ABUSE TRACKER

CALIFORNIA
Fox LA

Manhattan Beach, CA – (FOX 11 / CNS) A married Catholic woman is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and an assistant pastor after he allegedly touched her in an inappropriate way at a South Bay church last year.

Catherine Bergin filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, alleging sexual harassment, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified damages.

An archdiocese spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.

The suit states that the Rev. Nicholas Assi, the assistant pastor at St. Basil’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles, was assigned to American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach as an assistant pastor from 2009 until last May 2. Assi was known as Father Nick and he became a friend of the Bergin family while at American Martyrs, the suit states. He often brought Middle Eastern treats for Bergin’s children and “was always warm and friendly,” the suit states.

But last April 17, while doing volunteer work in the sacristy, Assi came up from behind Bergin, put his arms around her and whispered, “Hi, darling,” the suit alleges.

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VATIKAN
Der Bund

[The pope met today with former Swiss home children who were abused in church-run institutions.]

Zeichen aus Rom: Der Papst empfängt ehemalige Schweizer Heimkinder, die in kirchlich geführten Institutionen missbraucht wurden. Im politischen Ringen um einen Wiedergutmachungsfonds ist dieses Signal wichtig.

Der heutige Mittwoch ist für Guido Fluri, einst selber Heimkind, ein besonderer Tag. Ein Tag, der ihm Hoffnung gibt, wie er sagt. Seit Jahren kämpft der Unternehmer für die Wiedergutmachung des Leids, das die Vormundschaftsbehörden mit Zwangsmassnahmen Tausenden von Menschen zugefügt haben. Bis 1981 wurden in der Schweiz Kinder ohne Gerichtsbeschluss den Eltern weggenommen und in Heime gesteckt, Frauen zur Sterilisation oder Abtreibung gezwungen und Jugendliche ohne Schuldspruch in geschlossenen Anstalten «versorgt».

Heute Mittwoch nun reist Fluri mit zwei 67-jährigen Geschwistern, die als Kinder in kirchlich geführten Heimen in der Schweiz misshandelt worden sind, nach Rom, wo die Gruppe bei einer Generalaudienz mit Papst Franziskus teilnehmen wird. «Die Einladung kam vom Vatikan selbst.» Fluri hatte den Papst vor Weihnachten schriftlich darüber orientiert, dass in Bern am 19. Dezember die Wiedergutmachungsinitiative eingereicht werde – das Volksbegehren verlangt einen 500-Millionen-Fonds zur Entschädigung der schweren Opfer fürsorgerischer Zwangsmassnahmen sowie die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung dieses «dunklen Kapitels der Schweizer Geschichte». Kurz darauf lud der Heilige Stuhl zur Audienz nach Rom. «Für mich war das ein Zeichen, dass für den Papst die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle ein persönliches Anliegen ist.»

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CHILE
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Catholic News Service posted Wednesday, 25 Mar 2015

Protestor accuse Bishop Juan Barros of protecting a priest accused of sexual abuse

A bishop being installed in his new assignment in southern Chile expressed disappointment with hundreds of black-clad demonstrators who interrupted the ceremony by marching into a cathedral and shouting at him to leave the diocese, saying he protected a priest accused of sexual abuse.

“You have to distinguish between showing a disagreement in a good way and this, because interrupting a Mass is a big shame,” Bishop Juan Barros said in reference to the demonstration organised against him on March 21 while he was being installed as new bishop of Osorno.

Witnesses described the scene inside the Cathedral of St Matthew as chaotic.

The New York Times reported that television images showed clashes between the bishop’s supporters, who carried white balloons, and demonstrators, carrying black ones.
The demonstrators, numbering about 3,000 inside and outside the cathedral, according to local media reports, included politicians and members of Congress. They held signs and called for Bishop Barros to resign.

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POLAND
Miami Herald

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/25/2015

WOLOMIN, POLAND
A Polish court has sentenced a former priest convicted of abusing minors in the Dominican Republic and Poland to seven years in prison.

A court in Wolomin, near Warsaw, on Wednesday found Wojciech Gil guilty of abusing six minors in the Caribbean nation between 2009 and 2013 and two in Poland in 2000-2001.

Gil had pleaded not guilty, but sought a settlement which avoided a full trial. That was accepted by prosecutors, who represent the Dominican and the Polish victims.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Conservatives are rightly angry at liberal bias in the media. There’s a lot of it.

But the game works both ways. There’s a huge conservative bias as well, and it follows a pattern.

The pattern is typically this. Someone in the Church does something horrifically awful and outrageously embarrassing, something that can’t possibly be defending or excused. For several days the truth is out there and none of my DC (Defensive Catholic) friends comment on it either here or on Facebook or elsewhere. An awkward silence falls and the truth is simply ignored.

Then (typically) the Catholic Defense League or an organization like Catholic News Agency pipes up with a defense of the situation that is a real stretch of the imagination, but that provides a handy template for the reactionaries to use, and suddenly comboxes are filled everywhere with the rank and file DCs who have swallowed the template whole, who run with it and who don’t look back.

With Bishop Finn, the lie that was being promulgated was that the priest’s crime at the center of the scandal was not child pornography at all, that the priest in question was utterly innocent, and that Finn did all he could in the situation, that he was being persecuted for being a vocally orthodox bishop who was firm on pro life issues, and that this is why folks in Kansas City were out to crucify him, the whole case against Finn being trumped up.

But the truth was just the opposite. In fact, not only (in that case) were the pictures in question child porn, but the perpetrator priest was sentenced to fifty years in prison for producing the hundreds of images, using his own parishioners as victims, some under the age of three. And for years prior, Finn not only refused to look into or even acknowledge any of the many complaints about this priest’s behavior, some of which came directly from the principal of the school that most of the victims attended, he also stonewalled once the child porn came to light, failed to inform or warn any of the families of the victims, gave the priest continued access to children, was complicit in the destruction of evidence, spent $1.4 million of diocesan money defending himself against two misdemeanor charges in court, only alerted the police when forced to, and, in short, put children at risk and failed to get the offending priest any serious help or counseling.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

21 March 2015 by Elena Curti

Pope Francis must hope that his swift, decisive action against Cardinal Keith O’Brien will draw the line under a scandal that done great harm to the Church in Scotland and beyond.

The Pope’s personal intervention lies behind the announcement last Friday that O’Brien is surrendering the duties and trappings of a cardinal and the repetition of his profound apologies for sexual misdemeanours. It is an appropriate sanction against the breathtaking hypocrisy of a church leader who made advances to seminarians and young priests yet nevertheless felt entitled to rail against homosexuality and gay marriage in the most blunt terms.

A story such as O’Brien’s is a reminder of the human weakness that is common to us all. It is hard to find it in our hearts to forgive someone who has betrayed our trust. As Christians we have to be merciful but it’s tough. Mercy must be accompanied by justice. Forgiving him does not mean the full implications of what he did should remain hidden.

We still don’t know whether O’Brien was someone who sporadically shed in his inhibitions when he’d had a few drinks and then felt profoundly ashamed or whether his was a pattern of coercive behaviour and abuse of power and patronage.

The quote from one of O’Brien’s accusers saying that the report prepared for Francis “is “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the Pope’s desk” suggests the latter but we cannot be sure without seeing this report for ourselves. The report was prepared by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, previously chief prosecutor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, someone who has the drive and determination to uncover the truth. That is apparent from his work in exposing the sickening corruption of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

March 25, 2015

Christopher Knaus
Reporter for The Canberra Times.

A former Catholic priest told his alleged abuse victim to “move on” and stop living in the past when she asked for an apology during a covertly recorded phone call almost 20 years later, a court has heard.

Father Edward Evans, now 85, went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday over allegations he abused a young girl at his home on five occasions and at Cooleman Court on another.

The girl and her family attended his German-language church in Braddon, and were close with Father Evans, who was often referred to as “Father Eddie”.

The Crown, represented by Sara Gul, alleges the priest put his hands down the girl’s pants and grabbed her bottom three times, and digitally penetrated her twice in his kitchen.

It is also alleged he grabbed her breast while they sat alone in a car outside of Cooleman Court, before pulling her on top of him into a straddling position.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Madeleine Teahan posted Wednesday, 25 Mar 2015

The cardinal was responding to a letter signed by almost 500 priests

Priests should not conduct a debate about the October Family Synod through the press, Cardinal Nichols has said, following the publication of a letter signed by hundreds of priests, urging the synod to issue a “clear and firm proclamation” upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, signed by almost 500 priests and published in this week’s Catholic Herald, they write: “We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Cardinal Nichols said that the press was not the medium for conducting dialogue of this sort.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

[with list of priests who signed the letter]

by Madeleine Teahan posted Tuesday, 24 Mar 2015

Priests says that doctrine and practice must ‘remain firmly and inseparably in harmony’

Almost 500 priests in Britain have signed a letter urging those attending this year’s family synod to issue a “clear and firm proclamation” upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, published in this week’s Catholic Herald, the priests write: “We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.”

Last year’s extraordinary synod provoked heated debate on the question of whether remarried Catholics should be permitted to receive Holy Communion – a proposal presented by retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper.

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GERMANY
Washington Times

By – Catholic News Agency – Tuesday, March 24, 2015

MUNICH, Germany – A German cardinal has publicly opposed the words of two German bishops who have suggested that the nation’s Church can form its own policies without direction from Rome.

Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes published a letter earlier this month objecting to the pronouncements of prominent leaders of the Church in Germany that the nation’s bishops’ conference will pursue its own program of pastoral care for marriages and family regardless of the outcome of October’s Synod on the Family.

At a Feb. 25 press conference following the German bishops’ plenary assembly, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who is president of the conference, stated, “We are not a branch of Rome. Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its cultural context and must preach the Gospel in its own, original way. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 25, 2015

ROME Pope Francis has asked Catholics around the world — at every level of the church — to stay away from gossiping about the upcoming Synod on the Family and to instead pray fervently that it will result in a church more committed to witnessing God’s love for all.

“There is not need of gossip!” the pope insisted strongly while talking about the synod during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday. “Everyone — pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, and lay faithful — we are all called to pray for the synod.”

Inviting those in the square and Catholics around the world to say such prayers “with holy insistence,” Francis asked that the prayers “may be animated by the compassion of the Good Shepherd for his flock, especially for persons and families who for various reasons are ‘troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.'”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

24 March 2015 by Christopher Lamb, Abigail Frymann Rouch

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has rebuked the almost 500 priests in England and Wales who have signed a letter resisting any change to church teaching at the Vatican’s next Synod on the Family, saying that discussions around the Synod are “not best conducted through the press”.

