ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By STEVE DOUGHTY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

The Archbishop of Canterbury said today that the television industry condoned an era of ‘nightmare’ child abuse.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby said the Church of England is trying to clear up the legacy of an age in which the sexual abuse of children was considered ‘relatively acceptable’

In an interview in which he spoke about the Church’s efforts to deal with past abuse by its own clergy, the Archbishop said the crimes stemmed from the time when television and organisations in other areas did not ‘make too much fuss’ about the sexual exploitation of children.

His charge against the television industry follows a two-year period in which a number of former BBC stars have been accused of serious sexual offences and the Corporation has come under fierce criticism for its failure to curb the criminal excesses of some of its heavily-promoted celebrities.

Jimmy Savile, once a children’s TV presenter highly-prized by the BBC, has been exposed since his death in 2011 as one of the country’s most prolific paedophiles.

Rolf Harris is serving a five years and nine months prison sentence for sexually assaulting four girls, and former disc jockey Dave Lee Travis was given a three-month suspended sentence in September for a 1995 assault on a 22-year-old television researcher.

The Archbishop told CNN: ‘The biggest issue for us is the legacy of vast abuse in the days when in, if I may say so, also, television and all kinds of areas, it was considered relatively acceptable.

‘We, you know, so-and-so was known to be a bit dodgy, but nobody made too much fuss.

‘We’ve gone through every file, back file of every living clergy person in the Church of England and looked for any signs that there was a problem and followed them up where there was.’

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis expressed his hope that truth prevail and justice be served in the Vatican investigation and trial of Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop and papal nuncio, who has been accused of sexually abusing young boys.

According to the attorney general of the Dominican Republic, where Wesolowski served as nuncio and was alleged to have committed the abuse, the pope said it was important “that the truth always prevail.”

The pope told him it was important the juridical bodies in the Dominican Republic and the Vatican both are able to “act in full freedom and within the framework of (juridical) norms,” Francisco Dominguez Brito, the attorney general, said in a written statement.

When greeting dignitaries after his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Dec. 3, the pope met with Brito, who was in Rome to discuss how the Vatican was proceeding with the sex abuse case against Wesolowski.

Brito met Dec. 2 with Vatican City’s promoter of justice, Gian Piero Milano, and with Archbishop Angelo Becciu, a top official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, about how the Vatican was proceeding with its investigation and what the nature of its criminal procedure and juridical authority is, Brito said in his statement.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Dominican Republic’s top prosecutor, Francisco Dominguez Brito, met on Tuesday with his Vatican counterpart, Professor Gian Piero Milano to discuss the case against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the Vatican’s former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic. A statement released by the Vatican Press Office’s director, Father Federico Lombardi, said the meeting came as part of the ongoing international cooperation between the relevant bodies collecting information and evidence about Archbishop Weselowski who was recalled from his post last year after allegations of abuse against minors.

Father Lombardi described the meeting as “useful” given the complexity of the ongoing investigation. He also said Archbishop Wesolowski has recently been questioned by Vatican prosecutors and will be questioned again in the future. After his first court appearance, judges placed Archbishop Wesolowski under house arrest. Tuesday’s Vatican statement said that due to health concerns, the Polish Archbishop now enjoys a certain freedom of movement but only within the Vatican City State and that he is still limited in his communications with people outside the Vatican.

The Dominican Prosecutor Brito met Pope Francis during his Wednesday audience and said afterwards that the Pope had told him that the truth must prevail in this case and that the judicial institutions of both states are acting in full liberty and within the norms.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

By Nicole Winfield
December 3, 2014

Pope Francis assured Dominican authorities on Wednesday that the truth must prevail in the case of his former ambassador to the Caribbean country who is accused of sexually abusing young boys.

Francis met with the Dominican Republic’s top prosecutor, Francisco Dominguez Brito, after his Wednesday general audience. Dominguez Brito also met with the Vatican’s criminal prosecutor and other officials to discuss the case against Jozef Wesolowski.

The Holy See recalled Wesolowski last year after rumors surfaced in Santo Domingo that he allegedly paid shoeshine boys to masturbate. Wesolowski has been defrocked and placed under modified house arrest inside Vatican City pending a decision by the Vatican criminal court on whether to indict him.

In a statement, Dominguez Brito quoted Francis as stressing the importance that the truth must prevail and that both Vatican and Dominican courts do their work freely and respect the law. In a sign that the Holy See endorsed the prosecutor’s account of their meeting, the Vatican spokesman read the statement to reporters.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week

12/03/14
Rachel Delia Benaim
Special to The Jewish Week

This summer Rabbi Elimelech Meisels, 45, a former Chicagoan who has owned and has taught at four Bais Yaakov seminaries for American girls studying in Israel, was found guilty of sexual misconduct by the only American beit din (religious court) specifically dealing with charges of sexual abuse.

In an unusually strong statement dated July 14, the court, based in Chicago, wrote that “based on the testimony and documents” it received, “including testimony by the claimants [several former students, over the age of 18] and by Elimelech Meisels, the Beis Din believes that students in these seminaries are at risk of harm and it does not recommend that prospective students attend these seminaries at this time.”

What’s more, since the four seminaries — Peninim, Binas Bais Yaakov, Chedvas Bais Yaakov and Keser Chaya — are in Israel, the court noted that a “distinguished beis din” made up of three Israeli rabbis, have “assumed responsibility for this matter.”

Why, then, is Rabbi Meisels a free man after reportedly admitting to the Chicago religious court that he is guilty of sexual misconduct? And why are the seminaries in question functioning as usual (though he is no longer on the premises) and American parents continuing to send their daughters to these schools?

The answers are not simple. The case underscores the difficulty of puncturing the protection afforded some figures in the charedi world. And beyond legal matters of jurisdiction, there are the intra-Orthodox disputes between U.S. and Israeli rabbinic leaders. In this case, for example, the members of the Israeli beit din ignored or disagreed with the findings of its American counterparts.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

Cardinal George Pell offers candid account of financial reforms in an exclusive article in the first issue of the new Catholic Herald magazine

Vatican reformers have discovered hundreds of millions of euros that did not appear on the Holy See’s balance sheet, the cardinal charged with sorting out the Curia’s financial affairs has said.

Writing exclusively in the first issue of the new Catholic Herald magazine, Cardinal George Pell says that the discovery means that the Vatican’s finances are healthier than they first appeared.

He writes: “It is important to point out that the Vatican is not broke. Apart from the pension fund, which needs to be strengthened for the demands on it in 15 or 20 years, the Holy See is paying its way, while possessing substantial assets and investments.

“In fact, we have discovered that the situation is much healthier than it seemed, because some hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular sectional accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet. It is another question, impossible to answer, whether the Vatican should have much larger reserves.”

Cardinal Pell was appointed prefect of the newly created Secretariat for the Economy in February, making him the most senior English-speaking official in the Vatican.

He explains that reformers had to tackle an ingrained sense of independence among Vatican departments.

“I once read that Pope Leo XIII sent an apostolic visitor to Ireland to report on the Catholic Church there,” he writes. “On his return, the Holy Father’s first question was: ‘How did you find the Irish bishops?’ The visitor replied that he could not find any bishops, but only 25 popes.

“So it was with the Vatican finances. Congregations, Councils and, especially, the Secretariat of State enjoyed and defended a healthy independence. Problems were kept ‘in house’ (as was the custom in most institutions, secular and religious, until recently). Very few were tempted to tell the outside world what was happening, except when they needed extra help.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

Cardinal George Pell, the Australian prelate charged by Pope Francis with cleaning up the Vatican’s murky finances, has decided to speak bluntly about the appalling corrupt mess he found when he started work this year.

Writing in the first issue of the Catholic Herald weekly magazine, out tomorrow, the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy – an entirely new post – says he was recently asked by a member of a British parliamentary delegation: ‘Why did the authorities allow the situation to lurch along, disregarding modern accounting standards, for so many decades?’

His response repays close examination. My emphases in bold.

I began by remarking that this question was one of the first that would come to our minds as English-speakers (lumped together by the rest of the world as ‘Anglos’) but one that might be lower on the list for people in the another culture, such as the Italians.

Those in the Curia were following long-established patterns. Just as kings had allowed their regional rulers, princes or governors an almost free hand, provided they balanced the books, so too did the popes with the curial cardinals (as they still do with diocesan bishops).

And later:

It is important to point out that the Vatican is not broke … in fact we have discovered that the situation is much healthier than it seemed, because some hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Dec. 3

Statement by Mike Hunter of Kansas City, KC Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (913 634 6490, mhunter535@gmail.com)

In 2010, an admitted predator priest was ousted from working with the Special Olympics in KC.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Now, he’s been caught at another non-profit around vulnerable low income families and unsuspecting colleagues.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

He is the now-defrocked Fr. Thomas E. Ericksen.

At least three other credibly accused predator priests who have been in Kansas City (and are from KC) are in similar situations, living out-of-state now among unsuspecting neighbors. They are:

–Fr. Thomas Cronin (in Nevada, trying to open a shelter for homeless and abused women and girls),

–Fr. Michael Brewer (in Colorado, working with gay youth) and

–Fr. Mark Honhart (in Pennsylvania, unsure what he’s doing).

Civil suits against all four priests have been settled and all of them are suspended. (More info is available at BishopAccountability.org. Their victims were represented by Rebecca Randles 816 931 9901, 816 510 2704, rebecca@rmblawyers.com)

This is why we keep pushing KC Bishop Robert Finn to post predator priests names on church websites, like 30 of his colleagues have done. If these priests are too dangerous to have working in parishes, they are too dangerous to have living among unsuspecting families.
(Here’s a list of the 30 bishops who HAVE posted predators’ names: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm)

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Haaretz

A third-year student at Georgetown University’s law school is suing Rabbi Barry Freundel, his Washington synagogue, the adjacent mikvah and her own law school for allowing Freundel’s alleged misdeeds to go unchecked.

The unidentified student’s suit was filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court by attorney Steven Silverman of Baltimore. She said she was lured to the mikvah by Freundel, who was arrested Oct. 14 on voyeurism charges for allegedly installing a secret camera in the ritual bath.

“This case involves an unfathomable breach of trust by a Georgetown professor and religious leader and defendants’ utter failure to prevent and/or stop it,” the lawsuit says, according to The Washington Post. “Defendants turned a blind eye to obvious signs of Freundel’s increasingly bizarre behavior, ignoring the bright red flags that Freundel was acting inappropriately with women subjected to his authority.”

The student, who is Jewish, said she visited the mikvah twice while researching a paper for a class at the law school taught by Freundel and believes the rabbi watched her disrobe at the ritual bath.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Family Law

Natasha Phillips

03 DEC 2014

Since its inception in July, the Independent Panel Inquiry has made several serious but avoidable faux pas and continues to function without a Chair, arguably its most vital member. But what else has the Inquiry done to date and is it more of a hindrance than a help in the quest to safeguard Britain’s children from abuse and exploitation?

In a meeting in the House of Commons last Thursday, MPs met to discuss the Panel Inquiry and its progress. It was confirmed that the Inquiry had attended two sessions described as listening meetings with survivors of child abuse to hear their thoughts, and to take on board other important factors which may aid the inquiry process. A positive move, given that the Inquiry has been accused of being insensitive to survivors in the past for failing to include them more robustly in the inquiry process. In addition to weekly conferences being held in the run-up to Christmas, the panel also has two scheduled regional get-togethers before the New Year and four further meetings have been set for 2015. However the lack of a Chair has caused concern, with some MPs questioning the official nature of the work the members were doing without a complete panel, which may anger survivors if their input is set aside or down-played once a Chair is elected.

The thorny issue of who will be Chair is also unlikely to resolve itself quickly. When asked about the time frame for electing the Chair, the Home Secretary was unable to give an answer, saying only that the selection process was underway and that over 100 candidates were being considered for the position. And although thelist of candidates remains a secret for now, there was evidence at the meeting that several senior judges had been invited to take the position but each one had declined, viewing the role as a poisoned chalice. This view may be in part due to the poor reception previous Chairs have received by the public, but is most likely to stem from the concern that a judge sitting on the panel may be accused of asserting executive control over the proceedings. Such control may in turn create the potential for the public, and survivors, to be shut out of the investigative process altogether.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Dec. 3

Statement by Amy Smith of Dallas, SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 281 748 4050, watchkeepamy@gmail.com )

Two Odessa pastors are charged with not reporting suspected child sex crimes to police. We hope they’re convicted and given the harshest possible sentence. That’s the best way to deter church officials from covering up for child molesters.

