ABUSE TRACKER

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com Aug. 27, 2017

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes recently removed four clergy members from his advisory team, stating they were insubordinate, defied his leadership and betrayed his trust.

All four removed team members are affiliated with the Neocatechumenal Way, whose practices sometimes are at odds with the island’s traditional Catholic community.

At issue is a letter they sent in June to a Vatican official, also affiliated with the Way, instead of talking to Byrnes.

Byrnes terminated Monsignor David C. Quitugua, Rev. Fr. Jose Alberto Rodriguez-Salamanca, Rev. Fr. Julio Cesar Sanchez, and Rev. Fr. Rodolfo Arejola from the archbishop’s Presbyteral Council.

Under canon law, a presbyteral council is a group of priests which acts like a senate of the bishop and assists the bishop in the governance of the diocese according to the norm of law to promote pastoral good.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Peter FitzSimons

So, I’ve got this right, yes? On the one hand, we have the Catholic Church maintaining it will make no change in its protocol about the sanctity of the confessional. And it maintains that, despite the fact that – as just revealed by the Criminal Justice report by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse – it has presided over cases like the one in Rockhampton where Father Michael McArdle was forgiven no fewer than 1500 times by 30 of his fellow priests for raping children in his care.

“I was devastated after the assaults, every one of them,” Father McArdle affirmed in a 2004 affidavit, quoted in The Australian on Tuesday. “So distressed would I become that I would attend confessions weekly. [After every confession], it was like a magic wand had been waved over me.”

Now, as not a single one of those priests called the police – sanctity of the confessional and all that – McArdle continued his atrocities for decades, devastating the lives of ever more children.

And, on the other hand, we have the Catholic Church waving a flag upon what it sees as the moral high ground, warning the rest of us of what will happen to society if we vote for marriage equality. And its warnings include the dangers to children of gay couples.

I ask this seriously. How long can we, as a society, BEAR this?

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Kate Campbell, PerthNow
August 26, 2017

“IT’S more than shameful, because shameful is about how embarrassed in a sense you feel, it’s really horror that people’s lives have been so badly affected.”

Dealing with the child sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church to its core was Timothy Costelloe’s first priority when he became Archbishop of Perth in 2012.

Five-and-a-half years later and amid an ongoing royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, it’s still the biggest issue facing him and his church.

The 63-year-old former schoolteacher used words like “evil”, “shocking”, “confronting”, “shameful” and “painful” to describe how nearly one in 10 priests in the Catholic Perth archdiocese was accused of sexually abusing children between 1950 and 2010 and how “bafflingly inadequate” the response was from church leaders.

When asked if he could guarantee his archdiocese was now paedophile-free, Archbishop Costelloe said: “What I can guarantee is that in this archdiocese we’re sending out a message that today this is the most dangerous place for a paedophile to come because we’re on to them, we’re looking for them and we will deal with them.”

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UNITED STATES
Premier (UK)

Sat 26 Aug 2017
By Tola Mbakwe

The grandson of famous US evangelist Billy Graham has been vocal about the horror of child abuse in the Church.

Boz Tchividjian is the head of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which investigates sexual abuse in Christian organisations.

In a recent interview with Vice.com he said it’s his life’s focus to expose sex abuse in the Church because churches usually protect the abuser at the expense of the victim.

He became more passionate about the issue when he started practicing law and served as chief prosecutor in the Sexual Crimes Division.

“There was no greater defender of children than Jesus,” he said.

Tchividjian suggested that child abuse scandals are worse in the Protestant churches than the Catholic Church.

He said that data gathered from top insurers of Protestant churches a few years ago showed that there were 260 reports a year of child sex abuse by church leaders or members of the congregation. Other data for the Catholic Church reported 228 incidents.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

JESUIT PRIESTS AND BROTHERS OF THE NORTHEAST PROVINCE (INCLUDING FORDHAM UNIVERSITY) CONTINUE TO RE-VICTIMIZE A SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM OF A JESUIT PRIEST

Jesuits of the Northeast Province, based on the upper eastside of Manhattan, who administer Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, continue to re-victimize Neal E. Gumpel, a childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, a deceased serial pedophile Jesuit priest, by refusing to reasonably settle his claim

The Jesuit priests and brothers of the Northeast Province admit to having credible information from approximately five (5) persons (besides the victim) about Neal E. Gumpel’s childhood sexual abuse by Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, and still refuse to settle Neal E. Gumpel’s claim reasonably

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting the media, Fordham University students, parents, faculty, and staff, and the general public that the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has insulted and re-victimized a childhood sexual abuse victim of a Jesuit priest by refusing to reasonably settle his credible claim

When
Saturday, August 26, 2017, from 3:00 PM until 4:30 PM

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the main entrance to Fordham University, 2691 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10458 (across from the entrance to the New York Botanical Garden)

Who
Neal E. Gumpel; his wife, Helen Gumpel, and members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

Why
Neal E. Gumpel was a high school student and a minor child when he was sexually abused by a Jesuit priest, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine. Fr. Roy Drake, SJ, was a professor at Maine Maritime Academy and at all times presented himself as a priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In fact, Fr. Roy Drake, SJ, wore the priest’s collar and clerical clothing when Neal E. Gumpel arrived on the campus of Maine Maritime Academy. The Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has found Neal E. Gumpel’s claim of having been sexually abused by Fr. Roy Drake, SJ, credible, but they refuse to reasonably settle the claim against Fr. Roy Drake, SJ, and they continue to insult and re-victimize Neal E. Gumpel. Demonstrators will call on the Jesuits and Fordham University, where Fr. Roy Drake, SJ, was a professor for many years, to do the right thing and treat Neal E. Gumpel with compassion, fairness, and justice

Contact
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

Michael Quander, WUSA August 24, 2017

FAIRFAX, VA. (WUSA9) – The Virginia priest who came forward as a former leader with the KKK was charged in a Reno, Nevada trespassing case in 1992.

Father William Aitcheson had been handing out pro-life pamphlets near a clinic.

During court hearings Father Aitcheson testified about his criminal past but left out details about cross burnings and the KKK.

Aitcheson was given a fine and ordered to stay away from the property.

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

Bruce Leshan, WUSA August 25, 2017

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – More evidence on Friday that the College Park KKK leader turned Arlington priest failed to put his Confederate sympathies behind him, even after he changed his attire from white sheets to clerical robes.

Years after becoming a priest, William Aitcheson was charged with assault and battery and convicted of trespassing.

The priest claimed the racist violence in Charlottesville prompted him to confess to his own old membership in the KKK, but that’s far from the whole truth. But Maria Santos Bier is just out with a story in the Washington Post; “How I discovered my childhood priest was in the Ku Klux Klan,” which suggest Aitcheson only wrote his confessional column in the Arlington Catholic Herald after she started questioning the diocese about his past.

As a history teacher, Bier says Aitchson was “A fervent advocate of the Confederacy.” and used to joke about “Saint Robert E Lee.” After Charlottesville, she Googled him, and found a 1977 story about the then 23 year old University of Maryland student. He was an “exalted Cyclops,” in the local Robert E Lee Klavern.

Another freelancer, Nate Thayer, found Aitcheson had been charged in three Maryland counties with manufacturing explosives, threatening to lynch Corretta Scott King, burning crosses in front of Jewish organizations, and in Phillip and Barbara Butler’s front yard

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UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Mark Kellner

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more exciting in the aftermath of the tragic events in Charlottesville, Va., where a protester was mowed down and killed by a white-supremacist, there comes a story that I can’t imagine anyone anticipated.

An active, currently serving Roman Catholic priest admitted he had been a leader in the Ku Klux Klan and burned crosses on people’s lawns, before entering the priesthood. The priest, Father William Aitcheson, has now taken a leave of absence from his role as an associate pastor at a parish in the Arlington, Va., archdiocese.

While it didn’t make front page news in The Washington Post – of which more here shortly – it was the lead item on the local NBC-TV station, WRC. Their story, buttressed by an online version, was a very basic account:

A Virginia priest took a leave of absence on Monday after he admitted that he was previously a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Father William Aitcheson, a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, burned a cross on an African-American couple’s lawn in College Park, Maryland, in the 1970s.

Aitcheson, 62, wrote about his past Klan affiliation Monday in The Arlington Catholic Herald, the diocese’s newspaper. He currently is an associate pastor at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairfax, Virginia.

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MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

By Brian Arola barola@mankatofreepress.com

NEW ULM — The investigation into reports of an inappropriate relationship between a juvenile girl and and a priest in the Diocese of New Ulm has been suspended, according to a release from the New Ulm Police Department.

The Rev. Sam Wagner, who was most recently listed as an associate pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sleepy Eye, was placed on administrative leave while the investigation continued. He previously worked in New Ulm from 2014 to 2016.

Jeff Hohensee, senior investigator with the New Ulm Police Department, said the case isn’t considered closed. “We’re just allowing some of the witnesses to take some time to come forward,” he said. “They expressed they wanted some time.”

He said it’s difficult to put a timeline on when the investigation could resume, adding investigators will remain in contact with witnesses.

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NEW MEXICO
New York Times

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
AUG. 25, 2017

Eight members of a paramilitary Christian sect in New Mexico were arrested this week on charges of child sexual abuse and other crimes against children, officials said on Friday.

Three members of the sect, the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, were arrested on Sunday in Fence Lake, a remote, sparsely populated area in western New Mexico, and a fourth was arrested that day in the city of Truth or Consequences, more than 100 miles away, Sheriff Tony Mace of Cibola County said.

Four more members were arrested by Cibola County deputies on Wednesday as they drove away from the Fence Lake compound with 11 children in tow.

The arrests were the culmination of years of investigation by law enforcement. The sect had “been on the radar” of the authorities in Cibola County since members of the group moved there from California in 1995, Sheriff Mace said.

But the scrutiny escalated in 2015, when a former member reported that he was unable to find or contact his children at the site in Fence Lake, and again in 2016, when a woman told the authorities she had been sexually abused as a child while living there.

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NEW MEXICO
SFGate

GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — The Latest on a New Mexico military-style Christian sect facing child abuse charges (all times local):

1:45 p.m.

A judge has refused to lower bond on two leaders of a New Mexico paramilitary religious sect who are both facing child sexual abuse charges.

Cibola County Magistrate Judge Larry Diaz said Friday he still felt that co-leader Deborah Green and high ranking leader Peter Green of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training were flight risks and he wasn’t comfortable with lowering their bond or changing the conditions of their release.

