ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Scoop

By Binoy Kampmark

Cardinal George Pell is a terrier of the wrong sort. Combative for the Catholic church, he does the Pope’s bidding down under with a loud bark and occasional bite. Much of it has proven disastrous for the Church’s reputation in Australia and elsewhere. That particular institution is very much in the spotlight of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sexual Child Abuse, and things are not going well. Before Victorian parliamentarians, Pell demonstrated, as he has done for so long, that he shows a distinct “sociopathic lack of empathy” for his victims.

Certainly, for Pell, a degree of blamelessness has been cultivated. This might well be his own interior justification. The abusive, institutional mechanism that so typified the church institutions might well have been a cultural monstrosity – but Pell was immune to it. Or at least, that’s the impression he gives. Governance, and action, are not necessarily the same thing in the Pell book of revelations.

His response, for example, to questioning about why the former Melbourne archbishop Frank Little did conceal instances of abuse is suggestive of that. “Yes, archbishop Little did cover up but he inherited a situation where there were no protocols and no procedures and, for some strange reason, he never spoke to anybody about it” (The Australian, May 28). The suggestion is specious, if for no other reason that the Catholic church remains one of the most protocol driven institutions on the planet, a hybrid creature of legal sophistication. Errors and heresies are noted; behaviour punished, when required. When necessary, bad behaviour has been concealed.

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.

RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: Wednesday, May 29, 2013

BY BRANDON SHULLEETA Richmond Times-Dispatch

The leader of a group of child sexual abuse victims on Tuesday demanded an apology from supporters of a Richmond pastor charged with sexually assaulting two young girls in Texas.

Geronimo Aguilar, pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, faces charges in Texas for alleged offenses dating to 1996. He is on a paid leave from the church, whose board released a statement last week saying it “believes the accusations against him to be completely untrue and unfounded.”

At a public gathering of three people and several reporters outside the Richmond Police Department, Becky Ianni, the Virginia director for the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, called for an apology and said supporters should back Aguilar only quietly if they must do so while he’s being investigated.

“Publically supporting the accused perpetrator is not only hurtful to alleged victims but very intimidating to other victims who might be thinking about coming forward,” Ianni said.

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

George Pell warns against moves he says would amount to discrimination against Catholics

[written submission]
[appendix 1]
[appendix 2
[appendix 3]
[appendix 4]

PIA AKERMAN From: The Australian May 29, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has warned Victoria not to pursue legislative change which would help sexual abuse victims sue for greater compensation, saying such a move would amount to discrimination against Catholics.

In a written submission to the Victorian inquiry examining responses to child sexual abuse, the nation’s most senior Catholic cleric said legal changes proposed by victims’ rights groups would be a significant departure from the law and “cause considerable injustice”.

Cardinal Pell said a number of submissions to the inquiry, which he testified before on Monday, had shown “misunderstanding of the facts and analysis” underpinning the NSW Court of Appeal decision which found the church did not exist as a legal entity capable of being sued.

“The Ellis decision stands for nothing more than the commonsense proposition that you cannot be liable for wrongdoing of others unless you authorised, or are directly or indirectly responsible for supervising, their conduct,” he said, referring to the ruling on 2004 legal action taken against the church by abused altar boy John Ellis.

“The body corporate which Mr Ellis sued was created in 1936 by statute and has operated on the same basis in Sydney since its creation.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

The first civil lawsuit to be filed under a new Minnesota law eliminating the statute of limitations for children who have been sexually abused is expected to be announced this afternoon.

The suit will be filed on behalf of a 51-year-old unidentified Twin Cities man, and will name the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, the Diocese of Winona and former priest Thomas Adamson as defendants. Jeff Anderson, of Anderson and Associates, is representing the plaintiff.

Adamson, 78, was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Winona in 1958. Allegations of his sexual involvement with young boys date from the early 1960s. In 1975, he was transferred to the Archdiocese of St. Paul after a number of abuse complaints had been brought to the attention of church officials in the Winona diocese. He continued in the active priesthood until 1984.

While Adamson never faced criminal abuse charges — the statute of limitations had expired — he was named in three civil suits settled out of court, and a fourth suit brought against the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was decided in favor of the complainant.

It wasn’t known Tuesday how much the lawsuit will seek in damages, or what time period it will focus on. Anderson and others are expected to announce more details of the suit today at a press conference in St. Paul.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

A victim of a retired schoolteacher has spoken of her anger after it was revealed he made two confessions to priests that he had sexually abused children – years before being brought to justice.

Believing he was on his deathbed, John Davis, 75, of Fensway, Hutton, confessed his crimes to a hospital priest several years before the victims found the courage to report the offences to police.

Davis, who taught at St John Southworth’s RC High School in Grimsargh, then went on to confess to a priest at church when he recovered from his illness and was released from hospital.

He later pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent assault on several young girls.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

TOOWOOMBA’S Catholic Diocese says the latest revelations of cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are disappointing.

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s top-ranking Catholic, has fronted a Victorian inquiry into systematic failings by religious and non-government organisations to deal with child abuse.

Cardinal Pell told the inquiry that some members of the church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy.

Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba executive officer Mark Copland believes the current inquiry in Victoria and an upcoming Royal Commission will go some way to uncovering and correcting the mistakes of the past.

“My hope is that the truth is told and responded to in the manner in which it has been given,” he said.

“Ultimately my hope is that we do everything we can to support survivors and their families and ensure that we have transparent policies and procedures that will ensure it will not occur again.”

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

Danny Lannen | May 29th, 2013

VICTORIA’S parliamentary inquiry into institutional child abuse has concluded, with the Catholic Church remaining more concerned about fixing a situation than fixing people, according to Geelong priest Father Kevin Dillon.

The St Mary’s parish priest said testimony by Catholic Cardinal George Pell at the final inquiry hearing “wasn’t a step backwards” but didn’t reach out enough in practical terms.

Cardinal Pell expressed full apology and absolute sorrow for past abuses and said fear of scandal led to cover-up by the church.

Fr Dillon, who attended the hearing in support of Geelong abuse victims, said religious leaders remained ignorant.

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RICHMOND (VA)
NBC 12

[with video]

By Laura Geller

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
The case involving accusations against a local mega-church’s founder continues to get publicity.

Tuesday, an agency, which supports people sexually abused by priests, advocated for Richmond Outreach Center Pastor Geronimo Aguilar’s alleged victims and called for the church board to apologize.

The group met at Richmond Police Headquarters because it says authorities, not the church, are the proper ones to deal with situations like what’s going on with Pastor G right now. SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, representatives say they know this because they’ve been in the victims’ shoes.

Becky Ianni says as a child, she was sexually abused by her priest in Northern Virginia.

“When I came forward with my abuse I was very afraid because many people supported my perpetrator,” she explained. “They thought he was the greatest man ever and I was afraid to come forward because what if I wasn’t believed.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 28, 2013

Lawrence Money
Journalist

”Building on the past” says the sign outside Victoria’s Parliament House. It refers to renovations to the old grey edifice but, on this overcast Monday afternoon, it could almost have applied to the proceedings inside as Cardinal George Pell attempted to explain the inexplicable sins of yore – systematic paedophilia by Catholic priests.

Pell, who last month was basking in the glory of an appointment to a Vatican panel on leaked documents, was this time a Daniel walking into the lions’ den – the state parliamentary inquiry into child abuse – and the inquisitorial team had a full set of teeth. ”Were you a Pontius Pilate, washing your hands of the problem?” asked MP Frank McGuire. Pell denied it and, while one curious member of the media Googled ”Pilate” on his laptop, the cardinal pointed out that he had attended at least ”three meetings of victims”.

The savaging continued. Had Pell ”supported” the notorious priest Gerald Ridsdale in a court case where they walked out of the courtroom together? Pell admitted he had been there but would not have called it ”support” and besides, he not realised the implications at the time.

And no, he confirmed that he had never gone to court to support any victims – but none had ever asked him. Suddenly, there were echoes of Rupert Murdoch at the hacking inquiry when the cardinal volunteered a declaration of profuse regret: ”I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry.”

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Southern Baptist leaders in a movement that goes by names including the “New Calvinism” and “young, restless and Reformed” voiced support for a friend and colleague accused in a Maryland lawsuit of collusion in what is being called American evangelicalism’s biggest sex scandal to date.

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., joined Presbyterian minister Ligon Duncan in a statement of support for C.J. Mahaney, one of several defendants accused of permitting and covering up the sexual abuse of children in churches affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries, a Calvinist church-planting organization based in Louisville, Ky.

“We have stood beside our friend, C. J. Mahaney, and we can speak to his personal integrity,” the trio, who with Mahaney started a biennial preaching conference called Together for the Gospel in 2006, said in a statement on the T4G website.

Dever, Duncan and Mohler said they have wanted to speak publicly on Mahaney but waited until after Maryland Judge Sharon V. Burrell dismissed most of the lawsuit on a technicality. She ruled that nine of 11 plaintiffs did not sue within three years after turning 18 as required under Maryland’s statute of limitations.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KPCC

Sharon McNary | May 28th

A Superior Court judge on Tuesday set September 10 as the deadline for Catholic religious orders to release confidential personnel files of members who were accused of sexually abusing children. The files are related to lawsuits that have already been settled.

Attorney Raymond Boucher said the deadline affects more than 50 religious orders that operate independently from the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which has already made public thousands of pages of files.

The order is part of litigation against the Los Angeles Archdiocese that resulted in a $660 million settlement.

The archdiocese released personnel files about its priests within the past year, but files of the independent orders that report to the Vatican through a different authority structure had not been released.

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NEW JERSEY
U.S. Catholic

NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) — Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark said he was unaware that a priest who agreed not to have unsupervised contact with minors was working with youngsters and, after an investigation, sought the resignation of the archdiocese’s vicar general for mishandling the priest’s case.

Writing in an opinion piece in the May 25 issue of the Star-Ledger, the daily newspaper in Newark, Archbishop Myers said that Msgr. John E. Doran, the vicar general, agreed to resign after it was found existing protocols “were not always observed.”