[NewsWest 9]

At the same time, however, we hope Texas lawmakers will reform the state’s stunningly weak and archaic mandatory reporting law. Failing to report abuse is a misdemeanor. It should be a felony. It’s ironic and sad that a state where politicians often “talk tough” about crime lets those who endanger kids and help predators get off so lightly.

Don and Gina Haislett, the pastor and co-pastor of Life Church in Odessa, were arrested and charged Tuesday. We urge church members and officials at Life Church to set an example but voluntarily turning over all files and documents to prosecutors and using all the resources at their disposal to reach out to current and former members of the congregation, as well as employees and former employees.

Finally, we hope that every single person who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Angel De Los Santos and cover ups by church officials will call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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TEXAS
FBC Jax Watchdogs

“It’s a crime if you don’t report child abuse…it goes on more than people realize…..and if anyone is aware of child abuse that has taken place they need to report it immediately to police.” Steve LeSueur, Odessa Police Department
——————————-
Two Texas pastors (husband and wife) have been arrested for failure to report allegations of child abuse at their church, Life Church in Odessa, at the hands of their youth minister, Angel De Los Santos. The story was reported by NewsWest9 here, and you can watch the news piece that aired last night.

The two ministers, Donald and Gina Haislett, became aware last year that De Los Santos was sexually assaulting underage girls from the church, yet they did not report it to the police within 48 hours as required in Texas.

Let that sink in for a second. A reverend, a pastor, a man who supposedly speaks for God, decided NOT to report to police that one of their own ministers was SEXUALLY ASSAULTING girls from their church.

Instead of reporting to police, the Hasiletts decided to do their own investigation – you know, keep it in-house, away from the police, away from the media, and away from the unsuspecting sheep they claim to love.

Not only did the Haisletts decide to do their own investigation, court documents indicate Gina Haislett sent a text message to the wife of the abuser saying she “should not volunteer any information” when questioned by the police.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

egurnon@pioneerpress.com

POSTED: 12/02/2014

As the criminal sexual conduct trial of the Rev. Mark Huberty began Tuesday, attorneys portrayed the priest in starkly different terms — as the innocent victim of a possessive Jezebel or as a scheming sexual predator.

Huberty, 44, faces charges of fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ramsey County District Court. He is accused of having sexual contact with a married woman from his parish, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood, at the time he was providing religious or spiritual counsel to her. He also is accused of nonconsensual sexual contact.

He has maintained his innocence.

Attorneys for the defense and prosecution presented opening statements Tuesday after a jury was picked.

Prosecutor Therese Galatowitsch exhorted the jury to look at Huberty’s true nature.

“You will need to accept this defendant for who he really is, not what he hides behind,” she said.

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MINNEOSTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: December 2, 2014

Sharply contrasting arguments presented in trial of Maplewood priest.

A Roman Catholic priest on trial for allegedly starting a sexual affair with a parishioner was portrayed Tuesday as a predator hiding behind his clerical collar, and alternately as a vulnerable holy man aggressively pursued by a woman bent on revenge.

Jurors will have to decide which applies to the Rev. Mark A. Huberty, 44, who is being tried this week in Ramsey County District Court on one count each of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Huberty is one of a few Minnesota clerics charged for having sex with a person seeking spiritual advice, aid or comfort from them — the basis of the fourth-degree count.

Huberty, dressed in black and a clerical collar, wept and dabbed at his reddened eyes before Tuesday’s opening statements.

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Therese Galatowitsch, who is prosecuting the case because of a conflict of interest (Ramsey County Attorney John Choi was Huberty’s high school classmate), told jurors that Huberty’s victim sought spiritual guidance from him in 2008 after her brother’s death made her question her faith. Huberty took advantage of her vulnerability, she said, groping her in the back seat of his car and eventually asking her to perform a sexual act in her home while her husband and children were absent.

“He’s a priest, a player, and the evidence will show he is also a sexual predator,” Galatowitsch said.

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OHIO
Vindicator

By LINDA M. LINONIS
linonis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

On behalf of Mary Ann Rivelle Kennedy of East Liverpool, who said she was sexually abused by a priest in November 1963, attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston is seeking a $1 million financial settlement from the Diocese of Youngstown.

Kennedy and Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves survivors of sexual abuse and their families, conducted a press conference Tuesday at the Hampton Inn Youngstown, 4400 Belmont Ave., Liberty. Garabedian, who made comments by phone, is the lawyer who represented 11 men who received a settlement from the Youngstown Diocese because they were sex-abuse victims of Brother Stephen Baker, now deceased.

Kennedy said she was an eighth-grade student at Immaculate Conception School in Wellsville when she participated in a co-ed field trip to Chicago led by the parish priest at Immaculate Conception. The three girls, with a high-school-age female chaperone, and three boys, with an adult male chaperone who taught at the school, stayed at a Catholic school gym. Kennedy said “in the middle of the night, I felt someone’s hands penetrate me. I was scared to death. I told him to go away and leave me alone.”

Kennedy said the weekend trip was cut short and the group returned home. She also said the priest who had accosted her told her “not to tell anyone.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

03 December 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

The cardinal responsible for overseeing Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia has confirmed that two new congregations will be set up and suggested that lay people could be appointed to lead some of Rome’s dicasteries.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, co-ordinator of the so-called “C9” Council of Cardinals set up to re-organise the curia, told the Italian website Vatican Insider that two bodies dedicated to the laity and to charity were in the process of being set up.

These two congregations will be drawn from a merger of the existing pontifical councils for the laity, the family, migrants, health-care workers, justice and peace, and the Church’s charitable arm, Cor Unum. Cardinal Rodriguez also said the Secretariat of State would probably undergo a “redistribution of internal tasks”.

The Honduran cardinal also said that Rome’s congregations and pontifical councils did not have to be led by clergy. “It is also not necessary for there to be a cardinal or a bishop heading every dicastery: there could be a married couple in charge of family affairs, for example and for migrants there could be a nun who has specific experience in this area, a member of the Scalabrinian missionaries for instance.”

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

The attorney general of the Dominican Republic met with a senior Vatican official yesterday to discuss the sex abuse case against Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop who had served as nuncio to the Caribbean nation.

Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, released a statement saying Francisco Dominguez Brito, the attorney general, requested the meeting with the unnamed official during his trip to Europe to make contact with officials at the Vatican and in Wesolowski’s native Poland.

The meeting took place “within the framework of the international cooperation of the investigating agencies,” Fr Lombardi said. The meeting “was useful for both sides given the complexity of the inquest” and the likelihood that the Vatican will make a formal request for evidence from the investigation in the Dominican Republic.

Citing the “gravity of the accusations” of sexually abusing boys in the Dominican Republic, the Vatican placed Wesolowski under house arrest in late September. “In light of the medical condition of the accused, supported by medical documentation,” he was not housed in a Vatican jail cell.

In his statement yesterday, Fr Lombardi said the Vatican’s criminal investigation of Wesolowski is continuing, but the time limit for house arrest had expired. The former nuncio, he said, “has been allowed a certain freedom of movement, but with the obligation of remaining within the (Vatican City) State.”

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POLAND
The News

An appeal court has upheld a 2013 verdict against a priest accused of molesting five boys, but has cut his prison sentence from eight and a half to seven years.

The verdict at the appeal court in Lodz, central Poland, has bitterly disappointed many local parishioners, who cannot believe that the clergyman is guilty.

”There is no justice in Poland,” a group of supporters claimed after the sentence was passed.

Although the trial was conducted behind closed doors, a wide variety of evidence, including recordings made of phone conversations, and the verifications of psychologists who had spoken with the victims, was examined.

Father Slawomir S. (name withheld under Polish privacy laws) had apparently made the boys financially dependent on him, paying them to do odd jobs such as raking leaves at the rectory. He also paid for some of their phone bills.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

Rottenburg-Stuttgart: Auf dem Computer des Priesters war kinder- und jugendpornografisches Material gefunden worden.

Rottenburg/Lauchheim (kath.net/drs) Bischof Gebhard Fürst hat am Dienstag das Rücktrittsgesuch eines wegen des Besitzes von Kinder- und Jugendpornografie bestraften Pfarrers in Lauchheim im Ostalbkreis angenommen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Ellwangen hatte am selben Tag gemeldet, dass der seit April beurlaubte Geistliche einen Strafbefehl in Form einer Geldstrafe angenommen habe. Mit dessen Annahme gilt der 40-jährige als nicht vorbestraft. Mit der Entbindung des Pfarrers von seinen Amtspflichten ist der Weg frei für eine Neubesetzung der Pfarrstelle im Ostalbkreis.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Schwaebische

[A 40-year-old priest has been fined for possession of child and youth pornographic magazines. Bishop Gebhard Furst has accepted the pastor’s resignation. He was suspended from ministry in April.]

Ellwangen/Lauchheim sz Lauchheims ehemaliger katholischer Pfarrer erhält eine Geldstrafe wegen Besitzes kinder- und jugendpornografischer Schriften. Einen entsprechenden Strafbefehl hat das Amtsgericht Ellwangen dieser Tage auf Antrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Ellwangen erlassen. Laut Staatsanwaltschaft liegt die Strafe im „mittleren vierstelligen Bereich“. Bischof Gebhard Fürst hat das Rücktrittsgesuch des seit April suspendierten Pfarrers angenommen.

Dem 40-Jährigen wird vorgeworfen, er habe über das Internet Bilder und Videos heruntergeladen, die sexuelle Handlungen von, an oder vor Jugendlichen (Personen im Alter zwischen 14 und 18 Jahren) oder Kindern (Personen unter 14 Jahren) zeigen. Die Tat hat er zugegeben. Akzeptiert der ehemalige Pfarrer die Strafe, ist das Urteil rechtskräftig. Andernfalls könnte es zu einer Gerichtsverhandlung kommen.

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VATIKAN
Kipa-Apic

Rom, 2.12.14 (Kipa) Der wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs angeklagte Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski, früherer vatikanischer Botschafter, ist aus dem Hausarrest entlassen worden. Die zulässige Höchstdauer sei abgelaufen, teilte Vatikansprecher Federico Lombardi am Dienstag, 2. Dezember, mit. Zudem verwies er auf den Gesundheitszustand des polnischen Geistlichen, der den Vatikan in der Dominikanischen Republik diplomatisch vertreten hatte.

Wesolowski müsse sich jedoch weiterhin innerhalb des Vatikanstaates aufhalten und dürfe nur eingeschränkt mit der Aussenwelt kommunizieren, so Lombardi. Weiter teilte er mit, dass der Geistliche erstmals vom vatikanischen Gericht vernommen worden sei. Die vatikanische Gendarmerie hatte Wesolowski Ende September unter Hausarrest im Vatikanstaat gestellt.

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MISSISSIPPI
Fox 6

By Michelle Lady

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) – A longtime South Mississippi teacher is now a sex offender in the eyes of the court. Tuesday, William Richard Pryor admitted to two counts of transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity and travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Each count involves a different victim.

Before the judge would accept Pryor’s plea the prosecution read the evidence they had against Pryor to the court. Ten people sat in the pews of the federal courtroom in Gulfport as the disturbing details were told.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Pryor befriended a male student and acted as a father figure and a mentor to him. He would invite him to his apartment on weekends and that’s when the sexual acts reportedly began.

Pryor started taking this student to Baton Rouge for LSU football games. They would stay in a hotel and they would inappropriately touch each other while looking at Playboy magazines. Pryor told the victim he was “teaching him how to masturbate.” The student was 12-years-old when the Baton Rouge trips began.

The victim was molested by Pryor between 1999 and 2001 while a student at Bayou View. Going into 9th grade, Pryor attempted more sexual acts with the boy and the boy said, “no.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 3, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Children living at Australia’s oldest yoga ashram were starved, tortured and drugged, according the evidence presented at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Families who brought their children to the Satyananda Yoga Ashram in the 1970s and 1980s thought they were giving them a better life but the commission heard the youngsters were subjected to horrific sexual and physical abuse.

A former child resident, given the pseudonym APK, told the commission she was forced to expose her genitals to ashram members and drugged with morphine for minor ailments.

She said she witnessed the torture of children as young as four after she moved to the ashram with her family when she was aged nine in 1978.

Her older sister, given the pseudonym APL, told the commission that sexual activity was banned at the ashram and those who disobeyed were punished by its leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

Children went on what they called “f— patrol” across the ashram’s grounds at Mangrove Mountain on the central coast to see if any adults were being intimate.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 03, 2014

Dressed in faded orange robes and running across fields, these are the first pictures of life inside the isolated Mangrove Mountain ashram where parents thought life would be ‘Utopian”, but where their children were raped by the guru.

