ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[with video]

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: January 17, 2015

Move halts suits; archbishop, lead attorney for victims say step is necessary

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday, becoming the 12th in the nation to say its treasury cannot withstand the unprecedented wave of lawsuits from clergy abuse victims.

The move freezes lawsuits against the church, protecting the archdiocese from creditors while allowing it to develop a reorganization plan. It also halts three abuse trials scheduled to begin Jan. 26.

The archdiocese is facing more than 20 lawsuits, with another 100 pending. The bankruptcy filing didn’t provide precise financial figures, but showed estimated liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, estimated assets of $10 million to $50 million, and estimated creditors of 200 to 999.

“Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/survivors,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt. “It will also permit the archdiocese to provide essential services required to continue its mission.”

The bankruptcy filing will allow the archdiocese to continue its daily operations while giving it time to reorganize its finances as a judge determines how much victims may be entitled to receive.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: January 18, 2015

Catholic parishes take steps to limit fallout from archdiocese’s bankruptcy in wake of clergy abuse

Twin Cities Catholics going to mass this weekend saw something waiting for them along with the bulletins and hymnals — fliers explaining their church’s bankruptcy.

The incongruous fact sheets were a stark outline of the reckoning that has come to the spiritual home of 850,000 Minnesota Catholics after decades of sexual abuse by priests, a scandal that has rocked the faith of some believers and the patience of all.

Reflective and questioning, those coming to mass were still coming to terms with a step that their archbishop said Friday had been made necessary by the damage done to victims and to the church.

Some believers, like Amy Holtan of Maple Grove, kept the news firmly within the framework of their faith.

“We have sinners who lead the church: We’re all sinners,” said Holtan, who attended St. Olaf Catholic Church in downtown Minneapolis shortly after the bankruptcy announcement. “But where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. God is in the midst of this.”

Other Catholics, like Mary Schrankler of Woodbury, aren’t planning to set foot in a church anytime soon.

“We need to understand better why this decision was made now,” Schrankler said. “Was it in the best interest of the people abused, or in the best interest of the archdiocese?”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Winona Daily News

Leslie Hittner

I am appalled! Employees of the Catholic Church all over this country are being told that if they express their beliefs with respect to same-sex marriage, artificial birth control, abortion and other politically sensitive issues that the Catholic Church has a position on — and if those statements are not in accordance with the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church — they will be fired.

So much for free speech in the United States. Are similar threats being made elsewhere in the world — Rome, for instance?

One has to wonder when one of the Church’s worldwide leaders, Raymond Cardinal Burke, former bishop of La Crosse and former Archbishop of St. Louis, can make preposterous and outrageous statements about Catholic men and women and still retain his position as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta — itself a demotion from his previous position in the elite Roman Curia.

But then, maybe his statements are in accordance with the beliefs of the church. Maybe he has not overstepped his bounds. Yes, maybe his statements reflect the culture of the vast majority of men in positions of power in the Catholic Church — in Rome and elsewhere around the world.
What did Burke say, do you ask? I will not go into a lot of detail, but feel free to check the Jan. 9 La Crosse Tribune or the Jan. 7 National Catholic Reporter.
In a nutshell — and I mean that literally — Burke asserts that the Catholic Church has suffered a shortage of priests, endured much priestly sexual abuse and experienced a feminization of the church in general because of — get this — the feminist movement in the last half of the 20th century.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Catholics have come to expect papal pageantry and scripted settings from its papacy that still operates often in a medieval manner. But Pope Francis’ trip to the Philippines seems to have taken things to a darker side. First, there were the shocking revelations that young street children were being rounded up by Manila officials and held in horrible conditions to clear the streets for Pope Francis’ visit, as reported here:

* [Daily Mail]

* Now there is a significant short Reuters’ video of Manila’s police preventing peaceful Filipino protesters trying to be visible to the pope from doing so, as seen here:

* [Reuters]

* Of course,if Pope Francis really wants to understand what the street children are facing, he should view the PBS report about Fr. Shay Cullen. This prophetic priest had earlier in 2012 discussed his work, over several decades with thousands of sexually abused Filipino children, on USA PBS-TV’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, indicating that even then, that the Filipino Catholic hierarchy appeared more concerned with curtailing contraception then with curtailing child sex trafficking and abuse. It is inexplicable why Francis did not meet with Fr. Cullen, as appears to be the case. Fr, Cullen has testified as an expert about child sexual exploitation before a an international relations committee of the US Congress.. Please see Fr. Cullen with some of the street children here:

* [PBS]

* And if Francis wants to get a quick view of life for the many Manila poor, he might also watch the 2008 video showing some of the harsh conditions in the Tondo/Manila slum shown here:

* [YouTube]

* This seemingly carefully planned “image management” of Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines is disturbing, especially in view of Francis’ recent remarks about limiting free speech reported here:

* [National Catholic Reporter]

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WORCESTER (MA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester

January 15, 2015, WORCESTER, MA — Following a complete audit of its financial accounting, the Diocese of Worcester has issued online Financial Statements and online and printed editions of the Annual Report on Financial Activities for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2014.

In his letter, the Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, S.T.D., Bishop of Worcester, wrote that the reports continue to demonstrate good stewardship of donations received throughout the year. The Combined Statements of Activities showed an operating surplus of $1,276,057 after expenses totaling $25,271,377 for 2014 compared to a surplus of $122,418 the previous year on expenses totaling $24,750,617.

Bishop McManus wrote that even with a subsidy of $550,000 from Partners in Charity, retirement programs for clergy operated at expenses over revenues by $993,535, up from the previous year’s difference of $715,325. He expressed his gratitude “to the committee that came together last year to begin the task of raising awareness of this critical need in our diocese” including the Celebrate Priesthood event held in the fall of 2014 which will benefit the 2015 fiscal year. The total expenses incurred for retired priests care were 3.6% higher than the previous year.

The other area which he noted as a challenge is the need to service outstanding debt, which cost Central Administration $995,956. He thanked the parish and diocesan staff and volunteers who participated in workshops on parish finances this past year and noted that dedicated assistance to help parishes with their goal of balanced budgets will begin in 2015.

The Diocesan Expansion Fund, which provides “a safe and secure resource for parish and diocesan savings while providing for the borrowing needs of our parishes,” ended the year on a positive note at $1,782,652 including unrealized gains of $839,486. This gain contributed significantly to the overall 1,276,057 increase in unrestricted net assets reported on the combined statement of activities.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/17/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Charles Dickens was quick to note that ‘the dense fog is densest’ and the mud is ‘muddiest’ at ‘the very heart of the fog’, which he identified as the High Court of Chancery. ‘Chancery’, in his sense and in mine, becomes somewhat of a double entendre. For, I think that anyone who watched the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis press conference yesterday afternoon (filmed from the Saint Paul Chancery) will agree that there was ‘fog everywhere’, and very little sun.

Neither the press conferences nor the documents filed as part of the Archdiocese’s petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shed much light on the current situation of the Archdiocese- financially, morally, or otherwise. However, a close reading of the documents, and in particular the ‘Application of the Debtor to Employ Chapter 11 Counsel’ does raise some interesting questions.

1). How much has it cost?

Per the ‘Verified Statement of Richard D Anderson’, included as page 9 of 42 in the PDF file ‘Application by Debtor‘, as of the date of petition (January 16, 2015) the Archdiocese has been billed by Briggs and Morgan for $900,224.11 in fees and $3281 in expenses. The billings began with the filing of an initial retainer of $300,000 on April 29, 2014, which has been periodically refreshed to maintain a minimum trust balance of $250,000. On January 13, 2015, in advance of filing the petition, the Archdiocese deposited an additional $750,000 into the trust account.

The ‘Verified Statement’ indicates that Briggs and Morgan billed, from this account, ‘for any matter arguably related to a potential bankruptcy filing’. However, it also specifies that ‘any matter’ does not include fees and expenses incurred in connection with:

1. the ‘voluminous’ review of clergy files
2. analyses of insurance issues
‘3. voluntary’ public disclosures of accused clergy
4. police reporting
5. insurance coverage litigation
6. development of child protection policies and protocols

According to the ‘Verified Statement’, payments from the Archdiocese have been made out of its general operating fund, which goes a long way towards explaining the $9.1 million deficit that was announced in November of 2014. At that time the Archdiocese suggested that $4.1 million of that amount went towards addressing allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

2). What happened to Brian Wenger?

In bankruptcy proceedings, the proposed attorney for the debtor (in this case the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis) must list any potential conflicts of interest (again see the Verified Statement of Richard D. Anderson). An interesting aspect to the disclosure filed yesterday has to do with the former Chair of Briggs and Morgan, Brian Wenger. Throughout my tenure as Chancellor in the Archdiocese, Brian Wenger was an influential adviser and friend to Archbishop Nienstedt (at least to the extent that anyone could be considered a friend of the Archbishop). Wenger served as Chair of the Archdiocese Finance Council for a number of years, and was active in drawing up a plan for the reorganization of Chancery departments following the embezzlement scandal (a reorganization plan that did not include, interestingly, a Chancellors’ department). The normally reclusive Archbishop would even, on occasion, have the Wenger family at his residence- a circumstance almost unheard of in other contexts. So great was Wenger’s influence, in fact, the the CFO and my co-Chancellor often griped about the extent to which Wenger’s advice was sought and accepted over theirs.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Updated January 17, 2015

Pope Francis said, ‘If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,’

In reaction to the Charlie Hebdo event in Paris, on the plane to the Philippines, Pope Francis told journalists that, ‘If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,’ Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. ‘It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.’ If Pope Francis’ mother had autocratic powers (like he does) and she covered-up and protected criminals like pedophile priests for decades and she abused her powers in limitless ways (like the Vatican had done centuries after centuries) sometimes the only way to expose her crimes is by satire – for the pen is mightier than the sword – see Charlie Hebdo cartoons below. Read also the rebuttal to those who say, “I am not Charlie” below.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Cupich has been in office for a month now
Group has twice invited him to a town hall meeting
Victims are disappointed that he refuses to respond
On anniversary of his installation they’ll leaflet outside church
SNAP: Cleric is still in a parish despite two child sex accusations
Group will hand fliers to mass-goers inviting them to attend an open meeting

WHAT:
On the one month anniversary of the new archbishop’s installation, clergy sex abuse victims and concerned Catholics will hand fliers to church-goers urging them – and him – to come to a “town hall meeting” about a twice-accused predator priest who is still on the job.

WHEN:
Sunday, January 18, 2015 at11:30 a.m.

WHERE:
Outside St Alphonsus Church (1429 West Wellington Avenue, Chicago)

WHO:
Four to five members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY:
Twice SNAP has invited new Archbishop Blase Cupich to a town-hall meeting to educate and warn church-goers about a twice-accused priest working in their parish. The event will be held Thursday, January 22, regardless of whether Cupich responds or not.

[SNAP]

SNAP also wants Cupich to:

1) Suspend Fr. Michael W. O’Connell from his post at St. Alphonsus, and

2) Personally visit St. Alphonsus and Our Lady of the Woods (Orland Park) and beg anyone who may have information or suspicions about crimes or misdeeds by Fr. O’Connell to call police.

Fr. O’Connell was the subject of a criminal child sex abuse investigation and is accused of abusing two boys, in separate incidents.

Fr. O’Connell was temporarily suspended in December 2013 after the archdiocese received an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a boy at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park years earlier. In April of this year, Cardinal Francis George reinstated Fr. O’Connell even though the Cook County Sheriff’s Department never closed the criminal case.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Weeks later, new allegations surfaced involving alleged abuse of a different boy in the 1990s. Authorities have put the investigation on and archdiocesan officials are keeping Fr. O’Connell on the job. Catholic officials claim O’Connell is to avoid the parish school and will not be alone with a child, a contention that SNAP calls “ludicrous and dangerous.”

[BishopAccountability.org]

The “town hall meeting” will be this Thu, Jan 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Belmont Public Library (659 West Melrose Street, 312 744 0166).

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis and I are both children of immigrants who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War. I would have loved him as my pastor in our earlier years. As a “senior citizen beginner” world leader, however, the pope concerns me, especially in light of my long experience as as international lawyer and as a parent. While Francis appears to try to speak humbly at times, he often seems to act arrogantly, as discussed below.

* Pope Francis admitted here [Francis Admits Popes’ Mistakes. Will He Fix Them? ] that he and other popes made mistakes. Fine, yet he seems to operate often, too often, as if he believes that he is “infallible” on complex family, political and economic issues, not just on “faith and morals”. A few examples of this from the pope’s Philippines trip and elsewhere follow.

* Pope Francis is clearly a first rate salesman, but he seems, to me at least, to be at best a second rate manager, and a third rate strategist. He relies too often on secrecy and rhetoric, and on a narrow and opportunistic group of billionaire and clerical advisers, almost all men — “Yes Men”. He frequently pontificates on social, political and economic issues either with insufficient regard for some pertinent factual data or with a lack of direct experience on the issues, or both.. Since he has over a billion followers, and most in the media so often accept as “Gospel” whatever he says, Pope Francis concerns me deeply, more each day.

