ABUSE TRACKER

ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Clergy, full- and part-time employees, and volunteers who work with children within the Archdiocese of Chicago are subject to these compliance standards, overseen by the archdiocese’s Safe Environment Office, a division of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth:

• The church requires personnel to complete eApps online criminal background check. (More than 113,200 employees and volunteers have had background checks.)

• The church requires personnel to submit Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System, or CANTS, Form to Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

• Church personnel attend mandated reporter training.

• Church personnel attend Virtus/Protecting God’s Children training. (3,700 such sessions have been conducted since 2003, attended by 175,000 employees and volunteers.)

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Hugh O’Shaughnessy
Sunday 4 January 2015

Now in his late 70s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, according to some reports from Rome, is showing his age and may not live long into his 80s. There are even dark hints that some of his Italian opponents in the Vatican are bent on mischief, as they might have been at the time of the strange, untimely death of Pope John Paul I in 1976, and still smarting at the disappearance of the ancient usage that the leader should be a native of their country. After the election of a Polish, followed by German and now – for heaven’s sake – an Argentinian pope, some Italian feathers are still ruffled.

Yet the tremendously vital but brief papacy of John XXIII in the early 1960s illustrated that a short five-year reign by the right man can produce new and very welcome currents of thought in an ancient institution. As the enormous political coup brought off last month when Francis and his men doused the flames of hostility that had been raging for half a century between Havana and Washington demonstrated, forceful and skilled Vatican diplomacy can bring amazing results.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has named 20 new cardinals, including churchmen from Tonga, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Fifteen of the new appointees are under 80, making them eligible to enter a conclave to elect the Pope’s successor.

Pope Francis said the appointment of cardinals from 14 countries from every continent in the world showed the Vatican’s “inseparable link” with Catholic Churches around the world.

They will be formally installed on 14 February.

The list of names includes five retired bishops who will join the College of Cardinals but are over 80 and so cannot take part in a papal election.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Christopher Placek

What makes an allegation of sexual abuse against a priest credible is the heart of the disagreement between the Chicago Archdiocese and victims’ advocates.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson and officials with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims’ advocacy group, have called on newly installed Archbishop Blase Cupich to release files on all priests who’ve ever been accused of sexual abuse — whether archdiocese officials have deemed those allegations to be credible.

“It’s their own review board, their own standards, their own protocols and policies monitored by their own people,” Anderson said in explaining his distrust of the process.

Mike Hoffman, who was a victim of former priest Robert Mayer at a Lake Forest parish in the late 1970s, said he was pleased with the process of the review board, which determined his allegations were substantiated not long after he came forward in August 2006 after he read a newspaper article about a suit by classmates of his. The archdiocese reached a financial settlement and agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

“I thought that’s pretty good for a large institution to come to that determination in 4½ months,” said Hoffman, who remains a practicing Catholic and who worked with the archdiocese to create a healing garden for victims.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

[with timeline]

Christopher Placek

t was 25 years after he was abused by a Catholic priest that Mike Hoffman finally decided to tell someone.

In 2006, he was reading a newspaper article about victims of clergy sex abuse suing the Archdiocese of Chicago. The names of Hoffman’s abuser, Robert Mayer, and classmates who were victims, stood out.

The abuse Hoffman experienced as a teenager at the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest had become his “normal.”

“That article triggered the fact it wasn’t normal at all,” said Hoffman, now 49, a Chicago resident and owner of a Mount Prospect small business. “That was painful abuse.”

Hoffman contacted the archdiocese to tell his story and, months later, was told an internal review board determined sexual misconduct did occur — a judgment accepted by Cardinal Francis George. Hoffman soon after negotiated a financial settlement with the archdiocese, which also agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

Archdiocese officials say they have substantiated 352 abuse cases relating to 66 priests since 1952 and paid out $130 million in settlements to victims. They say the policies and procedures they’ve implemented in light of the sex abuse scandal can help prevent abuse from happening again. The church’s sharpest critics disagree.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

04 January 2015 12:00 by Elena Curti

Pope Francis announced at this morning’s Angelus the names of the 15 men who are to receive red hats in a consistory next month.

The new cardinals are from 13 countries including Ethiopia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. Only two are Italian. The consistory will take place on 12 and 13 February and will examine proposals for reform of the Roman Curia.

The bishops and archbishops who will receive red hats are:
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)

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VATICAN CITY
ITV (UK)

[with list]

The Pope has named 20 new senior religious leaders from 14 countries as diverse as Vietnam, Tonga, Ethiopia and Mexico in an effort to unite the Catholic church around the world.

Pope Francis announced that he will hold the special ceremony to install 15 new cardinals, known as a consistory, at the Vatican on February 14.

He has also named five new archbishops and bishops emeriti.

The new cardinals, many of whom are under 80, have been appointed to the elite group of religious leaders at the top of the Roman Catholic herarchy – meaning they will be allowed to enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation.

He said that by choosing new religious leaders from many different countries from every continent, he wanted to “show the inseparable bond between the Church of Rome and the particular churches around the world.”

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By DEBORAH BALL
Updated Jan. 4, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis nominated 15 new members of the College of Cardinals on Sunday, including new cardinals for Vietnam, Ethiopia, Mexico and Myanmar.

The 15 men are all under the age of 80, which makes them eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pope.

The majority of the new batch of cardinals is from the developing world, reflecting the Argentine-born pontiff’s efforts to rebalance the College of Cardinals toward countries where Catholicism is growing. There were no Americans among the new nominees.

The group is the second batch of cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. They will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14.

The pontiff also nominated five cardinals emeriti, who won’t have the power to vote in a conclave. Such nominations are honorary.

Corrections & Amplifications

The cardinals will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the ceremony would take place on Feb. 24. (1/4/2015)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, head of the Holy See Press Office, has published the following “notes” on the new Cardinals, whose names were announced by Pope Francis at the Angelus on Sunday:

With respect to the number of 120 electors, there were 12 places “open” in the College today or in the coming months. The Pope has slightly exceeded this number, but remained very close to it, such that it is substantially respected.

The most evident criteria is evidently that of universality. Fourteen different countries are represented, including some that do not currently have a Cardinal, and some that have never had one. If the retired Archbishops and Bishops are counted, eighteen countries are represented. There are no new Cardinals from North America (the USA or Canada) because they already have a significant number, and that number has remained stable during the past year. (There is a new Mexican Cardinal).

The presence of countries that have never had a Cardinal (Capo Verde, Tonga, Myanmar) is noteworthy. These countries have ecclesial communities that are small or that represent a minority within their country. (The Bishop of Tonga is the President of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific; the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde is one of the most ancient African Dioceses; the Diocese of Morelia in Mexico is in a region troubled by violence.)

The fact that only one of the new Cardinals is from the Roman Curia is also notable, while “Roman” Cardinals remain about a quarter of the electors. It is evident that the Pope intends to consider the posts of Prefects of the Congregations and of some other very important institutions within the Curia – as, in this case, the Tribunal of the Signatura – as Cardinalatial posts.

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THAILAND
Bangkok Post

The Archbishop of Bangkok was among 20 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on Sunday to attend the elite group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy who enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation. Among them are 15 who are under 80.

Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij will join other cardinals from other countries including Italy, Portugal, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Myanmar, Uruguay, Spain and Panama, according to a statement of the Vatican released on Sunday.

It is the second time the 78-year-old Pope has put his stamp on the direction he wants the 1.2 billion member church to go, having named 19 cardinals a year ago. The new “princes” of the Church will be installed at a ceremony known as a consistory at the Vatican on Feb 14.

Pope Francis said on Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity.

The Thai archbishop is 65 years old. He was born in Bang Rak district, Bangkok, on June 27, 1949, and was ordained in 1976.

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VATICAN CITY
TribTown

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press
First Posted: January 04, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis named 15 new cardinals Sunday, selecting them from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand, Cape Verde and Myanmar, to reflect the diversity of the church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa..

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand and Vietnam. Another is form Sicily, where the Church in recent decades has been galvanizing public rejection of the Mafia.

Referring to the Vatican, Francis told faithful in St. Peter’s Square that the churchmen come “from every continent” and “show the indelible tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world.”

In addition to the 15 new cardinals who are under 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope, Francis bestowed the honor on five churchmen older than that. He said they distinguished themselves for their work in the Vatican bureaucracy, in diplomatic service in giving witness to their love of Christ and God’s people. Those included men from the pope’s native Argentina, Mozambique and Colombia.

Speaking from a Vatican window to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Francis made another surprise announcement. He said that on Feb. 12-13, he will lead of meeting of all cardinals to “reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia,” the Vatican’s administrative bureaucracy.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN)For the second time during his papacy, Pope Francis has announced a new group of bishops and archbishops set to become cardinals — and they come from all over the world.

Pope Francis said Sunday that he would hold a meeting of cardinals on February 14 “during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world,” according to Vatican Radio.

New cardinals are always important because they set the tone in the church and also elect the next pope, CNN senior Vatican analyst John L. Allen said. They are sometimes referred to as the princes of the Catholic Church.

The new cardinals come from countries such as Ethiopia, New Zealand and Myanmar.

“This is a pope who very much wants to reach out to people on the margins, and you clearly see that in this set,” Allen said. “You’re talking about cardinals from typically overlooked places, like Cape Verde, the Pacific island of Tonga, Panama, Thailand, Uruguay.”
But for the second time, no Americans made the list.

“Francis’ pattern is very clear: He wants to go to the geographical peripheries rather than places that are already top-heavy with cardinals,” Allen said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis announced the names of fifteen Archbishops and Bishops whom he will raise to the dignity of the Cardinalate on February 14, 2015. In addition, the Holy Father announced that five retired Archbishops and Bishops “distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church” would also be made Cardinals.

Below, please find the complete text of the Pope’s announcement, with the names of all those set to be elevated to the Cardinalate:

“As was already announced, on February 14 next I will have the joy of holding a Concistory, during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world.

“On Sunday February 15 I will preside at a solemn concelebration with the new Cardinals, while on February 12 and 13 I will hold a Consistory with all the Cardinals to reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia.

“The new Cardinals are:

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)
Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy)
Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam)
Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico)
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar)
Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand)
Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy)
Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay)
Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain)
Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá)
Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde)
Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

“Additionally, I will join to the Members of the College of Cardinals five Archbishops and Bishops Emeriti who are distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church. They represent so many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given witness of love for Christ and for the people of God in particular Churches, in the Rome Curia, and in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.

“They are:

José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales
Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus
Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber, Apostolic Nuncio
Luis Héctor Villaba, Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán
Júlio Duarte Langa, Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai

“Let us pray for the new Cardinals, that, renewed in their love for Christ, they might be witnesses of His Gospel in the City of Rome and in the world, and with their pastoral experience they might support me more intensely in my apostolic service.”

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Jan 4, 2015

Associated Press

Pope Francis has named 15 new cardinals, selecting the “princes of the church” from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand and Myanmar.

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. Francis said Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity and will be formally installed on Feb. 14.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Annuncio di Concistoro per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali

Nel corso dell’Angelus di oggi, il Santo Padre Francesco ha annunciato i nomi dei nuovi Cardinali che nominerà nel Concistoro del 14 febbraio prossimo:

Come è stato già annunciato, il prossimo 14 febbraio avrò la gioia di tenere un Concistoro, durante il quale nominerò 15 nuovi Cardinali, che, provenienti da 14 Nazioni di ogni Continente, manifestano l’inscindibile legame fra la Chiesa di Roma e le Chiese particolari presenti nel mondo.

Domenica 15 febbraio presiederò una solenne concelebrazione con i nuovi Cardinali, mentre il 12 e il 13 febbraio terrò un Concistoro con tutti i Cardinali per riflettere sugli orientamenti e le proposte per la riforma della Curia Romana.

I nuovi Cardinali sono:

1 – Mons. Dominique Mamberti, Arcivescovo titolare di Sagona, Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica.

2 – Mons. Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarca di Lisboa (Portogallo).

3 – Mons. Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., Arcivescovo di Addis Abeba (Etiopia).

4 – Mons. John Atcherley Dew, Arcivescovo di Wellington (Nuova Zelanda).

5 – Mons. Edoardo Menichelli, Arcivescovo di Ancona-Osimo (Italia).

6 – Mons. Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon, Arcivescovo di Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam).

7 – Mons. Alberto Suárez Inda, Arcivescovo di Morelia (Messico).

8 – Mons. Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Yangon (Myanmar).

9 – Mons. Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Arcivescovo di Bangkok (Thailandia).

10 – Mons. Francesco Montenegro, Arcivescovo di Agrigento (Italia).

11 – Mons. Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Montevideo (Uruguay).

12 – Mons. Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Arcivescovo di Valladolid (Spagna).

13 – Mons. José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., Vescovo di David (Panamá).

14 – Mons. Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Vescovo di Santiago de Cabo Verde (Arcipelago di Capo Verde).

