ABUSE TRACKER

ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, national president member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org)

We are grateful that an abuse case against a prominent Chicago Muslim cleric has been resolved. But now is not the time for complacency. It’s time for every single person who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Mohammad Abdullah Saleem – or cover ups by or at the Institute for Islamic Education – to come forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers and protect kids. If he committed other crimes, he should be prosecuted for them too.

[Courier-News]

[Courier-News]

[Chicago Tribune]

We’re glad Saleem will be on the sex offender registry for life. That will make it harder for him to win the trust of unsuspecting parents and hurt their kids.

Our hearts go out to the four extraordinarily brave women who report having been molested and assaulted by this cleric and to the 23 year old who is cooperating with law enforcement. We are grateful that some of these women are also seeking justice in the civil courts. Victims of sexual violence should use every avenue they can to warn the public about dangerous predators.

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ILLINOIS
Courier-News

George Houde
Chicago Tribune

A suburban Islamic leader who was accused of molesting an underage girl and a female employee pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon and was sentenced to 24 months of probation.

Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 77, who founded the Institute for Islamic Education in Elgin, must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

He was accused of repeatedly fondling a young woman who worked for him at the school, as well as a student who was a minor at the time, in some cases while making them sit on his lap.

The arrest of the conservative scholar on sex abuse charges was especially shocking given Saleem’s stature in his community made up largely of Islamic immigrants from India and Pakistan. He is said to espouse a code of separation between genders and discourages even hand-shaking. The institute, which provides boarding to some students, runs separate programs for girls and boys.

The elderly, white-bearded imam had appeared to be close to accepting a plea bargain in recent days and had made two earlier court appearances this week as lawyers negotiated in private in the judge’s chambers. On Tuesday, Judge James Karahalios gave Saleem until Sept. 2 to accept the proposed plea deal.

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JTA

August 25, 2016

(JTA) — Three hundred Orthodox rabbis have signed a proclamation urging those suspecting child sex abuse to notify secular authorities and calling on Jewish institutions to take preventative measures to prevent abuse.

The letter, which was released Thursday and signed by rabbis from the the United States, Canada, Israel and Europe, recognizes that Orthodox communities “could have responded in more responsible and sensitive ways to help victims and to hold perpetrators accountable.” It also condemns attempts to ignore or silence abuse victims and witnesses.

Those suspecting sexual abuse do not need to seek rabbinic approval before contacting civil authorities, the proclamation states.

“We condemn attempts to ignore allegations of child sexual abuse. These efforts are harmful, contrary to Jewish law, and immoral,” it said. “The reporting of reasonable suspicions of all forms of child abuse and neglect directly and promptly to the civil authorities is a requirement of Jewish law.”

The letter strongly condemns ostracizing victims of sexual abuse and calls upon synagogues and schools to set up policies to prevent sex abuse, including carefully screening new employees, raising awareness of the issue, and teaching children about sexual development and safety.

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MISSOURI
Catholic World Report

St. Louis, Mo., Aug 25, 2016 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A group for clergy sex abuse victims made false statements “negligently and with reckless disregard for the truth” against a St. Louis priest to try to convict him on abuse charges, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson said that the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests failed to comply with a court order that the group supply details about those who accused Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang of sexual abuse. This made it impossible for him to litigate the claims against him.

Jackson said the court will establish that SNAP’s statements “were false and that they did not conduct any inquiry into the truth or falsity of these public statements.”

The court will also establish that defendants conspired to secure Fr. Jiang’s conviction on sex abuse charges due to “discriminatory animus against plaintiff based on his religion, religious vocation, race, and national origin,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

AUG. 24, 2016

Sophia Bollag

Sex offenders would be required to report their email addresses, usernames and other Internet identifiers to law enforcement under a bill California state senators sent to the governor Wednesday.

The bill, SB 448, would amend parts of California law enacted when voters passed anti sex-trafficking law Proposition 35 that have since been challenged in court. The bill now goes to the governor.

SB 448 would apply to offenders convicted on or after Jan. 1, 2017 who used the Internet to carry out sex crimes.

Proposition 35 passed by statewide ballot in 2012 with more than 80 percent of the vote. It increased punishments for human traffickers and expanded the definition of human trafficking to include the creation and distribution of child pornography.

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UNITED STATES
The Feminine Collective

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Nancy Levine

“She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her.” I read the quote twice.

It chafed at me like a scratchy thread sticking out on a sweater. You pull the strand, keep yanking, and pretty soon, the whole garment starts to unravel.

I was sitting at my kitchen table on Christmas morning last year, with coffee and laptop, as I do every morning. This headline from The New York Times popped up in my Facebook news feed:

“A Spiritual Leader Gains Stature, Trailed by a Troubled Past,” with a photo of former rabbi turned spiritual guru, accused sexual predator Marc Gafni. “14 going on 35” was how Gafni described one of his accusers.

And this grabbed me:

“A co-founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey, a proponent of conscious capitalism, calls Mr. Gafni ‘a bold visionary.’ He is a chairman of the executive board of Mr. Gafni’s center, and he hosts board meetings at his Texas ranch.”

I have spent the better part of 30 years as an executive recruiter. I started out after college at American Express corporate headquarters in lower Manhattan. I was ghostwriting announcements for executives about company shakeups and reorgs. So I’ve been around CEOs for a long time.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sarrbruecker Zeitung

[Abuse: Expert urges external investigators.]

Von Matthias Zimmermann, 24. August 2016

Was haben die Nachforschungen bei den Missbrauchsvorwürfen in Freisen ergeben? Und wie setzen sich Verantwortliche dafür ein, dass es nicht zu sexuellen Übergriffen in der Kirche kommt? Ein Opferverband verlangt mehr Aufklärungswillen.

Bei den bistumsinternen Ermittlungen zu den Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen einen ehemaligen Freisener Pfarrer geht es nur schleppend voran. Das kritisieren Betroffene. Deshalb fordern Vertreter der Opferorganisation „Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier“ (Missbit) eine von der Kirche unabhängige Aufarbeitung. Nur dann rechne Missbit damit, dass wirklich aufgeklärt werde, sagt Claudia Adams. Die Merzigerin betreibt den Missbit-Blog, eine im Internet wie ein Tagebuch geführte Seite mit Berichten und Kommentaren.

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INDIA
Indian Express

Written by Shaju Philip | Thiruvananthapuram | Published:August 14, 2016

hree years after a woman from Coimbatore was found dead at the parsonage of the Catholic Church in Chandrapuram, in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Palakkad police Friday arrested Coimbatore diocese Bishop Thomas Aquinas and three other priests of the same diocese for allegedly withholding information on the death.

Bishop Acquinas and the priests — Kulantha Raj, Madalai Muthu and Lawrance Melcure — were held under IPC Sections 201 (destroying evidence or giving false information) and 202 (intentionally omitting information). They were given bail after recording their statements, the police said.

Coimbatore native Fathima Sofia, 19, was found dead at the parsonage on July 23, 2013. The then parish priest of St Stanlisalus Church in Chandrapuram, Fr H Arockyaraj, was arrested last year in connection with the death.

In May this year, the district court of Palakkad asked the police to look into the role of Bishop Acquinas and the three priests in allegedly suppressing information on the crime.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

August 26, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Two senior advisers relied on by the current Anglican Archbishop of Perth to handle claims of child sexual abuse by priests were subsequently defrocked for having group sex with a teenager, ­according to evidence before a royal commission.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Graeme Lawrence and Bruce Hoare served as dean and archdeacon respectively of the Newcastle diocese in NSW under Archbishop Roger Herft, the bishop at the time. Archbishop Herft relied on each to personally respond to claims of child abuse by priests, dealing directly with victims and their families and, in Mr Lawrence’s case, answering the diocese’s sexual abuse hotline, the commission has heard.

After he left the diocese for Perth, both men were defrocked for having group sex with a 19-year-old, who told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he had endured “years of sexual grooming and abuse” by priests.

Archbishop Herft and Mr Lawrence will both face cross-examination before the commission next week. Mr Hoare has not been called to give evidence.

In a witness statement released by the commission, Archbishop Herft said Mr Hoare spent years dealing directly with a child abuse victim and his mother, who confided in him that the boy had been abused by another priest.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

[with video]

Emily Miller
Sun Sentinel

After scathing report, St. Andrew’s School to find new director of dorm life, reassign roles
Boca Raton police are taking a fresh look at a 2014 student-fondling case in which St. Andrew’s School officials allegedly knew of a sex crime on campus and failed to report it, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Police plan to look into why the department didn’t fully explore the school’s lack of reporting two years ago. “We’re going to look into it further to find out why it wasn’t addressed at that time,” Boca police spokeswoman Officer Sandra Boonenberg said.

In May 2014, a 15-year-old freshman told a school counselor, dean and student resident coordinator at the Boca Raton private school that she was fondled over her clothing by an 18-year-old male senior in the girls’ dorm.

None of the school officials reported the allegation to the Boca Raton Police Department or the Department of Children and Families, according to a Boca Raton police report.

The girl’s mother later reported the fondling to police, and it resulted in a felony battery charge against the 18-year-old.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By EMMA GLANFIELD FOR MAILONLINE

A bungled inquiry into alleged sex abuse at Britain’s leading Catholic School denied justice for potential victims, former pupils claim.

An investigation and subsequent trial into allegations that Dr Paul Sheppard, 53, sexually abused a ten-year-old boy Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, was said to be marred with problems.

The teacher, who taught at the £33,000-a-year school for one term while on a teacher training course from his native country, was accused of indecently assaulting the boy 27 years ago.

The school boasts a star-studded alumni including former England Rugby Captain Lawrence Dallaglio, actors James Norton and Rupert Everett, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and the sculptor Sir Antony Gormley.

Former pupils claim that, at the time, several schoolchildren complained of Dr Sheppard’s behaviour including stroking, touching and kissing boys.