One of the young girls in these pictures, now aged 47, has told the child sex abuse royal commission today how when she left the ashram at the age of 18, she had no idea how to live in society, use cutlery or wear a bra.

She said the children were sent out on sex patrols at night to catch any adults breaking the celibacy rule.

But at the same time, their guru, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, was having sex with his partner, known as Shishy, and raping some of the teenage girls.

The woman said she joined the ashram at the age of 11 with her nine-year-old sister and their parents who had separated.

“He and Shishy would send some of the children out on what we called f*** patrols,” the woman, 47, told the commission today.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CHILDREN whose parents sought a utopian life at an ashram became subject to physical abuse and depraved sexual practices by a yoga master and his partner.

On the second day of a hearing into an ashram at Mangrove Mountain on the NSW Central Coast a woman has told how she was forced from the age of 15 to have sex with the spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda when she lived there in the 80s.

The woman was 10 or 11 in 1978 when she and her parents went to live at the ashram.

Her parents were sent away to set up other yoga centres and the swami and his partner Shishy became the carers of about 18 children.

The witness, referred to as APL at the commission, said facilities at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram were very basic, with children often going hungry.

She later discovered that the Swami and Shishy had a hot tub, a television and drank alcohol.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 03, 2014

A YOGA guru plotted to murder a child sex victim to prevent her giving evidence against him in a criminal trial over his abuse, a royal commission has heard.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the abuse victim, who cannot be identified, said her parents had previously transferred legal guardianship of her to the Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

The swami, who established the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain north of Sydney, was jailed for committing sexual offences against a child in 1989, although this conviction was later overturned on a legal technicality.

“Before the trial … a (man) called Vaj approached me and confessed to me that he had come close to murdering me on Akhandananda’s instruction,” the victim told the commission.

“He said he had been sent to Queensland to poison me so I wouldn’t be able to give evidence in the trial for child abuse … but that he’d had a change of heart.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Wednesday 3 December 2014

Children whose parents sought a utopian life at an ashram became subject to physical abuse and depraved sexual practices by a yoga master and his partner.

On the second day of a royal commission hearing into an ashram at Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast a woman has told how she was forced from the age of 15 to have sex with the spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda when she lived there in the 80s.

The woman was 10 or 11 in 1978 when she and her parents went to live at the ashram. Her parents were sent away to set up other yoga centres and the swami and his partner Shishy became the carers of about 18 children.

The witness, referred to as APL at the commission, said facilities at the Mangrove Mountain ashram were very basic, with children often going hungry. She later discovered that the swami and Shishy had a hot tub, a television and drank alcohol.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle
Wed 3 Dec 2014

A former resident of Australia’s oldest yoga ashram has received applause after delivering a passionate call for justice at the child sexual abuse royal commission in Sydney.

The commission has been looking at the handling of 11 complaints made against former spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati over the past 40 years, relating to abuse that happened in the 1970s and ’80s.

The issue came to a head around Easter this year when the Satyananda Yoga Ashram in New South Wales sent an email to former members detailing a “healing ceremony” that formed part of its 40th anniversary commemorations.

One woman known as APK, who, along with her sister, endured years of physical and sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Times of India

MELBOURNE: Children as young as three were repeatedly molested at Australia’s oldest ashram by its Indian head and threatened with death if they complained, a public hearing into the sexual abuse case was informed today.

Late Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, head of Satyananda Yoga Ashram located on Mangrove Mountain in New South Wales, allegedly sexually abused the children during the 1970s and 1980s, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.

The commission inquiry into the ashram and its leader Saraswati heard that 11 children were abused while living at the ashram, Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

Though sexual activity was discouraged in the ashram, its founder Saraswati and his disciple Akhandananda molested teenaged girls, Counsel assisting the commission Peggy Dwyer said.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

December 3, 2014

Annette Blackwell

A woman has told an enquiry she was sexually abused by Satyananda Sarswati – the man who founded the worldwide yoga movement with branches across the world including Australia.

In a statement to a royal commission examining child sexual abuse at a NSW Satyananda ashram, Bhakati Manning said she was abused by two senior swamis in ashrams in Australia and “by the spiritual founder of Satyananda yoga”.

She said the abuse happened when she was 15 at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on NSW’s Central Coast.

She was 17 when she travelled to the famous Munger ashram in India in 1976 to study with the respected yogi whom she had met in Australia.

Ms Manning said shortly after her arrival, he fondled her genitals and said something to the effect “this is our relationship, don’t tell anyone”.

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TEXAS
Odessa American

Two pastors have been arrested and charged with failure to report child abuse, a class A misdemeanor, following the arrest of a former youth minister, Angel De Los Santos, 26, charged with six counts of sexual assault of a child on Sept. 8.

Cpl. Steve LeSueur, spokesman for the Odessa Police Department, said in a release that Donald Haislett, 51, and his wife Gina, 50, were arrested Tuesday afternoon after the couple reportedly conducted their own investigation into the incident and did not report information to authorities within the required 48 hours.

LeSueur reported that Donald and Gina Haislett met with OPD detectives and agents with the Department of Homeland Security Sept. 24 and admitted to conducting their own investigation after they were made aware of the reported abuse on July 30.

According to the report a three-week investigation was conducted by Donald and Gina Haislett.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – Federal prosecutors are taking over the case against a former Westmoreland County volunteer youth pastor charged with possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, some featuring adults performing sex acts with infants.

Andrew Patterson, 45, of Monroeville, was arrested in October after the state police say they traced child pornography being shared on the Internet to Patterson’s computer address.

Officials with the Living Waters Family Worship Center in Irwin say Patterson resigned his volunteer youth counselor position hours before his arrest.

Patterson, who is married and has a teenager daughter, was arrested back on Oct. 16 and charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and sexual abuse of children.

Authorities have been asking anyone with concerns about Patterson’s behavior to contact their office since he had contact with children 12 and older at the non-denominational church.

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TEXAS
NewsWest 9

By: Julia Deng
NewsWest 9

ODESSA – Don and Gina Haislett, the pastor and co-pastor of Life Church in Odessa, were arrested Tuesday and charged with failure to report child abuse, a Class A Misdemeanor.

Court documents obtained by NewsWest 9 reveal the married couple knew one of their volunteer youth ministers, Angel De Los Santos, was sexually assaulting multiple underage girls from the church and did not notify authorities within the mandated 48-hour period.

According to arrest affidavits, Gina Haislett sent a text message to the minister’s then-wife, telling her she “should not volunteer any information” when questioned by Odessa Police Department detectives.

Don and Gina Haislett could not be reached for an interview. Life Church had no comment.

According to Odessa Police, the Haisletts conducted their own investigation into a sexual relationship he had with one victim and inappropriate text messages he allegedly sent others.

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
on December 02, 2014

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Former Lakeside Baptist Church youth minister Mack Allen Davis has pleaded guilty to six charges of sexually abusing minors in Jefferson County, according to court records.

Davis, 74, entered his guilty pleas on Monday, Dec. 1. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9.

Davis still faces charges in Cherokee and St. Clair counties.

The Jefferson County indictment charged Davis with three counts of second degree sex abuse of a minor between the ages of 12 and 16, one count of first degree sodomy, and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, according to court records.

The charges in all three counties relate to allegations by two men. Both victims said they were abused by Davis multiple times over a decade from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. One victim said he was 9 years old when the abuse began and was 17 when it ended.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Georgetown University law student is suing after she says she was sexually exploited by a rabbi accused of secretly videotaping women in a Jewish ritual bath.

The Washington Post reports that the civil lawsuit was filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court and seeks class action status.

The rabbi, 62-year-old Barry Freundel, was arrested in October and is charged with voyeurism for allegedly placing a hidden camera in the shower area of a ritual bath, called a mikvah. The lawsuit says the student took a Jewish law class Freundel co-taught at Georgetown and visited the mikvah at Freundel’s urging.

The lawsuit says the university, the synagogue where Freundel was a rabbi and the mikvah ignored “red flags” that he was acting improperly.

The student isn’t identified by name in the complaint.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Lawsuit filed in Georgetown rabbi case; synagogue severs relations with leader

By Peter Hermann December 2 at 2:35 PM
A lawsuit filed Tuesday against a Georgetown synagogue and others accuses the sanctuary’sauthorities of covering up a series of unusual practices of an influential rabbi, which the suit says allowed his alleged secret recordings of women in a ritual bath to go unchecked.

The lawsuit was filed by a student at Georgetown University Law School, who accuses the rabbi, 62-year-old Barry Freundel, of luring her to the bath as part of her studies at the school. Among the unusual practices performed by the suit alleges, were the use of practice dunks before the bath, known as a mikvah, and encouraging non-Jews, unmarried women and students to use the bath as part of their studies– rituals that run counter to accepted Jewish practices.

Also named in the suit are the National Capital Mikvah, where the baths took place, and Georgetown University Law School, where Freundel taught.

Filed in D.C. Superior Court, the lawsuit seeks class-action status and identifies the plaintiff only as a third year law student. “This case involves an unfathomable breach of trust by a Georgetown professor and religious leader and defendants’ utter failure to prevent and/or stop it,” Baltimore attorney Steven D. Silverman wrote in the lawsuit. He wrote later, “Defendants’ turned a blind eye to obvious signs to Freundel’s increasingly bizarre behavior, ignoring the bright red flags that Freundel was acting inappropriately with women subjected to his authority.”

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Prensa Libre

[Dominican Prosecutor OKs Vatican Sex Abuse Case – AP]

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO.- Así lo dijo en una conferencia de prensa en Roma tras los encuentros mantenidos en el Vaticano para conocer el estado de tramitación del proceso judicial que afronta el exdiplomático polaco, en arresto domiciliario desde septiembre último.

En primer lugar, se reunió durante más de una hora con los promotores de justicia (fiscales) del Estado Vaticano, con quienes estudió la situación penal de Wesolowski y las competencias de cada parte en el proceso.

Y es que, según explicó Domínguez Brito, son tres los países que podrían juzgar al exnuncio: la República Dominicana por ser el lugar donde presuntamente cometió el delito, Polonia por su nacionalidad y el Vaticano porque, al ser su diplomático en la época, estaba bajo su jurisdicción.

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DEUTSCHLAND
DGPPN

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DEUTSCHLAND
Artzte Zeitung

[At the annual meeting of the DGPPN in Berlin, scientists present analysis of two major abuse hotlines set up in wake of the sexual abuse scandals at Berlin’s Canisius College and the Odenwald School.]

Von Philipp Grätzel von Grätz

BERLIN. Bei der Jahrestagung der DGPPN in Berlin haben Wissenschaftler Auswertungen zweier großer Missbrauchs-Hotlines vorgelegt, die im Gefolge der Missbrauchsskandale am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg und an der Odenwald-Schule eingerichtet worden waren.

Ausgewertet wurden einerseits die Hotline des Unabhängigen Beauftragten der Bundesregierung (UBSKM-Hotline), andererseits die Ende 2012 eingestellte Hotline der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee), 414.429.7259
Fr. James Connell, 414.940.8045

Milwaukee, WI – December 2, 2014 – An open letter sent by a group of local priest and survivor advocates is calling on the Vatican to investigate the Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy (letter attached).

As reported today in the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the letter presents six points under church law and practice that would justify such an investigation (full story here):

–Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki directed the church attorney to file for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court saying that the action “would provide a means to compensate victims/survivors with unresolved claims while allowing the archdiocese to continue its essential ministries.” No eligibility requirements were listed.

–The archdiocese “went to great effort and expense” to find victim/survivors. “Indeed, the bankruptcy claims process seemed inviting, not restrictive; it created hope for justice and healing.”

–About 575 claims of abuse were filed with the court.

–In 2013 it came to light that in 2007, then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, had transferred about $57 million into a trust fund for the perpetual care of nine cemeteries saying in a letter to the Vatican that the intent was “to provide improved protection of these funds from “any legal claim and liability.” That scandalized Catholics and non-Catholics, the letter stated. Earlier this year, the archdiocese objected to all of the claims based on sex abuse, saying none had merit, but said it would be willing to compensate 125 claimants “only because doing so would be less expensive than fighting these claims in court,” according to the letter.

–While the archdiocese could change its approach, “the archdiocese appears to intend to continue on the course it has been following. … They intend to object to all the claims.”

–Documents in the court file show that legal and administrative fees have reached $18 million. ”There is enough money to compensate attorneys but not victims survivors.”

The Vatican is currently investigating an American Bishop, Robert Finn, for that diocese handling of sex abuse cases.