The resignation was effective immediately, the archbishop said.

Archbishop Myers said the change in administration was one of several steps being taken to strengthen the archdiocese’s response to sexual abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
KUSI

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge says Roman Catholic religious orders have until September to release secret files on their priests who were accused of molesting children while working in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias said Tuesday the orders must release documents on dozens of priests who belonged to orders such as the Vincentians, Claretians and Marinists, among others.

Lead plaintiff attorney Ray Boucher says the first files could be public within three weeks.

The archdiocese released files on 120 priests earlier this year under a judge’s order after a 5-year legal battle.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 28, 2013

The California Child Victims Act—SB 131—has made it through Appropriations and is scheduled for a vote on the Senate Floor TOMORROW. The bill dramatically extends the civil statute of limitations for children who are sexually abused and gives older victims a one-year window to come forward, expose their abuser and seek accountability.

In short, if signed into law, SB 131 will allow hundreds of child sex abuse victims to get justice. SB 131 will also help keep kids safe RIGHT NOW by exposing abusers who have escaped criminal prosecution.
Remember – we would know NOTHING about the crimes committed in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and other dioceses across the state were it not for brave victims using the civil justice system.

No bishop has ever voluntarily made public a secret sex abuse file. The Boy Scouts’ files would still be hidden were it not for victims demanding justice.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Victoria Kim and Harriet Ryan
May 28, 2013

Thousands of pages of secret files held by Roman Catholic orders concerning priests accused of molesting children will be released throughout the summer beginning as early as next month, according to attorneys.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias set a deadline of September for the religious orders to turn over files on dozens of priests for public release at a hearing Tuesday. The release of confidential files kept by the orders, such as the Salesians, Vincentians and Marinists, were agreed to as part of settlements with victims.

“Most of the orders have come forward with a positive attitude .… We want to get this behind us,” Raymond Boucher, an attorney for victims, told the judge.

The secret files, which are required by Catholic church law, would shed light on how high-ranking officials at the orders and leaders of the L.A. archdiocese dealt with allegations of abuse by priests who were assigned to work in Los Angeles. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of its own closely-held document cache in January, but many of the files for priests who belonged to Catholic orders were scant.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 28, 2013

Shame on those ministers who are now publicly rallying around Rev. C. J. Mahaney just because a legal technicality voided most of the child sex abuse and cover up suits lawsuits against Sovereign Grace Ministries.

It’s dreadfully hurtful to child sex abuse victims when people in authority publicly back accused wrongdoers. And it hinders criminal investigations because it intimidates victims, witnesses and whistleblowers into staying silent.

Support Rev. Mahaney if you must. But do so privately in ways that don’t further harm depress and scare other child sex abuse victims into keeping silent and thus helping child predators escape detection and prosecution.

At best, it’s disingenuous for these ministers to “take sides” now, while at least two victims’ abuse and cover up suits are pending.

At worst, it’s mean-spirited.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

8 May 2013

A victim of Anglican priest Canon Gordon Rideout, who was jailed for abusing children in the 1960s and 70s, has spoken out about the effect his actions had on her.

Inge Beeson waived her anonymity to speak about the abuse she suffered when she was a member of a choir he ran at a military base in Hampshire.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MAY 28, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

If the institutional Church really wants to prevent child sex abuse, it can’t continue to rely on therapists whose theories and practices fall outside the guidelines of the American Psychological and Psychiatric Associations. That advice may have proven convenient in cover ups but does little for real healing.

Let’s look at the case of Father Edward DePaoli who was arrested in 1985 for the child pornography he’d stashed at Holy Martyrs Church in Oreland, PA. I’ve abbreviated a more detailed account reported by Ralph Cipriano in his Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog post. Even after his arrest, Father DePaoli continued his porn habit. After being sentenced to a year’s probation, the diocese sent him to a treatment facility for sex offenders. Free to come and go, he was caught leaving an adult book store. A subsequent search of his room turned up more child porn.

Despite all this, Cardinal Bevilacqua didn’t want to end the pervert’s priestly ministry. He was sent to NJ where he got into more of the same trouble and worse. Memos reveal that Msgr. Lynn worried that denying Father DePaoli a place back in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia might have “a severe negative effect” on the priest’s chances of recovery. Never mind, the severe negative effect he might have on children.

So what did a Archdiocesan therapist make of all this? Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, who served on the Counseling Committee of Psychiatrists and Psychologists for Religious of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” said the priest had suffered “what I would view as a minor relapse.” He didn’t think Father DePaoli needed to be hospitalized again and that he “could function well in ministry.” Two years earlier, Dr. Fitzgibbons had pronounced, “I believe that Father DePaoli has made a complete recovery.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

18 May 2013

From the court appearances of accused TV stars to historic scandals involving priests, music teachers and care workers, to the killing of young girls, Britain’s news pages, websites and TV bulletins are awash with cases of the sexual abuse of children. This week the shocking details of the depravity of a group of men in Oxford were revealed during a court case which saw a gang of eight convicted of the rape and torture of six girls over more than a decade. The conclusion to be drawn is that in Britain sexual exploitation and predation is endemic; that it goes back decades and continues into the present. Many perpetrators have been allowed to continue their crimes unchallenged.

The Catholic Church was one of the first institutions in this country to stand accused of negligence in its dealing with the child victims of abuse and the handling of their abusers. Some critics of the Church blamed its tradition of a celibate priesthood, claiming that sexual frustration was the primary cause. But the scandals now coming to light show that celibacy is not a common denominator. Paedophilia is about power, about people in positions of authority, or who are famous, or are even ordinary but have gained power through long-term grooming of children, who target the vulnerable and defenceless.

There are other common factors. Paedophiles continue targeting young people because institutions allow them to do so. Sometimes those institutions were the ones to which the criminals belonged – the Catholic Church, the Church of England, the BBC – and which failed to act because those in charge were more concerned with the institutions’ reputations and the impact of scandal than with the pain of a child.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Epistulae Tiberii

Berlin (PEB) – Generalvikar Prälat Tobias Przytarski hat an alle Geist­lichen im Erz­bistum Berlin einen Brief ge­schrie­ben, in dem er auf einen Miss­brauchs­täter hin­weist, der im Um­feld katholi­scher Pfarr­ge­mein­den bekannt geworden ist. Anlass des Schrei­bens ist eine Be­richt­er­stattung der Ber­liner Morgen­post vom 28. April 2013, das grund­sätz­liche An­lie­gen des Briefes besteht darin, für ein Klima der Acht­sam­keit und Prä­ven­tion zu werben:

“Liebe Mitbrüder, aus aktuellem Anlass und prä­ven­tiven Gesichts­punkten heraus gebe ich Ihnen einen Artikel aus der Berliner Morgen­post vom 28. April zur Kenntnis, der über einen Ende 70-jährigen Miss­brauchs­täter berichtet, der in katho­lischen Gemein­den Kontakt zu Jungen und deren Eltern aufbaut, sich Ver­trauen er­schleicht, Jungen sexuell miss­braucht und deswegen im letzten Jahr zu einer vier­jähr­igen Bewährungs­strafe verur­teilt wurde. Vier katholische Gemeinden in Berlin sind mir bekannt, in denen der Täter sich umtrieb.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

Dem früheren Internatsschüler, heute 46 Jahre alt, steht Schadenersatz für die 1982 erlittene Gewalttat zu

Bregenz – Das Kloster Mehrerau blitzte auch im zweiten Zivilrechtsverfahren eines Missbrauchsopfers ab. Der Berufssenat am Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck bestätigte das Ersturteil des Landesgerichts Feldkirch. Dem früheren Internatsschüler, heute 46 Jahre alt, steht Schadenersatz für die 1982 erlittene Gewalttat zu. Der Anspruch ist nicht verjährt, das Kloster muss für seinen ehemaligen Internatsleiter, der den Buben vergewaltigt hatte, haften. Begründet wird die Entscheidung mit eigenem Fehlverhalten der Klosterleitung, die von früheren Delikten des Priesters gewusst habe. Der Geistliche wurde bereits 1968 einschlägig verurteilt – was sei-ner Karriere im Schul- und Internatsdienst aber nicht im Wege stand.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Outreach Center

May 28, 2013
Pastor Jason Helmlinger, Executive Pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, has voluntarily removed himself from his pastoral duties while he addresses his summons and the misdemeanor charge that has been brought against him. This will remain in effect until his situation has been resolved. He will also seek counseling regarding this issue. The Board of Directors of the Richmond Outreach Center is in agreement with his decision.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: Tuesday, May 28, 2013

BY LOUIS LLOVIO
Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND — An executive pastor at the Richmond Outreach Center is temporarily stepping down pending misdemeanor charges for making threatening and obscene phone calls.

Jason W. Helmlinger, 41, a former Henrico County police officer, was charged for making threats against a critic of Geronimo Aguilar, the south Richmond megachurch’s senior pastor. Aguilar was transferred to Texas last week to face child sexual assault charges.

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RICHMOND (VA)
NBC 12

By Laura Geller

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
The Executive Pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center will no longer be conducting his pastoral duties while he deals with a criminal case.

Pastor Jason Helmlinger voluntarily removed himself from his responsibilities, the Board of Directors of the ROC announced Tuesday. The board says he will not conduct any pastoral duties until a criminal case involving threatening phone calls has been resolved. Helmlinger will also seek counseling regarding this issue.

Helmlinger was arrested earlier this month on one misdemeanor count of with using profanity over a public airway. He allegedly called former ROC member Allen Caldwell and threatened him, according to a Richmond Police source.

Helmlinger was released on summons and is set to appear in court Jun

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RICHMOND (VA)
WTVR

[with video]

May 28, 2013, by Scott Wise

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The Executive Pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) has “voluntarily removed himself from his pastoral duties” after he was charged with a misdemeanor, according to a statement on the center’s website.

Pastor Jason Helmlinger was charged with using profanity over a public airway, according to court documents. Helmlinger was released on summons.

“This will remain in effect until his situation has been resolved. He will also seek counseling regarding this issue. The Board of Directors of the Richmond Outreach Center is in agreement with his decision,” the ROC statement read.

