ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Sean Davidson
Jul 26, 2017

Journalists and supporters of abuse victims are lined up outside a Melbourne court ahead of Cardinal George Pell’s first appearance, which is expected to attract an unprecedented amount of international media attention.

Before the sun even rose and hours before the court opened, a line of people began to form outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The court appearance has attracted media attention from around the world, with journalists from outlets like CNN, BBC News and The New York Times flying crews to Melbourne to watch history in the making.

If the 76-year-old, who is not required to attend the filing hearing, shows up it will be the first time in the world a Cardinal sat in court to face historical sexual assault charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Adam Cooper

Cardinal George Pell will be greeted by a large media pack when he fronts court for the first time on historical sex offence charges.

Reporters and camera crews began assembling outside Melbourne Magistrates Court on William Street well before 6am on Wednesday, ahead of Cardinal Pell’s scheduled appearance later in the morning.

International media also gathered outside the court, including a large crew from US news broadcaster CNN. Security has also been stepped up outside the court, with guards standing in front of the main doors.

Cardinal Pell will be in court for what should be a short administrative hearing, where his lawyers and prosecutors will discuss with the magistrate the timetable for his case, and the date of his next court appearance.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris, 314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org

A notorious predator, Fr. Paul Shanley, will be released from prison later this week after serving twelve years behind bars for raping a child.

[Boston Globe]

While we understand and respect the American judicial system, we fear for the safety of children now that Shanley has been released.

Research and experience teach us that age does not cure pedophilia. Often age gives predators an advantage. People may see an old man and assume he is harmless. That is not the case.

The Catholic Church has many treatment facilities for clergy and former clergy with sexual issues. We hope that they will insist Shanley live in a facility where he can receive treatment and where he will have no access to children.

Contacts – Melanie Jula (925-708-6175, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com), Joelle Casteix (949-322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

Brittany Hoke
Reporter

GREENSBURG, Pa. —
An advocacy group believes that Greensburg Bishop Edward Malesic may be withholding evidence, hidden in secret files known as Canon 489 files, pertaining to the arrest of the Rev. John T. Sweeney.

The group thinks the files could contain evidence of the sexual abuse of children.
Diocesan law describes the files as archives meant to be “kept secret, locked, and protected.”

On Tuesday, the Diocese said it has turned over every file on Sweeney, including the Canon 489 files, to the attorney general.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Liz Burke
news.com.au
@lizeburke

FOR Ballarat sex abuse survivor Phil Nagle, it’s a momentous day.

The 53-year-old has made the journey from his hometown to Melbourne and he’ll this morning head to the Melbourne Magistrates Court where Cardinal George Pell is due to answer historic sexual offence charges.

The powerful clergyman and senior Vatican figure is expected to be met by crowds of survivors and advocates, and a throng of local and international media, when he arrives for the filing hearing.

Mr Nagle has no links to the complaints against Cardinal Pell. Still, he says the court appearance is something he and others have been “waiting many years for”.

He says he’ll be in court to support the complainants, and hopes to see them and their claims respected by the court and by Pell’s legal team.

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BOSTON (MA)
Law Office of Carmen L. Durso
Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian

CONVICTED Priest Child Sex Abuser PAUL SHANLEY will be released from Prison on Friday.

WEDNESDAY PRESS CONFERENCE, 11:30 a.m., at 175 Federal Street, Suite 1425, Boston, with survivors of sexual abuse by Shanley, attorneys Mitchell Garabedian and Carmen Durso, who have represented multiple other Shanley victims, and Jetta Bernier, Exec. Dir. of MASS KIDS, to discuss and protest why Sexually Dangerous Person civil proceeding to recommit Shanley will not occur.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Mark Pesto
mpesto@tribdem.com

Todd Berkey
tberkey@tribdem.com

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction of a former Somerset County priest who was found guilty in 2015 of traveling to Honduras to sexually abuse orphans and sentenced last year to more than 16 years in federal prison.

The Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., who at the time of his September 2014 arrest was the pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish in Central City, had asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to overturn his conviction.

Maurizio and his attorneys had argued, according to the appeals court’s opinion, that his conviction should have been overturned because:

“the weight of the evidence did not support his conviction on counts relating to illicit sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography”;

“the Government withheld material exculpatory evidence with respect to one of the counts of illicit sexual conduct with a minor”;

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MASSACHUSETTS
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

“Paul Shanley’s crimes against children were reprehensible. No young person should ever have to experience such violations of their safety and dignity. We continue to assure all victims of abuse of our prayers and our concern. Any person who has been harmed by clergy sexual abuse, and in particular those who may need additional support at this time, are encouraged to contact the Archdiocese’s Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach at 617-746-5995.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox 25

BOSTON – Convicted pedophile and defrocked priest Paul Shanley is set to be released from prison Friday.

In 2005, Paul Shanley was convicted of two counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. Shanley was sentenced to a 12 to 15-year prison sentence. He is now set to be released on Friday and begin ten years of supervised probation and cannot have contact with children under the age of 16.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan released a statement to Boston 25 News:

“The Commonwealth is not legally permitted to seek that Shanley be confined further without expert testimony that he meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person. To that end we hired two qualified examiners. We are awaiting their final reports; however both doctors have informed us that they have concluded that Shanley does not satisfy the legal criteria for a petition to be filed.
The defendant will be monitored by the probation department for the next ten years and has been ordered to have no contact with children under sixteen years of age. Our office continues to provide support and assistance to the victims in this matter.”

Other priest abuse victims are fighting his release, saying he is still a danger to the public. …

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has also expressed concern over Shanley’s release, saying in a statement:

“While we understand and respect the American judicial system, we fear for the safety of children now that Shanley has been released.
Research and experience teach us that age does not cure pedophilia. Often age gives predators an advantage. People may see an old man and assume he is harmless. That is not the case.
The Catholic Church has many treatment facilities for clergy and former clergy with sexual issues. We hope that they will insist Shanley live in a facility where he can receive treatment and where he will have no access to children.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
MassLive

By Dan Glaun dglaun@masslive.com

Paul Shanley, a former Boston Archdiocese priest convicted in 2005 of raping a young boy during the 1980s, will be released from prison on Friday, according to media reports.

Shanley has completed a 12 to 15 year sentence for abusing a boy he knew from religion classes he taught in Newton. The abuse occurred between 1983 and 1989, when the child was between the ages of six and 12.

Shanley now will be set free, the Middlesex District Attorney said in a statement, which acknowledged an unfruitful attempt by prosecutors to examine whether the ex-priest could be held in custody as a danger to the general public.

“The Commonwealth is not legally permitted to seek that Shanley be confined further without expert testimony that he meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person,” the DA’s office said. “To that end we hired two qualified examiners. We are awaiting their final reports; however both doctors have informed us that they have concluded that Shanley does not satisfy the legal criteria for a petition to be filed.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Reuters

Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) – A defrocked U.S. Roman Catholic priest who was one of the first to be convicted when the church’s worldwide sex abuse scandal was first exposed more than a decade ago is due to be released from prison, a Massachusetts prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The now 86-year-old priest, Paul Shanley, was convicted in 2005 of repeatedly raping a boy over a period of years in the 1980s and was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

The scandal undermined the church’s moral authority and sapped its finances as it paid out billions of dollars in settlements.

“He is now scheduled to be released from that sentence and begin 10 years of supervised probation,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. “The Commonwealth is not legally permitted to seek that Shanley be confined further without expert testimony that he meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person.”

State regulations forbid disclosing Shanley’s date of release, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, who said he remains in custody at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[Pedophile priests:Now that scandals emerge means the Church is acting.]

Francesco Antonio Grana
Vaticanista

Sulla pedofilia del clero non si può continuare a fare propaganda. Per decenni i vescovi che coprivano gli abusi sessuali dei loro preti sui bambini venivano valutati positivamente e perciò promossi. Era un titolo di merito agli occhi del Vaticano essere riusciti a tenere lo scandalo sotto silenzio, quando in realtà si trattava di reati gravissimi.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Monsignor Domenico Sigalini: “It is wrong to reduce pedophile priests to the lay state”.]

Secondo un’intervista a firma di Bruno Volpe pubblicata da La fede quotidiana monsignor Domenico Sigalini alla domanda “Cosa ne pensa della pedofilia nel clero” avrebbe risposto;

“Un orrore e un crimine orrendo e chi sbaglia deve pagare. Un prete che si macchia di questo è moralmente più grave. Però, lo ripeto, io non seguo il consenso e dico che è un errore e sbagliato ridurre allo stato laicale il prete pedofilo. Perché, ridotto alla stato laico e una volta maestro di ginnastica, per esempio, state certi che cambierà inclinazione?

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

Tim Howard | 26th Jul 2017

A FORMER defrocked Deacon of Grafton says the Anglican Church appears to have learned little from the traumas of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Former Queensland Education Minister and Grafton City Councillor Pat Comben has been returned to Holy Orders, despite an admission of guilt to the offences that saw him defrocked as the Deacon of Grafton in July 2015.

The Royal Commission found the Diocese of Grafton had denied responsibility for sexual abuse, denied compensation to victims of abuse at its North Coast Children’s Home, failed to comply with its own policies and dealt with victims insensitively.

Mr Comben admitted that he as deacon had taken a legalistic approach to victims which is now seen to be in error. But Mr Comben, 67, said the church was now dealing with him in the same legalistic fashion.

He said when he learned former Bishop of Grafton, Keith Slater, had appealed against his defrocking and been successful because due process had not been followed, he realised the same rules could apply to him.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the foes of Cardinal George Pell:

The hoopla over Cardinal George Pell’s first day in court, July 26, rivals the media hysteria over OJ. There is one important difference: unlike OJ, the hyperventilation over Pell is confined to select quarters.

At the Melbourne courthouse there will be dozens of professional victims, men and women—mostly men—who claim to have been molested decades ago. Though Pell has never been found guilty of anything—and God knows rapacious lawyers have tried to nail him several times—he is being treated by victims’ advocates as if he were Jack the Ripper. Journalists are having a field day.

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MASSACHUSETTS
NBC Boston

By Eli Rosenberg and Marc Fortier

Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley is scheduled to be released from prison this week.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented Shanley’s victims and numerous other victims of the Catholic church child sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, told NBC Boston that Shanley is set to be released on Friday. He is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton in the 1980s.