* Several examples from his trip to the Philippines follow. One example involves politics and economics and another, contraception and confession, and a third, free political speech, and are reported here:

* [National Catholic Reporter]

* [National Catholic Reporter]

* [National Catholic Reporter]

* Two other good examples involve Pope Francis’ serious missteps in international politics. One was his ill advised Vatican welcome of Russia’s President Putin before the Ukraine invasion, as reported here:

* [Daily Kos]

* And the other was on August 18 when Francis ratcheted up the Holy See’s demands for “action” — including a new invasion of Iraq — by the international community, as reported here:

* [National Catholic Register]

* On his current Asian trip, Pope Francis has called on the Philippines’ President Aquino to root out widespread corruption there, indicating “…, it is now, more than ever, necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good,” Francis told the President that his country needed to reform social structures “which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor.” adding “I hope that this prophetic summons will challenge everyone, at all levels of society, to reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor, … ”

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ITALY
Daily Mail (UK)

Lesbian sex, seduction and murder… by NUNS in a Catholic convent: Incredible tale of debauchery that was exposed by a princess whistleblower is unearthed in secret Vatican archive

By JENNY STANTON FOR MAILONLINE

A sordid tale of lesbian sex, murder and seduction in a Catholic convent in 19th-century Rome has been discovered in a secret Vatican archive.

The Sant’Ambrogio scandal involves a beautiful young sister who convinced the nuns she was experiencing visions and visits from heaven – then made them engage in rampant sexual activity.

Herbert Wolf, a leading scholar of the Catholic Church, learned of the Sant’Ambrogio scandal when he became one of the first allowed into the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The naughty nun also entered into an erotic relationship with a theologian on the pretense he was possessed, and is thought to have murdered three other sisters.

But when a German princess fled the convent in disgust, a sex scandal hidden behind a habit for many years was unveiled.

Wolf, a professor of ecclesiastical his­tory at University of Muenster, Germany, made the discovery and has retold it in his book The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio.

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DEUTSCHLAND
WDR

[An accusted pastor does not want to testify at it trial. Now the victim must described the deeds again on the witness stand. The priest is said to have abused his godson and his brother for several years.]

Obwohl er es zunächst angekündigt hatte, wird ein wegen mehrfachen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern angeklagter Pfarrer aus dem Bistum Aachen nicht vor Gericht aussagen. Das hat sein Verteidiger mitgeteilt. Nun müssen die Opfer erneut in den Zeugenstand und die Taten schildern. Der Pfarrer soll sein Patenkind und dessen Bruder über mehrere Jahre missbraucht haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Merkur

[Five years ago the abuse scandal at the Ettal monastery become public. Father G. allegedly abused four minors. As of Thursday he must stand trial.]

Ettal/München – Vor fünf Jahren wurde der Missbrauchsskandal im Kloster Ettal publik. Pater G. soll sich an vier Minderjährigen vergriffen haben. Ab Donnerstag muss er sich vor Gericht verantworten.

Der älteste Fall spielt im Jahr 2001, der jüngste vier Jahre später. Damals war Pater G. Religionslehrer und Präfekt in der Klosterschule Ettal (Kreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen), ein Vertrauensmann für die Schüler.

Er soll dieses Vertrauen missbraucht und sich an vier Schülern vergangen haben. Wie nun feststeht, beginnt der Prozess gegen den Ordensmann am Donnerstag vor dem Landgericht München II.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digitial

[After the ARD documentation of sexual violence in the Regensburg cathedral choir, the Regensburg diocese will take another look at the situation. Clemens Neck, spokesman for the bishop, said there are new allegations.]

Von Stefan Aigner in Nachrichten, Überregional

Nach der ARD-Dokumentation zur sexuellen Gewalt bei den Regensburger Domspatzen will das Bistum Regensburg einen Fall „neu aufrollen“. Bischofssprecher Clemens Neck spricht von „neuen Vorwürfen“, die bisher gegenüber dem Bistum nicht geäußert worden seien. Mit der Wahrheit hat das nur wenig zu tun. Die Schwester des Betroffenen sagt: „Es ist jetzt acht Jahre her, seit sich mein Bruder an das Bistum gewandt hat. Seitdem ist dort alles ganz genau bekannt und dokumentiert.“

Am späten Donnerstagnachmittag wurde die Meldung über die Katholische Nachrichtenagentur (KNA) verbreitet: Nach der ARD-Dokumentation „Sünden an den Sängerknaben“ wolle das Bistum Regensburg den Fall des ehemaligen Domspatzen Georg Auer erneut prüfen. Rechtsanwalt Geedo Paprotta, der die Anträge an das Bistum Regensburg juristisch prüft, habe die Initiative ergriffen, heißt es, weil sich „signifikant neue Details“ ergeben hätten. Er, Paprotta, sei mit dem Fall bislang „überhaupt nicht befasst gewesen“, wird berichtet. Nach der Dokumentation hätten sich „neue Vorwürfe“ ergeben, behauptet der bischöfliche Pressesprecher Clemens Neck und bittet andere Opfer, sich doch weiter an die Diözese zu wenden. Ein durchsichtiger Versuch der Schadensbegrenzung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Der Tagesspiegel

[Harald Dressing, a Mannheim psychologist, said it is still unclear how many minors were sexually abuse by Catholic clergy in Germany and presumably a quantitatives and representative study is not possible.]

von Claudia Keller

Kritik an der katholischen Kirche: Sie kann nicht sagen, wie vielen Kindern und Jugendlichen in der Vergangenheit durch Geistliche und andere Kirchenmitarbeiter sexuelle Gewalt angetan wurde. Das ist wissenschaftlich seriös auch nicht möglich herauszufinden, sagen nun Forscher.

Vor fünf Jahren wurde bekannt, dass am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg in den 70er und 80er Jahren systematisch Jugendliche von Jesuitenpatres sexuell missbraucht wurden. Doch nach wie vor ist nicht klar, wie viele Minderjährige insgesamt im Bereich der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland so etwas erleben mussten. Vermutlich wird es eine solche Statistik nie geben. „Eine quantitative, repräsentative Studie ist nicht möglich“, sagte der Mannheimer Psychologe Harald Dreßing am Donnerstag in Berlin.

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MINNESOTA
Wonkette

by Dan Weber
Jan 16

Minnesota isn’t all Lutherans, though if we’re being honest, yeah, it’s mostly Lutherans. Today, those sola scriptura Scandinavians scored a major victory in their long-running war with Minnesota’s Roman Catholics (shut up, it was too a thing that was happening). The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is filing for bankruptcy, because it turns out that child sexual abuse cases can be rather expensive!

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying it’s the best way for the church to get as many resources as possible to victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“We’re doing the right thing,” the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of Friday’s filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. “This decision reflects the end of a process of putting victims first.”[…]

The filing estimated the archdiocese’s assets between $10 million and $50 million, with liabilities between $50 million and $100 million. It estimated 200 and 300 creditors.

Is the Archdiocese actually doing the right thing, for the children? Or is this another use of the shield of bankruptcy as a weapon, y’know, like they did in the movie 300 and also in Milwaukee? Probably too soon to tell, but we assure you that Yr recovering Roman Catholic Wonket will be ON IT like a cassock on a boner.

Yr Wonket attended Catholic schools in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese. We sang in Catholic choirs growing up, and this past summer, we watched our wonderful sister get married in Minneapolis’ gorgeous Beaux-Arts Basilica of St. Mary. We are still in touch with the nuns who educated us, and our pastor growing up, Fr. John Bauer, remains one of the finest men we have ever met. Really! He played a bit part in our middle school’s production of Oliver! and everything.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan , Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn.

With three clergy abuse lawsuits nearing trial and concerns mounting over the cost of future claims, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection.

• Documents: Explore the filing

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

The Chapter 11 filing buys the archdiocese time to reorganize its troubled finances as it faces huge potential costs tied to clergy sex abuse. Instead of handling claims through civil suits, alleged victims will likely need to file claims in federal court as creditors of the archdiocese.

The shift into bankruptcy court also stops the coming civil trials, which were set to begin Jan. 26.

The move allows the “finite resources” of the archdiocese to go equitably to clergy abuse victims while letting the institution continue its mission, Archbishop John Nienstedt said at an afternoon press conference.

The archdiocese reported assets of $10 million to $50 million — and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million.

Ultimately, the archdiocese may have to sell some assets to pay its debts, Nienstedt said.

He added that he does not intend to resign.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Jay Olstad, KARE January 16, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS – For months people have been predicting the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis would file for bankruptcy. Friday, that prediction became official.

“I’m not surprised. I think it was inevitable,” said Charles Reid, a University of St. Thomas Law professor.

Reid, who is also an expert in Cannon law, was one those who predicted this day.

“They have huge outstanding obligations, they don’t know the amounts,” he said of the Archdiocese. “They don’t know the dollar amounts, but they know the implications are very large.”

Those obligations come from dozens of lawsuits and pending lawsuits over clergy sex abuse.

Church officials reassured parishes and schools they would not be impacted, saying parishes and the Archdiocese have been separate under a religious corporation statute since the 1800’s.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington

[with video]

By James Doubek and Chris Gordon

Jewish women demonstrated Friday outside the D.C. courthouse where an Orthodox rabbi accused of secretly videotaping women taking a ritual bath was appearing, as prosecutors sought to scour his computers for more possible victims.

Barry Freundel, 63, is charged with misdemeanor voyeurism involving six women. Prosecutors say Freundel secretly videotaped women as they undressed to prepare for a ritual bath in the National Capital Mikvah in Georgetown.

A group of demonstrators stood in front of D.C. Superior Court to support women the rabbi is accused of recording. Some carried signs reading “#SAFEMIKVEH” and “#NoPleaDeal.”

“It’s crucial that everyone, Jewish or not, stand up and say, ‘These people need to be treated with respect and with dignity,'” said Carly Pildis, 29, one of the organizers of the demonstration. “I’m Jewish, and if you hurt converts, I’m going to come after you.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger  hopfen@startribune.com

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday, becoming the 12th in the nation to say its treasury cannot withstand the unprecedented wave of lawsuits from clergy abuse victims.

The move freezes lawsuits against the church, protecting the archdiocese from creditors while allowing it to develop a reorganization plan. It also halts three abuse trials scheduled to begin Jan. 26.

The archdiocese is facing more than 20 lawsuits, with another 100 pending. The bankruptcy filing didn’t provide precise financial figures, but showed estimated liabilities of $50 to $100 million, estimated assets of $10 to $50 million, and estimated creditors of 200 to 999.

“Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/survivors,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt. “It will also permit the archdiocese to provide essential services required to continue its mission.”

The bankruptcy filing will allow the archdiocese to continue its daily operations while giving it time to reorganize its finances as a judge determines how much victims may be entitled to receive. …

Not everyone welcomed the move, including Twin Cities victims’ attorney Patrick Noaker, whose client’s lawsuit against the Rev. Thomas Stitts was to go to trial Jan. 26. He said he was disappointed “the archdiocese chose to file bankruptcy rather than have the facts exposed at trial.”

“Bankruptcies do not protect kids,” said Noaker in a written statement. “Trials and disclosures help protect kids. The Archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing just one week before officials would have to testify in a public court with television cameras is not the conduct of an organization committed to transparency and protecting kids.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Joe Augustine

The Archbishop says filing for bankruptcy protection is the best way for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to fairly address victims of sexual abuse. An attorney representing more than a hundred alleged victims says filing for bankruptcy is a necessity.

Patrick Noaker says bankruptcy allows the church to keep its failures in the shadows.

“I don’t know if this process is going to be good for victims,” Noaker said Friday, shortly after the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Noaker represents John Doe 104, a 54-year-old man from Minneapolis who claims he was sexually abused by Rev. Thomas Stitts from 1972 to 1974.

Doe 104 would have been the first alleged victim of sexual abuse to go to trial since the Minnesota Child Victim’s Act made cases like this possible.

The law was passed by the state legislature in May 2013. It established a three year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims outside the old statute of limitations. The window closes May 24, 2016.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

FORMER residents of Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast have issued legal proceedings against the secretary of state over her refusal to have the abuse they suffered investigated as part of the Westminster inquiry into historical sexual crime.

In October, Theresa Villiers announced that Kincora would not form part of the Home Office Independent Panel into sexual abuse and would instead be included in the ongoing Sir Anthony Hart inquiry into church and state abuse currently hearing evidence in Banbridge.

There had been calls for Kincora to come under the Westminster probe as it will have greater powers to compel former security and intelligence service personnel to give evidence.

This is amid allegations from whistle blower Colin Wallace that British army intelligence was aware boys at the home were being abused but that members of the RUC and senior political figures conspired to cover up a paedophile ring that included senior members of the establishment.

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UNITED STATES
Winnipeg Free Press

By: John Longhurst

Four years ago, while visiting Elkhart, Ind., on business, my hosts decided to take me on a tour. We saw historic downtown buildings, the river walk, gardens and magnificent old houses. The tour concluded with a visit to the grave of Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

It wasn’t surprising that they wanted to take me there; Yoder, who died in 1997, was possibly the most prominent North American Mennonite theologian of the 20th century. He was best known for his book The Politics of Jesus, for decades a standard text in many seminaries and Christian universities.
Through that book, and his many other works, Yoder influenced millions with his thoughtful and energetic promotion of Christian pacifism and non-violence — including me. He changed the way I viewed how Christians should interact with the world.

So it came as a shock last week when the results of an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse against him were published.

The allegations go back to the 1970s and 1980s, when Yoder was as a professor at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart. Confronted about his conduct in 1992, Yoder acknowledged that he had behaved inappropriately, but maintained he never meant any harm.

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MINNESOTA
KTTC

[with video]

Bishop Quinn weighs in on bankruptcy rumors; assures parishioners they are not filing at this time

By Alanna Martella, Reporter

WINONA, Minn. (KTTC) — After the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy there was slight concern other diocese involved in the clergy sex abuse cases may do the same. The Diocese of Winona was rumored to be considering filing for bankruptcy in the past but Winona Bishop Quinn said no steps have been taken to date.

