ABUSE TRACKER

MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY ROBIN FITZGERALD

GULFPORT — A former Gulfport teacher accused of molesting boys in Gulfport and on out-of-state trips is set for a change-of-plea hearing Dec. 2 in federal court.

Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. has set Richard Pryor’s hearing for 2 p.m.

The FBI has accused Pryor, 68, of molesting boys ages 12 to 14 from 1999 through 2005 while he was a teacher at Bayou View Middle School. The acts allegedly occurred mostly during summers, when Pryor took groups of boys on excursions to other states.

He pleaded not guilty Sept. 15.

He was a geometry and algebra teacher at St. Patrick Catholic High in Biloxi when he was arrested on a complaint Aug. 19.

Pryor confessed to sexually assaulting eight boys and the FBI received information about at least three other victims, according to court testimony.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

Reporter Laurie Goodstein wrote a fascinating New York Times front-page story this week on the admissions by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS Church”) regarding their founder, Joseph Smith, and the fact he had approximately 40 wives, one of whom was age 14, and some others of whom were already married to other men. This came as a surprise to numerous LDS believers, who had been taught that Smith was a paradigm of virtue devoted to his first wife, Emma. The truth is that he was a rapacious polygamist, and his first wife was not a fan of his polygamy or his revelations on the topic. Some believers are having difficulty squaring these now-documented facts with what they had previously been told about the founder of their faith.

From my perspective, the most important element of this story is why the LDS Church found it necessary to post these damaging facts on its website, given that this is not the most flattering information. The apparent answer is the Internet: “Elder Steven E. Snow, the church historian and a member of its senior leadership, said in an interview [with Goodstein], ‘There is so much out there on the Internet that we felt we owed our members a safe place where they could go to get reliable, faith-promoting information that was true about some of these more difficult aspects of our history.’” Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Maltreatment and founder of the Child-Friendly Faith Project, elaborates on this point: “The fact that the LDS church is posting these essays online—even though it is not making them easy to find—speaks volumes. I have been struck by how insular the Mormon community is, yet how former members needed only to do one or two Google searches to find information that contradicted what they had been told their whole lives, including how they were supposed to believe, feel, and act as children. From there, their belief system quickly unraveled. So the church is losing members and it’s scared. And it realizes that it would prefer to be the messenger of such information than other critical sites as a way to stop the hemorrhaging.”

In short, it is no longer as feasible to perpetuate historical misinformation by religious organizations as it was before the Internet. With blogs, a proliferation of media outlets, social media, and websites established to address specific problems in particular communities, the balance of power between the powerful and the vulnerable has been altered for the better and hopefully permanently. …

Given the size and global scope of the Catholic Church, it is inconceivable that, without the Internet, connections could have been made between survivors across countries as they have, with strong coalitions between Irish, Australian, and American survivors, and the emergence of a pattern of behavior by the hierarchy that is echoed in one country after another. Such a global comparison of experiences and the ability to see such patterns were enhanced dramatically by the Internet. In turn, the global character of the scandal earned the attention of the United Nations, which held hearings and issued damning reports on the failures of the Catholic Church to protect children, despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Internet is also the home for the remarkable database of facts, documents, and news stories about the ongoing revelations of clergy abuse at www.bishopaccountability.org, which was founded by Terry McKiernan and Anne Barrett Doyle, who now devote the vast majority of their time to building and securing this cache of information.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Griffin
Thu, Nov 13, 2014

The commission of inquiry into mother and baby homes will neglect the experiences of children who suffered physical and sexual abuse if it fails to include certain Protestant-run institutions, a campaign group has said.

The Bethany Survivors Group is calling for an inquiry that includes all homes that catered for the Protestant community in the Republic such as the Bethany Home in Dublin, Westbank Orphanage in Wicklow and the Church of Ireland Magdalene Home in Dublin.

Minister for Children James Reilly will meet with groups and individuals over the next two weeks as he finalises the terms of reference for the commission. A spokesman for Dr Reilly said the Minister wants to see the matters addressed “in a sensitive and timely manner”.

Following a meeting with Dr Reilly yesterday afternoon, the survivors group expressed concern that Westbank Orphanage would be excluded from the terms of reference. “As far as he is concerned, it won’t be included,” said the group’s secretary, Niall Meehan.

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UNITED STATES
Breitbart

In 2007 documentary filmmaker Amy Berg was nominated for an Oscar for “Deliver Us from Evil,” a documentary examining the notorious child sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. Her latest documentary, “An Open Secret,” will look at the sexual abuse of children in Hollywood.