District Attorney Marian Ryan confirmed that Shanley is set to be released, but didn’t say exactly when. Upon release, she said he is scheduled to begin 10 years of supervised probation. He is not allowed to have contact with children under the age of 16.

Ryan said her office is not legally permitted to seek that Shanley be confined further without expert testimony that he meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a “sexually dangerous person.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) — Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese sex abuse scandal, will be released from prison later this week.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian told WBZ-TV Tuesday that Shanley, who is now 85, will be released from the Old Colony Correctional Center Friday.

Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison in 2005 after being convicted of two counts of rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

He will be on probation for 10 years and will be ordered to have no contact with children under 16 years old.

He will not be ordered to wear a GPS bracelet, according to Garabedian.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s office said they hired two doctors to examine Shanley and determine if he “meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person.” Without testimony from those doctors, the state isn’t able to further push for Shanley’s imprisonment.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Michael Levenson GLOBE STAFF JULY 25, 2017

Paul R. Shanley, a former “street priest” who became one of the most notorious figures in the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal, is set to be released from prison this week, after serving 12 years behind bars for raping a Sunday school student in the early 1980s.

Middlesex prosecutors said they had hoped to have Shanley, 86, declared a “sexually dangerous person” which would require him to remain behind bars after his sentence was completed. But two doctors who examined the defrocked priest found that he did not meet the required criteria, prosecutors said.

“We are awaiting their final reports,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “However, both doctors have informed us that they have concluded that Shanley does not satisfy the legal criteria for a petition to be filed.”

As a result, Shanley is set to be released from Old County Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Bridgewater. He will be monitored by the state Probation Department for the next 10 years and has been ordered to have no contact with children under the age of 16, Ryan’s office said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BRIAN BOWLING | Tuesday, July 25, 2017

A federal jury had enough evidence to convict a Somerset County priest on charges of molesting Honduran orphans, an appeals court ruled Monday.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest defeat for the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 71, who contends he’s innocent.

He is serving his sentence at a low-security federal prison in Ohio with a projected release date of April 3, 2029, according to Bureau of Prison records.

His appeal attorney, Thomas J. Farrell, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment on the latest ruling. A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown couldn’t be reached for comment.

The appellate court also denied Maurizio’s motion for a new trial based on the government withholding favorable evidence it obtained near the end of his 2015 trial.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Matt Miller mmiller@pennlive.com

A former Catholic priest from Somerset County who was convicted of engaging in “sexual tourism” to molest poor orphans in Honduras has lost an appeal of his nearly 17-year prison sentence.

That defeat came this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected Joseph D. Maurizio Jr.’s claims that he didn’t receive a fair trial.

Maurizio, now 72, has consistently denied abusing children he met through ProNino Honduras, a charitable organization he co-founded in 1999. ProNino received considerable financial support from Maurizio’s parishioners and others who donated to another charity he created, Honduras Interfaith Ministries.

The Maurizio case is just one of scores of sex-abuse allegations leveled at priests and other religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

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FLORIDA
Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
25 JUL 2017

A Florida youth pastor charged with the cold-case murder of one teen and the sexual abuse of others wants his guns back while he awaits trial.

Ronnie Hyde pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and child pornography charges in March related to the 1994 slaying of 16-year-old Fred Laster, whose dismembered body was found in a Dumpster.

Laster’s decapitated torso was found behind a trash bin near Lake City, but the remains went unidentified until a DNA test in 2015 matched the slain teen to his twin sister.

Police said the 61-year-old Hyde befriended the runaway teen more than two decades ago as youth pastor at Strength for Living Church in Yulee, prosecutors said.

Investigators strongly suggested they suspect Hyde — who had been a counselor at Crosswater Community Church in Nocatee up to his arrest — is a suspect in other unsolved cases by plastering his face on eight billboards seeking information in the Jacksonville area.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

Mike Beaudet
5 Investigates Reporter

BOSTON —
Infamous pedophile priest Paul Shanley is scheduled to be released from prison later this week, 5 Investigates has learned, drawing outrage from priest abuse victims and their advocates, who say the now-86-year-old is still a danger to the public.

Shanley was convicted in 2005 of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of 14. The case that relied on the repressed memory of the victim, who said he was abused by Shanley between 1983 and 1989 when he was attending CCD classes at St. Jean’s Church in Newton.

Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

Some of Shanley’s other alleged victims and their attorneys are planning a press conference later this week, angry that Shanley has been is being released.

They have been told by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office that prosecutors had Shanley evaluated to see if he could be held after his prison sentence as a sexually dangerous person, but that those evaluations didn’t provide the evidence needed to proceed.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Correction confirmed that Shanley is being held at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater but said regulations prevented the DOC from providing his scheduled date of release.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

Editorial

A former pastor accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy at St. Margaret Mary Church’s school in Lower Burrell during the 1991-92 academic year should cause all to wonder, in Psalm 13’s words, “How long, O Lord?”

Indeed, how long until pedophilia’s blight by church clergy upon innocent children is eradicated?

The Rev. John Thomas Sweeney, 74, of Greensburg, will plead not guilty to the single count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse filed against him by the state Attorney General’s Office, his lawyer says. The alleged victim, now 35 and in the Coast Guard, didn’t report the abuse until last September, then testified before a state grand jury, which last year detailed horrific, widespread abuse and cover-ups in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

This case seemingly lacked a cover-up. The Diocese of Greensburg said it was unaware until the victim came forward, then took action to keep the accused from acting as a priest and interacting with minors, and stayed mum at authorities’ request.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

Jul 25, 2017

Phil Ray

The conviction and 200-month prison sentence of a Somerset County priest for the sexual abuse of several children who were living at an orphanage in El Progresso, Honduras, was upheld Monday by a federal appeals court.

U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson 16 months ago sentenced the priest, Joseph D. Maurizio, now 71, of Central City, for the sexual abuse of two children, possession of child pornography consisting of nude photographs of several other children, and the use of charitable funds collected in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown “to promote illicit sexual contact with a minor.”

Altoona attorney Steven P. Passarello represented Maurizio during the lengthy September 2015 trial.

The jury convicted Maurizio on five counts but acquitted him on three other charges.

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AUSTRALIA
NBC Montana

LUCIE MORRIS-MARR CNN
Posted: Jul 25, 2017

MELBOURNE, Australia (CNN) – One of the most senior figures in the Vatican will on Wednesday face a court in his native Australia on multiple charges of historical sexual assault offenses.

Cardinal George Pell will appear in the dock at Melbourne Magistrates Court for his first hearing since the charges were made by Victoria Police last month.

The 76-year-old, who has consistently and strenuously denied the charges, has been given a leave of absence from his role at the Holy See as Secretariat for the Economy while he fights the case in the city where he was once Archbishop.

Although expected to be brief, Wednesday’s court hearing marks a significant moment in Australia where Pell is the country’s most senior Catholic.

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UNITED STATES
The Wrap

Beatrice Verhoeven | May 23, 2017

Netflix’s new docuseries “The Keepers” is taking the nation by storm as its filmmakers attempt to solve the 1970 murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, while investigating sexual abuse allegations by teenage students at a Baltimore high school. But will there be a follow-up season?

“I have no plans to continue documenting it,” filmmaker Ryan White told E! Online. “This was a painful process for a lot of the people involved…and it’s draining for them to have to retell the most horrific parts of their lives…but that’s not to say that I’m not excited to see what answers come out of it.”

“The Keepers” explores the murder of Sister Cathy, who disappeared in November 1969 and whose body was discovered in January of 1970. The coroner determined she was hit by a blunt object in the head. However, the documentary delves into a deeper issue — it uncovers the alleged sexual abuse at a Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. It is believed Sister Cathy was going to expose the sexual abuse scandal — and was killed for it.

The documentary features six victims who allege sexual abuse by one Father Joseph Maskell, who has since passed away. However, in a recent interview with TheWrap, White said he knew of at least 40 victims.

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UNITED STATES
SFGate

Beatrice Verhoeven, provided by The Wrap

Netflix’s “The Keepers” debuted two months ago, and since then, filmmaker Ryan White has seen positive developments in the case: More victims have spoken out and police are investigating further into Father Joseph Maskell’s past life.

“I am seeing that ‘The Keepers’ is having a positive impact, not just in the sense that more victims have come forward but it is also having a positive impact in showing people that they aren’t alone and that it’s possible to move forward and confront your painful past,” White told TheWrap during a recent interview.

White said that many new victims have come out of the woodwork since the series was released: “A lot of people watched the series and realized that they weren’t the only ones and now have the courage to talk about it. Hopefully, it will lead to a lot of healing.”

There has also been a lot of movement in terms of investigating Maskell. “The Keepers” explores the murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, who disappeared in November 1969 and whose body was discovered in January of 1970. The documentary investigates whether Maskell had Sister Cathy killed because she was about to expose him and others for sexual abusing teenage students at Archbishop Keough High School. Maskell died in 2001, and until his death, he had denied the allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

July 26, 2017

TESSA AKERMAN
ReporterMelbourne
@TessaAkerman

Catholic Church abuse victims from across Victoria — with no connection to the charges against George Pell — are expected to ­attend a court hearing for the cardinal at the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

Philip Nagle, a Ballarat survivor of abuse by Christian Brother Stephen Farrell in the 1970s, had promised other survivors he would attend.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, was charged last month with historical sex offences relating to multiple complainants. The court has yet to release the charges.

Mr Nagle said he wanted to see the complainants and their claims handled in a respectful way. He said it was important to make sure it was a just court case.

He said it did not matter that the hearing might only last a few minutes . “(It’s important) to witness it,” he said.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court has said it will be “business as usual” during the cardinal’s first court appearance.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

The nation’s largest support group for survivors of sexual abuse in institutional settings today is demanding that the bishop of Greensburg, PA turn over all secret files pertaining to a priest arrested yesterday for sexual abuse.

[PennLive]

That priest, John T. Sweeney, was criminally charged for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in the 1990s.

Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network, (SNAPNetwork.org), believe that Greensburg Bishop Edward C. Malesic may be withholding evidence, hidden in secret files otherwise known as Canon 489 files. These files, that every bishop must keep according to church law, outline abuse allegations and include letters, memos, reports from parents and victims, psychological reports, witness accounts of abuse, and other important evidence that law enforcement can use to help bolster their case.

