ABUSE TRACKER

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Sep 5th, 2013

The Office of Child and Youth Protection of the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph has released the first comprehensive annual report of its activities.

Last year at this time, Jenifer Valenti produced a report summarizing the first year of her work as Ombudsman. This year’s report covers the work of Victim Services, Safe Environment and Investigations for the period of July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

The full report is available as a pdf here.

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GERMANY
The Tablet

12 September 2013

The Vatican has sent Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, a former nuncio to Germany, to investigate a “destructive crisis of trust” between the Bishop of Limburg and priests and parishioners in his diocese.

Clergy and laity have accused Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of lying, narcissism and squandering church money since he was appointed bishop six years ago. Tensions came to head last month when a large number of priests in his diocese used their Sunday homilies to criticise what they described as his authoritarian manner. Telbartz-van Elst was sent a petition with 4,500 signatures calling for more communication and transparency, especially regarding the renovation costs to the episcopal palace, which are said to be €15 million.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

Robert Mickens in Rome – 12 September 2013

Pope Francis has temporarily stopped the practice of naming priests “honorary prelates”, which allows them to take the title “monsignor”.

The only exception is for those clerics who work in the Holy See’s diplomatic service. The Rome daily, Il Messaggero, reported the decision today.

The Tablet has learned that the Pope communicated the decision on 12 April, shortly after his election, to top officials the Secretariat of State, the office that grants approval to bishops around the world who propose priests for the honorary title.

During that meeting, Francis said he wanted the granting of such onorificienza to be put on hold at least until October, after he had met his group of eight cardinal-advisors to discuss reforming the Roman Curia and governance of the universal Church.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 12, 2013 The Francis Chronicles

Pope Francis has stopped granting priests the honorary title of “monsignor” in advance of an October meeting with several cardinals on possible reforms in the Catholic Church, the London-based Catholic weekly The Tablet is reporting Thursday.

According to the Tablet’s Rome correspondent Robert Mickens, Francis first made the decision in April shortly after his election as pope. The decision was also reported by the Rome daily Il Messagero today.

The title monsignor is an honorific of sorts normally granted to priests as a reward for service to the church or as a sign of some special function they serve in church governance. The title is usually granted by the pope on the recommendation of the priest’s local bishop.

Some have criticized the practice, saying it leads to an air of careerism in the church.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Thu, Sep 12, 2013

Silenced Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery said in Dublin tonight he believed the best way he could continue to serve the Church was by bringing into the light of day “the arcane and unjust processes that are the modus operandi of the Vatican watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).”

This was particularly the case as he had “given up hope of being allowed to minister as a priest again.”

Fr Flannery was silenced, removed from public ministry and threatened with excommunication by the Vatican last year because of his views on priesthood and Catholic teaching in the area of human sexuality.

Speaking tonight in the Royal Hibernian Academy at the launch of his new book A Question of Conscience by broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy, he said “it seemed to me that we had reached the end of the road. I was forbidden to minister as a priest and the conditions of returning to ministry were such that I could not comply with them without compromising my integrity.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

To give the survivors of horrific childhood abuse the support and care they need, we must properly understand the threat that suicide poses to victims, writes Mark Vincent Healy.

PERHAPS THERE CAN be no darker subjects than suicide and clerical child sexual abuse. When they are combined, where there is strong evidence in countless surveys and reports to suggest there is a direct link between them, one is perhaps doubly horrified by such issues. It’s a topic which can refer all too often to a horrific beginning to one’s life as it does a most tragic end.

I felt moved to do something about the combined suffering of suicide and clerical child sexual abuse and attended the launch of the World Suicide Prevention Week on Thursday 5 September 2013 at the Department of Health, Hawkins House.

As a campaign survivor of child sexual abuse by members of the Spiritans or Holy Ghost Fathers, I am mindful of the failures of this congregation to address my needs and those of others survivors and their distraught families with whom I am in contact. I have been told by the Acting CEO, Ms Teresa Devlin of the National Board for Safeguarding Children that she has received update reports from second tranche participants which once processed will be published later this month.

There is a connection between these events and their subjects and it’s a very tragic and important one.

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PORTUGAL
Jornal de Noticias

PJ e peritos descobriram um pedófilo compulsivo, que gosta de vestir-se de mulher e consome pornografia, escondido no padre brincalhão e competente descrito por alguns alunos e colegas que o defenderão em tribunal.

Luís Miguel Campos Mendes, 37 anos, começa a ser julgado no dia 19. Responde por 18 crimes de abuso sexual de criança, abuso sexual de menores dependentes e coação sexual contra internos do Seminário Menor do Fundão.

O padre nega tudo e, no âmbito de uma perícia física no Instituto de Medicina Legal de Coimbra, constante no processo consultado pelo JN, até garantiu ser heterossexual, desmentindo os comportamentos homossexuais que lhe são imputados pelas seis vítimas. Mas, ao mesmo tempo, afirma que nunca teve relações sexuais na vida, apesar de ter tido namorada durante dois anos. Portanto, jura, celibato puro e voto de castidade cumpridos à risca.

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CANADA
CBC News

The former Archbishop of Canada’s Orthodox Church took the stand in his sex assault trial in Winnipeg on Thursday.

Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault involving two pre-teen brothers who were members of the church more than 25 years ago.

The alleged sex assaults took place when Storheim worked at a parish in Winnipeg’s North End.

Storheim was the highest ranking cleric in the Canadian diocese of the Orthodox Church of America until he was suspended in November 2010, when the charges were laid against him.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 12

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Shawn Ratigan should be locked up for as long as possible. He shows no signs of remorse or rehabilitation. Ample evidence suggests that he would commit more child sex crimes if ever given the chance to be around kids.

We hope this judge will keep Ratigan behind bars as long as he can. And we hope others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Kansas City will dig deep and find courage. If they do, it’s crucial that they call independent sources for help – like police, prosecutors, therapist or support groups – not complicit Catholic officials. That’s how future heinous crimes like this will be prevented and how innocent kids will be spared devastating harm.

No matter what sentence Ratigan gets, we hope every single family that has been so severely hurt by his crimes will keep working hard to recover from this horrific trauma, most of which could clearly have been prevented if just one of a dozen top KC church officials had been decent and caring enough to call 911 years ago.

Ratigan can only be sentenced for the crimes he committed. The judge can’t be influenced by the on-going callousness, recklessness and deceit by Ratigan’s ex-employers and colleagues in the Catholic hierarchy.

Still, it’s worth noting that Missouri church officials have clearly not learned from the Ratigan scandal. They are continuing to keep silent or be deceptive about clergy sex cases, even when allegations are deemed credible and settlements are paid. Here are three very recent examples:

–Last week, newly-disclosed church abuse records showed that a priest from KC’s Assumption parish who attended St. John’s seminary in Kansas City and worked in nine Missouri church assignments was a child molester. He is Fr. John V. “Jack” Farris. A settlement was paid to one of his victims.

http://www.lorpb.com/documents/Clergy-September/Vincentians-(Farris).PDF

–The same church documents show that another predator, Fr. Jose Mendez, spent time at St. Augustine’s Monastery in Kansas City, Kansas. In addition to assaulting kids, Mendez admitted fathering a child. A settlement was paid to one of his victims.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

September 12, 2013, by Kathy Quinn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge will sentence Father Shawn Ratigan in a child porn case that began in 2010.

The case against Ratigan began when a computer tech found hundreds of lewd pictures of five little girls on the his laptop. Ratigan pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child porn and one count of attempting to produce child pornography.

The pictures were taken by Ratigan on his camera and cell phone while he was a priest as several Kansas City parishes.

Bishop Robert Finn of the diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph, was actually charged for not reporting Ratigan in December 2010 when the pictures were reported to him. Bishop Finn waited several months before telling authorities.

Ratigan faces 15-30 years on each count.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

September 13, 2013

Peter Jean
Chief Assembly Reporter for The Canberra Times.

A Victorian cleric with interests in indigenous and interfaith issues will be the seventh Catholic Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, the Vatican announced on Thursday night.

Christopher Prowse, the serving bishop of the Victorian diocese of Sale, has been appointed to the Canberra-based post by Pope Francis and will be installed in a ceremony at St Christopher’s Cathedral on November 19.

The archdiocese has been without a bishop since Mark Coleridge was appointed Archbishop of Brisbane in May 2012 and auxiliary Bishop Patrick Power retired a few weeks later.

Bishop Prowse was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne from 2003 to 2009, when he was appointed to his post in Sale.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 12 September 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Christopher Charles Prowse as archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn (area 88,000, population 620,000, Catholics 176,500, priests 121, permanent deacons 7, religious 203), Australia. Bishop Prowse, previously bishop of Sale, Australia, was born in East Melbourne, Australia in 1953, was ordained to the priesthood in 1980, and received episcopal ordination in 2003

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Both worked in Pittsburgh & abused elsewhere
Settlements have been paid out in both cases
One is the third predator at one McKeesport school
SNAP blasts Catholic officials for “on-going secrecy”
It urges bishop to post all predator priests on his website

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse survivors and their supporters will disclose that two clergy sex abuse cases have been settled involving

–a local priest who reportedly molested in Massachusetts but also worked in Pittsburgh, and
–another priest who molested in Maryland (and later pled guilty) but was then sent to work in a Pittsburgh church.

They will also hand deliver a letter to the Pittsburgh Catholic headquarters prodding Pittsburgh’s bishop to post the names and whereabouts of dozens of child molesting clerics on his diocesan website (like roughly 30 other bishops have done).

And they will urge anyone who may have “seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Pittsburgh –by these two priests or other church employees – to “speak up, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing”

When:
Thursday, Sept. 12 at 1:30 p.m.

Where:

On the sidewalk outside the Pittsburgh Catholic diocese headquarters (chancery office), 111 Boulevard of the Allies (corner of Stanwix) in downtown Pittsburgh, PA

Who:
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including a Pittsburgh woman who is the organization’s local volunteer director

Why:
SNAP has learned that two child sex abuse cases, involving two local priests (who have attracted little or no attention in Pittsburgh), have been settled in other states.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that a child sex abuse case against Fr. Alan E. Caparella has settled.

[NorthJersey.com]

And SNAP has also learned that a case against another Pittsburgh priest, Fr. Richard Deakin, was settled in Baltimore.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to leaflet mass-goers
They list seven accused Ark. predators
Most have attracted little public attention
Several molested elsewhere but spent time here
Last year, one led a retreat, another was honored
Group urges bishop to post all child molesting clerics on websites

What
As parishioners leave mass, clergy sex abuse victims will hand out fliers listing seven proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting Arkansas Little Rock priests, most of whom have attracted little public attention in the state. They will also urge

— Little Rock’s bishop to post the names and photos of these alleged predators on his diocesan and parish websites, and
— urge church officials to “actively seek out” anyone who “saw, suspected or suffered” clergy sex or cover ups and beg them to call police and prosecutors so that kids might be safer.