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NEW MEXICO
ABC News

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
GRANTS, N.M. — Aug 25, 2017

Leaders of a paramilitary religious sect rocked by child sexual abuse allegations say they were merely a small, poor group living in a secluded ranching area in New Mexico while constantly being persecuted by people who didn’t understand their reading of the Bible.

But authorities say the trustees of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps own thousands of acres of land and benefited from a wealthy high-ranking member who aided them in avoiding law enforcement agencies by hiding children throughout their vast holdings.

Those holdings and regular deceptions by leaders, authorities said, made it difficult for the small Cibola County Sheriff’s Office to investigate allegations of child abuse that former members say went back years.

Speaking before a magistrate judge on Friday, Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk gave a glimpse into his department’s two-year investigation of a militant sect former members say treated followers like slaves and often physically beat children who had no records of being born. That investigation led to the Sunday raid of the group’s Fence Lake compound and the arrest of four members.

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NEW MEXICO
Associated Press

GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — The Latest on a New Mexico military-style Christian sect facing child abuse charges (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

A judge has refused to lower bond for a member of a New Mexico paramilitary religious sect who faces child abuse charges.

Cibola County Magistrate Judge Larry Diaz said Friday that recent events surrounding the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps were getting “serious” and he couldn’t lower bond for Stacey Miller.

Miller faces one count each of intentional abuse of a child between the ages of 12 and 18, bribery of a witness and not reporting a birth. Authorities say she failed to give her 12-year-old son medical treatment for the flu and he later died.

She is being held on $20,000 security cash bond.

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NEW MEXICO
KRQE

By Katherine Mozzone
Published: August 25, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Authorities continue to delve into the secret lives of aggressive Christianity members out of Fence Lake, New Mexico.

The Cibola County Sheriff says four more people were arrested Wednesday, for failing to register the births of their 11 kids.

Days after allegations of child sex abuse surfaced against the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, more members are in custody and were caught trying to leave their compound with two vans full of kids.

Deputies arrested Amos, Victoria, Ruth and Timothy River on felony warrants.

According to the Washington Post, authorities were there trying to pick up children for interviews when they found two vans leaving the compound, south of Gallup.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Saturday, August 26, 2017 Conall Ó Fátharta

Former residents of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork have been assured that plans to sell it will not affect the power of the Commission to examine the site.

The Irish Examiner revealed that the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary intend to sell the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in a process that could take up to two years. The sale will not include the cemetery and remembrance site areas.

The campus is more recently the setting for the Bessborough Centre, a charity that works with vulnerable families.

However, the facility in Blackrock is also being examined by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission. It has come under intense scrutiny in recent years over activities alleged to have occurred there when it was a mother and baby home, including the possible falsification of death certificates to facilitate clandestine adoptions here and overseas.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Liverpool Echo

BY NEIL DOCKING
25 AUG 2017

A paedophile ex-vicar who wrote a twisted child sex abuse fantasy featuring himself was today jailed for 20 months.

Former Church of England reverend Paul Battersby downloaded 1,730 indecent images between November 2014 and January 2017.

Police also seized a shoebox full of children’s clothes when they raided the 68-year-old’s flat in Old Hall Street, Liverpool city centre.

Liverpool Crown Court heard they then discovered disturbing fantasy literature on the persistent sex offender’s computer equipment.

Iain Criddle, prosecuting, said: “Perhaps equally worrying, other items were recovered.

“From the defendant’s computer was recovered a fantasy story, which appears to have been penned by him, regarding child abuse.

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IRELAND
The Times

Ed Carty
August 26 2017
The Times

Survivors of Magdalene laundries have staged a protest outside a former Catholic workhouse in Dublin and called for a memorial and a full redress scheme.

Their action follows the United Nations criticism of Ireland for its lack of an independent and thorough investigation and its call for the prosecution of members of the Catholic Church.

The rally was held off Sean McDermott Street in Dublin, the site of the last Catholic workhouse to be shut, a fortnight after the committee against torture report accused the government of failing to live up to commitments to investigate the religious institutions.

Angela Downey, who was born in Castlepollard mother and baby home after her mother, Mary, had been raped and was sent to a laundry, called for the name of every woman who toiled in the institutions to be immortalised in stone.

Pressing her hand against the crumbling back wall of the workhouse run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, she said: “My mother spent 15 years in the laundries. The children weren’t recognised at all. We weren’t entitled to anything. They should do something for us now.” The survivors are also seeking a day of commemoration to remember those affected by the laundries.

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AUSTRALIA
Angelus

August 26, 2017 – By Catholic News Agency

An Australian priest has called the Royal Commission’s recent proposal to enforce law requiring that clergy face criminal charges if they do not disclose details of sexual abuse revealed in the confessional a breach of religious tolerance. Fr. Kelvin Lovegrove, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy in the Archdiocese of Sydney, told CNA Aug. 24 that he was “surprised” by the suggestion made by the Royal Commission that priests be forced “to break the law in regard to the Seal of Confession.”

“Australia is religiously tolerant country, and many people have emigrated to Australia from other countries so that they can freely practice their faith,” he said, calling the proposal “an intrusion by the Government into the realm of the spiritual relationship between priest and penitent, which up until has been sacrosanct.”

He said the proposal is out of step with expectations for others who maintain similar confidential relationships, noting that “other professionals such as psychologists, lawyers and journalists are not required to break confidences in regard to confidential information between them and their clients.”

Fr. Lovegrove’s comments come less than two weeks after Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, established in 2013, on Aug. 14 released a sweeping 85 proposed changes to the country’s criminal justice system.

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ARIZONA
Arizona Republic

Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, The Republic | azcentral.com Aug. 25, 2017

The judge overseeing a lawsuit accusing Bishop Emeritus Thomas O’Brien of sexual abuse has ordered that several counts focusing on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix be dropped.

The counts related to the former bishop’s alleged sexual misconduct still stand.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Udall dismissed counts of public nuisance, fraud, fiduciary fraud and negligent infliction of emotional distress, leaving eight of the original 14 counts.

The counts that were dropped alleged the church had financial and oversight responsibilities related to O’Brien’s alleged actions.

In their motions to dismiss multiple allegations in the lawsuit, attorneys for the church contended that some of the accusations were too broad and sweeping. Declaring the Phoenix Diocese a public nuisance would be akin to “creating a new law,” defense attorney John Kelly said in the church’s response.

The lawsuit, filed in September 2016, accuses O’Brien, now 81, of sexually abusing the plaintiff from 1977 through 1982, when the plaintiff was a boy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunday Herald Sun

Ashley Argoon, Sunday Herald Sun
August 26, 2017

PROMINENT priests say they would urge paedophiles to go to police if they admitted to crimes in confession.

Well known men of the cloth say they would refuse absolution, with the only penance for a person who committed such a serious offence to be the “full force of the law”.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended priests be charged for not reporting confessions of paedophiles. Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has said the confessional seal should remain.

But Fr Brendan Reed from Our Lady of Good Counsel and All Hallows Parish said those who admit to those crimes in confession should expect one result.

“The public expect, and the church expects, that it is such a serious sin the penance has to be no less than handing themselves in,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunday Herald Sun

KATIE BICE, Sunday Herald Sun

THE Archbishop of Melbourne is doing the Catholic Church and its followers a disservice. In the past fortnight, Denis Hart has made his views known on two controversial issues and at least once, arguably twice, has been grossly out of step with community expectations.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released a report with 85 recommendations, including that priests be forced to report details of child sex abuse made in confession. It urged criminal charges against priests who failed to do so, saying there should be “no excuse, protection nor privilege” for those who fail to comply. Hart, however, believes confessions should be respected: “Confession in the Catholic Church is a spiritual encounter with God through the priest,” he stated. “It is a fundamental part of the freedom of religion. Outside of this, all offences against children must be reported to the authorities and we are absolutely committed to doing so.”

I don’t profess to have ever met or had a conversation with God, but I’m going to take a stab and say he’s no fan of child molesters. And you’d think the leaders of a body that oversaw one of the greatest human tragedies outside war time would listen to and accept any recommendations to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

And Hart’s stance seems to go against what he says on another issue riling the Catholic Church, same-sex marriage. Last week he issued a public letter cautioning that any change to marriage legislation would threaten the “health and future of our society”. Part of the public letter read: “Yes, human rights are important. But so are human responsibilities. We are responsible for the impact of our decisions on future generations.”

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Russell Contreras / Associated Press
Published: Friday, August 25th, 2017

GRANTS – A paramilitary religious sect rocked by child sexual abuse allegations appeared to be a small, poor group living in a secluded ranching area in western New Mexico who complained they were mere victims of constant persecution by people who didn’t really understand their reading of the Christian Bible.

But authorities say the trustees of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps are owners of thousands of acres of land and benefited from a wealthy, high-ranking member who aided them in avoiding law enforcement by hiding children throughout its vast holdings.

Those holdings and regular deceptions by leaders, authorities said, made it difficult for the small Cibola County Sheriff’s Office to investigate allegations of child abuse and child sexual abuse that former members say went back years.

Speaking before a magistrate judge on Friday, Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk gave a glimpse into his agency’s two-year investigation of a sect that former members say treated followers like slaves and often physically beat children who had no records of being born. That investigation led to the Sunday raid of the group’s Fence Lake compound and the arrest of four members.

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
7 News

Jacqueline Le
AAP / August 25th, 2017

A former Victorian school principal has appeared in court to face multiple charges of indecent assault against students.

Marist Brother Gerard McNamara attended Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with multiple indecent assault offences against five boys at Traralgon.

One incident is alleged to have taken place after a student was summoned to see McNamara for misbehaving in class, the court was told.

McNamara is also accused of punching the student shortly after.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Andrew Roberto | andrew@postguam.com

Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron remains steadfast in his refusal to make a settlement in the sexual abuse allegations made against him.

On Aug. 25 in the District Court of Guam, Apuron’s legal counsel, Jacqueline Terlaje, reiterated that she would not be participating in meetings on Sept. 4 and 5 in Honolulu to discuss mediation protocols with defense attorneys for alleged victims, plaintiff counsels for the Boy Scouts of America and Archdiocese of Agana, and special mediator retired Judge Michael Hogan.

Plaintiffs Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla, Roland Sondia and Doris Concepcion – on behalf of her late son, Joseph “Sonny” Quinata – filed lawsuits against Apuron and the archdiocese. The four men alleged they were sexually abused by Apuron when they were young altar boys in the 1970s.

