ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Irish Times

Lorna Siggins

They were known as the “home babies”, and Kevin O’Dwyer says he can still hear the clatter of their hobnail boots on the way to primary school.

O’Dwyer, a retired school principal and longtime resident of Tuam, was reared on the old Athenry road close to the Bon Secours institution.

“We’d hear the boots on the road in the morning,” he says.

”They were always kept back so they wouldn’t arrive at school the same time as the rest of us. That also meant they got a slap for being late – every single day.”

“They had to wear uniforms when the rest of us didn’t, they were put into separate lines, they had a separate area in the playground, and we never even got to know their names,” he says.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Elaine Edwards, Fiach Kelly

Women who were in mother-and-baby homes as recently as the early 1990s have called for investigations into at least two other sites where children were buried after the remains of “several hundred” infants were found at a former home in Tuam.

Gardaí confirmed they were liaising with the coroner’s office in Galway after the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation said excavations had uncovered “significant quantities” of foetal remains, as well as those of children aged up to three years.

The commission, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, said it was shocked at the discovery.

The remains were contained in at least 17 of 20 underground chambers in what appeared to be a sewage-related structure. It is understood the initial investigation confirmed several hundred bodies located there.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Declan Rooney, Shane Phelan and Kevin Doyle
March 4 2017

Residents fear that the mass grave in Tuam may stretch beyond the mother and baby home and below local houses.

An information meeting for the residents of the Tobar Jarlath and Dublin Road estates in Tuam was called at short notice yesterday by Galway County Council.

But only three residents attended the meeting with local elected representatives and council staff.

According to Cllr Peter Roche, short notice was the reason for the lower-than-expected turnout.
Cllr Roche confirmed that there were concerns locally that the site might be bigger than first thought and could actually stretch into some private residences.

The Tuam Mother and Baby Home closed in 1961 and a few years later the Dublin Road and Tobar Jarlath estates were constructed on and beside the site.

“The residents for the best part chose not to attend the meeting. There was a lot of fear, a lot of emotion and for one reason or another they chose to be briefed at home. And that’s perfectly acceptable,” Cllr Roche said.

“They [the residents] weren’t angry, but they are deeply traumatised, because the suspicions they had for many, many years were confirmed.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ryan Nugent
March 4 2017

A woman who grew up in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has admitted she is “lucky” to be alive – following the discovery of human remains at an excavation site in the area.

Significant discoveries were made by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of children between the ages 35 foetal weeks to 2-3 years.

A woman – known as Breda and who grew up in the home – has admitted her shock at yesterday’s revelations.

Speaking to RTÉ’s ‘Liveline’, Breda, who was there for most of the 1950s, said she found the news “so upsetting”.

Identity

She said that she had been one of the lucky ones and has her foster mother to thank for it.
In recent years she has been in contact with her birth mother along with a number of her extended relations.

“I have met my birth mother, but we don’t get on too well. I met her lots of times and I’m in touch with her,” Breda said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Catherine Corless
March 4 2017

When I started out on my research into the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, for the local ‘Historical Journal’, I had envisaged that this was to be just a simple story outlining the history of the home and perhaps getting a story or two on those who were born there.

I had no idea at the time what a storm would emerge as a result of my research into this home.
I revealed my shocking findings locally at first to the religious and those in authority.

But as time went on I became dismayed that there was not much interest in what I was saying.
I had disclosed that I had found the deaths of 798 babies and young children in the Tuam home during the years of its existence – 1925-1961 – and worse, I could not find any details of where they were buried. No one seemed to know.

The only piece of concern and empathy came from a few residents who lived in the new estate that was built on the home grounds, near the burial area, who, in 1974 took it upon themselves to care for this area, after the boys found skeletons in the tank.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE REMAINS OF infants and toddlers lay for decades at the site at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, unmarked, unvisited, unknown.

Investigators for the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Inquiry yesterday confirmed both that they had uncovered “a significant number” of those children’s remains – and that they dated back to the era during which the home was operational.

Very few pictures from the home exist but thanks to the tireless work of historian Catherine Corless, we do have the names of 796 children who died there between 1925 and 1960.

The infant mortality rate at the home was double that of even other mother and baby homes around the country at the time. Young children in the Tuam home succumbed to deaths from afflictions as heartbreakingly banal as the flu and, although only in a small number of cases, ear infections.

The most common causes of death were “debility from birth” (25%), 15% from “respiratory diseases”, 10% each from influenza and the measles, 8% born too premature to survive, 6% from whooping cough and in smaller numbers of epilepsy/convulsions, gastroenteritis, meningitis, congenital heart disease and congenital syphilis, skin diseases, chicken pox and one per cent – 10 children – of malnutrition.

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IRELAND
New York Times

By SINEAD O’SHEA MARCH 3, 2017

DUBLIN — The local historian had been telling the authorities for years that dead infants might have been buried in an old sewage system on the grounds of a former home for unmarried mothers and their children in the west of Ireland.

Little attention was paid to her claims at first, but the questions eventually led to the establishment of a state-financed investigation. And on Friday, the investigators said that the remains of babies, small children and fetuses had been found where she said they would.

The discovery, in the County Galway town of Tuam, was announced on the website of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. “The commission is shocked by this discovery and is continuing its investigation into who was responsible for the disposal of human remains in this way,” the agency said in a statement.

From 1925 to 1961, the St. Mary’s home was run by the Sisters of Bon Secours, a Roman Catholic order, but was financed by the Irish government. Tests showed that most of the remains were “likely to date from the 1950s,” according to the statement, which added that further examinations were being conducted.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Foxboro Reporter

By Bera Dunau The Foxboro Reporter Mar 2, 2017

The Foxboro Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Committee is hitting the books

At its February meeting, the committee discussed the input it received on Jan. 23 from Massachusetts State Rep. Theodore Speliotis, D-Danvers on its effort to expand the definition of a mandatory reporter for child abuse and neglect in Foxboro. Speliotis is the House Third Reading Committee Chairman, and he expressed a preference for expanding the definition statewide, as opposed to just in Foxboro.

“He alluded that they (the legislature) don’t like to do that, because it confuses people,” said Foxboro Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Committee Chair Bob Correia.

Two bills have been submitted in the legislature, one which would expand the definition statewide and another that is a home rule petition that would just do so in Foxboro.

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JAMAICA
Loop

The application to have the sex cases of two Moravian clergymen transferred to Kingston from Manchester was again postponed Thursday.

The matter is now rescheduled for May 24 in the Manchester Circuit Court. The postponement this time is due to the prosecution asking for time to peruse documents disclosed on it by the defence.

The prosecution is to ask for the case against Rev Paul Gardner and Pastor Jermaine Gibson to be transferred to the Home Circuit Court for trial.

Gardner and Gibson were arrested Monday, January 23 and charged with carnal abuse in relation to the reported incident that occurred in 2002 and 2004.

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MINNESOTA
The Journal

MAR 4, 2017

KEVIN SWEENEY
Editor
ksweeney@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — The Diocese of New Ulm is filing for Chapter 11 reorganization as it seeks to settle the lawsuits filed against it as a result of clerical sex abuse of children.

The Minnesota Child Victims Act lifted the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse, setting up a three-year period when victims of past sexual abuse could seek damages. That period ended last May, and the Diocese of New Ulm and some of its parishes are facing 101 lawsuits.

The Diocese is the third in the state to seek protection under U.S. bankruptcy laws for its sexual abuse lawsuits. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Duluth Diocese are the other two. The diocese is filing its petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota.

Bishop John LeVoir, head of the New Ulm Diocese, said Friday the diocese is seeking reorganization to assure that all claimants will be fairly compensated with the assets the diocese has available. If the diocese tried to handle each case separately it would exhaust its resources after the first few cases, leaving nothing for the rest of the victims.

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INDIA
One India

Written by: Vicky Nanjappa Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2017

The case of Kerala priest Robin Vadakkumchery who was finally caught after the victim became pregnant reminds me of the movie Spotlight. In that movie it is shown how the Boston Archdiocese was aware of instances of sexual abuse by priests. It also shows how influence was wielded on the police, media as well the judiciary to hush up the matter.

In Kerala, the public anger is clear against the Catholic Church after allegations of the shielding the pastor accused of raping a minor girl cropped up. It was a call that was made to a helpline which led to the tracing of the new-born child to a church-run orphanage.

Allegations of a cover up cropped up during the course of the investigation. It was found that the pastor had convinced the father of the victim to take the blame.

The Kerala police must probe further into this case. The victim gave birth at a hospital and then the baby was sent to an orphanage. Who were the persons who abetted this cover up? It was all hush-hush until that anonymous call was made by a Good Samaritan to the government child helpline.

The police say that in such cases, the victims go directly to the higher ups in the church. “They should come to the police station instead. The problem is that they fear social stigma, and hence seek recourse in the church itself. There are also several cases where the victims have remained quiet about it and suffer in silence. This should change and if victims and their parents go to the police, then the problem could be sorted out,” a police officer says.

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CANADA
Global News

By Gloria Henriquez

The release of a Montreal priest accused of sexually assaulting children has prompted swift backlash.

56-year-old Brian Boucher is facing several charges related to the sexual abuse of children.

He was released on bail on Thursday with several conditions, including staying away from minors.

The Committee of Victims of Priests says the fact that Boucher was transferred from church to church was a sign something was wrong.

The group’s members believe it’s time for an investigation into the upper echelons of Quebec’s Catholic Church.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com March 4, 2017

Canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger said she does not wish to say anything critical of the victims or their attorneys, but thinks it was a mistake not to participate in the Vatican canonical trial process.

Haselberger is one of two canon lawyers, as well as a longtime Catholic church blogger, who weighed in on the Vatican’s ongoing investigation on Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron. Apuron is accused of sexual abusing altar boys in the 1970s.

On advice from their lawyer David Lujan, former altar boys accusing Apuron of sexual abuse did not meet with the Vatican team when it traveled to Guam in mid-February, because Lujan was not allowed to be present.

The Vatican tribunal led by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke came to hear from witnesses as part of the Apuron investigation.