15 – Mons. Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Vescovo di Tonga (Isole di Tonga).

Unirò, inoltre, ai Membri del Collegio Cardinalizio 5 Arcivescovi e Vescovi Emeriti che si sono distinti per la loro carità pastorale nel servizio alla Santa Sede e alla Chiesa. Essi rappresentano tanti Vescovi che, con la stessa sollecitudine di pastori, hanno dato testimonianza di amore a Cristo e al Popolo di Dio sia nelle Chiese particolari, sia nella Curia Romana, sia nel Servizio Diplomatico della Santa Sede.

Essi sono:

1 – Mons. José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez, Arcivescovo emerito di Manizales.

2 – Mons. Luigi De Magistris, Arcivescovo titolare di Nova, Pro-Penitenziere Maggiore emerito.

3 – Mons. Karl-Joseph Rauber, Arcivescovo titolare di Giubalziana, Nunzio Apostolico.

4 – Mons. Luis Héctor Villalba, Arcivescovo emerito di Tucumán.

5 – Mons. Júlio Duarte Langa, Vescovo emerito di Xai-Xai.

Preghiamo per i nuovi Cardinali, affinché, rinnovando il loro amore a Cristo, siano testimoni del suo Vangelo nella Città di Roma e nel mondo e con la loro esperienza pastorale mi sostengano più intensamente nel mio servizio apostolico.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Valley News

Randall Balmer
For the Valley News
Sunday, January 4, 2015
(Published in print: Sunday, January 4, 2015)

Imagine for a moment — and unfortunately it’s not difficult to do so — a religious institution with a long and tawdry history of tolerating sexual abuse. Individuals in positions of authority would prey on those in a subordinate status, those most vulnerable. If one of the victims summoned the courage to report the incident, those in authority would either brush it off or blame the victim for provoking the attack.

As evidence of systemic abuse mounted, officials in charge of this religious institution promised to investigate. Those investigations, however, were half-hearted at best and even aborted when investigators came close to the truth of the matter. The institution pledged to root out the corruption and punish the miscreants. But these religious authorities were also adamant that they should handle these sensitive matters internally rather than turn the cases over to law-enforcement authorities.

By now the contours of the story are sadly familiar, and readers know that I’m obviously referring to . . . Bob Jones University.

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UNITED STATES
News-Press

Frank Fear January 3, 2015

Pope Francis is at it again. He is continuing his unprecedented (and very public) effort to reform the Vatican bureaucracy.

In his Christmas Week address to The Curia he called bishops and cardinals “Lords of the Manor – (sometimes feeling) superior to everyone and everything.” “A Curia that does not criticize itself, that does not bring itself up to date, that does not to improve, is a sick body,” Francis proclaimed.

The administrative body of the Church needs to change, says the Pope, and he offered The Curia a framework for reform. Likening it to a diseased body, Francis described what he called “15 ailments of The Curia.” What’s ailing the Church’s top brass? Feeling indispensable. Being boastful. Gossiping. Forming closed circles. Showing off. Focusing excessively on career. Being opportunists. …

Most institutions talk a good game. They “brand” well. And they let the public know the great things they’re doing. But Francis brings to attention something else: what often goes on inside institutions. There you can often find a different storyline, one that’s almost always hidden from public view.

The prevailing approach is “impression management.” Only talk about what’s working well. Focus on highlights. Don’t air “dirty laundry.” Protect the Brand.

Some of that certainly makes sense, but an insular organizational culture emerges when institutional self-enhancement is taken to an extreme. Issues get papered-over. Employees feel they can’t bring up problems. It’s a matter of “going along to get along.”

None of this matters to the public most of the time, but that’s certainly not a hard and fast rule. Consider what happened at General Motors (ignition switch); The Veteran’s Administration (vets’ medical treatment); and Penn State University (sexual predation). And not too long ago the Pope cleaned-up money laundering at The Vatican Bank.

In calling-out the Curia, Francis made public what he believes is happening inside The Vatican. By extrapolation he invites us to ask a parallel question: What’s going on inside our organizations? As The Chicago Tribune wrote last week about the Pope’s talk: “This wasn’t an exclusively Roman Catholic message, or even a particularly religious message. It’s advice to all of us on how to lead our lives.”

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GUAM
Pacific Sunday News

Written by
Maria Hernandez
Pacific Sunday News

Vatican diplomats traveling from Rome were expected to arrive on island yesterday evening, and at least one member of the delegation is expected to attend the governor’s inauguration on Monday, according to the governor’s office.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fair, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Archbishop Martin Krebs, apostolic delegate to the Pacific Islands; and Reverend Father Tadeusz Nowak will be on island until Jan. 10, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

The governor’s inauguration will take place Monday morning on the front lawn at Adelup. Krebs is expected to attend, according to the governor’s office.

Concerned Catholics

While the archdiocese stated in a December release that the trip is a “pastoral visit to foster reconciliation and mutual understanding in the archdiocese,” some local organizations are disputing the claim.

In mid-December, a nonprofit group called the Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc. announced its plans to investigate the management of the local church, its financial books and the archdiocese’s handling of accusations of sexual molestation against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, news files state.

Apuron, who is planning a defamation lawsuit to defend the church, called the allegation a “horrible calumny,” but declined to comment further.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Saturday, January 3, 2014 – Road to Recovery, Inc.

The Xaverian Missionaries are a religious order of men with a headquarters in Wayne, NJ where Fr. James Tully, a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults is based and has lived recently. Fr. James Tully is a risk and danger to children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults.

Fr. James Tully sexually abused Anthony Turay at approximately age 19. Anthony Turay is a native of Makeni, Sierra Leone, Africa, who came from a devout Catholic family and attended a junior seminary in order to be a priest. Anthony Turay was also sexually abused at approximately age 20 by Br. Martin O’Reilly, CFC, at the Christian Brothers’ Formation Center in Gbarnga, Liberia, Africa, where Anthony was preparing to become a religious brother.

The Xaverian Missionaries have refused to treat Anthony Turay fairly and justly because of the effects of the sexual abuse of Fr. James Tully, Xaverian Missionary.

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting a New Jersey neighborhood and the general public to the dangers posed by a missionary religious order of men which refuses to treat an African sexual abuse victim, Anthony Turay, of a missionary priest, Fr. James Tully, fairly and justly.

When
Sunday, January 4, 2015 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm (press conference at Noon)

Where
Outside the headquarters of the Xaverian Missionary Religious Order, 12 Helene Court, Wayne, NJ 07470 – 973-942-2975

Who
Anthony Turay, an African man who was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully in a Catholic parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone at approximately the age of 19; his fiancée; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; Kevin Waldrip, a New Jersey sexual abuse victim and supporter of sexual abuse victims.

Why
The Xaverian Missionaries are an international religious order working in approximately 21 countries, including Sierra Leone in Africa. Fr. James Tully, a Xaverian Missionary, is a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults. The Xaverian Missionaries have settled claims against Fr. Tully for sexually abusing children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults in the United States and foreign countries. Anthony Turay, an innocent victim from Sierra Leone in Africa, was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully at the Xaverian Missionary parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone on more than one occasion. Demonstrators will go door to door in the cul-de-sac neighborhood of Wayne, NJ where the leaders of the Xaverian Missionaries are based warning innocent families of the danger posed by Fr. James Tully and the Xaverian Missionary leaders who enabled and continue to enable him.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President, Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED STATES
America

Nathan Schneider | Jan 1 2015

A Catholic sister I know, on her way to yet another street protest for police accountability, emailed me the other day with “an idea for a column,” as her subject line read. This crisis of racism in policing, she wrote, seems familiar. Could it be that there is some connection between prosecutors protecting killer police officers and bishops protecting abusive priests?

It’s a haunting idea—haunting to think that these two hugely powerful yet distinct institutions might have systemic problems in common. Even more haunting is the thought of how touchy partisans of either the cops or the church might respond to such an intimation. Yet the second I saw the sister’s brief suggestion, I couldn’t help but think that there is truth to it.

Think of it this way. Police departments around the country are facing a renewed round of protest for practices and policies that victimize people of color; in a spree of high-profile cases, officers have escaped trial, angering communities and harming public trust in the institution as a whole. Dioceses around the country, too, have been exposed in recent years for practices and policies that victimize the people they purport to serve, particularly children; after a series of high-profile cover-ups, the systematic protection of abusive clergy has sorely harmed the faithful’s trust in the institution as a whole.

Am I missing something?

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

In a new posting at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin invites Catholics to dream about the impossible. As he notes, countering the idea that such dreams are “impractical,” who dreamt that a “pope for life” would resign in the midst of the mess the Catholic church has made for itself at this point in history?

And did Jesus limit his dreams to the “practical”?

Jerry proposes 12 resolutions for Pope Francis if he really does want to fix the mess:

∙Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
∙Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
∙Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
∙Help couples by endorsing contraception.
∙Help women by ordaining women as priests.
∙Appoint women Cardinals.
∙Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
∙Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
∙Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
∙Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
∙End Church involvement in political campaigns.
∙Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

With regard to the question of naming women cardinals, Jerry notes that the Wall Street Journal has stated that Francis may name new cardinals as early as tomorrow. As he also points out, no less than the Vatican’s Jesuit spokesman Father Lombardi has told The Irish Times that “theologically and theoretically, it is possible” for a pope to name a woman cardinal. As Jerry also reminds his readers, Jesuit Father Tom Reese has also stated that, according to canon law, a pope has “total freedom” to appoint whomever he wishes as a cardinal.

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.

ITALIA
Firmiamo

[petition site in support of Pope Francis]

L’arrivo del Papa «venuto dalla fine del mondo» che assume il nome di Francesco presentandosi non come Pontefice Massimo, ma come Vescovo di Roma, provoca reazioni scomposte dentro la Curia vaticana che, falcidiata da scandali e corruzioni, considera il Papa come corpo «estraneo» al suo sistema consolidato di alleanze col potere mondano, alimentato da due strumenti perversi: il denaro e il sesso.

Dapprima il chiacchiericcio sul «Papa strano» inizia in sordina, poi via via diventa sempre più palese davanti alle aperture di papa Francesco in fatto di famiglia, di «pastorale popolare» e di vicinanza con il Popolo di Dio per arrivare anche – scandalo degli scandali – a parlare con i non credenti e gli atei.

Dopo lo sgomento di un sinodo «libero di parlare», l’attacco frontale di cinque cardinali (Müller, Burke, Brandmüller, Caffarra e De Paolis), tra cui il Prefetto della Congregazione della Fede, ha rafforzato il fronte degli avversari che vedono in Papa Francesco «un pericolo» che bisogna bloccare a tutti i costi.

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.

ITALY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor January 3, 2015

Amid a robust Italian debate over the leadership of Pope Francis, a cross-section of liberal Catholic groups in the country has launched an online petition to show backing for the Argentinian pontiff.

Pointedly called “Stop the Attacks on Pope Francis,” the petition was launched on Christmas Day by groups including “We are Church,” “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” the Edith Stein Study Center, an Italian association of theologians, and a variety of base communities. All are generally associated with the liberal wing of the Italian Church.

The petition is also signed by the Rev. Luigi Ciotti of Turin, one of Italy’s best known anti-Mafia priests, and the Rev. Alex Zanotelli, a Combonian missionary priest and a well-known social activist.

As of Jan. 3, the petition had attracted close to 2,500 signatures, toward a goal of 50,000.

The current Italian row over Francis began when one of the country’s most renowned Catholic journalists, Vittorio Messori, published a front-page essay on Dec. 24 in Corriere della Sera stating his “perplexity” over what he sees as the pontiff’s contradictions.

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.

MARYLAND
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

January 3rd, 2015

Bishop Heather Cook of Baltimore killed a bicyclist last week.

She apparently left her apartment at the end of Roland Avenue in Baltimore. She drove south down a section of Roland Ave which is 6 lanes, untrafficked, with clearly marked bike lanes and smooth pavement.

There she encountered Tony Palermo and ran into him. He was an expert bicyclist, and worked in the bicycle section at REI. My son frequently saw him bicycling. There were other bicyclists around.

She continued on Roland Avenue and turned around. The bicyclists saw her car and realized it must have been the one involved in the accident. A bicyclist pursued her to get her license number. She drove into her gated community but the guard kept the bicyclist out.

45 minutes after the accident (according to eyewitnesses) she returned to the scene of the accident. An official from the Episcopal diocese was on hand.

Cook had had a previous encounter with the police:

Court records show that a sheriff’s deputy stopped Cook on Sept. 10, 2010, in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore. The officer wrote in a report that Cook was driving on the shoulder at 29 mph in a 50 mph-zone with a shredded front tire. The deputy noted that a strong alcohol odor emanated from the vehicle and that Cook had vomit down the front of her shirt.

