ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph (UK)

By AFP 21 May 2015

Australia’s former top Catholic cleric, now Pope Francis’ finance chief, has denied trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to keep quiet as an inquiry heard of horrifying abuse.

Cardinal George Pell spoke out on Thursday as abuse survivors demanded he return to Australia to give evidence to a royal commission on the allegations.

David Ridsdale, who was abused from age 11 by his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, a notorious paedophile priest now in jail, told the commission on Wednesday that he confided in family friend Cardinal Pell about the sex assaults in 1993.

He alleged that Cardinal Pell, who was appointed by Pope Francis in February 2014 to make the Vatican’s finances more transparent, went on to ask what it would cost to buy his silence.
The cardinal was also accused of helping to move the disgraced priest between parishes.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Allen Costantini, KARE May 20, 2015

HASTINGS, Minn. – After two days of questioning of prospective jurors, a jury of six men and eight women, including two alternates, was seated in the trial of a former priest. Francis Hoefgen, 64, is charged with First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct involving an altar boy in a Hastings parish.

Hoefgen, who was a monk at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, was also a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings in 1989-1991, when the alleged assaults occurred. The victim, who is now 36 years old, was a 4th grader when the alleged illegal conduct began and continued for two years.

Prosecutor Paul Beaumaster, Assistant Dakota County Attorney, told the jury in his opening statement that Hoefgen had “violated the trust and the body” of the boy. Beaumaster said the priest/child relationship progressed “to oral penetration and anal penetration” and only ended with Hoefgen left Hastings.

The name of the alleged molestation victim was mentioned in court, but KARE 11 is not revealing it, since he is an alleged rape victim.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

May 21, 2015

Madonna King

If George Pell had headed a company and not the Catholic Church in Australia, he would have been chased out by shareholders before he was transferred to the Vatican.

If he’d run a school, and not shown a willingness to investigate serious and systemic accusations against his senior staff, he would have had his contract ended.

Indeed, if he’d led a suburban scout chapter while a litany of crimes went on around him, he would have been stripped of all badges.

But he escaped all of that, by being the head of the Catholic Church in Australia. And now – because of that – the Church’s response to the endemic sex crimes it hid for so long is being seriously dented.

Yesterday’s evidence to the royal commission – in the form of allegations against the former Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney who now handles the Vatican’s finances – is jaw-dropping.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
21 MAY 2015

Nicky Davis, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says Cardinal Pell must appear before the commission to answer claims against him.

Survivors told the commission’s Ballarat hearings Cardinal Pell ignored their reports about clergy sex abuse.

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed a victim of a pedophile priest to keep quiet and dismissed another victim’s complaints as ‘ridiculous’.

“It is vastly inappropriate to respond to sworn evidence by courageous survivors with a media statement that callously dismisses their experience,” Ms Davis said on Thursday.

“If Cardinal Pell is at all genuine in his claims to recognise the seriousness of the crime of sexual violation of defenceless children, he would voluntarily return to Australia to give evidence under oath to the royal commission.”

Cardinal Pell denied covering up priests’ crimes or offering bribes to victims to remain silent, as was alleged at the commission.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/20/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

That sums up, in a nutshell, my response to yesterday’s news that Reverend Gerald Dvorak, a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, has been removed from ministry as a result of what the Archdiocese deemed to be a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

Father Dvorak was certainly not on my radar when I worked at the St Paul Chancery, and the timing of the allegations also raises question. According to the statement released by the Archdiocese, the alleged abuse occurred in the 1970s, although Father Dvorak was not ordained a priest until June 2, 1979. An MPR news report includes a link to a letter from a parish deacon indicating that the alleged abuse occurred when Dvorak was a seminarian at the Saint Paul Seminary.

If so, the Archdiocese’s options in resolving this matter will be limited, which raises questions as to why they chose to approach the matter as they have. The provisions of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People do not apply, and any resolution will depend on the cooperation of all involved.

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FLORIDA
WSVN

[with video]

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (WSVN) — An alarming allegation has surfaced against the Archdiocese of Miami, after a lawsuit was filed claiming they covered up sexual abuse by a priest nearly 20 years ago.

A man said he was molested when he was a teen, back in the ’80s, but instead of taking action at the time, the alleged victim claims, the Archdiocese reassigned the priest to another church.

The crime allegedly happened at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, dating back to 1989. The alleged victim said he was 14 years old when the priest at the church would call him into his residence, they would undress, wrestle, and the victim said he was then molested.

The victim said he reported the incident to his mother, and they called police. According to the alleged victim, there was an investigation. However, instead of removing the priest entirely, he was moved to another church, St. Pius X Catholic Church, in Fort Lauderdale.

The alleged victim said he’s coming forward 27 years later because he was triggered by his memories. “I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down. I have anxiety attacks, panic attacks, I’m having bad nightmares,” he said.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Karina Roman, CBC News

A group of aboriginal residential school survivors was in Ontario Superior Court Wednesday asking a judge to force the federal government to search for documents the former residents believe will help corroborate their claims of abuse.

The nine former students attended Bishop Horden residential school in Moose Factory, Ont. in the 1960s. They have pursued claims through the independent assessment process, the system set up under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement for former students to seek compensation for abuse.

Under the arrangement, the federal government is obliged to provide information about the former residential school, the people that worked there and any charges or convictions on record.

But in documents filed in court, the claimants say the government’s disclosure does not mention what these former students say they witnessed: namely, that some of the supervisors at Bishop Horden were arrested by police and some supervisors were fired.

They believe there must be documents, perhaps within the RCMP, to back up their recollections.

“To the adjudicator and [Department of Justice] counsel appearing at the IAP hearing, and even to the claimant’s counsel, with no documents coming forward about police involvement, it looks like a huge mistake or lie by that applicant,” the claimant documents say.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

GEORGE PELL: CRIMES COMMITTED “PROFOUNDLY EVIL.”

“LIKE everyone who has been following the Royal Commissions hearings in Ballarat this week, I have been horrified once again by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they have suffered.

“Also the terrible impact it has had on their lives and families and the Catholic community of Ballarat.

“The suicide of so many victims is an enormous tragedy. The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me.

“A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years.

“Many of the issues have already been addressed by me in the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in 2013, and my submission to that inquiry, and a transcript of my evidence, are available on the Victorian Parliaments website. I stand by the statements I made to the Victorian Parliament.

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WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

Today, Spokane Catholics get a new bishop. We’re worried about how he’ll deal with clergy sex abuse cases.

Thomas Anthony Daly has spent time in the San Francisco archdiocese (26 publicly accused predator priests) and the San Jose diocese (12 publicly accused predator priests). He was promoted to head a seminary by the highly controversial and secretive Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

We call on Daly to immediately and aggressively reach out to anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or misdeeds by two priests:

1–Fr. Daniel Wetzler, a credibly accused predator priest who was quietly suspended in October 2014. Then-Bishop Blasé Cupich notified only his flock, not the public and refused to disclose when the allegations surfaced. He also urged other victims to call church officials, not secular authorities. And he made no mention of possible criminal prosecution or of the need for Catholics and citizens to share what they know about the priest with law enforcement. This is disturbing and reckless. We hope Daly will rectify this self-serving and hurtful behavior.

[Spokane diocese]

[Spokesman-Review]

Child sex accusations should be made publicly as broadly and quickly as possible. Otherwise, child molesters are given more chances to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistle-blowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country.

Daly should now say what Cupich should have said – widely and clearly –months ago: If you saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes by Fr. Wetzler, you have a moral and civic duty to call the independent, experienced professionals in law enforcement so that kids might be protected, Fr. Wetzler might be prosecuted and the church itself be more healthy and safe. You may think that by keeping quiet, you’re helping your parish, diocese or faith. But you are doing just the reverse. So please, find the courage to break your silence, safeguard innocent kids, and prevent future crimes.

2–Fr. Brad Reynolds, who (as of a few months ago) was still on the job at a Catholic college in the Spokane diocese even though

–eight years earlier, he was sued for molesting two boys in Alaska,
–he was removed from his duties by his Jesuit supervisors, and
–he was allegedly put under 24 hour surveillance at a Jesuit institution.

[SNAP]

At least 39 Spokane priests have been publicly accused of child sexual abuse. That’s a very high number for a relatively small diocese. Daly should go “above and beyond” the bare minimum of paying settlements and suspending predators and work harder to warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about these predators.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Todd Shields
Pioneer Press

Rev. Panagiotis Boznos: “I want our parish to become a united, worshipping community”
Parish leaders and the new priest of a Glenview church are reaching out to members after their former priest was charged with felony theft while presiding over a Milwaukee church.

The Rev. Panagiotis Boznos, who was named priest at Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in August 2014, said his congregation “has been hurt and they’ve been vocal about that hurt.”

Previously, Boznos was assistant priest to the Rev. James Dokos, who has been charged with mishandling more than $1.2 million of a trust fund left to his Milwaukee church. He is awaiting trial.

Boznos said the alleged scandal has been difficult on his church members, but recently they began meeting with ministry and parish council leaders.

