ABUSE TRACKER

ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

September 8, 2018

By Lisa Adams

Father Charles “Chuck” Schmitt, 86, has been removed from ministry in Diocese of Erie after allegation of abuse of a minor dating back to the 1960s.

The Diocese of Erie has announced that Father Charles R. (Chuck) Schmitt, an 86-year-old retired priest, is prohibited from all public ministry, as well as any contact with minors effective immediately.

According to a news release issued by the office of communications, an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor dating back to the 1960s was received through the hotline established by the Diocese of Erie. The matter has been turned over to the Erie County District Attorney, and Bishop Lawrence Persico has initiated an independent investigation through the K&L Gates law firm.

Bishop Persico called the news disheartening. “This is a very difficult time for the Catholic Church, but we must face the truth.” Persico added that in collaboration with law enforcement, “victims are finding their voice and helping us to ensure we are living out the principles we proclaim.”

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CINCINNATI (oh)
Dayton Daily News

September 9, 2018

By Will Garbe

Nearly 15 years since the Archdiocese of Cincinnati became the first Catholic diocese in the U.S. to be criminally charged for failing to report sexual abuse of children by priests, the scandal’s emotional and financial tolls continue to compound.

A Dayton Daily News analysis of archdiocesan records found the local church spent at least $17 million since 2003 on the allegations against priests and efforts to protect children. In the last two fiscal years, the church spent nearly a half-million dollars on the allegations — including life-long counseling for around 20 victims — and child protection expenses, the records show. Since 1950, the cost is nearly $20 million.

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[We at BishopAccountability.org note with sadness the passing of our dear friend Carolyn Disco of New Hampshire. Carolyn was one of a kind: a person of tremendous compassion, a determined activist, and a meticulous and brilliant researcher. Her informed advocacy helped persuade the office of the NH Attorney General to make public the files of its investigation and audit of the Manchester diocese. Her strong but measured voice will be deeply missed. Rest in peace, dear Carolyn.

Please note that the obituary below contains details about visiting hours on September 9 and the Funeral Mass on Monday, September 10, at 10am in Merrimack NH. ]

MERRIMACK NH
September 9, 2018

Carolyn Ann (Brown) Disco passed away surrounded by her loving family at Community Hospice House in Merrimack on September 5th, 2018. Born in Detroit Michigan on November 5, 1940, the daughter of the late Alexander H. Brown Jr. and Edith (Pyne) Brown. She graduated from The MacDuffie School formerly in Springfield, Mass, in 1958 and from Barnard College in 1962.

She married Nelson R. Disco on October 12, 1963 in Corpus Christi Church in Manhattan. The couple resided in Great Neck, NY and Hingham, MA before settling in Merrimack in 1967. Here Carolyn edited the weekly Spectrum News and later became owner and editor for the weekly The Merrimack News (1988-89). She was long active in Town politics and served on the Merrimack School Board for six years. She worked for Energy North/Manchester Gas for five years, preparing their Annual Reports and publicity documents. In later years she became involved with the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and BishopAccountability.org, organizations dedicated to expose sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church clergy and its cover-up. She received the St. Catherine of Siena Distinguished Lay Person Award from VOTF in 2007 for her work in this organization. She received the Layperson of the Year Award from SNAP in 2011. She was the Survivor Support Chairman for New Hampshire Voice of the Faithful.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Catholic News Service via Crux

September 9, 2018

By Mark Pattison

A pair of open letters to Pope Francis asking him for answers to charges of cover-ups by him and others over abuse allegations against retired Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington were sponsored by the Catholic Women’s Forum, a project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank.

The prologue to one of the letters declares, “This letter reflects the personal initiative of the individual Catholic women signing this letter, and is not sponsored by any group or organization.” The letter and invitations to sign it, though, are posted on the Catholic Women’s Forum’s website.

The first letter, titled “Letter to Pope Francis from Catholic Women,” is dated Aug. 30, four days after publication of an 11-page letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican nuncio to the United States, making charges against Francis and other Church leaders.

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KNOXVILLE (TN)
KnoxNews

September 8, 2018

By Terry Mattingly

After a week of headlines and dissent, Pope Francis delivered a sermon that — once again — offered silence as his strategic response to critics.

The “father of lies, the accuser, the devil” is trying to divide Catholics, said the pope. When faced with “people who do not have good will, with people who seek only scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within families,” the proper response is “silence, and prayer.”

This echoed earlier remarks when, asked about a scathing epistle by the Vatican’s former U.S. ambassador, Pope Francis said, “I will not say a single word on this.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS

September 9, 2018

In light of ongoing revelations about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, several masses are being held Sunday to pray for the victims.

Mary Seat of Wisdom parish in Park Ridge will have a novena mass Sunday evening at 7:00.

It’s one of nine special masses taking place across the Chicago archdiocese. They include prayers for healing, justice and hope.

Cardinal Blase Cupich will hold the final novena mass next Saturday night at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral.

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NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

September 9, 2018

By Richard Cowen and Monsy Alvarado

For Catholics, it’s the scandal that won’t go away.

First, there was the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Newark, after allegations that he sexually abused minors and adult seminarians decades ago. Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to a “life of prayer and penance” while he awaits a canonical trial to examine the allegations.

Then there was the explosive report from a grand jury in Pennsylvania that detailed rampant sexual abuse by 300 priests over decades, with more than 1,000 children as their victims. And, as the grand jury found, there was a rampant cover-up in Pennsylvania, as Catholic bishops frequently shuttled abusive priests from parish to parish, instead of calling the cops.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press

September 9, 2018

[See also: VIDEO: Burlington bishop reveals approach to Catholic orphanage abuse investigation, Burlington Free Press, September 9, 2018.]

By Nicole Higgins DeSmet

The Diocese of Burlington will cooperate fully with a joint state-local investigation into possible criminality stemming from the stories of abuse told by former residents of St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Bishop Christopher Coyne said Sunday morning.

Coynetold parishioners during Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and then reporters at a rare press conference, that the church erred in the past with its legalistic approach to allegations of abuse by clergy. Both survivors and the faithful deserve a more compassionate response, he said.

“As someone who loves the church, I’m filled with shame and sorrow,” said the bishop, who was appointed to his position in 2014, not only of the abuse allegations in Burlington, but of what he called “scandals” from all across the country, most recently in Pennsylvania.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

September 8, 2018

By Paul Moses

The author of the leading study on the topic warned that clergy sexual abuse of women “is much more pervasive” than that of children. And the Church still hasn’t reckoned with it.

In a brief aside in its stunning report on clergy sexual abuse of some thousand children, a Pennsylvania grand jury noted finding “numerous other cases” of Catholic priests’ misconduct, but with adults. That was outside the scope of its investigation, but it’s a problem some experts say may be more pervasive than the abuse of children.

For women like Rachel Mastrogiacomo, it can be just as devastating. At age 23 and filled with religious zeal, she studied Catholic spirituality in Rome, where she met a deacon studying for the priesthood in 2009. After he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of San Diego, she invited him to meet her family in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where, authorities said, the priest violated her when they were alone during two private masses.

“In plain terms, Father Jacob Bertrand sexually injured me in humiliating and degrading ways during the central liturgical ritual of the Catholic Church, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,” she said at the priest’s May 7 sentencing for criminal sexual conduct.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

September 8, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein and Susan Svrluga

Facing criticism and questions about his handling of clergy sex abuse issues, Washington’s Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, has announced plans to launch a six-week-long “Season of Healing” beginning Friday.

Wuerl relayed the plan, for the region’s 139 parishes holding special prayer services, in a letter to his priests on Thursday. It was distributed via an Internet mailing list for priests of the archdiocese, and someone close to a priest provided a copy to The Washington Post.

Catholics are closely watching Wuerl’s actions and words after the release of an explosive grand jury report in Pennsylvania that alleges that over seven decades more than 1,000 children had been abused by priests in six dioceses, including the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Wuerl led that diocese for 18 years before coming to Washington in 2006. The report shows that in some instances Wuerl went well beyond the norm in trying to push out predators but that in others he allowed an abuser to remain in ministry.

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CANADA
Sunday Edition, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

September 9, 2018

[AUDIO]

Things were supposed to be different under Pope Francis.

Under the conservative reigns of his predecessors — John Paul II and Benedict XVI — the Roman Catholic Church resisted the tug of modernity.

It tuned out calls for reform in the face of ever-widening allegations and revelations of sexual abuse by priests and coverups by bishops.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

September 8, 2018

By Michelle Merlin and Carol Thompson

Bills to strengthen Pennsylvania child sex abuse laws are introduced in the Legislature with almost religious regularity.

The Morning Call reviewed 28 filed since 2013 — 15 in the 2015-2016 session alone.

But none has gained traction, despite the outcry over child sex abuse scandals in the state’s Catholic diocese and the Penn State University football program during the Jerry Sandusky era, which broke in 2011.

Just two of those 28 bills came up for a vote; politicians in the state House and Senate have been unable or unwilling to act on the others.

