ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

5 AUG 2016

BY BEN GLAZE

Outgoing child sex abuse inquiry chairwoman Lowell Goddard will be hauled before MPs to explain why she quit.

The New Zealand judge triggered widespread anger when she resigned – sparking questions about why she took the job in the first place.

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz today said she would be summoned to justify herself.

It was “not enough” for Dame Lowell to “resign and leave”, said Mr Vaz.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A TRAINEE PRIEST at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth has today described the atmosphere at the seminary as “poisonous”.

The training college has been a centre of controversy in the past week with suggestions that a gay culture is prevalent on campus, with some trainees making use of gay dating app Grindr.

The college itself has in recent days said there is “no concrete or credible evidence” that such a culture exists at the college.

The current trainee, who spoke to Brian O’Connell on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke under condition of anonymity, said quite specifically that “one of the elements which is destroying life in the seminary is the existence of a homosexual subculture”.

“The bishops have turned a blind eye to this problem,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Ashley Cowburn Political Correspondent @ashcowburn

Dame Lowell Goddard has been asked to appear before MPs and explain why she resigned as chairwoman of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, a senior Labour MP has confirmed.

Keith Vaz, who is also the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee in Westminster, said it was not enough for the New Zealand high court judge to “resign and leave” and called for a thorough explanation. Mr Vaz added that the “only way” to move forward was to hear from Justice Goddard herself.

In a brief resignation statement, released on Thursday, Justice Goddard said the inquiry was beset with a “legacy of failure” and offered her resignation to the new Home Secretary Amber Rudd. She was appointed as chair of the unprecedented inquiry, set up in 2014, by then-Home Secretary Theresa May after two previous chairs walked away from the role.

Ms Rudd, however, has attempted to dismiss doubts about the future of the inquiry into child abuse and insisted the Government would “continue without delay”.

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ISRAEL
Ravzevblog

AUGUST 5, 2016

In life, we all have our heroes. And I, like everyone else, have a few people whom I consider heroes. One of those heroes is a survivor. No, not of the Holocaust–but her own personal Holocaust. Rivka Joseph is a survivor of molestation, abuse and other horrors that she had to face. Fortunately for many others, she is not only a survivor but also an advocate in the arena of child sexual abuse. With regularity, I follow her posts and the various threads in which she comments.

This afternoon, I began to follow a post of her’s and also even commented on it. That thread (for which I have her permission to share and can be seen on her Facebook page link above) discusses a very important topic. Convicted sex offenders, child molesters: Do they have a right to pray in a synagogue. Should a shul open its doors to a child sex abuser? Should we worry that the abuser is there to PREY and not to PRAY? Should we try to be welcoming and perhaps enable this soul to repent in our midst?

The answer to that question is a resounding NO! Under no circumstances should a convicted child sex offender be permitted in the walls of a shul. No exceptions! You chose to molest, rape, fondle, abuse a child: YOU HAVE FORFEITED YOUR PRIVILEGE TO PRAY WHERE KIDS ARE PRESENT! Why in the world would you even think it would be ok? On what planet would it be ok to put a child molester into a place (shul) that is supposed to be a safe environment?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

JULIET SAMUEL
5 AUGUST 2016

It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. The Government’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, established two years ago, has now lost its third chair. Dame Lowell Goddard, the well-intentioned but unsuitable New Zealander who most recently led the inquiry, has accepted the inevitable and bowed out, a few days after a news story stated that she had spent two months of her first year in the job on holiday or abroad.

The new home secretary Amber Rudd has quickly jumped on the political hand grenade by declaring that that the investigation will continue “without delay”. The investigation should certainly continue, but Ms Rudd is wrong to suggest that it plough on without pause. She should pause and consider whether the inquiry has been set up correctly and whether its flaws can be remedied.

Ms Rudd has both good reasons and bad for ploughing on. The good: survivors and witnesses need to know the inquiry isn’t suddenly going to be abandoned and that they should continue preparing for further preliminary and public hearings. And in order to maintain some confidence in proceedings, the Government needs to sound like it’s in control (if that’s possible).

The bad: Ms Rudd is trying to save face for her new political master, Theresa May, who kicked off the inquiry and is responsible for one of its biggest problems. The inquiry itself was convened after a string of revelations over years showing that child sexual abuse was terrifyingly prevalent in certain corners of British society. It seemed sensible for a judge to lead an inquiry into the country’s institutions to try and understand their failings in this regard, whether they could be reformed and what lessons can be learned to stop these awful crimes recurring.

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NEW MEXICO
KRQE

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – New accusations have come up against a former New Mexico priest.

A man has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The alleged victim claims he was abused by Father Arthur Perrault at Our Lady of Assumption Parish, and at the priest’s home in the 70s.

The victim says when the archdiocese found out about the claims Father Perrault was reassigned.

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TEXAS
Texarkana Gazette

August 4th, 2016

by Lynn LaRowe

The lawyer representing a Texarkana pastor accused of sexual misconduct with a teen girl asked the court for a gag order Thursday at the accused’s first court appearance.

David Farren, 41, pastor at Anchor Church in Texarkana, appeared before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom in a second-floor courtroom of Miller County Courthouse. Farren was arrested Wednesday afternoon and booked into the Miller County jail on three counts of first-degree sexual assault. The offenses allegedly occurred when the girl was 16 and 17 years old.

Texarkana lawyer Jason Horton presented Haltom with a motion at Thursday’s hearing asking that the case be sealed. Horton mentioned media coverage of Farren’s arrest and public comments made to online write-ups. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell opposed the motion.

“Mr. Horton has not demonstrated to me why Mr. Farren is special and should be treated any differently than other defendants facing these types of charges,” Mitchell said. “We’ve never put a gag order in place before except in a capital murder case, and that was after repeated (media coverage). I don’t believe this case should be treated any differently.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 05, 2016

By Krystal Paco

The clock is ticking for the Archdiocese of Agana and Archbishop Anthony Apuron to respond to the $2 million libel and slander lawsuit against them. The legal papers were served to the defendants late last month – that gives the defendants up to next Thursday and Friday to respond to the suit.

The plaintiffs listed are Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, and Doris Concepcion (on behalf of her late son Joseph “Sonny” Quinata). Each of the plaintiffs alleges Apuron molested them decades ago while he was a priest at Mount Carmel Parish in Agat. The suit follows press release and video statements from the archdiocese and Apuron.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Tim Darragh | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 04, 2016

NEWARK — A Morris County man who taught at parochial schools and worked at a summer camp for boys was charged Thursday with producing and distributing child pornography and enticing a minor to commit criminal sexual activity, according to federal prosecutors.

Colin M. Skeele, 30, of Florham Park, was arrested Thursday by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. He was charged with two counts of producing child pornography, one count of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of distribution of child pornography, court records say.

Skeele appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson and was held without bail, Fishman’s office said.

According to court records, Skeele worked at parochial schools in Boonton from 2009-2010 and Stirling in 2012. In addition, he was employed seasonally at a boys summer camp in Hardwick.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Alan Porritt/AAP
Joshua Robertson
@jrojourno
Thursday 4 August 2016

The Queensland government has dashed the hopes of child sex abuse victims that its bill to remove age limits on compensation claims would clear the way for fresh lawsuits against churches and schools.

The government revealed it would not table laws to “remove past deeds” struck by institutions in lesser settlements based on the 21-year age limit on victims bringing civil actions.

It cited potential “far-reaching and unintended consequences” of legislating to override legal barriers preventing repeat claims, saying a national redress scheme may be “more appropriate”.

It follows the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, saying on Tuesday that the government would not use past deeds to block fresh claims by victims who had previously settled with state-run institutions.

Advocates were also assured by Palaszczuk and the attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, that the bill to be tabled on 18 August would comply with key recommendations around the removal of time limits by the royal commission into institutional child sex abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

BRITAIN’S troubled inquiry into child sex abuse must continue despite the “frustrating” resignation of its third chairwoman, Dame Lowell Goddard, a member of its victims’ panel has said.

Lucy Duckworth, who sits on the Victims and Survivors’ Consultative Panel, said Dame Lowell had done an “incredible job” despite her shock decision to quit citing the independent inquiry’s “legacy of failure”.

Campaign groups and politicians have called for a replacement to be found “urgently” but Ms Duckworth said necessary work to put in place support for victims and survivors has been ongoing and must be allowed to continue.

She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s not called the Goddard inquiry, it’s the independent inquiry; there are many staff there that are working extremely hard to lay down the infrastructure, which they have done as a foundation.

“We need to make sure that, going forward, survivors that are encouraged to come and share their story with the inquiry are well supported and that is what is taking the time.

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IRELAND
Evening Echo

THURSDAY, AUGUST 04, 2016

THE Diocese of Cork and Ross will be sending its trainee priests back to Maynooth despite the current controversy surrounding the famed religious institution, Bishop John Buckley has said.

The Bishop of Cork and Ross confirmed that three current trainees and a number of men starting out on their journey of vocation will be studying for the priesthood in Maynooth rather than anywhere else.

It comes following the revelation of Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, that he did not believe that the National Seminary in Co Kildare was the right environment for trainee priests in his diocese.

He has said that those trainees will continue their vocation journey in Rome instead.

It follows allegations that a “gay subculture” was operating in Maynooth when trainee priests were supposed to be following a vow of celibacy. Anonymous letters are believed to have been sent alleging that trainees have been using a gay dating app to organise meetings.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Many have been intrigued, if not confused, by the enthusiasm with which some noted traditional Catholics rushed to support Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s recent observations about “strange goings-on” at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth.

He would not normally be seen as a poster boy for publications such as the Catholic Voice and Irish Catholic newspapers or with the Iona Institute.

However, his comment on the seminary seeming “like a quarrelsome place” which he did not think “was a good place for students” was music to the ears of many on the Catholic right. As was his decision to send Dublin seminarians to the Irish College in Rome.