Though it has no distributor, the film will premier at a New York City film festival Friday and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “paints a broad picture of sexual exploitation in the entertainment industry[.]”

An Open Secret also examines several other cases: Talent manager Marty Weiss — who pleaded no contest in 2012 to two counts of committing lewd acts on a child after he was charged with eight felony counts of molesting a young performer he represented — is seen in the film attending family gatherings with one of his victims, then is heard, on tape, admitting to the molestation. Bob Villard, a talent manager who at one time represented a young Leonardo DiCaprio and who pleaded no contest to a similar felony charge in 2005, is alleged to have sold pictures of boys (often pictured shirtless, in subservient poses) on eBay.

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UNITED STATES
Indiana Daily Student

By Editorial Board

The first step to recovery is admitting the problem, and the Roman Catholic Church is confessing all of its 
transgressions to its followers.

Cardinal Francis E. George released roughly 15,000 pages describing acts of sexual abuse committed by priests in the Chicago area, according to the New York Times.

The documents include graphic descriptions of the priests’ conduct and church officials’ slow response in addressing several of the cases. All of the priests mentioned in the documents are no longer serving in the church.

Though the release of these documents is a step in the right direction, i n releasing these documents just days before his retirement, George should have made a greater effort to express his motive behind his decision to release the information.

Church leaders should also reform their institution to ensure that child sexual abuse never goes unpunished again.

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INDIANA
NWI Times

Sarah Reese sarah.reese@nwi.com, (219) 933-3351

A New York priest convicted Wednesday in Massachusetts of raping a boy multiple times in 1981 and 1982 also abused a Cedar Lake boy in 1975, the victims’ attorney said.

The Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, was convicted Wednesday of five counts of child rape in connection with crimes that occurred while the Massachusetts boy attended a summer camp at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center in Ipswich, Mass., where McCormick worked, prosecutors said.

McCormick was assigned to the Salesian Preparatory School in Cedar Lake from about 1972 to 1976, said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents both victims. The school closed in 1979.

In 1975, McCormick took a then 14-year-old boy from Cedar Lake on a trip to Rome, where McCormick sexually abused the boy, Garabedian said.

McCormick never faced criminal charges in the case linked to Cedar Lake, he said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — Three decades ago, the Rev. Richard McCormick took his innocence and his faith, said the now-grown victim of repeated rapes by McCormick.

On Wednesday, a jury and a judge took McCormick’s freedom.

McCormick, 73, was put into custody moments after a Lawrence Superior Court jury found him guilty of five counts of child rape, charges stemming from incidents at a camp operated by McCormick’s religious order, the Salesian Society of North America, in Ipswich.

McCormick, who denies the abuse, his lawyer said during the trial, faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 18. Each count carries a potential life term.

Judge Robert Cornetta, who filled in for trial Judge Mary Lou Rup Wednesday, granted prosecutor Kate MacDougall’s request to revoke McCormick’s bail. Prior to his arrest, McCormick was living at a home for retired Salesian priests in New Rochelle, New York. While out on bail awaiting trial, he was living at the Vianney Renewal Center outside St. Louis, Missouri, a facility for priests accused of sexual abuse.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Fox 5

[with video]

By Maureen Umeh, FOX 5 Reporter & Anchor

WASHINGTON –
A prominent D.C. rabbi charged with six counts of voyeurism was in court on Wednesday for a status hearing.

Barry Freundel was ordered not to leave the country and the judge set his next court date for January 16.

Police say Freundel set up hidden cameras inside a sacred synagogue shower and captured video of women preparing for a ritual bath in various stages of undress.

Outside D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, a couple of women who say they were victims and their lawyers spoke out. They revealed what they say was going on inside at what they thought was a sacred place.

Inside the courtroom, Freundel sat with his head down. Prosecutors asked for more time to gather information and indicated they may seek a plea deal.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Inside Baltimore

Retired Cop Confirms 2 Witnesses Also Reported
“Death Threats” from the Later-Defrocked Cleric

“I Wiped Maggots from Her Face,” Recalls
Former Student at Baltimore Catholic School

Archdiocese Paid $40,000 to a Second Abuse Victim
For Injuries Dead Nun Allegedly Sought to Prevent

By Tom Nugent

[Editor’s Note: The two poems at the end of the following story are published with the permission of the author, who signed them as: “Jean Hargadon Wehner, Survivor.”]