The school’s headmaster, Father Dominic Milroy, interviewed 11 children over the teacher’s alleged inappropriate conduct and Dr Sheppard subsequently left the school.

It is unclear whether he was asked to leave is position or if he went on his own. He has long maintained that he chose to leave on his own accord, while the school claims it was a mutual decision. He received a glowing reference from Father Milroy during his departure.

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Louise Thrower
@ThrowerLouise

25 Aug 2016

A CHRISTIAN Brother has been acquitted on six historical sex charges.

At the same time the Judge has criticised the Catholic Church’s handling of the matter and said he accepted the accused did sexually assault the complainant.

Christopher Rafferty, 65, of Ryde, left immediately after Judge David Frearson handed down his decision in Sydney District Court on August 25.

He was acquitted on three counts of indecent assault and three of homosexual intercourse. Police alleged this occurred on a St Patrick’s College, Goulburn student aged 14 to 16 between 1984 and 1987.

Rafferty pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

AUGUST 25, 2016

Sophie Tarr
Australian Associated Press

A Sydney judge has found a Christian Brother not guilty of a string of child sex offences but says he believes the man did abuse a teenager three decades ago and that the Catholic Church’s handling of historical allegations failed the victim.

On Thursday morning, as he prepared to acquit Christopher Rafferty and send him from the dock a free man, Judge David Frearson said he believed the 65-year-old was a sexual predator whose abuse drove a former pupil to thoughts of suicide.

In an extraordinary verdict delivered in the Downing Centre District Court, Judge Frearson found the veteran teacher not guilty of six sexual and indecent offences that were alleged to have been committed against a student at St Patrick’s College in Goulburn in the 1980s.

He said the evidence against the accused did not meet the high bar required in criminal trials, in which specific incidents must be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Holy Father has named Father Jorge H. Rodríguez-Novelo, of the Archdiocese of Denver, USA, as Auxiliary Bishop of the same Archdiocese. Father Rodríguez has been serving as Pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Denver, and professor at the archdiocesan Seminary of St John Vianney. Bishop-elect Rodríguez will hold the titular see of Azura.

Biography of Bishop-elect Jorge Rodriguez, S.T.D.

Bishop-elect Rodriguez was born March 22, 1955, in Merida, Mexico, located in the state of Yucatan. He is the son of Nery Maria Novelo and Ramon Rodriguez (deceased), and he has two brothers and four sisters, who live in Merida. In Merida he attended a primary school run by the Maryknoll Sisters, and then secondary and preparatory schools run by the Marist Brothers. When he finished high school, he joined the Legionaries of Christ to study and become a priest. He was ordained Dec. 24, 1987.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com

August 24, 2016

Attorneys representing St. John’s Abbey and the Rev. Timothy Backous are asking a Stearns County judge to block the release of hundreds of pages of Abbey documents about Backous.

The Abbey is seeking the protective order after Jeff Anderson, the attorney representing two men who claim Backous abused them years ago, threatened to release the documents if the Abbey didn’t meet several of his conditions.

Anderson asked that the Abbey add Backous to its list of credibly accused, remove him from ministry and have Abbot John Klassen issue a public apology and retract statements about Backous being innocent of the allegations. He also asked the Abbey to release the Backous file or he would.

If the Abbey agreed to those conditions, they would be tantamount to admissions by Backous, and the Abbey and Backous have vehemently denied the accusations, said Robert Stich, who represents Backous.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

25 August, 2016

A new research report conducted for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has examined the long-term effects of disclosures of institutional child sexual abuse on survivors and their families.

Read the full report – Family relationships and the disclosure of institutional child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission appointed the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) to undertake research into the long-term effects of disclosures which included 50 in-depth interviews with survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and family members who received such disclosures.

Royal Commission CEO, Philip Reed, said the research was invaluable in assisting understanding of the long-term impacts of disclosures on survivors and their families. It also added new understanding to the international evidence base on disclosure of child sexual abuse.

The report found that many adult disclosures were triggered by crises such as relationship difficulties, job loss or work pressures, anxiety and depression.

Disclosures by young adults (aged 18-23 years) often occurred in the context of key life transitions such as finishing high school, beginning university study, leaving home or entering into an intimate relationship.

Disclosures by younger children were more likely to be indirect, non-verbal or the result of direct questioning or discovery by primary carers.

Mr Reed said he hoped the research would better inform service planning and development.

“The report shows there is a need for delivery of therapeutic and non-therapeutic support services to survivors and their families, not just in the aftermath of disclosure, but as their needs change throughout their lives.”

Family relationships and the disclosure of institutional child sexual abuse was written by Dr Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson.

The report contains extensive discussion of child sexual abuse. If you experience distress you can call 1800 Respect (1800 732 732).

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OKLAHOMA
News-Star

By Kim Morava

Posted Aug. 24, 2016

A former Shawnee youth pastor who was arrested last year for alleged inappropriate text messages with teenagers was sentenced Wednesday to serve six months in the county jail.

Brian K. Burchfield, 43, of Edmond, was charged in Pottawatomie County District Court last August with four counts of soliciting sexual conduct or communications with a minor by use of technology.

Those charges stem from an investigation by Shawnee police that reportedly involved text messages between Burchfield and four teenage boys.

As part of a plea agreement, Burchfield pleaded guilty at a previous hearing. Wednesday, he appeared in court again for formal sentencing.

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IRELAND
Daily Mail

By CHRIS SUMMERS FOR MAILONLINE

The Catholic Church in Ireland is considering restricting trainee priests’ access to the internet amid claims that young seminarians have been meeting up using the gay dating app Grindr.

The Church is also looking at ways of encouraging young priests to mix more with women, families and lay people.

Earlier this month the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin said he was ‘somewhat unhappy’ about rumours that students at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth were using the app, which he claimed ‘fostered promiscuous sexuality’.

He said he would be boycotting the centuries-old college, just outside the Irish capital, and send students to a school in Rome instead.

The most senior Catholic in the Irish Republic said he made the decision some months ago because of an ‘atmosphere that was growing in Maynooth’ exposed through anonymous accusations in letters and online blogs.

He said: ‘There are allegations on different sides.

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IRELAND
Journal

HOW PRIESTS ARE trained has to change, according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

The Archbishop told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that Irish society has changed and the Church has to move with the times.

The change that has been taking place in Irish culture and in Irish religious culture is radical change, and the response to radical change has to be more than just tweaking.

Martin admitted there are problems in Maynooth seminary, something he said is recognised by others in the Church.

Earlier this month, Maynooth training college made headlines after it was reported that a gay culture is prevalent on the campus, with some trainees using gay dating apps such as Grindr.

At the time, the college said there was “no concrete or credible evidence” that such a culture exists.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vivienne Clarke

The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said Maynooth seminary “has to change, not just because of current allegations but because of the fact that we’re living in a different world.”

The change that has been taking place in Irish culture and Irish religious culture is radical change and the response to radical change has to be ‘more than just tweaking’, he said.

St Patrick’s seminary in Maynooth is not to be condemned, but it is not to be canonised either, Dr Martin said on Thursday.

“I’ve never criticised the teaching in Maynooth, this is something people have said is behind my activity, that isn’t what I’ve been talking about at all.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
PUBLISHED
25/08/2016

The Catholic Church hierarchy has admitted concerns about an “unhealthy atmosphere” at the country’s main seminary amid claims trainee priests there are using the gay dating app Grindr.

Church leaders have ordered a review on the “appropriate use of the internet and social media” at the centuries-old St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, as well as an overhaul of its approach to whistleblowers.

The college trustees – four archbishops and 13 senior bishops – met for crisis talks after the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin confirmed he was boycotting the seminary.

As 14 new seminarians began their six years of training for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College this week, Maynooth’s trustees issued a range of directives aimed at rebuilding the seminary’s tarnished image.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Andrew Norfolk
August 25 2016
The Times

North Yorkshire police has previously said that its file on Paul Sheppard is closed.

This week, however, The Times informed the force of two former Ampleforth pupils to whom the police had not previously spoken. Each has described incidents involving the teacher in 1989 that this newspaper considers merit further investigation.

Were police to reopen the case, and should they subsequently decide to charge Dr Sheppard with new offences, the Crown Prosecution Service would need to consider the status of the charges that the Canadian was due to face at last year’s trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter
August 25 2016
The Times

A sun-soaked day in late June was drawing to a close. As shadows lengthened across the valley that has been the school’s privileged home for more than 200 years, a group of young boys waited nervously outside the headmaster’s study.

One by one, each was summoned. For Paul Sheppard’s career at Ampleforth College, what they had to say proved terminal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter
August 25 2016
The Times

A bungled inquiry linked to a cover-up of alleged sex abuse at Britain’s leading Catholic school denied justice to a teacher’s child victims, former pupils have claimed.

Paul Sheppard, a Canadian who taught at Ampleforth College, was found not guilty last year of indecently assaulting a boy there 27 years ago. The jurors at his trial were under the impression that the former pupil, aged 11 when the crime was said to have been committed in 1989, was the sole complainant.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY TESS DE LA MARE 25th August 2016

AN INQURY into alleged sexual abuse at one of Britain’s leading Catholic schools denied victims any hope of justice, according to former pupils.

Dr Paul Sheppard, a Canadian who taught at the £33,000-a-year Ampleforth College in north Yorkshire, was last year cleared of sexually abusing one pupil 27 years ago.

Famous students of the prestigious school include former England Rugby Captain Lawrence Dallaglio, actors James Norton and Rupert Everett and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.

Sheppard was first arrested on suspicion of serious sexual offences in 1989 against a pupil who later committed suicide.

He was charged with seven counts of indecent assault against five students, but charges relating to all but one of the boys were thrown out by the judge at York Crown Court.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 25, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Could a lengthy legal battle be in store for the take back of the multi-million dollar Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona? While the Concerned Catholics of Guam group prepares to go to court, Guam’s apostolic administrator, Archbishop Savio Hon Ton Fai, is asking the new owners to simply give it back.