“The next phase will engage the entire parish in a series of surveys and consensus. We’ll gather information and put together a strategic plan,” he said.

Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church serves 650 families in Glenview, Northbrook, Skokie, Evanston, Deerfield and Chicago, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

This is the full text of the statement released by Cardinal George Pell late on Wednesday in response to allegations he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle:

Like everyone who has been following the Royal Commission’s hearings in Ballarat this week, I have been horrified once again by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they have suffered. Also the terrible impact it has had on their lives and families and the Catholic community of Ballarat. The suicide of so many victims is an enormous tragedy. The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me.

A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years. Many of the issues have already been addressed by me in the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in 2013, and my submission to that inquiry, and a transcript of my evidence, are available on the Victorian Parliament’s website. I stand by the statements I made to the Victorian Parliament.

I also note that under its terms of reference the Royal Commission can access all material from previous inquiries, including the Victorian Inquiry, which dealt with these matters extensively.

The Commission stated today that it will request a statement from me.

Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery. These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines.

Firstly, while out of the greatest respect for Mr Green, as I have stated previously, I have no recollection of a conversation with Mr Green in 1974, more than 40 years ago. Having recently read his statement to the Commission I still cannot remember Mr. Green or the conversation. To the best of my belief, this conversation did not happen. I stand by my previous statements.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

6 MAY 2015

BY KENNY SMITH

Father Morton cleared of wrongdoing after historical sexual abuse allegation

The parish priest of St Bride’s in Cambuslang has been cleared of any wrongdoing after an allegation of historical sexual abuse.

Father Paul Morton was put on administrative leave last September by Catholic Church authorities whilst the claim was investigated, but he always maintained his innocence.

However, on Thursday evening, after an interview lasting less than an hour, he was informed there is no case to answer.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm police have carried out an investigation following an allegation of historical sexual abuse, and no further police action will be taken.”

Fr Morton’s family, friends, parishioners and members of the wider community are delighted, having stood by him throughout the allegations to give him their full support.

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FLORIDA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Linda Trischitta
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A new civil lawsuit alleges that nearly three decades ago, the Archdiocese of Miami moved a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy at a Pembroke Pines parish to a Fort Lauderdale church, where he served until his retirement in 2014.

The archdiocese said the allegations were investigated by law enforcement at that time and the priest was not prosecuted.

The civil lawsuit was filed in Broward County court Tuesday against the archdiocese and Archbishop Thomas Wenski by an unidentified plaintiff called John Doe No. 133.

The archdiocese and its leader are accused of negligence for failing to protect the minor; intentional infliction of emotional distress for allowing the priest to have contact with children; failing to report alleged abuse to authorities and other complaints.

The retired priest, Rev. Harry Ringenberger, now 82, served at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines in 1989, about the time the abuse is alleged to have happened.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

More than 1,400 suspects, including politicians and celebrities, have been investigated by police probing historical child sex abuse allegations.

The figures were revealed by Operation Hydrant, set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

It explores links between child sex abuse by “prominent public persons”.

Of the 1,433 suspects identified, 216 are now dead and 261 are classified as people of public prominence, with 135 coming from TV, film or radio.

Of the remainder:

* A further 76 suspects are politicians, 43 are from the music industry and seven come from the world of sport.
* A total of 666 claims relate to institutions, with 357 separate institutions identified.
* Of these, 154 are schools, 75 are children’s homes, and 40 are religious institutions.
* They also include 14 medical establishments, 11 community institutions, nine prisons, nine sports venues and 28 other institutions, including military groups and guest houses.
* Another 17 institutions are classified as unknown.

The figures are taken from police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
They relate to reports of abuse, or investigations of abuse, which police forces were dealing with in the summer of 2014.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Journal (Ireland)

BRITISH POLICE SAID today they have received historical child sex abuse claims against 261 public figures, including 76 politicians, as they respond to a surge in complaints sparked by the Jimmy Savile scandal.

A review of investigations by regional police forces has identified 1,433 suspects — all men — in cases of alleged abuse by prominent public figures or people in institutions such as schools and hospitals.

They include 261 prominent figures, including 135 from world of television, film or radio, 76 local to national level politicians, 43 from the music industry and seven from the world of sport.

The investigations relate to 357 different institutions, including 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions and 14 medical establishments, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THIRTY-seven people in the public eye are among 110 suspects identified by Scottish police investigating alleged historic child sex abuse.

Police Scotland has revealed it currently has 58 separate inquiries into the alleged crimes, which are being investigated under the umbrella of Operation Hydrant.

The cases stretch back seven decades, as far as 1947, while the most recent dates from 2013.

Operation Hydrant is co-ordinating multiple historical child sexual abuse investigations around the UK. It was set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to explore links between child sex abuse committed by “prominent public persons”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Police Chiefs’ Council

20 May 2015

This is set against the backdrop of indicative figures showing that police caseload for reports of child sexual abuse has increased 71 per cent in the last three years

In the summer of 2014, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Child Abuse Investigation, Chief Constable Simon Bailey established a coordination hub, Operation Hydrant, to oversee the investigation of allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse within institutions or by people of public prominence.

Police forces are currently notifying Operation Hydrant of all active cases fitting this criteria. Hydrant staff are then identifying links between investigations and preventing duplication between forces. They do not have any control over the investigations themselves.

Since the establishment of the Goddard Panel Enquiry, officers and staff from Operation Hydrant have also been working closely with the Panel Secretariat acting as the interface with the police service. Working relationships are well established and there is a constant flow of information between the secretariat and Hydrant staff.

To date Operation Hydrant has received reports of:

1433 suspects of which 216 are deceased

666 suspects related to institutions

261 classified as people of public prominence

506 are classified as unidentified

357 institutions have been identified within the scope of the operation.

CC Bailey said: “Operation Hydrant has been established to help senior investigating officers across the country to work together to ensure that these complex investigations are successfully managed and that best practice is identified and shared with frontline staff.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
USA Today

Kim Hjelmgaard and Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY

LONDON — More than 1,400 suspects, including 76 politicians and dozens of celebrities, are being investigated over allegations of child sex abuse involving VIPs and institutions such as schools, a British police group said Wednesday.

The allegations, many of which relate to cases from years ago, were revealed in a briefing to reporters by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), a group that operates across Britain’s disparate forces on what it calls “the most serious and strategic threats.”

Simon Bailey, a police chief in the eastern England county of Norfolk who is leading the investigation — called Operation Hydrant — said 1,433 alleged offenders have been identified.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

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

Though the figures are alarming, we are deeply grateful that the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has disclosed that more than 1,400 prominent men are accused child sex abuse. Even more, we are deeply grateful to the hundreds of brave, wounded men, women and teenagers who have found the strength to break their silence and report their abuse. Their courage is making kids safer.

[Belfast Telegraph]

We’re also glad that law enforcement resources are being shifted to abuse cases. That should continue and in fact escalate. Because child sex crimes are so devastating and apt to be repeated, we feel there should be no higher priority for police and prosecutors and government officials than to aggressively prosecute, convict, expose and deter those who would commit or conceal heinous crimes against children.

We urge authorities to focus heavily on investigations into the 357 different institutions linked to the alleged abuse. We believe few predators can be deterred from perpetrating child sex crimes. But most of their work colleagues and supervisors CAN be deterred from ignoring, enabling, and minimizing those crimes. And that happens best when those who see or suspect child sex crimes but stay silent or hide them are severely punished.

Thousands more child sex abuse victims are still trapped in shame, confusion, guilt and self-blame. We beg them to get help, speak up, expose predators, protect kids, help police, and start healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

A respected Jewish teacher skipped bail and fled to Israel using a false passport after being charged with sexual offences against two teenage girls, a court heard on Tuesday.

Father-of-10 Todros Grynhaus, 50, denies five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.

On the first day of a retrial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury were told that Mr Grynhaus, a member of the Charedi community in Salford and the son of a rabbi, had admitted molesting a girl of 14 in a hotel jacuzzi.

The admission was made to his cousin, a rabbi in the strictly Orthodox community in Gateshead, following a meeting where Mr Grynhaus was confronted with the sexual abuse allegations.

The court heard that Mr Grynhaus told his cousin that he had abused two girls, admitting that “demons were going through him at the time”. But, he said, it was now behind him, with the offences alleged to have taken place around five years earlier.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com May 20, 2015

HASTINGS – Jury selection in the trial of former St. John’s Abbey monk Fran Hoefgen is continuing in Dakota County, where Hoefgen faces charges that he sexually abused an altar boy at a Hastings church where Hoefgen was priest.

Hoefgen, 64, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, accused of abusing the altar boy between 1989 and 1991 when Hoefgen was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings. The altar boy was 9 to 12 years old when the abuse occurred, according to court records.

Hastings police were first notified about the abuse in November 2013. State law allows prosecutors to pursue criminal charges for up to three years after a victim reports sexual abuse to law enforcement, even if the incident is decades old.