According to Post files, Terlaje filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuits filed against Apuron and the Archdiocese of Agana because the victims’ claims are time-barred and Public Law 33-187 is “inorganic and unconstitutional.”

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a story in today’s USA Today:

“Parishes Across Nation Under Shadow Of Abuse,” blares a headline in today’s USA Today. The subhead is even more misleading: “Latest revelations are sign that the church’s problems with its priests are not over.”

The implication is obvious: the crisis of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is still ongoing, and the Church is still failing to protect children. And that is the message that comes across to the casual reader of the almost 2,500 word article.

A more careful reading, however, contradicts that conclusion. For while the article highlights recent reports of abuse, and current or recent court cases and settlements in dioceses around the country, we see that the vast majority of actual or alleged incidents are from decades ago, some even “dating back to the 1950s.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Aug 25, 2017 About 40 people calling for a memorial to survivors of the Magdalene laundries gather outside the old Gloucester Street laundry on Sean McDermott Street, Dublin.

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IRELAND
The Journal

Mary Merritt was sent to a Magdalene laundry on Sean McDermott Street after refusing to work at High Park laundry, Drumcondra. On the day she arrived, she still refused to work, and was sent to another laundry in Donnybrook. She refused to work again and was sent back to the first laundry.

In total, she spent 14 years in High Park. When she was released at the age of 31, she had to have all her teeth taken out and she discovered she was blind in one eye.

“I’d never seen a toothbrush,” she said. During her time there, she says she had no access to proper healthcare, doctors, education, or basic life skills – let alone her right to freedom.

Today, she and other survivors gathered outside the last Magdalene laundry to be closed on Sean McDermott Street in Dublin city, to share their stories and ask the government to include the last survivors’ opinions on what should be done with the institutions that represent a tragic failure in our State’s short history.

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IRELAND
Irish News

Ed Carty
25 August, 2017

SURVIVORS of Magdalene laundries, and their relatives, have relived the horrors of rape, abuse and lost lives as they renewed calls for a memorial and full redress.

A rally was held off Sean McDermott Street in Dublin, the site of the last Catholic workhouse to be shut, a fortnight after a damning United Nations report criticising the Irish government for failing to live up to commitments to the women.

It is four years since former taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to those incarcerated in the laundries and their families.

Angela Downey, who was born in Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home after her mother Mary had been raped and was sent to a laundry, called for the name of every woman who toiled in the institutions to be immortalised in stone.

Pressing her hand against the crumbling back wall of the workhouse run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, she said: “My mother spent 15 years in the laundries.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Kitty Holland

Mary Merritt (86) was six-and-a-half stone when, aged 31, she left High Park laundry in Drumcondra, Dublin, in 1961.

At protest in Dublin on Friday, where she was one of about 40 people calling for a memorial to survivors of the Magdalene laundries, Ms Meritt also said, during her 14 years in the laundry she was given neither pads when she was having her period, nor a toothbrush.

“When we were having our period we just had to get on with it,” she said. “When I came out of the laundry I had to have all my teeth out they were so rotten. And I was blind in one eye.”

The protest, outside the old Gloucester Street laundry on Sean McDermott Street, heard from several survivors, as well as Orla O’Connor, chief executive of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) and local councillor Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats. The laundry at that site was the last to close, in 1996.

More than 10,000 women and girls spent time in Catholic Church-run Magdalene laundries from the early 20th century, until 1996. Many were sent for the “crime” of being unmarried and pregnant, and they worked without pay in the laundries which supplied services to State-run bodies, hospitals and hotels.

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PENNSYLVANIA
New York Daily News

TERENCE CULLEN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, August 25, 2017

A prison-bound New Jersey priest contests he only uploaded child pornography to his computer to get back at God, who’d been making him lose at poker.

Father Kevin Gugliotta will serve 11½ to 23½ months in prison and must register as a sex offender, according to reports.

The priest, who previously worked in the Archdiocese of Newark, was busted last year when police found child porn on his computer at his Gouldsboro, Pa., apartment last year.

Investigators found the 55-year-old priest uploaded the illegal material several times between July 9 and Aug. 29, 2016, the Pocono Record reports.

The disgraced cleric was hit with 20 counts of child porn and another 20 of disseminating images of children involved in sexual acts.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

AUGUST 25, 2017

HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) – A New Jersey priest says he was trying to get revenge on God for poker losses when he collected computerized child pornography at his weekend home in Pennsylvania, according to his attorney and court records.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta was sentenced Thursday to 11½ to 23½ months in the Wayne County jail, receiving credit for 10 months he’s already served. He pleaded guilty in March to a single count of disseminating child pornography after prosecutors dropped dozens of other charges that he possessed and distributed child porn.

Pretrial records show the 55-year-old Gugliotta told probation officers he felt God was attacking him when he lost poker tournaments and games, and got “revenge” by collecting the porn.

“That was his reason,” defense attorney James Swetz said. “He’s not happy that’s how he felt, as the judge indicated. There are other ways to handle issues and handle anger.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

He had taught me to venerate Confederate history.

By Maria Santos Bier August 25

The Rev. William M. Aitcheson was my childhood priest and my history teacher. A fervent advocate of the Confederacy, he used to joke about “Saint Robert E. Lee” in his homilies at church. When I was in middle school in the early 2000s, he taught a Civil War history class for the home-school group at my church in the small Shenandoah County town of Woodstock, Va.

He was also a former Ku Klux Klan member, who in 1982 was fined $26,000 for burning crosses in the yard of an African American family and on the grounds of two Jewish establishments — a fine he had never paid. Before that, he was charged with six cross-burnings in Maryland and with sending a threatening letter to Coretta Scott King. He had also been charged with making pipe bombs and was found with various weapons and bombmaking materials in his bedroom and basement. But I didn’t uncover those latter facts until this month, when I stumbled onto a discovery that would eventually prompt Aitcheson to step down temporarily from his public ministry. He wrote in an op-ed that his service to God had changed and redeemed him. But I knew he wasn’t being entirely honest.

I remember him as an imposing figure who took his history lessons to us home-schoolers very seriously. He had a reputation for being a bit gruff, but he was never unkind to me, and I recall him fondly. He knew so much about history, and I trusted him when he taught us that the Civil War was fought for states’ rights, not slavery; that the South’s cause was noble and just.

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FLORIDA
NWF Daily

By WENDY VICTORA

FORT WALTON BEACH — The former pastor of a local church was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in state prison and a lifetime designation as a sexual offender by Judge William F. Stone.

Larry Michael Thorne had been found guilty earlier this summer of lewd and lascivious battery on a victim between the ages of 12 and 18 and sexual battery on a victim in the same age range, according to a press release from the First Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office.

Thorne was arrested Nov. 14, 2014 after the victim reported that he’d had sexual contact with her on numerous occasions. The abuse started when she was 14 and ended when she was 17, according to news accounts.

The sexual molestation included sexual intercourse. These criminal acts occurred repeatedly in Thorne’s home in Fort Walton Beach.

The sexual abuse stopped only when the child disclosed it to a pastor at the church she began attending after she had been able to distance herself from the defendant.

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AUSTRALIA
Lexology

BLM

Paula Jefferson

Australia August 24 2017

In the past six months the Royal Commission has continued its work as it nears its end date and final report (due in December). As ever many of the recommendations it makes are not specific to Australia but are of wider application and remit and worthy of consideration for good safeguarding practice and procedure elsewhere in the world including recommendations for reform to criminal justice, reporting abuse disclosed during the seal of the confessional and the misconceptions about memory which impact upon the responses to disclosure.

The most recent publications have included the following:

Research reports

Carer recruitment – 40% of those people who gave their evidence in private sessions (the equivalent of the IICSA truth project) reported abuse in out-of-home care. This report, titled ‘A national comparison of carer screening, assessment, selection and training and support in foster care, kinship and residential care’, highlighted difficulties in attracting and retaining foster carers, that there is only a limited pool of residential care workers and that high staff turnover are all barriers to the provision of high quality out-of-home care which is important to prevent child sexual abuse. The report also found that foster carers required more training on the sexual exploitation of young people in care.

Regulatory bodies – although the bodies considered in the report ‘Oversight and regulatory mechanisms aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse: Understanding current evidence of efficacy’, are specific to Australia there are parallels in the conclusions to the concerns which have been raised in the past in the UK about such organisations as the CQC.

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RUMANIEN
TAZ

[Corneliu Bârlădeanu, bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Huşi, Romania, has been removed from office because of homosexual relations. At the same time, the Synod, the highest ecclesiastical body, decided to remove the accused from the priesthood. The former bishop, who was demoted to a simple monk, was also prohibited from any pastoral activities and ordered his compulsory stay in a monastery.]

Die Orthodoxe Kirche feuert einen schwulen Bischof. Die Ultranationalisten und fundamentalistische Kreise klatschen Beifall.

BERLIN taz | Corneliu Bârlădeanu, Bischof der Rumänisch-Orthodoxen Kirche in Huşi, ist wegen homosexueller Beziehungen seines Amtes enthoben worden. Gleichzeitig beschloss die Synode, das höchste kirchliche Gremium, den Beschuldigten aus dem Priesteramt zu entfernen. Dem zum einfachen Mönch degradierten ehemaligen Bischof wurden zudem jede seelsorgerischen Tätigkeiten untersagt und sein Zwangsaufenthalt in einem Kloster angeordnet.

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GROSSBRITANNIEN
Epoch Times

[A British agency is criticized for refusing to pay damages for abuse victims. The “Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority” (CICA) is to use a law gap which excludes a compensation when the victim “consents”.]

Von Anna Samarina

Eine britische Behörde verweigerte fast 700 Missbrauchsopfern die Entschädigung. Begründung: Die minderjährigen Opfer hätten dem sexuellen Missbrauch zugestimmt.

Eine britische Behörde steht in der Kritik, Entschädigungszahlungen für Missbrauchsopfer zu verweigern. Die „Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority“ (CICA) soll dabei eine Gesetzeslücke nutzen, die bei „Einverständnis“ des Opfers eine Kompensation ausschließt, kritisieren Hilfsorganisationen, wie der „Independent“ am Sonntag berichtete.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Your Local Guardian

A man from Wimbledon is urging victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to tell their stories to an inquiry in October.

Peter Saunders says he was sexually abused as a child. He sits on a panel for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and has also set up his own support organisation, National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), from which he has recently stepped down as chief executive.

