ABUSE TRACKER

ARGENTINA
La Voz

– Tres víctimas deberán volver, por tercera vez, a la Justicia, ahora para certificar la veracidad de cartas supuestamente enviadas al cura Ilarraz, un elemento que presentó la defensa; La querella y el fiscal entienden que constituyen una prueba más de su culpabilidad en los abusos; Ayer pidieron el procesamiento

El cura Justo José Ilarraz decidió responder a su modo frente a las siete denuncias que pesan en su contra por abusos cometidos contra menores en el Seminario Arqudiocesano de Paraná: presentó en la Justicia cartas que supuestamente le habrían mandado tres de las siete víctimas que testimoniaron en Tribunales.

La presentación la hizo su defensor, Juan Ángel Fornerón, y encontró rápida respuesta en la jueza Susana María Paola Firpo, titular del Juzgado de Transición Nº 2 que tramita la causa “Ilarraz Justo José s/Promoción a la corrupción agravada”. La magistrada resolvió citar a las tres víctimas que habrían enviado esas cartas al cura para que certifiquen que son de su autoría.

La medida supone ni más ni menos que el aplazamiento de una definición de Firpo en torno a la situación procesal de Ilarraz. El cura se presentó a indagatoria el 21 del actual, y tras eso la magistrada contaba con un plazo de diez días para resolver si lo procesaba, lo sobreseía o le dictaba la falta de mérito. Pero ese plazo ahora se pospone por cuanto Ilarraz pidió ampliar su indagatoria.

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ARGENTINA
Analisis Digital

Montrull Ramirez: The letters are evidence that Illarraz manipulated victims.]

El fiscal Juan Francisco Ramírez Montrull cuestionó la presentación de cartas que hizo Justo José Ilarraz ante la Justicia, las cuales intercambiaba con los jóvenes que lo denunciaron por abusos. “Esto es una prueba de la manipulación que el cura ejercía sobre las víctimas, ya que después de lo que les hizo seguía manteniendo contacto no sólo con ellos, sino también con los familiares de éstos”, explicó el letrado. En ese sentido, pidió celeridad y que “no se revictimice a los denunciantes al exponerlos a esta situación, ya que tuvieron que ir tres veces a Tribunales y el sacerdote solamente fue dos”, cuestionó y luego añadió: “No queremos que esta situación se transforme en una investigación a las víctimas”.

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ARGENTINA
Infojus Noticias

[They will continue investigating a Justo Jose Illarraz, priest accused of abusing at least seven boys.
The priest is investigated for sexual abuse at the seminary of Parana, where he was in charge of two hundred children between 10 and 14 years, in a period was 1985-1993]

El sacerdote católico Justo José Ilarraz no consiguió eludir la causa en la que es investigado por al menos siete acusaciones de abusos sexuales cometidos, entre 1985 y 1993, contra chicos de entre 10 y 14 años que estaban a su cuidado en el Seminario de Paraná. El Superior Tribunal de Justicia (STJ) entrerriano determinó que los abusos sexuales por los que está acusado no prescribieron. El 18 de mayo darán a conocer los fundamentos de la sentencia.

La defensa de Ilarraz viene sosteniendo desde el inicio de la causa que esa investigación no puede continuar por el tiempo transcurrido. Pero la sala Nº 1 del STJ, integrada por Carlos Chiara Díaz, Claudia Mizawak y Daniel Carubia, rechazó el planteo de la defensa, tal como ya lo habían resuelto la Cámara de Casación Penal, la sala I de la Cámara Primera de Paraná y el juzgado de Transición Nº 2 de Paraná, que lleva la investigación.

Los abogados de los denunciantes, Marcos Rodríguez Allende, Rosario Romero y Milton Urrutia, y el procurador general de Entre Ríos, Jorge García, rechazan la posibilidad de que la causa se dé por cerrada, por el tiempo transcurrido. Consideran que se trata de esclarecer “graves violaciones a los derechos humanos, y en especial, de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño”, cometidos por parte del acusado “en forma sistemática”, aprovechando su cargo dentro del seminario y ante la imposibilidad de acceder a la Justicia.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

By: Lindsay Kalter

Friends of Star of the Sea’s long-closed Quincy parish are calling on Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate its closing, according to a letter issued yesterday to the archbishop of Boston.

“We have argued that while the cardinal is within his right to suppress parishes, we believe we were a valuable and vibrant parish,” said Maureen Mazrimas, co-chairwoman of Friends of Star of the Sea. “It’s only because of our size that we were suppressed.”

The group asks the AG to look at whether the archdiocese has lived up to its fiduciary responsibility to safeguard property donated by the parishioners.

Mazrimas said at the time it was closed, the church had around 400 worshipers and one priest. She said real estate money from the closure “should have followed the parishioners, but instead it went to the general coffers.”

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former priest charged with two sexual assaults, 17 indecent assaults – Granville

Wednesday, 29 April 2015 04:24:07 PM

A former Catholic priest from Sydney’s west has been charged with 19 offences relating to the sexual and indecent assault of children.

Last year (2014), police from the Blue Mountains LAC and the Sex Crimes Squad received information relating to the alleged assault of a young girl by a man at Springwood in 1986.

Detectives made inquiries into the matter and identified seven more children who had allegedly been sexually or indecently assaulted by the man at various locations through NSW between 1975 and 1992.

At the time of the offences, the man was practising as a Catholic priest.

Following their inquiries, detectives yesterday (Tuesday 28 April 2015) arrested a 70-year-old man at a property in Granville.

He was taken to Parramatta Police Station, where he was charged with:

– Two counts of sexual assault; and,

– 17 counts of indecent assault.

Granted conditional bail, the man is scheduled to appear before Parramatta Local Court on 14 May 2015.

Police are urging anyone with information in relation to sexual or indecent assaults to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/ Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New clerics are asked to disinvite Finn
SNAP: “Or Finn should withdraw from ordinations”
Bishop’s role “hurts victims & Catholics,” group says
At least 2 KC priests are raising objections within hierarchy
Victims to Pope: “Pick a priest, not a bureaucrat” to head diocese permanently

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

— blast Bishop Robert Finn’s plan to preside at two upcoming church ceremonies and
— disclose that two or three KC priests are objecting to Finn’s role in those events.

For the sake of healing and prevention, the victims will also urge

— eight men who will become deacons next month to disinvite Finn,
— Finn himself to voluntarily step aside from the events, and
— Pope Francis to name a parish priest, “not a headquarters bureaucrat” to permanently head the diocese.

WHEN
Wednesday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the KC Catholic diocesan chancery office/headquarters, 20 W. 9th Street in downtown Kansas City

WHO
Two-three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

WHY
This week, it was disclosed that convicted Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, despite his recent resignation, plans to preside over two ordination ceremonies for new deacons next month in Kansas City.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a public hearing in Ballarat from May 19.

The commission has held public hearings in every Australian capital city.

This year it will hold open hearings in regional Australia for the first time, starting in Ballarat.

It said the city had a deeply disturbing history of institutional sexual abuse.

It will hear the experiences of survivors and the impact of abuse on the town’s families and social fabric.

Ballarat survivor Andrew Collins said it was great news.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

These are reflections I wrote down after attending Mass about five ago. I need to add that I have not attended Mass on a regular basis for more than a year. I was thrown out of my parish in 2004, after handing out newspaper articles about clergy abuse in my parish. I tried to remain a faithful Catholic, but after 10 years of rejection by many parishioners and many in leadership, I decided to stop trying. Going to Church was like hitting my head against a wall or beating a dead horse. It doesn’t hurt the horse much.

Well anyway, this last Sunday I was sitting in Mass. My wanders too much. I try to pay attention to the Bible readings. Sometimes I hold onto the word of God more easily through the music.

The Psalm that was sung, not spoken in church this week was, “If today you should hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.”

I’ve heard the voice of God saying, “I love you Mommy.”

God was speaking through my child. That’s an easy one.

But what about the guy in the car who cursed me for riding through a stop sign on my bicycle. I didn’t come to a full stop. I was sitting there wobbling on my bicycle at the stop sign as I looked around to make sure it was safe to go. I guess I was supposed to put my feet on the ground and come to an absolute stop.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic priest accused of abusing eight children between 1975 and 1992 has been charged with several counts of sexual and indecent assault.

The 70-year-old was on Tuesday arrested at a home in Granville, in Sydney’s west, following a year-long investigation which began with allegations he abused a young girl in 1986. Seven more victims were subsequently identified during the investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An ex-member of staff at a Worcestershire school has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm.

The man was detained in Cambridgeshire, in connection with offences dating back to the 1960s and 70s, West Mercia Police said.

He has been bailed until June while investigations continue.

Boy aged 11 to 15 were sent to the now-closed St Gilbert’s in Hartlebury after being convicted of petty crimes.

Police launched an investigation last year into allegations of abuse at the approved Catholic school between the 1940s and 1970s after former pupils were interviewed by BBC Hereford and Worcester.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

BY ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. CAP.

Throughout the weeks of April, our Commonwealth, along with the rest of the country, has been focused on National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.

Here in Pennsylvania, our people have come through a very difficult decade on this issue. But the abuse problem is much wider than any one state, profession or demographic group. It cuts through every level of society. Child abuse is an ugly crime; abusing children sexually compounds the evil. Every year we see many thousands of cases of child sexual abuse across the country in a full range of institutions, public and private, religious and secular.

In response, Pennsylvania legislators have passed 20 new laws aimed at preventing child abuse and providing better support for survivors. In doing so, they’ve offered a model for the nation. We owe them our gratitude for their good work. And it’s important to stress that as a Catholic community, we too are committed — just as everyone should be — to ensuring safe environments for children and young people.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has a zero tolerance policy for clergy, lay employees and volunteers who engage in sexual misconduct with children. If an accusation of this nature is made, we take immediate action by reporting the matter to law enforcement and cooperating with authorities fully in the course of their work.

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BY SIMON SCOTT
APR 29, 2015

My dear children, whom Jesus, our Saviour, has loved so much, whom he bends down to embrace and bless, come to us, stay with us. We will be the guardian angels of your innocence.

Father Jean-Marie De La Mennais, founder of The Brothers of Christian Instruction (Sermon VII)

———————————————

In late 1964, after his family moved to Japan from Australia, Jacob Bernstein was enrolled at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo. His father, Robert, a diplomat, had been sent to the Australian Embassy in the city — his first overseas posting.

One lunchtime late in 1965, Jacob says he was searching for a good spot to eat lunch when he passed the school chapel.

Being Jewish, the 11-year-old Grade 6 student didn’t eat the school lunches served in the dining room as most of the boys did. St. Mary’s, a Catholic boys’ school run by the Brothers of Christian Instruction, aka the Mennaisians, was unable to prepare food that was kosher, so he had to eat a prepared lunch from home instead.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | April 28, 2015

NEW YORK (RNS) Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a quiet nun with a keen wit who led a very public life as a journalist and a longtime spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died on Tuesday (April 28) after a tough battle with cancer.

She was 67 and passed away in a hospice in Albany next to the regional convent of the religious order she entered as a 17-year-old novice in 1964.

Walsh had moved to her native Albany from Washington last September after it was discovered that the cancer that had been in remission since 2010 had returned.

She was able to receive better care there and live out her days with other members of the Sisters of Mercy. She was transferred to the hospice on April 23 as her condition deteriorated.

“Sister Mary Ann,” as she was known to the many journalists she sparred and joked with and, with regularity, befriended, worked at the communications office of the American hierarchy for 20 years, retiring in the summer of 2014 just before she fell ill again.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Steve Duin | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

On an otherwise beautiful afternoon in downtown Portland, the niece took the stand Monday in the felony sex-abuse trial of Mike Sperou, the Happy Valley pastor.

Michal Mitchell remembers growing up so “very happy” in Sperou’s church. In her courtroom testimony, she also recalled depression, extreme anxiety, Prozac, nightmares, suicide attempts, the bipolar diagnosis and – starting when she was in the 6th grade – how often she spent the night in her uncle’s bed.

