ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Aaronovitch

Enoch Powell is the latest – conveniently dead – politician to be accused of awful crimes. This nonsense has to stop

As headlines go it was a belter. “Enoch Powell accused of satanic sex abuse,” the Mailreported at the weekend. “Bishop of Durham gave his name to Met detectives.”

Bishops are sedate and careful creatures, you might think, not given to being impulsive. If the Bishop of Durham (for it was he) passed on Enoch Powell’s name — along with those of Thatcher’s home secretary Willie Whitelaw and the Labour MP Leo Abse — to the authorities, then he must have had reason to do so.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 1, 2015

Judge ruled that diocese created ‘public nuisance’ by allowing suspected priests to serve parishes.

The Diocese of New Ulm must release its list of priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, under a ruling made by a Brown County judge last week.

New Ulm is the last diocese in the state to keep its list of priest offenders under wraps. The names were compiled in 2003, under a nationwide study by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, when now-archbishop John Nienstedt oversaw the diocese.

The ruling by Judge Robert Docherty came in response to lawsuits filed by attorney Jeff Anderson on behalf of alleged abuse victims of New Ulm priests. Docherty ruled the diocese created a “public nuisance” by allowing the priests to continue serving parishes even as it was aware of previous sexual misconduct that was not reported to police.

Anderson’s office soon will seek the diocese files and other documents related to the child sex offenders, said Mike Finnegan, an attorney with the Anderson law firm. The ruling will “have the same impact” as the decision by Judge John Van de North in Ramsey County in December 2013, which opened thousands of pages of clergy documents from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he said.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

4/1/2015

Court Rules That Survivors’ Public Nuisance Claims Against Diocese of New Ulm May Proceed

Order Will Help Protect Children, Expose Diocese’s Protection of Abusive Priests, and Scrutinize Archbishop Nienstedt’s Decisions Regarding Priest Information

(New Ulm) – Brown County District Court Judge Robert A. Docherty has ruled that three clergy sexual abuse survivors’ public nuisance claims against the Diocese of New Ulm can proceed. Judge Docherty’s March 27, 2015, order will help hold the Diocese of New Ulm accountable for protecting pedophile priests in the past and will help keep children safe in the future.

The Diocese of New Ulm is the only Minnesota diocese that has refused to release a full list of its priests that have been credibly accused of child sex abuse, or any documents regarding sexually abusive priests to the public.

“This order gives us the ability to uncover the dangerous practices of this diocese and make sure the community is better protected,” said Mike Finnegan, attorney for Doe 37, Doe 38 and Doe 10.

In 2014, Plaintiffs Doe 37 and Doe 38 filed suit against the Diocese of New Ulm, claiming that they were sexually abused as children by Father Michael Skoblik, a priest at St. Joseph’s Church in Silver Lake, Minn., in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while they were St. Joseph’s parishioners and altar boys. In a separate lawsuit filed in 2013, Plaintiff Doe 10 alleges that he was sexually abused as a child by Father Francis Markey, a priest at Church of St. Andrew in Granite Falls, Minn., in 1982, while he was a Church of St. Andrew parishioner. Both churches are in the Diocese of New Ulm. All three plaintiffs allege that the diocese created a public nuisance by concealing the histories of Fathers Skoblik and Markey, and other priest offenders, from the community.

In 2003-2004, then-Bishop of New Ulm John Nienstedt, current Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, compiled a list of 12 priests who had credible accusations of child sexual abuse, but refused to make the list public. Archbishop Nienstedt’s decisions surrounding that list and any clerics accused of abuse after the list was created will be scrutinized in these cases, Anderson said.

Contact: Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.205.5531
Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Bryant: Office/320.259.5414 Cell/800.359.0061

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Child sex abuse: Judges, MPs, media entertainers, actors, police and clergy implicated in Met Police corruption probe

LOULLA-MAE ELEFTHERIOU-SMITH Sunday 29 March 2015

The Metropolitan Police is being investigated over further allegations of corruption in relation to child sex offences dating back to the 1970s, including the claim that evidence gathered against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, clergy and actors was dropped due to police intervention.

The fresh allegations are in addition to the 14 cases being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), revealed earlier this month, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s.

The three new investigations relate to allegations about police suppressing evidence, hindering or halting investigations, and covering up offences due to the involvement of members of parliament and police officers.

One case addressed the allegation that a child abuse investigation in central London, which gathered evidence against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy, and others, was dropped. It has been claimed that two months after the file had been submitted to start proceedings against those identified, an officer was called in by a senior Met officer and told to drop the case.

The two further allegations relate to a child abuse investigation conducted in the 1980s, with one relating directly to police actions in the case.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

March 30, 2015 | Author: berger

There’s a new judge and a new prosecutor in the criminal child sex case against Fr. Joseph Jiang. Judge Dennis Schaumann has replaced Judge Jack Garvey, who recused himself. Prosecutor Molly Wayne has replaced Anne Kratky. Fr. Jiang, meanwhile, is still repped by Paul D’Agrosa, who’s come under fire for being part of the “old boys’ club,” a cozy group of lawyers who profit from “fixing tickets” and multiple overlapping roles as judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers in municipal courts. (D’Agrosa is a judge in Olivette and U. City and prosecutor in Arnold.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith posted Wednesday, 1 Apr 2015

The Vatican has made a huge unforced error and it doesn’t seem to realise it

What on earth is happening in the Diocese of Osorno, Chile? Quite a few observers are bewildered by the recent appointment of Bishop Juan Barros to the diocese.

Let us start with what happened when the newly appointed bishop was enthroned in his cathedral this Saturday last. A fight – yes, you read that correctly – broke out as His Lordship entered the cathedral, between the rival factions in the diocese, those who support the new bishop and those who oppose him.

This is hardly what you would expect to see in any church, let alone in a cathedral, let alone at the show of unity that the entry of a new bishop is supposed to be.

Moreover, one sees that no less than 30 priests and deacons of the diocese wrote to the papal nuncio to make clear to him that they did not want Bishop Barros as their bishop.

One thing is certainly clear: Bishop Barros, perhaps through no fault of his own, is a divisive figure. As bishop, he is meant to be the focus of unity. Even before he has started his time as bishop, he has failed. So, why was he appointed?

At this point things become murky. Bishop Barros was already Bishop of the Armed Forces, so this was a transfer, not a promotion. It seems he was a protégé of one Fr Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty of child abuse. While there is no suggestion that Mgr Barros is a child abuser, some allege that he was too close to Karadima and complicit in the cover up of Karadima’s crimes. He firmly denied this.

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BRAZIL
The Guardian (UK)

Jonathan Watts in Nova Friburgo and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Wednesday 1 April 2015

In a secluded monastery in south-eastern Brazil, a breakaway group of ultra-conservative Catholics gathered to participate in an act of rebellion against the pope.

The setting could hardly have been more tranquil: rolling green hills, purple-glory trees, palm leaves swaying in the wind and a temporary chapel made of breeze block walls and a tin roof left partially open to the elements.

But the 50 or so priests, Benedictine monks, nuns and other worshippers who file into Santa Cruz monastery on Saturday were no ordinary congregation. Hailing from Europe, the US and Latin America, they described themselves as a “resistance” movement against Vatican reforms.

In favour of Latin services – and fiercely opposed to ecumenism, freedom of religion and closer relations with Judaism – they had come to defy the authority of Rome with the ordination of a new priest by an excommunicated bishop, Jean-Michel Faure.

It was the second such ceremony in the past month: Faure was consecrated here without papal approval only two weeks ago by the Holocaust-denying British bishop Richard Williamson. In response, both clerics were automatically ejected from the church, but this has not stopped the group’s drive to build an unsanctioned clergy.

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BRAZIL
Reuters

Two renegade Catholic bishops plan to consecrate a new generation of bishops to spread their ultra-traditionalist movement called “The Resistance” in defiance of the Vatican, one of them said at a remote monastery in Brazil.

French Bishop Jean-Michel Faure, himself consecrated only two weeks ago by the Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson, said the new group rejected Pope Francis and what it called his “new religion” and would not engage in a dialogue with Rome until the Vatican turned back the clock.

Williamson and Faure, who were both excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church when the former made the latter a bishop without Vatican approval, are ex-members of a larger dissenting group that has been a thorn in Rome’s side for years.

Their splinter movement is tiny – Faure did not give an estimate of followers – but the fact they plan to consecrate bishops is important because it means their schism can continue as a rebel form of Catholicism.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 1

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

A controversial and archconservative Catholic group says it will grow in Brazil. We hope it doesn’t. And we urge citizens and Catholics to steer clear of this secretive and problematic group.

[Reuters]

Two ex-communicated and “traditionalist” Catholic bishops are trying to expand their sect, called “The Resistance” in Brazil. Its officials have a very troubling track record on children’s safety. Look no further than the disturbing case of Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity who was accused of sexually abusing at least four boys or young men in Pennsylvania between 2002-2004. At least two civil suits were filed and one of them was settled for $380,000. Until recently, Fr. Urrutigoity, of the Society of St. Pius X, was a high ranking church official in Paraguay.

[SNAP]

One of the prelates trying to recruit in Brazil is the Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson. The other is French Bishop Jean-Michel Faure. They’ve been associated with the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), “a larger ultra-traditionalist group that was excommunicated in 1988 when its founder consecrated four new bishops, including Williamson, despite warnings from the Vatican not to do so,” according to a Reuters news account.

[BishopAccountability.org]

We’re concerned about the behavior, not the beliefs, of Catholic officials. These bishops can think and feel however they like. They cannot, however, act however they like, especially if they endanger kids, help predators, and conceal crimes. That’s what we fear they have done, are doing and will do.

In our experience, the more rigid, hierarchical, male-dominated and secretive a religious institution is, the more likely it is that the safety of kids will be given a back seat while growth, reputations and careers will be given top priority.

Again, we beg parents to keep their kids away from this bunch. And we urge police and prosecutors to keep a close eye on them.

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INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 31

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

The dispute over RFRA laws – in Indiana and elsewhere – involves more than adults with differing beliefs. It also involves innocent young kids and wounded adult victims who suffer when claims of “religious freedom” are used to protect clerics who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes.

Time and time again, in civil courts across the US, unscrupulous church officials cite RFRA laws to block child sex abuse lawsuits and prevent records about child molesting clerics from being disclosed. These self-serving church officials – fixated on protecting their careers, comfort and reputations – exploit RFRA laws to make sure their reckless and callous decisions to hire, promote, transfer and protect child predators are not exposed or scrutinized.

We urge every lawmaker to resist pressure to vote for these bills. And we urge judges to help make sure that RFRA laws don’t help corrupt church officials keep hiding their complicity in child sex crimes.

Remember: In the US, we adults are free to believe whatever we want. But we’re not free to do whatever we want, especially when the safety of precious children and vulnerable adults is at stake.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

A century ago, Irish nationalists rebelled at Easter well aware they had a dominant Catholic Church behind them. Today, the Church in Ireland is in shambles. Significantly, a new rebellion emanating from Chile is now advancing on the Vatican. Catholic leaders and media flacks will dissemble and tout that 2/3rds of Chileans are Catholic (nominally). Yet a new poll indicates 3/4ths of Chileans have little trust in Catholic leaders and 9/10ths of them say Chileans have less trust now than they did a decade ago.