[Los Angeles Times]

“Sometimes, dioceses will hide these files in their lawyers’ offices under attorney-client privilege so that they can’t be subpoenaed,” said Judy Jones, Midwest Regional Leader, SNAP. “Other times, they just don’t turn them over. These files are so secret and so protected that law enforcement has to know exactly what they are asking for. Otherwise, men like Bishop Malesic are only going to turn over a sanitized file and then issue a statement saying that they knew ’nothing’ about allegations.”

Jones says that until now, Malesic’s efforts ­as well as the efforts of other bishops to be forthcoming about abuse­ have been failures.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[Mixed reactions to the bishop’s pastoral word: “All this makes me deeply distressed and filled me with shame.” With these words, Regensburg bishop Rudolf Voderholzer apologized in a pastoral word for the victims of violence and abuse at the Domspatzen. He promised help to those affected. Bavarian governor Seehofer (CSU) praised the bishop’s apology as a “sincere gesture”.]

“All das macht mich zutiefst zerknirscht und erfüllt mich mit Scham.” Mit diesen Worten hat sich Regensburger Bischof Rudolf Voderholzer in einem Hirtenwort für die Gewalt- und Missbrauchsopfer bei den Domspatzen entschuldigt. Den Betroffenen versprach er Hilfe. Ministerpräsident Seehofer (CSU) lobte die Entschuldigung des Bischofs als “aufrichtige Geste”.

Voderholzers Hirtenwort wurde am Wochenende in den Gemeinden des Bistums verlesen. Der Bischof schreibt darin, dass er bei dem, was die Betroffenen in dem Abschlussbericht des Sonderermittlers Ulrich Weber schildern, “Entsetzen und Betroffenheit” spüre. Er könne deshalb nur in Demut um Entschuldigung bitten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg Digital

[Did Bishop Voderholzer and his assistants in the episcopal ordinariat really learn from the mistakes regarding the far-reaching violence in the Domspatzen institution? Obviously not. A few days after the Domspatzen final report, Bishop Voderholzer went to the public with an extended appeal. He called for the first time for those who suffered bodily violence in church institutions to turn to the relevant authorities of the diocese. Voderholzer protects himself against his predecessor Gerhard Ludwig Müller.]

Von Robert Werner

Wenige Tage nach dem Domspatzen-Abschlussbericht geht Bischof Voderholzer mit einem erweiterten Aufruf an die Öffentlichkeit. In seinem aktuellen Hirtenwort ruft er neben den Betroffenen, die in kirchlichen Einrichtungen körperverletzende Gewalt erleiden mussten, erstmals auch Opfer sexueller Übergriffe auf, sich an die zuständigen Stellen des Bistums zu wenden. In Sachen Aufklärung der Vorfälle bei den Domspatzen stellt Voderholzer sich schützend vor seinen Vorgänger Gerhard Ludwig Müller.

An diesem Wochenende wurde in den katholischen Messfeiern der Diözese Regensburg ein Hirtenwort des Bischofs verlesen. Darin wendet sich Rudolf Voderholzer „mit einem sehr ernsten Thema“, sprich mit einer eher wissenschaftlich gehaltenen Zusammenfassung des Abschlussberichts von Rechtsanwalt Ulrich Weber, an seine „Liebe(n) Schwestern und Brüder in Christus, dem Herrn!“

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AUSTRALIA
YouTube

60 Minutes Australia: Sins of the father, part two

Published on Jul 23, 2017

There’s never been more scrutiny of the world’s major religions, with a series of sex abuse scandals and cover-ups testing the most faithful. But there’s an equally sinister doctrine being openly preached in small suburban churches scattered around Australia. They call themselves the Independent Baptists, a radical, non-aligned movement with no connection to the mainstream Australian Baptist Ministries. Under the extreme teachings of this church, women must submit to their husband’s every whim. Now one very brave victim of this evil doctrine has decided enough is enough. She lived through hell by being married to a so-called Christian pastor who raped her several times a day. She unfortunately discovered that this cruel dogma runs deep, as her own son, also a pastor, has now turned against her.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett

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UNITED KINGDOM
TG Daily

Awais Ahmed, 24th July 2017

Historical sex abuse victims are being denied thousands of pounds in criminal injuries compensation due to unfair time limits on making claims.

Children who were victims of sexual abuse have until their 20th birthday to apply for compensation if they reported the crime to the police before they reached 18 and campaigners are urging the government to change the regulations

The official line of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is that victims of historic sex abuse have two years from their 18th birthday to make a claim if the crime was reported to police when they were children.

The same two-year rule also applies to survivors who make a complaint to the police as adults.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority will still consider a criminal injuries compensation application if the time limit is not met, as long as it can be proved that there were exceptional circumstances preventing the application from being made sooner.

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ISRAEL
Manny Waks

Last week on Thursday (20 July), the Jerusalem District Court sentenced (Rabbi) Aharon Shlomo Lisson to a minimum of seven years for sexually abusing three brothers. Later that day, one of the courageous victims/survivors, Yaakov (Yankie) Rainitz, wrote a powerful public post in Hebrew about what transpired. Below is the unedited English version (published with Yankie’s permission):

​I don’t know where to start, from the beginning or maybe from the end. You have heard a lot about me. You have seen me flickering across your TV screen on news sites where they refer to me as ‘Y’! I have decided to reveal my identity. I am Yankie Rainitz and I am 21 years old. I studied for many years with a respected teacher who will go to jail next month for a very long time!

My life story has been paraded during the past two years numerous times on national television and on different internet sites. But today, I have decided for the first time to remove the cloak of secrecy and to reveal my identity through my Facebook page, to reveal a little of the stormy ocean in my life. I am doing this to encourage, strengthen, uplift and give hope to all those children and young people who are going through the abuse behind closed doors which I experienced.

I was 12 years old when I started Year 8, where the respected, righteous and revered Rabbi Aharon Shlomo Lisson was teaching. This man, known as ‘Rav Lisson’, would consistently praise me in front of my class mates and the Talmud Torah staff. He would give me presents and send notes of satisfaction home with me to my parents. In the community and at home, this man was known as something rare and special, a real angel.

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IRELAND
The Cork

24 July 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has called for plans to sell Bessborough House to be frozen at least until a forensic dig of the grounds has been completed.

The Ireland South MEP was speaking after it was revealed that the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary confirmed that they intended to sell the site of the controversial former mother and baby home.

“A total of 470 infants, that we know of, died in Bessborough House between 1934 and 1953,” she said.

“It is a ghoulish and uncomfortable thought but it is plain to see that the small plot set aside for those infants in the cemetery on the site is simply not big enough to hold that many bodies; so where are they?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph and Argus

Jenny Loweth

A JURY has been sworn in to try a church minister accused of a string of alleged sexual offences dating back more than 30 years.

The Reverend John Wilson, 70, of Shann Avenue, Keighley, denies 24 charges of indecent assault, four allegations of conspiracy to commit indecent assault, two offences of rape and a count of sexual assault.

His wife, Mary Wilson, 79, of the same address, pleads not guilty to two charges of indecent assault and a single allegation of conspiracy to commit indecent assault.

A third accused, Laurence Peterson, 59, of Eric Street, Keighley, denies three charges of indecent assault and four allegations of conspiracy to commit indecent assault.

Wilson, who was a pastor at the Liberty Pentecostal Church in Sunderland Street, Keighley, appeared in the dock at Bradford Crown Court yesterday alongside with his wife and Peterson to witness the jury being sworn in.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Donna Deeney
July 24 2017

One of the victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth has said the Catholic Church has learned nothing in the two decades since the notorious child abuser died.

Smyth was jailed for more than 140 offences in 1994, dying of a heart attack behind bars on August 22, 1997.

Brendan Boland was abused by the twisted cleric for two years, starting from when he was an 11-year-old altar boy serving in his home parish in Dundalk, Co Louth.

In 1975, when Mr Boland was 14, he reported Smyth’s abuse of him and other children but was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevented him from speaking about it to anyone.

Mr Boland told the Belfast Telegraph that the Catholic Church still had work to do to tackle clerical abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

A local priest was charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy more than 25 years ago and prosecutors say because of the time that has passed, they’re limited on the charges they can file.

One lawmaker says he’s trying to change that.

Retired priest John T. Sweeney last served as pastor at the Holy Family parish in West Newton before the diocese was made aware of this investigation and removed him.

One member told Channel 11 off-camera she doesn’t believe he would do something to harm a child.

Another woman, whose grandkids went there, now wants answers.

“These people are there and they’re supposed to give hope to these children and they’re taking it away,” said Diane Konopka.

Sweeney is charged with sexually abusing a boy in 1991 and 1992 while he was pastor at St. Margaret Mary in Lower Burrell.

“It’s important to note that we would have charged him with additional counts, but the statute of limitations had already expired on those other charges of indecent assault and corruption of the morals of minors,” Shapiro said, as he called for change.

State Rep. Joe Petrarca of the 55th District says there is legislation right now to remove the statute of limitations in criminal cases.

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AUSTRALIA
HuffPost

Eoin Blackwell Senior Associate Editor, HuffPost Australia

From rural Australia to the country’s most senior Catholic who, until last month, sat at the Pope’s right hand, Cardinal George Pell has lived most of his professional life under scrutiny and controversy.

But now, far removed from the protective halls of the Vatican city, the stalwart defender of the Catholic Church’s assets is preparing to face potentially legacy-defining allegations: multiple charges of historical sexual offences levelled against him by multiple complainants.

Pell, 76, who last month stepped away from his role as the Vatican’s finance chief, strenuously maintains his innocence.

His expected appearance at Melbourne Magistrate’s court on Wednesday marks just one stage of preliminary hearings into the multiple charges of historical sexual offences.

The details of the charges have not yet been made public.

The former Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne volunteered to be interviewed by Victorian police in Rome in October last year. It was later announced he would be charged and he said he would come back to fight allegations he has described as a “character assassination” and a smear campaign.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell is about to begin the fight to clear his name over sex offence allegations as he faces court for the first time.

When he was charged with historical sex offences last month the Cardinal said he was looking forward to having his day in court in a bid to prove his innocence.

The Cardinal will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in a historic hearing for the Catholic Church which has been rocked by the criminal proceedings against the Vatican official.

When he does he will become the most senior Catholic to ever face court charged with sex offences.

The nature of the charges being faced by Cardinal Pell have not yet been revealed.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Megan Neil

Top Vatican official Cardinal George Pell’s first court appearance will be over within minutes but will create history.