She usually wore Calvin Klein boxers and a t-shirt, she said. Her pastor and spiritual mentor came to bed in boxer shorts, and frequently hugged the long pillow – that he dubbed “Sally” – that separated them. Asked how long this bizarre sleeping arrangement continued, the 30-year-old Mitchell said, “Until now.”

Mike Sperou is on trial for three counts of unlawful sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12. Mitchell is, mind you, a witness for the defense.

For 18 years now, seven other women who grew up in the shadow of Sperou’s bed have insisted he molested them. Their graphic accounts prompted a soul-searching schism at the North Clackamas Bible Community in 1996, but the allegations didn’t spark criminal charges until the women once again brought the complaints to police in 2013.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

Pastor Mike Sperou testified in his own defense Tuesday, adamantly denying he sexually abused young girls growing up in his Happy Valley church during the 1980s and 1990s.

However, Sperou had a harder time during cross-examination, appearing to change his story from the one he told Portland police detectives in 1997.

On Tuesday, Sperou’s trial entered its 11th day, including 10 consecutive days of testimony.

Under questioning by defense attorney Steven J. Sherlag, Sperou told a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury that the core families in the North Clackamas Bible Community are very affectionate with children and that he was sorry if he ever made any of them uncomfortable when they spent the night with him in his bed. He said he contacted the girls’ parents immediately afterward to see if the children were all right.

Sperou said he also decided that he did not want to give anyone another chance to misinterpret his innocent affections.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 28, 2015

A lawsuit filed by a man who was abused while he was a student at St. John’s Preparatory School yields a landmark settlement.

The monks at St. John’s Abbey worked as student counselors, teachers, parish priests and chaplains, even as they sexually abused minors. What the abbey knew of their sexual improprieties, and when, has never been made public — but that’s about to change.

Under a landmark clergy abuse settlement announced Tuesday, the personnel files of 19 monks known as sex offenders will be made public. The files will expose for the first time how the abbey addressed reports of sex abuse on its Collegeville campus, home to one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in North America.

The lawsuit was settled in much the same way as the first lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, requiring that personnel vaults be opened and that the monks’ work histories, accusations of abuse, psychological treatment, abbey correspondence and other details be made public.

Troy Bramlage, 52, is the Sauk Rapids man whose lawsuit led to the historic settlement. He said he was sexually abused as a 14-year-old freshman living at St. John’s Preparatory School by the Rev. Allen Tarlton, his English teacher.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Editorial

POSTED: 04/28/15

In the last month, convictions of two priests who were found guilty of charges related to child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been upheld by higher courts.

In 2013, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church in northeast Philadelphia from 1998 to 1999 while the priest was in residence there.

Engelhardt denied the allegations and appealed the verdict, but died last November of an apparent heart condition while in the second year of a six-to-12-year sentence at the Coal Township Prison in Northumberland County.

State law required that the priest’s appeal be continued. On March 25, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Engelhardt’s convictions of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

Derrick Rose, @WHAS11Derrick

LOUSIVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — In a videotaped deposition and several documents released Tuesday, which include a letter written by Louisville native Father Gilbert “Allen” Tarlton, the priest admits to several incidents where he engaged in sexual misconduct with students or children in his care.

The documents and video were made public as part of a settlement between Tarlton, St. John’s Abbey and lawyers representing the victim known in court records as “John Doe 2.” The case had been scheduled to go to trial May 4.

When asked if he touched the genitals of prep students at St. John’s, Tarlton replied, “I did do that, yes,” but could not recall how many times.

It was the first time Tarlton has been seen publicly admitting his role in the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.

WEB EXTRA:

Watch Father Tarlton’s full deposition video

Part of the records released highlight Tarlton’s time at Holy Cross. In the earlier described letter, Tarlton does not name the pastor who invited hiim to Louisville. In the letter, Tarlton does, however, admit to numerous sexual encounters with students as well as alcohol abuse before he transferred to Louisville. There is no mention of whether Tarlton revealed his past to the pastor or if there was any investigation prior to his hiring in 1973.

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UTAH
Deseret News

By Tad Walch, Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, April 28 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church donated $100,000 to the Avenues Children’s Justice Center after nearly a dozen church leaders toured the Salt Lake City home on Tuesday.

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, the church’s Primary general president, presented the check to the center, which provides a child-friendly atmosphere for children as investigators interview them regarding alleged abuse. The center also provides referrals for support services for both children and their parents or guardians.

“Yesterday I knew next to nothing about this facility,” Sister Wixom said. “Today I have a passion for it.”

“I was quite touched by the resource that is right here in the community for families that are suffering and dealing with the pain of abuse,” Sister Wixom added. “We all love children, and we all have to do everything we can to help the child that may be suffering.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 29, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A former teacher suspected of being the Knox Grammar School “Balaclava Man” was given a positive reference by the headmaster after being caught masturbating in public, and went on to work in other schools.

Christopher Fotis gave evidence yesterday at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse after being arrested for failing to appear at a hearing in February.

Yesterday, he denied receiving a summons to appear at the time. Asked why he did not want to give evidence before the commission, Mr Fotis said: “I’m a private person. This is a very public hearing and I suppose if there is any ­reason, it comes down to that.”

He said he was employed at Knox in 1987 without being asked for references or whether he had a criminal record. Evidence before the commission suggests he did have a criminal record, for offensive behaviour, at the time.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Apr 28, 2015

Documents released Tuesday show that the Rev. Allen Tarlton, a St. John’s Abbey monk, has admitted in writing to sexually abusing at least one high school student at St. John’s Preparatory School.

In a 14-page undated memoir released by the abbey as part of a lawsuit, Tarlton, 87, described how he invited a high school senior to his room and sexually touched him.

“I used some excuse that I was studying nude art and wanted to study his body,” Tarlton wrote. “He came to my room on several occasions and lay nude on my bed, while I pretended to be studying some art books that were lying open on my desk.”

Tarlton gave the boy wine during one of the visits and the boy threw up, he wrote. He touched the boy inappropriately during about three separate visits, according to the document.

“I was not involved with any other high school student until many years later,” he wrote.

Tarlton also described sexual contact with at least 10 adult students at St. John’s University. In one case, he admitted to giving a college student a sleeping pill and sexually touching him while he slept.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[The Orthodox Jewish community in Amsterdam is embarrassed by its chief rabbi, Aryeh Ralbag. He has ties to a Jewish gang in the United States. Ralbag, who lives in New York, earlier this week has discontinued his work as chief rabbi.The gang between 2009 and 2013 visited spouses who did not divorce and tried to bring them by force to change their minds.]

De orthodox-joodse gemeente Amsterdam is in verlegenheid gebracht door haar opperrabbijn, Aryeh Ralbag. Hij heeft banden met een joodse knokploeg in de Verenigde Staten. Ralbag, die in New York woont, heeft begin deze week zijn werk als opperrabbijn gestaakt.

De knokploeg ging tussen 2009 en 2013 op bezoek bij echtgenoten die niet wilden scheiden en probeerde hen met geweld op andere gedachten te brengen. Bij hun acties gebruikten de leden volgens de politie onder meer chirurgische messen, schroevendraaiers, touw en stroomstootwapens. Twee leden zijn dinsdag in New Jersey veroordeeld voor poging tot ontvoering. Hun leider werd schuldig bevonden aan samenzweren met ontvoering als doel.

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AUSTRALIA
John Menadue – Pearls and Irritations

Posted on 28/04/2015 by John Menadue

On 21 April 2015, the Vatican announced that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas, Missouri, had resigned. The announcement referred to the Code of Canon Law that states that a bishop who “has become less able to fulfil his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” Bishop Finn seems to have been in good health, so the “grave cause” must have been that he had been convicted in September 2012 of failing to report to the police one of his priests, Fr Ratigan, who had been producing child pornography. Finn received a two year suspended sentence with probation, and despite calls for his resignation then, Finn refused to do so until now.

There is an extraordinary irony in this case, and it illustrates the mess that is created by canon law on the issue of child sex abuse, and which Pope Francis refuses to change, despite requests by United Nations Committees on two occasions to do so. Similar requests by Catholic Bishops Conferences from Ireland, Britain, the United States and Australia during the reigns of Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI fell on deaf ears.

In 1996, the Irish Bishops informed the Vatican that they wanted to have mandatory reporting of all allegations of child sexual abuse to the police. The Vatican refused, saying it breached canon law, and it was “immoral” for a bishop to report even a paedophile priest to the police. In 1996, the Australian bishops (other than Archbishop Pell) adopted the Towards Healing protocol which required reporting where the civil law required it. In most cases that involved breaching the pontifical secret imposed by Pope Paul VI’s instruction Secreta Continere of 1974 that applied to all allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy. In 2001, the British Bishops adopted Lord Nolan’s report that recommended mandatory reporting. In 2002, the American’s sent to the Vatican the proposals for mandatory reporting. They were told that it conflicted with canon law. A delegation went to see Cardinal Ratzinger. A compromised was reached whereby bishops were required to obey domestic laws on reporting. There was a serious danger of bishops going to jail for breaching reporting laws in some American States. That requirement to obey domestic laws on reporting was eventually extended to the whole Church in April 2010. A month later, on 21 May 2010, Benedict XVI extended the pontifical secret to cover allegations against priests for possessing child pornography.

In December 2010, Bishop Finn became aware of the allegations against Ratigan. Because Missouri law required reporting, Finn had not only breached the civil law, he had also breached canon law. He could thus be held accountable under both sets of laws.

If Missouri law did not require reporting (about half the American States don’t have comprehensive reporting laws), Bishop Finn had committed no crime under State law, and in December 2010, he would have been obeying canon law by not reporting because six months before, Benedict had imposed the pontifical secret on allegations of possession of child pornography.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: Associated Press Updated: April 28, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — In a story April 28 about the settlement of a clergy abuse lawsuit involving St. John’s Abbey, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the abbey is part of the Diocese of St. Cloud. The abbey is a separate entity from the diocese, said Brother Aelred Senna, an abbey spokesman.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Attorneys say settlement in abuse case against St. John’s

Attorneys say settlement reached in lawsuit over alleged abuse at St. John’s Abbey

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has settled a lawsuit with St. John’s Abbey that will force the release of personnel files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors, attorneys said Monday.

The settlement announced by attorney Jeff Anderson’s law firm was to be detailed at a news conference Tuesday.

Anderson sued St. John’s in 2013 on behalf of Edward “Troy” Bramlage III, 52, who said he was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton when he was a 14-year-old freshman at its prep school in 1977. The lawsuit said St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment but allowed him to continue working at the prep school.

Anderson said Monday the settlement is “a big deal” and an “important step forward” because it requires not only the disclosure of Tarlton’s files but also those of an additional 18 St. John’s monks credibly accused of abuse. A timeline for releasing the other files has yet to be set, Anderson said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Apr. 28, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO. Despite stepping down as head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese last week, Bishop Robert Finn is scheduled to preside at two ordinations here next month.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., who was named apostolic administrator of the neighboring diocese, told a meeting of priests on Thursday that he had asked Finn to oversee the ordinations after realizing that the Kansas and Missouri dioceses had scheduled ordinations on the same days.

According to Jack Smith, spokesman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, Naumann consulted with the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, about the schedule conflict, and he suggested that Finn could celebrate the ordinations. Finn also raised the ordinations issue at the time he turned in his resignation to Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who also suggested Finn preside over them, Smith said.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
St. John’s Abbey has reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a former student who was sexually assaulted by a priest at the Collegeville, Minn. prep school in 1977. The settlement is being called an important step forward in the ongoing battle against clergy sex abuse.

Troy Bramlage says he was abused by the Reverend Allen Tarlton during his freshman year at the school. The lawsuit says St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment, but allowed him to continue working at the prep school. Bramlage says there are still many victims out there.

“The guilt and the shame that we feel doesn’t belong to us,” he said.

As part of the deal, St. John’s must now release files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A day after the state Supreme Court reinstated Msgr. William J. Lynn’s conviction, the district attorney filed a motion in Common Pleas Court seeking to revoke Lynn’s bail and send him back to jail.