“Without the evidence provided by the victims, it is possible that the tribunal will not have enough upon which to base an affirmative decision,” Haselberger told Pacific Daily News. “And yes, the tribunal may consider that their refusal to participate reflects negatively on their claims.”

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GUAM
Associated Press

BY GRACE GARCES BORDALLO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — The leader of Guam’s Catholic Church believes financial settlements could be a good solution for the archdiocese, which is facing $115 million in civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse at the hands of priests.

Archbishop Michael Byrnes told The Associated Press Friday that settling with the alleged victims would be a “real promising option,” but he did not elaborate.

In 2016, the Rev. Louis Brouillard told the AP that he molested about 20 boys while he was a priest in Guam over a 30-year period, starting in the 1940s.

Byrnes said the 95-year-old Brouillard is the main figure in the 23 lawsuits, and that the church will pay for some of the priest’s legal fees.

“We’re not paying the legal defense of the accused,” Byrnes said. “In the specific case of Father Brouillard, we are going to pay for a lawyer for his deposition.”

Byrnes says the archdiocese has revamped its sexual abuse policies and will have greater financial transparency, adding that the archdiocese would like to avoid bankruptcy.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

JOHN MEAGHER, MONTREAL GAZETTE

Police believe there may be more alleged victims of Brian Boucher, a Montreal priest who is facing several charges related to sexual offences against minors allegedly committed between 1994 and 2011.

Boucher was charged Thursday with sexual assault, sexual touching, sexual interference and breaking and entering.

He was first arrested Jan. 12, but later released under strict conditions. However, he was arrested again on Wednesday after two more complaints surfaced.

Police said Boucher, 56, was still working as a priest when he was arrested this week, but the Archdiocese of Montreal released a statement Thursday that suggests otherwise.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mark Hilliard

The head of a PR company who appeared to play down concerns surrounding the mother-and-baby home in Tuam two years ago has conceded there now “appears to be a whole lot more to it”.

Terry Prone, whose company The Communications Clinic acts for the Bon Secours religious order at the centre of the investigation, wrote to a French TV company when the issue first arose saying they would find “no mass grave” at the Tuam home.

“If you come here you’ll find no mass grave, no evidence that children were ever so buried and a local police force casting their eyes to heaven and saying, ‘Yeah a few bones were found – but this was an area where famine victims were buried. So?’,” Ms Prone wrote to the France 2 documentary producer who had contacted the order looking for information on the subject.

She continued: “Several international TV stations have aborted their plans to make documentaries because essentially all that can be said is Ireland in the first half of the 20th century was a moralistic, inward looking, anti-feminist country of exaggerated religiosity which most of us knew already.”

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By BEN BOTKIN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

CARSON CITY — The Assembly Judiciary Committee on Friday passed a bill that would give child sexual abuse victims another decade to sue their perpetrators.

Assembly Bill 145 would extend the Nevada statute of limitations for victims to sue by another decade, from 10 years to 20 years. The clock on the statute of limitations would start after a victim turns 18 or discovers an injury was caused by the abuse, whichever comes later.

Supporters say the measure would help victims who often take years to realize that they were victimized as children and confront their abusers.

The measure passed unanimously and now goes to the full Assembly for a vote.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Elaine Edwards

A woman who visited the site of the Tuam mother and baby home four decades ago has recalled seeing what appeared like mineral bottles rolled up in cloth on top of each other when the ground collapsed under her.

“I was a few feet away from something I couldn’t explain. Now I would describe it as a Cidona bottle or a Coke bottle rolled up in a cloth and they were all piled on top of each other like sausages,” said Mary Moriarty.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline programme on Friday, she said she was later told by a woman who had worked on the grounds that they were the “little baby graves”.

She had gone to the site in the summer of 1975 after a child on the street “had a skull on a stick, shaking it”. She said there was “rubble and stuff” where the home was being demolished and the existing graveyard there was overgrown and covered in bushes. The ground collapsed beneath her and she “landed down in something”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Catherine Devine
March 3 2017

Social media users have paid tribute to all the mothers and babies who were at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.

It emerged today that significant quantities of human remains were discovered at the site excavated by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

In the memory of all those who were at the home, social media users are lighting a candle in their homes to remember those who suffered.

Colm O’Gorman from Amnesty International Ireland set up the initiative asking people to “light up twitter and our homes in memory of those children”.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on news stories that Catholic nuns in Ireland housed a mass grave of babies:

It was a lie in 2014 and it is a lie in 2017. There is no evidence of a mass grave outside a home for unmarried women operated by nuns in Tuam, Ireland, near Galway, in the 20th century. The hoax is now back again, and an obliging media are running with the story as if it were true.

Any objective and independent reporter would be able to report what I am about to say, but unfortunately there are too many lazy and incompetent reporters prepared to swallow the latest moonshine about the Catholic Church. If there were a Pulitzer for Fake News, the competition would be fierce.

Ireland’s Mother and Baby Commission completed its inquiry into this issue and released a statement on March 3rd about its findings today. The probe was a response to allegations made by a local historian, Catherine Corless, who claimed that 800 babies were buried in a tank outside the former Mother and Baby home that was operated by the Bon Secours nuns.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
4 Mar 2017

A FORMER trainee Catholic priest who gave evidence at the child abuse royal commission has slammed Pope Francis as “all words and no action” after the sudden resignation of the only abuse survivor on a Vatican commission for child protection.

Lawyer and former trainee priest Kieran Tapsell said he did not accept commentary that the Pope was “somehow prevented by an intransigent Curia” from acting quickly and decisively to change church responses to child sex crimes, after the resignation of Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins.

Mr Tapsell argued strongly at the royal commission that the church would not change until the Pope changed canon law and removed the secrecy provisions that protected church offenders, and the church from scrutiny about how it dealt with them.

“Pope Francis is an absolute monarch. He can change canon law imposing secrecy over all information obtained by the church on child sexual abuse cases with the stroke of a pen,” Mr Tapsell said.

“If bishops don’t do what he says, he can sack them. As Justice Peter McClellan told the royal commission, if there is to be any real change to the church in Australia, ultimately it has to come from Rome.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

3 Mar 2017

Paul Levey has never been back to Mortlake.

Not since he was sexually abused at the hands of disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale at the age of 14, while living with him at presbytery in the small western Victorian town in 1982.

“I don’t think I could ever bring myself to go back there,” he said.

“I only have horrible memories.”

Mr Levey was said he’d been left “gutted” to learn there were still plaques in south-western Victorian Catholic schools and churches honouring disgraced former Bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns.

Bishop Mulkearns was among a number of clergy who knew Ridsdale had a boy living with him, but failed to intervene.

Mr Levey welcomed a move by Warrnambool’s St Joseph’s Primary School to review whether to retain a plaque with the name of the disgraced former Bishop Mulkearns.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Mar. 3, 2017

A third Catholic diocese in Minnesota facing clergy sexual abuse lawsuits has declared bankruptcy, as New Ulm filed on March 3 for financial reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

In announcing the decision, the diocese cited the 101 lawsuits brought against it during the three-year window into the state’s statutes of limitations on civil cases involving sexual abuse of minors, which was opened by the 2013 Minnesota Child Victims Act. That window closed May 25, 2016.

Since the law lifted the statutes of limitations, three of six Minnesota dioceses have filed for bankruptcy: first, the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese in January 2015, which was followed that December by the Duluth diocese. Both of those bankruptcies remain ongoing.

In the Twin Cities case, creditors will be mailed ballots in the next 30 days to vote on two reorganization plans — one each put forth by the archdiocese and the creditors’ committee — at which point they will have 40 days to respond. The outcome will be taken into account by the judge, who will make the final decision.

Duluth is the 14th Catholic diocese in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy related to the sexual abuse of children by clergy. In addition, two religious orders have also filed for bankruptcy protection, according to Bishop-Accountability.org.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

March 03, 2017 10:45 AM

The Diocese of New Ulm announced Friday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The diocese covers 15 counties in south and west-central Minnesota.

According to officials, the Diocese of New Ulm is the 16th diocese or religious order in the United States to file for bankruptcy in recent years.

In Minnesota, both the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis as well as the Diocese of Duluth filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Both cases are still pending.

“The (Diocese of New Ulm) bankruptcy filing does not stop the pursuit of justice for sexual abuse survivors,” Attorney Mike Finnegan said in a statement. “Survivors will continue to seek truth and accountability in the bankruptcy process.”

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MINNESOTA
The Catholic Spirit

Maria Wiering | March 3, 2017

The Diocese of New Ulm filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code March 3 in response to 101 lawsuits related to clergy sexual abuse claims made against it. The lawsuits were filed during the Minnesota Child Victims Act’s three-year lifting of the statute of limitations that ended May 25, 2015.

In a statement, Bishop John LeVoir said that “reorganization is the fairest way to resolve sexual abuse claims while allowing the Church to continue its essential work of serving people in our local communities” and reiterated his “deepest apologies on behalf of the Diocese of New Ulm to victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse as minors.”

“Victims and survivors have shown incredible courage by stepping forward to help prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. Victims and survivors must be treated with dignity and just compensation is owed them, as well as our daily prayers. These are integral to the healing process,” he said.

Bishop LeVoir was a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis prior to his episcopal appointment to New Ulm.

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MINNESOTA
Reuters

By Jim Christie

A Catholic diocese in Minnesota filed for bankruptcy on Friday, joining more than a dozen other U.S. Catholic districts and religious orders driven to seek protection from creditors by the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm, which is southwest of Minneapolis, said in a statement it will use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its finances and produce a plan to pay creditors.

The rural diocese is defending 101 lawsuits involving alleged sex abuse by clergy mostly from the 1950s through the 1970s. Minnesota had lifted the civil statute of limitations for a period of three years ending May 25, 2016, allowing claims from prior decades to be brought.

“It is unknown how long this will take, but we seek to complete the reorganization process as promptly and efficiently as possible,” the diocese said.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Two campaign groups have urged the Minister for Children to publish an outstanding report on mother and baby homes, and said the State must ensure that all human remains buried in unmarked graves at institutions in Ireland are identified.