Pope Francis has had close personal and organizational ties to Chile for over a half century. Where will the Church there (and elsewhere) end up, even in the short term, under the pope’s current trajectory? As one informed observer noted, Chileans’ trust for their Church is in the basement and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Despite the pope’s artificially and transitory media star polling, the Vatican has a new crisis — the Latin American Church!

Yes, Pope Francis seems stuck in the basement and just keeps on digging, it appears. The illusory “vibrant Latino Church” is a myth. For much of the last few decades, Pope Francis and several of his clique of protégées of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, with their ties to right wing billionaires, have overseen its demise. And now right wing US billionaires are depending on Francis to deliver more of the US Latino vote next year for their “low tax/less regulation/least safety net” candidates like Jeb Bush. Good luck!

Francis is scrambling to find distractions from the Chile rebellion, including with over hyped Holy Week parades, and well timed government tax deals dictated mainly by prosecutorial pressures from Vatican financial scandals. The pope and a majority of his clerical picks will still control all Vatican finances. I had thought that Pope Francis’s “white” public relations’ balloon as the “happy pope” would float until this Christmas. By then, in the pope’s 80th year, it will have run out of air and he will have completed his fruitless and “family-less” Family Synods with little to show for it.

The Chilean rebellion (with its “black” balloons), that began in the Osorno Cathedral over the pope’s outrageous recent appointment of bishop Juan Barros, indicates that Pope Francis’ PR balloon may not make it to Christmas. He will be visiting the USA and the UN this summer and can now expect Osorno-like demonstrations there, perhaps led by Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of the sexual abuse that Cruz and others swear Barros condoned. Cruz now lives in Philadelphia where he is a key executive for a top global corporation.

Courageous UN leaders and political leaders in other nations like Australia, the UK, Chile, Ireland, et al., are already challenging the pope and his subordinates’ indefensible and ongoing records on protecting child abusers. By summer, USA leaders will likely be compelled to get on the bandwagon.

The sad, simple and undeniable truth is that Catholic bishops and priests worldwide will look at Barros’ promotion and now have clear confirmation that, despite all the pledges, policies, protocols, promises and panels, this pope is really no different than any who came before him, when the subject is protecting children, treating abuse survivors mercifully and holding bishops accountable for complicity on sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN APRIL 01, 2015

NOTORIOUS paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale is being chased for thousands of dollars in compensation by 12 of his victims.

The frail 81-year-old appeared at the County Court via videolink from jail today for a brief hearing where a lawyer for the victims sought extra time to prepare their case.

Ridsdale, who has spent decades behind bars, has admitted abusing at least 54 students during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

He is currently expected to remain in prison until at least 2019.

Ridsdale portrayed himself as the “friendly priest”, luring his victims with inducements such as lollies and money to gain their trust.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein April 1

Many people look to their religious leaders for guidance in getting through trauma. But what about when the leaders are themselves caught up in the trauma?

That’s what happened at Kesher Israel, a prominent D.C. synagogue that was rocked last fall when its longtime rabbi, Barry Freundel, was charged with secretly videotaping women preparing to use a ritual bath. Freundel, a national Orthodox leader whose arrest made global news, hasn’t said anything since except to enter a guilty plea in February. His wife, Sharon, a well-regarded and popular Jewish educator in the District who shared in leadership at Kesher – a common role for a rabbi’s wife, who is called “rebbetzin” – remained publicly silent as well, until last week, when she gave an unusual and striking lecture.

After six months of pained, emotional and sometimes angry community meetings and worldwide media coverage, Sharon Freundel, director of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at the Jewish Primary Day School in Northwest Washington, chose to communicate to her community for the first time with a talk called “Post-Traumatic Stress Responses in the TaNaKH,” or the Hebrew Bible.

The talk on March 22 was simultaneously intimate and removed. Here was the wife of the central figure of this hugely publicized drama, speaking about sex abuse and murder and the mysteries of the human spirit and the limitations of marriage – but never referring specifically to herself. Instead she spoke about trauma – and responses to trauma – in the Bible, assuming the posture of a teacher. The talk was going on at two levels. Freundel declined to comment for this article.

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VATICAN CITY
swissinfo

APR 1, 2015

(Bloomberg) — The Vatican and Italy signed a tax accord on Wednesday that includes an exchange of financial information as part of Pope Francis’s drive for transparency and preventing money-laundering.

The agreement, signed by Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, and Pier Carlo Padoan, Italy’s economy minister, follows guidelines from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Vatican said in a statement. It ensures exchange of information on taxable sums since January 1, 2009.

The agreement will apply to Italian individuals, institutions and companies with accounts at Vatican financial bodies. It comes after similar accords by the Italian Treasury with Switzerland, Lichtenstein and the Principality of Monaco as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi seeks to boost revenue from fighting tax evasion.

Under pressure from Italian investigators, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), known as the Vatican Bank, has started reviewing its account holders amid money-laundering probes. More than 2,000 accounts have so far been blocked. The IOR, set up in 1942, oversees about 6 billion euros ($6.45 billion) of customer assets.

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VATICAN CITY
The Kansas City Star

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/01/2015

ROME

Italy and the Holy See have signed an accord to cooperate on fiscal matters, as the Vatican works to improve transparency after a string of financial scandals.

Italy’s finance ministry and the Vatican announced the agreement on Wednesday.

The ministry said “full cooperation” between Italy and the Holy See was now possible thanks to reforms begun by the Vatican in 2010. It noted that Italy was the first state with which the Vatican signed such a cooperation accord.

Vatican-owned property outside the tiny Vatican City State’s borders and situated in Italy will continue to be exempt from Italian property tax.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

(Reuters) – The Vatican and Italy signed a financial information sharing agreement on Wednesday in which the Holy See pledged full cooperation and transparency and effectively relinquished banking secrecy.

The Vatican has long been criticised by international financial organisations for providing a tax haven for well-connected Italians.

In particular, the Vatican bank for decades allowed many Italian citizens to hold bank accounts. That practice, which was in violation of the bank’s mission to manage money for the Church, helped individuals evade taxes and launder cash, Italian law enforcement officials say.

Pope Francis has made financial reform a central plank of his two-year-old papacy and the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion, has been undergoing change. As of July, it had blocked the accounts of 2,000 clients and ended some 3,000 “customer relationships”.

The deal, announced in two separate statements from the Vatican and the Italian Economy Ministry, came after months of negotiations and will cover information from 2009 onwards.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent April 1, 2015

ROME — In the latest effort under Pope Francis to reform the Church’s finances, the Vatican and Italy reached an agreement on Wednesday to share financial and tax information, designed to help both states crack down on money-laundering and other illicit behavior.

The agreement is also intended to ensure that the so-called “Vatican bank,” which reportedly controls almost $10 billion in assets, no longer functions as an offshore tax haven for wealthy Italian VIPs, a perception that has long angered both tax officials and financial regulators in Italy.

Among other things, the agreement likely will mean that entities with deposits in the Vatican bank will have pay taxes on interest income to Italy.

Given that some of the most damaging complaints about Vatican money management over the years have come from Italian politicians, bankers, and regulators, the agreement could provide the Vatican with a firebreak against new scandal.

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VATICAN CITY
Internatinal Business Times

By Lora Moftah @LoraMoftah l.moftah@ibtimes.com on April 01 2015

Criticisms of the Catholic Church’s effort to promote accountability on clergy sex abuse is poised to intensify as the Vatican stood by its decision to back a controversial Chilean bishop who has been linked to an alleged cover-up of child abuse. The controversy over the appointment of Juan Barros as bishop of Osorno is raising doubts about the pace of reforms promised by Pope Francis, who has made a zero tolerance approach to clergy sex abuse a cornerstone of his papacy. But, according to a prominent U.S. expert on Catholic church matters, the controversy is a snag in the reform process, rather than the indication of a retreat.

A spokesperson for the Holy See announced Tuesday that the Church’s Congregation of Bishops had “carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment,” in the Vatican’s first official comment on the divisive case. The news comes amid a growing controversy over the bishop’s appointment in Chile, where protests broke out last week during his installation ceremony at the cathedral of the southern city of Osorno. About 3,000 people gathered to protest Barros on Saturday, demanding that he resign his post.

The outrage stems from Barros’ connection to one of Chile’s most notorious pedophile priests, Father Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty of abusing teenage boys over the years in a 2011 Vatican investigation. Critics allege that Barros was not only aware of the abuse but also helped to cover it up in his capacity as Karadima’s protégé. The bishop has denied having any knowledge of the abuse, claiming to have only found out about the allegations through news reports.

Catholic clergy in Chile have voiced their opposition to Barros’ installation, with one of the most vocal critics, Father Alex Vigueras of Santiago’s congregation of the Sacred Heart, saying the appointment was “not attuned with the zero tolerance [policy on pedophilia] that is trying to be installed in the church,” the Guardian reported. …

“As a survivor, I’m very surprised at the appointment in Chile because it seems to go against … what the Holy Father has been saying about not wanting anyone in positions of trust in the church who don’t have an absolutely 100 percent record of child protection,” said Marie Collins, an Irish member of the commission, in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter. “[Barros] is not accused of abuse himself in anyway,” she continued. “He may have been aware of it and did nothing. And that’s enough.”

The reaction from members of the commission and from within Chile shows that the appointment was not a prudent decision by the Vatican, said Rev. James Bretzke, a professor of moral theology at Boston College. “I believe it is sending the wrong message. The fact that [Barros] was named shows a certain tone deafness or lack of sensitivity even today among people involved in these decision-making processes.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) – This morning, in the Secretariat of State, an agreement on fiscal matters was signed by the Holy See and the Italian Republic. It was signed on behalf of the Holy See by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and for the Italian Republic by Pier Carlo Padoan, minister of Economics and Finance, with full powers.

The reforms introduced in 2010 and the creation by the Holy See of institutions with specific experience in economics and finance now enable full administrative cooperation, also with regard to fiscal matters. Within the framework of the special importance of bilateral relations, Italy is the first country with which the Holy See has signed an agreement governing the exchange of information.

In accordance with the current process of establishing transparency in the field of financial relations at a global level, the Convention transposes the most up to date international standard in terms of the exchange of information (article 26 of the OSCE Model) to regulate cooperation between the competent authorities of the two contracting Parties. The exchange of information relates to the fiscal year starting 1 January 2009.

The Convention, from the date on which it enters into force, will enable full compliance, with simplified procedures, with the tax obligations relating to financial assets held by institutions engaging in financial activities in the Holy See by various physical and legal persons resident in Italy. The same persons will be able to have access to a procedure for the regularisation of these activities, with the same effects as established by Law 186/2014.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

[Juan Carlos Cruz: The hierarchy of the Catholic Church has zero credibility.]

El 73 por ciento de los chilenos tiene poca o ninguna confianza en la Iglesia Católica, de acuerdo a la última encuesta de Cooperativa, Imaginacción y la Universidad Central.

El sondeo, dado a conocer este martes, en plena Semana Santa, grafica el impacto provocado por los numerosos casos de abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes y conocidos durante los último años, pero también mide el impacto de polémicas decisiones recientes, como la designación de Juan Barros a cargo de la Diócesis de Osorno, con la que el 79,6 por ciento de los consultados se declaró en desacuerdo.