November 2014 – After remaining anonymous for more than 40 years, a Baltimore woman has come forward to identify herself as a witness who was “shown the dead body of Sister Cathy” Cesnik by a Catholic priest who was allegedly involved in the nun’s murder as a way to keep her from reporting his sexual abuse of students at a Catholic high school in the city.

Jean Hargadon Wehner, known only as “Jane Doe” during a controversial 1994 lawsuit that sought to collect $40 million in damages resulting from alleged rampant sexual abuse at Archbishop Keough High School in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said she was taken to a garbage dump in Lansdowne by the alleged abuser-priest in the late fall of 1969.

The isolated and difficult to find dump was located only half a mile from the St. Clement Roman Catholic Church in Lansdowne, where the alleged – and later defrocked – abuser-priest served as pastor for several years.

“When [the now-deceased pastor, Father A. Joseph] Maskell told me he would take me to Cathy [murder victim Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, a former English teacher and drama coach at the high school], he led me to believe she was still alive,” said Wehner. “I had no idea where we were going. As I walked around a corner, I saw her on the ground. I ran over, bent down, and began wiping maggots off her face.

“As I stared at my hands in shock, Maskell leaned over and whispered in my ear: ‘You see what happens when you say bad things about people?’”

Wehner, one of two plaintiffs in the 1990s lawsuit, said she had decided to come forward at this time because other former Keough students have also been speaking out about the alleged abuse in recent months – and because her own healing process has now reached the point where she can talk more openly about the years of abuse she allegedly endured at the former Catholic girls high school in southwest Baltimore during the late 1960s.

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INDIA
Times of India

JAIPUR: A 52-year-old Christian priest of an orphanage in Tara Nagar locality in Jhotwara was arrested late on Wednesday evening for allegedly raping and harassing two minor girls staying in his hostel. The preist’s arrest was made after one seven-year-old girl narrated about her ill-treatment by the accused at a nearby school and the matter was informed to the police.

According to the police, nearly 19 girls are inmates of Mercy Home, an orphanage run by the accused at Tara Nagar locality in the city. On Wednesday, a seven-year-old girl told a lady teacher where she was studying that the Father of the hostel in which she stays, identified as Johnson Chacko, has been ill-treating her by touching her private parts and was also doing other indecent things.

After having a long discussion within the school, finally, the teachers around 6 pm decided to take up the matter and informed the police late in the evening .

“The lady teacher took the matter seriously and informed about it to the her colleagues. In the evening, they decided to take the matter to us. While we inquired from the girl about the incident, another girl narrated the same plight. And we have registered a case under appropriate sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act,” said a police officer of Jhotwara.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

(MyFoxBoston.com) — A priest from New York was convicted of child rape charges Wednesday related to the rape of a boy at a summer camp in Ipswich back in the 1980s.

Between 1981 and 1982, Rev. Richard McCormick, now 73 years old, repeatedly raped a boy while the boy attended a summer camp in Ipswich at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center. McCormick worked at the center. McCormick was convicted on five charges of child rape following a trial that lasted four days.

The victim, now 44 years old, was between 10 and 12 years old when the rapes took place. McCormick is also facing another charge of child rape related to another male victim who attended the same summer camp at the same time as the first victim. A trial date for that charge has not yet been set.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Reuters

(Reuters) – Prosecutors and defense lawyers told a judge on Wednesday that a prominent Washington rabbi accused of secretly filming women taking ritual baths is still being investigated and there may be more victims, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday.

The suspect, Rabbi Barry Freundel, 62, was arrested in October at his home in the U.S. capital’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood, a few blocks from his modern Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel Congregation.

He pleaded not guilty in District of Columbia Superior Court to six counts of voyeurism, a misdemeanor.

During a hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky told Senior Judge Patricia Wynn that her office had created a section on the Justice Department’s website for alleged victims.

The section asks possible victims to contact the U.S. Attorney’s office with any information.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

A priest charged with trying to lure a 14-year-old girl into his car will face trial Feb. 9.

Father Michael Patrick was pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Scappoose when the alleged incident took place this March in Vancouver, Wash., where he kept a residence.

The priest faces a felony count of luring. He was arrested this spring in Los Angeles after a vacation trip to Australia.

The girl provided police with Father Patrick’s license plate number and a description of him and his car. In an affidavit, the priest denied interacting with the girl.

