ABUSE TRACKER

IOWA
Daily Nonepareil

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

By Derek Sullivan
DSullivan@nonpareilonline.com

An Oakland man will spend four months in jail after pleading guilty to four misdemeanor sexual abuse charges.

On July 28, James Raborn, 27, pleaded guilty to two amended counts of lascivious acts with minor, and single counts of disseminating sexual materials to a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor, all misdemeanors.

On Tuesday morning, Raborn was sentenced to five years in prison. Raborn is married with children, and his wife was in the courtroom on Tuesday.

As part of the plea agreement, Fourth Judicial District Judge Mark Eveloff suspended all but 120 days of the sentence. Starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 1, Raborn will serve 120 days in the Pottawattamie County Jail.

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UNITED KINGDOM
New Statesman

Will Self

A French friend, in town for a couple of days recently, was suitably and ­stereotypically bemused by our latest bad news about terrible crimes: Justice Lowell Goddard’s resignation as the head of the inquiry into historic child abuse was closely preceded by new results from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, according to which 11 per cent of the women questioned, and 3 per cent of the men, said they had been sexually assaulted during childhood.

“What is it with you British!” he exclaimed. “Of course we have such scandals in France, but they’re largely confined to the Catholic Church.” Then he predictably went on about “the English vice”, and how the old British establishment is comprised of upper- and upper-middle-class men riven by sexual frustration because of their single-sex boarding-school educations. Under such circumstances was it any wonder they all ended up becoming paedophiles?

I bristled at this bowdlerisation; yet when I came to consider the matter, it did seem as if some explanation was in order. I concede I haven’t researched the matter exhaustively, but I am unaware of any other country in which a statistically significant sample implies that 7 per cent of the adult population are survivors of serious abuse.

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CANADA
Daily Courier

TORONTO – A former pastor has been charged with the sexual assault of two members of his Toronto congregation.

Toronto police say that between 2006 and 2011, a woman who is now 47 years old and a girl who is now 16 were sexually assaulted.

Police say both victims were members of the pastor’s evangelical Christian congregation.
Investigators say they believe there may be more victims.

Jose Colindres, 64, has been charged with five counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual interference and three counts of sexual exploitation.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Aug. 17, 2016

PORTLAND, Maine — Having had a $14.5 million defamation judgment in their favor overturned in federal court, the nonprofit organization and the former Catholic brother linked by a Freeport man to unproven abuse allegations involving Haitian orphans are now seeking redress in state court.

Attorneys for Hearts with Haiti, Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Michael Geilenfeld, 64, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, sued Paul Kendrick, 66, on Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court.

The new lawsuit claims Kendrick, an advocate for children sexually abused by clergy, was reckless and negligent in publicly accusing former Catholic brother Geilenfeld of molesting children in his care and accusing the charity of ignoring abuse allegations against Geilenfeld.

Kendrick posted accusations online, sent out mass emails and mailed letters to potential Hearts with Haiti donors alleging that Geilenfeld sexually abused orphans in his care. On Sunday, he again accused Geilenfeld of sexually abusing children in Haiti.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Tamworth Herald

A TAMWORTH man has spoken out about his nine years of hell at the hands of pervert priests and masters at a boys’ home.

Derek Finnegan (57) was beaten and sexually abused on an almost daily basis, experiences which he says have ruined his life.

Although those who targeted him are now dead, Derek is desperate to track down other boys from the home who were also abused by those in charge.

“I WOULD hear the key turn in the lock. I would face the wall and hold on to the pillow, I could smell the whisky on his breath. Even now it kills me to think about it.”

Derek was abused in children’s homes from the age of nine. He was 14 when things turned worse and he claims he was raped several times a week for the following two years.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Julia Terruso, STAFF WRITER

Taxpayers dished out $8.2 million to pay for Pope Francis’ historic visit here nearly a year ago.

It turns out that Mayor Kenney thinks the pricetag was too high.

In May, the administration sent a request to the World Meeting of Families seeking an additional $4 million to cover preparation and clean-up costs that were exempt from the contract signed under Mayor Michael A. Nutter’s administration.

“Since approximately $4 million of those costs would not have ever been incurred by City departments had the event not occurred, the Kenney administration requested to be reimbursed an additional $4 million,” city spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said.

The World Meeting of Families – which paid the city $8.6 million last year – declined the request.

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ARIZONA
ABC 15

Joe Enea
Aug 17, 2016

PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has charged a Hindu priest with child molestation after the victim recorded the man’s confession.

Court records show that the girl reported to police that she had been molested for four years after arriving in the United States from India in 2010.

Police say the victim came forward on August 6 after recording a confrontation with her alleged assailant, 59-year-old Ghanshayam Ratilal Joshi.

After a friend encouraged her to contact police, she recorded a conversation where Joshi reportedly admitted to “spoiling her virginity” when she was a pre-teen. The victim said she felt she needed proof, since Joshi has been a priest at the Hindu temple near 28th and Maryland avenues for 20 years.

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Manny Waks

18/8/2016

​Recently Heshy Deutsch posted a powerful YouTube clip addressing the ongoing child sexual abuse cases, cover-ups and its impact plaguing the Jewish community.

In response, prominent and respected Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, founder and director of Ohr Naava, spoke out against the clip. When I first saw Rabbi Wallerstein’s response, I remarked that it was infuriating, but that it was also a good opportunity to highlight the ignorance, insensitivity and outright hypocrisy of some within the Rabbinate (in this case a prominent rabbi).

Today my friend and colleague, Sima Yarmush, posted a powerful and thoughtful response to Rabbi Wallerstein’s offensive remarks, which I share below with Sima’s permission:

​This is my response to Rabbi Wallerstein, of Ohr Naava, after his recent video (posted in comments). It was horrifying for me to listen to and watch. Here are my thoughts about it, after I’ve had a chance to calm down and try my best not to allow myself to experience re-traumatization.

1) Belittling victims – Your tone is dismissive, disrespectful, and insulting to all victims and survivors of trauma, abuse, or otherwise. The theatrical way in which you expressed your thoughts was totally uncalled for. You should know better!

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AUSTRALIA
The Record

By Rachel Curry

The Chair of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council (TJHC), Neville Owen, has warned leaders in the Archdiocese of Perth that they face an “uncomfortable time” ahead as the Royal Commission prepares its wrap-up hearing on the Catholic Church.

The TJHC is an 11-member council, which was set up in 2013 to co-ordinate the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Owen, along with the TJHC’s Chief Executive Officer, Francis Sullivan, addressed leaders from the Archdiocesan agencies on Thursday, 11 August at the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Highgate.

Mr Owen said the Royal Commission was preparing to hold a wrap-up hearing on the Catholic Church in February 2017, which would look into the reasons why child sexual abuse occurred within the Church’s institutions and why the response was so poor.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Journal

EBENSBURG, Pa. — A former house parent at a Pennsylvania Catholic school has been jailed on charges he sexually assaulted two Chinese international students he supervised.

Twenty-eight-year-old John Bowman Thornberry, of Mills River, North Carolina, was arrested last week and is being held in Cambria County in lieu of $250,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing next week.

Thornberry was removed in February from his job overseeing Chinese international students at Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg.

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TEXAS
People

BY DARLA HIGGINS @djatlas 08/17/2016

Beautiful and sweet, Irene Garza had many admirers in her hometown of McAllen, Texas in 1960.

The homecoming queen, whose other titles included Miss All South Texas Sweetheart, was also a devout Catholic. So it wasn’t surprising that she visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church for confession on the evening before Easter that year.

What was surprising was that she never made it home. Garza, a 25-year-old schoolteacher, was found dead five days later in an irrigation canal in town. The last person to see her alive was John Feit, a 27-year-old visiting priest, who told police he’d heard her confession that night. Two months later, when questioned about her murder along with the church attack of another woman, Feit failed a lie detector test.

Despite the alleged evidence against him, the case went cold for more than 50 years. That changed on Feb. 9, 2016, when Feit, an 83-year-old grandfather living in Phoenix, was arrested and charged with Garza’s murder. Now sitting in a Texas jail, he has pleaded not guilty and his bail has been set at $750,000. Of the allegations, Feit said, “This whole thing makes no sense to me because the crime in question took place in 1960.”

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TEXAS
People

[with video]

BY DARLA HIGGINS @djatlas 08/17/2016

It was a vicious crime that shook the Texas border town of McAllen in 1960. Irene Garza, a beloved 25-year-old schoolteacher and beauty queen, had been raped and murdered. The last place she was seen alive was at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where she went into confession the night before Easter.

Although police pursued several leads, the case went cold for 56 years. That changed on Feb. 9, 2016, when former priest John Feit, now 83, was arrested for Garza’s murder. He now sits in a Texas jail with his bail set at $750,000. Feit, who was a visiting priest at Sacred Heart in 1960, has pleaded not guilty.

Why do prosecutors feel they have enough evidence to convict him? Below are five details that led to Feit’s arrest.

1. Feit allegedly discussed the crime with two other priests around the time of the killing.

According to police, retired monk Dale Tacheny called them in 2002 to say that a priest he’d once counseled in the 1960s had confessed to suffocating an unnamed woman. Another priest, Father Joseph O’Brien, said he was also aware of the killing and of Feit’s alleged guilt. Feit left the priesthood in 1972.

2. He was arrested for assault on another woman in a church.

Four months after Garza’s murder, Feit was arrested for the attempted rape of a woman in a nearby town. But the jury failed to reach a verdict, and he was released after paying a $500 fine and pleading no contest to aggravated assault.

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NEW YORK
Washington Post

By Peter Holley August 16

At Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Brooklyn, Daniel Fitzpatrick’s biggest test had nothing to do with academics.

The 13-year-old seventh-grader — like so many young people in schools across the country — was the target of relentless bullying because of his grades, his weight and his sweet disposition, family members told the New York Daily News.

This summer, Daniel detailed some of his toughest struggles in a letter that accused classmates of turning on him — and school officials of ignoring his pleas for help.

Then, just days before his 14th birthday, he decided he’d had enough. On Thursday, he wrapped a belt around his neck and hung himself inside the attic of his family’s Staten Island home.

“I gave up,” he wrote in the letter that preceded his death by several weeks. “The teachers . . . they didn’t do anything.”