El resultado de esta encuesta “me da pena, porque soy católico, y me da pena porque hay mucha gente buena en la Iglesia que no se merece esto, pero es cierto que la jerarquía ha encubierto los abusos, que tienen cero credibilidad”, dijo a El Diario de Cooperativa desde Filadelfia, Estados Unidos, el periodista Juan Carlos Cruz, uno de los pocos denunciantes públicos del caso Karadima.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 31, 2015

TRENTON —Attorneys in the federal conspiracy trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of arranging forced religious divorces are clashing over whether one of the charges against his son – accused of beating husbands into compliance– should be dismissed.

As the trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein wound up its seventh week of testimony on Tuesday, the defense attorney for his son, David “Ari” Epstein continued to press with jurors the younger man’s alibi for one of the alleged beatings.

Jurors have seen phone records, hotel records, photographs and meeting schedules indicating Epstein was in Ohio on Aug. 22, 2011. And they’ve heard from one of Epstein’s business associates and one of his workers who claim Epstein was with them that day on a trip to Kaeser & Blair Inc. in Batavia, Ohio.

Because of that evidence, defense attorney Henry Mazurek wants one of the kidnapping charges against his client dismissed.

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VATICAN CITY
WISC

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican finance minister said Tuesday he hopes to avoid financial scandal with the upcoming Jubilee Year, saying the plans will be subject to new Vatican procedures to ensure they follow international standards for transparency and accountability.

Cardinal George Pell outlined the Vatican’s financial reform during a conference Tuesday to launch a book on better managing church assets — a priority for Pope Francis after years of financial scandals and mismanagement at the Holy See.

Francis announced the Jubilee Year earlier this month to focus the church on his priority: mercy. It immediately set off panic among Rome officials who remember well the chaos that surrounded the 2000 Jubilee, when some 25 million pilgrims flocked to the Eternal City to mark the start of Christianity’s third millennium. Millions were spent cleaning up monuments and constructing new buildings, including a huge Vatican garage.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Ex-priest David Rapson suffered breakdown in prison after being found guilty of raping students

April 1, 2015

Adam Cooper
Court reporter for The Age

A former Catholic priest found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting school students in his care abused alcohol in the lead-up to a trial and suffered a breakdown in prison, a court has heard.

David Edwin Rapson was found guilty of five charges of rape and six counts of indecent assault at trials this year, that related to attacks on students aged between 12 and 17 years at two Victorian schools between the mid-1970s and 1990.

Rapson, 61, was originally found guilty of charges during a 2013 trial in the County Court and later sentenced to minimum 10 years in prison.

But the Court of Appeal last year quashed those convictions and ordered new trials take place. Rapson was freed from custody following the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
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Across four trials in February and March this year, Rapson was found guilty of 11 charges relating to attacks on six students, five of whom attended a Catholic boarding school where the then-priest was at one stage the school’s vice-principal.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY MERCURY APRIL 01, 2015

A FORMER Hobart Catholic priest who plied boys with cigarettes and alco­hol before raping them ­deserves a sentencing discount because he is unwell, a court has heard.

David Edwin Rapson, who taught at Dominic College in the 1980s, has many victims from his offending that spanned three decades.

In 2013 he was jailed for 13 years for crimes on children, but was released on appeal after serving 11 months.

His convictions were quashed by the Court of ­Appeal after a concession by the Office of Public Prosecutions that Rapson should have faced several trials.

It admitted that because of the varying nature of his ­offending it was unfair for all matters to be determined by a single jury, as they had been.

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GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Victims of childhood sexual abuse would have additional time in Georgia to seek damages from their abusers, under a bill passed unanimously Tuesday by the Senate.

House Bill 17 would for the next two years extend the statute of limitations for civil suits for anyone who was sexually abused before the age of 18, allowing past victims to seek damages if they have not yet come forward.

The bill would apply to victims of rape, sodomy, child molestation, pandering, incest or sexual battery.

Finally, victims of childhood sexual abuse would have access to records of any investigation related to the case.

The bill does not, however, permanently extend the statute of limitations for civil suits from five years to 35 years, which the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, originally proposed. The Senate also made other amendments on the floor.

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AUSTRALIA
Gladstone Adveriser

Ebony Battersby | 1st Apr 2015

A FORMER principal of the Gladstone Catholic high school now known as Chanel College has been jailed for sexually assaulting a student – and new alleged victims are coming forward now the case has hit the headlines.

Brother John Dennis Maguire was principal at the Gladstone school between 1975-1977 when it was operated by Marist Brothers.

Last week he was jailed for sexually assaulting a student at a prestigious Sydney Catholic college.

He moved to Sydney from Gladstone and the incidents happened shortly after. Chanel College yesterday distanced itself from Brother Maguire, and urged anyone with any evidence against him to report their experiences to police.

At least five members of the public had contacted The Observer last night after we started asking questions about his background.

A letter, sent out to parents and members of the Chanel College community late yesterday in the wake of those inquiries is printed below.

In the letter, the college moved to assure parents the school would have measures in place “to respond to any pastoral issues that could arise of these crimes against children being committed by a former principal of our college”.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN APRIL 01, 2015

A DISGRACED priest who plied young boys with cigarettes and alcohol before raping them deserves a sentencing discount because he is unwell, a court has heard.

David Edwin Rapson is one of the most notorious paedophiles in Victorian history with a string of victims from his offending that spanned three decades.

In 2013 he was jailed for 13 years for sickening crimes on kids, but was released on appeal after serving just 11 months of that sentence.

His convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal after a concession by the Office of Public Prosecutions that Rapson should have faced several trials.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

Police in Victoria are investigating suspicious fires at three Melbourne churches where paedophile priests have served in the past.

St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong is the latest to suffer from what police are calling a suspicious fire.

The blaze started in the early hours of Tuesday, causing extensive damage.

On Monday fire almost destroyed the 123-year-old St James Church in Brighton, while a separate fire damaged St Mary’s Church in St Kilda East.

The Dandenong church was one of eight Catholic churches linked to priest Kevin O’Donnell, who sexually abused children throughout his 50-year career in Melbourne parishes.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

Apr 1, 2015

EMMA YOUNGER

Suspicious fire – the third this week – on churches linked to paedophile priests.

Another Melbourne Catholic church historically linked to a paedophile priest has been targeted in a suspected arson attack overnight.

Fire crews were called to St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong at 2:30am (AEDT) by the parish’s priest, Father Declan O’Brien, who lives in a detached building.

Fr O’Brien said he was woken by the sound of smoke alarms.

“I came out of my back gate and at the windows there I could see something reminiscent of the Towering Inferno,” he said.

The Country Fire Authority’s Paul Carrigg said it was clear to firefighters that someone had broken in and set several areas of the building alight.

“When they arrived they found a number of areas of the church on fire, extensive smoke damage in some areas,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 1, 2015

Nino Bucci, Marissa Calligeros

A victim of paedophile priest Ronald Dennis Pickering called on those suffering not to turn to arson, as police investigate three separate fires this week at churches linked to predator priests.

“Pickering escaped, the church didn’t assist in bringing him to justice, when victims turned to the church they offered them no support, and then he died,” said Mike, who was abused almost 50 years ago when he was an altar boy at St Mary’s in St Kilda East, which someone attempted to set alight early Monday.

“If a victim is lighting these fires, it’s a symptom of anger. But you certainly don’t want to encourage this as a way of dealing with anger.”

Christian holy days such as Easter could trigger strong emotions within some victims, Mike said, but he hoped that the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse would provide some justice.

It remains unclear whether a sex abuse victim, or victims, are responsible for the three fires at churches in Brighton, St Kilda East and Dandenong since Sunday.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 1, 2015

Henry Belot
Canberra Times Reporter

A young girl allegedly molested by a former Catholic priest stayed quiet about her ordeal because she did not want to ruin her mother’s faith, a court has heard.

Crown prosecutor Sara Gul, in her closing statement, said the girl was afraid of coming forward with allegations about a man her mother saw as “the representative of God”.

But defence barrister Steven Whybrow told the court the woman’s evidence was unreliable and inconsistent.

The submissions were heard as the ACT Supreme Court trial of Father Edward Evans, 85, entered its sixth day on Wednesday before Justice Richard Refshauge.

Father Evans has pleaded not guilty to charges of committing acts of indecency and sexual assault on the girl, who was aged between 10 and 13 at the time.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Wed, Apr 1, 2015

The Holy See yesterday waded into the row about the controversial appointment of Monsignor Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as Bishop of Oserno in Chile, an appointment made despite protests from sex abuse victims that Bishop Barros had covered up for Chile’s most notorious paedophile priest.

In a move that hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of the Francis pontificate, the Holy See defended the appointment.

“Prior to the recent appointment of His Excellency Monsignor Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as Bishop of Oserno, Chile, the Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment.”

Protest

The inauguration on March 21st met with unusual opposition, with some 650 people turning up to protest at Oserno Cathedral dressed in black. Many local priests boycotted the ceremony, and more than 1,000 Catholics wrote to Pope Francis, asking him to reconsider the appointment.

Those opposed to Bishop Barros point out that he was a protege of Father Fernando Karadima, one of Chile’s most influential and respected priests. In 2011, at the age of 81, Fr Karadima was sanctioned by the Vatican itself for paedophile crime, being ordered to retire to a life of “penitence and prayer”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Oliver Milman
@olliemilman
Tuesday 31 March 2015

Victoria police are investigating the third suspicious church fire in Melbourne within the past week.

Two separate fires broke out at St Mary’s church in Dandenong at around 2am on Wednesday, causing extensive damage to the 151-year-old church before fire crews were able to extinguish the flames.

The church is linked to Kevin O’Donnell, a priest who has been accused of a number of sexual assaults on children. O’Donnell, who is now deceased, was never charged over the alleged offences.

Early on Monday morning, another suspicious fire destroyed St James church in Brighton, with St Mary’s church in St Kilda suffering damage on the same day due to suspected arson.

Priest Ronald Pickering attended both of the churches in the 1970s and 1980s. Pickering, who died in 2012, fled to the UK in 1993 and did not face prosecution over a number of sexual abuse offences stretching back to 1960.

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BRAZIL
ABC News (Australia)

A Brazilian priest known for conservative views on moral issues and disapproving in his sermons of kissing and sex has been suspended for sending a nude selfie to an apparent mistress on his mobile phone.

“Father Alfredo Rosa Borges has been suspended from his duties,” and faces ex-communication, a diocesan spokesman at Campos de Goytacazes, a northern town in Rio state said.

Father Borges is seen posing naked in front of a mirror holding his cell phone in pictures posted last week via smartphone service Whatsapp which have since appeared in online media.

Rio daily O Dia reported he had admitted sending suggestive messages to a woman who later posted them but denied having an intimate relationship with her.

“An investigation has been opened but the photo comprises a transgression for the Church,” the bishop of Campos, Roberto Francisco, told O Dia.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Links to pedophile priests are a common factor in a string of suspicious Melbourne church fires, but the Catholic church doesn’t believe this is what motivated the arsonist.

Police are investigating the cause of three suspicious fires over 48 hours in churches at Brighton, St Kilda East and Dandenong.

All three churches have links to known and alleged sexual abuse, but Regional Bishop Peter Elliott has suggested another, more general motivation.

“I would suggest it rests in a very disturbed mind of an arsonist that likes burning churches,” Bishop Elliot told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.

