ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, July 23, 2015

For more information: Melanie Jula Sakoda of Moraga, California, Orthodox Christian Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (melanie.sakoda@gmail.com, 925-708-6175), Cappy Larson of San Francisco, California, Orthodox Christian Director of SNAP (cappy@rlarson.com, 415-637-2006); David Clohessy of St. Louis, Missouri, Executive Director of SNAP (davidgclohessy@gmail.com, 314-566-9790)

Victims want abusive bishop defrocked
He’s been released early from Canadian prison
SNAP to hierarchs: “Tell public where the molester is now”
Group begs officials to limit his access to kids and parishes
“You have a moral duty to disclose and warn families at risk,” victims say

A Canadian archbishop convicted of child sexual abuse has been released from prison early. A support group for victims wants church officials to defrock him, warn families about him and keep him away from parishes.

[Winnipeg Free Press]

[Orthodox Church in America]

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to the bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) about Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, who was once the church’s highest ranking official in Canada. Storheim was suspended by his synod following his arrest in November of 2010. In January 2014, he was forced into retirement after his conviction for child sexual abuse.

SNAP wants church officials to take the next step and defrock the archbishop. The victims’ group has been urging the OCA to do this since the archbishop’s 2014 conviction.

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

UNITED STATES
Intermountain Catholic

By Msgr. M. Francis Mannion
Pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul Parish

A recent article in the “National Catholic Reporter” by Thomas C. Fox, titled “Vincentian visits imprisoned priests,” drew my attention to the plight of priests in prison, especially those convicted of the sexual abuse of minors.

The article took the form of an interview with Fr. Paul Sauerbier, a Vincentian priest who has established the Prodigal Father Foundation – so-called because of the lavish generosity of the father toward the repentant son in the Gospel story of the Prodigal Son.

Fr. Sauerbier’s ministry is to reach out to priests imprisoned for the sexual abuse of minors – whom Sauerbier calls “the modern-day lepers in our society.”

When priests are convicted for the abuse of minors, he says, “Most people in the church and society back away in horror. When he ends up in prison, he is usually abandoned by his church, his family and his friends.”

“No one,” Fr. Sauerbier says, “is more outcast than an outcast priest.”

Sauerbier states: “Most of the guys I visited haven’t been visited in years. Sometimes I am the first visitor they have ever had. I find many of the men suffering from extreme isolation. … I spend a lot of time with [priests] who have had almost no human contact. I’ve found these priests depleted, often with having had no one to share their pain or shame.”

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

IRELAND
The Journal

A REPORT BY the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) into the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse in Cloyne has found evidence of failures on the part of gardaí.

However, GSOC is not recommending any disciplinary action as no offences appear to have been committed.

In 2011, the Cloyne Report outlined evidence that indicated gardaí did not act upon information they had in relation to complaints of sexual abuse in the Cork diocese.

A public interest investigation was opened by GSOC in March 2012 as a result.

In its report, GSOC focused on allegations of sexual abuse made by two victims against one priest.

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ARKANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Group blasts state board of education
It gives convicted teacher a chance to teach again
She knew about but delayed reporting a colleague’s crimes
Organization urges officials to reconsider their recent decision
Group also urges “victims, witnesses and whistleblowers” to “speak up”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, members of a support group for clergy abuse victims will

–blast the Arkansas Board of Education for giving a convicted teacher a chance to teach again,
–urge the board to reconsider its decision, and
–beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or cover ups in schools to “come forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers and protect kids.”

WHEN
Thursday, July 23 at 11:00 A.M.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Arkansas State Board of Education, Four Capitol Mall in downtown Little Rock

WHO
Two-three members of an independent, non-denominational and confidential self-help and advocacy group for those abused in churches called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY
A victims group is blasting the Arkansas Department of Education over its recent ruling in the case of a teacher who delayed for weeks telling law enforcement about a colleague’s child sex crimes.

SNAP is calling on the state board to reverse its decision to give Kathy Gene Griffin a chance to teach again in one year.

[Arkansas Online]

Two weeks ago, the board suspended Griffin’s teaching license because she was convicted in September 2013 of delaying for weeks to report abuse by Kelly O’Rourke, another teacher. (O’Rourke pleaded guilty to abuse in January 2013.)

[YouTube]

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thrsday, July 23, 2015

For more information:

David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com

Victims blast Arnold church
Ex-House speaker will talk there
Controversial politician pled guilty to assault
A controversial former lawmaker who pled guilty to assault will speak at an Arnold church and an abuse victims’ group is protesting the event.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing officials at First Baptist Church about an upcoming appearance by former Houses Speaker Rod Jetton.

“It hurts victims of sexual violence to see predators given positions of prestige,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director.

“This kind of callousness is one reason many who are sexually victimized stay silent,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “Many crime victims feel speaking up is futile because so many violent men are charismatic and won’t ever really be appropriately disciplined.”

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NEW YORK
News 12

NEW CITY – Rockland Rabbi Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld’s daughter took the stand for the defense Wednesday in his sex-abuse trial.

Taubenfeld’s daughter broke down in tears as she described how her mother and brother were killed by a Hamas suicide bomber on a bus in Jerusalem in 2003. She was also on board, but survived the attacked.

After the tragedy in which Taubenfeld lost his wife and child, children were reportedly no longer allowed at the rabbi’s home.

During Wednesday’s testimony, the rabbi’s daughter confirmed that her father knew Laiby Stern, who has testified that the rabbi molested him after Stern sought counsel from the rabbi in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Stern, now 22, claims that the abuse occurred for five years.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Concord Monitor

By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press
Thursday, July 23, 2015

Parishioners occupying a long-closed Catholic church south of Boston had their day before the state appeals court Wednesday as they sought to overturn a judge’s ruling that ordered them to end their nearly 11-year, round-the-clock protest vigil.

A three-judge appeals panel heard brief arguments from both sides, as dozens of parishioners and their supporters packed the courtroom. The panel is expected to issue a written decision at a later date.

In their court brief, the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate, Mass., argued that a state superior court judge wrongly prevented them from presenting arguments referencing church or canon law, denied them the right to a jury trial and abused his judicial discretion, among other things.

The group wants the lower court decision reversed and the case ordered for a new trial.

“This is an ecclesiastical dispute,” lawyer Mary Elizabeth Carmody said Wednesday. “We believe this case was wrongfully decided.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

JULIE SHAW, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER SHAWJ@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-2592
POSTED: Thursday, July 23, 2015

A MAN WHO has claimed he was sexually abused as a child by a Catholic priest in the rectory of St. John Cantius Parish in Bridesburg has filed a lawsuit against the priest and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The man, now 27, has accused the Rev. Andrew McCormick, now 59, of sexually assaulting him in 1997, when the man was a 10-year-old altar boy.

Two criminal juries – one on March 11 of this year, another on March 12, 2014 – deadlocked on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, child endangerment and corruption of a minor against McCormick.

In April, the District Attorney’s Office said it would not prosecute McCormick a third time and dropped all charges against him.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

A former Catholic school principal has been sentenced to 18 months’ jail for indecently assaulting a Hunter Valley school boy.

Peter Pemble, 67, sexually abused the boy at Maitland’s Marist Brothers’ High School in the early 1970s.

He went on to become principal at St Gregory’s college in Campbelltown in western Sydney.

Pemble’s victim told the court the abuse left his life in tatters, causing anxiety and fear.

Newcastle District Court Judge Peter Berman noted that he must impose a sentence in line with the time the offence was committed.

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AUSTRALIEN
kath.net

Früherer Bischofs von Ballarat/Victoria kann sich nicht länger vor gerichtlicher Untersuchung drücken. Ihm wird vorgeworfen, mindestens einen pädophilen Priester geschützt zu haben.

Sydney (kath.net) Ronald Mulkearns (Foto), emeritierter Bischof von Ballarat im australischen Bundesstaat Victoria, wurde zur gerichtlichen Befragung vorgeladen. Der 84-Jährige steht im Verdacht, während seiner Zeit als Ortsbischof (1971-1997) einen pädophilen Priester geschützt zu haben. Das berichtete die australische überregionale Tageszeitung „The Australian“. Mulkearns, der im Jahr 1998 einen Schlaganfall erlitten, konnte sich bisher der gerichtlichen Untersuchung mit Hinweis auf seine schlechte gesundheitliche Verfassung und Gedächtnisprobleme entziehen. Kritiker monieren, dass seine Gesundheit ihm aber weiterhin beispielsweise das selbständige Autofahren erlaube.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

Das Bistum Limburg fordert Schadensersatz in Millionenhöhe von seinem ehemaligen Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. “Der vom Papst eingesetzte Administrator Manfred Grothe hat im Vatikan mehrfach die Forderung nach materieller Wiedergutmachung vorgebracht”, sagte Bistumssprecher Stephan Schnelle der Bild-Zeitung. “Jetzt muss der Papst entscheiden.”

Insgesamt geht es dem Bericht zufolge um rund 3,9 Millionen Euro. Diese Summe habe das Bistum im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau des Bischofshauses abschreiben müssen. Darin enthalten seien unter anderem Kosten für nicht realisierte Entwürfe in Höhe von 950.000 Euro sowie Um-, Rück- und Wiederaufbauten für 780.000 Euro. Die Nebenkosten der Planung seien um 2,2 Millionen Euro überzogen gewesen.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

The diocese in the German city of Limburg wants compensation from its ex-bishop, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, according to a German media report. He was suspended after wasting church money on his lavish residence.

Citing diocese spokesman Stephan Schnelle, German daily “Bild” says that the administrator of the residence, who was sent from Rome, had repeatedly asked for “material indemnity” from Tebartz-van Elst.

“Now, the pope has to decide,” Schnelle told the paper.

The former bishop’s extravagant mansion, which featured details such as bronze window frames and a 15,000-euro freestanding bath, set the Catholic Church back a princely 31.3 million euros ($34.2 million).

In April, the Episcopal See said the construction of the bishop’s residence had incurred a loss of 3.9 million euros for repair works and architects’ design plans that were not used in the end. “Bild” says that is the sum the diocese wants to be compensated for.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Welle

Das Bistum Limburg verlangt Schadenersatz in Millionenhöhe von seinem ehemaligen Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. Einen entsprechenden Bericht der “Bild”-Zeitung bestätigte Bistumssprecher Stephan Schnelle auf Anfrage der Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA). Der vom Papst eingesetzte Administrator Manfred Grothe habe im Vatikan seit April mehrfach kirchenrechtliche Fragen nach einer materiellen Wiedergutmachung vorgebracht. Jetzt müsse der Papst entscheiden.

Schnelle betonte zugleich, dass Grothe Tebartz in Rom nicht “angezeigt” habe. Ob Forderungen gegen den Bischof erhoben würden, in welcher Höhe und auf welchem Weg, könne nur im Einverständnis mit dem Vatikan entschieden werden. Bei Rechtsakten gegen einen Bischof sei grundsätzlich der Heilige Stuhl zuständig. Im Herbst werde es weitere Gespräche geben.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 23, 2015

Michael Kelly

As the Royal Commission into sex abuse struggles to cope with endless tales of tragedy, it is important to remember there are many ways in which a child can be put at risk. This week Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop offered another graphic example of how those who have authority over the most vulnerable can choose to leave them in harm’s way.

In 2007 Denis Hart had the chance to do what bishops all over the country were doing. He could have welcomed the Not So Straight report by Jesuit Social Services, which was aimed at helping teachers respond to the needs of gay teens in Catholic schools.

Hart had to make sure that Melbourne schools were more Catholic than Catholic.

Like many reports before and since, this study highlighted widespread bullying and homophobic abuse in schools and detailed high levels of self harm, and even suicide, among LGBT​ students. It also offered practical strategies and training programs for principals and teachers, all aimed at helping students – and all within the framework of Catholic social justice principles.

The archbishop buried the report. For him, it was not doctrinally pristine. Its denunciations and condemnations were not sufficiently clear. He could not countenance the possibility that same-sex attracted students might think their sexual orientation was “tolerated”, or that, God forbid, it might even be part of the natural diversity of human experience. Never mind that dioceses all over Australia welcomed and implemented the Jesuits’ report. The archbishop had to make sure that Melbourne schools were more Catholic than Catholic.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Caroline Wyatt
Religious affairs correspondent

From when Karen Morgan was 12, until she was well into her teens, she was sexually abused by her uncle – a ministerial servant with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

He would go upstairs, on the premise that he was saying a prayer with his niece, then sexually abuse her.

Now in her 30s, Karen wasn’t understood when she first told her parents what her uncle, Mark Sewell, was doing.

Sewell was also the son of a trusted older member of the local Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation, known as an elder.

Christian churches, as well as other religions, have faced claims of child abuse.

But what is striking about the Jehovah’s Witnesses is their explicit policy of dealing with abuse in-house.