“Consistent with its prior rulings, this Court should, once again, revoke Defendant’s bail, thereby remanding him to the service of the remainder of his sentence,” said the motion filed today by District Attorney R. Seth Williams and Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, who originally prosecuted Lynn.

Not so fast, said Thomas A. Bergstrom, who is Lynn’s lawyer. Bergstrom filed a response to the D.A.’s motion in Common Pleas Court today stating that the D.A. has applied to the wrong court. Any argument over Lynn’s bail should be dealt with in state Superior Court, Bergstrom asserted.

The Common Pleas Court does not have jurisdiction over the case, Bergstrom argued. After the state Supreme Court reinstated Lynn’s conviction, the Supreme Court specified that the case was to be remanded within 14 days back to the state Superior Court, where a number of appeal issues from Lynn’s original trial are still pending. …

In his response to the D.A.’s motion, Bergstrom wrote that he is going to file a motion in state Superior Court to have the case returned to the same panel of three Superior Court judges that reversed Lynn’s conviction. Bergstrom also plans to file a motion with that same panel to keep Lynn out of jail on the original $25,000 bail deposit of 10 percent imposed by Judge Sarmina.

“Any application for bail revocation or otherwise should be presented to the Superior Court as the Court on remand,” Bergstrom wrote. “The trial court is without jurisdiction to consider the current bail motion.”

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MINNESOTA
Shakopee Valley News

Lawsuit filed on behalf of Shakopee man, allegedly abused by nun as a child

MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys filed a civil lawsuit against an order of nuns and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minn.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison. Court papers say Sister Mary Regina repeatedly fondled the boy’s genitals during school hours, according a news release issued Wednesday by the Minneapolis law firm of Patrick Noaker.

Douglas Devorak of Shakopee, the alleged victim, will speak with reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, said Noaker’s office.

Court papers identify the boy as “John Doe 117.” Since serving the lawsuit, the Devorak has decided to reveal his identity to encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, said Noaker’s office.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philadelphia Tribune

Larry Miller Tribune Staff Writer

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said the one thing he wants people in the city to understand is whether crime happens on the streets or in the suites, his office applies the same standard of justice.

Whether it’s a dope-slinging guy on a corner with an illegal gun in his pocket or a corrupt politician taking bribes and payoffs, the justice that applies to “Pookie” and “Ray-Ray” is the same that applies to a cop who stains his badge, or a wayward politician or priest, he said.

“I’m here to prove that the same justice applies to everyone,” Williams said. “From the corners at Broad and Erie to Germantown and Bethlehem in Chestnut Hill. It doesn’t matter. If you shoot someone while trying to rob them or if you’re involved in a conspiracy to move pedophile priests from one parish to another, we’re going to prosecute you for it. That’s what I want Philadelphians to know; if crime happens on the streets or in the suites the same justice applies.” …

Since being sworn in as district attorney, Williams’ office has had to make some tough decisions, he said.

His office was among the first in the country to prosecute a member of the Catholic Church hierarchy — Monsignor William Lynn — for endangering the welfare of a child. Another high-profile decision was taking over an investigation that was dropped by state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, in which legislators who supported Williams for district attorney were named.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

The Editors

April 28, 2015

n a March 2014 interview, Pope Francis was given an opportunity to comment on the sexual-abuse scandal, a subject he had said remarkably little about since his election. Acknowledging the “deep wounds” suffered by victims, Francis went on to defend the church as the only public institution to address such crimes “with transparency and responsibility.” No one else has done more, he continued, and yet “the church is the only one to be attacked.”

Those ill-advised remarks took many by surprise, coming as they did just a few months after Francis had announced a new Commission for the Protection of Minors and asked the world’s bishops to support its work. The commission, which includes two victims, wasted no time publicly stating its highest priority: accountability for negligent bishops. In November 2014, Cardinal Séan O’Malley—president of the commission—told 60 Minutes that the Holy See needed to “urgently address” one of the most painful cases to emerge in the U.S. church: Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who was convicted of failing to report child abuse in 2012. Last month, following a Vatican investigation, Pope Francis removed him.

In December 2010—nearly a decade after the U.S. bishops pledged “zero tolerance” for abusive priests—Finn learned that Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s personal computer contained possibly pornographic photos of children. Five months after the photos were discovered, and without Finn’s knowledge, the vicar general turned the cleric in to the police. Ratigan, now laicized, is serving a fifty-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing and creating child pornography. (Federal sentencing law is especially hard on child pornographers.)

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Bishop Robert Finn, who resigned last week as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, will preside over the ordinations of seven deacons next month.

Diocese officials said Monday the ordinations on May 23 conflict with the schedule of Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was appointed temporary leader of the diocese after Finn resigned.

The Kansas City Star reported that Naumann will preside over ordinations of deacons of the Kansas City, Kansas, diocese, which he leads, at the same time the ordinations are scheduled in the Missouri diocese.

Naumann also said he wanted to respect the wishes of the seven Missouri deacons, who received their training under Finn’s guidance.

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SAN FRANCISCO
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | Apr. 28, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO Labor leaders and union members joined teachers, parents and students from archdiocesan high schools here Monday to rally against Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s proposal to change aspects of their employment.

Gathering in front of the archdiocesan offices at 1 Peter Yorke Way, a crowd of more than 200 protested the archbishop’s plan to reclassify the teachers as “ministers,” thereby providing them with fewer legal protections, and to insert a morality clause into their handbook.

The morality clause condemns same-sex marriage, contraception and use of reproductive technology, among other things, and expects employees to accept “these truths” outside the workplace.

“The church has told us that it honors all civil rights and labor rights,” said Art Pulaski, chief officer of the California Labor Federation, speaking before the crowd gathered in the blocked-off street. “You cannot profess social justice if within your own walls you refuse to practice it. We call on the archbishop to adhere to the principles of social justice.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republican

By Anne-Gerard Flynn | aflynn@repub.com
on April 28, 2015

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction on child endangerment charges of a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever prosecuted over his handling of sex abuse complaints, had been freed of those charges by a 2013 appeals court ruling that overturned an earlier conviction. Lynn had served half of a three- to six- year sentence, and remained under house arrest in a Philadelphia rectory.

The Supreme Court, voting 4 to 1, on Monday upheld the 2012 felony conviction for endangerment of an altar boy. The child had been abused in 1998 by a priest transferred to a parish by Lynn despite earlier complaints against the priest who is now serving prison time. Lynn’s lawyers argued that Lynn, who was secretary for the clergy in the diocese under two cardinals, including Anthony Bevilacqua from 1992 to 2004, was not responsible for the boy’s welfare under existing state law that they said applied to parents and caregivers. …

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests posted a response, from David Clohessy of St. Louis, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in the Lynn case.

“We are grateful the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the reversal of Monsignor Lynn’s conviction,” said Clohessy, director of SNAP.

“Punishing wrong doers deters wrong doing, especially in scandal ridden institutions. Like the catholic hierarchy. For decades complicit church officials have exploited legal technicalities to evade justice. It is a victory for parents, parishioners, church goers, wounded victims and innocent kids each time corrupt church staffers are disciplined.”

Lynn’s lawyers have 14 days to appeal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

[Supreme Court opinion – via BishopAccountability.org]
[Dissenting opinion – via BishopAccountability.org]

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO

Free from prison and living under house arrest since a court ruling last December, Msgr. William Lynn’s freedom may be in jeopardy again.

The case of the former secretary for clergy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the highest-ranking church official in the archdiocese convicted of a crime connected to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, took a dramatic new turn April 27 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that had released him on bail.

It remains unclear whether the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office will press to revoke Msgr. Lynn’s bail and return him to a Northeast Pennsylvania prison, pending appeals to yesterday’s ruling.

Msgr. Lynn, 64, had been convicted of endangering the welfare of a child in his landmark 2012 trial. In his position, he had supervised clergy on behalf of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua including former priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in 1999 and is serving a five-year prison sentence.

After Msgr. Lynn served 18 months of his three- to six-year sentence at Waymart State Prison, his conviction was overturned by the state Superior Court in December 2013. He subsequently took up residence with electronic monitoring at St. William’s rectory in Northeast Philadelphia.

Msgr. Lynn’s defense contended he should not be convicted retroactively according to a 2007 amendment to a 1995 child endangerment law when he was a supervisor until 2004.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
Enquirer

Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com

A former Cincinnati priest is part of a legal settlement in Minnesota that will open “incident files” about child abuse accusations involving Catholic clergy.

The Rev. Gilbert Allen Tarlton, who worked in Cincinnati in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was sued in 2013 by a man who said the priest abused him when he was a freshman at a Minnesota preparatory school in 1977. The accuser’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said Tuesday that terms of the settlement of a civil lawsuit require the release of Tarlton’s files, as well as the files of 18 other priests.

Tarlton, a priest with the Order of St. Benedict, also must release sworn testimony he gave about the case in 2013.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Tarlton’s file shows no accusations of abuse during his time in Cincinnati. The archdiocese was ordered to turn over records as part of the accuser’s lawsuit in Minnesota, but the archdiocese was not a named defendant and is not part of the settlement.

“We had no accusations here,” said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

Anderson said the priest files that will be released involve other members of the Order of St. Benedict and include personnel files and “incident files,” which may detail allegations of abuse and how they were handled by superiors. The accuser in Minnesota has not been named and was identified only as “Doe 2” on his lawsuit.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

4/28/2015

Timeline – Fr. Allen Tarlton
19 Monks of St. John’s – Photos
Key Documents – Fr. Allen Tarlton
Deposition Transcript of Fr. Allen Tarlton 10-10-2013

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MAINE
Greek Reporter

by Ioanna Zikakou – Apr 28, 2015

Former Greek Orthodox priest Adam Metropoulos was convicted of four counts of child sexual abuse in Bangor, Maine on Tuesday, March 17. On Monday, April 27, Metropoulos was sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but six and a half years suspended for his involvement in the sex crimes.

Superior Court Justice Ann Murray also sentenced him to 3 years of probation after he gets out of prison, adding that he would have to register with the Main Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life. “The victim impact in this case was great,” said Murray.

At Metropoulos’ trial a 23-year-old former altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church testified that he had been sexually abused by the former priest when he would sleep over at the man’s house. Furthermore, police found pornographic images in the offender’s computer, depicting a family member that he would secretly film in the nude, as well as other photographs of different people, some of them children.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 28, 2015

St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville will make public its files on 19 priests with credible charges of sex abuse, as part of a settlement reached with a man who sued the abbey for abuse he suffered as a teenager.

The documents are expected to reveal how the abbey addressed reports of sex abuse perpetrated by its monks over the past decades. The provision is similar to one in the first lawsuit settled against Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, requiring that priest personnel vaults be opened.

The lawsuit was filed by a man who was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton in 1977, when he was a student at St. John’s Preparatory School and Tarlton was his English teacher. It charged that the abbey was aware of previous sexual improprieties by Tarleton, yet allowed him to continue to teach at the school. The abbey did not notify parents or police.

Tarlton, who had a significant history of psychiatric treatment, went on to abuse again, the lawsuit charged. Yet he was not put on restrictions on campus until 2002.

The settlement comes a week before the case was scheduled for trial in Stearns County.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Shuttle

by Gema Bate

A man from Cambridgeshire has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm on pupils at a boy’s school in Hartlebury.

The offences were allegedly carried out when the man worked at St Gilbert’s Catholic School, in Hartlebury, during the 1960s and 1970s.

The man, who can not be identified for legal reasons, has been bailed until June while investigations by West Mercia Police continue.

The police force launched Operation Quail in September last year investigating alleged abuse at St Gilbert’s School dating back to the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

St Gilbert’s, which was a school for boys, no longer exists and is now residential housing.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

The Grey Area of Rape Culture in the Black and White World of Jewish Orthodoxy

by Esther Tova Stanley*

“Yeah, but he’s a man.”

That was the actual reason I was given as to why a rabbi’s sexual predatory behavior was OK. Well not , “OK,” but y’know, understandable.