Emergency crews were called to the most recent blaze at a Dandenong church at 2am on Wednesday and extinguished the fire.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MONIQUE HORE, STAFF WRITER HERALD SUN APRIL 01, 2015

UPDATE: A MELBOURNE bishop believes the third suspicious church fire in as many days is not linked to clergy sexual abuse.

Fire crews and police are investigating a fire at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Foster St, Dandenong, that started about 2.30am.

The fire, which caused $250,000 damage, was started in the church’s storeroom. Another was sparked near the altar.

A team of about 40 firefighters took about an hour to control the blaze.

It comes after fires on Monday at St James in Brighton and St Mary’s in St Kilda East – two parishes home to notorious paedophile priest, Ron Pickering.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Emma Younger

Another Melbourne Catholic church linked to a paedophile priest has been targeted in a suspected arson attack overnight.

Fire crews were called to St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong at 2:30am (AEDT) by the priest who lives in a detached building.

The Country Fire Authority’s Paul Carrigg said it was clear to firefighters that someone had broken in and set several areas of the building alight.

“When they arrived they found a number of areas of the church on fire, extensive smoke damage in some areas,” he said.

“They found a fire in a store room area which burnt through the floor and another fire towards the alter.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Who is burning down Melbourne’s churches? Police investigate link to past paedophile attacks after a suspected arsonist torches THREE churches this week

By SARAH MICHAEL FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Police are investigating a string of suspected arson attacks on three Melbourne Catholic churches with links to paedophile priests.

Emergency services were called to a fire at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong, at 2am on Wednesday, and police are treating the blaze as suspicious.

The church is said to be the site of child sex attacks perpetrated by now-deceased convicted paedophile Father Kevin O’Donnell.

Police are investigating whether the blaze is connected to two separate suspicious blazes that were lit on Monday at St James Catholic Church in Brighton and St Mary’s Catholic Church in St Kilda, where paedophile priest Ronald Pickering served as minister.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

The Catholic church is denying links between three suspicious fires at suburban churches and paedophile priests.

Police are looking into a series of recent arson attacks including an overnight fire at the 151-year-old St Mary’s Catholic Church in Foster Street, Dandenong, about 2.30am this morning.

Other fires being investigated are at St James Catholic Church in Brighton and St Mary’s Catholic Church at St Kilda East.

Regional bishop Peter Elliott dismissed Ross Stevenson’s suggestion of links to paedophile priests.

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BRASIL
O Dia

Rio – Adepto da libertinagem e do pecado, o Padre Alfredo Rosa Borges, da cidade de Miracema, no Norte Fluminense, dentro da Igreja pregava sermões bem diferentes daquilo que praticava depois que a missa acabava — como por exemplo, compartilhar fotos nuas pelo Whats App com uma amante.

No blog ‘Catequizando com Jesus’, o pároco destilava um conservadorismo de envergonhar o Papa Francisco, que tem surpreendido o mundo com discursos progressistas no Vaticano.

“Quem vê a sexualidade e o próprio sexo como prazer, normalmente desvia-se e passa a viver de um modo desequilibrado”, escreveu Padre Alfredo num texto intitulado ‘A Sexualidade Humana’, presente no blog.

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BRAZIL
Brisbane Times

Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian priest known for delivering sermons disapproving of kissing and sex outside marriage has been suspended for sending a nude selfie to an apparent mistress.

“Father Alfredo Rosa Borges has been suspended from his duties,” and faces ex-communication, a diocesan spokesman at Campos de Goytacazes, a northern town in Rio state told AFP on Tuesday.

Borges is seen posing naked in front of a mirror holding his mobile phone in pictures posted last week via smartphone service Whatsapp which have since appeared in online media.

Rio daily O Dia reported he had admitted sending suggestive messages to a woman who later posted them but denied having an intimate relationship with her.

“An investigation has been opened but the photo comprises a transgression for the church,” the bishop of Campos, Roberto Francisco, told O Dia.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong told reporters at a news conference today that the “unimaginable nightmare” he lived through while under suspicion of abusing his former students has finally ended.

Saying he just wanted to move on with his life, Furlong also announced he would end his defamation lawsuit against Georgia Straight writer Laura Robinson, who published the initial allegations of abuse
However, Robinson, who is suing Furlong for questioning her journalistic credibility, said in a statement she has no intention of dropping her court action.

“At the time the Georgia Straight article was published, I wasn’t even aware of the allegations made by Grace Jessie West and the male whose case was dismissed on Monday,” she said.

“My story was based on serious allegations made by numerous individuals, including allegations contained in eight sworn affidavits, and I stand by the work I did. I feel that the dropping of Mr. Furlong’s lawsuit against me today is recognition that my reporting on the serious allegations was responsible and appropriate.”

“My suit is about an attack on my integrity and professional conduct as a journalist. It has never been about these three cases. “I look forward to my June 15, 2015, court date. I am pleased that the lawsuit against me has been dropped. I stand by the research and work that I did.”

2 accusers didn’t attend Furlong’s school

Furlong’s lawyer, Claire Hunter, told the news conference two of Furlong’s accusers, Grace West and Daniel Morice, never attended Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake where the abuse was alleged to have occurred.

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CANADA
CTV nEWS

Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, March 31, 2015

VANCOUVER — As a young man who immigrated from Ireland, John Furlong channelled his “highest respect” for First Nations by volunteering to teach at an elementary school in northern British Columbia.

Forty years later, he ensured four B.C. First Nations were full partners when he headed the Vancouver Olympics, saying his push for their participation was a source of personal pride.

So it was with every instinct he fought anger starting two years ago, when “deep and horrible, hurtful and highly damaging” allegations of sex abuse were levelled against him by three aboriginal people, he told reporters on Tuesday.

Furlong declared the “almost unimaginable nightmare” had finally ended a day after the dismissal by a B.C. Supreme Court judge of the last of three civil lawsuits that have held his family, business interests and public profile hostage.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 1, 2015

Marissa Calligeros

A third Melbourne Catholic church linked to a paedophile priest has been set alight in a suspected arson attack in as many days.

Two separate fires were lit at St Mary’s Church on Foster Street in Dandenong – one in the main church at the altar and the other in a storage room containing cloaks – about 2am on Monday.

It took firefighters 90 minutes to gain control of the blaze, which caused extensive heat and smoke damage to the 151-year-old building.

Police are investigating whether the fire is linked to two other suspicious fires at Catholic churches in Brighton and St Kilda East on Monday. Fire gutted the 123-year-old St James Church in Brighton on Monday morning, but the blaze at St Mary’s in St Kilda East caused little damage.

Both churches are linked to Ronald Dennis Pickering, who moved from parish to parish around Melbourne abusing boys between 1958 and 1993, when he fled to his native Britain. He died there in 2012, having never been charged.

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BRAZIL
Press TV (Iran)

A Brazilian clergyman has been suspended for sending a naked selfie picture to his alleged mistress via his cell phone.

“Father Alfredo Rosa Borges has been suspended from his duties,” AFP quoted a diocesan spokesman of Campos de Goytacazes municipality, located in the northern area of Rio de Janeiro State, as saying on Tuesday.

He added that the Brazilian priest, who is known for his conservative views on moral issues, also faces excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church.

In the picture, which has been circulating on online media since it was posted last week, Borges can be seen posing naked in front of a mirror.

The O Dia daily reported that the priest has admitted to sending the picture, but denies having a relationship with the recipient.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Jolene Toves
The Concerned Ca
tholics of Guam continue in their efforts for transparency from the Catholic church by hosting informational meetings in villages such as Yigo, Agana Heights, and Dededo. According to CCOG vice president Dave Sablan the meetings are meant to share the information they have gathered through their investigation of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and their efforts in seeking financial transparency for the Archdiocese of Guam.

He says that he along with organization president Greg Perez unofficially met over a week ago with members of the Archdiocesan Finance Council to include president Sonny Ada. While Ada would not provide comment on the meeting stating it was a personal conversation, Sablan says during the meeting the CCOG requested for financial documents such as the budget plan for the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal. He says that they are concerned with how the funding collected will be spent and also want information on who the formators for the Redemptoris Mater Seminary are so that they may evaluate if the instructors are qualified to form young men into priests. He stresses that the issue is there is no transparency.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Live

31 March 2015 By Maurice Fitzmaurice

A priest accused of having an affair is to go on retreat “in an effort to repair the damage and hurt that I have caused”.

In a statement issued on Tuesday evening Fr Ciaran Dallat said it is his “sincere hope is that with this support I will be able to resume the exercise of priestly ministry”.

The move comes in the wake of claims made in a newspaper earlier this month that the 52-year-old cleric, from St Peter’s Cathedral in west Belfast, had a relationship with a 49-year-old businesswoman.

Up until tonight, the Diocese of Down and Connor had declined to comment in detail on on the allegation. The woman claimed the affair began in Belfast in 2012 after the pair went on a group pilgrimage.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Vatican defends Chilean appointment – Response by Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director, BishopAccountability.org (cell:781-439-5208)

A Vatican spokeperson’s dismissive statement today defending Pope Francis’s appointment of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid deepens the crisis of credibility that the pope is facing. What’s at stake here is nothing less than papal accountability. Francis has pledged to discipline bishops who fail to protect children, and the Chilean public, along with members of his own abuse commission, are determined to hold him to his promise.

[Catholic Herald]

Today’s statement is a disingenuous attempt to shift blame for this decision from the pope to the Congregation for Bishops. Pope Francis made the appointment and must own it. He should begin by explaining his deliberate choice to ignore multiple victims’ testimony that Barros witnessed their sexual abuse by Karadima. Concepción archbishop Fernando Chomali, who discussed Barros with Francis in person last month, told the New York Times that the pope knew about these serious allegations. “The pope told me he had analyzed the situation in detail and found no reason” to rescind the appointment, Chomali said.

[The New York Times]

This response evokes not the compassion and honesty of Pope Francis but the coldness and dismissiveness of Cardinal Bergoglio. As Buenos Aires archbishop, he ignored repeated requests by anguished victims for intervention in their cases. While his colleagues in the US and Europe issued apologies, implemented reforms, and met with victims, he stayed largely silent on the issue of clergy sex abuse, except to issue an implausible denial that he had ever handled an abusive priest. His only known action was to commission a behind-the-scenes report to Argentine Supreme Court judges that impugned the credibility of victims of a criminally convicted priest – an action eerily consistent with the disregard the Pope has shown survivors’ witness in the Barros/Karadima case.

[BishopAccountability.org’s report on pope’s response to crisis as archbishop]

[Victims ignored by Cardinal Bergoglio]

[Bergoglio’s statement that he never dealt with a guilty priest]

[Summary of case of convicted Argentine priest Julio César Grassi, including Bergoglio’s effort to exonerate him]

To regain public trust in his reforms, Pope Francis must explain why he chose Barros despite the victims’ testimony, and he must immediately rescind the appointment. Barros must be suspended from ministry while his alleged wrongdoing is investigated.

Going forward, the pope must apply the lessons of the Barros fiasco to appointments, as well as to disciplinary reviews like the Finn investigation, which has been pending for many months. The leaders selected by him in the future must have records that indicate the moral capacity to execute the measures that the pope himself has invoked repeatedly — ‘zero tolerance’ and accountability.