The 461 priests were responding to two letters, seen by The Tablet and now to be published in the Catholic Herald, sent by a group of a dozen conservative-minded clergy. As The Tablet first reported, the first letter was a draft to be submitted for publication in the press, while the second, signed by the 12 clergy, set out the reasons for agreeing to the first.

The first letter urges those who will participate in October’s synod of bishops to end the “confusion” that was caused at last year’s gathering, where some bishops put forward ways for the Church to be more welcoming to gay Catholics as well as for remarried divorcees to receive Communion. The letter states fidelity to the Church’s traditional doctrines of marriage and sexuality, and affirmed the traditional discipline of the reception of the sacraments (which bars Communion for the divorced and remarried).

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POLSKA
Wyborcza

Wojciech G., były ksiądz, został skazany na siedem lat więzienia za molestowanie nieletnich na Dominikanie i w Polsce.

Jak mówiła sędzia Alina Bielińska, Wojciech G. nie chciał być obecny podczas ogłaszania wyroku. Odczytując wyrok, nie podała opisów jego czynów – ograniczyła się do podania artykułów Kodeksu karnego. Wiadomo, że dotyczą one molestowania nieletnich. Uzasadnienie wyroku zostało utajnione. Jest on nieprawomocny, ale nikt nie będzie się zapewne odwoływał.

Były ksiądz Wojciech G. został uznany za winnego wszystkich 10 zarzutów – najwyższa cząstkowa kara to 3,5 roku więzienia. Wyrok łączny opiewa na 7 lat. Zdaniem prok. Radosława Cieślińskiego Wojciech G. może odbywać karę w systemie terapeutycznym.

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POLSKA
TVN 24

[wideo]

Wołomiński sąd rejonowy skazał w środę księdza Wojciecha G. na 7 lat więzienia. Mężczyzna wcześniej zaproponował dobrowolne poddanie się karze za molestowanie nieletnich na Dominikanie i w Polsce. Obrońca Wojciecha G. przekazał, że jego klient nie przyznał się do winy.

Wyrok został ogłoszony o godz. 13.30. G. został uznany za winnego wszystkich 10 zarzutów. Jak powiedział mec. Michał Szreniawa, obrońca Wojciecha G. to stan psychiczny i otoczka sprawy zdecydowały, że jego klient poddał się karze, bo do winy się nie przyznał.

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POLAND
Fox 28

March 25, 2015

WOLOMIN, Poland (AP) — A Polish court has sentenced a former priest convicted of abusing minors in the Dominican Republic and Poland to seven years in prison.

A court in Wolomin, near Warsaw, on Wednesday found Wojciech Gil guilty of abusing six minors in the Caribbean nation between 2009 and 2013 and two in Poland in 2000-2001.

Gil had pleaded not guilty, but sought a settlement which avoided a full trial. That was accepted by prosecutors, who represent the Dominican and the Polish victims.

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POLAND
Reuters

WARSAW (Reuters) – A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing children in Poland and the Dominican Republic was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Polish court on Wednesday.

The priest will also have to pay his eight victims a total of 155,000 zlotys ($41,735) in compensation, and will not be allowed to work with minors for 15 years, said judge Alina Bielinska at the regional court in Wolomin, central Poland.

The priest, who under Polish law can only be identified as Wojciech G., was suspended by his religious order in the rural Dominican parish of Juncalito last year after local residents accused him of molesting altar boys, according to the church.

He was arrested after returning to his native Poland and was tried on 10 charges relating to child sex abuse and possessing pornographic images of children. The charges carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

The Dominican priest charged with the sexual abuse of a 42-year-old woman, Fr Charles Fenech, has been cleared of criminal libel filed against him by Edgar Bonnici Cachia, a male friend of the alleged victim of Fr Fenech.

Mr Bonnici Cachia had filed the case against Fr Fenech, claiming that the priest had told the alleged victim to inform the ecclesiastical authorities that she was forced to file a report against him by Bonnici Cachia, back in February 2012.

The libel case was filed in May 2013 and Fr Fenech was notified in July 2014.

The court noted that Bonnici Cachia brought forward no proof that substantiates the argument and that the alleged victim’s testimony does not indicate that she was forced to make such statements against the Dominican priest.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Agius 25 March 2015

The Dominican priest accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable woman has been cleared of criminal libel in a case filed by a male friend of his alleged victim, after a court held that the case had been filed almost two years too late.

Lawyer Edgar Bonnici Cachia had filed the case against Fr Charles Fenech, who is currently undergoing separate criminal proceedings for allegedly sexually abusing a 42-year-old Zabbar woman.

Bonnici Cachia had alleged that in February 2012, the priest had made the female victim inform the ecclesiastical authorities that she “had been forced to file her criminal complaint against the priest by Bonnici Cachia.”

The offending affidavit by the victim had been presented in court in March 2013 and Bonnici Cachia had personally filed his police complaint in May 2013. The criminal libel case had begun in July 2014.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A criminal libel case instituted against Dominican priest Charles Fenech was dismissed today because it was time barred.

Fr Fenech, who faces separate charges of sexually abusing a woman, had been sued by Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who alleged that the priest had forced the alleged victim to say that it was he (Bonnici Cachia) who had forced her to file a criminal complaint about the abuse.

But Magistrate Francesco Depasquale ruled that the complaint was filed outside the three-month time window, rendering it time-barred.

Fr Fenech is facing separate charges before a different magistrate in connection with alleged violent sexual abuse against a mentally-unstable 42-year-old woman from Zabbar. He also stands charged with holding the woman against her will and committing indecent acts in public.

Fr Fenech, who has been a Dominican friar for almost three decades, has spent most of his priesthood surrounded by young people who flock to the numerous spiritual, cultural, educational and sports events organised by the Kerygma Movement he founded in 1984. He was removed from his position shortly after the sexual abuse charges were made public by The Sunday Times of Malta.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Hunter region Catholic brother, extradited from New Zealand to face child sexual abuse charges, has had his case adjourned for two months to allow his lawyers time to digest the enormous police brief.

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

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

McGrath’s case was mentioned briefly in Newcastle, and the ABC has been told the brief of evidence is 8,000 pages.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 25 March 2015)

A Canberra priest (Father Edward Evans, aged 85) began facing a trial in the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court on 25 March 2015. He is charged with alleged offences against a child in the 1990s. Father Evans is based in Canberra, where he has been acting as a chaplain to the German-speaking community. Among other duties, Father Evans has been associated with St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Braddon (Canberra), where German-language Masses have been conducted on Sundays.

Fr Evans was interviewed by police in 2013 and was charged with three acts of indecency between 1994 and 1997. He was accused of indecently touching a girl three times, twice when she was between 11 and 12, and a third time when she was 13. He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Father Edward Evans appeared in the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory for the first time on 7 June 2013, when the charges were officially filed. The court heard that he had surrendered his passports to police. He was released on bail pending his subsequent court proceedings. Meanwhile, the police investigation was continuing, with the possibility of additional charges being laid.

The case came up for mention in the same court on 3 October 2013. The prosecution sought to have the matter committed for trial in the ACT Supreme Court, arguing that the additional charges, when laid, would require the matter go before a judge, rather than a magistrate.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

Jay Levine

(CBS) – Major reorganization and downsizing is underway at the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Archbishop Blase Cupich, in office for barely four months, has moved quickly to completely reshape the Archdiocese of Chicago under totally new leadership.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports Cupich is bringing in his own people, dealing with financial reality in keeping with the tone being set by Pope Francis.

He’s replaced some, offered early retirement to many others in top management, and is even shaking up seminaries. At the same time, he is inviting supporters to an event, which may or may not happen.

Almost immediately after his installation, the archbishop moved to replace his vicar general, his CEO, fired his school superintendent, and has now replaced his moderator of the curia, in charge of 800 priests.

But inside the new chancery offices, the recently remodeled former seminary, where Cupich was announced as the new archbishop last fall, the changes will soon be even more extreme.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

A prayer rally is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today in Hagatna, in an effort to heal a division within the local Catholic community, according to one of the organizers.

The gathering will be held on the front steps of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna and everyone, including Archbishop Anthony Apuron and people from other faiths, are invited.

Lou Klitzkie, one of the organizers, said the rally is part of the lay Catholics’ efforts to try to heal the division in the local Catholic community. Over the past several months, many of the island’s Catholics have been divided by a line in which one side supports the Neocatechumenal Way movement and those who want to keep the old traditions of the local Catholic church.

Klitzkie said she hopes the prayer rally will get the attention of the Vatican to help heal the rift.

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UNITED STATES
First Things

by George Weigel
3 . 25 . 15

Shortly after George Pell was named Archbishop of Melbourne, he instituted several reforms at the archdiocesan seminary, including daily Mass and the daily celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, both of which had fallen by the wayside in the preceding years. The seminary faculty, enthusiastic proponents of Catholic Lite, thought to call the archbishop’s bluff and informed him that, were he to persist in such draconian measures, they would resign en masse.

The archbishop thanked them for the courtesy of giving him a heads-up, accepted their resignations on the spot, and got on with the reform of the Melbourne seminary—and of the rest of the archdiocese.

The defenders of the status quo in the Vatican may have been unaware of this episode when they recently tried to take down the man chosen by Pope Francis to clean up the financial mess the Argentinian pope inherited two years ago. Like their predecessors in Melbourne, the leaders of a nasty campaign of personal accusation against Cardinal Pell, conducted by leaks to the ever-sleazy Italian media, failed. I hope that failure will be a lesson to such scoundrels in the future: don’t mess with a former Australian football star who likes contact sports. That may be hope-against-hope. But we are obliged to believe that conversion, even among curialists native to the boot-shaped peninsula, is not beyond the power of God’s grace.

Pope Francis was elected by a conclave determined that the next pontificate should clean up what Msgr. Ronald Knox used to call the “engine room” of the Barque of Peter. In the ensuing two years, there’s not been a whole lot of progress in curial reform. The striking exception to that rule is the result of the pope’s most successful reformist appointment: that of George Pell as head of a new super-dicastery in the Roman Curia, the Secretariat for the Economy, with a mandate to make the Vatican “boringly successful” as a “model of good financial practices,” as Cardinal Pell likes to tell reporters.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
25 MAR 2015

An early intervention program for very young victims of sexual abuse is needed to avoid chronic adult mental health illness across Australia, a royal commission has heard.

Wayne Chamley from Broken Rites, a support group for people abused in the Catholic Church, said on Wednesday a national redress scheme for abuse survivors should include an early intervention program for children between the ages of three and 12.

He was giving evidence at a royal commission hearing into how to compensate victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Dr Chamley said Broken Rites supported a national redress scheme but would like to see an early intervention scheme as well.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

March 25, 2015

A former Holy Spirit College priest has pleaded not guilty to the indecent assault of a student in 1988.

Father Patrick Kervin, 58, fronted Port Kembla Local Court on Wednesday charged with one count of indecent assault.