Helmlinger is due in court in early June for an arraignment.

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RICHMOND (VA)
WRIC

Posted: May 28, 2013

RICHMOND, VA—Following ROC Pastor Geronimo Aguilar’s Friday extradition to Texas on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, a Tuesday protest is set to take place outside the Richmond Police headquarters.

The protest comes in response to the scandal revolving “Pastor G,” the head pastor of the ROC, who faces seven felony charges in Texas, including the aggravated sexual assault of two children under the age of 14.

The protest is being organized by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which says the rally is being held outside the police station to emphasize that suspected clergy sex crimes should be reported to secular officials, not church officials.

Aguilar, known as “Pastor G,” was transported from police custody in Richmond to Richmond International Airport on Friday morning. He left Richmond on a flight to Texas, where he faces seven charges that, if convicted, could mean he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.

Thursday afternoon, the church’s board of directors announced Aguilar was temporarily stepping down as pastor and president of the board at the Richmond Outreach Center. The board’s full statement can be read here.

A second pastor at the ROC is also in trouble with the law and has stepped down from the church. 8News has confirmed ROC executive pastor and former Henrico County Police officer Jason Helmlinger was charged and arrested for making threats against an 8News source in our on-going investigation.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BECKY IANNI ON MAY 28, 2013

Last Friday, Rev. Geronimo Aguilar, pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, was extradited to Forth Worth, Texas where is he has been charged with seven felonies relating to the sexual abuse of two minors.

We are here today outside the Richmond Police Department headquarters for three reasons:

First, we demand that the church board publically apologize for a statement they published last Thursday. The board states that they believe the accusations of abuse to be completely untrue. They asked for prayers for Aguilar and his family but don’t mention the pain and suffering of the possible victims. Publically supporting the accused perpetrator is not only hurtful to the victims but very intimidating to other possible victims. Instead the church should withhold judgment or back him quietly. We also hope they will use their resources to reach out to anyone who may have been harmed by Aguilar.

Second, we urge church members and the public to “keep open minds.” We ask them to remember that the vast majority of accusations of childhood sexual abuse prove to be true, to educate themselves and their families about sexual abuse, to pray for all parties involved and finally to put themselves in the shoes of the alleged victim.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims blast Richmond church members
Board publicly back recently-arrested minister
Pastor is accused of molesting two girls in Texas
Group says rallying behind alleged molester is “hurtful”
It “intimidates other victims, witnesses & whistleblowers,” SNAP charges

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will criticize the board of a Richmond mega-church for publicly backing a just-arrested pastor who is charged with molesting children. They will also urge

–the board to publicly apologize,
–church-goers and the public to “keep open minds,” and
–anyone who may have seen suspected or suffered the minister’s crimes to call police.

WHEN
Tuesday, May 28 at noon

WHO
At least three adults who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including the organization’s Virginia Director and a woman who facilitates SNAP’s Richmond support group

WHERE
Outside the police station, 200 W Grace St.‎ (corner of N. Jefferson) in downtown Richmond VA

WHY
The board of a Richmond church is publicly supporting their pastor who was arrested last week on charges that he sexually assaulted two girls in Texas in the 1990s. And SNAP says they should withhold judgment about the minister or back him, if they must, privately. Publicly support for an accused child molester, SNAP says, is “inappropriate, hurtful, and intimidating to others who were molested and to others who may have information or suspicions about the cleric’s alleged crimes.

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IRELAND
Highland Radio

A priest in the Diocese of Clogher has been granted a temporary leave of absence from his ministry while an allegation against him is being investigated.

In a statement this afternoon – the Diocese of Clogher says it has been informed of a child safeguarding allegation that relates to some years ago.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 29, 2013

Jane Lee and Barney Zwartz

Eleven victims of child abuse, most at the hands of paedophile Christian Brother Robert Best, have won more than $1 million in compensation from the Catholic order.

The victims have collectively received more than $1.1 million in private settlements with the Christian Brothers since they began negotiating last November, their lawyer, Viv Waller, said.

The Christian Brothers told the state inquiry into child abuse earlier this month that they had spent more than $1 million defending Best. In 2011, Best was sentenced to 14 years and nine months in jail for sexual crimes against 11 boys at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong during the 1970s. Most of the boys were also abused by other Brothers.

Dr Waller said on Tuesday, a day after the inquiry ended, that she was still negotiating with the Christian Brothers on the claims of 97 other clients and would pursue the matters in court if necessary, with 10 others applying for compensation under the Sentencing Act.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

May 29, 2013

Jack Waterford
Editor-at-large, The Canberra Times

It was not even the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, but there was George Cardinal Pell, truculent, embattled, irritable and defensive taking on the bowling from Victorian parliamentarians inquiring into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

It was not a public relations triumph – not even intended to be. One can sense, however, that Pell left thinking he had given as good as he got, and that a few of his hits reached the boundary. He has shown over and over that he simply lacks the self-awareness to know that his every appearance on the subject throws fuel on to the fire – if only because his every facial tic makes it clear that he does not get it.

No one has reached stage one of argument suggesting that Pell condoned or facilitated a culture of abuse in his dioceses. But his combativeness and what one of his critics last year described as ”a sociopathic lack of empathy” seem to be one of the key factors guaranteeing that an array of public inquiries will continue to embarrass and humiliate the church over the next few years.

The archbishop of Sydney, previously the archbishop of Melbourne, has made it clear he is very sorry that there was any sexual abuse of children, particularly if it occurred at the hands of Catholic priests or religious or even lay teachers. The Catholic church, he admits, handled things badly when there suddenly seemed to be an epidemic of complaints of such matters about 25 years ago. Some of his (late) predecessor archbishops of Melbourne frankly handled the matter shamefully, he agrees, and what they did could be described as a cover-up. Once, however, he came to appreciate the dimensions of the problem, he acted swiftly and decisively, setting up an institutional response that embraced victims, led to the identification and punishment of abusers, and which seems, on the basis of present abuse reports, to have worked in much reducing the incidence of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)

Australia’s most senior cleric, Cardinal George Pell, has admitted clergy covered up claims of sexual abuse by priests but said he personally never covered up offences.

Speaking yesterday at an inquiry by Victoria’s parliament into the abuse of children by religious and non-government bodies in the state, he said he was “absolutely sorry” for the abuse committed by clerics against minors.

The cardinal said abuse had largely escaped the view of church officials who didn’t know what a “mess” they were presiding over. Under questioning he agreed that the fear of damaging the reputation of the Church led to a cover-up.

“Many in the Church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims. We understand that better now,” he added.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, gives evidence to the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by members of non-Government organisations.

Watch Part 2 here.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 28, 2013

IN April last year, then Victorian premier Ted Baillieu announced he would set up a state government inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Since then, the bipartisan family and community development committee has received 405 written submissions and conducted more than 160 hearing sessions.

This included evidence from 45 organisations in public hearings, which finished yesterday with the testimony of Australia’s top-ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell.

Written submissions will still be received until June 7, with the committee’s report expected on September 30.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

May 28, 2013.
THE Royal Commission into child sex abuse hasn’t even begun, but it is already obvious how much the political and social landscape has shifted, and how exposed some institutions may be as a result.

This week’s appearance at the Victorian child sex abuse inquiry by Catholic Cardinal George Pell was especially revealing.

Gone was the bluster and confidence of the past, and in its place was a subdued church leader who appeared uncharacteristically uncertain.

True, his critics wasted no time writing off his apologies and contrition as ‘‘a cynical exercise in damage control’’, but that overlooks the extraordinary reality that the church has, at last, been put on the spot by a more powerful secular authority and forced to face some hard facts.

Cardinal Pell admitted, for example, that his church had covered up cases of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By DAMON CRONSHAW May 28, 2013

HUNTER victims of Catholic clergy sexual abuse have called for Cardinal George Pell to resign, amid claims the Church is in damage control to protect its money and power.

The Church denied the claims but victims remain unsatisfied with what they consider to be ‘‘un-Christ-like behaviour’’ over the cover-up of child sex abuse and the response to it.

The Newcastle Herald reported yesterday that Cardinal Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse he was ‘‘fully apologetic and absolutely sorry’’ for clergy abuse. He admitted that abuse had been covered up.

Salt Ash man Rob Lipari, who was sexually assaulted as a boy by a Catholic school priest in the 1970s, alleged Cardinal Pell’s main concern was money and power.

‘‘It’s about protecting the Church’s assets and his tail,’’ Mr Lipari said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 29, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

This week, in a challenging and confrontational four-hour session, Cardinal George Pell became the final witness at the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse. The inquiry began slowly, in the face of considerable scepticism about its resources and political will, but now I congratulate the committee.

It has been diligent, dedicated and determined, united in purpose and free of party politics, aided by an excellent team including Frank Vincent, QC, police adviser Mal Hyde and Crown prosecutor Claire Quin. The police Taskforce Sano attached to the inquiry has already laid new charges.

By the end, the committee received 405 submissions and held 160 hearings – just under half in secret – with 45 organisations and scores of victims, families, whistleblowers, academics and experts.

Now the committee retires to write its report, due by September 30. Whatever its recommendations, many of which could be confidently predicted now, it has already served a valuable role in giving a public voice to victims and holding the churches to account.

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NEW JERSEY
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | May 28, 2013

Under cover of the Memorial Day holiday, Newark Archbishop tried to put the Fugee scandal behind him by throwing his vicar general under the bus and blaming “operational failures” and/or “vulnerabilities” for the fact that the “strong protocols” of the archdiocese were not always observed. Right.

Myers’ first direct statement on the matter, delivered in different forms on the Star-Ledger op-ed page Saturday, by priests in his parishes Sunday, and by himself on video, begins, “When I first learned several weeks ago that Father Michael Fugee may have violated a lifetime ban on ministry to minors…”) Given that his spokesman initially claimed that the court order permitted the priest to minister to minors “under supervision,” that’s a telling, if backhanded, admission.