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NEW YORK
Associated Press via News10 TV

September 8, 2018

The New York attorney general’s new investigation into clergy sex abuse allegations in the Roman Catholic Church could be sweeping, delving into confidential church files in a state where hundreds of people have already made claims through programs run by the church itself.

But few criminal cases or lawsuits may come out of the inquiry, whatever its findings. New York has some of the nation’s strictest time limits on taking child sex abuse claims to civil or criminal courts. A yearslong campaign to extend the timeframe has stalled in the Legislature.

And even if it succeeds, at least 375 people who have settled abuse claims through church-run compensation programs waived any right to sue.

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TRENTON (NJ)
Office of Attorney General of New Jersey

September 6, 2018

Former Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino will lead the task force

New NJ Clergy Abuse Hotline: 855-363-6548

Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced that he is forming a task force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey, as well as any efforts to cover up such abuse.

Attorney General Grewal has appointed former Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino to head the task force. An experienced sex crimes prosecutor, Laurino will oversee a team of detectives and prosecutors from across the state’s County Prosecutor’s Offices and the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ), and will report directly to DCJ Director Veronica Allende. Attorney General Grewal has authorized the task force to present evidence to a state grand jury, including through the use of subpoenas to compel testimony and the production of documents, in addition to other investigative tools.

To help identify potential victims, Attorney General Grewal also has established a new dedicated hotline to report allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The hotline will be staffed by trained professionals and operate on a 24/7 basis. The toll-free number is 855-363-6548.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

September 6, 2018

By Cardinal Donald Wuerl

Dear Brother Priest,

Thank you for your participation in the time of prayer and discernment on Monday, September 3, Labor Day, prior to the gathering for the annual cookout.

In that hour and a half long session, I clearly heard and saw expressed your support for survivors, the people of this archdiocese, and for me personally.

However, the purpose of that meeting was to discern how best I can serve this Church.

Among the many observations was that the archdiocese would be well served by new leadership to help move beyond the current confusion, disappointment and disunity.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
NBC News

September 7, 2018

By Matthew Vann

Cardinal Wuerl clings to power in D.C. weeks after stinging grand jury report on abuse

In a letter, Wuerl acknowledged the calls for “new leadership” but said he “also heard voices calling for the beginning of healing.”

He’s the pope’s top cleric in Washington. But Cardinal Donald Wuerl has also become the face of the Roman Catholic Church’s renewed sexual abuse crisis in the fallout of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, with mounting calls from priests, Catholic university presidents and parishioners for his removal as Washington’s archbishop.

At 77, Wuerl is one of the world’s most influential bishops. He’s a close, trusted adviser of Pope Francis and played a direct role in the selection of several U.S. bishops. Wuerl is also a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the Vatican watchdog of church theology.

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NEW YORK
Office of Attorney General of New York

September 6, 2018

Victims and Anyone with Information are Encouraged to Call Hotline at 1-800-771-7755 or File Complaint Online at ag.ny.gov/ClergyAbuse

AG Launched Civil Investigation into How Catholic Church Reviewed and Potentially Covered Up Sexual Abuse; AG Also Seeking to Partner with District Attorneys on Viable Criminal Prosecutions

AG Reiterates Call for State Legislature to Pass Child Victims Act

Today, New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced a clergy abuse hotline and online complaint form through which victims and anyone with information can provide information – part of the Attorney General’s ongoing investigation into sexual abuse of children within the New York dioceses of the Catholic Church.

Victims and anyone with information about abuse can call the hotline at 1-800-771-7755 or file a complaint online at ag.ny.gov/ClergyAbuse. An investigator will review all allegations; the Attorney General and our law enforcement partners will seek to protect victims’ and witnesses’ identities.

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ALBANY (NY)
CBS News

September 6, 2018

New York and New Jersey launched new investigations into the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of clergy sex abuse allegations Thursday as the number of similar inquiries around the country continues to grow. In New York, the state’s attorney general issued subpoenas to all eight of the state’s Catholic diocese seeking any and all documents pertaining to allegations, findings from internal church investigations and payments to victims, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly.

Church leaders confirmed receipt of the subpoenas and vowed to work with Attorney General Barbara Underwood‘s civil investigation — as well as any potential criminal investigations to come. The subpoenas were issued to the Archdiocese of New York in New York City as well as the dioceses of Albany, Brooklyn, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Ogdensburg and Rockville Centre.

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NEW MEXICO
CBS News

September 6, 2018

[VIDEO]

In the latest inquiry into clergy sexual abuse allegations, New Mexico’s attorney general is launching an investigation and asking all three Catholic dioceses in his state for any material related to allegations of abuse by priests. It follows the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report last month that revealed more than 300 Catholic priests in that state sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades. The same report found a Pennsylvania bishop sent accused priests to New Mexico for treatment.

Attorney General Hector Balderas called his state a “dumping ground” for abusers.

“There are numerous, numerous families that are demanding justice. And so what I’m hoping for is that the church understand that they also have an obligation to seek justice by reconciling, providing information to a law enforcement agency,” Balderas told CBS News.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

September 7, 2018

By Noel Debien

Amid international media hype and confusing reporting, Australia’s Catholic leaders delivered their official response to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse last week.

So, has the Australian Catholic Church “rejected mandatory reporting”, as Al Jazeera published?

Or did The Hindu get it right with their headline: “Australian Catholic leaders vow to end abuse cover-up”?

The devil is, as always, in the detail. And there is a lot of detail.

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BOSTON (MA)
Archdiocese of Boston

September 9, 2018

The Cardinal receives correspondence from around the world on a variety of issues, requests for prayer intentions, invitations, commentary on the Church among others and at times confidential matters. With regard to inquiries addressed to the Cardinal in his role as Chair of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Children and received at the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Center, the process has been for his priest secretary to review the correspondence and respond on matters that fell outside the mandate of the Commission.

Recently, the Cardinal has revised the protocol for receipt of Commission related matters. He will now personally review all letters that come to his office related to the commission or are abuse related, even if they address matters outside his authority. He has made a commitment to refer those requiring attention to the Nuncio to the United States and/or the Vatican.

It is important to understand what the Commission’s role is in regard to the issue of sexual abuse. It is not a body that has the authority to review and adjudicate individual cases. There are other bodies in the Vatican, such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Congregation for Bishops, that review, investigate and adjudicate cases involving sexual abuse. The Commission is an advisory panel whose mission is clear and focused on three main areas and share them now with all Episcopal Conferences and the laity: Healing and Care, Guidelines and Education. More information is available here at http://www.protectionofminors.va/content/tuteladeiminori/en.html.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Boston Globe

September 8, 2018

By Brian MacQuarrie

A retired Roman Catholic monsignor says that his efforts to report accusations of clergy sexual misconduct to Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley were rebuffed by the prelate’s secretary, the second reported instance of such allegations running into a dead end in the cardinal’s office.

Monsignor Kenneth Lasch of Pompton Plains, N.J., told the Globe that the Rev. Robert Kickham, the cardinal’s secretary, “dismissed” his written concerns in January that a current priest in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., allegedly had seduced an 18-year-old man from Lasch’s parish in the mid-1980s.

“The first letter I received back from Father Kickham was dismissive,” said Lasch, who has advocated for victims of clerical sexual abuse for more than 30 years. “I think the secretary should have made an appointment for me with the cardinal.”

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[Juan Barros after testifying for alleged cover-up of abuses: “I brought what I could contribute”]

CHILE
T13

September 6, 2018

La citación al obispo emérito responde a la investigación que la Fiscalía realiza por denuncias de abuso sexual a menores que pesan en contra del ex capellán de la FACH, Pedro Quiroz. Ministerio Público no descarta nuevas diligencias.

El obispo emérito de Osorno, Juan Barros, declaró durante la tarde de este jueves ante el Ministerio Público en la Brigada de Delitos Sexuales de la PDI. El religioso fue citado a las 17 horas para entregar testimonio como imputado ante el fiscal de la Fiscalía Metropolitana Sur, Guillermo Adasme, por presunto encubrimiento en relación a las denuncias de abuso sexual a menores que pesan en contra del ex capellán de la FACH, Pedro Quiroz.

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[Marists close canonical investigation for sexual abuse and ask for the maximum sanction for priests involved]

CHILE
El Mostrador

September 8, 2018

Las víctimas expresaron sus sospechas sobre la forma en que ha actuado la Congregación respecto de los sacerdotes investigados y la información incompleta entregada a la fiscalía en la indagatoria judicial. Ahora los antecedentes llegarán a Roma donde se decidirá la posible expulsión de los involucrados.

Hace ocho meses la Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas instruyó una investigación canónica contra siete sacerdotes que habrían cometido una serie de abusos sexuales en los colegios de la congregación contra menores de edad a partir de los años 70 hasta la década del 2000. Los hechos se revelaron a partir de la propia confesión del sacerdote Abel Pérez, que reconoció haber abusado de alumnos del Instituto Alonso de Ercilla y el colegio Marcelino Champagnat.