And now, the rector of the seminary defies every claim made to date from the CCOG and Archbishop Hon.

No takeback of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary is necessary, according to Father Pius Sammut. In an emailed response to KUAM’s questions, the rector challenges statements made by the Concerned Catholics of Guam and Archbishop Hon, who contend the Yona property was handed over to the non-profit group, RMS Corporation, through a declaration of deed restriction. That deed lists the board of guarantors as Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Father Angelo Pochetti, and Guisseppie and Claudia Gennarini. Guisseppie is the founder of the Neocathemunal Way in the United States mainland.

According to Father Pius, Apuron was protecting the seminary and the theological institute to give them permanence and stability to defend the RMS for the church. He wrote, “The deed restriction is simply an act according to canon law that allows the archdiocesan RM seminary to use that Yona property. The building is not ours, we have permission to use it until the archbishop wants, and only the archbishop or his successor can decide on this building.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

A former Catholic school teacher and army sergeant has appeared in Newcastle court, after being charged with more than a dozen child sex offences.

Last month former St Pius maths teacher Edward (Ted) Hall was charged with 13 child sex offences, dating back to the 1980s.

Charge sheets tendered in Newcastle Local Court allege the abuse relates to four boys, all under 16.

The alleged abuse took place at the Adamstown school as well as at places in Merewether.

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INDIA
NDTV

[with video]

Written by J Sam Daniel Stalin | Updated: August 25, 2016

COIMBATORE: A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing and murdering a college student in Kerala’s Palakkad district.

Four other clergymen, including a bishop — who had conducted an internal inquiry and found the priest guilty but failed to inform the police — were arrested for allegedly covering up the case.

Back in July 2013, the 18 year-old woman was found dead at the home of Fr Arockiyaraj, whom she knew well since he attended his spiritual discourses.

The family — residents of Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, an hour’s journey from the state border — alleged that he had taken her home in their absence.

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INDIA
Catholic Culture

August 19, 2016

Bishop Thomas Aquinas Lephonse of Coimbatore, India, has been arrested, along with three priests of the diocese, and charged with withholding information about the suspicious death of a young woman.

Fathima Sofia was found hanging in the rectory of a church in Chandrapuram in July 2013. After originally ruling the death a suicide, police reopened their investigation last year, at the prompting of the deceased woman’s mother, who charged that her daughter had been molested by the pastor. The accused priest, Father H. Arockyaraj, was arrested last year; he has subsequently been laicized, a diocesan official said.

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INDIA
The Irish Catholic

A bishop and four priests in the Indian state of Kerala have been arrested following the re-opening of an investigation in to the death of a 17-year-old girl at a rectory in 2013.

When Fathima Sofia was found hanging at the home of a priest church in Palakkad, Kerala, her death was originally ruled a suicide by investigators. However, following accusations by the girl’s mother of sexual abuse and an alleged admission by Fr H. Arockyaraj that he had murdered the girl with whom he was having a relationship, police decided to re-examine the case. Investigators have now arrested Bishop Thomas Aquinas Lephonse of Coimbatore and four priests and charged them with withholding evidence of importance to a criminal case. Arockyaraj, now laicised by a canonical court, was previously arrested and charged with rape. He denies the charges.

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FLORIDA
The Palm Beach Post

By Andrew Marra – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016

BOCA RATON — In May 2014, a 15-year-old freshman at St. Andrew’s School went to administrators with an upsetting accusation: A senior boarding student had barged into the girls’ campus dormitory with his friends and, in the middle of a card game, fondled her repeatedly in front of several other students.

But the school never notified police or child-welfare investigators, despite a state law requiring schools to report suspicions of sexual abuse against minors, police records obtained by The Palm Beach Post show.

Instead, the Boca Raton private school conducted its own investigation, which administrators resolved by sending the girl to counseling sessions and writing a stern email to her 18-year-old attacker, who already had graduated and returned to his home in Russia, police records show.

Police were not alerted until more than a month after the incident, when the girl and her mother went to the Boca Raton Police Department to report the incident themselves.

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MISSOURI
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Carol E. Jackson that dropped the hammer on the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP):

As I previously demonstrated, SNAP executive director David Clohessy is a professed liar who runs a phony “victims group” whose real goal is to attack the Catholic Church. But he is protected by the media because, for the most part, those who work in journalism are not exactly Catholic-friendly, and some are seriously anti-Catholic.

Now Clohessy is back in the news, this time for being slapped down by a federal judge. And as we shall see, he is now smearing St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.

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NEW YORK
NRP

August 24, 2016 – Heard on All Things Considered

BRIAN MANN

It’s important to say right up front that this isn’t a story about pedophile priests.

Bridie Farrell is Roman Catholic, but she says it was her speed skating coach who sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.

“It happened at his house, in his car, in his hotel room,” Farrell says.

Farrell did what a lot of kids do when they’re molested: She kept silent. But 18 years later, when she was 31 years old, she went public with her story.

The problem is that there’s a ticking clock. In a lot of states, including New York, where Farrell was assaulted, if you don’t report a rape or file a civil lawsuit fast enough, the perpetrator – whether it’s a coach or relative or a priest – gets off scot-free.

But there is a growing effort in state houses across the country to make it easier to prosecute or sue people who sexually abuse children. Victims rights groups hope some old cases can be reopened, but they face opposition from Roman Catholic leaders, who say the changes could target them unfairly and could bankrupt church organizations.

‘It’s Broken’

New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat, pushed to extend the deadline for reporting sexual assaults against kids. He also wanted to open a one-year window, a kind of grace period, so that victims who’ve waited too long can get a second chance to sue in civil court.

“The statute of limitations for child sexual abuse is just too short,” Holyman says. “In a word, it’s broken.”

For Sexual Assault Victims, An Effort To Loosen Statutes Of Limitations

New York’s Catholic bishops spent more than $2 million lobbying to block Holyman’s effort.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: George J. Cooley was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1976. While a seminarian he had been placed on leave of absence for fondling a fellow seminarian; a year later he was deemed a good candidate for priesthood by Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Pilarczyk. Cooley went on to to assist at Sacred Heart parish in Fairfield, then Guardian Angels in Cincinnati. He was also chaplain at a summer camp for children, Fort Scott. In 1978 a 10-year-old boy told camp authorites that Cooley had molested him the night before. There were no consequences for the priest. The following summer another boy alleged abuse. Archbishop Joseph Bernardin was informed; Cooley was sent to counseling. During his time at Guardian Angels in the early 1980s, Cooley was accused of molesting several boys. The father of one of the boys went to the rectory and punched Cooley in the face. Cooley was removed from the parish and made chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was also chaplain at the College of Mount St. Joseph and worked as a part-time counselor at Christian Family Services. At Good Samaritan, a wheelchair-bound man complained of inappropriate advances by Cooley. The priest was ultimately accused of having sexually abused at least 6 boys at Guardian Angels, ages 8-15.

Cooley was arrested in 1990 after several men reported past abuse by him as minors. He pleaded guilty to molesting 4 boys and spent 3 months in jail. In 1994 he was sent to jail for 15 months for stalking one of his victims. He was arrested again in 1996 for soliciting sex from a police decoy posing as a male prostitute. This time he was placed under house arrest and given 3 years’ probation. He was laicized in 1998.

Ordained: 1976
Laicized: 1998

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

Posted By Danny Wicentowski on Wed, Aug 24, 2016

A messy lawsuit that accuses a victim advocacy group of defaming Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang reached a turning point this week — and it could spell defeat for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, better known as SNAP, and executive director David Clohessy, who maintains that Jiang is a sexual predator.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson sanctioned SNAP for failing to turn over records that Jiang’s lawyers say would reveal a conspiracy to destroy the life of a promising young priest, who came to St. Louis after fleeing religious persecution in China. Jiang has twice been accused in court of sexual abuse, in Lincoln County and St. Louis City, but prosecutors in both cases ultimately dropped those charges.

“Do we think Jiang is dangerous? Absolutely,” says Clohessy. “We’re trying to take the long view. For almost 30 years we’ve helped victims and helped expose those who commit sex crimes. We’ve been sued for slander maybe five times and never lost.”

This time could be different. Jiang was charged with sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in a Catholic school bathroom in 2011 and 2012. The charges were dropped in June 2015 — one week later, Jiang filed a defamation lawsuit against the boy’s parents, as well as SNAP, the city of St. Louis and two metro police officers who investigated the case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Nick Butterly – The West Australian on August 25, 2016

Perth’s Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft has said he cannot recall being told a senior Church figure in NSW was abusing children, even though documents suggest he raised concerns with the priest at the time.

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has published new statements from Archbishop Herft ahead of hearings next week when he will face more questioning over his response to historic claims of child sexual abuse in Newcastle.

Archbishop Herft was Bishop of Newcastle from 1993 to 2005. In one of the statements, given on July 25, Archbishop Herft claimed he was unaware of serious claims against the former dean of Newcastle Cathedral, Graeme Lawrence.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

St Patrick’s College in Maynooth is to review its procedures for dealing with whistleblowers following allegations about the use of dating apps by student priests.

The seminary’s trustees said internet and social media policies will also be evaluated, citing concerns over anonymous accusations.

The announcement comes in the wake of claims in letters and online blogs about a “gay subculture” on campus. The college has previously denied that there is any “concrete or credible evidence” for the existence of such a culture.

A number of former seminarians subsequently alleged that they were required to sign confidentiality agreements before beginning their studies.

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IRELAND
Telegraph (UK)

John Bingham, religious affairs editor
24 AUGUST 2016

Trainee Roman Catholic priests in Ireland could face curbs on their internet access and are to be encouraged to mix more with women after claims over the use of the gay dating app Grindr at the country’s main seminary.

Ireland’s Catholic hierarchy voiced concerns about what it called an “unhealthy atmosphere” at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, and ordered a review of the “appropriate use of the internet and social media”.