The Adoption Rights Alliance and Justice for Magdalenes Research groups demanded that Katherine Zappone publish a five-month-old report from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes on the issue of broadening the probe’s terms of reference.

On receiving the interim report last September, Ms Zappone said she intended to publish it after considering its findings.

She promised she would do so “as quickly as possible” because she was “mindful that many people and their families have strong personal connections to the work of this commission”.

At the time she also announced that she was sending the report to the attorney general for her advice and that she would respond to the issues raised by the statutory commission in consultation with her Cabinet colleagues.

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By Kieran Dineen, Public Affairs Correspondent and Emma O’Rourke
3rd March 2017

The Children’s Minister has said the discovery of children’s remains at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam was “not unexpected”.

Katherine Zappone made her remarks after the Mother and Baby Homes Commission released a statement confirming the find.

The results of the excavation dig in November and December 2016 show that “significant quantities of human remains” were discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers which were examined.

The recovered corpses range in age from 35 foetal weeks to 2-3 years old.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE RELIGIOUS ORDER that ran the Tuam mother and baby home where human remains have been found said it can make no comment on today’s announcement.

It did, however, reiterate its support for the Commission of Investigation into the home.

The Bon Secours sisters ran the home until it closed in 1961. All of the records for the home were given to Galway County Council at that time.

Today, it was confirmed that a “significant” amount of human remains were found on a site connected to the mother and baby home. The area had been flagged as a possible mass burial site by researcher Catherine Corless.

When asked for a statement on the issue, the nuns said:

The Bon Secours sisters are fully committed to the work of the Commission regarding the mother and baby home in Tuam. On the closing of the Home in 1961 all the records for the Home were returned to Galway County Council who are the owners and occupiers of the lands of the Home. We can therefore make no comment on today’s announcement, other than to confirm our continued cooperation with and support for the work of the Commission in seeking the truth about the home.

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IRELAND
Amnesty International

Amnesty International has called for an inquiry into allegations of decades of abuse suffered in Mother and Baby Homes in Northern Ireland, including site surveys to check if there are unmarked burials of babies and infants.

The renewed call from Amnesty comes after Ireland’s Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes has discovered a significant number of human remains in a decommissioned sewage chamber at a Mother and Baby Home in Tuam.

The organisation has called for a probe into abuse which former residents allege occurred in Mother and Baby Homes in Northern Ireland over a period of decades.

Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, Patrick Corrigan, said:

“Women in Northern Ireland have told Amnesty they suffered arbitrary detention, forced labour, ill-treatment, and the removal and forced adoption of their babies – criminal acts in both domestic and international law.

“Some also suspect that there was unofficial disposal of the remains of babies and infants who died at the homes.

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IRELAND
Associated Press

BY SHAWN POGATCHNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBLIN (AP) — A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland, government-appointed investigators announced Friday in a finding that offered the first conclusive proof following a historian’s efforts to trace the fates of nearly 800 children who perished there.

The judge-led Mother and Baby Homes Commission said excavations since November at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, had found an underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains.”

The commission said DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to 3 years old and were buried chiefly in the 1950s, when the overcrowded facility was one of more than a dozen in Ireland offering shelter to orphans, unwed mothers and their children. The Tuam home closed in 1961.

Friday’s findings provided the first proof after decades of suspicions that the vast majority of children who died at the home had been interred on the site in unmarked graves. That was a common, but ill-documented practice at such Catholic-run facilities amid high child mortality rates in early 20th century Ireland.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Elaine Edwards

Amnesty International has called on the Government to ensure that the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes fully investigates alleged human rights abuses, following the discovery of “significant” quantities of human remains in Tuam, Co Galway.

The commission confirmed on Friday remains had been found in what appeared to be a septic tank, although it could not confirm whether the structure had ever been used for sewage.

“Today’s distressing revelations underline the need to ensure that this commission of investigation is a meaningful opportunity to finally and fully ensure truth and accountability for what happened to women and children in these institutions,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.

“Our thoughts are very much with those most affected by today’s reports, the women who were former residents of the home and their loved ones.”

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IRELAND
Aljazeera

A mass grave containing the remains of babies has been found in the sewers of a former Catholic orphanage in western Ireland, according to investigators, confirming a local historian’s suspicions of the unmarked burial of hundreds of children.

Excavations found “significant quantities of human remains” in an underground structure divided into 20 chambers at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, a report from a government-appointed inquiry said on Friday.

The judge-led Mother and Baby Homes Commission said DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to 3 years old.

The investigators did not say how many babies’ remains were recovered, or how many might still be buried in what are believed to be the home’s sewage or waste water treatment system.

The announcement confirms decades of suspicions that the vast majority of children who died at the former home were buried in unmarked graves, a relatively common practice at such Catholic-run facilities amid high child mortality rates in early 20th century Ireland.

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IRELAND
Connacht Tribune

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The community in Tuam and affected families around the world are this evening coming to terms with the shocking confirmation that an unspecified number of babies and children were buried at the site of the former mother and baby home in the town.

The Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes across Ireland has been carrying out excavations at the location in recent months.

The story is this evening being featured by national and international media outlets.

The Commission of Investigation examining the issue says the shocking discovery was made in 17 of 20 underground chambers intended to be used as part of a sewage system.

Tests on a sample of the remains have dated to them to the 1950s – when the mother and baby home was in operation.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone says the discovery is not unexpected, but is still deeply disturbing and must be appropriately responded to.

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IRELAND
The Times

Catherine Sanz
March 3 2017
The Times

A “significant” amount of infant human remains has been discovered in underground sewage chambers at a former home for unmarried mothers and their babies in Ireland.

A commission set up to investigate alleged abuse at religious-run mother and baby homes has been carrying out an excavation at the former institution in Tuam, Co Galway, which was managed by the Bon Secours Sisters, an order of Catholic nuns.

It said it was shocked by the discovery of “significant quantities of human remains” in at least 17 of 20 underground chambers being excavated in recent weeks.

The commission was set up two years ago by the Irish government to examine state-sanctioned and mostly religious-run institutions used to house pregnant mothers.

It was charged with investigating high mortality rates at mother and baby homes across several decades of the 20th century, the burial practices at these sites and also secret and illegal adoptions and vaccine trials on children.

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IRELAND
The Journal

FORMER RESIDENTS FROM the Mother and Baby Home at Tuam have described the experience of being taken away from their mothers following today’s revelation about the mass grave at the site.

Earlier today, it was announced that the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes discovered a significant number of human remains in what appears to be a decommissioned sewage chamber in Tuam.

The Commission has completed two test excavations of the Galway site and today confirmed that “significant quantities of human remains have been discovered” in a structure which appears to be “related to the treatment/containment of sewerage and/or wastewater”.

The structure where the remains were found is long and divided into 20 chambers. The Commission is not yet clear if it was ever used for sewerage or wastewater.

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IRELAND
The Journal

Paul Redmond was born in Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home, transferred to Saint Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home in Dublin, and then adopted at 17 days old, on mid winter’s day 1964. He has been an activist, campaigner and researcher into Mother and Baby Homes for several years, and has founded three activist or support groups.

THE SURVIVOR COMMUNITY is not shocked by the latest news that hundreds of bodies of babies and children have been “discovered” at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home at Tuam. This is something we have known for many years.

What is shocking is that once again we have to learn of this news via the media.

The communications skills of the Minister and the Commission of Inquiry leave a lot to be desired when it comes to keeping the survivor community up to date with developments.

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UNITED KINGDOM/AUSTRALIA
BBC News

A former child migrant has described the Australian orphanage he was sent to as “a concentration camp”.

A statement by John Francis Hanley was read to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

Mr Hanley was migrated to Australia aged six and placed in the Castledare Orphanage near Perth, run by Roman Catholic order the Christian Brothers.

The children were “beaten, abused and used for the Brothers’ perverted desires,” the inquiry heard.

Mr Hanley, who was born in 1947, described being sexually abused by two Christian Brothers, both in his bed and in their rooms.

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IRELAND
The Journal

CATHERINE CORLESS SAYS she is not shocked by the confirmation today that a large number of children’s bodies have been found at the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway. The only thing she is surprised about is how the news is already out in the open.

“So many things get covered up these days, I am just so thankful that this has come out,” she told TheJournal.ie this afternoon. “I think I half expected that it would be toned down or covered up in some way.”

At a hastily-convened press conference this morning, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone confirmed that a ‘significant’ number of human remains have been discovered at the site of the former Bon Secours home in Tuam. A forensic analysis of some of the remains has found that they were children, ranging from tiny babies to 2-3-year-olds.

It is not yet known how many children were buried at the site. “We simply don’t know the numbers,” Zappone told the media.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY TREVOR QUINN
3 MAR 2017

The woman who exposed the sickening Tuam mass baby grave today revealed that she had been told: “Just leave them there.”

Today brought shocking confirmation that hundreds of infants were discarded in the septic tank of a former mother and baby home, following recent digs in the Galway town.

Historian Catherine Corless, 62, who drove the campaign for justice for nearly 800 dead tots, said she was told to IGNORE their plight.

She said when she started her research it was “nicely covered in and forgotten about”.

“I was asked, ‘What are you doing? It’s a long time ago. If there’s bodies there just leave them’.”

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IRELAND
The Sun

By John Shammas
3rd March 2017

A MASS grave thought to contain the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland where almost 800 perished in deaths that were never documented.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission said excavations since November at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, had made disturbing discoveries.

Investigators have found an underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains”.

DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to three years old and were buried mainly in the 1950s.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

The scale of remains found in Tuam burial ground has caused profound upset

Confirmation that the remains of a significant number of babies and infants up to three years of age, probably in their hundreds, have been found on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, has prompted profound upset.

It follows an investigation by the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes which carried out planned excavations there in 2015. The commission’s admission that it was “shocked” by the scale of the discovery reflects the disturbing circumstances of what has the hallmarks of inhuman burial.

Test trenches were dug revealing two large structures. The fact that one structure appears to be a sewage containment system or septic tank that had been decommissioned and filled with rubble adds to the distress of those trying to come to terms with this dark episode. The second connected structure is divided into 20 chambers; 17 of which contained remains.