Australia’s most senior Catholic plans to appear in person at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday for the first stage of what will be a lengthy legal process.

The 76-year-old has returned from Rome vowing to clear his name over multiple historical sexual offence charges involving multiple complainants.

Cardinal Pell is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be charged with sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Christian Times

The Church of England has drawn criticism for withdrawing pastoral care and emotional support for sex abuse victims after it reached a financial settlement with them.

An independent review by child safeguarding specialist Ian Elliot alleged that the church withdrew emotional support from the victims after paying compensation on the advice of its insurer Ecclesiastical.

The review found that the advice had “directly conflicted” with the pastoral responsibilities of the church and that “financial interests were allowed to impact practice” at least in one victim’s case.

One victim, identified only as Gilo, told the BBC that he had attempted to contact senior members of the Church more than 20 times after he decided to report that he had been raped, but he received no reply.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Associated Press

BY MARK SCOLFORO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A now-retired Roman Catholic priest was charged Monday with forcing a 10-year-old Pennsylvania boy to perform oral sex on him while counseling the fourth-grader about misbehaving on a school bus.

The state attorney general’s office accused the Rev. John Thomas Sweeney of committing felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse at St. Margaret Mary Elementary School in Lower Burrell during the 1991-92 school year.

The boy, now 35 and serving in the Coast Guard, told investigators that after the attack Sweeney’s secretary gave him milk and cookies, prosecutors said.

“He is a hero for his service,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Today we know him as a hero for coming forward to share his story with us.”

Defense attorney Francis R. Murrman said Sweeney, 74, “vehemently” denies the charges, noting they date back some 26 years and the details were only disclosed as Sweeney was being arraigned.

“There’s abbreviations in there, there’s dates, there’s all kinds of allegations,” Murrman said. “We don’t know if 75 percent of them are accurate, 60 percent of them are accurate or 30 percent of them are accurate.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Independent (UK)

Mark Scolforo

A now-retired Roman Catholic priest has been charged with forcing a 10-year-old Pennsylvania boy to perform oral sex on him while counselling the fourth-grader about misbehaving on a school bus.

The state attorney general’s office accused the Reverend John Thomas Sweeney of committing felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse at St. Margaret Mary Elementary School in Lower Burrell during the 1991-92 school year.

The boy, now 35 and serving in the Coast Guard, told investigators that after the attack Sweeney’s secretary gave him milk and cookies, prosecutors said.

“He is a hero for his service,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Today we know him as a hero for coming forward to share his story with us.”

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UNITED STATES
Neshamas

Fellow Jews, I believe it’s essential we come to realize that the rabbis are right. Lack of Tznius is certainly one of the biggest problems in Yiddishkite today and indeed causing the Jewish people so much hardship.

I, as a former rabbi, have suffered for years watching helplessly as our community has endured the tremendous hardships of our neglect on addressing these critical issues properly. Therefore I am making my own Kol Koreh – public proclamation – to address this horrific breach in our moral standards. Tayreh Yidden! What has our nation come to!

1. Rabbis, cheder rebbes, maggidei shiurim, seminary teachers etc must not rape, molest, take advantage of students whether they are minors or young adults.

2. When we rabbis catch a known rapist or molester we must deliver then to the authorities immediately and not let them continue to rape and even worse Chas veshalom go onto run a seminary for young women. This also applies to cheder rebbeim. Don’t just fire them and send them to spiritual counseling, too many cheder rebbeim return to violating children. Once we catch a predator Report them immediately and protect our children and save countless lives from the horror of becoming victims to our antipathy.

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FLORIDA
First Coast News

Julia Jenae and First Coast News , WTLV July 24, 2017

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A former youth pastor accused of the dismemberment and murder of a Nassau County teen in the 1990s has been accused of sexually abusing more victims according to newly obtained court documents.

The documents, which were filed on July 18, state that Ronnie Hyde, 60, was sexually abusing two boys around the same time he was sexually abusing Fred Laster.

Laster, 16, went missing in 1994. A passerby came across a decapitated torso that was missing its hands and lower body at a BP Gas Station in Lake City. Authorities didn’t know who the torso belonged to until 2015 when a DNA test was conducted with Laster’s twin sister, confirming the torso was his and solving a 23-year-old cold case.

On March 7, the FBI executed a search warrant at Hyde’s Jacksonville Beach home. Agents arrested him that same day on second-degree murder charges over Laster’s death.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Suzanne Breen
July 24 2017

A son of IRA murder victim Jean McConville, who was abused in a care home after he was orphaned, has died of cancer.

Billy McConville passed away in the NI Hospice days after appealing to politicians to secure justice for institutional child abuse survivors.

His funeral will take place on Wednesday at St Paul’s Church on the Falls Road. He leaves behind four children and is survived by eight brothers and sisters.

Fellow abuse survivor, Margaret McGuckin, said it was damning that he had died before a scheme to secure compensation for victims had been set up. Political deadlock at Stormont had halted progress.

She described him as a “courageous and unselfish man” who had inspired those who met him.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Live

BY MAURICE FITZMAURICE
24 JUL 2017

A son of IRA murder victim Jean McConville has passed away after suffering from cancer.

Billy McConville died before seeing any form of justice for abuse he suffered during years in care following the infamous abduction and killing of his mother in 1972.

The 50-year-old had given evidence at the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry about his suffering in care homes. HIA recommendations made in the wake of the inquiry, which included compensation for victims, are being delayed due to political deadlock at Stormont.

Just weeks ago Billy spoke to the Irish News, despite being in the final weeks of his life, saying he hoped his plight “can help others who were abused”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

A “courageous” victims’ campaigner orphaned and allegedly abused in Northern Ireland following the murder of his mother Jean McConville has died.

Billy McConville, 50, died at a hospice where he had been living after being diagnosed with cancer.

The Belfast father-of-four described suffering sexual and physical harm in residential care as a child at Rubane House in Co Down, run by brothers from the De La Salle religious order.

Mrs McConville, a mother-of-ten, was abducted, shot and secretly buried by the IRA at the height of the conflict when her son was aged six and he was put into care shortly afterwards.

It was one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles and claims that she was an informer for the British were later dismissed.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

BILL GRAVELAND
CRANBROOK, B.C. — The Canadian Press
Published Monday, Jul. 24, 2017

Two former bishops of an isolated religious commune in British Columbia have been found guilty of practising polygamy after a decades-long legal fight launched by the provincial government.

Winston Blackmore, 60, was married to Jane Blackmore and then married 24 additional women as part of so-called “celestial” marriages involving residents in the tiny community of Bountiful.

The court heard his co-defendant James Oler, 53, had five wives.

Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said Monday the evidence proves Blackmore has been a practising member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage.

“His adherence to the practices and beliefs of the FLDS is not in dispute,” she said, reading her written ruling in a Cranbrook, B.C., courtroom.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

STEPHEN HUBA | Monday, July 24, 2017

Area Catholics and ex-Catholics who testified before a state grand jury that met in 2014 to investigate Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse reacted Monday to the news of another abuse allegation with a mixture of relief and anger.

“Being one of those people who came forward, this is a very proud day for me,” said Shaun Dougherty, 47, formerly of Johnstown. “If this arrest came as a result of anything I testified to … that’s why I came forward.”

Dougherty, who owns a restaurant in New York City and no longer is a Catholic, said he was abused by the Rev. George Koharchik at St. Clement Church in the early 1980s.

“I don’t know that I ever had faith. I was 10 years old when this happened,” he said.

Dougherty was one of six alleged victims of Koharchik’s whose names were redacted from a 2016 Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Australian Associated Press

Cardinal George Pell plans to be at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday for the first court hearing on historical sexual assault charges.

Cardinal Pell, 76, was charged on summons on June 29 with multiple historical sexual offence charges involving multiple complainants.

It is understood Cardinal Pell could have asked to have his lawyer appear on his behalf at the filing hearing, but he will appear in person.

It will be a short administrative hearing to set the next dates in the court process.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell will face a Melbourne court in person this week after being charged with historical sexual assault offences.

Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic has been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault against a number of complainants.

Pell was not required to appear in person and could have opted to have a lawyer represent him for the file hearing, which is scheduled for Wednesday.

Speaking in Rome last month after Victoria Police announced he had been charged on summons, Pell strenuously denied all of the allegations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus idejesus@pennlive.com

A Catholic priest from Westmoreland County has been criminally charged for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy.

The arrest on Monday of the Rev. John T. Sweeney, of Greensburg, marks the latest crackdown on clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania and is part of a broader ongoing investigation by the state Attorney General’s office into additional allegations of abuse by priest.

Sweeney was arrested Monday afternoon and charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first-degree felony.

“Children are targeted by predators because they are vulnerable,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who announced the charges at the news conference in Lower Burrell Township, Westmoreland County, near the St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic School where, authorities say, the victim was a fourth grade student when the sexual assault took place during the 1991-92 school year. The school is in the Greensburg Diocese.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former religious leader in B.C. has been found guilty of polygamy after marrying more than two dozen women over the course of 25 years.

Winston Blackmore was charged with practising plural or “celestial” marriage in the fundamentalist community of Bountiful, B.C.

In B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said he “subscribed to beliefs and practices of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,” a Mormon sect that believes in plural marriages.

The verdict was delivered in Cranbrook, northeast of Creston.

Another former leader from the same community, James Oler, who is accused of having five wives, is also facing a single polygamy charge. Both Blackmore and Older were charged with one count each in 2009.

The judge has yet to rule on Oler’s case.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. — Attorney General Josh Shapiro Monday announced criminal charges against a Catholic priest in Westmoreland County for a sexual assault committed against a 10-year-old boy.

The Rev. John T. Sweeney, of Greensburg, was arrested this afternoon and charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first-degree felony.

The charge against Sweeney was recommended by a Pennsylvania statewide investigating grand jury conducting a broader investigation of sexual abuse by priests, under the supervision of the Office of Attorney General.

Attorney General Shapiro announced Sweeney’s arrest at a news conference in Lower Burrell Township, Westmoreland County, near the St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic School where the victim was a fourth grade student when the sexual assault took place during the 1991-92 school year.
“Children are targeted by predators because they are vulnerable,” Attorney General Shapiro said at the news conference. “It often takes victims of child sexual abuse years or decades to come forward, because they struggle with shame, confusion or fear.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PETER SMITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
petersmith@post-gazette.com

A 74-year-old priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

The Rev. John T. Sweeney was arraigned in Leechburg Monday afternoon on a charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, with $50,000 unsecured bond under the condition that he stay away from minors and witnesses in the case.