Documents obtained by The Washington Post offer a more complicated picture of Daniel’s life and reveal that some believe the teenager’s struggles extended beyond the bullying he faced at school.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

August 17, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Substitute Bill No. 326-33 (COR) Committee Report Filed with COR

(Wednesday, August 17, 2016, Hagåtña, Guam) Following the filing of the Committee Report on Substitute Bill No. 326-33 to the Committee on Rules (COR), Senator Frank B. Aguon, Jr. issues the following statement:

“As Chairman of the Committee on Guam U.S. Military Relocation, Public Safety, and the Judiciary, my responsibility is to ensure that every legislative measure, as introduced and substituted, receives the greatest amount of input by the community, prior to reporting it out of my Committee,” stated Senator Aguon. “I want to thank Senator Frank Blas, Jr. for introducing Bill No. 326-33, and most especially, I want to thank the Community for their extensive participation and contribution towards this measure during the public hearing process. The oral and written testimonies from the community, church laity, subject matter experts, legal experts, and alleged victims were comprehensive, eye-opening, and impactful.”

Senator Aguon further stated “Victims of child sexual abuse never had the opportunity to impose civil liability upon their perpetrators because the civil statute of limitations “window” never opened. For the first time, As Substituted by the Committee Bill No. 326-33 (COR) will afford renewed opportunity to victims of child sexual abuse to seek redress in court against their perpetrators.”
“As Substituted by the Committee Bill No. 326-33 (COR) has my full support,” concluded Senator Aguon.

A copy of the Committee report can be found here:
· www.guamlegislature.com>>Reports>>33rd>>Bill No. 326-33 (COR) as substituted.

###
For comments or questions, you may contact the Office of Senator Frank B. Aguon, Jr. at:
475-GUM1/2(4861/2); or e-mail to: aguon4guam@gmail.com.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has about 6.3 billion euros assets. Instead of criticizing this large sum, many organizations praise the diocese for its transparency in making the revelation.]

Von Heiner Effern, Christian Krügel und Jakob Wetzel

Etwa 6,3 Milliarden Euro Vermögen hat das Erzbistum München und Freising, das damit eine der reichsten Diözesen weltweit sein dürfte. Doch die Bilanz, die Generalvikar Peter Beer erstmals für das Erzbistum vorgelegt hat, stößt keineswegs auf Neid und Kritik – im Gegenteil.

Selbst Gruppen, die der Amtskirche an sich kritisch gegenüberstehen, loben die Transparenz, mit der die Kirche ihre Vermögensverhältnisse offengelegt hat. Und für die bayerische Staatsregierung ist das Milliardenvermögen noch lange kein Grund, die Millionensummen, die der Freistaat jährlich an die katholische Kirche überweist, infrage zu stellen. Im Gegenteil: “Staatliche Transferleistungen an die Kirchen und Religionsgemeinschaften sind sinnvoll”, sagt der für Kirchenfragen zuständige Kultusminister Ludwig Spaenle (CSU).

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Die Meldung der Staatsanwaltschaft über die Einstellung der Ermittlungen 2006 sei in der Personalkommission des Bistums behandelt worden, teilte der Sprecher am Dienstag mit und bestätigte damit Auszüge eines Berichts des Saarländischen Rundfunks (SR). «Kardinal Marx war bei dieser Sitzung anwesend.» Damals sei nach aktuellen Leitlinien der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz verfahren worden. «Heute wird in einem solchen Fall anders verfahren, es würden eigene Ermittlungen angestrengt werden.»

Die Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelte bereits 2006, 2013 und 2015 wegen Missbrauchsverdachts gegen den Pfarrer. Die beiden letzten Verfahren wurden wegen «mangelnden Tatnachweises» eingestellt, das Verfahren von 2006 wegen Verjährung. Die Behörde ermittelt seit einigen Wochen erneut in dem Fall aufgrund einer Anzeige des Generalvikariats des Bistums Trier.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SR

[Cardinal Reinhard Marx when he was bishop of Trier knew of molestation allegations against a former pastor in Freisen but did nothing.]

Barbara Spitzer / Onlinefassung: Daniel Weiland 16.08.2016

Von den Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen den ehemaligen Pfarrer von Freisen wusste auch der damalige Trierer Bischof und heutige Kardinal Reinhard Marx. Nach SR-Informationen erfuhr er im Jahr 2006 von den Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft gegen den katholischen Pfarrer wegen des Verdachts auf Missbrauch eines 15-Jährigen, unternahm aber nichts.

Kardinal Reinhard Marx wusste, dass die Justiz 2006 gegen den Freisener Pfarrer M. wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch eines 15-Jährigen ermittelte. Was er möglicherweise nicht wusste, aber hätte wissen können: M. hatte die Missbrauchsvorwürfe teilweise bei der Polizei gestanden. Das geht aus den Justizakten hervor, die der Anwältin des mutmaßlichen Opfers vorliegen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[The Catholic Church in Germany is facing a dramatic shortage of priests. Some priests trainers are hoping for a “Francis effect” – the popular Pope therefore makes a priest for young Catholics interesting. German dioceses respond to the shortage of priests usually, by pooling towns or recruit priests from abroad.]

Von Matthias Drobinski

Noch nie haben sich in Deutschland so wenige Männer zu katholischen Priestern weihen lassen wie im vergangenen Jahr. Den Zahlen der katholischen Bischofskonferenz zufolge gab es in den 27 deutschen Bistümern 2015 insgesamt 58 Priesterweihen; 2014 waren es noch 75 gewesen, 2013 sogar 98. 1990 hatte die Zahl der neuen Priester noch 295 betragen. Die katholische Kirche Deutschlands steht damit vor einem dramatischen Priestermangel: 2015 starben nach Angaben der Bischofskonferenz 309 Priester, 19 gaben ihr Amt auf. 1990 gab es noch fast 20 000 katholische Geistliche, jetzt sind es 14 000.

Die vorläufigen Zahlen aus den Bistümern legen nahe, dass es in diesem Jahr wieder 65 bis 70 Weihen geben dürfte. Manche Priester-Ausbilder hoffen auf einen “Franziskus-Effekt” – dass der populäre Papst also den Priesterberuf für junge Katholiken interessanter macht. Den Trend wird dies allerdings nicht umkehren. Katholische Pfarrer gehen mit 70 Jahren in den Ruhestand, das betrifft nun die starken Weihejahrgänge der Siebzigerjahre. Und auch 2016 wurde in Berlin, Essen, Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Speyer und Trier nur je ein Priester geweiht, in Passau gar keiner.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

17 August, 2016

The Royal Commission’s public hearing to inquire into the response of Catholic Church authorities in the Maitland-Newcastle region to allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy and religious will now commence on Wednesday 31 August 2016.

Case Study 43 was initially scheduled to start on Monday 29 August 2016, however it has been delayed to accommodate two additional hearing days for the public hearing into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

The public hearing will take place at Newcastle Courthouse, 343 Hunter Street, Newcastle.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The experience of survivors of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and religious in the Maitland-Newcastle region.

2. The response of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to allegations of child sexual abuse made against Father Vincent Ryan.

3. The response of the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse made against Marist Brothers including Francis Cable (Brother Romuald) and Thomas Butler (Brother Patrick).

4. The impacts of child sexual abuse on survivors, families, and the community in the Maitland-Newcastle region.

5. Any related matters.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

A relative of a Tuam Home resident has called for a full exhumation of an unofficial graveyard at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home.

William Dolan is purported to have died in the Tuam Home in 1951, but no death certificate has been found for him. A relative, who wishes to remain anonymous, believes that he was adopted to North America, and wants the site examined to determine the truth.

Records also indicate William’s brother John died at the home in 1947.

Research conducted by Tuam historian Catherine Corless revealed that 796 children, most of them infants, died between 1925 and 1961 at the home. She discovered that there were no burial records for the children and that they had not been interred in any of the local public cemeteries, concluding that many of the children were buried in an unofficial graveyard.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By RACHEL EDDIE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AAP

Police are likely fly to Rome to investigate allegations of historical child sex abuse against Cardinal George Pell.

Police on Wednesday said they are considering whether to lay charges over alleged historical sexual assaults.

The allegations date back to between 1976 and 1980 in Ballarat East, Victoria, and between 1996 and 2001 in East Melbourne.

Two men accused Cardinal Pell of groping their genitals at a pool in the 1970s, while another says he saw the priest expose himself to young boys.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Register

Exclusive The British government’s high-profile inquiry into historic child sexual abuse has been hampered by IT delays, which have been a major component of its “legacy of failure”.

Since it was announced in 2014, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) into decades of child abuse and corresponding cover-ups has had four chairs, with Professor Alexis Jay taking the helm last week.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who was appointed in February last year to chair the unprecedented inquiry, stepped down earlier this month.

In her resignation statement she said: “Compounding the many difficulties was its legacy of failure which has been very hard to shake off and with hindsight it would have been better to have started completely afresh.”

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Andrew Kragie

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

A onetime volunteer youth pastor from Willis has been sentenced to life in prison and won’t be eligible for parole until 2046 after his recent conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Dell Ivan Godkin, 48, was convicted Aug. 11 by a Montgomery County jury, prosecutors said in a news release Monday.

The victim — whom prosecutors say was a relative — told the jurors the abuse began when she was 13 and continued until shortly before her 17th birthday, when they “made a deal” that he would stop abusing her if she would not tell anyone.

“He would say lots of things about God being OK with it,” prosecutor Monica Cooper said. He would use Bible verses about men and women’s roles to justify the abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

Tom Olsen on Aug 16, 2016

The Diocese of Duluth is seeking an extension to file reorganization plans in its bankruptcy case as representatives prepare for more settlement talks with victims of child sexual abuse.

The diocese and a court-appointed creditors committee met for a “productive,” two-day mediation session last month in Minneapolis, and they’re planning to return to the table for additional discussions during the week of Nov. 14, diocese attorneys said.

“The parties are optimistic that a global resolution will be reached by the close of the November session,” attorneys Bruce Anderson and Phillip Kunkel wrote in the motion.

The motion asks U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel to extend a deadline for the diocese to file a proposal to regain control of its finances and repay creditors. That plan is currently due Sept. 1, but attorneys are asking for it to be pushed back to March 17.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 17 August 2016

Victoria police are considering whether to charge Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, with historical child sexual abuse offences.

Last month the chief commissioner of Victoria police, Graham Ashton, confirmed allegations against Pell had been referred to the Office of Public Prosecutions for a recommendation as to whether police should drop the investigation, investigate further or lay charges.

In a statement issued on Wednesday the Victoria police media office confirmed it had received the office’s recommendation but would not confirm what had been recommended or whether detectives would be sent to Rome to interview Pell, who is the Vatican’s chief financial advisor.

“We have received advice and will now take the time to consider it,” the statement said. “As with any investigation, it remains a decision for Victoria police as to whether charges will be laid.”

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UNITED STATES
Crux

John L. Allen Jr.August 17, 2016

By naming Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas on Wednesday as the first head of the Vatican’s newly created mega-department for Laity, Family, and Life, Pope Francis has accomplished two things at once: He’s handed another major victory to pastoral moderates, and he’s also further disabused notions that he’s cool to Americans.