These related to individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two to three years. Radiocarbon testing suggests they date from the timeframe relevant to the operation of the home, from 1925 to 1961. This was not (as suggested by some) a Famine grave from the mid 19th century when mass burial became the norm in desperate times.

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MINNESOTA
Associated Press

BY AMY FORLITI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota diocese filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, the 14th nationwide and third in the state to do so in the face of mounting claims of sexual abuse by clergy.

The Diocese of New Ulm, which covers 15 counties in rural south and west-central Minnesota, said in a statement that filing for bankruptcy protection is the fairest way to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse while continuing its operations. Bishop John LeVoir also apologized to victims and abuse survivors.

“Victims and survivors have shown incredible courage by stepping forward to help prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again,” LeVoir said in a statement. “Victims and survivors must be treated with dignity and just compensation is owed them, as well as our daily prayers.”

The diocese and some of its parishes faced 101 lawsuits under a Minnesota law that created a three-year window for victims of past sexual abuse to file claims. That window closed in May 2016. The diocese said that reorganization will help make sure all victims are compensated, noting that if the cases were resolved one by one, available assets and insurance would be used up before all cases could be heard.

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MINNESOTA
The Journal

NEW ULM — Bishop John LeVoir of the Diocese of the New Ulm has instructed attorneys to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code as it deals with the lawsuits that have been filed alleging childhood sexual abuse by diocesan priests.

A total of 101 lawsuits were filed against the diocese during three-year term set up by the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which lifted the statute of limitations on historical childhood sexual abuse claims.

The reorganization doesn’t include parishes, Catholic schools or other Catholic organizations served by the diocese.

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SUISSE
Le Nouvelliste

[Sexual Abuse in Valais: The Bishop of Sion promises to investigate suspicion of abuse.]

PAR CHRISTINE SAVIOZ

PEDOPHILIE – Après l’interview de Jean-Marie Fürbringer, l’une des victimes valaisannes du capucin pédophile, l’évêque de Sion a accepté de réagir. Il l’affirme: les prêtres abuseurs seront poursuivis.

A la découverte du témoignage de Jean-Marie Fürbringer abusé par le Père Joël à Saint-Maurice dans les années septante (voir le Nouvelliste de mercredi), Mgr Jean-Marie Lovey confie avoir été «très ému. J’ai été touché par la souffrance qu’il ressent tant d’années après les faits.»

En réponse à Jean-Marie Fürbringer qui dénonce «un manque de courage» du diocèse de Sion dans la lutte contre les abus sexuels commis par les prêtres, Mgr Lovey a accepté de répondre.

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SUISSE
Le Nouvelliste

PAR CHRISTINE SAVIOZ

ABUS – Né à Saint-Maurice en 1963, Jean-Marie Fürbringer est l’une des victimes du Père Joël, le capucin pédophile dénoncé par Daniel Pittet dans son livre-témoignage récent. Etabli aujourd’hui à Lausanne, devenu physicien, il raconte son parcours. A découvrir en vidéo.

«Je dois m’occuper de cet enfant de 11 ans abusé qui est en moi.» Dans son salon familial à Lausanne, Jean-Marie Fürbringer (53 ans) prononce ces mots avec émotion. Ce Valaisan de naissance, physicien de métier, est l’une des nombreuses victimes du père Joël, le capucin dénoncé par le fribourgeois Daniel Pittet dans un livre-témoignage. Jean-Marie Fürbringer est la seule personne abusée en Valais à avoir déposé plainte à Saint-Maurice contre son abuseur en 1995. Plainte cependant refusée pour cause de faits prescrits. Pour rappel, le père Joël a passé trois ans au foyer des capucins agaunois dans les années septante (voir «Le Nouvelliste» du 15 février 2017).

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SCHWEIZ
cath.ch

[The accused pedophile Kapuziner Joël Allaz has also committed sexual assaults in the Valais. Now a victim in the newspaper Le Nouvelliste (March 1) speaks of what the Capuchin has done to him.]

Sitten SV, 2.3.17 (kath.ch) Der pädophile Kapuziner Joël Allaz hat auch im Wallis sexuelle Übergriffe begangen. Nun spricht ein Opfer gegenüber der Zeitung «Le Nouvelliste» (1. März) von dem, was ihm der Kapuziner angetan hat. Das Opfer Jean-Marie Fürbringer (53) wirft dem aktuellen Bischof von Sitten, Jean-Marie Lovey, in einem weiteren Beitrag der Zeitung (2. März) zudem einen «Mangel an Mut» vor im Kampf gegen sexuellen Missbrauch.

Dem Bericht vom 1. März zufolge wohnte Allaz in den 1970er Jahren während drei Jahren im Kapuzinerkloster von Saint-Maurice VS. Jean-Marie Fürbringer war ungefähr zehn Jahre alt, als sich der Kapuziner an ihn heranmachte. Er wohnte mit seinen Eltern in Lavey, einer Ortschaft neben Saint-Maurice. Der Knabe hatte in der Schule Mühe mit der Rechtschreibung. Laut der Zeitung bot Allaz den Eltern von Jean-Marie an, ihrem Sohn Nachhilfestunden zu geben. Im Rahmen dieser Nachhilfestunden kam es zu den mehreren Übergriffen, die Fürbringer gegenüber der Zeitung beschreibt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

The accusation against a clergyman has ended but the Wurzburg bishop wanted another opinion.]

Missbrauchsvorwurf: Die Ermittlungen gegen einen Geistlichen sind beendet. Das war bekannt. Doch nun gibt es im Fall „Alexandra W.“ einen bislang unbekannten Aspekt.

Nun hat auch die Diözese Würzburg offiziell mitgeteilt, dass die Ermittlungen des Missbrauchsbeauftragten gegen einen ihrer Geistlichen beendet sind. Wie diese Redaktion bereits berichtete, hat Professor Klaus Laubenthal das Verfahren Ende Januar eingestellt.

Insgesamt hatte der Ordinarius für Kriminologie und Strafrecht an der Uni Würzburg zwei Vorwürfe sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den Priester geprüft. Den ersten hat Alexandra W. 2013 erhoben. Zu diesem ersten Vorwurf gab es eine kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchung. Dieses Verfahren wurde im Dezember 2015 eingestellt. Nach weltlichem Strafrecht war der Fall verjährt.

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VATIKAN
religion@orf

[Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller has reproached the allegation that the Vatican is not resolutely opposed to abuse.]

Kurienkardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat den Vorwurf, der Vatikan gehe nicht entschieden genug gegen Missbrauchstäter vor, zurückgewiesen.

„Das ist nicht der Fall. Man muss verstehen, dass wir als Kirche kein weltliches Urteil fällen“, sagte der Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation der „Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung“ (Freitag-Ausgabe) im Interview. Zuvor hatte der Rücktritt des einzigen verbliebenen Missbrauchsopfers Marie Collins aus der päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission für Kritik gesorgt – mehr dazu in Missbrauchsopfer verlässt Vatikan-Kommission.

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ROME
cath.ch

[Was the Pope too merciful? – An abuse situation in Italy raises new questions.]

Rom, 3.3.17 (kath.ch) Im Juni 2014 stand Bischof Oscar Cantoni vor einer Aufgabe die ihm offenbar nicht ganz leicht fiel: Der Leiter des norditalienischen Bistums Crema musste seinen Gläubigen erklären, warum «die Glaubenskongregation im Namen von Papst Franziskus» die Strafe für Don Mauro Inzoli abmilderte, der mehrere Jugendliche sexuell missbraucht hatte.

Keine Sünde sei so schrecklich, dass man ihr nicht mit Barmherzigkeit begegnen könne, schrieb der Bischof in seiner Erklärung vom 26. Juni 2014. Hierbei zitierte er aus dem Buch «Barmherzigkeit» des deutschen Kurienkardinals Walter Kasper; Franziskus hatte das Werk ausdrücklich empfohlen.

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IRLAND
Spiegel

[Investigators in Ireland find a mass grave of children.]

Ermittler haben in einem ehemaligen Heim für unverheiratete Mütter in Irland ein Massengrab mit den sterblichen Überresten von Kinderleichen entdeckt. Wie eine Untersuchungskommission in Dublin mitteilte, wurden in unterirdischen Kammern im westirischen Tuam “erhebliche Mengen” Knochen gefunden. Einige der Leichen seien untersucht worden. Es handelt sich demnach um Föten und Kinder im Alter von zwei bis drei Jahren.

Das Heim in Tuam wurde von 1925 bis 1961 von der katholischen Kirche betrieben. Die Leichen stammen der Untersuchungskommission zufolge höchstwahrscheinlich aus dieser Zeit. “Die Kommission ist schockiert von dieser Entdeckung und ermittelt weiterhin, wer verantwortlich für die Entsorgung menschlicher Überreste in dieser Art war”, hieß es in einer Mitteilung.

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IRELAND
The Anglo-Celt

Friday, 3rd March, 2017

A jury has failed to reach a majority verdict in the case of a priest from the Diocese of Kilmore accused of alleged sexual assault on a woman when she was a young teenager in the early 90s, and once in 2004.

After a three-day trial at Cavan Circuit Court, the defendant was remanded on bail to March 16 for directions from the DPP on the matter.

The defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim, had pleaded not guilty to a total of 23 charges when arraigned before Judge Martin Nolan at Cavan Circuit Court earlier this week.

The charges involved sexual assault on a female at two separate locations on dates between August 1991 and 1993, when the injured party was still in her early teens, and one charge of sexual assault on the same woman, dated in August 2004.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Justin Zaremba | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

MORRISTOWN — Another former Delbarton School student has come forward alleging he was sexually abused by a priest at the elite boys’ prep school decades ago.

The former student is the sixth man represented by attorney Gregory Gianforcaro to accuse one of the Benedictine monks who taught at the school of sexual abuse. All six have filed civil suits against the private school.

Many of the accusations of sex abuse of students date back to the 1980s and 1990s, but, in this latest case, the man alleges he was sexually abused by the Rev. Richard Lott, also known as Edward Lott, on January 1, 1976.