The abuse was alleged to have happened around 1991-92, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. The victim came forward after watching the movie “Spotlight,” which was about the sexual abuse scandal in Boston. Father Sweeney was a pastor at St. Margaret Mary in Lower Burrell at the time of the alleged abuse, which reportedly happened at the school there.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a press conference the charges were recommended by a statewide grand jury. Mr. Shapiro lauded the alleged victim as a “hero” seeking to protect other children. He asked anyone with information about abuse cases to come forward: “We care about you.”

Lower Burrell police started the investigation after reports were made to Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau. According to the criminal complaint, the priest forced the victim, then a fourth grader, to perform oral sex on him, warning him he would be in trouble if he didn’t comply. The victim said that Father Sweeney’s secretary brought him milk and cookies after the sexual assault.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Attorney General Josh Shapiro

[criminal complaint]

Clergy Abuse Hotline:- 1-888-538-8541

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced criminal charges against a Catholic priest in Westmoreland County for a sexual assault committed against a 10-year-old boy.

Reverend John T. Sweeney, of Greensburg, was arrested this afternoon and charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first-degree felony. The charge against Sweeney was recommended by a Pennsylvania statewide investigating grand jury conducting a broader investigation of sexual abuse by priests, under the supervision of the Office of Attorney General.

Attorney General Shapiro announced Sweeney’s arrest at a news conference in Lower Burrell Township, Westmoreland County, near the St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic School where the victim was a 4th grade student when the sexual assault took place during the 1991-92 school year.

“Children are targeted by predators because they are vulnerable,” Attorney General Shapiro said at the news conference. “It often takes victims of child sexual abuse years or decades to come forward, because they struggle with shame, confusion, or fear.

“But once a victim finds the courage to come forward, law enforcement should take action,” the attorney general said. “For his crime, Sweeney now faces a serious felony charge for the sexual abuse of a child.”

According to the grand jury’s presentment, while in 4th grade, the victim was sent to Sweeney for discipline because he had been disruptive on a school bus. The grand jury found that Sweeney used his authority and position as a priest, under the guise of a disciplinarian, to gain access to the victim and to force the victim to perform oral sex on Sweeney in a conference room next to Sweeney’s office inside the St. Margaret Mary Parish.

After Sweeney finished sexually assaulting the 10-year-old boy, Sweeney’s parish secretary brought the boy milk and cookies.

Last September, Special Agents of the Office of Attorney General learned the victim had come forward to Lower Burrell police with his allegation of abuse by Sweeney. Police referred the victim to the Office of Attorney General on the advice of the Westmoreland County District Attorney. Prosecutors brought this information to the grand jury, where the victim later testified.

According to the grand jury presentment, the victim was concerned that Sweeney could still be harming other children. The victim testified he kept his abuse secret his entire life to protect his parents, who he feared would blame themselves. During the intervening years, the victim grew up and entered the service, where he currently serves in the United States Coast Guard.

“He is a hero for his service,” Attorney General Shapiro said, “but today we know him as a hero for coming forward. He was motivated to come forward and tell the difficult truth about Sweeney because of his concern that other children could be harmed if Sweeney were not held accountable.”

Sweeney continued in ministry as a priest for approximately 16 years after abusing the victim and was in contact with children on a regular basis. Sweeney was assigned to various parishes during his tenure as a priest in the Diocese of Greenburg. Sweeney’s assignments:

Associate Pastor
Holy Family Church, Latrobe
June 24, 1970

Associate Pastor
Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Greensburg
August 8, 1975

Pastor
St. Hedwig Church, Smock
May 22, 1980

Pastor
St. Mary, Freeport
February 16, 1982

Pastor
St. Margaret Mary, Lower Burrell
August 6, 1985

Pastor
St. James Parish, Apollo
July 7, 1998

Pastor
Holy Family Parish, West Newton
October 30, 2008

Attorney General Shapiro asked any member of the public with information about sexual abuse by Sweeney or any priest to contact the Office of Attorney General’s Clergy Abuse Hotline at 1-888-538-8541. The investigation into sexual abuse by priests is ongoing.

“If anyone is aware of other incidents involving this man, or if you yourself were a victim, we urge you to come forward,” Attorney General Shapiro said. “We are committed to protecting and supporting all victims of sexual abuse. No one is above the law. Our prosecutors and investigators want to hear from you. We will pursue the facts without fear and without favor.”

Attorney General Shapiro said his office would have charged Sweeney with additional crimes, but the statute of limitation had expired on those charges. Shapiro noted that following the investigation of child sexual abuse within the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, a statewide investigating grand jury called for the abolishment of the criminal statute of limitations for crimes against children.

“It is time to reform these arbitrary timeframes and to seek justice for our children,” Attorney General Shapiro concluded. “This victim, all victims, are entitled to justice.”

###

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. —
A retired priest who has served at various parishes throughout the Greensburg Catholic Diocese in Westmoreland County was arrested on child sex abuse charges Monday.

The Rev. John Sweeney is accused of forcing a 10-year-old boy to perform sex acts on him while the child was a student at Saint Margaret Mary in Lower Burrell in the early 1990s, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

In addition to Lower Burrell, Shapiro said Sweeney’s assignments in the Greensburg diocese have included Holy Family Church in Latrobe, Blessed Sacramant Cathedral in Greensburg, Saint Hedwig in Smock, Saint Mary in Freeport, Saint James in Apollo and Holy Family Parish in West Newton.

Sweeney’s arrest is part of “a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests,” Shapiro said. He is asking for more help from the public to identify alleged abusers and their victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

CHUCK BIEDKA AND BRIAN C. RITTMEYER | Monday, July 24, 2017

A former pastor at St. Margaret Mary Church in Lower Burrell is charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in 1991 and 1992.

The Rev. John Thomas Sweeney, 74, of Greensburg was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by the state Attorney General’s office. Sweeney was being arraigned on the charges at District Just Cheryl Peck-Yakopec’s courtroom Monday afternoon.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is expected to announce the charges at a 4 p.m. press conference to be held in front of the church.

The charges stem from a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

Joe Grace, an attorney general spokesman, said more details will be released at the press conference.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

A former Westmoreland County priest is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child from an incident more than 25 years ago.

John Thomas Sweeney, 75, was arraigned Monday afternoon at the magistrate’s office in Allegheny Township.

This is what we know from a criminal affidavit:

1. Sweeney was formerly a priest in the Diocese of Greensburg, from 1970-2016.

2. He served at seven stations in the diocese, including St. Margaret Mary in Lower Burrell, where he is accused of abusing the child. He also served parishes in Latrobe, Greensburg, Smock, Freeport, Apollo and West Newton
.
3. He was indicted by a state grand jury, which heard testimony from him, his alleged victim and a friend in whom the victim confided as an adult.

4. Sweeney allegedly forced the victim, who was in fourth grade at the time, to perform oral sex on him sometime between September 1991 and June 1992.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

[with live stream}

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. – A former Westmoreland County priest is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child from an incident more than 25 years ago.

John Thomas Sweeney, 75, was arraigned Monday afternoon at the magistrate’s office in Allegheny Township.

The allegations stem from the St. Margaret Mary School in Lower Burrell.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is expected to announce more about the investigation at a news conference at 4 p.m. in Lower Burrell.

Shapiro said the arrest and subsequent charges are the result of a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Reuters

Byron Kaye

BALLARAT, Australia (Reuters) – One of the pope’s top advisers, Cardinal George Pell, makes his first court appearance in Australia this week on charges of historic sex crimes, a bitter reminder for his home town reeling from more than a dozen abuse cases.

Pell, the Vatican’s economy minister, last month became the most senior Catholic to be charged with sex crimes. He has vowed to fight the still-unspecified charges, calling them false and the result of a “relentlelss character assassination”. He declined to respond to interview requests for this story.

He is expected to appear before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Police have not released details of the charges, but the start of Pell’s court battle in Melbourne revisits a troubled past for Ballarat, the former gold town of 100,000 people 75 miles (120 km) to the west where Pell grew up and cut his teeth as a priest in the 1970s and 1980s.

Before a 2013 state government inquiry into institutional abuse, Ballarat was best known to Australians as the site of the Eureka Stockade, a bloody 1854 uprising by goldminers against colonial authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Barney Zwartz | Jul. 24, 2017

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Cardinal George Pell, who this week will become the highest ranked church official ever to face sex abuse charges in court, may be the most polarizing religious leader in Australia’s brief history.

The former Archbishop of Sydney will appear in the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on July 26 to answer yet-unspecified charges of historical sexual abuse involving multiple complainants, which he resolutely denies.

The complaints apparently long predate his present Vatican role as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, often but misleadingly referred to as number three in the Vatican hierarchy behind the pope and secretary of state.

It is a staggering fall from grace for the combative cardinal. Even if he is utterly exonerated, mutterings from Rome suggest the 76-year-old will not return to his secretariat post. His credibility seems destroyed — largely self-inflicted in a series of appearances before official inquiries into how the church handled child sexual abuse. Increasingly he revealed himself — and confessed to being — a man who put the institutional church first, second and third. He also revealed a man deeply deficient in compassion and empathy. Of this, more below.

No Australian prelate has been so admired and so excoriated: He is adored by his followers for his fearlessly strident support for a highly conservative orthodoxy and old-fashioned authoritarianism and loathed by his critics for his relentless determination, often perceived as brutal.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. – A priest has been arrested for sexual abuse in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Monday.

The identity of the priest has not been released. A news conference will be held at 4 p.m. Monday in Lower Burrell.

Shapiro said the arrest and subsequent charges are the result of a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Barbara Miller bmiller@pennlive.com

The Pennsylvania attorney general will be announcing details later this afternoon on the arrest of a priest accused of sexual abuse in Westmoreland County.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro will announce the arrest of a priest at 4 p.m. in Lower Burrell, Westmoreland County.

The charges are the result of a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests, with investigators seeking the public’s help in completing the probe.

Last year, Shapiro announced the result of a grand jury investigation that accused priests and church leaders in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese of sexually abusing hundreds of children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
U.S. News

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro plans to announce criminal sexual abuse charges against a western Pennsylvania priest.