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[As preliminary Marist abuse investigation wraps up, survivors want more information]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

September 8, 2018

By C. Fernández

A través de un comunicado, los denominados “sobrevivientes” solicitaron que se esclarecieran ciertos aspectos de la indagatoria.

Este sábado se informó sobre el fin de la investigación canónica preliminar realizada por los casos de abuso sexual que involucran a miembros de la Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas, indagatoria tras la cual se reconoció la veracidad de las denuncias. Frente a esta noticia, los denominados “sobrevivientes” del Caso Marista emitieron un comunicado en el que expresan su sentir a raíz de este informe y manifiestan sus dudas con respecto a ciertos antecedentes que, por el momento, no han sido esclarecidos.

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[Marist Case: Preliminary canonical investigation ends, conclusions sent to Vatican]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

September 8, 2018

By Carla Fernández

Este sábado se informó sobre el fin de esta indagatoria, cuyas conclusiones serán enviadas a Roma para establecer las eventuales sanciones.

Este sábado se anunció el fin de la investigación canónica preliminar que se realizó en el marco de los casos de abusos sexuales que involucran a miembros de la Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas. Tras la indagatoria, que comenzó el pasado mes de enero, se reconoce la veracidad las denuncias que fueron realizadas en contra de los integrantes de esta institución.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

September 9, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Two weeks after Pope Francis’ papacy was thrown into crisis by accusations that he covered-up sexual misconduct by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Francis has refused to respond, his accuser has changed his story and a host of new characters have entered the fray.

Cardinals, bishops, priests and ordinary faithful, meanwhile, are demanding answers, given that the Vatican knew about it as early as 2000.

Increasingly, Francis is coming under pressure to respond to claims by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano that he rehabilitated McCarrick from sanctions Pope Benedict XVI had imposed.

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ROME (ITALY)
Reuters

September 9, 2018

By Crispian Balmer

Pope Francis should not resign over allegations he mishandled a sexual abuse scandal, said Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former political strategist who is close to prominent Catholic conservatives.

However, Bannon told Reuters he was working on setting up an independent, non-partisan tribunal to investigate decades of scandals within the U.S. Church, warning that dioceses across the country faced financial ruin because of the wrongdoing.

In a statement that stunned the church, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano said last month that Pope Francis should stand down for allegedly covering up for a former U.S. cardinal who was accused of sexually molesting children and adult seminarians.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

September 8, 2018

By Diane Dimond

Pope Francis has called for silence and prayer from those who criticize the Catholic Church’s attempts to root out and punish sex-abusing priests. But it is clear the time for silence has long passed.

Priests who prey on children are criminals, not souls to be saved for the sake of an institution.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CNN

September 8, 2018

By Marlena Baldacci and Dakin Andone, CNN

A bishop who admitted he never reported suspicions of child sexual abuse by priests is currently living in a historic mansion owned by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

In a 2007 deposition, Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert told lawyers he never alerted law enforcement to allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy before providing the lawyers with the names of 25 clergy members who he knew had been accused of such behavior.

Today, 90-year-old Goedert is living at the Archbishop’s Residence, an historic three-story building made of “smooth red brick” with 19 chimneys, three of which are in use, according to the archdiocese’s website, which calls it “perhaps the largest and best-preserved building of its type in the Chicago area.”

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NEW JERSEY
NPR

September 7, 2018

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The New Jersey attorney general has announced the creation of a special task force that will investigate clergy sexual abuse in that state’s Catholic diocese. The task force will also look at any efforts to cover up abuse. The announcement came just hours after news broke that the New York attorney general’s office had issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state. And at least three other states also have investigations underway. Gurbir Grewal is the New Jersey attorney general. He joins us now. Welcome to the program.

GURBIR GREWAL: Good afternoon. Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: So was your move essentially inspired by what happened in Pennsylvania?

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post via San Antonio Express-News

August 28, 2018

By Marc A. Thiessen

Pope Francis’ letter to the Catholic faithful last week was remarkable in that the Holy Father apologized not only for the sexual abuses carried out by Catholic priests but also for the cover-up of that abuse carried out by Catholic bishops.

“The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced,” Francis wrote. “To acknowledge the truth of what has happened, in itself this is not enough” he added, promising to make “all those who perpetrate or cover up these crimes accountable” and expressing deep regret that “we have delayed in applying these actions and sanctions that are so necessary.”

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WASHINGTON D.C.
The Worthy Adversary blog

September 8, 2018

By Joelle Casteix

One of my dearest friends is a married deacon in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. In his position, he attended to Cardinal Wuerl.

But after the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, he decided: No more.

After James wrote and delivered the letter attached below, we talked. He told me that telling Cardinal Wuerl was one thing. But the statement meant little if he didn’t let the survivors know how he felt.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

August 21, 2018

This list includes priests named in a Pennsylvania grand jury report on sex abuse, or released by the Allentown Diocese, as well as those named in court cases. It includes summaries of their cases and their status with the diocese.

* The Rev. John S. Baruch retired in 1984 and died in 1995. The diocese says it received allegations against Baruch after his death. The diocese reported the allegations to law enforcement.

* The Rev. Thomas Bender, former pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament in Bally, was sentenced to seven years’ probation in 1988 for molesting a teenage Pottsville boy in the 1980s. A civil case with the boy and his family was settled by the diocese out of court. Bender was laicised, or defrocked.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WSOC-TV

September 8, 2018

By Briana Harper

Thousands of Catholics from all over North Carolina are counting this weekend’s Eucharistic Congress as a chance to renew their religion.

“Jesus, he’s the reason I come and to just learn more about my faith,” Catholic Joyce Ziolkowski said.

Within the Catholic faith, a dark cloud hovers regarding reports of sexual abuse .of children by priests.

For the first time, Diocese of Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis spoke out publicly about the allegations, which include recent reports of sexual misconduct of a retired Washington, D.C., archbishop, and a bombshell grand jury report detailing decades of child abuse in Pennsylvania.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press

By Elizabeth Murray

September 7, 2018

Local and state authorities plan to investigate the criminality of abuse against children at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington that occurred decades ago.

A joint state-local task force is to be announced 10 a.m. Monday at the Burlington Police Department, Vermont State Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Friday.

The probe, first reported by Seven Days, is planned in the wake of last week’s massive Buzzfeed News article by reporter Christine Kenneally about child abuse at Roman Catholic orphanages during the 20th century.

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MONTPELIER (VT)
Valley News

September 7, 2018

By Colin Meyn of Vermont Digger

Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan will open an investigation into abuse within Vermont’s Catholic Church, including at the St. Joseph’s orphanage.

The announcement comes days after BuzzFeed published a lengthy investigation into horrifying abuses at the Catholic-run facility in Burlington.

“We’ll do an investigation,” Donovan said in an interview on Friday. “Certainly it will be about the allegations specifically about St. Joseph’s, but my sense is we will also look at some larger issues involved here.”

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Dallas News

September 8, 2018

By Richard Mathews

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth is attacking the evil of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults with increased rigor and intensity.

Organizations and institutions, including religious organizations, have historically focused on protecting children in their care from sexual victimization on the basis of “external threats,” such as “stranger danger,” breaches of facility security, and intercepting children traveling to or from locations or supervised activities. Yet, as we consider the increasing revelations of abuse among youth-serving organizations and religious institutions over the past two decades, attention must also turn necessarily to the victimization of children by those working inside, or affiliated with, these organizations.

In 2002 the Diocese of Fort Worth created its Office of Safe Environment to take specific action in response to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (commonly referred to as the Dallas Charter). The Dallas Charter addressed the church’s commitment to deal appropriately and effectively with cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons. The diocese extended that commitment for accountability to include all other church personnel, employees and volunteers, including the bishop.

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ILLINOIS
NPR Illinois

September 7, 2018

By Sam Dunklau

[AUDIO]

NPR Illinois’ Sam Dunklau sat down with Bishop Paprocki of Springfield this week. He says he regrets the child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy that happened in the past, and calls on the Church to heal together.

For millions of Catholics across the US, the issue of child sexual abuse has cut deep for decades.

The release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing hundreds of such cases last month opened those wounds afresh, prompting renewed scrutiny of Catholic clergy and even calls for Pope Francis to step down.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press via ABC News

September 8, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis told newly ordained bishops Saturday that they must reject all forms of abuse and work in communion to fight the clerical culture that has fueled the sex abuse and cover-up scandal rocking his papacy.

Francis cited his recent letter about combatting abuse during an audience with 74 new bishops from 34 developing countries. The bishops were in Rome for training this week.

Their seminar took place during a crisis for the pope: a lone archbishop has alleged Francis covered up for a now-former U.S. cardinal who was accused of sexually molesting children and adult seminarians.

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UNITED STATES
National Review

September 8, 2018

By J. J. McCullough

As turmoil dominates recent headlines, a sense of disillusionment and betrayal pervades much of the commentary from conservative Catholics in the U.S.