The Diocese of Winona has listed the names of 15 priests who have served local parishes with “credible” claims of sexual abuse against them.

Back in March, Bishop Quinn wrote a letter to the Vatican explaining the diocese anticipated more than just those 15 claims and was considering bankruptcy.

“At this time, there are no plans for the Diocese of Winona to file for bankruptcy. However, there are still a number of months which lawsuits can be filed. We need to find that out and perhaps actions may be necessary but, we at this time are not prepared or thinking about bankruptcy,” said Bishop Quinn.

There is still 18 months remaining for victims to report cases of past sexual abuse by priests as stated in the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY EDWARD D. MURPHY STAFF WRITER
emurphy@pressherald.com | 207-791-6465

A Catholic priest who was disciplined in 2000 for running a sexually explicit website for gay clergy has been removed from the priesthood after Maine church officials said they substantiated an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor in the early 1980s.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland said it got word from the Vatican on Friday that its findings against John E. Harris had been upheld and the former priest was “dismissed … from the clerical state.”

Harris, now 59, voluntarily separated himself from a public ministry in 2003 after having served in five Maine parishes over 19 years, said Dave Guthro, the diocese’s spokesman. Guthro said Harris, who now lives in Canada, had waived his right to challenge the accusation of abuse.

The Vatican finding can’t be appealed, Guthro said.

In 2000, Harris was disciplined by the church for setting up the website as part of a gay priests’ online discussion group. The site included photos of the discussion group’s members and pictures of naked men.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jan. 16, 2015

Editor’s Note: ​This story was last updated at 3:10 p.m., central time.

The St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Friday morning in response to pending lawsuits related to the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

The Associated Press first reported the development, long expected in a region gripped for more than a year by a sexual abuse scandal that has seen trust deteriorate in the local church. It is the 12th U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy.

The filing of Chapter 11 reorganization came in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the District of Minnesota. The archdiocese pointedly stated its current situation is “because of the scourge of sexual abuse of minors.”

The archdiocese described bankruptcy as “the fairest way” to resolve existing and future claims of sexual abuse while at the same time continuing its ministries within the local church.

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In its court filing, the archdiocese estimated assets between $10 million and $50 million, and liabilities between $50 million and $100 million. It listed its number of creditors between 200 and 1,000, with clients of attorney Jeff Anderson representing 17 of the 28 largest claimants.

In November, the archdiocese released its 2014 fiscal year financial statements that showed a $9 million deficit in operating activities, net assets down $8.9 million and total cash dropping 60 percent, from $9.5 million to $3.8 million.

At the time, Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt repeatedly used the word “trouble” to describe what the documents detailed. His chief financial officer also allowed for the possibility of bankruptcy as one possible path.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

John Lauritsen

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul has filed for bankruptcy amid lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by some of their clergy members.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said declaring bankruptcy is the “fairest” way to help the victims of sexual abuse.

He said it will also allow the archdiocese to continue the work it does for the more than 800,000 Catholics in the Twin Cities.

Since 2013, the archdiocese has been sued about two dozen times due to sex abuse claims. …

The move by the Archdiocese will likely not impact Catholic churches and schools, but at St. Olaf’s in Minneapolis Friday, long-time Catholics said it’s only one step in recovering from clergy sex abuse allegations.

“That’s not the center of our faith,” one parishioner said. “I think when people lose faith in their center, that’s when they leave the church.”

Others said filing for bankruptcy gives the archdiocese a chance to do the right thing.

“I empathize,” another churchgoer said. “Whatever has to be, they have good administrators, and I think they are doing the best they can.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* It has been a very tough 24 hours for a weary Pope Francis. He is a 78 year old celibate bachelor, yet he seems to like to pontificate, with little or no input from female advisers, as if he is also “infallible” about families He also claims to care about innocent children, yet he often seems almost oblivious, if not indifferent, about them. The pope, in effect, just indicated to 1,000 families to keep having more Catholic babies in overpopulated and impoverished Manila, and, for good measure, also to frown on same sex marriages. What is really up here?

* Meanwhile, an Irish priest prophet, Fr. Shay Cullen, in effect, just pointed the finger on worldwide CNN at Manila’s Catholic hierarchy for failing to protect street children, including those reportedly horribly locked up to make sure they were off camera during the pope’s Manila visit.

* Fr. Cullen had earlier in 2012 discussed his work, over several decades with thousands of sexually abused Filipino children, on USA PBS-TV’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, indicating even then that the Filipino Catholic hierarchy appeared more concerned with curtailing contraception then with curtailing child sex trafficking and abuse. It is inexplicable why Francis did not meet with Fr. Cullen ,who has testified as an expert about child sexual exploitation before a an international relations committee of the US Congress.. Please see:

* [PBS]

* As expected, Manila’s Cardinal Tagle took Francis for a tour of a showpiece center for street children next to Manila’s lavish Cathedral, unlike the harsher centers that many of the estimated 500,000 Filipino street children may be confined to when not living on the street. In a statement issued after the visit, the center said that by taking the time to meet “many children who faced horrors of the street like begging, violence, drugs (and) prostitution,” Pope Francis demonstrated “that he is the Pope of the forgotten.” Really? What about the street children Fr. Cullen brought up on CNN yesterday and in the [Daily Mail] ? How is Pope Francis’ by banning contraception helping these children and their families? What is he thinking?

* And Archbishop John Nienstedt just had his Minneapolis Archdiocese file for bankruptcy, surely with Vatican concurrence. This will likely assure delays in, if not denials of, the delivery of overdue justice for numerous survivors of priest child sexual abuse. It also helps Nienstedt and his colleagues, conveniently, avoid having to testify under oath soon in some messy child abuse trials.

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MINNESOTA
GlobalPost

AFP

A US archdiocese said Friday it is filing for bankruptcy to compensate victims of sexual abuse, the 12th Roman Catholic district to do so in a years-long scandal that has rocked the Church.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is filing for bankruptcy for the “reorganization of the archdiocese corporation,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a letter posted on its website.

“I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us,” he wrote.

“Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/ survivors.”

He insisted that the diocese’s mission would not be affected and that it will continue to provide “essential services” to the community.

It is the 12th diocese in the United States to declare bankruptcy in the past decade in order to free assets to repay victims of sexual abuse.

Nienstedt said the church assumes full responsibility for any abuses committed and that it supported victims.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Jan. 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 )

A man too dangerous to be a Catholic priest has been formally expelled by the Vatican. But no one seems to know where he is. Maine’s bishop must do more to protect children from him.

[Bangor Daily News]

In 1999, Fr. John E. Harris was disciplined for launching a sexually explicit website. In 2003, after an accusation of nude swimming and boating with youths, he was suspended.

Now, finally, Catholic officials in Rome have finally defrocked Fr. Harris from the priesthood. Why has it taken, at best, a dozen years?

Maine’s bishop should now hold a news conference to warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about Harris. The only decent move would be to alert as many people as possible about his crimes.

It’s irresponsible for bishops to recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, transfer and protect predators like Harris and then – when they’re finally exposed – cut them loose on society with little or no warning.

The Vatican doesn’t defrock priests willy-nilly. It’s a long process. It’s usually not done unless the cleric’s crimes are many or very well-documented. So once Rome has defrocked a priest, it’s very clear he is in fact guilty of molesting children.

We beg Maine Catholic officials to use their vast diocesan resources – parish bulletins, church web sites, and pulpit announcements – to protect kids and warn parents about a potentially dangerous child predator.

And we beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Harris – or cover ups by his supervisors or his colleagues – to speak up, call police, protect others, expose wrongdoers and start healing.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

I spoke with a bishop friend this week and asked him to explain to me just exactly what a, “radical feminist” is. He said he didn’t have the foggiest.

Since I wrote my last blog article, I’ve been thinking a lot about poor Cardinal Ray Burke. He would have been a young adult during the Second Vatican Council when Catholics’ proverbial cheese was moved. Being from Wisconsin where people take their cheese seriously enough to adorn their heads with it during sporting events, I realized that cheese moving is no easy thing for poor Ray. So, on this whole “respect women” and “women’s equality” thing, he’s just stuck – culturally incapable of moving his cheese. After all, there’s a Green Bay Packers game this Sunday and that cheese needs to be firmly affixed to his head, like for any good Wisconsin native.

In all seriousness, Ray’s father died when he was very young. I have to wonder how that loss was handled and how all that impacted his development, including his views on gender roles. He speaks of the importance of manly male fathers forming their children properly, yet it seems his own father was gone long before Ray hit adolescence. Could he be projecting his romanticized notions of fathers (and mothers) upon the world as ideal based upon a void from his own life? His words certainly seem to come from an alternate reality than the one I know, but then my father is still with me. I do not have to imagine what it’s like to have a father; I just experience it.

Nonetheless, sometimes when you so insistently remain in one place as Ray tries to do, you wind up moving in comparison to others. If they move forward, you move backward in comparison. Similarly one’s actions or inaction can result in unintended consequences.

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UNITED STATES
Communities Digital News

by Terry Irving – Jan 16, 2015

WASHINGTON, January 16, 2015 – With the events of the past weeks, the media herd is only talking about the evils of Islam. I would like to take a minute to discuss a very different religious institution that truly deserves to be declared a RICO criminal organization, have it’s assets seized, it’s property sold at auction, and any official status revoked—especially any opportunity to be involved in the care or instruction of children.

Worked it out yet?

OK, here’s a joke that might help clarify things.

“Things are getting better. It’s almost safe to build a children’s playground within 500 yards of a Catholic Church. Not yet, but they’re getting there.”

I’m not talking about the religion. I think Catholics should be free to worship as the spirit leads them without any fear of harm or state-mandated persecution. I just think they have to give up the unimaginable wealth and centuries of accrued political power that has apparently been used to cover up the sexual, physical, and mental abuse of children around the world.

Their churches should be seized and sold at auction, their schools should be closed (at least until they can be certified as safe,) and, assuming that there is anything left in the Vatican’s bank accounts after every be-ringed hand in Italy has taken a portion, the money should be used to treat the victims of the predators in their ranks.

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CANADA
Indian County Today Media Network

From Lab Rats to Psychics: Canadian Residential Schools Tested ‘Primitive’ Aboriginal Children for ESP

Children ripped away from their parents during the boarding school era in Canada were not only subject to starvation in the name of nutrition experiments, but were also tested for extrasensory perception, or ESP, newly uncovered research shows.

Fifty children between ages 6 and 20 were the subjects of the series of tests at the Indian Residential School in Brandon, Manitoba, during the 1940s, CBC News reported.

The work was uncovered by indigenous community worker Maeengan Linklater. She in turn sent it on to McMaster University researcher Ian Mosby, who had revealed equally troubling nutritional and medical tests on children in British Columbia boarding schools a couple of years ago.

In these tests, designed to gauge whether the “primitive” Indigenous Peoples had some sort of sixth sense, children “were tested based on their ability to guess what was written on a card that was being looked at by the researcher—essentially reading someone’s mind,” the Washington Post reported. “But the results were inconclusive: The children’s performance was no better than chance.”

The study called them “willing participants,” the Washington Post said, because they did it for candy. The Journal of Parapsychology published the inconclusive results in 1943.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

PORTLAND, Maine — The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has dismissed John E. Harris from the priesthood permanently for a substantiated claim of sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1980s, Maine Bishop Robert P. Deeley announced on Friday.

Harris, who has not been in active ministry since 2003, can no longer function or present himself as a priest, and the Vatican’s decision is final, without an option for appeal, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

The complaint was received from an individual in March 2013, according to the diocese.

Disciplined in 2000 for his involvement in an adult-content website, Harris returned to ministry until August 2003, when he requested a leave of absence. A month later, Harris became the focus of a new investigation involving inappropriate behavior with a minor that had taken place approximately 20 years earlier and did not involve sexual contact, the diocese detailed in its statement.

Harris never returned to active ministry. The diocese notified civil authorities and released the results of its investigation to the media and to parishioners. The diocese publicly asked for anyone with information about the case to come forward. The later report to the diocese in 2013 marked the first time a complainant had accused Harris of sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: January 16, 2015

Archdiocese declares bankruptcy. Victims’ attorney supports the church’s move, but other victims say filing is a cop-out.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, saying it cannot meet its financial obligations from an unprecedented wave of clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

“I make this decision because I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us,” wrote Archbishop John Nienstedt on the archdiocese’s website Friday morning.

In a Friday afternoon news conference, Nienstedt said, “We continue to facilitate the healing process for this local church” to restore confidence in the church.

“Obviously, we have a long journey ahead of us,” he said.

The move freezes lawsuits against the church, protecting the archdiocese from creditors while allowing it to develop a reorganization plan.

“Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the Archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/ survivors,” Nienstedt said. “It will also permit the Archdiocese to provide essential services required to continue its mission within this 12-county district.”

Nienstedt said he does not intend to resign. …

Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul attorney handling most of the clergy sex abuse cases, supported the archdiocese’s filing for bankruptcy. “It is our belief that the action taken today is necessary,” Anderson said Friday.

But other victims’ advocates charge that the move is one more example of the archdiocese shirking its responsibility to abuse victims.

“Why is it that when all the dioceses file bankruptcy, they do it on the eve of a trial?” asked Bob Schwiderski, longtime advocate for abuse survivors. “Is it because they can’t put their hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth?”

Schwiderski was referring to three clergy abuse trials slated for Jan. 26, that will now be halted. The bankruptcy also halts all future trials.