What Myers does not acknowledge is that if he had followed the protocols of the USCCB, which he helped write, he wouldn’t be in the position he is today. Under the USCCB’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a priest is to be permanently removed from ministry “for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor — whenever it occurred — which is admitted or established after an appropriate process in accord with canon law.”

After Fugee’s conviction for child molestation was dismissed on a technicality, the archdiocese signed a Memorandum of Understanding banning the priest from ministering to minors. You’d have thought that was an acknowledgement that sexual abuse of a minor had in fact occurred. But what Myers did next was to convene his anonymous review committee to look into the case, and lo and behold, the committee found that there had been no abuse. Whereupon he returned Fugee to ministry, giving him desk jobs in charge of doctrine and priest formation and appointing him as a chaplain at the local Catholic hospital (without letting the hospital administration know of Fugee’s past).

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 29, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age

On November 9 last year, Georgie Crozier strode to the lectern, fixed me with a steely gaze and read a short statement defending the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

Although the chairwoman of the six-MP committee running the inquiry did not explicitly mention it, she was clearly stung by my opinion piece in The Age two days earlier criticising the pace and depth the inquiry had shown to that point – just 1½ days of hearings – and the opaqueness of the process. She answered many questions in the article, and concluded: ”We have begun the process, let us get on with it.”

This article is an odd sort of mea culpa, because I am not convinced I was entirely wrong at the time. The committee did start slowly, and there were legitimate doubts about its political will. But I certainly wouldn’t write such an article now.

I think the members gained self-belief and momentum as they went along, were appalled by what victims told them, and got emotionally involved. It is impossible not to, the stories are so harrowing. Those involved in the inquiry needed regular counselling.

This week they finished taking evidence, the last witness being Sydney Archbishop George Pell on Monday. I congratulate the committee. It has been diligent, dedicated and determined, united in purpose and free of party politics, aided by an excellent team including Frank Vincent QC, police adviser Mal Hyde, and Crown prosecutor Claire Quin. The police Taskforce Sano attached to the inquiry has already laid new charges.

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AUSTRALIA
BDlive

BY JAMES GRUBEL, MAY 28 2013

CANBERRA — The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday came under scathing attack at a Victorian state inquiry into child abuse cover-ups, as he blamed a culture of silence for what one panelist described as a “psychopathic disregard” for the welfare of children.

Cardinal George Pell, an adviser to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” said Cardinal Pell at an often hostile hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church’s compensation and investigations. Cardinal Pell was questioned for more than four hours. He said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 1980s — at 620 cases — but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

“The evidence of misbehaving, crimes, has been significantly reduced. I hope the worst is behind us,” Cardinal Pell said, adding 300 people in Victoria state had received compensation for abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
BRW

Leo D’Angelo Fisher Columnist

Cardinal George Pell is Australia’s most senior Catholic, but he rejects the assertion that he is the head of the Catholic Church in Australia. At his marathon four-and-a-half-hour appearance before the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse on Monday, Pell admitted to many things, but he did not agree that the buck for systemic abuse of children by Catholic priests stopped with him.

“I’m not the Catholic Prime Minister of Australia. I am not the general manager Australia. The Catholic Church is. . . a very interesting example of a flat organisation,” he told the at times openly-hostile inquiry.

It may well be an organisational nicety of the Catholic Church hierarchy that Pell does not carry the title “chief executive officer, Catholic Church Australia Ltd” on his business card, but nobody was under the illusion that Pell was not speaking for the church as the titular, if not actual, head of the church in Australia.

When Pell told the inquiry, “I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” and admitted “that lives have been blighted”, that “these crimes have contributed to too many suicides”, and that priests who had abused children in their care had been deliberately moved from parish to parish, and that “in some cases, unfortunately” paedophile priests were placed above the law – these were not the admissions of a mere parish priest. The weight of these shocking admissions about the church’s failings came from the authority of Pell’s leadership of the church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

EDITORIALS

THE Catholic Church, like the Australian Defence Force, state-run children’s services and other churches, has been forced to learn hard lessons about the criminal abuse of innocent victims by those in positions of trust. In some cases, such depravity led to lifelong damage and even contributed to suicides.

For two decades, Catholics have suffered a sense of betrayal as the church’s propensity to cover up criminal activity, shield perpetrators and transfer them from parish to parish or school to school has been exposed. Victims naturally seek justice, comfort and closure from the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse and the upcoming Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The inquiries, however, have another important task: to ensure that safeguards are enacted to prevent abuse in future. Judging by the evidence of Australia’s most senior Catholic leader, Cardinal George Pell, to the Victorian commission yesterday, the church has made some progress towards putting its house in order.

Two months after his appointment as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, Archbishop Pell set up the Independent Commission into Sexual Abuse headed by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, with a separate panel assessing compensation payouts of up to $50,000, in line with state criminal compensation. At the time, the move was cutting-edge, putting the Archdiocese ahead of the rest of the church and other institutions. The process was more transparent than the Towards Healing protocol established shortly afterwards in other parts of the Catholic Church in Australia and well ahead of most of the US and Ireland, where the main government inquiry did not start until 1999. As the Cardinal said, the fact that 242 abuse complaints had been upheld from the 1970s, 82 from the 1980s, between 22 and 24 from the 1990s and fewer than 20 since 2000 indicated the problem was being contained.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP MAY 28, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell’s appearance at Victoria’s child sex abuse inquiry was “a cynical exercise in damage control”, a barrister and victims’ advocate says.

Bryan Keon-Cohen QC says Cardinal Pell’s statements at Monday’s inquiry hearing lacked conviction and he tried to evade responsibility.

“My response to Cardinal Pell’s evidence, being as fair as I can, is that it was to me a rather cynical exercise in damage control,” Dr Keon-Cohen, president of community lobby group COIN (Commission of Inquiry Now), told ABC Radio in Melbourne.

“He offered a lot of words, he offered apologies, remorse, but to me it lacked conviction.”

He said Cardinal Pell, who is a former Archbishop of Melbourne, followed the line used by Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart last week at the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

By Genevieve Gannon and Daniel Fogarty
From: AAP
May 28, 2013

THE Catholic Church should not be allowed to investigate allegations of child sex abuse committed within its own ranks, advocates say.

They want the church’s internal abuse response processes replaced by a government body and say legal options for victims should be strengthened.

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, argues the church’s Melbourne Response, which he set up while archbishop of Melbourne to deal with clergy abuse claims in the archdiocese, has been sufficient.

“I’m more than happy with what we did at that time,” he told the final hearing day for Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse on Monday.

“I felt it was a sufficient response to the problem at that time and it bore very significant fruit.”

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RICHMOND (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY LOUIS LLOVIO Richmond Times-Dispatch

An activist organization created by victims of childhood sexual abuse will protest the Richmond Outreach Center today outside Richmond police headquarters on Grace Street.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is protesting the South Richmond megachurch’s decision to stand by its pastor, Geronimo Aguilar, as he faces charges in Texas for the alleged sexual abuse of two children in 1996.

The group also is urging other alleged victims to come forward to local police.

“Frankly, it’s always heartbreaking to us to see congregants immediately and publicly rally for an accused child molester instead of keeping an open mind and urging anyone with information to come forward,” said David Clohessy, a spokesman for the organization.

Clohessy said the church’s decision to stand by Aguilar sends the wrong message to victims of sexual abuse — whether inside the church or watching the case from afar — who already find it extremely difficult to come forward and discuss what happened to them as children.

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AUSTRALIA
Adelaide Now

Lloyd Jones
AAP
May 28, 2013

A MAN who was sexually abused as a boy by Catholic brothers says it is “beyond belief” that Cardinal George Pell was unaware of abuse by clergy over many years.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, admitted to Victoria’s child sex abuse inquiry that a fear of scandal had led to cover-ups of child sex abuse in the church.

He was “absolutely sorry” for what had happened, but he had never personally covered up clergy abuse, he told the inquiry in Melbourne on Monday.

But many abuse victims were not satisfied with Cardinal Pell’s apology, saying it was insincere and he had diverted blame to others.

Sydney resident John Hennessey told AAP on Tuesday he was sexually abused by Christian Brothers at Boys Town in Western Australia where he went as a boy migrant from Britain in 1947.

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AUSTRALIA
Reuters

The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday blamed a former culture of silence for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extent of abuse, but added that the number of cases had dropped significantly since the church started taking stronger action.

Cardinal George Pell, an adviser to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” said Pell in a tense hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church’s compensation and investigations. Pell was questioned for more than four hours.

Pell said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 80s, but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Precious Silva | May 28, 2013

Top ranking Catholic official Cardinal George Pell faced the Victorian Parliament yesterday afternoon to answer sexual child abuse queries. The cardinal admitted to the committee that the Church indeed tried covering up the scandal and that members of the clergy were involved.

True to what was advised to him, Cardinal Pell was honest and apologetic to the committee as he addressed their inquiries about the sexual controversies flung at the Church. He said that he was completely sorry and apologetic because the Church tried hiding the truth for decades.

There are members of the public gallery who cried as the church official answered the committee’s question. Likewise, there were even more sympathetic responses when the cardinal was finally forced to explain how the church systematically covered up the scandals. Rape victims were as young as five years old.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father is too,” ABC quoted Pell while he faced the Victorian parliament. The cardinal defended why the church had to do the cover up despite the pressure on him that afternoon.

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MISSOURI
The Olathe News

By MARK MORRISThe Kansas City Star

The May 2011 firestorm over the handling of a disgraced Catholic priest’s production of child pornography prompted the local church to undertake the most far-reaching child protection reforms in its history.

And since then, the years have been pretty busy for the women at the center of the changes.

“I feel we have made tremendous strides in training,” said Jenifer Valenti, the ombudsman for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Since Bishop Robert Finn announced new child protection measures in the wake of the Shawn Ratigan scandal, the program has been cemented into place by a Jackson County judge who demanded regular reports on child welfare in the diocese after convicting the bishop last September of failing to report suspicions of child abuse, a misdemeanor.

One local cleric said that given the heightened scrutiny on the church, having Valenti, a former prosecutor, available to pursue complaints and answer questions is critical.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

28th May 2013

THE Australian Lawyers Alliance has called on the Catholic Church to “put its money where its mouth is” and use its vast wealth to properly compensate victims who fell prey to paedophile priests.