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GERMANY
Breitbart

by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.20 Jul 201530

In 2014, the Catholic Church in Germany lost a greater number of faithful than in any previous year in its history for which there are records: 218,000 people–39,000 more than the previous year.

The figure is exceptionally high, exceeding even that of 2010, the year in which the German Church was shaken by the scandal of sexual abuse of minors.

In a recent article titled “The Bleeding German Church,” veteran Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti examined the German Catholic exodus, tying it to two principle causes, one financial and the other doctrinal.

From the fiscal side, church and state are much more closely allied in Germany than they are in the United States. Citizens declare their religious affiliation on their income tax returns, and depending on which box one checks, a special tax or “Kirchensteuer” goes to the appropriate religious body. The tax is calculated as an additional 8-9% of one’s total income tax payment, rather than as a percentage of income itself.

The Catholic Church in Germany is quite wealthy, in no small part due to the notorious “church tax.” In 2011, Tosatti notes, the German Church received somewhere in the neighborhood of $6.3 billion. Moreover, the Church in Germany is the second largest employer in the country, with only the state employing more people. Many of those employed are non-believers, and the Church’s considerable institutional presence influences people’s rapport with it, tending to create a more formal, and sometimes utilitarian, relationship.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A report by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission into the handling by gardaí of allegations of child sexual abuse, which were raised in the Cloyne Report in 2011, has found evidence of failures on the part of the gardaí.

However, the GSOC report says no offences appear to have been committed, and it is not recommending any disciplinary action.

The Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne in 2011 outlined evidence given to the inquiry which indicated that gardaí did not act on information received in relation to complaints of sexual abuse in the diocese.

GSOC launched a public interest investigation in March 2012 to establish whether these matters may have constituted an offence by members of the gardaí or whether they justified disciplinary proceedings.

The GSOC investigation focused on the handling of allegations made by two victims in relation to one priest.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Whatever happened to the papal infallible edict that “Outside the Roman Catholic Church, there is no salvation”? The opposite is true for countless victims of the Vatican crimes against humanity’s children where their only salvation is found “outside the church”.

It is now the Catholic Church’s in-thing and one of the biggest sign that the Vatican Titanic is sunken deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy when the only way that the church all-male hierarchy can deal or settle with its victims–– is via expensive secular lawyers–––and completely “outside the church”. That has been the modus operandi of the Catholic Church throughout the USA and Europe for over a decade when cardinals and bishops and religious congregations haggled –– via lawyers –– with their thousands of victims who were ruined when they were children by the JP2 Army’s crimes against humanity.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY SCOTT DOLAN STAFF WRITER
sdolan@pressherald.com | @scottddolan | 207-791-6304

Lawyers will make closing arguments on Thursday in the federal defamation trial of Paul Kendrick of Freeport who is accused of widely broadcasting a false claim that the American founder of an orphanage in Haiti sexually abused the boys in his care for years.

Kendrick, 65, has passionately defended his claim that Michael Geilenfeld is a “serial child molester” and testified at the trial in U.S. District Court in Portland that what he wrote in an ongoing mass blast email campaign starting in January of 2011 is true.

Geilenfeld, 63, has repeatedly denied abusing children in his care at St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince in Haiti and filed suit against Kendrick in 2013, claiming Kendrick’s email campaign had so damaged his reputation that an American fundraising group for the orphanage had lost about $2 million in donations.

Geilenfeld has also accused Kendrick of using his campaign to have Geilenfeld arrested by Haitian authorities on child sex abuse charges last September. Geilenfeld remained locked up in prison in Port-au-Prince for 237 days before a Haitian judge dismissed the case. Geilenfeld was arrested in Haiti just one month before his case against Kendrick in Portland had been scheduled for trial. The trial here was delayed until his release in April, after which he was able to return to the United States, though Haitian officials had seized his passport. Geilenfeld’s accusers in Haiti have since filed an appeal reviving the case against him there, regardless of the outcome of the trial against Kendrick here.

Geilenfeld told the jurors as he testified last week that he is gay and that Haiti is a “very homophobic” country. His sexual orientation has led to his being accused of child sex abuse several times in the past, though those allegations were quickly dispelled, he testified.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At both of Father Andrew McCormick’s criminal trials, the alleged victim in the case, as well as the prosecutor, made a point of saying that the victim who claimed he was sexually abused as a 10-year-old altar boy wasn’t in it for the money.

That’s why he hadn’t filed a civil suit, the victim said on the witness stand at both trials.

On March 6, 2014, at Father Andy’s first trial, the priest’s defense lawyer, William J. Brennan, cautioned the jury that although the alleged victim had not yet filed a civil suit against the archdiocese, “I don’t know what he’s gonna do tomorrow.”

If people keep telling you, “It’s not about the money, it’s about the money,” Brennan told the jury.

On June 10, the alleged victim in the case fulfilled Brennan’s prophecy by filing a civil suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, John Doe v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Msgr. William Lynn, and Father Andrew McCormick.

Both of Father Andy’s trials ended in deadlocked juries. On April 10th, after the second mistrial in 14 months, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp told Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright that the D.A.’s office would not retry the case a third time. But now the alleged victim is after Father Andy in the civil courts. And in the civil complaint, “John Doe” is seeking damages of more than $50,000, plus punitive damages.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Twice, the Rev. Andrew McCormick went to trial in Philadelphia for allegedly sexually assaulting an altar boy almost 18 years ago in a Bridesburg parish.

Twice, Common Pleas Court juries failed to reach a verdict.

Now, three months after the District Attorney’s Office announced it would not retry McCormick and withdrew the charges, the now-27-year-old former altar boy has sued McCormick and the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The lawsuit under the pseudonym “John Doe” was filed July 10 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for emotional and other injuries sustained by the alleged victim.

Trevan Borum, the Center City lawyer who defended McCormick in his last criminal trial, which ended with a hung jury on April 10, on Wednesday denounced the lawsuit.

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UNTIED STATES
The Tribune

BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
wdouglas@mcclatchydc.com
July 22, 2015

Pope Francis’ popularity has taken a hit in the United States, especially among political conservatives, a new Gallup survey revealed Wednesday.

The pontiff’s favorability rating among Americans has dropped from 76 percent in February 2014 to 59 percent this month, according to Gallup. The decline returned Francis close to the 58 percent favorability rating registered in April 2013, soon after he was elected pope.

Simultaneously, his unfavorable numbers have increased from 9 percent in 2014 to 16 percent this month. The number of Americans who have never heard of or have no opinion of Pope Francis jumped from 16 percent in February 2014 to 25 percent this month.

The slide in Francis’ popularity comes ahead of his first visit to the United States in September. He’s scheduled to visit Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. where he’ll become the first pope to address a joint session of Congress.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

The judge-led inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes does not want to be burdened by including two more institutions in its investigations, a campaigner has claimed.

Dr Niall Meehan, whose research helped uncover the scale of infant deaths at Dublin’s Bethany Home, launched a withering attack on Judge Yvonne Murphy for failing to recommend the inclusion of the Westbank Orphanage in Wicklow and the Braemar Rescue Home for Protestant Girls in Cork.

He claimed he was told by a member of staff that the inquiry would be overburdened if it increased its workload at this stage.

“The dead children are witness to our determination. While the forgotten survivors assembled here and throughout the world hold these graves they will never be at peace,” he said.

The Mother and Baby inquiry was set up after revelations last year about a mass grave at a Catholic run home for unmarried mothers in Tuam, Co Galway, where 796 infants died between 1925 and 1961.

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IRELAND
RTE News

There has been renewed criticism of the Government’s ongoing failure to include two Protestant institutions in the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.

Dr Niall Meehan of the Bethany Survivors Group has also criticised the Government’s continuing failure to offer redress to former residents despite including the Dublin home in the commission’s terms of reference.

Dr Meehan made his remarks in the course of an address to a memorial meeting for survivors of the Bethany Home at Mount Jerome Cemetery where 227 children were discovered five years ago buried in unmarked graves.

Welcoming the Government’s inclusion of that Protestant-run home in the Murphy Commission’s terms of reference, Dr Meehan criticised the failure to commit to paying redress.

He said this failure had occurred despite proof of government complicity in death and neglect from the 1920s until the 1950s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Ben Quinn and Josh Halliday
Wednesday 22 July 2015

Government papers about the former home secretary Leon Brittan are among a fresh batch of documents which have come to light months after the conclusion of an official review into whether allegations of child abuse were covered up by the Home Office in the 1980s.

The documents also reveal that the then director general of MI5 corresponded with the Cabinet Secretary in 1986 about an unnamed MP who was alleged to have “a penchant for small boys” but accepted the politican’s word that he did not.

The letter from Sir Anthony Duff to Sir Robert Armstrong added: “At the present stage … the risks of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger.”

Making it clear that they are “concerned and disappointed” about not being told earlier about the documents, the authors of a report earlier this year into allegations historical child abuse by powerful figures cited the letter as a “striking example” of how crimes against children were not considered as seriously as they would today.

“The risk to children is not considered at all,” Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, and barrister Richard Whittam, said in a supplement to their review, published online on Wednesday.

The Home Office said a fresh search of the archives had been carried out after a file emerged earlier this year that should have been submitted to Wanless and Whittam.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Slugger O’Toole

Brian Walker on 22 July 2015

At last . Papers naming prominent politicians of the 1970s and 80s as suspects which couldn’t be found at first have at last turned up in boxes marked “Miscellaneous” in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall. The local interest couldn’t be higher, after being stimulated by media persistence.

The papers also reveal that the Kincora children’s home in Northern Ireland was at the heart of further correspondence involving the security services.

Allegations of abuse and trafficking of children to England have centred on the home in Belfast.

The papers reveal former intelligence officer Colin Wallace raised concerns about abuse at Kincora – the papers had been stored by the Cabinet Office.

The contents of the papers have still not been revealed but have been shared with the police and will be passed to the Child Abuse Inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard.

The question now becomes even more insistent: will the single trial of evidence leading from Kincora to MI5 and to Conservative politicians be more difficult to follow if it continues to be split between the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry under the retired High Court judge Tony Hart and the delayed Child Abuse Inquiry led by the New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard?

Despite protests from Peter Robinson and others, Theresa May the Home Secretary turned down requests to include the Kincora scandal in the UK inquiry despite the obvious strong links with UK officialdom, while promising full cooperation with the NI inquiry which also has statutory powers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Live

22 JULY 2015
BY CHRIS KILPATRICK

Allegations of abuse and trafficking of children to England have centred on the East Belfast home

The notorious Kincora house of horrors was at the heart of correspondence involving British security services, historical Government documents on child abuse have revealed.

Allegations of abuse and trafficking of children to England have centred on the East Belfast home.

The newly released batch of file names reportedly reveal former intelligence officer Colin Wallace raised concerns about abuse at Kincora.

Mr Wallace previously told how he spoke out about the abuse four decades ago – but no action was taken.

Amnesty International said the latest revelations “will only fuel public disquiet that Kincora has been excluded from the one inquiry which has a chance of getting at the truth”.

It has long been suspected well-known figures within the British establishment, including high-ranking civil servants and senior military officers, were involved in the abuse.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Haim Lev
First Publish: 7/22/2015

A Nazareth Court sentenced Rabbi Yaakov Deutsch from Afula to nine years in prison on Wednesday, after he was convicted on charges of sexual abuse against four teenagers – two boys and two girls – whom he taught.

Deutsch was also sentenced with paying a 290,000 shekel ($75,895) fine.

The full seriousness of Deutsch’s actions were examined in the court hearing for the sentencing, and the verdict condemned Deutsch’s acts and motives.

Regarding the testimony of one victim, “it was wrong to think that the accused has the power to ‘cure’ her, and he even made her believe that the relationship between him and her is an ‘instruction from above,'” the verdict stated, noting that the rabbi was using religion as a front for the abuse.

“These acts began when she was about 15-years-old – young and vulnerable – and caused her great confusion as to the morality of the conjugal visits with the accused in light of her haredi education,” it continued. “Between the two there was an ongoing relationship […] in flagrant violation of the trust of the complainant and the accused, and despite her young age.”

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MICHIGAN
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Stanislaus Bur was ordained for the Grand Rapids MI diocese in 1950. He assisted at several Grand Rapids diocesan parishes, transferring to the Saginaw diocese in 1971 when his then-parish became part of that diocese. He retired in 1985, per the Official Catholic Directory. Media reports indicate Bur was forced from active ministry in the early 1990s after a man reported to the Grand Rapids diocese that Bur sexual abused him in 1958 when he was a little boy and an Iona parishioner. The diocese deemed the accusation credible and paid for the man’s therapy from 1992-2001. Bur stated in 2002 that he “may have touched boys’ genitals” to teach them about their bodies, but said he did not abuse them. In March 2008 there were new allegations against Bur of past sexual abuse. Bur died in February 2009.