The officer wrote that Cook was so intoxicated that she couldn’t finish a field sobriety test because she might fall and hurt herself.

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.

CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Kate Valentine
Friday, January 02, 2015

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) — A former Tulare priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from parishioners has bailed out of jail. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is reaching out to members to help calm any concerns.

Questions surround former priest Ignacio Villafan of St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Tulare. This week he was arrested and charged with embezzling $425,000.

The Diocese of Fresno was first told about accounting problems several years ago at St. Rita’s. That’s when they put Villafan on paid administrative leave. They also contacted Tulare police.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said, “Tulare Police Department did a lengthy thorough investigation and based on that we were able to file charges.”

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

[with video]

By Colin Campbell
The Baltimore Sun

A Maryland Episcopal bishop identified as the motorist in Saturday’s fatal bicycle accident in North Baltimore once gave a sermon in which she used a driving analogy to discuss responsibility.

In the videotaped sermon, “Be Prepared,” Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook cautions the congregation that actions can have serious consequences.

“Things happen suddenly, and we’re either prepared in the moment or we’re not, and we face the consequences. We can’t go back. We can’t do it over,” Cook says in the sermon, posted on YouTube in November. “If we routinely drive 55 in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook says.

The video was posted by the All Saints’ Episcopal Church of Reisterstown on its YouTube page and is dated Nov. 13.

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.

ROMA
Noticias Iruya

La Squadra Mobile de la policía italiana ha detenido en Roma al sacerdote Alessandro De Rossi, sobre quien pesaba una orden de captura internacional emitida por un Juez de Garantías de la ciudad de Salta.

La detención se produjo el pasado miércoles 31 de diciembre, en horas de la tarde, según han informado autoridades italianas.

De Rossi se desempeñaba desde el 1 de septiembre de 2013 como párroco de la iglesia de San Luigi Gonzaga, ubicada en la via Villa Emiliani del barrio de Parioli, al norte de Roma.

El sacerdote, de 46 años, estuvo destinado «fidei donum» durante aproximadamente seis años en la Arquidiócesis de Salta, en donde tuvo a su cargo la iglesia de María Medianera de Todas las Gracias, ubicada al oeste de la capital salteña. De Rossi era, además, uno de los promotores de una ONG religiosa denominada “Salta sul mondo onlus”, que realizaba proyectos en favor de los niños más vulnerables.

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ARGENTINA
Noticias Iruyai

El Arzobispo de Salta avaló con su ‘juicio positivo’ la designación como párroco en Roma del cura detenido

En la tarde de ayer, día viernes 2 de enero de 2015, el Uficio Comunicazioni Sociali (UCS), que depende del Vicariato di Roma, ha hecho público un comunicado de prensa en el que expresa su dolor y desconcierto por el arresto del párroco de San Luigi Gonzaga, «Alessandro De Rossi», acusado de abuso y corrupción de menores por la justicia de Salta.

La nota recuerda que el sacerdote había regresado a Roma a comienzos de 2013, después de pasar varios años como misionero en el extranjero y señala expresamente que su designación como párroco en una iglesia de Roma se debió al juicio positivo emitido sobre él por el «obispo local».

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ROME
Buenos Aires Herald

A priest accused of sexual abuse against minors in Salta province was arrested in Rome, Italy, following an warrant issued by Argentine judges.

Alessandro De Rossi, 46, faced charges for having perpetrated sexual offences against a 14-year-old teenager during three years while he was working at the church “María Medianera de todas las gracias,” located in the neighbourhood Islas Malvinas of the capital city of Salta, according to the website Roma Capitale.

At the time of his arrest, De Rossi was a pastor in a church in Rome’s Parioli district.
The detention took place on December 31 but was reported yesterday.

Salta Judge Diego Rodríguez Pipino issued an arrest warrant to the Interpol international police agency against De Rossi, who is said to have committed a series of sexual offences to an unknown number of victims.

The priest, born in Rome, was sent to Salta by Church authorities. He spent five years in that province.

Between December 23 and Christmas Eve, police officers carried out several raids to seize computers, photographs and some other information that could be used as evidence of the alleged ties between De Rossi and the sexual abuse cases that had been reported by minors.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

December 31, 2014 Happy New Year to all our friends and readers !

On December 28, in Abuse Tracker, it was a coincidence (or God-incidence because with God – and sometimes with Kathy Shaw – there is no such thing as coincidence) that Jerry Slevin’s blog, Christian Catholicism, and his critique ‘Pope Francis: Children Are Good & More Children Are Better???’ — was posted next to our blog, POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ (con-artist really), with our REBUTTAL to Peggy Noonan’s article ‘Cardinal, Please Spare This Church’ in Wall Street Journal – Opus Dei Beast PR Stunt of Day in US

Jerry duly noted in his article that – “Pope Francis even suggests that couples may be having less children due to ‘egoism’. Francis reportedly said on 12/28/14: ‘In a world often marked by egoism, a large family is a school of solidarity and of mission that’s of benefit to the entire society …’” Here’s our addendum: Pope Francis is the Jesuit Master of Deceits – and what he really mean is, a large family – who will be on perpetual mission – to serve and work as cheap slaves laborers worldwide – for the 1% richest persons on the globe who are his cronies of looters and imperialists of multinational corporations – whose wealth are safely hidden in secret Vatican Swiss Banks and in Malta.

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BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times

By MICHAEL PAULSON
JAN. 2, 2015

BOSTON — The house on the rise has long been a symbol of Catholicism in Boston. When it was built, its grandeur demonstrated the wherewithal of the city’s newly powerful Roman Catholic community. When it was sold, the transaction reflected the straits of a once-powerful archdiocese brought low by scandal.

Now, the bedrooms of the Italianate palazzo where all of Boston’s 20th-century cardinals, as well as a visiting Pope John Paul II, once slept have been gutted, in preparation for it to be remade as a museum.

The conversion of the cardinals’ residence is the final step in the transformation of a leafy expanse on the western edge of Boston that was once so packed with Catholic institutions — a seminary, a college, the residence and the archdiocesan headquarters — that it was referred to as Little Rome. It is still Catholic — most of the land is owned by Boston College, a Jesuit institution, and there are crosses and a statue of St. Ignatius on the campus. But the seminary gymnasium is now a dance studio; the old tribunal, where marriages were annulled, houses a center on aging; and the former chancery is the college’s alumni center.

A decade after the Archdiocese of Boston began the process of selling property at its headquarters to Boston College to pay victims of sexual abuse by clergy members, the most visible vestiges of the land’s historical uses are an archdiocesan seminary, now in half the building it once filled, and a grave site for the cardinal who acquired much of the land but whose remains were disinterred and relocated as a condition of the real estate deal.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Tim Rohr

This is a request I have received several times.

The apostolic visitors have several meetings scheduled with the clergy and the laity. Unfortunately, those wishing to meet with them were screened by the very people who the apostolic visitors are here to investigate.

At 3pm on Tuesday, December 30, CCOG president, Greg Perez, was advised by someone who had only made an appointment a few hours before, that according to the chancery official in charge of the schedule, most of January 8 and 9 was still open.

Upon hearing that the schedule was still mostly open only a few hours previously, Mr. Perez, who had already made an appointment for himself, called the chancery to make an additional appointment for the CCOG. He was told that everything was booked.

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

01/02/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Less than two months after the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis gave nearly a dozen staff members thirty minutes to pack up and depart- terminating their employment in an effort to balance the budget- and with the prospect of a bankruptcy filing looming, the Archdiocese announced in its January 2, 2015 ‘Update’ the hiring of another employee for the Office of Child and Youth Protection.

According to the ‘Update’,

The Office for the Protection of Children and Youth Welcomes Michael Fulcher

Mike Fulcher will be joining the OPCY staff on January 5, 2015 as the new OPCY Coordinator. Mike recently moved from Ohio to the Twin Cities to be closer to family, and to work for the local Church in this important role.

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
Prestige Hong Kong

MICHAEL KEATON’s role in Birdman has resurrected the multifaceted actor’s eclectic career. He talks to JOE YOGERST about theatre, his comedic roots and the movie that’s propelled him back into the limelight

AFTER YEARS OF flying beneath the media spotlight, Michael Keaton suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in showbiz. He’s been blazing a trail through the late-night talk shows, he’s on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and countless other rags, and he can’t even get through a restaurant meal without other diners (like US Secretary of State John Kerry) showering him with praise. All because of a little film called Birdman that has slowly but surely morphed into a very big deal.

It’s not like Keaton hasn’t been in the spotlight before. His naughty-but-nice Beetlejuice is one of the more memorable characters to come out of Tinseltown in the past 30 years. And his Batman redefined the superhero genre, setting the tone for dozens of films that came later. But it’s Keaton’s role as washed-up actor Riggan Thomson in Birdman that has thrust the 63-year-old onto a whole different plane of celebrity. …

YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MOVIE COMING OUT NEXT – SPOTLIGHT – A STORY ABOUT THE CATHOLIC-CHURCH SEXABUSE SCANDAL. ARE YOU FINISHED SHOOTING?

I think I have a day we have to go back and grab a scene in the winter. That was a nice little movie to work on. Not the cheeriest of subject matters.

AND YOU PLAY ROBBY ROBINS ON, AN EDITOR IN CHARGE OF A TEAM FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE THAT’S INVESTIGATING THE SCANDAL.

Yeah. He describes himself as a player/coach. He’s a reporter and an editor of what in some cities they call the Metro section. The Boston Globe has something called Spotlight that does investigative pieces. And Walter “Robby” Robinson heads that team up.

IT’S AN INTERESTING PREMISE FOR A MOVIE. I GUESS IT’S THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS REALLY TAKEN A LOOK AT THIS SUBJECT.

Yeah, exactly. My guess is that it’s going to feel a little like All the President’s Men. I have the feeling that will be the vibe. Which is kind of nice because when is the last time you saw that kind of movie? Nobody really makes that kind of movie any more.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton Spectator (Canada)

Michael Keaton says his education at a Catholic school shaped the person who he is.

The 63-year-old actor admits he endured tough discipline during his time at school when he was growing up in Pennsylvania, but rather than resent the treatment he believes it made him a moral person.

In an interview with Prestige Hong Kong magazine, Keaton – whose parents were Catholic Christians – said: “I liked going to Catholic school. Not as f***ed up as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life. It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve Mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton’s next film ‘Spotlight’ focuses on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of the Massachusetts Catholic sex abuse scandal.

In the movie, he plays Spotlight team editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson who is charge of the journalistic investigation into the abuse carried out by priests, and Keaton believes his Catholic background helped him in the difficult role.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

Michael Keaton Stars in Movie About Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal; Reveals Catholic School Helped Shape Him as a Person

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
January 2, 2015

U.S. actor Michael Keaton poses during the red carpet for the movie ”Birdman or (The unexpected virtue of ignorance)” at the 71st Venice Film Festival August 27, 2014.

Actor Michael Keaton has said in an interview that his upcoming movie “Spotlight,” about the Catholic sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, threatened to make him “angry and depressed” due to the dark subject matter. Keaton also revealed that he grew up going to Roman Catholic school, and said that it had a positive impact on his life and helped shape him as a person.

“I liked going to Catholic school. Not as [expletive] as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life,” Keaton told Prestige Hong Kong magazine in an interview on Thursday.

“It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton further explained that in the film he plays Robby Robins, an editor in charge of a team from the Boston Globe that investigated the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, which uncovered a series of cover-ups related to such crimes within the Boston 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
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
* Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
* Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
* Help couples by endorsing contraception.
* Help women by ordaining women as priests.
* Appoint women Cardinals.
* Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
* Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
* Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
* Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
* End Church involvement in political campaigns.
* Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

* Why not? Impractical, not really, as I discuss below. Was expecting a “pope for life” to quit impractical? Moreover, Jesus was not limited by what was considered “practical”.

* It is time for Catholics to take off the blinders and require that their leaders follow the Gospels. Catholics can require this by (1) ending their donations that even indirectly benefit bishops, (2) publicly challenging their bishops often, and (3) demanding that their democratically elected officials (A) investigate, and if the evidence is found, prosecute suspected bishops, and (B) end all subsidies to bishops.

* Pope Francis has so far offered few indications about concrete changes he really wants. Many Church leaders seem fearful of any changes. Yet, many Catholics and others are finally pressing for permanent changes. They have by now seen Vatican misconduct up close and too often. They now also understand better that many of the Vatican’s frequently ambiguous, if not vague, basic biblical and historical sources supporting papal power have too often been overplayed, if not misused, in encyclicals and a Catechism, to justify supreme papal power .

* Significantly, these permanent changes, that the Catholic majority seeks in good conscience and good faith, may differ ultimately from what many in the Vatican now want. As the “infallible Supreme Pontiff” for millions of Catholics, Pope Francis has the best papal opportunity in many years, if not centuries, to fix the broken Catholic Church. This may also be the final papal opportunity to clean up the “holy mess”. Time will soon tell.