Police allege that while serving as chaplain at the Bellambi school in 1988, the Catholic priest, now living in Sydney, assaulted a 15-year-old boy.

The hearing has been adjourned to May 6 and Fr Kervin has been excused from attending if legally represented.

Fr Kervin celebrated 25 years of Marist priesthood in September, 2010.

He has taught at Lismore’s Woodlawn College and the Marist Regional College in Burnie, Tasmania, where he was principal for two years.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

[Submissions on redress and civil litigation – Royal Commission]

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Survivors of child sexual abuse will band together to force Australian governments to back a national compensation scheme.

The opening day of a three-day hearing into redress for thousands of people who were abused as children in institutions heard the federal government had rejected a proposal for a national scheme.

The knock-back was described as disappointing by Peter McClellan, the chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Nicky Davis, who heads up the Australian branch of the international advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, claimed the federal and state governments were telling survivors to “suffer in silence”.

Only three state governments, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have opted to appear at the hearing. The federal government declined to attend and filed a two-and-a-half page submission with the point-blank `no’ to a national scheme.

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UNITED STATES
The Gospel Herald

Christian Minister Whose Father Sexually Assaulted Girls in Congregation Teaches Churches How to Guard Against Pedophile

By LEAH MARIEANN KLETT (NEWS@GOSPELHERALD.COM)

After discovering that his father, an Evangelical pastor, had sexually assaulted multiple young women throughout his career, Rev. Jimmy Hinton has made it his life’s work to teach churches how to guard against pedophiles.

Jimmy’s father, John Wayne Hinton, shared the gospel from the pulpit of Somerset Church of Christ for nearly 27 years before retiring in 2001. Inspired by his father to enter the ministry, Jimmy took over the pulpit in 2009. However, just two years later, a woman approached Jimmy and informed him that his beloved father had molested her when she was a young girl.

Sadly, by the end of the conversation, Jimmy knew the woman was telling the truth, and was forced to contact the authorities.

“I’m not saying I wanted to believe that about my dad,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Doing the right thing isn’t doing what we want to believe. It’s about doing the right thing.”

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Matt McNulty
March 24, 2015

A Bronx cop who is also a minister was arrested Tuesday for using his position at a local church to lure a 16-year-old female parishioner into having sex with him.

Vladimir Sosa, 38, was busted by officers with the Internal Affairs Bureau and charged with three counts of rape after the teen’s mother discovered incriminating texts between the two, court papers said.

Sosa works out of The Bronx’s 46th Precinct, which patrols the University Heights section.

Sosa met the girl while running a youth program at a church the victim attended, sources said.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BEN KOCHMAN , KERRY BURKE , THOMAS TRACY

A 38-year-old Bronx cop who also is a pastor was arrested Tuesday on charges of having sex with a 16-year-old girl he met at his church youth program, officials said.

Officer Vladimir Sosa, a seven-year NYPD veteran, was arraigned Tuesday night in Bronx Criminal Court on third-degree rape, sexual misconduct and child endangerment charges.

“He abused his two positions of authority, both public and vestal,” Bronx Assistant District Attorney Joelle Morabito said.

Sosa is an evangelist who studied theology at the United Christian College in North Carolina, according to his Facebook page.

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VIRGINIA
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2015 by Crystal Owens

Chassadi Thompson was 14 when she found herself standing outside a Loudoun County gas station one night with nothing but the clothes on her back.

Thompson was dumped there in 2003, she said, by members of Calvary Temple, a Sterling-based Pentecostal church off Tripleseven Road, after spending at least six hours being questioned by some of the church’s leadership – including the man whom she had just accused of sexual assault.

Now 26, the Maryland woman, along with one other victim, have come forward, alleging rampant sexual assault within the church among members of its leadership, teachers and teacher’s aides.

The women paint a disturbing picture of an atmosphere where physical and sexual abuse were not only tolerated and encouraged, but “taken care of” within the church should a victim come forward.

But Thompson and the other woman, whose name is being withheld by the Times-Mirror because she fears for her safety, say they can’t stay silent anymore.

By breaking their silence, they’re hoping to find closure.

Liz Mills, spokeswoman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, said March 19 that detectives are investigating allegations against the church.

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NEW YORK
WABC

BRONX (WABC) — An NYPD officer has been released on his own recognizance after he was arrested for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Vladimir Sosa, 38, is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of criminal sex act, five counts of sexual misconduct, two counts of third-degree sex abuse and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17.

Police said Sosa met the girl over seven months in 2014, but accusations just came to light in February when the teen’s mother found incriminating texts.

The officer is assigned to the 46th Precinct in the Bronx. He has been suspended without pay from the force.

Officials said Sosa is a pastor at a church on 180th Street where he met the girl. Police said they had sex in the home where he lived with his mother.

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INDIA
New Indian Express

By J Shanmugha Sundaram Published: 25th March 2015

VELLORE:A 50- year-old temple priest was sentenced to 23-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) by the Mahila Court in Vellore on Tuesday for abducting, sexually abusing and murdering a five-year-old girl 3 years ago.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him. The Judge A Nazeer Ahmed found the accused, Kumar (alias) Kumara Gurukal of Pandiyan Nagar in Gudiayttam, guilty of abduction, sexual abuse, homicide and concealment of evidence. The five-year-old child, Lakshmi (name changed), was studying in Class I in Annai Indira Gandhi Middle School at Pandiyan Nagar.

She went missing after lunch break on September 19, 2011. The girl’s father filed a missing person case with Gudiyattam Town Police. On September 21, two days after the girl went missing, residents found the girl’s body floating in a well near Gurukal’s house.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 25, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A victim of child sex abuse by a Catholic priest has said the federal government “would prefer us to suffer in silence” after it declined to support proposals for a multi-billion dollar national compensation scheme for those abused as children.

Ms Davis, who was abused from the age of 12 by a member of the Passionist Order north of Sydney, was giving evidence at a royal commission hearing into the proposals, at which the federal government has also declined to appear.

“We just have to demand there be a national scheme. What the government was saying this morning to survivors was that they would prefer us to suffer in silence, to not reveal their shortcomings to not make them face their financial responsibilities.

“It says ‘we don’t want you to recover’. We actually have a right to recover,” Ms Davis said.

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UNITED STATES
Notre Dame Observer

Emily McConville | Wednesday, March 25, 2015

In March of 1965, to protest the lack of voting rights for African American citizens and violence against civil rights activists, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) planned a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery to talk to Alabama Governor George Wallace. Wallace promised he would prevent the demonstrators from marching, but despite his warnings, they set off from Selma on March 7, 1965.

They made it to the Edmund Pettus Bridge before they met state troopers equipped with nightsticks and tear gas. The ensuing violence, which became known as Bloody Sunday, was broadcast on national television and prompted a condemnation of the brutality from then president Lyndon B. Johnson.

Two days later, another march began, this time led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The SCLC had asked for a court order preventing the the police from stopping the march, but since it had not yet gone through, the marchers turned back at the bridge. That night, a Unitarian Universalist minister by the name of James Reeb was beaten by members of the Ku Klux Klan. He died two days later. …

Among them was Jim Muller, class of 1965, a senior pre-med student at Notre Dame.

Muller, an Indianapolis native, had not been involved in the Civil Rights Movement, but voting rights for African Americans was a prominent issue at Notre Dame. Few black students attended the University, but University President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh was on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and he had imparted his vision of equality on many of his students.

Muller said Reeb’s murder spurred him to action.

“We were all horrified that a minister would be beaten to death just because he was helping a minority group get voting rights,” Muller said. “So a call went out from the march for people to join them, and that’s what I heard.” …

The organization, and Muller through it, won the 1985 Peace Prize. Over the next several decades, Muller also started Voices of Faith, a Catholic discussion group born from outrage over priest sexual abuse scandals. A cardiologist, Muller also started a company, Infraredx, which manufacturers spectrometry systems to identify plaques that might cause heart attacks.

“I have chosen to help with other large social problems,” he said. “The way I’ve put it, I’ve had the privilege of working against nuclear war, child abuse by priests and heart attacks. Those targets are things that are good to work against, and they’re motivating, and I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of good people on those projects.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Elizabeth Byrne
March 25, 2015

An 85-year-old former priest has gone on trial in Canberra charged with molesting a young girl in the 1990s.

Edward Evans is facing six charges of committing acts of indecency against the girl, who was aged between 10 and 13 at the time.

Most of the incidents are alleged to have happened in Evans’s house, where the girl’s family would sometimes go after church.

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

The alleged victim 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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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

These alleged disturbing details extend to other seminarians involved in the Neocatechumenal Way.

Guam – The saga continues in the priest sex scandal, this time more disturbing details are being alleged and not just with Father Luis Camacho, but with other members of the neocatechumenal way.

It’s the second letter Deacon Steve Martinez has written to Archbishop Anthony Apuron over Father Luis Camacho’s sex scandal involving a 17-year-old female student. Deacon Steve alleges that, based on his understanding, Father Luis and the student engaged in oral sex.

“This is a grave abuse of trust and a tendency which a proper psychological examination may have disclosed,” writes Deacon Steve.

He points out the irony in Father Luis’ case. He says Father Luis was a product of the teachings of the neocatechumenal way led by Father Edivaldo–teachings Deacon Steve says should be investigated.

For instance, he says on one occasion, Father Edivaldo warned young girls about boys, saying boys will treat girls like oranges, “sucking the sweet juice from them and when they are all dried up the boys will spit them out.” Other examples include public confessions in which seminarians would disclose personal struggles that include “excessive masturbation.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 25, 2015

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

Hopes for a single, national scheme to provide assistance and compensation for victims of child sexual abuse have been dealt a heavy blow, with the federal government stating that such a scheme is too complex, time consuming and costly.

The statements were made in a blunt, two-page submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is trying to develop a redress scheme for those who have suffered abuse.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan expressed disappointment that, while the Commonwealth government had accepted the need for “effective address” when it set up the commission, it now did not support what evidence showed was the most effective scheme.

Under the scheme proposed by the commission this year, the Commonwealth would have responsibility as a co-ordinator, and also as a “funder of last resort” – to provide financial support for victims when the institutions responsible were insolvent.

“It seems clear from the Commonwealth’s submission that it does not support a single national redress scheme,” Justice McClellan told a hearing, to discuss providing redress to victims, that was held in central Sydney on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Federal government’s refusal to set up national fund for child sex abuse victims criticised by commissioner

Australian Associated Press
Tuesday 24 March 2015

The federal government’s refusal to establish a national compensation scheme for child sex abuse victims is disappointing, Justice Peter McClellan, the royal commissioner, has said.