But while the right too would be concerned at what he described as anonymous allegations of misconduct, their primary interest is with theological formation.

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IRELAND
Irish times

Patsy McGarry

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said he would favour the establishment of a new seminary in Dublin for the formation of priests.

Speaking after he decided to stop sending seminarians from the Dublin Archdiocese to St Patrick’s College in Maynooth amid anonymous allegations of a gay subculture there, Dr Martin said he had been looking at a site for a new seminary but it was not yet ready.

Dr Martin told The Irish Times he believed the climate in Maynooth was not that of a “serene and tranquil setting suitable for ordinary students” .

Regarding the allegations about Maynooth, he said he had “a very strong view on anonymity”

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IIRELAND
Irish Times

Colum Kenny

Why would anyone intending to have sex stay in a seminary for celibates?

That’s the most puzzling but not the saddest aspect of current controversy about St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

The saddest is the damage that the continuing failure of the Irish hierarchy to cope well with crisis has inflicted on Ireland’s oldest spiritual organisation.

Some welcome that damage. There is hostility towards the Catholic Church, and by no means all of it from active secularists. The aggressive and punitive behaviour of bishops after Irish independence, when they had unassailable political and social power, has left a legacy of bitterness (not least among women).

But Christianity is an intrinsic part of Irish culture. For most people, that faith sustained their ancestors though centuries of fierce oppression and poverty. It was sometimes beautiful.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson

PUBLISHED
05/08/2016

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has welcomed the transfer of 15 seminarians from the United States to the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, saying their presence “will enrich and consolidate the seminary community” located there.

The announcement comes amid the crisis in Maynooth and on the back of the ­Archbishop’s decision to transfer three ­Dublin seminarians to Rome.

The senior cleric said he took the decision due to “strange goings-on” at Maynooth, which has dealt with allegations of a gay sub-culture.

But another bishop yesterday distanced himself from Archbishop Martin’s stance on Maynooth.

Bishop of Meath Michael Smith stated that the Diocese of Meath will continue to send seminarians to Maynooth as it has always done.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Mary Kenny

PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

It’s the ordinary Catholic in the pew you’d feel for, hearing about the alleged carry-on at Maynooth, learning, perhaps for the first time, that there is a “gay dating app” which trainee priests were allegedly in the habit of availing; and that the usually liberal Archbishop of Dublin seems to consider St Patrick’s College – once the powerhouse of Catholic Ireland – such a worry that students have to be despatched to Rome to acquire their pastoral and theological training.

The ordinary Catholics – the mild and thoughtful women and men that I sometimes sit beside at St Theresa’s Church in Clarendon Street on a Saturday evening when I’m in Dublin – will surely feel confused, dismayed, and disappointed that the situation seems such a mess and a muddle. When the Archbishop of Dublin makes a point, and his brother bishops blatantly refuse to back him – well, where is the leadership in a crisis? Where is the management? Where is the steady shepherd who guides his flock?

Many of those older churchgoers will remember a time when the Catholic Church – when Maynooth itself – seemed as solid and commanding as any of the great institutions of Christendom, when its power was so awesome that politicians would regularly kneel to kiss a bishop’s ring.

The old church was too powerful, and it had to change. Many changes were positive, too – the innovations of Vatican II, in the 1960s, were warmly welcomed in Ireland – but should change mean confusion? Should it mean a rudderless institution with a “quarrelsome” – Dr Martin’s word – atmosphere?

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Alf McCreary
PUBLISHED
05/08/2016

The leader of the inter-denominational Corrymeela Community, Padraig O Tuama, believes that the current Maynooth situation “could provide an opportunity for mature reflection by the Catholic Church about the whole nature of sexuality”.

His remarks come after the announcement by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, to send his seminarians to the Irish College in Rome because of his concerns about “an atmosphere of strange goings on at Maynooth”.

Dr Martin said: “It seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around.

“I don’t think that this is a good place for students.”

There have been allegations of bullying and of a “gay subculture” in Maynooth, though this has been strenuously denied by the college.

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IRELAND
RTE News

President of Maynooth Monsignor Hugh Connolly has said he has no reason to believe there are students attending the seminary who are not living a celibate life.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Keelin Shanley, Msgr Connolly said as soon as information is received that a seminarian is not abiding by a celibate way of life, they would be challenged.

He said reports of what is happening at St Patrick’s College are not representative of seminary life.

On Wednesday, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he did not believe the seminary is the right environment for men to study to become priests.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The Government must provide a “full explanation” for Dame Lowell Goddard’s decision to quit as head of the child sexual abuse inquiry, Labour’s Keith Vaz has said.

Mr Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs committee, said the decision was “astonishing” and that “serious questions” should be asked about “why the Home Office has not monitored events more carefully”.

“We will expect a full explanation from both the Prime Minister and the new Home Secretary about these matters,” he said. “We need to examine again the remit, cost, purpose and ambition of what the inquiry was tasked with.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Tom Goodenough

It’s impossible not to see Dame Lowell Goddard’s resignation as an embarassment to Theresa May. When the Prime Minister was Home Secretary, she personally interviewed and appointed the New Zealand judge to head up the Inquiry into child sex abuse. What’s more, Goddard was rewarded with an almighty pay packet which instantly made her Britain’s highest-earning civil servant. Now, just 18 months on, Goddard has stepped down after it was revealed she had spent several months abroad during her brief tenure. The revelations in yesterday’s Times came days after it was reported the Inquiry’s chairwoman was confused by British laws. Even her terse resignation letter didn’t do much to reassure anyone thinking she had been the right pick: Goddard managed to get the Inquiry’s name wrong, mistakenly calling it the ‘Independent Inquiry into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ – quite a blunder in a 31-word resignation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 05 August 2016

The Goddard inquiry into institutional child abuse, as we must get used to not calling it any more, has been beset by problems since it first started. It was a commendably ambitious plan to get to the bottom of what has been done to children in different kinds of institutions – including Churches. But it struggled to find direction and leadership after two eminently well-qualified chairs, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, resigned in succession because of allegations of conflicts of interest levelled at them by victims and survivors groups.

Lowell Goddard’s departure came days after an update on progress which revealed a mixed picture. In spite of Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s bullish declaration that the work would go on under a new chair, Goddard’s deeply disappointing decision has given Rudd, new to her job, a huge challenge. She may, under her breath, be quietly cursing her predecessor, Theresa May, whose decision it was to set up the inquiry in the first place.

Now that Goddard has laid the groundwork, though, the picture for victims and survivors of child abuse ought to look very different. They were understandably and rightly suspicious of the ‘establishment’. The big institutions, including government, were the ones responsible for the harm that was done to them. They had no reason on earth to trust them. But the time has surely come for that to change, in the interests of truth and justice.

Baroness Butler-Sloss was unacceptable because her brother had been attorney-general in the 1980s and had allegedly tried to persuade former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens against naming an alleged paedophile on the floor of the House of Commons. Fiona Woolf was unacceptable because she turned out to have been an acquaintance of Leon Brittan, also accused of a cover-up.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Britain’s inquiry into institutional child abuse has been thrown into fresh turmoil after its third chairman resigned.

New Zealand high court judge Dame Lowell Goddard claimed the inquiry had struggled to shake off its “legacy of failure” and called the job a “struggle”.

The inquiry, which is unprecedented in scale, was set up in March 2015 to investigate historical child sex abuse allegations against local authorities, religious organisations, the armed forces and other public and private institutions.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who accepted Dame Lowell’s resignation on Thursday, insisted the new inquiry would “continue without delay” and a new chairman would be found.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

THERESA MAY

AUGUST 2016

This article was originally published on 14 March 2015 when Theresa May was Home Secretary. We republish as Dame Lowell Goddard quits as chair of the child sex abuse inquiry

This week marked a new beginning for the independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse. The announcement on Thursday of a four-person panel, the confirmation of the power to compel witnesses and the removal of any cut-off date from the Terms of Reference, means the chairman, Justice Lowell Goddard, can now take the inquiry forward, following the evidence wherever it takes her.

We already know the trail will lead into our schools and hospitals, our churches, our youth clubs and many other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became the setting for the most appalling abuse. However, what the country doesn’t yet appreciate is the true scale of that abuse.

And that is quite understandable. I have only learnt about the extent and breadth of the problem since I first announced an overarching inquiry into whether public bodies and other non-state institutions had failed in their duty of care towards children.

It is a matter of public record that the inquiry had a difficult beginning. We did not realise the degree to which survivors mistrusted the political establishment. And we set up the inquiry in the way Whitehall always sets up inquiries. But it wasn’t enough for survivors to have the inquiry, its chairman and its terms of reference presented to them as a fait accompli. We needed to work with survivors if we were going to get those things right. It was through this collaboration that my understanding of this complex issue grew.

I learnt the way in which words and phrases can unintentionally cause distress. I was asked not to use the word “historical” in relation to child sexual abuse as to every person who has suffered there is nothing “historical” about what happened to them. They live with the knowledge and the consequences of their abuse each and every day of their lives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Nadia Khomami
@nadiakhomami
Friday 5 August 2016

On Thursday the chair of the public inquiry into institutional child abuse, Dame Lowell Goddard, resigned from her position, throwing the future of the unprecedented inquiry into doubt.

In a statement, Goddard said the inquiry was beset with a “legacy of failure” which was hard to shake off. Below, we take a look at all the twists and turns.

7 July 2014

Theresa May, then home secretary, announces a public inquiry into child abuse prompted by allegations of a cover-up of the crimes of prominent offenders such as Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith. She says the inquiry has the remit of investigating whether “state and non-state institutions”, including churches, Westminster, schools, the BBC, hospitals and care homes, have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse within England and Wales. May says:

Our priority must be the prosecution of the people behind these disgusting crimes … Wherever possible – and consistent with the need to prosecute – we will adopt a presumption of maximum transparency. And … where there has been a failure to protect children from abuse, we will expose it and we will learn from it.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the retired senior judge who chaired the Cleveland child abuse inquiry in the late 1980s, is appointed as chairwoman. The former president of the family division of the high court, who coined the phrase “listen to the children” in her Cleveland report, says she is honoured to be asked to carry out “this important work”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

MPs and campaigners have called for the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse to continue despite the resignation of Dame Lowell Goddard.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson called for an explanation over why the chairwoman had stepped down.