It follows remarks earlier this month by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, about “strange goings-on” at the 221-year-old seminary.

Dr Martin, the most senior Catholic cleric south of the border, disclosed that he had decided to send students from Dublin – the largest diocese in Ireland – to Rome for priestly formation, rather than to Maynooth just a short drive from the capital.

The Archbishop spoke of an “atmosphere” at the college following a string of allegations about a “gay culture” made in letters and blogs and concerns about “promiscuous sexuality”.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

ROME- Trying to get ahead of the curve when it comes to sex education for children, the Vatican has issued an alternative to the standard treatments. The new project seeks to avoid approaches that teach either too much about human sexuality to impressionable youth or too little.

Amid the frenzy of World Youth Day, which gathered millions of young people in Krakow, Poland at the end of July, the Pontifical Council for the Family, headed by Italian Archbishop Vicenzo Paglia, launched a website with materials both for students and educators called “The Meeting Point, project for affective and sexual formation.”

“Cultural, legislative and educational projects directly or indirectly challenge the Christian vision of the body, of the difference and the complementarity between man and woman, the exercise of sexuality, marriage and the family,” Paglia wrote in the project’s introduction.

These projects, he wrote, want to legitimize the different ways in which sexuality is lived in society “by proposing visions that constitute a real anthropological change, which impedes the affirmation of sexual identity, virtues, values and attitudes that integrate the body and the affections in the vocation to love that is the basis of the whole project of human life and of the good life according to the Gospel.”

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IRELAND
Journal

THE TRUSTEES OF St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland’s national seminary, have said procedures for handling whistleblowers will be reviewed, following allegations of trainee priests using gay dating apps.

Earlier this month, the training college made headlines after it was reported that a gay culture is prevalent on the campus, with some trainees using gay dating apps such as Grindr.

At the time, the college said there was “no concrete or credible evidence” that such a culture exists.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he would send trainee priests from his own diocese to Rome rather than Maynooth, citing “an atmosphere of strange goings-on”.

The governing body of the college has today said it will also ask seminary authorities to “evaluate and review the policy regarding the appropriate use of the internet and social media”.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Catholic Church hierarchy has admitted concerns about an “unhealthy atmosphere” at the country’s main seminary amid claims trainee priests there are using the gay dating app Grindr.

Church leaders have ordered a review on the “appropriate use of the internet and social media” at the centuries-old St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, as well as an overhaul of its approach to whistleblowers.

The college trustees – four Archbishops and 13 senior Bishops – met for crisis talks after the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin confirmed he was boycotting the seminary.

Dr Diarmuid Martin said earlier this month he is sending student priests to Rome rather than Maynooth.
The church leader said he made the decision some months ago because he was “somewhat unhappy” about “an atmosphere that was growing in Maynooth” exposed through anonymous accusations in letters and online blogs.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

IRELAND’S Catholic Church hierarchy has admitted concerns about an “unhealthy atmosphere” at the country’s main seminary amid claims trainee priests there are using the gay dating app Grindr.

Church leaders have ordered a review on the “appropriate use of the internet and social media” at the centuries-old St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, as well as an overhaul of its approach to whistleblowers.

The college trustees – four archbishops and 13 senior bishops – met for crisis talks after the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin confirmed he was boycotting the seminary.

Dr Diarmuid Martin, the most senior Catholic in the Irish Republic, said earlier this month he is sending student priests to Rome rather than Maynooth – just 26km from the capital.

The church leader said he made the decision some months ago because he was “somewhat unhappy” about “an atmosphere that was growing in Maynooth” exposed through anonymous accusations in letters and online blogs.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

August 25, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The former dean of Newcastle’s Anglican cathedral allegedly sent an explicit greetings card to a teenager he had been having sex with for several years that read “Thank Heaven for little boys! For little boys get BIGGER every day.”

The card, tendered in evidence to the Royal Commission into ­Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, provides an insight into how brazen senior priests ­associated with the NSW diocese were about their alleged activities.

Its author, Graeme Lawrence, would subsequently work closely with the then bishop of New­castle, Roger Herft, now the Anglican Archbishop of Perth.

Other exhibits tendered to the commission allege Archbishop Herft was told on at least three ­occasions that Mr Lawrence was a sexual abuser, including of children, although he has given evidence saying he has no memory of this taking place.

Both men are due to face cross-examination next week.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Ciarán D’Arcy

There will be a review of social media policies and procedures for handling whistleblowers at St Patrick’s seminary in Maynooth following allegations of trainee priests using dating apps, the college’s board of trustees has announced.

During a meeting in Maynooth on Tuesday, the board also asked the Irish Bishops’ Conference which is based in St Patrick’s College to commission an independent audit and report into the governance of Irish seminaries.

Those who oversee the management of St Patrick’s came in for criticism earlier this month when media reports surfaced of trainee priests using the Tinder dating app as well as its gay equivalent, Grindr.

Following those reports, a number of ex-seminarians came forward with accounts of alleged bullying and sexual harassment they had suffered during their time at the Maynooth college, and in a statement released on Wednesday the trustees say they “share the concerns about the unhealthy atmosphere” there.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

24 August, 2016

The Royal Commission has published nine audio stories based on survivors’ experiences as revealed in private sessions.

These stories are accurate summaries of what was said in the private session, and use real quotes taken from the session. However, names have been changed and the stories have been narrated by actors to protect the identity of the survivors.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the stories promote community awareness of the impacts of child sexual abuse, while protecting the privacy of private session attendees.

“Bearing witness to the experiences of survivors in private sessions has been a defining feature of this Royal Commission,” Mr Reed said.

“Commissioners have now heard more than 5,500 stories in private sessions,” Mr Reed said.

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ILLINOIS
Courier-News

George Houde
Chicago Tribune

The founder of a suburban Islamic school who is accused of sexually abusing a former student and a former employee has been given until Sept. 2 to decide if he will accept a plea deal.

Cook County Associate Judge James Karahalios issued the deadline Tuesday after the imam, Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, declined to accept the terms of a plea deal offered by prosecutors. Karahalios said he intends to take Saleem to trial on Sept. 12 if the imam does not agree to the plea arrangement by the Sept. 2 deadline.

Saleem, 77, a conservative scholar and former principal of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, is accused of groping a woman who worked for him at the boarding school and of molesting an underage female student. In both cases, authorities allege that the imam forced the woman and the girl to sit on his lap while touching them in a sexual manner, and that both were victimized multiple times.

The terms of the proposed plea bargain have not been made public. The sentencing guidelines for those convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse include the possibility of probation. Someone convicted of the crime could also be required to register as a sex offender.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP on August 24, 2016

A 73-year-old former Sydney Catholic priest has had his six-month minimum jail term halved for sex offences against boys more than three decades ago.

Robert Flaherty, who was given between six and 12 months to live 11 months ago, was granted bail pending his appeal so he will now spend his first night behind bars.

He was jailed in February for two years and three weeks with a non-parole period of six months, being subject to the sentencing standards of the time the offences were committed.

Flaherty had pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault relating to two boys and a jury found him guilty of two other offences relating to a third boy.

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KENTUCKY
The Record – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville

Record Staff Report

Attorney William McMurry filed suit Aug. 19 against the Archdiocese of Louisville on behalf of the parents of a child whom, according to the suit, Father Stephen A. Pohl photographed while pastor of St. Margaret Mary Church.

Father Pohl was sentenced on March 29 in federal court to 33 months after he pleaded guilty to accessing child pornography.

In addition to accessing child pornography online, the priest had more than 150 photos of St. Margaret Mary School children on his computer and other devices, court records say. While not pornographic, investigators described some of the photos as inappropriate, characterizing them as “child erotica.”

The Aug. 19 suit claims the archdiocese was negligent in its hiring and supervision of the priest. McMurry also filed suit against the Archdiocese of Louisville March 29 on behalf of another set of parents of a child whom, according to the suit, the priest photographed.

Claims in a lawsuit represent only one side of a legal case. The archdiocese does not comment on pending litigation.

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MISSOURI
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is ordered to help pay the legal fees of a Catholic priest who accuses SNAP of conspiring to ruin his reputation.

SNAP refused to turn over some documents in the civil suit filed by Father Joseph Jiang – who was once charged criminally with sexual misconduct involving a child, but the charges were dropped. They say it would compromise the privacy of alleged victims.

“Legally, this is certainly the most potentially harmful ruling we have ever faced,” David Clohessy of SNAP says. “We’ve already turned over more information in this case, than we ever have had to before.”

Jiang’s attorneys want the records to show the alleged conspiracy against Jiang.

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AUSTRALIA
Huffongton Post

[with videos]

Eoin Blackwell Senior Associate Editor, HuffPost Australia

(Warning: some of this material is confronting and disturbing. If the stories cause you sadness or distress and you need help, you can access support services here.)

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse has for the first time published nine audio accounts of survivors’ experiences, in a move it hopes will bolster community understanding of abuse.

The nine private session stories tell of abuse that occurred in schools, children’s homes, state-run institutions and Aboriginal missions from the 1950’s to the 2000’s.

The Commission said the stories are accurate summaries of what was said in the private sessions, however names have been changed to protect the identity of the survivors, and actors have been used in the recordings.

Natalie’s Story Features A Catholic Priest Who Visited Her Primary School In The 1980s. She Was 11 Years Old.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Rohan Smith
news.com.au
@ro_smith

WARNING: Disturbing content

NATALIE wanted desperately to become a model. So, when a Catholic priest set up a studio in his office, she jumped at the opportunity to be photographed.

Soon, she realised there was a problem. Father Collier, who assisted at the primary school attended by the 11-year-old in 1985, asked her to change out of her uniform and into something more flattering.

He handed her a white, see-through shirt and told her: “Don’t put any underwear on because you’ll see lines and it’ll ruin the photos.”

This year, telling her story to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Natalie said the photographs were the beginning of something worse.