###

An Open Letter to Pope Francis

November 21, 2014

Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City State
Europe

Re.: A request for an investigation into the behavior of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in its dealings with victims / survivors of clergy sexual abuse within the context of a Bankruptcy Court case.
Dear Pope Francis,

We are a unique collaboration between victims / survivors of childhood Catholic clergy sexual abuse and supporters of the victims / survivors. We need your immediate assistance and we hope that this letter will be a beginning to an open dialogue.

We have said before and we now say again, the kiss of Judas may well be Christ’s most painful wound, as all of His anguish, torment, and suffering flowed from that one act of betrayal. The suffering of sexual abuse victims is like this – a startling act of betrayal, sometimes violent, and always scarring – which renders a child or adolescent without words or a context with which to speak. With maturity and experience, the child or adolescent, now an adult, grows in understanding and horror, and learns the vocabulary necessary to describe their experience. Some choose to remain silent, some choose to speak. With either decision the victim / survivor suffers.

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy members of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee were betrayed. Over the past two to three decades, those who chose to come forward were re-victimized, patronized and dismissed; many were deceived with false promises and financial tokens. Those who would not be dismissed remain caught in the crushing legal machinery of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The latest example is the bankruptcy proceeding which has been meant to exhaust, silence, and slander victims / survivors, as well as to serve as a warning to others. If the Archdiocese of Milwaukee wanted to demonstrate genuine concern for victims / survivors, its leadership would have and could still choose to put a stop to these painful and traumatic legal proceedings immediately and pursue true justice.

We explain this need for papal intervention in six points.

First. On January 4, 2011 Archbishop Jerome Listecki directed attorneys for the Archdiocese to file a petition for a Chapter 11 reorganization of its financial affairs under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. At that time, Archbishop Listecki explained that this action would provide a means to compensate victims / survivors with unresolved claims while also providing the means for the Archdiocese to continue its essential ministries. That process would be fair and open, he said, to all who have an unresolved sexual abuse claim; no eligibility requirements were mentioned that would qualify the term “unresolved claim”.

Second. The Archdiocese went to great effort and expense to invite into the bankruptcy process the victims / survivors of sexual abuse “by any clergy member, teacher, deacon, employee, volunteer, or other person connected with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee”, as was stated on the public postings about filing a claim before the February 1, 2012 bar date. Indeed, the bankruptcy claims process seemed inviting, not restrictive; it created hope for justice and healing.

Third. 575 claims were submitted to the bankruptcy court by people stating that they had been sexually abused by a person “connected with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee”, such as by a cleric (priest or deacon, diocesan or religious), by a teacher, by an employee, by a volunteer, or by another person connected with the archdiocese.

No eligibility restrictions were ever stated by the Archdiocese. Indeed, it could be that survivors of sexual abuse interpreted the process as one in which the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was finally wanting to do what is right, just and good. The gesture by the Archdiocese could have been seen to indicate that the Church was willing to remedy abuse cases even if beyond the statute of limitations (truly, it’s difficult for some survivors to speak up promptly), or even if there was a prior settlement (maybe it wasn’t really fair), or even if the abuse was by a religious order priest (after all, they can’t serve in the Archdiocese without the permission of the Archbishop). Indeed, the bankruptcy claims process seemed inviting, not restrictive.

Fourth. In July 2013 it came to light that in 2007 then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, requested Vatican permission to transfer approximately $57 million from accounts of the Archdiocese to a new Cemetery Trust. In that request letter, Archbishop Dolan stated the reason for creating the Cemetery Trust was to “provide improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability”. Think about that for a moment. He wanted to avoid paying legal claims and liabilities. He wanted to avoid paying victims / survivors of clergy sexual abuse. He was willing to violate the virtue of justice rather than to compensate victims / survivors. That revelation scandalized many persons, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. And hope began to fade.

Furthermore, last February the Archdiocese submitted to the bankruptcy court the first draft of its reorganization plan. In this document we learned that the Archdiocese was objecting to all of the 575 claims; not even one claim has legal merit, the Archdiocese contends. However, the plan does indicate that the Archdiocese would be willing to compensate approximately 125 claimants, but only because doing so would be less expensive than fighting these claims in court. So, they would be paying them reluctantly, continuing to hold that no claim has legal merit. Why?

The Archdiocese has created and plans to enforce eligibility requirements that were never communicated to victim / survivors or the members of this Archdiocese before claims were submitted to the bankruptcy court. Claimants who have unsettled claims of sexual abuse have been traumatized unnecessarily, and for most of these claimants they will be deprived of monetary satisfaction; their hope for justice has been shattered.

In other words, had the Archdiocese made known to potential claimants at the onset of the bankruptcy process it’s intention to object to virtually all claims by victim / survivors and to enforce unjust eligibility requirements, many survivors would not have endured the trauma of writing a detailed report of their abuse or had hope that this Archdiocese was finally going to take responsibility for its actions. Truly, the Archdiocese has injured the claimants.

Our alliance would not have encouraged victim / survivors to come forward if we had known that the Archdiocese would be willing to spend four years and millions of dollars to object to each and every claim.

In addition, given that justice concerns both the equity between the parties and the common good of society, the general public has been damaged in that its reliance on the Archdiocese to be a moral leader in the community has been shaken and diluted, all to the detriment of the society at-large.

Therefore, we contend: (1) that the Archdiocese wrongfully concealed its intention to apply eligibility requirements in evaluating sexual abuse claims; (2) that this concealment was known and intended by the Archdiocese prior to the claimants filing their claims; (3) that this concealment was for the purpose of inducing persons with an unresolved sexual abuse claim into the bankruptcy process; (4) that the claimants trusted the Archdiocese’s stated purpose for entering the bankruptcy process; and (5) that claimants have been harmed by the concealment.

Consequently, this behavior by the Archdiocese has damaged claimants, the Church community, and the general public. This behavior has created scandal.

Fifth. Proceedings within recent bankruptcy court hearings reveal that, although the Archdiocese could alter its approach and its reorganization plan, the Archdiocese appears to intend to continue on the course it has been following and no noteworthy alteration is in the offing. They intend to object to all the claims.

Sixth. In a document recently made public by the bankruptcy court, one of the attorneys in this case states that the attorney fees and other administrative fees paid so far are approximately $18 million. There is enough money to compensate attorneys, but not victims / survivors. Is the Archdiocese of Milwaukee actually bankrupt? In other words, if the Archdiocese has no intention of paying most if not all of the claims, and if the Archdiocese is able to pay $18 million for attorneys and other expenses, is the Archdiocese really bankrupt and in need of federal protection to reorganize its financial affairs?

Conclusion. This bankruptcy case, as it has been conducted by the Archdiocese, is not what the people of the Archdiocese expected or want. Rather, the Archdiocese’s handling of this bankruptcy case has been scandalous and unjust. Even some legal experts throughout the United States are referring to the Archdiocese’s case as an example of how not to handle a bankruptcy case.

Pope Francis, please help us. Please send a delegate to investigate this matter and then report the findings back to you and to the general public.

Sincerely yours,

/s/

Peter Isely John Pilmaier, III
Victim/Survivor Victim/Survivor

Vicky Schneider Michael Sneesby
Victim/Survivor Victim/Survivor

John Pilmaier, Jr. Lynn Pilmaier
Supporter of Victims/Survivors Supporter of Victims/Survivors

Rev. Charles Wester Rev. Howard Haase
Supporter of Victims/Survivors Supporter of Victims/Survivors

Rev. James Connell
Supporter of Victims/Survivors

CONTACT PERSONS:
Peter Isely Rev. James Connell
4422 N. Bartlett Avenue 2462 N. Prospect Avenue, #204
Milwaukee, WI 53211 Milwaukee, WI 53211
(414) 429-7259 (414) 940-8054

cc: Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, Archbishop of Milwaukee

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CALIFORNIA
KPCC

by Paul Glickman November 26 2014

KPCC’s report earlier this month on the LAUSD’s argument in a civil lawsuit that a 14-year-old can consent to sex with her 28-year-old teacher has prompted three state lawmakers to introduce bills designed to make sure that can’t happen again.

The girl’s family had sued the L.A. Unified School District, seeking financial compensation for the district’s handling of the situation. LAUSD’s defense rested in part on its assertion that the girl bore some responsibility for the sexual relationship.

The age of consent is strictly set at 18 in criminal cases, but L.A. Unified’s lawyer in the lawsuit pointed to state appellate rulings that he said permitted him to argue in a civil case that a minor can consent to sex with an adult.

“It is stunning that a 14-year-old girl would be considered responsible for the predatory behavior of a pedophile,” said State Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), who planned to introduce her measure on Monday. “This bill makes it absolutely clear that a child does not share the blame for predatory behavior. This blame the victim attitude in sexual assaults must stop.”

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 2

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

We are grateful that California legislators are trying to fix flaws in state statutes that enable defendants in abuse cases to blame children for their own suffering.

[KPCC]

We’re appalled by the tactics used by LAUSD lawyers to hurt victims that sue child molesting teachers. Kids of any age are never at fault when they are sexually assaulted or exploited by adults. Shame on the district and its lawyers for suggesting otherwise.

We hope lawmakers will remedy this injustice quickly and decisively. We also hope they’ll fix an even more pressing problem: California’s archaic, predator-friendly statutes of limitations that prevent most child sex abuse victims from protecting kids and deterring cover ups through the justice system.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Dec. 2, 2014

A group of sex-abuse victims and their supporters, including three Catholic priests, are asking Pope Francis to investigate the actions of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in its dealings with abuse survivors in the context of its nearly 4-year-old bankruptcy.

An open letter to the pontiff, released this week, raises many of the same concerns and allegations victims have raised during the bankruptcy. Among them: That the archdiocese cast a wide net inviting victims to file claims in the bankruptcy, but is now seeking to have them all dismissed; that it moved $57 million in cemetery funds into a trust to keep it from being used for settlements; and that the archdiocese would rather pay attorneys to fight claims than compensate survivors.

The letter was signed by members of the Milwaukee-based Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Signers include four victims, at least three of whom have filed claims in the bankruptcy; and a couple whose son, John Pilmaier, was molested at the age of 7 in his Catholic School. Two of the signers — Peter Isely and Pilmaier, local leaders of SNAP — have had their cases thrown out. Pilmaier had already received a $100,000 settlement from the archdiocese, but argued that he had been misled during his mediation. Isely’s was dismissed as beyond the statute of limitations for fraud.

Two Milwaukee-area priests are among the signatories: the Rev. James Connell, the archdiocese’s former vice chancellor; and the Rev. Howard Haase of St. Mary’s Parish in Waukesha.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said in an email that it was the victims’ attorneys and creditors committee, not the archdiocese, that cast the wide net seeking claimants, and that the archdiocese warned the attorneys at the time that many survivors would be disappointed.

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ESPANA
Religion Digital

Cristianos de Andalucía piden la destitución del arzobispo de Granada

Los Comunidades Cristianas Populares de Andalucía han manifestado hoy su “dolor y repulsa” por los supuestos abusos sexuales de sacerdotes contra menores investigados en Granada y han pedido la destitución del arzobispo Javier Martínez por su “incapacidad” para velar por la verdad y la justicia.

En un comunicado, además de mostrar su rechazo a los hechos denunciados, el colectivo ha mostrado su solidaridad con las posibles víctimas de estos abusos y con su “sentimiento de soledad”.

“Valoramos y alabamos su valentía al pasar del silencio y el sufrimiento individual a la denuncia pública de los hechos”, ha destacado.

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SPAN
Spanish News Today

These are difficult times for the Catholic Church in Spain, as Pope Francis throws his weight behind efforts to clean up the image of his Church and eliminate those to conspire to protect criminals within it.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has: …

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Zaragoza, Spain, presented by Archbishop Manuel Urena Pastor, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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ESPANA
ABC

[The Zaragoza archdiocese has admitted to paying 60,000 euros to a deacon, 27, who suffered sexual harassment by a parish priest. This coincided with the surprise resignation of Archbishop Manuel Urena of Zargoza. Urena travelled to Rome to give his resignation to the pope.]

El Arzobispado de Zaragoza ha admitido haber pagado 60.000 euros netos (105.000 brutos) al diácono de 27 años que dijo haber sufrido acoso sexual por parte del párroco al que estaba asignado, quien tras negar esas acusaciones le ha denunciado por calumnias.

El caso ha coincidido con la sorpresiva renuncia al cargo de arzobispo de Zaragoza que monseñor Manuel Ureña hizo pública el pasado día 12. Fuentes eclesiásticas han indicado que ese pago al diácono motivó la marcha de Ureña, forzado por el Vaticano tras comunicarle lo ocurrido desde el propio entorno del arzobispo. De hecho, escasos días antes de hacer pública su dimisión, Ureña viajó a Roma para firmar su renuncia ante el Papa.