During hearings of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in the Church on Monday, Cardinal George Pell accepted the Church could pay victims “proper compensation”.

ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC said Cardinal Pell told the inquiry the Church would pay whatever compensation the government thought proper, and “he should be taken at his word”.

“Governments throughout Australia should immediately make the Church trustees liable for the conduct of the Church and the Church should in turn be held liable for the conduct of its priests,” Dr Morrison said.

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AUSTRALIA
Health Canal

Cardinal George Pell has apologised to victims and survivors of child abuse by Catholic clergy during his appearance before the Victorian parliament’s Inquiry into child abuse by by religious organisations.

Judy Courtin

Pell said he was: “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry”.

But many survivors of abuse and their families are unhappy with Pell’s testimony, especially over his stand on potential compensation for victims. And what can we expect if Pell appears before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse?

The Conversation spoke with Monash University’s Judy Courtin who attended the hearing and has written extensively on the issue of child abuse within the Catholic church.

How significant was Pell’s apology?

It was potentially a very significant apology. But if you speak to any of the victims and survivors and their families it was in fact an empty apology.

If we were to rate his performance as an actor with his apology he had have just passed as an actor. The apology, along with any empathy or compassion, were entirely lacking.

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AUSTRALIA
IOL (South Africa)

May 28 2013
By Madeleine Coorey

Sydney –

The victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia and their supporters on Tuesday called for the resignation of the church’s top ranking cardinal, saying they were unimpressed with his apology.

Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell on Monday appeared at a Victorian state government inquiry into the criminal abuse of children, admitting to cover-ups by a predecessor and saying he was “absolutely sorry”.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” said Pell, who said he never hid any allegations himself and had seen to it that protocols were put in place to deal with cases of sex abuse.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father (Pope Francis) is too.”

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AUSTRALIA
Pedestrian TV

[with Twitter postings]

Even with the incomprehensibly horrible subject matter under investigation in the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, the testimony given by Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, was categorically shocking.

Shocking because of Pell’s admission that the Catholic church has been complicit in covering up child sex abuse. He said, “I am happy to accept the invitation of the Premier [Denis Napthine] and to say that I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry, and that is the basis for everything on which I’ll say now.”

It was shocking because of the reasoning Pell gave to explain why sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy had been systemically covered up by the Church: “… The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church,” he said.

Shocking, was his reference to “the gospels” in explaining the support he had shown former priest and convicted serial child abuser, Gerald Ridsdale. Pell’s testimony on this matter was: “I felt there was something in the gospels where Christ speaks about being with the lowest of the low. As an expression of solidarity, I gave that limited support.”

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AUSTRALIA
Irish Times

Padraig Collins

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has told an inquiry that the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse is a result of loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgment and inaction.

“The entry procedures … for candidates in the middle of last century was much too loose,” Cardinal Pell, who is the Archbishop of Sydney and a former archbishop of Melbourne, told the Victorian child abuse inquiry in Melbourne yesterday.

Cardinal Pell apologised for the abuse committed by Catholic clergy. “I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” he said. “That is the basis for everything which I’ll say now.”

Damage done
Cardinal Pell said the church had not understood the damage being done to victims of child sex abuse. “I would agree that we’ve been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly,” he told the inquiry. “I think a big factor in this was not simply to defend the name of the church. Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims. We understand that better now.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

MONDAY MAY 27, 2013, 9:05 PM
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

NORTH ARLINGTON — Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came to Holy Cross Cemetery to celebrate a Memorial Day Mass on Monday, a day after a letter bearing his signature, in which he defended the archdiocese’s handling of a snowballing controversy involving a former Wyckoff associate pastor, was read to parishioners.

At no point, however, did Myers mention the Rev. Michael Fugee, a former associate pastor at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Wyckoff who allegedly heard the confessions of minors over the past three years despite a legal agreement barring him from ministering to children.

Fugee, whose decade-old conviction for groping an adolescent boy was overturned on a technicality, was arrested last week and charged with seven counts of violating a judicial order. John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor, said Fugee heard confessions from children at least seven times between 2010 and 2012, including twice at Sacred Heart Church in Rochelle Park, where archdiocesan officials allowed him to live for two years, and once at Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus in violation of an agreement that Fugee signed with Molinelli’s office to avoid a second trial.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

David Marr
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 May 2013

The cardinal’s colour rose all afternoon. He smiled once or twice after negotiating a difficult passage. He clasped and unclasped his hands, never quite in prayer. He droned. He snapped. He stared at the six members of the Victorian parliament’s family and community development committee with a gaze that seemed focused somewhere south of Macquarie Island.

But the former archbishop of Melbourne was in the room. That was the triumph the gallery of victims and the parents of victims was enjoying. They didn’t expect anything new from him – Cardinal Pell is not a man known for changing course – but he was in Melbourne answering questions. He identified his team of advisers. “All of them,” he told the committee, “married people with children, keen to help us with this fight.”

He had many complaints. He complained he hadn’t been called to give evidence months ago; that he wasn’t allowed to make an opening statement; that the church had experienced “25 years of hostility from the press”; that the Victorian government “was not active earlier” on child abuse, and that he was so often misunderstood: “I have always been on the side of the victims.”

No one rose when he came into the room. He was in civvies: white shirt, no jewellery, his head bowed under the weight of the mitre he wasn’t wearing. A fortnight shy of his 72nd birthday, Pell is a big man with strength in reserve. His voice is masculine but oddly refined: Oxford over Ballarat.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Troy Hinkel writes an excellent post on the modern disdain for truth and C. S. Lewis’ answer to that in The Last Battle.

But, good as that article is, and good as C. S. Lewis’ insights into morality are – of course if someone else is scornful of the truth, I need not be particularly worried about it. I’m mostly truthful, except when the small lie suits me. If they lie for their Bad Cause, I may lie for my Good Cause, or else their Bad Cause will win. Right??? And Scripture, Augustine, Aquinas, Trent, and the Catechism – they’re not Magisterial, right??? Lying for a Good Cause is a good thing, right????

Then there’s this.

Fear of scandal prompted the cover-up of child sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church, Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal George Pell admitted Monday.

Now Pell is one of OUR guys. He’s not a liberal Jesuit lying to keep an abusive priest out of jail. He’s an orthodox bishop who has taken heat for his opposition to liturgical abuse and his devotion to Church teaching. He’s even been the victim of a lie – a man who falsely accused him of abuse in 2002.

So when Cardinal Pell tells us why the Church in Australia lied, and says

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church … There was a fear of scandal.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Samantha Donovan, Ashley Hall and Alison Caldwell

The father of two girls who were abused by a Catholic priest says apologies by Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, are meaningless unless they are followed up with actions.

Yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse that he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of sexual abuse within the church.

During his evidence he admitted the fear of scandal led to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Church.

During sometimes tense exchanges, Cardinal Pell insisted individuals were to blame for what had happened, not the Church structure itself.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father [Pope] is too,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Victorian MP Ann Barker campaigned for a royal commission into child sexual abuse. She spoke with ABC News Breakfast about George Pell’s appearance at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

[Clergy Files Produced by Archdiocese of Los Angeles]

For centuries, the church has maintained a second set of books containing sensitive documents such as notes on priests’ alcohol abuse, disputes over parish funds and, later, molestation allegations.

By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2013

Preparing for his return to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after six months’ treatment at a center for pedophile priests, Father Michael Wempe sat down to type out a list of concerns. Arrangements for his dog. Counseling and support groups for himself.

Above everything, he wrote at the top of the list in the 1987 memo: “Confidentiality — Reports from here destroyed, even this paper.”

Wempe had good reason for the request. The reports from the center laid out how he had confessed to molesting young boys. Wempe’s therapists also urged church officials to immediately destroy everything. If the papers fell in the hands of law enforcement, the priest, the archdiocese and the treatment center could be in serious trouble.

But Cardinal Roger Mahony and other church leaders ignored the warnings. Rather than shred or burn the reports, they preserved them in carefully organized file cabinets where they remained until this year.

The release of those records — and thousands of pages of other damaging abuse documents in January — begged a question: Why did the church hold on to decades-old evidence of its priests’ sins?

The explanation lies in centuries of Catholic church history and is a tale involving secret betrothals, scandal, even a murder or two. Since the time of the Enlightenment, the Catholic Church has maintained two sets of records: one for the mundane and a second “secret archive” for matters of a sensitive nature. The cache — known as sub secreto files, Canon 489 files, confidential files or C-files — was to be kept under lock and key, only for the eyes of the bishop and his trusted few.

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UNITED STATES
Church and State

By Stephen D Mumford | 4 September 2012
N4CM

Editor’s note: This piece has been adapted from Chapter 13 of The Life and Death of NSSM 200: How the Destruction of Political Will Doomed a US Population Policy by Stephen D Mumford (Center for Research on Population and Security, 1996).

As mentioned in Chapter 11, the news outlets that placed the Church in a negative light were virtually all snuffed out or muzzled earlier in this century by the Knights of Columbus; this institution continues to take great pride in its early successes. Its efforts in recent years and the efforts of other Catholic institutions, such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, to suppress information that places the Church in a bad light have been mostly successful (the issue of child molestation being the only significant exception but even on this issue they do what they can.)

Any time a report appears in the press placing the Church in a bad light, almost without exception there is an immediate demand for an apology and retraction made to the reporter, editor and publisher by these Catholic thought police. Written responses and demands for publication are immediately forthcoming. These responses are usually published and it is amazing how many apologies are made and published. There are scores of examples each year and they can be found in the publications of these thought police. They eagerly share their successes with their members. But when a negative report appears in one newspaper or magazine it rarely appears in another, regardless of its newsworthiness.

Economic retribution as a tool to suppress criticism was used more commonly in the last century and earlier in this century than today because it is now largely unnecessary. The long history of its use and the success enjoyed with it makes the mere threat of its use highly effective.