The man also accused the school and its officials of negligence, misconduct and fraudulently concealing information from him in order to shield the school from criminal prosecution and scandal.

Delbarton’s attorney, Donald Okner, declined comment.

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MINNESOTA
Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, New Ulm Police Department Investigator Jeff Hohensee confirmed that the investigation into allegations of improper conduct by Fr. Sam Wagner is not completed.

By Deb Moldaschel, Editor

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, New Ulm Police Department Investigator Jeff Hohensee confirmed that the investigation into allegations of improper conduct by Fr. Sam Wagner is not completed. Fr. Wagner had been placed on leave from ministry by the Diocese of New Ulm, earlier this month, when the allegations were brought to their attention.

“The investigation is still continuing,” said Hohensee. “I am currently conducting interviews of church members and other potential witnesses.” Hohensee said search warrants were granted in the case and he is awaiting the results of those warrants—digital evidence.

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MINNESOTA
Minneapolis Star Tribune

It is the 16th Catholic Diocese in the country to file for bankruptcy.

By Rochelle Olson and Jean Hopfensperger MARCH 3, 2017

The Diocese of New Ulm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, becoming the 16th Catholic religious organization in the nation to seek protection from clergy sex abuse claims.

The New Ulm Diocese had received 101 claims of child sex abuse in recent years, and financial reorganization was the fairest way to address the claims, said New Ulm Bishop John LeVoir in a statement.

The claims were made through the 2013 Minnesota Child Victim’s Act, which opened a three-year window for filing older abuse claims.

“Reorganization provides the diocese a process to fulfill its obligation, as much as possible, to victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse of minors, while continuing to carry out its ministry,” LeVoir said in a statement.

New Ulm is the third Minnesota diocese to declare bankruptcy in response to an outpouring of child sexual abuse claims. The St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese and the Duluth Diocese filed in 2015. The cases are making their way through federal bankruptcy court.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm

Message from Bishop LeVoir – video

On March 3, 2017, the corporation of the Diocese of New Ulm filed for financial reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Chapter 11 provides a neutral, court-supervised process for the Diocese of New Ulm to establish a plan to pay its creditors while continuing work essential to its mission.

The Diocese’s creditors are victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse as minors who filed a total of 101 lawsuits against the Diocese and some parishes within the geographic area the Diocese serves under the Minnesota Child Victims Act. That Act lifted the civil statute of limitations for a period of three years, ending on May 25, 2016. The lifting of the civil statute of limitations allowed people to file claims of sexual abuse, regardless of when that abuse happened. Most of the abuse claims stem from incidents reported to have occurred from the 1950s through the 1970s. No priests accused of abuse are currently in public ministry in the Diocese.

The Diocese and those representing victims and survivors will continue to work together, under the guidance of the court, to come to a fair resolution of claims. It is unknown how long this will take, but we seek to complete the reorganization process as promptly and efficiently as possible.

Parishes, Catholic schools and other Catholic organizations located in the geographic area served by the Diocese are not part of this filing. Parishes and other Catholic organizations are separate corporations under Minnesota law.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

3/3/2017

(New Ulm, MN) – Today, the Diocese of New Ulm filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. The Diocese of New Ulm is the sixteenth Catholic Diocese or Religious Order to file for bankruptcy in the United States. In 2015, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis and the Diocese of Duluth filed for bankruptcy protection as well. Both cases are still pending in bankruptcy court.

“The bankruptcy filing does not stop the pursuit of justice for sexual abuse survivors,” said Attorney Mike Finnegan. “Survivors will continue to seek truth and accountability in the bankruptcy process.”

Sexual abuse survivors advocated for the diocese to release the names of credibly accused priests who worked in the Diocese of New Ulm. In March 2016, the diocese agreed to release the names of 16 priests with credible allegations of child sexual abuse.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3473 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3473 Cell/612.205.5531

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MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

NEW ULM — The Diocese of New Ulm filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, Jeff Anderson & Associates PA announced today in a press release.

The Diocese of New Ulm is the 16th Catholic Diocese or Religious Order to file for bankruptcy in the United States.

In 2015, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Duluth filed for bankruptcy protection as well. Both cases are still pending in bankruptcy court.

“The bankruptcy filing does not stop the pursuit of justice for sexual abuse survivors,” Attorney Mike Finnegan said in the press release. “Survivors will continue to seek truth and accountability in the bankruptcy process.”

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Corriere della Sera

Guido Vecchi

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO «Ha voluto un po’ scuotere l’albero». Il cardinale Pietro Parolin, Segretario di Stato vaticano, non si scompone dopo le dimissioni di Marie Collins, l’ultima ex vittima rimasta nella Commissione per la protezione dei minori istituita nel 2014 da Francesco contro la pedofilia nel clero. Il cardinale parla all’uscita una conferenza sull’esortazione del Papa «Evangelii Gaudium», nel seminario arcivescovile di Firenze. Marie Collins ha parlato di «bastoni tra le ruote» e «una mancanza di collaborazione vergognosa» nella Curia romana. «Ci sono stati alcuni episodi che hanno portato la signora Collins a questo passo: per quello che io conosco, lei li ha interpretati così, e ha sentito che l’unica maniera di reagire, anche un po’ per scuotere l’albero, era quella di dare le dimissioni».

L’impegno prosegue

Il Segretario di Stato parla del lavoro della commissione e del suo presidente, l’arcivescovo di Boston Sean O’Malley: «Ho visto sempre un grande impegno del cardinale O’Malley per la protezione dei fanciulli: stanno portando avanti un bel lavoro di sensibilizzazione. Di per sé la commissione non deve occuparsi degli abusi sessuali, è la Congregazione per la Dottrina della fede che lo fa, ma deve preoccuparsi soprattutto di creare nella Chiesa un ambiente che sia tale che difenda bambini e ragazzi, li tuteli, e non permetta il ripetersi di episodi di pedofilia».

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín March 3, 2017
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the commission’s work will continue under the command of Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley. The American prelate defined Marie Collin’s departure as a “blow to the commission,” but one which “increases our resolve to work harder for reform.”

ROME- According to Pope Francis’s right-hand man, a survivor of clerical sexual abuse who resigned earlier this week from a papal anti-abuse commission quit because she wanted to “shake the tree” in the Vatican.

Speaking to Crux, survivor Marie Collins had said some members of the Church’s governing body, known as the Roman Curia, have hindered and blocked the work being done by the commission. Talking to America magazine later on, she specifically named the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quotes Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, as saying that there have been specific episodes which led Collins to take the step she did.

“For what I know, she has interpreted them as [lack of cooperation], and felt that the only way to act, even to ‘shake the tree’ a little, was to present her resignation,” Parolin said in Florence while attending a conference about Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Mar. 3, 2017

EDITORIAL

The resignation of Marie Collins from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is a turning point in Pope Francis’ pontificate. It cannot be seen any other way. For all the hope and promise that we find in Francis and his vision for the church, we believe his pontificate teeters on the brink of failure on the issue of sexual abuse by the clergy.
For three and a half years, Francis has promised to take real action to bring accountability to the highest structures of the church and to help heal survivors. Now the commission he created to do that must confront serious questions about its credibility.

For his part, Francis must take some decisive, public action here. He must empower the commission with authority — a fully functioning commission cannot operate without a budget, permanent staff and the power to hire outside expertise. Beyond that, Francis must act to guarantee that the Vatican dicasteries and their personnel cooperate fully with the commission. Those who deliberately frustrate the commission’s work, no matter what level of the Curia they represent, must be replaced with personnel who will claim the eradication of this scandal as part of their mission.

But something deeper is at play here. If all we get are stronger managerial presences and dedicated staff and office space, we may not get the full reform of structures this issue calls out for. A resistance to change that is planted deep within the all-male clerical culture is the largely unaddressed issue at the heart of the scandal and has been since the first major story about it appeared in these pages more than 30 years ago.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Fiona Hamilton, Crime Editor
March 3 2017
The Times

Police officers have been unable to use a new law to catch paedophiles because of lengthy government delays, it has emerged.

The Ministry of Justice is facing questions about why it has failed for two years to implement measures intended to prevent child grooming, even though the number of cases has more than tripled in recent years.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said that the delays were a “disgrace” and called on ministers urgently to enact the law.

Sexual predators can currently only be arrested and charged if they meet a child after grooming them. However, a law was passed in March 2015 that would make it illegal for an adult to send a sexual communication to a child, either over the phone or via the internet.

The law is contained in section 67 of the Serious Crime Act but it is awaiting the “commencement order” that is needed before police forces can start using it. The NSPCC said that in the meantime children are being put at risk and pointed to a sharp rise in the number of abusers meeting children they have groomed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter
March 3 2017
The Times

A man accused of several sex offences against a 12-year-old boy is head of music at a top public school, it can be revealed after a gagging order was lifted.

Sean Farrell’s role at Wellington College, in Crowthorne, Berkshire, was kept secret when he appeared before magistrates last week.

He is charged with sex crimes said to have been committed in North Yorkshire three decades ago against a pupil at Ampleforth College, a leading Roman Catholic school.

Reporters and the public were ordered to leave the court in York last Thursday before Deputy District Judge Edward Barr banned the media from revealing where and in what role Mr Farrell was employed.

The restriction had been requested by his former wife. It was overturned yesterday after a challenge by The Times, which said that Judge Barr had no power to make it.

Mr Farrell, 49, is a former Ampleforth pupil and his alleged victim was at Gilling Castle, the college’s prep school at which Mr Farrell had been a student music teacher between 1985 and 1986.