“He asked me to pose like Elle McPherson,” she said. “I knew he was taking photos of my private parts … I was begging to go home.”

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

The judge has asked all parties to negotiate in good faith, and that is what we are endeavoring to do. Our consistent goal remains the same: a fair and just resolution for all.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

By: Samuel King
POSTED:AUG 23 2016

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) – Attorneys for clergy abuse victims are touting an alternative restructuring plan to the one offered by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis during its bankruptcy proceedings.

The Archdiocese filed its bankruptcy reorganization plan in May, calling for a total of $65 million in payments to abuse survivors and other creditors. The alternative plan would provide at $80 million in payments to survivors.

“The plan that they proposed of paying the survivors $16 million is deceptive and misleading and a betrayal of a pledge to transparency,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the abuse victims. “This provides for transparency and a fair measure of accountability.”

The plan from the Committee of Unsecured Creditors also calls for a release of all documents related to the investigation of former Archbishop John Nienstedt to be made public, including documents from the Vatican.

“They funded that investigation. They can’t now hide it because they don’t like it,” Anderson said. “No more secrets, no more concealment.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By TORY COONEY | vcooney@pioneerpress.com
August 23, 2016

A group of sexual abuse victims who suffered at the hands of clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have filed a counter plan for the proposed settlement.

The archdiocese’s plan, submitted to bankruptcy court in May, is “grossly underfunded and grossly deficient,” said attorney Jeff Anderson during a press conference Tuesday. Anderson is a St. Paul attorney representing hundreds of people claiming sexual abuse by priests.

The plan submitted by the survivors, as the Creditors’ Committee in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, would require the archdiocese to pay $80 million to victims instead of the $16 million it proposed.

“The reality is that what the Archdiocese did (in submitting its plan) … was a scam,” Anderson said. He also claimed that the archdiocese has vastly under-reported its true ability to pay and has sheltered funds.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

UCC Plan 8-22-16
UCC Plan Disclosure Statement 8-22-16

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune AUGUST 23, 2016

The committee representing clergy abuse victims in bankruptcy court has proposed its own financial reorganization plan for the Twin Cities Archdiocese, including provisions to mortgage the St. Paul Cathedral and to halt support payments to abusive priests and give the money to abuse victims instead.

The plan, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday, requires the archdiocese to contribute $80 million to abuse victims in its financial reorganization instead of the $13 million proposed by the archdiocese.

“This is a plan that would fairly compensate the more than 400 survivors who have ben so egregiously harmed,” victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson saidat a news conference Tuesday.

Anderson said the archdiocese has the ability to contribute far more to abuse victims than it proposed in its financial reorganization plan filed in May. That plan calls for the creation of a $65 million trust fund for victims, which could increase if further insurance settlements are reached.

The St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese would contribute about $13 million to that fund, with insurers picking up most of the rest.

Of the $80 million in archdiocese contributions proposed by the victims’ committee, $38 million would come from loans leveraged from archdiocese assets such as the cathedral and property leased to several high schools, said Anderson.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Clay Center Dispatch

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A former pastor at a New Hampshire church has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

Thirty-seven-year-old old Stephen Jesmer was employed as a pastor at The Dialogue Church in Manchester.

He was arrested Monday night on three counts of felonious sexual assault and one count of witness tampering.

Police started investigating several months ago when they were told of potentially inappropriate behavior involving Jesmer and a minor.

WMUR-TV reports Jesmer is free on $100,000 bond. It was not immediately known if he is being represented by an attorney.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: G.R. Keith Albrecht was was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1977. Prior to that, in the early 1970s, he was a Franciscan friar preparing for solemn vows when the Order voted him out. As a Cincinnati archdiocesan priest, Albrecht assisted in parishes in Beavercreek, Xenia, and Coldwater OH, where he was named pastor in 1987. He also spent a year as a hospital chaplain in Dayton.

In 1986 Albrecht took nude photos of a “young man,” who then tried to blackmail him for money. Despite knowledge of this incident, the archdiocese elevated him to pastor the following year. In 1993 Albrecht was placed on leave after a man alleged molestation as a minor by Albrecht in the 1970s in Beavercreek. A second person subsequently came forward with allegations that Albrecht had molested him when he was an 8th grader in the late 1980s, during a trip with the priest to New York. Albrecht admitted to sexual behavior with youths, explaining that he thought he was acting “out of love.” He would reach out to troubled adolescent males, then molest them. At least two lived with him for a time in the rectory of his Coldwater parish. In 2004 a man filed suit against Albrecht and the archdiocese with claims of abuse 1977-1981, when the man was a 14 to 17-year-old boy. The suit was dismissed in 2006 due to a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court that victims must file suit before the age of 20. Albrecht was laicized in 2005.

Ordained: 1977
Laicized: 2005

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

UCC Plan 8-22-16
UCC Plan Disclosure Statement 8-22-16

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Survivors of sexual abuse by priests say the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis can pay victims a lot more than the church has proposed in bankruptcy filings.

A group of victims released its proposal on Tuesday for the Archdiocese’s reorganization. It says $80-million should go to victims. In May, the Archdiocese proposed paying around $16 million.

“The plan that they proposed of paying the survivors $16 million is deceptive, and deceiving and a betrayal of a place of transparency,” Jeff Anderson, the attorney representing abuse victims, said.

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TENNESSEE
WMC

[with video]

Tuesday, August 23rd 2016

By WMCActionNews5.com Staff
By Tiffany Neely

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) –
A Memphis church hired a crisis management team to do an internal investigation after a former employee’s arrest.

Rick Trotter, former voice of the Memphis Grizzlies, was arrested for filming “upskirt” videos of women at Downtown Church and Fellowship Memphis.

Members at Fellowship Church, where Trotter worked at the church from 2005-2010, said it looks more like the church is doing damage control.

“Members of the church body should be able to trust their leaders,” said a church member, who asked to remain anonymous. “Fellowship had an independent outside form to investigation any, all facts surrounding this matter … So, when I heard that, I thought, ‘OK, they’re looking into it.'”

Members said they received an email containing more information about the firm handling the investigation; one member said something doesn’t seem quite right.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 7

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Victims of sexual assault are staging a protest in the East Bay after a teacher was arrested, accused of having a relationship with a teenager.

Heather Butts, 40, used to teach at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland. She was arrested in San Bruno last week, when someone said they spotted her acting inappropriately inside a car with the teen.

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KENTUCKY
Courier-Journal

Matthew Glowicki, @MattGlo
August 23, 2016

Parents of a young boy who claim their son was inappropriately photographed by a Roman Catholic priest, now a convicted sex offender, are suing the Archdiocese of Louisville for negligence.

The Rev. Stephen Pohl pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of viewing child pornography, admitting to accessing more than 100 pornographic images of nude underage boys on computers at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church rectory and office.

While the criminal charge didn’t involve St. Margaret Mary students, investigators did discover hundreds of photos on Pohl’s computers depicting clothed Louisville students, some of which police deemed “child erotica.”

In the newly filed lawsuit, parents Daniel and Mary Agnes Hayden said their elementary school student was among the students secluded by Pohl, ordered into “inappropriate physical poses” and photographed.

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

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • Exasperated by nearly two months of defiance of a court order to supply details about people making sexual abuse claims against a St. Louis priest, U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson dealt a heavy blow this week to the advocacy group SNAP and others.

In an order filed Monday in a suit by the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, Jackson says that the SNAP defendants did conspire together “to obtain plaintiff’s conviction on sexual abuse charges” and that it was because of “discriminatory animus against plaintiff based on his religion, religious vocation, race, and national origin.”

She also said that SNAP’s public statements “were false and that they did not conduct any inquiry into the truth or falsity of these public statements, but instead made these statements negligently and with reckless disregard for the truth.”

Jiang filed a defamation suit last year against the boy’s parents, police and SNAP leaders David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris, claiming they conspired against him for monetary gain, and that police went after him because of his religious and racial background. He had been named on criminal charges that were later dropped.

Jackson’s sanctions appear to apply specifically to SNAP.

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

AUSTRALIA
Courier

Alicia Thomas
@aliciajthomas

23 Aug 2016

A former Ballarat priest has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a young girl in her own bed more than 40 years ago.

Leslie Sheahan, 85, who was an assistant priest of St Columba’s Church at the time of the offence, will return to the Ballarat Magistrates Court next month for sentencing over the historic indecent assault.

The woman assaulted as a young girl by the former Ballarat priest while she slept told the court the traumatic experience still haunted her.

The woman, who was aged nine or 10 at the time of the incident, gave evidence she woke one night in the 1960s to find Sheahan in her bed with his hand down her pants while he forced her hand on his penis.

“He kept telling me how nice it felt for me and I kept thinking no it wasn’t nice at all,” she told the court.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Aug 23, 2016

The committee representing sex abuse victims and other creditors in the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is proposing the church raise more money for victims by mortgaging the Cathedral of St. Paul and land leased to three Catholic high schools.

That move is part of an archdiocese reorganization plan filed by the committee late Monday. It says the archdiocese has far more resources to compensate abuse victims than the church has reported.

The church plan filed in May called for the archdiocese to provide about $13 million out of its own pocket. That was part of a $65 million proposed reorganization plan that included contributions from insurers, parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations.

But the creditors’ committee insists the archdiocese can come up with $80 million, with additional contributions coming from insurers and other parties that could raise the total available to creditors above $100 million.

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

NEW HAMPSHIRE
NH1

MANCHESTER — A former pastor of a Manchester church is facing sexual assault charges involving minors.

Stephen Jesmer, 37 of Manchester, turned himself in on Monday. He was being investigated by Manchester juvenile investigators for several months following an alert of inappropriate behavior involving the former pastor and a minor. The investigation led to an arrest warrant.

Jesmer is charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, three counts of felonious sexual assault, and one count of witness tampering.

He was previously employed as a pastor with The Dialogue Church, 516 Pine Street at the time of the alleged assaults.