A critical component of modern conservative thought in the United States has been the outsized role played by Catholic men and women, particularly those who converted to Catholicism as adults. Even as white Evangelicals constitute the Republican party’s most loyal faction of religious voters, Catholics remain prominent among conservative public figures. It’s an impressive cast that includes everyone from leading journalists and academics to presidential candidates and Supreme Court justices.

There is what might be called an attractively “Tory” quality to this: a conservative elite committed to an old-world church, bound both in internal organization and in the public imagination to ideals of tradition, hierarchy, and historic continuity.

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WICHITA (KS)
Wichita Eagle

September 8, 2018

By David P. Rundle

Father Richard Jaclin, a Catholic priest now removed from ministry, allegedly molested a man with intellectual disabilities in an Illinois institution last November. If true, the case involves the ongoing sex abuse scandal which has rocked my church for nearly 20 years and shows no signs of ending. It also points out the vulnerability of people with disabilities to such abuse. As a Catholic with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, I not only have a unique perspective to address both issues but a moral obligation to.

First, the disability matter. NPR reported in January that the Justice Department concluded that people with intellectual disabilities are seven times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population. I myself was never abused, but I have known several women who said they were, and not one went to court.

The case of a woman I’ll call Peg shows how this abuse happens and shows the stupid unwillingness of others to believe it does. Peg has since died, but others who knew her might object if I used her real name — and she night have as well. God knows she was betrayed enough while alive.

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Associated Press via KDKA-TV (CBS affiliate)

September 8, 2018

The day after a grand jury report revealed that Roman Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children over decades, Adrienne Alexander went to Mass at a Chicago church and waited for the priest to say something about the situation.

He didn’t. And that left Alexander fuming. So she went on Facebook to vent — then organized a prayer vigil in Chicago that became the catalyst for similar laity-led vigils in Boston, Philadelphia and other cities nationwide.

Alexander is among countless Catholics in the U.S. who are raising their voices in prayer and protest to demand change amid new revelations of sex abuse by priests and allegations of widespread cover-ups. They are doing letter-writing campaigns and holding prayer vigils and listening sessions in an effort to bring about change from the pews, realizing it’s up to them to confront the problem and save the church they love after years of empty promises from leadership.

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[The “holy war” in the Prosecutor’s Office over Church abuse]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 7, 2018

By Leslie Ayala C.

Diligencias cruzadas de interrogatorios a sacerdotes y allanamientos en la Iglesia, entre los fiscales regionales de la zona Sur, Raúl Guzmán, y O’Higgins, Emiliano Arias, han generado más de un roce entre quienes investigan las principales líneas de eventuales delitos cometidos por altas autoridades del clero chileno.

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[The uncertain scenario after Supreme Court ruling on Precht]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 6, 2018

By Sergio Rodríguez

Máximo tribunal aceptó recurso de amparo del sacerdote en contra del Arzobispado de Santiago por medidas cautelares que había impuesto la institución religiosa en contra de Precht.

“Se declara que se acoge el recurso de amparo interpuesto a favor de Christian Precht Bañados, y se dispone que la recurrida elimine de inmediato la comunicación aludida y cese en cualquier acto que afecte ilegalmente la libertad personal del amparado”.

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[O’Higgins prosecutor plans to have Ezzati and Santiago Silva testify in abuse investigation]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 7, 2018

By Leyla Zapata

Declaración del cardenal, en octubre, se suma a la que prestará, también como imputado, el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal.

El Ministerio Público de O’Higgins, encabezado por el fiscal Emiliano Arias, fijó para la primera quincena de octubre la declaración, en calidad de imputado, del arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, luego de que la diligencia -programada para el 21 de agosto pasado- fuera suspendida a petición de la defensa del cardenal. Esta última argumentó que no contaba con la totalidad de los antecedentes que le imputará el persecutor, que investiga los abusos cometidos por miembros de la Iglesia Católica, y que la fiscalía aún no procesaba toda su información.

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SANTIAGO, CHILE
Reuters

September 7, 2018

By Aislinn Laing

A former Chilean bishop staunchly defended by Pope Francis after being accused of helping to conceal sexual abuse has been named a suspect in two criminal investigations into alleged cover-ups, a prosecutor and another legal source said on Friday.

Juan Barros, whose resignation as bishop of Osorno was accepted by the Pope in June alongside those of four other bishops, was interrogated as a suspect for more than three hours on Thursday in Santiago, city prosecutor Raul Guzman said.

Separately, prosecutor Emiliano Arias has named Barros as a suspect in the cover-up of several sex abuse cases in Rancagua, a city just south of the Chilean capital, the legal source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

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[Barros testifies in abuse case against former chaplain Quiroz: “I told the prosecutor what I knew or didn’t know”]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 6, 2018

“Aporté lo que yo podía aportar”, agregó.

“Le manifesté al señor fiscal lo que yo había podido conocer o desconocer”, dijo el obispo Juan Barros tras declarar ante el fiscal Guillermo Adasme, por la causa contra el excapellán Pedro Quiroz. Barros declaró en calidad de imputado ante la Fiscalía Sur, en la investigación por el eventual encubrimiento de abusos sexuales cometidos por el excapellán castrense Pedro Quiroz.

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[Karadima case: Through appeals court, Archbishop asks Vatican to provide any evidence of cover-up]

CHILE
El Mostrador

September 6, 2018

Por medio de un comunicado, el Arzobispado de Santiago solicitó a la Corte de Apelaciones enviar un exhorto a la Secretaría de Estado del Vaticano para entregar todos los antecedentes referentes al encubrimiento a Fernando Karadima. La declaración señala que “considerando las recientes comunicaciones del Papa Francisco a los obispos (…) es indispensable que se pueda aportar a esta causa cualquier nuevo antecedente” que esté en poder del Vaticano para determinar si existió encubrimiento.

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DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

September 7, 2018

By Sam Tabachnik

Stephen Edward Jeselnick, 67, was among hundreds of clergymen accused of child sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania grand jury last month

A former priest implicated in the explosive Pennsylvania child sex abuse report served at multiple Colorado churches in the early 1980s, just a few years after allegedly engaging in repeated sexual assault of three brothers in Pennsylvania.

Stephen Edward Jeselnick, 67, was among hundreds of clergymen accused of child sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania grand jury last month. The two-year investigation revealed that leaders within six Catholic dioceses worked to hide the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children over 70 years.

Jeselnick, who currently lives in Colorado Springs, served in the Archdiocese of Denver for nearly seven months from December 1982 to June 1983 on a trial assignment, according to the Archdiocese. Just a few years prior, in the late 1970s, he allegedly engaged in repeated sexual assault of three brothers in Meadeville, Pa., according to the grand jury report. The Pennsylvania brothers, now adults, told the grand jury that Jeselnick’s abuse included genital fondling, oral sex and anal sex, the report states. Jeselnick allegedly abused them in their home and at church, where their mother worked, the report continues.

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NEW YORK (NY)
NBC

September 6.2018

by Alex Johnson

In addition to New York and New Jersey, state inquiries are under way or are in the works in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico.

New York and New Jersey on Thursday raised to seven the number of states whose attorneys general have said they are reviewing Roman Catholic dioceses for cases of sexual misconduct by clergy — and several other states could join that growing list.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Thursday that since the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report last month — which accused more than 300 priests of having abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years — “more than a dozen attorneys general and a senior official at the Department of Justice have reached out to me.”

Shapiro didn’t identify those officials, and tracking down all of the states that have begun formal investigations is nearly impossible. Many states don’t confirm, deny or comment on active investigations or grand jury proceedings, and in others, the attorney general’s authority is limited to pursuing only cases that originate with local prosecutors.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

September 7, 2018

By Mark Pattison

Washington – A pair of open letters to Pope Francis asking him for answers to charges of cover-ups by him and others over abuse allegations against retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Washington were sponsored by the Catholic Women’s Forum, a project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank.

Support independent Catholic journalism. Become an NCR Forward member for $5 a month.

The prologue to one of the letters declares, “This letter reflects the personal initiative of the individual Catholic women signing this letter, and is not sponsored by any group or organization.” The letter and invitations to sign it, though, are posted on the Catholic Women’s Forum’s website.

The first letter, titled “Letter to Pope Francis from Catholic Women,” is dated Aug. 30, four days after publication of an 11-page letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican nuncio to the United States, making charges against Francis and other church leaders.

The second letter, from a group called Catholic Men United for Christ, is dated Sept. 5. “Specifically,” the second letter said, “we request that you answer the questions posed by our sisters in their letter to you.”

The questions posed in the women’s letter include, “What did Archbishop Vigano convey to you in June 2013 about then-Cardinal McCarrick? When did you learn of any allegations of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct with adults by then-Cardinal McCarrick? When did you learn of Pope Benedict’s restrictions on then-Cardinal McCarrick? And did you release then-Cardinal McCarrick from any of Pope Benedict’s restrictions?”