The independent inquiry is examining the extent to which institutions and organisations have failed to protect children in England and Wales from sexual abuse.

As part of the Truth Project, people who experienced sexual abuse will have the opportunity to tell a representative of the inquiry anything they want to. Information gathered in the project sessions will be anonymous, but feed into recommendations to government about how institutions can better protect children in the future.

Anyone interested in taking part can fill out the form at https://www.iicsa.org.uk/share-your-experience/submit-information-online and will be able to share their experiences from October. Participants can give as much or as little information as they feel comfortable with, and are welcome to suggest measures that could help future policy.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Jolene Toves – August 25, 2017

A global settlement was also suggested but Attorney David Lujan argued against it.

Guam – Talks of a Global Settlement and a different federal judge to mediate the process were the highlights of Friday’s hearing regarding the sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese.

District Court Chief Judge Francis Tydingco-Gatewood suggested in court that all parties consider utilizing a sitting federal judge such as Chief Judge Alex Munson instead of hiring private mediator Retired Federal Judge Thomas Hogan, which could possibly cost up to $10,000 a day.

At this time, a meeting to finalize the mediation process to be used is scheduled for September 4 in Honolulu, followed by a meeting with Hogan. Judge Tydingco-Gatewood has given all parties until September 12 to notify the court if they would like Munson to oversee the mediation.

Also discussed was the possibility of a global settlement.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Krystal Paco

How deep do their pockets go? The Archdiocese of Agana likely to go for broke due to the millions of dollars in lawsuits it faces from decades of clergy sex abuse. And although a majority of the cases are anticipated to be settled out of court – getting a private mediator to serve as a middleman will come at a hefty price tag.

That was the issue raised in court today – and why the chief judge herself is proposing a cheaper alternative.

Private mediator or sitting judge? Parties in the nearly 100 cases of clergy sex abuse could save thousands of dollars if they opt for the latter. Attorney Jacque Terlaje said, “I was told by my colleagues that the rate that is being proposed for this private mediation is a $10,000 per day just for the mediator.” Terlaje represents Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, David Lujan, meanwhile, staying mum on the price of his chosen mediator, only commenting, “I can’t say it.” When asked whether it might be $10,000, he replied, “Whatever it is, it is.”

On Friday, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood called parties to her courtroom to propose they use a mediator already on staff. namely Judge Alex Munson. Not only is he an experienced mediator, his services would be at no expense to parties. Parties agreed to consider her recommendation, but only after meeting with Oregon-based private mediator and retired federal judge Michael Hogan on September 5 in Hawaii.

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VIRGINIA
Religion News Service

By Yonat Shimron

(RNS) — It was not images from the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that spurred a Virginia priest to come forward this month and confess he was a Ku Klux Klan member charged in several cross-burnings in Maryland and other offenses 40 years ago.

Rather, it was a journalist who had contacted the Diocese of Arlington and said she learned that the Rev. William Aitcheson’s legal name matched that of a man arrested in the 1970s.

Diocesan officials then confronted the priest.

“Aitcheson was approached about this, he acknowledged his past and saw the opportunity to tell his story in the hopes that others would see the possibility of conversion and repentance,” the diocese said in a statement.

Until earlier this week, Aitcheson served as parochial vicar at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax, Va. He has since been granted a leave of absence.

In a personal essay published in The Arlington Catholic Herald, the priest appears to be motivated by the national news to acknowledge his past: “The images from Charlottesville brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget.”

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UNITED STATES
Vice

JOSIAH M. HESSE
Aug 25 2017

Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian is shining a spotlight on the sexual abuse of children in Protestant churches—a scandal he says may be larger than that of the Catholic church.

Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian walks a fine line. On one side, he’s the ultimate evangelical insider. His grandfather was the famed evangelical preacher Billy Graham, who exerted immense influence over American politics, culture, and theology. Tchividjian has followed in the family business, teaching law at Liberty University, the Christian college of famed Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell. On the other side, he’s one of the most articulate critics of evangelical institutions, at times sounding like a new atheist prophet alongside Richard Dawkins or Bill Maher. He says that churches can be ideal environments for sexual predators who target children. And that traditions of shame, male power structures, and public relations myopia help keep abusers in positions of power and the abused silent.

Tchividjian sees it as his Christian duty to root out abuse in the church, and to build defenses against it. His organization, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) has been hired to investigate high profile Christian institutions like Bob Jones University and New Tribes Mission. GRACE revealed frightening levels of sexual abuse and, as he told me during our interview, “the common thread of institutional protection at the expense of the individual.”

Tchividjian has even had to deal with sex scandals in his own family. In 2015, he removed his brother Tullian Tchividjian from his job at GRACE after it was revealed that Tullian had committed what the GRACE board described as a “gross misuse of power” in his extramarital relations with adult members of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Over the years, Tchividjian has come to recognize that many churches do not have policies in place to deal with accusations of abuse. And too often they blame the victims for seducing their abuser. In an attempt to combat this, Tchividjian recently co-authored The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries, attempting to help church leaders address difficult questions about predators in their communities and how to avoid further harming someone who has already been traumatized.

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RHODE ISLAND
Daily Mail (UK)

By Associated Press and Dave Burke For Mailonline

‘Credible’ evidence of sex abuse at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Rhode Island have come to light, leaders have revealed.

A report has been released by the Portsmouth Abbey School apologizing to victims of Father Bede Gorman and Father Geoffrey Chase.

The alleged abuse happened between 1959 and the early 1980s, it reveals.

Gorman died in 1885, while Chase, who left the school in 2002, is in his 80s and ill, the report reveals.

A letter from leaders at the school states: ‘We stand by those who were wronged, and are committed to helping past victims, providing therapy for them as needed.’

And it continued: ‘Our hearts break for these victims and their families. Their trust and faith in the sacred mission of Portsmouth was violated.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com Aug. 25, 2017

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood on Fridayoffered the use of a sitting federal judge to mediate the proposed settlement of nearly 100 clergy sex abuse cases, at no cost to the parties. She said the parties should consider reaching a global settlement — one that resolves all of the cases.

It costs $10,000 a day in fees to hire a private mediator, Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s counsel, Jacqueline Terlaje, told the chief judge during a status hearing Friday.

Nearly 100 lawsuits have been filed, accusing Guam clergy members, Boy Scouts leaders and others associated with the Catholic Church of sexually abusing children decades ago. All of the lawsuits name the church as a defendant, and 77 of the lawsuits were filed in federal court.

Retired Saipan Bishop Tomas A. Camacho’s counsel, William Fitzgerald, told the judge that the 86-year-old bishop won’t be able to contribute toward paying a private mediator in any settlement. Fitzgerald is representing Camacho without charge.

Mediation for the cases is scheduled for early October, and attorneys in the federal and local cases are scheduled to meet in Honolulu Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 with retired judge Michael Hogan to discuss mediation protocols.

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SCOTLAND
The Courier

by Claire Warrender
August 24 2017

An abuse survivor has become the first person in Scotland to secure compensation from the notorious Christian Brothers.

Dave Sharp was awarded a five figure sum after a 40 year fight for justice.

The 59-year-old, who was repeatedly beaten and raped when he was a pupil at St Ninian’s residential school in Falkland, hopes his case will pave the way for hundreds of other victims to come forward.

“This is not about money and it’s not a story about Dave Sharp,” he said.

“It’s about every child who has been abused in Scotland and about making these institutions accept liability.”

Dave was awarded compensation despite his abuser, former headteacher Brother Gerry Ryan, never being charged with any offence.

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ITALY
Crux

Claire Giangravè
August 25, 2017

A lay Catholic association in southern Italy, under scrutiny after its leader was arrested on charges of sexually abusing up to six underage girls during a span of 25 years, managed to avoid being subjected to the authority of the local diocese — raising concerns about Church oversight over such groups.

ROME – As a controversy in southern Italy surrounding a lay association whose leadership has been accused of sexual abuse continues to unfold, one question that won’t go away is how the group was able to act with basic independence from the diocese in which it’s located over several decades.

“Do we obey the Gospel or the bishop?” members of the group asked in an article published in a local newspaper back in January of 1978 – and, by all evidence, they chose their interpretation of the Gospel, spurning attempts at ecclesiastical oversight.

As practices in the group, known as the “Catholic Culture and Environment Association” (ACCA), drifted further away from official Church teaching – which would later lead, allegedly, to the sexual abuse of multiple young girls – the local diocese, Acireale on the Italian island of Sicily, seems to have allowed it to drop off its radar.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic priest and principal of a Salesian school in Victoria is fighting charges he sexually abused three students during the 1970s and 80s.

Frank Klep, 74, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video link on Friday charged with four counts of indecent assault against a male, which allegedly occurred while he was a priest and teacher at Salesian College Rupertswood at Sunbury.

Counsel for Klep plan to cross examine police and the complainants during a two-day committal hearing due to begin on November 28.

The hearing will determine if Klep should stand trial.

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INDIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By Siddhartha Rai

The right-wing in India is taking its fight to re-create India in its own image even further afield.

The battle for the RSS and its many affiliated groups has moved away from the major metropolitan areas and towards the far-flung regions of the North East that are sometimes overlooked.

In anger over the alleged cases of so-called religious discrimination, domination and the rape of women by the Christian missionaries in the North East, an RSS-affiliated legal rights body has written an angry letter to none other than the religious leader of worldwide Catholic Church, Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Pope Francis, full-name – His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God – has yet to acknowledge the letter.

The right-wing legal body has threatened Pope Francis with legal action in India if he fails to condemn the acts of his community members in India, it would sue the Indian leadership of the Church in a court of law.

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NEW JERSEY
Paramus Daily Voice

Cecilia Levine

ORADELL, N.J. — A picketer carrying a sign accusing Bergen Catholic High School of ignoring sex abuse victims has been lingering outside of the Oradell school Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

The man carried signs at the corner of Oradell and Forest avenues saying “BCHS IGNORES VICTIMS” and “TEN SEX VICTIMS AWAIT JUSTICE.”

NOTE: It is unclear if the man is claiming he is a victim. Daily Voice is gathering more information.

Nearly one year ago to the day, the all-boys high school reached a settlement with 21 men who accused staff of sex abuse in the 1960s and 1970s. The victims shared the $1.9 million settlement money, NJ.com reported.

The following October, eight more men came forward also claiming sex abuse at the school.

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VIRGINIA
CBS Evening News

[with video]

FAIRFAX, Va. — A priest in Virginia made a very public and shocking confession this week about his earlier life as a cross-burning member of the Ku Klux Klan.