It is noteworthy and troubling that neither zero tolerance nor mandatory reporting is included in the universal policy framework – the CDF’s 2011 Circular Letter – that Pope Francis said in early February he wants to be “fully implemented.” The provisions in the framework are weak, leaving far too much to the individual bishop’s discretion. Little good shall come from the Pope’s efforts if he holds bishops – or himself – to such a low standard. For the Pope in the Barros/Karadima case, accountability begins at home.

[May 2011 Circular Letter from CDF]

[Pope’s February 2015 letter to bishops and religious superiors]

About BishopAccountability.org

Founded in 2003 and based near Boston, Massachusetts, USA, BishopAccountability.org is a large online archive of documents, reports, and news articles documenting the global abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. An independent non-profit, it is not a victims’ advocacy group and is not affiliated with any church, reform, or victims’ organization. In 2014, its website hosted 1.5 million unique visitors.

Contact for BishopAccountability.org

Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, barrett.doyle@comcast.net, 781-439-5208 cell
Terence McKiernan, President and Co-Director, mckiernan1@comcast.net, 508-479-9304

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Die jüngste Bischofsernennung in Chile ist im Vatikan „gut geprüft“ worden. Das betont der Vize-Pressesprecher des Vatikans, Pater Ciro Benedettini, in einer Pressemitteilung. Die Ernennung von Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid zum Bischof von Osorno sorgte für Aufsehen, weil er angeblich Missbrauchsfälle „vertuscht“ habe. Die Bischofskongregation habe „genau geprüft“, so Pater Benedettini. Resultat der Vatikan-Untersuchung sei, dass „keine objektiven Gründe gegen die Ernennung“ vorliegen.

Papst Franziskus hatte den ehemaligen Militärbischof Barros am 15. Januar zum neuen Bischof der südchilenischen Diözese berufen. Dagegen hatte es aus Kreisen der Politik und von Laienorganisationen der chilenischen Kirche immer wieder Proteste gegeben. Barros streitet eine Verwicklung ab und beteuert seine Unschuld. Das Amt in der Provinzstadt am Südzipfel des Kontinents hatte Barros vor zwei Wochen angetreten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Papstgefluster

[Pope: Personnel Policy and headwind in Chile]

Papst Franziskus hat heute den Chefposten in der Vatikanischen Bildungskongregation neu besetzt. Der bisherige oberste „Wirtschaftsprüfer“, Kardinal Giuseppe Versaldi (71), ist nun für die Bildung zuständig. Die Entscheidung ist nicht nur eine schlichte Personalie; sondern könnte auch für die anstehende Kurienreform ein Signal sein. Erstmals äußerte sich der Vatikan heute auch zur umstrittenen Bischofsernennung im chilenischen Bistum Osorno; allerdings nur kurz und knapp. Eine echte Unterstützung sieht anders aus. Zudem hat Papst Franziskus heute Kardinal Rainer-Maria Woelki zum Mitglied in der vatikanischen Güterverwaltung APSA ernannt. Der Erzbischof von Köln, einer der reichsten Diözesen der Welt, ist traditionell Mitglied dort.

Signal für Kurienreform?

Schon länger wurde darüber spekuliert, wer Kardinal Zenon Grocholweski (75) als Präfekt der Bildungskongregation nachfolgen wird. Der Pole hatte am 11. Oktober vergangenen Jahres die Pensionsgrenze von 75 Jahren erreicht. Wiederholt gab es Spekulationen, Papst Franziskus könnte den Präfekten der Glaubenskongregation, Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, ins Bildungsressort versetzen. Immerhin war Müller viele Jahre als Hochschullehrer aktiv, hätte also eine fachliche Kompetenz mitgebracht.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Anadolu Agency

By Karim Adel El-Sayed

ANKARA

Enoch Powell, one of the most controversial British politicians of the twentieth century, has been implicated of involvement in child sex abuse dating back to the 1980s, the British press has reported.

Powell’s name was handed to police in 2014 by Bishop of Durham Paul Butler, an event which was only made public on Sunday.

“The name Enoch Powell was passed to Operation Fernbridge on the instruction of Bishop Paul Butler,” the Church of England said in a statement on Monday, referring to the police operation into suspected Westminster child abusers.

Powell, who died in 1998, was a divisive and firebrand anti-immigrant politician. His name is the latest in a string of senior parliamentarians accused of being involved in alleged Westminster child sex rings in the 1980s.

The scandal has shaken Britain’s political establishment to its core. …

Nothing would surprise me in terms of cover-ups or files being destroyed or lost. It stinks, I have to say,” says Peter Saunders, CEO of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, speaking to The Anadolu Agency.

Commenting more specifically on the accusation leveled against the deceased anti-immigrant firebrand, Saunders adds: “Powell’s been dead a long time and I have not heard his name being implicated before, but anybody who is implicated and who does have a credible allegation made against them – whether they are alive or dead – I think they should be investigated to the full extent of the law.”

With regards to Heffer’s argument that Powell was a man of high probity, Saunders said, “Many child abusers throughout our history have been upstanding members of the community and they have a dark side… I am not saying that is the case with Powell, because I do not know.”

“I think any credible accusation should be pursued and investigated for the purposes of both the victims and for future child protection because this issue of abuse of children has been swept under the carpet, has been kept at bay, has been denied for far too long,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Abby Ohlheiser March 31

The Vatican defended the appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid on Tuesday, after accusations that the bishop helped cover up sex abuse prompted criticism of the appointment by Pope Francis.

As the National Catholic Reporter notes, the brief, 19-word statement represents a rare comment from the Vatican on an appointment. “The Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature,” the statement from Holy See Press Office Vice Director Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini reads, “and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment.”

The criticism of Barros centers on long-standing allegations that he helped to cover up the sex abuse of his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, whom the Vatican in 2011 found guilty of sexually abusing minors. Karadima, 84, is now living cloistered in “penitence and prayer.”

Barros has denied the allegations, as the NCR reported, and has said he “never had knowledge or imagined the serious abuses that this priest [Karadima] committed with his victim.”

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CANADA
GlobalNews

[with video]

Former VANOC CEO John Furlong says he will drop a defamation lawsuit against the reporter who originally published a story containing sexual assault allegations against him.

Furlong says he filed a notice to end his defamation lawsuit against reporter Laura Robinson this morning.

Addressing the media this morning, Furlong also spoke about the three sexual abuse lawsuits against him that have now been either dropped or dismissed.

The last of the cases was dismissed by a B.C. supreme court judge yesterday.

They all relate to incidents alleged to have occurred more than 40 years ago during Furlong’s time as a teacher at a school in Burns Lake.

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CANADA
Blackburn News

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – Former Olympics CEO John Furlong says he feels vindicated that he’s been cleared of sexual assault allegations after suffering an unimaginable nightmare for nearly two years.

Speaking a day after a B.C. Supreme Court judge dismissed a third and final sexual assault lawsuit against him, Furlong says he felt paralyzing pain but is now ready to move on with his life.

A man who failed to show up for the start of a trial on Monday claimed Furlong sexually abused him 45 years ago at a Roman Catholic school in northern B.C.

Since December, suits against Furlong by two women have been withdrawn or dismissed that made similar allegations, which he says have caused him incalculable financial loss.

Furlong says he has fought against being angry with the three plaintiffs and hopes they find inner peace, though noting they will have to live with what they have done.

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CANADA
AM730

Vancouver, BC, Canada / (CKNW AM) AM980
Laura Baziuk
March 31, 2015

Former VANOC boss John Furlong has dropped a defamation lawsuit against freelance reporter Laura Robinson.

She wrote a damaging story about him in 2012, which was published in the Georgia Straight newspaper.

Furlong is speaking to reporters a day after the last of three lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse in the 1960s and 70s was dismissed or dropped.

He says he will defend himself if needed in Robinson’s countersuit.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong spoke in solemn and measured tones as he told reporters at a news conference today that the “unimaginable nightmare” he lived through while under suspicion of abusing his former students has finally ended.

Saying he just wanted to move on with his life, Furlong also announced he would end his defamation lawsuit against Georgia Straight writer Laura Robinson, who published the initial allegations of abuse that eventually formed the basis of the three lawsuits against him.

The last of the lawsuits was dismissed Monday by a B.C. Supreme Court judge after the complainant, Daniel Morice, failed to appear in court.

In the nearly three years since he was accused of abusing former students while he was a teacher in British Columbia during the late 1960s, Furlong has repeatedly and vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

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CANADA
The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong has dropped a defamation lawsuit against journalist Laura Robinson.

Furlong was suing Robinson for a story she penned for the Georgia Straight in 2012, which contained allegations that Furlong was abusive toward native students at Catholic schools while a teacher in northern B.C. four decades ago.

Furlong made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday morning. Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert is covering the story.

Furlong had accused Robinson of carrying out a “vicious campaign” to destroy his reputation. He also labelled her “a long-time activist” who “masquerades as a responsible journalist.”

Robinson plans to still go ahead with her defamation suit.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

MARK HUME
Vancouver — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Mar. 31 2015

John Furlong, the former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics, has dropped a defamation suit against journalist Laura Robinson, saying the dismissal of three sexual abuse cases against him have proved his innocence.

But Ms. Robinson, who in 2012 wrote an article claiming Mr. Furlong physically and verbally abused students at an aboriginal school in 1969-70, says she’s going ahead with a countersuit against him.

“My suit is about an attack on my integrity and professional conduct as a journalist. It has never been about these three cases,” Ms. Robinson said Tuesday in an e-mail. “I look forward to my June 15, 2015, court date. I am pleased that the lawsuit against me has been dropped. I stand by the research and work that I did.”

Mr. Furlong sued her after the article appeared, and she launched a countersuit soon after, saying that in responding to the article he had defamed her.

Following those events three people, including a woman quoted in Ms. Robinson’s article, came forward with allegations that Mr. Furlong had sexually abused them at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary School in Burns Lake, B.C., in 1969-70.

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VERMONT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 31

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

Officials with a purportedly spiritual group is splitting hairs and exploiting loopholes more befitting of cold-hearted corporate CEOs.

[Brattleboro Reformer]

Jehovah’s Witnesses bureaucrats are using legal technicalities to try to deny child sex abuse victims their day in court. Shame on them. They’re squandering any moral authority they may have had by ducking and dodging in court like desperate criminals determined to use any and every legal maneuver possible to save their own reputations and careers.

Church officials have won a partial victory. A judge has granted their requests to have portions of a child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit tossed out. We hope that ultimately they will fail and that Miranda and Annessa Lewis will be able to expose the callousness and recklessness of Jehovah’s Witness officials in a trial.

Already, by their courage, these sisters have warned thousands about the predator who hurt them, Norton True. We are very proud of these courageous young women. And we hope they realize that by breaking their silence and filing this suit, they have already won in the most important sense: they have taken back the power that was stolen from them in childhood. We are confident that because these sisters are speaking up, others who were assaulted as kids have been inspired to speak up too.

Finally, we hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by True or cover ups in churches will call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priestsi

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 31

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

It’s official: Pope Francis is standing by his cruel and hurtful promotion of a bishop who faces credible allegations of enabling, ignoring and watching child sex crimes.

[National Catholic Reporter]

It’s cruel because elevating Bishop Juan Barros Madrid rubs salt into the wounds of two sets of victims: the dozens who were sexually assaulted by Fr. Fernando Karadima and the tens of thousands who once had high hopes that Francis might actually do more to stop clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

But arguably, the greater harm is not to already wounded victims. It’s to still vulnerable children. Why? Because when Francis rewards those – like Barros – who conceal child sex crimes, he encourages others to conceal child sex crimes. And that leads to more child sex crimes.