When
Thursday, Sept. 12 at 12:20 p.m.

Where
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of St. Andrew, 617 Louisiana Street (corner of 7th St.), Little Rock, Arkansas

Who
Two members of a support group for clergy sex abuse victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

Why
It’s been almost a decade since Little Rock’s Catholic bishop admitted that 11 priests in the state had been accused of child sex crimes. But despite a decade- old national church policy mandating “openness” in clergy sex cases, church staff have still not , as best SNAP can tell, disclosed all of their identities or ever updated that figure.

Nor has the bishop made clear “whether the allegations against the 11 priests were all substantiated,” according to the Little Rock Democrat. “Clearly, some were, since the diocese identified 18 victims.”

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Holy Cross Brother Georges Sarazin had a court date in Montreal this morning (Tuesday, 11 September 2013). I will check tomorrow to see if I can find out when his next court date is.

As always, please keep the complainants in your prayers, and their families.

*****
The names of four Redemptorist priests from the Redemptorists Ste Anne de Baeupre province have been added to the Accused list:

Name of Father Xiste Langevin CSsR
Name of Father Herve Blanchet CSsR
Name of Father Guy Pilote CSsR
Name of Father Jean-Claude Bergeron CSsR

Five more to go. I will carry on tomorrow.

As anticipated I have had to split the Accused list into two pages (1) Accused A to L, and (2) Accused M to Z

I hadn’t wanted to do that but it had reached the point where it was inevitable that it would have to be done sooner than later. So, it’s done! A few hiccups in the process but I believe that thankfully the two new pages are working well.

The site is getting larger and busier. That’s all good, but it creates problems which I didn’t encounter in the past. Technological problems. And you know me and technological problems 🙁 Anyway, one day at a time I guess 🙂

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Moshe Gutnick, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia, has issued an apology for the organisation’s failings to combat child sexual abuse within its components. It is believed to be a world first for a rabbi.

A letter was sent to all leaders of the State Orthodox peak bodies in Australia (as well as New Zealand) asking them to disseminate it to their rabbinic members. Rabbi Gutnick has also requested that the rabbis distribute the letter to their congregants either before or during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement – Judaism’s holiest day.

Victims’ support group Tzedek, founded by activist Manny Waks welcomed the move. Mr. Waks said, “This is another incredible milestone for the Australian Jewish community. Crucially, this ground-breaking letter provides a frank acknowledgement of past mistakes and an unequivocal apology by Rabbi Gutnick on behalf of the Rabbinate. The letter rightly does not go into specific cases but rather acknowledges that the Rabbinate has in the past dealt abysmally with the issue of child sexual abuse.”

“This is an important development – it is an acknowledgment that many victims and survivors within religious institutions have longed to hear; that finally the national peak Orthodox rabbinic organisation is taking responsibility for the abuse they suffered, as well as for the subsequent cover-ups. Indeed it is what the entire community needed to hear, as without properly addressing the past, it is difficult to move forward towards a better future.”

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IRELAND
The Tablet

One of the three co-founders of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Ireland is to step down from his leadership role while he considers whether to remain in the priesthood.

Fr Tony Flannery, who has been suspended from ministry and threatened with excommunication by Rome for expressing views at odds with church teaching, told The Tablet he would withdraw from the administrative team at the association’s AGM next month. He said the next six months may determine his future as a priest.

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MISSOURI
WICS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Missouri are seeking a 50-year prison term for a Roman Catholic priest who admitted taking pornographic photos of children.

The Rev. Shawn Ratigan faces sentencing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. The 47-year-old priest pleaded guilty in August 2012 to five counts of producing or attempting to produce child porn — one count for each of five victims.

Ratigan was charged in May 2011 after police received a flash drive from his computer containing hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on their crotch areas.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias SIN

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Organizaciones como la Colectiva Mujer y Salud y La Multitud protestarán este miércoles, frente a la Nunciatura ante las denuncias de presunto abuso sexual a menores y mujeres por parte de sacerdote y el destituido nuncio apostólico en el país, Jósef Wesolowski.

La actividad está convocada para las 5 de la tarde frente a la Nunciatura Papal, en la Máximo Gómez esquina César Nicolás Penson.

Sus organizadores protestarán para reclamar “que los crímenes sexuales contra niños, niñas y adolescentes cometidos por exnuncio y los otros curas no queden impunes”.

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OHIO
Dayton Daily News

By Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writer

Marianist Brother Bernard Hartman, who was working in Dayton when allegations of long-ago sexual abuse of children on the other side of the globe made headlines in late 2011, has “voluntarily” returned to Australia to face charges, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.

The report said the 73-year-old appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on charges he abused four children while working at St. Paul’s College in the 1970s and 1980s. Prosecutors told the court Hartman’s victims were two boys and two girls aged 6 to 16 at the time of the offenses, which took place at the college and the children’s homes, Australian Broadcasting reported.

Hartman’s next court hearing is set for November, according to the report.

In a prepared statement Thursday, the Rev. Martin Solma, provincial for the Marianist Province of the United States in St. Louis, said the Marianists recently received notice that Australian authorities had issued a warrant for Hartman’s arrest.

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UGANDA/VATICAN CITY
Legalbrief

Four Ugandan banks have been drawn into an illicit money scandal involving the Vatican Bank. Pope Francis has appointed South Africa’s Cardinal Wilfred Napier to a 15-member task team to reform the bank.

This after international banking giants JPMorgan Chase and HSBC closed the Vatican’s accounts around the world to reduce the risk of money laundering. The Times reports that Ugandan citizen Esther Nobasa has appeared in the Mbarara District Court, near Kampala, after she allegedly received large sums of money from the Vatican Bank. Stanlib and Standard Chartered have confirmed that their officials in Uganda will take part in hearings into how the money was transferred to accounts under their management. The investigation began after Ugandan police received a message from Interpol regarding the unauthorised ‘transfer’ of about $800 000 from the Vatican Bank to four banks.

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UGANDA/VATICAN CITY
Legalbrief

A Standard Bank branch in Uganda has been drawn into the illicit money scandal involving the Vatican Bank, according to a Sunday Times report which says a branch of Malaysia’s Standard Chartered in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, has also been linked to the investigation.

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

By Sue Nowicki — snowicki@modbee

STOCKTON — Roman Catholic Bishop Stephen Blaire sent out a letter to parishioners last weekend, saying the Diocese of Stockton has not made a final decision on filing for bankruptcy protection, but “it appears likely.”

The move would shelter the diocese from paying large awards in current and future lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by priests, specifically against notorious pedophile ex-priest Oliver O’Grady and the Rev. Michael Kelly. To date, more than two dozen of O’Grady’s victims have collected nearly $25million in damages from the diocese; the largest settlement ever paid by the diocese to an individual was $3.75million in a lawsuit against Kelly last year.

In his letter, Blaire promised the 35 individual parishes in the diocese – which numbers 250,000 parishioners and includes St. Stanislaus, Our Lady of Fatima and Holy Family in Modesto, Sacred Heart in Turlock and St. Jude in Ceres, among others – would not be impacted by a bankruptcy filing because they are all separate corporations. So, too, are other diocesan programs: The Catholic high schools in Modesto and Stockton, Catholic cemeteries, Catholic Charities, a retreat center, SEEDS (which provides Catholic school tuition assistance) and the recent capital campaign drive.

The diocese’s operational budget, too, is a corporation called “The Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton,” according to diocesan officials. That’s the one considering filing for bankruptcy. Its budget is $5.1million for the 2013-14 year.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The first public hearing into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse will be held in Sydney on Monday.

Stories have been gathered and parameters set, now Australia will see the behaviour of powerful institutions challenged as never before.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse holds its first public hearing in Sydney on Monday and the focus will be on how institutions, including influential church and state bodies, handled complaints that children in their care were sexually abused.

For thousands of Australians damaged for life by institutionally-protected sex offenders, the hearings represent longed-for acknowledgement and the best hope of opening the door to redress.

For advocacy group Broken Rites, which since 1993 has pressed for a Royal Commission into how churches handle child-sex crimes, the hearings are a path to justice.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

AAP

THE national Royal Commission into child sexual abuse wants people to contribute ideas and expertise on the best ways to prevent children living in out-of-home care from being abused.

Out-of-home care includes arrangements by an agency for foster care, relative or kinship care, family group homes, residential care and independent living arrangements.

The fourth issues paper was published by the commission on Wednesday and organisations and individuals have until November 8 to lodge submissions.

The commission is investigating how institutions responded to child sex abuse allegations. It is holding its first public hearing in Sydney on Monday.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Chris Thompson
Sep 11, 2013

A former Grimsby youth pastor who was most recently living in Windsor has been arrested here in connection with the sexual assault and extortion of a young woman.

Officers with the Niagara Regional Police Service assisted by members of Windsor police arrested the man at his South Windsor home on Tuesday.

Charged with sexual assault and extortion is Andrew Riach, 31.

The charges are in relation to incidents involving a young woman between 2006 and May of this year.

The young woman reported the incidents to police in May.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

1985: Fr. Edward Fitz-Henry is ordained as a priest and begins serving in the Diocese of Monterey.
1990: Fitz-Henry begins serving at Carmel Mission.

Summer, 1990: A mother reports sexually abusive behavior by Fitz-Henry toward her two sons to the Diocese. “They thought that I had shown too much affection or interest or friendship,” Fitz-Henry said in a deposition in 2011.

September, 1991: A 12-year-old victim of sexual abuse by Fr. John Velez reports the abuse to a priest. The Diocese of Monterey places Velez in a retreat center, and does not report the allegations to law enforcement.

Late 1992: The Diocese sends Fitz-Henry to three and a half weeks of treatment at Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, N.M., a residential congregation for priests and monks specializing in therapy and recovery from addiction, depression and pedophilia, among other issues.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

Judge Thomas Wills
Monterey County Superior Court

“I’m not beholden to anyone. Some have suggested that at times I’m sort of tied into an old boys network on the bench. That’s not true. I’m not. I call it like I see it.”
– Wills, speaking to the Weekly editorial board in 2008, in his campaign for the bench.

Paul Gaspari
Defense Attorney for the Diocese of Monterey, San Francisco and Santa Rosa; law firm of Weintraub Tobin, San Francisco

Paul Gaspari
“Our position is, this case is over and I don’t need to do anything.”