William Aitcheson, 62, made a confession in an essay published Monday, writing, “My actions were despicable … while 40 years have passed, I must say this: ‘I’m sorry.'”

He wrote that “images from Charlottesville brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget.”

CBS News’ Errol Barnett reports a spokesman for the Arlington diocese said Thursday: “At the time he began ministry here in 1993, the diocese learned of his past as well as his sincere conversion of heart.”

The spokesman also said Aitcheson’s “past was not common knowledge to current staff 24 years later.”

Philip and Barbara Butler have been reluctantly recalling the night they were terrorized by the KKK as newlyweds.

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ILLINOIS
Aurora Beacon-News

Dan Campana
Aurora Beacon-News

Former Aurora priest Alfredo Pedraza-Arias asked a federal judge in June for a “voluntary removal” from the United States, a decision Kane County prosecutors suggest he made to evade a trial on charges of sexually abusing two young girls.

That allegation by prosecutors is contained in a third motion seeking to have 51-year-old Arias’ bail revoked in order to delay his deportation until after he stands trial beginning Sept. 18.

Arias has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from an investigation that authorities said revealed he fondled the girls — who were under the age of 6 — at Aurora’s Sacred Heart Church between 2012 and 2014.

Arias, charged in 2016, returns to court Friday for a third hearing on his bail.

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UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Terry Mattingly

When you hear the term “breaking news,” what do you think of?

I think news consumers, at this point, are pretty skeptical about this term. They know, of course, that there really is such a thing as breaking news. Major decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court are breaking news. The attack on the GOP softball team was breaking news. Another van mowing down citizens on London Bridge would be breaking news.

Also, there are @POTUS tweets that justify the “breaking news” label. There are, in my opinion, many more that do not. And have we reached the point where “Game of Thrones” developments are truly “breaking news”? If not, I’m sure that’s just around the corner.

Anyway, like a few religion-news consumers, I received the USA Today email push product that pinned the “breaking news” label on a long, long news feature with this headline: “Across the nation, priest sexual abuse cases haunt Catholic parishes.”

Now, I have followed clergy-abuse cases since 1982 or thereabouts – press coverage exploded in 1985 with the Gilbert Gauthe case in Louisiana. Here at GetReligion, we have poured out oceans of digital ink discussing the many waves of this story. It’s a horrifying scandal and, along with the ghastly cover-ups by some bishops, totally deserves the word that Catholic conservative Leon J. Podles used as the title of his brutal, horrifying book — “Sacrilege.”

But when I saw this “breaking news” label, I immediately wondered: “Really? What has happened now?” Let me stress that I think there are angles of the scandal worthy of new and in-depth coverage (along with the massive and largely uncovered scandals in other major institutions, such as public schools).

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NEW YORK
Democrat & Chronicle

Sean Lahman, @seanlahman Aug. 24, 2017

In June, a 41-year old man sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, claiming that one of its priests had molested him years earlier, beginning when he was 12 years old.

It’s a story that has been repeated across the state during the last few years, as new victims have come forward to say that priests had sexually abused them as children. Since 2014, there have been new cases reported in almost every diocese in New York state, including Albany, Buffalo, Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson Valley.

But not in Rochester.

In June of 2012, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester published a list of priests who had been the subject of “credible allegations” of sexual abuse within the previous ten years.

In a column that accompanied the list’s publication, then-Bishop Matthew Clark apologized to abuse victims and praised the efforts of the diocese to stamp out sexual abuse.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained in 1957 for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Lawrence “Larry” Strittmatter was a parish priest and long-time principal of Elder High School. The archdiocese began to receive allegations in at least 1979 that Strittmatter was sexually abusing his students. In 1981 he was sent to counseling and transferred for a short while to a parish on the other side of the city. In 1982 he was named pastor of Our Lady of Victory parish. He was removed from the parish in 1988 after more allegations, sent to treatment, then reassigned to St. Albert the Great in Dayton OH, which is in the northern reaches of the archdiocese.

In the Spring of 2002 a man reported to law enforcement and the archdiocese that Strittmatter molested him on three occasions in 1979 and 1980, when the man was an Elder student. Strittmatter’s accuser said that the priest invited him to join him in games of racquetball at the club, and that the abuse happened afterwards, in the shower. In June 2002 Strittmatter was suspended from ministry. Subsequently, more former Elder students came forward with similar allegations of abuse by Strittmatter. By September 2003, twenty-eight men had accused Strittmatter in lawsuits. At least one claimed the priest abused him as a fourth-grader at Our Lady of Victory. It has been estimated that Strittmatter may have had nearly 100 victims.

The archdiocese was convicted in November 2003 on five counts of misdemeanor cover-up of sexual abuse of children by its priests. Strittmatter was laicized in 2006.

Ordained: May 25, 1957
Laicized: 2006

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

By Daniel Tepfer

MILFORD – The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut agreed Thursday to pay a settlement to a local woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted at St. Peter’s Church when she was 12 by the pastor’s adult son.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The settlement was reached as the case was to go to trial before a jury in Superior Court here against the diocese, the church and its former pastor, Andrew Osmun.

The pastor’s son, Jesse Osmun, is serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for sexually assaulting young girls at a school in South Africa where he was working while in the Peace Corps.

“This case clearly shows why it is so important for those charged with watching our children to follow the policies and procedures that are put in place for their protection,” said Douglas Mahoney, of the Bridgeport law firm Tremont Sheldon Robinson and Mahoney, who represented the woman. “If those policies that were in place had been followed by Reverend Osmun, Jesse Osmun would never have been able to assault other young girls.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

STAFF REPORT / PUBLISHED: AUGUST 24, 2017

A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey caught up in a Wayne County child pornography probe went before a judge Thursday to learn his fate.

The Rev. Kevin A. Gugliotta, 55, of Mahwah, was sentenced by President Judge Raymond L. Hamill to 11½ to 23½ months in the Wayne County Correctional Facility, District Attorney Janine Edwards said.

The sentence includes the more than 300 days Gugliotta has already spent in jail, meaning he could be eligible for parole in about 1½ months, his attorney, James Swetz, said.

Gugliotta had pleaded guilty in March to one count of dissemination of child pornography. In October, Wayne County detectives filed more than 40 felony counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography against him for uploading files from a Lehigh Twp. apartment he referred to as his “day off place,” investigators said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

AUGUST 24, 2017, BY JIM HAMILL

HONESDALE — A priest from New Jersey was sentenced Thursday for having child pornography at his home in Wayne County.

Kevin Gugliotta was sentenced to 11 and a half to 23 and a half months in prison and must register as a sex offender.

He pleaded guilty earlier this year to having child porn on a computer at his apartment in Gouldsboro.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Dino Nocivelli

Thursday 24 August 2017

What has consent got to do with child abuse? A simple question, which should have a simple answer. A child under the age of 16 is in law unable to consent to sexual acts. The age of consent exists for a reason: to protect vulnerable members of society who have not yet developed the emotional or physical maturity to engage in sexual relationships.

Yet years of revelations about child sexual abuse have shown that this is not a settled question even within trusted institutions that should know better. The independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham found police officers believed girls as young as 11 could consent to sex. In Rochdale, council employees said they thought victims of child sex abuse were “making their own choices”. And in my own work as a lawyer representing survivors of child sexual abuse, I’ve seen how the Catholic church, when dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse, often looks to place blame straight at the feet of a victim.

Two years ago, the Catholic church was swift to publicly condemn Father Gino Flaim, a priest in northern Italy, who in the context of discussing paedophilia said some children seek attention from priests that they do not receive at home, and some priests give in to this.

But I have received court documents and legal correspondence from the Catholic church’s lawyers that seem to support the idea children can consent to sex. This includes allegations of consent in child abuse cases (where my teenage client had been raped by his family priest, who was in his 60s), a priest who alleged one of my clients was a “child prostitute”, and a priest who felt sexual relations with children caused them no harm.

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JAMAICA
Loop

The Corporate Area pastor who has been charged for allegedly raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl, has consented to do a DNA test to help clear his name.

Kenneth Blake, 56, of Harbour View in St Andrew, appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on several charges on Wednesday, and signed an order authorising the DNA test after his attorney indicated to the court that Blake was prepared to take the step in a bid to establish innocence on his part.

The churchman, who heads the Harvest Temple Apostolic Church on Slipe Pen Road in the Corporate Area, faces charges of rape, grievous sexual assault, forcible abduction, sexual touching, and sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 years old.

The allegations are that he had sex with the child on several occasions in 2015, resulting in her getting pregnant.

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INDIA
Gulf News

New Delhi: The trial of an Indian spiritual leader accused of rape has triggered a security lockdown, with police closing schools and converting a cricket stadium into a jail in case his followers erupt into violence if he is found guilty.

Thousands of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s supporters have begun assembling close to the court in the state of Punjab, where he is on trial for raping two women in cases that date back to 2002.

A verdict is expected on Friday.

“The verdict could lead to potential large-scale unrest and violence,” Ajay Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, in Panchkula city, told journalists.

Singh, a burly, bearded man who has scripted and starred in his own films, commands a near-devotional following — he claims in the millions — in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, where his Dera Sacha Sauda group is based.

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MARYLAND
WJLA

by Richard Reeve/ABC7

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (ABC7) —
For Phillip Butler and his wife Barbara, it began with a neighbor’s phone call.

“Told me there was a cross,” he recalls. “I don’t know if it was smoking or burning, I don’t know which one it was, in our front yard.”

The Butlers say since that summer night in 1977, they’ve never forgotten the sight of the 6-to-7 foot cross, wrapped in rags, reeking of flammable fluid.

“I’d never seen a cross,” Barbara Butler told reporters. “You see something like on television or something like that, but to really have one in your yard… is there that much hatred in your heart?”

Her husband says as he took down the cross, before calling the police, his mind was ticking.

“Someone is against us,” he remembers thinking. “What did we do to put the cross in our yard?”

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MARYLAND
NBC Washington

The African-American couple who had a cross burned on their front lawn by a Ku Klux Klan leader who is now a Catholic priest in Virginia said the priest’s actions were “almost unforgivable” and refused to meet with him until he named other members of the hate group.

Father William Aitcheson, a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, burned a cross in 1977 on the couple’s lawn in College Park, Maryland, News4 reported.

Philip and Barbara Butler spoke out Tuesday and said that even though the priest was criminally convicted, he never apologized or paid them $23,000 in court-ordered restitution. The priest also never identified other KKK members, which Philip Butler urged him to do.