Campaign groups said a replacement was needed “urgently” after Justice Goddard became the third inquiry head to quit.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the inquiry would continue “without delay” and in the absence of a new chair.

The inquiry was announced in July 2014 to examine claims of abuse made against public and private institutions.

Justice Goddard has not given full reasons for leaving but said conducting such a widespread inquiry was “not an easy task” and “compounding the many difficulties was its legacy of failure which has been very hard to shake off”.

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NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican

By Andrew Oxford
The New Mexican

A former parishioner of a Roman Catholic church in Albuquerque filed suit Thursday against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, claiming he was sexually abused as a child in the 1970s by an ex-priest now believed to be living in Morocco.

The lawsuit allegesthe Rev. Arthur Perrault sexually abused the boy several times between 1975 and 1977 at Our Lady of Assumption Parish as well as off church property.

Perrault was a top liturgist, wrote columns for the archdiocesan newsletter and taught ethics at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque.

The lawsuit contends church officials were aware Perrault was abusing boys.

Church officials in Connecticut sent Perrault to Servants of the Paraclete, the now-closed Catholic treatment facility in Jemez Springs, in 1965 because of sexual misconduct, the lawsuit alleges.

Church officials recommended he receive a permanent assignment in New Mexico, preferably at a school, the plaintiff’s lawyer Brad D. Hall says in the lawsuit.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 05, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Although Father Louis Brouillard, as detailed in an interview with KUAM News, doesn’t recall how many boys he molested, Concerned Catholics of Guam president David Sablan suspects there could be several more. He said, “Stories have surfaced that when they were students at Father Duenas. Father Louis was a teacher there that he would take some of the boys there on a field trip and they would go swimming and he would then just wear his underwear and start talking to the boys about going skinny dipping mean some of these things that are coming out are really something should be done and the archdiocese should have dealt with this in a very stern and strict matter, and they haven’t.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
5 Aug 2016

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse is inquiring into events in the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and a former assistant bishop of Newcastle, Richard Appleby, is being questioned about his statement to the commission.

It’s Thursday afternoon, and the commission has been going since Tuesday morning.

Counsel assisting, Naomi Sharp, has just taken Bishop Appleby through the evidence of others who insist they told him of child sexual abuse by some of the priests in the diocese when he was deputy to the bishop at the time, Alfred Holland.

Ms Sharp: “And you say none of those disclosures occurred?”

Bishop Appleby: “I can just repeat what I’ve said, that had such disclosures been made, I would be absolutely clear in that I would have been appalled and shocked that such behaviour was happening and I would have acted upon it.

“The fact that I have no recollection of it, the fact that I did not report the matter to Bishop Holland, and so on – there’s no evidence of that – I can only say that even though they have said that they did report these matters to me in 1984 and 1987, I do not believe that that is true.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
New Zealand Herald

[with video]

The future of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse was thrown into doubt last night after Dame Lowell Goddard became the third chairman to resign.

Abuse victims said the inquiry had “descended into farce” and said they felt “betrayed” by her shock resignation. The inquiry, which they had complained was already beset by delays, is now in danger of collapse.

The 67-year-old, who is a high court judge in New Zealand, had faced criticism over the scale of her pay and benefits and also the amount of time she has spent abroad since taking on the role in April last year.

She later released a fuller statement:

“I announce with regret my decision to resign as chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, effective from today.

“When I was first approached through the British High Commissioner in Wellington in late 2014, and asked to consider taking up the role, I had to think long and hard about it.

“After carefully discussing the matter with the home secretary and her officials and seeking the counsel of those people in New Zealand whose opinions mattered to me, I decided that I should undertake the role, given my relevant experience and track record in the area.

“It was, however, an incredibly difficult step to take, as it meant relinquishing my career in New Zealand and leaving behind my beloved family.

“The conduct of any public inquiry is not an easy task, let alone one of the magnitude of this. 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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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

An anti-abuse campaigner on Guam says allegations against the Catholic Church have strengthened the case for a law change to enable civil action to be brought against those accused of child sexual abuse.

A public hearing was held in Guam this week to consider a bill to lift the two year statute of limitations on civil lawsuits.

School teacher Joe Santos who started a petition calling for the law change said he was heartened by the support shown for the bill during the hearing.

He said allegations Guam’s Archbishop Anthony Apuron molested or raped four altar boys in the 1970s showed the need for change.

“It’s just evident that these people have no recourse to face their abuser because the statute of limitations have all passed. It gives it kind of hard proof that a law such as this needs to be passed.”

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

Guam church abuse scandal deepens as hearing considers legislation to lift statute of limitations on civil lawsuits against those accused of child sexual abuse.

TRANSCRIPT

The abuse scandal that’s rocked the Catholic Church in Guam has deepened with new allegations of misconduct by church members in the 1950s.

In June a temporary administrator was appointed to the church after Archbishop Anthony Apuron was accused of molesting or raping four altar boys in the 1970s.

The latest accusations were made by 73 year-old Leo Tudela during a hearing considering legislation to lift time restrictions on civil lawsuits against those accused of child sexual abuse.

Jo O’Brien talked to Pacific News Center Assistant Director Janela Carrera about his claims

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Peter Walker, Harriet Sherwood and Sandra Laville
Friday 5 August 2016

The government should reconsider the scope and remit of the huge public inquiry into institutional child abuse in the UK in the wake of the resignation of its third chair in little over two years, victims’ representatives and experts have argued.

Dame Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge who was appointed in February last year to chair the unprecedented inquiry into decades of child abuse and its cover-up, announced her resignation on Thursday evening, saying the inquiry was beset with a “legacy of failure”.

Following a brief resignation letter to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, Goddard released a statement that indicated that the controversies and challenges of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, set up in 2014, were insurmountable.

Rudd said she was sorry to receive Goddard’s letter and accepted her decision but emphasised that the government’s commitment to the inquiry was undiminished.

Sue Berelowitz, the former deputy children’s commissioner, called for a review into the inquiry, which was established by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

“There should be a review of where it has got to and how it is doing,” Berelowitz said. “It seems to me the inquiry has lost its way. The real importance of learning lessons about institutional failings in the past is to stop children being abused today.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

Dame Lowell Goddard’s decision to quit as head of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse – 18 months after she took on the role – has been met with concern from campaign groups amid fears the investigation will be derailed.

The inquiry is now looking for its fourth chairman since its launch, in the summer of 2014, to carry out the 13 separate investigations.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: “The crucial work of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse must not be derailed by the departure of the chair.

These are the 13 issues the inquiry is investigating:

• Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster.

This will be an “overarching inquiry” into allegations of abuse and exploitation involving “people of public prominence associated with Westminster”. It will examine high profile claims involving “current or former” MPs, senior civil servants and members of the intelligence and security agencies.

• The Roman Catholic Church.

This will look into the extent of any institutional failures to protect children from abuse within the church in England and Wales. The investigation is expected to identify specific case studies, with the first examining the English Benedictine Congregation, which has been the subject of numerous allegations of child sexual abuse. The Catholic church in England and Wales said it has set up a council to assist the inquiry, adding it is “committed to the safeguarding of all children and vulnerable adults”.

• The Anglican Church.

This investigation will look at the extent of any institutional failures to protect children from abuse within the Anglican Church. The Church of England said it welcomed chair Justice Lowell Goddard’s statement, adding that the Archbishop of Canterbury has requested that the church be one of the first institutions to be considered in the work of the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

PETER LLOYD: This story from the Child Abuse Royal Commission contains details you may find disturbing.

An Anglican priest has accused the church and the police of failing to act, after her son was sexually abused by a man in the Diocese of Newcastle in New South Wales.

Today’s hearing was told that the boy disclosed the abuse to the police in 2002, but it took three years before the man was put before the courts.

Both the mother and the son gave evidence that, throughout the ordeal, the church supported the perpetrator and avoided taking responsibility.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: It began as a friendship between a 12-year-old boy and Ian Barrack, a 28-year-old theology student.

They lived a short distance from each other in 1997 and the boy, who we can’t name, went to Barrack’s house to use the internet.

CKU: Ian befriended me more and he became touchy with me. It started with a pat on the back; then a rub on the shoulder. And it progressed to massages when I stayed over at his house.

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Friday, August 5th 2016, 5:58 am EDT
SOUTH CAROLINA
WFXG

By Dal Kalsi

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –

Greenville County deputies said a 54-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after investigators learned he had inappropriately touched and molested as 12-year-old girl.

James Brian Briley was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Briley worked as the campus pastor at Summit Church on Rutherford Road, deputies said. He also worked at the Frazee Dream Center in the past.

Deputies began investigating after they received a tip from the Julie Valentine Center about possible abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Dominica Sanda
@dominikasanda

5 Aug 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the Newcastle Anglican diocese started on Tuesday, August 2.

Eight Anglican bishops and archbishops, including six current or past bishops of Newcastle, will give evidence into child sexual abuse in the Hunter region during the public hearing.

The commission has already heard from former Newcastle Bishops Alfred Holland and Richard Appleby. Four survivors including Phillip D’Ammond and Paul Gray have given evidence about being sexually abused as children.

Here’s a wrap up of what has happened so far, over four days of the commission:

* There was a full court room for the first day of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the Newcastle Anglican diocese with lawyers and members of the public standing.

* Tuesday’s hearing focused on Father Peter Rushton and St Alban’s youth worker James (Jim) Michael Brown. Evidence was given by victims Paul Gray and Phillip D’Ammond and Suzan Aslin, the mother of an abuse survivor.