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SPANIEN
kathweb (Osterreich)

Madrid, 30.11.2014 (KAP) Selten wurde in Spanien so offen und laut über Kindesmissbrauch in der katholischen Kirche gesprochen. Nachdem Papst Franziskus persönlich zum Telefon griff, um sich bei einem heute 24-Jährigen zu entschuldigen, der nach eigenen Angaben als Messdiener von Geistlichen in Granada sexuell missbraucht worden war, hat sich viel geändert. Der junge Mann hatte dem Papst einen fünf Seiten langen Brief geschrieben, in dem er die mutmaßlichen Täter beim Namen nannte. Schon im August antwortete der Papst telefonisch, um sich im Namen der Kirche zu entschuldigen. Er versprach, persönlich Kontakt mit der Erzdiözese aufzunehmen, um kircheninterne Ermittlungen einzuleiten.

Wochen später rief Franziskus offenbar ein zweites Mal bei dem jungen Mann an. Er soll unzufrieden mit der Reaktion der Erzdiözese gewesen sein. Spanische Medien berichteten, diese habe zwar vorsorglich die drei hauptverdächtigen Priester von ihren Aufgaben entbunden, aber zahlreiche Mitwisser aus dem sogenannten Clan der Romanones, einer als sektenähnlich beschriebenen Gruppe von Geistlichen, verschont. Laut der katholischen Online-Zeitung “Religion Digital”, die den Fall bekanntmachte, ermutigte der Papst den Mann sogar, Anzeige bei der Polizei zu erstatten.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Dec. 2, 2014

VATICAN CITY
The attorney general of the Dominican Republic met Dec. 2 with Vatican City’s promoter of justice to discuss the sex abuse case against Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop who had served as nuncio to the Caribbean nation.

Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, released a statement saying Francisco Dominguez Brito, the attorney general, requested the meeting during his trip to Europe to make contact with officials at the Vatican and in Wesolowski’s native Poland.

The meeting took place “within the framework of the international cooperation of the investigating agencies,” Lombardi said. The meeting “was useful for both sides given the complexity of the inquest” and the likelihood that the Vatican will make a formal request for evidence from the investigation in the Dominican Republic.

Citing the “gravity of the accusations” of sexually abusing boys in the Dominican Republic, the Vatican placed Wesolowski under house arrest in late September. “In light of the medical condition of the accused, supported by medical documentation,” he was not housed in a Vatican jail cell.

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WATYKAN
TVN24 (Polska)

[Former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski has freedom of movement within Vatican City although he has been under Vatican house arrest for several months. This was confirmed by Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. Wesolowski is alleged to have abused underage boys while serving as nuncio in the Dominican Republic.]

Oskarżony o pedofilię były nuncjusz apostolski na Dominikanie abp Józef Wesołowski ma swobodę poruszania się za Spiżową Bramą – podał we wtorek Watykan. Po dwóch miesiącach minął termin zastosowanego wobec niego środka zapobiegawczego w postaci aresztu domowego.

Rzecznik Stolicy Apostolskiej ksiądz Federico Lombardi oświadczył – odnosząc się do wcześniejszych informacji o tym, że byłego nuncjusza widziano na spacerze na terytorium Watykanu – że 23 września został on aresztowany na 60 dni. Taki środek zastosował watykański prokurator w związku z zarzutami czynów pedofilii i posiadania materiałów pornografii dziecięcej.

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VATICAN CITY
Beitbart

by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D. 2 Dec 2014

In a recent interview, Pope Francis’ right-hand man for the reform of the Roman curia said we can expect serious downsizing of the offices that make up the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, the Honduran coordinator of the “C9,” the committee helping Francis restructure Vatican offices, said that the reform of Vatican finances had been the Pope’s first priority. Now that the process is seriously underway, attention is turning to the reform of the Vatican government.

Until now, there has been considerable overlap among the various Vatican departments, and the reform has been aimed at consolidation. There are, for instance, 12 different pontifical “councils” or offices, ranging from the Council for the Laity to the Council for Culture, and from the Council for Justice and Peace to the Council for the Pastoral Care of Healthcare Workers.

Maradiaga said that two larger departments are being created, “dedicated to the laity and charity,” which will subsume a number of the existing pontifical councils. He said that while there are “certain details that need to be fine-tuned,” the project is moving forward quickly.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* TIME Magazine led last year’s “Francismania” outbreak by making Pope Francis “2013 Man of the Year”. Perhaps Francis had a little help from his top media adviser who had worked for TIME earlier. In any event, increasingly, many in the media are ending their “see no evil” honeymoon with Pope Francis, ranging from some at the Boston Globe, Reuters, CNN, Washington Post, the UK Tablet, the Christian Science Monitor, and perhaps even ZENIT!

* The Boston Globe’s editorial board has, in effect, called on Pope Francis to fire his new Vatican “top cop”, American Jesuit, Fr. Robert Geisinger, only recently assigned by Francis to police predatory priests. The Globe also expressed skepticism about the “zero tolerance” illusions of Francis’ new priest child abuse “czar”, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, and of Pope Francis.

* A Reuters’ editor has noted the Catholic hierarchy has in the main dealt badly with the priest child abuse mess.

* CNN has prominently featured a well respected UK human rights’ lawyer, who called for a massive UK child abuse investigation, like the one underway in Australia, and who observed that Pope Francis has yet to really begin seriously to investigate the abuse scandal.

* An experienced advocate in a Huffington Post column has called for a special child abuse investigation commission that engages all 28 member states of the European Union, including the Vatican. Meanwhile, a call has also been made by an Australian survivors’ advocate for a similar USA commission to be set up by President Obama.

* The Washington Post has in an “op ed” column by papal financial supporters described some parallels between the economic policies of the Koch brothers and Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
Star Tribune

Article by: BRANDON STAHL , Star Tribune Updated: November 30, 2014

Child protection agencies across the country are grappling with how to repair systems that failed to protect thousands of vulnerable children from repeated abuse.

Since 2012, directors of at least 16 state and county agencies have resigned or been fired. Nine states have passed sweeping reforms designed to protect more children. Those actions often followed public outrage over the deaths of children previously known to child protection agencies.

New York, Florida and Arizona overhauled their child protection systems this year, and now Minnesota is poised to follow their lead. Gov. Mark Dayton formed a child protection task force in September following the Star Tribune’s report on 4-year-old Eric Dean, who was reported for abuse 15 times before he was murdered by his stepmother last year. And last week, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services announced that it had hired a new assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services.

This is at least the third time Minnesota has looked to reform its system since the late 1980s. Nationwide, states have passed reforms or seen key leaders resign amid scandal, only to have children continue to die from repeated abuse and neglect.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Dec 2, 2014
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

The Dominican Republic’s top prosecutor praised the Holy See’s handling of the sexual abuse case against its former ambassador to the Caribbean country Tuesday and acknowledged that the Vatican was the right place to try him.

Prosecutor Francisco Dominguez Brito met Tuesday with his Vatican counterpart, Jean Pierre Milano, and the deputy secretary of state, Monsignor Angelo Becciu, to discuss the case against Jozef Wesolowski. Dominguez Brito said he was “confident” that the Vatican would sanction the Polish former archbishop.

The Holy See recalled Wesolowski last year after rumors surfaced that he allegedly paid shoeshine boys to masturbate. Wesolowski has been defrocked and placed under house arrest pending a decision on whether to indict.

Dominguez Brito expressed his “appreciation and satisfaction” with the Vatican’s actions so far, but made clear that Dominican authorities had provided the Vatican with sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution.

He said he was confident that the case would create a precedent.

“There cannot be any impunity, and we are confident that this will be the case here,” he said.

He acknowledged that the Vatican had the right to prosecute him under international law, given his diplomatic position.

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UNITED STATES
PRWeb

Boston Massachusetts (PRWEB) December 02, 2014

Attempting to battle the cover-up, shame and silence of clergy sexual abuse, three survivors from Boston, Massachusetts, travel to Rome reaching behind the secret walls of The Vatican. Their week long effort becomes a decade long mission that exposes mind-blowing statistics and unexpected global response.

BASTA is a film documenting the emotional journey taken by simple men detailing their attempts to reach behind and beyond the Vatican walls in search of help, hope and aid in healing a nation reeling from the effects of the clergy abuse crisis. A decade after starting on a personal journey for justice, one man finds that success isn’t always defined by achieving his goal; sometimes, it’s defined by the attempt itself. And sometimes, in that attempt, you also find out who you are.

The unlikely film producer of BASTA is Gary Bergeron, 51, a carpenter by trade, who lives in the greater Boston area. Gary and his brother came forward to their parents in 2002 about their abuse at the hands of a Boston priest. Gary consequently discovered his 77-year-old father had also been abused by his priest. “Finding out that two generations of my family had lived with this painful secret was a pivotal moment. I realized that not only was I a victim of clergy sexual abuse, I was also the brother of a clergy abuse victim and the son of a clergy abuse victim. I decided to do whatever was necessary to make sure that I would never be the father of a clergy abuse victim. Regardless of the consequences, the Vatican was the next step.” said Bergeron.

According to Bergeron, BASTA’S live footage was not planned but made possible as the result of a news editor’s request to send a cameraman along on their trip to The Vatican. The raw footage was never used by the editor and was literally stuffed in a closet for over 10 years. 2 years ago, the editor offered it to Bergeron as a gift. When the package arrived; he decided that it was time to share his story and started editing, hoping the film would be a vehicle for survivors to be heard. Bergeron expressed that he sees the film festivals selection of BASTA as a realization of that hope. “The goal of BASTA was, and always will be, to raise public awareness, provoke action and healing for survivors. Above all, survivors should never give up, never lose Hope.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Dec. 2, 2014

Three priests are among those who have sent an open letter to Pope Francis asking for an investigation into the way victims of clergy sexual abuse have been treated by the Milwaukee archdiocese in its bankruptcy action.

“How they’ve handled it is just wrong,” said Fr. James Connell, a canon lawyer and retired priest.

“They have been hurting people by their actions. It is a moral issue as well as a legal issue. We are hopeful there will be an investigation.”

This is not the first time Connell has been involved in asking the Vatican to investigate misconduct by archdiocesan officials related to a clergy sex abuse scandal. In August, Connell wrote to the Vatican asking for an investigation of Bishop Richard Finn of the Kansas City-Saint Joseph diocese.

The intent of the bankruptcy proceeding for the Milwaukee archdiocese is “to exhaust, silence and slander victims/survivors as well as to serve as a warning to others,” the letter asserts and lists six points to justify papal intervention:

* Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki directed the church attorney to file for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court saying that the action “would provide a means to compensate victims/survivors with unresolved claims while allowing the archdiocese to continue its essential ministries.” No eligibility requirements were listed.

* The archdiocese “went to great effort and expense” to find victim/survivors. “Indeed, the bankruptcy claims process seemed inviting, not restrictive; it created hope for justice and healing.”

* About 575 claims of abuse were filed with the court.

* In 2013 it came to light that in 2007, then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, had transferred about $57 million into a trust fund for the perpetual care of nine cemeteries saying in a letter to the Vatican that the intent was “to provide improved protection of these funds from “any legal claim and liability.” That scandalized Catholics and non-Catholics, the letter stated. Earlier this year, the archdiocese objected to all of the claims based on sex abuse, saying none had merit, but said it would be willing to compensate 125 claimants “only because doing so would be less expensive than fighting these claims in court,” according to the letter.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

Some journalists simply don’t know when to let an old story line die. As we first reported at the time over two-and-a-half years ago, Michael Rezendes of The Boston Globe published two splashy front-page stories about the failures of the Jesuit order in Chicago years ago in its handling of the case of one of its abusive priests, Rev. Donald J. Maguire.

Well, Rezendes must have thought he could make one more trip to the well by now claiming that Pope Francis’ new prosecutor at the Vatican for clergy sex abuse, Rev. Robert J. Geisinger, was once “the second-highest-ranking official among the Chicago Jesuits in the 1990s” and actually “allowed” Maguire to remain in ministry when he was there.

The Globe’s dramatic charge, which the paper trumpeted as a Sunday, front-page story, was later picked up by national wire services and several big newspapers.

The problem? Rezendes’ claim is bogus.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell
December 2, 2014

A NSW ashram blocked abuse victims from its Facebook page, threatened them with defamation action and until this year never apologised for the sexual exploitation of girls by its founding spiritual leader.