(Farrell, 68, isn’t American by birth since he was born in Dublin and came of age in Ireland, but by now he’s spent almost half his life in the States, including the last 14 years as an American bishop.)

Farrell joined the Legion of Christ but left fairly early on, before sexual abuse controversies broke out around the order’s controversial founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado. He moved into the Archdiocese of Washington in 1984, where he served as a pastor and also took over a center for Hispanic ministry from then-Capuchin Father Sean P. O’Malley, who’s now the Cardinal of Boston.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

RUMOUR CONFIRMED: A recommendation on whether Victoria Police should pursue child sex abuse allegations against Cardinal George Pell has been made and is now being assessed.

Alleged victims spoke publicly last month, claiming Cardinal Pell had touched them inappropriately at a Ballarat pool when he was a priest in the late 1970s.

Sly Of The Underworld confirmed on 3AW Breakfast the brief of evidence had been considered by the Office Of Public Prosecutions and handed to Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana over the past few days.

Sly told Ross and John the matter appeared to be progressing.

“It’s fair to say if the brief of evidence had been returned and said there was no case to answer, that would have been announced publicly already,” he explained on 3AW Breakfast.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Broede Carmody

Victoria Police is considering flying to Rome to interview Cardinal George Pell or interview him via videolink over complaints of sexual abuse against the cardinal made by two Ballarat men.

It is believed the brief of evidence has been returned to Victoria Police and assistant commissioner Steve Fontana is assessing the claims.

Sexual abuse claims made by two men against Cardinal George Pell could see Victoria Police investigators head to Rome.

Fairfax Media understands it is almost certain police will seek to interview Cardinal Pell.

Police are investigating multiple allegations of child abuse against the cardinal, including allegations he touched the genitals of children while they swam at a public pool in Ballarat in the late 1970s.

In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed it has received advice from the Department of Public Prosecutions in relation to allegations of historical sexual assaults committed in Ballarat East between 1976 and 1980, and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.

“We have received advice from the DPP and will now take the time to consider it,” A Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Mercury

AAP

Victorian investigators have not ruled out flying to Rome to investigate allegations of historical child sex abuse against Cardinal George Pell.

Victoria Police on Wednesday said they are considering whether to lay charges over alleged historical sexual assaults in Ballarat between 1976 and 1980 and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.

Police declined to say whether investigators would fly to Rome to interview Cardinal Pell after two men accused him of groping their genitals in the 1970s, while another says he saw the priest expose himself to young boys.

Cardinal Pell’s office has emphatically rejected the claims, calling them “without foundation and utterly false”.

Investigators sent a brief of evidence to the Office of Public Prosecutions in July but won’t say what kind of advice they have received.

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NEW YORK
The Fordham Ram

August 16, 2016

By Laura Sanicola

A Fordham Prep religion teacher, who will not return to the school after an allegation of sexual abuse against him was deemed credible, is responding to the allegations made by former student Michael Meenan.

Meenan, Fordham Prep ’84, alleged that his former religion teacher Fernand Beck performed oral sex on him against his will when they both slept over at a party in Westchester County the summer after Meenan’s graduation. On August 5th, Fordham Preparatory School sent a letter to the Fordham Prep community explaining that the allegation against Beck has been deemed credible and that Beck would not be returning.

The full letter to the Fordham Preparatory community from Rev. Christopher J. Devron, the president of Fordham Prep, can be found here.

In an email dated August 9th sent to members of the class of 1981 and obtained by The Fordham Ram, Beck defended his reputation and bemoaned that the high school did not conduct the “thorough and unbiased investigation” at the time that would have cleared him.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

15 August

The research strand of the Inquiry is seeking to commission researchers to carry out two Rapid Evidence Assessments (literature reviews):

* Behaviour and Characteristics of Perpetrators of Online-Facilitated Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

* Characteristics and Vulnerabilities of Victims of Online-Facilitated Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

The overarching questions that these procurements seek to answer are:

* What is known about the behaviour and characteristics of people who sexually abuse or exploit children, where such abuse is facilitated by the Internet?

* What is known about the characteristics, vulnerabilities and on- and offline behaviour of victims of online-facilitated child sexual abuse and exploitation?

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, August 11, 2016
Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received an allegation that John Bussman sexually abused a minor while he was still in ministry and serving at a parish in the 1980s. Law enforcement has been notified, and we are posting this notice as part of our standard protocols when an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor is reported to the Archdiocese. Bussman has been out of priestly ministry since 2003 and has served time in prison since then for criminal sexual conduct and theft.

John Bussman’s Assignment History

* Associate Pastor, St. Michael, Stillwater, 6/17/80-6/12/85
* Associate Pastor, Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale, 6/12/1985-9/22/86
* Leave of absence: 9/22/1986-4/1987
* Suspended from Ministry: 7/1/1987-6/15/2001
* Pastor, St. Martin, Rogers and St. Walburga, Fletcher, 6/15/2001-3/21/2003
* Leave of absence: 3/21/2003-present

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

08/16/2016

Last Thursday, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis released a statement indicating that Father John Bussmann has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor dating back to when “he was still in ministry and serving at a parish.” According to the same statement, Bussmann has been out of ministry (on a leave of absence) since 2003.

Those of you unfamiliar with John Bussmann and his history in this Archdiocese may want to review my statements on his resignation from ministry and the deal he entered into at that time. You can find this on pages 82, 82, and 84 of my affidavit in the Doe 1 case.

While the version I have linked to is redacted, several pages without redaction were released by the Ramsey County Attorneys Office following the conclusion of the criminal case against the Archdiocese. The supporting documents attached to the RCAO affidavit will be of interest to those of you who have not yet seen them, in particular the allegation involving Archbishop Nienstedt’s conduct with minors while at World Youth Day.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Forward

Ben Sales
August 16, 2016

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Beth Din of America has been added to the list of defendants in a $100 million class action suit against Rabbi Barry Freundel, the prominent Washington, D.C., spiritual leader who was convicted of secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s ritual bath, and several Jewish institutions.

On Tuesday, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in Superior Court in Washington, D.C., that included the rabbinical court, according to a news release on behalf of the Sanford Heisler and Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel law firms.

The suit, which was filed originally in December 2014, also names as defendants Freundel’s former synagogue, Kesher Israel; the Rabbinical Council of America, the main professional association for modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States; and the National Capital Mikvah, the ritual bath Freundel used to spy on his victims.

Freundel is believed to have violated the privacy of at least 150 women he filmed while they undressed and showered at the mikvah, or ritual bath, including members of Kesher Israel, candidates for conversion to Judaism and students at Towson University in Maryland, where Freundel taught classes on religion and ethics. The rabbi also secretly filmed a domestic violence abuse victim in a safe house he had set up for her.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Sanford Heisler, LLP and Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel P.C. filed an amended complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on behalf of victims of Rabbi Bernard “Barry” Freundel, the rabbi currently serving a prison sentence for recording naked women at a Jewish ritual bath called a mikvah. The Superior Court of the District of Columbia recently appointed Sanford Heisler, LLP as interim class counsel in this class action litigation, which is the only pending class action lawsuit in the country stemming from Rabbi Freundel’s mikvah voyeurism.

The mikvah is used primarily as the last step in conversions to Judaism and by Orthodox married women who are religiously required to immerse after their monthly menstruation. The amended complaint details the intimacy of the mikvah ritual, in which women are required to disrobe completely and clean themselves thoroughly before immersing themselves. Rabbi Freundel has already admitted that he “defiled [this] space that was supposed to be private, sacred and healing” and has pleaded guilty to 52 counts of criminal voyeurism; prosecutors identified many more recordings showing female mikvah users partially or completely naked.

“The women who came to the mikvah were promised – both implicitly and explicitly – a private space free from male onlookers,” said David Sanford, Chairman of Sanford Heisler, LLP and lead counsel for the proposed classes. “Defendants flagrantly broke their promises, egregiously breached their duties to the women who used the mikvah, and let Rabbi Freundel’s crimes go unchecked for years. We will ask a D.C. jury to hold all defendants liable and impose punitive damages in order to send a strong message that even institutions draped in the cloak of spirituality won’t escape punishment when they violate their legal obligations.”

In addition to suing Rabbi Freundel, the lawsuit brings claims against the religious institutions that enlisted Rabbi Freundel’s services and put him in positions of authority over the vulnerable women who used the mikvah. The amended complaint names four of these institutions as Defendants: the National Capital Mikvah, Inc., the Jewish ritual bath that served as the site of Rabbi Freundel’s crimes; the Georgetown Synagogue – Kesher Israel Congregation, the prominent D.C. Modern Orthodox synagogue that employed Rabbi Freundel for twenty-five years and purported to provide Orthodox rabbinic supervision for the mikvah; the Rabbinical Council of America, the organization of Orthodox rabbis that empowered Rabbi Freundel to direct Orthodox practices nationwide regarding religious conversion; and as an additional Defendant, the Beth Din of America, the religious court that authorized Rabbi Freundel to oversee the Orthodox conversions that he used to target victims.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Julie Zauzmer August 16

The victims of a D.C. rabbi, who was convicted of illegally recording naked women as they prepared for a ritual bath, are demanding at least $100 million in a lawsuit against the rabbi and several Orthodox Jewish institutions that supervised him.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, formerly an influential leader at Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue and in the Modern Orthodox movement nationwide, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison last year for surreptitiously videotaping dozens of women.

On Tuesday, nine of those women who are seeking to bring a class action lawsuit against him named the amount they are seeking in court — at least $100 million, or $1 million for each victim, their lawyer David Sanford said.

Freundel pleaded guilty to taping 52 women, but prosecutors said he recorded more than 100 additional victims earlier than the three-year statute of limitations. “We don’t believe it’s unreasonable to seek a million dollars per person before a jury,” Sanford said.

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SCOTLAND
The Freethinker

John Farrell, 73, above left, and Paul Kelly, 64, have been jailed for a total of 15 years for physically and sexually abusing six pupils at St Ninian’s in Falkland, Fife, more than 30 years ago.

According to this report, one person present at the sentencing of the pair at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday shouted “hope you enjoy every day of it” as Catholic priest Farrell, former head of the school, and Kelly were led away to serve their jail terms.

The pair preyed on youngsters between the ages of 11 and 15 at St Ninian’s, which was run by the Christian Brothers organisation before its closure in 1983.

Judge Lord Matthews condemned them for committing:

A gross abuse of trust

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Amy Remeikis

The Queensland Parliament took a step forward in giving institutional child sex abuse survivors greater, and fairer grounds for seeking civil justice, but for the LNP and cross bench, it did not go far enough.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk personally introduced the bill that will remove the statute of limitations for those who suffered abuse while in institutions. Other measures, which include expanding that offer to those who suffered abuse outside institutions – such as families – will be decided after consultation.