* This Catholic Church’s crisis has led to one papal resignation already. Pope Francis appears for many reasons to be the Vatican’s best and last chance to lead on initiating overdue Church changes. Pressures beyond Vatican control can be expected to compel more severe changes if Francis fails to act effectively and transparently. This has already begun to happen with respect to Vatican finances, as a result of the continuing European governmental investigations of multiple misdeeds involving both the Vatican Bank and the Vatican’s own significant portfolio assets. Prospects for criminal prosecutions of Catholic Church officials have seemingly caused the Vatican to focus on overdue reforms in ways that earlier financial penalties and shameful publicity had rarely done before. As with corporate criminal executives worldwide, prosecution risk is generally a uniquely effective deterrent to future crimes by senior leaders.

* Almost 150 years ago, facing a similar crisis, Pope Pius IX refused to initiate overdue changes to his arbitrary and ineffective leadership of his Kingdom of the Papal States in central Italy. His key misguided “fix” was to push to be declared “infallible” in July 1870. Two months later, he militarily lost the Kingdom completely to Italian nationalists. Traditional papal protectors like France and Austria-Hungary stood by and passively watched, unwilling to support further papal mismanagement and capriciousness. Will Pope Francis make a similar mistake like Pius IX did by misjudging his precarious position?

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Pope Francis is more popular than any modern pope but is upsetting Vatican insiders. Peter Popham says the backlash has begun and asks who will come out on top in the struggle for the heart of the Catholic church

Pope Francis, who in his first Mass of the new year called for an end to war and slavery, has put a spring in the step of the Catholic Church since his election nearly two years ago. But now the backlash has begun.

It started, coincidentally or not, two days after a recent, devastating assault by the pontiff on the vices of the senior Vatican officials who surround him.

Addressing the Curia in the magnificent setting of the Clementina Hall, the first Latin American Pope took no prisoners. Itemising the faults of the senior prelates he was addressing, he listed “feelings of immortality, immunity or indispensability, deriving from a pathology of power” and what he called “spiritual Alzheimer’s” in which Vatican bosses lose their memory of “meeting the Lord” and “depend entirely … on their passions, their whims and manias … becoming slaves of idols”. He described how “the terrorism of gossip” can “kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood”. Other ailments included having “a hardened heart”, “a funereal face”, and being “too rigid, tough and arrogant”.

The reaction came two days later. In the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Vittorio Messori, Italy’s best-known Catholic writer, wrote of his feelings of “perplexity” about the Pope, and the fact that “even some of the cardinals who were among his electors” were having second thoughts about him.

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TEXAS
Valley Central

by Tiffany Huertas

Supporters from all over the valley gathered Thursday evening at the Pharr Events Center for the swearing-in of the new Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez. On hand to administer the oath of office was Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio

Some supporters said the change is long overdue and hope Rodriguez will listen to them.

“I totally believe that he will look into not only the Irene Garza case, but all cases,” said Noemi Sigler, Supporter.

The Garza family has supported Rodriguez since the beginning. They’ve been trying to get the unsolved murder case of Irene Garza re-opened for years.

The former Texas beauty queen and schoolteacher was killed more than 50 years ago, but no one has ever been charged for her death. The Garza’s said when they approached the now former DA Rene Guerra about reviewing the case, they got the cold shoulder.

“He showed absolutely no compassion, to the point of being disrespectful, and I will go out on a limb and say cruel,” said Noemi Sigler, Garza family member.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Fern Shen January 1, 2015

A mighty river of biking comrades today flowed along the Baltimore street where cyclist Thomas Palermo was hit and killed by a car last Saturday, in a memorial ride meant to honor his memory and show support for safer biking.

More than 700 people signed up for the ride and vigil, but organizers estimated as many as 1,500 participated in the chilly New Year’s Day show of support, some of them wearing signs that said “Cyclists’ Lives Matter” and “Justice for Tom.”

“I just came today to honor a fellow biker,” said Jeff Dudley, of Guilford, adhering at first to organizers’ wishes to keep the focus of the event on Palermo, not the unusual circumstances of his death.

But with Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook named as the driver – and clergy officials confirming that she drove off after the crash and so far no charges filed – the case has ignited worldwide attention and intense local debate.

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MARYLAND
Fox DC

There are more calls for Maryland’s first female episcopal bishop to resign following a deadly hit-and-run in Baltimore.

Hundreds of people hit the streets in Baltimore Thursday to remember fellow cyclist Thomas Palermo.

The father of two was struck and killed by a car this past weekend while he rode in a bike lane.

Police say Bishop Heather Cook was behind the wheel of the car. They say she left the scene and then returned 20-minutes later.

So far no charges have been filed.

A Facebook page calling for her to resign and face charges has nearly 2000 likes.

Just months ago, cook talked about personal responsibility in a sermon, using a car crash as an example.

“If we routinely drive 55 in a 30 mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook said in front of parishioners.

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MARYLAND
Christian Century

Jan 02, 2015 by Richard A. Kauffman

Two days after Christmas, Heather Elizabeth Cook, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, hit and killed a bicyclist with her car. The deceased, Thomas Palermo, left behind a wife and two small children, ages four and six. Cook left the scene of the accident, despite having a badly cracked windshield from the impact. According to one report, she only returned to the scene because another cyclist chased her down.

The police have released no details suggesting drugs or alcohol were involved. But Cook had a previous DUI incident in 2010, before she became a bishop. In that incident she was initially charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, and possession of marijuana. She admitted to smoking pot while driving. One of her tires was shredded down to the rim.

Apparently this information wasn’t shared across the diocese when Cook was voted in this spring as the number two bishop, leaving some members feeling betrayed. Some even accuse the search committee of being so keen to elect the first female bishop in the diocese that it chose to overlook her previous run-in with the law.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

Rev. Emily C. Heath
Clergy, United Church of Christ

A few people have asked me, as a clergy person openly in longterm recovery, what my thoughts are on whether Bishop Heather Cook, the Episcopal bishop in Maryland who struck and killed a motorist and who had a history of driving under the influence, should have been serving as a bishop. Here are my thoughts.

First of all, the person we should first be remembering, and whose family we should be lifting up in prayer, is Thomas Palermo, the man who was struck and killed by Bishop Cook, and then left to die in the roadway. Mr. Palermo and his family, including his children, should be our first concern as the church.

But to turn to Bishop Cook, and the discussion of clergy and alcoholism, this is what I can say. In the aftermath of Bishop Cook’s actions, I have seen a number of posts on social media debating whether or not a person with substance abuse issues should have been elevated to bishop. In my mind, most have lacked nuance. Several things need to be taken into account.

First, there are many clergy persons in recovery from addictions. Second, there are many more who should be in recovery. Third, I don’t know to which group Bishop Cook belonged.

That said, her 2010 DUI charges were particularly disturbing. Many of us in recovery never drove drunk, but the facts of her prior case seem to indicate that substance abuse was indeed a problem. My hope is that when she was charged she saw the need to get sober. My other hope is that the Episcopal Church supported her in that endeavor.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jan. 2, 2015

The creation of new cardinals in February may well determine whether the papacy of Pope Francis is a flash in the pan or a turning point in the history of the church. It is the College of Cardinals that will determine whether his legacy is lasting when they choose his successor after he dies or retires.

If they choose a new pope committed to the reforms begun by Francis, all will be well. If not, church leaders, especially the Roman Curia, could try to return to business a usual.

This has happened before. Pope John XXIII was a reforming pope who called the Second Vatican Council, but he was not strategic when it came to the appointment of cardinals. He appointed many people who were not totally on board with the council. People joked that he made his enemies cardinals, especially those in the Curia. He even broke with tradition by making archbishops of all of the cardinals working in the Curia.

Judging by the appointments he made last year, Pope Francis is not making this mistake. In order to understand the radical nature of his 2014 appointments, one must remember the written and unwritten rules governing the appointment of cardinals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

January 1 2015

David Aaronvitch

The vitriol aimed at Dame Fiona Woolf shows how detached from reality the self-appointed victims’ champions are

The year turns on a rusty hinge and the squeaks of 2014 grate on into 2015. So Fiona Woolf found herself both damed and damned as the new year’s honours list was announced. Damed for being only the second woman lord mayor of London and a distinguished lawyer; damned for being unfit (temporarily, at any rate) to receive such an honour

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

Friday, January 2, 2015

SIMON SANTOW: As the child abuse Royal Commission moves into its second year of public hearings, there are growing concerns about how victims and organisations are using social media to discuss institutional child sexual abuse.

While social media is enabling survivors to connect with others and candidly share their stories in a way that was never possible before. There are warnings about the possible risks it may pose to future legal action.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Last month, abuse survivor Alecia Buchanan told the Royal Commission about the comfort and support she’d found from others via social media.

ALECIA BUCHANAN: After so many years of silence, we… it was pouring out and a public forum of course we didn’t have anything like this in the old days, you know. So the social medium and people which, I’d never heard from contacted me and saying this is… thank you for… you know that was actually the most powerful thing, you know and it felt like we were being public.

EMILY BOURKE: Aaron Kernaghan has worked as a criminal defence lawyer and prosecutor and he represents victims and institutions appearing before the national inquiry.

AARON KERNAGHAN: It isn’t easy to come forward and talk to police, or to lawyers or to judges, it’s even less easy to talk to juries. But interestingly we seem to be moving as a society to a place where people have a great deal of ease with talking about incredibly private matters in a very public way.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

BY COLIN O’CARROLL – 02 JANUARY 2015

The number of historical child abuse victims could reach the tens of thousands and overwhelm the system, a leading MP has claimed.

Labour’s John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to police, said victims wanted a national institute.

He said the government needed the backing of those claiming to have been abused by establishment figures and in state institutions.

Mr Mann said the state could not deal with the numbers of people coming forward.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

By Jack Sommers
Posted: 31/12/2014

The City lawyer who was forced to resign as chair of the government’s child sexual abuse inquiry, has been made a Dame, prompting condemnation from a campaigning MP on the issue.

Fiona Woolf was the second senior legal figure to quit as chair over her links to the Westminster political establishment.

She resigned over links to former home secretary Lord Brittan, who is likely to be called to give evidence to the inquiry over a dossier he received from MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983, documenting the alleged involvement of VIP figures in a child sex ring.

Her resignation, just months after retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down over similar concerns, has thrown the government’s stalled inquiry into crisis.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

January 1, 2015

From Page 6, December 31, 2014 edition of the Marianas Variety (or here):

SINCE the Concerned Catholics of Guam organized at the start of this month, the number of problems that they are asked to look into continues to grow, said David Sablan, vice president of the group.

The Concerned Catholics announced their intention to investigate the local archdiocese and heal a rift within the church on Dec. 9 and since then parishioners have approached them with related problems they want the group to sort out, Sablan said.

“There have been allegations against our archdiocese that have been milling around and this group wants to search out the facts and come up with the truth,” Sablan said.

“What we thought at first was maybe one or two, or a small number, of incidences is now growing tremendously,” said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics. “And again, it’s really disappointing to see something like this happen and … we’ll continue to seek truth and justice.”

The group is hoping to find out how the money of the archdiocese is actually being spent as well as find out why funds are spent on the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Yona, Sablan said. Since the group announced its purpose on Dec. 9, one member, Deacon Steve Martinez was instructed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron to dissociate himself from it, lest he be censured. Martinez’s possible censure is another issue the group is hoping to investigate.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Taking his cue from Pope Francis, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas warned priests against clericalism and materialism as seen among others in signature shirts, luxury vehicles, and international trips.

“It is a scandal for a priest to die a rich man,” Villegas said in a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan on Thursday, January 1.

Villegas, who also heads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), issued a 7-point warning to priests as the Catholic Church in the Philippines marks the Year of the Poor, and as the Catholic Church around the world observes the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015.

The archbishop wrote, “As a brother in the vocation whose mission is to bring the Good News to the poor, let us impose on ourselves strict discipline in the following areas of priestly life:

“Avoid as much as you can foreign travels and frequent recreation in expensive tourist destinations. Even if such are paid for by friends and family, it is best to decline and choose austerity and simplicity. Rest is important but luxurious recreation is disrespectful for the poor who cannot even take a rest from their backbreaking jobs. Be more sensitive.”

“High-end cars and expensive vehicles smack of vainglory and luxury especially in a province like ours where there are so many who are poor who cannot afford a tricycle ride. There is no excuse for any priest to have such high-end vehicles. We need vehicles to reach the poor barangays (villages) and bring them the blessings of God. Expensive cars alienate the poor from the Church. We smell differently from the sheep.”

“We need to return to the clerical attire or clerical cross in public places as a form of witnessing to the poverty of Christ. Loud colored signature shirts and pants are fashionable but we cannot let Christ glow unless we let our glamour go. To be simple is to be great in the eyes of God. The poor priest does not need to dress sloppy. We must give dignity to our vocation.”