* Abuse survivor Mr Gray broke down in tears as he told the comission that on many occasions father Peter Rushton would cut Mr Gray’s back with a small knife and smear his blood on his back – which was symbolic of the blood of Christ – as he continued to rape him.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Editorial

The accusations of the sex abuse of children by members of the Catholic clergy on Guam must be investigated and those who perpetrated and enabled such heinous activity must be exposed and brought to some semblance of justice.

On Monday, 73-year-old Leo Tudela accused three members of the clergy, by name, of sexually abusing him in the 1950s. His allegations followed those made in the last few months against Archbishop Apron who has been accused of molesting four altar servers when he was a parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

It is our understanding that the allegations against Apuron are being investigated by the Vatican and we expect that the results of that investigation will be made known. We also expect that Apuron will return to Guam to face the lawsuit that has been filed against him by his accusers. We understand that he has not been charged with a crime, at least in part because of statutes of limitations. But the accusations against him are serious and must be investigated.

The accusations made by Tudela are particularly troubling. We have since learned that Rev. Louis Brouillard, who was named by Tudela as one of his molesters, was transferred to Minnesota after 33 years of ministry in Guam, and within four years he was removed from active ministry. He was later named by the Diocese of Duluth as a priest who had been “credibly accused” of the sexual abuse of young persons.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sussex Express

The head of an inquiry looking into sexual abuse by the former bishop of Lewes Peter Ball has made a shock resignation.

New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard announced her immediate departure as chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, in a brief letter to home secretary Amber Rudd yesterday evening (Thursday).

She later released a statement saying the inquiry is suffering from a “legacy of failure” .

Goddard was the third chairwoman of the public inquiry, which is investigating safeguarding failures in the Diocese of Chichester as well as abuse by the disgraced former bishop Peter Ball.

Ball, now 84, was jailed last year for sex offences against 18 vulnerable young men between 1977 and 1992.

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ST. LUCIA
St. Lucia Times

Archbishop Robert Rivas has asserted that adequate systems must be put in place to deal with child sexual abuse in Saint Lucia.

Rivas noted that the Catholic Church has had its own challenges dealing with the matter of sexual abuse of children by the clergy.

However he noted that over a period of time the church has been working out systems to deal with the issue to ensure the protection of children and justice for victims.

Archbishop Robert Rivas said measures are being adopted to make penalties imposed on the perpetrators are commensurate with the gravity of the offence.

He disclosed that every member of the clergy in the archdiocese has to complete a whole day workshop on the matter of child sexual abuse, what their boundaries are in dealing with children and what their responsibilities are as Priests and deacons.

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AUSTRALIA
Echo Netdaily

Annette Blackwell
Newcastle [AAP]

A former assistant bishop at a NSW Anglican diocese where child sex abuse by clergy was widespread will continue his evidence to a royal commission on Friday.

Bishop Richard Appleby, who served as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle in the Hunter region of NSW from 1983 to 1992, said on Thursday he was not aware during that time of allegations of child sex abuse against clergy and lay workers in the diocese.

A child sex abuse victim has given evidence that he spoke with Bishop Appleby in 1984 about being abused by a parish priest.

Bishop Appleby, who spent several hours in the witness stand on Thursday, told the commission that before 1985 there was a ‘caveat list’ where the names of clergy who commit serious offences could be recorded.

He had been asked how so many child abusers could make it through screening processes to become licensed clergy.

The list, used by bishops to check on job applicants, was abandoned in 1985 for legal reasons and it was 20 years before the church introduced a register to serve the same purpose, Bishop Appleby said.

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CANADA
Kingston Whig-Standard

By Sue Yanagisawa, Kingston Whig-Standard
Thursday, August 4, 2016

The sexual molestation trial of a retired 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest, who served in this area in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, concluded Thursday with his lawyer acknowledging that his client’s accuser “has had a very difficult life.”

“We’re all sympathetic,” defence lawyer Clyde Smith told Superior Court Justice Wolfram Tausendfreund, “but we don’t get to make the decision in this case on sympathy. We don’t get to make it on speculation either.”

Smith’s client, Robyn Q. Gwyn, was put on trial on five charges arising from a time period between the fall of 1984 and the summer of 1993. They include two counts of sexually assaulting the complainant when he was an adolescent and young teen; touching him when he was under 14 for a sexual purpose; sexually exploiting a position of trust; and invitation to sexual touching. Gwyn pleaded not guilty to all of them.

But assistant Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis told the judge Thursday that he’s seeking convictions only on the first two counts of the indictment — the sexual assault charges. And “the issue,” he told the judge, “is really sexual touching without consent and without the capacity to give consent,” because of the complainant’s age at the time.

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GUAM
KUAM

[statement from Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, SDB]

Updated: Aug 05, 2016

By Krystal Paco

A former Guam priest admits to molesting young boys. In an interview with KUAM News, Father Louis Brouillard says he’s repenting for his sins every day.

Earlier this week, 73-year-old Leo Tudela testified in support of Bill 326, a measure to lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. In his testimony, he gave personal and painful details of at least three incidents where he was molested by members of the church. One of his alleged perpetrators was Father Brouillard. At the time, Tudela was 13 and serving as an altar boy at Santa Teresita Church.

Tudela testified, “I looked up and saw Father Louis sitting to my left and told me, ‘It is OK. You will feel good and don’t worry about anything.’ I was shocked and felt very uncomfortable. I was shaking, scared, and started to cry. I was totally embarrassed and ashamed of what Father Louis was doing to me. He was supposed to be a man of God.”

Father Brouillard is 95 years old today and lives in Minnesota. In a phone interview with KUAM, transcribed below, he admits there were others.

KUAM News – Did you molest some boys?

Father Louis Brouillard – Yeah.

KUAM News – You did? Do you know how many?

Father Louis – No.

KUAM News – Did you molest some boys while being a priest on Guam?

Father Louis – Yeah.

KUAM News – Do you remember a boy named Leo Tudela?

Father Louis – No, I don’t remember him.

KUAM News – Do you remember or have any estimation of how many boys you may have molested while on Guam?

Father Louis – No, I don’t have recollection of the number. No.

When asked why he molested young boys, the priest only had this to say, “Hard to say…I guess mostly it pleased the boys. I thought they were happy.”

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A mother who is an Anglican priest says her church showed no compassion once she reported her son had been abused by a man training to be a priest.

The woman, using the pseudonym CKR, said Bruce Hoare, archdeacon in charge of ordinations at Morpeth College near Maitland, laughed when she told him a 28-year-old theology student had given her 13-year-old son a wind-up figurine of a man thrusting his penis into a sheep.

And she said Bishop Roger Herft, now Archbishop of Perth, “berated” her when she complained the diocese had not recorded her son’s sex assault complaint against the trainee priest.

CKR’s son CKU also gave evidence at a royal commission on Thursday and said he reported to police in 2002 about being groomed, shown pornography, molested and hounded by Ian Barrack when he lived with his mother at St John’s College in Morpeth in 1997.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A clergy abuse survivor has told a royal commission’s hearings in Newcastle that the Anglican church fought very hard to deny its duty of care.

The man, who can only be identified as CKU, gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The public hearings at Newcastle courthouse are looking at the past and present systems, policies and practices within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle for responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

CKU told the commission he lived with his mother at St John’s college at Morpeth while she trained to be a priest.

He said he was 12 years old when he met trainee priest Ian Barrack, who was aged 28.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft, “berated” the mother of a child abuse victim after she discovered his diocese kept no records of a complaint that her son had been assaulted by a trainee priest, a royal commission has heard.

The woman, who cannot be named, subsequently received a $2000 “gift” from the diocese, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard today.

“I believe that the payment was an attempt at buying us off,” she said.

Her 14-year-old son, who also cannot be named, was preyed upon by trainee priest Ian Barrack, in the NSW diocese of Newcastle during 1998, the commission heard. Archbishop Herft was bishop of the diocese at the time

The woman, who was herself training to become a priest, said Barrack would buy her son presents including a wind-up toy figure of a man having sex with a sheep.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A jury has been told a veil of silence lasting 30 years has been lifted during the trial of a Catholic priest accused of child sex offences.

John Patrick Casey had been a police chaplain for two decades before he was arrested in July last year and charged on 27 counts relating to 18 allegations of child sexual abuse.

The 68-year-old is accused of molesting three boys on four separate occasions when each was staying with him at the Mallanganee Presbytery, west of Casino in northern New South Wales, in the mid 1980s.

Mr Casey, who has been on bail, pleaded not guilty to the charges, when he appeared in the Lismore District Court for the trial that began on July 16.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

A New South Wales priest forced to resign after abusing a child presided over a high profile memorial service two years after being pushed out of his job.

The now-dead Anglican paedophile priest Stephen Hatley Gray was placed on a good behaviour bond in 1990 for abusing a boy at Wyong on the central coast.

His case is a focus of a royal commission hearing into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

Parishioners and the boy’s family said they were assured Gray would never practice again.

But the ABC has learned he presided over a televised memorial service in the Belanglo State Forest in honour of two backpacker victims of Ivan Milat in 1992.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A mother who is an Anglican priest says her church showed no compassion once she reported her son had been abused by a man training to be a priest.

The woman, using the pseudonym CKR, said Bruce Hoare, archdeacon in charge of ordinations at Morpeth College near Maitland, laughed when she told him a 28-year-old theology student had given her 13-year-old son a wind-up figurine of a man thrusting his penis into a sheep.

And she said Bishop Roger Herft, now Archbishop of Perth, “berated” her when she complained the diocese had not recorded her son’s sex assault complaint against the trainee priest.

CKR’s son CKU also gave evidence at a royal commission on Thursday and said he reported to police in 2002 about being groomed, shown pornography, molested and hounded by Ian Barrack when he lived with his mother at St John’s College in Morpeth in 1997.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

In the wake of a new allegation of sexual abuse involving the Catholic Church on Guam, I reassure all Catholics and the people of Guam that the Archdiocese of Agana takes all accusations of abuse very seriously. Sexual abuse is a grave matter and is to be treated as such.

