doing the right thing.

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READING (PA)
Reading Eagle

October 15, 2018

Also coming up: A debate Sunday between U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Lou Barletta; and a hearing on election security.

ABUSE VICTIMS WILL BE HEARD IN CAPITOL

Advocates and victims of childhood sexual abuse will be seen and heard in the hallways of the state Capitol in Harrisburg today.

They will be calling for the opening of a window in Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations on civil lawsuits.

They will be reading aloud, all day, the grand jury report detailing how more than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania allegedly sexually abused children over 70 years. This way, senators who haven’t read it themselves, will hear it all day long, according to a news release promoting the action.

In addition, victims and advocates will stand outside senators’ offices seeking support for the bill.

Senate Bill 612 was amended by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat, to open a two-year window for adult victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring suit; Pennsylvania law now requires them to file before they reach the age of 30.

The bill could get a vote in the Senate early this week.

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SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune

October 10, 2018

By Caleb Bauer

The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has added two more priests to its list of clergy credibly accused of sexually abusing children, bringing the previously released list’s tally to 20.

Bruce Schutt and Michael Paquet were announced as additions to the list in a news release Tuesday, a result of additional research into their backgrounds.

Schutt began his career in Mishawaka at St. Monica, where he was assigned from his ordination in 1965 until he was transferred to St. John the Baptist in Fort Wayne in 1968.

Two credible allegations were levied against Schutt according to Tuesday’s release. He lost his clerical state in 1975, after a few-month stint in the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wis.

The other priest, Paquet, was a member of the Crosiers and spent most of his tenure outside of the diocese on assignments. From 1979 to 1985, he was the director of the diocesan Ministry Center Retreat and also spent time as a youth minister in Fort Wayne.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Associated Press

October 15, 2018

By David Crary

With striking displays of candor, the Episcopal Church is acknowledging the potency of the #MeToo movement by officially lamenting its past role in sexual exploitation and pledging steps to combat it.

The Protestant denomination’s national convention this summer included an emotional session at which first-person accounts of abuse by clergy and other church personnel were read aloud by bishops of the same gender as the victims — six men, six women. Dioceses nationwide are now seeking to gather and share similar stories from victims in their local church communities.

That process of story sharing has been particularly dramatic in the Diocese of New York, where Bishop Andrew Dietsche released a blunt pastoral letter on Sept. 11. It described the most famous of his predecessors, the late Paul Moore Jr., as a “serial predator” who engaged in “long-time patterns” of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Moore, as charismatic bishop of the diocese from 1972 to 1989, became one of the nation’s foremost liberal Christian activists. He supported the ordination of women and gays while assailing racism, corporate avarice and various U.S. military policies.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
VT Digger

October 14, 2018

By Kevin O’Connor

Unlike most Vermonters, Jerry O’Neill wasn’t shocked by recent headlines reporting the horrific extent of past child abuse by Catholic Church personnel. From the first talk in the 1990s of nuns abusing orphans decades earlier to the final settlement in 2013 of a string of lawsuits involving priests molesting altar boys a half-century ago, the Burlington lawyer has litigated the most such cases in the state.

“Any time you have news,” O’Neill says in the present MeToo moment, “it stirs memories in survivors and they come forward to people like me.”

The attorney has the stories — and some 500 photocopied pages of nearly every clergy misconduct record in the files of the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington — to prove it.

“We had to fight, but ultimately we got them,” O’Neill says. “All of a sudden, we had the inside facts.”

Local and state authorities, responding to public questions sparked by a recent BuzzFeed story titled “We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage” are working together to receive and review allegations involving the now-closed Burlington facility, which operated from 1854 to 1974.

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HOLLYWOOD (CA)
The Hollywood Reporter

October 15, 2018

By Vladimir Kozlov

Wojciech Smarzowski’s drama, which deals with sexual abuse and corruption inside the Catholic Church in Poland, has struck a chord in the country.

Polish film Kler (The Clergy), which paints a damaging picture of the local priesthood, has broken local box office records and caused controversy in the largely Catholic country.

Directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, the film was released in Poland on Sept. 28 and immediately broke the local opening weekend box office record with 935,000 admissions. Poland’s box office charts track admissions rather than revenue.

Since opening, The Clergy has had over 3 million admissions according to the distributor Kino Swiat. Local observers say the film has a chance of breaking Poland’s all-time attendance record, which James Cameron’s Avatar currently holds with 3.68 million admissions.

The producers of The Clergy claim it is based on real events. The film includes testimonies of abuse survivors, and features, among other things, a priest abusing a young boy. Also in the film, an alcoholic priest forces his lover to have an abortion and a senior cleric is involved in blackmail and corruption.

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PALM SPRINGS (CA)
Palm Springs Desert Sun

October 14, 2018

By Corinne S Kennedy

The first Sunday after church officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties published a list of priests accused of sexually abusing children, Catholics across the Coachella Valley attended Mass and heard from their spiritual leaders about the church’s response to the abuse and how the faith community should move forward.

At Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert, Monsignor Howard Lincoln told churchgoers that one of the priests credibly accused of sexual abuse, Peter McCormick, had served at the desert parish. Lincoln said the Diocese of San Bernardino, which consists of the two counties, had published the names of the priests — and what action was taken after the accusations — to be more “open,” “honest” and transparent.

He said Bishop Gerald Richard Barnes wanted to encourage anyone who had been abused by a priest to alert authorities.

“It is our hope, that for people who experienced this, even in another state, even 50 years ago, if you are still suffering, please come forward,” Lincoln said.

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DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Morning News

October 14, 2018

By David Tarrant and Julieta Chiquillo

With a stated goal of restoring trust, all Catholic dioceses in Texas announced plans last week to release names of clergy who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of children since 1950.

But the announcement, billed as a unique transparency measure, raised further questions about the possible legal implications, the independence of the investigation and the meaning of the phrase “credibly accused.”

Victims’ advocates say they’ve heard it all before. Catholic dioceses in Texas, including Dallas, have been rocked for years by allegations of sexual misconduct and cover-ups. And the advocates don’t have faith that the dioceses will come completely clean.

“It’s pretty much obvious that the Catholic Church cannot be trusted to police themselves,” said Tahira Khan Merritt, a Dallas-based lawyer who has represented plaintiffs in lawsuits against the church in Texas for more than 20 years.

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ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

October 15, 2018

by Joshua J. McElwee and Heidi Schlumpf

Individual Catholic bishops across the United States must renounce some of the supreme authority they have over their dioceses to allow for the creation of a new national body to investigate misconduct allegations, Chicago Cardinal Cupich said.

When the U.S. bishops meet in November to consider the continuing clergy sexual abuse crisis, Cupich said the prelates “have to be very clear about an accountability procedure for accusations about bishops.”

“Bishops have to, as a group, say, ‘We cede our rights as bishops to have somebody else come in and investigate us,’ ” the cardinal told NCR. “Every bishop has to be willing to say, ‘I will allow myself to be investigated by an independent group if there is an accusation against me.’ ”

In an exclusive Oct. 13 interview, Cupich spoke about what the U.S. bishops should do during their annual meeting — to be held in Baltimore Nov. 12-14 — to address concerns raised after the revelations about now ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians.

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[The hidden history of ex-bishop Cox]

CHILE
The Clinic

October 4, 2018

By Alejandra Matus

La historia escondida del obispo Francisco José Cox y cómo algunos miembros de la jerarquía católica se resistieron a tomar medidas ante las denuncias de abusos sexuales que existían en su contra. Este reportaje fue publicado originalmente en PrimerLinea.cl el 3 de Noviembre del año 2002.

El sacerdote Manuel Hervia denunció hace diez años ante el obispo Alejandro Goic y ante el ex presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal, Carlos González, que sorprendió al arzobispo de La Serena, Francisco José Cox, en actitudes sexuales con un joven. Tres años más tarde, como no veía avances, se lo comunicó al entonces arzobispo Carlos Oviedo Cavada.

