ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Erzbistum Munchen und Freising

Die Erzdiözese München und Freising hat gemeinsam mit der von ihr beauftragten, aber unabhängigen Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Westpfahl, Spilker, Wastl das Gutachten „Sexuelle und sonstige körperliche Übergriffe durch Priester, Diakone und sonstige pastorale Mitarbeiter im Verantwortungsbereich der Erzdiözese München und Freising in der Zeit von 1945 bis 2009. Bestandsaufnahme – Bewertung – Konsequenz“ vorgestellt.

Auf einer Pressekonferenz am 3. Dezember 2010 fasste Rechtsanwältin Marion Westpfahl das Ergebnis des 250 Seiten starken Berichts zusammen. Der Erzbischof von München und Freising, Kardinal Reinhard Marx, und Generalvikar Peter Beer nahmen ihrerseits zu dem Bericht Stellung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[The Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has paid 147, 000 euros to 29 victims of sexual abuse since April 201.]

Von Jakob Wetzel

Das katholische Erzbistum München und Freising hat seit April 2011 insgesamt 147 000 Euro an 29 Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs gezahlt, deren juristische Ansprüche auf Schmerzensgeld oder Entschädigung verjährt sind. Das geht aus dem ersten Zwischenbericht der beiden externen Missbrauchsbeauftragten der Kirche hervor, der jetzt veröffentlicht worden ist.

Demnach erhielten die Betroffenen “generell” einen von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz 2011 festgelegten Höchstbetrag von jeweils 5000 Euro. Elf von ihnen habe die Kirche zusätzlich eine Psychotherapie bezahlt. Die Beauftragten gingen zudem mehreren Hinweisen auf aktuelle Fälle nach; drei kirchliche Mitarbeiter wurden im Berichtszeitraum wegen Sexualstraftaten verurteilt.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Local Guardian

by Laura Proto, Chief reporter – Richmond and Twickenham

The trial of a priest accused of abusing boys in a children’s home in the 70s and 80s has heard his cleaner found an indecent video at his home as far back as 1998.

Catholic priest Father Tony McSweeney, who was a friend of John Stingemore, the manager of the Richmond Council-run care home, denies four counts of indecent assault and four of taking or possessing indecent images of children.

Mr Stingemore was due to be on trial as well but he died on February 2 at his home in Hastings.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Sarah Plaschkes QC said: “From the time before he became a priest, he has had a sexual interest in teenage boys.

“Over the decades on various occasions, he has taken indecent images of teenage boys.

“In 1998 his cleaner found a video in his home. Finally when he was arrested in 2013, indecent images were found on his laptop.

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MEXICO
SinEmbargo

[Victims of clerical pedophilia have accused Cardinal Norberto Rivera of covering up abuse.]

Por Sergio Rincón febrero 17, 2015

Ciudad de México, 17 de febrero (SinEmbargo).– Las cartas abiertas al Papa Francisco I –que activistas y víctimas han mandado al Vaticano– denuncian la relación de poder que la Iglesia católica mantiene con las autoridades de estados para que los casos de pederastia queden impunes. En México, aseguran, está el caso del Cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera, quien ha minimizado la gravedad de los casos y ha encubierto a pederastas, entre ellos, acusan afectados, se encuentra Marcial Maciel Degollado. Este modus operandi, dicen, se repite en otros países donde la religión católica predomina.

El ex cura Alberto Athié Gallo aseguró que el Papa no ha hecho nada en México, y prueba de ello es que no ha suspendido o denunciado al Cardenal Norberto Rivera, a quien acusó de ser un protector de pederastas.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Soline Humbert

How has a headless, truncated, nude, female bondage image recently acquired pride of place on the website of a Vatican all-male body?

The pontifical council for culture is a department of the Roman curia entrusted with the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. It is headed by Cardinal Ravasi and has 31 members, mostly clerics, and a few laymen “men of culture”. There is not one “woman of culture”.

In addition there are international consultors, experts to advise the council. There were 17 male consultors and five females when Pope Francis appointed another 10 men and two women in 2014, reducing further the low proportion of women.

The council regularly holds a plenary assembly in Rome and the theme this year was “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference”. After a public opening day, the main meeting which was held between February 4th and 7th was reserved for the members and consultors.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Daily Mail

MI5 ‘halted police child abuse investigation’: Victims at children’s home accuse security service of colluding to protect abusers

MI5 blocked police investigations into sexual abuse at a children’s home to protect their intelligence gathering operation, campaigners will tell the High Court today.

Victims of abuse at the Kincora children’s home in Northern Ireland have accused senior members of the security services of colluding in protecting abusers from being investigated or prosecuted.

Campaigners are taking legal action at the High Court in Belfast to force a full independent inquiry with the power to force MI5 witnesses to testify and release documents.

The case is the first to examine allegations of a British state cover-up of abuse at the East Belfast home in the 1970s.

Claims that children were molested for years because police and the British security services were using the home, run by a member of a Protestant paramilitary organisation, to gather intelligence are already subject to a separate inquiry in Northern Ireland, the Historical and Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, led by Sir Anthony Hart.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

17 FEBRUARY 2015

Abuse victims of a notorious boys’ home in Belfast will today mount a legal challenge against the Government’s refusal to order a statutory inquiry into the crimes committed there.

A brutal paedophile ring abused boys from the Kincora home in east Belfast during the 1970s.

While three staff members were convicted in 1981, it has long been alleged that well-known figures in the British establishment – including senior politicians – were also involved.

Moreover, it has been claimed that the UK security services knew about the crimes but did nothing to stop them, instead using the knowledge to blackmail and extract intelligence from influential men who were committing abuse.

Last year, the Government rejected calls for Kincora to be included in the terms of its wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse – which is now being chaired by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY LIAM CLARKE – 17 FEBRUARY 2015

A notorious care home in east Belfast where young boys were sexually abused was at the centre of a sinister paedophile network that stretched across the UK, it has been claimed.

Richard Kerr, a former resident of Kincora Boys’ Home, claimed a well-organised child prostitution ring trafficked him to Britain when he became a problem for it. There, he was passed around a wider paedophile network until he was 20.

Mr Kerr, who now lives in Dallas, Texas, returned to his native Belfast this week to prepare an affidavit for his solicitor Kevin Winters to be used in court today.

Three senior care staff at the home – housemaster William McGrath, Joseph Mains and Raymond Semple – were jailed in 1981 for sexually abusing 11 boys. However, there have been constant claims that MI5 allowed the abuse to continue, as it allowed the security service to blackmail powerful political and establishment figures who were paedophiles.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY LIAM CLARKE – 17 FEBRUARY 2015

Richard Kerr is one of the most important witnesses to come forward with information about the Kincora sex abuse scandal.

He bears out the evidence of intelligence officers such as Colin Wallace and Brian Gemmell, who say that MI5 warned them not to investigate.

We knew this much when Mr Kerr gave a groundbreaking interview to Chris Moore of BBC Spotlight last year. Now his detailed interview and affidavit open up a more frightening vista.

It suggests that children’s homes were used like honey traps to keep politicians and paramilitaries under control and boys who complained were threatened with violence or jail.

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AUSTRALIA
Galus Australis

By Bracha Rafael

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) has released a strong statement regarding Rabbi Telsner’s testimony before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Rabbi Telsner was asked to explain Rabbi Groner’s statement “I thought we had cured him,” referring to David Cyprus. Rabbi Groner is Rabbi Telsner’s predecessor at Yeshivah shule and father-in-law.

Having established that Rabbi Telsner considered it possible that a former child sex offender could be “in control of himself” (and thus safe to work amongst children), the line of questioning then turned to Rabbi Telsner’s attitudes towards homosexuality.

The questions pertaining to homosexuality and paedophilia are reprinted in full below. The entire transcript can be found here.

Q. Do you have the same belief about persons of homosexual orientation not attracted to children?

A. I really couldn’t tell you a definite answer. I don’t know.

Q. So you have distinct beliefs in respect to paedophiles and homosexual persons not attracted to children?

A. Well, there’s been so much talk about one – discussing about one and the other. I would rather – I wouldn’t want to say something I’m not so sure about.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

On reflection – Manny Waks post the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yeshiva and yeshivah hearings

February 17, 2015 by Manny Waks

Nearly four years ago, when I publicly disclosed the sexual abuse I endured as a child at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, I did not envisage that today so many around the world would know exactly what had happened to myself and so many other children at that institution.

I knew that there were other victims and that someone within the Jewish community had to take a leadership position in the fight for justice. There is no way I could have imagined that those first steps I took in 2011 would lead to multiple convictions, a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, public acknowledgements of past wrongs, apologies to the victims, community awareness, and so much more.

The past few weeks have been incredible. The Royal Commission public hearing into the Chabad-run Yeshiva(h) Centres in Melbourne and Sydney allowed the Australian community as well as many overseas who were following events via the internet and live streaming to hear the shocking revelations of child sexual abuse, deliberate cover-ups and intimidation of victims and their families. Adding to the horror, it became clear that not a single Jewish community leader among lay leaders, peak body representatives or rabbis was willing to take clear public stands in support of the victims and against the individuals and institutions who were, at the Royal Commission, shown to have engaged in systematic attacks against those of us fighting these ongoing injustices.

From a personal perspective, as both a victim and a victim advocate, the silence of these leaders was the most hurtful of the various afflictions. As an adult it felt worse than the sexual abuse itself, worse than the knowledge that it was deliberately covered up and worse than the intimidation by those with an interest to conceal these unspeakable crimes. So often I felt alone, deserted by those who could and should have taken a public stand; marginalised until my family and I succumbed to the incredible pressures by making the difficult decision to leave Australia – to leave our home. And I was certainly not alone. There is little doubt that those leaders were all complicit in the ongoing immoral and possibly criminal behaviour against the many victims and their supporters.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 17, 2015

Liam Mannix
Reporter

The Rabbinical Council of Victoria has demanded the resignations of all rabbis implicated in testimony before the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Australia’s top rabbi, president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, resigned on Monday night after revelations at the commission that he called the father of three children sexually abused at Jewish children’s homes a “lunatic”.

On Tuesday the Victorian Rabbinical Council released a statement calling on others to do the same.

“We call upon others, rabbis and lay-leaders alike, who were implicated in the testimony presented at the royal commission to follow suit and take ultimate responsibility for their actions.

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MEXICO
First Post

Victims of sexually abusive priests from across the America joined forces to urge Pope Francis to allow civilian justice to punish pedophiles and those who covered up their crimes.

From the United States to Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other nations, victims yesterday issued a letter made public in Mexico City telling the Argentine pontiff that “words are not enough.”

The letter said that only civilian trials and Church reform will put an end to the “great holocaust of thousands of boys and girls who were sacrificed to avoid scandal and salvage the image and prestige of the Catholic Church’s representatives in the world.”

The victims said the pope’s recent admonishments of sex abuse in the Church are “ambiguous and contradictory” because they do not lead to any “institutional process toward truth and justice.”

The letter was read by Jose Barba, one of the victims of Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the ultra-conservative Legion of Christ order who died in 2008.

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UNITED STATES
The Skanner

Written by By Jazelle Hunt, NNPA Washington Correspondent

THIRD IN A SERIES

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Simone Oliver had always been called, as they say in the religious community. She was active in the Baptist church throughout her youth, playing piano for the youth choir and even ghostwriting sermons for several pastors as a teen. She loved scripture, loved preaching, and loved God. For her, church was heaven on earth.

But it was also hell. At 15 years old, Oliver’s then-pastor called her into his church office, grabbed her, put his tongue in her mouth, and fondled her until she broke away. It was the third time in her life she had been sexually assaulted, already a rape survivor at 12 years old at the hands of her sister’s first husband, and again at 13 by a family friend staying in her home.

Still, her faith did not waver. In fact, it grew stronger as Oliver transitioned from being a public school teacher to a minister.