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

NEW HAMPSHIRE
NECN

By Marc Fortier

A former pastor at a New Hampshire church was arrested Monday on charges that he sexually assaulted a minor.

Stephen Jesmer, 37, of Manchester, turned himself in to police on Monday night. He is charged with three counts of felonious sexual assault and one count of witness tampering and appeared in court on Tuesday.

Manchester Police said Jesmer was employed as a pastor with The Dialogue Church on Pine Street at the time of the alleged assaults. Church officials are cooperating with the investigation.

The investigation began several months ago when police were first alerted to potentially inappropriate behavior invovling Jesmer and a minor.

Police said the investigation is ongoing, and they are asking anyone with information regarding Jesmer to contact the juvenile investigative unit at 603-792-5551.

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

ITALY
Daily Mail (UK)

By OLLIE GILLMAN FOR MAILONLINE

A Catholic priest has been charged with murdering a 92-year-old Italian monsignor who allegedly caught him stealing sacred statuettes.

Giuseppe Rocco had a broken neck and had been strangled to death when he was found in his bedroom in the Cleric House in Trieste, Italy, in April 2014 by a housekeeper who came in to check on him.

Prosecutors believe Father Paolo Piccoli – who read Rocco his last rites – killed the older priest because he had reported him for allegedly stealing a set of figurines.

Rocco told Catholic authorities in the weeks before he was killed that statuettes of the Madonna, horse and a ship had gone missing.

They suddenly reappeared after his complaint, but he was suspected Piccoli was to blame, news.com.au reported.

Piccoli, 52, had been accused of stealing relics from another parish in the past and is believed to have a fetish for old artifacts.

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

MISSOURI
Crux

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A federal judge has admonished an advocacy group for clergy abuse victims for defying her orders to release personal information about people who accused a priest of sexual misconduct.

In a ruling Monday in St. Louis, U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson cited the “deliberate and willful refusal” by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to turn over information to Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang.

Jiang is suing SNAP, St. Louis city, two police officers and the boy’s mother for defamation. His lawsuit, filed in 2015, names the accuser’s parents – by initials only – along with St. Louis police Officers Tonya Porter and Jaimie Pitterle, the city of St. Louis, SNAP and the group’s leaders, David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris.

In the lawsuit, Jiang claimed he’s the victim of both religious and racial discrimination, asserting that the priest had fled religious persecution in China only to face further harassment in the United States. He is seeking information about the people who lodged the accusations against him.

Jackson says she’ll direct that it has been established that SNAP plotted against Jiang.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Wir Sind Kirche

[Sexual violence is still lowercase in the Catholic Church.The We Are Church people’s movement wants an explanation of why Cardinal Reinhard Marx failed to address sexual abuse allegations when he was Trier bishop.]

Pressemitteilung München/Deggendorf 19. August 2016

Wir sind Kirche zu den Vorwürfen: Kardinal Marx wusste als Trierer Bischof vom Missbrauchsverdacht

Die KirchenVolksBewegung Wir sind Kirche hält die heutigen Erklärungsversuche, warum Kardinal Marx als Bischof von Trier Missbrauchsvorwürfen nicht konsequent nachgegangen sei, für „Vertuschung light“. Nur ein freimütiges Eingestehen des Versagens öffnet die Türen für eine wirkliche Aufarbeitung der Vertuschung sexualisierter Gewalt.

Sich heute darauf zu berufen, die Leitlinien der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz seien damals nicht so eindeutig gewesen, gibt einen Fingerzeig darauf, wie wenig ernst diese genommen wurden und immer noch werden, und das in mehrfacher Hinsicht.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

YDR invited Bishop Ronald W. Gainer to meet with our editorial board to discuss abuse cases. He declined.

After the York Daily Record published a story naming 15 priests with connections to the Harrisburg diocese who had been accused of sexual abuse of children, we invited Bishop Ronald W. Gainer to meet with our editorial board.

Some of the 15 names were a revelation because they had not been previously acknowledged publicly by the diocese.

We believe it’s important to get that information out there so victims of abuse can know they are not alone. In many cases, victims have only come forward after learning through published reports that their tormentors have been accused of harming others.

Those 15 names might have been a revelation to some, but we know there are other priests who have been accused who were not included on that list. That’s because in 2007 the church said publicly that 24 priests with connections to the diocese had been accused of sexual abuse either here or elsewhere.

We know 15 names. Who are the others? Since 2007, has the diocese become aware of even more? Is the number still 24 – or is it more?

We just don’t know.

The Harrisburg diocese acknowledged the accused clergymen that YDR had become aware of through other sources but declined to shed light on other cases.

We wanted the opportunity to discuss these issues with Bishop Gainer. Through a diocese spokesman, he declined our invitation. Instead, his spokesman provided a guest column addressing the issue of abuse.

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

TENNESSEE
Fellowship Memphis

By Fellowship Memphis and Downtown Church Leadership Aug 11, 2016

To ensure our congregations are fully informed, Fellowship Memphis (Fellowship) and Downtown Church (Downtown) have come together to provide a joint narrative with the facts as we understand them regarding Rick Trotter and his employment with our institutions.

Let us first say we are here for the victims. Trotter’s actions are contrary to our values, and we are deeply sorry for the suffering of the victims.

Trotter was employed as a Worship Director by Fellowship from August 2005 to February of 2010. In February 2010, it was reported that Trotter was engaged in inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature at the corporate headquarters of Fellowship. Specifically, a single incident of Trotter recording people in a bathroom was reported. This was immediately reported to Fellowship’s lead pastor at the time. When confronted, Trotter did not deny the charges and was thereby terminated.

The individuals victimized, all adults, by this incident were notified of Trotter’s misconduct, made aware that he had been terminated, and asked whether they wanted to press charges. The victims were also offered independent professional counseling paid for by the church. It is our understanding that none of the victims at that time chose to press charges.

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

TENNESSEE
Watch Keep

Former Memphis Grizzlies announcer Rick Trotter was arrested on August 9, accused of filming “upskirt” videos while women were kneeling at worship services at Downtown Church earlier this year. Stotter reportedly recorded women and minors at another church, Fellowship Memphis, in 2010, where he was on staff as a worship leader from 2005-2010. After the camera was discovered at Fellowship, Stotter was fired, but church officials did not report this incident to law enforcement, according to Memphis Police Department’s Lt. Karen Rudolph. Two of Trotter’s alleged victims that he recorded are minors. Everyone in Tennessee is a mandated reporter under state law.

Fellowship Church lead pastor John Bryson and Downtown Church lead pastor Richard Rieves issued a joint statement after Trotter’s arrest. The full statement is here.

To ensure our congregations are fully informed, Fellowship Memphis (Fellowship) and Downtown Church (Downtown) have come together to provide a joint narrative with the facts as we understand them regarding Rick Trotter and his employment with our institutions.

Let us first say we are here for the victims. Trotter’s actions are contrary to our values, and we are deeply sorry for the suffering of the victims.

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

TENNESSEE
Catholic Standard – Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

By Mark Zimmermann
Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Pope Francis has appointed Washington Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley to become the new bishop of Memphis, Tennessee, and the pope has accepted the resignation of Memphis Bishop J. Terry Steib, 76, from pastoral governance of the diocese. The Vatican announced the appointment on Aug. 23.

“I am deeply humbled in my appointment as the fifth bishop of Memphis by His Holiness, Pope Frances and I thank him for expressing his confidence in me through this new assignment at this time in my life,” Bishop Holley said after his appointment was announced.

He will be installed as the bishop of Memphis at the Cook Convention Center on Oct. 19 at 2 p.m.

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

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 23, 2016

The rector of a seminary in Yona said Tuesday only Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron or his successor can lift the deed of restriction that gives the seminary and a theological institute the legal right to use the local Catholic church’s property.

The Rev. Pius Sammut, rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona, said the sole owner of the Yona property is the Archdiocese of Agana. Sammut said the archbishop who currently oversees the local archdiocese, Savio Hon Tai Fai, has said this repeatedly.

The deed restriction allows the Archdiocesan Redemptoris Mater Seminary to use the Yona property, Sammut said.

“The only one who can lift the deed of restriction is the ordained Archbishop of Agana, Mons. Apuron or, eventually, his successor,” Sammut told Pacific Daily News.

Proper legal action must be done in order for the Archdiocese of Agana to again take control of the property, said attorney and former island Sen. Robert Klitzkie.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

August 24, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The Anglican Archbishop of Perth was allegedly told a senior priest was a sexual predator, including of children, on at least three occasions, documents tendered to a royal commission reveal, ­although his evidence says he “cannot recall” this happening at the time.

The priest in question, Graeme Lawrence, was dean of Newcastle Cathedral during the 1990s when Archbishop Roger Herft was ­bishop of the NSW diocese.

Mr Lawrence, whom the commission has heard was part of a “Gang of Three” that protected a serial pedophile priest, was subsequently defrocked after having group sex with a teenage boy.

Archbishop Herft and Mr Lawrence are to face cross-examination before the Royal Com­mis­sion into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse next week.

“To the best of my knowledge, I cannot recall the dean’s name being connected to child abuse within my time as bishop,” Archbishop Herft said in a witness statement tendered to the commission and released yesterday.