Perhaps far more important than the outright intimidation practiced by many of the right-wing Catholic organizations is the self-censorship practiced by reporters, editors and publishers. All know there is a line that has been drawn by the bishops that they are not to cross—and they rarely do. They are aware of the rules formulated by the bishops regarding how Church matters are to be reported—and nearly always follow them. They know they will be punished if they do not conform.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Samantha Donovan, Ashley Hall and Alison Caldwell

The father of two girls who were abused by a Catholic priest says apologies by Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, are meaningless unless they are followed up with actions.

Yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse that he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of sexual abuse within the church.

During his evidence he admitted the fear of scandal led to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Church.

During sometimes tense exchanges, Cardinal Pell insisted individuals were to blame for what had happened, not the Church structure itself.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MAY 27, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Removal from ministry is not a real punishment or a true safeguard. It’s only part of a solution. Archbishop Chaput’s decisive action is appreciated, but he does not back the removal of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse in PA. Victims, such as this one, would be able to see the same justice afforded to victims in other states. If the allegations are true, Collins should be in jail. Criminal prosecution helps protects all children.

Click here to read: “Phila. priest accused of abuse placed on leave,” by Carolyn Davis and Sarah Smith, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 26, 2013

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AUSTRALIA
Vatican Insider

Today, the cardinal addressed the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse which saw the involvement of certain bodies linked to the Church

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

Speaking at an inquiry by Victoria’s parliament into child sex abuse in the state, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said he was “absolutely sorry” for the abuse committed by clerics against minors. Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic prelate said he did not believe there was a “culture of abuse” within the Church.

The inquiry is looking into the abuse of children by religious and non-government bodies. The Church has produces a report stating that at least 620 minors in the Australian state of Victoria suffered abuse from members of the clergy over the past 80 years. Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001, reminded the inquiry that the Catholic Church in Australia recognised paedophilia as a serious issue as early as 1988. It was also aware that the Church needed to be treated just like any other institution in terms of compensation for victims.

According to Pell, a number of factors have contributed to the problem of abuse in the Australian Catholic Church. One of these is the superficial way in which priests are chosen, as they are often inadequately prepared for celibacy. Another is the number of minors the Church has under its care. “Also … the entry procedures, the criteria, the searching, the investigation of candidates back say in the middle of last century was much too loose,” he said. He went on to say that the Church has been the victim of “intermittent hostility from the press” but recognised this has helped uncover some of the Church’s failings.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Today the Pope received Cardinal De Paolis, the Legion of Christ’s “chief”, in audience, confirming that the Congregation would have new superiors and constitutions by the end of 2013

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

A Legion for Francis. A general chapter will be held at the end of 2013 to elect the Legion of Christ’s new superiors and approve the new constitutions. This morning the Pope received Cardinal Velasio De Paolis President emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, in a private audience. Cardinal De Paolis has been a papal delegate to the Legion of Christ since 2010 and was conferred full decision-making powers by Benedict XVI so as to break completely with the Congregation’s previous leadership. The Congregation was founded and led (until 2005) by Marcial Maciel, a coke-sniffing, child abusing Mexican priest who raped his own children.

In recent days, the Pope’s representative, De Paolis, asked whether he could report to the Pope on the restructuring of the religious order, which was badly shaken by the scandal involving its paedophile founder, Maciel. This morning the Pope listened to the cardinal’s detailed report and was informed about the next steps that would be taken in the “purification” process started in the Legion and the Regnum Christi movement, the Legion’s lay branch.

De Paolis’ three-year mandate ends in July. Today he explained to Francis what was next on the Congregation’s agenda: the approval of the constitutions and the general chapter which will elect the Legion’s new government. The cardinal explained the problems that emerged within the order during its three years under the administration of an external commissioner. In 2012, De Paolis formally dismissed all superiors who had been nominated by Maciel. Maciel himself had enjoyed the protection of John Paul II’s collaborators until the Pope’s death. All except Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He was the only one who did not accept the large offerings made to the Roman Curia.

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AUSTRALIA
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on May 27, 2013.

Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal, George Pell, has admitted what most peple pretty much already knew- that fear of scandal prompted the Catholic Church to coverup child sexual abuse allegations. While denying being involved personally in the coverup of pedophile priests, Cardinal Pell told Victoria, Australia’s parliament that “The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church. There was a fear of scandal.”

The Australian state is looking into the coverup of child sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church and various non-government organizations. The panel has already heard about how 620 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy since the 1930′s. Victims were as young as seven and were often raped.

While priests associated with the Catholic and Anglican churches have been identified as having sexual abused children, they typically abuse children at a lower rate than those from religions without a strict hierarchy. The problem has not been the actual abuse quite so much as the decision by the Catholic Church to hide the assaults.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARY ALEXANDER May 28, 2013

CATHOLIC Cardinal George Pell regrets that his appearance at court with serial paedophile Gerald Ridsdale “provoked so much angst” with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“At that stage nobody knew, at least I certainly didn’t, the extent of what proved to be an infamous career,” the former senior Ballarat diocese official told a state parliamentary inquiry yesterday.

In May 1993, Cardinal Pell accompanied Ridsdale to court in Melbourne, where he pleaded guilty to 30 charges of indecent assault, involving nine boys aged between 12 and 16. It was the first of three court appearances where Ridsdale faced a string of sexual abuse charges, many of them committed in south-west Victoria.

After being heavily criticised for supporting the former priest instead of his victims, Cardinal Pell said at the time Ridsdale “had made terrible mistakes”.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

Sometimes you just have to sue the b#$%#@&^!. You have simply suffered too much injustice, and nothing you do inspires the party who harmed you to do the right thing. You have no other choice.

I hate lawsuits. I don’t like what lawyers do in general. Only one lawyer donated $100 to my organization despite the fact that I have provided significant support to many of their survivors including survivors they have abandoned. So I have nothing to lose in criticizing lawyers and lawsuits. Truthfully I feel a bit used by the lawyers whose clients I have helped. I prefer mediation and mediators to lawyers and lawsuits. I think our Retributive Jusitce system, which is based on finding the perpetrator and punishing them, is incredibly wounding to all sides. Lawsuits are win/lose propositions, but the losing side often feels that justice has not been done and remains hurt and angry. Whenever someone feels hurt and angry, conflict continues. In addition, when your focus is on guilt and punishment, you have to have a threshold level of evidence before you decide a criminal act is significant enough to prosecute and then you need enough evidence to prosecute.

Too many times there is too little evidence or the crime is not significant enough. Civil lawsuits can help to a degree when criminal prosecution is not possible, but even civil lawsuits leave people without justice. I’ve met a number of survivors who have not been able to receive any form of justice.

These cases include a number of women who were sexually abused as children who then had “affairs” with priests as adults. All these women were vulnerable to a kind man who flattered them and was gentler than the abusers of their childhood. Many Catholic blame these women for “tempting” the priests. I don’t. The priest had a duty to be therapeutic and crossed the line into selfish and harmful behavior. Some of these women have struggled greatly to function long after their interactions with the priest ended. If the Catholic Church has given them support, it is likely to be less than $10,000. In one case, a kindly priest or two have been the main source of emotional support for the woman for years, but the rest of the Church has mistreated her. In the case of another woman who became pregnant, the priest father disappeared when she told him she was pregnant and pleaded vow of poverty when she needed child support for her sick son.

In another case, a survivor was abused by multiple people, including a priest, but the church denied having much responsibility for the damage she suffered. They offered her a small payout that barely covered what she had already spent on therapy and that was before her lawyer took one-third of the settlement.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: May 26, 2013

As the nation’s leading Roman Catholic bishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been spearheading the fight against a provision of the new health care law that requires employers, including some that are religiously affiliated, to cover birth control in employee health plans.

But even as Cardinal Dolan insists that requiring some religiously affiliated employers to pay for contraception services would be an unprecedented, and intolerable, government intrusion on religious liberty, the archdiocese he heads has quietly been paying for such coverage, albeit reluctantly and indirectly, for thousands of its unionized employees for over a decade.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Ein katholisches Jungengymnasium. Ein Pater, der Schüler mit Zäpfchen behandelt. Eingestellte Ermittlungen. An einer Bonner Eliteschule ist ein Unrecht geschehen. Doch wem genau, ist nicht klar. Von Anette Dowideit

Jede Nachricht lebt von den Bildern, die sie im Kopf des Lesers erzeugt. Von Projektionen. Man hört eine Geschichte und ergänzt im Kopf: Opfer, Täter, Recht gegen Unrecht. Bis es ins jeweilige Weltbild passt. Zur Logik der Dramaturgie.

Peter Billig hat viel nachgedacht in den letzten Monaten, scheint es. Vor allem über Kopfkino. Darüber, wo Fürsorge endet und wo Missbrauch beginnt. Und über die Welle an Missbrauchsfällen, die in den vergangenen Jahren die katholische Kirche überrollte. “Jemand hat mir gesagt, man müsse einfach nur diese Begriffe vor sich hinsagen, und schon forme sich das entsprechende Bild”, sagt der grauhaarige Mann, der in rheinischem Singsang spricht: “Katholisch. Männerorden. Jungenschule. Pater. Zäpfchen.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

May 27, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — A rabbi from Chicago is accused of molesting a teenage boy. Prosecutors say that attack happened in 2006.

Larry Dudovitz, 45, of West Rogers Park, was arrested on Saturday. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual assault.

Court records show Dudovitz is accused of trying to assault a 15-year-old boy while he was sleeping in his home in October of 2006. At a hearing over the weekend, a judge grilled the prosecutor for the 6-year delay in filing a charge.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Carlos Sadovi and Jennifer Delgado
Tribune reporters
11:35 a.m. CDT, May 27, 2013

A 45-year-old West Rogers Park rabbi was charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy nearly seven years ago, police said.

Larry Dudovitz of the 6400 block of North Albany Avenue was charged with criminal sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 and 17, police said.

According to a police report, Dudovitz is a rabbi and was in a position of trust with regards to the boy. Dudovitz allegedly was at the victim’s West Rogers Park home on Oct. 26, 2006 when he sexually assaulted the boy, according to authorities.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

BY JON SEIDEL Staff Reporter jseidel@suntimes.com May 26, 2013

A rabbi from West Rogers Park was arrested Saturday in the alleged sexual molestation of a teenage boy in 2006 — even though prosecutors say authorities were told at the time.