But the Opposition, which had indicated it would pass similar laws if it won government at the next election, doesn’t believe Labor’s laws go far enough.

In a rare show of genuine emotion, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls fought back tears as he detailed why.

“The existing legislation—that is, the legislation to be amended by the bill introduced by the Premier—needs amending because it ignores the fact that in many cases psychological damage is neither diagnosed, apparent nor even brought to the attention of the appropriate medical professionals within these time frames,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Our Stories Untold

by L. SHIFFLETT on Aug 16, 2016

Hello, my friends,

It is time for me to speak after a prolonged silence. I’ve been trying to find my voice again through this complicated process.

My advocate Barbra Graber, my sister Marissa Buck, and my dear friends at Our Stories Untold and SNAP Mennonite have walked along at my own pace as I have gone through phases of feeling silenced and misunderstood as well as uplifted and supported. I remain humbled and inspired by all of you out there who have continued to bring awareness to the issue of sexual abuse and trauma. I am unexplainably grateful for your strength.

I want to address the fact that Eastern Mennonite University has chosen D. Stafford and Associates as their independent investigator. The reason I feel the need to address this is because both EMU and Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) have contacted me about submitting to a 3 hour or more interview with DSA.

I fear I will be labeled as uncooperative if I refuse, but I want to be honest with those of you who have tirelessly supported me and acknowledge that I do not intend to speak with them. You deserve to know why.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has been accused of unleashing a “tsunami of invective and gleeful nods-and-winks” which have embarrassed the church through his recent comments about “goings on” at the national seminary in Maynooth.

Columban priest Fr Seán McDonagh, of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) leadership team, said “one wonders did Dr Martin realise that August is the silly season for the media, and that his announcement would lead to a deluge of coverage in the Irish media about the suitability of Maynooth as a training centre for seminarians.

“The tsunami of invective and gleeful nods-and-winks that have resulted from his announcement was an embarrassment for the Irish Catholic Church. ”

Fr McDonagh recalled how ACP colleague Fr Brendan Hoban had warned that the Archbishop’s decision to send three Dublin seminarians to the Irish College in Rome rather than Maynooth “will have far-reaching consequences, not just for Maynooth but for the Irish Catholic Church. He [Fr Hoban] also stated that Archbishop Martin’s arguments about moving students to Rome ‘are not convincing’.”

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MAINE
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • August 16, 2016

Fr. James Vallely was allegedly protected by Portland’s bishop for years

PORTLAND (ChurchMilitant.com) – A settlement has finally been reached in the case of a decades-old hierarchical cover-up of abusive clergy.

In a deal reached August 15 between the diocese of Portland, Maine and a group of plaintiffs, the diocese agreed to pay out $1.2 million to six men who allege they were sexually abused by Fr. James Vallely throughout the 1950s and 1970s. According to documents obtained by the prosecution, the diocese and then-Bp. Daniel Feeney had been made aware of the abuse, but took no action regarding Fr. Vallely.

“There is no excuse for this immorality,” asserts Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the plaintiffs and gained nationwide recognition for handling the homosexual priest abuse scandal in Boston in 2002. “Once again, you have purportedly the most moral institution in the world acting most immorally.”

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TENNESSEE
The Commercial Appeal

By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal
Aug. 11, 2016

Former Grizzlies announcer Rick Trotter used a hidden camera to record numerous women and minors in a restroom at Fellowship Memphis in 2010, several alleged victims told The Commercial Appeal.

And those alleged victims said that after the camera was discovered, church co-founder John Bryson, and possibly others, discouraged the victims from going to the police.

Four of Trotter’s alleged victims told their accounts to The Commercial Appeal this week. The women would only talk under condition of anonymity, saying they feared possible reprisals or being ostracized from local religious organizations affiliated with Fellowship.

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TENNESSEE
The Commercial Appeal

By David Waters of The Commercial Appeal
Aug. 13, 2016

Leaders of both churches seemed to go the extra mile not once but twice to help Rick Trotter deal with his demons.

After Fellowship Memphis leaders fired him for “inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature” in 2010, they supported his wife and children while they paid for him to get three months of counseling.

They took him at his word there had been only a “single incident” of that conduct during his five years as the congregation’s worship leader.

They allowed him to read “a letter of apology confessing sexual addiction along with other improprieties of a sexual nature to the members of the church body.”

Confession is good for the soul.

After Trotter applied for a job at Downtown Church in 2011, pastors and elders of both churches met and discussed his past transgressions.

They got his permission to speak openly about how he used his smartphone to secretly record women in Fellowship’s restroom.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[The Hildeshein diocese has approved independent investigation of abuse allegations against the late ex-Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen and against Father Peter R. A specialized institute from Munich will conduct the investigation.]

16. August 2016

Hildesheim (dpa) – Das Bistum Hildesheim lässt Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den 1988 gestorbenen Ex-Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen und gegen Pater Peter R. von einem spezialisierten Münchner Institut untersuchen.

Beauftragt wurde dafür das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP), das bereits den Missbrauch von Schülern im Benediktinerkloster Ettal sowie an der Odenwaldschule untersuchte, wie das Bistum am Dienstag mitteilte.

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SCHWEIZ
Radio Vatikan

[Bishop Charles Morerod suspended a priest in the Fribourg canton of Switzerland at the end of July for allegatations of immoral contacts.]

Der Westschweizer Bischof Charles Morerod hat einen im Kanton Fribourg wohnhaften Priester per Ende Juli von seinem Dienst suspendiert. Dem Priester werden „unsittliche Berührungen“ vorgeworfen, wie die Informationsbeauftragte des Bistums Lausanne-Genf-Freiburg, Laure-Christine Grandjean, gegenüber kath.ch sagt.

Der Priester war im Ruhestand, übte aber noch gelegentlich priesterlichen Dienst aus, wie es in der Mitteilung des Bistums heißt. Die Diözese habe eine Untersuchung auf Ebene des Kirchenrechts in die Wege geleitet. Diese wird durch die vatikanische Glaubenskongregation durchgeführt, die sich bei ihrem Entscheid auf Informationen seitens des Bistums stützt. So lange die Untersuchung läuft, wird der Priester suspendiert bleiben, vermeldete das Bistum.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SAT.1

Das Bistum Hildesheim lässt Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen Ex-Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen und Pater Peter R. von einem spezialisierten Institut untersuchen. Beauftragt wurde das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) aus München, das bereits den Missbrauch von Schülern im Benediktinerkloster Ettal sowie an der Odenwaldschule untersuchte, teilte das Bistum am Dienstag mit. Janssen soll in seiner Amtszeit als Bischof von 1957 bis 1982 einen Jungen sexuell missbraucht haben, 1988 starb der Geistliche. Der Vorwurf gegen ihn wurde erst im vergangenen Jahr mehr als 50 Jahre nach dem vorgebrachten Missbrauch erhoben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Domradio

Das Bistum Hildesheim lässt die Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den verstorbenen Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen und den pensionierten Priester Peter R. durch unabhängige Gutachter klären. Man erhofft sich so eine größere Transparenz.

Mit der Aufklärung wurde das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) in München beauftragt, wie die Diözese mitteilte. Deren Mitarbeiter sollen prüfen, ob es neben den bereits bekannten Verdachtsfällen weitere Hinweise auf sexuelle Übergriffe durch die beiden Geistlichen gibt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Hildeshein

[The Diocese of Hildesheim has commissioned the institute for practical research and consultancy project (IPP) from Munich with the external treatment of two cases of suspicion of sexual abuse which have been reported to the diocese.]

16.08.2016

Das Bistum Hildesheim hat das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) aus München mit der externen Aufarbeitung von zwei Fällen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs beauftragt, die der Diözese gemeldet worden sind.

Dabei handelt es sich um den Vorwurf des sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den verstorbenen Hildesheimer Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen, außerdem um verschiedene Vorwürfe sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den pensionierten Priester Peter R.

Die Mitarbeiter des IPP sollen klären, ob es neben den bekannten Missbrauchsvorwürfen weitere Hinweise auf sexuelle Übergriffe durch die beiden Geistlichen gibt. Darüber hinaus sollen sie bewerten, wie die Entscheidungsträger des Bistums mit den Fällen umgegangen sind und ob es ein institutionelles Versagen gegeben hat, das die mutmaßlichen Missbrauchstaten erleichtert und deren Verfolgung erschwert hat.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Margaret Scheikowski – AAP on August 16, 2016

A Christian brother accused of sexually abusing a student decades ago was invited to his 21st and played the organ at his wedding, a judge has been told.

Christopher Rafferty, 65, has pleaded not guilty in the District Court in Sydney to six sex offences from when the boy was aged 14 until he was 16.

They allegedly occurred in the mid-1980s at St Patrick’s College at the NSW town of Goulburn.

In the crown opening at the judge-alone trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Lou Lungo said the complainant alleged Rafferty rubbed himself up against him during one-to-one piano accordion lessons.

He is also accused of sex acts involving the boy, that ended when he was “a bit older and knew what the accused was doing was wrong” and he kept away from Rafferty, Mr Lungo said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Editorial

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in north London are raising £1m to fight legal cases to try to stop children leaving the community when their parents divorce, as we reported today. The fundraising drive in the Charedi community aims to try to “rescue” children in custody cases when one parent wants to leave the community and its strict culture of refusing to engage with wider society.

At the level of abstract principle, there is nothing wrong with this. In a free society – even one ironically regarded by the Charedi as “evil” – people are free to raise money to help fight court cases in defence of causes they support. Supporters of the 130,000 Labour Party members of less than six months’ standing were entitled, for example, to crowdfund the costs of their unsuccessful case to overturn the decision of the party’s National Executive to exclude them from voting in the leadership election.

There is no doubt, too, that the Charedi community feels that its culture is threatened by the prevailing norms of British society. It may be a paradox, but its members feel that they are entitled to use whatever methods they can under the law of the land to defend what they call their “pure and holy” children from corruption by the irreligious outside world.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, or IICSA, is in crisis. Its third chair, New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard, has just resigned and a replacement, Professor Alexis Jay, appointed. Dame Lowell and her predecessors were appointed by Theresa May in her previous role as Home Secretary to chair the inquiry examining the institutional abuse of children in England and Wales.

The two previous appointees had to step down because of their closeness to the very Establishment that they were supposed to be examining. More than a year on from its formation the inquiry has barely got into its stride.

One of the central roles of IICSA is to look at allegations against senior politicians who have been accused of abusing children. It is hoped the inquiry will consider whether Establishment abusers had been protected, and to determine what changes to the child protection system should be made in light of allegations against prominent people.