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KNOXVILLE (TN)
Knoxville News Sentinel

September 7, 2018

By Amy McRary

Sevierville – John Delaney was a quiet, skinny altar boy of 11 when a priest in his Philadelphia parish began sexually abusing him.

Father James Brzyski abused him more than 100 times in the early 1980s, Delaney said. The abuse — from groping to rape — went on until Delaney was 16.

He tried fighting back. “I was a skinny little kid, but I was throwing punches at the priest. He got violent when I tried to get him to stop.”

Delaney almost never talked about what was happening to him and what he knew was happening to other boys. When he did, he was called a liar and slapped. But for the last 15 years the Philadelphia native who’s lived in East Tennessee 12 years has been speaking up.

“This abuse doesn’t define who I am. This is just a fraction of who I am.”

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GUAM
Radio NZ

September 6, 2018

Guam’s archbishop has written a letter acknowledging a debt of justice has to be paid, as the church plans to enter mediation talks with lawyers representing children sexually abused by priests.

Lawyers for nearly 200 people who say they were sexually abused at the hands of the Catholic Church over several decades will meet with the church in two weeks to begin the process.

The mediation is being pursued to try and settle the cases outside of court and to avoid what would most likely be lengthy trials.

In a letter, Archbishop Michael Byrnes said the mediation is a tangible sign that the church knows “a wrong has been done” and that it wants meaningful action.

He said more is needed with respect to investigations, processes and procedures.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NPQ/Washington Post

September 7, 2018

By Jim Schaffer

Last week, NPQ reported on the controversy surrounding a former Vatican ambassador releasing an unprecedented public letter that alleged Popes Francis and Benedict and other top clerics knew about the sexual misconduct by former Washington DC archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and then protected him. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who replaced McCarrick, was one of the top embattled clerics named in the seditious letter. Wuerl was also named in the grand jury report on sexual abuse by priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses for allegedly being involved in the cover-up while serving as bishop in Pittsburgh. Pope Francis reportedly advised Wuerl during a personal meeting in Rome last Thursday to return to the US and consult with his priests for advice and guidance.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press

September 4, 2018

The Roman Catholic bishop of Burlington outlined steps in a blog post Tuesday to address the damage caused by new revelations of sex abuse committed by priests and even bishops.

Here are three takeaways:

1. There is no denying the obvious anymore.

Bishop Christopher Coyne minced no words in his blog.

“Over the last six weeks, new revelations of scandalous and even criminal activity by bishops and priests have deeply angered and shaken all of us,” Coyne wrote.

Strong words. And here’s why. In just the past month:

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UNITED STATES
CNN

September 7, 2018

The Catholic Church has been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse and the Pope has come forward and acknowledged the institution’s failures.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

September 6, 2018

By Candy Woodall

A Pennsylvania grand jury report that identified 301 predator priests has renewed an international wave of reports on the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

President Donald Trump, who is embroiled in an ongoing political scandal, said the crisis in the Catholic Church is “so sad to watch.”

Trump talked about the issue in an exclusive Oval Office interview with The Daily Caller, a conservative publication.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

September 7, 2018

By Rhina Guidos

The New York State Office of the Attorney General is the latest to announce that it is launching an investigation of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic Church clergy, sending out subpoenas on Sept. 6 seeking documents from the state’s eight dioceses.

In a press release, the agency said it was seeking “a civil investigation into how the dioceses and other church entities — which are nonprofit institutions — reviewed and potentially covered up allegations of extensive sexual abuse of minors.” Of New York’s eight dioceses, which include Albany, Buffalo, New York, Brooklyn, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre and Syracuse, four have confirmed to Catholic News Service they received subpoenas

In conjunction, the state’s Attorney General, Barbara D. Underwood, announced a hotline, specifically for those who may have been abused by clergy in New York.

Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York, said in a Sept. 6 email to Catholic News Service that “while we have just received a subpoena, it is not a surprise to us that the Attorney General would look to begin a civil investigation, and she will find the Archdiocese of New York, and the other seven dioceses in the state, ready and eager to work together with her in the investigation.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

September 6, 2018

By Mary Ann Ahern

In the wake of the latest round of sex abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, a group of Catholic women are stepping up pressure on Pope Francis to take on a leadership role in dealing with the crisis.

The American group Legatus announced Thursday that it would withhold $1 million in donations in the midst of the controversy, saying that they want clarity on how the Church is going to proceed in investigating the abuse allegations.

“I certainly would support a very prudent study, and that’s why we really need the Holy Father’s answers,” Mary Fiorito of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said.

Legatus, a group of Catholic business leaders, has given the Vatican $18 million annually since 1987, and they’re using the donation as a wake-up call to the Church to address the crisis more forcefully.

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SINGAPORE
Channel News Asia

September 6, 2018

The Catholic Church in Singapore on Thursday (Sep 6) revealed in greater detail the processes it has put in place to deal with any allegations of child abuse and its commitment to promote a safe environment.

The details, posted online on the church’s news platform The Catholic News, come five days after the Archbishop of Singapore Most Reverend William Goh revealed in a pastoral message that there were “a handful” of allegations of abuse involving the Church in Singapore.

Those cases were handed over to the Professional Standards Office (PSO) of the Archdiocese for investigation and later judged to be inconclusive, he added in the post on Sep 1.

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ALBANY (NY)
The Daily Gazette

September 6, 2018

By Stephen Williams

Letter asks Albany DA David Soares to review records

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has invited Albany District Attorney David Soares to review the diocese’s records on sex abuse cases.

Scharfenberger announced the invitation in an open letter Thursday, calling the decision a necessary one that “ultimately will result in much good but one that is likely to be difficult and incredibly challenging for us for the foreseeable future.”

The letter from Scharfenberger came out on the same day state Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced her office has established a hotline and online complaint form as part of the state’s ongoing investigation into clergy sex abuse in all eight New York state dioceses.

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IRELAND
The Times

August 31 2018

By Gary Gannon

The Pope professed to be shocked when he heard details of Irish mother and baby homes, and he had no idea what a Magdalene laundry was, according to survivors of clerical abuse who met him last weekend. “It ended up with me giving him a three or four-minute crash course through his translator,” Paul Redmond said.

This was all the more surprising considering that the Pope had met Philomena Lee, the adoption rights campaigner, in 2014. But he is not alone in claiming ignorance of the religious institutional abuse that has existed since the state was founded. Discourse about our identity fails to address the effects this abuse and incarceration had on many families.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

September 7, 2018

ByRobert Herguth

When word began to spread in 1989 that Vincent McCaffrey, a Chicago-area Catholic priest, had been accused of molesting children, a top church official expressed concern — about word getting out.

“Unfortunately, one of the key parishioners . . . received an anonymous phone call which made reference by name to Vince and alleged misconduct on his part with young boys,” the Rev. Raymond Goedert wrote to then-Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

“We all agreed that the best thing would be for Vince to move,” Goedert wrote, according to documents released as part of a court settlement. “We don’t know if the anonymous caller will strike again.”

In 2003, McCaffrey was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for possession and receipt of child pornography. Though never charged with sexually abusing kids, McCaffrey admitted during the court case that he had molested so many he couldn’t remember the exact number.

Goedert, promoted to auxiliary bishop in 1991, retired in 2003.

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CANADA
Global News

September 7, 2018

On this week’s episode of the Global News original podcast This is Why, we hear part two of our two-part series on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Last week, podcast host Niki Reitmayer sat down with abuse survivor Leona Huggins, as she recalled her traumatic experience at the hands of a pedophile priest and the Catholic Church’s attempts to cover it up.

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KARNATAKA (INDIA)
Deccan Herald

September 6, 2018

By Vatsala Vedantam

The Archbishop confesses to the Cardinal: “I have broken all my vows,” to which his superior answers: “We are priests, but we were something else before we became priests, which we cannot escape. We are men, with the weaknesses and failings of men.”

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger

September 7, 2018

By Patricia Teffenhart

The formation of a task force this week by the Attorney General’s Office to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy is an important step in the right direction for New Jersey.

But we cannot stop here.

As the #MeToo movement converges with continued reports of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, it’s time for us to acknowledge that some of New Jersey’s outdated laws ensure many survivors still won’t be able to pursue justice — making it impossible to hold those who have committed such heinous acts accountable.

New Jersey is an ugly outlier in the nation — since 2002, when the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” series shone a light on institutional child sexual abuse, 80 percent of states have made changes to their statutes of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse.

The Garden State has made no changes.

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GUAM
KUAM News

September 7, 2018

By Krystal Paco

Will the 180-plus clergy sexual abuse lawsuits head for settlement, as planned? That and more will be discussed in a joint status conference at the District Court of Guam on Tuesday.

Back in August, one group of plaintiffs threatened to abandon settlement talks, alleging the Church was “acting in bad faith.”

The Lujan & Wolff firm, who represent majority of the plaintiffs and all the lawsuits filed in the federal court, reported that the Archdiocese of Agana would be banking on insurance coverage to front the cost of claims and that the Church was selling assets in a suspicious manner at “less than asking price.”