The sad, simple and undeniable truth is that Catholic bishops and priests world-wide look at Barros’ promotion and now realize that despite all the pledges, policies, protocols, promises and panels, this pope is no different than any who came before him.

Francis is more likeable than most. He’s far more PR savvy than most. He’s masterful at using symbols and gestures. He says more of the right things.

( One exception, though, came a year ago this month: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/religion/secrets-of-the-vatican/pope-francis-defends-churchs-response-to-clergy-sex-abuse/ )

But when push comes to shove, he does what his predecessors have done, time and time and time again – move complicit colleagues up the clerical ladder no matter how egregiously they have helped predators and hurt kids.

Would it have hurt Francis to withdraw Barros’ appointment, even temporarily? Nope. Would it hurt him now to say “Let’s investigate these serious and credible charges against Barros?” Nope.

Thousands have protested Barros’ elevation. And the response they’re getting from Francis is 19 words saying “Who cares?”

Now more than ever, it’s crucial that members of the pope’s abuse panel go to Rome and confront Francis about this hurtful promotion. And it’s crucial that those who have courageously confronted church officials about this stunningly callous and hurtful move keep speaking out.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

(Reuters) – The Vatican and Italy are close to reaching an agreement to share financial and tax information in the aim of cracking down on money-laundering and other illicit behaviour, a senior Vatican official said on Tuesday.

The deal, which the official said could be announced as early as this week, is part of Pope Francis’ efforts to clean up the finances of the Vatican. The official asked not to be named, because he is not authorised to discuss the accord.

The Vatican has long been criticised by international financial organisations for providing a tax haven for well-connected Italians.

In particular, the Vatican bank for decades allowed many Italian citizens to hold bank accounts. That practice, which was in violation of the bank’s mission to manage money for the Church, helped individuals evade taxes and launder cash, Italian law enforcement officials say.

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VATICAN CITY
Sky News

The Vatican has revealed it is close to reaching an agreement with Italy over a clampdown on potential money-laundering.

A senior Vatican official said the deal may be announced later this week, and is part of Pope Francis’ attempt to sweep clean Vatican finances.

For decades the powerful financial institution within the Holy See has been accused of facilitating illicit behaviour.

Officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion, it has faced accusations of providing a tax haven for wealthy Italians.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kathweb

[Theologian Wunibald Müller: Church must re-evaluate sexuality.]

Freiburg, 25.03.2015 (KAP/KNA) Der deutsche Psychotherapeut und Theologe Wunibald Müller hat die katholischen Bischöfe zu einem Umdenken in Sachen Sexualität aufgerufen. Wenn die Kirche Anschluss an die Wirklichkeit heutiger Menschen finden wolle, müsse die für Herbst im Vatikan geplante Bischofssynode zu Familienfragen einen “Sprung nach vorne” wagen, schreibt Müller in der Freiburger diözesanen Wochenzeitung “Konradsblatt”. Nötig sei ein Perspektivenwechsel, bei dem nicht länger “vor allem von der Ehe und der Heterosexualität her” gedacht werde.

Sexualität dürfe nicht auf die Fortpflanzung reduziert werden, so der Theologe. Vielmehr trage sie zur Vertiefung einer Partnerschaft bei, indem sie in den “Dienst unserer Wünsche und Sehnsucht nach der Erfahrung von Geborgenheit, Annahme, Nähe und Intimität” trete. Aus seelsorglicher Sicht müsse Sexualität unabhängig von der Ausrichtung einer Person thematisiert werden, fordert Müller. Es gehe also nicht in erster Linie darum, ob jemand schwul, hetero- oder bisexuell sei, sondern darum, eine Person in ihrem Bemühen zu würdigen, “auf eine verantwortliche und ihr Leben bereichernde Weise ihre Sexualität” zu leben.

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POLEN
Radio Vatikan

[Poland: Priest sentenced to seven years in prison.]

Noch vor Ermittlungen wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen Jozef Wesolowski, ehemaliger Nuntius der Dominikanischen Republik, im Jahr 2013 wurde der Fall von dem ehemaligen Priester Wojciech Gil aufgedeckt. Sein polnischer Landsmann, wurde nun in Warschau zu sieben Jahren Haft verurteilt. Gil hatte acht Kinder unter 15 Jahren in Polen und der Dominikanischen Republik sexuell missbraucht und pornographische Videos von Kindern besessen. Zusätzlich zur Haftstrafe wurde ihm eine Geldstrafe in Höhe von 43.000 Dollar auferlegt, die er an die Opfer zahlen muss. Aus gesundheitlichen Gründen war er selbst vor Gericht nicht anwesend.

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MALLORCA
Ultima Hora

J. Jiménez|@jjimenezsucesos | Sa Pobla | 14/03/2015

La Guardia Civil imputará al rector de sa Pobla, Joan Pons, por dos delitos de agresión sexual. La jueza de Inca, por su parte, también acusará del mismo delito al ex rector de Selva, Antoni Cano.

Este viernes se llevaron a cabo declaraciones ampliatorias del caso de Selva, en el que un exmonaguillo acusó a Cano y Pons, además de otro cura que ya ha fallecido. Según el denunciante, V.M.D.F., los abusos sexuales comenzaron en el año 1987 y se prolongaron hasta 1994.

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MALLORCA
Ultima Hora

[The young man who accused the rector of Sa Pobla of sexual abuse withdraws the complaint.]

J. Bastida/ V. Malagón | Sa Pobla | 31/03/2015

El joven que acusó al rector de sa Pobla por abusos sexuales ha retirado la denuncia. A primera hora de la mañana de este lunes, A.A.C., de 32 años y nacionalidad española, acudió al juzgado de Instrucción número 3 de Inca para realizar una ‘ampliación acta de denuncia verbal’.

La retirada de la denuncia contra el exrector de sa Pobla, Mossèn Joan Pons, da un giro de 180 grados al caso. El joven denunció en el cuartel de la Guardia Civil de sa Pobla que fue violado dos veces por parte del sacerdote. A.A.C., vivía en la rectoría con el cura y declaró que no había contado nada de los abusos sexuales porque estaba aterrorizado.

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MALLORCA
Radio Aleman

[The abuse case against a priest in Mallorca has been withdrawn.]

Die Anzeige wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den Pfarrer in Sa Pobla auf Mallorca ist zurückgezogen worden. Das mutmaßliche Opfer, ein heute 32 Jahre alter Spanier, gab am Montagmorgen eine entsprechende Erklärung vor dem Gericht in Inca ab. Hier wurden seit der offiziellen Beschwerde am 10. März entsprechene Ermittlungen durchgeführt.

Der Mann hatte angegeben, als Kind zweimal durch den Priester vergewaltigt worden zu sein. Gegenüber spanischen Medien hatte er von Drohungen gesprochen, die der Geistliche ihm gegenüber gemacht habe, falls er zur damaligen Zeit von den Fällen berichte. Zudem hatte er ausgesagt, seit den sexuellen Übergriffen in psychologischer Behandlung zu sein.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWP

[Transparency is different.]

Als der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes Ende Januar 2010 an die Öffentlichkeit ging und über jahrelange Missbrauchsfälle am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg berichtete, brachte er eine Lawine ins Rollen, die allgemeine Empörung auslöste und nachfolgende Erschütterungen in den Kirchen, an Schulen und nicht zuletzt bei den Grünen. Pädagogen und Priester gerieten ins Zwielicht, Bischöfe mussten zurücktreten, viele Opfer überwanden ihre Scham und legten Zeugnis ab.

Die schockierenden Enthüllungen sorgten zwar für eine Debatte in Medien und Institutionen, auch gaben betroffene Einrichtungen Untersuchungen des sexuellen Missbrauchs oder – im Fall der Grünen – der Verstrickung in pädophile Rechtfertigungsstrategien in Auftrag, mit durchaus respektablen Einsichten. Doch kommt die Aufarbeitung des Missbrauch-Skandals insgesamt nur mühsam voran.

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CALIFORNIA
Gilroy Dispatch

Phill Laursen

Californians grow up in an atmosphere of reverence for Father Junipero Serra—there is, however, a different perspective among the descendants of the land’s original people. Their viewpoint will be difficult for many to accept, but open your heart and mind as you read excerpts from an open letter the leader of our area’s tribal band recently sent to Pope Francis. I met the author when he spoke to the Gilroy Historical Society, and I am tremendously impressed by his intellect, his sincerity and his wisdom. The letter begins:

His Holiness Pope Francis,

My name is Valentin Lopez and I am the Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band [descendants of local native peoples taken to Missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz].… We are writing…to voice our disbelief and objection to your intent to canonize Franciscan Friar Junipero Serra.

Lopez describes the Amah Mutsun’s optimism when Francis was selected as Pope, and details letters they wrote to the Roman Catholic pontiff about their ancestors’ experiences and the aftermath, such as “….life expectancy was less than two years at some missions….Tribal members continue to suffer from the impact of cumulative emotional and psychological wounding”, how psychiatrist Dr. Donna Schindler explained “historic trauma”, and Bishop Emeritus of Sacramento Quinn said, ‘…
although the language of these letters is sometimes very intense, he supports the basic message’.

The Amah Mutsun find, in Fr. Serra’s own writings, how “….the violence, intimidation and terror which was sponsored and ordered by Fr. Serra clearly set the policy and foundation for all future brutal acts at the missions.” They strongly believe Serra has a large degree of responsibility, “…for the death of approximately 100,000 California Indians and the complete extermination of many Native tribes, cultures and languages.”

Lopez cites contemporaries of Fr. Serra such as, “Father Boscana, who wrote…’the Indians of California may be compared to a species of monkeys’”; Father Mariano Payeras, who wrote the Church, “…had to come up with an alibi when people started asking where all the Indians had gone.” because ‘All we have done to the Indians is consecrate them, baptize them and bury them’; and how in 1809 a commander ordered soldiers to massacre 200 women and children who wouldn’t march to Mission San Juan Bautista. “These women and children were cut into pieces with sabers.” And “Fr. Antonio de la Conception Herra wrote in 1799 that ‘The treatment of the Indians is the most cruel I have ever read in history. For the slightest things they receive heavy floggings, are shackled, and put in the stocks, and treated with so much cruelty that they are kept whole days without a drink of water’.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The ex-bouncer pope is pushing back. A contest of wills seems to be going on between the papal sex abuse commission head, Boston Franciscan, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, and the “wannabe” Franciscan Pope Francis, with his team of Cardinal Angelo Sodano protégées. The pope’s spokeman has now (3/31/15) said that the Vatican is confident the correct decision has been made in appointing Juan Barros as Bishop of Osorno, in Chile. The amazing Vatican statement said: “The Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment, …”. At least the statement did not allude to the pope’s “infallibility”, as a previous related statement appeared to do.

Once again, there is no indication the members of the pope’s almost farcical “abuse commission” were consulted on this “doubling down”, further indicating their seeming irrelevance to the pope on the fundamental issue of bishops accountability for their sex abuse misdeeds. Why have an irrelevant commission, Pope Francis? Many of the commission members are well informed and sincere, not some clerical hacks too often appointed to papal commissions.