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MARYLAND
Inside Baltimore

By Tom Nugent

January 2015 – A second witness in the brutal 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik told Baltimore-area criminal investigators 20 years ago that she was shown the dead nun’s body by a policeman, according to two former Maryland law enforcement officials who did not wish to be identified.

The former law enforcement officials said the witness alleged that after showing her Sister Cathy’s body, the policeman warned her to keep silent and raped her “on the back of a police car.”

According to the former officials, the witness added that she was shown the corpse “at another location” than the Lansdowne, Maryland, remote wooded area where the nun’s badly decomposed body was discovered 45 years ago this month, on January third, 1970.

The former Maryland law enforcement officials also said the woman’s written statement “went up the chain of command, per standard operating procedure” at the Baltimore County Police Department – but that it was never acted upon by cold case investigators who were charged with working on the unsolved murder.

(Baltimore County Police conducted the murder investigation after the nun’s body was found lying in the dirt near a trash dumpster, in a remote area located in their jurisdiction a few miles south of the city of Baltimore.)

“Eventually the word came down that her information had not persuaded the [cold case detectives] to re-open [an active] investigation,” said one of the former law enforcement officials.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The number of historic claims of sexual abuse against children is likely to reach “tens of thousands”, an MP has warned.

Labour backbencher John Mann told Sky News there will be too many cases for the state to cope with – and is calling for a national institute to help victims.

It comes after many survivors called for the Government to scrap its current inquiry into paedophile activity and replace it with a more powerful body.

The wide-ranging probe was sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, and is still mired in controversy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Jan 01, 2015 By Ben Glaze

Tens of thousands of victims are likely to come forward when the Westminster child abuse inquiry finally begins, an MP has warned.

Labour’s John Mann said today investigators will struggle with the “vast” number of allegations being made.

The Bassetlaw MP added: “Probably it’s going to be many tens of thousands of people across the country. It really is an extraordinary number of people.

“The state can’t deal with the numbers of people coming forward.”

Home Secretary Theresa May announced the inquiry six months ago into claims of historical child sex abuse and a cover-up that allegedly goes to the heart of the establishment.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims of clergy abuse demand action from Pope
While church commemorates innocent children murdered by Herod, victims to Pope: take action
Victimized as children by priests in three different countries they seek prevention
To Pope Francis: Fire predators and order bishops to open records and report evidence to police

For immediate release: December 28, 2014

By Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org

As Catholics commemorate the biblical story of Herod massacring infants and acknowledge the special vulnerability of children, victims want Pope Francis to take concrete action to protect children now.

Specifically they want Pope Francis to take immediate action today to keep children safe in the church. They want him to:

-Fire the predators,
-Order all bishops to report suspected sex crimes, open files and turn over evidence to police, and
-Punish bishops and church officials who knowingly transfer predators and/or shield predators from police.

In February 2014 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that children remain at “… high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children.”

They also found instances where church officials have “refused to cooperate with law enforcement authorities…”

[New York Times]

SNAP leaders want the Pope to lead the charge in protecting children by starting in the church itself.

SNAP wants predators fired from their posts.

They want bishops who transfer and/or shield predators punished.

SNAP leaders want the Pope to demand that records about sex crimes should be turned over to police and made public. Bishops should encourage their employees and parishioners to assist police in obtaining all evidence so that the perpetrators of sexual violence can be prosecuted and jailed. Victims want the Pope to order bishops across the globe to take these simple steps to immediately make children safer.

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VATICAN CITY
Latin Post

By Yara Simon (staff@latinpost.com)

Pope Francis continues to make changes within the Catholic church.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the pope is looking at developing countries when appointing new cardinals. He wants to find people who strengthen his point of view within the Vatican, and he wants to show support to Christians in the Middle East.

He is expected to name cardinals as soon as Sunday, and there is reportedly no American or Italian being considered for this role. …

Through cardinals, the pope is able to influence how the church operates.

When cardinals turn 80, they are no longer able to vote in a papal election. Therefore, new cardinals will be chosen. By February, 10 cardinals will be 80, and there will be two more that will soon turn 80.

Some believe the Argentine pope is looking to the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea for cardinals. Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman from Baghdad is one who people believe is strongly being considered.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* The Wall Street Journal has reported that Pope Francis is likely to name more Cardinals, possibly as early Sunday, 1/4/15, as he seeks to reshape the makeup of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and to strengthen his support within the Vatican administration, known as the Roman Curia.

* Will any women be named? Unlikely, unfortunately for Catholics and for Pope Francis himself, who has a serious credibility problem among women.

* Rubber stamp journalists, including pathetically many women, will likely praise Francis for advancing with his latest appointments to the 19th Century with greater geographical diversity, while underplaying Francis’ failure to move into the 21st Century without even a token appointment reflecting gender equality.

* As supreme and unaccountable Church lawmaker, Pope Francis could re-write the rules quickly before February and appoint some women as Cardinals. Indeed, he may already have that authority. As Jesuit Vatican spokesman, Fr. Lombardi, told the Irish Times last year, ““Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” he added. “Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained … ” Pope Francis could authorize women Cardinals quickly, just like he recently created the Council of Cardinals almost instantly out of thin air.

* At least half a billion Catholics, women, know very well that a major reason for the unabated continuation of the priest child abuse scandal is men, in particular over a hundred celibate Cardinals. These men likely do not even know “how to change a nappy”, as Mrs. Mary McAleese, the former Irish President recently so well put it.

* Pope Francis really needs to invite as Cardinals some women and mothers, like Ireland’s “straight talking” leader, Mrs. Mary McAleese, and brave Illinois Justice Anne Burke, to become Cardinals in February, and then to attend October’s Final Synod. What is he waiting for?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

[ARD will show the documentary “Sins of the Boys Choir” on Jan. 7. Filmmaker Mona Botros accompanied three victims in their struggle for recognition and justice. The abuse happened in the Regensburg Cathedral Choir.]

Vom Umgang des Bistums Regensburg mit den missbrauchten Domspatzen: Am 7. Januar, 23.30 Uhr, zeigt die ARD dazu die Dokumentation „Sünden an den Sängerknaben“. Die Filmemacherin Mona Botros hat drei Betroffene bei ihrem Kampf um Gehör und Gerechtigkeit begleitet. Erstmals gibt in dieser Doku auch Geedo Papprotta ein Interview, der „Opferanwalt“, der im Auftrag der Diözese Regensburg die Anträge auf Entschädigung prüft und der einem Betroffenen erklärte, warum der an ihm begangene sexuelle Missbrauch kein sexueller Missbrauch sei.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY And TAMARA AUDI
Jan. 1, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis is likely to look to the developing world in his appointment of more cardinals this month, as he seeks to reshape the makeup of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to more closely reflect where the church is flourishing.

The Argentina-born pope also may use his power to name cardinals to strengthen his support within the Vatican administration, known as the Roman Curia, and to signal his encouragement to beleaguered Christians in the Middle East, experts said. No American or Italian cleric appeared to be strong candidates to make the pontiff’s list of appointees.

The pope is set to make public the names of the new cardinals possibly as soon as Sunday. The announcement will be followed by a formal elevation ceremony in mid-February at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

It will be the second class of clerics elevated to the College of Cardinals by this pope, the first non-European pontiff in some 1,300 years. He created 19 new cardinals in February, and could appoint up to 12 this time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The number of victims claiming historical child abuse could reach the tens of thousands and is too many for the state to cope with, an MP says.

John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to Scotland Yard, told the Today programme victims wanted a national institute.

The Labour MP for Bassetlaw said the government needed victims’ confidence.

It comes after Baroness Butler-Sloss cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who led the probe.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of a planned public inquiry into historical child abuse, said there could be “real problems” if victims were to decide who is its eventual chair.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rajeev Syal
Thursday 1 January 2015

The government is struggling to deal with the volume of historical child abuse allegations and should set up an independent institute to investigate the issue, a Labour MP has said.

John Mann, who was among campaigners for an inquiry into claims of abuse, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on New Year’s Day that there had been too much of a focus on who should lead the investigation, at the expense of victims.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

The panel has started work but has no one to lead it after its first two nominations resigned. The home secretary, Theresa May, who is still considering the format of the inquiry, has told the current panel it might be disbanded.

Abuse survivors have called for the government to scrap the current inquiry and replace it with a more powerful body.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi / Matthew Agius 31 December 2014 …

A year of sex scandals by the clergy

Sex scandals dogged the Maltese diocese throughout 2014. The Catholic Church, still bearing scars from a slew of clerical sex abuse cases as well as the humbling experience that was the 2011 divorce referendum, was forced to undergo further humiliation in the form of two clerical sex abuse scandals this year.

In August the Church was at the centre of controversy after Gozitan priest Fr Jesmond Gauci, was charged with defiling three young Gozitan girls. The charges were kept under wraps after a Gozo court decreed that the case be heard behind closed doors, imposing a ban on the publication of the accused’s identity.

In what was described as an “unheard of” decision, Fr Gauci was granted bail before the victim’s testimony was heard, prompting an appeal by both the police and the Attorney General. A month later, the court ordered that bail be revoked until witnesses testify and lifted the ban on publication of the accused’s name. The case continues.

Then, in late October, the church was once again at the centre of a sexual abuse inquiry after allegations began to surface that Kerygma director Fr Charles Fenech OP was to be accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable woman, forcing Archbishop emeritus Paul Cremona to deny allegations that the Curia had attempted to buy the woman’s silence. The case, which is being heard behind closed doors, will continue in the new year.

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UNITED STATES
Financial Buzz

The Vatican Bank is the latest to join the ranks of a hundred other countries worldwide that have agreed to the terms of the FATCA. Since its enactment in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA, has seen American Tax Law extend its reach further than ever before. Under the new American global tax law, all countries cooperating with FATCA will need to declare the presence of any accounts of more than $50,000 held by American taxpayers.

Countries play it safe

Non-compliance would attract the unfavorable attention of U.S. Treasury who can then debar the institution from transactions in U.S. markets. This risk has prompted even otherwise difficult countries like Russia and China to join in. Tax havens which have traditionally been secretive of their account holders are now being forced to disclose details under the FACTA.

Foreign Financial Institutions will need to share the names, addresses, account numbers, balances as well as U.S. identification numbers for these accounts. There is a voluntary disclosure system in place, but even this will attract a 50% penalty as of August 4, 2014.

FACTA came into existence to enable America to zero in on taxpayers who were holding money in accounts overseas to evade taxation. The United States taxes all its permanent residents and citizens on their income wherever in the world they may live. Failure to share this data will allow FACTA to be enforced to cut off that institution’s access to U.S. markets. In addition, they expose themselves to a 30% tax.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias Sin

[con video]

[Authorities in the Dominican Republic did not cease their struggle for justice after allegations surfaced of sexual abuse of minor by Catholic clergy. It’s more than a year since Pandora’s box was opened.]

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Tras los escándalos de supuestos abusos sexuales a menores por parte de miembros de la iglesia católica y a más de un año desde que se abrió la caja de pandora.

Las autoridades de la Republica Dominicana no cesan en su lucha por justicia.

Dos casos, dos religiosos polacos…que han causado un gran dolor, así lo calificó el Procurador General, Francisco Domínguez Brito a principios de este mes al referirse al abuso sexual al que fueron sometidos menores dominicanos por el ex sacerdote de Juncalito, en Santiago, Alberto Gil y el ex nuncio apostólico Jozef Wesolowski en la capital….

Durante más de un año las autoridades polacas y de RD trabajaron en conjunto y en octubre del presente año las pruebas en contra del ex sacerdote Alberto Gil, quien guarda prisión preventiva desde febrero, ya estaban en manos de un juez.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Brown

January 1 2015

A victim of child abuse has called for a retired senior judge to apologise after she publicly accused him of lying.

Baroness Butler-Sloss resigned as chairwoman of the Westminster inquiry into establishment child abuse in the summer after The Times reported that she withheld claims about a bishop from an earlier inquiry report because she “cared about the church”.

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CANADA
CBC

A man who is suing John Furlong for allegedly abusing him at a residential school decades ago may have been at a different school at the time of the alleged abuse, say lawyers representing the former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics.

According to British Columbia Supreme Court documents filed by Furlong’s legal team, the man – who has asked not to be identified by the media – said in a residential school compensation claim that he had attended a different school in another B.C. community at the time Furlong was a teacher at Immaculata Roman Catholic School in Burns Lake in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“[The claimant] we understand, filed a claim in relation to his attendance at a school called Lejac, which was in Fraser Lake,” Furlong’s lawyer, Claire Hunter, told the court earlier this month.

“He has sworn under oath … that he attended Lejac during a period that covers the entire period he now claims he was in Immaculata.”