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[Schoenstatt spokesman: “If the doctors allow it, we bring Cox to Chile” to face justice]

CHILE
The Clinic

October 14, 2018

El viceprovincial de la congregación, Patricio Moore, también calificó como “esperable” la expulsión del estado clerical de quien fuera arzobispo de La Serena entre 1990 y 1997.

Durante el día de ayer, se informó que por decisión del Papa Francisco, el exarzobispo de La Serena (1990-1997), Francisco José Cox, fue expulsado de su estado clerical “como consecuencia de actos manifestos de abusos a menores”.

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[Laity and victims of the Marist Case say expulsion of Cox and Órdenes is not enough]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 15, 2018

By Manuel Stuardo and Estefanía Bustamante

Luego que el papa Francisco decretara la expulsión del exobispo emérito de La Serena, Francisco José Cox y el exobispo emérito de Iquique, Marco Antonio Órdenes, ambos por abusos sexuales a menores, diversas han sido las reacciones.

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[It’s not only in the Catholic Church: evangelical pastor who abused 3 minors sentenced to 7 years]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 14, 2018

El pastor Luis Navarrete Cartes aprovechó su condición de asesor espiritual para ganarse la confianza de los jóvenes, para así efectuar tocaciones de connotación sexual a las menores de edad. La defensa del acusado logró bajar la condena de 12 años a 7, pero la Corte Suprema rechazó el recurso de nulidad presentado posteriormente.

La Corte Suprema ratificó la sanción de siete años de cárcel efectiva para el pastor evangélico Luis Navarrete Cartes, acusado de abusar a tres menores de edad en la comuna de Hualqui.

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[Parents of the clergy abuse victim feel calmer after Pope Francis expels Marco Órdenes]

CHILE
Soy Chile

October 14, 2018

By Yubisay Mosqueda

Manuel Pino recordó que luego de la confesión de su hijo, increparon al exobispo de Iquique a decir la verdad, pero los evadió.

Luego de la decisión adoptada por el Papa Francisco de dimitir del estado clerical al obispo emérito de Iquique, Marcos Antonio Órdenes Fernández, como consecuencia de actos manifiesto de abusos a menores, padres de la víctima de Órdenes, expresaron “sentirse tranquilos con la decisión comunicada por el Papa Francisco”.

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[Hasbún offers “judicial pardon” to Laplagne’s accuser if he formally retracts his statements]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

October 15, 2018

By Pía Larrondo

El presbítero respondió a las declaraciones de Javier Molina el pasado domingo en “El Informante”, señalando que en la entrevista se habló de él con “obscenidades” y “mentiras

Mediante una declaración, el presbítero Raúl Hasbún Zaror expresó que los dichos del denunciante del sacerdote Jorge Laplagne por abusos sexuales, Javier Molina, el pasado domingo en el programa “El Informante”, fueron “mentiras” vertidas contra su honra personal y sacerdotal. En dicho programa, este domingo se leyó la declaración enviada y firmada por Hasbún al director de TVN el pasado 13 de octubre tras haber sido aludido en una entrevista a Molina donde él lo implicaba en un supuesto encubrimiento en el caso Laplagne.

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[Ezzati says that Pope had “enough elements” to expel bishops]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 14, 2018

By Paula Yévenes, Carla Pía Ruiz, and Juan Castellón

Tras la decisión de la Santa Sede se conoció una nueva denuncia contra el exsacerdote Francisco Cox. La víctima, ya fallecida, era un menor acólito de 11 años.

“El Papa ha tenido los elementos suficientes, más que suficientes, para decretar lo que decretó, y estamos totalmente de acuerdo con él”. Con esas palabras, el arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, se refirió hoy a la decisión del Papa Francisco de expulsar del estado clerical a los ahora exobispos eméritos Francisco Cox y Marco Antonio Órdenes.

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BEAUMONT (TX)
Beaumont Enterprise

October 14, 2018

Catholic Church officials in Texas are finally taking the right approach to the horrendous scandal of priests who sexually abused children. The only way to deal with this outrage is to fully expose it and make every effort to ensure it never happens again.