All cases and claims will be reorganized in bankruptcy court, Anderson said.

“The good news is that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has insurance and it has a lot of it,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson

The announcement Friday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed for bankruptcy does not affect the Diocese of Winona, which last year raised the possibility of doing the same but said it would depend on whether it’s presented with new legal claims.

“The action of the archdiocese has no affect on our plans here,” said Winona Diocese spokesperson Joel Hennessy on Friday. “We have no plan to file (bankruptcy) at this time.”

The Winona Diocese was named, along with the archdiocese, in a suit brought by a Twin Cities man who claimed to have been sexually abused by former priest Thomas Adamson. Settlement of that suit was announced last October, though the amount of the financial settlement was not disclosed.

Following the announcement of that settlement, the Winona Diocese stated it had no plans to file bankruptcy. Hennessy said back in October that the diocese can’t know how many people may sue in the remaining 21 months a new state law allows.

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PHILIPPINES
The Tablet (UK)

16 January 2015 by CNS

Pope Francis did not disappoint hundreds of former street children who were part of a massive campaign to show him one of the centres where they have found safety and love.

Although it was not in his official programme, Pope Francis walked out of Manila’s Immaculate Conception Cathedral after Mass on Friday and across the street to the Blessed Charles de Foucauld Home for Girls, which is run by the Tulay Ng Kabataan foundation.

Accompanied by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a frequent guest, the pope spent about half an hour with some 320 boys and girls and young adults from a number of TNK homes in metropolitan Manila.

“It was a beautiful, beautiful encounter,” Cardinal Tagle told reporters later. “You could see the Holy Father was in his element.”

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TENNESSEE
WJHL

LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRN) – A former youth pastor at a Lebanon church was arrested Wednesday on charges of statutory rape.

The Wilson County Sheriff’s Department said the allegations against Christopher Ross were reported to authorities in late 2014.

The juvenile reported Ross began abusing her with inappropriate advances in 2010. The advances then allegedly progressed into sexual contact that lasted until early 2012.

Ross, 43, was taken into custody following a lengthy investigation.

Ross is charged with 10 counts of statutory rape by an authority figure.

It is unclear if there are any additional victims.

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MINNESOTA
NPR

[Letter from Archbishop John Nienstedt – Source: St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese]

[Court documents – Source: Jeff Anderson & Associates
Application by Debtor to Employ Chapter 11 Counsel
Archdiocese Chapter 11 Petition
Archdiocese Signature Declaration
Debtor’s Verified Application for Order
Notice of Intention to Seek Expedited Hearing ]

JANUARY 16, 2015
SCOTT NEUMAN

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has become the 12th U.S. diocese forced into bankruptcy by claims from alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.

In a letter posted Friday on the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop John Nienstedt acknowledged the devastating impact of the stories of abuse by priests and the aim of “continuing to work with those representing victims/survivors to make sure we are doing all we can to prevent sexual abuse of minors, as well as to be instruments of healing for those who have been abused.

“To that end, I have directed that a petition for a Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Archdiocese Corporation be filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of Minnesota. Please note: this filing does not include parishes and schools,” Nienstedt wrote.

The filing does not come as a surprise. As Minnesota Public Radio notes: “In November, archdiocese chief financial officer Thomas Mertens called bankruptcy protection “a way to respond to all victims/survivors by allowing the available funds to be equitably distributed to all who have made claims. …”

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MINNESOTA
Reuters

(Adds details from lawyer representing sex abuse claimants, details from archdiocese)

By David Bailey

Jan 16 (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying the move will allow its finite resources to be distributed among victims and survivors of child sex abuse by clergy.

The archdiocese, which has been criticized for its past handling of clergy abuse cases, is the 12th Catholic diocese in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection over sex abuse claims. Most of the Minnesota cases date from the 1950s to the 1980s.

“I make this decision because I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a statement on the archdiocese’s website.

The filing does not include parishes or schools and will allow the archdiocese to provide essential services, he said.

About 825,000 Catholics live in the archdiocese, which has 187 parishes and 90 schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. …

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who has brought dozens of cases against the archdiocese, said the filing halts trials set for later in January, but will not stop disclosure of clergy accused of sex abuse.

“It is our belief that this action taken today is actually necessary, and comes as no surprise,” Anderson told a news conference.

He said the archdiocese is unable to satisfy the claims against it, but has insurance from the 1950s onward that he believes will play an important role in the case.

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection Friday in what’s become a common move for dioceses around the country facing heavy financial pressure from sexual abuse claims. Some questions and answers about the news:

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

Minnesota state lawmakers opened a floodgate of new litigation with a legal change in 2013. It opened a three-year window setting aside the statute of limitations on sexual abuse, allowing attorneys to file claims that in some cases were decades old. In addition to some two dozen lawsuits filed since then, attorneys have given notice that more than 100 cases could also be filed. The archdiocese recognized it didn’t have enough assets to pay all potential claims and keep operating.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH ALL THOSE LAWSUITS NOW?

All victims’ lawsuits, including a few cases that are scheduled for trial later this month, will be halted and they will fold into the Chapter 11 reorganization process. The victims become creditors, and can look to payment from the archdiocese’s assets and insurers.

WHAT WILL VICTIMS GET?

Good question. Friday’s filing gave only a broad range of church assets (between $10 million and $50 million, with much more in liabilities). Some attorneys say the bankruptcy process can open a path to assets that might have appeared to be off-limits to abuse victims. It’s unclear if that will happen in the archdiocese case. Typically, payouts in bankruptcy court come from church assets and insurers. The archdiocese recently sued several of its insurers, asking a federal judge to order that the carriers cover claims and legal fees.

Victims will likely get different amounts, depending on the severity of abuse and harm suffered. It would likely be up to a trustee or creditor’s committee to allocate funds.

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MINNESOTA
Pulso (Mexico]

AP

La Arquidiócesis de St. Paul y Minneapolis se ha acogido a protección de las leyes de bancarrota, diciendo que es la mejor manera de entregar la mayor cantidad de recursos a las víctimas de supuestos abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes.

Abogados dela arquidiócesis presentaron la solicitud de bancarrota el viernes ante el Tribunal Federal de Bancarrota.

Autoridades eclesiásticas han dicho que la bancarrota era una opción en momentos que la entidad enfrenta demandas de víctimas de abuso sexual. Se han presentado unas dos docenas de demandas y la arquidiócesis ha recibido notificaciones de unas 100 reclamaciones potenciales adicionales.

La Arquidiócesis St. Paul-Minneapolis es la número 12 en solicitar la protección de las leyes de bancarrota por reclamaciones de abuso sexual.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/16/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

In a move that surprised no one (except perhaps the priests, who were not notified in advance of news bulletins by the AP and others), this morning the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis became the 12th Catholic diocese in the United States to file for bankruptcy protection. Being the twelfth to file should mean that the Archdiocese has the benefit of the hard won experiences of other dioceses. However, not all Catholic bankruptcy filings are equal.

When the Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy in January of 2014 (becoming the 11th to file) the move was heralded by plaintiffs’ attorneys as well as diocesan officials as being ‘in the best interests’ of the 362 victims that had filed sexual abuse cases against the diocese, the Ursuline Sisters, and the Jesuits. Described as a ‘consensual, prepackaged bankruptcy’ the reorganization plan filed by the diocese in November of 2014 included not only a $16.4 million settlement for victims of clergy sexual abuse, but also allowed a wrongful termination lawsuit to proceed. The petitioner in that case was a former Catholic school teacher who was fired for being unmarried and pregnant (the teacher was in a same-sex relationship). The reorganization plan was approved by a federal bankruptcy judge this week, less than a year after the diocese officially filed for bankruptcy protection.

As quick as that process was, the record for speedy exits still goes, I believe, to the Diocese of Tucson, which became the second Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection when it filed in September of 2004 and the first to emerge when a bankruptcy judge approved its reorganization plan in July of 2005. That plan provided $22 million for settlements with more than 34 plaintiffs. The money for the settlements came from insurance payouts, the selling of church property (mainly land that was to have been used for new parishes for the growing diocese), and $2 million pledged by the parishes of the diocese, whose pastors promised to ‘dig, scrimp and save’ to make up their portion of the settlement (parish assets were not included in the reorganization plan).

On the other end of the spectrum is the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It filed for bankruptcy protection in January of 2011, and that process is still ongoing today. The reorganization plan filed by the Archdiocese in February of 2014 included only $4 million to compensate 130 victims of sexual abuse by clergy. Victims quickly rejected the plan, and multiple attempts at mediation have failed. One of the main points of dispute remains the $55 million cemetery trust fund established by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the former Archbishop of Milwaukee, in advance of the bankruptcy filing. Almost all commentators agree that the Milwaukee bankruptcy is unique for the hardball tactics used by the Catholic Church, and for the Archdiocese’s attempts to limit the claims filed by alleged victims of abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Los Angeles Times

By BRITTNY MEJIA

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy Friday following years of sex abuse claims that have plagued the jurisdiction.

The purpose of filing for bankruptcy is to provide the “fairest and most helpful recourse” for victims and survivors who have made claims against the archdiocese, Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a Friday letter.

The archidocese has been criticized heavily for its handling of the sensitive issue.

“This is not an attempt to silence victims or deny them justice in court,” Nienstedt wrote in the letter. “On the contrary, we want to respond positively in compensating them for their suffering.”

The archdiocese, which serves about 825,000 Catholics in the Twin Cities area, is the 12th U.S. diocese to seek bankruptcy protection after sex abuse claims. The archdiocese has 21 pending clergy sex abuse cases and faces the potential for more than 100 additional suits.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
New York Daily News

[Letter from Archbishop John Nienstedt – Source: St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese]

[Court documents – Source: Jeff Anderson & Associates
Application by Debtor to Employ Chapter 11 Counsel
Archdiocese Chapter 11 Petition
Archdiocese Signature Declaration
Debtor’s Verified Application for Order
Notice of Intention to Seek Expedited Hearing ]

BY NICOLE HENSLEY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, January 16, 2015

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed for bankruptcy in light of dozens of clergy sex abuse claims.

The decision puts several lawsuits alleging sexual assaults against the archdiocese on hold pending the outcome of the bankruptcy case.

“We’re doing the right thing,” Rev. Charles Lachowitzer said before Friday’s filing. “This decision reflects the end of a process of putting victims first.”

The archdiocese faces about two dozen lawsuits with more than 100 claims that could develop into lawsuits before May 2016.

By petitioning for a Chapter 11 reorganization, Archbishop John Nienstedt said the church can focus on victims.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
San Antonio Express-News

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Some attorneys and victims groups are reacting differently to a bankruptcy filing by Minnesota’s largest Catholic archdiocese.

Mike Finnegan is an attorney for a law firm that repeatedly sued the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese for abuse victims. His firm is now working with it on child protection issues. Finnegan says the filing won’t stop scrutiny.

But Patrick Noaker (no-AHK’-er), another attorney for victims, says he’s disappointed. He had a case due for trial this month that is now on hold, and said the filing blocks him from revealing information that could keep children safe in the future.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests accused the archdiocese of filing to avoid embarrassing questions in court.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

January 16, 2015 10:22 am | Author: berger

The St. Louis archdiocese website has been re-designed and now has nearly indentical tabs for “reporting sexual abuse” and “reporting financial misconduct.” (“So protecting their money is as important as protecting our kids?” asks a critic.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Jan 16, 2015

After a few weeks of taking a break and catching my breath, I am happy to be back and look forward to a great new year of shining some light and pointing to hope in the dark pockets of the Christian community. At least that remains my prayer in 2015.
_____________________________________________________________________________
He’s innocent until proven guilty

During the recent holidays, it seems as if I heard that phrase over and over again whenever the name of Bill Cosby surfaced in a news article or in a conversation. Just recently, I read a report about a Bill Cosby concert that was interrupted by people heckling him about the growing mass of allegations that he has raped numerous women over the past decades. After the show, one of his supporters told a reporter, “I don’t believe he’s been charged with anything and at least in this country you’re innocent until proven guilty.” Similarly, in a recent discussion I was having with a group of friends, those who expressed an opinion that Bill Cosby had committed these assaults were scolded by one member of the group for “jumping the gun” and “convicting him” without all of the information. This person strongly suggested that we refrain from casting “judgment” unless or until Cosby was criminally charged and a verdict rendered.

These type of “innocent until proven guilty” responses to allegations of sexual abuse are not limited to public figures. When a member of a faith community is accused of sexually abuse, it is not uncommon for leaders and other members to caution everyone to hold off forming any opinions and to give the accused the benefit of the doubt until he has been “proven guilty” in a court of law. All too often, this results in the alleged offender being treated like the victim while the victim is ignored, marginalized, and sometimes even rebuked.

So, is a person who has been accused of sexual abuse “innocent until proven guilty”? Yes! Under the law. One legal dictionary states, “One of the most sacred principles in the American criminal justice system holds that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.” This simply means that a person charged with a crime is legally innocent and cannot have their freedom taken away (sent to prison) unless and until they have been proven guilty in a court of law. It is critical to remember that “innocent until proven guilty” is a legal term and that just because a person is viewed under the law as “innocent” does not mean that they did not commit the offense. It simply means that a jury was unable to unanimously agree that the government was able to prove the crime beyond and to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt. It means that the defendant will be considered “innocent” under the law and will not lose his freedom. It does not mean the offense never occurred. Case in chief: the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Though the judicial system determined that he was “not guilty”, does that mean that he didn’t murder Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman? Does the fact that he was found “not guilty” mean that we should have no concerns being alone with him…especially when he’s angry?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TEXAS
Burnt Orange Report

Church Fighting Plano’s LGBT Non-Discrimination Ordinance Was Once Home To Minister Caught in Underage Sex Sting

By Katie Singh on JANUARY 14, 2015

Last month, the Plano City Council passed a non-discrimination ordinance that extended protection to its LGBT citizens. As we reported then, the measure has drawn the ire of many conservative Christians angry that the law doesn’t protect their right to be bigoted. Since the ordinance passed, they have been organizing in an effort to repeal the ordinance.