A royal commission is examining how a retreat, now known as the Mangrove Yoga Ashram, handled sex abuse complaints against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati who ran the NSW Central Coast compound from 1974 to 1986.

Children were physically and sexually abused at the ashram where some parents handed guardianship of their children as well as property and income over to Akhandananda and his partner Shishy.

The ashram, nestled in the foothills of Mangrove mountain, is the largest in Australia and a registered charity. About 200 people lived there at its peak.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 03, 2014 1

A YOGA guru whose acolytes “looked up to him like a god” had children summoned by loudspeaker at his ashram on the NSW central coast before sexually abusing them, a royal commission has heard.

The guru, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, arrived in Australia from India in 1974 and quickly built up his empire by forcing ­acolytes to renounce their possessions, past lives and family ties. Some parents even transferred legal guardianship of their children to the swami, the commission heard.

One of his teenage followers, identified only as Jyoti, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that she “was strongly encouraged never to question the guru as he knew what was best for my spiritual growth. I looked up to him like a god”.

After sexually abusing her, the swami said, “Don’t worry about your own mind. Your mind belongs to me,” Jyoti said.

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IRELAND
Time

Richard Conway @richardjconway Dec. 1, 2014

The very ordinariness of both the context and the location of child abuse in Ireland struck photographer Kim Haughton as profoundly disturbing.

In a damning 2009 report, Ireland’s independently-run Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse – which spent nine years investigating thousands of allegations of abuse at religious-run institutions – spoke of a culture of “endemic sexual abuse” in the country’s Catholic boys’ schools and of the “deferential and submissive attitude” of the Irish state towards the religious orders who ran them.

What emerged from the investigation, and from a separate Dublin-specific inquiry concluded the same year, was that institutional child abuse was widespread and that it had occurred not only in schools, but in many places where young people were in the care of religious orders. The commissions also revealed that very often when children reported the abuse, they were largely ignored and even punished, with many of the adult perpetrators being relocated to new parishes by church officials. The state, too, had willfully turned a blind eye.

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SOUTH AFRICA
The Citizen

The Sexual Offences Court has sentenced a priest to life imprisonment after he raped a 12-year-old boy on two occasions in August 2011. Multimedia

During sentencing on Thursday, Magistrate Deon Minnie said the priest, Sipho Matthew Manana (47) at Jericho Apostolic Church in Mhluzi, placed a high premium on his Christian values and is in fact so revered by his followers that he regularly lays his hands in prayer on children in the township at their request, Middelburg Observer reported.

“The accused engaged in grooming when he often bought the child gifts and gave him money, raping the boy on more than one occasion, and making it extremely difficult for the victim from a poor single parent household, to disclose the offences,” said Minnie.

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DEUTCHLAND
Welt

Maischberger und ihren Gästen gelang es nicht, Faszination und Gemeinsamkeiten von dubiosen Glaubensgemeinschaften zu entschlüsseln. Dafür erschütterten die Erfahrungsberichte von Aussteigern.

Empörung kann heilsam sein. Sie kann Aufmerksamkeit wecken, Handlungsbedarf erkennbar machen, sie hilft womöglich auch dabei, dass sich eine Gesellschaft wieder selbst vergewissert darüber, nach welchen Normen sie leben, was sie zulassen will oder nicht.

Bei Sandra Maischberger hörte man vieles, über das sich zu empören war, und einiges, über das sich nur fassungslos der Kopf schütteln ließ. Die Diagnose, die Sendung habe sich in Eskalationsstufen aufgebaut, wäre womöglich ein ganz klein wenig zynisch, aber auch nicht vollkommen falsch.

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OSTERREICH
kath.net

Orden bedauert kurze intime Beziehung eines Priesters zu der Betroffenen und weist allgemeine Beschuldigungen “entschieden zurück” – Vorwürfe wurden im Rahmen einer Apostolischen Visitation geprüft.

Feldkirch (kath.net/KAP) Die geistliche Familie “Das Werk” hat auf Vorwürfe reagiert, die eine ehemalige Schwester des Ordens in einer am Samstag erschienenen Biografie geäußert hat. Das Erscheinen des Buches nehme der Orden “mit Betroffenheit” zur Kenntnis, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme des Regionalverantwortlichen der Gemeinschaft, Pater Georg Gantioler, vom Samstag. Er bedauere es sehr, dass die ehemalige Mitschwester “in einer derartig negativen Weise auf die Jahre in unserer Gemeinschaft zurückblickt und viele positive Dinge, die sie erlebt hat, ausblendet”. Gleichzeitig bestätigt der Orden, dass die Vorwürfe im Rahmen einer bereits abgeschlossen Apostolischen Visitation geprüft wurden, deren Ergebnis noch nicht bekannt ist.

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OSTERREICH
News.at

Zwei ehemalige Mitglieder der direkt dem Papst unterstellten katholischen Gemeinschaft “Das Werk” in Bregenz haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen die geistliche Familie erhoben. Sie sprachen von Missbrauchsfällen und der Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit innerhalb der Gemeinschaft, berichtete der ORF Radio Vorarlberg. Der Vatikan soll “Das Werk” ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben.

Einer der beiden Aussteiger, ein heute 35-jähriger Brite, lebte laut ORF ab seinem 18. Lebensjahr sechs Jahre lang in der Gemeinschaft in einem ehemaligen Dominikanerinnen-Kloster in Bregenz-Thalbach. Seit 1983 ist dies der Hauptsitz der geistlichen Familie “Das Werk”, rund 100 Schwestern und 30 Brüder und Priester sollen derzeit in dem Gebäude leben. Er sagte, er sei sich zum Schluss vorgekommen, wie in einer Sekte, ständig überwacht und sogar von seinem Beichtvater durchleuchtet. Selbst zur Beerdigung seines Großvaters habe er nicht gehen dürfen, so der Brite im Radio-Interview.

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OSTERREICH
VOL

Bregenz – Zwei ehemalige Mitglieder der direkt dem Papst unterstellten katholischen Gemeinschaft “Das Werk” in Bregenz haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen die geistliche Familie erhoben.

Sie sprachen von Missbrauchsfällen und der Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit innerhalb der Gemeinschaft, berichtete der ORF Radio Vorarlberg. Der Vatikan soll “Das Werk” ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bild

In deutschen Buchhandlungen machen Esoterikbücher einen Großteil des Umsatzes aus und auch spirituelle Gemeinschaften haben immer größeren Zulauf. Doch anstelle der Glücksversprechen gibt es oftmals Kontrolle, Psychotricks und körperliche Gewalt.

Wenn die Gemeinschaft sich als Sekte entpuppt, sind die Angehörigen zumeist machtlos. Kritische Fragen sind tabu. Warum haben Sekten mit ihrem häufig eher schlichten Weltbild dennoch einen so großen Zulauf?

„Wenn Glauben gefährlich wird: Die Macht der Sekten“, lautete das Thema bei Sandra Maischberger am Dienstagabend in der ARD.

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OSTERREICH
Vorarlberg

Mehrere ehemalige Mitglieder der katholischen Gemeinschaft Das Werk in Bregenz berichten von Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit und sexuellen Übergriffen. Ein Sprecher räumt jetzt Fehler ein, die gehörten aber der Vergangenheit an.

Georg Gantioler, Sprecher des Ordens, bestätigt zwar, dass es früher durchaus üblich gewesen sei, dass die Leitung zum Beispiel persönliche Briefe vorab gelesen und abgefangen habe. Auch sei es vorgekommen, dass dem geistlichen Begleiter persönlich Anvertrautes weitererzählt wurde. „Da sind die Grenzen manchmal fließend gewesen“, so Gantioler gegenüber dem ORF. Diese Praktiken gehörten aber der Vergangenheit an. „Man kann das jetzt Fehler nennen. Ich würde sagen, dass waren Entwicklungsschritte“, so der Geistliche. Diese Entwicklungschritte hätten aus der „pubertären“ Gemeinschaft eine „reife“ Gemeinschaft gemacht, „auch durch schmerzliche Erfahrungen hindurch.“

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OSTERREICH
Epoch Times

von Roland R. Ropers / Gastautor, Donnerstag, 13. November 2014

Die ehemalige Nonne Doris Wagner hat in ihrem Buch „Nicht mehr ich“ ihre wahre Geschichte als junge Ordensfrau veröffentlicht. In „Menschen bei Maischberger“ war sie am Dienstagabend zu sehen. In einem Interview mit Roland R. Ropers beantwortete sie seine Fragen für die Epoch Times.

Doris Wagner kam 1983 in Ansbach/Bayern zur Welt. Sie ist in einem protestantischen Elternhaus aufgewachsen. Im Mai 1999 wurde die Familie römisch-katholisch. Nach dem Abitur studierte sie in Rom, Freiburg und Erfurt Philosophie und katholische Theologie und war neben dem Studium unter anderem als Organistin und Fremdenführerin tätig. Sie wurde Mitglied einer aus Männer und Frauen bestehenden Ordensgemeinschaft „Die geistliche Familie Das Werk“ [FSO – Familia Spiritualis Opus – www.daswerk-fso.org] und erlebte während ihrer Zeit in Rom die dramatische Dynamik von Ideologie, Manipulation und Missbrauch. Die Hölle auf Erden. Am 18. Mai 2001 hatte der damalige Kurienkardinal Joseph Ratzinger im Vatikan seine Anweisung zur Geheimhaltung von sexuellem Missbrauch verfasst: „De Delictis Gravioribus”

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OSTERREICH
Stern

Doris Wagner hatte die geistliche Familie “Das Werk” für sich ausgewählt, eine ultrakonservative, katholische Glaubensgemeinschaft. Die damals 19-Jährige fühlte sich berufen. Dieser Orden schien für sie der richtige, um ihr Leben Gott zu widmen: “Seit ich sechzehn war, wollte ich Nonne werden”, sagt die heute 30-Jährige. “Das Werk” ist eine vom Papst approbierte und anerkannte Schwestern- und Priestergemeinschaft. Doris Wagner fühlte sich willkommen und zugehörig. Doch dann wurde der Traum, Gott zu dienen, für die sie zum Alptraum. Als sie die Gemeinschaft 2011 verließ, war sie depressiv, praktisch mittellos und hatte keine sozialen Kontakte mehr.

In ihrem Buch über die Zeit in dem Orden erhebt Doris Wagner nun schwere Vorwürfe gegen die Glaubensgemeinschaft. Sie sei dort jahrelang sektenartigen Strukturen ausgesetzt gewesen, habe Überwachung, Unterdrückung, Manipulation und soziale Isolation erlebt. Und sie wurde mehrfach missbraucht, schreibt sie.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

Zwei Aussteiger berichteten von sexuellen Übergriffen und Einschränkung der Freiheit – Vatikan soll ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben – Laut Vatikan kein Bericht zu Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen “Das Werk”

Bregenz – Zwei ehemalige Mitglieder der direkt dem Papst unterstellten katholischen Gemeinschaft “Das Werk” in Bregenz haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen die geistliche Familie erhoben. Sie sprachen von Missbrauchsfällen und der Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit innerhalb der Gemeinschaft, berichtete der ORF Radio Vorarlberg. Der Vatikan soll “Das Werk” ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben.

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OSTERREICH
Das Erste

Sie sind auf Sinnsuche oder wollen ihr Leben Gott widmen und geraten in die Fänge von Glaubensgemeinschaften. Doch die Heils- und Glücksversprechen, die viele Menschen anlocken, erfüllen sich meist nicht. Stattdessen herrscht blinder Gehorsam, Sektenmitglieder werden kontrolliert, mit Psychotricks oder körperlicher Gewalt unterdrückt. Kritische Fragen sind tabu. Warum haben dennoch Sekten mit ihrem oft schlichten Weltbild einen solchen Zulauf?

Schon als Teenager war die junge Katholikin begeistert vom Ordensleben und wollte unbedingt eine “Braut Christi” werden. Mit 19 Jahren trat die Abiturientin in eine kleine, streng gläubige katholische Ordensgemeinschaft ein, zog in ein österreichisches Kloster und später nach Rom, wo sie mehrmals Papst Benedikt XVI. traf. Doch bald wurde Doris Wagner von den Oberen kontrolliert, manipuliert, unter Druck gesetzt und schließlich von einem Priester sexuell missbraucht: “Ich habe kapiert, wenn ich überleben will, muss ich mich befreien.” 2011 verließ sie die Glaubensgemeinschaft wieder, heiratete und schreibt an ihrer Doktorarbeit in Philosophie.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Acht Jahre war die Deutsche in einem österreichischen Kloster. Sie wurde terrorisiert und missbraucht.