To do that, however, Catholic officials in the Beaumont diocese and others in Texas need to completely follow through on this pledge so that all Texans can be confident in their findings.

All dioceses should do what the San Antonio diocese is doing to guarantee the fullest accounting — appoint an outside group headed by a respected judge to go through church files and assist this process. That will counteract any internal tendency to cover up something that should be disclosed. As with any financial audit, there is no substitute for unbiased review from a neutral observer.

For example, four priests from the Beaumont diocese have already been named over the years for varying levels of abuse. If those are the only priests identified in the final report from the Beaumont diocese, some Southeast Texans will suspect, fairly or unfairly, that other priests are still being protected.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

October 13, 2018

By Marty Schladen

The clergy-abuse scandals that have ravaged many states have landed squarely in the middle of the Ohio attorney general campaign.

Steve Dettelbach, the Democratic former U.S. attorney who is seeking the seat, used the controversial issue to bash his Republican opponent, state Auditor Dave Yost, and current Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee for governor.

“Both their failure to act and their insistence that they’re rendered unable to act are not surprising, of course,” Dettelbach said in a written statement. “It’s what Ohioans have come to expect from the duo.”

Yost criticized his opponent for seeking to make political hay from the issue.

“It is shockingly inappropriate for Steve to politicize this long-simmering and painful issue for his selfish political gain,” Yost spokesman Carlo LoParo said. “He could’ve impaneled a federal grand jury when he was U.S. attorney. He didn’t do it, and his silence then betrays his opportunist speech now.”

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TOLEDO (OH)
Norwalk (OH) Reflector

October 13, 2018

A Catholic priest, who served at a Norwalk parish for 10 years, has been accused of sexually abusing a child.

The Rev. Nelson Beaver has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas announced Saturday.

This action was taken as the result of a recently made allegation of sexual abuse dating back more than 25 years ago, according to a statement issued by the Diocese of Toledo.

Beaver is the pastor of Resurrection Parish in Lexington and St. Mary of the Snows Parish in Mansfield. The allegation was not made in relation to these parish assignments.

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BOSTON (MA)
WBZ-TV (Boston CBS affiliate)

October 12, 2018

By Cheryl Fiandaca

The pain of the sexual abuse that Mark Powell says he suffered while studying at a religious order in Iowa 41 years ago, deepened after learning his abuser later became a Catholic priest.

“Even when I was being abused I was praying the Hail Mary, I’d be praying the Our Father that it would stop,” he told the I-Team.

Powell says the man who abused him in 1977 is now a priest at the Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham and is called Father Andrew. But Powell says in Iowa he was Brother Mark.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

October 13, 2018

By Hannah Leone and Ese Olumhense

Two days after police charged a priest at a Wicker Park church with sexually abusing two women and attacking a 17-year-old girl, that priest has had his permission to minister within the Archdiocese of Chicago withdrawn “effective immediately,” said a spokeswoman for the archdiocese on Saturday.

Rigoberto Gámez Alfonso, 52, of the 2300 block of West Le Moyne Avenue in Wicker Park, is charged with two felony counts of criminal sexual abuse involving force and one misdemeanor count of battery, according to Chicago police.

Gámez Alfonso is the associate vicar for canonical services for the Archdiocese of Chicago, the archdiocese confirmed Saturday. Most recently, he had also served as a resident priest at St. Aloysius Parish and had previously been appointed pastor of Our Lady of Tepeyac Church in Little Village in 2009.

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NEW ORLEANS
New Orleans Advocate

October 13, 2018

By Jerry DiColo

Archbishop Gregory Aymond, clad in purple vestments symbolizing atonement, lay prostrate on the altar of St. Joseph Church during a special Mass of healing in August, a demonstration of contrition for the horrific acts of rape and abuse suffered by children at the hands of priests.

His homily called for reflection on the sins of the Catholic Church. Standing before the faithful, he said, “As leaders of the church, it is time for us to repent.”