Opponents of the ordinance have launched a website to gather signatures for repeal, www.planoequalrights.com/, with the banner “Plano Citizens United: Equal Rights For All/Special Rights For None.” The site is home to lots of reactionary, discriminatory gems such as these:

“Under Plano’s new ordinance (2014-12-7) anything any business owner or employee says or does to another person regarding the person’s gender, sexuality, or “identity” may be a CRIME. Plano now CRIMINALIZES Christians’, Jews’, Muslims’, and others’ beliefs about men and women. City bureaucrats will determine whether citizens’ statements and actions are “unjust”. This policy subjects citizens to CRIMINAL SANCTIONS for our beliefs on topics affecting much of human interaction and is a direct threat to our freedoms of both speech and religion!”

As Towelroad reported, opponents of the ordinance will need 3,822 signatures by January 20 to qualify their repeal effort for the ballot. The efforts are being led by the Houston-based Texas Pastor Council, the same organization whose petition to repeal a similar ordinance was rejected due to invalid signatures, leading to a lawsuit.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

The chairman of an inquiry into alleged historical abuse at care homes in Northern Ireland is to appeal a ruling that he unfairly denied legal representation to a victim.

Earlier this week High Court judge Mr Justice Treacy held that a bar had effectively been erected against the woman who claims she was molested by a “very high-profile figure”.

But his former judicial colleague, Sir Anthony Hart, has now lodged a challenge to the verdict.

Judges in the Court of Appeal on Friday listed the case for hearing at the start of March.

The woman at the centre of the legal battle is due to give evidence at the ongoing Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — One of our area’s most prominent rabbis, Barry Freundel, has his case continued until next month.

The 62-year-old from Kesher Israel in Georgetown faces voyeurism charges. He is accused of secretly videotaping women in a ritual bath.

Freudel was arrested at his house, just blocks from the synagogue. Kesher Israel has suspended him without pay.

On Friday, his case was continued until Feb. 19th. Prosecution asked for more time to examine evidence.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Prosecutors get delay in case of Barry Freundel, the rabbi charged with voyeurism

By Keith L. Alexander January 16

Prosecutors investigating the case of the Orthodox rabbi charged with secretly videotaping nude women as they prepared for a ritual bath asked a D.C. Superior Court judge Friday for additional time as they continue to review and gather evidence in the case.

At a hearing Friday before Judge Franklin Burgess Jr., prosecutors asked to set a new hearing date of Feb. 19 in the case of Barry Freundel. Freundel was arrested and charged in October with misdemeanor voyeurism involving six women. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

The judge granted the delay. It’s not the first time prosecutors have asked for additional time in the case. At a previous hearing in November, prosecutors requested an extension as they looked for any additional victims.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
Catholic Herald

January 14 2015 Written by Brian T. Olszewski, Catholic Herald Staff

Attorneys for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and “attorneys for certain clients,” i.e., Jeff Anderson and Associates, will be in the courtroom of Chief Judge Susan V. Kelley of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Thursday, Jan. 15, as she hears a motion filed by Anderson to compel the archdiocese to produce unredacted documents and proof of claims forms relevant to the archdiocese’s latest motions for summary judgment.

“The unredacted documents and proof of claim forms contain the identities of witnesses with discoverable information relevant to certain claimants’ opposition to the archdiocese’s motions for summary judgment,” Anderson argued in the Jan. 8 motion. “As such, certain claimants respectfully request the court to compel the archdiocese to produce the unredacted documents and relevant proof of claim forms.”

Four days later, attorneys for the archdiocese responded, noting that it was following the orders of the court in not releasing documents with unredacted names.

The bar date (Feb. 1, 2012, by which victims could file claims) order “provides that confidential abuse survivor proofs of claim are confidential and that only certain ‘permitted parties’ can have access to the confidential abuse survivor proofs of claim,” the archdiocese’s attorneys wrote, noting that an individual claimant’s attorneys were not “permitted parties” and could only have access to the proofs for the claimants they represent.

The archdiocesan attorneys wrote that the confidentiality agreement, which all people with the confidential abuse survivor proofs of claim signed, “prohibits the debtor (archdiocese) from providing copies of the confidential abuse survivor proofs of claim to the Anderson firm.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Reuters

(Adds details on archdiocese, number of filings in the United States, background)

Jan 16 (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying that it will allow its finite resources to be distributed among victims and survivors of child sex abuse by clergy.

The archdiocese, which has been criticized for its past handling of clergy abuse cases, is the 12th Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection under sex abuse claims, according to Bishopaccountability.org, which tracks abuse cases.

“I make this decision because I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a statement on the archdiocese’s website.

The filing does not includes parishes or schools and will allow the archdiocese to provide essential services, he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Live stream of press conference held by attorney Jeff Anderson in St. Paul, Minn. regarding the bankruptcy filing by the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[accused Minnesota offenders]

JANUARY 16, 2015
By: Mike Finnegan

Welcome to our Bankruptcy Blog. I am an attorney working with Jeff Anderson and a team of lawyers on the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis bankruptcy cases in St. Paul. Our firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, has been working with survivors of clergy sexual abuse for over 30 years.

The purpose of this blog is to be a source of information and commentary on the news coming out of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis bankruptcy court process. As motions are filed by the parties and orders issued from the court, I will provide interpretations of court documents so readers are better able to understand what is happening on a weekly basis.

Current Status

As of today, January 16, 2015, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a liquidation bankruptcy process in which the debtor, the Archdiocese, maintains control of its business and property while the court supervises its restructuring and the implementation of a plan to repay creditors. The creditors in this case consist mainly of individual survivors of sexual abuse by priests or other employees of the Archdiocese.

What Does This Mean For Survivors?

We will file cases on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse who were abused by clergy in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis who we represent. The cases will be filed in bankruptcy court instead of state court. Just because the Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy, does not mean that the Archdiocese is or will go out of business. They have filed for reorganization rather than liquidation and will still be operational during and after the bankruptcy. We are experienced in this area of law and have handled several other diocesan bankruptcy cases before.

Claims Bar Date

An important part of this process provides that the court set a “claims bar date,” which is a date marking the deadline by which all survivors must formally file a claim with the court. After the claims bar date, a survivor will be precluded from bringing a claim and could be denied any sort of recovery from the Archdiocese. The bankruptcy court has yet to establish a claims bar date but we expect the court to do so in the coming months.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Jan. 16, 2015

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

Archbishop John Nienstedt is exploiting secular bankruptcy laws to protect himself and his top aides from embarrassment and inconvenience. This decision is not about money, it’s about selfishness.

It’s no coincidence that Nienstedt does this on the eve of three trials at which dreadfully damaging testimony by a range of victims, witnesses and whistleblowers would have been laid bare for the public to see. That’s almost always the way Catholic church bankruptcy filings happen.

Nienstedt will say it’s about helping to make sure everyone gets paid. But it’s really about making sure he and his colleagues get off the hook, avoiding having to answer tough questions in open court about how they are concealing and have concealed heinous crimes against kids.

And if there’s one Catholic official who wants to avoid this, it’s Nienstedt. What’s known now about dozens of Twin Cities predator priests is awful. But if even one of these cases would go to trial, even more shocking facts would come to light. And Niensted will do almost anything he possibly can to prevent this from happening.

Chapter 11 enables a bishop to protect what he cares about most: his own reputation, comfort and secrets. It stops depositions, discovery and clergy sex abuse and cover up trials. It’s a smart but selfish legal maneuver that will effectively prevent Catholics from getting key information and victims from getting real justice.

Chapter 11 also enables Catholic officials to change the subject from “Which priests and bishops put kids in harms’ way” to “How are we going to divide up church funds?” The names and reckless, callous and deceitful actions of those who intimidated victims, stonewalled police, threatened whistleblowers, discredited witnesses, and deceived parishioners will not be revealed.

Church officials claim they are broke. But if they’ll deceive police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public about predator priests, they’ll also deceive people about their wealth.

As best we can tell, Twin Cities Catholic officials have done virtually nothing to expand the pool of funds that could be used to compensate victims while clearly doing all they can to deceitfully reduce that pool.

(More than decade ago, America’s most disgraced Catholic prelate, Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law, borrowed $25 million to help compensate victims. Other bishops have sold property that isn’t needed or isn’t being used – most of which was given to the diocese by parishioners who have passed away. But we’ve seen no evidence that Nienstedt has even tried to borrow or raise more funds for this purpose.)

If Nienstedt were a father of a high school senior, he’d borrow money, get a second job and move heaven and earth to send that kid to college. (We all know that ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way,’ especially in the world’s largest, richest, oldest and only global monarchy.) But with adults who were sexually assaulted as kids by clerics, he rubs even more salt into already devastating and still infected wounds by pretending to be poor.

When it’s to their advantage (hiring lobbyists and public relations firms and funding papal visits), bishops pool their resources, talking about “the universal church.” When it’s to their advantage – like clergy sex cases – they pretend it’s “every man for himself,” claiming “we’re a small, independent diocese with limited resources.”

It’s been 12 years since thousands of clergy sex abuse victims began stepping forward following the Boston Globe’s investigation. More and more dioceses have sought bankruptcy protection. It’s a smart way to continue protecting those who commit and conceal horrific crimes against kids by preventing depositions, discovery and trials. We fear more bishops will now be tempted to exploit this maneuver so they can preserve their reputations and careers.

Finally, we are sad for brave Twin Cities victims who has done so much and fought so hard to expose the corruption in their archdiocese. At least three of them wanted and deserved their day in court. Nienstedt, however, in yet another act of betrayal by a bishop against a victim, took that away from them.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. But what does that mean? And what will it mean for local parishes, schools and parishioners?

What is bankruptcy?

Filing for bankruptcy allows an organization to put together a plan to pay its debts by dividing its assets among its creditors. When an organization files for bankruptcy, it must declare its assets (what it owns) and its liabilities (what it owes).

But just because an organization files for bankruptcy doesn’t mean it will automatically be granted that status.

A federal bankruptcy judge must approve the organization’s petition for the bankruptcy to move forward.

Bankruptcy law is governed at the federal level — states do not have the authority to regulate bankruptcy — and is handled in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which is a branch of U.S. District Courts. The Minnesota district has locations in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and Fergus Falls.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Fox 9

by Fox 9 staff

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed for bankruptcy, with Archbishop John Nienstedt saying it’s the best course of action to ensure a fair distribution of resources to victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse.

“I make this decision because I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us,” Nienstedt said in a letter. “Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the Archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/survivors.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court Friday morning.

The move wasn’t unexpected. Archdiocese officials had said in recent months that they were considering bankruptcy, following news of a $9.1 million operating deficit for fiscal year 2014 and expectations of more lawsuits by people who say they are victims of clergy sexual abuse, in addition to the more than two dozen that have already been filed lawsuits.

Bankruptcy protection will put any current lawsuits against the archdiocese on hold, including three sex abuse trials that were slated to begin at the end of the month. However, new claims can be filed while the bankruptcy case is active.

In November, the archdiocese said its operating deficit can be partly attributed to $4.1 million spent to address allegations of clergy sexual abuse since May 2013, when a three-year window opened for abuse victims to file claims that were otherwise barred under the statute of limitations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
The Catholic Spirit

On Jan. 16, the archdiocesan corporation filed a petition for Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This decision came after months of consideration and consultation with clergy and lay leadership and input from attorneys representing victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Archbishop John Nienstedt and other archdiocesan leaders determined the way to respond most fairly to victims/survivors, given the finite resources of the archdiocese, was to file Chapter 11 Reorganization. This will allow all the resources available to be distributed equitably among all victims/survivors and allow the archdiocese to continue essential services to fulfill mission of the Catholic Church.

“This is not easy news to share,” said Archbishop Nienstedt. “However, over the past six to seven months, I have looked at all the options available to us and I am convinced that this decision is in the best interests of the victims/survivors and the archdiocese as a whole. I believe that it is consistent with our goal of putting victims/survivors first.”

The archdiocese has 21 pending clergy sexual abuse cases, and faces the potential for more than 100 additional suits. These cases are coming forward now because of the lifting of the civil statute of limitations on child sexual abuse under the Minnesota Child Victims Act signed into law in 2013.

The total cost to separately settle or go to trial with each pending or future claim is impossible to determine definitively. It is unknown how many additional claims there could be before the open statute of limitations window on historical claims closes in May 2016.

Although the archdiocese has insurance coverage, that coverage may not be available to pay every claim or the full amount of every claim. There are a number of reasons for this. For example, some of the archdiocese’s carriers are now insolvent; in other cases the archdiocese’s policies may require that the archdiocese fund legal verdicts before the carrier would pay (similar to a deductible on an auto policy), and policy limits may excuse carriers from covering full verdict amounts.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Q. Why is the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Reorganization?