Ordained: 1950
Died: Feb. 1, 2009

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

There is further pressure on the Government to include abuse claims at the Kincora Boys’ Home in a Westminster inquiry after official files have been found that contain allegations about the east Belfast institution.

The revelation comes as key Westminster figures from the 1970s and 1980s have also been named in a series of files released by the Home Office.

A fresh search of Home Office archives resulted in a number of files that mention Sir Peter Morrison, who was an aide to Margaret Thatcher, former Cabinet minister Leon Brittan, ex-diplomat Sir Peter Hayman and former minister Sir William van Straubenzee as well as references to Kincora.

One of the files relating to Hayman was held by the Cabinet Office but “overlooked” during a previous trawl for information.

Documents that refer to Straubenzee had been earmarked for destruction but National Archives officials flagged them up to the Government.

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FLORIDA
Naples Daily News

Ryan Mills
Jul 22, 2015

NAPLES, Fla. – An East Naples priest who placed on leave earlier this year while the church conducted an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against him has been reinstated after the church cleared him recently of wrongdoing.

Diocese of Venice Bishop Frank Dewane reinstated Rev. Leo Riley on the advice of a review board, said Bob Reddy, a diocese spokesman. Before the investigation, Riley, 60, had served at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on Rattlesnake Hammock Road since 2013.

“Father Riley asked for a leave of absence. He’s going to take some time off to reflect on what he wants to do next, what he wants to do as a priest,” Reddy said. “He may come back at St. Peters. He may come back somewhere else. He just wanted some time off to get over the trauma of the situation.”

The church launched its investigation after a man came forward in December claiming to have been sexually abused by Riley 30 years ago in an Iowa parish. Jeff Buchheit, 39, told Iowa media earlier this year that he was abused by Riley in 1985, when he was an altar boy at Resurrection School in Dubuque.

The church launched its investigation, hiring a private investigators — a former FBI agent — to interview Riley, Buchheit and others. Riley, who denied the allegations from the start, submitted to a polygraph examination last month, his attorney said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

John Ferguson
Victoria Editor
Melbourne

Victims of pedophile priests ­believe former bishop of ­Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns will not be held to account for his years of allegedly covering up child sex abuse, saying they are used to being disappointed by investigating authorities and the Catholic Church.

The royal commission into child sex abuse is yet to finalise the witness list for when it returns to Ballarat at the end of this year but Bishop Mulkearns is considered highly likely to be asked to give evidence.

A Geelong magistrate’s decision this week to call Bishop Mulkearns as a witness for the committal hearing of an alleged pedophile priest has raised the possibility in survivors’ minds of gaining some answers for why the abuse lasted as long as it did.

Bishop Mulkearns served as the bishop of Ballarat between 1971-97 and oversaw the movement of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, from parish to parish when complaints about his offending were made.

Abuse survivor Andrew ­Collins told The Australian yesterday he wanted to know when Bishop Mulkearns first became aware of Ridsdale’s offending and which other offenders he knew about.

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IRELAND
Wexford People

A FORMER Wexford Christan Brother is to be questioned by gardai over allegations of sexual abuse when he was based in the town more than 30 years ago.

The alleged offences against young teenagers took place at the CBS in Wexford during the 1980s, the victims were all aged around 12 or 13 years old.

According to a well-placed source, five or six people have made allegations against the retired brother, who is living elsewhere in the country.

‘Detectives from Wexford will be interviewing him in the near-future,’ said the source.

‘We are carrying out an investigation and there have been number of statements made by the victims,’ said a garda spokesman. ‘some of the allegations have been with us for some time and we are continuing to receive others.’

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Online

Jul 22, 2015 Gal Cohen

Rabbi Yaakov Deutsch, who was convicted of sexually assaulting young boys and girls, was sent to prison for nine years. Judge Teofik Katili from the Nazareth District Court also sentenced Deutsch to three years probation. Deutsch, who served as a congregational rabbi in Afula and was charged three years ago for serious offenses, will also be required to compensate the victims.

In 2012, an indictment was filed against Deutsch for sexual offenses against boys and girls aged 13-15. Although Deutsch pleaded not guilty, the Nazareth District Court convicted him last year and said that he took advantage of his religious status.

Among other things, the indictment detailed a case in which he ordered a 15 year old girl to touch him, claiming that in this way “energy would be transferred from his body to hers”, which he claimed would heal an illness that she was dealing with. After she recovered, the two resumed their relationship and had sex. According to the indictment, one of their meetings was held in the synagogue.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

Gallup has conducted a poll on the Pope’s popularity, two months before he is due to visit New York, Washington and Philadelphia. Francis’ favourability rating in the US has dropped since February 2014

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

He is still popular, but not super-popular as he was a year ago. This is the picture that emerges from a poll conducted in the US between 8 and 12 July by consulting company Gallup.

The results were published on Wednesday 22 July, just two months before Francis is due to arrive in the US, where he will be visiting New York, Washington and Philadelphia after his stop-over in Cuba. 59% of Americans have a favourable opinion of Pope Francis while 16% have an unfavourable opinion of him and 25% has no opinion of him or has never heard of him. It is interesting to compare these results to those of previous polls about Francis conducted by Gallup.

A month after his election in April 2013, Pope Francis had a 58% favourability rating in the US against 10% who had an unfavourable opinion of him. 31% did not have an opinion about him or had never heard of him.

Francis’ popularity shot up in February 2014, when, according to Gallup, 76% of Americans had a favourable opinion of the Pope, 9% did not and 16% had no opinion of him or had never heard of him.

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FRANCE
Christian Post

French Man Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Girl Claims Abuse by Catholic Priest Turned Him Into Pedophile; Sues Vatican for $54K

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
July 22, 2015

An elderly French man who has been convinced of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl has said that sex abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest turned him into a pedophile. The man added that he is suing the Vatican for $54,000.

Emmanuel Ludot, the lawyer for the 64-year-old French man who was not named, told France’s RTL channel that his client is demanding punishment for the 82-year-old priest who abused him.

The French man is claiming that the priest, who cannot be jailed due to the statute of limitations, began abusing him when he was 12 at a boarding school. The incidents of sexual assault allegedly continued for several years.

“My client is pursuing this priest to allow him a speedier recovery. He has been in therapy for many years and it’s imperative that his attacker is condemned by justice,” Ludot said, adding that his client “lives with these paedophilic impulses like a disease.”

The 64-year-old man is reportedly suing the Vatican for moving the priest to Switzerland in an effort to conceal his crimes, when allegations of abuse first started surfacing several decades ago.

“In the coming days, I will pursue the Holy See, who installed the priest, who gave him a shelter in the ’80s when he was shamed by his victims,” the French man said.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

CEBU CITY—An investigation that Church officials here described as “internal” is ongoing over reports that a priest had sexually molested a teenage female choir member right inside the parish convent in a town in southwestern Cebu.

The victim is a 17-year-old member of the parish choir.

According to reports, the priest sexually molested them on Christmas Eve last year.

“The archdiocese will look into this serious allegation,” said Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesperson of the archdiocese.

“Allegations of this kind cannot be ignored,” Tan said.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma has instructed Msgr. Rey Penagunda, one of the two vicar generals of the archdiocese, to investigate.

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PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Andrew S. Campbell was ordained for the Order of St. Benedict (Benedictines) in 1981. He has been assigned to Pennsylvania State Catholic Center in State College PA, Chicago’s Northwestern University and, since 1987, to St. Vincent College in Latrobe PA. He is a professor of English. Campbell was accused in a 2003 lawsuit, along with two other Benedictine monks, of sexually abusing a 16-year-old altar boy after plying him with alcohol and drugs. A judged ruled that Campbell and one of the other monks “could not have intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon [the boy] even if the allegations were true. ”

Ordained: 1981

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

[Father Jeremiah N. Murasso, Ph.D. – Graduation Theological Foundation]

By RACHEL ETTLINGER (Patch Staff)
July 10, 2015

Rev. Jeremiah N. Murasso, current pastor of two Waterbury parishes since 2012, has been suspended after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor at the St. Francis Home for Children, a school which he was the director from 1992 to 1995, according to the New Haven Register.

Murasso has served at St. Joseph Church in New Haven from 1982 to 1985 and at St. Vincent de Paul Church in East Haven from 1985 to 1989, the Register reported.

Murasso has been placed on administrative leave “until this allegation is resolved,” the Register reported. Criminal charges have yet to be filed.

Anyone with information about Murasso, or other suspected abusers, is asked to contact secular officials, not church officials, because bishops have had a history of allowing priests to remain in positions of power after they’re accused of being abusers, the Register reported.

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GERMANY
Newsweek

By Conor Gaffey 7/16/15

The curious case of an Italian footballer who owes the German Catholic Church €1.7m in unpaid church taxes has hit a snag as a second appeal hearing produced no conclusive result.

Luca Toni, who played for German giants Bayern Munich between 2007 and 2009, is facing the bill for failing to pay the kirchensteuer, a tax of between 8-9% of their income tax levied on all Catholics, Protestants and Jews living in Germany.

The striker, who is a Catholic, is now suing the city of Munich and his former tax advisors for compensation after claiming that he was misled following his transfer to Munich from Italian side Fiorentina in 2007, according to German publication DW.

The case highlights the religious levies operating in Germany, which generate billions for religious institutions and have led to waves of Christians renouncing their church membership in protest.

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GERMANY
Christian Today

Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 20 July 2015

More than 200,000 German Roman Catholics formally left the Church last year in a blow not just to its membership figures but to its income.

Germans who belong to a designated Church pay an additional proportion of their income tax – between eight and nine per cent – towards its support. However, they can opt out of this by notifying the tax authorities that they no longer wish to do so. Increasing numbers of Roman Catholics have been taking this step in recent years, with the 2014 figure representing a 22 per cent jump from the previous year, from 178,805 to 217,716.

According to the 2014 statistics, only 2,809 people entered the Church while 6,314 were “readmitted”.

The formal withdrawals, however, do not tell the full story. Many are likely to be nominal believers looking to save money, while others are likely to have withdrawn as a protest over scandals – some of them while continuing to attend church. Only a third of German Catholics actually pay the church tax, but the Church is still very wealthy – the tax brought in a staggering £4.6 billion in 2013.

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GERMANY
Newsweek

By Conor Gaffey 7/21/15

New data released last week by the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference shows that 217,716 people left the Catholic Church in Germany last year, a 22 percent increase from the previous year.

In the past five years, more than 820,000 German Catholics have renounced their membership, according to official church data. Compared to the withdrawal rate in 1990, last year’s exodus represented a 52 percent increase.

Commenting on the figures, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, said the bishops were “painfully aware” of the high number of withdrawals but declined to give specific reasons for people leaving the church.

“Behind the numbers of church withdrawals are personal life decisions that we in each case profoundly regret but also respect the freedom of choice,” said Marx.

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VATICAN CITY
Zenit

After being discharged last Friday from the hospital where he was recovering, Josef Wesolowski, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is back at the Vatican. According to the Holy See Press Office, the former nuncio is in the residence of the College of Penitentiaries, “under medical care”. The Holy See specified that Wesolowski, who stands accused of pedophilia and possession of child pornography, was hospitalized because of “a serious drop in blood pressure, due to the heat and tension, as well as his age.”

Wesolowski’s trial was set to begin on July 11th but it was suspended after only six minutes, due to the sudden indisposition of the accused, who had also promised to be present.

Three criminal charges weigh upon the Archbishop, who now faces six to seven years of detention:

1. Acquisition via the Internet of child pornography, representing minors under 18, in more or less explicit obscene poses.

2. Sexual abuse of boys between the ages of 13 and 16, in one case perpetrated in complicity with one of his collaborators, the former deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes.

3. Receiving stolen goods, for having acquired, received and hidden the pornographic material in question.

4. Grave psychological damages of the adolescent victims of the abuses.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 23

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Officials at a Canton-based church group apparently erased the name of one of their treasurers after he was arrested in Indianapolis for paying for sex with a prostitute and intimidating her.

According to the Indianapolis Star, “In a biography that has since been deleted from the group’s website, “John Robert Fiers, 53, Indianapolis, was “credited as a founding member and the treasurer-general” of the Worldwide Fellowship of Independent Christian Churches (330 354 5963).

[Indianapolis Star]

Shame on the Worldwide Fellowship of Independent Christian Churches and its top officials (including Rev. Everett Lee Caldwell, Rev. Victor Allen Brown, Rev. Irvine Alafia Bryer, Rev. Kristten Nicole Caldwell).

Instead of acting like caring shepherds, they acted like shrewd corporate CEO’s. Instead of being honest, they are being deceptive. Instead of helping police with prosecution, they’re hindering prosecution. Instead of aggressively seeking out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fliers’ crimes, they’re aggressively erasing facts and seeking only to protect their comfort and reputations.