Two now-deceased politicians – Lord Greville Janner and Sir Cyril Smith – faced extremely serious allegations of serial sexual child abuse which are central to the inquiry and which were to be examined in detail. Both were accused during their lifetime, but the allegations were rejected as unfounded. But there is now uncertainty over the Janner strand of the inquiry. His family have stated that they intend to take legal action to prevent the allegations made against him from being considered by the inquiry. Meanwhile, the police are continuing to investigate people alleged to have abused children alongside Janner.

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NEW YORK
CBS 19

NEW YORK – An online fundraiser launched with a $10,000 goal to pay funeral expenses for a 13-year-old New York City boy who took his own life has raised over $107,000 from more than 2,800 donors in three days.

Danny Fitzpatrick’s sister found him dead late Thursday in their attic.

The teen left behind a hand-written note describing the alleged abuse by five boys at Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

“They did it constantly,” Danny said in a note, adding that he told his teachers, but they did nothing.

“I gave up the teachers … they didn’t do ANYTHING,” Danny wrote.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San MartínAugust 15, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

ROME- It might be a cliché, but actions generally speak louder than words, and rarely is that more evident than when a pope apologizes.

On his way back from Armenia in late June, Pope Francis suggested that Christians probably should ask forgiveness from gays who have been offended by the Church, from the poor, from women who have been mistreated, from children exploited for labor, and for having blessed so many weapons – basically, from anyone whom the Church could have defended and failed to do so.

Last Friday, when Francis visited a Rome center for women rescued from prostitution rackets, he delivered an apology for one of these issues through both deeds and words, asking forgiveness from the women there, in the name of Christianity, for the suffering they’ve endured. …

Although a supporter of John Paul’s proclivity to ask for forgiveness, Benedict XVI was more guarded when apologizing – but like Francis, he also backed most of the ones he delivered with actions.

To give one example, in 2010 Benedict delivered what was deemed an unprecedented apology in the form of an 8-page letter to the victims of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland. In it, he expressed his “shame and remorse” for “sinful and criminal acts.”

He admitted that years of crimes committed by clergy and lay Catholics in schools and orphanages had shattered faith in the Church, and was highly critical of the way that the Irish Church had handled the cases of abuse.

Addressing the victims and their families directly, Benedict said: “I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity violated.”

During Benedict’s papacy, the Vatican laicized over 800 priests for sexual abuses and more than 2,500 received other punishments, such as a life of penance and prayer or a ban on public ministries.

Pope Francis has apologized for the crime of sexual abuse by clergy as well, and backed his statements with actions- though, as is usually the case when the scope of the apology is so big, many have deemed those actions insufficient.

For instance, last September, when meeting a group of survivors of sexual abuse in Philadelphia, Francis expressed “deep regret” over the betrayal the victims suffered, the times when the Church ignored survivors or their families speaking out and some bishops’ failure in their responsibility to protect children.

“I pledge to you that we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead. Clergy and bishops will be held accountable when they abuse or fail to protect children,” he said.

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NEW YORK
News 12

KIRYAS JOEL – The principal of an Orange County yeshiva, accused of inappropriately touching a student, has left the school.

Sources tell News 12 that the principal at the United Talmudical Academy in Kiryas Joel is no longer at the school.

Video of the educator, apparently caressing and possibly kissing a young Hassidic boy while between his legs, caused controversy when it was exposed in May.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Joshua Robertson
@jrojourno
Monday 15 August 2016

Queensland could be the first Australian jurisdiction to enable victims of child sex abuse to revive previously settled claims against churches and schools under a state opposition proposal to broaden their legal rights.

With the Palaszczuk government tabling its bill scrapping age limits on abuse claims on Tuesday, the Liberal National party announced it would move amendments to allow victims to have a court strike down settlements made lower because they fell outside the statute of limitations.

Lawyers and advocates for victims have argued the ability to revive such claims is the key to fair redress and in line with recommendations by the ongoing royal commission.

The Queensland government, like the New South Wales and Victorian governments when they previously scrapped age limits on civil claims, declined to include scope for setting aside past settlements in its bill.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Clare Armstrong, The Courier-Mail
August 15, 2016

THE STATE Government has introduced a bill to remove the time limit for undertaking legal action in cases of child abuse in institutions.

Under the current legislation, victims of child abuse are only able to lodge a claim to commence legal proceedings within three years of turning 18.

Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk said the Government’s bill would allow survivors of abuse to receive justice.

“Over and over again I have been told that this period of time is woefully inadequate to allow victims of childhood abuse to even come to terms with their abuse on a personal level, let alone find the strength to address their pain and to commence the daunting and arduous task of litigations in the courts,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sharnie Kim

Child protection advocacy group Bravehearts is backing a private member’s bill in Queensland Parliament to remove time limits for lodging damages claims for child sexual abuse.

Two competing bills aimed at improving victims’ access to justice will be introduced into the State Parliament today — one by the State Government and the other by independent MP Rob Pyne.

Under Queensland law, a child who has been sexually abused has three years from when they turn 18 to bring a civil action to court.

Both bills remove the time limit for bringing claims.

However it is expected the State Government’s bill will only help victims of abuse in institutions such as schools, while Mr Pyne’s bill will go further, removing the three-year limit for survivors of abuse outside of institutions, such as those abused by family members.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Boston Globe

By Nestor Ramos GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 16, 2016

Victims advocates and legal observers expressed consternation on Monday about a New Hampshire prep school’s request to reveal the identity of a teenage sexual assault victim if her family’s lawsuit against the school reaches trial.

In raising the issue of the girl’s continued anonymity, St. Paul’s School is leaning on legal strategies that are common in high-profile civil cases involving sexual assault, lawyers said. But because St. Paul’s is an educational institution responsible for keeping children safe, the tactic left some scratching — or shaking — their heads.

“I find it really troubling,” said Christina Gagnier, a lawyer who is on the board of directors of Without My Consent, a nonprofit organization that combats online privacy invasions. “You set a very dangerous precedent, particularly when it’s an educational institution.”

In the federal court system, where the lawsuit against St. Paul’s was filed, plaintiffs legally must file with their real names. Anonymity is granted to plaintiffs only in exceptional cases. In deciding whether to permit a civil lawsuit to be brought anonymously, judges must balance the interests of the plaintiff and the defendant.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

JOANNE MCCARTHY
16 Aug 2016

NOTORIOUS Hunter Catholic priest Vince Ryan took to the witness box in Sydney on Monday with a plan to break the silence of decades and apologise to more than 30 victims he sexually abused from the age of five.

Instead he spoke about himself and his fearful life.

“I’ve always been afraid of everything,” said Ryan, 78, during a sentencing hearing at Darlinghurst court after entering guilty pleas to three charges of sexually abusing a boy aged between 13 and 15 at East Gresford in the mid 1980s.

Ryan’s victim was described to the court as the boy Ryan had “forgotten”, after the priest volunteered the names of victims to police following his arrest in the 1990s.

Ryan told the court: “I couldn’t walk down the street. I’ve been terrified of my own shadow my whole life.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Family Law

Natasha Phillips
15 AUG 2016

While current and past child abuse inquiries around the world seem to take the challenges of such large investigations in their stride, the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (‘the Inquiry’) continues to stumble on the starting block. The reasons for this have been in plain sight for some time – but will the Inquiry listen to reason before it’s too late?

Having appointed its fourth Chair (former panel member Professor Alexis Jay), the Inquiry has taken on a very different hue. Professor Jay is the first Chair not to have had any legal or judicial background, but will be nestled in among a lawyer-heavy team who have shaped the Inquiry to look and feel like a court of law. This could pose some challenges, as Professor Jay may have a view to reshape the Inquiry in the coming weeks – and so she should.

There is no question that the Inquiry should either start afresh or shut down completely, as sources quoted by the media have suggested. A UK Inquiry into non-recent child sexual abuse was always going to be a considerable undertaking: after decades of ignoring one of the most ingrained and on-going abuses of human rights in the UK, how could it be anything but extensive?

The good news is that the Inquiry doesn’t need to go back to the beginning to get back on track, but it does need to become much more familiar with the mindset of survivors.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

16 Aug 2016

A FORMER St Stanislaus’ College priest will face Sydney’s Central Local Court on Wednesday on 14 charges of indecent assault and sexual assault dating back to the 1970s.

Detectives attacked to Strike Force Belle arrested 63-year-old Glenn Michael Humphreys in Western Australia on Tuesday, after he finished serving a two-year sentence there.

He has been extradited to NSW to face the further charges.

Chifley local area command acting crime manager Inspector Chris Reay said the charges against Humphreys related to offences allegedly committed against students at St Stanislaus’ College between 1975 and 1982.

Humphreys had previously been charged by police in relation to the allegations, but was already incarcerated in Western Australia at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

16 Aug 2016

As the Royal Commission into sexual abuse draws to a close, there are some first glimpses of some key objectives that will be instrumental in establishing its worth, framing the path toward healing communities and even shaping the future of the nation.

Importantly Justice Peter McClellan’s address to the children’s welfare conference has highlighted the broader cultural issues which have underlined and exacerbated many of the horror stories which have emerged at the Commission.

“Although the primary responsibility for the sexual abuse of an individual lies with the abuser and the institution… we cannot avoid the conclusion that the problems faced by many people who have been abused are the responsibility of our entire society,” he said. “Society’s values and mechanisms which were available to regulate and control aberrant behaviour failed.”

McClellan has hinted we are all as a society to blame for this shameful period of neglect and indifference because of the cultural influences that shaped the high-risk environment. The victims were paid too little heed. The voices of children went unheard, while the authority of institutions went unquestioned. The ghastly silence which encouraged perpetrators was exacerbated by unfounded respect in the institutions that hid them and a cursory dismissal of the young people who were calling for help. By accepting some degree of the culpability for the broader forces which shaped this failure, there is the chance for greater vigilance and compassion in the future.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paul Cullen

The patient in the St Patrick’s Mental Health Services case was seven or eight when he was sexually abused by an elderly cleric in his home town.

The abuse took place up to five times over the course of a summer. “I can recall trying to get out of the room. He had an old-fashioned walking stick which he used to stop me leaving,” the victim said.

He told no one of his experience at the time. The cleric died a few years later, in the mid-1960s.

The man got married in his 20s but experienced severe facial pain during sex. From 1980, he attended a doctor who diagnosed anxiety and an obsessive personality and prescribed benzodiazepines. Now in his 60s, he has been on tranquillisers ever since.