A. We have realized that the way to most fairly respond to victims/survivors, given the limited resources of the archdiocese, was to file for Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code (Reorganization). This will allow all resources available to be distributed equitably among victims/survivors and allow the archdiocese to continue essential ministry. The decision to file for Reorganization was reached after months of prayer, careful consideration and consultation with representative clergy and archdiocesan lay leadership groups and outside experts, as well as input from attorneys representing victims/survivors. We must all come together to care for those who have been hurt during this tragic time in our Church’s history.

Q. Is filing for bankruptcy a way to avoid compensating victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse?

A. No. Reorganization is our best option to care for victims/survivors. It is the fairest way to respond because it allows available funds to be distributed equitably to victims/survivors. This is a continuation of our working relationship with victims/survivors’ counsel and not a deviation from it. By filing for Reorganization, we are not avoiding our responsibilities, but recognizing them.

Q. What does this mean for my parish or school?

A. Parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic entities are separately incorporated and are not part of this filling for Reorganization. (Most Catholic schools are parish ministries. Those that are not, such as most local Catholic high schools, are separately incorporated and are often run by religious orders.)

Q. I thought you settled all the sexual abuse cases against the archdiocese back in October at the time of the announcement with Jeff Anderson and Associates. So why do you need to Reorganize?

A. On Oct. 13, 2014, the archdiocese and Jeff Anderson and Associates reached an agreement to settle the Doe 1 litigation. It was not a settlement of all sexual abuse claims.

Also, as part of ongoing global settlement negotiations, the archdiocese is proceeding under a set of 17 child protection protocols.

Q. Couldn’t the archdiocese find another way to fairly resolve these claims?

A. We tried to identify other options, but were unable to find a solution that was as fair as Reorganization to address the many current claims and the potential future claims arising from the lifting of the Minnesota civil statute of limitations on sexual abuse of a minor. Reorganization is a process designed to bring parties together to resolve difficult claims fairly and with finality, under the neutral supervision of the bankruptcy court. This process resolves all claims collectively and fairly allocates resources to compensate victims/survivors. Through the court process we will find the fairest resolution possible for those harmed while still fulfilling our mission as a Church to make the name of Jesus Christ known and loved.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Friday, January 16, 2015

Source: Archbishop John Nienstedt

Visit information.archspm.org to learn more.

Read more in this special section of The Catholic Spirit and visit thecatholicspirit.com.

We have all been devastated by revelations of the stories from those who have been hurt by clergy sexual abuse. Victims, survivors and their loved ones have personally shared their heartbreaking stories with me. I have sensed their anger, their sorrow, and their intense sense of betrayal because of these unthinkably evil deeds. I deeply regret their suffering. I hope to do all I can to assist them toward healing.

We must come together to care for all those who have been hurt during this tragic time in our Church’s history. As announced in October, we are continuing to work with those representing victims/survivors to make sure we are doing all we can to prevent sexual abuse of minors, as well as to be instruments of healing for those who have been abused.

To that end, I have directed that a petition for a Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Archdiocese Corporation be filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of Minnesota. Please note: this filing does not include parishes and schools.

I make this decision because I believe it is the fairest and most helpful recourse for those victims/survivors who have made claims against us. Reorganization will allow the finite resources of the Archdiocese to be distributed equitably among all victims/ survivors. It will also permit the Archdiocese to provide essential services required to continue its mission within this 12-county district.

It must be pointed out that this action will not in any way avoid our responsibilities to those who have been affected by clerical sexual abuse. This is not an attempt to silence victims or deny them justice in court. On the contrary, we want to respond positively in compensating them for their suffering. Plaintiffs’ attorneys and I are in agreement that priority should be given to providing resources for the victims/survivors.

We have made this decision thoughtfully, prayerfully and collaboratively. I have consulted experts in the field of bankruptcy, finance, insurance, civil and canon law, law enforcement, child sexual abuse and victim advocacy. They have advised me that Chapter 11 Reorganization is the fairest and most helpful recourse for resolution of victims’ claims. I have received the approval of the consultative boards of the Archdiocese, namely the Archdiocesan Corporate Board, Archdiocesan Finance Council, and the College of Consultors. They agree Reorganization is the best forum in which a negotiated resolution can be established that fairly and equitably compensates claimants and permits the Archdiocese to continue its important mission of evangelization.

Documents included in our Reorganization filing provide detailed financial information about archdiocesan corporation assets. Much of this information has been made public already in our fiscal year 2013 and 2014 financial reports. During the coming weeks and months, additional documents will be filed in court. We will continue to post relevant documents on the archdiocesan website, www.archspm.org, and will include more information in The Catholic Spirit.

Finally, the men and women of my team join me in making this pledge to you, the faithful of the Archdiocese:

* We will keep our focus on creating and maintaining safe environments. In short, the protection of minors is a top priority, and it informs our every action and decision.

* We are making every effort to resolve these issues through collaboration, cooperation and reconciliation.

* All resources that are not essential to core ministries will be directed toward these efforts.

* We will care for those who have been harmed by clergy sexual abuse. We will continue to facilitate the healing process for our local Church in order to restore trust with the Catholic faithful, who are counting on the clergy and leadership of the Church to make virtuous decisions for the well-being of the Body of Christ.

* And we will work hard to restore trust with our clergy, who are dedicated men deserving of our confidence and respect.

We still have a long journey ahead as we restore trust through humility, competency and transparency, in order to respond with compassion to all those who have been hurt, to continue to atone for sins that have been committed, and to foster healing. The filing for Reorganization marks another important step on our way forward as a local Church.

Let us place our trust in Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, and in his holy mother, Mary. May they continue to be our guardians as well as our inspiration and source of confidence.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Mitch Keegan, Anchor, KEYC News 12 Midday

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed for bankruptcy,

The archdiocese says it’s is the best way to fairly get as many resources as possible to victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse.

Attorneys for the archdiocese filed their petition today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Church officials have said bankruptcy was an option as the archdiocese faces lawsuits from victims of past sexual abuse.

Roughly two dozen lawsuits have been filed, and the archdiocese has received more than 100 notices of potential claims.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JENNIFER BJORHUS , Star Tribune Updated: January 16, 2015

Q: What is a Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

A: It’s a form of bankruptcy protection in which the organization does not liquidate but reorganizes while continuing to operate under the court’s supervision.

Q: Why did it file?

A: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis faces more than 20 lawsuits and says the total claims would likely outstrip the $5.3 million it has set aside to compensate victims.

Q: How many dioceses have filed for bankruptcy?

A: At least 11 Catholic dioceses in the United States have filed for bankruptcy since 2004.

Q: How long have they stayed in bankruptcy?

A: From one to about five years.

Q: How does an archdiocese bankruptcy differ from a business bankruptcy?

A: They are very similar. Secured creditors, such as mortgage holders on the diocese’s real estate, will be paid first. Priority creditors, such as the IRS, come next. Victims, who are unsecured creditors, are paid next and would be likely be divided into classes. The plan can treat each class differently.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: January 16, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, saying it cannot meet its financial obligations from an unprecedented wave of clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

The move freezes lawsuits against the church, protecting the archdiocese from creditors while allowing it to develop a reorganization plan.

“We’re doing the right thing,” the vicar general Rev. Charles Lachowitzer told the Associated Press. “This decision reflects the end of a process of putting victims first.”

Archdiocese officials have said such a move was a financial necessity, as it faced more than 25 lawsuits from people who charge they were sexually abused by priests. Another 100 lawsuits were pending.

But victim’s advocates say it’s one more example of the archdiocese shirking its responsibility to abuse victims.

“Why is it that when all the dioceses file bankruptcy, they do it on the eve of a trial?” asked Bob Schwiderski, longtime advocate for abuse survivors. “Is it because they can’t put their hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth?”

Schwiderski was referring to three clergy abuse trials slated for Jan. 26, that will now be halted.

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Martin Moylan St. Paul, Minn. Jan 16, 2015

With three clergy abuse lawsuits nearing trial and worries mounting over the cost of future claims, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection.

• Documents: Explore the filing

The archdiocese in its filing listed assets of between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million.

The documents appear to indicate the archdiocese has limited financial resources, said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who’s represented many alleged victims of clergy sex abuse. He added, however, that he believes the archdiocese insurance coverage is sound.

However, he said, he believes the archdiocese insurance coverage is sound.

The Chapter 11 filing immediately buys the archdiocese time to try to reorganize its troubled finances as it faces huge potential costs tied to clergy abuse. Instead of handling claims through civil suits, alleged victims will likely need to file claims in federal court as creditors of the archdiocese. The bankruptcy filing will also halt the coming civil court trials, which were set to begin Jan. 26.

• Explained: The archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy. Now what?

The archdiocese did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Church officials, however, are expected to hold a news conference on the matter later today.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
Jan. 16, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn., became the 12th U.S. Roman Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of sexual-abuse claims against its clergy.

The archdiocese, home to 187 parishes and 825,000 parishioners, filed for Chapter 11 protection Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Paul, Minn.

Catholic dioceses have used the breathing room offered by Chapter 11 to negotiate settlements with alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy and others, deals that can total many millions of dollars and include nonmonetary forms of compensation such as the release of long-shielded church documents detailing the alleged abuse and subsequent coverup.

The Twin Cities archdiocese’s chief financial officer, Thomas Mertens, has previously disclosed that all options, including a bankruptcy reorganization, are on the table to address the “numerous” sexual abuse lawsuits already filed or expected to be brought against the archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
ABC News

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jan 16, 2015, 10:58 AM ET

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying it’s the best way for the church to get as many resources as possible to victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“We’re doing the right thing,” the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of Friday’s filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. “This decision reflects the end of a process of putting victims first.”

The archdiocese is the 12th U.S. diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of sex abuse claims. Church leaders have said for months that bankruptcy was an option, as the archdiocese faces the potential for dozens of lawsuits by victims of clergy sex abuse. Those lawsuits would be put on hold while the bankruptcy case is pending.

The filing estimated the archdiocese’s assets between $10 million and $50 million, with liabilities between $50 million and $100 million. It estimated 200 and 300 creditors.

Minnesota lawmakers created a three-year window in 2013 for victims of past sexual abuse to file claims that otherwise would have been barred by the statute of limitations.

Since then, the archdiocese has been sued roughly two dozen times, and it has received more than 100 notices of potential claims, according to Joe Kueppers, the archdiocese’s chancellor for civil affairs. It’s unknown how many of those notices will develop into lawsuits before the window expires in May 2016.

Charlie Rogers, an attorney working for the archdiocese, said the mission of the church and its day-to-day operations will continue through bankruptcy. Parishes and schools, which are incorporated separately from the archdiocese’s central office, should not be affected.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Application by Debtor to Employ Chapter 11 Counsel
Archdiocese Chapter 11 Petition
Archdiocese Signature Declaration
Debtor’s Verified Application for Order
Notice of Intention to Seek Expedited Hearing

Media Advisory
January 16, 2015

Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

WHAT: At a news conference today in St. Paul, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will discuss today’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

WHEN: Today, January 16, 2015 at 11:00 AM CST

WHERE: Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES: We will live stream the press event online from our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.538.5049 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.538.5049 Cell/612.205.5531

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jan. 16, 2015 Faith and Justice

Anyone who reads this column knows that I am a big fan of Pope Francis. I never thought I would see a pope like him in my lifetime. His simplicity, compassion, and commitment to the poor are genuine reflections of the Gospel message of Jesus. His support for openness and honest discussion and debate in the church are marks of his trust in the Spirit. His stress on justice, peace, and care for the environment show his focus on issues that are critical to the 21st century.

That said, I wish he knew how to talk about women in a way that would be more acceptable to educated women. I wish he would ask for the resignations of bishops who have lost credibility with their people by not following the church’s rules on dealing with abusive priests.

I also get nervous when people place all of their hopes and dreams about the church on the shoulders of Francis. The pope is not the Catholic church. He has a very important role in the church, but the church is much bigger than him. It includes all of us.

For example, many journalists have asked me about the “Francis effect.” Is Francis bringing people back to church?

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PHILIPPINES
Crux

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

In points he’s made before in other settings, Pope Francis on Friday criticized what he called the “ideological colonization of the family,” language that many took as a reference to gay marriage, and also defended a previous pope who upheld the Church’s ban on contraception.

“The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” Francis said.

A Vatican spokesman confirmed Friday evening that, at least in part, the pope had gay marriage in mind.

The remarks came in a session Francis held with more than 1,000 families in a downtown Manila arena, amid the pontiff’s Jan. 12-19 trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

The pope also issued a strong defense of Pope Paul VI’s controversial 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which upheld the Church’s traditional ban on birth control.

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CANADA
Washington Post

The bizarre ESP experiments conducted on aboriginal children without parental consent

By Abby Phillip January 16

Canada’s residential schools for aboriginal children were places of hunger, isolation and misery. Children as young as 3 were separated from their families and became wards of the state.

In the 1940s, the children were also, as more and more evidence is revealing, the unwitting subjects of bizarre, cruel and unethical experimentation.

A recently uncovered experiment reveals the depths of the access given to so-called researchers seeking to find evidence that aboriginal children, by dint of their race, had extrasensory perception, also known as ESP, or a “sixth sense.”

Fifty children at the Indian Residential School in Brandon, Manitoba, became the subjects of a series of tests that sought to establish a new measure for identifying ESP and also to find evidence of supernatural abilities of “primitive” people.

As was typical for the time, there was no parental consent. But the children, ranging from ages 6 to 20, likely participated “willingly,” as the study claims, eager for candy that might stave off their persistent hunger.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Former children’s home boss, 77, accused of historic sex abuse of boys as young as nine is found dead at home weeks before he was due to stand trial

By MARTIN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE
16 January 2015

A suspected paedophile children’s home boss has been found dead – just weeks before he was due to stand trial for allegedly abusing boys as young as nine.