As we reported, the Church’s stateside legal counsel Mike Patterson assured the court it was all just a misunderstanding.

He advised that there are four properties being discussed and the reason for the transactions were “economic in nature.”

Both Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood and Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo agreed they cannot force parties into mediation.

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LOUISIANA
The Hayride

September 7, 2018

By Kevin Boyd

All across the country, the Catholic Church finds itself under investigation for sex abuse and its role in covering it up. After the bombshell investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, seven states have launched an investigation into the Catholic Church.

But one of the most Catholic states in the union is unlikely to join them. Even if Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry wanted to investigate the Catholic Church, he would be unable to do so. In Louisiana, he does not have the authority to launch a statewide investigation of a crime. Instead, criminal investigations are handled by the local district attorney.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
The Associated Press

September 6, 2018

The New Mexico attorney general’s office wants Catholic Church officials around the state to allow it to review personnel records for any material that might be related to past or present allegations of sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Las Cruces said Wednesday it had received a letter from the office requesting the review and will cooperate.

“Having an independent authority reviewing our files can foster greater confidence in the transparency and accountability of the Diocese of Las Cruces,” Bishop Oscar Cantu said in a statement.

Letters were also sent to the Santa Fe Archdiocese and the diocese in Gallup requesting “full disclosure and transparency,” agency spokesman David Carl said.

“The Catholic Church in New Mexico needs to fully reconcile and support survivors by revealing the magnitude of sexual abuse and subsequent cover-up by Church leaders in order to restore faith and trust in the community,” Carl said.

The move to review the documents in New Mexico follows a recent grand jury report that said more than 300 Catholic priests abused at least 1,000 children over the past seven decades in six Pennsylvania dioceses. The report said senior figures in the Church hierarchy systematically covered up complaints.

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
The Irish Catholic

September 6, 2018

A church in Cork was filled with applause and tears on Sunday after baby shoes were placed on the altar to commemorate the victims and survivors of clerical abuse.

Canon David Herlihy said he proposed the commemoration ceremony that took place in St Mary’s Parish Church in Youghal after members of the Standing4Women movement had tied children’s shoes to the church railings early last week in solidarity with all those who had been affected by the scandals.

“Just before Mass started I invited people to go out and to untie the shoes, anyone who wished to do so. There was great backing in the parish,” he said, adding that there was a “very big turnout of survivors”.

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MERRIMACK (NH)
SNAP Network

September 6, 2018

By David Clohessy

Carolyn Disco of Merrimack has passed away.

She was one of the most knowledgeable and outspoken Catholic lay people in the US regarding the Catholic abuse and cover up crisis. She started and led for years the NH chapter of Voice of the Faithful.

Carolyn was a hero to hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims. Unlike most Catholics, she neither ran from this crisis nor bought the calculated apologies and vague promises of the church hierarchy. Instead, she rallied to the side of the wounded and pushed hard to expose the truth, helping law enforcement and journalists investigate this horror.

Her compassion was boundless and her commitment to change was tireless. Many a suffering survivor turned to her for comfort and found it in this generous, kind woman. SNAP gave her our first-ever “Lay Person of the Year” award, which she earned through her dedicated support and advocacy. She will be sorely missed.

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SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune

September 7, 2018

A prosecutor in Pennsylvania is investigating an accusation of misconduct against local Bishop Kevin Rhoades in Harrisburg, where he previously served as a priest and bishop.

According to a report from PennLive.com, the Diocese of Harrisburg confirmed Thursday that an allegation of misconduct was filed against Rhoades recently and forwarded to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office and PA ChildLine. Rhoades is now bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

Diocesan spokesman Mike Barley told PennLive that the diocese “would stress that this is an allegation.”

“We will have no further comment until the investigation of the Office of the District Attorney is concluded,” Barley said.

A statement from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said, “Bishop Rhoades adamantly denies any validity to this accusation and the insinuation of inappropriate behavior. He did nothing wrong, and is confident any investigation will bear this out.”

The Tribune was not immediately able to reach the diocese late Thursday evening.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live

September 6, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

In the wake of a blistering report on clergy sex abuse, former Harrisburg Diocese bishop Kevin C. Rhoades has been accused of misconduct – possibly of a sexual nature.

The Diocese of Harrisburg on Thursday confirmed that an allegation of misconduct had recently been filed against Rhoades. Diocesan officials said they reported the allegation to PA ChildLine and the office of the Dauphin County District Attorney.

“We would stress that this is an allegation,” diocesan spokesman Mike Barley said in a statement to PennLive Thursday. “We will have no further comment until the investigation of the Office of the District Attorney is concluded.”

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said his office is investigating the allegation against Rhoades. Rhoades has not been charged.

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GERMANY
Regensburg Digital

September 2018

[Applications for recognition as a victim of sexual abuse and massive physical violence in the country Diocese of Regensburg from 2010 to August 2018]

1. Sexueller Missbrauch:
Insgesamt haben seit 2010 95 Personen 96 Anträge auf Anerkennung als Opfer sexueller Gewalt gestellt. Die meisten Anträge (24) wurden in 2011 gestellt, die wenigsten (2) im Jahr 2014.

Von diesen 96 Anträgen wurden 60 anerkannt. In 19 Fällen war das Bistum Regensburg nicht zuständig, diese Anträge wurden z.B. an Orden oder andere Bistümer weitergeleitet. 6 Anträge wurden abgelehnt, z.B., weil die Betroffene nicht minderjährig war oder der Vorfall nicht als sexueller Missbrauch eingestuft wurde (sondern z.B. als Körperverletzung), 2 Anträge wurden von den Betroffenen zurückgenommen, 9 Anträge sind derzeit noch offen.

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GERMANY
Regensburg Digital

September 6, 2018

By Stefan Aigner in Nachrichten, Überregional

[New figures of the diocese: The dimension of violence and abuse away from the Domspatzen]

4.3 million euros for 647 victims

Laut einer aktuellen Veröffentlichung des Bistums Regensburg haben Betroffene von Gewalt und sexuellem Missbrauch bislang rund 4,3 Millionen Euro an „Anerkennungsleistungen“ erhalten. Die nun erstmals veröffentlichten Zahlen zu Betroffenen machen auch deutlich, welche Dimension Gewalt und sexueller Missbrauch in anderen Einrichtungen des Bistums hatte: Bislang wurden fast 300 weitere Betroffene anerkannt.

Es gab keine Mitteilung an die Medien, geschweige denn eine Pressekonferenz: Kommentarlos hat das Bistum Regensburg am gestrigen Mittwoch eine knapp zweiseitige Übersicht über „Anträge auf Anerkennung als Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs und massiver körperlicher Gewalt (…) von 2010 bis August 2018“ auf seinen Internetseiten veröffentlicht. Demnach wurden – Stand 4. September – zwischen 2010 und August 2018 rund 4,3 Millionen Euro an Anerkennungsleistungen an Betroffene von körperlicher und sexueller Gewalt ausgezahlt.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

September 7, 2018

By Caitlin Lally and Evie Hemphill

The word “outrage” doesn’t quite capture how Catholics in St. Louis have been reacting to a recent report revealing that nearly 1,000 young people were sexually abused by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania over a 70-year period.

“I think everyone is just really grieving … there’s so much anger and some hostility even,” said Sandra Price, executive director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. “The reports that were outlined in the grand-jury report in Pennsylvania [were] grisly, detailed reports of abuse – that’s what sexual abuse is. And that the public has seen what sexual abuse really looks like, it’s traumatic – there’s just no words.”

Price, along with colleague Carol Brescia, joined St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh for a conversation leading up to Friday’s planned Mass of Reparation. The segment also included comments from Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley and from David Clohessy, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

September 6, 2018

By Kelly Heyboer and Ted Sherman

New Jersey officials Thursday announced the creation of a special task force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey, and any efforts to cover up such abuse.

The stunning move was just the latest fallout to come in the wake of the recent disclosures by a recent Pennsylvania grand jury, which graphically detailed the horrific sex abuse by priests who preyed upon children for decades, sparking a national outcry that continues to grow.

Earlier in the day, the New York attorney general’s office issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state, as it, too, embarked on a major investigation of sex crimes committed and covered up by priests. The subpoenas seek documents relating to abuse allegations, payments to victims or findings from internal church investigations.

Here in New Jersey, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said he would appoint former acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino to head the newly formed task force, which will have subpoena power through a grand jury to compel testimony and demand the production of documents.

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METUCHEN (NJ)
CNA

September 5, 2018

By Christopher Altieri

The Diocese of Metuchen has temporarily removed a priest from parish ministry while it reexamines the handling of misconduct allegations made against him.

The priest, Fr. Alfonso R. Condorson, was ordained in 1995 in the Archdiocese of Newark by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Condorson, previously known as Alfonso de Condorpusa, held parish assignments in the archdiocese before transferring to the Diocese of Metuchen in 2004. He was permanently incardinated in the Metuchen diocese in 2008. Condorson is now listed as pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Bound Brook, NJ.