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MAINE
Morning News USA

BY SHAURYA ARYA MORNINGNEWSUSA PUBLISHED: AUG 16, 2016

A settlement of $1.2 million was reached between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and six men who say that leaders of the church, despite having knowledge, hid allegations of sex abuse against a former priest.

According to the lawsuit, the diocese was aware that Father James Vallely was involved in sexual abuse against children in the church as early as 1956, but nothing was done to stop it.

Priest James Vallely Sex Abuse: Diocese was aware, hid allegations

Vallely, now deceased, was a priest in the Bangor area in the 1950s. As reported by the Portland Press Herald, the plaintiffs claim that they are victims of Vallely, who they say abused them from a period of 1958 to 1977.

“We have another instance of a diocese hiding the truth for the sake of its appearance and monetary concerns,” Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney of the plaintiffs, said.

One of these victims was Lawrence Gray, who said the priest molested him as early as when Gray was eight years old. At the time, Gray was an altar boy at St. Dominic’s Parish, Portland. Afraid of disclosing the abuse, he said the molesting continued until he was 13 years old.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Jamie McKinnell – AAP on August 16, 2016

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will personally introduce into parliament a bill to lift time restrictions on when survivors of institutional child sex abuse can sue the perpetrators.

Currently, survivors can only pursue civil action within three years of their 18th birthday, but lifting that statute of limitations was a key recommendation from the child sex abuse royal commission.

Ms Palaszczuk announced the plan at the beginning of August, saying the restraints had “effectively barred these victims from seeking justice”.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath also signalled the government would release an issues paper on whether the restrictions should be lifted for abuse outside institutions and other forms of abuse, such as physical and psychological.

The change will have bipartisan support from the Liberal National Party (LNP) opposition, however leader Tim Nicholls was eager to highlight that his party announced it as a policy two weeks before Labor.

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

Bee Staff Reports

A lawsuit has been filed alleging sexual harassment and retaliation by a Diocese of Stockton priest who served at least several years at St. Anthony’s in Manteca.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in San Joaquin County Superior Court by Irvine-based law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi. It alleges that on July 26, Monsignor McGovern sent sexually explicit photographs to the victim, a pool maintenance contractor, then terminated his employment after the victim reported the incident.

“This is a classic case of sexual harassment and retaliation,” said the alleged victim’s attorney John Manly in a news release. “Monsignor McGovern texted a graphic photograph of his naked genitalia to my client, then terminated his employment after my client reported the lewd photo to the police.”

Friday, the diocese’s director of communications, Sister Terry Davis, issued a brief statement: “Today the Diocese of Stockton learned for the first time of employment related allegations against Monsignor Lawrence McGovern, the Pastor of Presentation Parish in Stockton. In accordance with the Canon Law of the Church, Bishop Stephen Blaire has placed Monsignor McGovern on administrative leave pending a full and complete investigation.”

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MAINE
Boston Globe

By Trisha Thadani GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 15, 2016

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $1.2 million, according to a lawyer for six men who accused the church of covering up abuse allegations against a former priest.

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said the men were childhood victims of the Rev. James Vallely between the late 1950s and late 1970s. The lawsuit claimed that church leaders were aware of multiple abuse allegations against Vallely for decades but “fraudulently concealed it.”

Instead of removing Vallely from ministry, church leaders transferred him to another parish “where children were placed at risk of further sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest,” Garabedian’s office said in a press release.

Garabedian is holding a news conference Monday to announce details of the settlement, which was reached about two weeks ago.

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CALIFORNIA
OC Weekly

BY GUSTAVO ARELLANO

Last week brought news that Monsignor Larry McGovern of the Diocese of Stockton is getting sued by a pool maintenance contractor who alleges that the priest sexted a photo of his junk to the poor guy, then fired him after reporting the padre to the cops. But McGovern—who’s currently on administrative leave—ain’t just any normal cleric: he was one of the key witnesses in lawsuits filed last decade against the pedo-priest-loving Diocese of Stockton.

Who’d find such a crazy case? The Irvine-based firm of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, of course, the crusading lawyers who’ve sued pervert-loving Catholics across the world. Though John Manly and Vince Finaldi remain in OC, their connections to the Stockton pedo-priest scandal runs deep: it was Manly who deposed former Archdiocese of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony over a particularly egregious kid rapist named Oliver O’Grady, a case that served as the key story in the important documentary Deliver Us from Evil. And it was Manly and Finaldi’s dogged pursuit of the truth that unearthed the crazy allegation against McGovern.

“Monsignor McGovern was a witness and denied knowing of any sexual improprieties by [pedo-priests, including O’Grady], despite living with them in the rectory for years and contrary to victim statements,” Finaldi is quoted as saying in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “It is sad but not suprising that he now stands accused of sexual misconduct.”

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Aug. 15, 2016

PORTLAND, Maine — A $1.2 million settlement has been reached between six childhood sex abuse victims of the Rev. James Vallely and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the diocese announced Monday.

The lawsuits, filed separately in November in Cumberland County Superior Court, sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

“The Diocese of Portland has settled six claims alleging abuse by the Rev. James Vallely in the 1950s and the 1970s,” Dave Guthro, spokesman for the diocese, said Monday in an email.

Vallely died in 1997.

“The diocese hopes that this settlement brings a measure of peace to the people involved. The diocese respects the privacy and confidentiality of the victims/survivors involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics,” Guthro said. The Bangor Daily News is not naming them because they may be victims of sexual abuse.

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MAINE
ABC News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND, Maine — Aug 15, 2016

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine, has settled a lawsuit by six men who said church leaders concealed sex abuse allegations against a former priest.

More details of the $1.2 million settlement are expected to be released at a Monday morning news conference from Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented dozens of sex abuse victims.

The lawsuits were filed in November by men from Maine, New Hampshire and New York. They accused the diocese of covering up abuse by Rev. James Vallely. The men alleged Vallely sexually abused them as children from 1958 to 1977.

Garabedian has said the Portland diocese had knowledge of multiple accusations but didn’t remove Vallely from ministry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Siobhan Fenton, Dina Rickman @siobhanfenton

Ultra-Orthodox Jews are raising £1m to prevent “pure and holy” children from leaving the strict faith community and living with “irreligious parents” in an “evil culture”, The Independent has learned.

The fundraising drive has been established to fund the legal fees of divorcing parents involved in child custody battles with ex-partners who want to join mainstream society.

The Independent has seen flyers for a fundraising event in the Stamford Hill area of London that call for the community to back the bid, saying: “Rescue The Children Convention: We now need one million pounds and therefore the community is requested to join in with a minimum sum of £500.”

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MAINE
WMTW

Lawyer: Letter opens door to more lawsuits against diocese

New allegations center around the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland

BOSTON —The Portland Diocese has reached a settlement with six plaintiffs in a lawsuit related to sexual abuse and what the diocese knew and when, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit centers around a letter written by a priest in 2005 which indicates then-Bishop Daniel Feeney knew of allegations of sexual abuse against Father James Vallely earlier than previously stated.

Six men, from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, claimed Vallely sexually abused them from 1958 to 1977 when they were between the ages of 8 and 15.

Vallely died in 1997. He worked in parishes in Bangor, Portland and South Berwick. The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Garabedian, said instead of removing Vallely from St. John’s Parish in Bangor, the diocese transferred him to another parish.

The diocese confirmed the settlement to WMTW News 8. “The diocese hopes that this settlement brings a measure of peace to the people involved,” communications director Dave Guthro said in a statement. “The diocese respects the privacy and confidentiality of the victims/survivors involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics. We maintain that privacy and confidentiality even if an individual or their legal representation chooses to discuss their situation publicly,” Guthro wrote.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY ERIC RUSSELL STAFF WRITER
erussell@pressherald.com | @PPHEricRussell | 207-791-6344

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has settled a lawsuit for $1.2 million with six sexual abuse victims of a former priest.

Additional details are expected to be released at a press conference late Monday morning at the office of Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented dozens of victims of pedophile priests.

The six plaintiffs are all victims of Father James Vallely, a longtime priest in the Bangor area dating back to the 1950s. He is now deceased.

According to a press release from Garabedian’s office, the Portland diocese, which oversees all Catholic parishes in Maine, had knowledge of multiple accusations of abuse against Vallely but did not remove him from the ministry. Instead, Vallely was transferred to other parishes, including St. Dominic’s in Portland and St. Michael’s in South Berwick.

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MAINE
WLBZ

NEWS CENTER and Elle Ousfar , WLBZ August 15, 2016

BOSTON, Massachusetts (NEWS CENTER) – – The Law Office of Mitchell Garabedian confirmed that a 1.2 million dollar settlement has been reached between Diocese of Portland, Maine, and six childhood victims of sexual abuse of Fr. James Vallely.

According to the press release, the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and Bishop Daniel J. Feeney had knowledge of multiple accusations of sexual abuse of minor children against Fr. James Vallely for decades but fraudulently concealed it.

“As a result of litigation in an earlier case against Fr. James Vallely and the Diocese of Portland, Maine, the diocese produced a copy of a letter written by a currently-retired priest in 2005 which revealed that the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and Bishop Daniel J. Feeney had knowledge of multiple accusations of sexual abuse of minor children against Fr. James Vallely as far back as 1956,” said Garabedian.

The press release said Fr. James Vallely was assigned to St. John’s Parish in Bangor, Maine, in the 1950s. Instead of removing him from priestly ministry and notifying the public, Bishop Daniel J. Feeney transferred Fr. James Vallely to another parish where children were placed at risk of further sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ciara Kelly
PUBLISHED
15/08/2016

Nearly 30 years ago in the early 1990s, when I was first in college, I had a pal who had just left a seminary. He was a young gay man who, like a lot of young gay people at that time – and before and indeed since – found Ireland to be a cold house for him. He decided, after much reflection on what he could do to better fit into Irish society – and because being gay was a very hard road – to enter the priesthood.

He was in a seminary – not Maynooth – for about a year. He entered it very young, directly from school, and was a virgin. But over that year he became sexually active with many of the other seminarians and he left, because he had become increasingly comfortable and happy with being gay. He said everyone in the seminary was doing it, and even if he was exaggerating, I presume that meant it was lots.

Interestingly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the one other ex-seminarian I knew from Rome, told the exact same (albeit slightly racier, Italian) story. He described the Vatican in the 1990s very simply as ‘an orgy.’

It has always seemed self-evident to me, that young gay men in the homophobic past would have been drawn to the priesthood. The combination of celibacy and penitence could so easily be perceived to be the ‘answer to their prayers’ as it were. It might contain them. It might save them if not from actually being homosexual then at least from the terrible sin of being a practising homosexual. Or from having to live a lie with a woman.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hartlepool Mail

Monday 15 August 2016

A former Hartlepool Jehovah’s Witness who campaigns for tougher child protection policies of the church says he has “grave concerns” about updated directives to elders.