– Gaspari, arguing against the Weekly’s request for sealed documents and other material obtained during discovery in the case against Edward Fitz-Henry and the Diocese of Monterey, Sept. 10, 2013

Vince Finaldi
Plaintiff’s attorney for John R.J. Doe; law firm of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, Irvine

“Those files show that they knew exactly who (Father Michael) Baker was and what he was doing.”

– Finaldi, in response to the 12,000 pages of documents that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released earlier this year about how it handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests, including the accused priest Michael Baker. A settlement of nearly $10 million for four sex-abuse cases was agreed to by the L.A. Diocese.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

[Fitz-Henry documents]

The Monterey County Weekly seeks full disclosure of documents in the case of Edward Fitz-Henry, a Catholic priest accused – but never convicted – of child molestation.

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

On Sept. 10, the Monterey County Weekly sought to lift the veil of secrecy imposed on a civil suit filed against the Diocese of Monterey; Richard Garcia, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Monterey; and Father Edward Fitz-Henry, a Catholic priest and then-pastor of the Mission San Juan Bautista Church.

Fitz-Henry, a native of Dublin, Ireland who in previous years had been pastor at Madonna del Sasso Church in Salinas and the Carmel Mission in Carmel, found himself on the receiving end of a claim filed by a pair of attorneys who specialize in suing the Catholic Church and priests accused of molestation – and who have won numerous multi-million dollar awards on behalf of their clients.

The allegations in the Fitz-Henry suit, filed in Monterey County Superior Court in 2011, were about as unseemly as they come. The alleged victim, who filed under the name John RJ Doe, claimed that over the course of many months starting in 2005, Fitz-Henry engaged in sexual conduct with him at various locations throughout Madonna del Sasso – including oral sex in the church sacristy. Doe was 21 years old when attorneys Vince Finaldi and John Manly of the Irvine-based firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi filed the suit; the timing puts Doe firmly in his mid-teens when the alleged conduct occurred.

Fitz-Henry’s parishioners, as well as parishioners throughout the Monterey Diocese, found out he was suspended from the priesthood on Feb. 13, 2011, when it was announced during Sunday services. Salinas police investigated, but no charges were ever brought. To this date, Fitz-Henry has never been charged with or convicted of any crime.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Comission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

[fourth issues paper]

Call for submissions – Preventing sexual abuse of children in out-of-home care.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today released its fourth issues paper and is inviting members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise on the best ways to prevent the sexual abuse of children living in out-of-home care (OOHC).

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines says out-of-home care includes arrangements by an agency for foster care, relative or kinship care, family group homes, residential care and independent living arrangements.

“The Royal Commission believes it is important to determine whether current practices and regulation adequately protects children from sexual abuse in out-of-home care,” said Ms Dines.

“The Royal Commission is interested in strategies that will keep children in care safe from sexual abuse and in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of current models of oversight of out-of-home care practices.

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IOWA
Addicting Info

Author: Stephen D. Foster Jr. September 11, 2013

By now, we’ve all undoubtedly heard of and been outraged by a Montana judge sentencing a former teacher to a mere 30 days in prison for raping one of his female students. But have you heard of the Iowa youth pastor who is walking free after confessing to raping boys to “cure” them of homosexuality?

Well, that’s precisely what happened in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Brent Girouex, 31, was arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist.

According to KRMG in Oklahoma, Girouex confessed to police that he had sex with at least four youths, but eight more have since come forward claiming that they were also violated by the now former pastor of Victory Fellowship Church.

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CALIFORNIA
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Dear Governor Jerry Brown,

Today is the anniversary of 9/11 in New York City and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, inspires us to write you (again) to ask you to immediately approve and sign bill SB 131 today because this would be the most significant day for all children, not only in California but throughout the USA and the whole world – as we have proposed that twice a year, September 11 (and May 1) should be the commemoration day to remember all victims of pedophiles (priests) and hence a day also to deter and stop pedophilia forever in the USA and in the world – read more here May 1 & September 11 anniversaries for SNAP and JP2 Army victims http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/may-1-september-11-anniversaries-for.html The numbers of victims of Los Angeles and USA pedophile priests outnumber more than three times those of 9/11.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic San Francisco

September 11th, 2013
By Valerie Schmalz

Opponents are mobilizing to convince Gov. Jerry Brown to veto sexual abuse damages legislation that they say is discriminatory and imperils non profits, Catholic social services, private and parochial schools and poor parishes.

The Senate approved Senate Bill 131 21-8 with 10 no votes on Sept. 6. The Assembly passed it Sept. 4 by a vote of 44-15 with 19 abstentions.

The bill would open non profits and religious institutions to civil liability for alleged sexual abuse that occurred before Jan. 1, 2004, but for which victims only discovered injury after that date.

However, those abused in public schools or by someone in a government agency would not be able to sue for damages under the legislation, opponents said. The abusers themselves would also be exempt from civil suit during the one-year waiver of the statute of limitations which would begin Jan. 1, 2014.

In addition to the Catholic organizations, non-profits as diverse as the YMCA, Little League, Boy Scouts and private schools could face additional abuse claims.

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MINNESOTA
ABC 6

(ABC 6 NEWS) — Another person has come forward, claiming he was sexually abused by a former Rochester Boy Scout leader.

John Doe 17, who came forward and is now identified as Scott Hart, filed a lawsuit against Richard Hokanson, the Boy Scouts of America, the local Gamehaven Council, and St. Piux X Catholic church.

The lawsuit, which you can read here in it’s entirety, Doe 17 says from 1975 to 1981, he was abused 200-300 times in a storage room and classroom of St. Pius and on scouting trips.

Doe 17 was only 11 years old at the time.

The lawsuit was made possible by a change to Minnesota law this year, that remove the statue of limitations.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Curtis Gilbert, Minnesota Public Radio
September 11, 2013

A Rochester man is suing the Boy Scouts of America, alleging that a former scoutmaster sexually abused him from the age of 11 to 16.

In a lawsuit filed in Olmsted County District Court, Scott Hart, 48, contends that Scoutmaster Richard Hokanson molested him at least 200 times over a six-year period beginning in 1975.

Hokanson pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in the early 1980s and was forced to go through psychiatric treatment.

Hart said he’s been through a lot over the last three decades.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Associated Press,

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Rochester man who alleges he was molested by a Boy Scout leader in the 1970s is suing the Scouts.

It’s the third lawsuit involving the former scoutmaster, Richard Hokanson, since Minnesota temporarily lifted its statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases. He pleaded guilty in 1982 to molesting three Scouts in a troop sponsored by St. Pius X Church in Rochester.

At a news conference in St. Paul on Wednesday, Scott Hart said he decided to go public to seek justice on behalf of all children abused by Hokanson.

The lawsuit names the Boy Scouts of America, the Gamehaven Council, the church and Hokanson.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Nuevo Dia

BY POR EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana — El cardenal dominicano Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez reveló que el recién destituido nuncio apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, será juzgado por el tribunal de la Congregación de la Doctrina de la Fe del Vaticano por las denuncias de supuesto abuso sexual de menores.

“Es un asunto sumamente grave, muy grave, lo más grave que le puede pasar a la diplomacia de la Santa Sede”, dijo el prelado a periodistas la noche del martes, luego de participar en una actividad académica.

López, también presidente del Episcopado Dominicano, detalló que él personalmente había viajado al Vaticano para informar al papa Francisco sobre los rumores que vinculan a Wesolowski con abuso sexual de infantes.

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FLORIDA
NBC Miami

[with video]

By Keith Jones | Wednesday, Sep 11, 2013

Father Alberto Cutié, who left the Catholic Church after a scandal stemming from a photo of him on Miami Beach in an embrace with his girlfriend, said he doesn’t believe the notion of priesthood celibacy will be taken up by the church anytime soon.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski echoed the sentiment on Wednesday too, and said that like marriage, celibacy takes discipline, prayer and dedication.

“In the life of the church celibacy an marriage compliment each other and are not in any way competing with each other,” Wenski said.

Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state of the Vatican, said the church is open to discussion about the idea of priesthood celibacy being revisited. Pope Francis just last year said he was in favor of maintaining the tradition “for the moment.”

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
UALR Public Radio

By JACOB KAUFFMAN

A former volleyball coach and a former athletic director from Mount Saint Mary Academy are headed to trial next week over allegations of sexual abuse. Kelly O’Rourke previously admitted to molesting a student in 2012 and will face charges over violating parole by attempting to contact the girl she molested. Kathy Griffin, the athletic director and a counselor for 9th grade girls, will face charges for having knowledge of child abuse but failing to report it.

The national group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent a representative, Barbarra Dorris, to Little Rock Wednesday. She visited the Pulaski County Courthouse where the two trials are set.

“The school has done very little. They issued a statement that is extremely vague. You don’t know whether the teacher committed murder, stole school supplies, or molested a child. Parents needed that information to go home and talk to their kids to find out what happened,” said Dorris.

Dorris also offered critical words for Bishop Anthony Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock, calling on him to use his “bully-pulpit” to visit the school and create a supportive atmosphere so any other potential victims could come forward. She said school and church officials’ response mirrors what is seen elsewhere.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

[Fr. John Valentine Farris documents]

[Fr. John Edward Ruhl documents]

. . .Hundreds of Catholic church records about predator priests were just released by plaintiff’s lawyers in California. Two of them are Vincentians who studied at a seminary in Perryville. One, Fr. John Valentine Farris, worked at least nine places in the St.Louis archdiocese (most recently, in the 1980s, at St. Gabriel’s in St. Louis Hills). The other is Fr. John Edward Ruhl, who worked in Cape Girardeau (then a part of the St. Louis archdiocese). The files – 130 pages about Farris and 150 pages about Ruhl – are included. .

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Fr Tony Flannery has sent a quick reminder that the launch of his book, A Question of Conscience, will take place at the Royal Hibernian Academy tomorrow, Thursday, at 6.30pm. Tony adds:

“I am hoping for a big gathering, as a show of solidarity for the cause of renewal in the Church.”

And seemingly Veritas have at last made their decision that they will not stock the book. A man, who called in there today, sent me the following:

I went to Veritas today to get your book but was told that they will not be stocking it – a ‘Senior Management’ decision. When I said I would like to speak to the ‘Senior Management’ who made the decision my request was met with a smile and a shrug.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Prensa Latina

Santo Domingo, Sep 11 (Prensa Latina) Dominican organizations are planning to ask for former papal nuncio Josef Wesolowski and two priests accused of alleged child rape to be brought to justice.

The demand will occur at a central intersection in the capital, in front of the Papal Nunciature, said two of the organizations, Colectiva Mujer y Salud and La Multitud.

“We will demand that Dominican justice intervene so that these cases do not go unpunished and the victims can be compensated through criminal and civil actions against the defendants,” reads the call.