“He needed help to put that cross up,” Philip Butler said.

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JAMAICA
The Star

Andre Williams
August 24, 2017

The pastor charged with sexual assault involving a teenage girl has been granted $1.5 million bail, and was told that he is not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 18.

Pastor Kenneth Blake of the Harvest Temple Apostolic Church, who is accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating a 14-year-old, was offered bail yesterday when he appeared before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Blake, 56, was charged by the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse recently, following allegations that he had been molesting the child since 2015, when she was just 12.

He is charged with rape, sexual touching, having sexual intercourse with a minor, grievous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 16, and forcible abduction.

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CHILE
Variety

Anna Marie de la Fuente

‘Perdona Nuestros Pecados’ (‘Forgive Us Our Sins’) and other telenovelas rule Chile’s airwaves

SANTIAGO DE CHILE – Thanks to six hours a day of telenovelas, stripped Mondays to Fridays, Chilean broadcaster Mega TV has dominated the country’s television landscape over the past three years. But one particular telenovela has gripped this country of some 17 million inhabitants, driving Mega TV’s ratings to historical levels.

“Perdona Nuestros Pecados” (“Forgive Us Our Sins”) has generated average ratings of 27.4 in its 10 p.m. time slot, nearly triple that of competing programs on its next biggest rival, Canal 13. Credit also goes to a newish executive team, led by CEO Patricio Hernandez, who joined the company in 2013; head of content Patricia Bazan; production and operations chief Andrea Dell’Orto; and Juan Ignacio Vicente, head of content and international Business. Before the new team took over, Mega TV’s average rating was 4.3 in 2013, compared to its current average of 11.2, said Vicente.

In June 2016, Discovery Communications acquired a 27.5% stake in the channel, which now airs four hours a week of Discovery programs and is partnering with Discovery on the Chilean version of the global TV giant’s reality show “Say Yes to the Dress,” (“Vestido de Novia”). …

Stripped Monday to Thursday, the 1950s-set “Perdona Nuestros Pecados” centers on a priest who seeks to avenge his sister’s suicide after she’s abandoned by the man who impregnates her. However, the priest falls in love with the culprit’s daughter, complicating matters even more. In a staunchly catholic country, the idea of a priest seeking vengeance and engaging in a forbidden romance makes for compelling viewing. Mega TV had to build a village and a church as it knew no church would allow the program to film within their hallowed walls.

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By GREG MASON / gmason@uticaod.com

A defrocked Utica-area priest has joined the Syracuse Catholic Diocese in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit stemming from claims that he sexually abused a child several decades ago.

Felix Colosimo filed a motion earlier this month to dismiss a lawsuit making its way through federal district court in Connecticut. The suit, submitted by California resident Matthew Strzepek, alleges Colosimo abused the plaintiff between 1987 to 1990.

Strzepek, who lived in Marcy, was then 12 to 15 years old. He is seeking $25 million in damages, each, from Colosimo and the Syracuse Catholic Diocese, the latter of which Strzepek accuses of being liable and failing to respond appropriately to Colosimo’s abusive actions.

The diocese, finding Strzepek’s allegations credible, removed Colosimo from priestly ministry in 2014.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Janela Carrera – August 24, 2017

Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s canonical trial is still pending in Rome.

Guam – Dethroned Archbishop Anthony Apuron, through his legal counsel Atty. Jacque Terlaje, is continuing his fight against four lawsuits filed against him in federal court for civil damages related to sex abuse allegations.

Terlaje responded to the alleged victims’ attempts to keep the cases alive, arguing that the passage of the law in 2016 does not apply retroactively. In 2016, the statute of limitations for civil claims of sex abuse was lifted, giving way for victims of sexual abuse to seek damages against their perpetrators and the institutions they either worked or volunteered for.

But Terlaje once again argues that the law is ambiguous in its detail surrounding the timeframe for filing these civil claims. She believes the law does not apply retroactively.

Terlaje points to a line in the statute that states “at any time,” which she says is not a sufficient expression of legislative intent for the statute to be applied retroactively.

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UNITED STATES
SOME PEOPLE LIVE MORE IN 20 YEARS…

AUGUST 23, 2017
ASHER LOVY

There’s this nutty idea people have that being involved in anti abuse activism somehow means that I haven’t moved on from what happened to me, that somehow the efforts I undertake to organize actions against organizations and people who enable abuse are indicative of some underlying unhealthiness, and an unwillingness to heal. I hear it all the time from people. They couch it in sympathy, as if they’re only concerned with my wellbeing when they wonder aloud why I ‘obsess’ over this topic so much.

I have moved on. Quite literally. I moved on from my abusive home. Then I moved on again to a community I now feel a part of. I moved on to a well-paying job that I actually enjoy (most days, anyway). I’ve got a good, reasonably comfortable life here. I’ve got nothing to do with my abusive family anymore, and haven’t for years. I’ve found people who accept me the way I am, and care about me unconditionally. I’ve got everything one needs for a good, peaceful life.

But what about the thousand of kids who don’t have that? What about the ones who are still being abused, still living in communities that enable their abuse, blame them for it, throw them out for talking about it? What about them? I understand that for a lot of people speaking up publicly is dangerous, precisely because of the oppressive nature of these communities and their power structures, but why do people think that concern for the people left behind somehow indicates an inability to move on?

It’s precisely because I was able to so thoroughly move on that I’m even able to engage in this kind of activism. I don’t have a family to lose because I’ve already lost it. I have a job outside the community, so I don’t have to worry about getting fired for my activism. I’ve rejected the shidduch system already, so I don’t have to worry about being disqualified by shadchanim. I’ve built a life for myself outside of the community that abused me, which gives me the luxury of being able to criticize it without fear of reprisal.

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TEXAS
WTVR

BY VERNON FREEMAN JR.

FORT WORTH, Tx. — The appeal of child molestation convictions by former Richmond pastor Geronimo Aguilar was denied Wednesday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Aguilar, also known as Pastor G, is severing a 40 year sentence after being convicted in 2015 of seven charges related to sexually abusing multiple minors.

The former pastor and founder of the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) church, was convicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under fourteen years of age, three counts of sexual assault of a child under seventeen years of age, and two counts of indecency with a child by contact.

A Texas jury found Aguilar guilty of sex crimes against two sisters who he started to abuse when they were 11 and 13 years old. The girls, now women, said they were abused in the 1990s while Aguilar was a pastor at their church in Texas.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Press

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Phillip and Barbara Butler hadn’t given much thought to the man who burned a cross on their front lawn 40 years ago.

Then they heard the startling news Tuesday that the perpetrator had become a priest and was ministering to Catholics not far from their home.

“I didn’t know what to say. It was unbelievable,” Phillip Butler said Wednesday at a news conference.

The priest, the Rev. William Aitcheson, went public with his old Klan affiliation Monday, writing a column in the diocesan newspaper.

He said his past was not a secret, but he felt compelled to make it more public after seeing images of violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

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NEW MEXICO
KVIA

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A judge has ordered that a leader of a New Mexico paramilitary Christian sect who is facing child sex abuse charges be held on $5 million secured bond.

Cibola County Magistrate Court Judge Larry Diaz set bond Tuesday for Peter Green following a raid of the armed compound of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps.

Peter Green, also known as Mike Brandon, faces 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child on suspicion of raping a girl from the time she was 7.

Sect co-leader Deborah Green, who also is facing child sex abuse charges, was ordered held on a $500,000 secured bond. Deborah Green was arrested on charges ranging from failure to report a birth to child abuse and sexual penetration of a minor.

The group, founded in California, says the allegations are “totally false.” James Green is strongly denying his wife and other members hurt children, telling KOAT-TV of Albuquerque the allegations were a surprise.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

Caleb James
August 23, 2017

CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. — There are 11 children possibly in danger inside a secretive religious militia compound hidden deep in rural western New Mexico, and law enforcement tells KOB they aren’t being allowed inside.

It is the latest development in a troubling saga that began to unfold Sunday with the arrest of one of the commune’s members on 100 counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

From the air, the rural Fence Lake compound appears fortified. The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps — the organization behind the mountain commune — is referred to as a religious militia by law enforcement. Classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the sect on the fringe of society is now the focus of a child abuse investigation into two crimes.

After a raid on the compound Sunday, member Peter Green is accused of 100 counts of sexual abuse of a minor — a girl investigators say was raped at least four times a week since she was 7. Group member Stacey Miller was also arrested in Truth or Consequences in connection with the 2014 death of her son on the property. Sect leader Deborah Green was also arrested in that case.

According to Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace, the commune’s cooperation with investigators ended Wednesday. James Green, the group’s founder, had agreed to allow FBI investigators to interview children still living on the compound.

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NEW MEXICO
Palm Beach Post

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
A paramilitary Christian sect with members facing child sex abuse charges evaded law enforcement authorities for years by hiding births, physically punishing followers and quietly operating in isolated areas of New Mexico, former members say.

In interviews with The Associated Press and in court documents, the ex-members also alleged that leaders of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps exercised control over followers by forcing them into hard labor and refusing to give their children medical care.

When members complained, sect co-leader Deborah Green would hold “trials” against them for questioning her authority, which Green said came directly from God, former members Maura Alana Schmierer and Julie Gudino said.

The trials led to banishment to isolated sheds without toilets and from the sect’s compound without being allowed to take their children, the women said.

“It was a form of brain-washing,” Schmierer, who left the group in the late 1980s and sued, winning a $1 million award when it was based in Sacramento, California, told the AP.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Donita Naylor
Journal Staff Writer

Posted Aug 23, 2017

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — Leaders of the Portsmouth Abbey School and Monastery have released a report that contains “shameful news” of “credible allegations of sexual abuse” between 1959 and the early 1980s, and of corporal punishment in the ’60s and ’70s.

A letter emailed Wednesday to members of the Portsmouth Abbey community contained an apology to the victims of Father Bede Gorman, who died in 1985, and Father Geoffrey Chase, who is in his late 80s and is ill. He left the school in 2002, the letter said.

“We stand by those who were wronged, and are committed to helping past victims, providing therapy for them as needed.”

The letter — from Regents chairman W. Christopher Behnke ’81, Abbot Matthew Stark for the monks and Headmaster Daniel McDonough — also promised that Gorman’s name would be removed from the athletic fields, squash center and two annual prizes that had been named in his honor, and that the review of policies, safety protocols and training programs at the school would continue.