Members of Francis’ Vatican “go slow” commission have criticized sharply Barros’ appointment, as well as their exclusion from the decision process as indicated in NCR interviews last week and below.

Only celibate men living in the childless Vatican bubble could have made this bad decision, and then arrogantly by a written statement declared it to have been made objectively. Pathetic and outrageous, really. Catholic parents will not have it!

This statement is the “death knell” of the pope’s flawed public relations commission, it would appear. The curtain is rising on the real Francis, no?

US political leaders of both parties are shamefully continuing to give the pope a pass on the child abuse scandal, likely to try to gain political advantage in next year’s presidential and congressional elections. Courageous UN leaders and political leaders in other nations like Australia, the UK, Chile, Ireland, et al., are challenging the pope and his subordinates’ indefensible records, but leaders like the USA’s Obama and Clinton, and even Catholics like Boehner, Biden, Peter King, Nancy Pelosi, Jeb Bush, Rubio, Guiliani, Cuomo, Christie, Jindal, Panetta, Santorum, Jerry Brown, et al., look the other way too often on priest child abuse and bishops’ cover-ups. I was a classmate of Guiliani and King and went to the same law school as Obama. I know they know better and deeply believe the others do as well!

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY LAURA IERACI
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The appointment of a controversial bishop in Chile was made after a careful review found no “objective reasons” to prevent Bishop Juan Barros from taking over the Diocese of Osorno, the Vatican press office said.

The bishop had been accused of covering up for a priest who was known to have committed sexual abuse; some 3,000 demonstrators gathered outside and inside the Osorno cathedral March 21 to protest his installation as bishop.

“The Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment,” said the Vatican’s March 31 statement.

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VATICAN CITY
Today

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Tuesday strongly defended its appointment of a bishop in Chile despite protests by critics who have accused him of covering up sexual abuse.

Juan Barros was installed on March 21 as new bishop of Osorno as supporters holding white balloons and opponents carrying black ones shouted at each other during the ceremony in the city’s cathedral.

The appointment outraged some parishioners, national legislators and abuse victims who said Barros had protected one of the nation’s most notorious pedophiles and asked Pope Francis to rescind it.

Deputy spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini, in the Vatican’s first official comment on a case that has divided Chileans, said the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had “carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment”. …

SNAP, a U.S.-based victims group, said that by defending Barros’ appointment, the pope was “standing by his cruel and hurtful promotion of a bishop who faces credible allegations of enabling, ignoring and watching child sex crimes”.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

Tuesday 31 March 2015

The Vatican has issued a rare statement of support for a bishop in Chile who has been accused by abuse victims of covering up for a notorious paedophile priest, in a case that is sure to infuriate critics who say Pope Francis is straying from his commitment to ending the church’s legacy of abuse.

Amid a growing controversy over Bishop Juan Barros, the Holy See confirmed on Tuesday that the congregation for bishops had vetted Barros and found no “objective reason” to stop his appointment to the southern Chilean diocese of Osorno.

Barros has been accused by victims of turning a blind eye to abuse that was committed against them by Barros’s former mentor, Reverend Fernando Karadima, a priest who the Vatican found guilty of molestation in 2011.

Karadima is now living a cloistered life of “penitence and prayer” in a convent in Chile.

In some cases, Karadima’s victims have alleged that Barros not only helped to cover up the crimes decades ago, but that he had observed the abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

(Reuters) – The Vatican on Tuesday strongly defended its appointment of a bishop in Chile despite protests by critics who have accused him of covering up sexual abuse.

Juan Barros was installed on March 21 as new bishop of Osorno as supporters holding white balloons and opponents carrying black ones shouted at each other during the ceremony in the city’s cathedral.

The appointment outraged some parishioners, national legislators and abuse victims who said Barros had protected one of the nation’s most notorious pedophiles and asked Pope Francis to rescind it.

Deputy spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini, in the Vatican’s first official comment on a case that has divided Chileans, said the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had “carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment”.

Several lay members of an international commission the pope set up to advise him on how to root out sexual abuse by clergy also criticized the appointment.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

BY POR JORGE PIÑA ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/31/2015

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Vaticano respaldó el martes al nuevo obispo de Osorno, Chile, monseñor Juan de la Cruz Barros, quien ha sido criticado por su presunta cercanía con el ex párroco chileno Fernando Karadima, condenado por la Santa Sede por abusos sexuales.

“Antes del reciente nombramiento del nuevo obispo de Osorno, la Congregación para los Obispos estudió detalladamente la candidatura del prelado y no encontró razones objetivas que interfirieran con la misma”, señaló un comunicado oficial.

Karadina fue hallado culpable en 2011 por el Vaticano de cometer abusos sexuales. Barros ha señalado que jamás tuvo conocimiento de los abusos cometidos por el párroco.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Vaticano “no encontró razones objetivas” para impedir nombramiento de Barros como obispo de Osorno

por María Paz Núñez – 31/03/2015

A través de un breve comunicado, el Vaticano se refirió al nombramiento de Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno, quien el pasado 21 de marzo asumió el cargo en una polarizada ceremonia. Al respecto, el subdirector de la oficina de prensa de la Santa Sede, Ciro Benedettini señaló que no se encontraron “razones objetivas” para impedir el nombramiento de Barros.

“Antes del reciente nombramiento como obispo de Osorno de S. E. Mons. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, la Congregación para los Obispos estudió detalladamente la candidatura del prelado y no encontró razones objetivas que interfirieran con la misma”, señaló Benedettini en el comunicado.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Noticieros

Temas Relacionados

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO, mar. 31, 2015.- El Vaticano aseguró este martes que no había razones objetivas para impedir el nombramiento de Juan Barros como obispo de la localidad chilena de Orsono, tras la polémica por ser considerado cercano o incluso encubridor del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, culpable de abusos sexuales.

El subdirector de la oficina de prensa del Vaticano, Ciro Benedettini, explicó en una breve nota que la Congregación de los Obispos “estudió cuidadosamente la candidatura del prelado” Barros y “no encontró razones objetivas que obstaculizasen su nombramiento”.

Desde su nombramiento, ha habido protestas de varias instituciones, incluso eclesiales.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 31, 2015

ROME — Reacting to widespread criticism of the appointment of a bishop in Chile linked to the country’s most notorious abuser priest, the Vatican issued a terse statement on Tuesday insisting the move was “carefully examined” and there were no “objective reasons” to stop it.

“Prior to the recent appointment of His Excellency Msgr. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as bishop of Osorno, Chile, the Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment,” it said.

The statement was issued in the name of the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Passionist priest who serves as vice director of the Vatican’s Press Office. The Congregation for Bishops, currently led by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, is the Vatican department that recommends bishops’ appointments to the pope.

Tapped by Pope Francis for the position in Osorno on Jan. 10, Barros has become a deeply controversial figure in Chile because of his ties to the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a former mentor who was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexual abuse of minors and sentenced to life of “penance and prayer.”

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 31, 2015

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

Catholic officials admit that child sex abuse allegations against a priest who worked for a Catholic school board in Toronto have been deemed “credible.” We hope this disclosure will prod other victims to come forward and get help.

[Catholic Chronicle]

From 1976 to 1987 as a religious brother and 1995 to 2004 as a priest, Father James Roth worked at a Catholic high school in Toledo “as a faculty member/administrator, and from 1995 to 2004 assisted with weekend masses in Michigan,” according to a church announcement.

We call on Bishop Thomas Christopher Collins to disclose each site where Fr. Roth worked. We urge him to personally visit each site and beg victims to speak up and start healing. In nearly every case, bishops do the absolute bare minimum and sit passively back, behind their desks, hoping more victims don’t call. Instead, they should be acting like the shepherds they profess to be, and aggressively reaching out to anyone who may have been hurt and may still be suffering in shame, silence and self-blame.

We are deeply grateful to the brave victim of this cleric for finding the courage to expose this predator. We urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes – – to summon the strength to call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is defending Pope Francis’ appointment of a Chilean bishop despite allegations from victims that the prelate had covered up for a pedophile priest.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Tuesday that before Monsignor Juan Barros was named to be bishop of Osorno, Chile, the Holy See’s Congregation for Bishops “carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and didn’t find objective reasons to preclude the appointment.”

The bishop’s recent installation triggered nationwide political opposition, violent protests in the cathedral and a boycott by many of the diocese’s priests.

A former Chilean military chaplain, Barros has insisted he didn’t know about the abuse until reading 2010 news reports. Barros was a protege of the priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, sanctioned in 2011 by the Vatican for sexually abusing minors.

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MISSOURI
KHTS

Brandon Milburn, who worked as a church employee at Real Life Church in Valencia, pleaded to seven counts of statutory sodomy with two victims who were 11 years old at the time, according to court documents.

He pleaded guilty in court earlier this year and received his sentence Monday.

A 28-year-old former Valencia man was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Missouri for the rape of two boys that took place from 2007-09, officials said Monday.

Milburn was working as an intern outreach minister in St. Louis from October 2007 to September 2008, when the alleged crimes occurred, said Sgt. Matt Redmond of the St. Louis Police Department.

“He was a college student doing an internship at this church, where he had contact with some people in a youth group or youth ministry,” Redmond said.

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KENTUCKY
Signals CV

By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Staff Writer

A former Valencia man who worked part-time at a Santa Clarita Valley church last year has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for committing six counts of sodomy.

Brandon Wesley Milburn, 27, who worked briefly at the Real Life Church on Newhall Ranch Road in Valencia, appeared Monday in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, where he was sentenced to 25 years.

In January, Milburn pleaded guilty to six felony counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, Detective Edward Magee of the St. Louis County Police Department said.

His plea was a “blind plea,” Magee said, meaning it was made without a set sentence in place, rather than a plea bargain struck with prosecutors.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 31

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

Yesterday, a Louisville native and former church employee was sentenced to 25 years in prison for molesting boys in Missouri. We urge his former colleagues in his Louisville congregation to aggressively seek out others who he may have assaulted.

[Signals CV]

[Fox 2]

In January, Brandon Milburn pleaded guilty to seven counts of sodomy with two kids under the age of 12 in a St. Louis County courthouse. From October of 2008 to April of 2009, he worked at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville.

It’s crucial that law enforcement officials know as much as possible about Milburn’s crimes. He’s young, so he will likely be released from prison. But he could be charged again for other crimes he has committed, if only others with information will come forward.

It’s also crucial that every person he hurts be found and helped. And it’s crucial that any of Milburn’s church supervisors or colleagues who may have concealed his crimes also be prosecuted.

So we beg anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered Milburn’s crimes – or cover ups by church staff – to call police and prosecutors in Missouri immediately.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Lopez Doriga Digital

El Vaticano defendió hoy el reciente nombramiento de Juan Barros Madrid como obispo de Osorno en Chile, luego que fue duramente criticado por su cercanía con Fernando Karadima, sacerdote culpable de abusos sexuales contra menores.

Este martes, la sala de prensa de la Santa Sede emitió una comunicación de apenas tres líneas con la cual salió al paso de las críticas que se suscitaron en el país sudamericano por el traslado de Barros, que antes se desempeñaba como obispo militar.

“Antes del reciente nombramiento como obispo de Osorno (Chile), de Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, la Congregación para los Obispos estudió detalladamente la candidatura del prelado y no encontró razones objetivas que interfirieran con la misma”, estableció la nota del vicedirector de la sala, Ciro Benedettini.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

The Congregation for Bishops did not find ‘objective reasons to preclude the appointment’, according to statement

The Vatican has said that it is confident the correct decision has been made in appointing Juan Barros Bishop of Osorno, in Chile.