In an opening address on Wednesday to a public hearing into redress for abuse survivors, McClellan said it was disappointing that the approach most likely to ensure a “just, fair and consistent outcome for all victims” was not supported by the Commonwealth.

The hearing before a full bench of six commissioners has received submissions from governments and institutions as well as support groups for victims, and has invited them all to speak.

Six governments, including the federal government, declined the invitation to speak.

In a two-and-a-half page submission, the Commonwealth said a national scheme was unworkable.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Child sex abuse royal commission: Federal Government does not back national support scheme for victims, wants institutions to accept responsibility

By Jessica Kidd

The Federal Government does not support a single national support scheme for victims of institutionalised child sexual abuse and believes those institutions should foot the bill, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has invited 38 government and non-government organisations to present spoken submissions outlining their proposals for a redress scheme for survivors of abuse.

The commission released a consultation paper in January which outlined a number of options for redress, including a single national scheme led by the Commonwealth.

But in a written submission to the royal commission, the Federal Government has made it clear it does not support a national scheme because of the significant time and resources it would require.

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CHILE
Headlines from the Catholic World

Santiago, Chile, Mar 24, 2015 / 05:11 pm (CNA).- A group of protesters attempted to stop the installation of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid as the new bishop of Osorno in southern Chile, pushing the bishop and throwing objects at him during the March 21 Mass.

The protestors accuse Bishop Barros of covering up sexual abuse committed by Fr. Fernando Karadima. The bishop has repeatedly denied it. The story was picked up this weekend by international news media.

Here are some keys to understanding what has happened since Jan. 10 of this year, when Pope Francis named Bishop Juan Barros as the new bishop of Osorno:

1. Who is Fernando Karadima Farina?

Fr. Karadima fostered the vocation of some 40 priests, including Bishop Juan Barros, who decades ago belonged to Karadima’s closest circle of friends. When reports of sexual abuse and other scandal surrounding Karadima surfaced, Bishop Barros, like a number of other prelates, at first did not believe the accusations.

The judge in the civil case dismissed the charges because the alleged abuse was too far in the past. Nevertheless, in February 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican completed its own investigation and declared 84-year-old Karadima guilty. He was sent to a life of solitude and prayer.

The news of the sentence surprised bishops, priests and lay people who viewed the priest as a role model and considered the initial accusations as an attack on the Church.

2. Juan Carolos Cruz and the accusers

Three of Karadima’s reported victims are accusing Bishop Barros of covering up the priest’s abuses. The accusations do not agree with the investigation carried out by the Vatican. Juan Carlos Cruz is the most well known of the accusers. He lives in the United States and is often asked by national and international news media for comments on what is happening in the Chilean Church.

After Bishop Juan Barros was appointed as Bishop of Orsono, Cruz told CNN Chile that the Chilean Episcopal Conference and Pope Francis were giving Karadima’s victims “a slap in the face.” This has created international media attention.

3. Bishop Barros’ Defense

Bishop Juan Barros and three other bishops close to Karadima supported the decision of the Holy See in April of 2011 and denied having known about his double life. They declared in a statement that “with great sorrow we have accepted the sentence declaring him guilty of serious offences condemned by the Church. Like so many, we learned about this situation and its diverse and multiple effects with deep astonishment and pain.”

In a letter addressed to the faithful of the Osorno diocese days before his installation, Bishop Barros reiterated that “I never had any knowledge of any accusation concerning Father Karadima when I was the Secretary for Cardinal Juan Francisco Fresno and I never had any knowledge nor did I even imagine such grave abuses as this priest committed against his victims. I neither approved nor participated in those actions.”

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ROME
Global Pulse

Robert Mickens, Rome
March 24, 2015

Italy

There are good reasons why Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien of Scotland should have participated in the last Conclave.

(I’ll get to that in a minute.)

Instead, he resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh just before the papal election got underway. Four men had gone public and accused him of pressuring them into having sex years ago when they were junior priests (one was actually an adult seminarian). The papers ran wild with the story and the cardinal could no longer deny it.

“I… admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,” he finally confessed publicly on March 3, 2013, before going into seclusion.

Last Friday, a full two years later and following a Vatican “investigation,” a note from Rome announced that Cardinal O’Brien had freely relinquished “the rights and privileges” — but, bizarrely, not the title — of a being a cardinal. Even weirder, Church officials said he could continue wearing his cardinal attire, but only in private.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

03/24/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

It appears that a few more departures are imminent among the more senior staff and advisers of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

One resignation that I am told has been received but not announced involves a relatively longstanding employee in the office of what is now called ‘Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment’. Interestingly, this employee was involved early on in the ‘witch trials’ of which I have recently written, including in the matter of the trumped up charges against the priest who secretly recorded Archbishop Nienstedt.

Other significant resignations include members of the Archdiocese’s Clergy Review Board (which handles accusations involving minors) and the Ministerial Standards Board (which handles all other issues of clergy misconduct). According to an email sent to priests earlier this month by Tim O’Malley, the Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, the Archbishop has accepted the recommendation of the ‘Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force’ that the two boards be combined, which will bring the Archdiocese back exactly to the disastrous situation that led to the horrid decisions with which we are all too familiar (remember the Clergy Review Board recommendations regarding Father Michael Keating, and the implementation or non-implementation of those recommendations?). Perhaps in acknowledgement of the fact that this move is unlikely to result in the application of ministerial standards or the creation of a safe environment, O’Malley’s email also indicated that while ‘some current Board members will continue to serve; others have chosen not to’.

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IOWA
Siouxland Matters

Waterloo, IA (KCRG) – A former Dubuque man says his priest abused him when he was a child at Resurrection School.

Jeff Buchheit says Father Leo Riley first abused him in 1985 before school during an early morning mass.

Buchheit was an altar boy at the church.

Father Riley is no longer with the Archdiocese of Dubuque. He’s currently on administrative leave in a Florida parish during the ongoing investigation.

This morning in Waterloo, Buchheit and his attorney spoke with reporters about the allegations.

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NEW YORK
Watertown Daily Times

By BRIAN KELLY
TIMES STAFF WRITER
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015

WATERTOWN — The former pastor of Smithville Baptist Church pleaded guilty Tuesday in Jefferson County Court to an allegation that he had sexual contact with a 9-year-old girl in 2008.

Thomas W. Wilson, 63, of 20560 Weaver Road, pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse. He had been charged in January with having sexual contact with the youth July 6, 2008, in Sackets Harbor.

State police said at the time of Mr. Wilson’s arrest that the incident occurred behind the Lake Ontario Playhouse in Sackets Harbor.

Mr. Wilson, who served at the Smithville church for about 18 years, has resigned as pastor, according to Rev. Terry Alford, who is now co-pastor of the church with Cathy Alford.

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NEW YORK
WWNY

The former senior pastor of Smithville Baptist Church has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young girl.

Thomas Wilson of 20560 Weaver Road in Watertown was arrested in January on a felony count of first-degree sexual abuse and a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The 63 year old pleaded guilty in Jefferson County Court to first-degree sexual abuse.

Wilson is expected to receive ten years probation when he’s sentenced May 27.

It’s also expected that he will be required to register with the state as a sex offender.

Wilson was accused of having sexual contact with a nine year old girl in the village of Sackets Harbor during the spring or summer of 2008.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | Mar 24, 2015

Almost exactly a year ago, Robert Mickens was suspended from his post as Vatican correspondent for the London Tablet, after he showed his contempt for Pope Benedict XVI with a Facebook comment that he was looking forward to “the Rat’s funeral.” Usually Mickens was more discreet, but that crude comment tells you what you need to know about his perspective.

Having subsequently left The Tablet, Mickens now writes for Global Pulse, a web site that views Catholic affairs from a strongly “progressive” slant. There he has posted another revealing comment, this time on the decision by Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien to renounce his privileges in the aftermath of a homosexual scandal.

In a quick series of one-sentence paragraphs that convey a staccato effect, to capture the reader’s attention, Mickens writes about the question of homosexuality:

For far too long this has been the elephant in the rectory parlor.

I know.

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CANADA
CTV

CTV Montreal
Published Tuesday, March 24, 2015

A West Island man has been sentenced to two years less a day in prison for possession and distribution of child pornography.

William Kokesch is the former deacon of St. Edmund Church in Beaconsfield.He was arrested in December 2012 and early in 2014 he pleaded guilty to producing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

His sentence is 12 months for distribution of child pornography, 14 months for the publication of child pornography, and two years less a day for possession of child pornography, with all three sentences to be served concurrently.

Following his release Kokesch will be on probation for three years, and will be subjected to a ten year ban on using the internet or being near children under the age of 16.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former West Island deacon William Kokesch has been sentenced to two years, less a day in jail on child pornography charges.

Kokesch appeared in court on Tuesday morning for his sentencing.

The sentence was a joint recommendation of the crown and defence.

In February 2014, Kokesch pleaded guilty to three charges: possession, production and distribution of child pornography.

Kokesch addressed the court to express his regret.

In a letter addressed to the judge, he wrote:

“I wish to use this occasion to publicly express my deep remorse and regret for the actions which have led to my being here before you. The past 27 months have allowed me to recognize the source of character flaws that played a role in what I did. Through the help and support of an extraordinarily loving wife, some close friends and neighbours, my family, self-help groups and the professional and spiritual counseling I am undergoing, I have grown greatly as a person, rebuilding my life into one that is wholesome and good.”

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

By Jasmine Stole – jasmine@mvguam.com – Variety News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — Last week, after receiving a phone call from a person about the Rev. Luis Camacho’s arrest, Deacon Steve Martinez said he was obligated to report the allegations of sexual contact to the proper authorities including the archbishop and the government.

On March 18, Martinez sent a letter to Child Protective Services and Archbishop Anthony Apuron relating what he was told about Rev. Luis Camacho’s arrest last week Tuesday. Martinez wrote that on March 17, Camacho illegally transported the 17-year-old girl from Southern High School without her parents’ permission.

Camacho reportedly drove the minor to a Subway restaurant and then to a remote beach in Agat “and had sexual contact with her and that the (Guam Police Department) arrested (Camacho),” Martinez wrote in his letter.

GPD said Camacho was booked and charged with custodial interference for being with a female minor who was not in school at the time they were found parked at the beach. Camacho was released from police custody the same day.

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CHILE
Latin Post

By Rodrigo Ugarte (staff@latinpost.com)

Chileans protested the appointment of a new bishop in the city of Osorno.

They accused Bishop Juan Barros of covering up for a priest who sexually abused many teenagers.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Cathedral of San Mateo de Osorno during the ceremony installing Juan Barros as bishop of the city, according to Reuters. The event took place over the weekend, when the protesters, carrying black balloons, stormed interrupted the service and demanded Bishop Barros resign.