Shapiro’s office says he’ll be in Lower Burrell to announce the charges this afternoon.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the priest serves at a parish in that area, and the priest has yet to be identified. Lower Burrell is about 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh and is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg.

Shapiro says the arrest being announced Monday is part “of a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests.” Sharpiro says he’ll ask the public for more help in identifying alleged abusers and their victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BRIAN C. RITTMEYER | Monday, July 24, 2017

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro will announce sexual abuse charges Monday against a priest in Westmoreland County.

The announcement will be made at 4 p.m. at Leechburg Road and Park Drive in Lower Burrell near St. Margaret Mary Church.

The attorney general’s office has yet to release the priest’s name, and St. Margaret Mary was not identified in a media advisory issued Monday morning.

The charges stem from a broader investigation into sexual abuse by priests, the advisory states.

Joe Grace, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, would not answer questions, including about the identity of the priest or the location of the announcement and if St. Margaret Mary was involved.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig criticized an ideological instrumentalization of his departure from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was wrong “to divide the church, so to speak, into two ideological wings and invest its own energy in the fact that the one overcomes the other,” he told the Würzburger newspaper “Die Tagespost” on Friday. “We are Catholic and there are not conservative and progressive truths.” The reports on the end of his term were thus “instrumentally assured by various sides”.]

Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig hat eine ideologische Instrumentalisierung seines Ausscheidens aus der Glaubenskongregation kritisiert. Es sei “falsch, die Kirche sozusagen in zwei ideologische Flügel aufzuteilen und die eigene Energie darin zu investieren, dass der eine den anderen überwindet”, sagte er der Würzburger Zeitung “Die Tagespost” am Freitag. “Wir sind katholisch, und es gibt nicht konservative und progressive Wahrheiten”. Die Berichte über das Ende seiner Amtszeit seien demnach “von verschiedenen Seiten sicher” instrumentalisiert worden. So verfalle nun ein Teil der Beobachter in Jubel, “weil er die Rolle des Präfekten völlig falsch einschätzt”, sagte Müller.

Weiter erklärte der Kardinal, er habe mit seinem Nachfolger als Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, Kurienerzbischof Luis Ladaria, “in vollkommener Harmonie” zusammengearbeitet. Auch bei der Auslegung des Päpstlichen Schreibens “Amoris laetitia” habe es keinen Dissens zwischen ihnen gegeben, sagte Müller. Der ehemalige Regensburger Bischof war Anfang Juli überraschend bereits nach einer ersten fünfjährigen Amtszeit als Präfekt aus der wichtigsten Kurienbehörde ausgeschieden. Zum Nachfolger hatte Franziskus den bisherigen Sekretär, den aus Spanien stammenden Ladaria, ernannt. In der Folge kam es zu Spekulationen, wonach Müllers Lesart von “Amoris laetitia” Grund für sein Ausscheiden gewesen sein soll.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

[“There was nobody to turn to.” Hundreds of children were victims of physical violence in the Regensburg catspasks; there were also sexual assaults. The abuse commissioner of the federal government explains why enlightenment in the church is so difficult.]

Von Annette Langer

“Liebe, liebe Eltern. Ich habe euch so, so gerne. Bitte, bitte, ich möchte so, so, so gerne nach Hause. Holt mich gleich ab, wenn ihr den Brief gelesen habt und meldet mich beim Herrn Direktor ab, das wäre mein Geburtstagswunsch, aber vergesst den Koffer nicht.”

Diese Zeilen stammen aus den Sechzigerjahren, geschrieben von einem Kind aus der Vorschule der Regensburger Domspatzen. Sie werden im Abschlussbericht des Rechtsanwalts Ulrich Weber zitiert, der die jahrzehntelange körperliche und sexuelle Gewalt bei den Domspatzen im Auftrag des Bistums Regensburg untersucht hat.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Domradio

[The abuse commissioner of the Federal Government, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, insists that victims of abuse be heard. In addition, they would have to be involved in “transparent” rework processes – “whether it is a matter of dealing with acts in the church context, in sport, in a school or in a childhood or youth leisure,” Rörig emphasized in an interview with Spiegel On-line.]

Betroffene in Missbrauchsfällen dürfen keine Bittstreller sein, fordert der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig. Der Fall der Regensburger Domspatzen

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, dringt darauf, dass Opfern von Missbrauch zugehört wird. Außerdem müssten sie in Aufarbeitungsprozesse “transparent” einbezogen werden – “ganz gleich, ob es um eine Aufarbeitung von Taten im kirchlichen Kontext, beim Sport, in einer Schule oder bei einer Kinder- und Jugendfreizeit geht”, betonte Rörig am Sonntag im Interview mit Spiegel Online.

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CANADA
Ottawa Sun

BY ANDREW DUFFY, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017

An Ottawa man has become the latest victim to sue the Archdiocese of Ottawa for sexual abuse that he allegedly suffered at the hands of the city’s most notorious Catholic priest, Rev. Dale Crampton.

Robert Sullivan has filed a $2-million damages claim for abuse that he says began when he was just 10 years old.

“No matter how much work I do, and try to forgive, it’s still something inside me: It killed part of me,” Sullivan, 51, said in an interview with the Sun.

He is the tenth person to come forward through the legal system in the year since the Sun published a series about the dark history of clergy sex abuse in Ottawa.

Three have lodged criminal complaints against Rev. Barry McGrory, 82, a retired priest who is scheduled to stand trial next year on eight charges.

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ROM
Idea

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller – until the beginning of July Prefect of the Congregation of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith – has drawn a dramatic image of Christianity and the Catholic Church in Europe. “All the elements of the faith lived, the popular piety, have collapsed”, he said in an interview with the Italian daily “Il Foglio” (issue 21 July). All of Europe is in a “process of forced de-Christianization, which goes far beyond simple secularization.”

Rom (idea) – Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller – bis Anfang Juli Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation im Vatikan – hat ein dramatisches Bild des Christentums und der katholischen Kirche in Europa gezeichnet. „Alle Elemente des gelebten Glaubens, der Volksfrömmigkeit, sind zusammengebrochen“, sagte er in einem Interview mit der italienischen Tageszeitung „Il Foglio“ (Ausgabe 21. Juli).

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NORTH CAROLINA
Associated Press

BY MITCH WEISS, HOLBROOK MOHR AND PETER PRENGAMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — When Andre Oliveira answered the call to leave his Word of Faith Fellowship congregation in Brazil to move to the mother church in North Carolina at the age of 18, his passport and money were confiscated by church leaders – for safekeeping, he said he was told.

Trapped in a foreign land, he said he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, first cleaning warehouses for the secretive evangelical church and later toiling at businesses owned by senior ministers. Any deviation from the rules risked the wrath of church leaders, he said, ranging from beatings to shaming from the pulpit.

“They trafficked us up here. They knew what they were doing. They needed labor and we were cheap labor – hell, free labor,” Oliveira said.

An Associated Press investigation has found that Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Latin America’s largest nation to siphon a steady flow of young laborers who came on tourist and student visas to its 35-acre compound in rural Spindale.

Under U.S. law, visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people normally would be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at Word of Faith Fellowship, the AP found

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MICHIGAN
Associated Press

ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting another priest after a night of drinking in northern Michigan has been found not guilty.

The Rev. Sylvestre Obwaka was acquitted Thursday, the third day of trial in Presque Isle County. Obwaka admits that sexual contact occurred, but he said it was consensual.

The other priest told jurors that he was assaulted in February while visiting Obwaka and spending a night at the rectory at St. Ignatius Church in Rogers City.

The trial witnesses included Gaylord Bishop Steven Raica, who spoke to Obwaka after the other priest said he was assaulted. Raica says Obwaka didn’t indicate that any sex was consensual.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, July 24, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The HSE has refused to say why concerns about infant deaths and possible trafficking from Bessborough in Cork and the Tuam Mother and Baby Home were not reported to the then health minister.

The Irish Examiner revealed, in 2015, senior management within the HSE had raised concerns about “shocking” infant mortality rates and possible trafficking of children at both the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home as well as the Tuam home in 2012 — two years before the Tuam babies scandal emerged.

A note of a teleconference call on October 12, 2012, involving then head of the medical intelligence unit, Davida De La Harpe, and then assistant director of Children and Family Service, Phil Garland, revealed management felt what had been discovered in Tuam warranted a state inquiry.

The note concludes by stating, due to the gravity of what was being found, an “early warning letter” be written to the national director of the HSE’s quality and patient safety division, Philip Crowley, suggesting “that this goes all the way up to the minister”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

JULIET SAMUEL

How far back does accountability stretch? The Bible tells us the sins of the fathers can be visited upon the children even to the third and fourth generation. What if the father isn’t a man, though, but an institution? What if the institutional staff involved in a crime are now dead? The biblical answer being rather frowned upon nowadays, we have developed a new catch-all answer: set up an inquiry.

In the last two weeks, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has been holding the first of many hearings to demand answers from institutions suspected of facilitating abuse. Victims involved in the current investigation gave their testimony in February and now, it is the institutions’ turn.

The current investigation – the only one to hold any hearings so far – looks at the child migration programme, a government-sponsored, charitably-run scheme that sent 130,000 British children to far-off Commonwealth countries to live at boarding schools or with adoptive families. In its day, it was supported by royalty and feted for spreading British influence and helping wayward or orphaned youth.

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MEXICO
Animal Politico

[In criticizing the media, Cardinal Norberto Rivera said Sunday that “in our world, not everything is good wheat, the tares make their appearance without ceasing.” Media that should help remove barriers, he said, “often become creators of abysses.” In another moment of his homily, in the Metropolitan Cathedral, Rivera said that the media instead of helping human progress have often become weapons against society. His statements come after a report from the newspaper Reforma, dated July 5, which indicated that ex-priests Alberto Athié and José Barba accused Rivera for alleged cover-up of 15 pedophilia priests .The PGR initiated an investigation into the case, with the folder FED / SDHPDSC / UNAI-CDMX / 0000425/2017.]

Al criticar a los medios de comunicación, el cardenal Norberto Rivera dijo este domingo que “en nuestro mundo no todo es trigo bueno, la cizaña hace su aparición sin cesar”.

Medios de comunicación que deberían ayudar a quitar barreras, apuntó, “se convierten con frecuencia en creadores de abismos”.

En otro momento de su homilía, en la Catedral Metropolitana, Rivera dijo que los medios de comunicación, en lugar de ayudar al progreso humano, se han convertido muchas veces en armas contra la sociedad.