In the wake of sexual assault allegations brought against Elimelech Meisels, a “rabbi” who controlled and operated numerous seminaries for post high school girls, a very unseemly side of our Jewish orthodox culture is raring its ugly head, yet again. The side that excuses men for being unable to control their sexual urges and, on occasion, even has the audacity to blame the victim for it.

“Well, what was she thinking getting into the car with him?”
“She’s troubled; she misunderstood what really happened.”
“She’s a crazy, manipulative liar.”

Yes, these are actual responses I got when I asked community members why they continued to support this sexual predator/rabbi. Was I surprised? Unfortunately, I was not.

You see, there’s an odd relationship between male authority figures (“rabbis”) and female students that is considered “normal” within post high-school year abroad programs. It not only accepts, but actively encourages a relationship in which an adult male takes young female students under his wing in the name of “kiruv” (loosely translated as bringing someone closer to G-d.)

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted April 26, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge has ordered a Freeport man being sued for slander over allegations of sexual abuse of boys at a Haitian orphanage to pay $8,000 toward the plaintiffs’ legal fees as punishment for defying a court order.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock did not say when Paul Kendrick, 65, would have to pay the Portland attorneys representing Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that raised money for orphanages run by former Catholic brother Michael Geilenfeld.

The judge found on Feb. 20, following a hearing the previous month, that Kendrick had violated a court order not to make public documents that had been gathered during the discovery process.

Lawyers for Hearts with Haiti sought more $28,000 in reimbursement. Kendrick’s attorneys, based in Bangor, said work on the motions seeking the sanction should have cost about $3,800.

Woodcock on Wednesday issued the order specifying how much Kendrick would be fined. Kendrick, who has maintained that Geilenfeld has sexually abused boys for decades, has said he would go to jail rather than pay the charity’s legal fees.

“I cannot in good conscience write a check to people who kept secret information that adversely affects the safety, protection and well-being of children,” Kendrick said in an email dated March 1. “I will not pay these lawyers one cent. If so ordered by the judge, I will sit in a jail cell.”

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UNITED STATES
First Things

by William Doino Jr.
4 . 28 . 15

The Vatican’s recent announcement that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, of the diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, has given relief and new hope to victims of sexual abuse in the Church.

Technically, the Pope didn’t directly “remove” Finn, as the media has widely reported; rather, the bishop formally offered his resignation in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law, which reads: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” But there is no mystery as to why Finn resigned, several years after resisting petitions for him to do so.

Finn is the only American bishop ever to be convicted of a criminal charge for failing to report suspected child abuse. His September 2012 conviction, on a misdemeanor charge, came about because Finn waited several months before telling police of his knowledge that one of his priests, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, had a computer with explicit images of young girls on it. Ratigan later pled guilty to five federal counts, and was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Bishop Finn was himself sentenced to two years probation, and the diocese was hit with an additional $1.1 million fine, when an arbitrator ruled Finn’s diocese had broken an earlier agreement.

Finn’s resignation comes after the completion of a Vatican investigation of him and his diocese, initiated by Pope Francis, last year. The Pope’s action has confounded both defenders of Bishop Finn, as well as skeptics of Francis’s promise to combat abuse in the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

A US state Supreme Court has reinstated the landmark child-endangerment conviction of the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese’s Monsignor William Lynn, who was the first high ranking US Church official ever prosecuted over his mishandling of priest child sex abuse complaints, see Supreme Court opinion . Lynn had been from 1992 to 2004 the top priest personnel aide to Philly Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua. Both cardinals managed to avoid prosecution for their aide’s misdeeds done apparently on their behalf. Bevilacqua died soon after giving a two day video deposition (that is still being kept secret, it appears) in the Lynn criminal case, and Rigali left town in a hurry, by “retiring” after Lynn’s indictment. He may now be seen in good form with Pope Francis attending Vatican ceremonies along with his former pal, the infamous Boston Cardinal Bernard Law. The pope likely knew Bevilacqua from their Vatican committee work and appears to be personally acquainted with Rigali.

By my estimate, almost 25% of then active Philly priests had had sexual abuse complaints in their files reportedly secretly maintained by Lynn for his two cardinals. Portions of these files were reportedly kept from the Archdiocese’s child protection committee. Given the Archdiocese’s pervasive cover up mentality, who knows how many other complaints were not reported out of futility? In 2011, well regarded US Catholic Church historian, David J. O’Brien, reportedly told the NY Times that “The situation in Philadelphia is ‘Boston reborn.’ ” O’Brien was right then and appears still to be right. Why is Pope Francis honoring this disgraced Archdiocese? Have the US elections next year anything to do with the pope’s plans?

After Lynn was indicted, Archbishop Charles Chaput, Philly’s current hierarchical leader, reportedly “led the clerical cheerleaders” applauding Lynn at a large Philly private priests’ meeting. Rigali and/or Chaput then spent seemingly a small fortune on Lynn’s legal defense and also fully “lawyered up” their Archdiocese to fight abuse survivors’ claims, adding to their well connected Philly Republican focused law firm, Chaput’s former Colorado diocese’s law firm and the firm of the former Pennsylvania Democratic governor and Philly mayor and district attorney, who the NY Times had earlier reported as a suggested vice president for Hillary Clinton. Chaput has seemingly funded his “spare no bucks” lawyer onslaught by selling profitable Catholic senior citizens homes, closing Catholic churches and schools, selling Church property, etc., the usual US Catholic bishop’s drill for putting the protection of clerics as the highest priority.

See generally my remarks at (1) “A Cardinal, an Archbishop and a Funeral: A year in the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Priest Child Abuse Scandal” here,

and (2) “… the Philadelphia Inquirer: A Time of Truth About Child Abuse”, here, Bilgrimage , and my other extensive reports easily available at the Bilgrimage website; as well the links at “Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia” here,

[Wikipedia]

Indeed, why is Pope Francis honoring with his first US visit a local church hierarchy with such a sordid history? The pope should instead apologize to Philly Catholics and also make Chaput apologize to Philly Catholics and tell him to release the Bevilacqua video deposition. And the pope should at a minimum publicly chastise Rigali instead of honoring him with Vatican invitations. Please see my relevant remarks, What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Survivors of sex abuse at Kincora children’s home in east Belfast have called for the building to be demolished.

Gary Hoy, who lived in Kincora, said the memories would always be there but he would like to see the building gone.

Survivor Clint Massey said demolishing the building would bring a kind of closure for victims like him.

Margaret McGuckian, of pressure group SAVIA, said they hoped to speak to the home’s owners about the next step.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Statement by Melanie Jula Sakoda of Moraga, California, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), SNAP Orthodox Director (925-708-6175, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com)

An Orthodox priest from Maine, who was found guilty of child sexual abuse for the second time in March, was sentenced today to six and a half years in prison and 3 years probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.

[Bangor Daily News]

We are glad that Father Adam Metropoulos will spend time behind bars, although we are disappointed that it is not for a longer period of time. While incarcerated, he will be unable to hurt any more kids.

Now that the criminal process is complete, we urge the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) to explain to the Faithful how a man previously convicted of child sexual abuse in Michigan was admitted to their seminary in Massachusetts and then ordained a priest. If not for this appalling lack of oversight, Metropoulos’ young victim would not have been hurt.

In addition, the Church should explain to their membership what procedures have been put in place to insure that this disgraceful situation never occurs again.

Finally, the GOA should use all of their resources to reach out to each and every parish and group where Metropoulos worked, begging anyone who experienced, witnessed or suspected the priest of child sexual abuse to contact the police.

We are in awe of the courage of the young man who testified against Metropoulos. We hope that now that he has found his voice and told his truth he can begin healing. We also hope that his bravery will encourage other Orthodox victims to speak up and report to law enforcement.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

[The Diocese of Regensburg has yielded to public pressure: An external lawyer will investigate violence and abuse at the cathedral choir. An actual change of course?]

Das Bistum Regensburg hat dem öffentlichen Druck nachgegeben: Ein externer Rechtsanwalt soll Gewalt und Missbrauch bei den Domspatzen aufarbeiten. Ein tatsächlicher Kurswechsel?

Seht her, hier hat sich was geändert. Das scheint man sowohl mit dem Ort, der für die Pressekonferenz gewählt wurde, als auch mit der Besetzung des Podiums zeigen zu wollen. Während den Verantwortlichen der Diözese Regensburg allein der Begriff „Domspatzen“ schwer über die Lippen kam, wenn sie in der Vergangenheit zu ihren vorgeblich aufklärerischen Presseterminen zum Thema sexueller Missbrauch einluden, so ist es dieses Mal der Wolfgang-Saal des Domspatzen-Gymnasiums, in dem man sich den Medien stellt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

Stadt Willich. Der Anwalt des Anfang Februar wegen teilweise schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern in 25 Fällen zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilten Pfarrers Georg K. hält an der Revision gegen das Urteil fest. Das sagte Dr. Wilhelm Helms aus Hannover gestern auf Nachfrage dieser Zeitung. Die schriftliche Urteilsbegründung habe er am 7. April erhalten, von diesem Zeitpunkt an habe er einen Monat Zeit, die Revision zu konkretisieren. Nach wie vor gehe es nicht um die Schuldfrage, sondern um die Höhe des Strafmaßes. Er halte eine Haftstrafe von fünf Jahren für angemessen. Inzwischen habe er nach Rücksprache mit seinem Mandanten einen Strafverteidiger hinzugezogen, der sich auf Revisionen spezialisiert habe, so Helms.

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PENNSYLVANIA
El Nuevo Herald

POR MARYCLAIRE DALE ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/27/2015

FILADELFIA
La Corte Suprema estatal ratificó el lunes la condena en primera instancia contra un sacerdote católico de alto rango por el cargo de poner en riesgo la vida de menores. El caso fue el primero en la historia en contra de una autoridad eclesiástica en Estados Unidos que enfrentó cargos por su manejo a las quejas sobre abuso sexual.

La Corte Suprema de Pennsylvania confirmó la condena en 2012 por delitos graves contra monseñor William Lynn por poner en riesgo a un monaguillo víctima de abuso sexual a manos de un sacerdote que había sido trasladado a su parroquia pese a las acusaciones previas.

Los abogados defensores han argumentado desde hace tiempo que Lynn, secretario del clero, no era responsable por el bienestar del niño según la ley estatal vigente en ese momento. Sin embargo, en una votación de 4-1, la Corte Suprema estatal no estuvo de acuerdo, por lo que el sacerdote de 64 años potencialmente encara un regreso a prisión.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager
deann.smith@kctv5.com

By Brad Stephens, Anchor

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
He is a temporary caretaker, but he knows he has an important role to play in the coming weeks.

Joseph Naumann, who has been archbishop for Kansas City, KS for a decade, admits he was stunned when the phone call came from the Vatican on April 17. He was told that Pope Francis on April 21 would accept the resignation of Robert Finn as bishop for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.

And Naumann was told that the church leadership wanted him to assume the role as interim bishop. He initially had his reservations, but has overcome them.

“There’s been some polarization within the church,” he said. “What I hope we can do is begin a process of healing and uniting us as a church,” Naumann said. “I think Jesus, he prayed for that for the church.”

Finn admitted in court that he failed to alert authorities about Father Shawn Ratigan, who was a pedophile taking pictures of young girls in his parishes. Finn tried to rehabilitate Ratigan after he attempted to take his own life and court documents say Finn’s actions allowed Ratigan to continue to have access to little girls even after child pornography was found on his church computer.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

APRIL 27, 2015, BY ABBY EDEN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Less than a week after Pope Francis accepted Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation, Archbishop Joseph Naumann is learning all the ins and outs of being an Apostolic Administrator or interim Bishop. He says leading two regions’ Catholic communities at once isn’t easy, but he’s willing to do what needs to be done.

On the Friday before Bishop Finn’s resignation was made public, Archbishop Joseph Naumann heard from the Apostolic Nuncio, or the ambassador of the Vatican to the United States. He was told Bishop Finn was resigning, and he’d have to take over the administrative duties of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

“It’s one community. We share the plight of the church on both sides of State Line Road, affects one another, so I felt if I can do anything to assist the church at this time of transition, I want to do that,” said Archbishop Naumann.