Bishop Barros has been accused of covering up the sexual abuses a priest by the name of Fernando Karadima committed in the 1980s. The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexual abusing minors in 2011 and banned him from saying Mass; however, the victims could not pursue legal charges due to technicalities.

Hoping to prevent Bishop Barros’ appointment, activists, victims, politicians and priests wrote to Pope Francis asking him to not follow through, as he had taken a stance against sexual abuse. However, their petition was ignored.

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BRASIL
Aqui Acontece

[The priest Marcio Gonzaga de Lima, 45, of the Diocese of Propria-SE has been convicted of rape of a 12-year-old by Judge Fernando Luis Lopes Dantas.]

O padre Márcio Gonzaga de Lima, 45 anos, ligado a Diocese de Propriá-SE, foi condenado pela prática de estupro de vulnerável pelo juiz Fernando Luís Lopes Dantas, da 1ª Vara Vara Cível e Criminal da Comarca de Nossa Senhora da Glória, município localizado a 118 km da capital Aracaju.

A defesa do religioso deve recorrer da decisão e caso seja necessário a sentença do juízo de primeiro grau poderá ser modificada pelo Tribunal de Justiça de Sergipe. O processo tramita em segredo de justiça. Por esse motivo, a imprensa ainda não conseguiu ter acesso a íntegra do documento com as justificativas da decisão judicial.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

25 MAR 2015

Survivors of child sexual abuse will hear on Wednesday how institutions – government and non-government – might compensate them.

At a public hearing in Sydney spokespeople from all jurisdictions as well as representatives from churches, charities and schools where children were abused will be asked to comment on possible redress schemes.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published 44 submissions received after the publication in January of a consultation paper outlining scenarios for a national approach to redress for abuse victims.

The paper modelled a $4.3 billion scheme, which would be funded by both government and non-government agencies responsible for institutions in which children were sexually maltreated.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die Staatsanwaltschaft weist Vorwürfe des Erzbistums zurück, im Fall einer nach Missbrauchsvorwürfen entlassenen Erzieherin nicht zu ermitteln. Es gebe bislang keine tragfähigen Anhaltspunkte, die Ermittlungen rechtfertigen würden, sagte ein Sprecher und verwies darauf, dass auch keine Anzeigen von Eltern vorlägen. Das Erzbistum hatte eine Erzieherin an einer katholischen Kita in Elsdorf entpflichtet. Ihr wirft die Erzdiözese sexuellen Missbrauch in mindestens zwei Fällen vor. Weil die Staatsanwaltschaft nicht ermittelt, legte die Erzdiözese Beschwerde bei der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Köln ein. Das Landesjugendamt und das örtliche Jugendamt teilen die Einschätzung der Erzdiözese. Der Leiter des Jugendamtes der Stadt Elsdorf, Ralf Cazin, bekundete Unverständnis über die Staatsanwaltschaft. Für ihn liege mehr als ein Anfangsverdacht vor.

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IOWA
CBS 2

[with vidoe]

WATERLOO, IA (CBS2/FOX28) — An allegation has been made that a priest who formally served with the Archdiocese of Dubuque sexually abused a young boy 30 years ago.

The victim spoke to CBS2 News Tuesday morning about his claim.

Jeff Buchheit says Fr. Leo Riley abused him at Resurrection Parish in Dubuque, he reported the incident to the Archdiocese of Dubuque in December.

Buchheit says the alleged abuse happened when he was in the 4th grade and serving as an altar boy. Buchheit says he felt he had to come forward and publicly talk about what happened. “I would say I’ve been dealing with aspects of it my entire life.

The realizations and understanding of what happened to me has been recent.” The accusation is against Father Leo Riley. Riley began his work in the Dubuque Archdiocese in 1982 and served at a number of Iowa churches until he transferred to a Florida Archdiocese in 2002.

In a letter dated February 18th, 2015, Archbishop of Dubuque Michael O. Jackels confirmed he was notified of the claim in December 2014 and that it allegedly happened in 1985. At that time, Fr. Riley was assigned as an associate pastor at Resurrection Parish in Dubuque.

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IOWA
WCF Courier

WATERLOO | A former Dubuque man has come forward with abuse claims against a former Iowa Catholic priest who served parishes in Northeast Iowa.

Jeff Buchheit said he decided to go public with the allegations against Rev. Leo Riley to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.

“A child victim’s voice is so soft and far too easy to go unnoticed. Kids need to be protected and given the tools to protect themselves,” Buchheit said.

“The fear of revealing that I had been sexual abused and being dismissed or victimized again was paralyzing. It has haunted every aspect of my life,“ he said “I will no longer allow that fear to define me; that starts with me saying publicly that it did happen.”

Buchheit said he was a fourth-grade altar boy at Resurrection School in Dubuque in October 1985 when the abuse began. He said occurred before school while serving a morning mass with Riley.

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IOWA
TH Online

TH Media

WATERLOO, Iowa — A former Dubuque man claims he was sexually abused by a Church of the Resurrection priest 30 years ago.

Jeff Buchheit, 39, said he was in fourth grade and serving as an altar boy when he was abused beginning in October 1985 by the Rev. Leo Riley, who served as a Resurrection associate pastor in 1985 and 1986.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Teacher accused of child abuse at St Ignatius College, Riverview faces trial in another state

March 24, 2015

Emma Partridge

A teacher accused of sexually abusing a student at one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools more than 30 years ago is facing trial for historical child abuse charges in another state.

NSW Police began investigating the sexual abuse allegations made by a former St Ignatius College, Riverview student after they learned the same teacher was before the courts charged with a number of child sex offences.

On Monday principal Paul Hine sent a letter to former students informing them of an allegation that concerned “child sexual abuse over 30 years ago”.

The Provincial of the Australian Jesuits, Fr Brian McCoy, said the allegations Mr Hine referred to were dealt with ten years ago and that the victim had come forward to ensure it happened to no-one else, but was adamant about not pursuing charges.

“The matter to which he refers is one dealt with over ten years ago in NSW – when a courageous former student brought a complaint to the Jesuits alleging sexual abuse at Riverview in the 1980s,” Father McCoy said.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

BEN MCCLELLAN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 24, 2015

A FORMER Jesuit teacher ­accused of historical child sexual allegations at Sydney’s St Ignatius’ College Riverview is also facing child abuse charges in South Australia.

The 77-year-old teacher is due to stand trial in June over alleged historical sexual abuse at St Ignatius in Adelaide.

The former Catholic Brother is accused of sexually ­assaulting the boys in Adelaide in the early 1980s.

He previously taught at Riverview at Lane Cove from the late 1970s to the early ’80s.

The former Adelaide St ­Ignatius’ students made the ­allegations in recent years.

The student, who claimed he was abused by the teacher at Riverview in the 1980s, went to the church in 2004 but did not want to press charges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 25, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter

The principal of one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools says he is aware a number of ­former staff may be found to have been involved in child abuse after the school asked all its former students to report any such allegations from their time at the college.

It follows the revelation a former pupil of St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, on Sydney’s lower north shore, has alleged he was sexually abused by a teacher who worked at the school between 1979 and 82.

That teacher, who is still alive, is understood also to be the subject of similar allegations relating to his time at another Jesuit-run school in Adelaide during the early 1980s.

Riverview principal Paul Hine said he had contacted about 6500 former pupils of the school, asking them to come forward if they knew of any similar allegations.

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WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Paul Srubas, Press-Gazette Media March 24, 2015

A lawyer and corporate manager for a controversial religious sect based near Shawano has been barred from practicing law in Wisconsin for a year, in part for publicly smearing federal court officers as “a bunch of ignoramus, bigoted Catholic beasts that carry the sword of the church.”

Naomi Isaacson was a lawyer and CEO of the Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology. The religious sect known as “SIST,” based in Wescott, made news in 2008 for having allegedly compiled a list of 60 Shawano area residents that were “potential victims of an implied threat,” according to Shawano police.

The institute, which also has been identified as The Disciples of the Lord Jesus, has operated since the 1970s in the Shawano area, where it owned motels, gas stations and a go-cart track. The FBI in 2009 investigated the “implied threat” list, but no charges were brought.

Isaacson had her law license suspended this week for conduct that “displayed an utter disregard and disrespect for the integrity of the courts and their judges in a brazen and outrageous fashion,” according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Office of Lawyer Regulation.

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CHILE
Infovaticana

[The archbishop of the Chilean region of Puerto Montt, Archbishop Cristian Caro, denounced the hidden political motives behind the attacks on the inauguration of the new bishop of Osorno who was accused of covering up abuse Fernando Karadima.]

El arzobispo de la región chilena de Puerto Montt, monseñor Cristian Caro, ha denunciado las intenciones políticas ocultas detrás de los ataques en la toma de posesión del nuevo obispo de Osorno, acusado de encubrir los abusos de Fernando Karadima.

“Yo creo que hay un aprovechamiento político, porque sabemos que hubo un grupo de parlamentarios que se meten en lo que no les corresponde”, ha declarado monseñor Caro, al tiempo que se ha lamentado de que se tuviera que hacer una “eucaristía apresurada” en la toma de posesión de Juan Barros.

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CHILE
Soy Orsono

[Video]

Empujones, gritos y detenidos marcaron la misa en que Barros asumió como obispo de Osorno

Cientos de personas entraron a la Catedral con globos negros y comenzaron a gritar “fuera” mientras monseñor Juan Barros, ligado a Karadima, caminaba al altar. El entrevero terminó con empujones con las autoridades del clero. Hubo dos detenidos

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WALES
Daily Mail

By Ben Wilkinson for the Daily Mail and Jennifer Smith for MailOnline

A Jehova’s witness who had sex with a schoolboy was caught out when the child’s suspicious mother hid a tape recorder in his bedroom.

Mother-of-two Kelly Richards admitted having sex with the 15-year-old during a three-month affair but was spared prison by a judge yesterday.

The 36-year-old met the boy after he befriended one of her sons at church and she invited the teenager to her home for sleepovers with her children.

During their encounters, Richards had told the boy: ‘Don’t tell anyone because I might get done for this.’

But their relationship was uncovered after the teenager’s mother placed a tape recorder in her son’s bedroom to discover why he had started hiding his mobile phone and why he was spending so much time with the Richards family.

After the tape recordings revealed explicit phone conversations between Richards and the boy, his mother called in police.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 24 MARCH 2015

A rally in support of Fr Ciaran Dallat, who allegedly broke his vow of celibacy to have a two-year affair with a woman, has been organised by his parishioners

The rally will be held outside St Peter’s Cathedral in west Belfast at 7pm today “to show support for Fr Ciaran from the young and old of the parish to let him know that he is sadly missed”.

More than 1,000 people have signed an online petition for Fr Dallat to return to St Peter’s where he is still officially an assistant priest. Parishioners have not seen him since allegations about his relationship with a 49-year-old north Belfast woman emerged last week. However, they have said that despite the controversy they want him back.