We hope that anyone with information or suspicions about Fliers, or any other known or suspected wrongdoer in the Worldwide Fellowship of Independent Christian Churches will find the courage to report abuses and cover ups to law enforcement.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 22 July 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Joseph Kodakallil as eparchial bishop of Satna of the Syro-Malabars (area 45,188, population 10,459,000, Catholics 220,000, priests 142, religious 276), India. The bishop-elect was born in Upputhode, India in 19656 and ordained a priest in 1991. He holds a doctorate in liturgy form the Pontifical Oriental Institute, and has served as parish priest, rector of the St Thomas Minor Seminary, Satna, professor and vice-rector at St. Ephrem’s Theological College, Satna, and protosyncellus of the eparchy. He is currently parish priest of St. Vincent’s Cathedral.

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UNITED STATES
Gallup

by Art Swift

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis’ favorability rating in the U.S. has returned to where it was when he was elected pope. It is now at 59%, down from 76% in early 2014. The pontiff’s rating is similar to the 58% he received from Americans in April 2013, soon after he was elected pope.

After Pope Francis was elected the leader of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church in March 2013, he attempted to focus the church on a renewed sense of protecting the poor, on interfaith relations and on respecting gay and lesbian members of the church. He was lauded in the American news media, with accolades including Time magazine naming him the Person of the Year in 2013. The next time Gallup asked about Pope Francis, in February 2014, his favorability had swelled to 76%.

In the current poll, conducted July 8-12, Francis’ favorable rating declined, while his unfavorable rating increased to 16% from 9% in 2014. One-quarter of Americans say they have never heard of him or have no opinion, up from 16% in 2014. Now removed from the plaudits of 2013 and the high ratings of 2014, it appears that fewer Americans know enough about the pope to be able to rate him.

Pope’s Image Among Catholics and Conservatives Worsens

The drop in the pope’s favorable rating is driven by a decline among Catholics and political conservatives, two groups that have been ardent supporters of the modern papacy. Seventy-one percent of Catholics say they have a favorable image of Francis, down from 89% last year.

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CHILE
La Nacion

[The Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, made ​​a strong defense of Juan Barros and his appointment by Pope Francis as bishop of Osorno, which has been questioned by national public opinion and especially by the Catholic community Osorno.The Holy See and pope were not able to discern any proof that Barros covered-up for Fernando Karadima, Ezzati said.]

El arzobispo de Santiago, cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, hizo una férrea defensa de Juan Barros y su designación, por parte del Papa Francisco, como obispo de Osorno, lo que ha sido cuestionado por la opinión pública nacional y en especial por parte de la comunidad católica osornina.

“La Santa Sede y el Papa Francisco han podido discernir que no hay ninguna prueba, ninguna”, dijo Ezzati, en referencia a las denuncias que lo señalan como encubridor de los abusos sexuales del sacerdote Fernando Karadima.

El arzobispo dijo que si bien “tenemos que tener la capacidad de denunciar y castigar lo que es verdad, también tenemos que tener la capacidad de decir con voz alta que quien no es culpable no puede ser simplemente juzgado por las voces que giran alrededor”.

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CANADA
The News Watch

THUNDER BAY – A former bible-camp counsellor has pleaded guilty to 10 charges of sexually abusing underage victims.

Jeff Paxton, 48, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual assault, three counts of gross indecency and one count of invitation to sexual touching that were filed against him in 2013.

At the time of his arrest city police said the charges relate to incidents from 1983 and 2004 with boys ranging in age from seven to 14 years old.

Police said Paxton had served as a counsellor at the Round Lake Bible Camp near Nolalu and had worked with other church groups. He had also been a babysitter.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Newcastle Court has been told evidence relating to the character of Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson will be produced in his trial for concealing child sexual abuse.

Wilson was not in court today, as his barrister Simon Buchen and the Crown gave an update of proceedings.

Wilson has already pleaded not guilty to concealing the serious indictable offence of another person.

That person is the dead paedophile Hunter Valley priest Jim Fletcher.

The court has been told there are 52 potential witnesses, but not all will be called.

The case has been adjourned to September 23.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 21, 2015

… the more they stay the same.

This morning the Vatican announced the appointments of three new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

And one of them is a problem: vicar general and moderator of the Curia of the archdiocese Joseph Brennan.

LA’s vicars general have been a sorry lot.

Former vicar general Msgr. Michael Myers resigned in 2009 after a New York Times article showed that he allowed a self-admitted sex addict and molester to be a priest in the archdiocese.

Another former vicar general, Msgr. Richard Loomis testified in 2009 that “Mahony ordered him not to inform parishes of allegations against the now defrocked Rev. Michael Baker.”

So he didn’t. What did Brennan do as vicar general? Well, we know that he used LA’s Catholics to lobby lawmakers on behalf of Archbishop Gomez.

In a 2013 email, he asked Catholics to write and call their state representatives and tell them to vote no on SB131, the California Child Victims Act. If passed, it would have opened the doors of the civil courts to victims of child sexual abuse.

The bill ended up passing through both houses. It was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown, at the behest of the bishops. It’s no secret why Gomez and Brennan lobbied so hard against the bill. A similar bill in Minnesota unearthed decades of child sex abuse and cover-up. The cover-up was so bad, in fact, that one archdiocese is subject to a criminal probe and St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstadt just resigned in disgrace.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 21, 2015

I was in an interview the other day when I was asked whether SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (the group for whom I have volunteered for the past 12 years) paid me.

When I said, no—that I am, in fact, a volunteer with the organization—the writer said, “That’s good. You wouldn’t want to be seen as a professional victim.”

I swallowed hard, and let it drop.

Here’s the rub: SNAP is constantly being bashed by its opponents for being “professional victims.”

But since when is taking a stand, demanding change and accountability, and running an organization been “being a professional victim?”

No one looks at other great victim-based organizations like the National Center for Victims of Crime or RAINN: The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network and says, “If you really care about the cause, you would work for free.” You certainly don’t look at your child’s teacher and say, “If you truly believed in education, you’d refuse a paycheck.”

So why do people look at SNAP’s full time, professional (and sorely underpaid) staff differently? It’s time for that view to end.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., July 20, 2015

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE — Attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup, along with attorneys for its insurance companies and attorneys for sex abuse claimants, are headed back into mediation with a new mediator.

At a status hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday, Judge David T. Thuma, who noted he was “not a big fan of making people mediate if they don’t want to mediate,” told the attorneys he would be ordering them back into mediation, and he accepted their consensual recommendation for a new mediator, attorney Frank “Dirk” Murchison, of Taos.

“Let me leave you all with the notion that I’m going to enter an order to make you mediate with Mr. Murchison,” Thuma said at the conclusion of the hearing.

The new mediation session will be held in Albuquerque on dates that have yet to be determined. The Catholic Mutual insurance company, which insures the Gallup Diocese, has agreed to pay Murchison’s fees.

Last month’s unsuccessful mediation, conducted by retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Randall J. Newsome, was held in Phoenix June 10-11.

Conflicting views

Murchison’s selection as mediator was about the only subject all the attorneys could agree upon.

Much of the 68-minute hearing was devoted to discussions about the recently filed motions for relief from the automatic stay — although a hearing on that matter isn’t slated to be held until next month — and conflicting views about the Diocese of Gallup’s insurance coverage.

While attorneys for the diocese and the insurance companies had urged Thuma to order the parties back into mediation, attorneys representing sex abuse claimants expressed skepticism that mediation with the diocese and the insurance companies will be successful.

“This issue here, and I’m going to focus on the big issue that we have in reaching a settlement here, is the value of the damages here,” attorney Ilan D. Scharf said. “The dollar figure you’re going to put on the damages.”

Scharf, an attorney with the Unsecured Creditors Committee, stood in for the committee’s lead attorney James Stang. The committee represents the interests of sex abuse claimants in the case.

“The concern we have is that people on that side of the table, entities on that side of the table, do not view the value of the claims in the same universe that we’re looking at them,” Scharf said.

Understanding value

The Unsecured Creditors Committee recently filed a memorandum supporting motions by attorneys Robert E. Pastor and John Manly requesting Thuma lift the automatic stay in the bankruptcy case and allow three of their civil clergy sex abuse lawsuits to precede to trial in Arizona’s Coconino County Superior Court.

Taking the cases to trial, Scharf argued, would help all the parties involved in the bankruptcy to “get an understanding of what the value that a jury would grant” the sex abuse survivors.

Susan G. Boswell, the lead bankruptcy attorney for the diocese, disputed Scharf’s argument, and stated that one of the cases Pastor and Manly want to take to trial involves an uninsured claim.

“The claimant in that case can get, you know, I mean, name a number. Twenty million? Five million? Two million? It’s meaningless in the context of the assets of this case,” Boswell said, citing insurance coverage issues.

“We understand, your honor, the abuse is horrific,” Boswell added. “We understand that people deserve to be compensated, but we have to do it in the context of what there is here.”

“The value that a court or jury would give that claim will absolutely drive what the potential risk that every other entity involved, including the insurance companies and the debtors, sees with respect to what claims are really worth here,” Scharf responded.

Insurance issues

Although all the attorneys were careful not to disclose the confidential reasons why last month’s mediation was unsuccessful, Friday’s hearing made it apparent that insurance coverage — or lack of coverage in some cases — was an ongoing thorny issue.

“One of the difficulties that we have, your honor, is that we have coverage issues,” attorney Ed Mazel of the New Mexico Property Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association told Thuma. “And we have policy limit issues. And we have discrete issues that depend on interpretations of a contract. Not factual issues. Not valuing claims. We have discrete legal issues.”

Mazel, along with other insurance company attorneys Everett Cygal and Mark Ish, talked about various policies and coverage, statutory limits and aggregate limits, and the definition of insurance terms. Mazel expressed hope that Murchison, who has experience in insurance law, would be able to help the parties resolve the insurance issues.

According to Scharf, the Unsecured Creditors Committee had determined there was “substantial insurance” available for about one-third of the 57 sex abuse claims. A couple of claims involve some liability for the Franciscans, he said, a small subset involve potential contribution claims from other third parties, and another “15 or so” claims are covered by Catholic Mutual.

“We have done a top down analysis, claim by claim, and we think there is significant coverage here, you know, tens of millions of dollars of coverage available,” Scharf said of the Catholic Mutual claims.

No answers

Pastor, who filed 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Diocese of Gallup before Bishop James S. Wall halted the lawsuits by filing the Chapter 11 petition, said he and the other attorneys representing the sex abuse claimants weren’t buying the insurance companies’ arguments about coverage issues. Pastor asked Thuma to consider lifting the automatic stay if the mediation didn’t result in a settlement by a specific date.

“The coverage issues aren’t real,” Pastor said. “Intentional act exclusion, occurrence, stacking, not stacking — we’ve all dealt with them in every sex abuse case we have. And it’s my experience insurance companies, they need to feel that they’re going to be exposed to a significant risk before they move. And we need to have that backstop and that backstop is a jury trial.”

As the hearing concluded, Thuma wondered out loud to the attorneys what would happen if the second mediation fails.

“I don’t know what to do after that,” Thuma said. “Maybe we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY SCOTT DOLAN STAFF WRITER

Freeport resident Paul Kendrick blames himself that an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found no evidence to support his widely broadcast claim that the American founder of an orphanage in Haiti had sexually abused many of the boys in his care.

Kendrick, 65, testified Tuesday in his own defense during the third week of his trial in U.S. District Court in Portland on civil charges of defamation and false imprisonment brought against him by the 63-year-old orphanage director, Michael Geilenfeld.

Kendrick said that a group of former residents of St. Joseph’s Home for Boys had admitted to him and to his associates in Haiti that Geilenfeld had sexually abused them, but he had not anticipated that the men wouldn’t repeat those accusations when they were interviewed by a federal Homeland Security investigator who flew to Haiti to talk to them.

Kendrick’s testimony grew testy at times, especially as Geilenfeld’s attorney, Peter DeTroy, cross-examined him pointedly about the Homeland Security investigation. That investigation was closed in January 2013 without charges against Geilenfeld. DeTroy also questioned Kendrick about a failed lawsuit brought by Kendrick’s associates in the Haitian judicial system that put Geilenfeld in jail there for 237 days, before a Haitian judge dismissed the case.

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ROME
Chiesa

With twelve criteria for their selection. Proposed from Australia by Paul A. McGavin, theologian and economist

by Sandro Magister

ROME, July 21, 2015 – Rather than a streamlining of the curia, what is happening inside the Vatican walls is the opposite. It is a continual addition of new organisms to the existing ones.

The latest to be born, on June 27, was a secretariat for communication set up to oversee the pontifical council for social communications, the press office of the Holy See, the Vatican internet service, Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Center, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican print shop, the photographic service, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

As prefect of the newly created secretariat, Pope Francis appointed one of his closest collaborators and confidants, Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, who also remains director of the Vatican television channel.