The priest was born in Lima, Peru in 1967. According to a 2015 report in Metuchen’s diocesan newspaper, he “settled in Maryland” in 1967, and became a U.S. citizen around 1998.

Condorson has a long-standing relationship with Metuchen’s Bishop Emeritus Paul Bootkoski, who sold in 2015 a New Jersey property to the priest for $1. Bootkoski, who authorized settlements to alleged victims of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, became Bishop of Metuchen in 2002. He was also chief aide to McCarrick during the latter’s tenure as Archbishop of Newark.

The diocese is now reviewing how two allegations made against the priest were handled.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WBTV

September 5, 2018

By Nick Ochsner

You’ve seen the national headlines about the Catholic Church failing to act on allegations of sexual abuse… Now we’ve uncovered documents showing Church leaders in Charlotte and Raleigh received reports of priest abuse and allowed at least two men to continue in ministry

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SUPERIOR (WI)
Catholic Herald

Published September 6, 2018
Written August 31, 2018

By Most Reverend James P. Powers, Bishop of Superior

Once again we are all hurt, confused and angered by the recent news of Archbishop McCarrick’s abuses, the grand jury report from Pennsylvania, and the accusations against Pope Francis. As we move forward, the way is not totally clear, but I vow with the help of God to do everything in my power to lead our diocese with transparency and integrity in all things.

First and foremost, I offer my prayers and support for justice and healing to all victims of clergy abuse. Second, I offer my apologies for Church cover-ups and lack of transparent action, which led to sexual abuse of both children and adults, including seminarians. Third, I strongly encourage any victims of Catholic Church sexual abuse to bravely come forward and report the crimes committed against them. Finally, I ask for prayers of support for the great majority of our holy priests and bishops, who will continue their good and dedicated service to all of us and our Catholic Church.

As a priest and pastor, I have fully supported the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and believe that the Diocese of Superior has taken every step possible to prevent abuse from happening in our diocese since its adoption 16 years ago. I am not aware of any currently serving priests or parish staff in our Diocese that are known or rumored to be abusers. I firmly believe that any of our active or retired priests would come to me if they have any knowledge of abuse. We have been carefully following the safety guidelines of the charter since 2002. Independent auditors have consistently found our diocese to be in compliance with all audited articles within the charter, most recently in July of 2018.

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PAXTON (MA)
WGRZ

September 5, 2018

By Steve Brown

What Jim Graham, has believed in his heart for 25-years is confirmed. A deceased Oblate order priest who he never met is Graham’s biological father.

It was the first day of classes at Anna Maria College. It’s a small Catholic school in the hills of central Massachusetts.

It’s here Jim Graham came to learn some test results.

Two months earlier, he sat near the grave of Father Thomas Sullivan to watch the exhumation of the remains of an Oblate order priest. Graham had gotten unprecedented permission to dig up Sullivan’s body to obtain tissue samples for a DNA paternity test.

For a quarter century, Graham has spent thousands of dollars and untolled hours gathering documents which tell a convincing story, that the priest Graham never met is his biological father. But all of the evidence is admittedly circumstantial which bothered Graham.

“When I tell my story, there’s always some hesitation because we didn’t have it validated. Some people could question if he was really my father,” he explained.

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CENTENNIAL (CO)
Colorado Public Radio

September 5, 2018

By Joella Baumann

Several weeks ago, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report detailing the exhaustive extent of child sex abuse allegations in the state’s Catholic dioceses. Some survivors of similar abuse are calling for that process to be repeated state-by-state.

That perspective is shared in two members of the Denver chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Chapter leader Jeb Barrett and member Michael Carpino talked to Colorado Matters about how their abuse impacted their lives, and what steps they want to see taken.

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LONDON (UK)
The Spectator

September 8, 2018

By Damian Thompson

Did the pontiff conceal sexual abuse carried out by the retired archbishop of Washington DC?

he Catholic Church is confronting a series of interconnected scandals so shameful that its very survival is threatened. Pope Francis himself is accused of covering up the activities of one of the nastiest sexual predators ever to wear a cardinal’s hat: his close ally Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, DC.

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI are also implicated; they did nothing, or almost nothing, while Mc-Carrick was seducing every seminarian he could get his hands on. (‘Hide the pretty ones!’ they used to say when he visited seminaries.) Yet powerful cardinals kept quiet and are now suspected of lying their heads off after Mc–Carrick’s crimes were recently made public.

McCarrick is the world’s only ex-cardinal. He was forced to resign in July when sexual abuse allegations against him were found to be ‘creditable and substantiated’ by American church authorities. But now the Pope is also being urged to step down — by his own former apostolic nuncio to the United States. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò says he told Francis in 2013 that McCarrick had ‘corrupted generations of priests and seminarians’. The Pope ignored him and lifted sanctions that Benedict, who’d been told the same thing, had imposed.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KTRK – Houston

September 7, 2018

The church will decide whether to oust Sam Young from the church on Sunday for asking others to vote against Mormon leaders.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WBTV

September 6, 2018

By Nick Ochsner

Catholic leaders in North Carolina allowed priests to continue serving in active ministry, despite reports that those priests had engaged in inappropriate behavior, documents show.

For months, WBTV has been gathering internal church documents, some dating back to the 1980s, related to two priests.

Both men were ultimately removed from their positions as pastors at churches in the Charlotte Diocese following reports of abuse. But, internal church documents show, the action in both cases came decades after church leaders first received reports of abusive behavior.

The revelations come amidst new national and international scrutiny into how the Catholic Church has handled priests accused of sexually abusing young people.

The United States Council of Catholic Bishops released six statements on the topic just in August of this year, including one statement referring to the church’s handling of alleged abusers as a “moral catastrophe.”

USCCB President Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo issued a statement on August 1 that addressed, in part, the way in which church leaders should handle those who have reported abuse.

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SWITZERLAND
AFP/The Local

September 6, 2018

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference on Wednesday pledged to make it mandatory to report sexual abuse of adults in the Catholic church, even without the victim’s permission.

Reporting is already mandatory if the victim is a child.

“If an official representative of the church learns that there is a suspicion of an offence (of sexual abuse) that should be prosecuted, he will be obliged to communicate that” to authorities even if the victim is not in agreement, conference spokesperson Encarnación Berger-Lobato told the AFP news agency.

Until now such action has only been required if authorised by the victim.

The Catholic church has been rocked in recent years by a string of abuse scandals.

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ROME
The Daily Beast

September 7, 2018

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

The pontiff’s silence speaks volumes as powerful conservative Catholic clerics, some of them colluding with Steve Bannon, try to force his resignation.

Not long after Pope Francis took office in March 2013, he ran into a wall. But it wasn’t the ancient Roman brickwork built around Vatican City. It was stronger. And it came from deep within the very church he was elected to lead. Every time he tried to introduce reforms, the wall was there. His foes were so strong he recently equated reforming the Catholic Church with “cleaning the Sphinx of Egypt with a toothbrush.”

Still, Francis persevered, relying on his immediate popularity and innate charm, and soon the outside world began to look at the Catholic Church in a new, positive light under his guidance. Suddenly, it it was cool to be Catholic.

But the traditional conservatives within the church didn’t want to be cool, and while the new pope was hardly progressive by secular standards (he is still Catholic, after all), they preferred the cold church, the one that protected them from the outside world behind layers of immovable doctrine.

While Francis reached far into the margins to minister to the poor and disenfranchised, the conservatives preferred punishing the sinners and adhering to archaic rules that have little place in the modern world, even if it meant sacrificing the flock.

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HUDSON VALLEY (NY)
The Fray

September 6, 2018

By Chris McKenna

An activist crusading for passage of the stalled Child Victims Act held a rally in Goshen on Thursday with state Senate candidate Pramilla Malick and endorsed her.

Gary Greenberg, founder of Protect NY Kids and the Fighting for Children PAC, has been campaigning with Democratic Senate candidates to support legislation for victims of childhood sexual abuse that the Republican-controlled Senate has refused to take up. He held similar rallies in Cornwall and Kingston a week earlier with James Skoufis and Pat Strong, the Democrats running for the 39th and 46th Senate Districts.

The difference in the 42nd District race is that two Democrats who both support the Child Victims Act – Malick and Jen Metzger – are competing in a primary next week. Greenberg, who also appeared with Malick at a Child Victims Act rally in the Town of Wallkill in March, clarified to the Times Herald-Record that he’s supporting Malick in the Democratic primary.

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CANADA
LifeSiteNews

September 6, 2018

By Lianne Laurence

The highly influential Catholic business association Legatus has put its annual Vatican tithe “in escrow,” citing the current crisis in the Church.

A September 6 letter (full letter below) from Legatus CEO and founder Tom Monaghan states the Legatus board took the step “in light of recent revelations and questions.”