Larry L. Dudovitz, 45, of the 6400 block of North Albany, was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault, prosecutors said. Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil shot down a request that he be held without bail and ordered him held in lieu of $100,000. She also grilled a prosecutor about the six-year delay.

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CHICAGO (IL)
San Francisco Chronicle

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago rabbi is being accused of molesting a teenage boy.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/Z99HfZ ) that 45-year-old Larry L. Dudovitz, of the West Rogers Park neighborhood, has been charged with one count of criminal sexual assault.

Dudovitz was arrested Saturday and was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
According to court records, Dudovitz is accused of abusing the boy, who was 15 at the time, while he was sleeping in the rabbi’s home in 2006.

A Cook County judge questioned prosecutors about why it took so long for charges to be brought.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell has told a sex abuse inquiry the church has made progress but victims say its leaders still just “don’t get it”.

Cardinal Pell admitted the fear of scandal led to cover-up in the church but said its response had borne “very significant fruit”.

He opened and closed his submission to Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse with an apology, saying he was “absolutely sorry”.

Australia’s most senior Catholic said the church should have been called earlier to deal with searing criticism that kicked off the inquiry.

“Because these charges were unanswered, many people in the public think not only were there many mistakes made a long time ago but there’s been no progress at all over the last 20 years.

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NEW JERSEY
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | May 27, 2013

Today’s news headlines prompt a couple of quick thoughts:

When a priest was found ministering to young people, in apparent violation of a court order, there were howls in Newark for the resignation of Archbishop John Myers. Now the vicar general of the archdiocese has stepped down. Do you suppose that will satisfy the archbishop’s critics? Neither do I.

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by DAVID SCHECHTER
WFAA

[with video]

Posted on May 24, 2013

FORT WORTH — A Virginia pastor was extradited to Texas Friday to face charges he sexually abused two Fort Worth girls under the age of 14 while he was here.

Geronimo Aguilar ran a large church in Richmond, Virginia, called The Richmond Outreach Center and was arrested this week to face justice in Texas. Recent TV news reports in Virginia uncovered a string of alleged inappropriate sexual relationships Aguilar had with young church members.

Those reports led two more adult women to come forward.

“I was about 11 when I had my first encounter with Geronimo that was inappropriate,” said one alleged victim, interviewed by WRIC in Richmond, who did not want to be identified.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

Australia’s most senior Catholic official has apologised for decades of child sex abuse by priests.

During questioning at a state parliamentary inquiry, Cardinal George Pell said a culture of silence within the church was partly responsible.

The Catholic church in Victoria state confirmed more than 600 cases of child abuse by its clergy since the 1930s.

The hearings in Victoria are running alongside a national inquiry into abuse in state and religious institutions.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” Cardinal Pell said during the final day of the hearings, which lasted for several hours.

He denied being personally involved in the cover-up of paedophile priests, but acknowledged it happened.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Genevieve Gannon
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 28, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic has apologised for sex crimes committed by clergy but said he did not believe there had been a culture of abuse.

“I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse yesterday.

“I think the bigger fault was that nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it.

“I was certainly unaware of it.

“I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on.”

He agreed placing paedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 28, 2013

Jane Lee

Celibacy might be a factor in the high rate of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell has told an inquiry.

He also acknowledged that senior figures in the Australian Catholic Church covered up evidence about child abuse.

Appearing before the Victorian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse stems from loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgment and inaction.

Australia’s most senior Catholic admitted that the fear of scandal had led to the cover-up of instances
of abuse by some within the church but he denied that there was a culture of abuse among priests.

He said his predecessor as Archbishop of Melbourne, Sir Frank Little, was involved in a cover-up and he said that a former Ballarat archbishop had destroyed documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN From: The Australian May 28, 2013

GEORGE Pell has admitted that senior figures in the Catholic Church in Australia had covered up child sex abuse, with devastating consequences for the victims, but he denied a “culture of abuse” existed.

Yesterday a defiant Cardinal Pell disappointed victims’ groups by rejecting calls for the church to increase compensation payments, saying its Australian arm would do only what was required to meet “the law of the land”.

In landmark testimony to a Victorian government inquiry examining how abuse claims have been handled, Cardinal Pell acknowledged there had been cover-ups within the church, that abusers had been moved from parish to parish, and that this had led to more crimes being committed.

“There’s no doubt about it, that lives have been blighted,” he said.

“There’s no doubt about it that these crimes have contributed to too many suicides.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian May 28, 2013

FOR 4 1/2 hours, Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, was grilled about the abuse of children by clergy.

At the end of his evidence, he said he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about the crimes that had been committed. He also agreed that his predecessor as archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, covered up a priest’s abuses in a way that was “unChristlike”.

Cardinal Pell was greeted when he arrived at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry, with a victim calling out two words that he wanted to hear: “the truth”. After he finished giving evidence, another man standing by the wall of the committee room in the Victorian parliament yelled out at him: “Hell is waiting for you George Pell — remember that.”

He was also forced to listen to a mother’s account of how pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell pressed his penis against the bodies of two children, Emma and Katie Foster, who had parts of their souls stolen by what was done to them.

The most dramatic evidence came four hours into his testimony, when Nationals MP David O’Brien began reading from a 1993 letter from archbishop Little to vicar general monsignor Gerry Cudmore that pedophile priest Des Gannon should be made a “pastor emeritus” as soon as possible, that illness should be used as the excuse, that a letter to that effect should be backdated and that Gannon should be thanked for his good deeds.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

EDITORIAL HERALD SUN MAY 28, 2013

“THE primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church. There was a fear of scandal.”

With these words, the nation’s most senior Catholic leader, Cardinal George Pell, laid bare the true motivation behind decades, not merely years, of church complicity and obfuscation in ignoring or actively covering up the heinous and widespread abuse of vulnerable children who looked to it for protection and guidance.

Cardinal Pell said while saving the church from scandal was a primary motivation, the ugly cancer of abuse was allowed to remain and spread because the church either “did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims” or there was a culture of silence within ranks and a misjudgment of how endemic abuse could be.

In fact, Cardinal Pell confirmed to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into church abuse the cover-up also occurred at the highest levels – including by former Melbourne archbishop Sir Frank Little, who remained silent, and previous Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who destroyed documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

From: The Australian May 28, 2013

THE Catholic Church, like the Australian Defence Force, state-run children’s services and other churches, has been forced to learn hard lessons about the criminal abuse of innocent victims by those in positions of trust. In some cases, such depravity led to lifelong damage and even contributed to suicides.

For two decades, Catholics have suffered a sense of betrayal as the church’s propensity to cover up criminal activity, shield perpetrators and transfer them from parish to parish or school to school has been exposed. Victims naturally seek justice, comfort and closure from the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse and the upcoming Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The inquiries, however, have another important task: to ensure that safeguards are enacted to prevent abuse in future. Judging by the evidence of Australia’s most senior Catholic leader, Cardinal George Pell, to the Victorian commission yesterday, the church has made some progress towards putting its house in order.

Two months after his appointment as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, Archbishop Pell set up the Independent Commission into Sexual Abuse headed by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, with a separate panel assessing compensation payouts of up to $50,000, in line with state criminal compensation. At the time, the move was cutting-edge, putting the Archdiocese ahead of the rest of the church and other institutions. The process was more transparent than the Towards Healing protocol established shortly afterwards in other parts of the Catholic Church in Australia and well ahead of most of the US and Ireland, where the main government inquiry did not start until 1999. As the Cardinal said, the fact that 242 abuse complaints had been upheld from the 1970s, 82 from the 1980s, between 22 and 24 from the 1990s and fewer than 20 since 2000 indicated the problem was being contained.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 28, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Analysis

Say what you like about George Pell – and journalists sometimes have – you have to admire his fighting spirit. Apart from the four support staff he brought with him on Monday, nearly everyone in the Legislative Council committee room at Parliament house, and the overflow room nearby was antagonistic at best and hostile at worst.

It brought out the combative spirit and unshakeable self-belief of the street fighter that Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop has often seemed.

He sat composed, often with hands clasped in front of him, and fought every point, while the gallery – mostly victims – made its derision and disbelief clear at every opportunity.

The six members of the committee conducting the inquiry were determined to give no quarter in challenging the cardinal about the church’s record on dealing with child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. And he gave barely an inch in reply, though the weight of evidence used by the members forced a series of damaging admissions.

Cardinal Pell clearly learnt the lessons from Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart’s unconvincing display a week earlier, especially the smirk with which he said “better late than never” when asked why it took 18 years until after the inquiry was announced to seek to have a serial abuser defrocked.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

PATRICK CARLYON HERALD SUN MAY 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell was told that Hell awaits him after he finished four hours of evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse yesterday.

He didn’t seem fazed: he has, after all, had almost two decades to perfect his explanation for what he describes as the Catholic Church’s “imperfect” response to paedophile priests.

Cardinal Pell played chess as a kid. Through the afternoon he struck the pose of a master pondering his next move – elbows on the arms of his chair, fingers steepled in front of him.

Yet his opening play was the obvious one, a thoroughly modern tact adopted by corporations keen to be seen to accepting responsibility for perceived wrongdoings.

Cardinal Pell may have been refused his request to give an opening statement, but he gave an abbreviated form anyway – he offered his “full apology” for the Catholic Church’s failings in handling child abuse cases.

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AUSTRALIA
GMA News (Philippines)

By JAMES GRUBEL, REUTERSMay 27, 2013

CANBERRA – The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday blamed a former culture of silence for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extent of abuse, but added that the number of cases had dropped significantly since the church started taking stronger action.

Cardinal George Pell, an adviser to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” said Pell in a tense hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church’s compensation and investigations. Pell was questioned for more than four hours.