Steve Rose says the new instructions to local leaders on dealing with allegations of child abuse features some improvements but believes they do not go far enough.

Mr Rose, 52, who used to be a member of Hartlepool’s Kingdom Hall in Ashgrove Avenue, believes the guidance could put child victims at risk. He said: “All child abuse that is reported to the elders must be reported to the service department of Jehovah’s Witnesses and not the secular authorities (police).

“This puts the child in danger because the elders are not qualified to handle such delicate matters.” The document says alleged victims and parents have an “absolute right” to report allegations to the authorities.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News NI

By Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

An independent review has criticised the board set up to oversee the safeguarding of children in Northern Ireland for failing to deliver its main statutory responsibility.

The Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) was tasked with improving protection for children.

But the authors of a report on its work raised concerns that it spent too much time on the “wrong issues”.
They added that “tensions” existed among senior board members.

Alarmingly, among the 11 recommendations from the review panel is a warning that all agencies must ensure the board is notified of cases where a child has died or been significantly harmed.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 15, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Guam’s interim Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai will be leaving the Archdiocese of Agana temporarily. According to the latest issue of Umatuna Si Yu’os, Hon says the local church will be under the watch of the delegate of the administrator, Father Jeff San Nicolas.

Father Jeff will be assisted by the chancellor, Father Lito Abad. His scheduled absence is a result of pastoral visits abroad. These commitments were made months prior as part of his duties as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples. Hon was just in Saipan over the weekend for the ordination of Bishop-Elect Ryan Jimenez.

Hon’s travel is scheduled for August 17 through 25.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 15, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Their numbers are growing. Picketers continued their Sunday ritual outside the Hagatna Cathedral. Their signs demand that Archbishop Anthony Apuron be defrocked as well as question the actions of Guam’s interim Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai.

Archbishop Hon was appointed by the Vatican to care for the Archdiocese of Agana while Apuron was placed on leave amid allegations of molestation.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A pedophile priest who “overlooked” one victim when he confessed to sexually abusing dozens of boys should not be sent back to jail, a judge has been told.

Former NSW Hunter region priest Vincent Gerard Ryan, who was released in 2010 after 14 years behind bars, said when he had tried to “wipe the slate clean” he had “no memory” of a case now before the District Court.

The 78-year-old’s lawyer, Mark Preece, submitted it would be a “truly crushing and horrible outcome” for the aged and rehabilitated offender to return to jail.

The notorious pedophile has pleaded guilty to attempting homosexual intercourse with a male under 18, indecent assault and gross indecency of an altar boy in the mid-1980s.

The abuse was revealed when that victim faced a sentence hearing for sex offences.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

15 Aug 2016

If a nation’s greatness is gauged by how it treats its weakest members, then its morality must also be gauged on how it treats its most innocent.

And, if we are to use barometers such as the royal commission and exposure of extreme disciplinary measures at the Don Dale detention centre in the Northern Territory, then we, as a country, have failed.

And we continue to fail.

However, is the very public disclosure of abuse doing more than just exposing our deep-seated wrongdoings and failings?

Is the fact that we are being forced to watch on as the undeniably horrific truth is laid bare in front of us, and not be given a chance to look away like we had conveniently done in the past, helping to build momentum for real change about how we deal with our youngest and most vulnerable?

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MAINE
Law Office of Mitchell Garabedian

August 15, 2016

1.2 million dollar settlement reached between Diocese of Portland, Maine, and six (6) plaintiffs in fraudulent concealment lawsuits who are also childhood victims of sexual abuse of Fr. James Vallely

What – A press conference announcing a 1.2 million dollar settlement of six (6) fraudulent concealment lawsuits between the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and six (6) plaintiffs and childhood sexual abuse victims of Fr. James Valley

When – Monday, August 15, 2016 at 11:30 am

Where – Law Office of Mitchell Garabedian, 100 State Street, Boston, MA, 02109

Who – Lawrence Gray, a plaintiff in fraudulent concealment lawsuits; Attorney Mitchell Garabedian; and, Dr. Robert Hoatson, President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families

Why – As a result of litigation in an earlier case against Fr. James Vallely and the Diocese of Portland, Maine, the diocese produced a copy of a letter written by a currently-retired priest in 2005 which revealed that the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and Bishop Daniel J. Feeney had knowledge of multiple accusations of sexual abuse of minor children against Fr. James Vallely as far back as 1956. Fr. James Vallely was assigned to St. John’s Parish in Bangor, Maine, in the 1950s. Instead of removing Fr. James Vallely from priestly ministry and notifying the public, Bishop Daniel J. Feeney transferred Fr. James Vallely to another parish where children were placed at risk of further sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest. The Diocese of Portland, Maine, was aware of this information for decades but fraudulently concealed it. Approximately two weeks ago, the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and six (6) plaintiffs, childhood victims of sexual abuse by Fr. James Vallely, settled the fraudulent concealment lawsuits for 1.2 million dollars.

Contacts – Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, 617-523-6250; Dr. Robert Hoatson, 862-268-2800

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
CHARLES COWELL
ANTHONY VENTURA
ANTHONY CLARK
JAMES COTTER
CHARLES GIVENS
ED KLESS
ANTHONY NOTAROBERTA

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, August 15, 2016

We are graduates of Chaminade, the Catholic boy’s high school in Mineola, L.I. All have, at one time or another, made charitable contributions to, or paid to attend events at or in support of the school.

We made lifelong friends there. The children of many of our closest friends are graduates or current students. Some of us worked there in the past. Some of our classmates are current or former teachers there, as well as at Kellenberg in Uniondale and St. Martin de Porres in Hempstead, schools also run by the same Marianist Province of Meribah that administers Chaminade.

We are not inclined easily to criticize publicly the school or its leaders; we are not detractors, opponents or enemies, but only seek answers to important questions.

We have been guided for decades by the ideals instilled in us during our four challenging years at Chaminade. We have tried to live up to the standards the faculty set for us as students and as men, and to which we believed they held themselves.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Alex McKinnon
Source: The Feed 15 AUG 2016

“It’s a sad story, and not of much interest to me.”

Back in March, that’s how Cardinal George Pell recalled the crimes of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale. That throwaway comment, given during testimony to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, resonated so profoundly for more than its apparent callousness. For abuse survivors and their loved ones, it perfectly encapsulated the culture of silence, blame-shifting and sheer apathy among church and secular authorities that allowed men like Ridsdale to commit their crimes in the first place, and operate unchecked for decades.

Watching Peter Dutton’s 7.30 interview with Leigh Sales last week, after the Guardian Australia’s release of the Nauru Files revealed in horrifying detail the extent of abuse, assault, and mental anguish inflicted on asylum seekers in Australian offshore detention, those words came to mind again.

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Manny Waks

14/8/2016

Today is Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, when we commemorate the destruction of the Jewish temples. Traditionally we read from Eicha, the Book of Lamentations.

A courageous victim/survivor of child sexual abuse has written their own powerful version, which I’m sharing below with their permission:

Kinah, from a survivor of child sexual abuse.

אֵיכָה
How
How did you let this happen to her?

בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ אֵין לָהּ מְנַחֵם מִכָּל אֹהֲבֶיהָ כָּל רֵעֶיהָ בָּגְדוּ בָהּ הָיוּ לָהּ לְאֹיְבִים:

She weeps, yea, she weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheek; she has no comforter among all her lovers; all her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

How do you, a rav, an askan, a dayan, a teacher, see the pain of an adult still hurt from the pain inflicted upon them as a child, and turn the other check ‘because it happened ten years ago’?

How do you, a rav, an askan, a dayan, a teacher, see the pain of a parent begging on behalf of their betrayed child, and say, well, we can’t believe the testimony of a child, and there is no one else who witnessed the act?

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CALIFORNIA
CBS News

STOCKTON, Calif. — A Northern California Catholic church is embroiled in a sexting scandal.

A Stockton parishioner claims he was fired from his job after his priest sent him an explicit text message, CBS San Francisco reported.

Now the parishioner has filed a lawsuit.

The incident allegedly happened at the Presentation Church and School. The man bringing the lawsuit has maintained the fountains and pool there for the past seven years.

His attorney, Irvine-based John Manly, said while the married man in his 40s cleaned the pool, Pastor Lawrence McGovern would often sunbathe and make flirtatious comments, “Laying around in a speedo, making our client very uncomfortable.”

“Our client’s a married man,” said Manly. “This is his pastor.”

The suit claims in late July, McGovern texted the man a picture of his genitals.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Helen Gregory
@HGregory_Herald

15 Aug 2016

THE chair of the royal commission into child sexual abuse believes institutions should have to adopt a 10-point checklist of national standards to be classified as “child safe” – and monitored for compliance.

Justice Peter McClellan discussed implications of findings from the royal commission in a key note address to be given on Monday at the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies National Conference.

Justice McClellan said the commission had identified a preliminary list of 10 “elements” it considered “fundamental to a child-safe institution”.

The list included that children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously; families and communities are informed and involved; staff are equipped to keep children safe through continual education and training; and physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur.

“Child safe standards should be nationally consistent and there should be some form of compliance mechanism,” Justice McClellan said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Angie Mason, amason@ydr.com August 14, 2016

The pastor at St. Joseph Church in Dallastown on Sunday urged parishioners to report suspected abuse, after a York Daily Record story that named a priest accused of abuse in Boston who later worked in Dallastown for a period.

In response to the York Daily Record, the Diocese of Harrisburg recently acknowledged by name 15 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children and who at one time worked in the diocese, which covers York County and 14 others. One of the priests was the Rev. Raymond Prybis, who was accused of abuse during his time at a Boston-area parish before he was transferred to St. Joseph’s in Dallastown, where he worked from April 1989 to June 1990.

The diocese said it had no record of any credible allegation against Prybis during his time in the Harrisburg diocese.

Rev. John McCloskey reinforced those points with parishioners during the 9 a.m. Mass on Sunday. He called abuse “evil” and “criminal” and said that it should not happen, though it does throughout society.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

August 15, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Children are being put at risk of sexual abuse because of gaps and contradictions between different state and territory legislations or systems of oversight.

“These inconsistent systems are impossible to justify,” the chairman of the royal commission, Peter McClellan, will tell the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies conference in Sydney today.

“The safety of a child should not depend on the state or territory in which they reside,” he will say, arguing that it is time for a greater uniformity of laws across the country.

Over the past three years, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has held 42 public hearings and referred more than 1600 matters to police across the country, Justice McClellan will say. More than 60 matters are before the courts as a result.