One woman leaving Mass yesterday morning said: “All the parishioners love Fr Dallat. He is a lovely man. He would have tea for us all every Wednesday. He gave so much of his time to the parish it would be a very real loss if he did not return. I’ve no interest in what is being said about him.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Bishop facing backlash over handling of belfast priest accused of getting parishioner pregnant

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 24 MARCH 2015

Catholic Bishop Noel Treanor has come under pressure from clergy members over his handling of an alleged sexual relationship between a priest and a parishioner.

West Belfast priest Fr Ciaran Dallat is believed to have left his parochial house to stay with a friend along the north coast as the storm over his alleged affair with a woman, who became pregnant and then miscarried his child, failed to dissipate.

While parishioners have organised a rally of support for Fr Dallat to take place tonight outside St Peter’s Cathedral, where he is still officially an assistant priest, several members of the clergy have said they believe he should not be allowed to return to ministry.

They have also criticised Bishop Treanor for not advising Fr Dallat to stand aside pending an investigation when he first became aware of the claims more than a fortnight ago.

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UNITED STATES
COLive

By Yehudis Smith

Although the latest op-ed on COLlive.com about Agunahs was so atrocious that it was actually… well, funny, I still can’t shake this feeling of total disillusionment.

Today, I sat reading this sorry excuse for an op-ed by Aliza, and I felt my body respond in such a visceral way that I surprised myself. Even though I have moved on wholly and completely from my experience as a chained woman, my first instinct was to feel attacked, ridiculed, shamed.

I got married to my first husband almost 9 years ago to the day. The mistreatment started at my wedding and for the next 7 months my life was a living hell. I knew from the first day of my new life with him that my marriage was over, and yet I stayed until I couldn’t take it any longer. I still remember how I felt when I called my mother to tell her I was leaving him, and the look in his eyes when I actually left. I thought that would be the hardest moment… but I was wrong.

The next 11 months shocked my system: from my friends who couldn’t understand what went wrong… my rabbi telling me to go home and make a nice dinner and get pregnant instead… and then telling me that it was “normal and reasonable” for a man to delay in giving his wife a gett… to the bais din system failing me day in and day out. I know that I am lucky that my prison sentence only lasted about a year (and a few thousand dollars); many women are chained for quite a lot longer than that. But to all the naysayers out there, including the author of the latest article, let me explain to you how it feels to be chained to a marriage you want no part of:

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Law Journal

Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
March 23, 2015

A criminal trial will proceed against four rabbis after a federal judge in Trenton rejected their claims that charging them with kidnapping and beating Orthodox Jewish men who refused to grant their wives divorces represents a substantial imposition by government on their religious practice.

The defendants claimed their prosecution was barred by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson of the District of New Jersey said the government’s application of kidnapping laws to the four defendants does not substantially burden their religious exercise. The rabbis’ motion to dismiss the indictment failed because other, nonviolent means are available to convince a husband to grant his wife a religious divorce, Wolfson ruled.

The rabbis are also barred from raising their religious beliefs as a defense to the charges of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, Wolfson said.

The ruling was issued as defendants Mendel Epstein, Jay Goldstein, David Aryeh Epstein and Binyamin Stimler were about two weeks into a trial on charges that they engaged in criminal means to facilitate Orthodox Jewish divorces, according to court documents. The charges stem from a sting operation in which the defendants agreed to accept $60,000 from an FBI agent posing as an Orthodox Jewish woman whose husband refused to grant her a divorce, as well as three actual kidnappings in which the defendants allegedly tied up and beat husbands who refused to grant their wives divorces, court documents said.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

Prosecutor: Bergen County Pastor Engaged in Inappropriate Sexual Activity with Members of Church Youth Group

By Natalie Mieles (Patch Staff)

Authorites say a former Wyckoff Pastor was arrested for allegedly engaging in inappropriate sexual activity and exchanging sexually explicit videos with underage members of his church youth group.

David M. Hayman, 37, of Oradell, was arrested Thursday after police learned he engaged in inappropriate sexual activity and exchanged sexually explicit videos on numerous occasions with two female acquaintances who were both 16-years-old when the activity began, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.

Authorities also learned that Hayman exchanged sexually explicit text messages on numerous occasions with three other female acquaintances, who were 15-and-16-years-old.

“All of the victims were members of a church youth group, of which Hayman was the Pastor and for whom he had direct supervisory responsibility,” Molinelli said.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on March 23, 2015

Jonathan Bailey, the former youth minister fired last month from First Baptist New Orleans church, has been arrested a third time after the Orleans Parish grand jury handed up a massive 13-count indictment alleging a pattern of predatory sexual conduct with an underage congregant.

The alleged victim in the indictment is the same 14-year-old girl questioned by New Orleans police six weeks ago, after authorities said video surveillance cameras captured her and Bailey slipping into a darkened closet together during a Feb. 8 function at the large Lakeview church. Bailey was arrested Feb. 23, accused of indecent behavior with a juvenile, then was re-arrested March 4 and booked with sexual battery, after investigators said the girl told of more serious sexual conduct with the married church staffer in a second interview with police.

Bailey twice posted bonds of $35,000 to be free after those arrests. But he was booked into Orleans Parish Prison again Monday (March 23) with a new bond of $6.5 million set by the grand jury bill — $500,000 on each of the 13 counts.

Bailey’s attorney, Townsend Myers, said Monday night he was aware of the new charges but declined comment on the case or his client.

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UNITED STATES
KSL

By Scott Zamost and Kyra Phillips CNN

(CNN) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the largest sponsor of Boy Scout troops in the United States, says the church has strong measures in place to prevent the sexual abuse of scouts, as claims have been made it hasn’t done enough.

In the first interview about allegations of abuse in Mormon church-sponsored scouting troops, Church Elder L. Whitney Clayton told CNN that the church is at the forefront for prevention of child abuse.

“We feel like there is really no other organization that we know of — a church or something like a church — that does as much as we do,” Clayton said. “We have a zero tolerance policy or position with respect to child abuse, and we train our people, we teach our people, we work with leaders, we provide materials online and in hard copy.”

Over several months, CNN examined allegations of abuse that were detailed in at least five lawsuits filed against the church and the scouts.

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AUSTRALIA
In Daily

SYDNEY | Opposition from the Weatherill Government appears to have helped damage hopes for a $4.3 billion national fund to compensate victims of child sexual abuse.

A Commonwealth submission to the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission says establishing a single national redress scheme would be extremely complex and require significant time and resources.

“This is likely to be frustrating to survivors of child sexual abuse and undermine confidence in the outcomes of the Royal Commission’s work,” it said in the submission published today ahead of a public hearing in Sydney on Wednesday.

The commonwealth submission is one of 44 received by the commission in response to a consultation paper on redress published by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last January.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Generous financial payments, ongoing care and support and a meaningful apology should be key elements of a national child sexual abuse redress scheme according to the Catholic Church submission to the Royal Commission.

The Truth Justice and Healing Council’s submission to the Royal Commission’s redress and civil litigation consultation has supported Commissioner Peter McClellan’s call for Governments to establish an independent national redress scheme funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse.

Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, said the issue of redress is at the very heart of the Commission’s work.

“A national scheme is necessary to ensure survivors of child sexual abuse are treated consistently across Australia. It would effectively provide consistent, easy access redress for all survivors of child sexual abuse regardless of where or when the abuse occurred,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Hopes for a $4.3 billion national fund to compensate victims of child sexual abuse have been knocked on the head by the federal government.

A submission to the child sexual abuse royal commission Canberra says establishing a single national redress scheme would be extremely complex and require significant time and resources.

‘This is likely to be frustrating to survivors of child sexual abuse and undermine confidence in the outcomes of the Royal commission’s work,’ it said in the submission published on Tuesday ahead of a public hearing in Sydney on Wednesday.

The commonwealth submission is one of 44 received by the commission in response to a consultation paper on redress published by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last January.

The consultation paper outlined scenarios for a national compensation scheme where tens of thousands of child abuse survivors would receive payments between $10,000 and $200,000.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Deacon Martinez says he felt obligated to write the letter because he was personally contacted by someone with direct knowledge of the case.

Guam – The priest who was arrested last week on allegations that he took a minor without permission is now being accused of sexual relations with the 17-year-old girl. Although widely speculated, the allegations were made public in a letter written to Child Protective Services and the Archbishop.

Deacon Steve Martinez sent the letter to Archbishop Anthony Apuron and to Child Protective Services. In it, he says Father Luis Camacho “illegally transported a 17-year-old minor child from Southern High School without her parents’ permission … had the minor child hide as they drove away from the school … drove the minor child to Subway and then to a remote beach in Agat and had sexual contact with her.”

Deacon Martinez tells PNC that he felt obligated to write the letter because he was personally contacted by someone with direct knowledge to the case.

Father Camacho, the pastor of the San Dimas and San Dionisio parishes was eventually arrested and charged with custodial interference but he was booked and released. He then resigned as pastor of the parishes.

Tim Rohr is a local blogger on Catholic activities on Guam and offers some insight on the situation.

“If he was just a regular priest and not a pastor, it’s certainly grounds for discipline and probably a retreat for a couple of years to some place to think through and do penance or something like that.

But the fact that he’s a pastor puts him in a position of authority over people and so that’s the same if you’re a teacher or a school principal and you’ve got somebody, doesn’t matter how old they are, but you have authority over them, that becomes a whole different level of abuse,” notes Rohr.

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CONNECTICUT
WTNH

By Scott Powell, WTNH Assignment Editor
Published: March 23, 2015

NORWICH, Conn. (WTNH) — The Catholic Diocese of Norwich will pay $1.1 million dollars as part of a settlement released today in a priest molestation case.

The lawsuit stems from an unidentified Massachusetts woman’s claim that Father Thomas Shea molested her about 60 times between the ages of 3 and 16-years-old. The settlement comes one day before the jury trial was to start on Tuesday and following three day mediation sessions.

In the claim, Jane Doe #2 says Father Shea french kissed her, fondled her and touched her inappropriately. At least 15 young girls had been molested by Shea in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. Six other victims were prepared to testify that they had been molested by Shea and had complained to church officials but nothing was done about it. The Diocese paid $1.1 million to another victim, known as Jane Doe #1, in 2013. That settlement was also reached just as that trial was to begin in the same courtroom in Hartford Superior Court where Jane Doe #2 was to be tried this week.

Attorneys Kelly E. Reardon and Robert I. Reardon, Jr. of The Reardon Law Firm of New London successfully represented both Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2, as well as representing several other childhood molestation victims of priests in lawsuits settled with the Diocese of Norwich and Hartford.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belast Telegraph

BY JOHN CASSIDY – 24 MARCH 2015

A disgraced former Catholic priest has received an 18-month suspended prison sentence for what a judge described as “a significant and grievous breach of trust” for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy in his care.