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UNITED STATES
Father Kenneth Lasch

Thursday March 2, 2017

Website Editor’s Note: Last week, I posted a combination of several articles dealing with the unfinished business associated with the scandal of sexual abuse in the RC Church. I realize that many if not most folks in the pew assume it’s over and done with. But alas, notwithstanding Pope Francis’ intention to hold accountable bishops who defaulted on their responsibility to protect children and vulnerable adults, in fact the process of adjudication and justice has broken down. In his Apostolic Letter, ‘As a Loving Mother’, Pope Francis laid down the procedure whereby bishops are to be held accountable: “The diocesan Bishop or Eparch, or one who holds a temporary title and is responsible for a Particular Church or other community of faithful that is its legal equivalent, according to can. 368 CIC or can. 313 CCEO, can be legitimately removed from office if he has through negligence committed or through omission facilitated acts that have caused grave harm to others, either to physical persons or to the community as a whole. The harm may be physical, moral, spiritual or through the use of patrimony.” [Article One, § 1}

The Commission established by Pope Francis to deal with allegations of sexual abuse has been stalled for over two years.

In the light of so many wonderful words and counsels written and spoken that have emanated from Pope Francis moving the Church toward a renewal spearheaded by the Second Vatican Council, it is disheartening to acknowledge the fact that he has dropped the ball on following up on his own admonitions and exhortations regarding sexual abuse. There is no question that justice and mercy must embrace [Psalm 87] but there can be no mercy until there is justice, no justice until there is full disclosure and accountability.

The following video except is riveting testimony that has emerged from the Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse in Australia. It may be rightly assumed to be testimony that might be duplicated in other parts of the world. Based on the history of sexual abuse in Ireland, in the US and in other countries across the globe, it is chilling to imagine what such a commission might yield in this country. Click Testimony.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Isobel Frodsham For Mailonline

The head of music at a £37,000-a-year top private school in Berkshire has been suspended following claims he sexually assaulted a s 12-year-old boy three decades ago.

Sean Farrell, 49, was removed from his post at Wellington College, in Crowthorne, ‘several months ago’ after a police investigation commenced.

His ex-wife applied for a gagging order to prevent his workplace and job being named when Farrell appeared at York Magistrates Court last week.

However, after it was challenged, the order was lifted, according to The Times.

He is accused of two charges of indecent assault and two charges of gross indecency against a boy at Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, in the 1980s. Farrell denies the claims.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

3/3/2017

I’m delighted to share publicly the important letter I received today from the Australian Jewish community’s peak body, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), an organisation in which I was honoured to serve as a vice president some years ago.

To me personally, and often to victims/survivors more broadly, justice and accountability is particularly important, especially in the context of the child sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed the Australian Jewish community over the last few years. To me (and to many others), the ECAJ, along with many other communal institutions, failed us. Which is why I have continued to raise the issue of justice and accountability. While many may have forgotten the extent of what transpired over many years, many of us have not. We can not. We live with different aspects of it daily. And as the target of much of the vitriol and worse over many years – for merely pursuing justice for myself and others, and to ensure our children are safe – I’ve continued to live with all of this until this day.

Which is why this powerful letter from the ECAJ is so important – to me, to my fellow victims/survivors, and indeed to many in the broader community. No doubt it will contribute to the ongoing healing process for many.

From a personal perspective, it is another important milestone in my journey. This letter effectively resolves all the outstanding personal issues I have with all Jewish Australian institutions (notwithstanding my civil case against Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, as well as the Jewish Taskforce Against Family Violence’s recent decision to shut their doors seemingly instead of accepting responsibility and apologising for their failures). It is also further vindication of my work to date. I hope and expect that this outcome, which is what I’ve been striving to achieve over the past few years, will lift further weight off my shoulders.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Kevin Doyle
March 3 2017

SIGNIFICANT quantities of human remains have been discovered at a Galway site excavated by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

The Commission has described itself as “shocked” by the discovery made in Tuam over recent weeks.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation is currently probing how unmarried mothers and their babies were treated between 1922 and 1998 at 18 State-linked religious institutions.

A small number of the remains discovered in Tuam were recovered for the purpose of analysis.

“These remains involved a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to 2-3 years,” the body said.

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IRELAND
The Journal

* Human remains found at site of Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam
* They were discovered in what appears to be some type of sewage container
* Scientific analysis puts the age of death between 35 foetal weeks and 2 to 3 years
* Radiocarbon dating confirms the remains are from the time the home was in operation – many are likely to be from the 1950s.

THE COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION into Mother and Baby Homes has discovered a significant number of human remains in what appears to be a decommissioned sewage chamber in Tuam.

The Commission has completed two test excavations of the Galway site and today confirmed that “significant quantities of human remains have been discovered” in a structure which appears to be “related to the treatment/containment of sewerage and/or wastewater”.

The structure where the remains were found is long and divided into 20 chambers. The Commission is not yet clear if it was ever used for sewerage or wastewater.

There were remains found in at least 17 of the 20 chambers. A small number of the remains were recovered for testing. A scientific analysis has put the ages of the deceased at between 35 foetal weeks to two to three years old.

Radiocarbon dating suggests that they are from the time the Bon Secours home was in operation between 1925 and 1961. A number of the samples are likely to be from the 1950s.

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IRELAND
BBC News

“Significant quantities” of human remains have been discovered at the site of a former mother and baby home in County Galway.

In October 2016 the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation began test excavations at the site in Tuam.

The commission was established following allegations about the deaths of 800 babies in Tuam and the manner in which they were buried.

It said it was “shocked” by the discovery.

The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions in which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women are thought to have been sent.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Residents from the housing estate constructed on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam have been invited to a meeting to discuss this morning’s revelations that a significant amount of human remains was found at the site.

The meeting has been organised by Galway County Council and is taking place at the Town Hall in Tuam this afternoon.

Residents were informed of the commission’s findings in a leaflet drop to all homes in the Dublin Road housing estate this morning.

The council has said it recognises that the scale of the discoveries will be upsetting and difficult for many locals, several of whom tended the site where the remains were located for several years.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY TREVOR QUINN
3 MAR 2017

The discovery of a ‘significant quantities’ of human remains has been described as “sad and disturbing” by Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone today.

The horrific find, in a structure next to a septic tank, happened after a test excavation of the site by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission in Tuam, Co Galway during recent months.

The test excavation came after a ground survey in October 2015 identified a number of ‘sub surface anomalies and a further investigation was recommended.

Some of the skeletal remains are now being analysed and it’s estimated their age of death ranges from 35 foetal weeks to 2 to 3 years and date back to the 1950’s.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Human remains of a significant number of babies and infants up to three years of age have been found on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway. This follows work by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation which carried out planned excavations there.

What is the Commission and what is its remit?

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was established by the last government on February 17th 2015 and is chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

It is directed to investigate and to make a report to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 (No. 23 of 2004).

The Commission has been asked, among other things, to establish the circumstances and arrangements for the entry of single women into mother and baby homes and to establish the living conditions they experienced there.

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IRELAND
RTE News

“Significant quantities” of human remains have been discovered at the site of the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

It comes after the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation began test excavations at the site of the children’s burial ground on the Dublin Road housing estate in Tuam, Co Galway in October 2016.

The commission was established following allegations about the deaths of 800 babies in Tuam over a number of decades and the manner in which they were buried.

In a statement today, the commission said significant quantities of human remains have been discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers which were examined earlier this year.

It added: “These remains involved a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two-three years.”

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IRELAND
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs – Irish government

Friday 3rd March, 2017

Katherine Zappone TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs today commented on the finding of human remains on the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co. Galway. This follows work by the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes which carried out planned excavations there.

The Minister said:

“This is very sad and disturbing news. It was not unexpected as there were claims about human remains on the site over the last number of years.

Up to now we had rumours. Now we have confirmation that the remains are there, and that they date back to the time of the Mother and Baby Home, which operated in Tuam from 1925 to 1961.”

The Minister said that we must respond sensitively and respectfully to the situation. She said that her Department had brought together all of the key Departments and agencies to set out a way forward. This will include the following:

– The Commission will continue its work under its terms of reference, including such matters as post mortem practices and procedures, reporting and burial arrangements for residents of Mother and Baby Homes

– The Coroner for North Galway will take the steps he deems necessary under his independent statutory functions

– Galway County Council will engage with the Commission in relation to the immediate next steps on the site

– Galway County Council will engage with local residents and other interested parties on what should happen next in relation to the remains

– There will be an information line for factual information, and a service for those who feel personally affected by the news.

Minister Zappone added:

“Today is about remembering and respecting the dignity of the children who lived their short lives in this Home. We will honour their memory and make sure that we take the right actions now to treat their remains appropriately.”

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IRELAND
Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation

The Commission has completed its test excavation of the Tuam site.

The stratigraphic survey which was conducted in October 2015 identified a particular area of interest and identified a number of sub surface anomalies that were considered worthy of further investigation. These were further investigated by a test excavation in November/December 2016 and in January/February 2017. Test trenches were dug revealing two large structures. One structure appears to be a large sewage containment system or septic tank that had been decommissioned and filled with rubble and debris and then covered with top soil. The second structure is a long structure which is divided into 20 chambers. The Commission has not yet determined what the purpose of this structure was but it appears to be related to the treatment/containment of sewage and/or waste water. The Commission has also not yet determined if it was ever used for this purpose.

In this second structure, significant quantities of human remains have been discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers which were examined. A small number of remains were recovered for the purpose of analysis. These remains involved a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to 2-3 years. Radiocarbon dating of the samples recovered suggest that the remains date from the timeframe relevant to the operation of the Mother and Baby Home (the Mother and Baby Home operated from 1925 to 1961; a number of the samples are likely to date from the 1950s). Further scientific tests are being conducted.

The Commission is shocked by this discovery and is continuing its investigation into who was responsible for the disposal of human remains in this way. Meanwhile, the Commission has asked that the relevant State authorities take responsibility for the appropriate treatment of the remains. The Coroner has been informed.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is making a statement on the matter today.
Ministers statement

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Elaine Edwards

Human remains of a significant number of babies and infants up to three years of age have been found on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, it has been confirmed.

This follows work by the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes which carried out planned excavations there.

Local research records 796 infants and children recorded as having died in the Tuam home between 1925 and 1961, but there is not as yet any indication of exactly how many bodies have been discovered at the site.

In a statement on Friday, the commission said it was “shocked” by the discovery of remains in an underground chamber and was continuing its investigations.