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MEXICO
Periodico Correo

[The primate archbishop of Mexico, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrerea , attacked the media during the mass he offered yesterday in the Metropolitan Cathedral. On June 2, ex-priests Alberto Athié and José Barba filed a complaint with the General Prosecutor of the Republic (PGR) against the cardinal for allegedly protecting 15 priests who sexually abused minors.]

CDMX.- El arzobispo primado de México, el cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrerea, arremetió contra los medios de comunicación durante la misa que ofreció ayer en la Catedral Metropolitana.

En la homilía, el arzobispo comparó a los medios de comunicación con la cizaña que crece en los campos de trigo.

“Medios de comunicación que deberían ayudar a quitar barreras se convierten con frecuencia en creadores de abismos”, afirmó, y que en lugar de ayudar al progreso humano, los medios de comunicación se han convertido muchas veces en armas contra la sociedad.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Secretary of State under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, has denied rumors of involvement in a scheme to overpay for remodeling on his Vatican apartment in order to benefit an Italian businessman and longtime friend. Meanwhile, questions remain about how the businessman was able to bill two different Vatican departments almost $1 million for the same work, which was never even finished.

A Vatican trial focusing on a financial scandal involving a papally-sponsored hospital, and featuring a powerful cardinal at the heart of the affair, may be on hiatus until early September, but that doesn’t mean questions surrounding the case are taking a vacation.
Instead, they seem to be multiplying almost by the day.

Just in the past week, there have been conflicting reports about whether that cardinal, Italian Tarcisio Bertone, the former Secretary of State under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, did or didn’t provide a previously unknown memo to investigators last November, offering a chronology of his actions in the affair and rejecting any suggestion of involvement in fraud.

Some are also asking question why Bertone was never even a subject of the Vatican investigation, despite long-standing ties to the Italian businessman who benefited from it.

Finally, there are also question marks about how the situation reflects on the broader project of Vatican reform under Pope Francis, at a time when his hand-picked auditor general, Italian Libero Milone, has departed under mysterious circumstances, and his pick to head the new Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, is home in Australia facing sexual abuse charges.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Mark Quinn, CBC News Posted: Jul 24, 2017

A federal government apology to Newfoundland and Labrador residential school survivors is long overdue, according to a lawyer who represented almost a thousand of them in a class-action lawsuit settled last year.

“The judge and all of the lawyers in this case recognize the general urgency to get this thing done. We learn of people within the class dying almost on a daily basis,” said Steven Cooper, a lawyer with the law firm Cooper Regel.

One class member who died recently is Inuk Nicky Obed. When he spoke to CBC news in 2015, the nine-year court battle to reach a settlement hadn’t ended yet.

At the time, Obed said Newfoundland and Labrador residential survivors like him, who had suffered sexual abuse and lost their indigenous languages and cultures, wanted an apology more than compensation for their suffering.

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ARGENTINA
Elancasti

[A priest in the northern part of the capital city is alleged to have sexually abused two children, whom he had tried to kiss. Two mothers filed the complaint in the Judicial Unit 8.]

n sacerdote fue denunciado por supuesto caso de abuso sexual a dos menores, a las que habría intentado besar, en la zona norte de la ciudad Capital.

Dos mamás radicaron la denuncia en la Unidad Judicial 8 y aseguraron que el sacerdote fue el autor del intento de ultraje.

El caso se conoció en las últimas horas y la investigación de los hechos fue girada a la Fiscalía que corresponde en relación con las fechas del hecho.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

July 24, 2017

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Cardinal George Pell will appear in person in a Melbourne court this week for a filing hearing on historical sexual abuse charges.

Cardinal Pell, who does not have to appear, has decided to travel to Melbourne to appear on Wednesday before a magistrate in a case that will attract world interest.

The appearance will come after months of speculation about whether or not he would appear or, indeed, whether he would leave Rome.

The appearance has created a logistical nightmare for court officials with what is expected to be unprecedented interest.

Cardinal Pell stressed last month that he is innocent of charges of historical sex abuse and that he had taken leave from his Vatican post to fight what were multiple charges allegedly committed against multiple people.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Adam Cooper

He is one of the highest ranking officials in the Catholic Church, but Cardinal George Pell could find himself rubbing shoulders with drink-drivers, drug users and other accused criminals when he attends court for the first time to answer to historical sex charges.

Melbourne Magistrates Court maintains it will take a business as usual approach to the high-profile case, which means Cardinal Pell could join the queue of accused criminals, solicitors and police waiting to get into the court on Wednesday morning.

Fairfax Media understands the Cardinal will be there on Wednesday morning.

A court spokeswoman confirmed the Cardinal would be required to enter the building through the front door, be scanned by security staff, sit in general seating and have his name read on the daily list.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com July 24, 2017

A 2016 Guam law does not allow the Boy Scouts of America to be retroactively sued for alleged child sexual abuse, its attorney stated in documents filed in the Superior Court of Guam.

“The court should dismiss with prejudice all claims against BSA and Aloha Council,” Boy Scouts attorney Patrick Civille said in a July 14 motion to dismiss.

Civille stated the 2016 law retroactively lifted the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse cases, but only for cases against the alleged abusers. He said the laws does not allow cases to be filed against third parties or institutions, such as the Boy Scouts, that are associated with the alleged abusers.

Former Guam priest Louis Brouillard, who also was a scoutmaster, allegedly sexually abused minor boy scouts during scouting activities and on parish grounds, dozens of lawsuits filed in local and federal court state. Most of the cases accusing Brouillard list the Boy Scouts, its Aloha Council Chamorro District and the Archdiocese of Agana as defendants. Four of those cases name only the church, and not the Boy Scouts as defendants.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen

An Ottawa man has become the latest victim to sue the Archdiocese of Ottawa for sexual abuse that he allegedly suffered at the hands of the city’s most notorious Catholic priest, Rev. Dale Crampton.

Robert Sullivan has filed a $2-million damages claim for abuse that he says began when he was just 10 years old.

“No matter how much work I do, and try to forgive, it’s still something inside me: It killed part of me,” Sullivan, 51, said in an interview with the Citizen.

He is the tenth person to come forward through the legal system in the year since the Citizen published a series about the dark history of clergy sex abuse in Ottawa.

Three have lodged criminal complaints against Rev. Barry McGrory, 82, a retired priest who is scheduled to stand trial next year on eight charges.

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ITALIA
La Notizia

[The state is silent. The Vatican hides. And in the end the demon remains in the house and in the church. The abuse of minors perpetrated by the priests are a problem of little talk, except when the media breaks a major case. There is the scary case of the 547 children abused in Regensburg but the dioceses are full of pedophile priests and “burial” bishops. In Italy a check back 15 years showed only 132 convictions and more than 100 priests have been investigated, according to Francesco Zanardi, president of Rete L’Abuso. He said these figures obviously are only a partial counting of abuse cases.]

.eicase breaks down, all faithful and non-ecclesiastical and laity, in front of a cross that state and church should take charge of. Yeah, because there is not only the scary case of the 547 abused children in Regensburg: the dioceses are full of pedophile priests and “burial” bishops. Suffice it: “We went back to 15 years and we rebuilt, only in Italy, 132 convictions definitively and over a hundred priests investigated at present”, says Francesco Zanardi , president of the association L’Abuso , which for years has Occupies the phenomenon. “However, the figure is obviously partial”,

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MICHIGAN
The Alpena News

Following Thursday’s not guilty verdict in the charges against Rev. Sylvestre Obwaka, the Diocese of Gaylord issued a statement saying Obwaka will remain on will remain on administrative leave from his priestly assignments while the diocese addresses any ecclesial issues that may exist.

“These past months have been extremely painful and difficult for everyone involved,” Candace Neff, director of communications for the Diocese of Gaylord, stated in a press release. “While (Thursday’s) verdict begins the path toward closure, healing will take time, patience and grace. The diocese will be doing all we can to help facilitate that.”

Rev. Joseph Muszkiewicz will continue as temporary administrator for St. Ignatius parish and, in collaboration with parish staff and leadership, will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the parish. Rev. James Fitzpatrick will continue serving as sacramental minister.

“This has indeed been a very sad time in our history,” Bishop Steven J. Raica said. “Yet, even in times of tribulation, we know we do not walk alone. Christ walks with us. I am so thankful for the expressions of support and for the many prayers that have been offered for our priests, parishes and the diocese during this time. I ask for continued prayers for everyone involved as we move forward and, together, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.”

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AUSTRALIA
Crime Online

by Lawrence Bonk
July 23, 2017

An Australian court has convicted a pastor of repeatedly raping his wife and he is serving five years in prison, as reported by Daily Mail.

Larry Harris is involved in a denomination of the Baptist church that preaches women must submit to anything their husband demands. As such, Joy Harris said she was raped multiple times a day for decades.

“He thought the more times a day he had it the more of a man he was. It got up to six or seven times a day,” she told 60 Minutes.

Larry, an American who moved to Australia in 1994, preached on behalf of Valley Forge Baptist Church, a church that some former members have likened to a cult, according to Daily Mail.

Joy Harris is finally free from her daily abuse, but her own son, who was raised with the same doctrine, has turned his back on her. According to Joy Harris, he will not speak to her until she repents.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Liz Little
Jul 23, 2017

The wife of a radical Australian preacher has broken her silence for the first time on the horrific abuse she suffered for years at the hands of her cruel husband.

But Joy Harris, 63, revealed the most devastating aspect of her ordeal was being shunned by her own son – an Independent Baptist pastor like his Dad – because he blamed her for his father’s evil actions.

“I’m totally heartbroken. He hasn’t even let me see his children, because I have to repent first.”

Speaking in a 60 Minutes exclusive, the Cairns grandmother said she had been raped up to seven time a day by her husband, Pastor Larry Harris.

“He thought the more times a day he could have it, the more of a man he was. He would get up to 6, 7 times a day and he didn’t care if it caused me pain,” she told reporter Liam Bartlett.

Pastor Harris pleaded guilty to two counts of rape in Queensland in January, however Joy will seek to have him charged in New South Wales, where the majority of abuse allegedly occurred, when he is released.

Joy told Bartlett any sense of justice will be forever overshadowed because her son Kevin, who leads the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Dapto, has turned his back on her for speaking out against the church.