At least seven children between the ages of 13 and 18 were identified as victims of sexual abuse by Wesolowsk, said Deputy Attorney Bolivar Sanchez yesterday. Sanchez is in charge of the criminal investigation which began last week.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 11, 2013
Msgr. John Urell is back in the headlines again, this time featured in the latest document dump by religious orders in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

From Gustavo Arellano at the OC Weekly:

At the end of the 121-page report is the memo, detailing a conversation that a Vicentian Fathers and Brothers investigator had with Urell after a former prospective seminarian had come forward to claim that Ruhl had made him kneel down, naked, then shoved his face into Ruhl’s crotch “for his penance.”

Urell reassured the Vicentian investigator that Ruhl “was on ‘inactive leave’ and that there were no expectations that he would ever return to active ministry.” Reason? Ruhl “had been confronted with another case of similar inappropriate behaviour and that a lie-detector test had indicated that there was reason to suspect that there had possibly been other inappropriate behaviours.”

Did Urell and the Orange diocese ever report Ruhl to the police? Nope. Did Urell ever tell parents at St. Joseph that they lied to them when announcing Ruhl had gone on leave to care for a mythical sick relative? Nope.

And Urell still has a job as the pastor at St. Timothy’s parish. There is even a nifty photo of him on the website.

Which leads me to my point: It’s way past time for John Urell to go. How many more crimes—facilitating child sex abuse and covering up for offenders—does he need to commit?

But I can hear the Urell defenders now … It’s back to the ol’ “Forgiveness vs. Accountability” argument.

“Oh, Joelle,” they say. “Quit being so angry and forgive him. He is such a nice guy and has done so much good for so many people. He was so kind when my mother died/we got married/my child was ill/I needed someone to listen to me.”

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While a military-backed dictatorship in Argentina was conducting a clandestine war on suspected dissidents, then-Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future pope, masterminded a secret strategy to save those being targeted, according to a new book.

Titled “Bergoglio’s List: Those Saved by Pope Francis; Stories Never Told,” also includes the transcript of the then-cardinal’s testimony during a nearly four-hour court interrogation in 2010. A panel of judges was investigating suspected human rights violations committed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

The future pope was head of the Jesuit province in the country from 1973 to 1979, the height of the clandestine war, which saw as many as 30,000 Argentines kidnapped, tortured, murdered or disappeared, never to be seen again.

The book, currently only in Italian, was to be released Oct. 1, while excerpts were published in the Italian Catholic daily, Avvenire, Sept. 6.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

press conference video
lawsuit
John Doe photo
Richard Hokanson file
Richard Hokanson mug shot

September 11, 2013

(Rochester, MN) – At a news conference on Wednesday in St. Paul, prominent Minnesota sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson announced the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of a Rochester man who alleges he was sexually abused by a Boy Scout Leader in the 1970’s.

The former scout, Scott Hart, who spoke at today’s news conference, is identified in the complaint as Doe 17 and was abused by Hokanson from the age of 11-16 when Hokanson was the scout leader of St. Pius X sponsored Troop 210 in Rochester. “I have decided to come forward today to seek justice on behalf of myself and all of the other kids who were abused by Hokanson” said Hart. “I would like to also extend support to John Doe 180 in his quest for accountability and transparency. The organization that teaches children the oath of the Boy Scout laws and the motto to be honest and have integrity to do the right thing couldn’t practice what they preached.”

“The Boy Scouts failed to warn, inform and train volunteers and scouts about pedophiles in scouting,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, “had the Boy Scouts been transparent and if they would’ve told the truth about the seriousness of the danger of pedophiles in scouting, the abuse of this Scout, now an adult, could have been prevented. We are proud to support Scott in this courageous action and encourage others to come forward who are still suffering in shame and silence.”

A law enforcement investigation in 1982 found that in January 1980, a mother of a troop member told an assistant scout leader that five troop members had reported to her that “Hokanson was gay and he plays with the boys while showing them first aid.” The Assistant Scout Leader refused to report Hokanson, took no steps to talk with the troop members who reported the abuse, failed to initiate an investigation of Hokanson and suggested the mother discuss her concerns directly with the offender, Hokanson.

In another interview with police during the 1982 investigation, a priest assigned to the troop’s sponsor, St. Pius X, acknowledged that he had heard of “homosexual activities” of Hokanson, but neither he, nor anyone else at St. Pius, reported the allegations to law enforcement.

In 1982, Hokanson disclosed to law enforcement officials that he had sexual contact with 2I children who were participating in scouting, was criminally charged for the abuse of just three scouts, and in 1982, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 42 months in state prison, stayed, on condition that he undergo treatment in the intensive sexual abuse program at St. Peter. Hart was involved in the criminal prosecution in 1982 and was also called to testify in Hokanson’s 1994 criminal case in Hennepin County.

In October 2012, as part of an Oregon lawsuit, the Boy Scouts of America released approximately 1,200 “Perversion Files” documenting reports of sexual abuse by Scoutmasters and adult leaders from 1965-1985 including Hokanson and 22 other scout leaders from Minnesota.

As part of John Doe 180’s civil suit, the Perversion Files from 1999-2008 were set to be used in a cancelled trial this week in Ramsey County.

The lawsuit, filed under the Child Victims Act, the new Minnesota law eliminating the civil statute of limitations for children who are sexually abused and allowing a 3-year window for past victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits, name the Boy Scouts of America, Gamehaven Council, Inc., St. Pius X Catholic Church (the sponsor of the troop) and former troop leader and convicted child molester Richard Hokanson, as defendants.

It is estimated that Hokanson spent at least 22 years as a Boy Scout leader and held other positions in the Rochester area involving youth activities. It is believed that Hokanson currently resides in Faribault, Minnesota.

Note: Copies of the complaint and Hokanson’s IV file are available at: www.AndersonAdvocates.com under “Case Resources” and a video of the press conference will be available on our YouTube channel shortly.

Attorney Jeff Anderson is a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, internationally known trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation. Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy.

Office/651.227.9990 Mobile/612.817.8665

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

Religion News Service | By Trevor Grundy
Posted: 09/09/2013

CANTERBURY, England (RNS) Richard Dawkins, one of the world’s best-known and outspoken atheists, has provoked outrage among child protection agencies and experts after suggesting that recent child abuse scandals have been overblown.

In an interview in The Times magazine on Saturday (Sept. 7), Dawkins, 72, he said he was unable to condemn what he called “the mild pedophilia” he experienced at an English school when he was a child in the 1950s.

Referring to his early days at a boarding school in Salisbury, he recalled how one of the (unnamed) masters “pulled me on his knee and put his hand inside my shorts.”

He said other children in his school peer group had been molested by the same teacher but concluded: “I don’t think he did any of us lasting harm.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Kardinal Reinhard Marx hat starke Kritik an der Vatikanbank geäußert. Ob diese überhaupt benötigt werde, findet er „umstritten“. Auch allgemein hält er eine Reform der römischen Kurie für nötig, hin zu „mehr Transparenz, Aufsicht und Verantwortung“.

Der Münchner Erzbischof und Kardinal Reinhard Marx hat sich für eine Reform der römischen Kurie ausgesprochen. „Wir brauchen mehr Transparenz, Aufsicht und Verantwortlichkeit“, sagte der 59-Jährige der Wochenzeitung „Die Zeit“. „Eine Institution, die nicht mehr dient, sondern sich lediglich selber stark und fett macht, schadet am Ende allen.“ Marx gehört der neuen Kommission von acht Kardinälen an, die Papst Franziskus bei der Leitung der Weltkirche beraten sollen. Das Gremium kommt Anfang Oktober erstmals in Rom zusammen.

Kritisch sieht Marx die in Verruf geratene Vatikanbank. „Ob der Vatikan überhaupt eine solche Bank benötigt, ist umstritten“, sagte der Kardinal. „Mich empört jedenfalls, dass eine Einrichtung über Jahrzehnte derart den Ruf der Kirche in der Öffentlichkeit und bei den Gläubigen geschädigt hat.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Der Münchener Kardinal Reinhard Marx sieht den Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst nicht als Opfer einer Medienkampagne. “Medienkampagnen laufen ins Leere, wenn da nichts ist”, sagt er und verweist darauf, dass die Gebote von Transparenz und Wahrhaftigkeit auch für Bischöfe gelten.

Im Konflikt um den Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst hat der Münchener Kardinal Reinhard Marx Offenheit angemahnt. Er widersprach zudem im Interview mit der Wochenzeitung “Die Zeit” (Donnerstag) Einschätzungen, erst die Medien hätten den Bischof in Bedrängnis gebracht. “Medienkampagnen laufen ins Leere, wenn da nichts ist”, sagte er demnach. Deshalb seien Aufklärung und Offenheit so wichtig. “Im übrigen gelten auch für Bischöfe wie für alle Gläubigen die Gebote von Transparenz und Wahrhaftigkeit”, wird der katholische Erzbischof von München und Freising weiter zitiert.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has given additional responsibilities to Auxiliary Bishop Eamonn Walsh, who he criticised in the wake of the Murphy Report four years ago.

Bishop Walsh, whose resignation was rejected by Pope Benedict following the Government-commissioned report, has been made head of the newly-established Office for Clergy in the Dublin Archdiocese.

The additional duties will see him co-ordinating all aspects of the theological and pastoral formation and pastoral care of the archdiocese’s 413 priests.

The 69-year old has served as an auxiliary bishop of Dublin for 23 years.

Between 2002 and 2006, he also administered the diocese of Ferns following the resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey over his attempted cover-ups of child sexual abuse scandals.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Province (Canada)

BY EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The Dominican Republic’s Catholic archbishop has confirmed that the Vatican will investigate the country’s recently removed papal envoy over allegations of child sex abuse.

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez told reporters late Tuesday that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski will be investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that deals with abuse allegations.

“This is an extremely serious issue, very serious, the most serious of its kind for the Holy See,” Lopez said.

It is believed to be the first known sex abuse investigation against a high-ranking Vatican official in recent times, though former Vatican officials have also been accused after they left Rome.

Lopez said he personally travelled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis to talk about the allegations involving the 65-year-old Wesolowski. …

Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said if the government finds any concrete evidence against Wesolowski, it would seek his extradition. He noted, however, that the Dominican Republic has no extradition agreement with the Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Bravehearts Inc. is a child protection awareness organisation founded and led by Hetty Johnson in 1996. Hetty was motivated by the revelation of abuse of her daughter by a family member. Her organisation employs over 50 people, and is the organisation of choice for media outlets seeking comment on the issue of child sexual abuse.

During the national child protection week, her group runs “White Balloon Day”. This year the main function was attended by Royal Commission chairman, Peter Mc.Clellan, who was the guest speaker and praised the organisation highly.