“The stratigraphic survey which was conducted in October 2015 identified a particular area of interest and identified a number of sub surface anomalies that were considered worthy of further investigation,” the commission said.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com March 2, 2017 | Updated 7:49 p.m. ChT March 2,

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes extends his prayers and asks others to do the same for all victims of clergy sexual abuse, including five former altar boys who recently filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against former island priest Louis Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and other unnamed defendants.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Byrnes said he extends his prayers to former altar boys Morgan Wade Paul, Benny T. Manglona, Johnny T. Bascon, Albino T. Bascon and Roque Flores, as well as their families.

Their lawsuits have brought to 23 the total number of childhood sexual abuse cases filed so far in the U.S. District Court of Guam.

The 23 former altar boys, many of them also former Boy Scouts of America scouts, are represented by attorney David Lujan, of the law firm of Lujan and Wolff. More lawsuits are anticipated to be filed in the weeks ahead, attorneys for other survivors said.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes has asked Catholics in Guam to pray for all victims of clergy sexual abuse.

In a statement issued yesterday, Byrnes reacted to the latest five lawsuits filed in the District Court of Guam against the Archdiocese of Agana and former clergy who worked in parishes around the island.

Children must be ‘safeguarded’

“With every person or persons who come forward to share accounts of being abused by clergy in the Catholic Church on Guam, each of us should grieve deeply,” Byrnes said. “Sexual abuse of children, no matter when or where it occurred, represents a betrayal of trust and harm of the worst kind; it has a devastating impact on the victim.”

The archbishop said everyone in the Catholic Church must ensure that children entrusted to its care are “stringently safeguarded” from abuse or harm of any kind.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

The clergymen involved in the Moravian sex scandal will have to wait another 12 weeks to find out whether their case will move to the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

Reverends Dr Paul Gardner and Jermaine Gibson, who appeared before the Manchester Circuit Court this morning, had their bails extended and are expected to return to court on Wednesday, May 24.

According to their attorney, Peter Champagnie, the defence presented some documents to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) which has requested time to review them.

Gardner and Gibson were charged with carnal abuse arising from a series of incidents dating as far back as 2002.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whistleblowers

It appears that the safety of children and vulnerable adults is not a priority to Pope Francis. As Pope, he has all the power and authority he needs to make things happen in the Catholic Church. But in matters of clergy sexual abuse he has failed, perhaps because of his reluctance to walk in the shoes of the victims / survivors. Actions speak louder than words.

On March 1 Marie Collins of Ireland resigned from Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. She is the second victim / survivor of clergy sexual abuse as a minor to step away from this commission. The other is Peter Saunders of Great Britain who took a leave of absence from the group about one year ago.

In her public resignation comments Marie indicated that her dismay lies mainly in both the continued reluctance of the Vatican Curia to implement recommendations of the commission that the Pope had approved, and in the failure of Pope Francis to follow his own norms for holding accountable culprit bishops and religious superiors who negligently handled clergy sexual abuse allegations. Peter spoke similarly when he stepped away from the commission in February 2016.

The Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee congratulates and thanks both Marie and Peter for their courage and prophetic leadership.

Moreover, we realize that the Catholic Church is not competent to remedy its clergy sexual abuse crisis and scandal. Thus, the civil governments must act, be that at the federal, state, or local level.

Actually, Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that has functioned so productively these past few years provides an excellent example of what is needed. And we strongly support any and all civil authorities who establish such commissions. It’s about protecting minors and vulnerable adults.

Here is the link to the public statement by Marie Collins as presented in the National Catholic Reporter https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/exclusive-survivor-explains-decision-leave-vaticans-abuse-commission

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By Jack Moran
The Register-Guard
MARCH 3, 2017

A jury on Thursday deliberated less than 90 minutes before finding a Eugene priest guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

Daniel MacKay, 42, will return to Lane County Circuit Court next Thursday for sentencing. He faces a potential jail sentence. His lawyer, Terri Wood, declined comment after Judge Karrie McIntyre read the verdict.

The victim in the case was in the courtroom when the verdict was read, as were nearly 20 of MacKay’s friends and relatives. One of the priest’s friends, Patrick White, said he was “really shocked” by the jury’s decision after having listened to testimony in the case.

Jurors listened to nearly two hours’ worth of closing arguments from Wood and prosecutor JoAnn Miller before beginning deliberations shortly after 3 p.m.

Miller also declined comment after the verdict was returned.

MacKay testified in his own defense Wednesday and denied the allegations. He said that he met with the teenager and gave her money on several occasions because she appeared homeless and needy, and that he sometimes provides similar help to others in his neighborhood.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Betty Clermont

The Catholic Church has long been known for gut-wrenching sex abuse scandals. But this personal involvement by a pope is unprecedented.
____

Fr. Mauro Inzoli is now facing a second Vatican trial after new evidence emerged against him as reported on Feb. 25.

The Vatican found the Italian priest guilty in 2012 of sexually abusing young boys and he was defrocked. But Inzoli is friends with Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio who “intervened on behalf of Inzoli and Pope Francis returned him to the priestly state in 2014, inviting him to ‘a life of humility and prayer.’” Inzoli was later seen at a conference on the family.

In June 2016, a civil court convicted Inzoli of eight incidents of sexual violence between 2004 and 2008 against five children aged 12-16. Fifteen more crimes were barred by the statute of limitations. (Two out of three sexual assaults in the U.S. go unreported. An Australian report found a 33 year gap on average between the sexual abuse and the date reported.)

Inzoli was sentenced to four years and nine months. The Vatican had withheld information from their canonical trial from the civil prosecutors. “Of course, the pope could have allowed the Vatican to share this information with civil authorities if he so desired,” noted Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior correspondent at TheWeek.com.

The Inzoli case is one of several in which Francis overruled the advice of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and reduced a sentence that called for the priest to be laicized (defrocked). Instead, the priests were sentenced to penalties including a lifetime of penance and prayer and removal from public ministry. At the same time, Francis also ordered three longtime staffers at the CDF dismissed, two of whom worked for the discipline section that handles sex abuse cases.

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NEVADA
KTVN

By Paul Nelson

The Assembly Judiciary Committee heard testimony, in favor of of a bill that would double the length of the statute of limitations for child victims of sexual abuse. Nobody testified against the initiative, but more than a dozen people testified in favor of the change, including attorney Gloria Allred.

“It would help to empower victims and will assist victims to become survivors,” Allred said. “It will also teach the wrongdoers that they must bear the cost of the wrong and be accountable for what they have forced the victims to suffer.”

Allred testified on a similar bill, two years ago. The bill passed, changing the statute of limitations for criminal cases of sexual assault from 10 years to 20 years. The case was helped by the testimony of women who allege sexual allegations by Bill Cosby. Linda Kirkpatrick says she was sexually assaulted by Cosby in Las Vegas when she was 24 years old. She testified, Wednesday, for sexual abuse she endured as a child.

“When my sister-mama, Gloria, said ‘where are the children?’, my hand goes up,” Kirkpatrick said. “Six. I was six years old the first time I was sexually abused by a grown man, who was my brother.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Peter Lusted

The Catholic Church’s Melbourne Archdiocese has rejected an independent review’s recommendation to extend compensation for child sex abuse victims to their families or carers.

It also rejected the review’s recommendation to allow victims it has paid compensation to, to seek further legal action.

In August 2014, the church announced retired Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC would carry out an independent review of the Melbourne Response — the church’s program set up in 1996 by then-archbishop of Melbourne George Pell to deal with sexual abuse claims made against it.

Mr Ryan’s report was released in 2015 but it was suppressed by the church for more than a year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jane Lee

The Melbourne Archdiocese has rejected a recommendation that it extend its internal compensation scheme to secondary victims of child sexual abuse, including to parents and children of abuse.

Survivors of clergy abuse have long criticised the scheme – established by Cardinal George Pell in 1996 – for failing to properly compensate them for life-long trauma and in some cases adding to it. They also say that the church awards greater compensation when victims launch lawsuits.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart announced in April 2014 that he had appointed former Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan, QC, to review the Melbourne Response, the church’s internal compensation scheme for victims while giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. ​Despite receiving Mr Ryan’s report four months later, the archdiocese only tendered its recommendations to the royal commission last week.

Last November, the church revealed it would double the payment cap from $75,000 to $150,000 and previously agreed to review past claims.

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CANADA
Yahoo!

PR Newswire
March 2, 2017

MONTREAL, March 2, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ – The Archdiocese of Montreal reacted today to the criminal charges of a sexual nature brought against Fr. Brian Boucher, a diocesan priest. The process leading to his indictment came as a result of close collaboration between diocesan authorities and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).

“We unequivocally denounce all forms of abuse, whether physical, psychological or sexual; furthermore, anyone practising their faith within the Archdiocese of Montreal must be able to do so in total safety and without fear or misgiving,” said Bishop Alain Faubert, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General. “We would like to acknowledge the courage of those who contacted the Archdiocese to report what they had experienced. They are in our thoughts and prayers, as are their families, loved ones and the communities to which they belong.”

The Archdiocese would like to stress that as soon as its officials received testimony alleging misconduct by Fr. Boucher, every effort was made to shed light on these allegations. Diocesan authorities removed him from all Church ministry, launched an internal investigation, guided the alleged victims through the process, and collaborated with the police by sharing the results of its investigation.

Zero tolerance throughout the Archdiocese of Montreal

In June 2016, Most Rev. Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal, established a service to promote Responsible Pastoral Ministry, charged with ensuring a healthy and safe environment throughout the diocese. Through the decree establishing the service, the Archdiocese of Montreal applies a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding abusive behaviour of a physical, psychological or sexual nature to all those in its employ or acting on its behalf.

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AUSTRALIA
Cootamundra Herald

Reverend Brian Hassett was at the helm of Cootamundra’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church as Parish Priest from 1980 until 1989.

Following his tenure in Cootamundra, he moved to Tumut, from where claims arose and were investigated he inappropriately touched children.

The claims were investigated by the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn under the NSW Reportable Conduct Scheme and were substantiated, according to a spokesman for the church.

NSW Police has confirmed Tumut Police were not aware of any active investigations into the former priest.