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RHODE ISLAND
US News

[Letter to the Portsmouth Abbey Community]

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (AP) — A Catholic boarding school in Rhode Island says an investigation has found credible new allegations of sexual abuse committed decades ago by two monks.

The Portsmouth Abbey School sent a letter Wednesday summarizing the allegations and apologizing to any victims. The abuse is alleged to have occurred between 1959 and the early 1980s. The school says one of the accused monks has since died, and the other is critically ill.

The school hired a law firm to investigate after the sudden resignation of its chancellor last year. Last August, the firm reported no findings that he did anything illegal, but responses to that report surfaced new allegations against the two monks, who had been previously accused of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Michael Inman

A former Canberra school teacher was sacked from St. Edmund’s College after allegations of improper conduct with a student, a court has heard.

The alleged victim did not go into detail with the school headmaster at the time and then kept his silence after Garry Leslie Marsh’s termination.

The ACT Supreme Court has heard that coverage of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse stirred memories and prompted the alleged victim to report the matter to police 35 years on.

But the defence says this passage of time disadvantaged the accused as it made it harder to challenge the allegations.

Marsh, 72, of Sydney, is on trial before Justice John Burns accused of indecent assault and buggery.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Brian MacQuarrie and Travis Andersen GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 23, 2017

Spurred by growing allegations of sexual misconduct at private schools, two groups that represent more than 1,000 of the institutions released recommendations Wednesday for preventing the abuse of students by teachers and other staff members.

The draft report is believed to be the first comprehensive review of procedures to curb sexual misconduct at the schools, many of them boarding facilities whose missions often encourage close interaction among students, faculty, and staff.

Many proposals focus on boundaries between students and adults, such as refraining from the exchange of personal information, and the scope and duration of off-campus trips. The recommendations would bar teachers and students from shared sleeping accommodations during outings and set clear guidelines on physical contact.

The draft also urges strict background checks on all hires at the private schools, regardless of position, in an effort to keep sexual offenders from finding new jobs that could put them in close proximity with students.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY JAMES MONCUR
24 AUG 2017

An abuse victim has won a 40-year fight to secure compensation from the ­notorious Christian Brothers monks.

Dave Sharp was awarded a “significant five-figure sum” decades after he was repeatedly raped and beaten at St Ninian’s residential school in Fife.

He is the first person in Scotland to win a payout from the Catholic order, who ran residential schools for children across the world.

The payment is likely to allow hundreds of other Scottish victims to win compensation for historical abuse at various organisations.

Dave, 59, said: “I hope my payment is the first of many the Christian Brothers are forced to make to those men whose lives have been wrecked because of the treatment they received as children in ­Scotland’s residential homes and schools.

“There are dozens of victims out there who have far stronger cases than mine.

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UTAH
Daily Herald

Kurt Hanson Daily Herald

An LDS bishop charged with sexually abusing two underage males in his ward pleaded guilty to his crimes Wednesday in Fourth District Court.

The defendant, Erik Hughes of Mapleton, entered guilty pleas to two second-degree felonies of forcible sexual abuse and one third-degree felony of tampering with a witness. Hughes, 51, pleaded to what he was originally charged with. No charges were reduced as a part of his plea arrangement.

Hughes’ attorney, John Allan, told Judge Thomas Low that as a part of the agreement, no other charges in relation to the allegations of abuse can be leveled against Hughes.

Allan said the alleged victims approve of the agreement.

Police reports state a now 18-year-old man told police in April that Hughes had drugged him and sexually assaulted him several times about three years ago.

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FLORIDA
Bay News 9

By Saundra Weathers, Reporter
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 23, 2017

TAMPA —
A Tampa man had sex with a 12-year-old girl inside a church Aug. 20, police investigators say.

Le’Angelo Wilkerson, 27, is accused of having sex with the girl in a bathroom and then a classroom at Rehoboth Faith Cathedral Church on N. 40th St., Tampa Police said.

Tushara Jones said the girl was her 14-year-old daughter’s friend and that girl was visiting the church for the first time. She said her daughter walked in on the act.

“My daughter walked in the bathroom with the girl that was missing. She said she was going to the bathroom,” Jones said. “My daughter walked in the bathroom and caught them having sexual intercourse, and he groped my daughter’s butt and told my daughter to come and show her how it was supposed to be done.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Elizabeth Byrne

A former Marist College teacher accused of indecently assaulting a student in the early 1980s has said he struggled to even remember the boy.

David Kisun, 71, is facing three charges of indecent assault.

Kisun was charged after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearings in Canberra.

The alleged victim, who was aged nine at the time, told the ACT Supreme Court he was given a seat in the back row of the class.

He said Kisun would stand behind him and put his hands inside his clothing while the rest of the class was working.

He said at other times Kisun kept him inside at lunch and recess and assaulted him.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Aug 23, 2017
by Joshua J. McElwee

ROME — Pope Francis’ commission on clergy sexual abuse is considering whether to restructure itself so that it no longer includes the direct participation of abuse survivors. It is evaluating the possibility of creating instead a separate advisory panel of individuals who have been abused by clergy.

A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors revealed the group’s consideration of the idea in an NCR interview Aug. 14, saying that one of the commission’s work groups has been tasked with weighing the pros and cons of such a change.

The commission appears likely to discuss the possible restructuring at its next plenary meeting in Rome in mid-September, when the original three-year terms of its members are set to expire.

“I think that may be a more productive [way] of ensuring the voice of survivors in the work of the commission,” Krysten Winter-Green, the commission member, said of the potential change. “I do not know that it’s critical that a survivor needs to be actually on the commission.”

“No decision has been made about this,” she stressed, adding: “I think the voice of survivors needs to be heard by this commission. They need to have input into every facet of the operation. How that is accomplished remains to be seen, but it will be accomplished.”

Consideration of a change in structure for the papal commission comes as the group has in recent months faced public questioning of its effectiveness in stopping future abuse of children and vulnerable people in the Catholic Church. The group now appears to be in the midst of a significant phase of transition.

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NEW MEXICO
International Business Times

BY JULIANA ROSE PIGNATARO

Four members of a religious group based in New Mexico were arrested this weekend and charged with more than 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and child abuse. Deborah Green, Peter Green, Joshua Green and Stacey Miller, all part of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps were arrested Sunday morning, the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

The group, based out of Cibola County, purports to be “aggressive and revolutionary for Jesus.” Photos on the website show members dressed in military garb and contain references to “spiritual ammo” and “holy war.” The Southern Poverty Law Center, however, lists the sect as a hate group.

The sheriff’s office began its investigation last year after two members who allegedly escaped the commune told authorities that Deborah Green and Stacey Miller allowed Miller’s 12-year-old son to die of the flu. Miller later told investigators “she wanted to trust God.” She was charged with child abuse after authorities arrested her. Deborah was charged with neglect resulting in the death of a child, as well as sexual assault of a minor and child abuse. Authorities alleged that Deborah had sexually assaulted her daughter’s 5-year-old daughter in 2001 after the child was smuggled in from Uganda.

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CALIFORNIA
KCRA

Tom Miller
Reporter

A Sacramento woman is speaking out after four members of a military-style Christian group were arrested.

Maura Schmierer left the sect in 1989 but still remembers the horrors she endured. The group started in Sacramento before ending up in New Mexico.

Now, nearly 35 years later, the leader of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps has been arrested, along with three others.

Schmierer said she is happy to see that the sect could finally shut down.

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NEW MEXICO
Vice

JOSIAH HESSE
Aug 23 2017

The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps is known for its eccentric, militaristic brand of religion. This week, cops accused key leaders of horrific acts, including some that resulted in a child’s death.

On Sunday, police arrested current and former members of a Christian group in New Mexico for a litany of alleged crimes. According to a report on Monday by ABC affiliate KOAT-7 Action News, one member was charged with 100 counts of sexual penetration of a girl who was allegedly smuggled into this country from Uganda. The warrant used to make the arrest, which was viewed by VICE, further claims the group concealed the births of multiple children and the death of at least one boy, whose remains were buried on the group’s private property.

The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (ACMTC) of Fence Lake is an isolated, militaristic religious organization. In 1981, Deborah and James Green formed the group in Sacramento, California. Previously, they have been accused of familiar cult-like tactics of controlling member’s finances, limiting contact with the outside world, and isolating members without proper food, water, or hygiene. Since their inception, they’ve been listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

The investigation leading to Sunday’s arrest began last year, when two female members of the group claimed to have escaped—and told the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office of almost unspeakable horrors.

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NEW MEXICO
Washington Post

By Associated Press August 22

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Latest on a New Mexico military-style Christian sect facing child abuse charges (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

A sheriff says authorities carefully planned a raid of a New Mexico paramilitary Christian sect amid a child sexual abuse investigation to avoid potential violence.

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace told The Associated Press on Tuesday deputies surprised the sect’s Fence Lake, New Mexico, compound during church services to make sure everyone was located in one place.

Mace says authorities were concerned armed sect members might try to stop deputies’ attempt to arrest leaders on child abuse and child sexual abuse charges.

During the Sunday raid, authorities arrested three members in connection with a child abuse and child sex abuse investigation. A former member was arrested in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

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NEW MEXICO
Associated Press

BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS AND MORGAN LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities investigating a paramilitary Christian sect for child sexual abuse say they looking into whether the New Mexico group brought children into the country illegally. Former group members say leaders kept them and the children living at sect’s compound in “slavery.”

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace told The Associated Press Tuesday that investigators found numerous children during a Sunday raid of the armed Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in remote Fence Lake.

Exactly where the children came from is unknown because the sect apparently kept members from reporting births to state officials, Mace said. A former sect member says the group illegally brought at least one child to the United States from one of its foreign missions, which according to its website were operated in Africa, India and the Philippines.

“The children were trained not to talk to law enforcement or to hide from law enforcement,” Mace said.

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NEW MEXICO
New York Post

By Tamar Lapin

Members of a military-style Christian group in New Mexico have been arrested for what authorities are calling horrific crimes against children.

Peter Green of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in Fence Lake was arrested Sunday morning and faces 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child, local station KOAT reported.

Deborah Green and her husband James Green are the “Generals” of the sect, according to their website and are responsible for commanding their army to spread Christian ideals throughout the world. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the organization as a hate group.

Deborah Green and members Stacey Miller and Joshua Green also face charges including child abuse, bribery of a witness and not reporting a birth.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

The Catholic Church in Australia observes Child Protection Sunday on 10 September 2017.