In the mid-2000s, she took on an associate pastor’s role at a non-denominational church in New Jersey. The founding pastor tried to court her for years until she finally acquiesced and the two began a secret relationship. However, a year later, he decided to marry someone else. Still, the affair continued.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 16

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

It’s disturbing to read that more sex offenders are killed in California prisons. Violence and vigilantism are always wrong. No one should ever take justice into his or her own hands.

[Associated Press]

The safety of anyone in state custody should be guaranteed, whether she’s a battered child or he’s a convicted offender.

Some defense lawyers will use these troubling numbers to try to keep their child molesting colleagues out of prison. We hope they fail. Judge and juries must remember that the safety of innocent kids must always come first. And kids are safer when child molesters are locked up.

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CALIFORNIA
SFGate

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — Shortly after 2 a.m. on April 6, 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley State Prison noticed Alan Ager’s cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was Ager, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck.

The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence.

California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average — and sex offenders like Ager account for a disproportionate number of victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of corrections records. …

In Massachusetts, state policy calls for sex offenders to be placed in a “therapeutic community” that offers intensive treatment aimed at changing their behavior, preventing relapses and preparing them for eventual release.

The state had a high-profile inmate homicide in 2003, when John Geoghan, a former Roman Catholic priest whose sexual abuse conviction sparked a widespread abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, was killed by a fellow inmate who claimed he was chosen by God to kill pedophiles.

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UNITED STATES
First Things

by Ulrich L. Lehner
2 . 17 . 15

In January of this year, the U.S. Supreme court declined to intervene in a case in which the prosecutor wants to force Fr. Jeff Bayhi, a priest of the diocese of Baton Rouge, to testify about a confession in court. He allegedly told a fourteen year-old in 2008 to forget about the sexual abuse she had suffered from a family member. If Fr. Bayhi indeed did this, he will have to take responsibility for this despicable and unpastoral act at a higher, heavenly court—but he cannot be expected to discuss the contents of a confession in a U.S. court of law.

After marriage, confession has always been the most contentious sacrament in the struggle between church and state. Already in the late middle ages Christian rulers felt offended that their rule should find limits in the confessional. The patron saint of confessors is St. John Nepomuk. This fourteenth-century Bohemian general vicar of the archdiocese of Prague was drowned in the river Moldau for not revealing the sins that the queen, the wife of king Wenceslaus IV, had confessed.

Although he was venerated in Bohemia for centuries he was not canonized until 1729, when Pope Innocent XIII declared him a saint for the universal Church. The reason for this sudden decision was not just a series of miracles attributed to him but also political opportunity: The pope declared him a saint in a time when the absolutist states increasingly infringed upon the life of the church and also tried to undermine the seal of the confessional. To elevate John Nepomuk to the honor of the altars as the first martyr who died for the confessional was therefore also a statement that the authority of the state reaches its limit when it touches the integrity of the sacraments. The state has no right to pressure priests to give up what Christ demanded must be kept sacred. It was also a reminder for all priests of the Church how important the integrity of the sacrament was, especially because a number of priests in Portugal had broken the holy seal in the eighteenth century. From 1729 onwards, the Holy Inquisition increased its work to prosecute clerical violators with the greatest severity.

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MEXICO
Telesur

A network of victims and former priests criticize the Vatican for not seeing substantive results and call for suspected perpetrators to be turned in to authorities.

Victims of clerical sex abuse and members of the Catholic Church once again demand that the Vatican and Pope Francis take substantive measures to stop abuse and act for justice for the victims.

Victims and former priests denounced what they say is the Vatican’s “hypocrisy,” as well as the “contradictions that exist in its attempts to tackle the crime, at a press conference in Mexico City Monday.

In an open letter to the Pope, the panel of participants wrote: “We find not only ambiguities, but obvious contradictions between your actions and your pledge that you would not tolerate pedophilia and take all the steps necessary to end this calamity in the Church.”

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MEXICO
Latin American Herald Tribune

MEXICO CITY – Latin American and U.S. victims of child abuse by members of the clergy asked the pope in Mexico Monday that he go further than “good words” with his vow not to tolerate pedophilia in the church, and accused the pontiff of a “contradictory” position on the subject.

In an open letter sent to the Argentine pontiff, victims from countries including Mexico, Chile, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Peru and the United States demanded that his statement to the effect that “there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors” be translated into effective action.

The pope “is rewarding people who should be in jail,” former seminarian Juan Carlos Cruz told a press conference, referring to his own experience as victim of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, judged guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexually abusing minors.

About that matter, Cruz mentioned recent incidents in Chile, such as the elevation to cardinal of the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, and the naming of Juan Barros as bishop of the diocese of Osorno, while both of them, according to the ex-seminarian, were covering up the Karadima case.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – The Concerned Catholics of Guam has sent another letter to Archbishop Anthony Apuron requesting financial transparency. “Asking him to give us some idea of how the Archdiocesan appeal for support is going to be used this is the successor to the Catholic Charities’ appeal. The Catholic Charities’ appeal would go out to the Catholic faithful asking for financial support contributions to take care of our seminarians so they can become priests,” said Dave Sablan, vice president of the group.

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MEXICO
Ultima Hora

EFE

En una carta abierta remitida a Jorge Mario Bergoglio, las víctimas, procedentes de países como México, Chile, Argentina, República Dominicana, Perú y Estados Unidos, exigen que su expresión de que “no hay lugar en el ministerio de la Iglesia para quienes cometen esos abusos” se traduzca en acciones contundentes.

El Papa “está premiando a gente que debería estar en la cárcel”, afirmó en una rueda de prensa el ex seminarista Juan Carlos Cruz, quien fue víctima en Chile del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, considerado culpable por el Vaticano en 2011 por cometer abusos sexuales a menores.

Respecto a este punto, Cruz mencionó ejemplos recientes vividos en Chile, como la elevación a cardenal del arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, y el nombramiento de Juan Barros como obispo de la diócesis de Osorno, ambos, según sostiene el ex seminarista, encubridores del caso Karadima.

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MEXICO
Sexenio

por Carolina Solís

El Vaticano y el Papa Francisco fueron cuestionados por miembros de la Iglesia Católica y víctimas de abuso sexual, al no castigar a quienes cometen la pederastia.

Los involucrados acusaron a la Santa Sede por evadir el tema y premiar con altos cargos a quienes encubran los casos de pederastia, por lo que piden reformar profundamente a la institución y poner fin a este crimen, el cual sólo se sanciona con la destitución del acusado y no con penas ejemplares.

El activista chileno, Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, reconoció que se sienten traicionados por el Papa Francisco, quien aseguró, al inicio de su Pontificado, que habría cero tolerancia contra la pederastia. Sin embargo, se nombró como Cardenal a Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, quien enfrenta una serie de denuncias y juicios en Chile.

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MEXICO
La Prensa

Mexico City, Feb 16 (EFE).- Latin American and U.S. victims of child abuse by members of the clergy asked the pope in Mexico Monday that he go further than “good words” with his vow not to tolerate pedophilia in the church, and accused the pontiff of a “contradictory” position on the subject.

In an open letter sent to the Argentine pontiff, victims from countries including Mexico, Chile, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Peru and the United States demanded that his statement to the effect that “there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors” be translated into effective action.

The pope “is rewarding people who should be in jail,” former seminarian Juan Carlos Cruz told a press conference, referring to his own experience as victim of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, judged guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexually abusing minors.

About that matter, Cruz mentioned recent incidents in Chile, such as the elevation to cardinal of the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, and the naming of Juan Barros as bishop of the diocese of Osorno, while both of them, according to the ex-seminarian, were covering up the Karadima case.

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent February 16, 2015

ROME — In the Church’s latest attempt to demonstrate resolve in its fight against child sexual abuse, an online anti-abuse training and advocacy center sponsored by Rome’s Jesuit-run Gregorian University has announced a major expansion intended to extend the global reach of its efforts.

The overhaul of the Centre for Child Protection is unfolding in collaboration with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the body created by Pope Francis last year to lead the charge for reform, headed by Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley.

The Centre for Child Protection is an outgrowth of a major conference staged at the Gregorian University in 2012 that featured the head of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for Bishops apologizing to victims during a penitential liturgy at a Roman basilica.

“The prevention of sexual and other kinds of abuse of minors is of greatest importance for the universal Church,” O’Malley said Monday. “I am confident and pray that the [Centre for Child Protection] will make a substantial contribution to this long-term effort.”

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Yahoo! News

AFP

Victims of sexually abusive priests from across the Americas joined forces Monday to urge Pope Francis to allow civilian justice to punish pedophiles and those who covered up their crimes.

From the United States to Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other nations, victims issued a letter made public in Mexico City telling the Argentine pontiff that “words are not enough.”

The letter said that only civilian trials and Church reform will put an end to the “great holocaust of thousands of boys and girls who were sacrificed to avoid scandal and salvage the image and prestige of the Catholic Church’s representatives in the world.”

The victims said the pope’s recent admonishments of sex abuse in the Church are “ambiguous and contradictory” because they do not lead to any “institutional process toward truth and justice.”

Pope Francis has called for “zero tolerance” against abusive priests since his election in March 2013.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 16

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com )

It’s wrong and deceptive for Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s to claim that there’s a “perception of a lack of accountability” on the part of church officials. There is indeed no accountability. It’s not a perception problem. It’s a reality.

[Tribune]

And it’s a continuing reality. It’s wrong for O’Malley to speak strictly in the past tense when these crimes and cover ups are happening right now.

Francis, a plain-spoken prelate, deserves and needs a “point man” on abuse who can be more honest than O’Malley is being. And Catholics deserve real honesty.

Virtually no bishop has ever been defrocked, demoted, disciplined or even denounced by his church superiors or colleagues for enabling abuse. (A few have resigned voluntarily when caught molesting kids. And even fewer have resigned voluntarily for concealing abuse. But virtually none have ever been punished by church officials anywhere for concealing abuse, not even the most egregious offenders. And that isn’t changing, as evidenced by the fact that none of the world’s 4,000 bishops will even publicly admit that the now-convicted Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn acted irresponsibly.)

O’Malley’s priorities are backwards. He tells his colleagues “to do all that is possible to restore our credibility.” He should tell them “to do all that is possible to protect kids, deter cover ups, and expose those who commit and conceal child sex crimes.” If that happens, credibility will automatically be restored.

But as long as bishops keep focusing on “restoring their credibility,” they’ll continue to work harder and smarter to hide, rather than prevent, heinous crimes against kids. One can restore one’s credibility by ending wrongdoing or by hiding wrongdoing more effectively than ever. Sadly, many Catholic officials are choosing the latter course.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has suspended a Bucks County priest after new information surfaced about possible misconduct.

In both 2005 and 2011, the Rev. Louis Kolenkiewicz was investigated for possible violations of the church’s standards of behavior and boundaries. In 2011, he was suspended from active ministry for three years.

The priest was most recently assigned to St. Bede the Venerable Parish in Holland Township, Bucks County, but officials say the new information stems from the 2005 case.

A statement from the archdiocese said the case involves the priest’s behavior around children, but insists it does not involve inappropriate or illegal physical contact.

David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, said this kind of sequence is not unusual.

“Quite frankly, we should not be surprised to see these kinds of cases where priests get suspended and put back on the job,” he said, “because when no one is disciplined for putting kids in harm’s way, bishops will continue to put kids in harm’s way.”

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ROME
The Tribune

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
February 16, 2015

ROME — Pope Francis’ point man on clerical sex abuse said Monday the failure of the Catholic Church to punish bishops who covered up for pedophiles had seriously harmed its credibility and that it must now lead the way by “humbly making the commitment to accountability, transparency and zero tolerance.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, said canon lawyers and theologians were reviewing proposals to present to the pope on holding bishops and religious superiors accountable. The proposals were developed by Francis’ commission of experts, which O’Malley chairs and includes two survivors of abuse.