The priest is no longer in custody. At an early October court date, his attorney as that the trial be moved to February.

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CALIFORNIA
Neepawa Press

Gillian Flaccus / The Associated Press
November 12, 2014

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A high-ranking Roman Catholic monsignor with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who was accused of sex abuse says he is “deeply happy and grateful” to be exonerated by an internal Vatican tribunal.

Msgr. Richard Loomis made the comments Wednesday in a written statement to The Associated Press. He says people should pray for wrongly accused priests.

Loomis had been on leave since he was accused of sex abuse in 2003 but is once more a priest in good standing.

The alleged victim says he was never contacted by the Vatican tribunal and was unaware it had been examining the case for a decade.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — A retired Catholic priest could face spending the rest of his life in prison after a Lawrence Superior Court jury found him guilty of five counts of child rape Wednesday morning.

The victim, now 44, wept as the verdicts were read against Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, a Salesian priest who once ran the Ipswich camp the victim attended in the early 1980s, when he was between the ages of 10 and 12. The camp was on the grounds of the Sacred Heart Retreat, which is now the location of New England Biolabs.

McCormick, who had been free on bail in the case and living at a facility for priests accused of sexual abuse in Missouri, was taken into custody in the courtroom and will await sentencing at Middleton Jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18.

The victim said outside court that he feels vindicated by the jury’s verdict and grateful that they believed him.

While he disclosed the abuse to a former girlfriend more than 20 years ago, he did not come forward to authorities until just a few years ago, after finding McCormick’s name and image in a directory of priests online, and realizing that it was the man he called “Father Dick.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Ipswich

Posted Nov. 12, 2014

IPSWICH

A Lawrence Superior Court jury convicted Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, on five counts of child rape today, Wednesday, Nov. 12, following a four-day trial in connection with molestation that took place at an Ipswich Catholic religious retreat 33 years ago.

Judge Mary Lou Rup will sentence McCormick on Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. He was taken into custody after the verdict was returned.

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall introduced evidence that proved McCormick raped a boy on multiple occasions between 1981 and 1982. The rapes occurred while the boy attended a summer camp at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center in Ipswich where McCormick worked. The victim, who is now 44, was between 10 and 12 years old when the rapes took place.

The retreat was located off County Road, where New England Bio Labs is now, across from Appleton Farms.

“Rape of a child is a heinous crime,” District Attorney Blodgett said. “It is a fundamental violation of a child’s innocence that can never be truly restored. My hope is that these guilty verdicts allow this brave man to find some peace of mind, knowing that none of this was his fault.”

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UNITED STATES
Jewish Exponent

NOVEMBER 12, 2014
By: Amy Neustein

Twelve years ago, attorney Michael Lesher and I wrote a column for this newspaper about the tendency of too many rabbinic leaders to ignore the reality of sexual abuse in order to keep up the facade of a faultless Jewish community. At that time, the Catholic Church was reeling from charges that its prelates protected child-molesting priests, covering up the truth and silencing victims. Since then, we opined that cover-ups were common across religions.

Now, we may be proven wrong. The recent arrest of Rabbi Barry Freundel of the Kesher Israel Congregation in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., for placing secret cameras in his mikvah while female converts were preparing for ritual purification, has forced the Rabbinical Council of America to set up a committee to re-examine the entire conversion process and suggest practical safeguards against possible abuses.

Among the advocates and sex abuse survivors I have spoken to in the past few weeks, there are those who see this move by the RCA as nothing more than a stratagem.

“They are hiding behind a committee now just as they hid the complaints of the converts in 2012 and 2013 from the synagogue,” exclaimed one abuse survivor who asked that her identity be protected.

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OSTERREICH
Erzdiozese Wien

Die Erzdiözese Wien hat aufgrund der seit 2010 für alle katholischen Diözesen und Orden Österreichs geltenden Regeln einen in der Stadt Wien im Pfarrdienst tätigen Priester vorläufig dienstfrei gestellt, teilt das Ordinariat der Erzdiözese mit. Die Dienstfreistellung erfolgte aufgrund eines Missbrauchsverdachtes. Dazu laufen auch Erhebungen der Staatsanwaltschaft.