So far, that confession has translated into weeks of public apology, but not the release of a full accounting of priests and other church leaders accused of sexual misconduct that many victims have demanded.

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[Analysis of the MGH study on sexual abuse: How the bishopric beautifies the tip of the iceberg]

REGENSBURG (GERMANY)
Regensburg Digital

October 13, 2018

By Robert Werner

Mit der sogenannten MHG-Studie sollte auf breiter Basis der sexuelle Missbrauch von Minderjährigen durch Kleriker und Diakone in katholischen Diözesen sozialwissenschaftlich untersucht werden. Die Diözese Regensburg tut sich wieder einmal damit hervor, entsprechende Zahlen zu verbergen oder kleinzureden. Einer der Hauptverantwortlichen für die jahrelange Verschleppung von Aufklärung – Kardinal Gerhard L. Müller – flankiert das Ganze mit einem homophoben Erklärungsmuster.

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BELFAST (NORTHERN IRELAND)
Belfast Telegraph

October 13 2018

By Philip Ryan

Former Irish President Mary McAleese accuses Pope John Paul II of “highly offensive” misogyny in a sensational new book.

Ms McAleese says she was seriously offended by the pontiff purposely ignoring her when they were first introduced ahead of their much publicised meeting during her presidency.

Instead of greeting Ms McAleese, the Pope reached across to her husband Martin and said: “Would you not prefer to be the President of Ireland instead of your wife?”

In the book Madam Politician: The Women At The Table of Irish Political Power by RTE political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald, Mrs McAleese says “nobody else thought it was funny” and her husband was “mortified” by the Pope’s comment.

“He knew by my face that I didn’t think it was funny. I did say to him: ‘You would never have done that to a male president,'” she adds.

The Pope said he did not have fluent English and the comment was intended to be a joke.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
The Tribune-Democrat

October 14, 2018

Given all that has transpired in recent years here in our region and across Pennsylvania, we cannot imagine our state lawmakers doing anything less than voting unanimously to give victims of child sexual assault some justice for their suffering – even decades ago.

And yet here we are, watching the Pennsylvania Senate wrestle with the responsibility of providing a window of opportunity for adults who were abused as teens or children – a break from the statute of limitations on this offense to seek recompense.

The Republican leadership – including Majority Leader Jake Corman of Centre County and President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati of Jefferson County – has the power to get this measure passed.

We urge them to find the courage, the compassion, the anger – whatever it takes – to do so.

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.

SCRANTON (PA)
WBRE/WYOU via PAHomepage.com

October 12, 2018

By Eric Deabill

Lawmakers return to Harrisburg Monday

Eight weeks after a scathing grand jury report on the Catholic church, clergy abuse survivors are urging state lawmakers to act.

With just a handful of voting days left in the Pennsylvania Senate Session, victims are going across the commonwealth sharing their stories and advocating for reform.

The president of the national group “Stop Child Predators” which is based in Washington, D.C. and two clergy abuse survivors visited Scranton Friday morning.

While the PA House has overwhelming passed reforms recommended by grand jurors, the Pennsylvania Senate has not yet taken a vote.

“If I were a state senator in Pennsylvania I would be embarrassed of my inaction. For decades, survivors have come forward in this state and lawmakers have turned their back on them,” Stacie Rumenap, president of Stop Child Predators said.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
TribLive.com

October 12, 2018

By Ryan O’Connor

I am a practicing Catholic, which means I attend church regularly. I accept Holy Communion. I pray with my fellow parishioners and our parish priests. In addition, my wife and I made the decision to send our two children to our local Catholic school.

I am also a survivor of child sexual abuse. When I was 10 years old, I was repeatedly molested by a priest at Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Johnstown. For years, I was broken from the abuse. I turned to drugs and alcohol.

But I never gave up my faith in God. And I never gave up my faith in what my church can be — and should be. So, yes, I continue to be a Roman Catholic.

My downward spiral ended in 2005 when I met my wife. I prayed for help and for support and for someone to help me deal with these demons. I believe those prayers were answered by God in the form of my wife.