O’Malley said the sex abuse scandal had “seriously diminished” the church’s credibility in its core spheres of defending human rights, the unborn and immigrants.

“This has been caused in large part by the perception of a lack of accountability on the part of our leadership, causing many people to lose their trust in us and in the church,” he said. “We cannot fail to do all that is possible to restore our credibility.”

Victims of abuse have long denounced the Vatican for failing to sanction any bishop who covered up for an abuser.

O’Malley spoke at a conference at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University, which is leading the church’s efforts to educate a new generation of priests about preventing abuse and helping survivors through a specialized center for education and research. Francis publicly endorsed the initiative Monday.

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor February 16, 2015

ROME — Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said Monday that denial among some of his fellow cardinals from around the world about the seriousness of the Church’s child sexual abuse scandals, if not quite dead, has at least been driven underground — in part because of the strong example of Pope Francis.

“The fact that the Holy Father was willing to write a letter to all the bishops’ conferences calling on them to meet with victims is extremely important,” O’Malley said in an exclusive interview with Crux.

“There’s great concern (among the cardinals) and a realization the Church has to do something, but a lot of people don’t know what to do,” he said. “They’re open to listening.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that a huge gap remains in the Church’s response, especially accountability for bishops who drop the ball in making “zero tolerance” policies stick, and that the Church’s inaction to date had hurt its credibility.

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ROME
Reuters

BY PHILIP PULLELLA
ROME Mon Feb 16, 2015

(Reuters) – The U.S. cardinal who heads the Vatican’s commission on sexual abuse of children by clergy warned his fellow Roman Catholic bishops on Monday not to behave as if the problem had passed.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston told a conference at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University that some prelates were still reluctant to deal with the problem openly.

“It would be perilous for us, as leaders of the Church, to consider that the scandal of clergy sexual abuse is for the most part a matter of history and not a pressing concern here and now,” said O’Malley, whose commission advises Pope Francis on how to root out the abuse that has shamed the Church.

“Its not a pleasant topic. It’s easier just to ignore it and hope it will go away (but) when we are defensive and secretive, the results are disastrous,” he said in his speech.

O’Malley said last week, after the 17-member commission held its first full meeting at the Vatican, that the group is studying sanctions for bishops suspected of cover-ups or of failing to prevent abuse.[Id:nL5N0VH0RA]

Victims groups have been urging the Vatican for years to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it. Few have lost their posts because of a scandal on their watch.

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AUSTRALIA
Times of Israel

BY AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN February 16, 2015

Intimidation, bullying, public persecution, excommunication from the Jewish community and slanderous comments on social media. These are only a few tactics used on the Waks family, in which three of the sons were the victims — not perpetrators — of child sex abuse.

For the past two weeks in Australia, the global Jewish community was rocked by what it heard during public hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne. Dramatic testimony by victims of child sex abuse, their families and those who worked for the Jewish institutions that covered up the abuse led international media headlines.

Since 2011, abuse survivor Manny Waks has spearheaded the efforts to break the unofficial code of silence that bound and gagged his former community, the Chabad-affiliated Yeshivah Centre Melbourne. He founded, and is the former head of Tzedek, an organization that works with abuse survivors and aims to raise awareness of the problem in the Jewish community.

Waks now calls for a global Jewish initiative to address child sexual abuse and its cover-up throughout the Diaspora, including Israel.

“In the context of child sexual abuse, it is not uncommon for perpetrators to move between countries to avoid the consequences of their actions and/or to continue offending with impunity,” Waks said.

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RHODE ISLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Feb. 16, 2015

The Legion of Christ has emerged from several years of high-stakes litigation in Rhode Island after a period in which the order founded by Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado sold off major property assets because of scandals surrounding his history of pedophilia and siring out-of-wedlock children.

In one case, brought by Paul Chu, the Legion paid an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum to end the litigation.

In the other, more high-profile case brought by Mary Lou Dauray, the state Supreme Court on Feb. 6 affirmed a 2012 ruling that she did not have the legal standing to contest the disposition of her late aunt Gabrielle Mee’s estate and dismissed her claim.

Dauray sought the return of $30 million from the Legion, roughly half the value of the gifts and bequests from Mee in her later years and as specified in her will. In 2013, a judge revoked a protective order that made public a huge trove of sworn testimony by Legion officials, a rare viewfinder into the order’s unsavory methods of grooming wealthy people for donations.

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ROME
ABC News

AP

Pope Francis’ point man on clerical sex abuse says the failure of the church to punish bishops who covered up for pedophiles has seriously hurt its credibility and that the church must now lead the way by “humbly making the commitment to accountability, transparency and zero tolerance.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley said canon lawyers and theologians were reviewing proposals for the pope on holding bishops accountable. The proposals were developed by Francis’ commission of experts, which he chairs and includes two abuse survivors.

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UNITED KINGDOM
London Evening Standard

A Roman Catholic priest sexually abused vulnerable boys along with the manager of a care home, a court has heard.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, is on trial over alleged historic sexual abuse at a children’s home in Hounslow, west London.

The charges came following an investigation at Grafton Close Children’s Home.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court was told that the defendant was close friends with John Stingemore, who managed the home between 1979 and 1981.

He was found dead last month aged 72.

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SPAIN
ABC News

AP

A judge in Spain’s southern city of Granada has dropped indictments against nine priests and two Catholic lay workers in a sex abuse case that prompted Pope Francis to call an alleged victim.

The judge left in place an indictment against one priest, suspected of abusing teenage boys in a priest’s parochial home between 2004 and 2007.

The judge’s court said the 11 were suspected of lower level charges with a statute of limitation of three years.

The statement Monday said the priest who remains indicted faces abuse charges with a statute of limitation of 10 years.

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SPAIN
The Olive Press

By Imogen Calderwood (News Editor) – PUBLISHED – 16 Feb, 2015

A GRANADA court has dropped charges against nine out of 10 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing an altar boy.

Charges – which included ‘sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism and concealing evidence’ – were dropped because the crimes fell within the statute of limitations.

Charges were also dropped against the two laymen accused in the case.

This means that 11 of the 12 suspects will not be charged because too much time has passed between the alleged crimes and the complaints being made.

The investigation was launched following intervention in the case by Pope Francis himself.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 16

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

Our hearts go out to the four extraordinarily brave women who report having been molested and assaulted by the powerful Muslim cleric Mohammad Abdullah Saleem.

[New York Times]

No matter what happens in court, their courage has already protected children. We are proud of them and predict that over time, most in their own religious community will also consider them to be courageous and compassionate heroes.

It takes real courage for anyone to report sexual violence. It’s even tougher when the predator is a popular religious figure. And it must be even more difficult when one has been raised in an insular atmosphere. Again, we commend these strong women whose responsible action will no doubt inspire others who are still trapped in silence, shame, confusion and self-blame to get help.

We hope police and prosecutors will continue aggressively investigating. And we hope that others – especially witnesses and whistleblowers – will step up and call law enforcement with information about Mr. Saleem.

We also commend Mr. Omer Mozaffar for addressing Mr. Saleem’s crimes on his blog.

If Mr. Saleem is telling the truth and he’s still teaching at the Institute for Islamic Education, for the safety of children, school officials should oust him immediately. They should also write to current and former students and staff, begging them to call law enforcement with any knowledge or suspicions they may have about wrongdoing by Mr. Saleem. It’s important that these alleged criminal acts be treated as crimes and handled by secular authorities. And it’s important that religious and school officials actively help police and prosecutors, rather than minimize or conceal wrongdoing, either actively or passively.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Bucks County Courier Times

A St. Bede the Venerable parish priest was placed on administrative leave, although allegations against him have nothing to do with his most recent assignment at the church in the Holland section of Northampton, according to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The action against the Rev. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz is in response to concerns regarding alleged violations of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries and not allegations of illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor, an archdiocese press release stated Monday.

The archdiocese did not divulge details about the allegations, but noted that they first arose in 2005, when he was also assigned to the parish.

Kolenkiewicz, 47, is no longer living at St. Bede, the press release noted. Parishioners were told at all weekend Masses, and counselors were made available for them.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Pat Perriello | Feb. 16, 2015 NCR Today

In a beautiful homily by Pope Francis to the assembled cardinals and bishops, the need for reform was made clear once again.

Francis stresses one more time that the church is about the marginalized, those on the periphery.

There is some indication that this homily may be an especially significant one. First he had just named twenty new cardinals, and this homily was specifically directed at them as well as members of the current hierarchy. Second, it comes at a time when columnist David Gibson notes the evidence suggests that traditionalists may feel they are winning the battle to slow down the momentum of reform. For this reason others felt the pope needed to do something to show that reform is going to go forward.

Francis pointedly states that we can either “fear to lose the saved,” or “want to save the lost.” He speaks of the excessive fear of scandalizing the faithful, which has always been a problem within the church. A pastor might tell a bridegroom to receive communion on his wedding day even if he was guilty of mortal sin, rather than scandalize the faithful at the wedding by not receiving communion. Of course this penchant for avoiding scandal was also instrumental in making possible the lengthy priestly abuse crisis. Better to let a priest continue molesting children than admitting to the faithful that such a thing could ever happen in the holy Catholic Church.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO

Father Louis J. Kolenkiewicz, 47, associate pastor at St. Bede the Venerable Parish in Holland, Bucks County, has been placed on administrative leave over concerns regarding his suitability for ministry.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the decision by Archbishop Charles Chaput on Sunday, Feb. 15 following announcements at all Masses over the weekend at St. Bede’s.

The concerns do not involve allegations of illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor, according to an archdiocesan statement, but constitute alleged violations of the archdiocese’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

The archdiocese also said the concerns do not relate to Father Kolenkiewicz’s most recent assignment at St. Bede, where he no longer resides, but to allegations that first arose in 2005.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

By Rachel Mountain

Father Tony McSweeney allegedly molested three youngsters at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslow, west London, between 1979 and 1981.

A Catholic priest was “spotted ogling a cub scout as he showered three years before he began sexually abusing schoolboys at a childrens’ home”, a court heard today.

Father Tony McSweeney, 68, allegedly molested three youngsters at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslow, west London, between 1979 and 1981.

Three years earlier, in 1976, he was reported by a 15-year-old boy to a Deputy Warden on a cubs retreat after he spotted McSweeney watching him as he washed, jurors heard.

But the boy was told not to be ‘stupid and make trouble’ and even his mother dismissed his worries because a ‘priest would not do anything like that’.

The clergyman has also collected vile child porn over ‘decades’ and has a ‘sexual interest in teenage boys’ showering, Southwark Crown Court heard.

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SPAIN
Expatica

A Spanish court dropped charges against 11 out of 12 suspects in the country’s biggest ever clerical sex abuse scandal because the statute of limitations had expired, court papers showed Monday.

The nine priests and two laymen had been charged with “sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism, and concealment of evidence” involving an underage altar boy.

But the court in the southern city of Granada, where the alleged abuse took place, ruled their accuser, now aged 25, should have brought a case within three years of turning 18.

One priest, however, is still charged with the more serious offence of “continued sexual abuse, with the introduction of a bodily member anally and attempt to introduce the penis”, according to the ruling dated January 26.

If convicted, the clergyman faces a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The double standard applied worldwide to prominent Catholic leaders and to prominent Jewish rabbis is difficult to explain without noting their different positions of local power and wealth. For example, less than 1% of Australians are Jewish, while an estimated quarter of Australians are Catholic. Another prominent rabbi has resigned after testifying about child abuse, this time Australia’s most senior rabbi, who has stepped down just days after he admitted, to the Royal Commission (RC) investigating institutional child abuse, to sending text messages about intimidating and vilifying victims of child sexual abuse. In contrast, Cardinal George Pell, found by the RC to have done no less at least, if not more, is promoted by Pope Francis and celebrated by the pope’s media shills. The pope himself will be feted, as next year’s US presidential election already looms on politicians’ and plutocrats’ horizons, in a matter of months by the powerful US Congress and likely the UN as well. Please see “Australia’s top rabbi resigns after revelations at royal commission” here,

[Sydney Morning Herald]

and my “Cardinal Up/ Rabbi Down–Catholics / Jews On Abuse” here,

[Christian Catholicism]

And if mixed messages on child abuse and other serious scandals can lead to resignations, please note some of the latest Papal Wizard’s misleading meanderings down the Yellow Brick Road (in bold italics):

Don’t breed like rabbits, just don’t use the Pill or, God forbid, plastic surgery.