“We have also had discussions regarding our (Legatus’) annual tithe to the Holy See, specifically pertaining to how it is being used, and what financial accountability exists within the Vatican for such charitable contributions.  The Board has begun a dialogue along these lines, and in the meantime has decided to place the Holy See annual tithe in escrow, pending further determination (by the Board),” Monaghan stated.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS News

September 2018

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LONDON (UK)
Financial Times

September 5, 2018

By Geoffrey Boisi

Sexual abuse scandal is a chance to address leadership and management failures

The Catholic Church faces a twofold crisis: sexual abuse and a breakdown of confidence in its leadership. Focusing solely on the former is folly. Both must be dealt with head on. In the US, and beyond, the Church is at a tipping point in its relationship with the laity. Many are beyond restless and impatient for tangible reforms.

The moral catastrophe of the sexual abuse scandal was reinforced when a grand jury report found that more than 1,000 children in Pennsylvania had been abused by more than 300 priests. Equally disturbing was the exposure of transgressions by the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, and accusations of a cover-up. But these are only the most recent events in a deepening crisis of trust.

Both laity and clergy are questioning the integrity and competence of certain members of the Church hierarchy, whose failures in leadership and management have damaged the Catholic voice of moral authority in the public sphere and the morale of the Catholic community. More than one generation of young people have been driven from the pews. However, it is important to note that this is not a crisis of faith but a basic question of accountability and leadership. Therein lies the opportunity.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Foreign Policy

September 5, 2018

By Andrew Brown

The ferocity of the Vatican’s civil war has less to do with theology or justice than petty office politics.

The present scandal in the Catholic Church in the United States has no obvious precedent. Demands that a sitting pope resign have been unknown since the crises of the late 14th century, when rival popes reigned in Rome and Avignon, and they would have been unthinkable in modern times until 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by resigning. Before then, one would have no recourse but to hope that a pope with whom one disagreed should die. In fact, one British priest who hates Pope Francis assured me last year that the group of priests who oppose him “pray for him to die every day” but that forcing him to resign was out of the bounds of possibility.

So the demand by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, formerly the Vatican’s ambassador to Washington, that Francis resign was a significant escalation of the culture wars now convulsing the U.S. church. The ostensible reason is that Viganò claims that in 2013 Francis restored to favor Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who had, in retirement, been secretly sanctioned by Benedict for his liaisons with seminarians. The problem with this accusation is that the sanctions, if they existed, were so secret that the outside world did not know of their existence and McCarrick ignored them entirely.

Viganò’s letter follows the attempt by four retired cardinals last year to convict the pope of heresy over his line on divorced and remarried people, one that Francis eloquently ignored. In terms of U.S. politics, it pits the right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon against the Democratic upstart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is a battle for the soul of the Catholic Church in the United States, between the conservative culture warriors in one camp and the pastoralists in the other. It has potentially global implications about the way in which the leadership of the church and the way it tackles migration, the environment, sexuality, and capitalism. The hammering of the right-wing Catholic media on this scandal is reminiscent of the way the Fox News axis worked on the Benghazi attack and its aftermath, Hillary Clinton’s emails, and Whitewater in the past. The pope himself has used the powers of his office ruthlessly (as all popes tend to do), not least in sacking Viganò.

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UNITED STATES
American Thinker

September 4, 2018

By Matt C. Abbott

In recent weeks , there’s been considerable coverage and chatter in the mainstream media, on social media, and in the Catholic blogosphere on the fallout over the Pennsylvania grand jury report, not to mention the Pope Francis versus Archbishop Viganò controversy, which has basically developed into a full-blown Catholic civil war. Sides are being taken by those who have strong feelings on the latest crisis in the Church.

For better or worse (probably more the latter), many Catholics aren’t too interested in what’s happening in the Church. We just have to let them be. Hopefully, at least some will soon wake up and see that we’re in the midst of profound spiritual warfare. On the other hand, if they’re indeed striving to live as faithful Catholics while paying little to no attention to the news, I certainly can’t be critical of them.

But back to the crisis at hand.

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BREWSTER (MA)
Cape Cod Today

September 6, 2018

Faces 16 charges, remains free on bail with restrictions…

A teacher from Stony Brook Elementary School pleaded not guilty Thursday in Barnstable Superior Court to sixteen charges, including five counts of child rape. Noah Campbell-Halley’s case was moved to Superior Court after he was indicted by a Barnstable County grand jury last month.

The accused technology teacher remains free on $10,000 bail and must wear a GPS monitor, observe a curfew and to have no contact with any child except his own. Judge Robert Rufo additionally ordered that Campbell-Halley check in monthly with the probation department at Worcester Superior Court. Campbell-Halley is currently staying in the Worcester County town of Winchendon at the home of his parents.

Campbell-Halley was charged March 22nd in alleged incidents that involved two first graders at the school.

At the time of the initial charges, Nauset School Superintendent Thomas Conrad reported that Campbell-Halley, a fifth-year teacher, had been placed on administrative leave. His current employment status at the school is unknown.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Patriot Ledger

September 6, 2018

By Neal Simpson

A Whitman man is speaking out for the first time about the years of sexual abuse he says he endured as a child at the hands of a man who is now a celebrity real estate guru and author of a Trump University book.

Finlay S. Walsh, now 43, called a press conference Thursday morning to describe how David Lindahl, the owner of a Rockland-based real estate education company, abused him for years as a child and left him with a lifetime of trauma.

Walsh’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said Lindahl served only 10 months of a 10-year sentence for the abuse and just last year paid Walsh $812,000 as part of a settlement agreement.

“I don’t think anybody can heal what I’ve gone through, but I want the truth to come out,” Walsh told reporters as he stood beside Garabedian, who is best known for representing victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Lindahl’s attorney, James Budreau, declined to comment Thursday. Calls to Lindahl’s real estate education company, RE Mentor, were not returned.

Lindahl started RE Mentor, which is hosting a three-day networking event in Boston starting today, in 2002 and claims on its website to have bought and sold more than 8,200 real estate units, calling himself “North America’s Leading Authority on Entrepreneurial Success.”

In addition to NBC, CBS, Fox News and ABC, he has written three books on real estate and says that now-President Donald Trump personally asked him to co-author a book for Trump University, a now-defunct for-profit education company.

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ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
LI Herald

September 6, 2018

By Ben Strack

Diocese looks forward to church’s ‘intense period of reform’

The leader of Long Island’s Catholics recently supported the need to “aggressively uproot this scourge and expression of a culture of death of clergy sexual abuse” following allegations that have reached the Vatican.

Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, who cited Pope Francis’s letter to Catholics with that message, also called for “decisive answers” in a statement several days after Carlo Maria Vigano, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States, accused the pope of covering up abuse and called for his resignation.

Vigano, known to be a staunch critic of the pope, claimed in a letter released last week that Francis knew that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians before the information became public, and that the Vatican played a part in covering it up. Vigano claimed that he had informed Francis of McCarrick’s history of abuse in 2013.

The pope accepted McCarrick’s resignation in July after the church deemed credible an accusation that he had sexually abused a minor decades ago.

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FRANCE
La Croix

September 5, 2018

By Mélinée Le Priol

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon stands accused of leaving a priest in contact with children, knowing he had a history of sexual assault

On Aug. 3, new legislation about sexual violence and harassment was introduced in France that amended the country’s penal code. It toughened penalties for not reporting such crimes.

This could have a bearing on the trial of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon on charges that he covered up for a known pedophile. The trial is due to start on Jan. 7.

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

September 6, 2018

By Julia O’Donoghue

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office says it doesn’t have the authority to launch a broad, multi-parish investigation into Catholic Church sex abuse allegations, though a handful of attorneys general in other states are pursuing such inquiries.

Landry’s office said Catholic clergy sex abuse allegations in Louisiana need to be initially handled by local district attorneys and law enforcement in keeping with state law. A local district attorney could choose to hand over individual alleged clergy sex abuse cases to Landry, but even that wouldn’t allow a statewide investigation into multiple allegations from different communities unless all of the relevant cases were relinquished to the attorney general.

“We don’t have authority to prosecute until a district attorney turns the authority over to us,” Ruth Wisher, spokeswoman for Landry, said Thursday (Sept. 6). “The attorney general obviously has an interest in arresting child predators.”

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

UNITED STATES
In Public Safety

September 2018

By Dr. Michael Pittaro

On August 14, 2018, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro publicly addressed the comprehensive findings of a much-anticipated, two-year statewide grand jury investigation uncovering the sexual abuse of children by predatory Catholic priests.

This nearly 900-page report reveals sexual abuses involving children under the age of 18 and includes graphically detailed victims’ accounts in dioceses throughout Pennsylvania. It also reveals the systemic cover up—which spans decades—by senior church leaders in Pennsylvania all the way up to the Vatican, thus prompting a response by the Pope.

While the report found that 1,000 children were victimized by predator Catholic priests, the true figure is estimated to be much higher, well into the thousands. Despite the horrendous and pervasive nature of these crimes, very few of the perpetrators can be held criminally or civilly liable due to the statute of limitations on sex crimes.

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.