Johnston has published a book detailing her beliefs called “In the Best Interests of the Child.” In 2004, Hetty Johnston unsuccessfully stood for the Senate, with sponsorship from a television network.

In 2010, Bravehearts invited the Catholic Church to officially participate in her White Balloon Day activities. In a joint press release, Sr. Angela Ryan of the Catholic Church National Committee for Professional Standards (which handles its child abuse complaints), said that “We are happy to accept the invitation from Bravehearts to
participate in this national campaign by flying white balloons outside our Churches and Schools during Child Protection Week.”

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

[Fr. John Ruhl documents]

By Gustavo Arellano Wed., Sep. 11 2013

In the spring 1992, a huge controversy emerged at St. Joseph Elementary School in Placentia, as parents and teachers were up in arms against the Diocese of Orange and principal John Ruhl. The former Vicentian was apparently a Grade-A douchebag, physically and verbally assaulting female teachers, and parents wanted him gone. Monsignor John Urell, secretary to then-Bishop Norman McFarland, told the media not to worry: Ruhl had “taken a leave of absence to care for an ailing family member,” and Urell didn’t know when he’d return.

It would be never, because Urell was hiding an inconvenient secret: Ruhl was a pedo-priest. That revelation wouldn’t happen until this week, when personnel files released by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles revealed that Urell and the Orange diocese knew Ruhl was a pedo-priest, but never alerted the public or authorities about it.

Ruhl’s story is already somewhat known; in 2005, his Orange diocese personnel file was inadvertently leaked to the Orange County Register, who–breaking news in the pedo-priest scandal for the first time ever (and taking three reporters to do it)–reported that the priest admitted to diocesan officials that he once duct-taped a student’s penis to stop the teen from masturbating. McFarland, to his credit, had Ruhl removed from active ministry and paid to hook up Ruhl to a lie-detector machine, “results…not included in the portion of his file,” wrote the Reg back in 2005.

The results appeared in a June 16, 1993 memo included in Ruhl’s LA archdiocese files. At the end of the 121-page report is the memo, detailing a conversation that a Vicentian Fathers and Brothers investigator had with Urell after a former prospective seminarian had come forward to claim that Ruhl had made him kneel down, naked, then shoved his face into Ruhl’s crotch “for his penance.”

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday September 11, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

An Alabama church employee who pled guilty to sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl won’t be going to prison.

Instead, Blake Jerrod Earl will be serving a year of unsupervised probation and counseling leaving him on the streets, free to harm children again.

We urge officials at Solid Rock Christian Center in Huntsville to encourage anyone who witnessed, suspected or experienced abuse to come forward and inform the authorities. As victims, we sincerely hope that any additional information presented will be used to keep Earl away from children.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

Cuban artist Erik Ravelo’s photo project “Los Intocables”, depicting violence against children in various contexts,including the Catholic Church, is raising a storm

MEROPE IPPIOTIS
ROME

The paedophilia scandal continues to haunt the Catholic Church, this time through the realm of art – though some may disagree about how appropriate the use of the term “art” is in the case of Cuban artist Erik Ravelo’s project “Los Intocables” (The Untouchables).

Ravelo recently published a controversial photo collection, featuring images of children “crucified” to the backs of a number of symbolic figures representing different contexts in which violence is notoriously inflicted on children. “The images refer to paedophilia in the Vatican, child sex tourism in Thailand, the war in Syria, the trafficking of black market organs “donated” by children in the third world and obesity,” Australian website news.con.au reports. “Erik Ravelo took a series of photos of children hung like Jesus from a cross, but in the place of the cross were soldiers, surgeons, priests and Ronald McDonald,” the website explains.

The images which points the finger at the Catholic Church, depicts a young boy in nothing but his underwear, pinned to the back of a Catholic cardinal is a painful reminder of the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church in recent years.

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NEW YORK
Huffington Post

By Julie Shapiro

BROOKLYN — In a surprise rejection of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ nearly 24 years on the job, challenger Kenneth Thompson won a sweeping victory over the longtime incumbent in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

Thompson, an attorney best known for representing a hotel worker who claimed she was sexually assaulted by French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, drew 55 percent of the vote, compared with Hynes’ 45 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

Thompson’s victory dealt a major blow to Hynnes, whose name will still appear on the Nov. 5 ballot as a Republican candidate, after securing that party’s nomination earlier. …

Hynes, the first Brooklyn D.A. to be voted out of office in more than a century, has faced criticism for allegedly not pursuing sexual assault and pedophilia cases in the Orthodox Jewish community as well as concerns over the conduct of one of his subordinates — weaknesses Thompson exploited in his run against the well-known Brooklyn prosecutor.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

New York Election Law § 17-142 states that any person who “offers or promises to pay, lend or contribute any money or other valuable consideration to induce such voter or other person to vote or refrain from voting at any election” is guilty of a felony. That being said, South Williamsburg voters at IS 71 can get a chance to win $250 cash prizes and gift certificates—all they have to do is cast a ballot.

A 16-year-old who said he was being paid $350 to man a booth a little more than 100 feet from the polling station at IS 71 told us that families of area yeshiva students received this card in the mail before the election. The card promises entry into a raffle boasting $250 cash prizes and gift certificates when presented to a worker after voting. You could also pick up one of the special cards from a van sitting outside the polling station.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

What appears to be an orchestrated pattern of voter fraud is being reported at a pivotal precinct in South Williamsburg. According to a Board of Elections poll worker and another poll watcher, groups of young Hasidic men attempted to enter the polling station at IS 71 and vote under the names of other citizens who have yet to vote. “They’re signing signatures, but the ID they show doesn’t match the signature on the forms. Yes, there’s been some illegal stuff going on,” BOE poll worker Antoinette Reaves said.

An NYPD officer standing outside IS 71 told us he had witnessed four men attempting to vote under the wrong name in the two hours he had been posted there.

While some of the attempts were made by men who looked to be of voting age, others struck poll workers as obviously fraudulent. “They’re fourteen, fifteen years old, walking in here with a crowd of people. We stopped them and asked for ID—we know they’re too young to go in there. They’ve been trying it all day,” Reaves said. “The same faces are appearing.”

While Reaves could not say whether or not any of them have been successful, David Greenberg, a poll watcher for city council candidate Stephen Pierson, said the sheer number of attempts suggested that the problem was more widespread.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
al Momento

Por ALI NUÑEZ

Cardenal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez.

SANTO DOMINGO.- El arzobispo de Santo Domingo, Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, dijo la noche de este martes que había informado al Vaticano sobre las alegadas malas prácticas del exnuncio Jósef Wesolowski, acusado en República Dominicana de prácticas de pederastia.

“Yo recogí algunas informaciones y se las comuniqué directamente al Papa. Fue solamente eso”, explicó.

Aclaró que tenía algunas informaciones confidenciales, pero no pruebas de las mismas.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

As Pope Francis presided over a meeting of Roman Curia department heads today, his new pick for Secretary of State was making news on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Archbishop Pietro Parolin, in an interview with the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, said among other things that the church’s tradition of priestly celibacy was not dogma and was therefore open to discussion. And he said that while the church was not a democracy, it needs to reflect the democratic spirit of the times and adopt a collegial way of governing.

Neither statement is exactly groundbreaking, but the fact that the new secretary of state feels free to make them says a lot about the current atmosphere in the Vatican.

Parolin said that priestly celibacy, which remains the norm in the Western church, is a tradition that goes back to early Christian times and that has been strengthened through the centuries.

“The effort made by the church to institute ecclesial celibacy must be taken into consideration. One cannot simply say that it belongs to the past,” he said.

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CANADA
Sooke News Mirror

Published: September 11, 2013

Father Philip Jacobs, a parish 63-year-old priest who once served at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Sooke, was sentenced on September 4 to two years probation along with a five-month conditional sentence. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper found the priest guilty in March and imposed the sentence while stating it was clear Jacobs acted deliberately.

Jacobs was found guilty in March for sexually touching a teenager while ministering at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic School in Saanich between 2000 and 2001. The victim was an alter server at the time and stated Jacobs molested him more than once and “less than 12” times. Jacobs was arrested in 2010, released on $25,000 bail and has essentially been under house arrest since then. Jacobs has been known to live along West Coast Road.

Jacobs was acquited on three other charges that include one count of sexual assault and two of sexually touching a person under 14.

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NEW YORK
Brooklyn Daily

Brooklyn primary voters rendered a stunning verdict on six-term District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes — and sentenced him to retirement.

Former federal prosecutor Ken Thompson scored an historic upset against Hynes in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary — bringing the incumbent’s 23-year tenure as Brooklyn’s top lawman to a startling close. Thompson is the first challenger to unseat an incumbent district attorney in more than a century, and will become the first African-American to hold the office.

Hynes — who had already secured the Republican and Conservative lines on the November ballot — chose to bow out of his position. The defeated DA said he would spend the following months working with Thompson to transfer the reins of power. …

Hynes also suffered from bad press over his office’s weak response to sex abuse cases in the Orthodox Jewish community — a powerful voting block that long backed him.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM AND GLENN BLAIN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ 23-year run as the borough’s top prosecutor has come to an end following his stunning defeat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

Hynes was the city’s first sitting district attorney to be voted from office since 1955 after he was defeated by former prosecutor Kenneth Thompson 55% to 44%, according to unofficial results.

A Brooklyn District Attorney had not been voted out of office since 1911.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- of Santo Domingo Archbishop cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez Tuesday night confirmed that it was he who informed the Vatican about the alleged wrongdoing by former envoy Jósef Wesolowski, accused of sexually molesting several minors.

“I gathered some information and reported directly to the Pope, it was only that, I spent three days in the Vatican,” he said, and confirms reports in that regard.

He said he’s unaware of the ex nuncio’s whereabouts.

Lopez revealed having some confidential information, but no evidence on Wesolowski, who he affirms will be processed in a Vatican court which deals with child abuse cases.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Sun Daily

SANTO DOMINGO (Sept 11, 2013): Parents of several children in the Dominican Republic have accused the Vatican’s now-sacked envoy to the Caribbean nation of paedophilia, authorities said Tuesday.

“There are a number of parents who have filed reports” against Josef Wesolowski, deputy prosecutor Bolivar Sanchez told reporters.

Sanchez was tapped by Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito to lead the investigation into the case.

“So far, we have interviewed three (boys) here; in another location we interviewed four more boys,” said Sanchez.

“They are all from 13 to 18 years old and mainly from very poor neighbourhoods,” he said.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hong Kong Standard

Parents of several children in the Dominican Republic have accused the Vatican’s sacked envoy to the Caribbean nation of pedophilia, authorities said.

“There are a number of parents who have filed reports” against Polish national Josef Wesolowski, deputy prosecutor Bolivar Sanchez said.