The Roman Catholic Church operated the Lejac residential school, just west of Vanderhoof, between the 1920s and 1970s.

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VATICAN CITY
The Catholic Spirit

Catholic News Service | Francis X. Rocca | December 31, 2014

Controversy over family issues and the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East dominated Vatican news in 2014. Here are the highlights at a glance:

– Jan. 16: Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva, testifies before the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child about the church’s record on clerical sex abuse.

– Feb. 20: German Cardinal Walter Kasper addresses a gathering of the world’s cardinals, proposing that some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could be admitted to Communion even without annulments of their first, sacramental marriages.

– Feb. 22: Pope Francis creates 19 new cardinals, including 16 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

– Feb. 24: The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has established a Council for the Economy, with both clerical and lay members, to oversee Vatican finances, and a Secretariat for the Economy, to be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, which will implement the council’s policies.

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CALIFORNIA
Visalia Times-Delta

Luis Hernandez, lfhernan@visaliatimesdelta.com December 31, 2014

Former St. Rita’s Catholic Church Rev. Ignacio Villafan was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of embezzlement.

Tulare police officers, who for about a year had been investigating money mismanagement at the church, made the arrest. Villafan, 49, was booked into the Tulare County Main Jail and his bail was set at $50,000.

Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Fultz said Villafan’s arrest comes just two days after charges were filed in superior court.

The priest is held on two counts grand theft. The counts span a period from June 1, 2005 to June 30, 2009, and July 1, 2009 to Jan. 21, 2012.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

December 31, 2014 Happy New Year to all our friends and readers !

Jason Berry statement in his recent article, ‘How Pope Francis Became the World’s BFF’ — “the church’s reversal under Francis is a striking media narrative. [He] has a mild demeanor and soft speaking style; but his rhetoric is electrifying” — is misleading idiots Catholics. It is sugar coating Pope Francis the papal schizophrenic – because the fact is — there is no church’s reversal for the countless millions of Catholics worldwide who have abandoned the Roman Catholic Church — not even those Catholics in Rome – a few feet away from the Vatican Palace. According to a Pew Research Center poll earlier this year — despite the pope’s popularity, it has not drawn more people, or those who have left the church, back to Mass or the sacraments in measurable numbers. Alas, there is no church’s reversal under Francis for the hundreds of churches shutting down and being sold as prime real estate in Europe and in the USA, especially in New York.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

[with video]

Fern Shen December 31, 2014

In the wake of the revelation that Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook drove off after she hit a bicyclist who later died, calls for her to be arrested and to step down from the church hierarchy have been mounting.

The Facebook page “Charge Bishop Heather Cook with Homicide” has 1,804 likes and, at the top of the page right now, is an open letter from cyclist Vince Harriman calling on Cook to resign as Bishop Suffragan.

“This is your chance to say to the world as a person, as a priest, as a bishop, that you believe in what you say about personal responsibility,” Harriman wrote.

Putting extra pressure on Cook is her high-profile spiritual role as the No. 2 official in the Maryland Diocese, serving directly under Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton.

Cook’s own words in sermons have added a ghastly irony to the current situation.

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CALIFORNIA
Fresno Bee

BY HANNAH FURFARO
The Fresno Bee
December 31, 2014

The former leader of St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Tulare is being charged with embezzlement, officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced Wednesday.

The Tulare County District Attorney filed the charges against the the Rev. Ignacio Villafan after being contacted by the diocese, which discovered financial discrepancies under Villafan’s watch, officials from the church say.

Villafan was removed from his position at St. Rita’s in 2012 after the discrepancies were discovered. Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the diocese, said Father Ivan Hernandez took over for Villafan in late 2013. A resume provided by Dominguez shows Villafan previously worked at St. Anne’s Church in Porterville, St. John the Evangelist Parish in Tipton and St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cutler.

Dominguez referred all questions about the case to the Tulare District Attorney’s office. Officials did not immediately return phone messages left by The Bee on Wednesday.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) —
The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office has filed embezzlement charges against Rev. Ignacio Villafan following an investigation by the Tulare Police Department.

In a statement, Diocesan officials said, “[…] evidence of financial improprieties was brought to their attention and verified by an outside accounting firm dating back to the time that Rev. Villafan was pastor.”

Pending the outcome of the investigation, Rev. Villafan was immediately removed from administrative duties, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Criticism of the New Year honour awarded to former Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf, a few months after she was forced to resign as chair of the Government’s child sexual abuse inquiry, is “very unfair”, her inquiry predecessor has said.

Baroness Butler-Sloss defended the damehood awarded to Ms Woolf, saying the “very least that the honours system could do would be to honour a woman who has got such a distinguished post”.

Fiona Woolf misled the Home Secretary over her links with Leon Brittan, caused unnecessary distress to victims of child abuse and caused a lengthy and avoidable delay to a very serious inquiry that urgently needs to get started.

– SIMON DANCZUK, MP FOR ROCHDALE

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Jenny Booth

Senior figures have sprung to the defence of Fiona Woolf, after she was criticised for accepting a damehood in the new year’s honours list despite her forced exit as the head of the government’s child sex abuse inquiry.

The retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss said it was “very unfair” of MPs Simon Danczuk and Tom Watson to criticise the honour, and warned that if abuse survivors continued to veto potential leaders of the abuse inquiry then there was a risk the investigation would never get off the ground at all.

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CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Stephanie Yeagle | Dec. 31, 2014

Chicago Cardinal Francis George has been dropped from the experimental cancer treatment program at the University of Chicago, according to a press release from the Chicago archdiocese’s Department of Communications and Public Relations.

“Recent scans showed that this experimental drug has not been effective in his case, but the physicians and others who are overseeing this trial assured him that the information that they had gathered during his course of treatment will be of benefit to others,” the statement said.

The statement added that George will meet with his physicians at Loyola University Hospital in January to discuss next steps. So far, the cancer has not spread to any vital organs, according to the statement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

2015 begins with some hopeful developments:

* A prominent UK judge and and former head of a national investigation panel admits that the UK establishment covered up child abuse by members of the establishment’s elite. This adds a powerful impetus to the increasing calls for a thorough and transparent UK investigation, including of the Vatican’s seeming complicity in UK priest child abuse cover-ups.

* The USA’s Minneapolis Archdiocese appears about to explode. It reportedly is seemingly drifting into imminent bankruptcy that will possibly lead to a new bishop being put in charge. This likely could have negative repercussions for a key former official, Fr. Kevin McDonough, brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.

* A Belgian bishop has boldly and squarely called on the Vatican to recognize gay relationships. Will the Vatican respond soon? Will any journalists ask them about this? Are things really about to change for the Vatican and elsewhere? For more information, please see my remarks below and see:

* [Express]

* [Canonical Consultation]

* [Bilgrimage]

* Significantly, on his present path, Pope Francis will in ten months after his October Synod likely be “flushed out” on changing sexual morality teachings. Thereafter, unless he acts decisively, his folksy public relations spin will probably lose much of its appeal and seem even more contrived, as reality raises its truthful head.

* The previous “media star” pope, John Paul II, experienced a similar decline in public image among many, as reality overtook his rhetoric. He benefited during much of his papacy, of course, from the absence of the current Internet and the 24/7 cable news cycle, so it took longer for reality to overtake John Paul II’s well performed rhetoric.

* Interestingly, Pope Francis has had a long ‘honeymoon period” with Catholics. He followed “bad acts” from the era of “popes can do no evil” — two failed popes about whom we are learning much that is disturbing. They evidently presided over an often immoral, if not at times criminal, operation at the Vatican. Francis could only “go up in the polls” initially after them. For almost two years, his folksy rhetoric, winning smile, symbolic gestures and vague promises have offered faint hope for many of the millions of disgusted, even despairing, Catholics whom he inherited upon his election in early 2013.

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MARYLAND
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • December 31, 2014

Terrible story from Baltimore. Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook hit a cyclist with her car, and sped away. He died. Then the story got a lot more complicated:

First Sunday came the news that the driver in the crash was a bishop — the No. 2 Episcopal bishop in the Diocese of Maryland — which initially drew a national audience intrigued by the moral complications of a high-ranking clergy possibly abandoning someone who was hurt. Then Monday and Tuesday came additional detail about an ugly 2010 drunk driving arrest involving Cook, then a priest. Police records show she was so drunk she couldn’t even complete the sobriety tests, had apparently thrown up on her shirt while driving and was driving on only three wheels as one tire had been worn to its rims.

The fact that top church leaders involved in picking Cook as bishop knew of the 2010 incident — though they didn’t share the information with all people voting — intensely divided people who took to the Web to debate whether it should have immediately disqualified her from becoming a bishop.

We don’t yet know if police believe Bishop Cook was drunk when she hit and killed the cyclist, Thomas Palermo, father of two small children. She has not yet been charged. More about the incident:

Many Baltimore-area cyclists have been focused since Saturday on the case, noting that Cook left the scene after the 2:30 p.m. crash, despite having a heavily broken windshield. Sutton’s letter said Cook returned to the scene “after about 20 minutes to take responsibility for her actions.” However, cyclists on several Baltimore news and biking sites said that her car was chased by other cyclists and that she returned only because of that.

In the 2010 drunk driving incident, police records show, Cook confessed to the police that she had been smoking marijuana too. The Washington Post reports that the incident has sparked debate among Episcopalians about whether or not Cook ought to have been ordained a bishop with that severe drunk driving incident in her past, especially in her recent past. How on earth did church leaders involved in tapping her for the episcopate do so in spite of what they knew?

Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian faith, obviously, but to forgive someone doesn’t require you to be blind to their tendencies toward serious sin. Didn’t the Episcopalians learn a thing from the Catholic scandal? Yes, forgive the repentant, but Cook very clearly had a terrible drinking problem in 2010. Maybe she got treatment for it; we don’t know yet. Still, why wasn’t alcoholism and drug use considered a disqualifying factor for the episcopate, considering the irreproachable character bishops are supposed to have?

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OREGON
Willemette Week

December 19th, 2014 | Beth Slovic

This week’s edition of WW looks at Central Catholic High School’s football team and the hiring practices that allowed the high school to twice hire coaches who faced sexual misconduct allegations at prior schools.

The story noted that Central Catholic is not alone in Oregon in facing challenges when it comes to keeping tabs on coaches. The state doesn’t require teaching licenses to coach school sports, for example. That means that the state regulators who discipline teachers at the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission have no jurisdiction over coaches. Meanwhile, the TSPC can discipline teachers even if they don’t face criminal charges for abuse.

In 2009, the Legislature enacted a number of changes to state law that attempted to end the practice of “passing the trash” among school districts—that is, keeping quiet about an educator’s past when a new school district tries to hire that person.

One component of the 2009 changes affects more than just teachers. It now requires schools to tell a past employee’s new employer about “substantiated” claims of abuse, including sexual abuse, by the employee. That rules covers coaches, too.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By OWEN BENNETT

The retired judge was appointed in July by Home Secretary Theresa May to lead the investigation into child abuse claims at institutions across the country, and how allegations were dealt with by authorities.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss stood down less than a week after her appointment amid claims of a conflict of interest, as her brother, Sir Michael Havers, was Attorney-General during the 1980s when some of the alleged abuse occurred.

This morning, the 81-year-old said she took on the role as she felt it was her ‘duty’.

She said: “I do believe the establishment has in the past looked after itself, partly because people did not really recognise the seriousness of child abuse and they did not think it was so important, and it was important to protect members of the establishment.

“So I would want to go in with a knife and cut the whole thing open and expose it, as to what happened, bearing in mind, of course, that the views of those people are not the views of people today and that is a difficulty.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Patrick Wintour, political editor
Wednesday 31 December 2014

Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the appeal court judge forced to stand down as chair of the government child abuse inquiry, has said she fears the government will never be able to find an experienced figure to run the investigation, but that victims should not think they can do it.

Butler-Sloss was forced to stand down as the chair of the broad inquiry into child abuse in July because her late brother Sir Michael Havers had been attorney general in the 1980s and his actions would have been subject to investigation by the inquiry.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday she said she was adamant that the establishment had covered up its role in child abuse. “I do believe the establishment has in the past looked after itself, partly because people did not really recognise the seriousness of child abuse and they did not think it was so important, and it was important to protect members of the establishment.

“So I would want to go in with a knife and cut the whole thing open and expose it, bearing in mind of course that the views of those people are different to people today. That is a difficulty, but I don’t believe I was unsuitable to do it because as a judge with 35 years’ experience on the bench I was quite able to be independent and say that people got it wrong and be critical of them.”

She said that would be true even if some of the people she had to criticise were close to her. “That is the way I was trained,” she insisted, but added, “I absolutely understand the public do not believe it.”
buse cases – for them to be deciding who should be the person chairing it creates real problems.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

[with video]

31 December 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss says she agreed to chair an inquiry into historical child abuse because she felt it was her duty and that she was “quite able to be independent and say that people had got it wrong and to be critical of them”.