Daniel Curran (64), of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, appeared at Downpatrick Crown Court for sentencing after he admitted one count of gross indecency and a single charge of indecent assault on the child.

The offences took place between August 1990 and August 1993 at a family cottage in Tyrella, Co Down, when the victim was aged between seven and 10. Curran took altar boys, including the victim, to the cottage.

Passing sentence, Judge Piers Grant told Curran that he had pleaded guilty to “serious offences” by “deliberately targeting groups of individuals” to ply them with alcohol so he could abuse them in the cottage.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Jolene Toves

More information has been discovered regarding allegations against Father Luis Camacho have surfaced, as a report alleging the priest had sexual contact with a minor was filed with the Archdiocese of Agana and Child Protective Services.

News that a priest may have had sexual relations with a teenage girl has members of Guam’s Catholic community in shock and asking for prayer. It was last week KUAM News first brought you the story about the arrest of Father Luis Camacho, who was the pastor for the San Dimas and San Dionisio Churches. The priest was arrested on allegations of custodial interference. Police found Fr. Luis and a 17-year-old girl in a parked car at Agat Beach. The girl was supposed to be in school.

It wasn’t until a report was filed with Child Protective Services and Archbishop Anthony Apuron that it became apparent there was more to the story. The person that filed the report was Deacon Stephen Martinez, who said he was obligated to filed the report by the archdiocese’s policy on sexual misconduct and Guam law. Deacon Martinez said he was provided information about the incident by someone familiar with what happened. “So because I believed that what they had to say was likely correct information, I had to report it, and then it is up to the investigator to go through the process and determine what the true facts are on the situation,” he explained.

Deacon Martinez alleges in his report that Fr. Luis illegally transported the 17-year-old girl from her school without her parent’s permission. He went on to state that Fr. Luis had the minor hide as they drove away from the school. “He then drove minor child to subway and then to a remote beach in Agat and had sexual contact with her”.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview sends letter to parents informing them of child sex abuse claims

ONE of Sydney’s most illustrious private schools has been forced to send a letter to parents informing them a child sex abuse allegation has been made by a former student.

Paul Hine, principal of Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview delivered the letter to students yesterday, stating he had been made aware of the allegation from 30 years ago by the Professional Standards of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus. He said the allegation had been reported to the police and the school was assisting with the investigation.

“A former student of Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview has made allegations concerning child sexual abuse over 30 years ago,” the letter from Mr Hine said. “There are clear limits on what I am able to reveal about the allegations.

“Despite this, I believe it is important to inform you about the situation as I understand it and to offer reassurance that such matters are the object of direct and sustained vigilance at the school.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Nick Ralston
Crime Editor

An investigation has been launched into allegations of child sexual abuse at one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools dating back more than 30 years.

St Ignatius’ College, Riverview on Monday sent a letter to its old boys informing them that a former student had made allegations which principal Paul Hine said had now been reported to the NSW police force.

The only detail of the allegation contained in the letter is that it concerned “child sexual abuse over 30 years ago”.

Dr Hine said it was with “some sadness” that he wrote to the school community about the allegation which had been passed on to him from the professional standards office of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus.

“There are clear limits on what I am able to reveal about the allegations,” Dr Hine wrote. “Despite this, I believe it important to inform you about the situation as I understand it and to offer reassurance that such matters are the object of direct and sustained vigilance at the school.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Investigation launched into child sex abuse allegations at ANOTHER one of Australia’s most prestigious private schools

By Belinda Grant Geary For Daily Mail Australia

Allegations of child sexual abuse have arisen at another one of Australia’s most prestigious private schools, prompting a new investigation.

St Ignatius College Riverview issued letters to its alumni informing them a claim relating to child sexual abuse had been made and informing them the information had been passed on to NSW police for investigation, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The letter, penned by Principal Paul Hine, gave no details of the allegations except that it concerned child sexual abuse and that it happened more than 30 years ago.

The allegation was passed to Dr Hine by the professional standards office of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus.

Michelle O’Brien, the director of professional standards for the Jesuits, told The Australian her office had been aware of the claims for more than a year and that they had been passed on to police last May.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Another prestigious private boys school in Sydney has reported allegations of historic child sex abuse.

The principal of St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, has sent a letter to its old boys informing them that a former student had made allegations of “child sexual abuse over 30 years ago”.

Dr Paul Hine said the matter has been reported to the NSW police.

He said the allegation was passed on to him from the professional standards office of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus.

Former students of the GPS school include Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Allegations of child sexual abuse at Sydney’s Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview have been reported to NSW Police, the school says.

The principal of the prestigious private school, Paul Hine, wrote to the old boys yesterday informing them a former student had made allegations concerning child sexual abuse over 30 years ago.

Former students of the school include Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce.

Mr Hine said the matter had been reported to police and the school was assisting the Jesuits’ professional standards office with its investigations.

In the letter, Mr Hine wrote he would also tell the boys at the school about the allegations later today.

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CALIFORNIA
KERO

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A lawsuit alleges that Roman Catholic church officials in Los Angeles placed a priest who was a known child molester back into ministry in Santa Paula, where he abused two more young boys.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, details allegations that date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, after the Rev. Carlos Rene Rodriguez had already been sent to out-of-state treatment for molesting a 16-year-old boy, church files state.

Rodriguez was convicted of molesting two other boys in 2004, years after the fact and was placed on the state’s sex offender registry upon his release.

He was defrocked in 1998 at his own request and now lives in Huntington Park.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson(

A former employee of both the Diocese of Winona and Diocese of La Crosse is accused of stealing $116,000 from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas while an employee there.

The Wyandotte County, Kansas, prosecutor’s office announced that 52-year-old Rose A. Hammes, of Kansas City, Kansas, has been charged with three counts of felony theft. She is jailed in Wyandotte County in lieu of $50,000 bond.

According to a statement from the archdiocese, the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office was notified last year after the archdiocese discovered “financial irregularities in April 2014. The archdiocese contacted law enforcement because it believed it was the victim of fraud and had suffered a sizable loss, in excess of $100,000.”

“The archdiocese remains in full cooperation with law enforcement authorities as this case moves forward,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, who invited “the prayers of Catholics of the archdiocese for the parties involved in the case.”

The archdiocese said it hopes to recover the loss through insurance. Additional details about the charges weren’t immediately available.

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CONNECTICUT
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

NORWICH, Conn. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging a woman was repeatedly molested by a now-deceased priest.

A trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court in the case brought by the unidentified Massachusetts woman.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, the diocese and its insurer reached the settlement agreement following several days of mediation.

The woman alleged that the late Rev. Thomas Shea molested her dozens of times from when she was 3 years old into her teen years.

The lawsuit also named former Bishop Daniel Reilly, who was in charge of the Norwich Diocese during the time when Shea was moved from parish to parish as complaints mounted against him. Bishop Reilly was later bishop of the Worcester Catholic Diocese, from 1994 to 2004.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis’ and the discredited ex-pope have permanently failed with their over hyped and false slogan of “zero tolerance on sexual abuse”. Increasingly, outraged Catholic parents and grandparents are not buying the “papal bull” anymore. They are instead closely watching Francis’ hypocritical actions now, not his empty promises. Catholics are even shouting down their bishops in church, with some violence, as early Christians also sometimes did to bad bishops. Political leaders are also watching this closely, as the Francis’ “Hollywood like facade” fades fast.

Click here to see a BBC video of what is fairly described as a “near riot” — the unprecedented Chileans’ angry protest recently against Pope Francis’ choice of Bishop Barros, alleged to have silently witnessed sexual abuse by his mentor, famous Chilean priest, Fernando Karadima. Francis named Barros to head a small diocese that is close to Argentina and to an active volcano. Francis misjudged. The sex abuse volcano has erupted. See the extraordinary pictures here, Pubimetro , and also the shocking second video of everyday Catholics protesting here, YouTube .

Bishop Barros is apparently part of a broader priest sexual abuse culture, that may have even included, according to reported allegations, a former Chilean Jesuit superior. Francis likely knew and knows some of the key culprits, since Argentina’s and Chile’s Catholic and Jesuit organizations are tied closely. For the broader Chilean abuse situation and Francis’ Chilean connections, please see Jason Berry’s comprehensive description, “Chilean cardinals close to pope stained by abuse cover-ups“, here,

[National Catholic Reporter]

“I hold the Pope responsible,” said Juan Carlos Cruz, a 51-year-old journalist who is one of the accusers of Barros.

“This contradicts everything the Pope has said. He was aware of the situation but named [Barros as bishop] anyway,” Cruz told reporters. “We were accustomed to getting slapped in the face by the Catholic Church [in Chile], but getting slapped by the Pope himself is the saddest part. …”, Cruz reportedly added. (my emphasis)

As the Chilean abuse volcano was blowing the top off the abuse cover up, top researcher, Betty Clermont, was releasing her extraordinarily thorough and revealing new analysis, Pope Francis and the Dirty War: Keeping the Record Straight – Part I and Pope Francis and the Dirty War: Keeping the Record Straight – Part II . Her well documented essays, in my view, blow the top off some key episodes in Francis’ calculated and uninspiring (at best) relations with the murderous Argentine military earlier.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 23, 2015

TRENTON — The attorney for a Pennsylvania woman who wanted a religious divorce said Monday that a Lakewood rabbi instructed her family to pay the rabbi $60,000 as part of his attempt to secure her divorce.

Fredric Goldfein told jurors in the federal conspiracy and kidnapping trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein that in his efforts to get a Maryland man to agree to a divorce, Epstein instructed him to wire $60,000 to two of the congregations he led.

A few days after the money was transferred to Epstein’s congregations, the husband, Aharon Friedman, was attacked on July 29, 2012, by three men at the home of his former in-laws in Pennsylvania in an attempt to force him to issue the divorce.

Goldfein, testifying for the federal government in exchange for immunity, said he was surprised when he heard about the attack on Friedman and called another rabbi to try to learn more details.

Goldfein, who is a rabbi, said he was led to believe the money was to go to the husband, Friedman, as part of his agreement to grant his wife a religious divorce so that she would eventually be permitted to remarry in the Orthodox Jewish community.

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CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Karen Florin

The Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a Massachusetts woman’s claim that the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea molested her about 60 times, beginning when she was preschool age and continuing into her college years.

The case of Jane Doe #2 was to start trial Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court, but attorneys for the plaintiff, the Catholic Diocese and its insurer reached an agreement following three days of mediation conducted by Judge William H. Bright.