I acknowledge the tremendous pain of Mr. Leo Tudela as he came forward to testify about allegations of abuse against Father Louis Brouillard and some others in the mid-1950s during public testimony at the Guam Legislature on August 1, 2016.

Upon learning of the news Monday, August 1, I immediately contacted Deacon Leonard Stohr and Father Patrick Castro, OFM Cap. and asked them to focus on contacting Mr. Tudela. Respectively, they are our Sexual Abuse Response Coordinator (SARC) and clergyman whom I designated to reach out to persons who make such allegations.

I also publicly announced our desire to meet with Mr. Tudela during news interviews on the following days. Now by way of this public announcement, I extend my prayers to Mr. Tudela and reiterate my desire to meet with him.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, SDB
Apostolic Administrator

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 5, 2016

Guam’s Catholic Church on Friday apologized to victims of a former island priest who told Pacific Daily News on Thursday “it’s possible” he abused altar boys in Guam in the 1950s.

A man on Monday publicly accused the priest of sexually abusing him as a child.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai issued the statement of apology after Father Louis Brouillard, 95, told the media he regrets the abuses and is seeking forgiveness from his victims.

“With the news that Father Louis Brouillard, a priest who served on Guam confessed to having abused altar boys on Guam in the 1950s, I convey my deepest apologies and that of the entire Church to Mr. Leo Tudela and all other persons who were also victimized,” Hon said.

The Vatican sent Hon to Guam in early June to temporarily oversee the local Catholic Church after sex abuse allegations against the clergy, specifically Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, started coming out in May. Apuron has so far been accused of molesting four altar boys in Agat in the 1970s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
August 5 2016
The Times

The huge British public inquiry into child abuse was thrown into disarray last night when the judge in charge of it resigned from her post.

Dame Lowell Goddard stepped down within hours of revelations made by The Times that she had spent three months of her first year in the job either on holiday or overseas, primarily in New Zealand, her home country.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Press Association

Britain’s troubled inquiry into child sex abuse has been thrown into doubt as New Zealand high court judge Dame Lowell Goddard became its third chairman to resign.

Dame Lowell said the investigation has struggled to shake off its “legacy of failure” with her shock resignation leaving abuse victims fearing there may be delays to the long-awaited inquiry.

Dame Lowell, 67, who was appointed in April 2015, had spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday during her time in charge.

An inquiry spokesman said she had spent 44 days in New Zealand and Australia on inquiry business and was entitled to 30 days’ annual leave.

Campaign groups and politicians have called for a replacement to be found “urgently”.

Dame Lowell did not give full reasons for leaving but said that accepting the job had been “an incredibly difficult step to take, as it meant relinquishing my career in New Zealand and leaving behind my beloved family”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER

A Philadelphia judge has set May 1 for the retrial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic church official in the nation to be convicted over his supervision of priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Lynn, 65, who was released from state prison Tuesday on $250,000 bail, said nothing during the brief hearing Thursday before Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright.

Unlike previous court appearances in which he dressed in the traditional black suit and white collar of a Roman Catholic clergyman, Lynn entered court in dark slacks and a light blue polo shirt, looking thinner than at his first trial in 2012.

In addition to the new trial date, Bright ordered Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo and defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom to file all pretrial motions by Dec. 12.

Zarallo told the judge he believed several days of hearings will be needed to decide how much evidence from church personnel files on priests accused of sexually abusing children will be presented to a jury in the new trial.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

Kenneth Mahan
August 04, 2016

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is facing another lawsuit due to claims of covering up sexual abuse.

A press release from the Law offices of Brad D. Hall claims that Fr. Arthur Perrault used his position to access and abuse children in the Albuquerque area from the 1960’s to the 1990’s.

The suit asserts that Perrault used his position to access parishes, Catholic schools and Kirtland Air Force Base. It continues to say that the Archdiocese knew and protected Perrault while he was abusing children.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Duluth Aug 4, 2016

A federal judge has approved payment of about a half million dollars in fees and expenses for law firms working on the bankruptcy of the Diocese of Duluth.

Most of the money goes to law firms representing the diocese. Attorneys for the creditors committee, which represents sex abuse victims and other claimants, received about $60,000. The diocese is on the hook for those legal costs.

The church filed for bankruptcy in December. saying that’s the only way it can compensate clergy sex abuse victims and continue the church’s mission.

The move came after a jury ordered the diocese and a Catholic religious order to pay more than $8 million in damages to a man who was sexually abused by a priest. Despite some insurance coverage and some savings, the diocese said it didn’t have enough assets to cover it’s $5 million share of that judgment and possible compensation for other abuse victims.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By JOE SOUCHERAY | jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com
PUBLISHED: July 21, 2016

The story inside the story, apparently, was that John Nienstedt, who lived in the house across Summit Avenue from the Cathedral, was himself the subject of an investigation into alleged sexual improprieties. And that furthermore, the Vatican’s guy in Washington, D.C. — the temptation is to write this in the style of Mario Puzo — tried to stuff the investigation.

As the Pioneer Press reported Thursday based on newly available records, the guy in Washington, Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatican’s ambassador, allegedly told Lee Piche and Andrew Cozzens to back off and shut down the investigation into Nienstedt. Piche was then an auxiliary bishop. Cozzens was an auxiliary bishop. Daniel Griffith, the pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, worked with Cozzens and Piche as the liaison between the church and the law firm Greene Espel.

Greene Espel had been hired in January 2014 to investigate claims that Nienstedt had made inappropriate sexual advances over the years on a number of priests, seminary students and other men and that he allegedly sometimes interfered with the careers of the men who turned him down.

Judas Priest, as a guy I knew used to say. In other words, while the archdiocesan boat was taking on water and starting to list with the allegations of those sexual corruptions of children by priests, Nienstedt himself was also being investigated and even signed off on the investigation.

It sounds like Griffith told the law firm: “You are going to have free rein. We want to get to the bottom of this.’’

Four months into the investigation, preliminary findings included 10 sworn affidavits detailing behavior by Nienstedt that sounded simply tawdry but would have an added layer of seriousness if he was, in fact, using his power to influence careers. There was also evidence that Nienstedt had a close relationship with Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to sexually abusing three boys. Nienstedt and Wehmeyer were quite the social couple, apparently. Nienstedt even made Wehmeyer a pastor against the advice of people who apparently knew better than to put that character in charge of anything, much less a parish.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ THURSDAY, AUGUST 4TH 2016

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Months after a grand jury report pointed to systemic child sex abuse spanning decades at the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, diocesan leaders are taking steps for supporting survivors.

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is “partnering with state and local agencies to offer support to survivors of sexual abuse,” according to a release on its website. The release goes on to add that “resources and educational information will be featured regularly” in its biweekly newspaper publication, The Catholic Register.

The diocese says additional information will be shown on Proclaim!, the Diocesan television ministry.

Attorney general Kathleen Kane announced findings in March from a grand jury report that alleged a half-century long child sexual abuse scandal at the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Hundreds of children were sexually abused by more than 50 religious leaders and priests of the diocese, according to the report.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

Dame Lowell Goddard has resigned as head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.

The announcement comes just hours after the revelation that Dame Lowell had spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday in her first year in the role. …

An inquiry spokesman said she had spent 44 working days in New Zealand and Australia on inquiry business in the first financial year of the inquiry and that she is entitled to 30 days’ annual leave.

The inquiry has been beset by delays and controversies since it was first announced by the then home secretary Theresa May.

Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down in July 2014 amid questions over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.

Her replacement Dame Fiona Woolf resigned following a barrage of criticism over her “establishment links”, most notably in relation to former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in 2015.

Mrs May officially reconstituted the probe under Dame Lowell in March 2015 and placed it on a statutory footing, meaning it has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Martin Evans, crime correspondent Robert Mendick, chief reporter
4 AUGUST 2016

The future of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse was thrown into doubt last night after Dame Lowell Goddard became the third chairman to resign.

Abuse victims said the inquiry had “descended into farce” and said they felt “betrayed” by her shock resignation. The inquiry,which they had complained was already beset by delays, is now in danger of collapse.

The 67-year-old, who is a high court judge in New Zealand, had faced criticism over the scale of her pay and benefits and also the amount of time she has spent abroad since taking on the role in April last year.

Under her generous package she had become one of Britain’s highest paid public servants with a £360,000 salary, a £110,000 accommodation allowance and regular free return flights to New Zealand for her and her family.

Since taking on the role she had spent more than 70 days overseas, either on holiday or working abroad.

She also admitted in a preliminary hearing last week that she did not have a clear understanding of aspects of English law.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Hon. Dame Lowell Goddard DNZM has today offered her resignation as Chair of the Inquiry which has been accepted by the Home Secretary.

The Home Secretary has confirmed the Government’s commitment to the Inquiry to ensure it continues in its important work.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Reuters

The head of a public inquiry into decades of child sex abuse in Britain resigned on Thursday, the investigation’s third leader to quit in the last two years.

The inquiry, which will last at least five years and is expected to cost about 18 million pounds ($27 million), was set up in July 2014 after a series of child sex abuse scandals dating back to the 1970s, some involving celebrities and politicians.

On Thursday its chairwoman, New Zealand High Court Judge Lowell Goddard, quit without publicly explaining her decision.

Her appointment was seen as an attempt to give the inquiry a credible head without links to the British political establishment after her two predecessors resigned amid criticism over conflicts of interest.

“Dame Lowell Goddard wrote to me today to offer her resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and I have accepted,” interior minister Amber Rudd said in a statement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired clergyman has been convicted of “sinister and deliberate” sex abuse in the 1970s and 80s.

Granville Gibson, 80, abused two men aged 18 and 26 while he was vicar at St Claire’s Church in Newton Aycliffe, Durham Crown Court heard.