As the Apostolic Administrator of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, Archbishop Naumann will maintain his responsibilities in Kansas City, Kan., and take care of day-to-day administrative responsibilities to keep the diocese on the Missouri side operating smoothly.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City- St Joseph Diocese is still feeling aftershocks from the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn and the scandal involving Father Shawn Ratigan.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann says that, for now, he is focusing on the big picture. A new high school in Lee’s Summit was scheduled to open next fall, but donations fell short. The opening is now set for 2016.

Many parishioners withheld contributions to the bishop’s discretionary fund when the child sex abuse scandal broke.

Finn is still a bishop and is being paid by the church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 28, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A former Knox Grammar teacher suspected of being the “balaclava man” who sexually assaulted a young boy at the exclusive Sydney school says he did not want to give evidence to a royal commission because he is a “private man”.

Christopher Fotis was arrested in Queensland earlier this month after failing to appear at a previous hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Fotis, a former resident master at the northern Sydney boarding school, told the commission he did not receive a summons to give evidence at the hearing in February and did not follow it at the time.

“I did what I was legally entitled to do. I was a free man under no legal obligation and I based my movements upon that,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour
@bkjabour

Monday 27 April 2015

A former teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar school who was suspected of assaulting a student in his bed has told an abuse inquiry he did not attend when called to its hearings in February because he is a “private man”.

Christopher Fotis, 52, took the stand at a reconvened hearing of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse on Tuesday.

He denied ever hearing about the sexual assault of a student in 1988 which became known as the “balaclava man incident”. He told the commission the first he heard of it was from the hearings.

The commission had heard Fotis was a resident master at MacNeil house at the time and was widely suspected as the person seen running away from the house in an old Knox tracksuit and balaclava, after a student, known as ARN, had his genitals groped by the same man who was lying beneath his bed.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Fotis in February when he failed to appear at the commission after being summoned but Fotis’s counsel, Margaret Bateman, said he was not served with a summons.

“I was a free man, legally entitled to move about anywhere I wanted. I’m a private person, this is a very public hearing and I suppose if any reason, it comes down to that,” he said when asked by counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, if there was any reason he did not appear.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

A teacher who was asked to resign from an elite private school when he was charged with performing a sex act in public, expected to get a “richer” reference from the headmaster of Knox Grammar.
Christopher Fotis was asked to resign from the Sydney school in 1989 by the headmaster Ian Paterson.

He was given a reference which noted his enthusiasm for his job and his enormous help with extra-curricular events but which made no mention of why he was asked to leave or other complaints against him.

On Tuesday Fotis told a royal commission that it was a “pretty underwhelming” reference.

Fotis was later found guilty of obscene exposure after he was caught masturbating in his car on a street in Ryde, Sydney.

He was also suspected by teachers and students at Knox of being the balaclava-wearing intruder who sexually molested a year 8 boarder about a year before he resigned.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former teacher at Sydney’s Knox Grammar School has denied he was the so-called balaclava man, who indecently assaulted a sleeping student in 1988.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse previously heard that in 1988, a teenage boarder woke to find a masked man groping him from under his bed and many people believed the former boarding master Christopher Fotis was the perpetrator.

The police were not contacted about the incident, but former headmaster Dr Ian Paterson told the commission he suspected Mr Fotis committed the indecent assault, but he had no proof.

In his opening statement, counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd said Mr Fotis continued teaching at Knox Grammar School until “the latter part of 1989” when he resigned “after being arrested for masturbating in his car while parked outside a school”.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

FORMER Knox Grammar teacher Christopher Fotis has denied any knowledge of an incident in which a boy was sexually assaulted by a balaclava-wearing intruder who hid under his bed, despite sleeping metres away.

EVIDENCE has been given to the sex abuse royal commission that bedlam erupted after the boy screamed in the early hours “Some faggot’s got my balls”.

The Year 8 boys chased the intruder, who was wearing a balaclava and an old Knox tracksuit, from the boarding house dormitory and news of the assault spread like wildfire across the prestigious Sydney school.

But, even though he was a suspect, Fotis told the royal commission he never knew of the 1988 incident until it was mentioned at the hearings this year.

Fotis, 52, said he had no recollection of the then-house master Tim Hawkes banging on his door, but that did not surprise him because he had slept though earthquakes in Greece.

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MAINE
WGME

BANGOR (WGME) — A priest who sexually abused a boy multiple times will spend six-and-a-half years behind bars. A judge sentenced Adam Metropoulos, 53, Monday.

He was a priest at a Greek Orthodox church in Bangor and was well known for his community involvement. Metropoulos sexually assaulted a then 15-year-old altar boy at his church in 2006 and 2007.

Metropoulos also secretly recorded a female relative taking a shower. The woman found the camera and that’s what lead to his arrest. Metropoulos also had hundreds of pornographic images on his computer, some which showed children.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

By Nanette Asimov
April 27, 2015

Hundreds of Catholic-school teachers and supporters gathered outside the San Francisco Archdiocese on Monday afternoon waving rainbow banners and preaching acceptance of gays and lesbians — all in protest of efforts by the archbishop to require employees to embrace church opposition to “homosexual relations,” “fornication” and other “gravely evil” sexual activities.

The protesters sang a hymn called “Love, Love,” to which they’d rewritten the lyrics with their message of acceptance: “Teach acceptance is our call / Love your neighbor as yourself / For God loves us all.”

Until February, teachers and other employees at the San Francisco Archdiocese’s four high schools who disagreed with Catholicism’s strict sexual teachings felt little need to defend their beliefs, existing in comfortable, live-and-let-live symbiosis with their employer and their religion.

But this winter, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone unveiled a statement he wanted included in the employee handbook and the faculty contract for Riordan and Sacred Heart Cathedral schools in San Francisco, Marin Catholic in Kentfield and Junipero Serra in San Mateo clarifying that sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, the viewing of pornography and masturbation are “gravely evil.” It said employees should “affirm and believe” the statements, which include that marriage is between “one man and one woman” and that sperm donation, the use of a surrogate and other forms of “artificial reproductive technology” are also gravely evil.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Register

by Joan Desmond 04/27/2015

On April 27, the Archdiocese of San Francisco signaled that it was prepared to make “adjustments” to advance negotiaions with the local Catholic teachers’ union.

The union represents faculty at the four Catholic high schools under the direct jurisdiction of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, and it has challenged proposed contract language that directs teachers to avoid public statements and actions that oppose Catholic teaching on sexual ethics, Mass attendence, abortion, and the Eucharist, among other issues.

“The Archdiocese reiterates its commitment to do what we can to listen to teachers’ ongoing concerns, to restore respectful discussion, and to heal any rifts that may remain,” read today’s statement, released at the end of the work day.

Archbishop Cordileone “understands that the teachers want to make sure that the final language in the contract both promotes Catholic identity and protects the rights of the teachers. He too wants language that protects the rights of the teachers, and he is willing to make adjustments to firmly secure those rights,” the statement continued.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 28, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Disgraced former Knox Grammar School teacher Christopher Fotis​ continued to work in both the public and Catholic education system after being caught exposing his genitals in public, a royal commission has heard.

Fotis, 52, was asked to resign from the prestigious private school in 1989 after being arrested for exposing himself.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he worked as a casual teacher in NSW public schools and a Catholic school for six or seven months in 1990 following his arrest.

Fotis told commissioner Jennifer Coate he was never asked to provide proof of his experience when working as a casual teacher.

The commission heard when former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson became aware of the incident, he asked Fotis to resign.

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GERMANY
The Local

The diocese of Regensburg announced on Monday it is cooperating with the victims’ organisation White Ring to investigate sexual and physical abuse at the Domspatzen Choir, Die Welt reported.

“We have asked White Ring to recommend us a lawyer who can take this investigate forward,” said administrative head of the diocese Michael Fuchs.

Ulrich Weber, a lawyer specialising in cases of sexual abuse, will now lead the investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the Domspatzen primary school from the 1950s up to the present day.

The report will be published “as soon as we have the impression that the majority of reports [of abuse] have been considered,” said Fuchs.

Günther Perottoni from White Ring welcomed the diocese’s decision.

“They have assured us that the procedures of the investigation will not be obstructed,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
southernminn.com

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has settled a lawsuit with St. John’s Abbey that will force the release of personnel files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors, attorneys said Monday.

The settlement announced by attorney Jeff Anderson’s law firm was to be detailed at a news conference Tuesday.

Anderson sued St. John’s in 2013 on behalf of Edward “Troy” Bramlage III, 52, who said he was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton when he was a 14-year-old freshman at its prep school in 1977. The lawsuit said St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment but allowed him to continue working at the prep school.

Anderson said Monday the settlement is “a big deal” and an “important step forward” because it requires not only the disclosure of Tarlton’s files but also those of an additional 18 St. John’s monks credibly accused of abuse. A timeline for releasing the other files has yet to be set, Anderson said.
“Until we reveal the history (of abuse), it’s going to repeat,” Anderson said.

The abbey has said Tarlton lives in a restricted setting and has no contact with students. In a statement Monday, the abbey said it reached the settlement in order “to achieve some measure of reconciliation” but had no other comment. Tarlton’s attorney, Robert Stich of Minneapolis, said Monday that Tarlton, now 87 and under 24-hour-a-day medical care at the abbey, has never admitted abusing Bramlage.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — Details in the settlement of a sex abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest will reveal specific information on the priest’s brief stint as a principal in Louisville said the attorney on the case.

Attorneys representing St. John’s Abbey and Father Gilbert Tarlton reached a settlement Monday with lawyers representing the victim known in court records as “Doe 2.” The case was scheduled to go to court May 4.

The suit was filed in 2013 on behalf of a man who was a freshman at St. John’s Preparatory School in Minnesota in 1977. The man, who wanted to be identified as a survivor, said there were at least 100 incidents of grooming and abuse at the hands of Tarlton.

Six years prior, Tarlton was a principal at Holy Cross Parish School in Louisville but was removed from the school before completing his first year said Mike Finnegan, the attorney representing the Minnesota survivor.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Apr 27, 2015

Saint John’s Abbey has reached a settlement with a man who said he was sexually abused as a teenager by a Benedictine monk.

The man, known in court filings as Doe 2, sued Saint John’s Abbey in 2013 for allegedly failing to protect him from sexual abuse by the Rev. Allen Tarlton in the late 1970s.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents Doe 2, said the settlement will require Saint John’s Abbey to release the files of 19 monks accused of sexually abusing children and provide a financial settlement for an amount that will not be publicly disclosed.

Saint John’s Abbey declined to describe the agreement. “Out of respect for the privacy of the parties involved and the agreement we have made, we have no further comment on this settlement,” it said in a statement Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in Stearns County, accused Tarlton of abusing the boy in about 1977 when he lived on campus as a student at Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville. Tarlton was the boy’s English teacher. It said the abbey knew of abuse allegations against Tarlton nearly two decades earlier and failed to call police or warn students and parents.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

Amy Hawley

Pope Francis asked Archbishop Joseph Naumann to be in charge of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese until a new bishop is named.

FULL INTERVIEW | Watch the entire 18-minute, sit-down interview with Archbishop Naumann here

Many called last week’s move by the Vatican a historic moment. For the first time, the Vatican held a bishop accountable for poorly handling a case of a priest’s child abuse.

In 2012, a judge convicted Bishop Robert Finn of failing to report suspected child abuse .

The public pressured the church for Finn’s resignation and last Tuesday, Pope Francis accepted it .

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY RICK MONTGOMERYRMONTGOMERY@KCSTAR.COM
04/27/2015

Despite announcing his resignation a week ago, Bishop Robert W. Finn will preside over the priestly ordinations of seven deacons next month in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

A diocese spokesman Monday cited a scheduling conflict that prevented the new temporary leader of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, from ordaining the seven men on May 23 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

Naumann, who continues to lead the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will preside over ordinations scheduled for the same time in Leawood.