Hoefgen was laicized in December 2011. That is a process in which a cleric is made a layperson. He had been placed on restriction by St. John’s Abbey in 2002 after it received credible allegations against him of sexual misconduct.

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SCOTLAND
STV

A group of men accused of abusing pupils at a school run by the Christian Brothers have made their first appearance in court.

John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61, appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

They are accused of physically and sexually abusing boys at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland, Fife, between 1970 and 1983.

The 23-page indictment lists 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.

The five men each pleaded not guilty to all the allegations.

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ITALIA
Corriere del Mezzogiorno

[A Brindisi pastor has been charged with molesting boys.]

di Francesca Cuomo e Francesca Mandese

BRINDISI – È stato arrestato stamattina con l’accusa di violenza sessuale aggravata su persone di età inferiore ai 14 anni e abuso di autorità, don Giampiero Peschiulli ex parroco della chiesa di Santa Lucia di Brindisi. Il sacerdote, scoperto dalla trasmissione televisiva Le iene (e soprannominato «prete pomicione»), fu indagato e oggi il pm Giuseppe De Nozza ha fatto notificare il provvedimento. Il prete era stato sospeso e si era allontanato da Brindisi quando, a pochi giorni dal servizio di Italia 1, erano comparse alcune scritte sul muro della chiesa che lo definivano pedofilo. Nelle ultime settimane, però, don Giampiero era tornato in città nella sua casa di via Sicilia dove adesso è ai domiciliari.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Wednesday 20 May 2015

Police across the country are investigating more than 1,400 men – including 261 high-profile individuals – over allegations of child abuse in the past, a senior officer running the national operation has revealed.

The scale of alleged child abuse across society – both recent and non-recent – was stark, said Ch Const Simon Bailey, who runs Operation Hydrant, the national coordinating team overseeing the various inquiries.

Figures from police forces in England and Wales published on Wednesday reveal that 1,433 men have been identified in reports of alleged abuse by victims, since the operation was set up in 2014. …

Hundreds of institutions have been identified by victims of non-recent abuse as places where their abuse took place. These include 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions, 14 medical establishments, 11 community groups, nine prisons or young offender institutions, nine sports venues and 28 other places including military establishments.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 21, 2015

Cardinal George Pell is facing ­another demand for answers from the child-sex royal commission after further evidence alleging he was told directly of wrongdoing in the Ballarat diocese but did nothing to intervene.

Cardinal Pell has previously denied this claim by abuse survivor Timothy Green, when it was made at the trial of pedophile Christian Brother Edward Dowlan. Mr Green told the commission yesterday he said to Cardinal Pell in 1974 words to the effect of: “We’ve got to do something about what’s going on at St Pat’s.”

He said he told Cardinal Pell — now Australia’s most powerful Catholic — that Dowlan was touching little boys and Cardinal Pell said “don’t be ridiculous” and walked out.

The nephew of notorious pedophile Gerald Ridsdale, David Ridsdale, also told the commission he went to Cardinal Pell, who was a family friend, to tell him about the abuse he suffered from his uncle.

Mr Ridsdale said he called Cardinal Pell in February 1993 to discuss his abuse and the card­inal’s first reaction allegedly was, “oh, right”. “There was no shock,” he said. “His tone then became terse relatively quickly and I could sense anger in his voice.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle.

David Ridsdale told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that in 1993 after being informed of the abuse Cardinal Pell asked him what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” Mr Ridsdale quoted Cardinal Pell as saying.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell again denied those allegations.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

A clergy abuse victim who claims Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe him to keep quiet says the Catholic Church’s response was almost as painful as the abuse itself.

More victims will give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission on Thursday, a day after its chair made it clear Cardinal Pell will have to answer allegations he knew about abuse by clergy in the Ballarat diocese.

David Ridsdale said he told Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican’s finance chief, in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle and pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission Cardinal Pell asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has been mentioned at the commission this week by several witnesses who say he knew – or at the least suggest he might have known – about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a senior priest in the city in the 1970s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 21, 2015

Nick Toscano and Jane Lee

Cardinal George Pell has strongly denied being involved in an alleged sex abuse cover-up within the Catholic church after a royal commission heard he tried to bribe a victim to keep quiet.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Cardinal Pell renewed his rejection of claims that he helped move disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale between parishes and tried to pay one of his victims to remain silent.

He also denied ignoring another victim’s claim that a now-convicted sex offender was abusing children at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

Royal commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said on Wednesday that Cardinal Pell would be required to respond to the allegations.

Cardinal Pell, now finance chief at the Vatican, chose to release a statement online later that night saying he had already addressed many of the claims levelled against him in a Victorian parliamentary inquiry in 2013, and he stood by those statements.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) A conference discussing ways to fight and prevent the scourge of child sexual abuse is taking place Wednesday in Paris.

The 2015 Congress organised by the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) is bringing together partners, people in the field, representatives from the government, civil society and the media to discuss the question of sexual abuse of children and learn more about its causes and consequences.

Monsignor Robert Oliver, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is charged with advising the Holy Father on the protection of children, the prevention of abuse, and the pastoral care of victims of abuse in the Catholic Church, addressed the Congress on Wednesday morning.

He spoke to Lydia O’Kane about his intervention saying, it was about “our Commission the new Pontifical Commission that Pope Francis has put together, to help them to understand our work and in many ways that our work actually is quite parallel to what they’re doing, particularly emphasis on policies and developing guidelines and working with local churches.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 21, 2015

CARDINAL George Pell has denied explosive allegations he was complicit in the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse in Victoria.

Australia’s most senior Catholic Cardinal late last night from the Vatican maintained he never knew of any sexual offending by fellow clergy.

“Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery,” he said.

“These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines.”

He said a claim by victim Timothy Green that he told him about widespread abuse in 1974 was false.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘I continue to regret the misunderstanding between us’: Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic clergyman George Pell denies claims he tried to bribe the nephew of rampant paedophile priest to keep quiet

By LEESA SMITH FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Cardinal George Pell refutes allegations that he attempted to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, said at a royal commission hearing into child sex abuse on Wednesday that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

However, Cardinal Pell, who is a family friend, released a statement later that evening, denying that such a conversation ever took place and expresses his regret for the misunderstanding between the pair

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell says he must correct the record following “false and misleading” accusations at the abuse royal commission that he tried to bribe a victim of Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, to keep quiet.

In a statement, Cardinal Pell acknowledged he had been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery.

“These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines,” the cardinal said.

“I would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer Ridsdale in the knowledge that he had abused children, and I did not do so.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell has moved to “correct the record” after being accused at the sex abuse royal commission of bribing a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to keep quiet.

THE commission, sitting in Ballarat this week, also heard claims the cardinal had dismissed another abuse victim’s complaint as “ridiculous” and was complicit in moving Ridsdale to another parish.

The Vatican’s finance chief on Wednesday denied all the accusations.

The former Sydney archbishop has been mentioned at the commission by several witnesses who say he knew – or at the least suggest he might have known – about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a senior priest there in the 1970s.

The cardinal will have to answer to the commission after David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, said he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

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

Yet another victim of clergy sex crimes charges that Miami Catholic officials quietly put a pedophile priest back on the job among unsuspecting families, according to a new lawsuit.

[Local 10]

Father Harry Ringenberger reportedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy but was sent into a parish without any warnings to the flock.

We applaud the brave victim who is exposing clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes. We especially applaud this victim for having the courage to speak publicly and the wisdom to seek justice. That’s how kids become safer – when those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups expose wrongdoers and file lawsuits. Quietly reporting proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting clerics is rarely the best approach.

We urge anyone who has information or suspicions about pedophile Catholic priests and corrupt church officials in Miami to call secular authorities, not church officials.

NOTE – Ringenberger worked at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines and at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Cardinal George Pell denies claims he tried to bribe David Ridsdale to be silent over uncle’s sexual abuse

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle.

David Ridsdale told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that in 1993 after being informed of the abuse Cardinal Pell asked him what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” Mr Ridsdale quoted Cardinal Pell as saying.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell again denied those allegations.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,” the statement said.

“At the time of our discussion the police were already aware of allegations against Gerald Ridsdale and were investigating. Then, and now, I supported these police investigations.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 20

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

Archbishop John Nienstedt’s new PR man may be worse than his old one. Tom Halden is choosing to “spin” for both complicit officials AND for predator priests too.

In an odd move, yesterday Halden released statements to the media for both Nienstedt and for Fr. Gerald Dvorak, the latest Twin Cities archdiocesan cleric to be accused of child sex crimes. Is this a new policy: that credibly accused child molesters get to have their say and spread their denials far and wide using archdiocesan resources donated by parishioners?

Halden also refused to say

–when Nienstedt learned of the allegation
–how Nienstedt learned of the allegation
–which church official allegedly told law enforcement about it
–which law enforcement agency was allegedly told about it
–when church officials allegedly told law enforcement and
–where the abuse allegedly happened.

So much for “openness and transparency.”

It’s possible, therefore, that Nienstedt has known of and concealed this abuse report for years.