It is selfish not to have children, and more are surely better.

Help the poor, but honor, like he (the pope) seems to do, the crony capitalist billionaires from Wall Street, Big Oil and Big Media who help keep the poor, well poor, and the Catholic Church’s leaders rich.

Protect children, but don’t report priest child abuse to the police unless legally obligated to do so, unless you are a bishop like Finn, then you do not even have to obey the law, or a cardinal like Pell, then you can almost crush victims of priest child sex abuse.

Say loudly that bishops should be held accountable, then study how to do so forever.

Slap your kids, but do so respectfully.

Protect women, but keep them barefoot & pregnant and oppose treaties that actually seek to protect women.

Be nice to abuse survivors, but go bankrupt to avoid compensating them justly, or if you are in a hierarchical position like Pell was, then grind the victims mercilessly into unconditional surrender.

Don’t judge gay folks, just ostracize them from Catholic Church institutions, as Archbishop Cordileone is now doing in San Francisco, as he prepares to attend Francis’ “womenless” and absurd Final Family Synod in less than eight months.

Jesus was Jewish rabbi (teacher}, not a Catholic pope (monarch). He said child abuse was a serious evil that should be punished severely. After Roman Emperor Constantine and his Fourth Century successors began the transformation of the Catholic Church into a “top down absolute monarchy”, too many popes, up to and including Pope Francis, lost their way on following Jesus’ Jewish mandate to protect children.

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SPAIN
The Local

A Spanish court has dropped charges against 11 out of 12 suspects in a clerical sex abuse scandal because the crimes fall within the statute of limitations, court papers showed on Monday.

The court in the southern city of Granada dropped charges of “sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism, and concealment of evidence” against nine priests and two laymen accused of abusing an altar boy, in a case that prompted an intervention by Pope Francis.

Ten Roman Catholic priests and two lay people were charged at the end of January, in a case that came to light after one of the victims petitioned the Pope.

But the court in the southern city of Granada, where the alleged abuse took place, ruled their accuser, now aged 25, should have brought a case within three years of turning 18.

One priest, however, is still charged with the more serious offence of “continued sexual abuse”, according to the ruling dated January 26th.

If convicted, the clergyman faces a jail sentence of up to 10 years. He and his 11 initial co-accused were charged last month with sexual abuse or complicity in the abuse of the teenager between 2004 and 2007.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 16

Statement by Karen Polesir, Philly SNAP leader, 267 992 9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com

Could Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput possibly be more vague about the latest priest he’s suspended?

[Philiadelphia Inquirer]

[Philadelphia archdiocese]

Chaput claims the accusations against Fr. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz don’t involve “illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor,” but the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that church officials say he violated “standards regarding the boundaries of appropriate behavior for interacting with children and young people.”

Why can’t Chaput honor his pledges to be open about abuse cases? Why can’t he just tell parents and the public what the allegations against Fr. Kolenkiewicz are?

This case shows why so few have faith in Catholic officials to handle suspected cases of child sexual abuse, adult sexual exploitation or other clergy sexual misdeeds.

We suspect that Fr. Kolenkiewicz is being suspended now because Chaput realizes that he has little choice. Even now, Catholic officials often desperately cling to sexually troubled priests until too many victims or too much evidence emerges and they’re forced to eventually oust such clerics.

If Chaput would disclose “He’s accused of taking inappropriate pictures of girls,” then parents could ask their daughters “Did Father ever take a photo of you?” If Chaput would say “He’s accused of kissing boys on the mouth,” then parents could ask their sons “Did Father ever give you a kiss?” But because of Chaput’s continued secrecy, it may be tough for kids to understand if mom or dad asks them “Did Father ever violate the archdiocesan standards of appropriate conduct?”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent February 16, 2015

ROME — A consistory week in Rome, when a pope creates new cardinals, is a bit like the Iowa caucuses of the Catholic Church. All the heavy-hitters of both parties are gathered in one place at one time, followed around by media scrums eager to collect the next explosive soundbite.

Much can be learned about the cardinals, new and old, from what they say during those days, but the overload and multiplicity of languages makes it hard to keep track of it all.

Want proof? Consider that US Cardinal Raymond Burke told a French TV outlet last week that he’s ready to “resist” Pope Francis on divorce and gay marriage, and it barely made headlines.

Here, then, is a sampling of the sights and sounds of consistory week 2015, which featured a meeting of the pope’s “G9” council of cardinal advisors, a meeting of all the cardinals of the world that discussed Vatican reform and sex abuse, and the Saturday ceremony in which Francis inducted 20 new members into the Church’s most exclusive club. …

A strong stand against clerical sex abuse

Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, from the diocese of Valladolid, is the president of Spain’s Bishops Conference, and shortly after being created a cardinal, he told reporters he’s committed to strong collaboration with the civil and criminal justice systems in cases of clerical sex abuse, and stressed that “apologizing isn’t enough.”

The issue had barely made headlines in Spain until last year, when Pope Francis intervened in a case of abuse in the diocese of Granada by urging the victim to come forward and denounced a group of priests that had abused him. The case seemed to have a domino effect, with other dioceses facing similar charges.

In this regard, Blázquez Pérez said that it’s a major issue that has to be taken seriously, but denied an “epidemic of child abuse” by priests in Spain. He defended the response of the Spanish bishops, saying that so far, it’s been “quick and effective.”

Blázquez Pérez said he’ll cooperate fully with the civil authorities and also with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, created by Francis and headed by Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley.

On Friday afternoon, O’Malley gave the cardinals a rundown of what the commission has done and what’s expected from each local church, such as the appointment of a referent for cases of clerical sex abuse.

On this, Blázquez Pérez said they’re ready to designate such intermediary as soon as he receives “concrete guidance” from the Vatican on what this person will do.

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SPAIN
BBC News

A court in the southern Spanish city of Granada has dropped charges against nine out of 10 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing an altar boy.

The charges – which included “sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism and concealing evidence” – were dropped because the crimes fell within the statute of limitations.

Charges were also dropped against two laymen accused in the case.

Pope Francis had intervened in the case, urging an investigation.

Last November, the pontiff had also telephoned the alleged victim, now aged 24, to offer his apologies.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place between 2004 and 2007.

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SPAIN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday January 16, 2015

Statement by Miguel Hurtado Calvo of London (UK), Spokesperson of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( +44 (0)7 787 63 82 45 Michael.uk.1982@gmail.com )

It’s heartbreaking that nearly all of the criminal charges against a dozen suspects in a Spanish clergy sex abuse and cover up case have been dropped.

The ten priests and two laymen who allegedly committed or concealed heinous child sex crimes must still be regarded as dangerous. We feel deeply sad for the courageous victims who reported these crimes to law enforcement. They will no doubt feel devastated by this tragic news.

[Yahoo! News]

We strongly suspect that these defendants successfully exploited legal technicalities like the statute of limitations to evade justice. If so, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Given how egregious these charges are, and given how often these priests allegedly assaulted children, we are confident they can still be prosecuted if others who saw, suspected or suffered this horror find the strength to speak up. We urge anyone with information or suspicions about these alleged wrongdoers to call police and prosecutors now.

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ESPANA
La Razon

El Juzgado de Instrucción número 4 de Granada, que investiga el llamado “caso Romanones” por supuestos abusos sexuales a menores cometidos presuntamente por sacerdotes, ha declarado prescritos todos los delitos que se le imputaban a los 12 denunciados excepto uno, de manera que sólo continuará la causa contra el considerado líder del grupo, el padre Román M.V.C. Concretamente, se declaran prescritos los delitos de abusos sexuales sin penetración, exhibicionismo y encubrimiento que se les atribuían a nueve sacerdotes y dos seglares.

Sin embargo, el titular del Juzgado, el magistrado Antonio Moreno, acuerda mantener la imputación contra el presunto líder por los hechos presuntamente cometidos por él mismo sobre el primer denunciante –que llevó su caso ante el Papa Francisco– porque podrían ser constitutivos de delito de abuso sexual continuado con prevalimiento, castigado con pena de prisión de cuatro a diez años, y en su mitad superior, según consta en el auto de fecha 14 de febrero, al que este lunes ha tenido acceso Europa Press.

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ESPANA
ANSA Latina

MADRID, 16 (ANSA) – Los delitos de abusos sexuales por parte de una decena de sacerdotes de Granada del llamado “clan de los Romanones” fueron declarados prescritos por el juez, que sólo proseguirá la investigación contra su jefe.

La aplicación de la prescripción es “de obligado cumplimiento”, señaló el juez Antonio Moreno en su auto, conocido hoy.

Los delitos de abuso sexual, agresión sexual o exhibicionismo se prolongaron desde 2004 a 2007.

El caso, en el que el juez imputó a 10 sacerdotes y dos laicos, se abrió a raíz de que un joven, Daniel, que tiene ahora 24 años, puso en conocimiento del papa Francisco los abusos sexuales que sufrió de niño.

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SPAIN
Yahoo! News

AFP

A Spanish court has dropped charges against 11 out of 12 suspects in a clerical sex abuse scandal because the crimes fall within the statute of limitations, court papers showed Monday.

The court in the southern city of Granada dropped charges of “sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism, and concealment of evidence” against nine priests and two laymen accused of abusing an altar boy, in a case that prompted an intervention by Pope Francis.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

RONKE PHILLIPS ITV LONDON SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

The trial of a Catholic priest accusing of abusing young boys at a children’s home in Hounslow has begun at Southwark Crown Court today.

Father Tony McSweeney denies sexually abusing youngsters at Grafton Close Children’s home in Hanworth in the 70’s & 80’s

The prosecutor, Sarah Plaschkes QC alleges that on various occasions McSweeney took indecent photographs of teenage boys, and that in 1998 his cleaner found a video in his home. When he was arrested indecent images were found on his laptop.

The court heard the Priest was a friend of John Stingemore, the man in charge of Grafton Close, a residential home for vulnerable children at the time.

The prosecution allege McSweeney abused three boys at the home.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

16 FEBRUARY 2015

A Roman Catholic priest sexually abused vulnerable boys with the manager of a care home, a court has heard.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, is on trial over alleged historic sexual abuse at a children’s home in Hounslow, west London.

The charges came following an investigation into alleged abuse at Grafton Close Children’s Home.

The jury of seven men and five women at Southwark Crown Court was told that the defendant was close friends with John Stingemore, who managed the home between 1979 and 1981.

He was found dead last month aged 72.

Sarah Plaschkes QC, opening the case for the prosecution, said that Stingemore would have been in the dock alongside McSweeney if he was still alive.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Local Guardian

The trial of a priest accused of abusing boys in a children’s home in the 70s and 80s has heard his cleaner found an indecent video at his home as far back as 1998.

Catholic priest Father Tony McSweeney, who was a friend of John Stingemore, the manager of the Richmond Council-run care home, denies four counts of indecent assault and four of taking or possessing indecent images of children.

Mr Stingemore was due to be on trial as well but he died on February 2 at his home in Hastings.

Prosecutor Sarah Plaschkes QC said: “From the time before he became a priest, he has had a sexual interest in teenage boys.

“Over the decades on various occasions, he has taken indecent images of teenage boys.