Longtime critics of Finn expressed agitation over the bishop’s continuing role in a diocese from which he stepped down under a cloud of scandal.

“Good grief. It’s appalling,” said Michael Sandridge, who was among the plaintiffs in 32 sex-abuse lawsuits against the diocese that were settled in 2014. “Like the good ol’ boy network all over again.

“… What did his resignation mean? Nothing, really.” said Sandridge, a Kansas City resident who alleged he was raped by two priests about 30 years ago.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters

PHILADELPHIA | BY NATALIE POMPILIO

(Reuters) – Pennsylvania’s highest court on Monday reinstated the conviction of the first U.S. Catholic church official sent to prison for mishandling sexual misconduct complaints against priests.

In August 2012, a Philadelphia jury found Monsignor William Lynn, 64, guilty of one count of child endangerment for failing to supervise a pedophile priest who eventually sexually assaulted a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999.

That conviction was overturned by the state’s Superior Court in December 2013.

Monday’s ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds the original August 2012 judgment.

The high court said Lynn “as a high ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

[Supreme Court opinion]

[Dissenting opinion]

Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — In a stunning reversal, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court is upholding the 2012 conviction of Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official sent to prison over his handling of priest abuse complaints. The DA’s office hasn’t said whether it will try to revoke bail and send him back to prison, pending more legal arguments.

Monsignor Lynn was convicted of a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child, and sentenced to three to six years in prison in 2012. As the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s former secretary for clergy, he was the official responsible for investigating and recommending punishment for priests accused of sexual and other misconduct.

After serving about half his sentence behind bars, by late 2013, Superior Court heard his appeal, and reversed his conviction. Since then, he has been on house arrest, living in the rectory of St. William, a parish in Lawncrest.

Now, the State Supreme Court is reversing Superior Court, ruling that Lynn could be held responsible for the welfare of children in the Archdiocese.

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TENNESSEE
WBIR

(WBIR- KNOXVILLE) – A new tally shows a former church treasurer took $400,950 from Saint George Greek Orthodox Church over about four years, and church members want that man to be prosecuted, records show.

Church officials filed an incident report Wednesday with Knoxville Police Department and have contacted the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office, members say.

Sean McDermott, spokesman for the District Attorney General’s Office, said Monday the office could not comment on ongoing investigations that involve prosecutors or any area law enforcement agency.

Darrell DeBusk, KPD spokesman, said Monday he could not comment about an open investigation.

Church officials have briefed members on what a review of church finances showed over the last several years. A lawyer and former FBI agent conducted it.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Here’s a letter from the heart I have written (by email) this morning to an e-friend, a very good person, who had emailed me to add to the chorus of those who pointed out that my reference to Bishop Robert Finn several days ago as a convicted felon is not technically correct: Bishop Finn was convicted for a misdemeanor, not a felony. The friend who emailed me about this is ordained, and I cannot help but be struck by the fact that those who have picked at this point are all ordained, all clergymen.

My friend tells me that those defending the use of the term “felony” to apply to Finn’s crime in shielding a known pedophile and keeping children in harm’s way by keeping that priest in ministry have an agenda. My friend also appears to think that convicting priests of crimes of child molestation and of endangering children’s well-being is counter-productive, not a way of healing their pedophilia (I myself don’t think pedophilia is curable), and is premised on vengefulness and not love.

Here’s my response to these observations in an email this morning:

I suspect we all have agendas. And, though I don’t have children of my own, I can understand and empathize with the agenda of seeing children protected from child molesters—and the outrage of so many Catholics that this concern seems to have been far down the list of concerns for the hierarchy and the clerical club, as the abuse crisis in the Catholic church came to light.

The frustration I think many lay Catholics feel is that we keep discovering that what seems to us the obvious top priority here—keeping children out of harm’s way—is not really even on the radar screen of many in the clerical club, whose fundamental instinct is to make excuses for each other and protect each other from exposure and prosecution. The anger of lay Catholics builds, I think, and understandably so, as we see these concerns playing out within the clerical system, and find ourselves talked down to in a bizarre way about the distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor—a very strange, insubstantial, diversionary straw to clutch at in this disucssion, it seems to me.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

[with photos]

William D. Lindsey

And — it has to be said — (piggybacking on my first posting today) photos like the following absolutely do not help many of us lay Catholics overcome our anger about how the clerical club persistently finds every way in the world to make excuses for fellow priests abusing minors, and still, even now!, just does not seem to get it, about protecting children from danger as the obvious, indisputable top priority in the abuse crisis:

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah Mac Donald | Apr. 27, 2015

LIMERICK, IRELAND The role and full equality of women in church life as well as the governance of the church were the two main issues discussed by delegates at the second international meeting of priest associations and lay reform groups here April 13-17.

In a statement at the conclusion of their four-day gathering, the 38 delegates from 10 countries, who seek to establish an international “network of networks” to develop strategies on church reform, said: “The election of Pope Francis has begun a new era in Catholicism.”

Speaking on behalf of participants, censured Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests said, “With the resignation of Pope Benedict we are at the end of an era, and this is our best chance to renew the church for a long time.”

According to Deborah Rose-Milavec, executive director of the U.S. reform group FutureChurch, it became clear during a very open and honest discussion among participants from the U.S., Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere that there is much pain over the exclusion of women from governance, leadership and ordained ministry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

[Supreme Court opinion]

[Dissenting opinion]

By Joel Mathis | April 27, 2015

Monsignor William Lynn may be headed back behind bars.

Lynn was freed last year after an appeals court overturned his conviction on child endangerment charges relating to Philadelphia Archdiocese’s sex-abuse scandal. On Monday, though, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned that reversal and reinstated the original conviction — saying that the child endangerment statute applied to Lynn even though he did not directly supervise the welfare of the child victims in the scandal.

Justice Max Baer, writing for the court, said prosecutors established that Lynn — who had served as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s former secretary for clergy — had:

• “Mollified victims of sexual abuse by falsely telling them their allegations were being seriously investigated and that the particular priest would never again be assigned around children, despite knowing that the priests under his supervision would merely be reassigned to another parish with no ministry restrictions on contact with children.”

• “Informed parishioners that the priests he transferred were moved for health reasons, leaving the welfare of children in jeopardy.”

• “Routinely disregarded treatment recommendations for priests.”

• “Failed to inform the relocated priest’s new supervisor about abuse allegations.”

• “Took no action to ensure that the abusive priest was kept away from children at his new assignment.”

• “Suppressed complaints and concerns by the colleagues of the priests; all with the knowledge that sexually abusive priests rarely had only one victim and that all of these actions would endanger the welfare of the diocese’s children.”

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times.

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com April 27, 2015

A Sauk Rapids man has settled a lawsuit that accused a St. John’s Abbey monk of sexual abuse.

A news conference has been scheduled for Tuesday to announce the terms of the settlement.

The lawsuit against the Rev. Allen Tarlton also named as defendants the Order of St. Benedict, St. John’s Abbey and St. John’s Preparatory School. The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial Monday.

Troy Bramlage sued in June 2013, less than one week after a law went into effect that lifted the six-year civil statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse.

His lawsuit, and comments made by his attorney at the time the suit was filed, claimed that St. John’s Abbey knew of Tarlton’s proclivities to offend against young boys as far back at the 1950s yet repeatedly allowed him to have access to children, including teaching at St. John’s until 1990.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

The new head of the Kansas City MO Catholic diocese, in his first interviews since taking the reins is talking about fundraising, low-balling expectations, and equating the suffering of abuse victims and church staff.

[KCUR]

He’s got it all backwards. Job one is protecting kids. Fundraising and healing can and should come later.

And when children are safer, fundraising and healing will happen on their own.

At this juncture, it’s unseemly for Naumann to try and woo betrayed donors.

Naumann says there are wounds “on both sides.” That of course minimizes the pain of boys and girls who were raped and sodomized by priests and betrayed by bishops. This isn’t a battle between combatants of equal power, skills and resources. This is a long horror of child sex crimes and cover ups. Whatever hurt adult Catholic employees may feel, it pales beside the trauma of deeply-wounded victims of heinous childhood sexual violence.

Here’s what Naumann should be doing now:

[SNAP]

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PENNSYLVANIA
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania – via BishopAccountability.org

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
EASTERN DISTRICT
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Appellant
v.
WILLIAM LYNN,
Appellee

No. 15 EAP 2014
Appeal from the Judgment of Superior
Court entered on 12/26/13 at No. 2171
EDA 2012 reversing the judgment of
sentence entered on 7/24/12 in the
Court of Common Pleas, Criminal
Division, Philadelphia County at No.
CP-51-CR-0003530-2011
ARGUED: November 18, 2014

DISSENTING OPINION

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE SAYLOR DECIDED: April 27, 2015

Because I differ with the majority’s interpretation of the endangerment statute reposed in Section 4304(a) of the Crimes Code, I respectfully dissent.

Preliminarily, the evidence viewed favorably to the Commonwealth suggests that Appellee is indeed guilty of gross derelictions which caused widespread harm. The only question before the Court, however, is whether the text of the endangerment statute, as it existed in the pre-amendment timeframe, allowed the imposition of criminal culpability upon Appellee. For the reasons which follow, I would find that it did not.

The statute makes it an offense for a “parent, guardian or other person supervising the welfare of a child” to knowingly endanger a child’s welfare by violating a duty of care, protection, or support. 18 Pa.C.S. §4304(a) (1995), quoted in Majority Opinion, slip op. at 19. The principal issue in this appeal pertains to the “supervision” element of the pre-amendment offense.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania – via BishopAccountability.org

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
EASTERN DISTRICT

CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, STEVENS, JJ.
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Appellant
v.
WILLIAM LYNN,
Appellee:

No. 15 EAP 2014
Appeal from the Judgment of the Superior
Court entered on 12/26/2013 at No. 2171
EDA 2012 reversing the judgment of
sentence entered on 7/24/2012 in the
Court of Common Pleas, Criminal
Division, Philadelphia County at No. CP-
51-CR-0003530-2011
83 A.3d 434

ARGUED: November 18, 2014

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE BAER DECIDED: April 27, 2015

Following a jury trial on charges that he endangered the welfare of children,1 William Lynn (Appellee) was convicted and sentenced to a term of three to six years of incarceration. On appeal from his judgment of sentence, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction, contending that he had no direct supervision of the children he was found to have endangered. The Superior Court agreed, and reversed his conviction. On the Commonwealth’s appeal, we reverse the Superior Court, concluding that there is no statutory requirement of direct supervision of children.
Rather, that which is supervised is the child’s welfare. Under the facts presented at trial, Appellee was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer

Gina Passarella and Lizzy McLellan, The Legal Intelligencer
April 27, 2015

The state Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction of the former secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, finding a conviction for endangering the welfare of a child does not require actual supervision of the child.

The court’s split decision in Commonwealth v. Lynn reverses a Pennsylvania Superior Court decision that found Monsignor William Lynn could not have been convicted for endangering the welfare of children he never supervised.

“On the commonwealth’s appeal, we reverse the Superior Court, concluding that there is no statutory requirement of direct supervision of children,” Justice Max Baer said for the majority. “Under the facts presented at trial, [Lynn] was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”

The court vacated the Superior Court’s ruling and sent the matter back to that court.
Baer was joined in the majority by Justices J. Michael Eakin, Debra Todd and Correale F. Stevens. Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor issued a dissent.

Thomas Bergstrom, Lynn’s defense attorney, said he was disappointed with the court’s ruling, which he said is “troubling because it makes it pretty clear because one can be convicted of the statute without even knowing the child exists.”

Bergstrom said he hasn’t decided his next step, which could include seeking certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutional issue of the ex post facto application of the statute on endangering the welfare of children. Bergstrom said he could also go back to the Superior Court given that court didn’t review certain issues on appeal given its decision to reverse on the supervision grounds.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Antonio Express-News

[Dissenting opinion]

[Supreme Court opinion]

BY MARYCLAIRE DALE, ASSOCIATED PRESS : APRIL 27, 2015

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court has reinstated the child-endangerment conviction of a Roman Catholic church official in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling Monday upholds the 2012 conviction of Monsignor William Lynn over abuse committed by a diocesan priest years earlier.