Halden apparently believes that the less information church officials release, the less apt they are to be caught lying.

Halden does, however, claim that this “is the only accusation against (Fr. Dvorak) in all of his years in ministry.” We’re skeptical.

It’s especially outrageous that Halden and Nienstedt refuse to say which police department they allegedly told of this abuse report. Lacking that, others who might help prove or disprove this allegation don’t know who to call to share what they may know about this case. That’s very self-serving and irresponsible.

Catholic officials should make it easier, not harder, for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to be helpful. Halden and Nienstedt know this. For their own selfish reasons – protecting their careers, comfort and reputations – Halden and Nienstedt are deliberately making it harder for police and prosecutors to build a case against a credibly accused child molester.

We call on every Catholic employee and parishioner in Minnesota who has suspicions or knowledge of Dvorak’s crimes or church cover ups to call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.

(NOTE: Fr. Dvorak worked in Hopkins, St. Paul, and Minneapolis.)

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FLORIDA
Local 10

Author: Amanda Batchelor, Senior Digital Editor, abatchelor@wplg.com

MIAMI –
A lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of Miami Tuesday by a man who claims he was sexually assaulted by a priest in 1989.

The alleged victim is seeking damages in excess of $5 million.

The complaint alleges that the archdiocese allowed Father Harry Ringenberger to continue serving as a priest despite being told that he had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

It’s unclear whether any criminal charges were ever filed against Ringenberger.

According to the complaint, the Archdiocese “sent Father Ringenberger away for approximately one year, (and) then assigned him to a new parish within the Archdiocese of Miami.”

At the time, Ringenberger was working at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines, and most recently was working at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale.

READ: Full complaint

The victim, identified as “John Doe,” claims Ringenberger took off his clothes and wrestled with the boy at his home in the St. Maximilian church rectory. He said he was then sexually assaulted.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp

United Kingdom May 15 2015

We are happy to report that one of our clients has recently succeeded in a compensation claim for injuries suffered by a Church of England priest forchildhood sexual abuse after being denied justice by the criminal system.

Background – the abuse

Our client was sexually abused by Reverend Terence King who was the vicar of St Mary The Virgin Church in Dewsbury Road, Woodkirk when he was between 11 and 17 years old although the impact of the abuse continues to impact on his daily life to date.

In addition to sexually abusing our client, King also harassed him with telephone calls and his threats throughout the period of abuse made our client feel unable to disclose the abuse. He was particularly worried that nobody would believe him as King was a priest and a respected member of the local community with good public standing.

Our client decided to report the abuse to the police in April 2002 however as he could no longer handle King’s persistent calls and he felt a need to finally address the acts of abuse and the substantial impact of the abuse on his daily life.

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KANSAS
The Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
20 MAY 2015

A Kansas woman said school administrators got a child abuse investigation launched against her after she reported that her daughter had been bullied.

Melissa Schroeder filed a defamation lawsuit last week against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shawnee, and the school’s principal, reported KSHB-TV.

Schroeder said she reported the bullying in April 2014, and she provided notes from a doctor who found the 10-year-old girl’s severe migraines may have been the result of mistreatment at school.

But the principal did not take the claims seriously, according to the suit – and told the woman that “perhaps this school is not for you.”

The Kansas Department of Children and Families opened a child abuse and neglect investigation against Schroeder – which she says was launched by a complaint filed by the principal.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune MAY 20, 2015

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Wednesday in the Dakota County trial of a former Catholic priest charged in connection with repeated sexual abusing an altar boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Francis Hoefgen, 64, who has left the priesthood and lives in Columbia Heights, was charged last year with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly abusing the boy, who was between 9 and 12 years old at the time.

The Dakota County attorney’s office said the crimes were committed while Hoefgen was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church (formerly St. Boniface) in Hastings.

Hoefgen also has been sued under the 2013 Minnesota Child Victims Act, which opened a three-year window for the filing of lawsuits for decades-old child sex abuse claims. While dozens of Minnesota priests have since been accused of sexual misconduct, Hoefgen is one of the few to face criminal charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell has denied allegations he tried to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, has told a royal commission that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

He told the royal commission on Wednesday Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: ‘I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.’

Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house.

He said his response was ‘f you George and everything you stand for’.

After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about the phone conversation.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

David Ridsdale speaks to reporters after telling the abuse royal commission that he told Cardinal George Pell that he was abused by his uncle, Australia’s worst pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Megan Neil
May 20, 2015

UPDATE: Cardinal George Pell has responded to allegations he tried to bribe victims of pedophile priests.

In a statement released Wednesday night he said he was horrified by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they had suffered.

“The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me,” he said.

“A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years… Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery.”

Cardinal Pell felt the matters required an urgent response due to ‘false and misleading headlines’.

Timothy Green, 53, alleged he was 12 or 13 when he told then Father Pell in late 1974 that Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College.

Cardinal Pell said he did not recall having the conversation and that to the best of his believe “the conversation did not happen”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jewish News

A Charedi teacher and son of a Beth Din judge has been convicted of at least five counts of sexual abuse of girls as young as 14, after a jury overwhelmingly found against him.

Todros Grynhaus, a father of ten from Manchester, consistently denied the allegations of several victims from the tight-knit ultra-Orthodox community in Salford, showing no emotion when the guilty verdict was read out.

During the two week trial, Grynhaus had claimed the underage girls were conspiring against him in a “plot,” but after hearing how he “forced himself on them,” jurors decided 10-2 that he was lying.

One of the young victims testified that he had assaulted her in a Jacuzzi, an allegation the 50-year old described as “pure fiction”.

Jurors had earlier learned that Grynhaus, who later set up a debt management company, had banned TV and newspapers from the family home, restricted internet use and deemed the only non-religious literature suitable for reading to be Enid Blyton novels.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

20 MAY 2015

BY GLEN KEOGH , SAM WEBB

Religious studies teacher Todros Grynhaus, 50, had attacked two girls aged 14 and 15 confiding to a colleague: “you have no idea of what demons were going through me at the time”

A top British rabbi exposed as a predatory paedophile was allowed to evade justice after a Jewish “mafia,” refused to call police and instead sent him on a course of therapeutic “healing.”

Religious studies teacher Todros Grynhaus, 50, had attacked two girls aged 14 and 15 confiding to a colleague: “you have no idea of what demons were going through me at the time.”

Details emerged as Grynhaus, the son of influential London Rabbi Dayan Dovid Grynhaus, was convicted of seven charges of indecent assault.

But when senior members of his orthodox Jewish community in Salford, Greater Manchester originally heard of his “litany of abuse” they called him to a meeting where they instead suggested the father-of-ten got treatment at a local clinic.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Rabbi who indecently assaulted girls aged 14 and 15 was sent for therapy by community elders and police were only alerted two years later

By STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE

A respected rabbi who indecently assaulted two teenage girls was sent for therapy by community leaders when allegations of his crimes emerged and was only reported to police two years later.

Todros Grynhaus, 50, a prominent member of the Haredi Orthodox Jewish community in Salford, Greater Manchester, abused the girls, then aged 14 and 15, in the 1990s, the court was told.

The offences were brought to light when one of the victims told a psychologist about the ‘litany of abuse’ in 2009.

When senior members of the community heard of the accusations, they suggested Grynhaus, a father-of-ten, receive treatment at a local clinic. They told the court ‘no one wanted to report it’.

Grynhaus was charged with sex offences in 2012 after one of his victims reported him to the police.

While on bail in February 2013, Grynhaus fled the UK for Israel using a false passport. He was arrested in May 2013 as he tried to board a bus in Jerusalem and was deported last April.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Hunter Valley Catholic brother, extradited from New Zealand to face child sexual abuse charges, has had his case adjourned to allow for ongoing negotiations.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 67, is facing 252 child sex offences relating to 35 victims and dating back to the 1970s.

The alleged offences happened in the Lake Macquarie region, near Newcastle.

McGrath’s case was mentioned briefly in Newcastle Local Court today.

There is an enormous police brief of about 8,000 pages and the court was told negotiations are continuing relating to the charges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph (UK)

Senior Vatican figure accused of trying to cover up paedophilia in Australia

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney 20 May 2015

George Pell, an Australian Cardinal who is one of the most senior figures in the Vatican, has been accused of ignoring and covering up child sex abuse claims during his service in Australia, including allegedly trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to remain silent.

In dramatic testimony at Australia’s royal commission into child sex abuse, David Ridsdale said he was abused by his uncle Gerard Ridsdale – a notorious paedophile and unfrocked priest – and phoned Cardinal Pell, who tried to silence him.

Mr Ridsdale said he spoke to Cardinal Pell in 1993 but the priest did not appear shocked and instead attempted to bribe him. Cardinal Pell has previously denied the claim.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

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AUSTRALIA
Wyndham Star Weekly

Goya Dmytryshchak

UPDATE: An Altona woman has spoken about facing her abuser in court after a 16-year battle to have the Catholic brother extradited from the US.

Bernard Joseph Hartman, a former teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona North, faced court in relation to historical sexual abuse complaints made against him by two former students at the boys’ college and two women whose brothers attended the school.