John Stingemore, 72, was set to face a string of historic sex abuse charges relating to his time as manager of Grafton Close children’s home in West London in the 1970s and 1980s.

Stingemore, who was charged in September 2013 with multiple counts of indecent assault, taking indecent images of a child and one count of conspiracy to commit buggery, was found dead by police.

A spokeswoman from the coroner’s office in Hastings, near where he lived in St Leonard’s on Sea, East Sussex, said: ‘He has passed away.’

A source said that a post-mortem examination would be needed to find the exact cause of death.
Stingemore was set to appear for trial at Southwark Crown Court on February 2 alongside Catholic priest Father Anthony McSweeney.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

[with video]

Catherine Hawley

LUTHERVILLE, Md. – About 150 people came out to the Church of the Holy Comforter in Lutherville to ask questions and hopefully get some answers from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland about the tragic crash on Dec. 27 that killed Tom Palermo.

“Our lord God, we have no idea where we are going.”

They started with prayer, then the head of the state diocese turned the focus to the pain of its congregations.

“It breaks my heart,” said Pat Ash. “It breaks my heart for the Palermo family, and the fact that, my goodness, she was that drunk at 2:30 in the afternoon, how incredibly sad.”

“Certainly has cast a little bit of negative light on the church just in light of the seriousness of the event,” Dave Zidek said.

“I think it’s also a way of healing,” said Steffy Sabino. “Just listening to other people, what they have to say and how they’re hurting and how they’re frustrated and angry.”

For an hour and half, that’s exactly what happened. People shared stories about their personal battles with addiction, but a lot of the discussion focused on the churches very own who is causing the pain, Bishop Heather Cook.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Mark Reutter and Fern Shen January 15, 2015

Bishop Heather Cook was bailed out today by a person she has described as her “steady companion,” Mark H. Hansen, a former Episcopal priest who was defrocked in 2005 for his opposition to the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Hansen posted $35,000 of collateral and signed a $215,000 promissory note to meet the 10% requirement of the $2.5 million bail for Bishop Cook, who was jailed last Friday on manslaughter and drunk driving charges stemming from a car crash that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo.

Reached this afternoon, Hansen said, “I’m not talking to the press, OK? We have an attorney.”

Only one condition is required of Bishop Cook under the terms of today’s bail: “Do not drive while pending trial.”

Arinze Ifekauche, spokesman for State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, confirmed that Cook “is not on pretrial supervision.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Nick Bramhill @irishcentral January 16,2015

A founding member of a group representing over 1,000 Catholic priests has said the time is not right for the Pope to visit Ireland, as there are too existing many problems in the Irish Church.

Speculation has been growing that a historic papal visit could take place in the near future, following recent comments from the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown.

But a spokesman for the Association of Catholic Priests said he believes a high-profile visit by Pope Francis would hamper their efforts to bring about reforms and changes in the Church.

Fr. Brendan Hoban, a founding member of the group, said: “A papal visit is exactly what the Irish Church doesn’t need at the moment, because it would distract us from tackling the issues which we need to put right.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Nord Bayern

NEUMARKT – Bei der Aufarbeitung des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Mitgliedern des Knabenchores Regensburger Domspatzen haben jetzt Recherchen der Neumarkter Nachrichten dazu geführt, dass ein alter Fall vom Bistum neu aufgerollt wird. Zuvor war die Stadt Neumarkt zum Schauplatz des Themas geworden — durch einen ARD-Fernsehbeitrag über ein Treffen von Opfer und mutmaßlichem Täter.

In der Sendung „Sünden an den Sängerknaben“ am 7. Januar im „Ersten“ sah ein Millionenpublikum den 63-jährigen Georg Auer aus Südbayern vor dem Pfarrhof von St. Johannes in Neumarkt. In den Räumen der katholischen Kirche hatte sich der ehemalige Domspatz nach Recherchen der Neumarkter Nachrichten im Oktober 2010 mit seinem mutmaßlichen Peiniger aus der Schulzeit getroffen – ohne dass einer der Beteiligten einen Neumarkter Bezug hat. Zeugin des Gesprächs, das das Fernsehteam später für die Dokumentation nachspielen ließ: die damalige Missbrauchsbeauftragte des Bistums Regensburg, Birgit Böhm.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

[Five years ago, the public looked with stunned horror into the abyss of sexual abuse at the Odenwald School. For five years, the Catholic Church trying now to get out of the whirlpool of suspicion, generalizations and true descriptions.]

Gregor Mayntz

Vor fünf Jahren blickte die Öffentlichkeit mit fassungslosem Entsetzen in die Abgründe sexuellen Missbrauchs an der Odenwaldschule. Seit fünf Jahren bemüht sich die katholische Kirche nun, aus dem Strudel von Verdächtigungen, Pauschalisierungen und wahren Beschreibungen herauszukommen. Der seit Jahrzehnten immer wieder aufgekommene Vertuschungsverdacht schien sich zu bestätigen, als die Bischöfe die von ihnen bestellte externe Aufarbeitung durch den bekannten Kriminologie-Professor Christian Pfeiffer stoppten und dieser das Scheitern mit Zensur- und Kontrollwünschen der Kirche begründete.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: January 16, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is likely on the verge of filing for bankruptcy as it faces the prospect of three clergy sex abuse lawsuits heading to court in 10 days.

While the archdiocese wouldn’t comment Thursday, it acknowledged last month that it was considering bankruptcy after its 2014 financial reports showed a $9 million deficit.

Pending trials typically have triggered bankruptcy filings in dioceses and archdioceses facing a large number of cases, said Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

“I can’t think of a single case where bankruptcy wasn’t filed as a trial loomed,” said Zech, referring to the 11 other dioceses and archdioceses that sought court protection from lawsuits and judgments.

The Twin Cities archdiocese previously indicated that it had just $5.3 million set aside for clergy abuse victims, even as it faced 25 current lawsuits with dozens more pending.

Charles Soper, a bankruptcy attorney and a University of Minnesota law professor, agreed that pending trial dates “are typical pressure points” for bankruptcy filings, whether for corporations or a church.

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MONTANA
KBZK

MISSOULA – A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a reorganization plan for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena that includes a $16 million settlement for hundreds of people who sued the diocese over clergy sex abuse.

The plan, approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers in Missoula, includes another $4.45 million payment from the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province to settle a lawsuit filed by 45 Native Americans who alleged abuse and sex abuse at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius over the same time period.

The plan will now go to a vote of creditors, the 362 plaintiffs in two lawsuits against the Diocese, and the plaintiffs in the Ursuline lawsuit.

The settlement calls for the Diocese to post on its website the names of all known past and present perpetrators who are identified in sexual abuse claims or in the lawsuits.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 16 January 2015)

Many years ago, Broken Rites began researching “Brother Gabriel Mount”, who had worked in Catholic children’s homes conducted by the St John of God Brothers in New South Wales and Victoria. We discovered that he eventually became a priest (“Father Roger Mount”), working in Papua New Guinea. In October 2014 he was brought back to Australia, where Victorian police charged him with multiple child-sex offences, involving seven Victorian victims. He is in custody in Victoria, where he has made two brief appearances in court (by video link from prison), the most recent being on 16 January 2015. New South Wales police, also, are investigating Father Mount concerning incidents that are alleged to have occurred in NSW.

Broken Rites research ascertained that, early in his church career (in the 1960s and 1970s), Roger Mount was listed in the annual editions of the Australian Catholic Directory as Brother “Gabriel” Mount, a member of a Catholic religious order called the St John of God Brothers. (When men joined this religious order, they normally adopted an ancient “saintly” name – hence Brother “Gabriel”.)

Later, Brother “Gabriel” Mount transferred to Papua New Guinea, where he left the St John of God order and became a diocesan priest. He reverted to his birth name, becoming Father Roger Mount, and was attached to the Diocese of Port Moresby. He reached a senior rank in this diocese. His most recent parish, Sogeri, is on the southern end of PNG’s famous Kokoda Track.

In October 2014, Father Roger Melville Mount (now aged 72) was deported from Papua New Guinea to Australia. On arrival in Cairns (Queensland), he was arrested by police, who then obtained a court order for Mount to be extradited to Victoria. He was taken to Victoria by detectives from the Sano Taskforce in the Victoria Police sex crime squad. This taskforce was established to investigate allegations regarding religious organisations.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis appears to be a master of modern media. He wisely often leaves the Vatican’s scandalous space swamped by child abuse cover-ups and financial corruption charges for potentially more media friendly outposts, like Manila. The pope’s media managers then seek to present the Catholic Church in nations like the Philippines as a flourishing institution, even a national treasure. While the Catholic faith is likely a personal treasure for many Filipinos, is it a national treasure? Is the Church flourishing in the Philippines? If not, what if anything can Pope Francis do to change that? Media masters can create mirages, but these fade fairly quickly under pressure from hard facts. Facts, like Dorothy’s dog, Toto, tend to push open the curtains of wizards, even papal ones if necessary.

* The Catholic Church is declining, not flourishing, in the Philippines, it appears. A fair measure of a religion’s spiritual and financial health is weekly attendance statistics. If Catholics do not show up, worship and contribute regularly, counting them as Catholics seems like a hollow bad habit. An April 2013 survey found that weekly church attendance among Filipino Catholic adults dropped more than 42 percent to 37 percent in 2013 from a reported high of 64% percent in 1991.

* The survey also showed that while only 37% of Catholics attend church weekly. in comparison, there are percentage wise nearly twice as many of other Christians who are weekly churchgoers: 64% among Protestants, 70% among Iglesia ni Cristos and 62% among other Christians. Seventy-five percent of Muslims attend a mosque at least weekly. This indicates that the Catholic Church in the Philippines is declining sharply, rather than flourishing, no? It also appears to have some flourishing competitors. Of course, 37 % still can currently generate millions of Catholics who can be expected to come out and participate in a once in a generation papal mass, as is now happening. But by attending a well hyped papal mass, a “good Catholic” one does not necessarily make, no?

* Moreover, the Catholic hierarchy hardly seems to be a national treasure in the Philippines or anywhere else, it seems. The nation has one of the highest birthrates in Asia and a population of almost 100 million. By 2080, demographers predict that population could swell to 200 million. Right now, more than a quarter of Philippine people live on the equivalent of 62 cents a day, according to government data. According to the United National Population Fund, half of the 3.4 million pregnancies in the Philippines each year are unintended.

* The slums of the Philippines are reportedly already overcrowded. Families stand in line for more than 12 hours for a government assistance check. Some soup kitchens are forced to limit their guests to street children, the elderly and homeless people with severe disabilities.UNICEF estimates there are as many as 500,000 “street children” in the Philippines.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

January 16, 2015

Mark Russell

A Catholic priest deported from Papua New Guinea who is accused of abusing seven children in Victoria more than 40 years ago has appeared briefly in court.

Father Roger ‘Gabriel’ Mount, 72, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday via videolink from Port Phillip prison where he has been held since his deportation and arrest in October.

The case was delayed for several minutes as prison staff had to wheel the elderly, frail and wheelchair-bound priest into the videolink room.

When magistrate Amanda Chambers asked if the grey-haired, bespectacled priest could see and hear her, Father Mount replied: “I can see you but I can’t hear very well.”

Ms Chambers said she would speak up so he could follow the proceedings.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A preacher found guilty of indecently assaulting two girls aged between nine and 16 has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Allan Cundick, 78, of Woking, assaulted the girls between 1970 and 1992.

One of his victims, Lina Barnes, from Corby in Northamptonshire, said she was urged by his church not to report the abuse.

The Gospel Hall Brethren preacher was found guilty following a trial at Guildford Crown Court.

Ms Barnes, who has waived her right to anonymity, was aged between 10 and 13 at the time of the abuse.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Settlement reached in sexual-abuse lawsuit involving AME church in St. Louis

By Lilly Fowler

A female minister has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit involving a local African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Brenda Jones had sued Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis Circuit Court on Jan. 29, 2014. The suit named the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which encompasses churches in Missouri, and Bishop Larry T. Kirkland, the presiding prelate of that district, as defendants.

Now, nearly a year later, that lawsuit has settled, although Jones’ case against Frederick McCullough, the former pastor of Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church who she claims sexually abused her, is still pending.

“I’m just glad that I had the courage to stand up,” Jones said. “This was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.”

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MISSOURI
Belleville News-Democrat

The Associated Press
January 15, 2015

ST. LOUIS — A female minister who sued her St. Louis church for sexual harassment has settled part of the case, her lawyers said Thursday.

Brenda Jones sued Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church, along with church officials in California and Pennsylvania, in January 2014. She alleged another minister made sexually explicit remarks, forced her to see a photo of his genitals and inappropriately touched her on several occasions.

The case was scheduled to go to trial next month. But attorney Ken Chackes said claims against the church and church officials were settled this week for an undisclosed amount. An attorney for the church declined comment, citing a confidentiality agreement. Jones’ case against the former pastor is still pending. He has denied wrongdoing.

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TEXAS
Dallas Voice

Prestonwood Baptist Church has become the center of activity when it comes to collecting signatures to repeal the new Plano nondiscrimination ordinance and capture the title of most homophobic church in the Metroplex from First Baptist Church of Dallas.

That defender of religious freedom may also be remembered as the church where a pastor had to resign in 2008 because he was caught soliciting sex from a minor.

Sr. Pastor Jack Graham, who is spearheading the signature collection effort for the Plano recall, accepted the resignation of Pastor Joe Barron after a 2008 sex sting.