Lynn was the first U.S. church official convicted and sent to prison over his handling of sex abuse complaints against priests.

His lawyers have argued that Lynn as secretary for clergy was not responsible for the child’s welfare.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Monday, April 27, 2015

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the child-endangerment conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic Church official found guilty for his role supervising priests in the clergy sex-abuse scandal.

Writing for the 6-1 majority of the state’s high court, Justice Max Baer said the state Superior Court erred in reversing Lynn’s conviction because he did not directly supervise children.

“That which is supervised is the child’s welfare,” wrote Baer. “Under the facts presented at trial, [Lynn] was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”

Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor was the lone dissent, writing that he did not believe Lynn could be convicted for conduct under the amended child-endangerment law because the conduct occurred before the law changed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, April 27

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

We are grateful the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the reversal of Monsignor Lynn’s conviction.

Punishing wrong doers deters wrong doing, especially in scandal ridden institutions. Like the catholic hierarchy. For decades complicit church officials have exploited legal technicalities to evade justice. It is a victory for parents, parishioners, church goers, wounded victims and innocent kids each time corrupt church staffers are disciplined.

Members of the catholic hierarchy everywhere should take note: for your own good, tell authorities now what you know or suspect about clergy sex crimes and cover-ups.

[Big Trial]

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory: Abuse Survivor and Attorneys Announce Breakthrough Settlement Involving St. John’s Abbey

Jeff Anderson and Doe 2 Will Stand Together Tuesday and Announce Settlement of Civil Lawsuit against St. John’s Abbey and Fr. Allen Tarlton

Breakthrough settlement, modeled after Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis settlement, requires St. John’s Abbey to publicly release the files of 19 St. John’s clerics likely to have offended against minors

WHAT: • Doe 2 will attend, disclose his name and speak about the case. The event will be live streamed.
• Father Tarlton’s personnel and “incident” file will be released.
• Portions of Father Tarlton’s October 2013 deposition testimony will be played and released.
• The plan for release of 18 additional priest files and the significance of this settlement – that children will be safer – will be discussed. As part of the settlement, the personnel and incident files of the additional 18 St. John’s monks who have been deemed likely to have offended against minors will be publicly released over the coming months.
• The photos and identities of the credibly accused clerics will be shown.

Doe 2 was sexually abused repeatedly by Fr. Tarlton when he was a freshman at St. John’s Preparatory School in 1977. Doe 2’s case was one of the first filed in Minnesota under the 2013 Child Victims Act. Trial was scheduled to begin in the case in Stearns County on May 4 before Judge Vicki Landwehr.

“The credit for achieving this groundbreaking settlement rests with Doe 2, for having the courage to find his voice, stand up for truth and demand transparency with accountability,” said Jeff Anderson, one of Doe 2’s attorneys.

The 18 additional monks whose files will be released are: Br. Andre Bennett, Fr. Michael Bik, Fr. Robert Blumeyer, Fr. Cosmas Dahlheimer, Fr. Richard Eckroth, Fr. Thomas Gillespie, Fr. Othmar Hohmann, Fr. Francis Hoefgen, Fr. Dominic Keller, Fr. John Kelly, Fr. Brennan Maiers, Fr. Finian McDonald, Fr. Dunstan Moorse, Br. Jim Phillips, Fr. Francisco Schulte, Fr. Pirmin Wendt, Fr. Bruce Wollmering, Fr. Angelo Zankl.

“We are grateful to stand with Doe 2 and the many survivors who are now standing up for themselves and the truth, and given a chance they now have under the Child Victims Act, which they didn’t have before,” Mr. Anderson said.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at 1:00PM CT

WHERE: Offices of Jeff Anderson and Associates, P.A.
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES: Documents will be available online and we will live stream the press event from our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3458 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3458 Cell/612.205.5531
Mike Bryant: Office/320.259.5414 Cell/800.359.0061

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Dave Aeikens

A settlement has been reached between St. John’s University and a man who says he was abused by a monk, the man’s lawyer said.

The settlement is expected to be announced Tuesday at the law offices of Jeff Anderson, and include the university releasing the files of 19 monks. Those will include the personnel and incident file of the Rev. Allen Tarlton, who repeatedly sexually abused the plaintiff when he was a freshman at St. John’s Preparatory School in 1977.

The case is scheduled for trial May 4 in Stearns County.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

The Pennsylvania state Supreme Court today reversed the decision by a lower court to overturn the conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn of a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child.

On July 24, 2012, a Philadelphia Common Pleas jury convicted Lynn of endangering the welfare of a child, namely a former 10-year-old altar boy dubbed “Billy Doe” by a grand jury. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, became the first Catholic administrator in the country to go to jail for failing to adequately supervise a sexually abusive priest. He was sentenced to a prison term of 3 to 6 years.

Lynn had served 18 months of his sentence on Dec. 26, 2013, when a panel of three state Superior Court judges unanimously reversed the monsignor’s conviction and ordered that he be “released forthwith.” The trial judge in the case, M. Teresa Sarmina, however, refused to allow Lynn’s release. For the past 14 months, the monsignor has been held under house arrest in a Northeast Philadelphia rectory and must wear an electronic ankle monitoring bracelet at all times.

The 60-page opinion by the state Supreme Court doesn’t automatically mean that the monsignor is headed back to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence. Lynn’s lawyers will now proceed with an appeal to state Superior Court on several remaining trial issues such as whether Lynn got a fair trial in a case where Judge Sarmina let in 21 supplemental cases of child abuse dating back to before the monsignor was born.

The district attorney, however, could preclude that appeal process by filing a motion with Judge Sarmina to revoke Lynn’s bail. If the D.A. does file that motion to revoke bail, based on Judge Sarmina’s previously demonstrated antipathy to Lynn, the monsignor had better have his toothbrush packed.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Archbishop Joseph Naumann says it’s time to get past the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Kansas City – St. Joseph Diocese.

Naumann adds that it’s unlikely he’ll reverse any of the policies put in place by Bishop Finn.

The archbishop still has his responsibilities running the diocese of Kansas and hopes the Vatican moves in a deliberate but timely fashion to name Finn’s replacement.

He doesn’t think the Shawn Ratigan case will cause any more ongoing problems.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Gray Rohrer

TALLAHASSEE – Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, said he will call out the Senate for stalling and sabotaging his bill to increase the time period to prosecute charges in sexual battery cases.

His bill, HB 133, passed by a 115-0 vote on April 9. It passed through the Senate on a 39-0 vote on Friday, but only after tacking on three amendments that were the subjects of other bills, sending it back to the House.

Plasencia says if the House passes the bill as is, it will violate the Legislature’s rule against multiple subject bills, making it unconstitutional and allowing sexual batterers outside of the current statute of limitations to go free.

“If a defense attorney challenges any of those laws they’re going to win because it’s a blatant violation of those rules,” Plasencia said.

He specifically laid the blame at Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.

The underlying bill would increase the amount of time prosecutors can bring charges in sexual battery cases from four years after the offense to eight years. Florida’s statute of limitations is currently the third-shortest among the 50 states for sexual battery. Plasencia’s original bill would have increased the time period to 10 years, but the companion bill in the Senate, from Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, would have only increased it to six years.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By LAURA ZIEGLER

With a towering physical stature and soft spoken, solicitous style, Archbishop Joseph Naumann knows he has a difficult task before him as he takes over the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on an interim basis after the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn.

He’s encouraging the grieving and still angry parishioners to reach toward their faith.

“I think we need to ask the Lord to help each of us to heal. There are people who have experienced wounds on both sides,” Naumann said in an interview Monday at the Diocese headquarters in downtown Kansas City.

Naumann – who has been the Archbishop of the Diocese of Kansas City, Kansas for almost 11 years – says he was surprised when he was summoned last Tuesday to become interim administrator effective immediately.

Naumann says he does not feel it’s his job to bring changes to the diocese, not to “be an innovator … or obligate the new Bishop with something I thought was a good idea.”

Rather, Naumann sees his job as keeping what he called “the normal life” of the church moving forward.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Apr. 27, 2015 A Roman Observer

A high-ranking Vatican official recently voiced serious doubts about the need to reform the Roman Curia. Believe it or not, he said talk of reform was exaggerated.

“I personally can see no significant reason that would necessitate a reform of the Curia at the moment,” the official said.

“One or two changes have been or will be made concerning personnel or structures, but that is part of the normal run of things,” he continued.

“To speak of ‘Curia reform’ is, with all due respect, somewhat of an exaggeration,” he maintained.

This wasn’t just any official. It was Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household. He’s the same one who is the private secretary and housemate of the former pope, Benedict XVI.

His remarks — significant especially because he is Benedict’s confidante — came recently in an exclusive interview posted on Germany’s leading Catholic website, Katholisch.de.

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MAINE
WCSH

(NEWS CENTER) — A former Greek Orthodox priest in Bangor has been sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but 6-and-a-half suspended.

A judge convicted Adam Metropoulos last month on four counts of sexual abuse of a child. He was charged after a former altar boy at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church accused Metroopolis of sexually assaulting him when the victim was a teenager.

The boy was staying overnight in Metropoulos’ home at the time.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

Nok-Noi Ricker, Bangor Daily News
Maine | Monday, April 27, 2015

BANGOR — A former priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison with all but 6½ years suspended for sex crimes involving children.

Adam Metropoulos, 53, of Bangor was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Ann Murray at the Penobscot Judicial Center. She also sentenced him to 3 years of probation when he gets out of prison. He must also register with the Maine Sex Offender Registry for life.

Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, asked for consecutive sentences, which led to the lengthy prison term. He said the crimes had a “significant impact on the community,” especially within the small Greek Orthodox church.

Murray, who mentioned at the sentencing that she did not believe Metropoulos’ testimony at his jury-waived trial denying that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old altar server at the church in 2006 and 2007, found him guilty on March 17 on four felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Popes make purposeful decisions secretly and then often wrap their decisions in “other worldly” mythology to obscure their worldly purposes and to garner support from Catholics raised rigidly on these myths. By contrast, Jesus spoke simply and honestly about this world and how to meet its challenges transparently.

In the current world of democracies, papal influence over Catholic and other voters provides popes access to opportunistic political and financial elites, the so-called 0.01%, who seek to disguise their own self interested policies with spiritual smokescreens offered by popes seeking legal protection and financial subsidies. In this internet age of a 24/7 news cycle and relentless legal investigations, however, the real papal decisions and underlying goals are increasingly discernible from reported papal actions, despite the incessant efforts of popes and some of these leaders to hide true papal intentions behind a pervasive and professional public relations strategy.

After two years, the real goal of Pope Francis is clear — it is to salvage and enhance the power and wealth of the maximum number of “salvageable” cardinals and bishops while tightening papal control, as the pope is doing in the financial area. Under the misguided, deceitful and ruthless policies of the two previous popes with their related financial, child sexual abuse cover-up, “gay lobby” and other scandals, cardinals were rapidly sliding down a slippery slope.

We now know with reasonable certainty that cardinals likely elected Francis to “change the public subjects from papal sins to papal myths”, while the Vatican’s international political and financial alliances were strengthened and expanded in the international “balance of power” system. The big prize, the World Cup of papal power politics for almost four decades, is helping to elect a “friendly” US president next year, preferably another one named Bush — Francis’ main and final goal!

Please see my Childless Pope Faces Man-Made “Mess”: Children & Climate Change , Vatican Revolt Negates Synod & Sex Commission , Dumping Finn For US President: Who’s Next?‏ , Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 USA Politics, Electing Bishops & Jeb Bush Too , A Pope, A New US War, Jeb Bush Neocons & Big Oil , Finn’s Law: Police Must Now Handle Crimes Says Pope and Must Jesuits Overlook Jesuit Pope’s Mistakes?