On April 15, Hartman, 75, pleaded guilty in the County Court to four counts of indecent assault, including vaginal penetration, of two girls aged between eight and 11 between 1973 and 1979.

On May 1 a jury found Hartman guilty of one count of indecent assault and two of common law assault against a man, now 49, who was his student in years 10 and 11 in 1981 and 1982.

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SCOTLAND
The National

KATHLEEN NUTT

A THIRD member of a campaign group that has been fighting for a judge-led statutory inquiry into historical abuse of children has died while waiting for the inquiry to get under way.

The 34-year-old man, who had been abused as a child, took his own life earlier this month after a failed legal battle.

The sad news emerged as, in a separate development, The National can reveal a key announcement initially planned for the end of April regarding the inquiry has been beset by a further delay.

Ministers put back a statement last month until after the General Election with the indication it would be made in the Scottish Parliament by the end of May.

But last night it emerged it will not be made until later, and no definite date has been set.

Alan Draper, parliamentary liaison officer for In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), said the longer the delay continued, the more survivors began to suspect they would not agree with some of the terms of reference of the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 20, 2015

Konrad Marshall
Senior writer

The stories being heard in Ballarat are gruesome and humiliating and raw, and have been described by one victim as “the unseen carnage.”

But that characterisation is not true for everyone – and certainly not for the front-line workers who deal with sexual abuse in this community every day, all year long.

Definitely not for Shireen Gunn, manager of the Centre Against Sexual Assault in Ballarat.

Gunn has listened to the first two days of testimony at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, and the sadness is all too real – and sadly all too familiar.

“This is what we have witnessed for the last 20 years. They are survivors of war – of abuse they could not escape,” she says. “This inquiry is the external realisation of what we already know. But the fact that these guys can get up and give these graphic details and tell their stories – it’s just a huge achievement.”

Gunn grew up here in a large Catholic family. Her dad was a horse trainer, and her mum a mother to seven children. The girls went to Mary’s Mount and the boys to St Patrick’s. She started her career as a primary school teacher.

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AUSTRALIA
The Hindu (India)

Australia’s highest ranking member of the Catholic Church has been accused at a Royal Commission hearing of knowing about child sexual abuse claims against a Victorian priest for more than 30 years.

Cardinal George Pell has come under pressure to reveal if he had covered up the abuse claims against former Catholic Church priest Gerald Ridsdale in the Victorian town of Ballarat, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has heard evidence on Monday and Tuesday, was told that Pell, now a prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy in Rome, may have known about Ridsdale’s crimes years before Ridsdale first faced charges.

Gail Furness, senior counsel, told the commission that a group of priests advised Ronald Mulkearns, a Ballarat-based bishop at the time, to move Ridsdale between parishes after claims of “inappropriate behaviour” and sexual abuse against children came to light.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell has been accused of dismissing a victim’s accusations against a pedophile priest at a Victorian Catholic school.

Timothy Green, 53, told the abuse royal commission that he told then Father Pell that something had to be done about Brother Edward Dowlan touching boys.

“Father Pell said don’t be ridiculous and walked off,” Mr Green said.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said the commissioners expect to make a finding about what Cardinal Pell was told as it relates to how the church responded to allegations overall.

Counsel Peter Gray SC said he had been instructed that the church would not seek to dismiss Mr Green’s claims.

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AUSTRALIA
Bernama

MELBOURNE, May 20 (Bernama) — Australia’s highest ranking member of the Catholic Church has been accused at a royal commission hearing of knowing about child sexual abuse claims against a Victorian priest from more than 30 years ago, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Cardinal George Pell has come under pressure to reveal if he had covered up the abuse claims against former Catholic Church priest Gerald Ridsdale in the Victorian town of Ballarat.

A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has heard evidence on Monday and Tuesday, was told that Pell, now a Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy in Rome, may have known about Ridsdale’s crimes years before Ridsdale first faced charges.

Gail Furness, SC, told the commission that a group of priests advised Ronald Mulkearns, a Ballarat-based bishop at the time, to move Ridsdale between parishes after claims of “inappropriate behavior” and sexual abuse against children came to light.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 20, 2015

GEORGE Pell tried to bribe the nephew of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale to keep quiet about his abuse at the hands of his uncle, it has been alleged.

David Ridsdale told the royal commission today he phoned Pell in 1993 to tell him about the abuse but instead of offering help he tried to silence him.

He said Pell asked “what would it take” for him to keep quiet about the abuse.

Mr Ridsdale said he responded: “F— you George and everything you stand for.”

Mr Ridsdale said the conversation, by telephone, took place a month before Pell controversially supported Ridsdale in court when he pleaded guilty to a string of abuse charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Bombshell claims against Cardinal George Pell comes from a victim of sexual abuse at the Ballarat Royal Commission.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 20, 2015

Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to keep quiet and dismissed another abuse victim’s complaint as ridiculous, the royal commission has heard.

The Vatican’s finance chief will again have to answer to the sex abuse royal commission after David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, said he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, says he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

He told the royal commission today that Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him in a phone call: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house.

He said his response was “f… you George and everything you stand for”.

After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about their phone conversation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Oliver Milman
@olliemilman
Wednesday 20 May 2015

A senior Vatican official, who is also Australia’s highest ranking cleric, has been accused of attempting to bribe a victim of child sex abuse to keep quiet about the molestation he suffered from a paedophile Catholic priest.

The victim, David Ridsdale, told an Australian royal commission into child sexual abuse that he called Cardinal George Pell in 1993 to report being abused by his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, a former priest who is in prison after committing more than 130 offences against children as young as four between the 1960s and 1980s.

David Ridsdale said Pell had a “terse” response to being told of the abuse, before offering him money to buy his silence.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs,” Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing. “He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family.

“I remember with clarity the last three lines we spoke together. Me: Excuse me, George, what the fuck are you talking about? George: I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet. Me: Fuck you, George, and everything you stand for.”

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TENNESSEE
WMC Action News

Posted by Jessi Turnure

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) – A Jonesboro Police Department report revealed more misconduct allegations against Tony Waller that date back to November 1999.

The report, filed with JPD in April 2000, states an 11-year-old girl could have been the victim of sexual abuse.

Waller, the former children’s pastor at Jonesboro First Assembly of God, was not arrested or charged based on this report, but a detailed investigation showed he was asked to leave a school he had been visiting.

The report states Waller met an 11-year-old girl at CitiTeam Ministries Center, now known as CityYouth Ministries.

Police said Waller began a friendship with the girl’s family, coming to their home and the girl and her siblings spending the night at his home.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

May 19, 2015

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2015 – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently named three people to the National Review Board that advises on child and youth protection. Mr. Donald Wheeler, a former federal investigator, Mrs. D. Jean Ortega-Piron, an attorney and child welfare services expert, and attorney Mr. Howard Healy were appointed by USCCB President Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville.

“The Church is grateful for the time and talent these individuals will bring to our shared work of ensuring safe environments,” Kurtz said. “None of us has a more important responsibility than protecting children.”

Donald Wheeler lives in the Diocese of Arlington and is a Senior Investigator with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, LLP. He served for 30 years in various federal law enforcement and investigative positions with the U. S. Department of Labor and the General Accountability Office (GAO).

D. Jean Ortega-Piron lives in the Diocese of Joliet, retired from the Illinois Department of Children of Family Services in 2013 and continues to serve as a consultant on child welfare services. While with that state agency, among other positions, she served as its acting Director and the statewide legal guardian for all the children in foster care in Illinois. She is an attorney and has worked in the Office of Special Counsel for Child Welfare Services for the Governor of Illinois.

Howard Healy lives in the Diocese of Green Bay and is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Winnebago County Bar Association. He is a partner at the Di Renzo and Bomier Law Firm and served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an Officer in the Judge Advocate General Corp.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | May. 19, 2015 NCR Today

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops named three new members, all lawyers, to the National Review Board on Child and Youth Protection.

The appointees are:

* Donald Wheeler from the Diocese of Arlington, Va., worked for 30 years in various federal law enforcement and investigative positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and the General Accountability Office (GAO). He is a senior investigator with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, LLP.

* D. Jean Ortegao-Piron from the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., is retired from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. An attorney, she has worked in the Office of Special Counsel for Child Welfare Services for the Governor of Illinois.

* Howard Healy of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., is a partner at the Di Renzo and Bomier Law Firm and served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an officer in the Judge Advocate General Corp.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Police have linked a child enticement investigation in the Park Hill School District to a tip from a Catholic church in Platte County.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Kansas City Catholic Diocese said that on May 13, the pastor at St. Therese parish was alerted to a parishioner’s alleged behavior involving minors receiving gifts of iPhones for the purpose of exploitation.

Police said the teenagers were offered phones and other incentives to do or look at sexually explicit acts. Police said there are at least six victims in the case.

Investigators said the man used the grounds at Prairie Point Elementary School to try to meet one child. Another alleged meeting spot is Riverside’s Edge Gymnastics, which also alerted police after suspicious behavior.