As a result of its work, Justice McClellan will say the commission has identified inconsistencies and flaws between com­pet­ing systems of child protection, particularly the lack of a national system of working-with-children checks.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Tom McIlroy

Authority and respect for trusted institutions in Australian society should never override reports of danger to young people, the chair of the royal commission into child sexual abuse will argue on Monday.

Justice Peter McClellan will use a speech to the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies in Sydney to call for allegations made by children to be appropriately heard and investigated, regardless of where they originate, and without institutions or their leaders being able to diminish the preparedness of adults to act.

The speech comes days after human rights groups called for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to investigate Australia’s immigration detention centre on Nauru amid leaked reports of sexual violence, abuse and self-harm by refugees and asylum seekers detained at the facility.

The commission says investigating alleged child abuse on Nauru or Manus Island is outside its jurisdictional powers, and the speech does not cite immigration detention abuse allegations.

Justice McClellan will tell the conference the commission has heard from more than 5500 survivors of abuse in Australia in private sessions so far, and has referred more than 1600 allegations to police and other authorities.

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NIGERIA
Information Nigeria

Wonders they say, shall never end. Parishioners of the Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Kakuri parish, Kaduna State, are still reeling from shock after the revelation that Very Reverend Father Peter Zuni, 54, was secretly married to two women.

What the congregation didn’t know is that, one of the wives is dead, while the surviving one who leaked the age-long secret about three weeks ago, is nursing a child for the embattled priest.

The doctrine of the Catholic Church forbids men ordained into priesthood to get married. They are by obligation, to swear to an oath of celibacy and observe perfect and perpetual service for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. This, it is believed, would enable the priests to easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and the congregation.

Checks at the Queen of the Apostles parish confirmed the report as parishioners were shocked and surprised to learn of a petition to the Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso, that two women had children for their parish priest, an act considered to be an abomination and grave sin against the Catholic doctrine.

They pointed out that in order to cover up the priest’s ‘sin’ from spreading to the larger public, the Archdiocese allegedly organised a send off for the embattled priest to a remote village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

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SPAIN
The Daily Beast

Itxu Diaz

The ex-pontiff says his crypto-Fascist church (which made Franco a saint) was only ever intended, really, to bring its leaders sex and money.

ORENSE, Spain — She was called Nieves, and he, Gregorio. They fell in love in torrid, romantic Andalusia. She had had her eye on him, it was said, since they were teenagers and she was an aspiring nun. Now he was 56 and they could confess their mutual adoration. It would be one of those beautiful love stories that plays well on daytime television, and nothing more, had Nieves not spent years digging into certain scandals surrounding the Palmarian Catholic Church, and were Gregorio not Gregorio XVIII, said by the several thousand followers of the schismatic sect to be the one true Catholic pope.

Since May there has been a new pope, Peter III, in the would-be “Spanish Vatican,” because Gregory XVIII “lost his faith,” he said, and eloped with Nieves. She had uncovered plots against him, according to various reports. And, having left the fold, he decided to tell all he knew (or said he knew) about this sect and the millions of dollars in donations the Palmarian Church receives each year.

If you have never heard of it, you are forgiven.

Ex-Pope Gregory XVIII, now simply Ginés Jesús Hernández, told the press that “from the beginning,” when the church was founded in 1974, “everything was a farce” created to satisfy the tastes of its leaders, both financially and sexually.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Mira Wassef | mwassef@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The father of the 13-year-old West Brighton boy who committed suicide posted an emotional video where he calls the kids who bullied his son “monsters.”

“They’re monsters.. disgusting little monsters,” Daniel Fitzpatrick says in the nearly 20 minute Facebook video. “I hope the memory of what you’ve done to my son is burned in your brain for the rest of your life and you suffer as much as he has suffered.”

“Danny was a kind, gentle, little soul,” he said. “He didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

On Thursday, the younger Daniel Fitzpatrick hanged himself in the attic of his Davis Avenue home, his family told the Daily News. Daniel’s older sister found him dead around 5:30 p.m., the report said.

In a letter penned last month, Daniel detailed his struggle with bullying at the Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Brooklyn.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A 13-year-old Staten Island boy took his own life after he was mercilessly bullied by his classmates at a private Catholic school.

CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported Danny Fitzpatrick hung himself in the attic of his home on Thursday. The teen left behind a hand-written note describing the abuse by five boys at Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

“They did it constantly,” Danny said in a note, adding that he told his teachers, but they did nothing.

“I gave up the teachers…they didn’t do anything,” Danny wrote.

Daniel Fitzpatrick, Danny’s father, said in a video on Facebook his son “was a kind, gentle little soul” and “didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

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NIGERIA
NAIJ.com

Adams Odunayo

Parishioners at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Kakuri parish in Kaduna state were left in shock when they got to know that their 54-year-old parish priest, Very Reverend Father Peter Zuni, was married to two women.

A case which negates the doctrine of the Catholic church. Only unmarried men are ordained into the priesthood and they are to swear an oath of celibacy. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Very Reverend Father Peter Zuni

The Sun reports that although one of the two wives was late, the second wife who is still alive and has a baby for the priest, blew the whistle about three weeks ago. When some of the parishioners were interviewed, they confirmed the report, which they said was initially thought to be mere rumour.

One of them who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that the case of the priest who had children from two women had gone to the Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso. And that in order to help cover up for the embattled priest, the Archdiocese allegedly organised a send off for him to move to a remote village in Jaba local government area of the state.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

It begins tentatively. A polite hug by strangers thrown into a horrific, tumultuous situation by a roll of the dice of the fates.

In seconds it becomes real — arms holding each other tight. Emotions draining. Tears flowing. I mutter the only words I can find at the moment.

“I am so sorry.”

The words seem trite — small in comparison to the gravity of the verdict that has rocked the courtroom audience. But in the shock of the moment I am at a loss for eloquence.

What does one say to the victim of a child sexual predator who is victimized, once again, by the state’s judicial system?

•••

I ignore the hard seat of the wooden courtroom pew as I watch Timothy Probert’s facial expressions. As in previous hearings, he keeps his head low, avoiding eye contact with victims and others in the room.

Silently, I will him to turn his head. Be a man. Look at those who have been harmed through his depraved, sexual appetites. It does no good. His head remains bowed.

I am reminded of a bully who is busted, when the world is shown his true colors.

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MALAYSIA
New Straits Times

BY NST EDITORIAL – 14 AUGUST 2016

THE rising number of child sex abuse cases in Malaysia is a wake-up call for us to get a grip on the situation. It is an appalling crime, perpetrated on the most innocent and vulnerable members of society. For many Malaysians, the thought of an adult sexually abusing a child is inconceivable. We seem reluctant to bring up the issue in polite conversation, even when the crime recurs day after day in our homes, schools and institutions, including religious establishments that house the young. Social activist Syed Azmi Al Habshi, who actively champions the prevention of child sex abuse on social media, reports cases of pupils being sexually attacked by their peers in religious schools, or maahad.

A news report last year stated that instances of child abuse, molestation and rape in the country were on the rise. In the first half of 2009, 2,193 of such cases were reported to police, while in 2007 and 2008, the number stood at 4,278. The forecast is that there will be more than 10,000 cases in Malaysia over the next 10 years. The figure is just the tip of the iceberg, as most cases of child abuse remain unknown, with the victims suffering in silence. The growing number of cases underscores the need for stricter scrutiny of those who work with children and youth. It feels horrible to regard fathers, guardians, uncles, brothers, teachers and social workers, among others, with suspicion and distrust, but we have reached a stage where there is little choice in the matter. Reverend Father Gregory Chan, director of the Archdiocesan Single Adults and Youth Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Bukit Nanas, agrees. The Richard Huckle case exposed the shortcomings of the church system, which calls for the screening and supervision of volunteers and pastoral workers prior to and during their recruitment, to assess how they interact with youngsters. Mainstream society is just beginning to learn about the nature of sex predators, who are usually people with authority, such as teachers.

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MALAYSIA
New Straits Times

BY SUZANNA PILLAY – 14 AUGUST 2016

EARLIER this month, a 50-year-old English teacher at a primary school in Jerteh, Terrenganu, was detained for allegedly molesting three children at the school’s computer lab.

Serial child abuser Richard Huckle, 30, a British photographer suspected of abusing up to 200 children aged between 6 and 12 months during his stay in Malaysia from 2006 to 2014, had volunteered as an English teacher and at a church while insidiously targeting poor and marginalised communities.

Social activist Syed Azmi Al Habshi, who actively champions the prevention of child sexual abuse on social media, shared stories from Facebook followers of how students were sexually attacked by their peers in religious schools or maahad.

These cases highlight the fact that preventing child sex abuse requires strict scrutiny of child protection policies in schools and organisations that work with children and youth.

Director of the Archdiocesan Single Adults & Youth Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese, Bukit Nanas, Reverend Father Gregory Chan says child sexual abuse cuts across all boundaries and involves babies, preschoolers and primary and secondary school students.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

Donal O’Regan
14 Aug 2016

A COUNTY Limerick priest, who is one of the youngest in Ireland, has defended the national seminary in Maynooth from anonymous allegations of “homosexuality and misconduct”.

Fr Ger Fitzgerald, Castleconnell, who only left St Patrick’s College in 2011 and is still in contact with priests there, says it is being portrayed as a “golden house of debauchery, sin and squalor”.

“In my time, this was not the case. No parties were had and there were no drinks in rooms. This simply did not happen during my years,” said Fr Fitzgerald, who entered the seminary in August, 2005.

Now based in Ennis, the 36-year-old says he felt he “should say something considering the recent storm that appears to have engulfed my old alma mater”. To have an image of Maynooth as a replica of a Christmas party in The Wolf of Wall Street is an “inaccurate representation”, he said.

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UNITED STATES
truthdig

Author and activist Nancy Levine on Thursday published an open letter on Medium directed at Liz Spayd, The New York Times’ public editor. Levine asked the Times to provide better coverage of child sexual abuse.

Levine also asked for transparency about a potential conflict of interest she believes is limiting the publication’s coverage of the proposed Child Victims Act, a piece of New York state legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecuting cases of abuse against underage children. So far, 38 survivors of abuse and advocates fighting against the problem have signed Levine’s letter.

“As advocates working to raise awareness of issues surrounding child sexual abuse, we would like to ask The Times to elevate its editorial sensitivity to covering related news,” Levine writes. “Can we, the community of survivors of child sexual abuse and advocates, count on The Times to elevate its editorial sensitivity to covering news that affects us?”

In the letter, Levine also refers to “an appearance of a conflict of interest” in “The Times’ absence of recent coverage of the Child Victims Act of New York.” In a separate piece, also published on Medium, Levine outlines the potential conflict and shares her correspondence with Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet.

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