“In 1998 his cleaner found a video on his home. Finally when he was arrested in 2013, indecent images were found on his laptop.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SÜDAFRIKA – Land der Kontraste

[On February 6, the second has Great Criminal Court of Krefeld sentenced a priest of the Diocese of Aachen to a prison term of six years. The Chamber considered it proven that Georg Kerkhoff is guilty in a total of 25 cases of child abuse, including four cases of severe sexual abuse. His victims, two brothers were then eleven and eight years old.]

Am 6. Februar hat die 2. Große Strafkammer des Landgerichts Krefeld einen Pfarrer des Bistums Aachen zu einer Haftstrafe von sechs Jahren verurteilt. Die Kammer sah es als erwiesen an, dass Georg Kerkhoff in insgesamt 25 Fällen des Kindesmissbrauchs schuldig ist, darunter in vier Fällen von schwerem sexuellen Missbrauch. Seine Opfer, zwei Brüder, waren damals elf und acht Jahre alt. Rund fünf Jahre lang nutzte er das Vertrauen der Eltern aus, um sich an den Schutzbefohlenen aus Nordrhein-Westfalen zu vergehen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[Witness speaks of cuddles and kisses. At the end of the third day of negotiations in Ettal abuse trial of second witness was questioned publicly at the Regional Court of Munich. The witness described how the Father is said to have repeatedly approached him intimately.]

Der Zeuge schilderte eine Situation aus dem Schuljahr 2004/2005, bei der ihm der wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs angeklagte Pater laut Aussage in die Hose griff und ihn an der Leiste streichelte.

Der inzwischen 22-Jährige berichtete auch von Streicheleinheiten des Präfekten, von Küssen “im Gesichtsbereich” und von einigen Situationen, in denen er bei dem Pater auf dem Schoß gesessen sei. Außerdem schilderte er eine Übernachtung in einem Matratzenlager auf einer Hütte, bei der er in der Nacht aufgewacht sei und gemerkt habe, dass der Pater ihn von hinten umarmt.

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MEXICO
SinEmbargo

[Mexico City, February 16 (HOWEVER) .- “Put your head on my chest. Take the little tongue, ” said priest Fernando Karadima Fariña, known as El Marcial Maciel Chile. Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew said. “I the wiped and put his tongue on my tongue and I started fiddling”.

Thus began a long journey of torture and suffering for Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, author of The End of Innocence. Cruz was in Mexico along with other victims of sexual abuse by priests. He denounced the “hypocrisy and simulation of Pope Francis” on the “zero tolerance” for pedophile priests:

“The Pope says good things, but does the opposite for victims to have access to civil justice. We re-victimizes that rewards the abusers and abettors naming cardinals and bishops, ” HOWEVER .]

Por Sanjuana Martínez febrero 16, 2015

Ciudad de México, 16 de febrero (SinEmbargo).– “Pon la cabeza en mi pecho. Saca la lengüita”, le dijo el sacerdote Fernando Karadima Fariña, conocido como El Marcial Maciel chileno, a Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew. “Yo la sequé y puso su lengua en mi lengua y me empezó a toquetear”.

Así empezó un largo camino de tortura y sufrimiento para Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, autor del libro El fin de la inocencia. Cruz estuvo en México junto a otras víctimas de abuso sexual de sacerdotes. Denunció la “hipocresía y simulación del Papa Francisco” sobre la llamada “tolerancia cero” para los sacerdotes pederastas:

“El Papa dice cosas muy buenas, pero hace todo lo contrario para que las víctimas tengamos acceso a la justicia civil. Nos revictimiza porque premia a los abusadores y encubridores nombrándolos cardenales y obispos”, dijo SinEmbargo.

Juan Carlos sigue siendo católico y estará al lado de José Barba, víctima del sacerdote Marcial Maciel; Joaquín Aguilar, víctima del sacerdote Nicolás Aguilar; Jesús Romero Colín, víctima del sacerdote Carlos López; junto a Julieta Añazco de Argentina –vía Internet– y las víctimas del ex nuncio apostólico de El Vaticano en República Dominicana, Josef Wesolowski.

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DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
Karibik News

Santo Domingo – Das Landgericht in Wolomin, Polen, hat die strafrechtliche Verhandlung gegen den ehemaligen Pfarrer Wojciech (Alberto) Gil, beschuldigt wegen sexueller Übergriffn gegen mehrere Jugendliche in der Gemeinschaft der Juncalito, Santiago, für kommenden März angesetzt.

Diese Informationen wurden von der Generalstaatsanwalt der Republik veröffentlicht, nachdem diese von den polnischen Behörden informiert wurde. Der Prozess wird am 20. und 25. März stattfinden und am 10. und 24. April dieses Jahres fortgesetzt werden.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Pope Francis today delivered an impassioned defense of what has become a leitmotif of his pontificate – the church of mercy that reaches out to the marginalized vs. the church of rules that closes itself into a “closed caste.”

The pope’s homily was addressed to a group of new cardinals gathered for Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. But one had the impression that it was also aimed at in-house critics who have questioned some of Francis’ statements and who have warned against an over-emphasis on mercy at the expense of doctrinal truth.

The pope said the Gospel account of Jesus’ curing of the leper was, in a sense, a model for how the church must operate with compassion to “reintegrate the marginalized” – including fallen-away Catholics – even when it provokes criticism.

“Jesus does not think of the closed-minded who are scandalized even by a work of healing, scandalized by any kind of openness, by any action outside of their mental and spiritual boxes, by any caress or sign of tenderness which does not fit into their usual thinking and their ritual purity,” the pope said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hastings and St. Leonards Observer

The death of a pensioner from St Leonards 18 days before he was due to stand trial for historic sex offences was formally announced in court today (MON).

John Stingemore, 72, was accused of sexually abusing boys at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslow, west London.

He was due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court with priest Father Tony McSweeney, 67, on February 2.

McSweeney is accused of targeting children while wheelchair-bound Stingemore was working at the council-run home between February 1980 and July 1981.

Prosecutor at Southwark Crown Court, Sarah Plaschkes QC, said today: “We have received information that on January 14, just a couple of days ago, Mr Stingemore passed away.”

Judge Alistair McCreath replied: “The court having received the correct certificate of death in relation to a man known to be John Stingemore, the defendant in this case, it is ordered that the indictment is endorsed and is declared now of no legal effect.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Local Guardian

The trial of a priest accused of abusing boys in a children’s home in the 70s and 80s is due to start this morning without care home manager John Stingemore, who died two weeks ago.

Father Tony McSweeney, who was a friend of Mr Stingemore through scouts, denies four counts of indecent assault and four of taking or possessing indecent images of children.

He will stand trial alone at Southwark Crown Court today after the death of co-defendant Mr Stingemore in his Hastings flat on February 2.

Father McSweeney arrived at court today in a black suit, red tie and a white shirt with a walking stick. He has been given a hearing device for use for the trial which is expected to last two weeks.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Vikram Dodd and Richard Norton-Taylor
Sunday 15 February 2015

MI5 is facing allegations it was complicit in the sexual abuse of children, the high court in Northern Ireland will hear on Tuesday.

Victims of the abuse are taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify and the security service to hand over documents.

The case, in Belfast, is the first in court over the alleged cover-up of British state involvement at the Kincora children’s home in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. It is also the first of the recent sex abuse cases allegedly tying in the British state directly. Victims allege that the cover-up over Kincora has lasted decades.

The victims want the claims of state collusion investigated by an inquiry with full powers, such as the one set up into other sex abuse scandals chaired by the New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.

Amnesty International branded Kincora “one of the biggest scandals of our age” and backed the victims’ calls for an inquiry with full powers: “There are longstanding claims that MI5 blocked one or more police investigations into Kincora in the 1970s in order to protect its own intelligence-gathering operation, a terrible indictment which raises the spectre of countless vulnerable boys having faced further years of brutal abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Royal Commission releases report on effectiveness of OOHC practices in preventing child sexual abuse

[the report]

16 February, 2015

The Royal Commission has released a report examining issues related to the effectiveness of practices in out-of-home care in preventing child sexual abuse within institutions.

Royal Commission CEO Phillip Reed said the report, prepared by the Parenting Research Centre and the University of Melbourne, makes valuable findings which will be used to shape the Royal Commission’s final recommendations.

“The Royal Commission was set up to investigate where systems have failed to protect children, a core area of our work is also recommending ways to improve them,” he said.

The report examines practices that help prevent child sexual abuse in out-of-home care, and the evidence around ways to reduce child-on-child sexual abuse, as well as abuse perpetrated by caregivers. However, it concludes that there are very few studies that have tested which practices or types of programs lead to decreased rates of sexual abuse of children.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 16, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

Manny Waks was a victim of child sexual abuse whilst attending Melbourne’s Yeshivah College when it was under the supervision of the late Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner. He has accepted an apology from Rabbi Groner’s children.

Manny Waks writes:

A historic day both personally and for the community. I’ve just concluded a lengthy meeting with the family of the late Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, former head of the Yeshivah Centre. All five of his children currently residing in Melbourne attended the meeting.

They acknowledged and apologised for the sexual abuse, the cover-ups and the intimidation that ensued.

They also apologised for not reaching out sooner (despite my attempts) and for not speaking out about the intimidation.

They requested that I convey this message to all the Yeshivah victims on behalf of the Groner family (not the Yeshivah Centre or Chabad). It was a very moving and honest meeting, and I’m so pleased that it proceeded.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 16, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

Rabbi Shlomo Meir Shlomo Kluwgant has resigned his presidency of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia.

Following his appearance at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse
In an email Rabbi Kluwgant wrote:

“As you know I have served in leadership positions for over two decades, and as President of ORA since May last year. I am humbled by your faith me, and I have always considered it an honour and a privilege.

In light of what has transpired the Royal Commission I have decided to step down from my position as President of ORA, effective immediately.

I believe this decision to be in the best interest of victims who have contacted me and advised that my standing down would be helpful to them in their healing process.

I have always had the best interests of the individual and the community at heart, and my track record speaks for itself.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 16, 2015 by J-Wire News Service

In the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearings at which he gave evidence Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant today resigned as the General Manager of Cultural & Spiritual services at Jewish Care Victoria.

Jewish Care’s CEO Bill Appleby said: “I accepted Rabbi Kluwgant’s resignation following discussions about his ongoing employment including his testimony late last week to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The President of Jewish Care Victoria, Mike Debinski, and the Board, sought clarification following Rabbi Kluwgant’s appearance at the Royal Commission last Friday.

As a result of my discussions with Rabbi Kluwgant, where he expressed regret over the text message that was sent to Mr Zeddy Lawrence, Editor of The Australian Jewish News, Rabbi Kluwgant tendered his resignation, effective immediately.

I would like to thank Rabbi Kluwgant for his service over the last 26 years at Jewish Care Victoria.
Jewish Care Victoria has a strong record of supporting victims of abuse. In 2013 it established an independent scheme to investigate historical claims of child sexual abuse in children’s homes run by predecessor Jewish welfare organisations in the 1960s.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 16, 2015

AUSTRALIA’s most senior rabbi has stepped down just days after he admitted intimidating and vilifying victims of child sexual abuse.

Meir Shlomo Kluwgant this morning resigned as president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, less than 12 months after he was elevated to the role.

Now the Herald Sun can reveal Rabbi Kluwgant has also lost his position on Victoria Police’s Multi-Faith Advisory Committee, a position he has held since 2011.

The former long-serving police chaplain now has no ties to Victoria Police.

There is now mounting pressure for Rabbi Kluwgant to be stood down from his role with community services organisation Jewish Care.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 16, 2015

Jane Lee, Timna Jacks

Australia’s most senior rabbi has resigned days after revelations at a royal commission that he called the father of three child abuse victims a “lunatic”.

The senior vice-president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, Rabbi Yoram Ulman, confirmed to Fairfax Media that Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant had stepped down as president of the organisation on Monday morning. Rabbi Ulman said he could not comment further at this stage.