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

UCC Plan 8-22-16
UCC Plan Disclosure Statement 8-22-16

August 23, 2016

St. Paul News Conference Today

Sexual Abuse Survivors File Proposed Bankruptcy Plan

Plan Calls for Archdiocese to Pay $80mFor the first time in any diocesan or religious order bankruptcy proceeding, sexual abuse survivors file their own reorganization plan

What: At a news conference Tuesday in St. Paul, Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will:

· Discuss the details of the proposed bankruptcy plan filed Monday by the Creditors’ Committee in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis bankruptcy case;

· Among other provisions, the proposed plan calls for the immediate release of the investigative report concerning former Archbishop John Nienstedt, all communications with the Vatican Embassy and requests an end to all payments currently being made to priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children;

· Demand the Archdiocese uphold its pledge made to sexual abuse survivors to be transparent and accountable throughout the bankruptcy proceedings.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 1:00PM

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

NEWS CONFERENCE WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED FROM OUR WEBSITE – LINK WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY BEFORE NEWS CONFERENCE AT www.andersonadvocates.com

Please note there is construction on Jackson and 5th Streets so please allow for additional time to find parking.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.227.9990
Mike Finnegan: Cell: 612.205.5531 Office: 651.227.9990

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

SCOTLAND
STV

An 83-year-old former priest at Fort Augustus Abbey in the Highlands has denied assaulting eight pupils.

The incidents are alleged to have happened between June 1974 and July 1988 when Thomas Seed was a teacher at the school on the banks of Loch Ness.

Seed, of Brora, Sutherland, who went by the name Father Benedict, denied all charges at Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

His trial was due to begin next month but has been adjourned and is now expected to go ahead in Inverness on January 23.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ealing Today

A former Roman Catholic priest accused of historical sex offences against five boys at St Benedict’s School has appeared in court.

Laurence Soper, 72, has appeared at Ealing Magistrates’ Court facing nine charges which all allegedly took place at the school where he taught in the 1970s and 80s.

Mr Soper was arrested in 2010 and bailed, but failed to return to a London police station in March 2011. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for him in 2012 and he was detained in Kosovo in May.

He gave his name in court as Andrew Charles Kingston Soper – Laurence being the name he took when he was ordained as a priest.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The trial of a former priest accused of assaulting eight boys while teaching at Fort Augustus Abbey School has been adjourned until next year.

Father Benedict Seed, 83, denies the charges, which include striking pupils aged between 11 and 18 with a cane and a spiked golf in the 1970s and 80s.

A trial date has been fixed for 23 January for further investigations.

It also allows time to arrange for one witness to give evidence via a video link from Hong Kong.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

LAUREN NOVAK, POLITICAL REPORTER, The Advertiser
August 22, 2016

SCREENING clearances to work with children will remain valid for five years and applicants will be tracked by an electronic identification number, under changes prompted by the Nyland Royal Commission.

The State Government has today revealed proposed changes to background screening laws which follow recommendations made by Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland earlier this month.

A key change will establish a single check for working with children, which will be portable across different roles.

Teachers will be required to undergo the same check, despite currently being assessed under a different system.

Applicants will no longer be able to start working with children while their clearance is being processed.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victim’s group: “Bishop must do outreach now”
SNAP: “others may be suffering alone and in silence”
First court appearance for the accused is September 19th
Survivors also urge officials to teach kids that women can be predators too

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

— discuss the case of a newly-arrested abusive school teacher,
— stress the likelihood that she may have hurt kids at TWO schools, not just one,

They will also beg Catholic and school officials to

— educate kids and parents that women abuse too,
–“reach out to girls who may still be suffering alone and in silence,”
— use their resources to beg those who may have experienced, witnessed or suspected abuse by this teacher to come forward, and
— “come clean” to law enforcement investigators about any prior allegations of inappropriate behavior with students in the interest of public safety.

WHEN
Tuesday, August 23rd at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison Street (between 21st & Grand) in Oakland CA

WHO
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
A public school teacher who had also taught at an Oakland Catholic school was arrested last week for sexually abusing a 15 year old girl.

[SFGate]

Heather Amanda Butts, a teacher at Taylor Middle School in Millbrae, was arrested on August 17th on suspicion of having sexually violating the teen. Butts had been a drama teacher at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland from 1999 to 2002.

Melanie Sakoda, the East Bay Director for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is concerned that Butts may also have had victims at the Oakland facility.

“Unfortunately, those who abuse kids rarely have just one victim, and they do not just wake up one day and decide to begin molesting. It’s highly unlikely that the Millbrae victim was this teacher’s first,” Sakoda said.

“Oakland’s bishop and his staff should aggressively reach out to girls who may be suffering alone and in silence,” she continued. “They need to know that they are not alone.”

The San Francisco Director for SNAP, Tim Lennon added, “Catholic officials should use every resource at their disposal to prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by this teacher to call police. The diocese must also ‘come clean’ – to the public and the police – about any other reports of misconduct by Butts.”

Lennon also hoped that the Oakland bishop, as well as the school district, would take the opportunity to educate students and parents. “People are used to thinking about abusers as male, and often overlook the fact that women can, and do, abuse children of both sexes.”

Sakoda concluded, “Kids are always safer when predators are jailed. People in the Oakland Diocese may have information that can help insure that happens here.”

Butts’ first court appearance will be on September 19th at 8:30 a.m. in the San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City.

Anyone with information on the case can call police at (650) 616-7100 or email sbpdtipline@sanbruno.ca.gov.

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

GROSSBRITANNIEN
Contra

[According to an internal document, bishops of the Church of England were instructed not to apologize for sexual assaulst in order to avoid lawsuits.]

Einem internen Dokument zufolge wurden die Bischöfe der Church of England angewiesen, sich nicht für sexuelle Übergriffe zu entschuldigen, um so Klagen zu vermeiden.

Von Marco Maier

Sexueller Missbrauch ist bei den christlichen Kirchen ein Thema, welches von deren Religionsführern nicht gerne aufgegriffen wird. Denn egal ob nun die Katholische Kirche oder auch diverse andere christlichen Konfessionen und Sekten – quer durch die Bank ziehen sich Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen deren Vertreter. In Großbritannien macht nun ein internes Schreiben der Church of England die Runde, welches für großes Aufsehen sorgt.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

Justice for seven alleged victims of child sex abuse – years after they claim it happened. It’s the end of a long and emotional journey. Gus Rosendale reports.

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

NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

[with video]

ORADELL, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Bergen Catholic High School has reached a nearly $2 million settlement with 21 alleged sex abuse victims – all former students at the private school in Oradell, New Jersey.

As WCBS 880’s Mike Smeltz reported, the former Bergen Catholic students reached the settlement for alleged cases abuse that took place over a 15 year span.

Peter Alrutz, who attended the school in the 1960s, said he saw a lot of teacher-on-student physical abuse at the school.

“A lay teacher punched with a closed fist and knocked teeth out of a student’s mouth,” he said.

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NEW JERSEY
News 12

ORADELL – Officials at Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell have reached a settlement with 21 former students over alleged sexual abuse.

The school will offer no formal admission of guilt or apology, but gave $1.9 million to the 21 alleged victims who went to the school in the 1960s and 1970s. They were allegedly abused by 11 teachers and staff members.

Road to Recovery, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of sexual abuse, helped some of the victims in the group.

“It is an acknowledgement first of all from the school – yes, it did happen. They are credible. These are not made up allegations,” says Co-Founder Robert Hoatson. “No amount of money will ever bring these men’s lives back and the damage that was done to them.”

Hoatson says that it took a year of talks and protests to come to the settlement. He says the Road to Recovery organization also wants the school to release all files regarding any other sexual abuse. They believe there could be more victims.

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

NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Sara Jerde | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

ORADELL—Peter Alrutz, 67, cannot recall exactly how old he was when he was first sexually abused, but he can still remember when a teacher asked to see him outside of class at Bergen Catholic High School and took him to a closet where the school stored books.

Alrutz said Brother Charles Borromeo Irwin asked him to move some books and when the student bent over, Irwin put his hand down his pants.

He said there was a physical struggle, but beyond that, “my recollection after that point is not real clear.”

Victims of alleged sexual abuse at the all-boys high school in Oradell stepped forward Monday to announce a $1.9 million settlement that will be shared among 21 men who accused staff of the school of abusing them years earlier.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Bergen Catholic High School has agreed to pay $1.9 million to 21 men who say they were molested by 11 teachers during the 1960s and 1970s, but the former student who sparked the settlement talks is not part of the deal because he has refused to take down a website detailing sexual and physical abuse at the school.

Kobutsu Malone said lawyers for the Oradell, N.J., school want to silence him in hopes of making the sex-abuse scandal go away with as little fanfare as possible.

“Considering the charges we are making, to find the school in a– covering mode rather than healing mode is really disgusting,” said Malone, a 66-year-old Buddhist monk who now lives in Maine.

The school agreed to the settlement in November, but the deal was not made public until Monday.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
August 23, 2016

AUSTRALIA’S most notorious Catholic diocese for paedophile priests has added another serial child abuser to its number.

Former Ballarat priest Leslie John Sheahan was today found guilty by a magistrate of two charges of indecently assaulting a young girl from his time as a young priest in the 1960s.

The girl is his fourth known victim after Sheahan last year admitted molesting another three victims from the Ballarat and Horsham areas.

Sheahan was ordained alongside former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns in 1956, and like so many priests under his watch, was left to work alongside kids after allegations of misconduct surfaced.

Sheahan, 85, denied the most recent allegations, refused to be interviewed by police and declined the opportunity to give evidence at today’s hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates Court.

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

CANADA
CBC News

By Marion Warnica, CBC News Posted: Aug 22, 2016

Brett Mittelsteadt was a family man, trusted teacher, coach and active member of the Catholic church when he started sending sexual text messages to a girl less than half his age — who was also one of his students.

The details are outlined in the agreed statement of facts, a list of details agreed on by the court when Mittelsteadt pleaded guilty on Monday morning to luring and touching a minor for a sexual purpose.

Brett Mittelsteadt, teacher, facing sex charges against a student​

The girl, who cannot be named because of a court order that protects her identity, was 14 years old when her teacher at Holy Spirit Catholic School in Sherwood Park started grooming her for a sexual relationship. He was already a close friend of the family. And at that time, in March 2013, the child’s parents say she was a “hard-working, bright-spirited girl,” whose spirit and flame were extinguished by the dark “narcissistic” decisions Mittelsteadt made in secret.