He denied the charges but was convicted of two counts of indecent assault after trial. He was cleared of five other charges.

The Church of England issued an “unreserved apology” to the victims.

The court heard Gibson, who was later made an archdeacon, was guilty of “sinister and deliberate” sex abuse and a gross breach of trust.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Thursday 4 August 2016

A senior Church of England clergyman has been found guilty of sex offences committed against two young men in the 1970s and 80s amid claims of a church cover-up.

A jury at Durham crown court found George Granville Gibson, 80, the former archdeacon of Auckland, guilty of two counts of indecent assault against two men, then aged 18 and 26. He was found not guilty of buggery and four other charges of indecent assault. Two charges of indecent assault were dropped.

The court was told that the former bishop of Durham, John Habgood, had been told about Gibson’s inappropriate behaviour, which occurred when he was a vicar at St Clare’s Church in Newton Aycliffe. A former clergyman told the court he “got the push” from the church after raising concerns about Gibson.

Gibson was found guilty of indecently assaulting that man.

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TEXAS
TXKtoday

By Field Walsh – August 4, 2016

After an initial court appearance Thursday morning, Anchor Church Pastor David Wayne Farren was released from the Miller County jail on a $25,000 bail bond.

David Wayne Farren, 41, appeared at the Miller County courthouse with Texarkana attorney Jason Horton for a first appearance on three counts of first degree sexual assault before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. Horton handed the judge a motion asking that the case be sealed and that a gag order preventing police and court officials from speaking about the case be issued.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell expressed strong opposition to the gag order.

“I don’t believe this case should be treated any differently than other defendants,” Mitchell said. “We’ve not put gag orders in place in these cases before.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hartlepool Mail

The Bishop of Durham has offered an unreserved apology to the victims of a former archdeacon who was convicted of historic sex crimes.

Retired clergyman Granville Gibson was found guilty after a trial at Durham Crown Court of two counts of indecent assault, dating back to the late 1970s.

Right Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, said would commission a full and independent review of the circumstances surrounding the case.

“Following the conviction today of the Venerable Granville Gibson on two charges of indecent assault, we offer an unreserved apology to all the survivors and those affected by this news,” he said.

“We commend the bravery of those who brought these allegations forward, acknowledging how difficult and distressing this would have been.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Province of St. Philip the Apostle, Joseph Maffei was ordained in 1958. He worked in minor seminaries, retreat houses for youth, and parishes in Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and, for several years, in Montreal, Quebec. He died in 2009. Maffei was accused in a lawsuit filed in 2013 of having sexually abused a 12-year-old boy at the Marian Shrine in New Rochelle, New York, in 1978. His accuser also claimed abuse by Maffei’s fellow Salesians, Rev. Sean Rooney and Bro. Alan Scheneman. The case was settled, as announced in September 2013.

Ordained: 1958
Died: December 29, 2009

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A major inquiry into historical child sex abuse in England and Wales is to examine claims made against local authorities, religious organisations, the armed forces and public and private institutions – as well as people in the public eye.

Why has the inquiry been set up?

Reports of historical sexual abuse have sparked concern in recent years. Following the death of BBC DJ Jimmy Savile in 2011, hundreds of people came forward to say he had abused them as children. The spotlight has also fallen on sexual assaults carried out in schools, children’s homes and at NHS sites.

At the same time, there have been claims of past failures by police and prosecutors to properly investigate allegations.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up by the then Home Secretary Theresa May in March 2015. It will be conducted on a statutory basis – meaning it has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

An attempt to launch an inquiry in 2014 was abandoned after two proposed chairmen resigned amid victims’ concerns over their links to establishment figures.

How will the inquiry work?

The focus for the IICSA will be on the failures by institutions to protect people under the age of 18 from sexual abuse. A report containing recommendations for the future will be published at the end.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

The THIRD person to chair a major inquiry in child sex abuse has sensationally resigned after facing mounting criticism.

Dame Lowell Goddard was brought in after two others stood down from the job amid controversy.

Baroness Butler-Sloss quit in July 2014 after questions were raised over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.

Her replacement, Dame Fiona Woolf resigned following a barrage of criticism over her “establishment links”, most notably in relation to Leon Brittan, the former home secretary who died in 2015.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

The 67-year-old New Zealand high court judge was appointed to lead the inquiry following the resignation of two previous chairwomen.

But she faced heavy criticism today when it emerged she had spent three months of this year wither on leave or working abroad.

Mrs Rudd said: “I can confirm that Dame Lowell Goddard wrote to me today to offer her resignation as chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse and I have accepted.

“I want to assure everyone with an interest in the inquiry, particularly victims and survivors, that the work of the inquiry will continue without delay and a new chair will be appointed.

“I would like to thank Dame Lowell Goddard for the contribution she has made in setting up the inquiry so that it may continue to go about its vital work.”

The inquiry was set up in 2014 by the then Home Secretary Theresa May amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Dame Lowell Goddard has written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to resign as the head of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

This is the correspondence which passed between the two on Thursday 4 August.

From Dame Lowell Goddard:
Dear Home Secretary,

I regret to advise that I am offering you my resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, with immediate effect. I trust you will accept this decision.

Hon Dame Lowell Goddard QC

From Home Secretary Amber Rudd:

Dear Dame Lowell,

Thank you for your letter today, offering your resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

I know that this will have been a difficult decision for you to make, and something you will have carefully considered. I was sorry to receive your letter, but I accept your decision.

We all recognise that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is the most ambitious public inquiry ever established in England and Wales. Under your leadership, the Inquiry has already instituted and made progress on each of its three core projects: the Research Project; the Truth Project; and the Public Hearings Project. I am grateful to you for bringing your experience to bear in devising how the Inquiry will operate, guided by its three fundamental principles: that it will be comprehensive, inclusive, and thorough.

I know how personally committed you have been to ensuring that the Inquiry is a success for those at its heart: the survivors and the victims. You have consistently demonstrated your desire to leave no stone unturned in order that the voices of those victims might be heard. It is a testament to your commitment that you have taken the difficult decision to stand down now, having set the Inquiry firmly on course, and allow someone else to lead it through to the end. With regret, I agree that this is the right decision.

I know you will want to be reassured that work continues without delay, and most importantly that victims and survivors know that the Government’s commitment to this Inquiry is undiminished. I want to be absolutely clear. The success of this Inquiry remains an absolute priority for this Government. I am determined to keep the process on track and am taking immediate steps to appoint a new Chair as soon as possible. I will, of course, consult with victims and survivors groups before making a public announcement about the appointment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manx Radio

Thursday, August 4th, 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard has resigned as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Home Secretary has confirmed.

It comes amid reports she spent three months on holiday or abroad in her first year in the £500,000 job.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, reassured victims of abuse that “the work of the inquiry will continue without delay and a new chair will be appointed”.

Dame Goddard, a New Zealand judge, was appointed after two previous chairwomen quit.

The inquiry was established in 2014 to look at claims of a cover up by the establishment, after allegations a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Thursday 4 August 2016

The head of the public inquiry into institutional child abuse has resigned just over a year after setting out her vision for an unprecedented five-year investigation into historical abuse and its cover up.

In a decision that will throw the future of the major inquiry into doubt, Justice Lowell Goddard announced on Thursday evening that she was stepping down. Her resignation came 24 hours after reports criticising her for spending three months away from the UK since she was first appointed last year to lead the inquiry, which had been beset with difficulties finding a chair who was acceptable to a powerful lobby of victims’ groups.

In her letter of resignation to the home secretary Amber Rudd published on Thursday night, Goddard gave no reason for standing down. She wrote: “I regret to advise that I am offering you my resignation as chair of the Independent Inquiry into Institutional child abuse with immediate effect. I trust you will accept this decision.”

In a statement, Goddard said that deciding to take on the inquiry after it was beset with problems last year, “was a huge step to take as it meant relinquishing my career in New Zealand and leaving behind my beloved family”. She said the inquiry had a “legacy of failure” which had been “hard to shake off”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Caroline Mortimer @cjmortimer

Dame Lowell Goddard has resigned as head of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, the Home Secretary has said.

The embattered New Zealander became the third chair of the inquiry to resign after controversy over holidays and comments she made about not understanding English law.

The high court judge was appointed as chair of the inquiry by then-Home Secretary Theresa May after the two previous charis were forced to stand down over their links to establishment figures.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in a statement: “I can confirm that Dame Lowell Goddard wrote to me today to offer her resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and I have accepted.

“I want to assure everyone with an interest in the inquiry, particularly victims and survivors, that the work of the inquiry will continue without delay and a new chair will be appointed.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Nick Butterly – The West Australian on August 5, 2016

Perth’s Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft promised to remove a priest at the centre of historic child sex allegations, an abuse victim has claimed, but no action was taken.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was also told how a notorious paedophile priest was found with a hoard of hard-core pornography, but Archbishop Herft recommended the priest be given only spiritual counselling.

The royal commission is examining claims of child sexual abuse in the Hunter region of NSW dating back decades.

Archbishop Herft was Bishop of Newcastle between 1993 and 2005.

An abuse victim given the pseudonym CKA told how he was abused by a priest, dubbed CKC, over a prolonged period when he was a boy, beginning in the early 1970s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the Philadelphia District Attorney’s ongoing vendetta against Monsignor William Lynn:

For the third time, the Pennsylvania court system has tossed out the unjust conviction of Msgr. William Lynn over his handling of sexual abuse allegations against other priests. And for the third time, the Philadelphia District Attorney vows to pursue the discredited case. Today, a judge has set a date—May 1, 2017—for yet another trial, even though Msgr. Lynn has now served all but two months of his minimum three year sentence for a conviction that has been repeatedly reversed.

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the trial court “abused its discretion” in allowing evidence unrelated to this case. But D.A. Seth Williams, in a clear abuse of his prosecutorial discretion, “is just hell-bent on trying this case,” as Msgr. Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, noted. Msgr. Lynn has “done 33 months along with 18 months house arrest for something the Superior Court has now ruled was an unfair trial,” Bergstrom points out. Yet, “for some reason” Williams “continues to want to beat up on this guy.”