Rabbi Kluwgant has also resigned from all his duties and positions at the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. He has also resigned as general manager of cultural and spiritual services at Jewish Care Victoria, which is investigating historical claims of child sexual abuse in Jewish children’s homes from the 1960s.

A police spokeswoman said that as of Monday, Rabbi Kluwgant was no longer a member of Victoria Police’s multi-faith council. Earlier, spokesman Sergeant Kris Hamilton said Victoria Police was aware of the statements made at the Royal Commission and would meet with Rabbi Kluwgant to discuss his membership.

This follows calls for Rabbi Kluwgant to resign from all his public positions after appearing at the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Abuse on Friday, the final day of its hearing on Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Sydney’s response to child sexual abuse allegations against convicted offenders David Cyprys, David Kramer and Daniel Hayman.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Peta Carlyon

Australia’s most senior rabbi, Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, has resigned as president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) after a damning stint in the witness box at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Rabbi Kluwgant gave evidence on Friday, and was forced to admit he had sent a text message to a newspaper editor calling the father of an abuse victim a “lunatic” who neglected his children.

The message referred to Zephaniah Waks, father of Yeshivah community whistleblower Manny Waks.

The admission was made after the Waks’ family lawyer confronted Rabbi Kluwgant.

At first Rabbi Kluwgant said he could not recall sending the text, but then admitted he sent it to the editor of the Australian Jewish News, Zeddy Lawrence, on February 3.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Sunday 15 February 2015

When he was 18 years old, Manny Waks turned his back on life within the Orthodox sect of Judaism known as Chabad. But the effects on his life remain profound.

Now 38, Waks is still unable to read a novel, so dictated was his childhood by religious texts. Until the age of 27, he believed rubbing his eyes with his fingers after waking up in the morning would cause him to go blind unless he carried out a religious washing ceremony first.

But the most damage has been caused by the repeated sexual abuse he suffered within the umbrella organisation for the movement in Australia, known as Yeshivah.

Waks grew up across the street from Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, where all of his schooling and extracurricular activities took place. He and his family were completely immersed within the Yeshivah community, and anything beyond its radius was foreign to them.

For the past fortnight, that secretive world has been comprehensively picked apart at the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior rabbi – who called a pedophile victim’s father ‘a lunatic’ during the child abuse royal commission – has resigned.

Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant resigned as the General Manager of Cultural and Spiritual services at Jewish Care Victoria on Monday.

He also reportedly resigned his position as president of the Organisation of Rabbis Australia.

Rabbi Kluwgant had attacked Zephaniah Waks while he gave evidence about the abuse of his son Manny at the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne.

Rabbi Kluwgant sent an SMS to a Jewish journalist while Mr Waks was giving evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Sunday 15 February 2015

The most senior rabbi in Australia has resigned, days after appearing before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, stepped down on Monday morning, the immediate past president, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, confirmed.

Child sexual abuse victims said Kluwgant’s position was untenable after the commission heard on Friday that he had called the father of three sons who were sexually abused a “lunatic” who was guilty of “killing” the Orthodox Jewish Chabad community within which his sons had been violated.

Zephaniah Waks told the commission how he and his family were ostracised and bullied by religious leaders after speaking out about the abuse within Chabad’s Yeshivah centre headquarters in Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 16, 2015 by J-Wire News Service

Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch in New York has issued a statement in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing dealing with the Sydney Yeshiva and the Melbourne Yeshivah.

The statement reads:

“The Board of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, has been following Australia’s Royal Commission proceedings into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. While we appreciate the need for patience as the process takes its due course, some of the testimony which was shared with the Commission is extremely alarming, and we feel compelled to comment even before the Commission issues its findings and recommendations.

We are appalled and deeply pained to learn of the allegations against individuals associated with some of the Chabad institutions in Australia. The information that has emerged is utterly disturbing, a profound violation of the non-negotiable principles implicit– and explicit–in any and every situation where the wellbeing of a child is entrusted to the care of an educational institution.

The first, foremost and overriding concern of every one of our educational institutions, and of each individual affiliated in any way with those institutions, is the protection—physical, emotional and psychological—of any and every child entrusted to it.

We are confident that the reports emanating from Australia are the rare and unfortunate exception to our institutions; however in light of the allegations now under investigation, we are reviewing procedures and protocol to see how these can be improved and enhanced for better implementation and enforcement. Indeed, given the devastating and long-lasting effects of child sex abuse now well-known, teachers, administrative and other school personnel who become aware of any incidents of such abuse, must act responsibly and report them to authorities without delay.

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ILLINOIS
Breitbart

by WARNER TODD HUSTON
15 Feb 2015

An Islamic leader in a Chicago suburb who has been hailed as the Muslim “Billy Graham” has been accused of sexual assault of an employee at the Institute of Islamic Education that he founded.

A female worker at an Islamic school in Elgin, Illinois–a western suburb of Chicago–has accused imam Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75, of building up a personal relationship for months leading up to her sexual abuse.

The 23-year-old employee charges that Saleem spent months slowly getting her to let her guard down before trying to force her into a sexual relationship. As an employee of a Muslim school, the woman was required to war a veil among males in the school. But the imam, she says, began his coercion by requesting that she lower her veil.

“It’s not something that gets done,” the woman told the media. “Men and women don’t even shake hands.”

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ILLINOIS
American Bazaar

AB Wire

WASHINGTON, DC: A popular and highly revered Imam of the South Asian community in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, known as the ‘Billy Graham’ of the community, Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75, has been accused by a 23-year-old Indian American woman of forcibly sexually molesting her, and has been charged in a lawsuit against him brought by her.

Three other women have also since stepped forward to the police to claim that the Imam molested them when they were children, reported The New York Times.

The Times interviewed the victim as well as the Imam, and a mediator who had tried to patch up matters between the two, local Islamic scholar Omer Mozaffar. The Imam had eventually rendered an written apology to the unidentified Indian American woman.

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ILLINOIS
The New York Times

By MATT APUZZOFEB. 14, 2015

ELGIN, Ill. — She ordinarily did not wear a veil. But it was required at the Islamic school where she worked, and she remembers being surprised when the head of the school, a conservative imam, suggested that she remove it.

When the imam, Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, came into her office, she said, he would sometimes touch her cheek or put an arm around her shoulder. Mr. Saleem was revered in her close-knit community, and she did not object at first. But simply being alone together represented a forbidden intimacy, and looking back, she said those first gestures should have been more alarming.

“It’s not something that gets done,” the 23-year-old woman said recently. “Men and women don’t even shake hands.”

Over time, she said the touching became more aggressive, reaching a point that she did something almost unheard-of in her community. She told people: her family, a social worker, an Islamic scholar. Recently, she went to the police. As word spread of what she had told them, three other women came forward, telling detectives that as young girls they had been molested by Mr. Saleem.

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ILLINOIS
Arab News

KEVIN SULLIVAN | AP
Published — Monday 16 February 2015

WASHINGTON: Allegations of sexual abuse by the longtime president of a leading Chicago-area Islamic school have roiled the region’s Muslims and raised questions about the reporting of sexual abuse in a close-knit religious community.

The allegations that Abdullah Saleem of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, a Chicago suburb, sexually abused an adult female school employee surfaced in December, when a leading Muslim scholar referred to them in a blog.

Elgin police confirmed on Saturday that they are conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the school, but spokesman Cmdr. Ana Lalley said she could provide no further details.

Saleem, who has been a respected Muslim leader in Chicago for decades, has not been charged with any crime.

Mohammed Kaiseruddin, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, the region’s most influential Muslim umbrella group, said Saleem has resigned from his post and been replaced by his son. He said Saleem left for his native India after the allegations surfaced, and he did not know if he had returned.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Hedley Thomas
National Chief Correspondent
Brisbane

RESIDENTS at a large aged-care home have been bashed, abused, starved and stripped of pain-relief morphine patches in a culture of neglect and concealment, insiders say.

Relatives and serving and former staff — several of whom were involved in a confidential internal probe — have provided alarming evidence of abuse and neglect at the Baptist-run Kepnock Grove home for the elderly in the ­regional town of Bundaberg, about 400km north of Brisbane.

The Australian has obtained key documents, including confid­ential legal advice, and interviewed insiders about standards of care, injuries and several deaths. They say there has been an attempt­ed cover-up since an initial low-key internal probe uncovered shocking cases at the home and suspicious deaths.

The claims of a cover-up have been rejected by Jon Campbell, the chief executive of Baptist Community Services (known as Carin­ity), who instructed solicitors to make a Supreme Court applic­ation for an injunction on Friday night, preventing The Weekend Australian from publishing its art­icles on Saturday.

But Mr Campbell has since ­acknowledged serious problems at the home and said he was “deeply sorry” about the standard of care. The statement said he “strongly rejects the claim of deaths attribut­able to bashings”. …

The church-owned group adopted a strategy to cover up the problems and manage fallout from any leaks to the media or regulators, according to insiders. The Australian has obtained “strictly confidential” internal documents of public relations messaging for executives to play down the home’s troubles to journalists.

The three-page legal advice ­received by Mr Campbell two months ago describes “a signif­icant number of very serious alleg­ations about mistreatment and mismanagement of both residents and staff”, and warns of “very serious compliance, liability and reputational risks”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Echo

‘It was a cover up’: Woman sexually-abused by leading member of Jehovah’s Witness community speaks out

by Will Frampton

A WOMAN who was sexually abused as a child by her brother-in-law has blamed her old church for covering up the crime.

Helen Doe was abused by Barry Furlong, a former ministerial servant in the Kinson Jehovah’s Witness community and husband to her sister Kim, at a family gathering when she was 10 years old.

Furlong, then in his 30s, assaulted her and later told her that if she said anything she would not get into the ‘New Order’ – a term for Jesus’ supposed Second Coming.

Furlong, 69, has been jailed for five years and three months after being found guilty of sexually assaulting four different victims during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Mrs Doe, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she had told her parents about the abuse three years later, but rather than contacting police they had gone to the church elders who accused her of making it up.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Mon, Feb 16, 2015

A quiet revolution has been taking place in the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ireland since Archbishop Charles Brown became papal nuncio three years ago. He has overseen the appointment of 10 new bishops to Ireland’s 26 dioceses, with potentially five more to come this year.

Included in the appointments made are two of the church’s four archbishops, one of them the new Catholic primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, who at 53 is also one the youngest bishops on the island. The youngest is the new Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin Denis Nulty (51).

No papal nuncio before has overseen the appointment of so many bishops in such a short time. This has been down to retirements, resignations, and ill-health. But it is likely to have a major influence on the Irish church in the years to come.

Frontier: the pope at the Israel-West Bank wall. photograph: Mheisen Amareen/ReutersYear of Pope Francis: no wonder Iveagh House wanted to get back in on the action

February has seen the appointment of a new bishop and the installation of another one. Fr Alphonsus Cullinan (55), a priest of Limerick diocese, was appointed to succeed Bishop Emeritus of Waterford & Lismore William Lee, who retired on grounds of ill-health.

The new Archbishop of Cashel & Emly, Kieran O’Reilly(62), was installed in the post after moving from Killaloe diocese where he was bishop since August 2010.

Candidates

Neither was a priest of the diocese to which he has been appointed, representing a departure from the practice where a bishop generally came from among priests in the diocese.

There appears to be less emphasis nowadays on academic qualifications, as opposed to pastoral experience, in the selection of candidates.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

by SANDRA DICK
Published on the 16 February 2015

THE photograph on Archbishop Leo Cushley’s mobile phone is of a man wrapped up warm against the February chill, more than half way up a Munro, blue sky overhead and a carpet of pure crisp snow underfoot.

Beyond him waits the summit of Ben Lawers, 4000ft above Loch Tay and the tenth highest Munro in Scotland, its white peak stretching up and up towards the heavens.

The scenery is, naturally, stunning. Just a smear of white fluffy cloud hovering in the brilliant sky. Nothing, surely, to worry about.