The Australian Catholic Church’s Child Protection Sunday runs in conjunction with National Child Protection Week. This year we are focusing on a Royal Commission’s key element that when children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously an institution is better prepared to be child safe. Our theme is: “See Me, Hear Me”.

In the first reading for Child Protection Sunday the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of “being a sentry to the House of Israel’. That image captures well one element of the role each of us has in regard to Children.

As Pope Francis outlined before leading the crowds in the Angelus prayer in March last year it is important to “Listen: this is the key word. Do not forget, listen to the sick and marginalised, or among families.” As a sentry, each of us plays a part in listening to what the children have to say, making sure that every child is safe and protected from abuse and harm.

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ILLINOIS
Herald-Tribune

By Pete Spitler
Editor@heraldtrib.com
updated: 8/22/2017

Perhaps lost in the noise of the school funding fight was news that Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation on Aug. 11 that removes the statutes of limitation for sexual abuse crimes.

The bill, Senate Bill 189, now allows for the prosecution of those crimes at any time. Previously, victims had to report crimes within 20 years after they turned 18.

SB 189 took effect as soon as it was signed and applies to future felony child sex crime cases, as well as current criminal cases in which the previous statute of limitations has not expired.

According to sponsor State Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Tinley Park), the legislation puts in place “best practices for dealing with sexual assault cases statewide and puts in place a system that will encourage survivors to come forward and receive justice when they are ready.”

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

In May 2003, Thomas O’Brien, then bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix, admitted to sheltering at least 50 priests accused of sexual abuse, often shuffling them around to parishes across the state.

O’Brien’s admission, released under an agreement with the county attorney, acknowledged he “allowed Roman Catholic priests under my supervision to work with minors after becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct.” He also waived his own immunity should sexual misconduct allegations against him surface.

Thirteen years later, in a lawsuit filed last September, O’Brien — now bishop emeritus — was accused of sexually abusing a grade-school boy.

In recent months, USA TODAY Network reporters at the Pacific Daily News have uncovered scores of allegations involving 14 Catholic priests on Guam, where a former altar boy’s accusation last summer that Archbishop Anthony Apuron sexually abused him in the 1970s has prompted other revelations.

Abuse cases also have roiled Catholic parishes elsewhere the nation, sometimes decades after evidence of the crimes first emerged.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | The Guam Daily Post Aug 22, 2017

Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron believes every citizen should be afforded due process and the right to defend against a cause of action that has long expired, according to court documents filed in four civil suits filed against the leader of Guam’s Catholic Church.

In a motion filed by his attorney, Jacqueline Taitano Terlaje, Apuron contends the District Court of Guam must dismiss the lawsuits filed against him and the Archdiocese of Agana because the victims’ claims are time-barred and Public Law 33-187 is “inorganic and unconstitutional.”

Apuron and his attorney maintain that the law that amended Guam’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse did not “retrospectively revive” the plaintiffs’ time-barred and lapsed claims to file suit against him.

Terlaje wrote, “Every person who cannot defend him or herself due to the passage of time and loss of evidence suffers extreme hardship and oppression.”

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IRELAND
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Bishops in Ireland have created detailed guidelines to address an issue the Roman Catholic Church has tried to keep under wraps for centuries: the plight of children born to Catholic priests and the women who bear them.

The policy, approved in May and made public recently, states that the wellbeing of the child is paramount. It says the mother must be respected and involved in decision-making, and that the priest “should face up to his responsibilities – personal, legal, moral and financial.”

The guidelines are believed to represent the first comprehensive public policy by a national bishops’ conference on the issue, which has long been shrouded in secrecy given the perceived scandal of priests having sex. While eastern rite Catholic priests can be married before ordination, Roman Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy.

The policy is, in many ways, the fruit of a campaign by an Irish psychotherapist, Vincent Doyle, who discovered late in life that his father was a priest.

With the strong backing of the archbishop of Dublin, Doyle launched Coping International, an online self-help resource for the children of priests and their mothers. The aim, he said, was to help eliminate the stigma he and others like him have faced, and educate them and the church about the emotional and psychological problems that can be associated with the secrecy often imposed on them.

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NEW MEXICO
KOAT

Megan Cruz
General Assignment Reporter

CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. —
The leader and three members of a religious group based in Cibola County were arrested over the weekend for what investigators called horrific crimes against children.

Charges include over 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and child abuse.

The Cibola County Sheriff’s Office says deputies arrested Deborah Green, Peter Green, Joshua Green, and Stacey Miller of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps Sunday morning. According to the group’s website, Deborah and her husband James are the “Generals” and command their army to spread Christian ideals throughout the world. They’re based out of Fence Lake in western Cibola County.

Sheriff Tony Mace says his office first started investigating the group last year when two members claimed they just escaped the commune. They told deputies Deborah and another member Stacey Miller allowed Miller’s 12-year-old son to die of the flu in 2014.

“It was a horrible situation,” said Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace.

According to arrest warrants, no one took the boy to the hospital. Puss started leaking from his forehead and he lost his ability to speak and move his right side. He was buried on the property and no one reported his death.

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NEW MEXICO
Associated Press

GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — The Latest on a New Mexico military-style Christian sect facing child abuse charges (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

A New Mexico military-style Christian sect says claims of child abuse and child sexual abuse by leaders are false.

The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in Fence Lake, New Mexico, said in a statement that allegations “are totally false” and similar to others the group has faced over the years.

A criminal complaint says sect leader Peter Green is facing 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child.

Court records show three other members of the group also were charged with child abuse crimes.

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NEW MEXICO
Associated Press

BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former member of a military-style Christian sect says that for years she’s been trying to draw attention to the New Mexico group whose leader has been charged with dozens of counts of child sexual abuse.

Maura Alana Schmierer told The Associated Press on Monday that she had been interviewed by investigators recently about the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps.

Schmierer left the sect in the late 1980s. She said she’s “been trying to expose them for years” and appeared in a National Geographic Television show documenting her experience.

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NEW MEXICO
Daily Mail

AP

A leader of a New Mexico military-style Christian sect is facing dozens of child sexual abuse charges in a case that authorities say is connected to widespread abuse by the religious commune.

Peter Green of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in the remote community of Fence Lake was charged with 100 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child.

Sect members Deborah Green, Joshua Green and Stacey Miller also face various charges ranging from child abuse, bribery and not reporting a birth.

All four were arrested on Sunday.

A former member, Maura Alana Schmierer, said on Monday that she’s been trying to draw attention to the New Mexico group for years. Schmierer added that she had been interviewed by investigators recently about the group.

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VIRGINIA
Washington Post

By Dana Hedgpeth and Michelle Boorstein August 22

A Catholic priest in Arlington, Va., is temporarily stepping down after revealing he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and burned crosses more than 40 years ago before joining the clergy.

In an editorial published Monday in the Arlington Catholic Herald, the Rev. William Aitcheson described himself as “an impressionable young man” when he became a member of the hate group. He wrote that images from the deadly white-supremacist and white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville “brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget.”

“My actions were despicable,” wrote Aitcheson, 62. “When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else. It’s hard to believe that was me.”

In a statement, Catholic Diocese of Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge called Aitcheson’s past with the Ku Klux Klan “sad and deeply troubling.”

Aitcheson served with the Catholic church in Nevada before being transferred to Arlington, where he is originally from, church officials said in a statement. He was ordained in 1988 and has served in a variety of positions at parishes in Nevada; Arlington; Fredericksburg, Va.; and Woodstock, Md. His latest assignment was as parochial vicar, or assistant to the pastor, at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City.

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TEXAS
KFOX14

by Adriana Candelaria | Jessica Gonzalez

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) —
A priest who once served at El Paso churches has admitted to sexual misconduct with a teenage girl during the 1980s.

Miguel Luna, 67, who served at eight El Paso parishes, was ordained for the Diocese of El Paso on July 1, 1982.

In 2013, Bishop Mark Seitz removed Luna from the ministry upon the recommendation of the Diocesan Review Board.

A spokesperson for the diocese said the recommendation was made because allegations of sexual harassment had been made but not involving a minor.

It wasn’t until last year that a woman who asked to remain anonymous, came forward, saying that Luna had sexually abused her years ago when she was a teenager.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com Aug. 22, 2017

The Boy Scouts of America, which faces 54 lawsuits accusing former Scouts leaders of sexually abusing children on Guam, recently filed a “friend of the court” brief in one of the abuse cases filed against Archbishop Anthony Apuron and the Catholic Church on Guam.

District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan on Tuesday rejected the brief, stating the Boy Scouts are not a party to the Apuron case, and their brief does not provide unique or relevant information.

The Boy Scouts, which wants the cases dismissed, had asked the court to separately address some of the arguments related to the abuse cases. That’s because the Boy Scouts have presented a different set of arguments as to why the cases should be dismissed.

A 2016 law retroactively removed the statute of limitations on civil cases related to child sex abuse, prompting nearly 100 lawsuits to be filed against the Catholic Church and clergy members. More than half of those lawsuits also accuse the Boy Scouts — primarily because of abuse allegations against former Guam priest Louis Brouillard, who also was a Scoutmaster here. He is accused of sexually abusing boys on church grounds and during outings with the Boy Scouts.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Metro

Georgia Diebelius for Metro.co.uk
Tuesday 22 Aug 2017

A pastor who blindfolded children and whipped them with belts, has been spared jail.

Rose Amadasun was reported to the police by South Norwood Leisure Centre after she was seen hitting youngsters with wires and not feeding them for days on end.

According to witnesses, the pastor of the Shine Forth Evangelistic Ministry in central London, shouted ‘Jesus’ as she beat the children.

If they screamed she would ‘force them to fast’ for several days as punishment.

Amadasun, 49, of South Norwood, South London was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily hard on June 30 2016.

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AUSTRALIA
Shepparton News

by TARA WHITSED AUGUST 22, 2017

Coinciding with Child Protection Week (September 4 to 10), the Tatura Sacred Heart Parish will show its support by taking part in the Loud Fences initiative next month.

The parish will hand out coloured ribbons at Mass on September 3 and 10 when parishioners will be invited to tie them to the fence afterwards.

Parishioner Judith Steele said ribbons would also be available in the foyer of the Church.

‘‘So we invite everyone in the community to join with Sacred Heart parishioners in tying a coloured ribbon on our fence throughout the month of September to express support and solidarity for the victims of abuse of any kind,’’ she said.

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