From the start, this case has been a flagrant anti-Catholic witch-hunt, perpetrated by Williams, his predecessor Lynne Abraham, and others. (Click here to read the shocking details.) One would think they would by now be satisfied that they have extracted their pound of flesh from this innocent man. But such is their maniacal hatred for him and the Catholic Church he serves, that they will not give up—no matter how many times the courts tell them what should have been obvious from the start: that they have no legitimate case, and never did.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Amy Remeikis

After scrapping the statute of limitations for institutional child sex abuse survivors, the Palaszczuk Government is moving to add some pages to Queensland’s law books and allow class actions.

As it stands, the Sunshine State has no class action structure in its legal system, forcing those who had cause, including the Queensland flood victims, to lodge their action in interstate courts.

Queensland will allow class actions in its court system for the first time, under legislation to be introduced later this month

After speaking to stakeholders following its announcement Queensland would follow New South Wales and Victoria and remove the statute of limitations preventing adult institutional child abuse survivors from applying for civil justice, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said the government would also introduce legislation to allow class actions to be filed in the Queensland court system.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Thu 04 Aug 2016
By Alex Williams

The judge leading an inquiry into the extent the Church and other UK institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse spent three months of her first year in the position abroad.

In addition to an annual leave entitlement of 30 days, Dame Lowell Goddard also spent 44 working days in Australia and New Zealand, her home country.

A spokeswoman for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse told Premier Dame Goddard spent a portion of her time away from the UK learning from the experiences of the Australian royal commission on child abuse.

She added: “The chair spent 44 working days in New Zealand and Australia on inquiry business in the first financial year of the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chronicle Live

BY LAURA HILL

Former Archdeacon, George Granville Gibson, was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting men at Durham Crown Court

The Bishop of Durham has apologised after a former vicar was found guilty of indecently assaulting men at his church in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Church of England has also said it will investigate accusations that the then Bishop of Durham, John Habgood, swept concerns about the former Archdeacon George Granville Gibson “under the carpet” after one of his victim’s approached him.

Gibson, 80, of Worsley Park in Darlington was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting vulnerable men, at St Clares Church, in Newton Aycliffe , where he was a vicar.

One vulnerable victim was just 18-years-old.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Record Searchlight

By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A former Philadelphia church official will be retried next year over his handling of priest-abuse complaints even though his child-endangerment conviction has twice been overturned.

Monsignor William Lynn will face a pared-down trial May 1, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court faulted the trial judge for allowing weeks of testimony from 21 victims to show the alleged cover-up by the Roman Catholic church.

The court found that testimony prejudiced the jury against Lynn, who was charged with endangering a single boy abused by a problem priest transferred to his parish in the late 1990s.

Lynn, 65, returned to court Thursday, two days after leaving prison, but did not speak at the brief hearing. The defense hoped prosecutors would drop the case, given that he’s served all but three months of his three-year sentence. But Lynn has emerged as a pivotal test case in the move to hold church and institutional leaders responsible for protecting pedophiles.

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GUAM
Washington Post

By Grace Garces Bordallo | AP August 4

HAGATNA, Guam — The archbishop of Guam told church investigators to contact those who say they were sexually abused by clergy after learning this week that another former altar boy accused a priest of molesting him decades ago.

Leo B. Tudela, 73, gave emotional testimony about the abuse he says occurred in the mid-1950s during a hearing Monday at the Guam Legislature. He urged senators to support legislation that would lift the statute of limitations for lawsuits against those who sexually abused children. It’s now two years.

It comes after three former altar boys and the mother of another filed a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit against former Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and the archdiocese, saying they were called liars when they raised allegations that Apuron sexually abused boys in the 1970s.

He has denied the abuse and not been charged with any crime. The Vatican appointed Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai as a temporary administrator after the allegations surfaced.

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IRLAND
Katholisches

(Dublin) Die Erzdiözese Dublin bestätigte am Mittwoch, daß Erzbischof Diarmuid Martin „vorübergehend“ die Aufnahme neuer Studenten in das größte Priesterseminar Irlands untersagt hat. Grund für den Aufnahmestopp ist der Verdacht des Erzbischofs, daß sich am Priesterseminar eine „Homo-Kultur“ eingenistet habe. Der Aufnahmestopp ist nur eine Maßnahme, um gegen die Homosexualisierung des Priesterseminars vorzugehen.

Am Dienstag sagte Erzbischof Martin gegenüber dem staatlichen Rundfunksender RTE, er sei „unangenehm“ berührt wegen anonymer Anschuldigungen gegen eine nennenswerte Zahl von Seminaristen des Sankt-Patrick-Kollegs von Maynooth, die schriftlich und im Internet verbreitet wurden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Has the priest from Ettal abused even more children?]

Der wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs in 21 Fällen verurteilte ehemalige Ettaler Benediktinerpater G. muss sich seit Donnerstag erneut vor einem Münchner Gericht verantworten. Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft dem 46 Jahre alten Geistlichen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern in „zehn tatmehrheitlichen Fällen“ vor. Der Beschuldigte habe 2004 und 2005 mehrmals sexuelle Handlungen an einer Person unter 14 Jahren vorgenommen oder an sich von dem Kind vornehmen lassen. Seit April dieses Jahres sitzt G. in Untersuchungshaft.

Der Mann ist laut Auskunft eines Sprechers des Klosters Ettal inzwischen aus dem Orden ausgeschlossen und darf das Priesteramt nicht mehr ausüben. Die Entscheidung habe die römische Glaubenskongregation Mitte 2015 getroffen. Seit Herbst 2010 lebe der Betroffene nicht mehr in Ettal. Die Abtei übernehme beim neuen Prozess keine Kosten für den Beschuldigten, wie sie dies zuvor getan habe.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[Former priest from Ettal acknowledges allegations.]

Von: Elmar Voltz und David Herting
Stand: 04.08.2016

Zum zweiten Mal musste sich heute ein ehemaliger Pater aus dem Kloster Ettal vor dem Münchner Landgericht wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs an einem Internatsschüler verantworten. Er räumte zum Prozessauftakt die Vorwürfe ein. Das Urteil soll nächsten Mittwoch fallen.

Gerichtssprecherin Andrea Titz bestätigte dem Bayerischen Rundfunk, dass es im Vorfeld ein Gespräch zwischen allen Verfahrensbeteiligten gegeben habe. Die Verteidigung erklärte, der Angeklagte wolle mit dieser Entscheidung dem Opfer eine weitere Aussage vor Gericht und dem Kloster Ettal weitere, „negative Publicity“ ersparen. Damit dürfte eine Haftstrafe für den heute 46-jährigen Jürgen R. unausweichlich sein, die Staatsanwaltschaft hatte offenbar im Vorgespräch mit den Verfahrensbeteiligten eine Gefängnisstrafe von acht bis neun Jahren gefordert, die Verteidigung will dagegen nur fünf Jahre unter Einbeziehung des vorherigen Urteils. Auch die Vorsitzende Richterin spricht von einer Gesamtstrafe von sechs bis acht Jahren. Die Plädoyers werden nächsten Mittwoch gehalten, dann soll auch das Urteil gefällt werden.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 4

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

A trial date has been set for the only US Catholic official to ever do jail time for hiding and enabling child sex crimes. So now it’s time for church staff to stop protecting Msgr. William Lynn like Lynn protected predator priests. It’s time for every current and former church employee – from bookkeeper to bishop – who has information or suspicions about Msgr. Lynn’s complicity to overcome their fears, do their duty and call Philly prosecutors.

“This is excessively punitive,” some will claim. They’re wrong. This is about smart deterrence and simple justice. All of us have a duty to safeguard kids by holding those who don’t responsible for their wrongdoing.

No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

Posted August 4, 2016

Although Msgr. William Lynn is free from prison after posting $250,000 bail on Tuesday, Aug. 2, he will be retried next year on the same charge of endangering the welfare of a child for which he was convicted and incarcerated for most of the past three years.

The former secretary for clergy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was arrested and charged in February of 2011, and convicted by a jury in 2012, for failing to properly supervise a now-laicized priest, Edward Avery.

Avery pleaded guilty at that time to sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999 at St. Jerome Parish in Northeast Philadelphia.

Msgr. Lynn, now 65, was the first high-ranking clergyman to be convicted in the United States for a crime related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal that surfaced in 2002. Locally it led to two Philadelphia grand jury reports, in 2005 and 2011, and a Pennsylvania grand jury report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in March of this year.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Adrienne Sanders and Lee Higgins, lhiggins2@lohud.com August 4, 2016

Yona Weinberg: A timeline

June 2008: Brooklyn district attorney indicts Yona Weinberg, a 29-year-old licensed social worker and bar mitzvah tutor, on numerous charges including nine misdemeanor counts of second-degree sexual abuse and six of child endangerment.

June 2009: Weinberg convicted of nine counts for victimizing two boys — seven counts of second-degree sexual abuse and two of child endangerment

September 2009: Weinberg sentenced to 13 months in jail. At his sentencing, Judge J. Reichbach criticizes the Orthodox Jewish community for supporting Weinberg, noting 90 letters were sent attesting to his character and innocence — and mentioning nothing about the victims.

September 2009: Weinberg loses appeal.

2010: Weinberg released from jail after serving roughly a year. He returns to his Brooklyn home, where he lives with his wife and young children. Weinberg is designated a Level 3 sex offender (high risk of repeat offense and threat to public safety).

June 2014: Police investigate a complaint Weinberg allegedly groped an 11-year-old boy after they were watching television in Weinberg’s apartment earlier that year. Prosecutors declined to bring charges, according to the Daily News.