The man in the photograph is, explains Archbishop Leo Cushley with a smile, “the other me”.

His floor-skimming black robes, his red skull cap and the heavy silver cross around his neck exchanged for hiker’s boots and sweater, he looks like any other hardy Munro bagger. That it’s been ages since he last found time to head uphill had no impact – the legs, he grins, coped.

He has, of course, been far too busy for much hillwalking since he took over the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh 18 months ago.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel

Patsy Seeley, a 64-year-old artist from Beaverton, didn’t darken the doors of a church for decades. The reason: As a child in Tillamook more than 50 years ago, her priest sexually abused her.

It wasn’t until she heard about the welcoming pastoral team at Holy Trinity Parish near her home that Seeley hazarded a return. It was Lent, and she ended up going through her own process of suffering and redemption. She began sitting in the back of Holy Trinity and moved forward pew by pew until now she is in front.

Mass, which she had been avoiding, was the very thing that ridded her of shame and blame.

“It was a powerful experience of reconciliation,” Seeley says. “I had been through years of psychotherapy. I had psychological healing, but not spiritual healing.”

She met with then-Archbishop John Vlazny and he suggested a retreat called Grief to Grace. Seeley attended one of the weekends and her healing was so solidified that now she is an organizer.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

James O’Shea @irishcentral February 16,2015

Pope Francis is deeply unpopular with many conservatives in the Vatican, an Irish priest who campaigns for a more open church has stated.

Fr Tony Flannery (68) said German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller is the leader of the anti-Francis group.

Muller heads up the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the group that has opposed any liberalizing moves.

“Müller is the leader of an anti-Francis faction in the Vatican in Rome,” he told the Marian Finucane show on RTE Radio.

“He would generally be seen as the leader of that. There is an enormous power struggle going on in the Vatican at the moment. There’s no doubt about that.

“A lot of people there who are very unhappy with the type of thing that Francis is doing…He [Francis] hasn’t as yet touched the power of the CDF, and the information I’m getting is that the CDF’s power is very much as it always was, and they are operating very much as they always have been,” he said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

February 15, 2015

Father Louis J. Kolenkiewicz has been placed on administrative leave by Archbishop Chaput in response to concerns regarding his suitability for ministry. These concerns do not involve allegations of illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor, but constitute alleged violations of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

Additionally, they do not relate to his most recent assignment at Saint Bede the Venerable Parish in Holland (Bucks County), where he is no longer residing, but instead to an issue that first arose in 2005 and that was fully reviewed by law enforcement then and again in 2011. Additional information concerning these same allegations has been received by the Archdiocese, requiring that the matter be reviewed again. In an abundance of caution, Father Kolenkiewicz has been placed on administrative leave.

While on administrative leave, he is not permitted to exercise public ministry, administer any of the Sacraments, or present himself publicly as a member of the clergy. Announcements regarding this matter were made at all weekend Masses at Father Kolenkiewicz’s most recent assignment and counselors were made available to parishioners.

Background Information

Following the 2011 Grand Jury Report, the Archdiocese conducted a broad review of clergy personnel files. As a result of that review, Father Kolenkiewicz was previously placed on administrative leave in September 2011 in response to possible concerns regarding his suitability for ministry at that time related to alleged violations of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries that dated to 2005. Announcements were made at the parish where he was then serving.

His file, like those of all priests placed on administrative leave as part of that review process, was shared with law enforcement and no criminal charges resulted. At that point, an internal investigation was conducted by the Archdiocesan Office of Investigations. The results of this process were submitted to the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibility Review Board (APRRB). The APRRB is comprised of twelve men and women, both Catholic and non-Catholic, with extensive professional backgrounds in the investigation and treatment of child sexual abuse. It functions as a confidential advisory committee to the Archbishop, which assesses allegations of sexual abuse as well as allegations of violations of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries. This body thoroughly reviewed the matter and provided a recommendation to the Archbishop, who made the decision to return Father Kolenkiewicz to active ministry in June 2014.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

DYLAN PURCELL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Sunday, February 15, 2015

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has placed a Bucks County priest on administrative leave while it reviews allegations against him.

The Archdiocese said Sunday it placed Rev. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz, 47, on leave, “in an abundance of caution.”

Archbishop Chaput took the action in response to new information stemming from allegations that were investigated twice before, in 2005 and 2011.

The Archdiocese did not disclose the details of the allegations but said Kolenkiewicz is alleged to have violated ministry standards that spell out the boundaries of appropriate behavior for interacting with children and young people.

The allegations did not involve illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor, the Archdiocese said in a statement. …

David Clohessy, director of SNAP, a national advocacy group for victims of clergy sex abuse, says it can take numerous people to provide information before meaningful change occurs.

“Oftentimes, the priests who are reinstated tend to be very politically connected both inside and outside the church,” he said in an interview Sunday.

“It’s crucial that every single person with information or suspicions come forward, “he said. “Only vigilance protects kids.”

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 15, 2015

Rome

Pope Francis should use his platform as the first pontiff to speak before a joint session of the U.S. Congress to talk about Catholic teaching regarding the unborn, an American cardinal has said.

Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, vice president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said he hopes Francis will use his visit to the U.S. in September to primarily speak about issues facing the family.

“I think, knowing Pope Francis, he’s attuned to the poor and the immigrant,” said DiNardo. “But some people say that he hasn’t said as much about the unborn or about pro-life [issues].”

“But when he talks, he’s very strong on it,” he continued. “So I know he’s going to do that when he comes.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

In earlier remarks, I had observed that the real Pope Francis did finally stand up in mid-February secret meetings with over 160 Cardinals from around the world. Many of the Cardinals had elected him two years ago mainly to save their hide. The pope’s message at these secret meeting has been substantially confirmed in an interview after the meetings by the increasingly powerful Cardinal Daniel DiNardo from Houston (USA), home of the “Bush Family Patriarch” (former US President George H.W. Bush), and of the “Bush Family Brains” (former US Secretary of State James Baker), as well as “oil capital” of the USA. I had observed that for two years, the Jesuit pope has cunningly “fed” to the docile media and to diverse Catholic religious factions, who saw their own advancement opportunities and delusional dreams in Francis’ many contradictory and/or ambiguous, but also intentionally quotable, remarks.

I asked what do we know about Pope Francis after two years? I noted we knew much, including ten matters he strongly prefers:

-Preserving a secretive monarchy with “rubber stamp Cardinals”

-Keeping women barefoot&pregnant with no Pill or plastic surgery

-Pumping the Catholic birth rate to “outbreed the Muslim threat”

-Maintaining exclusive Vatican control of criminal bishops&priests

-Putting gay folks back in “the closet” with still “closeted” priests

-Maximizing German Church tax subsidies from divorced Catholics

-Electing a “right wing, low tax” US president, preferably Jeb Bush

-Pleasing China, oil rich nations and “low tax” billionaire donors

-Invading the Middle East to protect papal donors’ oil rich allies

-Making as next pope, Pietro Parolin, protege of pope’s ally Sodano

Now, many of these Francis priorities were clearly on display in the recent interview, that, most significantly, was conducted after the Cardinals’ several secret meetings with Pope Francis, of the rising US Cardinal DiNardo. A seasoned Vatican bureaucrat, DiNardo had been “formed” originally in the Pennsylvania “pedophile priest paradise”, of infamous Cardinals Rigali, Bevilacqua and Krol, along with the current and seemingly figurehead leader of US bishops, Archbishop Kurtz, another Pennsylvania cleric who operated at times under Bevilacqua’s influence. DiNardo reportedly had been Bevilacqua’s assistant Chancellor in Pittsburgh before his seven year Vatican “tour”. DiNardo has apparently recently replaced the politically inept Cardinal Dolan and the slithering survivor Cardinal O’Malley, as the pope’s top Cardinal on US political matters.

DiNardo’s interview reflects from all indications what Francis actually said to the Cardinals secretly — and not the pious platitudes Francis typically shovels to the public through conflicted papal promoters, like those at the Boston Globe’s CRUX website. Apparently, the real Globe investigative reporters, of earlier disgraced Cardinal Law & Pulitizer Prize fame, are mainly content to sit on their decade old laurels, and await in a few months the Hollywood version starring Michael Keaton in “Spotlight”. Ironically, Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver, is running the pope’s farcical new sex abuse commission. So much for the Globe’s enduring journalistic impact!

Cardinal DiNardo, vice president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, indicated after the pope’s secret meetings in mid-February with 160 Cardinals from around the world, presumably with authoritarian Francis’ implicit approval, that he hopes Pope Francis will use his visit to the U.S. in September to speak primarily speak about issues facing “the family”. Di Nardo indicated that Pope Francis should use his Congressional platform, as the first supreme pontiff to speak before a joint session of the U.S. Congress, to talk about Catholic teaching regarding the unborn. The pope is managing his Church so well, it appears, he thinks he can preach to Congress. Chutzpah,no?

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

DIRK MEISSNER
VICTORIA — The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, Feb. 15 2015

A crumbling, omnipresent red brick building has been a haunting presence for thousands of British Columbia aboriginal people who say they faced physical and sexual abuse at the site.

Many of those who attended see the planned demolition of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School as the removal of a cancer that has been eroding the remote Vancouver Island community of Alert Bay.

St. Michael’s, operated by the Anglican Church from 1930 to 1975, has been the focus of heart-wrenching community debate for decades. Residents and survivors have tried to decide whether to leave the ominous empty hulk of a building as an example of past wrongs, or knock it down and remove it from sight and, hopefully, memory.

The first church-run residential school in the Alert Bay area dates back to 1882.

A massive survivor ceremony hosted by the Namgis First Nation is scheduled for Wednesday on the school grounds to celebrate the demolition of St. Michael’s.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle

A STATEMENT BY WILLIAM WRIGHT, BISHOP OF MAITLAND-NEWCASTLE ON THE
DIOCESE’S RESPONSE TO THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY, THE
BISHOP’S INDEPENDENT ADVISORY PANEL, FR WILLIAM BURSTON AND MGR ALLAN HART

Introduction

I am finally in a position to report to the people of the diocese and to the public on theconclusions and advice of the Independent Advisory Panel. I established ‘the Panel’ to consider what action the diocese should take in regard to adverse findings made in the Cunneen Commission Report concerning Monsignor Allan Hart and Fr Bill Burston. I will also explain the actions I have taken in the light of the Panel’s advice.

The Cunneen Commission

The Cunneen Commission was established in response to growing public concern arising from repeated media stories of conspiracies to cover-up historic crimes of child sexual abuse in the diocese, conspiracies either among diocesan personnel or police or both.

I welcomed the establishment by public authority of a Commission with sweeping powers to gather evidence and compel witnesses. I saw it as a great opportunity to establish the facts of what had actually happened. I indicated that I and the diocese would cooperate fully with the Commission.

As I said at the announcement of the Cunneen and Royal Commissions, in the context of an
apology to victims,

It’s healthy to have to face up to what you have done; to confess the wrong, to stiffen up your resolve that these things must not happen again. There can be no great change while we hide the truth, and especially when we choose to hide it from ourselves. That’s true for individuals, and it’s true for institutions.

Public statement ‘Royal Commission will be healing for the Church’ 20 th November 2012

The Cunneen Commission published three of the four volumes of its Report on 30th May 2014.

Now, as then, I support and accept the Report’s findings, for myself and on behalf of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle

[with video]

In July 2014, following the release of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry report Bishop Bill Wright established an Independent advisory panel to provide advice in relation to the report, and more specifically to address adverse comments the report made against Mgr Allan Hart and Fr Bill Burston.

Including members drawn from both within and outside the diocese, the panel was established to consist of predominantly laity, with a gender balance and inclusive of a number of non-Catholics. As communicated in September 2014, following the announcement of the panel, one member deemed it appropriate to resign their position. This position was filled by a new panel member who also elected to keep their identity confidential.