Viganò’s first sortie in his new garb, in “L’Osservatore Romano” of July 15, was a panegyric on the communicative “orality” of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, taking as an example one of his speeches in Paraguay:

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INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Justin L. Mack, justin.mack@Indystar.com July 21, 2015

A longtime police chaplain is facing criminal charges after being accused of paying for sex with a prostitute.

John Robert Fiers, 53, Indianapolis, has been charged in Marion County with two counts of patronizing a prostitute and one count of intimidation, all misdemeanors.

The investigation began on April 22 when an IMPD vice officer conducted a human trafficking and prostitution investigation at a Motel 6 in the 8300 block of Bash Street.

A woman at the motel told police that she knew police were conducting the investigation even before she was arrested on a prostitution charge, court documents said.

She said that the day before a man she knew only as “Bob from Noblesville” showed her his IMPD badge and told her that he was a chaplain.

The woman told police that “Bob” made three appointments with her between April 16 and April 21 and that he paid $120 each time, court documents said. He told her he was a chaplain after having sex during the second appointment.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

07/21/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

The Chancery of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis recently issued two notices related to the status of the vacant see. Both are interesting in their own right, but the second notice (about the portraits of the resigned bishops) has a humorous element as well. It seems to suggest that parishes have been mailing the portraits back to the Chancery in a manner similar to what many faithful did when they received Archbishop Nienstedt’s DVD on the proposed marriage amendment. Kudos to the pastors of the parishes that thought of it.

MEMORANDUM

Date: July 20, 2015 To: All Clergy From: Susan Mulheron, JCL, Chancellor for Canonical Affairs Re: Status of Vacant See
–
Vicars and Consultative Bodies

Many questions have been asked about how our status of a vacant see will affect various positions and consultative bodies. After conferring with Archbishop Hebda on each of these matters, I offer the following update and clarifications for your reference:

Canonical Authority of the Apostolic Administrator:

In the mandate given to Archbishop Hebda by the Holy See, he has been granted the “rights, duties, and faculties” of a diocesan bishop. This means that for as long as he remains in office as Apostolic Administrator, he would theoretically be able to take some actions that a typical diocesan administrator sede vacante would not be able to take. There is nonetheless a general principle of canon law that while the see is vacant no innovations should be made, and Archbishop Hebda has indicated that it his desire to abide by that as much as possible. It may be the case, however, that for the good of this local Church he will need to make some major decisions (e.g., when required by the Reorganization process or criminal proceedings that are currently underway). In general, if Archbishop Hebda is able to prudently defer a decision to the next Archbishop, he has stated that he intends to do so. During the vacant see, you may experience some delay in decisions that require the approval of the Archbishop, or the decision may be deferred entirely.

Presbyteral Council:

As you probably know, during a vacant see, the Presbyteral Council ceases. The College of Consultors, however, remains in place, and is to fulfill the role of the Presbyteral Council. Archbishop Hebda has indicated he plans to convene the College in early August to seek their counsel on a number of matters.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey July 21

Pope Francis has named Chicago priest Robert Barron one of three new assistant bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a move some insiders are calling noteworthy because of his wide social media presence.

Barron is well known among church-going Catholics, since his video series on Catholicism is regularly shown in churches across the U.S. His appointment is both surprising and not surprising, said James Martin, editor at large of America magazine.

“It’s surprising because bishops aren’t normally people who are so media savvy,” Martin said. “But given his talent and profile, I thought this was just a matter of time.”

Barron’s films, books and YouTube clips have made him a “household name” in some Catholic Church circles, Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo writes. Barron said in a news release that his own appointment came as “an enormous surprise.”

“I think in the past, church leaders have not fully appreciated the potential of all forms of media, including social media,” Martin said. “Bob has a big presence on YouTube that very few bishops can match.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Fox 2

JULY 21, 2015, BY KEVIN S. HELD

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – In an unprecedented move, a priest who was accused of child sex abuse charges that were later dropped is now filing suit against his accusers.

Father Joseph Jiang is suing the alleged victim’s parents, SNAP, two police officers, and the City of St. Louis.

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FRANCE
20 Minutes

Vincent Vantighe
Publié le 20.07.

Il a dû remonter à la source du mal pour avoir une chance de guérir. Un homme a obtenu, le 7 juillet, la condamnation d’un prêtre de 82 ans qui l’avait agressé sexuellement dans un collège de Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) en 1963. Si la peine civile, prononcée par le tribunal d’instance de Nantua (Ain), est d’un euro de dommages et intérêts, elle est loin d’être «symbolique» pour lui.

« Mon client a lui-même été condamné à deux ans de prison ferme pour des attouchements sexuels sur mineurs, confie Emmanuel Ludot, son avocat. Et selon lui, il a agi de la sorte car il avait lui-même été victime de ce genre de faits durant son enfance. Cette reconnaissance par la justice va enfin lui permettre de se reconstruire… »

Le prêtre a reconnu « des caresses et des attouchements »

C’est du reste parce que « son travail de psychothérapie se poursuit » plus de cinquante ans après et que sa guérison n’est pas «consolidée» que Jean-Claude* a pu éviter que les faits ne soient considérés comme prescrits par la justice.

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FRANCE
L’Obs

L’homme ne compte pas en rester là et veut maintenant réclamer 50.000 euros d’indemnités au Vatican pour avoir “inoculé le virus de la pédophilie” au prêtre en question.

C’est une première en France. Un homme condamné pour actes pédophiles a obtenu le 7 juillet dernier la condamnation d’un prêtre de 82 ans qui l’avait lui-même agressé sexuellement dans un collège de Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) en 1963 et qu’il juge responsable de sa déviance sexuelle, relève RTL.

Condamné il y a une dizaine d’années à deux ans de prison ferme pour des attouchements sexuels sur mineurs, l’homme en question avait justifié son geste en expliquant avoir été agressé par ce prêtre aumônier lorsqu’il avait une douzaine d’années. Une psychologue a confirmé que le religieux était responsable de la déviance de sa victime. Auditionné, l’ecclésiastique a fini par reconnaître des caresses et des attouchements, mais n’avait jamais été inquiété par la justice, les faits étant prescrits sur le plan pénal.

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FRANCE
International Business Times

By Tom Porter
July 21, 2015

A 64-year-old man in eastern France is suing the Vatican, claiming that abuse by a Catholic priest when he was a child turned him into a paedophile.

The man alleges that his boarding school chaplain began abusing him when he was 12, with the sexual assaults continuing for several years.

Recently, the victim was himself convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. He claims that the abuse he suffered caused him to become a paedophile.

He is demanding that the 82-year-old priest who abused him, who cannot be jailed due to the statute of limitations despite confessing to the crime, be punished for his deeds.

The priest, a former chaplain in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, was ordered to pay €1 in damages to his victim.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joseph O’Callaghan | Jul. 21, 2015 NCR Today

Robert Mickens’ column calling for a new way of choosing bishops is most timely. Although the Code of Canon Law of 1983 (c. 377) says that the pope freely appoints bishops, papal appointment is contrary to the church’s centurieslong tradition of the election of bishops by the clergy and people of the diocese.

Pope Leo I the Great emphatically affirmed that right when he declared: “The one who is to preside over all should be elected by all.” He added: “When the election of the chief priest is being considered, the one whom the unanimous consent of the clergy and people demands should be preferred. … No one who is unwanted and unasked for should be ordained, lest the city despise or hate a bishop whom they did not choose.”

The right of the clergy and people of the diocese to choose their bishops is hallowed by usage from the earliest times by canons enacted by church councils and by repeated papal affirmation.

Today, however, scarcely any vestige remains of that venerable custom. Rather, the pope, without the active participation of the clergy and people, appoints the bishops, choosing men known for their fidelity to the papacy and their doctrinal orthodoxy. The pope also exercises the right to transfer bishops, thereby encouraging the popular conception that they are merely branch managers of a centralized corporation whose primary allegiance will always be to the pope and not to the people they serve.

The transfer of bishops is so common that it seems like an embarrassing game of musical chairs. Bishops are seldom chosen to govern a diocese where they served as priests and thus are strangers to the priests and people committed to their care. Smaller dioceses are often viewed as stepping stones to more important prizes. In ancient times, the bishop was described as wedded to his diocese and his ring was the visible sign of that nuptial bond. Pope Callistus I described a bishop who transferred to another diocese as a “spiritual adulterer.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Statement from Cappy Larson, Orthodox Christian Director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

For more information: Cappy Larson (cappy@rlarson.com, 415-637-2006); David Clohessy, SNAP Director (davidgclohessy@gmail.com, 314-566-9790)

“Predator” bishop still on the job
Deemed guilty by colleagues, he’s now in a parish
His superiors claims “we haven’t put him to work there”
But controversial cleric is listed on PA church’s website
SNAP sends harsh message to hierarchs now meeting in Atlanta
“Block this dangerous, deceptive and callous move,” group pleads

A Chicago bishop found guilty of sexual misconduct and forced him to retire by his colleagues is now in charge of a western Pennsylvania parish and a support group for victims wants him ousted

[Chicago Tribune]

[Orthodox Church in America]

[Orthodox Church in America]

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) about Bishop Matthias Moriak who once headed the Chicago diocese. Moriak was retired by the synod of bishops in April 2013, after he was found to have engaged in sexual misconduct.

SNAP wants church officials to oust the bishop from active ministry.

Moriak recently began working in a parish in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. The OCA’s chancellor says that another bishop asked Moriak to take the position, but that this assignment had not been approved. He went on to say that the OCA synod would be meeting to consider the terms of Moriak’s retirement.

[Chicago Tribune]

Members of SNAP have written to the synod pleading with them to put the kibosh on this assignment. All of the bishops are in Atlanta from July 20-24, at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel, for their national council. The complete text of the letter, sent earlier today by email, can be found below.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 7/21/2015

Ezra Sheinberg, the prominent rabbi in Tzfat (Safed) accused by no fewer than ten women of sexual abuse over an extended period of time, has blamed ‘coerced confessions’ for his arrest Tuesday.

“A guiding hand has caused the complainants to complain against me; today is a holiday and the truth will come out,” Sheinberg claimed, during a court hearing in Tzfat. Sheinberg’s detention was extended by three days on Tuesday afternoon.

“One thing leads to another and one complainant comes forward, then another admits she was forced into saying what she said,” he insisted. “Things will become clearer soon.”

Sheinberg also denied reports that he threatened his prison guards, and said that he thanks them for the good treatment he has received.

Sheinberg was arrested while trying to flee Israel at Ben-Gurion Airport earlier this month.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Jul. 21, 2015 A Roman Observer

The Vatican published its annual financial statement last week and Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, says it’s the most accurate accounting of the money situation at Roman Catholic HQ ever.

Some of his admirers and scribes in the press called it the “most comprehensive and transparent balance sheet” the Vatican has ever published.

It is not at all clear where they got that notion, but Pell and his right-hand finance man, Danny Casey, are probably laughing. Yes, all the way to the bank.

The reality is that this newly published financial report is not at all transparent or detailed and probably not completely accurate — at least not in the information that has been made public.

The document released July 16 is the briefest of summaries (a bit more than a page and a half in English and about the same length in Italian) of two different financial statements.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New court filing in priest’s “bizarre” lawsuit
In a “first,” he sues young alleged victim’s parents
He also alleges “conspiracy: folks, SNAP, cops & city
It’s because he’s from China, controversial cleric claims
SNAP says archbishop is backing this “vicious intimidation”
Group uses little-known state “anti-SLAPP” law to defend itself
And group asks judge to punish predator by making him pay fees

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, an attorney and clergy abuse victims will discuss a new legal filing responding to an unprecedented recent federal lawsuit in which a twice-accused predator priest claims a young alleged victim’s parents, SNAP leaders, police officers and St. Louis city officials are conspiring against him.

In the new filing, attorneys for SNAP contend

–St. Louis’ archbishop is behind the priest’s unusual and “mean-spirited” lawsuit,
–criminal charges against the cleric were dropped because the young victim is struggling emotionally, &
The filing also says that the “conspiracy” accusations are impossible because SNAP leaders

–had no contact with law enforcement about the case and
–spoke with the young boy’s parents after the priest’s arrest.

They also

–ask the judge to essentially punish the priest by forcing him to pay for SNAP’s attorney fees.
–blast the archbishop for letting the priest sue his victim’s parents.

When:
TODAY, Tuesday, July 21 at 1:30 p.m.

Where:
Outside the St. Louis Cathedral, 4431 Lindell at Newstead in the city’s Central West End

Who:
An attorney and three-four members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

Why:
Last month, prosecutors dropped child sex abuse charges against a twice-accused archdiocesan priest with close ties to St. Louis’ top Catholic official. They said, however, that they hope to re-file the case.