Die Dienstfreistellung bleibt aufrecht, bis die Vorwürfe geklärt sind. Diese Dienstfreistellung ist keine Vorverurteilung, sondern eine Vorsichtsmaßnahme laut Artikel 3.2.1 der Rahmenordnung der Österreichischen Bischofskonferenz für Maßnahmen gegen Missbrauch und Gewalt.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

[Vienna priest ‘abused child’, had ‘child porn’ – The Local]

Gegen einen Wiener Priester wird wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs ermittelt. Es soll zu sexuellen Übergriffen auf einen Jugendlichen gekommen sein, bestätigte Nina Bussek, Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Wien, einen Bericht von derstandard.at. Zudem soll der Mann kinderpornografisches Bildmaterial besessen haben, bei einer Hausdurchsuchung wurden mehrere Datenträger sichergestellt.

Die Durchsuchung erfolgte bereits vergangenen Freitag. Die Datenträger müssten noch ausgewertet werden, sagte Bussek. Laut dem Online-Bericht war der Mann in einer katholischen Kirche tätig und wurde von der Erzdiözese Wien dienstfrei gestellt.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Essex District Attorney’s Office: Jonathan Blodgett

A Lawrence Superior Court jury convicted Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, on 5 counts of child rape today following a 4-day trial. Judge Mary Lou Rup will sentence Rev. McCormick on December 18 at 2:00 p.m. He was taken into custody after the verdict was returned.

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall introduced evidence that proved that Rev. McCormick raped a boy on multiple occasions between 1981 and 1982. The rapes occurred while the boy attended a summer camp at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center in Ipswich where Rev. McCormick worked. The victim, who is 44, was between age 10 and 12 years old the rapes took place.

“Rape of a child is a heinous crime,” District Attorney Blodgett said. “It is a fundamental violation of a child’s innocence that can never be truly restored. My hope is that these guilty verdicts allows this brave man to find some peace of mind, knowing that none of this was his fault.”

MacDougall thanked Essex Victim Advocate Amy Snow and Ipswich Police Officer Peter Dziadose for their work on the investigation and the trial. She also acknowledged the courage of the victim for his bravery in coming forward and seeking justice.

McCormick is charged with another count of child rape in connection with allegations made by another male victim who attended the same summer camp during the same period. The trial date for this case has not been scheduled.

McCormick was represented by Attorney Steve Neyman.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Martin Finucane
| GLOBE STAFF NOVEMBER 12, 2014

A Roman Catholic priest has been convicted of five counts of child rape for attacking a boy on multiple occasions between 1981 and 1982 in Ipswich, the Essex County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, was convicted by a jury Wednesday in Lawrence Superior Court after a four-day trial, District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office said in a statement.

The rapes occurred while the boy attended a summer camp at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center in Ipswich, where McCormick worked. The victim, who is 44, was between age 10 and 12 years old when the rapes took place.

“Rape of a child is a heinous crime,” Blodgett said in the statement. “It is a fundamental violation of a child’s innocence that can never be truly restored. My hope is that these guilty verdicts allows this brave [victim] to find some peace of mind, knowing that none of this was his fault.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

Wednesday, Nov 12, 2014

A Massachusetts jury has found a priest guilty on five counts of child rape, following a four-day trial.

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall had introduced evidence that proved Rev. Richard McCormick, 73, raped a boy on multiple occasions between 1981 and 1982.

The rapes occurred while the boy attended a summer camp at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center in Ipswich, where McCormick worked.

The victim, who is now 44, was between age 10 and 12 years old when the rapes took place.

McCormick is charged with another count of child rape in connection with allegations made by another male victim who attended the same summer camp during the same period. The trial date for this case has not been scheduled.

He will be sentenced on Dec. 18.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

Mike Hellgren

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)—A volunteer at a synagogue says a former Towson University professor and rabbi accused of secretly recording some of his students treated it like a carwash and may have a thousand victims.

Investigative reporter Mike Hellgren has details on what happened when the rabbi appeared in court this morning.

Rabbi Barry Freundel is charged with six counts of voyeurism after police found a clock radio with a hidden camera in the shower area of a ritual bath at the Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown.

In court Wednesday, a synagogue volunteer said she knew dozens of Towson, University of Maryland and Georgetown students who went to the ritual bath.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Alleged voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel has a court date in Washington, DC this morning.

Freundel, who allegedly secretly videoed naked women as they prepared to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) adjacent to the Kesher Israel Modern Orthodox synagogue he headed in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capital, was arrested last month and charged with six counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. According to a report in the Washington Post, each count carries a possible one-year sentence, meaning Freundel faces as much as six years in prison.