Pell said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 80s, but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Victims and support groups call for Cardinal George Pell’s resignation

ANNIKA SMETHURST HERALD SUN MAY 27, 2013

VICTIMS and support groups have called for Cardinal George Pell’s resignation following his appearance at yesterday’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

Abuse survivor Stephen Woods, 51, who was sexually assaulted and beaten by three priests when he was a student at St Alipius Christian Brothers Primary School in Ballarat, said that Cardinal Pell should stand down.

“The apology is political. It’s still about saving face, it’s still about saving the political power of the church, and that’s what they are afraid of losing,” he said.

“The little care for the victims that he showed, it shows that they still don’t get it,” he said.

Mr Woods slammed Cardinal Pell’s claims that he had always shown support for victims of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Cardinal George Pell has confessed to creation of false documents and ‘reprehensible’ cover-ups of child sex abuse

MATT JOHNSTON, MICHELLE AINSWORTH From: Herald Sun May 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has confessed false documents were created and priests took part in “reprehensible” cover-ups of child sexual abuse.

The most prominent Catholic in Australia was grilled by a Victorian parliamentary committee for 4 1/2 hours about systemic failings by the church to deal with abuse.

Cardinal Pell said the fear of scandals drove much of the reaction to rampant abuse in the 1970s and ’80s, but that a concern about money was also involved.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” he said.

“I would agree that we’ve been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly,” the cardinal said.

In a victory for victims, Cardinal Pell said he would ask the Vatican to send all documents it holds on Victorian sex abuse accusations to the inquiry – a promise he had also made to the federal royal commission into abuse.

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AUSTRALIEN
Radio Vatikan

Die durch katholische Kleriker verübten Missbräuche täten ihm „absolut leid“: diese Aussage tätigte der höchste Würdenträger der katholischen Kirche in Australien, George Pell, vor dem Untersuchungsausschuss des Parlaments, der sich in diesen Tagen im Staat von Victoria mit der Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen in Nichtregierungsorganisationen beschäftigt. Dennoch, so der Erzbischof von Sydney, glaube er nicht daran, dass es in der katholischen Kirche eine „Kultur des Missbrauchs“ gebe. Pell war in den Jahren von 1996 bis 2001 Erzbischof von Melbourne in Victoria, dem Staat, der im Zentrum der Untersuchungen des Ausschusses steht und in dem nach Kirchenangaben 620 Minderjährige durch Kleriker missbraucht worden seien. Pell erinnerte in seiner Aussage auch daran, dass die katholische Kirche in Australien das Phänomen des Missbrauchs bereits 1988 als gravierendes Problem erkannt habe. Die Kirche, so der Kardinal, hätte jedoch wie andere Institutionen auch behandelt werden sollen, insbesondere, was die Frage nach Schadenersatzzahlungen angehe.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 27, 2013

Cardinal George Pell’s appearance at the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse was less than convincing yesterday.

Cardinal Pell blustered his way through some tough grilling, exchanging particularly terse words with committee member Andrea Coote over any potential church compensation.

He gave long-winded answers, often veered off topic and was critical of a committee decision not to allow him a brief opening statement, which is in line with previous testimonies by anyone dealing with abused children.

He constantly defended the church’s actions but provoked laughter when he accidentally referred to the Holy See as a company.

A huge crowd turned up for Cardinal Pell’s appearance, with the Parliament House Legislative Council committee room and a second viewing area both overflowing.

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NEWARK (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

[letter to parishioners]

By Ryan Hutchins and Victoria St. Martin/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Parishioners across the Archdiocese of Newark said this weekend that Archbishop John J. Myers appropriately handled a dogging scandal that has threatened his legacy, while others said the demotion of his top deputy was merely a scapegoating tactic that came amid calls for his own resignation.

Congregants listened in mostly hushed churches across the region as priests read a letter from the archbishop announcing the removal of Monsignor John E. Doran, who stepped down from his leadership position for mishandling the supervision of a priest who violated a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

Myers, whose letter was first run in a longer form as an opinion piece in Saturday’s Star-Ledger, said he was implementing a series of reforms to “strengthen internal protocols” and “ensure we are doing everything we can to safeguard the children of our community.”

As in other parishes, the letter was read without commentary at Holy Family Church in Nutley, where the priest in question — the Rev. Michael Fugee — was a familiar face and had frequent interactions with teenagers. Few people were willing to discuss the matter after one Mass there Sunday, rushing through the windy morning to their cars.

Parishioners at Holy Family and elsewhere gave a range of reactions — from satisfaction to ambivalence to disappointment. While many Catholics said they supported Myers’ handling of the situation, others did not mince words and called for Myers to resign.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior Catholic did nothing to ease the pain caused by clergy sexual abuse when he gave an “insincere” apology, victims and their supporters say.

Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for the abuse at the hands of clergy.

During intense questioning on Monday that lasted more than four hours, Cardinal Pell admitted that abuse had been covered up, documents destroyed and priests had been moved on.

A fear of scandal led to the cover-up and the primary reason would have been to protect the reputation of the church, he said.

He also admitted a priest’s resignation letter had been backdated and made no mention of his crimes.

But Cardinal Pell denied personally being involved in any cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Victims of clergy sexual abuse say the Catholic Church must change and end an era of cover-ups and unaccountability.

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has apologised to victims and said he accepted moral responsibility for failures committed by his predecessors.

Hundreds of victims and their supporters attended Monday’s hearing of the Victorian parliamentary abuse inquiry in Melbourne, with many queueing for several hours to hear the cardinal’s evidence.

Some victims protested outside the hearing, holding banners that urged Cardinal Pell to tell the truth.

There were angry scenes before the hearing when it appeared space would not be able to be found for people in an overflow room, but they were all accommodated.

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PEORIA (IL)
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny | eblunny@pantagraph.com

PEORIA — The bishop and the vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria must answer questions in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed five years ago against the diocese and a deceased Twin City priest, under an order entered in Peoria County Circuit Court.

Lawyers for Andrew Ward, 25, a former student at Epiphany School in Normal, challenged the diocese’s refusal to require that Bishop Daniel Jenky and Chancellor Patricia Gibson appear for a deposition in Ward’s 2008 lawsuit. Ward, who now lives in Michigan, has accused Monsignor Thomas Maloney, who died in 2009, of sexually abusing him at Epiphany Catholic Church between 1995 and 1996 when he was in second grade.

The diocese resisted the deposition, saying both leaders took office in 2002, long after the alleged abuse took place, and the same year Maloney retired from active ministry for health reasons.

The deadline for the depositions, initially set for May 25, has been extended to accommodate scheduling conflicts, said Jeff Anderson, one of Ward’s lawyers. A Sept. 9 trial is scheduled in the lawsuit.

The order for the depositions sets out strict rules for how the bishop and chancellor will respond to questions about the alleged abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A letter accepting the resignation of a pedophile priest was backdated, contained no reference to abuse allegations and praised him for his “good deeds”, an inquiry has heard.

Cardinal George Pell has admitted the letter written by former Melbourne archbishop Francis Little was evidence of a cover-up.

Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse heard that when pedophile priest Desmond Gannon was stood down in 1993 the reason nominated was “poor health”.

The title of Pastor Emeritus was conferred on Fr Gannon, meaning he was no longer an active priest.
Inquiry committee member David O’Brien said the title also indicated he was a person of merit.

In 1995 Fr Gannon was jailed for 25 months for molesting an altar boy in the 1960s, and in 209 he received a suspended sentence after being found guilty of molesting boys at Victorian parishes between 1958 and 1976.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

27 MAY 2013, 8:20 PM – SOURCE: AAP

Victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are disappointed with Cardinal George Pell’s response to their plight, says Father Kevin Dillon.

Outspoken Victorian priest Father Kevin Dillon says the victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church remain disappointed after Cardinal George Pell said he was sorry for their suffering.

Fr Dillon said church officials “still don’t get it” and have failed to introduce practical measures that meet the needs of victims.

“If we had been doing things well then why do we have so many dissatisfied victims?” Fr Dillon told AAP.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Monday that fear of scandal led to the church covering up sexual abuse by priests.

Fr Dillon said courageous victims had come forward to acknowledge what had happened to them but they had never been asked what the church could do for them.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

Posted by: 3AW News | 27 May, 2013

Cardinal George Pell has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse that he is fully apologetic and deeply sorry that child sex abuse occurred in the Catholic Church.

But he has denied there is a culture of abuse within the ranks of the clergy.

Some people in the packed public gallery today wept as Cardinal Pell told the inquiry that he agreed there had been a systemic cover-up that allowed paedophile priests to prey on innocent children.

He also said there was no doubt that crimes by pedophile priests contributed to too many suicides.

Cardinal Pell has admitted that, in hindsight, one of the worst offending priests, Father Kevin O’Donnell, should have been sacked as a priest.

He denied he personally covered up offending and he said he was ”fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for abuse by clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

May 28, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age

Cardinal George Pell has admitted the Catholic Church had put paedophile priests ”above the law”, covered up abuse and moved abusers.

In a gruelling session of more than four hours, he told the Victorian inquiry into child abuse that the church had changed the date on a document making serial abuser Des Gannon a priest emeritus and had kept paying a stipend to another paedophile, Ron Pickering, who fled Australia to avoid police.

The Sydney Archbishop said he and his successor as Melbourne Archbishop, Denis Hart, took moral responsibility for helping victims and that the church was open to paying higher sums in compensation – whatever the law deemed necessary.

The church would be happy to contribute to an independently managed redress fund for victims, provided ”others are asked too”.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The priest and the church stole part of their souls and shattered their lives.

Melbourne priest Kevin O’Donnell, who raped Anthony and Christine Foster’s two daughters while they were in primary school, was “certainly among the worst of them”, Australia’s most senior Catholic admits.

But Cardinal George Pell drew the line at extending the family’s description of the impact of O’Donnell’s actions to all victims of clergy abuse, sparking an angry response from some in the public gallery at Victoria’s abuse inquiry.

“I understand people feel deeply about this,” the Sydney archbishop and former Melbourne archbishop said.

“There’s no doubt whatsoever about the terrible spiritual and emotional turmoil that he produced. It’s totally reprehensible.”

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