Ihre Freundinnen träumten von der ersten große Liebe, aber Doris Wagner hatte nur Augen für Jesus. Die Deutsche war 15, als sie beschloss, eine Nonne zu werden. Mit 19 trat sie dann in ein Kloster in Österreich ein. Doch aus dem Traum, ein Leben lang Gott zu dienen, wurde schnell ein Albtraum. Als sie die Gemeinschaft 2011 wieder verließ, war sie depressiv, praktisch mittellos und hatte einen Selbstmordversuch hinter sich. Wagner wurde in den acht Jahren ihres Klosterlebens kontrolliert, manipuliert, mehrfach sexuell missbraucht. Ihre dramatischen Erlebnisse hat die Ex-Nonne nun in dem Buch Nicht mehr ich niedergeschrieben. Hier gibt Wagner, die nun verheiratet ist und ihr erstes Kind erwartet, Einblick in die dunklen Seiten des Christentums.

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OSTERREICH
Kronen Zeitung

Acht Jahre dauerte ein Martyrium, mit dem eine ehemalige Ordensfrau jetzt an die Öffentlichkeit geht. Sie sei, so Doris Wagner, kein Einzelfall. Isolation, sexueller Missbrauch, ein Selbstmordversuch. Mit Conny Bischofberger sprach die Buchautorin, heute 30, im “Krone”-Interview über ihre erdrückende Geschichte.

Die Vorwürfe der deutschen Theologin wiegen schwer: Sie sei von einem Priester sexuell missbraucht worden, der (österreichische) Orden habe sie nicht geschützt, an dessen “sektenartigen Strukturen” sei sie schließlich fast zugrunde gegangen. Ein weiteres Puzzleteilchen im Missbrauchsskandal der katholischen Kirche?

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OSTERREICH
Blick

[“We were just there to satisfy others.” Doris Wagner discusses her membership in a religious sect called The Work. She said she experienced eight years of brainwashing and sexual abuse by priests ]

Vor elf Jahren trat Doris Wagner in den Orden ein, der lateinisch auch Familia Spiritualis Opus (FSO) heisst. Es ist eine jener relativ neuen und streng lehramts- und papstreuen Gemeinschaften mit sektiererischen Zügen. Weil sie grosse Anziehungskraft auf junge Menschen haben, werden sie von der Kirchenleitung unterstützt. Seine Mitglieder, Frauen wie Männer, findet «Das Werk» auch in der Schweiz. Zwei Mitschwestern aus der Schweiz sind immer noch dabei. Ein junger Mann aus der Schweiz ist vor Jahren ausgestiegen und mag nicht mehr an Das Werk erinnert werden. Anders Doris Wagner. Die heute 30-Jährige hat ihren Leidensweg in einem Buch aufgeschrieben – ohne ihre Peiniger beim Namen zu nennen.

Mit 15 schon wollte Doris Wagner Nonne werden. «Das ist nur auf den ersten Blick nicht alltäglich», sagt sie. «Es hatte viel von typischen Zukunftsträumen von Jugendlichen: Ich wollte kein normales Leben führen. Ich wollte etwas Radikales machen, etwas Abenteuerliches, etwas Besonderes.»

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Jane Walsh @irishcentral December 02,2014

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin says the celibacy of Catholic priests is not part of the Vatican’s dogma and, therefore, is an issue in the church that could be addressed.

The Archbishop acknowledged that “celibacy is a difficult and challenging thing.”

He added that most priests he knew “live their celibacy very faithfully with all the challenges that are there.”

Martin was speaking to the Irish Independent following a prayer service attended by more than 1,000 priests, nuns and brothers in Dublin. The service marked the opening of the Catholic Church’s special Year for Consecrated Life.

He was questioned about the new book “Thirty-Three Good Men: Celibacy, Obedience and Identity,” which claims to reveal intimate facts about the lives of priests in modern Ireland, including their sexual relations.

Although the Archbishop said he was unaware of the research he said, “I know what is going on with my priests. I know good priests and I know priests who struggle – I support all of them.”

He added, “I don’t think if people fail that you abolish celibacy.”

The book, by Dr John Weafer, claims that most Irish priests do not support compulsory celibacy.

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POLONIA
Prensa Latina

Varsovia, 1 dic (PL) El procurador general de República Dominicana, Francisco Domínguez, mostró hoy su confianza en la justa resolución por parte del Gobierno de Polonia del caso del religioso Wojciech Gil, acusado de abusos sexuales contra menores en los dos países.

Nos gustaría hacer hincapié en la gravedad de los hechos cometidos por el clero polaco, afirmó Domínguez después de una reunión en Varsovia con su homólogo Andrzej Seremet, a quien le trasladó la petición de justicia de la sociedad dominicana.

De acuerdo con la edición digital del diario Fakt, el procurador general sostuvo también un encuentro con la fiscal que lleva el caso contra Gil, Malgorzata Adamjtys.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Periodico

Santo Domingo.- Los procuradores generales de República Dominicana y Polonia, Francisco Domínguez Brito y Andrzy Seremet, sostuvieron hoy una reunión en la capital de ese país, seguimiento al caso penal que se sigue contra el sacerdote de la Iglesia Católica Wojciech Waldemar Gil ( Alberto Gil), por la violación sexual, figurando entre las víctimas, menores de edad dominicanos.

Luego de la reunión, en la que también estuvo presente la procuradora fiscal titular de Santiago, Luisa Liranzo, las autoridades ofrecieron una rueda de prensa ante los medios polacos y dominicanos, en donde resaltaron la importancia de la colaboración internacional en materia penal entre ambas naciones en el caso de la comunidad de Juncalito, en la provincia de Santiago.

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POLAND
The News

The attorney general of the Dominican Republic has met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw and is expecting a severe sentence for a Polish priest suspected of abusing children.

Father Wojciech G. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws) is due to be tried at a district court in Wolomin, near Warsaw.

The priest stands accused of 10 offences, 8 of which relate to the sexual abuse of boys below the age of 15. Two acts were allegedly committed in 2000-2001 in Poland, the others at various times over the years 2009-2013, in the Dominican Republic.

”We expect a just, high sentence which will satisfy public opinion in the Dominican Republic,” Attorney General Francisco Dominquez Brito said after meeting his Polish counterpart Andrzej Seremet.
The Dominican Republic is considering whether to send observers to attend the trial.

Seremet noted that the trial will be held behind closed, but that he reserved the right to allow for an observer to attend the proceedings.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

Kurt Bayer

The New Zealand government decided to extradite a former Catholic brother to Australia to face child-sex abuse charges on the basis that they trusted authorities there to “get it right”, a court heard today.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 66, is challenging the “totally unreasonable” decision by former Justice Minister Judith Collins through a judicial review hearing at the High Court in Christchurch and wants his case referred to new Minister of Justice, Amy Adams.

After several hearings at district court and high court jurisdictions, it was left up to Ms Collins earlier this year to make a final decision on whether McGrath be deported to Australia to face 252 child-sex abuse charges.

In August, after “careful consideration”, Ms Collins issued an order for his surrender across the Tasman.

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TEXAS
Beaumont Enterprise

A former Newton youth pastor was sentenced Monday to 23 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.

Trevion Lechay Ethridge, 23, pleaded guilty in June to the production of child pornography, according to information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to information presented in court, from November 2012 to March 2013, while Ethridge was the youth pastor at a Newton County church, he persuaded a minor to video and photograph pornographic images and to send the pornography to Ethridge via smart phone.

Ethridge was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 3, 2013.

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TEXAS
KETK

A 23-year-old former youth pastor has been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Trevion Lechay Ethridge, of Newton, Texas, pleaded guilty on June 3, 2014 to production of child pornography and was sentenced to 280 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

According to information presented in court, from November 2012 to March 2013, while Ethridge was the youth pastor at a Newton County church, he persuaded a minor to video and photograph pornographic images and to send the pornography to Ethridge via smart phone. Ethridge was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 3, 2013. Trial began in this case on May 12, 2014 and was recessed after two days.

Trial resumed on June 3, 2014, at which time Ethridge changed his plea to guilty and under oath, admitted to sending the minor pornographic images and videos of himself and enticing the minor to send pornographic images and videos in return.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

BY RENEE GHERT-ZAND December 2, 2014

Hundreds of Orthodox Jews from around the world gathered at a Jerusalem hotel this week to publicly deal with a subject whose discussion had been taboo until only recently in their religiously observant communities: domestic violence and sexual abuse

Men, in their black hats and suits, and women in their wigs and hats, filled the venue’s meeting rooms and hallways, eager to speak with one another. These were rabbis, teachers, social workers, psychotherapists and concerned lay people who have come together.

The conference, spearheaded by Tahel – Crisis Center for Religious Women and Children, an Israeli non-profit organization, is tackling a wide range of related issues. There were sessions on human trafficking, the rabbinic role in preventing and stopping abuse, the interface between the Orthodox community and the criminal justice system, and the neuroscience of pedophilia, among many other topics.

News headlines about notorious Orthodox Jewish sex offenders like Nechemia Weberman (sentenced in Brooklyn in 2013 to 103 years in prison for his ongoing molestation of a girl beginning when she was 12) and Baruch Lanner (former New Jersey director of National Council of Synagogue Youth, who was convicted in 2002 of sexually abusing two girls at the high school where he was principal), prove that the dark secret of child sexual abuse in the Orthodox community is coming out in to the light.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 02, 2014

CHILDREN at a yoga centre on the NSW Central Coast were sexually abused by gurus they were convinced to think of as “God like” divine beings who were worthy of “utter devotion”, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, which is part of a wider international movement founded in India by the late Guru Swami Satyananda Saraswati.

Children at the ashram would be summoned by loudspeaker to the hut of the movement’s leader in Australia, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, where he would sexually abuse them, the commission heard.

Alecia Buchanan told the commission Akhandananda started having sex with her while she was in her early teens, including on at least one occasion while an Australian woman, identified only as Shishy, was present at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Yoga master ‘beat and groomed young girls’ before telling them to have sex with him ‘to enhance their spiritual growth’, inquiry told

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Parents handed over legal guardianship of their children to a yoga master who beat and sexually exploited the young girls, an inquiry has been told.

The child sexual abuse royal commission sitting in Sydney heard some parents living at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in NSW in the 1980s signed over legal guardianship of their children to Swami Akhandananda and his partner Shishy.

Some witnesses will give evidence they were beaten violently by both the swami and Shishy, who will give evidence at the hearing.

The Mangrove ashram was founded in November 1974 with Akhandananda as director and spiritual leader. He was 22 and Shishy was 16.

Peggy Dwyer, SC for the royal commission, said in her opening statement that children were sexually and physically abused at the ashram.

She said some parents endorsed pension cheques payable to them in favour of the swami who was considered to be a spiritual, god-like man who had attained enlightenment.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Tuesday 2 December 2014

An ashram where children were sexually abused has apologised to the victims, eight months after threatening them with legal action for damaging its brand.

Aaron Kereghan, solicitor for the Satyananda Yoga Ashram, on Tuesday apologised to the victims at a royal commission in Sydney, and said his clients realised an apology sent electronically to victims earlier this year would be seen as trivial.

In March this year, a number of victims sent letters or posted comments on the ashram’s website about the abuse inflicted on them. They were threatened with legal action for defamation.

But on 2 March, one of the victims, Alecia Buchanan, received her first communication from the ashram – an email apology sent to all victims.

“We recognise and acknowledge that there has been child abuse in our history and that it has inflicted profound grief and suffering upon vulnerable children,” Kereghan told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Tuesday.

Buchanan, who went to live at the ashram when she was 13, told the commission she was groomed and sexually assaulted by Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, founding director and former spiritual leader of the yoga retreat in the foothills of Mangrove Mountain on the New South Wales central coast.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Brad Ryan, Nicole Chettle and Emily Bourke
Tue 2 Dec 2014

The spiritual leader of a New South Wales yoga retreat sexually abused child residents after summoning them to a hut and asking them for a massage, an inquiry has heard.

Children were also allegedly directed to travel around Australia with the man, known as Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, and perform sexual acts in his bed.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has opened its 21st case study, focused on the the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in the hinterland of the New South Wales central coast.

The commission is examining allegations from the 1970s and 1980s involving the ashram’s former leader, Akhandananda, who was jailed for sex offences in the late 1980s but had his conviction overturned before his death in 1997.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 2, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Children as young as three were repeatedly molested by the former leader of Australia’s oldest ashram and threatened with death if they ever disclosed the crimes, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.

The opening day of an inquiry into the Satyananda Yoga Ashram and its former leader in Australia, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, heard 11 children were abused while living at the ashram in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nine of the former child residents will give evidence to the royal commission in its first hearing into a faith-based organisation outside the church.