Edge Gymnastics said the man didn’t work at the gym, didn’t volunteer there and none of the employees knew him. The manager said the man would come to the gym on Saturday nights during the open gym period this winter with a group of seven or eight boys.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By FIONA HENDERSON May 20, 2015

DISGRACED priest Gerald Ridsdale was continually moved around the Ballarat diocese due to abuse complaints, according to the counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In her opening address on Tuesday, Gail Furness said Ridsdale was relocated several times by the College of Consultors – a group of priests advising former bishop Ronald Mulkearns and which included now Cardinal George Pell.

“Several of the consultors had been present at meetings of, or were members of the College of Consultors on each occasion in the past when Ridsdale had been moved,” Ms Furness said.

Minutes show Pell was present at a meeting when Ridsdale was moved from Mortlake after several complaints of inappropriate behaviour with young boys.

“The minutes do not disclose what the bishop said about why it became necessary (to move Ridsdale),” Ms Furness said.

“However … it is expected that there will be evidence that Bishop Mulkearns knew it was because Ridsdale had abused boys in Mortlake and that he had offended in this manner in 1975.

“The principal (of the school) told the Catholic Church Insurances investigator that she was forbidden by the bishop to speak to the rest of the staff about what had happened.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: First let’s go to Ballarat where the royal commission into child sexual abuse has been hearing extraordinary evidence of brutality in Catholic institutions in the Victorian city.

A survivor of abuse at the St Josephs children’s home has told the commission he was sexually abused by priests and physically and mentally abused by nuns at the home.

Samantha Donovan is at the commission hearing in Ballarat.

And a warning some of the evidence you hear will be disturbing.

So Samantha, tell us a little more about this witness who’s been revealing his story today?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well the first witness today Eleanor was Gordon Hill. He’s 72 now, but as a young child he was put into the St Josephs home in Ballarat, which was run by the female Catholic order, the sisters of Nazareth.

This is what Mr Hill told the commission about the conditions in the home.

GORDON HILL: We were, as I used to call it the drones of St Joeys. We didn’t go to school and we did all the work around the orphanage. Most of us didn’t even know our full names and we were just given a number. My name was 29 because that was my locker number. I didn’t learn of my surname until I was 10 or 11 years old. When I started working that’s when I started working in the kitchens. Sister Reginald who was in charge of the kitchen said to me ‘not another Hill’. I didn’t know what that meant.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

[with video and tweets]

Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe an abuse victim, the royal commission has heard.

David Ridsdale, the nephew and victim of Australia’s pedophile priest Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale, says he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse.

He told the royal commission on Wednesday Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

Cardinal Pell told a boy “don’t be ridiculous” when told a Christian Brother was molesting children, the abuse royal commission has also heard.

Cardinal Pell has previously denied being told about the abuse but will have to make a statement to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about what he knew.

Timothy Green, 53, said he told then Father Pell that Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College in late 1974.

“I said Brother Dowlan is touching little boys,” Mr Green told a commission hearing in Ballarat. “Father Pell said ‘don’t be ridiculous’ and walked out,” Mr Green said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Wednesday 20 May 2015

Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe an abuse victim, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard.

David Ridsdale, the nephew and victim of Australia’s worst pedophile priest Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale, says he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse.

He told the royal commission on Wednesday Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

Ridsdale said his response had been, “Fuck you George and everything you stand for.”

After he hung up, Ridsdale said, he told his sisters about the February 1993 phone conversation.

“I remember saying to both my sisters, ‘The bastard just tried to bribe me’,” Ridsdale told the hearing in Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

KAITLIN THALS PM News Reporter

Cardinal George Pell to defend new allegations against him in Royal Commission.

Cardinal George Pell will be called on to defend allegations he ignored child sex abuse complaints within Victorian institutions – including those by a nephew and victim of a notorious pedophile priest.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continued on Wednesday, with David Ridsdale, the nephew and victim of Australia’s worst pedophile priest Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale, telling the royal commission he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse.

David told the commission Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

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AUSTRALIA
TVNZ

Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, says he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

He told the royal commission today that Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house.

He said his response was “f*** you George and everything you stand for”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Danny Tran and Loretta Florance

Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe the nephew of paedophile Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle, an inquiry has been told.

Justice Peter McClellan said Cardinal Pell would be called on by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to make a statement about the Catholic Church’s response to alleged abuse.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Ridsdale, told the inquiry hearings in Ballarat that he reported the abuse by his uncle to Cardinal Pell in 1993.

He said Cardinal Pell was not shocked and instead allegedly asked Mr Ridsdale what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

May 20, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Cardinal George Pell will be asked to make a statement to the royal commission into child sexual abuse over claims he tried to bribe a victim to stay silent about his abuse and ignored claims by another that a now-convicted sex offender was abusing children at a Ballarat school.

David Ridsdale was abused by his uncle, convicted sex offender and former priest Gerald Ridsdale, from when he was 11 years old.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission on Wednesday that he called then Father Pell to tell him about the abuse in February 1993. He chose to phone Father Pell because he had known him since birth and: “He was the only human being in the church whom I believed was still a friend and who I could trust.”

He said Father Pell’s tone became angry, and he started talking about the things he would need to buy for his growing family, such as a car.

He said Father Pell asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

Mr Ridsdale said his response was: “F— you George and everything you stand for.”

After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about the phone conversation.

“I remember saying to both my sisters: ‘the bastard just tried to bribe me’,” Mr Ridsdale told the hearing.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A trial is set to begin this week for a former Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy in Hastings from 1989 to 1991.

Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1djgvCD ) reports jury selection started Tuesday in the case of 64-year-old Francis Hoefgen. The Dakota County Attorney’s Office says the selection of jury members will continue Wednesday and will be followed by opening statements, unless a plea agreement is reached.

Hoefgen is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors say he abused the boy from the time he was about 9 to 12 years old while serving as a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘Father wants to cleanse you, 29’: Nun’s chilling words to a young boy, 5, who was given a NUMBER instead of a name when he was raped by a priest in ‘horror room’ for the first time

By AAP and John Carney for Daily Mail Australia

A victim of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of a paedophile ring involving Catholic clergy in Ballarat has told how he was assigned a number and a locker number, instead of a name, and that nuns used to pull out his teeth with pliers.

Speaking at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Gordon Hill, 72, described how he was sexually and physically abused at Ballarat’s St Joseph’s Home in what he called ‘horror rooms’ and ‘dungeons’, and did not know his own surname until he was 10 years old.

ABC News reports that Mr Hill told the inquiry he was taken to the St Joseph’s Home as a three-year-old in the 1946, and was initially abused by a priest at age five, in a place called ‘the horror rooms’.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

A nun laughed after a five-year-old orphan was abused by a priest at a Victorian Catholic home, the sex abuse royal commission has heard.

Gordon Hill, 72, told the commission he was sexually and physically abused at St Joseph’s Home in Ballarat, in what he called horror rooms and dungeons.

Mr Hill – whose name at “St Joey’s” was 29 because that was his locker number – said he was five when he was first abused by a priest.

A nun told him: “Father wants to cleanse you, 29.”

He blacked out after being given a drink by the priest, and when he came to he “hurt like bloody hell” and was bleeding from his back down to his shins, he told the royal commission on Wednesday.
The priest pushed him out the door where the nun was waiting.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Donovan Vincent News reporter, Published on Tue May 19 2015

The Assembly of First Nations and a lawyer representing some survivors of Canada’s residential schools are set to ask a judge Wednesday to order Ottawa to search further for documents related to abuse that victims suffered in the schools.

The First Nations umbrella group wants Canada to search all federal departments and agencies for the historical records, while Ottawa lawyer Fay Brunning, who is representing nine former attendees of one particular school in Ontario, wants the search to “at least’’ involve the RCMP, Health Canada and Department of Justice.

“The RCMP had jurisdiction over the vast majority of Indian residential schools in Canada when they were operating,’’ Brunning said in an interview.

The First Nations group, Brunning and lawyers representing the justice department and other interests are scheduled to argue the matter in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto Wednesday, before Justice Paul Perell.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Cardinal George Pell accused of ‘helping to shift Australia’s worst paedophile priest’ from town to town

By AAP and John Carney and Lucy Thackray for Daily Mail Australia

A royal commission has uncovered church documents that reveal Cardinal George Pell helped move Australia’s worst paedophile priest between parishes at the height of his reign of terror.

The former Archbishop of Melbourne, who is now based in The Vatican where he oversees the Catholic Church’s finances, was involved in at least one decision to move pervert priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, the inquiry heard.

Then Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew Ridsdale had abused boys ‘so he was taken out of there’ and again moved to another parish, the abuse royal commission heard on the opening day of three weeks of hearings in the city devastated by decades of abuse.