She later stood down from the role, under pressure to quit from MPs and victims concerned about her family links.

Baroness Butler-Sloss was the guest editor of the Today programme on Wednesday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rowena Mason, political correspondent
Wednesday 31 December 2014

Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the high court judge forced to stand down as chair of the government child abuse inquiry, has been criticised for suggesting survivors are at risk of causing problems with the investigation.

Peter Saunders, the chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), hit back after Butler-Sloss warned it would be difficult to find a chair for the inquiry who was sufficiently removed from the establishment to satisfy victims groups. Both Butler-Sloss and the City lawyer Dame Fiona Woolf resigned from the role after survivors of abuse objected to their links to senior Westminster politicians.

However, Saunders said Butler-Sloss was wrong to imply survivors were holding the government hostage over the selection of the chair, when it was the Home Office that had made two bad choices.

Survivor groups just wanted to get to the truth and for the process to be overseen by an appropriate candidate with no conflicts of interest, he said.

Butler-Sloss stepped down in July because her late brother Sir Michael Havers had been attorney general in the 1980s and his actions would have been subject to investigation by the inquiry. Her successor, Woolf, was also forced to resign because she was a friend and neighbour of Leon Brittan, who was home secretary at the time of the alleged child abuse.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, Butler-Sloss said she worried that “the victims and survivors – for who I have the most enormous sympathy, and as a judge I tried a great many child abuse cases – for them to be deciding who should be the person chairing it creates real problems”.

She suggested that anyone qualified to chair such an inquiry would have experience that would lead him or her to be branded as being part of the establishment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

There WAS an Establishment cover-up of child abuse as the powerful looked after themselves, says former inquiry chief

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

There was an Establishment cover-up of horrific child abuse because powerful figures looked after themselves, former judge Lady Butler-Sloss warned today.

Senior members of British society in the past did not think child abuse was as serious or important as protecting politicians and other members of the elite, she suggested.

Lady Butler-Sloss was forced to quit as chairman of the wide-ranging inquiry into allegations of a cover-up because her brother was in the Cabinet in the 1980s.

But she insisted if she had stayed in post and been able to run the inquiry she would have ‘cut the whole thing open’.

Lady Butler-Sloss’s resignation in July came less than a week after David Cameron agreed to an inquiry into allegations that politicians, the police, the judiciary, celebrities, the BBC, the NHS and the Church conspired to cover-up abuse over several decades.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

31 December 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss has cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who runs the planned inquiry into historical child abuse.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of the public inquiry, said there could be “real problems” if they were to decide who is its eventual chair, but her comments have angered some victims’ groups.

Anti-abuse campaigner Phil Frampton said that he was “appalled” at the idea that “victims can’t take a rational view”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Baroness Butler-Sloss has cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who runs the planned inquiry into historical child abuse.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of the public inquiry, said there could be “real problems” if they were to decide who is its eventual chair.

She also told BBC Radio 4 she has “enormous sympathy” for the victims.

The home secretary will decide who heads the inquiry, but the government says she wants to hear victims’ views.

A Home Office spokesman said Home Secretary Theresa May is “absolutely committed” the inquiry has the “confidence of survivors… to ensure the right person is appointed”.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

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BELGIUM
International Business Times

By Zoe Mintz

A Catholic bishop in Belgium has called for ecclesiastical recognition of same-sex couples within the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium, shared his thoughts in an interview for De Morgen, a Belgian newspaper, on Dec. 27.

“Indeed, we need to seek a formal recognition of the kind of relationship that exists between many gay and lesbian couples,” Bonny said according to the National Catholic Reporter. “Does that recognition have to be a sacramental marriage? Perhaps the church could much better reflect on a diversity of forms of relationships. One has the same kind of discussion about civil marriages. In Belgium the same model (for civil marriages) exists for man-woman relations as well as for same-sex relations.”

He noted, “The intrinsic values are more important to me than the institutional question. The Christian ethic is based on lasting relationships where exclusivity, loyalty and care are central to each other.”

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BELGIE
De Morgen

REMY AMKREUTZ, KOEN VIDAL
27-12-14

De Antwerpse bisschop Johan Bonny pleit voor een kerkelijke erkenning van holebirelaties. Het dogma dat de katholieke kerk alleen man-vrouwrelaties kan aanvaarden, stelt hij in een interview met deze krant in vraag. “Er moet een diversiteit aan erkenningsvormen komen.”

Met zijn pleidooi is Bonny een van de eerste kerkelijke leiders die het absolute monopolie van het man-vrouwhuwelijk openbreekt. “We moeten binnen de kerk zoeken naar een formele erkenning van de relationaliteit die ook bij veel holebikoppels aanwezig is. Zoals er ook in de samenleving een diversiteit aan legale kaders bestaat voor partners, moet er in de kerk een diversiteit aan erkenningsvormen komen.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

The night before Father Charles Engelhardt died, a fellow inmate claims, the priest gave a dying declaration:

“Paul, I do not feel well. Please understand that I am an innocent man, who was wrongly convicted.”

On Dec. 22, the inmate, Paul H. Eline, a former Temple Law student, filed as an intervenor with the state Superior Court in the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Charles Engelhardt, appellant. In his application for third party intervention, Eline wrote that the matters he was bringing to the court’s attention were “critical and constitute ‘extraordinary circumstances’ ” that should be made part of the record.

At the time of his death last month, Engelhardt was an inmate at the State Correctional Institution in Coal Township, Northumberland County. The 67-year-old priest had served nearly two years of a 6-to-12 year-sentence after being convicted on Jan. 30, 2013 of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault. His accuser, however, a former altar boy dubbed Billy Doe, told an incredible and constantly changing story that was subsequently refuted by evidence gathered by the district attorney’s own detectives. The priest died during an ambulance ride on the way to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa. while his conviction was under appeal with the state Superior Court.

Under federal rules of evidence, a dying declaration is an exception to the hearsay rule and is admissible as evidence in criminal homicide or civil cases. In his court filing, inmate Eline argues that in his final moments of life the priest had no reason to lie.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Grant Gallicho December 31, 2014

This is the conclusion of a series of posts on the Urrutigoity case. Read the first part here, the second here, the third here, the fourth here, the fifth here, the sixth here, and the seventh here.

“I want to assure everyone,” Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano wrote in 2008, “that I have never hidden or protected anyone convicted of any crime.” The bishop was attempting to quell the outcry of Catholics in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, over his decision to invite an accused priest and his followers—the Society of St. John—to establish themselves in his diocese. “My track record in these cases is very clear,” Livieres continued. “Just as I have not hesitated to convict the guilty, neither will I punish an innocent victim of slander.” The victim, according to Livieres, was Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, an Argentine native who has been followed by allegations of sexual misconduct across three countries over three decades.

That troubling history, readily available to anyone with an internet connection, made it difficult for many Ciudad del Este Catholics to take their bishop at his word. So in 2009 they mounted a campaign against him, enlisting the support of other Paraguayan bishops and priests, who took the case to Pope Benedict XVI. But, unbeknownst to them, Livieres claimed to have the support of Benedict—in part because of their shared fondness for the Latin Mass. Livieres’s critics would not receive a satisfying response to their complaints until Benedict retired—and Pope Francis was elected.

Livieres was installed as bishop of Ciudad del Este in 2004. Before he even arrived, Livieres—a member of the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei—caused consternation among the bishops, priests, and laypeople of Paraguay. The bishops were surprised by John Paul II’s decision to appoint Livieres because his name was not on the terna—the list of three names recommended by the local bishops conference. Soon after Livieres took over in Ciudad del Este, more than one hundred fifty clerics wrote to Pope Benedict XVI to protest the bishop’s “renewal of church discipline” and “new pastoral guidelines,” as Livieres would later put it. But Benedict did not respond, according an account Livieres wrote in 2014. Instead, Benedict told him to “form a new clergy,” according to the bishop. He took that advice, and established his own seminary. That failed to go over with other bishops, who wanted to know what was wrong with the main seminary in Asunción.

Livieres also clashed with his fellow bishops over the candidacy of former bishop Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, who ran for president of Paraguay in 2008—and won. Lugo had ties to the liberation-theology movement, which Livieres long opposed. But Livieres also criticized Lugo for fathering children before he left the episcopate—and his brother bishops for remaining “silent” about it. During a radio interview, the archbishop of Asunción, Pastor Cuquejo Verga, publicly called for the Vatican to investigate Livieres. In a follow-up interview, Livieres rebuffed Cuquejo’s suggestion, and called him a homosexual.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The number of Catholics in the world has increased with growth registered across all five continents. The figures are taken by the Fides news agency from the latest edition of the Church’s Book of Statistics updated to 31 December 2012. These show that on that date the number of Catholics in the world stood at 1,228,621,000 with an overall increase of more than 15,000,000 compared to the previous year. The Americas and Africa registered the biggest increases followed by Asia, Europe and Oceania. The world percentage of Catholics stood at 17.49 %, a decrease of 0.01% compared to the end of 2011.

The total number of priests in the world increased by 895 to 414,313. Europe once again registered the largest decrease (-1,375) followed by the Americas (-90) and Oceania (-80). In Africa the number of priests grew by 1,076 and in Asia by 1,364.

There was an overall decrease in the number of women religious worldwide, whose numbers dropped by 10,677 to 702,529. Once again Africa and Asia showed increases whilst Europe and the Americas showed the biggest decrease in the number of women religious.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

12/30/2014

With the new year upon us, I thought I would take a moment to summarize some of the issues that have plagued the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis over the past year, and to provide some context as to what we can expect moving forward. Minnesota Public Radio did its own assessment, ‘A year in the life of the Twin Cities Archdiocese’, as did the AP. The AP story, which highlighted events of national importance and described how they played out in Minnesota, placed the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis under the category of ‘Clergy Sex Abuse’.

Yet the sexual abuse scandal is only one part (albeit an incredibly significant one) of the overall shaky state of affairs in the Archdiocese. Lest anyone forget, the Archdiocese’s financial problems began long before the passage of the Minnesota Child Victims Act, and the poor management, lack of effective oversight, and general dysfunction that weakened child protection efforts also fostered an embezzlement scheme that lasted more than a decade and involved many more individuals than the one that was prosecuted (and much higher dollar amounts than the Archdiocese wants to admit and the statute of limitations will allow to be prosecuted). As I see it, the current crisis is only a visible symptom of a much larger, chronic problem that went largely undetected (or at least unreported) until September of 2013.

These are the issues about which I expect we will be hearing in 2015.

1). Bankruptcy

Several people with an interest in this matter have told me that they are anticipating a bankruptcy filing sometime in January. As we have been told repeatedly, if such an event would occur the reorganization would impact only the central archdiocesan corporation and not the daily operations of the parishes and affiliated charities. In truth, however, no one will really know what is impacted until the matter goes before a judge and until it is clear that creditors (possibly plaintiffs) will not seek compensation from or attempt to challenge the organizational structure of parishes and other separate but affiliated organizations.

The Archdiocese is currently suing its insurance carriers and, as most of you are aware, it has been encouraging pastors to enter into an agreement for joint representation with an attorney of its choice in order to pursue payment on similar policies held by parishes and/or in order to try and reach a global settlement with claimants. It is unclear at this time how many parishes intend to join. I say ‘unclear’ not because I don’t know, but because the Archdiocese doesn’t know. Just yesterday an email went out to pastors providing updated information about how to join, and advising them that the ‘steering committee’ for the effort will be chosen from among those who have ‘joined the group’ by December 31, 2014. My general knowledge of priests suggests that the effect of this message will be to ensure that very few join before January 1, as most- in my experience- are unlikely to join any effort that may result in them having to attend more meetings.

2). Investigation into Archbishop Nienstedt

At this time last year, the public was informed that Archbishop John Nienstedt was being investigated by law enforcement for possible inappropriate touching of a minor during a confirmation ceremony. What the public was not told was that he was also being investigated internally for additional allegations involving priests, former priests, and seminarians. That investigation apparently continues, with at least two outside attorneys being hired to, depending on who you ask, either redact the previously sworn statements or ‘tie up loose ends’.

This phase of the investigation is under the direction of Bishop Piche, which has led me to two questions which will hopefully be answered in the coming year. First, when will the report of the Greene and Espel investigation be made public? Second, who is redacting/tying up the loose ends when it comes to questions involving Piche himself, or to others with whom he is so closely associated that it would be impossible to imagine him being objective?