Sanchez was tapped by Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito to lead the investigation, AFP reports.

“So far, we have interviewed three [boys] here; in another location we interviewed four more boys,” said Sanchez. “They are all from 13 to 18 years old and mainly from very poor neighborhoods.’’

He added there were “some very painful situations.’’

On August 21 Monsignor Wesolowski, the papal nuncio in Santo Domingo, was sacked. The Vatican did not share the news with the public.

Last week, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told the I.Media news agency on Vatican affairs that an investigation was underway in Rome into allegations of child sex abuse against Wesolowski.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, has sent a special sermon on sexual misconduct to rabbis in Australia and New Zealand to be delivered on Yom Kippur.

The text of his letter:

“I am writing to you on the Eve of Yom Kippur with the intention that this letter be read and contemplated in the break between Musaph and Mincha on Yom Kippur. Our Sages teach that notwithstanding the extraordinary holiness of the day, the reading of the Torah at Mincha on Yom Kippur recounts the laws of sexual misconduct, because of their
unfortunate prevalence and the need to seek atonement.

Furthermore we are instructed, that until we make amends with our fellow man, we cannot find atonement with Hashem.

In that spirit I wish to address the issue of child sexual abuse. Over the last few years it has become clear that our community has been affected by this scourge no differently than any other community. It has also become clear that we have not handled this issue in an appropriate manner.

I wish to be frank. For whatever reason a culture of cover up, often couched in religious terms, pervaded our thinking and actions. It may even have been well intentioned, but it was simply wrong. An issue of child sexual abuse must be reported to the police immediately and perpetrators must be brought to justice. It makes no difference whether the crime took place ten years ago or ten days ago. There can be no exceptions and no excuses.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 11, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Australia’s most senior Orthodox rabbi has apologised for years of mishandling and cover-up of child sexual abuse within the Jewish community and urged abusers to hand themselves in to police.

“For whatever reason a culture of cover-up, often couched in religious terms pervaded our thinking and actions. It may even have been well-intentioned, but it was simply wrong,” said Moshe Gutnick, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia, on Wednesday.

Ahead of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, Rabbi Gutnick told victims no one could know their pain and what they had been through.

“And the pain has only been magnified by our inaction. On this holiest of days, I sincerely beg your forgiveness on behalf of all of us who did not hear your voice.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

Kenneth Thompson, a lawyer best known for representing the maid in the sex assault scandal involving former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn, won the Democratic nomination for Brooklyn district attorney Tuesday, unseating longtime prosecutor Charles Hynes.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Thompson was leading with 55 percent of the vote.

Hynes has the support of the GOP but says he won’t run as a Republican. There are no other major party candidates in the general election. …

Charles “Joe” Hynes, 78, held the job more than 20 years — a ubiquitous figure with a tough-on-crime persona won him diverse fans — and critics — throughout the borough.

He was blasted by some for being soft on crime in the borough’s large but insular Orthodox Jewish community. He was accused of catering to powerful rabbis who did not want criminal cases, especially sex abuse cases, handled by secular authorities. Hynes denied the allegations.

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ISRAEL
Religion News Blog

ReligionNewsBlog.com — The sadistic leader of a cult that was based in Jerusalem and the Tiberias region of Israel has been found guilty of a range of crimes, including physically-, mentally-, and sexually abusing six women and dozens of children.

The cult was busted in August 2011, based on report from a young woman who, in May that year, busted in August 2011, based on the report of a woman who called the Israel Center for Cult Victims [Hebrew-language website. English version via Google Translate].

YNetNews says

A gag order has been placed on the full indictment in a bid to prevent the identification of the dozens of young children and their mothers. […]

According to the indictment, D. saw himself as the successor of a well-known figure from his Hasidic movement and the person chosen to distribute his doctrine in the world. He got more and more women to join his cult by convincing them of his “powers.”

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Victims Write Parents & Judge about Teachers
Both will be in court in Little Rock next week
One of them pled guilty to molesting a student
Another didn’t report the crimes as required by law
Group wants families & school officials to help prosecutors
And it tells Little Rock’s bishop “Do aggressive outreach now”
Parents should “ask their kids if they saw or suspected wrongdoing,” victims
say

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will urge local school officials and church officials to “actively seek out” people who “saw, suspected or suffered” crimes by two teachers who will be in court next week.

They will also disclose that they are writing to

— nearly 400 parents of students at the school where both of the accused worked, and
—the judge in the cases, urging harsh sentences if/when the teachers are found guilty of child sex crimes and/or cover ups.

WHEN
Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Pulaski County Court house, 401 W. Markham in downtown Little Rock (near S Spring Street)

WHO
Two members of a support group for clergy sex abuse victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director.

WHY
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging officials with a Little Rock school and the Little Rock Catholic diocese to “aggressively seek out” others who may have “seen, suspected or suffered crimes” by two former Catholic school teachers who will be in court next week on child sex charges. The group is also writing to families who attend the school prodding those with information or suspicions about the crimes to contact law enforcement.

One of the teachers, Kelly Ann O’Rourke, admitted molesting a student. The other, Kathy Gene Griffin, allegedly concealed O’Rourke’s crimes.

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ALABAMA
WHNT

MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – A local church musician pleads guilty to harassment.

Blake Jerrod Earl was arrested in 2012, and was initially charged with sexual abuse. Police say Earl sexually abused a 17-year-old girl while on a church trip in Enterprise, Alabama.

Earl pleaded guilty to harassment, a lesser charge, on August 22, 2013 in Coffee County. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but that was suspended, and now must serve one year of unsupervised probation. Earl also must also attend counseling as part of his plea agreement.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australia’s most senior orthodox rabbi, Moshe Gutnick, has formally apologised for child sexual abuse within the Jewish community.

In a written apology on the eve of Yom Kippur, he said the issue has been handled inappropriately with a culture of covering up abuse.

Rabbi Gutnick asked victims of abuse for forgiveness and urged them to come forward to ensure police can prosecute the perpetrators.

“We need to empower ourselves and victims to help to bring this scourge to an end,” he said.

Talking to reporters, the rabbi addressed what he called a “cultural cover-up” with those inside the church refusing to contact the proper authorities in the belief sexual assault was a church issue, not a criminal one.

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TEXAS
Kilgore News Herald

By JAMES DRAPER
news1@kilgorenewsherald.com

A Rusk County Grand Jury reindicted Glenn Douglas Barton for aggravated sexual assault of a child last week following an analysis of DNA evidence collected by local investigators.

Awaiting the forensic report, Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson dismissed the original indictment against Barton after his March 4 arrest stemming from KPD’s investigation into allegations he sexually abused a young family member for several years.

At the time of his first arrest Barton was senior pastor of Calvary Way Church in Kilgore, taken into custody at his residence on the grounds of the West Woodlawn ministry.

Facing the new first degree felony, on Friday the 62-year-old turned himself in to the Rusk County Jail and was later released on $50,000 bond. His defense attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Sacramento, Calif., Sep 11, 2013 / 02:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- California Gov. Jerry Brown should veto an abuse lawsuit bill that is “flagrantly discriminatory” and “targeted at the Catholic Church,” says Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

“Going after the Catholic schools today for cases of abuse that took place decades ago, while exempting the public schools – at a time when there is a serious problem with the sexual molestation of minors in the public schools – is irrational, discriminatory and grossly unjust,” the Catholic League president said in a Sept. 10 letter to Gov. Brown.

His comments come in response to S.B. 131, a bill now headed to the governor’s desk that would lift the statute of limitations on abuse lawsuits only for private institutions, but not for public schools.

Donohue said the bill is “indefensible” because under its provisions “no one who was abused in public schools before 2009 can sue the teacher, the school, or the school district, but if someone was abused in a Catholic school when JFK was president, he can sue the teacher (if he is alive), the school, and the diocese.”

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Hoy

[Summary: The prosecutor is attempting to determine the whereabouts of former apostolic nuncio Josef Wesolowski who has left the Dominican Republic.]

Escrito por: CRISTAL ACEVEDO (c.acevedo@hoy.com.do)

El procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, dijo hoy que en estos momentos investiga el paradero del exnuncio apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, quien está acusado de abuso sexual a menores de edad.

Domínguez Brito agregó que aunque las autoridades se mantienen investigando acerca de dónde se encuentra albergado el exnuncio, tienen como prioridad investigar sobre las presuntas víctimas para poder establecer responsabilidades.

Entrevistado en un programa radial, Domínguez Brito manifestó que la Iglesia Católica ha colaborado con las investigaciones que realizan las autoridades.

Con relación al proceso legal contra Wesolowski, precisó que existen dos posibilidades: que sea procesado en el país o en su defecto que sea el Vaticano quien le conozca causa.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Listin Diario

Rafael Castro
Las Américas

El exnuncio apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, acusado en el país de pederastia, viajó a la ciudad del Vaticano el día 4 de agosto por el aeropuerto Las Américas, según reportes del área protocolar de la terminal aeroportuaria.

Según el informe, Wesolowski salió pasada las 7:00 de la noche en el vuelo 088 de la línea aérea Air Europa con destino a Madrid, España y desde esa ciudad realizó una conexión con otro vuelo que lo llevó a su destino final, la ciudad del Vaticano.

El exnuncio se ha visto envuelto en un escándalo por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, caso que está siendo investigado por la fiscalía del Distrito Nacional.

De acuerdo con el informe, Wesolowski fue despedido en el Salón de Embajadores de Las Américas, tras abordar el vuelo de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el libro de record del área protocolar de la terminal.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Terra

[Summary: The Dominican prosecutor has received several formal complaints against deposed apostolic nuncio Joseph Wesolowski. Extradition may be requested. Several parents have filed complaints, according to Bolivar Sanchez, chief investigator appointed by the attorney general for the Dominican Republic.]

Fiscalía dominicana recibe denuncias contra ex nuncio por abuso de menores

La Fiscalía dominicana recibió varias denuncias formales contra el destituido nuncio apostólico en ese país, Josef Wesolowski, por supuesto abuso sexual a menores, caso por el que entrevistó a siete niños y adolescentes y por el que podría pedirse la extradición.

“Hay varios padres que ya han puesto la denuncia”, declaró este martes a la prensa el procurador adjunto Bolívar Sánchez, designado jefe de la investigación por el procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, y quien no descartó que República Dominicana solicite la extradición del funcionario católico.

“Se está contemplando eso también (la extradición)”, respondió Sánchez a una pregunta de la prensa. Pero “eso conlleva un proceso que no es el mismo que si se tratara de un ciudadano que no estuviera revestido de la investidura de un diplomático”, agregó de inmediato.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias SIN

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Organizaciones como la Colectiva Mujer y Salud y La Multitud protestarán mañana, miércoles, frente a la Nunciatura ante las denuncias de presunto abuso sexual a menores y mujeres por parte de sacerdote y el destituido nuncio apostólico en el país, Jósef Wesolowski.