A statement on the controversial Chilean bishop was released by the Vatican earlier today. “The Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment,” it said.

The statement comes after Bishop Barros was barracked by hundreds of black-clad protesters during his installation at Osorno’s Cathedral of St Matthew last week.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

31 March 2015 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

The Holy See has defended its decision to appoint as bishop a Chilean prelate accused of covering-up child abuse.

The appointment of Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as bishop of Osorno has been questioned by two members of Pope Francis’ safeguarding board and a third, Peter Saunders, has said he may have to quit unless Pope Francis withdraws the appointment. The bishop’s installation Mass on 21 March was cut short amid loud protests by crowds who were angry at his handling of allegations regarding abuser Fr Fernando Karadima, 84.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 31 March 2015 (VIS) – The Vice Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Ciro Benedettini, C.P., today issued the following declaration:

“Prior to the recent appointment of His Excellency Msgr. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as bishop of Osorno, Chile, the Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons precluding the appointment”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 31, 2015

VATICAN CITY The Vatican has responded to public outcry against Pope Francis’ naming of a new bishop in Chile accused of covering up sexual abuse by saying the bishop’s candidature was “carefully examined” prior to his appointment but no “objective reasons” were found to preclude it.

Marking a rare reaction to public criticism against a bishop’s appointment, the Vatican press office released a 19-word statement Tuesday in three languages regarding Bishop Juan Barros Madrid.

Installed March 21 as head of the diocese of Osorno, Chile amid protests in the cathedral, Barros is accused by Chilean clergy sexual abuse survivors of covering up abuse by Fr. Fernando Karadima when Barros was a priest.

Members of Francis’ own Vatican commission on clergy sexual abuse have also criticized the appointment, saying in NCR interviews last week they are concerned and surprised at the pope’s decision.

The Vatican’s statement Tuesday, made by Holy See Press Office Vice Director Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini, does not address any specific criticisms.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

Less than a week after one Fox 9 employee pulled a hangar out of his suit on air, another station anchor is making a surprising move. Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal announced today that Tom Halden is leaving KMSP-TV Fox 9’s morning news show after five years in the anchor seat.

His destination? Director of Communications for the W.D.O.E. The Pioneer Press confirmed that Halden’s last day at Fox 9 will be April 10. According to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, he will start his new position on May 6, and will be responsible for The Catholic Spirit, the Archdiocesan website and social media footprint, and media relations.

May 6 is, of course, the date for the rescheduled Clergy Study Day so, alas, it seems that the delay was for no other reason than to provide an opportunity to introduce the new head of Communications. Then again, as Alexander Pope- a once persecuted Catholic himself- would remind us, ‘Hope springs eternal’.

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POLAND
Daily Mail

Children left screaming and in tears after priest at Polish religious camp carries out mass exorcism in bid to ‘banish the devil’

By MARK DUELL FOR MAILONLINE

Children were left screaming and in tears after a priest carried out an exorcism at a Christian camp.

Some 1,000 pupils from Gryfice, Poland, attended the three-day event – which was billed as a way of helping ‘young people explore God and devote themselves to spiritual renewal through prayer’.

But when the youngsters arrived at the camp to mark Lent, they found that 37-year-old priest Tomas Wieczorek wanted their demons to be exorcised and replaced with God.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Elizabeth Byrne
March 31, 2015

The trial of a former priest on charges of molesting a girl in the 1990s in Canberra has heard the man admitted in a police interview to touching the girl, but that the incidents were not of a sexual nature.

Edward Evans, 85, is facing six charges of committing acts of indecency against the girl when she was aged between 10 and 13.

Most of the allegations relate to incidents in his house, often when other people were nearby.

Evans is alleged to have touched the girl inappropriately several times, including when he was sitting beside her at a dining table.

The alleged victim head earlier told the court that during the first incident Evans allegedly put his hand inside her pants when other people were nearby.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Tuesday 31 March

The Hon Justice Peter McClellan AM
Commissioner, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission has now been in operation for more than two years. We have completed the public hearings for 25 case studies which in most cases have been concerned with the failure of institutions to manage their affairs to adequately protect the children in their care. We have looked at churches, religious schools, and state run institutions. We recently looked at issues in relation to out of home care. But we have many more and varied tasks to complete.

One of the obligations in our Terms of Reference requires the Commissioners to consider what “institutions and governments should do to address, or alleviate the impact of past and future child sexual abuse … including, in particular, in ensuring justice for victims through the provision of redress by institutions, process for referral for investigation and prosecution and support services.

Justice for victims is an elusive concept. In the civil context redress schemes providing modest money compensation without the need to prove a breach of a duty of care are commonly believed to be appropriate. Otherwise in the civil context there are difficulties in defining the content of a duty of care. Determining the individuals or institutions who must accept the obligation of fulfilling that duty can also provoke animated discussion. Whether common law damages or some more confined financial recompense is appropriate are matters the Commissioners are considering as part of our discussions about redress for survivors.

Justice for victims in the criminal context raises multiple and complex issues different from the issues in a civil context. The Royal Commission is addressing many of those issues through external research, round tables and our own policy development. Prof Arie Frieberg, Hugh Donnelly and others have already completed significant work for us. The issues extend across the appropriate range of criminal offences, the reporting of criminal acts, their investigation and their prosecution. The latter requires us to consider the trial process, the legal rules which control it, in particular joint trials and tendency evidence, directions to juries and appropriate sentencing outcomes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 31, 2015

Adam Cooper

Former Catholic priest David Rapson has been found guilty of sexually assaulting six boys in his care at Victorian schools, in trials that can only now be reported.

Rapson was in February found guilty by a County Court jury of five counts of rape and one charge of indecent assault, but details of that trial – and his name – were suppressed because of trials that were to follow.

He was subsequently found guilty of another five charges of indecent assault across second and third trials, although the jury in the second trial could not reach a unanimous verdict on one charge of indecent assault.

That charge went before a fourth jury, which on Tuesday found him not guilty of that offence.

Judge James Parrish lifted a non-publication order on Tuesday afternoon, permitting media to report the verdicts.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 31, 2015

Nino Bucci

Police are investigating whether the victims of a paedophile priest started two fires at separate churches on the same day.

Fire almost destroyed the 123-year-old St James Church in Brighton on Monday morning, but another blaze at St Mary’s in St Kilda East caused little damage.

Both churches are linked to Ronald Dennis Pickering, who moved from parish to parish around Melbourne abusing boys between 1958 and 1993, when he fled to his native Britain. He died there in 2012, having never been charged.

It is unclear if the Catholic Archdiocese plans to increase security at the other churches where Pickering was a minister: St Theresa’s in Essendon, Sacred Heart in Warburton, and St Peter’s in Clayton. A spokesman for the archdiocese said security had not been increased at those churches, but had at St Patrick’s cathedral in the city.

A police spokeswoman confirmed the St Mary’s fire was suspicious and had caused minor damage to a door, and that the cause of the St James fire was yet to be determined.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

by Ben Leo

A FORMER Brighton vicar has told how child abuse victims confided in him in the 1980s about a satanic paedophile ring that included Tory MP Enoch Powell.

Dominic Walker, who served as a vicar in Brighton during that period, said long-serving Labour MP Leo Abse and former home secretary William Whitelaw were also named as members of the Westminister paedophile network.

Mr Walker, who retired as Bishop of Monmouth in 2013, passed on the information to the Bishop of Durham, the Right Rev Paul Butler, who is responsible for ‘safeguarding’ the Church of England.

Although there was no evidence to support the claims, the church authorities sent the information to Scotland Yard’s investigation into alleged establishment involvement in child abuse.

A Church of England spokesman said of the claims: “When allegations are made against individuals, it is quite proper to pass those allegations to the police and statutory authorities, without any investigation on our part and regardless of our own views.”

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VERMONT
Brattleboro Reformer

By Domenic Poli
dpoli@reformer.com @dpoli_reformer on Twitter

POSTED: 03/30/2015

BELLOWS FALLS >> The attorney representing the Bellows Falls congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the New York-based headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witness faith in a case of alleged sexual abuse said a judge’s partial granting of a motion to dismiss makes him confident the entire case will get dismissed.

Pietro Lynn, of Lynn, Lynn & Blackman in Burlington, told the Reformer that U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha decided it was appropriate to dismiss certain legal theories raised by Annessa Lewis, who is suing the Bellows Falls congregation and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., which she claims ignored reports that she and her sister were sexually abused by a congregation member more than 20 years ago.

“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling,” Lynn said on March 26. “We expect that once the facts of the case are known that the court will dismiss the rest of the case.”

Murtha dismissed claims for breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, ratification, and fraud by omission.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

Simon Collins

The head of an Australian royal commission into child sexual abuse says he has uncovered enough material to justify public hearings on more than 1000 institutions where child sexual abuse has been alleged.

Justice Peter McClellan, who leads the five-year royal commission, told a child abuse conference in Auckland today that institutions were already responding after hearings on 25 institutions so far.

“We are driving change, for example, in the whole daycare/after-school care sector in Australia,” he said.

“We are driving changes in the rules in all boarding schools. We are driving change, starting at the very top, in the whole sporting movement connected with the Olympic movement in Australia.

“How do I know that? Because the secretary of the Australian Olympic Committee rang me up as we were finishing a public inquiry into swimming in Australia and said, ‘I need your help, I don’t have the right processes to manage.”‘

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express and Star

The former MP who gave the address at Enoch Powell’s funeral has dismissed as ‘absurd’ allegations he was involved in ‘satanic’ sexual abuse.

Lord Cormack also criticised the Church of England for confirming in a public statement that it had passed the former MP for Wolverhampton South West’s name to the police.

Former South Staffordshire MP Lord Cormack was a friend of Powell’s and spoke at his funeral in 1998.

He said: “These allegations are worryingly absurd.

“Anybody who knew Enoch Powell knew there could be no more ridiculous an assertion.

“I find it extremely distressing that these claims are being given such currency.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Aljazeera

The conservative Christian school responds to blistering report on how it told rape victims to repent

March 30, 2015 6:00PM ET

by Claire Gordon @clairedon Google+

Thousands watched in the campus chapel, and countless more tuned in to the live Web video earlier this month as the president of Bob Jones University addressed the school’s handling of sexual assault reports.

Like many of those with ties to the private school nicknamed the “fortress of faith,” Julia had been waiting decades for this moment.

After watching the video for just a few minutes, she vomited.

“I couldn’t stop throwing up,” said Julia (not her real name), who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity so as not to be linked to her alleged rapist. “It shocked me. There was nothing in me that prepared me for the response that came.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Evil ex-priest David Edwin Rapson jailed, found guilty of raping six boys at boarding school

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MARCH 31, 2015

A DISGRACED priest who plied young boys with cigarettes and alcohol before raping them is back behind bars.

David Edwin Rapson is one of the most notorious paedophiles in Victorian history with a string of victims from his offending that spanned three decades.

In 2013 he was jailed for 13 years for sickening crimes on kids, but was released on appeal after serving just 11 months of that sentence.

His convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal after a concession by the Office of Public Prosecutions that Rapson should have faced several trials.

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