I know that I was not alone in being questioned about Bishop Piche and the current Chancellor for Civil Affairs, Joe Kueppers, during earlier phases of the Nienstedt investigation. Both men have close associations with Father Curtis Wehmeyer that predate their work at the Chancery. Piche was Wehmeyer’s pastor at Saint Joseph and received early reports of his inappropriate conduct with minors at the parish school. The Archbishop should have been informed of this knowledge at the time that I was counseling the Archbishop against appointing Wehmeyer pastor, as he should have been urged to act on the information that Piche received in 2012 and 2013 indicating Wehmeyer had drugs and a gun on parish/school property. Bishop Piche was also on the Board of Trustees at the University of St Thomas- appointed to serve as a conduit between the Board and the Archbishop- during the years in which the University was kept in the dark regarding the nature of the allegations against Father Michael Keating. Joe Kueppers, who knew Bishop Piche and Father Wehmeyer from their time at Saint Joseph, assisted Wehmeyer with his legal difficulties without reporting them to the Chancery. He also was involved in the attempts to negotiate a settlement with the Wehmeyer victims despite his connection to both Wehmeyer and the victims’ mother, who was a classmate of Kueppers’s wife. …

4). More Disclosures

The settlement reached by the Archdiocese in the Doe 1 case did not only end the lawsuit, it established a new procedure for disclosure of information on clergy. That means that in the coming months we will see more disclosures of information that the Archdiocese had previously sued to have sealed. My affidavit is an obvious example, and one that is probably troubling many people right now. For, of the names that remain redacted, many are still in ministry.

This is all the more surprising given that in the past few months several priests have been contacted about ‘red flags’ that were discovered during the so-called file review by Kinsale. Interestingly, none of the priests that I know of having been contacted appear in my affidavit, and at least one situation involved an allegation ‘involving a minor’ that was clearly bogus but was used by the Archdiocese as an act of retaliation towards the ‘accused’ priest.

It would be fair to describe the present state of the Archdiocese as a ‘police state’. Almost all of the Chancery staff tasked with working with clergy are from law enforcement, which is not a healthy or sustainable way for the Church to operate. It is also unnecessary. The disciplinary problems facing the Archdiocese were not hidden or misunderstood. We were very much aware of them. Our ability to act appropriately was not hindered by a lack of knowledge or experience, it was hindered by a reluctance on the part of the leadership to apply the very clear standards that had been set. Appointing law enforcement agents to manage clergy personnel was an attempt by those leaders to retain power by assuring the public that they had effectively surrendered decision-making to others more worthy of trust. The incoming Archbishop, whoever he may be, will likely not be willing to continue with this state of affairs, nor should he. My only question is whether it will fall on him, or a temporary administrator, to roll back many of these policies and appointments.

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

Bishop accused in bicylist death raises question: Who’s qualified to be clergy?

By Michelle Boorstein December 31

The awful death Saturday in Baltimore of a biker who was hit by an Episcopal bishop has set off questions around the country: How long after she hit the man did she return to the scene? Could dividers bordering the bike lane have helped?

But mostly: How could a member of the clergy do that kind of thing?

Baltimore police have released almost no information about what they believe happened Saturday when Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook hit the bike of Thomas Palermo before leaving the scene and returning some time later. But that hasn’t stopped the incident from immediately setting off passionate debate about our expectations of religious leaders and exactly what kind of flaws should disqualify someone from the clergy. The case shows that even with Americans’ cynicism about institutional religion, many pine to hold faith leaders to a higher standard.

Well-trafficked public and private listservs and blogs about church life have been filled with people quoting scripture for both the notion that clergy be “above reproach” as well as the need for forgiveness, redemption and grace.

“Clergy are human, and that’s the harsh reality of this moment. Despite our wanting to be whole and healthy and hopeful people, we’re all too human in these moments,” said the Rev. Cameron Trimble, a United Church of Christ pastor who heads a consulting firm to help churches.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun December 30, 2014

The lawyer representing three people accusing Vancouver Olympics boss John Furlong of abuse while he was a teacher in the late 1960s has withdrawn from all three B.C. Supreme Court civil cases.

The news comes after one woman withdrew her complaint and court documents show that one of Furlong’s accusers may have been attending a different school during the years he accuses Furlong of abuse.

Three people — Beverly Mary Abraham (who recently withdrew her lawsuit), Grace Jessie West and an unidentified man — initially filed civil lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court accusing former Vancouver Olympics CEO Furlong of physical and sexual abuse. Vancouver lawyer Jason Gratl was the lawyer for each.

The allegations surfaced after the Georgia Straight published an article written by Laura Robinson suggesting Furlong physically and verbally abused First Nations students while teaching at Immaculata Catholic elementary school in Burns Lake in 1969-1970.

Documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court show the unidentified man claimed he attended a different school, Lejac residential school in Fraser Lake, between “about 1966” and “about 1975,” moving to Metlakatla, or Prince George College, in “about 1978.”

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

Maryland Episcopal bishop in fatal crash had DUI history, and diocese knew

[police report]

By Michelle Boorstein and T. Rees Shapiro December 30

Leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland who this spring made Heather Elizabeth Cook a bishop — the diocese’s first female bishop — knew the ugly details of her 2010 drunk-driving arrest but determined “that this one mistake should not bar her for consideration as a leader,” the diocese said in a statement Tuesday.

Now the diocese finds itself under fire after Cook’s acknowledgment that she was involved in a crash on Saturday that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo, the father of two small children. Cook left the scene but returned later, Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton said in a statement Monday.

Baltimore police said they have questioned a woman about the crash, but they have not named Cook and no charges have been filed.

Cook’s attorney, David Irwin, declined to comment in detail but has confirmed she was involved in the crash.

Since May, Cook has been the No. 2 bishop in the diocese, which is headquartered in Baltimore and includes 21,500 households in west, central and parts of Southern Maryland. Episcopalians in Washington’s close-in Maryland suburbs are part of the Washington Diocese.

According to records released Tuesday by the Caroline County sheriff’s office, Cook — who was then assigned as a priest on the Eastern Shore of Maryland — was pulled over at 1:15 a.m. in September 2010 and was too intoxicated to complete sobriety tests. She had vomit on her shirt, the report said, and one of her four tires was shredded down to the rims. Cook told the officer she was driving from Canada and had drunk alcohol and smoked marijuana while driving, according to the police report.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 by Martin Scicluna

Pope Francis may well be remembered as one of the most transformative and inspirational pontiffs of the last 200 years – if he is allowed to, that is.

The month of October 2014 will probably go down as the defining moment of his papacy. To view the issues he had to deal with in the course of those four weeks is to see both the magnitude and the range of his task in trying to rescue the Catholic Church from the corruption and short-sightedness that have undermined it.

October found him – among other things – having to send a special administrator to the scandal-plagued diocese of Albenga-Impera on the Italian Riviera, where priests there were accused of offences ranging from theft to sex abuse and links to prostitution.

Meanwhile, at the Vatican, Pope Francis decided to assemble one of the most important consultative synods of bishops to take place since the epoch-making Vatican Council II of 1962-65.

This followed a global survey of millions of laymen and women, which indicated that the gap between Catholic doctrine and practice had grown too wide for comfort. The survey opened a window to give the Vatican a clearer picture of what really went on in the world.

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MISSOURI
Pitch

A new year should be a new beginning. But 2014’s baggage weighs heavy as we try to push into 2015.

So we’ve made a list — a special list, a wish list — of the people and organizations we’d love to leave in the past. It’s not that the inept, the perverse and the just plain mean don’t sometimes amuse us. And we aren’t saying we’ll never forgive certain corrupt or morally suspect people. It’s just that we’d rather they went away and let the healing begin. We know that most of them won’t oblige us, but we’re determined to start 2015 fresh anyway by saying our own goodbyes to these 2014 bums and bummers.

———————————————-

Bishop Robert Finn

If you work for a Catholic institution in northwest Missouri, you report to the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be convicted in a sex-abuse scandal: Bishop Robert Finn. This is a man who, when presented with evidence that a priest in his diocese had a laptop containing hundreds of pornographic images of underage girls, elected to reassign the priest to a convent rather than report his criminal behavior to authorities. When the truth came out, Finn was found guilty of a misdemeanor for failing to report child abuse and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

It’s shocking enough that a man who shielded a pedophile from the law could be in charge of any organization. But for Finn to still be leading the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph — an entity already stained by decades of sexual-abuse allegations, for which it has paid out millions of dollars in settlements to victims — is mind-boggling.

And Finn is still doing terrible things. He fired Colleen Simon, a food-pantry coordinator at St. Francis Xavier Church, after a Kansas City Star story about Troost’s revitalization mentioned in passing that Simon is a lesbian. (Simon has since filed a lawsuit against Finn and the diocese.)

There are indications that Finn may not last much longer at his post. The Vatican is reportedly conducting an internal investigation of Finn. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, a close aide to Pope Francis, appeared on 60 Minutes in November and declared that the Finn situation was something the Pope needed to “address urgently.” Meanwhile, our hands are hovering over our keyboards, waiting to type the word “former” in front of “Bishop Robert Finn” someday.

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SWEDEN
The Local

A pastor in the Church of Sweden diocese of Uppsala has been jailed after being convicted of raping a teenage member of his confirmation class.

The court sentenced the man, who has been employed as a youth pastor in the diocese, to two and a half years in prison for the rape of a child. According to the court ruling, the pastor had raped the 14-year-old confirmand on several occasions during the spring of 2014 .

The bishop of the diocese of Uppsala, Ragnar Persenius has responded to the verdict by saying that it is a serious matter when a pastor is incapable of setting boundaries and acting professionally.

“Regardless of whether the crime is classed as rape or sexual molestation, it is completely unacceptable for a pastor. We have zero tolerance for sexual abuse,” said Persenius.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

[Sexual assault by priest haunts victim – The StarPhoenix]

From the victim impact statement of a 46-year-old woman who was 10 years old when Omer Desjardins sexually touched her in 1978:

“You sexually assaulted me many years ago, when I was only a child. This betrayal has affected me from that night on to the present day.

I did tell my grandmother the very next morning that you had done this to me, but she did not share this with my mother, her own daughter.

You were a priest, supposedly a man of God. How could you do this to an innocent child?

For many years, I tried not to think of what you had done to me and how it has affected me from that day forward. I became a mother (in 2003) and was blessed with a beautiful daughter. … I once again started to think about the sexual assault after the birth of my daughter. She is my world and I want to protect her from all the evil in this world, especially sexual predators like you.

I finally decided last year that it was time to report this crime to the police. Even though it had been 30-plus years, the world and your family needed to know what you did to me as a child.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – An insurance company has asked a court to limit or eliminate its responsibility to cover some clergy sex abuse claims against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Last month, the archdiocese sued about 20 insurers in federal court to try to clarify the amount of money the carriers would pay to settle clergy sex abuse claims.

In a court filing, the insurer CNA contends the company and its predecessors have no responsibility to pay claims related to events that were “not unexpected or unforeseen.”

Minnesota Public Radio News reports the insurer said it has no record of some policies that the archdiocese claims exist. The insurer also said some coverage doesn’t include sexual abuse.

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CANADA
The Province

The Canadian Press

Court documents related to a lawsuit against former Olympic CEO John Furlong suggest one of the plaintiffs attended a school in a different community at the time of alleged sexual abuse.

The plaintiff, a man who has asked that his name not be published, alleged Furlong sexually abused him while he was at Immaculata School in Burns Lake in 1969 and 1970.

But court documents indicate the man filed a claim for compensation under the Indian residential schools settlement that said he attended Lejac Residential School in Fraser Lake from 1966 until 1975.

The case is one of three lawsuits that allege Furlong sexually abused students while teaching in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though in each case Furlong has denied any wrongdoing.

A lawsuit filed by Beverly Abraham has been dropped, leaving the man’s claim and a lawsuit by a woman named Grace West scheduled for trial in March.

In West’s case, the Catholic diocese that ran Immaculata School in Burns Lake has said in court documents that it has been unable to locate records to indicate she attended the school during Furlong’s tenure there.

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CANADA
StarPhoenix

BY HANNAH SPRAY, THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 30, 2014

A sexual assault by a priest on a 10-year-old girl in the middle of the night has caused the victim to lose her faith in God and her trust in people.

“The sight of any Catholic priest disgusts me and when I see one, I think, ‘I bet that priest has sexually assaulted a child,’ just like you did to me,” the 46-year-old woman told Omer Desjardins as she stood across from him in Saskatoon provincial court.

Desjardins, 82, pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault, stemming from the incident in 1978 in a small community north of Saskatoon, and lawyers made sentencing arguments Tuesday in Saskatoon provincial court.

Desjardins doesn’t remember the specifics of what happened, but accepted the woman’s allegation — that while they were both guests at her grandparents’ house one night, he came into her room and sexually touched her.

He was battling alcoholism then and was drinking that night, his lawyer George Green said in court. It “doesn’t excuse his behaviour,” Green said, but added that Desjardins stopped drinking in 1981 and completed a course in 1984 that allowed him to become an alcohol addiction counsellor.

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