Counsel assisting the commission Peggy Dwyer told the hearing that sexual activity was discouraged in the movement but, despite this, its founder Satyananda Saraswati and his disciple Akhandananda molested their followers.

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OREGON
KGW

HILLSBORO, Ore. — Two people have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit over alleged sex abuse by a leader at a Hillsboro Jehovah’s witness congregation.The lawsuit accuses leaders of the group of hiding decades of sexual abuse.

Lawyers for Velicia Alston said the church suffers from a “crisis of cover-up.” The suit alleges that Alston and another boy were molested in the mid-1980’s while attending the North Hillsboro Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Alston said she chose to use her name and speak out because she wants to give victims a voice.

“It’s about bad people in sheeps clothing,” she said. “It is a terrible secret being hid from the public by the people we trust.”

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By The Associated Press
DEC 2, 2014

PORTLAND — A woman and a man who allege they were sexually abused as children by a leader in a suburban Portland Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation have filed suit, seeking $10.5 million.

Lawyers for a 39-year-old woman and the unidentified man filed suit Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, The Oregonian reported. They contend Jehovah’s Witnesses’ leadership has covered up sexual abuse against children by leaders.

An attorney for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mario Moreno, said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit and couldn’t comment.

The lawsuit alleges that a man who held the equivalent position of an ordained minister in the North Hillsboro Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses molested the female plaintiff in the mid-1980s when she was 11 or 12 years old. The suit claims the man also molested a boy who was 8 to 10 years old. The woman said she eventually told her mother, who went to the Hillsboro congregation’s elders but was told to tell no one.

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TEXAS
KTRE

BEAUMONT, TX (News Release) –
BEAUMONT, Texas – A 23-year-old former youth pastor has been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Trevion Lechay Ethridge, of Newton, Texas, pleaded guilty on June 3, 2014 to production of child pornography and was sentenced to 280 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

According to information presented in court, from November 2012 to March 2013, while Ethridge was the youth pastor at a Newton County church, he persuaded a minor to video and photograph pornographic images and to send the pornography to Ethridge via smart phone. Ethridge was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 3, 2013. Trial began in this case on May 12, 2014 and was recessed after two days. Trial resumed on June 3, 2014, at which time Ethridge changed his plea to guilty and under oath, admitted to sending the minor pornographic images and videos of himself and enticing the minor to send pornographic images and videos in return.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

Editorial

DECEMBER 02, 2014

WHY PUT a priest who covered up sexual abuse in charge of policing it?

That’s exactly what Pope Francis did when he appointed the Rev. Robert J. Geisinger as the Vatican’s “promoter of justice.” While the pope has met with abuse victims and pledged himself to zero tolerance, the appointment of Geisinger is a step backward. To signal his resolve on an issue that has deeply wounded so many, he should rescind the appointment.

The job calls for Geisinger, an American Jesuit, to prosecute priests accused of sexually abusing minors. Yet, according to a report by the Globe’s Michael Rezendes, Geisinger was one of several Catholic officials who let the Rev. Donald J. McGuire remain in the ministry for years, despite detailed knowledge of egregious sexual abuse complaints about him.

According to legal documents obtained by the Globe, Geisinger not only knew many of the details of the charges against McGuire, he catalogued them in a 1995 letter to the accused priest. A subsequent letter written to Geisinger in 2002 seeks his assistance in dealing with McGuire “in light of the long list of complaints as to his inappropriate behavior.” Geisinger responded with specific advice — none of which included referring the matter to criminal authorities.

His recommendations in 2002 came after the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People said dioceses would notify public authorities about abuse allegations and cooperate with their investigations. Technically, the charter does not apply to priests in religious orders, but for most Catholic parents, that amounts to a distinction without a difference.

In 2006, McGuire was convicted of molesting two boys by a Wisconsin jury; in 2008, he was convicted on federal charges and is now serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Despite the record, a Vatican spokesman told the Globe, “The Holy See fully expects Father Geisinger to continue to do an excellent job as promoter of justice, based on his prosecution record, his commitment to justice, and his concern for victims.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Aimee Green | agreen@oregonian.com
on December 01, 2014

Two people who say that as children they were sexually abused by a leader in a Hillsboro Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation filed a $10.5 million lawsuit Monday – among the first in Oregon to accuse the religious organization of hiding decades of sexual abuse.

Attorneys for Velicia Alston, 39, and an unnamed man said the Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership continues to cover up sexual abuse against children by leaders. They say it is more than a decade behind other organizations, such as the Catholic Church, that have been forced to address their problems through many years of civil litigation.

“There is a crisis of silence in the Jehovah’s Witness organization,” said Irwin Zalkin, one of several attorneys representing Alston and the man. Zalkin described the religious organization as “more concerned about protecting its reputation than it is about protecting its children.”

For example, Zalkin said the seven men who make up the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Governing Body have a policy requiring a confession from the perpetrator or two eyewitnesses to the abuse before leaders will take any action.

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OREGON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 1

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

We applaud the brave San Diego woman who is suing Jehovah’s Witness officials in Oregon for acting recklessly, callously and deceitfully about a predator in the church.

[The Oregonian]

Velicia Alston is a hero for seeking justice against a Hillsboro Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation. Her courage will help prevent more child sex crimes and cover ups in this incredibly irresponsible and secretive religious group.

For decades, Jehovah’s Witness officials have silenced victims, witnesses and whistleblowers by threatening to “disfellowship” them. This must stop. Caring adults welcome reports of suspected abuse. Heartless adults discourage such reports.

We hope that every single person who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or cover ups in Jehovah’s Witness congregations finds the strength, like Velicia has, to do what our civil and moral duty requires – use the justice system to expose wrongdoers, protect kids, deter crimes and start healing.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Associated Press

December 1, 2014

A retired bishop of the western Massachusetts Roman Catholic diocese, criticized for his handling of clergy sex abuse, was praised at his funeral Monday for what mourners called dedicated and joyful leadership of the church.

Retired Bishop Joseph Maguire died Nov. 23 at age 95. He was Springfield bishop from 1977 until 1992.

Hundreds attended his funeral Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral, led by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley and conducted by Springfield’s new Bishop Mitchell Rozanski. …

Another retired Springfield bishop, Timothy McDonnell, said in his homily that Maguire worked at being a “true shepherd to all people” and found a retirement role as “the diocese’s heart,” making personal visits to people in need.

“When it came to light that young people had been abused by priests under his jurisdiction, he anguished over the pain those young people had suffered, pain they carried into adulthood, pain many carry still,” McDonnell said in prepared remarks.

In 2012, a Williamstown man reached a $500,000 settlement with Maguire and another former bishop he said failed to stop a known pedophile priest who molested him. The man alleged in a lawsuit that the priest molested him in the early 1980s and that Maguire and his subordinate, Thomas Dupre, knew the priest had abused other boys in 1976 but assigned him to the church anyway.

Dupre succeeded Maguire as bishop following Maguire’s retirement but was defrocked by the Vatican in 2006. The priest also was later defrocked.

“I only wish that in 1976 as a new bishop, I could have foreseen the true nature of one who violated our trust with such devastating harm to his victims,” Maguire said in a public apology at the time of the settlement.

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

WASHINGTON
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

SPOKANE, Washington — A priest who has served in several high-level capacities has been elected administrator of the Diocese of Spokane by its College of Consultors.

Father Michael Savelesky will oversee the operation of the diocese until Pope Francis names a successor to Archbishop Blase J. Cupich, who became archbishop of Chicago Nov. 18.

Under canon law, a diocese can convene a College of Consultors to elect a diocesan administrator when a bishop or archbishop has left office and no successor has been named.

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.

POLAND
Dominican Today

Warsaw, Poland.- Dominican Republic’s top prosecutor on Monday stressed to Polish authorities the importance for both countries to exact strong punishment against Catholic priest Wojciech Waldamar Gil (Padre Alberto), charged with sexually abusing at least 7 Dominican boys and similar accusations in Poland.

Francisco Dominguez said there should “never be impunity” in child abuse cases linked to religious figures. “We’ve met with the lawyers of the victims named in the Polish justice; we’ve expressed the same view to them.”

He conveyed Dominican Republic’s satisfaction with the Polish authorities’ support in the case against Gil.

In a press conference in Warsaw, Dominguez thanked his Polish counterpart Andrzej Seremet and the prosecution team “for the effort, for their professionalism, willingness and cooperation with the case.”

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Alona Ferber | Dec. 1, 2014

Following accusations of sex assault and fraud, four religious seminaries in Jerusalem have agreed to refund tuition to 13 American families.

The four girls seminaries — Pninim, Binas Bais Yaakov, Chedvas Bais Yaakov and Keser Chaya, which are located in Jerusalem and have a large number of American students — were sued in August in Chicago in a class action suit filed by families demanding their money back for the current academic year, after they became aware of sexual assault allegations against the rabbi who was running the seminaries at the time.

The plaintiffs, who did not claim Rabbi Elimelech Meisels had assaulted their daughters but who pulled their daughters from the seminaries after allegations by other girls surfaced, reached an out-of-court settlement with the seminaries last month. The seminaries agreed to refund tuition fees for the current academic year, the plaintiffs’ attorney Shneur Nathan confirmed to Haaretz.

Meisels, who is described in the suit as an American with a residence in Jerusalem, was accused by plaintiffs of sexually assaulting an undetermined number of American and Canadian girls at the seminaries between 2004 – around the time he “founded or co-founded” the seminaries – and 2014. Meisels has denied the allegations, according to an August article by JTA. Through his attorney, Meisels declined to comment to Haaretz.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

JEWISH organisations across Australia have been asked to provide documents to the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Subpoenas have been sent to large organisations, such as Yeshiva in Sydney and Yeshivah in Melbourne, as well as specific people within organisations.

The subpoenas ask the individuals or organisation to provide any relevant information that the Royal Commission would need to uncover where systems have failed to protect children.

At this stage no one has been asked to appear in front of the Royal Commission, but after reviewing the information provided, the Royal Commission will have an option to hold public hearings.

Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant told The AJN this does not appear to be targeted at individuals, but rather indiscriminately at organisations and institutions within the Jewish community.

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CANADA
CBC News

A priest who worked in Stephenville has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault dating back to the mid-1980s.

Gary Gerald Hoskins, 56, entered pleas in Corner Brook Supreme Court on Monday.

The charges stem from incidents which are alleged to have taken place some time between Jan. 1, 1984 and Dec. 31, 1986.

According to a letter from the Corner Brook and Labrador Diocese released in Sept., Hoskins left the ministry in the former Diocese of St. George’s in 1988 and has not worked as a priest since 1995.

“It would be inappropriate for Diocesan officials to comment on the specifics of this case as it is currently before the court,” the letter read.

“However, we must be clear in stating that any form of misconduct by personnel of the Catholic Church is unacceptable.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 1

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

Once again, a predator priest has won access to vulnerable families through a non-profit group because most Catholic officials refuse to post predator priests names on church websites.

In 2010, a Duluth newspaper exposed Fr. Thomas E. Eriksen as working with Special Olympics in Kansas City.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Now, a Minnesota radio station discloses that he has recently been volunteering at a Twin Cities nonprofit, the Community Emergency Assistance Program.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

He got these positions despite

—a pending criminal investigation into his alleged child sex crimes,

— a civil settlement with a Catholic of at least $3 million dollars, and

— three decades of knowledge of his crimes by Twin Cities Catholic officials.

For a dozen years, we’ve begged bishops to take the quickest, cheapest and easiest step to safeguard kids –put pedophile priests’ names on church websites. If they’re too dangerous to have working in parishes, they too dangerous to have living among unsuspecting families.) All but a few bishops resist this simple, common sense precaution. Among them are church officials in Superior Wisconsin and Kansas City Missouri Bishop Robert Finn. (Ericksen spent time in both of these dioceses.)

Some of the blame falls to these non-profit agencies – Community Emergency Assistance Program in St. Paul and Special Olympics in Kansas City. (How hard is it to Google prospective employees and volunteers?) Some belong to the Sawyer County Wisconsin law enforcement officials who apparently aren’t trying very hard to find and question Ericksen. (If a reporter can locate him and get him to confess on the phone, how hard can a police investigation be?) But much of the blame belongs to Catholic officials in Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin who continue to do little or nothing to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners or the public about men they know are dangerous.

Ericksen reportedly molested two Wisconsin boys, Paul and James Eck, who have spoken publicly about the abuse and are pursuing criminal charges against Ericksen. They sued and were paid a $3 million dollar settlement by Superior Catholic church officials.

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