“Barron was charged … with online solicitation of a minor,” according to an AP story from the time. “Undercover officers posing as a 13-year-old girl communicated with the 52-year-old minister for about two weeks. The online conversations were sexual in nature, police said.”

After connecting with “her” online, the Prestonwood minister drove 200 miles to meet her in Bryan. He was arrested and released on $7,000 bail.

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ILLINOIS
Peoria Journal-Star

By Michael Smothers of GateHouse Media Illinois
Posted Jan. 15, 2015

PEKIN — A former Pekin church youth minister used the church to commit sexual acts with a preteen girl who considered him her “spiritual mentor,” according to charges revealed in court Thursday.

Nicholas Lawrence, 27, already faces charges involving the same girl in Peoria County, where he led children in Bible classes at two Peoria Heights churches before he began his Pekin ministry.

He pleaded not guilty Thursday in Tazewell County Circuit Court to four Class X felony charges that allege he carried on a four-year sexual relationship into last spring with the girl, whom he met when she was about 8.

Lawrence, of 200 Matilda St., Apt. 4, was ordered held on $500,000 bond on the four Tazewell County charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The crime is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp
Virginia Sardeli
United Kingdom
January 14 2015

The Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) support group have released a recording of a discussion between Phil Johnson, one of the group’s Panel members and Lady Butler-Sloss. The discussion took place in March 2011 in the Baroness’ House of Lords office during her Historic Cases Review concerning the handling of clergy abuse cases by the Diocese of Chichester.

Mr Johnson had sustained abuse at the hands of priests Roy Cotton and Colin Pritchard, whose cases were being reviewed by Lady Butler-Sloss. Although Mr Johnson had also reported being abused by Bishop Peter Ball, he alleges that Lady Butler-Sloss kept the Bishop’s name out of the report in order to protect the image of the church. Bishop Peter Ball has since been arrested and charged with assaulting males and committing misconduct in public office by using his position to prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification.

Mr Johnson was one of the voices calling for Lady Butler-Sloss to resign as Chair of the Independent Panel Inquiry into Sexual Abuse in July 2014. At the time, he said that while Lady Butler-Sloss had purportedly consulted with him regarding the exclusion of the Bishop’s name from her report, he felt he had little choice in the matter. He was prompted to release the recording of this discussion following a Radio Four Interview on 31 December 2014 when Lady Butler-Sloss said that she had asked him whether the name of the Bishop should be included in the report, that he had agreed to its exclusion and that he was now changing his story.

Mr Johnson has released part of the recording in order to allow listeners to make their own judgment as to what happened. He believes it supports his own version of events.

Bishop abuse discussion

In the recording, which is available on Youtube, Lady Butler-Sloss can be heard stating:

“What I do need to know is whether you want me to put Bishop [redacted] in it. And I tell you why I raise the question…..the press would love a Bishop…and if they get a Bishop…. they are going to concentrate on him. They are not going to concentrate on either Cotton or Pritchard. And since the Bishop didn’t do very much to you…”

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/15/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

With many observers anticipating a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis sometime tomorrow or early next week, I thought it worthwhile to dust off some comments that I posted back in November regarding the Archdiocese’s precarious financial situation.

I have no doubt, no doubt, that when the Archdiocese officially declares that it does not have sufficient resources to meet its obligations we will see a press release attributing the decision to the volume of claims filed or expected to be filed under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, as well as to the Archdiocese’s oft stated but frankly implausible aim of wanting to find ‘a fair solution to all victim claims’.

When, in the late fall of 2014, the Archdiocese released audited financial reports showing a more than $9 million operating deficit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014, the precarious financial position of the Archdiocese was already being linked to the so-called ‘civil window’ for the introduction of ‘old’ cases involving acts of sexual abuse of minors. I disagreed, and instead attributed the financial crisis to poor management and a fundamental failure of Archdiocesan leadership to govern the diocese in accord with its mission. I maintain that position.

For, it is important to remember that the passage of the Child Victims Act did not create the financial distress that is pushing the Archdiocese to bankruptcy. All the Child Victims Act did was create a window during which victims of sexual abuse could present civil cases that otherwise would have been barred by the statute of limitations. Permitting someone to introduce a case is not the same as guaranteeing that person a positive verdict, or even a monetary one.

The ‘number of cases’ the Archdiocese is facing is also not the result of the Child Victims Act, it is the result of decades of abuse perpetrated by clergy, often under circumstances in which the Archdiocese knew of or could have reasonably assumed the likelihood of such abuse occurring. For proof of this statement, I need only refer you to the Archdiocese’s own website and its growing list of ‘Individuals with substantiated claims against them of sexual abuse of a minor within the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis’.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Updated: 6:19 p.m.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee won a victory in its bankruptcy on Thursday in a dispute that turned on the promise of confidentially granted victims of childhood sex abuse when they brought allegations forward.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley refused to compel the archdiocese to provide attorneys for one group of abuse survivors with unredacted documents that could potentially identify other survivors who had an expectation of anonymity.

Instead, Kelley agreed to review dozens of abuse claims to see if there was evidence that would warrant a limited — and still not public — release of the documents, with names of victims and or witnesses.

“I’m denying the motion,” Kelley told attorneys for five abuse survivors.

“I’m sorry,” Kelley said, “but I have to weigh what I think is the fairness… and the rights of these people.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Victims of child sex abuse at Kincora are launching a legal challenge over the Secretary of State’s decision not to include the former children’s home in the Westminster abuse inquiry, UTV Live Tonight can reveal.

The case is going to court on Friday, after Theresa Villiers ruled what was one of Northern Ireland’s biggest sex scandals out of the government investigation.

It had been hoped the inquiry would look into what happened inside the former boys’ home and into claims of a cover-up at the highest levels within the security services and government.

But instead the Secretary of State said that Kincora would be investigated by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland.

Ms Villiers insisted there would be full co-operation and full disclosure from government, the Ministry of Defence and MI5.

Victims and senior politicians do not believe that is the best way to get the truth.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mancunian Matters

15 Jan 2015 | By Samar Maguire

Britain has a ‘victim blaming culture’ and a judge’s claims that a schoolgirl ‘groomed’ her teacher into having sex only makes it worse, says a leading child sex abuse charity chief.

Former religious studies teacher Stuart Kerner, 44, received an 18-month suspended prison sentence for having an affair with an under-age pupil but dodged jail as the judge said he had been ‘manipulated’ by the victim.

While sentencing Kerner, Judge Joanna Greenberg QC described the circumstances of the crime as a ‘tragedy’ and said there was no evidence the teacher had sought the affair.

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), believes the Kerner case is ‘yet another example of blaming the victim for a crime.’

Mr Saunders, also an ex-North West teacher, told MM: “This is another case of blaming the victim for the crime. We’re talking about a 16-year-old child – and no matter what they look like they are children – and a 44-year-old experienced qualified deputy head teacher.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis must now in Manila endorse a contraception family planning option for parents of street children in the Philippines and for similarly situated couples worldwide. Pope Francis preaches piously before cameras that his top priority is a “preferential option for the poor”. Yet behind closed doors, his subordinate bishops in the Philippines still push to deny couples a family planning option that could really help poor families there. This contradiction in practice has been vividly brought to the forefront by the this recent article [Daily Mail] about Manila’s street children and their prophetic advocate and Nobel Prize nominated Irish missionary priest, Fr. Shay Cullen. Many of these children have been locked up in poor conditions for at least the duration of the pope’s visit.

* Pope Francis’ contradictory, if not hypocritical, statements relating to family planning has surprisingly been well highlighted recently by an informative article in papal supporter, Rupert Murdoch’s influenced Wall Street Journal (WSJ) here

* [Wall Street Journal]

* In the WSJ article, it has been suggested that some Filipino Catholics just dismiss the Catholic Church’s teachings on sex and birth control as unscientific and outdated for couples living in modern societies.

* The WSJ article indicates that outside the birth control clinic in Tondo, a slum area in Manila, children combed through stinking piles of trash, and ran through heavy traffic to clamber onto the backs of moving garbage trucks. For a 2008 video showing some of the harsh conditions in the Tondo/Manila slum, please see:

* [YouTube]

* The Philippine birthrate is quite high by regional standards. In deprived areas like Tondo/Manila, women still typically have six or seven children, according to the NGO. According to the WSJ report, the NGO regularly welcomes 13-year-old mothers, or 16-year-olds with two or three babies, health workers said.

* Pope Francis must stop preaching and act. He must promptly demand (1) that officials release these children from detention immediately, (2) that Manila’s showpiece Cardinal Tagle try to make sure that Manila street children are not abused by officials and others this way again, (3) that Church, government and business leaders help these children more and soon, and (4) that his bishops stop pumping the high Filipino birthrate by opposing access to affordable and effective contraception options from poor couples that seek it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Thursday 15 January 2015

The panel appointed by Theresa May to carry out the child abuse inquiry has cancelled a listening event with survivors on Friday after complaints the meetings were being held with no support in place for victims who attend.

The cancellation of the meeting in Birmingham comes as Theresa May seeks to reconstitute the inquiry to meet the demands of some victims for it to be statutory, and after complaints about the make up of the independent panel.

But the delays over the start of the inquiry’s work, the controversy over the choice of chair and statements made in the media by some panel members raising doubt over the inquiry’s future have all put huge pressure on vulnerable survivors of child abuse, according to groups who represent them.

Some victims have been hospitalised as a result of self harming over anxieties that the inquiry will not happen and they will lose their chance to disclose abuse that took place in an institution, according to survivor groups.

Lucy Duckworth, who works with the Survivors’ Alliance, an umbrella group for some 200 organisations representing adult victims of child abuse, said the last minute cancellation of the panel listening event in Birmingham would only add to the distress of survivors. She said her organisation has complained about the lack of professional support put in place for these meetings. In its statement the inquiry panel said the meeting was being postponed because of the uncertainty over the future shape of the inquiry. The listening events are initial meetings designed to seek views from those attending particularly victims and their representatives, on how they would like the inquiry to engage with them.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

Rick Ritter

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland bishop charged in the death of a cyclist has made bail.
Bishop Heather Cook has been jailed since Friday. Bail was set at $2.5 million.

Cook is charged in the death of Tom Palermo, a father of two, who was riding his bike in Roland Park when he was struck by Cook’s car.

According to the charges, Cook was drunk and texting when she struck Palermo.
She was charged in the fatal hit-and-run last week.

A condition of her release is that she cannot drive.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Justin Fenton
The Baltimore Sun

The Episcopal bishop accused of killing a cyclist while drunk and texting was to be released Thursday from Central Booking after posting $2.5 million bail — an amount her attorney said earlier this week she would not be able to meet.

Court records show Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook posted the bail Thursday through a bondsman with Fred Frank Bail Bonds.

Her attorney, David Irwin, said Cook was headed to an inpatient treatment facility and as a condition of her release was not permitted to drive. He declined to comment on how she was able to post the bail.

Cook was charged last week with manslaughter and related charges related to the Dec. 27 crash that killed Thomas Palermo on Roland Avenue. Authorities said Cook left the scene of the crash before returning about 30 minutes later. A breath test showed a blood-alcohol level of .22, police said.

At Cook’s bail review Monday, Assistant State’s Attorney Kurt Bjorklund asked District Court Judge Nicole Pastore Klein to revoke bail, while one of Cook’s defense attorneys, Jose A. Molina, asked that it be lowered to $500,000.

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MARYLAND
Charlotte Observer

By JULIET LINDERMAN
Associated Press
Posted: Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015

BALTIMORE An Episcopal bishop facing manslaughter charges after authorities say she struck a cyclist while driving drunk in Baltimore has been released from jail.

Documents show Heather Cook posted a $2.5 million bond on Thursday. Cook was charged with manslaughter, drunken driving and other related charges after striking and killing Tom Palermo while he was riding his bicycle. Cook registered 0.22 blood-alcohol content during a breath test shortly after the wreck. The legal limit in Maryland is 0.08.

An attorney representing Cook says she is returning to an inpatient alcohol treatment facility. Cook is not permitted to drive.

Earlier this week, a judge upheld the $2.5 million bond.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

A Brew Exclusive

Mark Reutter January 15, 2015

Heather Elizabeth Cook, the Episcopal bishop charged with manslaughter and drunk driving, has posted $2.5 million in bail and is in the process of being released from the Baltimore City Detention Center.

On-line court documents show that Aaron Mossman, of the local bail-bond surety company Lexington National, has guaranteed the full bail amount for Cook, 58, who has been held in jail since Friday.

At Cook’s Monday bail review, attorney Jose A. Molina said the cleric could not post bail and asked a district court judge to lower the amount to $500,000.

Judge Nicole Pastore Klein refused and said she was a flight risk, citing her leaving the scene after her car crashed into and killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo.

Molina said that, if she made bail, his client would return to Father Martin’s Ashley, the Havre de Grace alcohol treatment center she had checked into shortly after the car crash on December 27.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Lilly Fowler

A female minister has settled a sexual-abuse lawsuit involving a local African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Brenda Jones had filed a lawsuit against Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis Circuit Court on Jan. 29, 2014.

The lawsuit named the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which encompasses churches in Missouri, and Bishop Larry T. Kirkland, the presiding prelate of that district, as defendants.

Now, nearly a year later, that lawsuit has settled, although Jones’ case against Frederick McCullough, the former pastor of Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church who she claims sexually abused her, is still pending.

“I’m just glad that I had the courage to stand up,” Jones said. “This was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.”

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