Pope Francis’ public “subject changing” strategy has included massive media management, including unnecessary papal trips, vague papal statements on capitalism and soon climate change, a farcical “family-less” Family Synod, mixed messaging, photo ops and “tweeted” sound bites. Increasingly, this public relations strategy is failing, as the Catholic revolt over Bishop Barros continues even after the desperate removal of Bishop Finn, too little too late! Reality is catching up to the pope’s vague promises. The dismal prospects for the over hyped climate change encyclical are discussed in detail below.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kathweb

[ The cases of abuse and sexual abuse at the Regensburg cathedral choir are to be examined by an independent expert.]

Domkapellmeister bittet alle Opfer nochmals um Entschuldigung – Auch früherer Kapellmeister Ratzinger hatte Ohrfeigen eingeräumt

München, 27.04.2015 (KAP/KNA) Die Fälle von Misshandlung und sexuellem Missbrauch bei den Regensburger Domspatzen werden von einem unabhängigen Fachmann untersucht. Beauftragt wurde der ortsansässige Rechtsanwalt Ulrich Weber vom Opferhilfeverein Weißer Ring, wie der Regensburger Generalvikar Michael Fuchs am Montag ankündigte. Ziel sei, mit Blick auf die zurückliegenden Fälle mehr Glaubwürdigkeit zu gewinnen, sagte Fuchs der deutschen katholischen Nachrichtenagentur KNA. “Aufarbeitung und Prävention sind Zwillinge.” Webers Abschlussbericht soll in etwa einem Jahr vorliegen.

Die Diözese Regensburg war seit 2010 intensiv mit der Aufarbeitung von Vorwürfen sexuellen Missbrauchs sowie der Körperverletzung in kirchlichen Einrichtungen beschäftigt. Die Zahl der Missbrauchsgeschädigten liegt bei rund 80. In der Vorschule der Regensburger Domspatzen in Etterzhausen und Pielenhofen kam es von den 1950er- bis in die 1990er-Jahre wiederholt zu schweren körperlichen Züchtigungen. Mindestens 72 Schüler waren betroffen. Als “symbolische Anerkennung des Leids” erhielten sie inzwischen jeweils 2.500 Euro. Zudem werden die Kosten für notwendige Therapien übernommen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelbayerische

[White Ring is to educate about abuse.]

Von Christine Schröpf, MZ

REGENSBURG.Kurz vor Beginn der Pressekonferenz faltet Domkapellmeister Roland Büchner kurz die Hände – fast wie zum Gebet. Seit 2010 erschüttern Vorwürfe von sexuellem Missbrauch und gewalttätigen Übergriffen bei den Regensburger Domspatzen den weltberühmten Knabenchor. Trotz aller Aufklärungsversuche vermissen viele Opfer bis heute eine würdige Anerkennung ihres Leids. Die Pressekonferenz am Montag ist ein neuer Versuch, Vertrauen zurückzugewinnen. Das Bistum Regensburg hat eine unabhängige Institution eingeschaltet, die das Ausmaß der Verfehlungen dokumentieren und Handlungsempfehlungen geben soll: die Opfer-Organisation Weißer Ring, die in der Öffentlichkeit unangefochtenes Vertrauen genießt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[The Regenburg diocese and the cathedral choir, shaken by multiple allegations of child sexual abuse, have commission an advocacy group called the White Ring to assist victims.]

Das Bistum Regensburg und die Regensburger Domspatzen wollen den sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern in ihren Reihen aufarbeiten. Dazu sei eine Zusammenarbeit mit der Opferhilfe Weißer Ring vereinbart worden, teilte Generalvikar Michael Fuchs am Montag (27.04.15) mit. Sämtliche Fälle würden von einem Rechtsanwalt unabhängig und ergebnisoffen aufgeklärt. Kircheninternen Nachforschung zufolge waren seit Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges rund 80 Kinder von Priestern und Lehrern im Bistum Regensburg sexuell missbraucht worden, darunter auch bei dem weltberühmten Chor. Konkrete Zahlen von Übergriffen bei den Domspatzen wurden nicht genannt.

Domkapellmeister Roland Büchner entschuldigte sich bei den Opfern “in tiefer Erschütterung und Scham” und bat um Vergebung. Bei den Domspatzen gebe es seit Jahren einen Arbeitskreis Prävention, in dem Schüler, Eltern und Lehrer für das Thema sensibilisiert werden. Zudem sei ein erweitertes polizeiliches Führungszeugnis für alle Mitarbeiter sowie eine Fortbildung zur Prävention sexualisierter Gewalt verpflichtend.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

Manny Waks, founder and former head of Australian sexual abuse victims’ advocacy group Tzedek, praises the Melbourne’s King David School for its handling of allegations against its teacher.

Manny Waks, the founder and former head of Australian sexual abuse victims’ advocacy group Tzedek, praised the Melbourne’s King David School for its handling of allegations that one its teachers had acted in an inappropriate manner with students.

Australian Jewry was recently shaken by revelations that leaders of the ultra-orthodox community had covered up incidents of sexual abuse in their schools. The Australian rabbinate split into two bodies when the full extent of this concealment came to light during a Royal Commission into institutional responses to sexual abuse earlier this year.

According to the Herald Sun, a “top Jewish school,” subsequently identified as the progressive King David School, contacted the police regarding what it termed “possible inappropriate conduct’ between a teacher and students. The teacher, who was subsequently suspended while the school conducted an investigation into the matter, was also alleged to have sent “innuendo” filled Facebook messages to erstwhile students.

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on April 27, 2015

A federal bankruptcy judge has set an August 3 deadline for victims of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The deadline, called a BAR DATE, is the final day and men and women abused as children can file claims against the Archdiocese to expose their abuser and get justice and accountability.

The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, after approximately 140 men and women came forward to file sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits under Minnesota’s civil window. The civil window, enacted in 2013, allows victims of child sexual abuse to use the civil courts for justice, no matter when the abuse occurred.

Since the civil window opened, the Archdiocese has been pounded in the media and by victims for covering up child sex abuse. The pounding was well-justified.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

May 4, 2015 Issue

Frank Brennan

The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis and the Legal Responses
James T. O’Reilly
Oxford University Press. 472p $95

James T. O’Reilly is an attorney and a much published author of legal handbooks. He was president of the Cincinnati archdiocesan pastoral council when Joseph Bernardin was archbishop. Margaret S. P. Chalmers is a canon lawyer who is chancellor of the personal ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the special arrangement put in place by Pope Benedict XVI for Episcopalians wanting to come across to Rome. They describe themselves as two explorers who entered the same large old attic by opposite stairs, armed only with a flashlight each. The attic includes those dark corners of the Catholic Church in the United States where clergy sex abuse has been perpetrated, hidden, litigated, ultimately admitted and exposed to the light of day. The first 18 chapters of The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis and the Legal Responses are the findings from the O’Reilly civil law torchlight. The last 11 chapters are from the Chalmers canon law light.

The increasing revelations of abuse in the church in other countries motivated them to assemble a readable yet authoritative text. Dealing with child sexual abuse in the church is tragically still a work in progress. “There is much to be learned from the many mistakes made by the US bishops.” Rightly espousing zero tolerance, they take no satisfaction in the John Jay College Report, which found “that only 4 percent of priests had been accused of sexual misconduct. But this is not a matter of pride, but instead like a fire department whose members include 4 percent arsonists.” They highlight the damage done by the 1997 letter from the Congregation for the Clergy to the Irish bishops urging that they not report abuse to police but rather channel complaints through church channels. When the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (C.D.F.) took over, this advice was reversed, but not before great damage was done to the church’s credibility.

The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis is a comprehensive handbook for anyone contemplating action against the church or for those wanting to understand the complexities of the civil and canon law. The steps in criminal prosecution and civil litigation are carefully spelled out. The lay reader is given an accessible understanding of legal concepts like respondeat superior, vicarious liability, the statute of limitations and bankruptcy. Ten of the 195 dioceses in the United States have now filed for bankruptcy and are requiring an accounting of all assets and contingent liabilities, being “called upon to ‘give ‘til it hurts’” in the disposal of available land or other assets.” Since 1987, insurance companies have become increasingly restrictive, refusing to offer coverage for abuse and for failure to adequately screen, train or monitor clergy. This has resulted in “over 60 dioceses and church entities that have entered the Catholic Mutual risk pool program.”

There is still no legal certainty about the extent of any Vatican liability for failure by bishops to adequately supervise their priests nor about the extent, if any, to which parish assets can be accessed to satisfy diocesan debts. If the C.D.F. were to order the reinstatement of a priest who later abused a child, the plaintiff might succeed in reaching the deep pockets of the Vatican despite the provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

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BELGIE
KerkNet

BRUSSEL (KerkNet) – “Na het ontbinden van de Commissie Adriaenssens in juni 2010 stonden de slachtoffers die zich hadden gemeld opnieuw in de kou. In die nadagen werd mgr. De Kesel benoemd tot bisschop van Brugge. Er was één groot vacuüm rond de vraag wat moet en kan er nu gebeuren met de klachten van slachtoffers. De bisschop deed meteen beroep op Patrick Degrieck, priester en jurist van het bisdom, die medewerker was in de Commissie Adriaenssens. Hij kreeg de uitdrukkelijke opdracht de slachtoffers van priesters uit het bisdom die ondertussen gekend waren uit te nodigen voor gesprek en al het mogelijke te doen voor erkenning en herstel”. Dat zegt Manu Keirse, emeritus hoogleraar verliesverwerking en voorzitter van de Interdiocesane Commissie voor de Bescherming van Kinderen en Jongeren.

“In die dagen werd ik gevraagd door de bisschoppenconferentie om op basis van mijn ervaring met verliesverwerking een nieuw beleid uit te tekenen voor opvang en herstel. Dat resulteerde in de oprichting van twaalf opvangpunten binnen de Kerk en de oprichting van de arbitragecommissie, een instantie buiten de Kerk opgericht, maar wel met haar volledige medewerking, op vraag van de parlementaire commissie.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[A church human rights group is calling for the resignation of Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard. A court last week ordered the archbishop to pay money to a victim of clergy sexual abuse.]

Mensenrechten in de Kerk vraagt het ontslag van monseigneur Léonard. De werkgroep doet dit naar aanleiding van de uitspraak van het Luikse hof van beroep, dat Léonard gisteren veroordeelde omdat hij niet optrad tegen een pedofiele priester, en wegens uitspraken die Léonard eerder zelf deed.

Het hof van beroep in Luik veroordeelde Léonard donderdag in een burgerlijke procedure omdat die niet het nodige zou hebben gedaan met een klacht van slachtoffer Joël Devillet, die van zijn 14e tot zijn 18e werd verkracht door een priester in de provincie Luxemburg. De man kaartte het misbruik in 1991 aan bij Léonard, die toen nog bisschop in Namen was.

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BELGIE
KerkNet

[Andre-Joseph Leonard, archbishop of Malines-Brussels, will settle after retirement with his Fratrnite des Saints Apotres.]

ANTWERPEN (KerkNet/Tertio) – Mgr. André-Joseph Léonard, de aartsbisschop van Mechelen-Brussel, zal zich na zijn emeritaat vestigen in zijn ‘Fraternité des Saints Apôtres’. Hij maakt dat bekend in een gesprek met het weekblad ‘Tertio’. André-Joseph Léonard werd op 6 mei 1940 geboren in Jambes (Namen). Op woensdag 6 mei wordt hij 75 jaar en neemt dan ambtshalve ontslag als aartsbisschop.

Eerder kondigde mgr. Léonard aan dat hij bij die gelegenheid aan paus Franciscus zal vragen om een opvolger te benoemen en dat hij zich na zijn emeritaat graag wil vestigen in een bedevaartsoord in België of Frankrijk. “Ik kan er biecht horen, preken en conferenties geven, wat lezen en schrijven.” In ‘Tertio’ bekent hij tegelijk een andere idee te koesteren. “Met de toestemming van mijn opvolger zou ik eerst een tijdje in de oude abdij van Marche-les-Dames willen wonen in de door mij opgerichte ‘Fraternité des Saints Apôtres’. Ik wil er bekwame mensen vormen die na mij de verantwoordelijkheid over die priesteropleiding kunnen opnemen.”

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