Another member of the panel also chose to resign from their position, and due to time constraints in the panel formulating their recommendations to Bishop Bill this position was not replaced. As a result of this, the panel in its final form consisted of six members and due to the changes in members since formation, the final report was delayed.

The Independent advisory panel’s final report was presented to Bishop Bill on Tuesday 16th December 2014. After due consideration of this report and following ongoing liaison with legal representatives for both Mons Hart and Fr Burston, Bishop Bill has now approved the report for publication.

Statement from Bishop Bill Wright on the Diocese’s response to the Special Commission of Inquiry Report, the Independent advisory panel and Fr William Burston and Msgr Allan Hart

Download a written statement from from Bishop Bill Wright on the Diocese’s response to the Special Commission of Inquiry Report, the Independent advisory panel and Fr William Burston and Msgr Allan Hart.

Independent advisory panel reports

Formal advice – Fr William Burston
Formal advice – Mons Allan Hart

Supporting Information

Canonical advice – Prof Ian Waters
Fr William Burston – response to panel advice

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Maitland-Newcastle Catholic bishop says two Hunter priests, who have retired after being described as “unimpressive witnesses” at an inquiry, have done nothing illegal.

Bill Wright says he will publicly release today the independent panel’s report into the fate of Monsignor Alan Hart and Father William Burston.

Bishop Wright established the panel because of pressure from the 2013 Special Commission of Inquiry into alleged cover-ups of child sexual abuse.

Monsignor Alan Hart retired recently because of sickness.

The commissioner found the two men were “unsatisfactory witnesses” and Bishop Wright said he is satisfied with the panel’s recommendation to retire Father Burston.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 16, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

The Board of Southern Sydney synagogue has issued a statement distancing itself from views expressed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse…its spiritual leader Rabbi Yosef Feldman was amongst those who gave evidence.

The statement:

Yossi290“The Board of Management of Southern Sydney Synagogue is distressed by statements made during testimony given over the past 2 weeks at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The views expressed in some evidence were extremely troubling and regrettable. We reiterate that these views do not reflect the opinions of the Board of the Synagogue.

The Board confirms the position of the Southern Sydney Synagogue in relation to reporting child abuse. We confirm that according to both Halachic and secular law it is a positive obligation to report any such offences to the secular authorities without delay. We condemn any efforts to silence those who were victimised or their families. Victims and their families should be treated with the utmost compassion and care.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

16 Feb 2015 By Jasmine Stole – jasmine@mvguam.com – Variety News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — Last week, the Concerned Catholics of Guam group wrote to Archbishop Anthony Apuron in connection with the upcoming annual archdiocesan appeal.

The group asked how the funds received in the annual archdiocesan appeal will be used.

The letter, dated Feb. 10, was also sent to Archbishop Martin Krebs, apostolic delegate to the Pacific Islands, and Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

In it, the CCOG lists six questions for the archbishop. According to the archdiocese website, the archdiocesan appeal is meant to assist the local Catholic Church’s seminarians “in their formation to the priesthood,” as well as help chaplains at Guam Memorial Hospital and at the Department of Youth Affairs and provide for priests’ emergency needs. In April 2013, the archdiocese reported over $74, 000 was collected in the annual appeal.

The CCOG wanted to know if these funds would be used to support seminarians not from Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands and how else the archdiocese intends to use the funds collected in the annual appeal.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

TWO senior Catholic priests have stood down from the church after being criticised in a damning report from a state inquiry set up to examine the alleged cover-up of child abuse in the NSW Hunter Valley.

The men, former vicars-­general of the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, retired after a church advisory panel upheld the findings of last year’s special commission of inquiry led by Margaret Cunneen SC.

Monsignor Allan Hart was found by the commission to have given “misleading” evidence in relation to his “central role” in the diocese’s handling of allegations against a serial child-abuser, Denis McAlinden, during the early 1990s.

He was also found to have known about the church’s decis­ion to send McAlinden to Eng­land after the allegations against him came to light. McAlinden, who sexually abused dozens of young girls, died in 2005 before he could be charged by police.

Reverend William Burston, who succeeded Monsignor Hart as vicar-general in 1996, was found by the commission to be “an unimpressive witness” who used the phrase “I can’t recall” or similar terms more than 60 times while on the witness stand.

His “complete absence of recollection in relation to many ­matters concerning McAlinden … was in stark contrast with his sharp and specific recollection of things that might be perceived as tending to explain his past conduct”, the commission found.

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UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

By Trey Bundy / February 14, 2015

The leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – one of the world’s most insular religions – for 25 years has instructed its elders to keep cases of child sexual abuse secret from law enforcement and members of their own congregations, according to an examination of thousands of pages of documents in recent cases.

The religion’s parent organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, issued the directives in at least 10 memos dating back to 1989. Although the memos were anonymously written, Watchtower officials have testified that the organization’s Governing Body approved them all.

The most recent letter, dated Nov. 6, 2014, instructed elders – the spiritual leaders of local congregations – to form confidential committees to handle potential criminal matters internally.

“In some cases, the elders will form a judicial committee to handle the alleged wrongdoing that may also constitute a violation of criminal law (e.g., murder, rape, child abuse, fraud, theft, assault),” the directive stipulates. “Generally, the elders should not delay the judicial committee process, but strict confidentiality must be maintained to avoid unnecessary entanglement with secular authorities who may be conducting a criminal investigation of the matter.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Yes, this week the real Pope Francis did finally stand up, even if only in secret in meetings with the Cardinals who elected him two years ago mainly to save their hide. For two years, he has craftily fed into the media and diverse Catholic religious factions, who delusionally saw their own opportunities and dreams in Francis’ contradictory and/or ambiguous, but also intentionally quotable, remarks. What do we now know after two years? We now know much about Francis, including ten matters he strongly prefers:

1. A secretive absolute monarchy with rubber stamp Cardinals,
2. Barefoot and pregnant women without plastic surgery,
3. Exclusive Vatican control over criminal bishops and priests,
4. Pumping up the Catholic birth rate to “outbreed” Muslims,
5. Putting gay folks back in “the closet” with the many priests there,
6. Maximizing German tax subsidies from divorced Catholics,
7. Electing a right wing US president, preferably Jeb Bush,
8. Pleasing China and “low tax” billionaire Vatican donors,
9. Invading the Middle East to protect oil interests, and
10. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Sodano’s protege, as next pope.

Francis is accelerating the sinking of the Vatican Titanic. It is not too late, however, for Pope Francis yet to salvage the Vatican Titanic. As Pope Francis told the Spanish daily newspaper la Vanguardia, “At my age, I don’t have much to lose.” My own preference is for Pope Francis to exercise the papal equivalent of a “nuclear option” — he should declare unequivocally that no pope is or ever was personally infallible. There is no single statement or action that Francis could make or do to help save the Catholic Church more from the unaccountable “popolatry” that is destroying the Church than making that declaration ending permanently the myth of infallibility. And Francis must know it is true.

Church leaders seem fearful of any changes. Yet, many Catholics and others are finally pressing for permanent changes. They have by now seen Vatican misconduct up close and too often. They now also understand better that many of the Vatican’s frequently ambiguous, if not vague, basic biblical and historical sources supporting papal power have too often been overplayed, if not misused, in encyclicals and a Catechism, to justify selfishly supreme papal power .

Significantly, these permanent changes to a democratic Church structure, that the Catholic majority seeks in good conscience and good faith, differ ultimately from what many misguided clerics in the Vatican now want. As the “infallible Supreme Pontiff” for millions of Catholics, Pope Francis has the best papal opportunity in many years, if not centuries, to fix the broken Catholic Church. This may also be the final papal opportunity to clean up the “holy mess” before the collapse of the “house of cards” (Francis own phrase!).

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Report of Case Study No. 6: The response of a primary school and the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office to the conduct of Gerard Byrnes

Gerard Byrnes

On 4 October 2010, Gerard Vincent Byrnes was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, including a non-parole period of eight years, after he pleaded guilty to 44 child sexual abuse offences against 13 girls who were then aged between eight and 10 years. Mr Byrnes was a teacher and the girls he offended against were all students in his classes. The primary school at which the offences occurred cannot be named in this report because section 10 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1987 (Qld) prevents its publication.

Many of the offences committed by Mr Byrnes involved touching and fondling of various parts of the girls’ bodies, both on the outside of and underneath their school clothing. Ten of the offences were particularly serious and involved digital vaginal and anal rape. With the exception of two counts of indecent treatment that involved Mr Byrnes licking girls’ vaginas, all of the offences – including the digital rape offences – were committed during class time while the girls were either standing beside Mr Byrnes’s desk near the blackboard or sitting on Mr Byrnes’s lap behind his desk.

The school was a non-State school, and was one of 32 primary and secondary schools administered by the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Toowoomba (TCEO).

In 2007, Mr Byrnes was one of two staff members at the school who had been appointed as student protection contacts by the principal, Mr Terence Hayes. Mr Hayes was principal at the time of Mr Byrnes’s offending. Student protection contacts had responsibility for assisting the principal to ensure that suspicions or disclosures of harm, including sexual abuse, were reported to police in accordance with the school’s applicable policies and procedures for student protection (set out in the school’s Student Protection and Risk Management Kit (student protection kit). The other person appointed as a student protection contact was Learning Support Teacher, Ms Catherine Long.1

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

[the report]

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the ‘Report of Case Study No. 6: The response of a primary school and the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office to the conduct of Gerard Byrnes.’

On 4 October 2010, Gerard Vincent Byrnes was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, including a non-parole period of eight years, after he pleaded guilty to 44 child sexual abuse offences against 13 girls who were then aged between eight and 10 years. Mr Byrnes was a teacher and the girls he offended against were all students in his classes.

This report examines the response by the principal and other members of staff of a Catholic primary school in Toowoomba, Queensland, to allegations of child sexual abuse made against Mr Byrnes. It also looked at the response by officers of the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Toowoomba (TCEO), to information supplied by the primary school principal regarding the allegations.

Toowoomba school

The Commissioners found that school Principal Terence Hayes did not comply with the procedures in the school’s applicable student protection kit in that he did not report the allegations of sexual abuse KQ made during the telephone conversation on 3 September 2007 and the meeting on 6 September 2007 to the police. The Commissioners found that Mr Hayes sought to avoid responsibility for reporting to the police these allegations of sexual abuse by maintaining the responsibility to do so was that of the TCEO.

Mr Hayes spoke to TCEO Senior Education Officers Christopher Fry and Ian Hunter but did not inform them that KH had alleged that Mr Byrnes had ‘put his hand up our skirts’. He did not inform Mr Fry and Mr Hunter that he suspected that Mr Byrnes had sexually abused KH.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Pope Francis today delivered an impassioned defense of what has become a leitmotif of his pontificate – the church of mercy that reaches out to the marginalized vs. the church of rules that closes itself into a “closed caste.”

The pope’s homily was addressed to a group of new cardinals gathered for Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. But one had the impression that it was also aimed at in-house critics who have questioned some of Francis’ statements and who have warned against an over-emphasis on mercy at the expense of doctrinal truth.

The pope said the Gospel account of Jesus’ curing of the leper was, in a sense, a model for how the church must operate with compassion to “reintegrate the marginalized” – including fallen-away Catholics – even when it provokes criticism.

“Jesus does not think of the closed-minded who are scandalized even by a work of healing, scandalized by any kind of openness, by any action outside of their mental and spiritual boxes, by any caress or sign of tenderness which does not fit into their usual thinking and their ritual purity,” the pope said.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 15, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

Rabbi Abraham Glick has resigned from his teaching position at Melbourne’s Yeshivah College.

Rabbi Glick gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse .
However, he remains spiritual head of the Yeshivah Centre’s Vaad Ruchni.

Rabbi Glick had been principal of the Yeshivah College between 1986 and 2007. Both David Kramer and David Cyprys, convicted child molesters, committed offences while working at College when Rabbi Glick was principal.

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