However, Freundel will likely face additional charges and, depending what evidence police forensic teams have been able to find, he could even face federal charges that carry very long sentences.

It is also possible that prosecutors will allow Freundel to enter special treatment program in lieu of a prison sentence.

Freundel has been suspended without pay from Kesher Israel. He is also suspended from his teaching job at Towson University in Maryland. Freundel allegedly encourage many of his female students to take practice dunks in his mikavh. If they were secretly videoed by Freundel, that would likely allow federal criminal charges to be brought against him.

Update 11:08 am CST – Prosecutors are reportedly working with Freundel’s lawyers to craft a plea bargain, and his next court date is January 16, the Washington Jewish Week tweeted. And no new charges have been added – supposedly because prosecutors are still trying to identify victims on the video recordings, WTOP tweeted. (This is very unlikely. Identifiying the victims should be very easy.)

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Josh Nathan-Kazis
Published November 12, 2014.

Prosecutors reportedly said that there could be more victims in the Rabbi Barry Freundel mikveh peeping scandal at his hearing today in a Washington D.C. court.

Freundel was arrested nearly a month ago on charges that he secretly recorded women showing in the mikveh at his synagogue.

At the status hearing, government prosecutors told the judge that they were still investigating Freundel’s case, and were unprepared to offer a plea deal yet.

“There may be numerous victims we don’t know about,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky said, according to the Washington Post.

The Washington Post reported that one attorney representing a potential Freundel victim was present at the hearing.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Nov. 12, 2014

D.C. prosecutors are still trying to determine how many naked women a Georgetown rabbi allegedly spied on while they participated in a Jewish ritual bath and told a D.C. Superior Court judge today they need more time before deciding whether to offer the rabbi plea deal, the Washington Post reported.

D.C. police arrested Rabbi Barry Freundel, a prominent rabbi who oversaw the modern orthodox Kesher Israel congregation in Georgetown, in October for allegedly spying on women while they were partaking in a mikveh—a bath used in orthodox Jewish rituals. He pleaded not guilty at the time to six misdemeanor counts of voyeurism.

Officials discovered a black Sony Dream Machine radio clock with a hidden camera they say Freundel filmed people with in the shower area used to rinse off before the ceremonial bath. Evidence suggests the scope of the voyeurism extends well beyond those six victims, and since his arrest, many more women have come forward saying they think they might have been filmed.

Freundel taught at Towson University in Baltimore, and several students there say they participated in a mikveh after Freundel suggested it would be an educational experience.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Prosecutors seek more time to find other victims in voyeurism case against rabbi

By Keith L. Alexander November 12

District prosecutors investigating the case of a Georgetown rabbi charged with secretly videotaping women using a ritual bath told a D.C. Superior Court judge Wednesday that they needed more time to determine whether there are any additional victims before deciding whether to offer a plea deal.

Barry Freundel stood next to his lawyer as Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky told the judge that her office needed more time to investigate the case, at which point they will determine what type of plea deal her office might offer.

Freundel, 62, was arrested in October and charged with six counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. He faces up to six years in prison in connection with accusations that he hid a mini-camera in a clock radio in the shower area and videotaped women using the ritual bath, known as a mikvah, at the Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — Georgetown rabbi Doctor Barry Freundel appeared in a D.C. courtroom Wednesday for a status hearing.

The 62-year-old, who is charged with voyeurism, will have another hearing on January 16. He’s accused of setting up a camera in the women’s showers at the Kesher Israel Orthodox synagogue.

Freundel has also taught classes at several colleges in the area, and prosecutors asked to put information about future hearings online in order to inform people who may be victims.

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ARGENTINA
Infojus Noticias

[Julieta Anazco filed criminal charged against priest Hector Ricardo Gimenez, who had two previous allegations of sexual musonduct. Asking abut the previous cases the La Plata archbishop said he would offer a meeting to deal with the matter.]

Julieta Añazco denunció penalmente al sacerdote platense Héctor Ricardo Giménez, quien ya tenía dos denuncias previas por abusos sexuales. Pidió información sobre los casos anteriores al Arzobispado platense y le llegó una respuesta donde le ofrecen “compartir un encuentro donde tratar el asunto”.