In an unprecedented move, the priest, Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, is suing the alleged victim’s parents, SNAP, two police officers and the city of St. Louis claiming he’s the victim of a conspiracy to slander him and violate his religious freedom because he’s Chinese and Catholic.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Today, attorneys for SNAP are disclosing the first formal response to what they call Fr. Jiang’s “bizarre” suit. In it, they charge that Archbishop Robert Carlson is behind Fr. Jiang’s lawsuit, which is the first time in Missouri history (as best SNAP can tell) that a Catholic official sued a victim’s parents. (A similar suit filed by a California priest against SNAP resulted in an award of $120,000 for SNAP and against the cleric.)

SNAP also charges that Fr. Jiang’s legal move is a “SLAPP,” a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, designed to scare and discourage victims, witnesses and whistleblowers into staying silent.

[Wikipedia]

Even though a civil child sex abuse case against the priest is pending, church staff have hinted that the suspended cleric may be put back to work in a parish. SNAP opposes that potential move and wants church staff to take the priest’s passport to prevent him from fleeing the US.

Despite an official national church policy mandating “openness” in pedophile priest cases, Archbishop Carlson refuses to reveal where Fr. Jiang is living, why he had a bedroom in Carlson’s home and why Fr. Jiang followed Carlson from city to city (a highly unusual arrangement in the Catholic church). Carlson also refuses to address an allegation that Fr. Jiang admitted to a Lincoln County girl’s parents that he’d molested their daughter and that Carlson tried to get the parents to return a $20,000 check that the priest reportedly left on their car windshield. SNAP wants Carlson to honor his pledges to be “transparent” and publicly disclose this information.

In June 2012, Fr. Jiang was arrested in for repeatedly molesting the Lincoln County girl numerous times (mostly in her home). He was charged with alleged child sex crimes and “victim tampering.” In November 2013, those charges were dismissed. In April 2014, he was arrested on charges of repeatedly molesting a St. Louis city boy between 2011-2012 (at a Catholic school). According to the suit, Carlson was “supervising Fr. Jiang very closely,” “knew that (he) was a danger to children” and abused the girl while “living in the archbishop’s home.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

July 21, 2015 7:50 am | Author: berger

Two attorneys are defending SNAP in a complicated defamation and “conspiracy” suit filed by accused predator priest Fr. Joseph Jiang. Previously big firm litigators, Daniel Carpenter and Amy Lorenz-Moser started their own firm earlier this year. She has 15 years of experience in civil litigation and longstanding pro bono practice advocating on behalf of victims of rape and abuse. That work has garnered her numerous awards and recognitions including Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly’s highest honor and the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award. Carpenter has over 20 years experience in civil litigation and has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2001. He is also a Super Lawyers Top 50 Lawyer for St. Louis.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 22, 2015

The scandal-plagued Catholic Dio­cese of Ballarat has paid for a respected Victorian QC to intervene on behalf of its former ­bishop, Ronald Mulkearns, in a case against an alleged pedophile priest.

David Grace QC warned Geelong Magistrates Court against ­accepting the evidence of Bishop Mulkearns in its criminal proceedings against ­Robert Claffey, who is charged with historical sex offences. Magistrate John Lesser ordered that Bishop Mulkearns appear and give sworn evidence next week about the alleged pedophile activities of Mr Claffey, des­pite the objections of Mr Grace.

Bishop Mulkearns avoided ­giving evidence to the Victorian child-abuse inquiry following a ­report by a clinical neuropsychologist he had diminished capacity following a stroke in 1998.

Mr Grace said Bishop Mul­kearns could produce false memories when asked to recall events relating to the former priest.

The Geelong court heard an ­alleged teenage victim of Mr ­Claffey told his father of the abuse and that the father then went to Bishop Mulkearns.

This follows evidence heard by the royal commission in May that Bishop Mulkearns knew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale’s offending and moved him from parish to parish in the western Victorian diocese of Ballarat without informing the police.

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ITALY
Global Post

Valeria Fraschetti on Jul 21, 2015

CASERTA, Italy — Another woman had just knocked at the front door of Casa Ruth carrying a terrible, familiar burden. Fleeing the poverty of her country for the promise of a decent job, she ended up in Libya and was forced into sex work.

For two years the woman had been locked up in an apartment-turned-brothel with other Nigerian trafficking victims. One day Libyan militiamen entered and ransacked the house and 17 of them gang raped her, she said.

A few days later she was put on a boat to Italy with other African migrants hoping for a better life in Europe.

Italian authorities sent her to Casa Ruth, a shelter for migrant victims of sex trafficking in Caserta, just north of Naples. There she met Sister Rita Giaretta, a 58-year-old Ursuline nun who has been like a mother to many in this safe house that she started 20 years ago to provide the trafficking survivors with spiritual and legal help.

The young migrant woman is safe now, but devastated, and pregnant with a baby whose father is unknown.

“She keeps crying and saying that she does not want the baby,” said Sister Giaretta. “But two days ago she hugged me and told me, ‘Thank you, mum.’”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 21 July 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

– accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Los Angeles, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Gerald E. Wilkerson upon reaching the age limit.

– appointed Msgr. Joseph V. Brennan, Msgr. David G. O’Connell, and Fr. Robert E. Barron as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Los Angeles (area 14,019, population 11,852,427, Catholics 4,276,930, priests 1,111, permanent deacons 383, religious 2,229), U.S.A.

Bishop-elect Brennan was born in Van Nuys, U.S.A. in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, including parish vicar, parish priest, chaplain, member of the presbyteral council, vicar general and moderator of the curia. In 2005 he was named Chaplain of His Holiness.

Bishop-elect O’Connell was born in Cork, Ireland in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1979. He has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, including parish vicar, parish priest, dean and member of the presbyteral council and parish administrator. In 1999 he was named Prelate of Honour.

Bishop-elect Barron was born in Chicago, U.S.A. in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He holds a masters in philosophy from the Catholic University of America in Washington, a licentiate in theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Chicago, and a doctorate in theology from the Institut Catholique, Paris, France. He has served in a number of pastoral and academic roles, including parish vicar, professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, founder and executive director of the Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, scholar in residence at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He is currently rector and president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

SNAP Update, Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is Off to an Impressive Start

A half a billion dollars. That’s how much Australian government officials will spend.

Five years (through 2017). That’s how long they’ll work.

Toward what end? Investigating, exposing – and hopefully preventing – future child sex crimes and cover ups in institutions.

A number of governmental bodies across the globe have done probes somewhat like this one. (Most notable, perhaps, is the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which found that the Vatican “still places children in many countries at high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children” and has “policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators.”)

So what makes this Australian initiative, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, significant and different?

Well, look at the results so far:

–In part, because of pressure generated by the Commission, one Catholic bishop (Bishop Max Davis) has been arrested on charges that he molested a child 45 years ago, before he was even ordained.

–Another Catholic bishop (Bishop Philip Wilson) has been arrested on charges of failing to report child sex crimes by a colleague in the 1970s.

–The Commission has overruled or overridden a number of objections and “privileges” claimed by church officials in the hopes of continuing to keep their secrets secret.

–It is publishing some of the documentation it gets or finds online (though much more remains to be revealed).

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ISRAEL
YNet

Kobi Nachshoni
Published: 07.21.15

Rabbi Shalom Arush, one of the leaders of the Breslov Hasidic movement, has called on fellow rabbis not to meet with women seeking an advice or blessing from them, but to settle for a short correspondence with them.

According to Arush, it is also women’s responsibility not to meet with rabbis.

Kabbalist Rabbi Ezra Scheinberg, who founded a yeshiva and a devoted community in Safed and became famous across Israel for his alleged supernatural powers, tries to flee the country following suspicions that he raped and molested 10 women who sought his advice.

Last Thursday, it was cleared for publication that Ezra Sheinberg of Safed is the kabbalist rabbi suspected of raping some of his female followers.

In a lesson he delivered last week in his yeshiva, Chut Shel Chessed (“a touch of grace”), Rabbi Arush said: “You can’t twist the Torah. Our Sages of Blessed Memory said: ‘There is no guardian for promiscuity’ (i.e., person cannot trust himself not to engage in forbidden sex, and should therefore impose commands on himself to prevent it).”

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LOS ANGELES
Catholic Culture

Pope Francis has appointed Father Robert Barron, rector/president of Mundelein Seminary and the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago, as an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles.

Father Barron, who is known for his commitment to evangelization, is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and producer of the documentary series “Catholicism.”

Pope Francis also named Msgr. Joseph Brennan and Msgr. David O’Connell as auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles. The former is the archdiocese’s vicar general and moderator of the curia; the latter, pastor of a Los Angeles parish.

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NEW YORK
News 12

[with video]

NEW CITY – The defense began their case Monday in the high-profile sexual abuse trial of Rockland Rabbi Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld.

As News 12 has reported, Laiby Stern told the judge that Taubenfeld sexually molested him when he went for counseling after the Sept. 11. attacks. Stern, now 22, claims the abuse carried on for five years.

Defense attorney Gerard Damiani began Monday’s proceedings with a request to have the case tossed, claiming the victim lied about the timeline of reported abuse. The judge refused, much to the relief of child advocates who packed the courthouse.

As the court broke for lunch, other supporters of the alleged victim claimed they were harassed by religious men close to the rabbi.

Damiani told News 12 that he plans to call at least six more witnesses to the stand before he rests his case. It is not clear if Taubenfeld will take the stand.

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UNITED STATES
StAR

Kevin O’Brien

Bill Cosby is not a Catholic, so what does he have to do with the Catholic Church?

To answer that question, I am going to bring in Plato, Socrates, St. Bernadette and the now obscure comedian Professor Irwin Corey (pictured below).

It all began early this morning, when I woke up angry.

I was at the Super Eight in Higginsville, Missouri, which is bad enough, but the only reason I had spent the night there was that my wife had insisted that I not try to make it all the way home after last night’s show. I’m on the road every weekend, performing shows for one of my two theatrical companies, Upstage Productions or Theater of the Word Incorporated, and this weekend was no exception, featuring three performances in two days, with 14 hours of driving and 1,000 miles round trip in the car, along with my acting partner Maria Romine. My wife Karen remained at home, but insisted that I not try to push myself and make it all the way back to St. Louis after our Saturday night show in Kansas City. So, like a good husband, I did what my wife back home told me to do, and Maria and I got two rooms at the Super Eight in Higginsville, where I promptly fell asleep on Saturday night. But a crack of thunder woke me up Sunday morning at 5:45 am.

We’ve been having torrential downpours all spring and summer in Missouri (last month was the wettest June on record in St. Louis), and the storms are often so violent and the rainfall so heavy that it’s hazardous to drive – especially on the interstate. “If we had simply gone home last night we would have avoided this!” I said to myself as the rain began to pour. The radar on my phone showed lots of oranges and reds between Higginsville and home, and you don’t want to drive through the oranges or reds. But God has a plan for everything, so I decided that we’d roll with it (as the thunder rolls). “If we leave Higginsville by 7:00 am, we’ll make the Latin Mass in O’Fallon by 10:00, and even Confession, which begins at 9:30,” I said to myself, and texted this plan to my actress Maria, who was undoubtedly just getting up in her room down the hall.

Now, I’m not a big Latin Mass fan per se. What I seek are reverent Masses, in whatever language or form. I choose Latin when I can because Latin Masses are almost always reverent. But I’m on the road about fifty weekends out of the year, and fulfilling my Sunday obligation (with Maria, who is, like me, a Catholic convert) can be a real challenge. It’s always easy to find the nearest Catholic Church (with the help of masstimes.org), but finding a Mass that doesn’t ruin my day is not easy. I freely admit that attending an irreverent Mass should not necessarily be a near occasion of sin, making me curse under my breath and despise my neighbor in the next pew over, and that if I were a better Christian I could be more tolerant of what we experience on the road, but we experience some real horrors. And sometimes the Masses we attend are not merely irreverent but downright sacrilegious.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler Jul 20, 2015

Don’t let the understated headline fool you. There’s dynamite in this CWN headline story.

It’s not big news that the director of the Vatican press office admits he is “confused” by Pope Francis. We’re all confused. Join the club, Father Lombardi.

But when the Vatican’s chief spokesman reveals that he doesn’t know what’s on the Pope’s schedule—and no one else knows, either, except the Pope himself—that’s astonishing. Indeed all of the remarks by Father Federico Lombardi, as quoted in an otherwise unremarkable article in National Geographic are eye-opening. The papal spokesman limns a picture of a leader who doesn’t give clear directions, doesn’t communicate with his staff, and (at least in diplomatic affairs) doesn’t have a strategic vision.

“No one knows all of what he’s doing,” Lombardi says. “His personal secretary doesn’t even know. I have to call around: One person knows one part of his schedule, someone else knows another part.”
The job of a spokesman is to make his boss look good. These comments by Father Lombardi definitely do not make Pope Francis look good. What’s happening here?