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.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
TribLive.com

October 13, 2018

By Brian C. Rittmeyer

The priest at a church in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood has been accused of sexually abusing a child in the mid-1980s.

Bishop David Zubik has placed Joseph Reschick, 67, on administrative leave, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Saturday. That action was taken earlier this week, the Rev. Nicholas Vaskov, diocesan spokesman, said.

Reschick could not be reached for comment.

Reschick has been serving as pastor of St. Rosalia Parish. The diocese said in a statement that Reschick denies the allegation, which Vaskov said was reported to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said he could not confirm that until Monday.

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.

[Juan Carlos Cruz speaks after expulsion of priests, calls Ezzati a “thug” and “delinquent”]

CHILE
Publimetro

October 13, 2018

By Francisca Herrera

El chileno también calificó de “matones” y “encubridores” al arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati y los obispos Silva, Ramos y González

Juan Carlos Cruz, una de las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, calificó de “delincuente” al cardenal Francisco Errázuriz luego que se conociera la decisión del Papa Francisco de expulsar a los sacerdotes Francisco Cox y Marco Órdenes. “Que maravilla despertar así. Dos obispos pedófilos menos, expulsados del sacerdocio, el delincuente cardenal Errázuriz al descubierto con su encubrimiento”, escribió en su cuenta de Twitter junto con emplazar a la justicia chilena.

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.

[The accusation that would have been key to removing Francisco Cox from the priesthood]

CHILE
Publimetro

October 14, 2018

Los hechos habrían ocurrido cuando Cox fue obispo de Chillán, entre 1975 y 1981

El ex obispo de Chillán, Carlos Pellegrin reveló el sábado una nueva denuncia contra el ahora ex arzobispo emérito de La Serena, Francisco Cox Huneeus, expulsado del sacerdocio por papa Francisco junto al también ex obispo emérito de Iquique, Marco Órdenes Fernández, por abusos sexuales a menores.

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.

[Laity of La Serena not satisfied with Schoenstatt’s inaction after Cox’s expulsion]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

October 13, 2018

By Carla Fernández

El vocero de esta agrupación, Juan Rojas, puso en duda las intenciones de la congregación de traer a Chile al ex religioso para que sea procesado por la justicia local.

Este sábado se anunció la expulsión del sacerdocio del ex arzobispo de La Serena, Francisco José Cox, y el obispo emérito de Iquique, Marco Antonio Órdenes; decisión que fue tomada por el Papa Francisco a raíz de las denuncias de abuso sexual a menores que pesan en contra de ambos.

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.

[Whistleblowers and laymen celebrate expulsions of bishops emeriti for sexual abuse of minors]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 13, 2018

By Gonzalo Cifuentes and Nicole Martínez

La mañana de este sábado se conocieron las expulsiones de los obispos eméritos Francisco José Cox y Marco Antonio Órdenes, de La Serena e Iquique, respectivamente. Ambos por abusos sexuales a menores, bajo el artículo que sanciona los delitos más graves por la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

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

[Vatican expelled bishops Cox and Órdenes for crimes against minors]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 14, 2018

By Carla Pía Ruiz, Paula Yévenes, and C. Said

Inédita decisión del Papa Francisco determinó la remoción de dos obispos eméritos -de La Serena e Iquique- chilenos. La medida no tiene apelación. La salida de Cox se habría sellado tras una nueva denuncia por abusos en Chillán. El caso fue enviado en agosto a la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

“En la diócesis no había antecedentes previos (de Cox), pero ante una denuncia que recibí entregué dicha información a la Santa Sede”, dice el exobispo de Chillán, Carlos Pellegrín, para referirse a la denuncia contra el ahora exobispo emérito de La Serena Francisco Cox Huneeus que envió en agosto pasado a la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

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.

[Chilean church apologizes to abuse victims after expulsion of two bishops]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 13, 2018

By Claudia Soto

A través de un comunicado, el comité permanente de la Conferencia Episcopal se refirió a la expulsión del estado clerical de Francisco Cox y Marco Antonio Órdenes.