It is understood the two complainants did not want to press charges.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

A Montreal priest is facing several charges related to sexual offences against minors police allege were committed between 1994 and 2011.

Brian Boucher, 56, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual touching, sexual interference and breaking and entering. The charges stem from three different cases, police said, and the alleged victims were all minors at the time they say the acts were committed.

Boucher was based in 10 different churches from 1985 to 2015, mostly found in Senneville, LaSalle, Dorval, Town of Mount Royal and downtown Montreal. According to Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant, Boucher was still working as a priest when he was arrested this week.

Boucher was first arrested on Jan. 12 but was released under strict conditions. He was arrested again on Wednesday after two more complaints surfaced about him. He appeared in Quebec Court on Thursday and was released after agreeing to follow several conditions, including not being around minors.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Katie Burgess

Catholic parishioners in Tumut have leapt to the defence of their ex-priest who was stood down after an archdiocese investigation found he had touched a child inappropriately.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn admitted Father Brian Hassett had been the subject of “sustained complaints” during his time as the parish priest of Tumut.

A church investigation into the complaints began in 2013 and was overseen by the NSW Ombudsman.

Mr Hassett was temporarily moved to Lanigan House in early 2014, “in response to the preliminary findings of the investigation”, director of the Institute for Professional Standards Matt Casey said.

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INDIA
DNA

Fri, 3 Mar 2017

The priest, Robin Vadakkumchery, was finally caught after the victim became pregnant and gave birth, which he tried to hush up, allegedly with the support of others in the church hierarchy.

The outburst of public anger against the Catholic Church in Kerala over the allegations of shielding a priest accused of raping a minor girl is reminiscent of similar events that have been happening in the United States for two decades. The priest, Robin Vadakkumchery, was finally caught after the victim became pregnant and gave birth, which he tried to hush up, allegedly with the support of others in the church hierarchy.

An anonymous call to a government child helpline led to the newborn being allegedly traced to a church-run orphanage. The immense social clout and spiritual influence of a Catholic priest among rural Christian communities is evident from the revelation that the priest was able to convince the victim’s father to assume the blame for her pregnancy. Further, the role of an array of church institutions, like the hospital where the victim gave birth, the orphanage where the newborn was taken, and functionaries who abetted the cover-up deserve to be probed and taken to task.

This is not the first time that cases of sexual abuse involving the clergy have come to light. In many instances, families of victims prefer to raise complaints with the church hierarchy rather than go to the police out of fear of social stigma or a desire to not embarrass the Church. Instead of reporting the crime to the police, which should be the first instinct for any law-abiding institution, the culprits are merely transferred to another parish or taken off active duties. This is a documented practice in Catholic dioceses across countries. Where the victims are children, many live with the burden of abuse, loss of faith, and destruction of their childhood, often without telling parents. Many a time, the victims hail from poor families, who look upon the Church and the priest as godly and benevolent figures who can do no wrong.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness GLOBE STAFF MARCH 03, 2017

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley vowed Thursday to make sure clergy sexual abuse victims have a voice on a Vatican panel addressing the crisis that rocked the Catholic Church, and he expressed frustration with resistance to change in some corners of the church.

His promise came a day after the lone clergy sexual abuse survivor serving on that papal commission resigned in exasperation with what she described as “shameful” Vatican foot-dragging.

“The voice of survivors is very important I think, and we have to consider what is the best way to ensure that” they’re included, said O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, in an unusually expansive telephone interview.

O’Malley said he shared some of the concerns about Vatican stonewalling expressed by Marie Collins, a clergy abuse survivor from Ireland who on Ash Wednesday resigned in frustration from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, drawing global attention. O’Malley is chairman of the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Katie Burgess

Education minister Yvette Berry says the ACT government will not wait for the findings of a royal commission to re-examine how it regulates non-government schools.

On Friday, Ms Berry told a committee hearing she was still waiting for the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn to explain how an ex-priest stood down over inappropriately touching a child came to live next to two primary schools.

“There’s an expectation from the government and the community that this incident should not have occurred particularly given the conversation we’re having with the royal commission’s investigations,” Ms Berry said.

“We’ve asked for an explanation from the archdiocese on Tuesday and we’re still waiting for a response about how this could occur and how it did occur.”

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INDIA
The News Minute

Ragamalika Karthikeyan | Saritha S Balan | Friday, March 03, 2017

A minor girl in Kerala was raped and impregnated, allegedly by a priest, and everything in the investigation points to a system that not only allowed this crime to happen, but actively tried to cover it up.

But the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council is completely blind to this problem in their backyard. Instead of taking steps to ensure that priests don’t get away with crime, the council has conveniently said that this case is an ‘exception’ among the 9033 catholic priests in Kerala.

In a reply to TNM’s queries on the issue, Father Paul Thelekat of the Bishops’ Council said, “In India there are 19946 catholic priests and in Kerala 9033 priests. What we discuss is a case of failure of a small minority in living the lofty ideal of celibacy. The fact it is a minority does not make the sin and crime minor. The very fact that it gets news value is that it is an exception and a fall from the ideal.”

The feeble attempt at denouncing the crime is lost in the justification offered by the council for the behaviour of ‘some’. The reply gets more bizarre as the council then puts the blame for sexual violence and child sexual abuse squarely on ‘consumerism’.

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CANADA
CTV

Montreal police have arrested a priest on three sexual assault charges related to crimes alleged committed between 1994 and 2011.

Investigators believe Brian Boucher, 56, may have committed more crimes and are asking any other potential victims to come forward.

Boucher appeared in court Thursday to face charges of sexual interference, sexual contact, sexual assault and break and enter. He was released strict under conditions, most notably that he can’t be in the presence of minors.

The suspect was first arrested on Jan. 12, then released with a promise to appear with conditions.
Investigators again arrested him on March 1 in connection with two other complaints.

Police first received complaints about the priest in August 2015, and began their investigation then with the cooperation of the Archdiocese of Montreal.

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CANADA
Global News

By Amanda Jelowicki
Anchor/Reporter Global News

Father Brian Boucher, who started working as the parish priest at a church in Montreal’s Town of Mount Royal (TMR) in 2005, has been charged with several counts of sexual assault and sexual touching against three minors.

He appeared in court Thursday.

The 55-year-old had been heavily involved in all activities at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Church, including helping children with their first communions and confirmations.

In recent years, rumours about inappropriate behaviour started spreading among parishioners.

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CANADA
CBC News

Brian Boucher, a Roman Catholic priest who has worked at 10 churches in Montreal over the last two decades, has been arrested and charged with several sex-related offences.

The 56-year-old appeared in court Thursday and was charged with:

* Sexual assault.
* Sexual interference.
* Invitation to sexual touching.
* Breaking and entering.

He was released with several conditions, including having no contact with minors.

Boucher was a priest at several parishes on the island of Montreal from 1985 to 2015. The churches were situated in Senneville, LaSalle, Dorval, the Town of Mount Royal and downtown Montreal.

The alleged incidents took place between 1994 and 2011.

Police say they have reason to believe there are more alleged victims, and they are asking them to come forward by calling 911.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

Melissa Cunningham
2 Mar 2017

Clergy sexual abuse survivors say they will not rest until “ironclad laws” are implemented to protect future generations of children from pedophilia.

Victims of disgraced Christian brother Robert Best embraced outside the Victorian County Court on Thursday, moments after the notorious paedophile was sentenced to another six years in jail.

It was 16,000 kilometres from where four of the men had stood on the steps of the Hotel Quirinale in Rome on the same day last year.

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MEXICO
International Business Times

BY JASON LE MIERE @JASONLEMIERE ON 03/02/17

A priest in southern Mexico has become the first member of the Catholic Church in the country ever to be convicted of sexual abuse. The Rev. Gerardo Silvestre Hernández, a priest in the Archdiocese of Antequera Oaxaca, was sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison last week for crimes committed against two minors between 2009 and 2010, according to the Catholic News Service. The priest was also ordered to pay damages to the victims of around $4000

Hernández, who had been in prison since 2013, was accused of abusing close to 100 minors between the ages of 11 and 13 in the village of Villa Alta, reported Mexican magazine Proceso. In passing his judgment, the presiding judge, Alfredo Lagunas Rivera, confirmed that it was the first time a conviction had been handed down against a member of a religious association in the country. Only in recent years has the subject of sexual abuse in the church been seen as a problem by Mexican Catholics, according to church observers.

The Oaxacan Childhood Forum (FONI) had called for the maximum sentence to be imposed. The coalition of groups has also insisted that Archbishop José Luis Chávez Botello should offer a public apology and pay damages to the victims. Hernández is alleged to have plied his victims with alcohol, shown them pornographic images and films and then sexually assaulted them.

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ARKANSAS/FLORIDA
United States Attorney, Southern District of Florida

An Ashdown, Arkansas, resident has been arrested and charged by criminal complaint with traveling in foreign commerce with the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2423(b).

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), made the announcement.

According to allegations made in the criminal complaint, Daniel John Pye, 35, originally of Bradenton, Florida, traveled from the Southern District of Florida to Haiti on multiple occasions from the years 2008 through 2011 for the purpose of sexually abusing minors. Pye, who ran a missionary orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, is alleged to have engaged in illicit sexual conduct with minor female children who resided at his orphanage.

Since leaving Haiti, Pye is believed to have resided in the Liberty Hill, Texas, Texarkana, Texas, and Ashdown, Arkansas, areas.

Law enforcement encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) through the toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing the online tip form at https://www.ice.gov/webform/hsi-tip-form.

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ARKANSAS
KSLA

Posted by Curtis Heyen, Digital Content Producer

(KSLA) –
A Southwest Arkansas man is accused of sexually abusing girls who live at a missionary orphanage he ran in Haiti.

Federal authorities have arrested 35-year-old Daniel John Pye, of Ashdown, on a charge of traveling in foreign commerce with the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

Pye traveled from Florida, where he originally lived in Bradenton, to Haiti multiple times from 2008 through 2011 allegedly to sexually abusing female minors, according to court documents.

He also believed to have lived in Liberty Hill and Texarkana, Texas, since leaving Haiti, federal authorities said.

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