Cardinal Pell supported Ridsdale at his first court appearance on child sex offences in 1993, but he has repeatedly denied knowing that any children at all were abused in Ballarat parish when he was working there.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said relocating Ridsdale from a Ballarat parish was discussed at a meeting of the bishop’s advisers – the College of Consultors – in September 1982, where Cardinal Pell was present.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 20, 2015

A SURVIVOR of St Joseph’s orphanage in Sebastopol has given an emotional testimony to the second day of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Gordon Hill told about being raped by a priest at the age of five and waking up bleeding down to his shins and with bite marks on his genitals.

“My genitals and bottom were the worst, they hurt like they were on fire,” he said.

He was also forced to masturbate priests while they were in the confession box hearing parishioners’ confessions.

It eventually escalated to “dungeon type” assaults.

“I used to be stripped down, tied up and sexually abused,” he said.

Hill was hospitalised after an accident and tried to report the abuse but wasn’t believed.

He was taken back to the orphanage and given a type of electric shock therapy to find out what he had told the doctors.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Peta Carlyon

Nuns used pliers to pull out the teeth of a child sex abuse victim at a Ballarat orphanage, and he was also locked in a dungeon known as the “horror room” and abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard.

Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Gordon Hill – now in his 70s – said he was taken to the St Joseph’s Home as a three-year-old.

He told the inquiry he could still remember “all the little kids getting on the bus” in 1946.

Mr Hill said he was among a group at the home known as “the Drones”, children who had no-one and instead of going to school were put to work.

He said he was assigned a number and a locker number, instead of a name, and did not know his own surname until he was 10 years old.

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MINNESOTA
KSFY

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it placed an active priest on a leave of absence after it received an allegation of past sexual abuse.

Archbishop John Nienstedt says in a statement there is a “credible allegation” that the Rev. Gerald Dvorak sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. A credible allegation is one that’s “not manifestly false or frivolous.”

Nienstedt says law enforcement was notified, and Dvorak will not carry out priestly ministry during the investigation.

Dvorak released a statement saying he’s never abused anyone. He asked for prayers for everyone involved.

Dvorak has been pastor of St. Peter in Richfield since 2011. He’s worked in many posts since 1978, including as pastor of St. Joseph in Hopkins and pastor of St. Michael in St. Paul.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Pope Francis urged to force Cardinal George Pell to explain role in paedophile sex abuse cover-up

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 20, 2015

POPE Francis is being urged to force Cardinal George Pell to explain any involvement he may have had in the cover-up of paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

Secret church documents tendered to a royal commission yesterday revealed that the Cardinal helped move Australia’s worst paedophile priest between parishes.

The move came decades after complaints were first made about Ridsdale and years before his last known offending.

It is not clear whether Cardinal Pell knew of the offending.

Now a social media campaign is demanding Pope Francis act on the stunning revelation.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Riham Feshir May 19, 2015

A former Hastings priest accused of sexual abuse 25 years ago is set to go on trial this week.

Jury selection in Francis Hoefgen’s criminal case began Tuesday in Dakota County and will continue Wednesday, according to the Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Opening statements will follow jury selection unless Hoefgen reaches a plea agreement.

Dakota County prosecutors charged Hoefgen, 64, last year with first degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly abusing an altar boy from the time he was about 9 until 12 years old.

The alleged abuse occurred while Hoefgen was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings from 1989 to 1991, according to the criminal complaint. Hastings police were notified in November 2013. The victim is not named in court documents.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Live stream.

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Ballarat from Tuesday 19 May 2015 at 10:00am AEST. The first public hearing commences on Tuesday 19 May 2015 and the second will commence on a date to be announced.

Please note that the audio on the webcast may be frequently cut to protect the identity of people who have been granted a pseudonym in this hearing.

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OHIO
WFMJ

By Glenn Stevens, Reporter

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio –
A mother from Poland staged her own demonstration Tuesday in front of the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown to commemorate the death of her son 12 years ago.

Barbara Aponte’s son, Luke Bradesku, who took his own life, was among nearly 39 sexual abuse victims of Brother Stephen Baker, who at one time was assigned to John F. Kennedy High School in Warren.

While the Diocese settled the cases of 11 victims in 2012, Aponte says the cases of 28 others have yet to be acknowledged.

“This needs to be over for me, it needs to be over for the other victims and families that are struggling, I have forgiven Brother Steve and I’d like to get on with forgiving the church, but I don’t think I can,” Aponte said.

The Diocese says because the claims are still in mediation it cannot address specifics. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon the Diocese said.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran May 19, 2015

The Rev. Gerald Dvorak, pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church in Richfield, Minn., has taken a leave of absence following an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s, according to a statement from Archbishop John Nienstedt released Tuesday.

Nienstedt called the allegation “credible” but did not provide details. “A ‘credible allegation’ is one that is ‘not manifestly false or frivolous.’ It is not a presumption of guilt,” he wrote.

In a separate two-line statement, also released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Dvorak denied the allegation. “I pray for all victims of sexual abuse, but I have never abused anyone,” he wrote. “Please pray for me and all those involved.”

Dvorak, 61, could not be reached for comment. He did not immediately respond to a phone message on Tuesday.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 19

Statement by Frank Meuers, Minnesota SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

Another Twin Cities priest is accused of abuse and again, Catholic officials aren’t honoring their pledges.

[CBS Minnesota]

[St Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese]

Credibly accused child molesting clerics are to be suspended. But Archbishop John Nienstedt is letting Fr. Gerald Dvorak take a leave of absence.

The church’s national abuse policy says nothing about voluntary leaves by alleged predators.

Nienstedt is also circulating a statement from Fr. Dvorak.

The church’s national abuse policy makes says nothing about bishops to circulate statements to the public by alleged predators.

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TEXAS
ABC 7

[with video]

By Foti Kallergis
Tuesday, May 19, 2015

PASADENA, TX — A church music director is on the run after accusations surfaced that he was having sex with one of his 13-year-old students.

An arrest warrant was issued Monday for Jose David Rivera, 30. According to the pastor at Casa De Oracion in Pasadena, Rivera was the music director for at least three years.

According to court papers, Rivera met his teenage victim at the church, and they began texting each other. The girl told a psychologist that her mother allowed Rivera to take her to church choir practice on Monday nights. According to court papers, Rivera an the girl had sex at least four times since June of last year. The victim told investigators, in one instance they had sex in the back seat of his car and also in or near the church.

“Kids are usually sexually abused by people that they know,” said Dr. Lawrence Thompson Jr. , director of Therapy and Psychological services at the Child Assessment Center in Houston. “As a society, we would like to think that there are some places where our children can be safe.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Jennie Lissarrague

A Twin Cities priest is on a leave of absence after Archbishop John Nienstedt said the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received a credible allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s.

Rev. Gerald Dvorak, who is the pastor of St. Peter in Richfield, will not be part of the ministry during the investigation. Nienstedt says law enforcement has been notified of the claim and they are notifying his previous parishes.

Dvorak denied the allegations. In a statement, he said, “I pray for all victims of sexual abuse, but I have never abused anyone. Please pray for me and all those involved.”

Nienstedt says Dvorak has never had any other allegations against him.

Here’s a list of Dvorak’s assignment history, as provided by the Archdiocese:

Pastor at Saint Peter in Richfield from July 1, 2011, to the present
Canonical Administrator at Blessed Trinity Catholic School from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2014
Pastor at Saint Joseph in Hopkins from Sept. 3, 2002, to July 1, 2011
Pastor at Saint Michael in Saint Paul from June 14, 1989 to Sept. 3, 2002
Parochial Administrator at Saint Andrew in St. Paul from Jan. 20, 1989 to June 14, 1989
Parochial Administrator at Holy Cross in Minneapolis from Oct. 9, 1987, to June 14, 1989
Spiritual Director, Legion of Mary, St Paul Comitium, North Mpls Curia from March 23, 1987 to June 14, 1989
Parochial Administrator at Saint Cyril in Minneapolis from June 10, 1986 to March 23, 1987

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it placed an active priest on a leave of absence after it received an allegation of past sexual abuse.

Archbishop John Nienstedt says in a statement there is a “credible allegation” that the Rev. Gerald Dvorak sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. A credible allegation is one that’s “not manifestly false or frivolous.”

Nienstedt says law enforcement was notified, and Dvorak will not carry out priestly ministry during the investigation.

Dvorak released a statement saying he’s never abused anyone. He asked for prayers for everyone involved.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has received a credible allegation that the Rev. Gerald Dvorak, pastor of St. Peter in Richfield, sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. A “credible allegation” is one that is “not manifestly false or frivolous.” It is not a presumption of guilt. Law enforcement has been notified and, per our protocol, Rev. Dvorak is on a leave of absence and will not exercise priestly ministry during the investigation. We are in the process of notifying the previous parishes where he was assigned. Rev. Dvorak has never had any other allegations against him during his ministry.

Read a statement from Rev. Gerald Dvorak on his voluntary leave of absence.

Statement from Rev. Gerald Dvorak On his voluntary leave of absence

“I pray for all victims of sexual abuse, but I have never abused anyone. Please pray for me and all those involved.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities priest has been removed from active ministry after the Archdiocese received credible allegations of sexual abuse.