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MALTA
Sunday Times of Malta

Sunday, July 23, 2017 by Ivan Martin

Sexual offenders could be slipping through the net in the absence of a centralised register accessible by different entities, the head of the Church’s Safeguarding Commission has warned.

Andrew Azzopardi told The Sunday Times of Malta that the only way for an offender to end up on the official register, which bars them from working with children, was for victims to brave court proceedings – something most were reluctant to do.

Even once this was done, it was at the magistrate’s discretion to decide whether or not to add offenders to the list.

“The problem is that we have victims who don’t want to go to the police and don’t want the matter to end up in court. In fact, most of those who come forward to us don’t want to go to court,” Mr Azzopardi said.

Victims, he added, were reluctant to go through legal proceedings as they often wound up in the news.

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IRELAND
The Times

Justine McCarthy
July 23 2017
The Sunday Times

Katherine Zappone, the children’s minister, has contacted the Mother and Baby Homes Commission about the sale of Bessborough House in Cork, over concerns about the consequences for human remains buried there.

The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are selling the house, which was once Ireland’s biggest mother and baby home. A 2012 report prepared for the McAleese inquiry into Magdalene laundries said a “shocking” number of children died in the institution in the mid-20th century. Bessborough’s records show, on average, 25 children a year died there in 1934-1953. Campaigners want the sale to be stopped.

“I share the concerns about recent reports of the redevelopment of the Bessborough site and its effect on possible burials on the grounds, or access to the burial garden,” said Zappone.

“The commission has been tasked with examining the burial arrangements in respect of Bessborough. It will consider available records and witness testimony. It has all the necessary legal powers to facilitate its investigations,” she added.

“It is for the commission to decide on the necessity for any further investigation it may deem necessary to enable it to establish the facts on these questions.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com July 23, 2017

To help Guam’s Catholic Church correct past financial mismanagement, pay debts and properly fund chancery operations, village parishes will see an average of 186-percent increases in assessment fees.

This means up to a 1,146-percent hike for the Maina parish, for example, which used to pay only $107.82, church data shows.

The Dededo parish, the biggest, will be assessed $10,763.45 instead of the $5,481.26 imposed six years ago, or an increase of 96 percent.

The parish was only making $4,603.95 in actual payments, archdiocese data shows.

The proposed assessment for each of the Catholic Church’s 25 parishes, excluding the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, was published in the July 16 issue of the archdiocese’s weekly newspaper, Umatuna Si Yu’os.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

July 21, 2017

By Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com
The Oregonian/OregonLive

A former Northeast Portland church altar boy and choir member is suing the parish for $3.1 million, claiming he was repeatedly sexually abused by a choir director in the early 1960s on church grounds and nothing was done to stop the abuse.

The Portland man, now in his late 60s and identified in the suit as M.W.R., is alleging battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. The lawsuit accuses former choir director Jay Shisler of befriending and grooming M.W.R. when he was 11 and 12 years old and later kissing, sexually touching and sexually abusing him.

The lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Thursday, and M.W.R. is being represented by attorneys Barbara Long and Randall Vogt.

The church rector, the Rev. Christopher Craun, declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday because she wasn’t aware of the allegations and hadn’t seen the lawsuit.

Shisler died in 2001 at age 60.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Pro

[The harm which priests, teachers, and educators have given to the image of the church and of trust may be irreparable to many. And who says, “The time back then was so,” does not make the behavior better. “My happy childhood ended when my parents left me at the boarding school in Etterzhausen on the first day of class 3,” one of the victims is quoted in the report, which was published on Tuesday.]

Wieder kommt heraus, dass Kirchenangehörige Menschen das Leben zur Hölle gemacht haben. In dem Abschlussbericht zu den Missbrauchsfällen bei den Regensburger Domspatzen ist von mindestens 500 Schülern die Rede, die zwischen 1945 und den 90er Jahren geschlagen wurden. 67 wurden Opfer sexueller Gewalt. Ein Kommentar von Jörn Schumacher

Der Schaden, den Priester, Lehrer und Erzieher dem kindlichen Bild von Kirche und von Vertrauen zugefügt haben, dürfte bei vielen irreparabel sein. Und wer sagt: „Die Zeit damals war nun mal so“, macht das Verhalten nicht besser. „Meine fröhliche Kindheit endete, als meine Eltern mich am ersten Schultag der 3. Klasse in dem Internat in Etterzhausen zurückließen“, wird eines der Opfer in dem Bericht, der am Dienstag veröffentlicht wurde, zitiert. Von da an hätten die Erzieher „uneingeschränkt Gott“ gespielt. „Angst ist bis heute mein ständiger Begleiter“, heißt es weiter. Mit dem Siegelring haben Kirchenangehörige Kinder blutig geschlagen. Etwa wenn ein Junge beim Gottesdienst stolperte. So ein Siegel-Ring gilt in der Katholischen Kirche übrigens – ähnlich einem Ehering – als Zeichen der Treue zur Kirche.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[Bishop Voderholzer of Regensburg said he is horrified by what is contained in the report on abuse at the Domspatzen choir.]

“All das macht mich zutiefst zerknirscht und erfüllt mich mit Scham,” schreibt der Regensburger Bischof Voderholzer in einem Hirtenwort zu den Übergriffen bei den Domspatzen. Den Opfern verspricht Voderholzer Hilfe.

Voderholzers Hirtenwort wurde am Wochenende in den Gemeinden des Bistums verlesen. Der Bischof schreibt, dass er bei dem, was die Betroffenen schildern, “Entsetzen und Betroffenheit” spüre. Er könne deshalb nur in Demut um Entschuldigung bitten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelbayerische

[Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer, the Regensburg bishop, dealed with the Domspatzen final report this Sunday in his pastoral letter and said he was horrified. Voderholzer said “Whoever reads these descriptions can only feel horror and sorrow.” It is deeply distasteful and fills him with shame. He says further. “Dear fellow Christians, in the face of the above descriptions, I can only apologize in humility,” the bishop said.”

Von Dagmar Unrecht, MZ

REGENSBURG.Der Regensburger Bischof Rudolf Voderholzer hat sich in seinem Hirtenwort von diesem Sonntag mit dem Domspatzen-Abschlussbericht beschäftigt und sich entsetzt gezeigt. Zu den geschilderten Berichten der Betroffenen sagte Voderholzer: „Wer diese Schilderungen liest, kann nur Entsetzen und Betroffenheit spüren.“ Es mache ihn zutiefst zerknirscht und erfülle ihn mit Scham, heißt es in dem Hirtenwort weiter. „Liebe Mitchristen, angesichts der obigen Schilderungen kann ich nur in Demut um Entschuldigung bitten“, so der Bischof. Darüber hinaus dankte er Rechtsanwalt Ulrich Weber und sagte, es sei ein „sehr umfassendes, reich differenziertes und vor allem unabhängiges Werk“ entstanden.

Lesen Sie hier das gesamte Hirtenwort des Bischofs im Wortlaut.

Voderholzer zitiert Müller

Bischof Voderholzer zitiert in seinem Hirtenwort auch eine Aussage seines Vorgängers, des heutigen Kardinals Gerhard Ludwig Müller, aus dem Jahr 2010: „Den Opfern dieser Zeit, aber auch allen, die sich heute erst melden, gilt unser tiefes Mitgefühl. Ihrer Ehre und Würde schulden wir, dass ihnen Gerechtigkeit widerfährt.“ Müller stand fünf Jahre der Glaubenskongregation im Vatikan vor, die auch für die Aufklärung von Missbrauchsfällen zuständig ist. Papst Franziskus hatte Müllers Amt Anfang Juli überraschend nicht verlängert.

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ARGENTINA
Perfil

[The sexual abuse scandal at Mauricio Macri’s school does not stop. After the complaint made by a former student against the priest Alfredo Mac Conastair, PERFIL received the letters written by three of the alleged 22 victims in which they revealed the sufferings of more than forty years ago.]

.Nadia Galán

El escándalo por los abusos sexuales en el colegio de Mauricio Macri no se detiene. Después de la denuncia realizada por un ex alumno del Cardenal Newman contra el cura Alfredo Mac Conastair, PERFIL accedió a las cartas que escribieron tres de las supuestas 22 víctimas, en las que cuentan con lujo de detalles los padecimientos que sufrieron hace más de cuarenta años.

Rufino Varela (52) fue el primer ex alumno que se animó a dar la cara y denunciar los ataques sufridos cuando era niño. A partir de la difusión de su historia, las autoridades del Newman “pidieron perdón sin reservas a todas las víctimas” (ver aparte).

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By ALYSSA DANDREA
Monitor staff
Sunday, July 23, 2017

The attorney general’s launch of a criminal investigation into St. Paul’s School’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations over several decades is an uncommon move in New Hampshire that could require the school to make significant cultural changes, legal experts say.

The probe, announced 10 days ago, has put the elite boarding school under a microscope, as investigators work to determine what school officials knew about sexual misconduct by both staff members and students, when they knew about it, and how they responded to it.

While criminal investigations into specific incidents of sexual assault and abuse are commonplace at educational institutions, the attorney general’s probe into St. Paul’s will chart new territory.

Legal experts said the nature and scope of this probe is unusual, noting that they could draw similarities only to the attorney general’s criminal investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester in the early 2000s. But even then, they cautioned, the global reach and influence of the Catholic church created a far different set of circumstances for investigators than that of a single – although prominent – boarding school.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

On the 20th anniversary of the serial abuser’s admission of his crimes, Liam Collins retraces the scandal that shook Ireland to the top

Liam Collins
July 23 2017

It is high summer in Kilnacrott, Co Cavan. Not even the ominous evergreen trees that surround the one-time Norbertine house and its small graveyard can darken this glorious summer’s day.

On a country road near the village of Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, there is a grotto to the left of the entrance gates, but the statue of the Virgin Mary has been “removed for maintenance” and a sign declares that this is now a ‘Soul Sanctuary.’ Ignoring a garish blue sign tacked to one of the trees declaring ‘Private Grounds’, I cross a stile and walk up the pathway to where the most notorious paedophile in the Irish Catholic church’s sorry history of abuse is buried.

Apart from the distant drone of a tractor saving hay, there is a stillness and silence that belies the harsh reality of one man’s notorious life.

Can you feel evil?

Not on the short walk from the gate to the graveside.

To the left, is the large modern complex bearing a white cross that the priests deserted in 2015, leaving the building now known as Holy Trinity Abbey and, to the right, a rectangular formation of graves.

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