La actividad está convocada para las 5 de la tarde frente a la Nunciatura Papal, en la Máximo Gómez esquina César Nicolás Penson.

Sus organizadores protestarán para reclamar “que los crímenes sexuales contra niños, niñas y adolescentes cometidos por exnuncio y los otros curas no queden impunes”.

Asimismo, para pedir “que se ofrezca protección a víctimas que no se atreven a denunciar por temor a represalias”.

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NEDERLAND
Eindrapport van de Commissie Archiefonderzoek handelen Openbaar Ministerie bij seksueel misbruik Rooms-Katholieke Kerk

Voorwoord

In december 2011 verscheen het rapport van de commissie-Deetman over seksueel misbruik in de
Rooms-Katholieke Kerk (RKK).1

Het rapport leidde tot een uitgebreid debat in de Tweede Kamer.

Een van de discussiepunten was het optreden van het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) in zaken van
seksueel misbruik door rooms-katholieke geestelijken.2

Naar aanleiding daarvan heeft de vaste commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie de minister gevraagd om de archieven van het OM te laten onderzoeken. Het onderzoek zou meer inzicht moeten geven ‘in de wijze waarop het OM in het verleden is omgegaan met misbruikzaken binnen de Rooms Katholieke kerk.’3

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Sep. 10, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

My colleague Brian Roewe reported yesterday on an interview given by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. There is much that is – how to put this as kindly as possible – jarring about the bishop’s comments. His comparison of the situation of the Church today in America to that of the early Christians in imperial Rome was histrionic to say the least: Whatever one thinks of Obama, he is not Nero or Diocletian. Paprocki’s comments on homosexuality exhibited a fifth grade understanding of the issue. But, what was most alarming were the bishop’s remarks about the sex abuse crisis. Those who criticized the Church’s handling of the issue are dismissed as anti-Catholic bigots. Many bishops have forthrightly confronted the issue of clergy sex abuse, to be sure. Others, not so much. And the Holy See has so far failed to establish a procedure for removing bishops who do not enforce the canonical norms that have governed the Church’s response since 2002. Bishop Robert Finn is still the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Archbishop John Myers is still the Archbishop of Newark. By refusing to admit any wrong-doing, but sweeping everything under the proverbial rug, by blaming the media for its coverage, Paprocki looks like no one so much as the tobacco executives who once insisted that smoking cigarettes had nothing to do with causing cancer.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Capital Public Radio

[with audio]

By Rich Ibarra

(Sacramento, CA)
Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sexual abuse lawsuits have cost the Stockton Catholic Diocese almost 20 million dollars over the last decade. The church is preparing for bankruptcy as more victims may come forward.

Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire oversees 250,000 Catholics in 6 counties.

He has written in an open letter that he is ready to have the diocese declare bankruptcy because of pending lawsuits, and future claims by victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests.

David Clohessey of the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests is urging the bishop to reconsider.

He says bankruptcy would prolong the suffering of victims who are still coming forward.

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CANADA
The Province

VANCOUVER — The Roman Catholic diocese that ran a school where former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong once taught is denying allegations of abuse in a lawsuit filed by two women, questioning in a statement of defence whether one of the students even attended the school.

A cloud has hung over Furlong since last fall, when the Georgia Straight, a weekly newspaper based in Vancouver, published a story alleging Furlong physically and verbally abused students while teaching in Burns Lake, B.C., and Prince George, B.C., in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Furlong subsequently launched a libel lawsuit against the Georgia Straight newspaper and the reporter who wrote the piece, condemning the article as a hatchet job and denying he ever abused anyone.

Those allegations were amplified this past July, when Grace West and Beverly Abraham, who identified themselves as former students of Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake, filed separate lawsuits against Furlong alleging physical and sexual abuse while they attended the school.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Descents from Darkness

SNAP (the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests) is a national organization focused on preventing and drawing attention to clergy sexual abuse and the recovery of those abused by clergy. On Wednesday, September 11, 2013, they will hold a confidential support meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Please see the link below for more information.

Information on SNAP Support Meeting

I’ve had contact with several members and staff of SNAP over the last few years, including their chapter focused on abuse within the Southern Baptist community (found here). They have been nothing but supportive and understanding.

If you are in the Central Arkansas area and have personally struggled with, or watched family members or close friends struggle with clergy abuse issues, you should seriously think about attending.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

MEDIA ADVISORY: FORMER BOY SCOUT TO SPEAK ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE BY SCOUTMASTER RICHARD HOKANSON IN ROCHESTER

Media Advisory
September 10, 2013
St. Paul News Conference Wednesday

Former Boy Scout to Speak About Sexual Abuse by
Scoutmaster Richard Hokanson in Rochester

Attorney to discuss “Perversion Files” from 1999-2008
and the BSA’s failure to warn about pedophiles in scouting

WHAT: At a news conference on Wednesday in St. Paul, prominent sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will:
• Announce the filing of a lawsuit involving the National Boy Scouts of America Foundation d/b/a The Boys Scouts of America (BSA) filed under the new Minnesota Child Victims Act. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a former Boy Scout Doe 17, names the Boy Scouts of America, Gamehaven Council, Inc., St. Pius X Catholic Church, troop sponsor, and former troop leader and convicted child molester Richard Hokanson, as defendants.
• Introduce survivor, Doe 17, who has courageously decided to speak publicly about the abuse he suffered by Hokanson from the age of 11-16 while a member of Troop 210 in Rochester, Minnesota.
• Two sets of IV Perversion Files, one already made public in an Oregon sexual abuse case, and the second, not yet able to be publicly released but intended to be used at a cancelled trial in Ramsey County this week, will be in boxes at the news conference.
• Alert the community and other sexual abuse survivors in Minnesota about the Child Victims Act and encourage them to come forward and tell others about the new legislation.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 11th at 11:00 AM

WHERE: Offices of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Nacional

Escrito por: Alberto Caminero y Diogenes Tejada

Josef Wesolowski, ex nuncio en República Dominicana y quien enfrenta un escándalo internacional por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, salió el 4 de agosto por el aeropuerto de Las Américas con destino a Madrid, según se confirmó de manera extraoficial. Wesolowski fue despedido en el Salón de Embajadores y abordó el vuelo 088 de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el Aeropuerto. Cuando estalló el escándalo de pederastia atribuida a Wesolowski el 26 de agosto pasado, ya el ex nuncio apostólico había salido de República Dominicana.

El Nacional publicó la semana pasada la especie de que el ex nuncio apostólico podría estar escondido en algún lugar del país, ya que la Dirección General de Migración no tiene registro de su salida de República Dominicana tras su destitución como embajador del Vaticano el pasado 26 de agosto.

Tras una minuciosa verificación esta mañana, su nombre no aparece registrado en la lista de salidas de pasajeros por los puertos y aeropuertos del país desde el 26 de enero hasta la fecha.

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REPUBLIC DOMINICANA
El Nuevo Diario

[Summary: Unofficial sources said Joseph Wesolowski, former apostolic nuncio in the Dominican Republic, who faces an international scandal for alleged sexual acts with minors in that country, on Aug. 4 passed through the international airport in the Dominican Republic en route to Madrid, Spain. El Nacional newspaper reported that he boarded Air Europa flight 088 that would take him first to Spain and then on to the Vatican. The scandal broke Aug. 26 and the nuncio had already left the country.

On Saturday, journalist Nuria Piera interviewed a 13-year-old boy who said he was approached several times by the former nuncio and was paid 500 pesos to masturbate in front of him while filming him with his phone. Wesolowski is also said to have contacted other children in the Montesinos area and brought them to a house in Boca Chica. The boy was asked by Ms. Piera how he explained the money when he got home. He said he worked shining shoes in a tourist area.]

SANTO DOMINGO, RD.- Fuentes no oficiales aseguran que el ex nuncio apostólico en República Dominicana, Jósef Wesolowski, quien enfrenta un escándalo internacional por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, salió el 4 de agosto por el Aeropuerto Internacional de Las Américas con destino a Madrid, España.

Según publica el periódico El Nacional, Wesolowski fue despedido en el salón de Embajadores y abordó el vuelo 088 de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el Aeropuerto, por lo que cuando estalló el escándalo de pederastia atribuida a Wesolowski el 26 de agosto pasado, ya el ex nuncio apostólico había salido del país.

Sin embargo, la Dirección General de Migración no tiene registro de su salida de República Dominicana tras su destitución como embajador del Vaticano el pasado 26 de agosto.

De acuerdo a las autoridades, el representante del Vaticano, está siendo objeto de una investigación por denuncias de alegada pederastia, empero, en los registros de Migración no figura ningún tipo de impedimento de salida impuesto por las autoridades.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Nuevo Dia

Por Agencia EFE

Santo Domingo – El Ministerio Público de la República Dominicana identificó y entrevistó a siete menores de edad presuntamente abusados sexualmente por el destituido nuncio en el país, Jósef Wesolowski, informó hoy el encargado de investigar el caso, el procurador adjunto, Bolívar Sánchez.

Las declaraciones ofrecidas por las supuestas víctimas son “coherentes y contundentes”, dijo a la prensa Sánchez, quien, sin embargo, se abstuvo de ofrecer mayores detalles para no entorpecer las investigaciones.

Los menores narraron a las autoridades que sostenían relaciones sexuales con el exnuncio a cambio de dinero, según adelantó Sánchez.

Asimismo, el procurador adjunto informó que los padres de los menores ya han sido entrevistados, y que en este caso hay situaciones “bastante dolorosas”.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICA
Acento

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Moradores de la zona del Monumento a Montesinos confirmaron que el nuncio Joséf Wesolowski visitaba todos los días el lugar, aproximadamente a las 3:30 de la tarde y permanecía máximo durante una hora.

“El viejo venia todos los días, nosotros sabíamos quién era él, uno sospechaba, uno e´ tiguere, uno sabe, inclusive uno que es de por aquí, (refiriéndose a un amigo) yo lo estaba confundiendo y él me dijo que sí, que era él”, explicó un vecino del lugar que no quiso revelar su identidad.

Explicó que su amigo trabajaba en la Iglesia Católica y le confimó en una ocasión que se trataba del nuncio del Vaticano.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Prensa Latina

[Summary: At least seven minors in the Dominican Republic have been identified as victims of sexual abuse by former apostolic nuncio Josef Wesolowski, according to official sources. Deputy Attorney Bolivar Sanchez, who heads the investigation that began last week, said victims range in age from 13-18. The testimonials are harrowing, compelling and delicate, he said.]