Rev. Gerald Dvorak was removed from ministry at Saint Peter’s in Richfield, where he most recently practiced, after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. The Archdiocese said Tuesday that local law enforcement has been notified of the case. Dvorak had also been an administrator at Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Richfield from 2011-14.

“Rev. Dvorak is on a leave of absence and will not exercise priestly ministry during this investigation,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said Tuesday in a statement. “We are in the process of notifying the previous parishes where he was assigned. Rev. Dvorak has never had any other allegations against him during his ministry.

Dvorak has been in active ministry since 1978. He denied the allegations in statement released Tuesday.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. . . Marianist Catholic cleric Brother Bernard Hartman is said by church goers that he is living here on a church property where the Marianists are based. He was convicted in Australia of a string of sex offenses and later apologized in writing to a girl he molested. . .

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MICHIGAN
C and G News

By Thomas Franz
Published May 19, 2015

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The preliminary examination in the case of a former employee at a local Catholic high school began on May 13 at 42-A District Court in Romeo.

Joseph Sturza, a former director of admissions at Austin Catholic High School in Ray Township and a former youth minister at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Macomb Township, is charged with four felony counts: child sexual abuse activity, accosting a child for immoral purposes, and two counts of using a computer to communicate with a minor in order to commit a crime.

At the preliminary examination, a sergeant with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department and Macomb Area Computer Enforcement team provided background into the department’s investigation.

The Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from the Archdiocese of Detroit offices on Nov. 19 regarding an employee at Austin Catholic possibly having inappropriate contact with a student through use of a computer.

The student was identified during the exam as a 15-year-old boy.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | May. 19, 2015

Members of a Twin Cities youth group seeking a safe space to discuss life as an LGBT person of faith found none at an area Catholic church after the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese intervened in the May 16 event.

Instead, the LGBTQ Catholic Student Coalition, led by seven high school students, held a LGBTQ+ Catholic Youth Summit on Saturday at Edina Community Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, about a mile south from the Church of Christ the King, where the group originally planned to host the event.

The students received notice May 10 — a week before the summit that attracted nearly 200 people — from parish staff that the chancery had informed them the parish could no longer host the summit. The group in April received confirmation from Christ the King staff and also paid a portion of the insurance deposit.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

A Jewish teacher turned businessman is facing a ”substantial” jail sentence after being found guilty of seven sex abuse charges on Tuesday.

Todros Grynhaus, 50, was convicted of five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault against the girls when they were aged around 14 and 15.

Grynhaus, a prominent member of the Charedi community in Salford, was accused of a course of conduct against the two alleged victims over a number of years which involved touching them inappropriately and forcing himself on them.

He denied the allegations, saying he was the victim of a “revenge plot” and that the girls, now adult women, were lying.

But he was convicted after a two-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 20, 2015

CLERGY sex abuse survivor Philip Nagle asked for a minute’s silence following his testimony to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday.

Mr Nagle was honouring his 12 fellow St Alipius Christian Brothers Primary School pupils who have committed suicide – out of a class of 33.

The shocking statistics were some of the evidence presented about abuse on the first day of the hearings that victims have described as a “carnage” that has fractured Ballarat.

Mr Nagle was repeatedly assaulted by disgraced priest Stephen Farrell when he was a grade five pupil.

“I would know when an attack was coming because he would always remove his glasses first,” Mr Nagle said.

“It was a scary time. I couldn’t work out what I was doing that made the abuse happen because the physical pain made it feel like I was being punished.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 20, 2015

Molestation by now notorious pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was “no secret” in his local parish, with at least two reports flowing to his bishop before a leadership group including current Cardinal George Pell decided to move him.

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse yesterday heard damning claims about the Catholic Church’s behaviour on the first day of hearings in ­Ballarat, where hundreds of children are believed to have ­suffered throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said evidence would show Ridsdale’s behaviour with boys was common knowledge in the parish of Mortlake and there were at least two reports to Bishop Ronald Mulkearns about Ridsdale’s ­offending in the town.

She said Bishop Mulkearns was recorded telling a Catholic Church Insurance investigator in 1993 that there were complaints of inappropriate behaviour by Ridsdale with young boys from Mortlake “so he was taken out of there”.

Bishop Mulkearns also said he “did not take it as his position to report Ridsdale to police”, Ms Furness said.

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LOUISIANA
The Louisiana Record

May 19, 2015

By KYLE BARNETT

GRETNA – A local minister and the church he works for are being sued by a parishioner who claims he used his position of influence within the church to engage in inappropriate sexual conduct with her.

Lori Pelitire filed suit against Craig Wayne Rinker, and his employer First English Lutheran Church, and their insurers in the 24th Judicial District Court on April 2.

Pelitire alleges she was a parishioner at the First English Lutheran Church located at 3701 Cleary Ave. in Metairie when she sought counseling from Rinker, which included sessions at the church as well as at her home. The plaintiff contends that in January 2014, when she was 42-years-old, Rinker, who was 69-years-old at the time, began to make sexually suggestive comments during their counseling sessions that eventually escalated to inappropriate touching and Rinker exposing himself to her.

On April 2, 2014, Pelitire asserts that Rinker gave her communion wafers at the church before performing oral sex on her. The plaintiff claims Rinker told her that the touching and sexual activity was part of her counseling sessions and “to prepare her for a future husband.” Pelitire further claims Rinker also snuck into her home when she was sick and fondled her in her sleep and sent her explicit emails containing pornographic photos.

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ITALIA
Il Secolo XIX

[con il video]

[Genoa – Don Riccardo Seppia , the former parish priest of the district of Genoa Sestri Ponente who was arrested for pedophilia and imprisoned in Sanremo, he returned to freedom it will be housed in a church community of Lombardy.]

Genova – Don Riccardo Seppia, l’ex parroco del quartiere genovese di Sestri Ponente che fu arrestato per pedofilia e rinchiuso nel carcere di Sanremo, è tornato in libertà: sarà ospitato in una comunità ecclesiastica della Lombardia.

Don Seppia era stato condannato in appello a 8 anni e 6 mesi di reclusione, ma lo scorso novembre la Cassazione aveva annullato la sentenza, rinviando gli atti a Genova con una nuova qualificazione del reato: tentati atti sessuali con minorenne e induzione alla prostituzione.

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ITALIA
Ravenna and Dintorni

[A priest in Italy was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in jail for abusing minors.]

10 anni e 8 mesi per l’ex parroco Desio

La sentenza del giudice è stata più pesante della richiesta dell’accusa: il 53enne Giovanni Desio, ex parroco a Casalborsetti dal 2001 al 2014, è stato condannato a dieci anni e otto mesi (18 mesi in più della richiesta del pm) per violenza sessuale su minori. Un anno dopo l’arresto nella canonica di Casalborsetti è arrivata quindi la condanna in primo grado per Desio che da lunedì scorso non è più un sacerdote: il Vaticano aveva trasmesso alla diocesi di Ravenna il decreto con cui lo ha dimesso dallo stato clericale e contemporaneamente gli ha dato la dispensa dal celibato.

Desio, originario di Milano, è accusato di avere fatto sesso tra il 2010 e il 2014 con alcuni ragazzini tra gli 11 e i 15 anni a lui affidati dai familiari. Quattro i giovanissimi individuati dalla Procura tra le parti offese: sono delle province di Ravenna, Bergamo e Treviso. Ma è accusato anche di violenza sessuale per avere millantato qualifiche infermieristiche al fine di visitare un paio di giovani. L’ex prelato, difeso dall’avvocato Battista Cavassi, dopo sette mesi di carcere a Forlì, si trova da mesi in un apposito centro di recupero della provincia di Perugia.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

JOE GYAN JR.| JGYAN@THEADVOCATE.COM

A Baton Rouge pastor accused more than a year ago of raping an intellectually limited 20-year-old woman at the behest of her father will not be charged, a prosecutor and the pastor’s attorney said Thursday.

David “Scott” Lemley, pastor of New Harmony Baptist Church on Antioch Road, had told sheriff’s investigators that the woman was prone to making up stories for no reason.

East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Sue Bernie said that is not why prosecutors decided not to prosecute the 44-year-old Lemley, who was booked early last year on an aggravated rape count.

“That determination was not made because we think she makes up stories,” Bernie stressed. “There was a legal analysis done.”

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LOUISIANA
Addicting Info

RANDA MORRIS MAY 18, 2015

A Louisiana pastor will not face charges of rape, after allegedly having sex with an ‘intellectually limited woman’ on multiple occasions, at the request of her father.

According to The Advocate, the 20-year-old victim has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old child. The girl’s father was arrested in November 2013 on multiple sex charges, including aggravated rape. Although he confessed to police that he had sex with his own intellectually impaired child, he was not convicted on any charges related to that. Instead he plead guilty to a lesser charge of ‘cruelty to a juvenile.’ The victim’s father served a minimal jail sentence and is currently out on probation.

Pastor David ‘Scott’ Lemley was arrested in March of 2014, following an investigation into allegations that the girl’s father also told her to have sex with him, because his wife is ‘ill’ and ‘bedridden’.

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