A través de una declaración pública, firmada entre ellos por Ricardo Ezzati, la Conferencia Episcopal pidió perdón “en nombre de los obispos y de la Iglesia” a las víctimas de violencia sexual por parte de religiosos, a sus familias y comunidades.

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.

[Former bishop of Iquique, expelled by Vatican, had been acquitted by appeals court]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 14, 2018

By Alejandra Lobo and Paula Yévenes

En enero de este año, la Corte de Apelaciones de Iquique absolvió a Marco Antonio Órdenes del delito de abuso sexual.

Tras darse a conocer la decisión del Papa Francisco de dimitir de su estado clerical a dos nuevos miembros de la Iglesia Católica, los nombres de los ahora exsacerdotes Francisco Cox y Marco Antonio Órdenes fueron rápidamente quitados de la lista de obispos eméritos del sitio web de la Conferencia Episcopal Chilena.

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.

[Chronology of eight years of crisis in Chile’s Catholic Church]

CHILE
Emol

October 14, 2018

By Leonardo Vallejos

El Papa Francisco puso hoy fin a la carrera sacerdotal del ex arzobispo emérito de La Serena y del ex obispo emérito de Iquique.

[This article is a timeline of events in the clergy sex abuse investigations from 2010 to the present]

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

TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL-TV

October 13, 2018

Father Nelson Beaver has been put on administrative leave following an allegation of abuse dating back 25 years

A priest of the Diocese of Toledo has been accused sexually abusing a minor over 25 years ago.

Father Nelson Beaver has been put on administrative leave by Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, effective immediately.

Father Beaver is the pastor of Resurrection Parish in Lexington and St. Mary of the Snows Parish in Mansfield.

The allegation was not made in relation to these parishes, and Father Beaver will not be staying at those parishes while he is on leave.

Father Beaver has denied the allegation and so far, this is the only accusation against him.

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.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI-TV

October 13, 2018

[VIDEO]

A Pittsburgh priest is on administrative leave after someone accused him of sexually abusing a minor, the diocese announced Saturday.

The Rev. Joseph Reschick, 67, is the pastor of Saint Rosalia Parish in Greenfield. The allegation, the first ever filed against Reschick, dates to the 1980s, the diocese said.

Reschick denied the allegation, which was reported to police, the diocese said.

The move does not imply guilt, Bishop David Zubik reportedly wrote in a letter to parishes where Reschick has served.

“It is intended to safeguard the course of justice while preserving the rights of everyone involved, including both the person who made the allegation and the person against whom the allegation has been made,” Zubik wrote.

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

HARLEM (NY)
Parish St. Charles Borromeo,Resurrection and All Saints

September 30, 2018

By Fr. Gregory C. Chisholm, S.J.

Two weeks ago in the statement from the Archdiocese of New York concerning accusations against Msgr. Meehan was placed in our bulletin. The statement was written by the Office of the Vicar General, Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo. The Vicar General has the dual responsibility of helping those who are victims of sexual abuse in Archdiocesan institutions like churches or schools and he also is responsible for assessing the case against clergy or lay employees in the Church who are accused of sexual abuse. The statement from the Vicar General which was given out last week was a summary of his decision regarding accusations against Msgr. Meehan, but the statement does not reflect or acknowledge the continuing effort on the part of Msgr. Meehan to appeal the Vicar General’s decision and restore his reputation.

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

STATEN ISLAND (NY)
Staten Island Advance

October 8, 2018

By Maura Grunlund

Monsignor Francis Boyle, the former longtime pastor at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church in West Brighton, “will never serve as a priest again” after a church panel substantiated sex-abuse allegations against him, according to the Archdiocese of New York.

The fall from grace is a stunning turn of events for the man who served crucial leadership roles on the Island and throughout the archdiocese during more than 60 years in the priesthood.

He was an administrator at seminaries and held sway on archdiocesan organizations that determined the job assignments for priests and finances for parishes.

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.