Santo Domingo, 10 sep (PL) Al menos siete dominicanos menores de edad fueron identificados como víctimas de abuso sexual del ex nuncio apostólico Joséf Wesolowski, revelaron hoy aquí fuentes oficiales.

De acuerdo con el procurador adjunto Bolívar Sánchez, encargado de la investigación abierta la semana pasada, las edades de los afectados van de 13 a 18 años.

Los testimonios son desgarradores, contundentes y delicados afirmó Sánchez, quien precisó que el religioso llevaba un lustro en esa práctica.

Explicó, citado por el sitio digital acento.com.do, que las víctimas tenían relaciones sexuales con Wesolowski, de origen polaco, a cambio de dinero, y sus padres fueron entrevistados también.

El Ministerio Público desconoce el paradero del ex nuncio apostólico, destituido del cargo a finales del mes anterior.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago, Dominican Republic.- The Santiago Appellate Court’s Criminal Chamber declared Polish priest Wojciech Gil (Alberto) in contempt , at the request of the Office of the Prosecutor, on charges he sexually molested several minors in the village of Juncalito, Janico township (central).

The Justice Ministry’s Domestic Violence Unit filed the charges against Gil, 36, at the Children and Adolescents Court.

Although there’s no precise figure as to how many minors figure in the complaint, initial reports place the number at 14. The priest worked with 180 vulnerable children.

The authorities reportedly found videos and other unspecified “incriminating belongings” at Wojciech’s residence.

The prelate allegedly went on vacation amid the complaints, prompting the authorities to search his residence, where they found compromising items such as “tailless” panties and porno films, among other belongings. His whereabouts are unknown.

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

We ask our Rabbonim: Please issue a statement supporting Nechemia Weberman’s victims and condemning the harassment they continue to suffer.

Petition by
Miriam Pearlmutter
Cleveland Heights, OH

Despite Nechemia Weberman’s conviction, Mrs. Deutsch and her family continue to be harassed and intimidated by members of the religious community. In the most recent display of baseless hatred, she and her family were shamed during Rosh Hashanah davening and made to leave their shul. This event was chronicled in secular newspapers, such as the New York Post.

We, as the Orthodox community, cannot allow this Chillul Hashem to go unaddressed. This is not who we are, and we must publically condemn the shaming and bullying that many sexual-abuse victims experience following their ordeals. Victims of these horrific crimes are entitled to our communities’ support and encouragement. In the alternative, victims will fear speaking out and we will be complicit in their suffering.

The specific Rabbonim asked to issue a statement are: the Agudas Yisroel (Chaim Dovid Zweibel,Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin,Rabbi Labish Becker); the Orthodox Union (Rabbi Simcha Katz,Rabbi Steven Weil); the Rabbinical Council of America (Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Rabbi Mark Dratch, Rabbi Basil Herring, Rabbi Barry Kornblau); National Council of Young Israel (Rabbi Perry Tirschwell, Rabbi Chaim Leibtag); Chabad- Lubavitch (Rabbi Osdoba, Rabbi Schwei, Rabbi Braun, Rabbi Heller); Satmar (Rabbis Aaron and Zalman Teitelbaum); and the Beis Din of America (Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz; Rabbi Mordechai Willig,Rabbi Yona Reiss,Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann).

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HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 10, 2013

According to the Honolulu Civil Beat: Deputy Attorney General Randall Nishiyama’s memo, dated Sept. 3, 2013, notifies Mercado Kim that the grant for Kalihi’s Damien Memorial School violates a provision in Hawaii’s constitution prohibiting the state from contributing public money to private schools.

A spokeswoman for the AG’s office told Civil Beat that means the state won’t end up releasing the grant money, which would’ve subsidized a $12 million construction project that includes a new athletic complex, library and student services building, among other renovations.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

S/he has served his or her time. Now what?

For victims, it can be sheer horror

There is both relief and joy for a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their families when a convicted perpetrator goes to jail. The perpetrator can no longer gain access to a child. But that relief can be short-lived.

The typical felony child abuse sentence is a 2-3 years, unless there are special circumstances.Why? The economics of prison overcrowding and state constitutional rules regarding civil commitment.

The situation of Oblate priest James Rapp OSFS is different. Rapp is a Roman Catholic priest convicted to 40 years for child abuse, reduced to 16 years. He will be free in 2015. But his case is the exception, not the norm.

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VATICANO
ACI Prensa

VATICANO, 10 Sep. 13 / 11:01 am (ACI).- El director de la Sala de Prensa de la Santa Sede, el Padre Federico Lombardi, reiteró el compromiso del Vaticano para proseguir con las investigaciones en el caso del ex Nuncio en Rep. Dominicana, el Arzobispo Joseph Wesolowski.

El sacerdote hizo estas declaraciones luego de que se difundiera el fin de semana un reportaje en el que un adolescente narró una serie de detalles de los abusos que él y otros muchachos habrían sufrido con el Arzobispo Wesolowski.

En declaraciones hoy a ACI Prensa sobre lo revelado en el reportaje transmitido el sábado y ayer en los medios locales de República Dominicana, el Padre Lombardi explicó hoy que “la Santa Sede se puso en contacto con el Nuncio (Wesolowski) que fue apartado de su cargo y actualmente las investigaciones siguen su curso. No tengo nada más que decir”.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Dominguez Brito on Monday said he doesn’t know the whereabouts of ousted Vatican nuncio Josef Wesolowski, accused of pedophilia, a case reminiscent of Dominican Republic’s most shameful episode of the abuse of a minor, also linked to foreign diplomats.

He said although an investigation into the Pope’s former representative has been launched based on media reports, allegations and statements by Catholic Church dignitaries, Wesolowski has yet to be formally charged.

He said international law provides for prosecution of Polish bishop Wesolowski at the Vatican, but based on evidence gathered locally.

Dominguez cited precedents of diplomats charged in a host country and tried, convicted, sentenced and serving time in theirs.

The official affirmed that Catholic Church representatives maintain communication and collaborate in the case.

As to the related case of the Polish priest Wojciecj Gil (Alberto), also accused of pedophilia, Dominguez said in a hearing today Tuesday, the prosecution will ask he be declared a fugitive, prior to issuing an international arrest warrant.

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FRAMINGHAM (MA)
Boston.com

By John Swinconeck, Town Correspondent

Framingham State University will kick off its 2013-2014 lecture series with a performance by Michael Mack, based on his experience during the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal.

Mack will perform his one-man show “Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith” on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Dwight Hall Performing Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Mack will recount how his dream to become a priest in the 1960s came to an end after he was abused, how he wrestled with sexuality, spirituality, and his confrontation with the abuser. Directed by Daniel Gidron, Mack’s monologue premiered at the 10-year anniversary of Boston’s clergy sexual abuse crisis, according to Framingham State.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the new Secretary of State of the Vatican, made some surprisingly frank remarks about priestly celibacy that may indicate a new openness to “the democratic spirit of the times.” Pope Francis’ plans to reform the Vatican and “shake up the church” have received a lot of attention, but he has not yet publicly addressed the issue of mandatory celibacy for priests.

Parolin said in an interview with Venezuelan newspaper El Universal that the tradition of priestly celibacy is not dogma, or a law of divine origin, and is therefore open to discussion. He went on to note that while the church is not a democratic institution, it needs to “reflect the democratic spirit of the times and adopt a collegial way of governing.”

While previous popes have declared some topics closed off from discussion, Parolin’s remarks may be indicative of the possibility of a greater conversation about an ancient Church tradition.

Though it’s not clear exactly when celibacy became mandatory for priests, the first written mandate for chastity dates back to 304 C.E., when Canon 33 of the Council of Elvira stated that all “bishops, presbyters, and deacons and all other clerics” should “abstain completely from their wives and not to have children.” A definitive ruling was handed down at the Second Lateran Council of 1139, which ruled that priests were forbidden to marry.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Some court updates:

(1) Father Jacques Faucher

Father Jacques Faucher had a court date this morning, 10 September 2013, in Ottawa:

10 September 2013: 08:30 am, courtroom #5, “to be spoken to,” Ottawa Ontario courthouse (161 Elgin St.)

I will find out tomorrow when the next courtdate is.

As always, keep the complainants in your prayers.

If anyone attended court this morning and has news of what transpired please post a comment or send me an email.

(2) Father Damian Cooper

The diocese has to disclose most of the files etc which were requested by the plaintiff. I understand that about 95% of the materials requested must be disclosed.

That’s good news.

Meanwhile the Archdiocese and Father Dmain Cooper are now pushing for disclosure of material which the plaintiff considers privileged. They will all be back in court for that battle next Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

In a surprise move, the NSW government enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the Newcastle region has reconvened in Sydney to hear more detail on the previous evidence of Paul Lucas, the Secretary of the Australian (Catholic) Bishops’ Conference.

Lucas was the one who, in six years of interviewing suspected paedophile priests, with a view to convincing them to retire discreetly without police being involved, decided to keep no notes of his activities. In the absence of notes, poor Lucas was unable to remember anything about his activities in this regard, which ran from 1990 to 1996.

Suggestions have been raised at earlier hearings of the enquiry that this was so that there would be no “paper trail” which would be available to police and victims lawyers. It was raised again at this new hearing, which suggests it may be a serious focus of the enquiry report, possibly leading to accusations of misprision of a felony offence (covering up a crime), or perjury to the enquiry.

Lucas briefly attended the hearing and told TV news that he had no comment because his lawyers had advised him to hold his tongue until the final enquiry report is released. Lucas himself is a lawyer as well as a priest.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Ein Papstgesandter greift in den Streit um Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst ein: Der als vatikanischer Vermittler ins Bistum Limburg entsandte Kurienkardinal Giovanni Lajolo (78) ist am Montag in Deutschland eingetroffen. Trotzdem hegt der Papst “volles Vetrauen” in die Amtsführung.

Der als vatikanischer Vermittler ins Bistum Limburg entsandte Kurienkardinal Giovanni Lajolo (78) ist am Montag in Deutschland eingetroffen. Das bestätigte die Limburger Bischöfliche Pressestelle am frühen Montagabend auf Anfrage. In einem am Wochenende von dem Bistum veröffentlichten Schreiben an den wegen seiner Amtsführung in die Kritik geratenen Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (53) hatte der Präfekt der vatikanischen Bischofskongregation, Kardinal Marc Ouellet, einen „brüderlichen Besuch“ des Vatikandiplomaten angekündigt. In seinem Schreiben betonte Ouellet ausdrücklich, bei dem Besuch Lajolos handele es sich nicht um eine „Apostolische Visitation“. Der Heilige Stuhl sehe dazu keinen Anlass und hege „volles Vertrauen“ in die Amtsführung des Limburger Bischofs.

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