The 50-year-old woman claimed Shea, the subject of at least 15 molestation claims, French-kissed her, fondled her and touched her inappropriately between the ages of three and 16. She had met Shea when she was a small child attending St. Joseph’s Parish in Webster, Mass. and said he continued to molest and stalk her when she attended Marianapolis Prep School in Thompson and Albertus Magnus College in New Haven.

New London attorney Kelly E. Reardon and her father, Robert I. Reardon Jr., had represented the woman, who Kelly Reardon said suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression since childhood.

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CONNECTICUT
Norwich Bulletin

By John Barry The Bulletin

Posted Mar. 23, 2015

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts woman who claimed she was molested dozens of times as a child by a diocese priest.

The settlement was reached Monday, the day before a trial was scheduled to start in Hartford Superior Court.

It followed a three-day mediation session from March 18 to March 20 conducted by Superior Court Judge William Bright.

The woman, known as Jane Doe #2, claimed she was molested about 60 times from age 3 to 16 by Thomas Shea, a parish priest, according to a news release from New London attorneys Kelly Reardon and Robert Reardon, who represent her.

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CONNECTICUT
Seattle PI

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging a woman was repeatedly molested by a now-deceased priest beginning when she was 3 years old.

A trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday in the case brought by the unidentified Massachusetts woman.

Attorneys for the woman, the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, and its insurer reached the settlement agreement following several days of mediation.

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CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star

Marjorie Hernandez

A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a former priest who allegedly molested two altar boys who were parishioners at a Santa Paula Catholic church.

The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by two men now in their 30s, alleges former priest Carlos Rene Rodriguez sexually molested them between 1989 and 1991 when they were altar boys at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Paula.

The two were 7 to 10 years old at the time, said their attorney, Anthony DeMarco. They now live in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, he said.

DeMarco said this suit is one of several filed against Rodriguez. DeMarco alleged the Los Angeles Archdiocese knew of Rodriguez’s history of molesting other children since the 1980s while he worked at a church in Arizona.

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TEXAS
Baptist News

By Bob Allen

The younger of two brothers convicted of sexually exploiting girls in the youth group of a Texas Baptist church has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Jordan “Jordy” Earls, 26, received a sentence of 180 months in prison, the statutory minimum, in exchange for pleading guilty to a single count of producing child pornography. Prosecutors said they were prepared to add at least 10 counts if Earls rejected the plea bargain and the case had gone to trial.

Previously Earls’ older brother, Joshua Earls, 31, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after also pleading guilty to child pornography. Authorities say together the brothers, sons of a Baptist minister, used Joshua Earls’ position as youth minister at Arapaho Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas, to entice minor girls to take pornographic pictures of themselves and share them with the brothers over the Internet.

One victim filed a civil lawsuit in February, alleging that leaders of the congregation either knew or should have known that the men posed a danger to the church’s youth.

At his sentencing hearing Feb. 18, Jordy Earls said he is sorry for his crimes and hopes the people he harmed would forgive him.

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CONNECTICUT
The Connecticut Law Tribune

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune
March 23, 2015

A Massachusetts woman who claims she was sexually abused by a priest in Norwich has settled her lawsuit against the Diocese of Norwich for $1.1 million.

A woman known only as Jane Doe No. 2 in court records claims she was molested about 60 times from ages 3 to 16 by the Rev. Thomas Shea, a parish priest in the diocese. Years later, she sued the diocese and its former bishop Daniel Reilly.

At least 15 young girls claim to have been molested by Shea in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, according to Doe’s lawyers, Kelly and Robert Reardon, of The Reardon Law Firm in New London. Six other victims were prepared to testify that they had been molested by Shea and had complained to church officials but nothing was done about it.

The Norwich Diocese paid $1.1 million to another victim, known as Jane Doe No. 1, in 2013. The Reardon lawyers represented that woman as well.

In the latest case, the two sides went to mediation last week for three days before Superior Court Judge William Bright. A trial was set to begin Tuesday, March 24, had the settlement not been reached.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

By Dave Altimari

On the eve of a civil trial, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay a woman $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged she was sexually assaulted more than 60 times by the late Rev. Thomas Shea.

The 49-year-old woman, identified as Jane Doe No. 2, was prepared to testify that Shea, who was a friend of her family, started molesting her when she was 3 years old and that the assaults continued into her adult life.

Shea died in 2006. It is the second time in the last two years the Diocese has settled a lawsuit just as evidence was about to begin. In 2013, it settled a lawsuit by an unidentified woman for the same amount before a trial was to start in Hartford Superior Court.

New London attorney Kelly Reardon, whose firm represented both women, said the settlement was reached after three days of mediation. The settlement spares her client the stress of having to testify in open court about Shea, she said.

“She was prepared to testify but would have been very hard for her to relive it all again,” Reardon said. “”My client has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression since childhood. She has been living her nightmare for over 40 years.”

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CONNECTICUT
WFSB

By Rob Polansky

NORWICH, CT (WFSB) –
A woman from Massachusetts settled a molestation lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Norwich and one of its former bishops.

The woman, only identified as Jane Doe #2, reached the $1.1 million settlement Monday, the day before a jury trial in the case was supposed to start, according to her attorneys.

Attorneys Bob and Kelly Reardon said the woman was molested 60 times between the ages of 3 and 16 by Father Thomas Shea.

They said she was kissed and fondled.

They also said Shea molested at least 15 girls in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Six other victims were prepared to testify.

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CONNECTICUT
Fox CT

MARCH 23, 2015, BY DOUG STEWART

HARTFORD – Lawyers for a Massachusetts woman announced that the Catholic Diocese of Norwich and Bishop Daniel Reilly have settled a lawsuit brought as a result of sexual abuse by a priest for $1.1 million.

Attorneys Kelly Reardon and Robert Reardon Jr. said the settlement came a day before the case was set to go to trial in Hartford Superior Court.

“Jane Doe #2,” as she was identified in court documents, was molested about 60 times from age three to sixteen by Father Thomas Shea according to the law firm. Shea was a parish priest in the diocese and was accused by at least fifteen girls of molestation from the 1960s to the 1980s, said the lawyers in a statement. “Jane Doe #2″ said Shea French kissing her, fondling her and touching her inappropriately. The woman suffered post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression according to her law firm. The firm also said the victim and her family complained to church officials who did not take action.

Lawyers on both sides mediated the settlement for three days, starting last Wednesday. The diocese and Bishop Daniel Reilly were represented by Attorney Gary Kaisen of Milano and Wanat in Branford and Attorney Wesley Horton of the Hartford firm of Horton, Knox and Shields.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

A former Catholic priest has received an 18-month suspended sentence for a what a judge said was “a significant and grievous breach of trust” for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy.

Daniel Curran (64), of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, Co Down, was at Downpatrick Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to one count of gross indecency towards a boy and also admitted a single charge of indecent assault on him.

The offences took place between August 1990 and August 1993 at a cottage owned by his family in Co Down when the victim was between seven and 10.

Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Piers Grant told Curran he had pleaded guilty to “serious offences” by “deliberately targeting groups of individuals” to ply them with alcohol so he could abuse them in the family cottage.

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INDIANA
Mennonite World Review

Mar 23, 2015 by Rich Preheim, For Mennonite World Review

ELKHART, Ind. — For 40 years, women who had been sexually violated by John Howard Yoder were left suffering in silence while the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary professor became one of the most influential theological voices of the 20th century. On March 22, AMBS publicly apologized for long ignoring their cries for justice.

In a “Service of Lament, Confession and Commitment” in the seminary chapel, seminary president Sara Wenger Shenk solemnly told victims and nearly 200 other people: “I am sorry that we neglected to genuinely listen to your reports of violation and that even after hearing your warnings, we failed to raise the alarm.

“I am sorry that by choosing to remain silent about your violation, we isolated you, only deepening your sense of betrayal. I am sorry that in our exhaustion and desire for closure, we didn’t listen to those of you who said this is not finished, the full truth of what happened has not yet been named.”

The service was a milestone in the decades-long epic. Starting at least in the 1970s, Yoder sexually harassed and assaulted perhaps more than 100 women worldwide, according to historian Rachel Waltner Goossen, who earlier this year published a major article on Yoder’s abuses and the church’s response.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Many of my readers are unable to make sense of the situation in Chile, a situation where Pope Francis made the inexplicable decision to appoint as bishop a man who was the protege and confidant (and, according to some, the gay lover) of a known and canonically punished priest who spent five decades abusing altar boys. This appointment by Francis, of Bishop Juan Barros, was greeted with strong opposition by Catholics in Chile, about a thousand of whom rioted at the cathedral in Osorno in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Barros’ installation ceremony. The charge is that Barros would participate in the sexual abuse of altar boys by being physically present and watching it happen. He denies this charge, and we don’t know if it’s true, but we do know that the pope has picked a man from inside the inner circle of an appallingly corrupt cult-leader, the right hand man of a priest that the Vatican itself has sanctioned. Nobody knows quite what to make of this politically insane and insensitive appointment, although a popular Catholic blogger who’s very pro-Francis has solved the problem by saying (in effect), “Don’t know a thing about this situation, so I simply can’t judge!!! Go Francis!” A less than honest solution, I’m afraid.

Meanwhile, I offended some Catholic friends of mine by making a joke about a woman who had posted a rather revealing photo of herself on Facebook (not the one above). I shared the picture privately and made fun of it – but also enjoyed sharing it because the gal is a knockout. I was told by my offended friends that I was (in effect) a judgmental jerk who was behaving in a less-than-saintly manner by finding humor in an attractive woman showing off her body in a somewhat inappropriate way. I was being very unholy here. The Catholic Faith had apparently worked on my friends and failed to work on me, it seems. As with the picture above, I was in need of a spiritual Photoshop to blur over my sinful tendencies.

And elsewhere (but on this same topic – a topic that includes both riots in the cathedral and cleavage), Rod Dreher quotes a filmmaker on the difference between legitimate Faith Films and Cheesy and Contrived Faith Films (my emphasis) …

One of the featured events at Sundance this year was a panel on faith-based films. Several attendees I spoke with were disappointed that panelists focused predominately, once again, on the “faith and family” audience—the same underlying market confusion I’d observed all year. One attendee, Ryan Daniel Dobson, is a Christian filmmaker developing a project based on the Biblical story of Hosea, in which the prophet is told by God to marry a prostitute, who repeatedly abandons him. A project like this will likely interest many people of faith, but not those looking for a “family film.” Like a growing number of Christians who work outside both the Hollywood system and the Christian film industry, Dobson sees films like God’s Not Dead as nearly antithetical to his understanding of what film ought to do and what faith ought to look like.

“Several times ‘faith films’ were compared to superhero movies, where a studio can’t stray from what their fanboy audience wants, because it would guarantee a box office fail.” Dobson told me.

Dreher expounds on this by pointing toward Dante (again, my emphasis) …

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