* Has the frustration at the Vatican reached such a level that Father Lombardi feels that he can make critical comments about the Pontiff, knowing that other Vatican officials will back him? Or…

* Is Father Lombardi himself frustrated enough so that he’s willing to risk his job? Or…

* Does the papal spokesman—who knows the Pope much better than you and I do—feel confident that Pope Francis won’t be unhappy with the comments in National Geographic?

But what those remarkable quotes say about Father Lombardi is a secondary issue. What’s really important is what they say about Pope Francis.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY RYAN DUNN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

A national advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse is criticizing the actions of the Rev. Samuel Punnoor and officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Monday that returning Father Punnoor to his home diocese in India is irresponsible behavior.

“This solves nothing. In fact, this increases the chances of kids getting hurt,” said Barbara Blaine, president of the Chicago-based group, in a written statement.

An ecclesiastical investigation of Father Punnoor determined he violated the diocese’s rules of harassment and physical contact with youth.

Citing the potential for other cases, Ms. Blaine asked Bishop Daniel Thomas to visit parishes where Father Punnoor worked and encourage whistle-blowers.

Father Punnoor served as vicar at Most Blessed Sacrament in Toledo and St. Joseph in Maumee. He was suspended May 22.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com
on July 20, 2015

Claiming the abuse should have been prevented, a Dauphin County woman filed a lawsuit Monday against a former church youth leader and the East Shore church where he spent years molesting her.

The lead defendant in the county court case, Joshua Markelwitz, is serving a 12- to 24-year state prison term after pleading guilty last year to charges that he sexually abused the girl he met through a youth group at Charlton United Methodist Church in Lower Paxton Township.

The woman, who claims the molestation started in 2009 when she was 12, also is suing the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church.

She contends that church officials didn’t properly screen Markelwitz before allowing him to work with youth and violated their own policies that would have barred him from being alone with the girl on church property.

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

Jul 20 2015

An arrest warrant was issued Monday for the former choir director of an Ogden church — charged with having sexual contact with a 12-year-old female parishioner — after he missed a court appearance.

Jose Manuel Zamarripa, 27, was charged last month in 2nd District Court with one count each of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child, second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor and third-degree felony dealing in material harmful to a minor.

Charging documents say Zamarripa and the girl exchanged nude photos via text messaging during a five-month relationship, and that he admitted to police having sexual contact with the girl.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

By Dennis Owens
Published: July 20, 2015

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Joshua Mitchell Markelwitz is serving 12-24 years in state prison for sexually abusing an underage girl while serving as a youth leader at Charlton United Methodist Church in Lower Paxton Township.

The abuse started when the girl was 12 years old and continued for several years.

According to a civil lawsuit filed Monday in Dauphin County court, Markelwitz is not the only guilty party.

“We think there’s been a lack of institutional control,” Harrisburg attorney Benjamin Andreozzi said. “The church had several opportunities to prevent this abuse from happening.”

Andreozzi represents the victim. The lawsuit contends that Markelwitz has a prior felony conviction and served time while in the military and therefore should not have been hired by Charlton in the first place.

The lawsuit also names the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church, the church’s governing body.

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COLORADO
Daily Camera

By Mitchell Byars
Staff Writer

POSTED: 07/20/2015

Boulder prosecutors allege the four VineLife Church officials accused of covering up reports that a youth pastor at the church sexually assaulted a teenaged congregant have refused to accept responsibility for their actions and created a “disturbing culture of secrecy and non-disclosure” at the church.

“At the heart of this case is a local church’s coordinated effort to conceal a victim’s report of repeated acts of sexual abuse — perpetrated by a youth pastor, the son of one of the church’s elders — from the church’s own congregation, the local community and law enforcement in Boulder County,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in the case.

VineLife pastors Walter Roberson and Robert Young, as well as church elders Warren Williams and Edward Bennell, are due in Boulder County Court for sentencing Wednesday after pleading no contest to failure to report child abuse, a Class 3 misdemeanor.

According to the memorandum prepared by the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence the four men to either eight days on a jail work crew or 100 hours of community service.

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AUSTRALIA
Red Flag

18 July 2015 | Robert Austin

Mick Armstrong’s article on Catholic and other church child abuse (Red Flag #49) is a worthy addition to his contributions to working class history over many years. However, Armstrong’s article can be pressed further.

The precursor to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a NSW special commission of inquiry into high-level police and Catholic Church collaboration to protect paedophile priests in the Hunter region of NSW.

Commissioner Margaret Cuneen found no evidence to support the claim, but tried to discredit detective chief inspector Peter Fox, whose earlier investigations had revealed decades of church torture of children. His seniors stopped the investigations prematurely. Cuneen parroted the police view that Fox had “lost his objectivity” by empathising with victims.

Under the guise of bourgeois legality, Cuneen also provided a podium for senior police to attack Fairfax journalist Joanne McCarthy, whose investigative reports drew heavily on Fox’s, blew the lid off the cover-up and, combined with popular protest, forced the state to appear to be addressing the issue.

But a key volume of the commission’s four-volume report related to potential criminal charges has been embargoed.

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FRANCE
The Local

A 64-year-old man in eastern France wants to see his former school chaplain convicted for “turning him into a paedophile”, over 50 years after the cleric abused him.

The abuse began when the 64-year-old man was just a 12-year-old pupil.

His boarding school chaplain, who is now an 82-year-old retiree, would regularly subject him to sexual assault and the abuse carried for several years.

Decades later, the victim became a paedophile himself, and was convicted after fondling a 15-year-old girl in the street.

The man has since grown distant from his wife and two children, and moved back in with his mother in Ain, eastern France, as he tries to rebuild his life.

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MINNESOTA
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
July 20, 2015

Yesturday , I wrote about the latest story in the Nienstedt case. I asked : What is unique?

Today let’s look at what he said in the article:

The former archbishop said he’d like his legacy to be the archdiocese’s strengthened child protection protocols developed with clergy abuse victims, the hiring of excellent leadership to oversee ministerial standards, and initiatives to strengthen parishes and schools.

Today I ask: Where was this protection and work in the New Ulm Dioceses. Because before he was the archbishop in Minneapolis and St Paul, he was the Bishop in New Ulm.

Look at the history. There was no stronger programs, release of names, or real (to say nothing of excellent) leadership. Now there was no Child Victims Act that was making the Church answer to survivors. So he wasn’t forced to released lists, or to even address the questions.

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UNITED STATES
Our Stories Untold

by RACHEL HALDER on Jul 18, 2015

Rae wrote a version of this piece, originally posted on Facebook, late on Friday, July 3, after attending the Mennonite Church USA’s “Service of Lament and Hope” for survivors of sexual abuse. The service came a day after MCUSA delegates passed two seemingly contradictory resolutions related to LGBTQ bodies. One, the “Resolution on Forbearance in the Midst of Difference,” submitted by a politically diverse coalition of pastors, asked Mennonite congregations to “forbear” with one another amidst their conflicts over “same-sex covenanted unions.”

The other, the “Resolution on the Status of the Membership Guidelines,” was submitted by the MCUSA Executive Board, and put forth its own interpretation of “forbearance,” stating, “In order to exercise forbearance on matters that divide us and to focus attention on the missional vision that unites us, the delegate assembly will not entertain changes to the Membership Guidelines for the next four years.” The Membership Guidelines of MCUSA condemn “homosexuality” and require MCUSA area conferences to “review” the ministerial credentials of any pastor performs a covenant or marriage ceremony for two people of the same gender.

On Thursday afternoon, after the Membership Guidelines resolution was passed, dozens of Pink Menno supporters stood silently in the hallway of the convention hall for nearly an hour, facing the outgoing foot traffic from the delegate hall. In order to pass through the hallway, delegates had to navigate a maze of pink-clad bodies. Many stood in tears; some, including Rae, wore pink duct tape over their mouths to symbolize the ongoing silencing of queer voices.

On Friday morning, the delegate body passed another resolution, a “Churchwide Statement on Sexual Abuse.”

— Stephanie Krehbiel

_______________________________

The evening of July 3rd I walked into MCUSA’s “Service of Lament and Hope” hoping to find a space for healing that I could come to with my wounds. I left that space with deep pain and extreme rage—a rage I rarely, if ever, feel. I was pissed off. No, that’s an understatement: I was furious.

On July 2nd our church passed “A Churchwide Statement on Sexual Abuse.” Elizabeth Soto Albrect, moderator of Mennonite Church USA, asked the delegates to be mindful when speaking about the subject matter with fellow delegates, as many among them could be sexual abuse survivors. “Certain things may trigger painful memories,” she stated.

Well, that service more than triggered painful memories—it triggered my rage. I was triggered by having that above statement spat right back out at my face. I was triggered by Mennonite Church USA’s lack of mindfulness when speaking to their constituents. My pain from Thursday, of being told through the passage of the Forbearance and Membership Guidelines Resolutions that I am not a legitimate member of the church, and that this fact won’t be debated again for four years, was triggered. The memory that not a single LGBTQ person was invited to speak in the delegate hall, and that when they “forcefully” exerted themselves through guerrilla theater because they are done with not being invited they were met with extreme anger and a demand to have the doors locked to keep the queer folk out, was triggered. The memory of being declared not worthy of respect was triggered. The violence of not having my body and personhood recognized was triggered. The painful memories of standing in silent protest while delegates walked by making condescending statements such as “Don’t worry, things will get better!” or not even looking me in the eye was triggered. Being reminded of the sin I continue to see and experience against me was triggering.

Mennonite Church USA, your words spoken the night of the 3rd are empty. They mean nothing to me, a survivor of sexualized violence, and a survivor of continued sexualized violence systematically orchestrated by you. The longer I sat in that service and listened to those words, while stealing glances at my fellow Pink Menno friends sitting in the pews with pain clearly written on their faces, the more my blood began to boil. Every word you uttered in that service could be, should be, directed towards them—yet we weren’t even acknowledged as a possible component of the equation. Every word you uttered in that service was directed towards me, yet it was completely inauthentic as you only acknowledged a tiny slice of the sexualized violence I have and continue to experience by the hands of the church. How can you not acknowledge the continued sexualized violence you perpetrate against me with absolutely zero acknowledgment of the pain and trauma you are not only causing me, but hundreds of other Mennonites, thousands if we count the countless persons who have been hurt over the years and have left the church because of this continuing spiritual, emotional, and abusive violence.

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INDIANA
Chicago Tribune

By James D. Wolf Jr.
Post-Tribune

A Valparaiso man has been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual battery for acts that allegedly happened between him and three developmentally disabled women at a Chesterton church after Bible study meetings.

Thomas Cooperider, 23, of the 800 block of Mirmar Drive in Valparaiso, is accused of committing the acts between November 2014 and April 2015 inside Liberty Bible Church, 824 N. Calumet Ave. in Chesterton, the probable cause affidavit states.

Cooperider said in a May 8 statement to police that contact was consensual, court documents state.

Porter County Sheriff’s Police Cmdr. Eric Jones became aware of the situation May 1 through an email sent by James Reeder, an Ogden Dunes police officer and Liberty Bible Church’s Safety Team coordinator, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by Porter County Sheriff’s Detective Brian Dziedzinski.

Reeder met with one of three of the Bible study leaders who had heard April 14 from one of the women that she had inappropriate contact with Cooperider, the affidavit states.

Although Reeder identified Cooperider as a former member and junior leader of the Bible study, John Duey, Director of Operations for Liberty Bible Church, stated in an email that Cooperider was someone who attended the study group and had no leadership position.

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INDIANA
The Raw Story

DAVID FERGUSON
20 JUL 2015

A Valparaiso, Indiana man has been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual battery after he allegedly sexually assaulted multiple mentally disabled women after leading them in Bible study.

According to the Chicago Tribune, 23-year-old Thomas Cooperider of Liberty Bible Church in Chesterton reportedly committed the acts between November 2014 and March of 2015 on church grounds.

In a May 8 interview with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department, Cooperider — who told police that he has been accepted to the law program at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University — began his statement by stating, “Everything that did happen was consensual between adults.”

However, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported that all of the women have varying degrees of mental disability, one of whom has a functioning IQ of 57.

The three women’s guardians contacted church officials, who in turn went to the police. All three of the victims say that Cooperider led them to secluded areas of the church and touched them without their permission.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

Monday 20 July 2015

Stephen Barber
Diocese of Oxford safeguarding advisor

The public inquiry into child sexual abuse has finally got off the ground.

At the third attempt, a chair was found: Justice Lowell Goddard, who is from New Zealand.

This means she is independent of the establishment in the UK, which could not be said of the previous candidates.

She is a judge, so used to hearing and assessing evidence.