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NEW YORK/ISRAEL
The Journal News

Adrienne Sanders and Lee Higgins, lhiggins2@lohud.com August 4, 2016

A child molester who moved from New York to Israel as he was being sought on a new misdemeanor assault charge has turned to the Israeli court system to quiet a Rockland County rabbi intent on spreading the word about his crimes on the internet and in Jerusalem.

Yona Weinberg, who spent roughly a year in jail for sexually abusing two boys in Brooklyn, lost his bid Tuesday in an Israeli court for an order of protection against Rabbi Yakov Horowitz of Monsey.

Horowitz was visiting Jerusalem to teach a child-safety class in Weinberg’s neighborhood, Har Nof. The order would have prevented the rabbi from lecturing there because the community center where he was teaching is within a third of a mile of Weinberg’s home.

The bid for the protection order followed Weinberg’s filing a defamation lawsuit against the rabbi, who put out tweets warning Weinberg’s neighbors in Israel of his presence. The lawsuit remains pending.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

4/8/2016

​The letter below was recently sent by the Adass Israel School to its community. This school has been embroiled in the Malka Leifer affair. While the letter is a welcome development, and contains both positive and important information, there are two glaring omissions.

Firstly, there is no acceptance of responsibility or an unequivocal apology – for that matter, there is no apology whatsoever. From the victims’ perspective, the letter would be meaningless, if not downright offensive.

Secondly, the encouragement to report allegations of child sexual abuse is vague. Adass should have made it absolutely clear that community members must report all allegations directly to the police. Indeed this requirement should have been supported with a clear endorsement by their most senior rabbis.

I suspect these omissions were deliberate, which is disappointing. Nevertheless, this letter is at least a positive development.

27 July 2016

Dear Parent and Community Members

We wish to advise the community of the steps we have taken to comply with the Government’s Child Safe Standards, which aims to change the culture in organisations to enhance the protection of children from abuse, including prevention and effective response. We strongly support and accept these measures.

​We are pleased to advise many of the requirements have been in place for some years and we are ready for legal compliance on 1 August 2016. A copy of the Adass Israel School statement of commitment and associated policies and procedures are available for perusal at the School Office. The process will involve continual review and we will keep you up to date with progress in terms of the enhancement of our policies and procedures.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

[with video]

By Morgan Zalot

Two days after he walked free from a northeastern Pennsylvania prison on bail, Monsignor William Lynn, accused of shielding pedophile priests, learned when he’ll face a new trial.

Lynn served nearly three years in prison before a judge granted him bail earlier this week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to overturn his conviction, granting him a new trial. At a hearing Thursday morning, a Philadelphia judge set Lynn’s new trial for May 2017.

In the wake of Lynn’s release, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams vowed to re-try the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official, contending that he endangered thousands of children throughout the city’s Catholic parishes when he knowingly transferred child-molesting priests to cover up abuse.

Lynn’s now-overturned conviction is historical, because he is the first Roman Catholic Church official in the United States ever to be charged with shielding pedophile priests.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 4, 2016

Guam church still funds priest removed from ministry 31 years ago for sex abuse

A former Guam priest who was publicly accused during a Legislature hearing this week as having molested an altar boy in the 1950s said Thursday “it’s possible” he abused altar boys on island and he’s asking for forgiveness from those he may have hurt.

Father Louis Brouillard, now 95, was removed from his position in 1985 while serving in a Minnesota diocese.

Brouillard spoke to Pacific Daily News on Thursday via telephone from his residence in Pine City, Minnesota, about 70 miles north of Minneapolis. Brouillard said he’s sorry about the possible abuses.

Leo Tudela, 73, a former altar boy, told Guam senators on Monday that Brouillard and two other church members sexually abused him around 1956. Tudela, who spoke during a public hearing on a bill that would lift a time limit on filing lawsuits against accused child molesters, is the latest in a growing number of former island altar boys who’ve accused members of the local Catholic church of sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Independent Catholic News

Thursday, August 4, 2016

From September, fifteen seminarians from the Saint John Vianney College Seminary (SJV), from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, will pursue their academic formation at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, and are to transfer their residency from the university’s Bernardi campus to the Pontifical Irish College, Rome. The new arrangement will initially run during the academic year 2016/17.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Pontifical Irish College, along with the board of Saint John Vianney College, approved the new partnership at their June meeting. Welcoming the seminarians Archbishop Martin said: “The presence of these United States’ seminarians will enrich and consolidate the seminary community in the Pontifical Irish College, under the overall leadership of its rector, Monsignor Ciaran O’Carroll. Together with Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Saint Paul Minneapolis, I wish the project every blessing and success.”

According to SJV Rector Father Michael Becker: “This new partnership is a testament to the strong collaboration between the University of Saint Thomas’ Catholic Studies Rome Program and Saint John Vianney College Seminary. Our association with the Pontifical Irish College will only enhance what has already been established.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Miguel Otárola GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 04, 2016

A 55-year-old woman has sued her former teacher and coach at a Catholic high school in Framingham, alleging that she sexually abused her for nearly two years.

The woman, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, claims that Diane Ryszewski abused her from 1975 to 1977, her first two years at Marian High School. During the woman’s freshman year, Ryszewski arranged for her to live with her, the suit claims, and “engaged in continuous acts of sex abuse and rape.”

Administrators and teachers were aware that Ryszewski lived with the student, but “took no action to protect [her] or to end the relationship,” the suit claims.

In an interview Wednesday at the Boston office of her attorney, Carmen L. Durso, the woman said that her relationship with Ryszewski was common knowledge.

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ARIZONA
AZCentral

Anne Ryman, The Republic | azcentral.com

Actor Michael Keaton portrayed Robinson in 2015 movie about investigative reporters revealing clergy sex abuse and cover-up.

The Boston Globe editor who led the investigations team portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight” is coming to Arizona State University to teach.

Walter “Robby” Robinson will be a visiting professor, beginning in January, ASU officials announced this week. He will teach an investigative-journalism class at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and work with Cronkite News reporters.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Boston area Catholic officials are accused of committed and concealing child sex crimes by a female teacher against a girl. We hope this lawsuit will bring comfort to some, knowing that an alleged sex offender has now been “outed” and knowing that youngsters are now safer. We also hope this case will expose what her colleagues and supervisors did and didn’t do to protect kids. And we hope others who have information or suspicions about her crimes will come forward now to protect others and begin healing.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

A female teacher who now lives in Charlotte is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl. For the safety of children, we call on Charlotte Catholic officials to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners and the public about the alleged predator.

We hope this new lawsuit, filed today in Boston, will bring comfort to some, knowing that an alleged sex offender has now been “outed” and knowing that youngsters are now safer. We also hope this case will expose what her colleagues and supervisors did and didn’t do to protect kids. We hope others who have information or suspicions about her crimes will come forward now to protect others and begin healing. And again, we hope Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis will use his vast resources to sound the alarm about this credibly accused child molester.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Sam Kestenbaum
August 2, 2016

Applications are now being accepted for a year-long course on New Age tantric sex, which include instruction on “total body orgasms,” “Prayer Sexing” and “Pleasure Dharma.” Classes begin in October and applicants who enroll before August 15 receive a generous discount.

One of the course’s teachers? Controversial one-time rabbi Marc Gafni.

Gafni, a New Age guru and former rabbi accused of abuses of power through his career, including molestation of a teenage girl, has another venture — as “wisdom teacher in residence” at the Institute for Integral Evolutionary Tantra.

“We need to be willing to stand with each other in sexuality,” Gafni wrote in an introductory message on the organization’s website. “We need to learn what that means with all of its complexity, with all of its shadows.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Burton Mail

A 77-YEAR-OLD man from Burton has been accused of sexually abusing a pupil at a Derbyshire school “twice a week” over a four year period, a court has heard.

The victim, who is now in his 50s, said John Thompson, a former junior school teacher, turned Baptist minister, would make him undress in his office at Crich C of E Junior School and then went on to touch the boy sexually.

The victim said his experiences at the hands of Thompson ‘destroyed my life’ and that he did not come forward until 40 years after the alleged abuse as he was “ashamed and embarrassed with myself”.

Thompson, of Tutbury Road, Burton, faces charges of six counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency with the-then pupil for offences that date back to the 1970s.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 04, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The Concerned Catholics of Guam group is questioning why a priest accused of child sex abuse is still getting paid by the Archdiocese of Agana. As a matter of fact, the CCOG has been questioning the alleged actions of this priest since January 2015.

During a recent public hearing on Bill 326, legislation to lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, Leo Tudela alleged he was abused by members of the clergy when he was 13 years old. He came from Saipan to Guam to attend Catholic school and eventually became an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao. That’s where he encountered Father Louis Brouillard, who he alleges sexually molested him.

“I was shocked and felt very uncomfortable,” Tudela said earlier this week. “I was shaking, scared, and started to cry.” Since his testimony, apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai has gone on various media, including KUAM Radio, acknowledging the tremendous pain Tudela is experiencing for coming forward and assures the community the matter has been referred to the archdiocese’s sexual abuse response coordinator (SARC).

Ironically, allegations involving Fr. Brouillard have been reported to the former SARC before. Matter of fact, in a report compiled by the CCOG in January 2015 it states that the priest was stripped of his faculties by former Archbishop Felixberto Flores after credible allegations arose against him. Fr. Brouillard then went back to his home state of Minnesota.

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

NEIL KEENE, The Daily Telegraph
August 4, 2016

PRIESTS within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle conspired to burn a collection of child and gay porn videos owned by a paedophile priest.

A Royal Commission heard this morning that serial paedophile Father Peter Rushton recruited the help of another priest within the diocese to dispose of “hundreds” of pornographic videos stored in his home.

Former Archdeacon Colvin Ford told the commission that he was told the videos were burnt in the backyard of a rectory.

“He needed to use a 44-gallon drum in order to get rid of them,” Mr Ford said.

“He also told me that the covers of some of the videos depicted men and boys which I took to mean primary school age children.”

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