Seemingly sweet texts like “I love you,” and “You are beautiful” were mixed in with increasingly explicit language and photos over several weeks.

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

UTAH
Daily Herald

BRADY McCOMBS
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — LDS Church attorneys argued Monday that a lawsuit accusing religious officials of not doing enough to protect four Navajo children from sexual abuse in a now defunct church-run foster program belongs in federal court because the alleged incidents occurred off tribal land.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby heard nearly three hours of arguments Monday about whether to keep the case in tribal court. Shelby said he’ll issue a ruling at a later date.

The alleged victims say they were sexually abused between the 1960s and early 1980s in the Indian Student Placement Program, which placed thousands of Navajo children in Mormon foster homes in Utah, Idaho and New Mexico.

Craig Vernon, an attorney for the victims, conceded that the alleged abuse didn’t happen on tribal lands, but he said decisions about where to place children and the inaction after the kids reported the abuse occurred on the Navajo Nation.

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UTAH
Gephardt Daily

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 22, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A U.S. District judge on Monday said he won’t decide quite yet whether Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be forced to provide deposition testimony in a sex abuse lawsuit against the church.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby said several other key issues in the case should be decided before he rules on the subpoena issue, according to a report by Fox 13.

Monson — who turned 89 on Sunday and who has served as the president of the LDS church since 2008 — was subpoenaed by attorneys for four people who say they were sexually abused decades ago by members of their host families while participating in an LDS church placement program for Navajo children.

The four alleged victims, two males and two females who filed their cases in Arizona’s Navajo Tribal Court, say they were abused in the 1960s and 1970s while participating in the church’s Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP).

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NEW JERSEY
The Daily Beast

After Gregorio Martinez was convicted of sexually abusing a boy, he vanished. Two reporters working on one tip did what law enforcement couldn’t: Find him.

KATIE ZAVADSKI

It took a jury 30 minutes to find preacher Gregorio Martinez guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

The New Jersey preacher was convicted February 2015 of aggravated criminal sexual contact, child abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child, for which he was expected to be sentenced to probation.

But more accusers came forward before the sentencing phase began, opening up the possibility of more prosecution for Martinez.

Facing at least a decade in prison, Martinez disappeared.

For the next year and a half police, U.S. Marshals and prosecutors searched in vain for the pervert pastor. It was only thanks to two journalists that he was found—living 2,000 miles away.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 22 August 2016

Bishops in the Church of England were instructed to give partial apologies to victims of clergy child sex abuse to help minimise the cost of being sued, it has been disclosed.

Confidential legal advice to bishops seen by The Telegraph said the furthest the bishops should go was to “express regret”. It warns bishops to be careful before meeting victims, and not to do so without first talking to a lawyer.

It warns of the “unintended effect of accepting legal liability” for sex abuse and the danger of “inadvertently” conceding guilt.

The advice, issued in 2007 and replaced last year, indicates that any apology to a victim of clergy sex abuse should be drafted in a way that would avoid making the Church liable for compensation.

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IRELAND
The Tablet (UK)

22 August 2016 | by Sarah Mac Donald in Dublin

Among their main concerns is the appointment of ‘inadequate’ bishops

The Papal Nuncio to Ireland has come under fire from a prominent group of Irish priests over his selection of a series of what they say are “like-minded” new bishops whom the priests claim are “inadequate” for the needs of the Irish Church today.

In a statement, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which has a membership of over 1,000 Irish clerics, charged Archbishop Charles Brown with choosing “narrow-minded” bishops whom the reform-minded priests say are out of sync with the majority of the faithful.

Speaking to The Tablet, Fr Brendan Hoban, a spokesman for the ACP, warned that Irish priests, and not just ACP members, have lost confidence in the process of selecting bishops and specifically with the lack of consultation.

According to Fr Hoban, the Nuncio has “drawn from a very narrow mind-set, out of tune with the theology of the Second Vatican Council and the realities of Irish Catholic life today”.

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

By Andrew Marra – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, Aug. 22, 2016

BOCA RATON — At Saint Andrew’s School, no rules barred student-teacher sleepovers, a school-commissioned report released to parents Friday says. Faculty members received little training about child abuse. The student handbook said little to nothing about sexual harassment.

The lax rules and poor training helped to enable a teacher’s months-long pattern of “inappropriate” behavior with boarding students at the Boca Raton Episcopal school, including sleepovers, long embraces and late-night excursions, concludes the report by New Hampshire attorney David Wolowitz.

No evidence of sexual misconduct has been found, but the report criticizes the school for exposing students to “potential abuse” and says it failed to comply with a law requiring that child abuse concerns be reported to state authorities.

While the investigation blames several administrators for failing to report the former teacher’s actions, others call it an indictment of the school’s top leaders and board of trustees, whose members include Bishop Peter Eaton of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, a non-voting member.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

By Elaine Ayala
August 22, 2016

A national organization leading efforts to expose the sexual abuse of children by priests has turned its attention to the Archdiocese of San Antonio for giving refuge to a Chicago priest removed from ministry last fall for an “inappropriate relationship with an adult man.”

Now at a South Side parish and seeking a formal transfer to the archdiocese here, Father Marco Mercado has been assigned to hospital ministry but his duties might expand in the future, according to a statement Monday from Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.

“Father Marco Antonio Lopez Mercado, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is in residence at St. Lawrence Church in San Antonio,” the statement said.

“Following his removal from ministry in his last assignment in Chicago, we have conducted our own independent review of the facts and, following that effort, as well as the counseling Father Marco has undertaken and his acceptance of responsibility in the situation in question, we are satisfied that he is suitable for ministry here,” García-Siller’s statement said.

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KENTUCKY
WDRB

Aug 22, 2016

By Marcus Green

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The parents of a boy who attended St. Margaret Mary School have sued the Archdiocese of Louisville, alleging the church should have known that a former parish priest who took inappropriate photographs of students was “dangerously unsuitable” for his job.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court, is at least the second such action related to ex-pastor Stephen Pohl, who pleaded guilty in January to possessing child pornography and was sentenced in March to 33 months in federal prison.

Among other claims, it accuses the Roman Catholic archdiocese of failing to report Pohl’s behavior to police and giving “meaningless assurances of child safety” despite pledges to find and remove abusive priests in the wake of a sweeping abuse settlement in the 2000s.

“The fact that for decades Pohl could engage in the possession and distribution of child pornography and take thousands of sexually exploitative photographs of children tells the faithful followers of the Church, including the parishioners and families of St. Margaret Mary students, that their children are not safe and that the decades of callous leadership, denial and complacency did not change with these promises,” attorney William F. McMurry, the parents’ attorney, wrote in the complaint.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

A man who is demonstrating chained to a cross outside Glasgow’s St Andrews Cathedral is receiving regular offers of help from the Archdiocese of Glasgow over his history of childhood abuse, a spokesman for the Catholic Church has claimed.

Dave Sharp began his protest yesterday, saying the church had failed victims of abuse and had not apologised after the recent conviction of two former schoolteachers for abuse carried out at St Ninian’s School in Fife, which was run by the Christian Brothers.

He said chaining himself to a wooden cross was a symbol of his inability to escape from his past without acknowledgement from the Church.

However a spokesman for the Archdiocese said Archbishop Philip Tartaglia had issued a full public apology a year ago, when he described child abuse within the Catholic Church as inexcusable and intolerable. Asking for forgiveness, the Archbishop’s statement said: “We apologise to those who have found the Church’s response slow, unsympathetic or uncaring and reach out to them.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Siobhan Fenton, Dina Rickman @siobhanfenton

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have banned women from going to university, The Independent has learned.

The strict Satmar sect issued the decree, seen by The Independent, warning that university education for women is “dangerous”. Written in Yiddish, the decree warns: “It has lately become the new trend that girls and married women are pursuing degrees in special education. Some attend classes and others online. And so we’d like to let their parents know that it is against the Torah.

“We will be very strict about this. No girls attending our school are allowed to study and get a degree. It is dangerous. Girls who will not abide will be forced to leave our school. Also, we will not give any jobs or teaching position in the school to girls who’ve been to college or have a degree.

“We have to keep our school safe and we can’t allow any secular influences in our holy environment. It is against the base upon which our Mosed was built.”

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MAINE
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained in 1949, James P. Vallely started his priesthood in in the Archdiocese of Portland OR. In 1951 he transferred to the Diocese of Portland ME, where he was incardinated in 1952. He assisted in parishes in Waterville, Bangor and Portland, and was chaplain for a hospital and an orphanage. He served as temporary administrator of a Limestone parish before being named pastor in Machias and then South Berwick. He retired in 1988, spending winters in the Orlando FL diocese and assisting in area parishes.

In 1993 a ME man reported to the diocese that Vallely sexually abused him in the late 1950s over a two to four-year period at St. Dominic’s in Portland. He said the abuse began when he was a 9-year-old altar boy. He and a second man with similar allegations went to the media. As a result, a third man came forward alleging abuse as a boy at St. Dominic’s by Vallely. The diocese received five complaints about Vallely between January and March 1993, and he was sent to outpatient treatment in FL. He died in 1997.

Vallely accusers continued to emerge. In 2007 a woman told the diocese she was sexually abused by Vallely in 1976, when she was an 11-year-old altar server at St. Michael’s in Berwick. She received a settlement in 2009. In 2013 two brothers alleged abuse by Vallely when they were St. Michael’s altar boys in the 1970s, and in 2015 four more men reported abuse by Vallely as boys at St. Michael’s. Six men sued the diocese in November 2015, claiming Vallely abused them between 1956 and 1977, and that the diocese knew he was a sexual predator. The abuse is said to have included rape, and the victims were 8 to 15 years-old. The men cited a 2005 letter which indicated that at least five boys at St. John’s in Bangor reported in the 1950s that Vallely was abusing them. The diocese settled with the six men for $2.1 million in August 2016.

Ordained: 1949
Retired: 1988
Died: December 12, 1997

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