She is a woman, which is important since some people suspect that some men do not take the sexual abuse of children as seriously as do most women.

The inquiry is into whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked for the Church of England to be examined first.

This is because we who work for the church know perfectly well that we have not always got it right, either in listening to survivors of abuse or in dealing effectively with perpetrators.

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PHILIPPINES
Sun.Star

Monday, July 20, 2015

By
JUSTIN K. VESTIL

THE priest who allegedly molested a 16-year-old girl has been closely monitored by the Archdiocese of Cebu since June this year.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, Cebu Archdiocesan spokesperson, told Sun.Star Cebu that since June this year, they have been observing the priest after they received complaints from his parishioners in Aloguinsan, Cebu, including the present incident.

Sun.Star Cebu withholds the name of the priest pending his comment.

Tan said that Msgr. Rey Penagunda, the vicar general assigned to investigate the case, is closely monitoring the priest.

The priest has denied the allegations, based on Penagunda’s initial investigation, Tan said.
Tan said they are also seeking the cooperation of the 16-year-old girl’s parents to urge the victim to provide a testimony on what happened.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

Safed Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, who is in detention after being accused of rape and sexual misconduct by numerous women, has been harassing prison guards ahead of his trial later this week.
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A number of guards and police officers lodged formal complaints with the Israel Prisons Service claiming Sheinberg attempted to intimidate them by placing a curse on them, Israel’s Army Radio reported Monday.

Staff at Tzalmon Prison, in the Galilee, said that Sheinberg singles out certain employees, copies down their names from their uniform name tags, and then declares, “I place on you a kepeida.” A kepeida is a spiritual curse falling on someone who has provoked anger or offense.

Religiously observant prison staff have become frightened of Sheinberg and are avoiding interacting with him.

Sheinberg also threatens staff by telling them he is a personal friend of the chief rabbi of the Israel Prison Service, Ofer Elimelech, and warning that Elimelech will see to it that they contract illnesses and suffer other misfortunes.

The IPS has opened an investigation.

Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who also serves as Tzalmon’s chaplain, said he attempted in vain to intervene and stop Sheinberg’s intimidation and verbal harassment. “I asked him to stop threatening people, but it didn’t work,” he said. “I don’t believe that the Almighty pays attention to his curses, I’ve encouraged the staff not to be afraid of him,” Eliyahu said.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

Another woman has filed a complaint Monday against Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg of Tzfat, who is accused of raping and sexually abusing women who came to him for halachic guidance.

A total of 13 complainants has so far filed charges against Sheinberg for rape, sexual assault and threats. He will be brought Wednesday to the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court for a remand hearing.

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ISRAEL
Forward

July 20, 2015
By Elana Stzokman
Israel

Over the past week, two men heading religious institutions in Israel have been added to the notorious roster of suspected sex predators in the religious Jewish world.

Rabbi Ezra Scheinberg was caught by police two weeks ago at Ben Gurion airport trying to avoid arrest on charges of rape, sexual harassment and indecent assault. Ten women have come forward so far and the police expect more complaints now that the court lifted the ban on releasing his name. According to the complaints, Scheinberg would rape women who came to him for spiritual counseling, and told the women it was part of their healing treatment. The police conducted a search of his house and removed computers, cell phones and other equipment.

Scheinberg, the 47-year-old founding head of Orot Ha’ari yeshiva in Safed, is considered a leading religious Zionist kabbalist and was known for his mystical “blessings” and abilities to “see” into people’s souls. He was considered a protégé of the late chief rabbi Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, father of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the current chief rabbi of Safed. Eliyahu has since disassociated himself from Scheinberg, and ordered him to leave Safed and resign from his yeshivah post. Judge Uri Shoham allowed the publication of the rabbi’s name in order to “encourage other complainants, who have requested not to expose themselves until now, to testify about what the suspect did to theme. There is also room to warn the public against him.”

According to police reports, Scheinberg, who is married and has eight children, had a confrontation with one of his accusers earlier this week, in which he said the sex was consensual. The woman in turn called him “impure.” The woman wrote in a letter to Scheinberg , “Thank God I am free of you…Thanks to your arrest, we can lift our heads again…We know you’re the evil one and we are fine, that you are twisted and we are straight, you are impure and abominable and we are the victims…After all these years of your intimidations, we are no longer scared. Your scare-tactics no longer work on us….If you had one drop of integrity of justice, of truth you would ask for our forgiveness. But your heart was always made of stone”

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 20

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

Toledo Catholic Bishop Daniel Thomas is sending a priest who has been accused of inappropriate acts with a child home to India. This is irresponsible. This solves nothing. In fact, this increases the chances of kids getting hurt.

[Toledo Blade]

[Toledo News Now]

Fr. Samuel Punnoor was caught having some kind of questionable, inappropriate physical contact with a child that didn’t rise to the level of a crime. But it’s unlikely this was a “one time” occurrence. In fact, we suspect that Fr. Punnoor HAS molested a child but hasn’t been caught yet.

Regardless, Toledo’s bishop should personally visit every parish where he worked, begging victims, witnesses & whistleblowers to call police. He should aggressively seek out – through pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites across the whole diocese – anyone who may have

He should send letters to former parishioners and former parochial school students and staff (who may have quit in light of Fr. Punnoor’s misdeeds), prodding them to call law enforcement if they have any information that could help law enforcement.

Furthermore, he should put Fr. Punnoor in a remote, secure, independently-run treatment facility, at least for a few months, instead of throwing him on a plane home.

For more than two weeks, Toledo Catholic officials kept silent about the allegations against Fr. Punnoor.

Even now, they apparently refuse to give any details that might be helpful to parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors or the public. Shame on them.

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Ewan Palmer
July 20, 2015

Former home secretary Leon Brittan and ex-MI6 agent Peter Hayman are among the suspects who were involved in paedophile rings operating in the 1980s, according to reports.

The late Conservative MP and British diplomat were both named by alleged victims during an investigation by Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes entitled Spies, Lords and Predators.

The show’s reporter, Ross Coulthart, said the allegations of a paedophile ring involving politicians, lords, the police and other high-profile names as “Britain’s biggest ever scandal”, which has the potential to “rock the establishment”.

One of those who spoke on the programme accused Brittan of regularly abusing children at the Dolphin Square estate in Pimlico in London – the guest house where former Liberal MP Cyril Smith is believed to have taken part in paedophile orgies.

The alleged victim, named only as Darren, told 60 Minutes: “[Lord Brittan] liked boys to dress in women’s underwear and he liked to be alone in the room to punish you for wearing underwear.”

Brittan, who died in January aged 75, was accused by Geoffrey Dickens of “mishandling” a dossier detailing allegations of a paedophile ring operating in the 1980s. Before his death, Brittan denied failing to sufficiency deal with the documents – which have since been lost – as well as being involved in a cover up of the abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN, RACHEL BAXENDALE THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 21, 2015

The bishop who failed to take ­action against Australia’s worst pedophile priest has been ordered to give court evidence next week, paving the way for him to face the child sex abuse royal commission.

Former bishop Ronald Mulkearns has for years avoided scrutiny over his alleged failure to curb systemic sex offending among his clergy in the west Victorian diocese of Ballarat, where the Catholic Church’s worst crimes were committed.

After having a stroke in 1998, Father Mulkearns avoided the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse in institutions, citing ill health, and had appeared unlikely to attend the royal ­commission into institutional res­ponses.

The Geelong Magistrates Court yesterday ordered Father Mulkearns to give evidence next week in the case of former priest Robert Claffey, who is charged with historical sex offences.

Father Mulkearns was the bishop overseeing Gerald Ridsdale when he allegedly abused possibly hundreds of children in the Ballarat diocese and shuffled him from parish to parish, as well as to Sydney, where he offended further.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WHDH

Updated: Jul 20, 2015

Scituate, Mass. (AP) –
Parishioners holding a round-the-clock protest in a closed Catholic church for nearly 11 years will have their day in court this week.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court hears arguments Wednesday in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston’s bid to evict the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini from the deconsecrated Scituate church.

A three-judge panel will only hear arguments; they are expected to issue a written decision at a later date.

The hearing comes after an appeals court judge in June ruled the protesters could continue their vigil while they appeal a lower court decision that declared them trespassers and ordered them to vacate.

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UNITED STATES
Inquisitr

A group of ex-Jehovah’s Witness members have assembled on Reddit to place a billboard calling out leadership in the church for failing to adequately address sexual abuse — and even for actively covering it up. The billboard points viewers to a website that offers evidence for the claims. The group hopes for the message to make an impact during upcoming conventions, which thousands will attend.

The goal isn’t to make more Jehovah’s Witnesses leave the religion, but to hold Elders accountable for failing to report sexual abuse. The website makes a case for failure to report incidents of sexual abuse, listing a number of cases in which victims were awarded large sums of money when courts determined that Jehovah’s Witness leaders failed to make a necessary report.

It goes on to explain that Elders are instructed to only turn over to authorities cases in which there are two witnesses — which means that in addition to the victim, either the perpetrator must confess, or the abuse must have been performed where another church member could witness it — something most sexual predators know to avoid.

In general, members of clergy are considered mandated reporters — that means that in most cases, if church Elders are aware of abuse, or have reason to believe a child is being abused, they’re expected to report it to authorities. This isn’t universal — state laws vary, and may include exemptions for “privileged” conversation, such as a confession of sin by the perpetrator. However, in many cases, simple failure to report may be a violation of law.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Australia is ready for new laws to hold institutions criminally responsible for child sexual abuse, a report says.

In a comprehensive examination of the country’s criminal justice system, the sex abuse royal commission says Australian law punishes individual offenders but not organisations.

The report outlines possible new offences to cover organisational criminal liability for institutional abuse, which would make it less likely an organisation could plead that it, too, was a victim of rogue behaviour.

That has been an argument put by some of the churches and charities examined during the commission’s 28 public hearings.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 20 July 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Dr. Salvatore Vecchio, formerly director of Human Resources at the Bambino Gesu Paedatric Hospital, Rome, as director of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See.

On Saturday 18 July, the Holy Father:

– appointed Msgr. Claudio Cipolla as bishop of Padua (area 3,297, population 1,068,498, Catholics 1,004,088, priests 990, permanent deacons 49, religious 1976), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Goito, Italy in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He has served in a number of roles in the diocese of Mantua, including parish vicar and director of diocesan Caritas. He is currently parish priest, episcopal vicar for the pastoral sector, and member of the college of consultors, the diocesan pastoral council and the commission for the continuing formation of the clergy. He is a “ratione officii” member of the episcopal council and the presbyteral council, and was named Chaplain of His Holiness in 2011. He succeeds bishop Antonio Mattiazzo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– appointed Fr. Basil Bhuriya, S.V.D., as bishop of Jhabua (area 21,366, population 5,812,071, Catholics 38,726, priests 68, religious 236), India. The bishop-elect was born in Panchjui, India in 1956, gave his solemn vows in 1985, and was ordained a priest in 1986. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Indore, India, and has served in an number of roles, including parish vicar in a number of parishes in the dioceses of Baroda, Indore and Jhabua and rector of the St. Thomas Seminary in Indore. He is currently parish priest and member of the Provincial Council of the Verbite Fathers in the Central Indian Province.

– appointed Fr. Corrado Melis as bishop of Ozieri (area 2,288, population 54,600, Catholics 54,200, priests 48, religious 54), Italy. The bishop elect was born in Sardara, Italy in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1988. He holds a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sardinia in Cagliari, and has served in a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Ales-Terralba, including parish vicar, vice rector of the diocesan seminary in Villacidro, director of the diocesan catechistic office, chaplain, parish administrator, and parish priest. He is currently parish priest of Santa Barbara in Villacidro, episcopal vicar for evangelisation and education, director of the diocesan office for family pastoral ministry, and director of the pastoral ministry of ecumenism. He is also a member of the college of consultors and the diocesan council for economic affairs.

– elevated Fr. Natale Paganelli, S.X., apostolic administrator of Makeni, Sierra Leone, to the dignity of bishop. The bishop-elect was born in Grignano di Brembate, Italy in 1956, gave his religious vows in 1979, and was ordained a priest in 1980.

– appointed Bishop Henry Akuna of Makeni, Sierra Leone, as auxiliary of the diocese of Kenema, (area 15,710, population 1,481,000, Catholics 87,000, priests 19, religious 32), Sierra Leone.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Kent and Sussex Courier

Paedophile teacher Christopher Howarth’s former school has paid tribute to the bravery of his victims who came forward to bring him to justice.

The ex-Uckfield Community Technology College deputy head teacher was convicted on Friday of 26 counts of abuse against two young boys.

It followed a two-week trial during which one of his victims said he was initially reluctant to come forward to police because of the 68-year-old’s status in the community.

The college today released a statement branding the actions of the former lay priest as “shocking and abhorrent”.

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