Desde los ocho y hasta los diez años -en 1980, 1981 y 1982- Julieta Añazco pasó parte del verano en los campamentos que el sacerdote Héctor Ricardo Giménez organizaba en una estancia en Bavio, a 30 kilómetros de La Plata. El año pasado, corroboró que Giménez está involucrado en otras dos denuncias penales por abusos cometidos contra niños y niñas, en 1985 y 1996. Hace un mes lo denunció penalmente y, por nota, pidió información de las actuaciones por los casos en los tribunales eclesiásticos del arzobispado platense. La respuesta, escueta y sin precisiones, llegó ayer: “le envío estas líneas para ofrecerle asistir personalmente a este Arzobispado y compartir un encuentro donde tratar el asunto”.

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AUSTRIA
The Local

A Catholic priest in Vienna is under investigation for sexual abuse of a minor, according to Nina Bussek, spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.

According to the news daily Der Standard, a number of child pornography images were seized from the man’s home during a search by police. Multiple CDs were also taken as evidence.

The raid occurred on Friday last week, reported police, and the disks are still being evaluated. The man, who was working for the Catholic Church in Austria, has been suspended by the Archdiocese of Vienna pending a full investigation.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The Church’s Response Team that investigates claims of sex abuse will be overhauled by the end of the month, Times of Malta has learnt.

Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna yesterday confirmed new procedures to handle cases of abuse by priests were discussed last week in a meeting he had with the Response Team and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech.

“We are tweaking the new procedures to deal with these cases and this will include restructuring the Response Team,” Mgr Scicluna said.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
InfoVaticana

El Papa Francisco llamó en mayo a Roma al Arzobispo de Rosario, José Luis Mollaghan, para formar parte de una misteriosa comisión para el estudio de graves crímenes cometidos por sacerdotes.

En aquel momento, Sandro Magister planteó la destitución como un misterio, así como el nombramiento para la comisión inexistente:

“El Santo Padre Francisco ha nombrado miembro de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe en el comité de examen de las apelaciones de los clérigos para ‘delicta graviora’ al arzobispo José Luis Mollaghan, hasta ahora Arzobispo de Rosario (Argentina).”

La Santa Sede ha dado a conocer hoy nuevas normas para los “Graviora Delicta”. Un Colegio especial de cardenales y obispos estudiará los recursos contra los delitos más graves establecidos en el Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela. De este modo, se conformará la Comisión de la que ya conocemos uno de los miembros: Mollaghan.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

The first member of a new church abuse panel is an archbishop who was ousted months ago for alleged financial misdeeds and has a dismal track record on abuse in his home diocese and nation.

[Catholic News Agency]

He is Archbishop José Luis Mollaghan, who was suspended in May as head of the Rosario archdiocese in Argentina due to accusations that he mismanaged church funds, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

[Buenos Aires Herald]

So Francis apparently believes that Mollaghan is too untrustworthy to head a diocese but is a good choice to handle predator priest cases.

The independent, Boston-based archive group BishopAccountability.org has documented a number of reckless, callous and deceitful moves by Argentinian Catholic officials in child sex abuse and cover up cases. See: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Argentina/

Some of those cases involve Mollaghan, especially the case of Fr. Reinaldo Narvais, who faces allegations by “at least eight people, one of whom was a minor with a mental disability,” according to an Argentinian newspaper.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Religion News Service

David Gibson | November 11, 2014

BALTIMORE (RNS) Much of the private discussions at the fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have focused on how the American hierarchy can shift its priorities to better track those of Pope Francis, especially on social justice issues such as poverty and immigration.

But what they’d really like to do is channel the pontiff’s media mojo.

“With Pope Francis, we are tending to be identified by what we are for rather than what we are against,” said Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne of Indianapolis, who was elected Tuesday (Nov. 11) to oversee the bishops’ communications strategy.

In fact, since the moment he was elected pope last year, Francis changed the entire media narrative about the Vatican — from a source of scandal and dysfunction under Benedict XVI to the launchpad for Catholic reform and renewal based on a message of mercy.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Jewish Daily Forward

By Forward Staff
Published November 12, 2014.

Rabbi Barry Freundel is expected to appear in a Washington D.C. court today to face charges he used a hidden camera to peep on women in the mikveh of his Orthodox synagogue.

The disgraced cleric faces six counts of voyeurism, a misdemeanor, and could face up to six years in prison.

Prosecutors might outline any additional charges at the hearing, and defense lawyers could push to have Freundel declared eligible for a program that would allow him to avoid jail time.

Freundel could also enter a formal plea to the charges or may push the judge to set a date for trial.

Police found a clock radio hidden in the shower of the mikveh at Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue, the spiritual home of luminaries like Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and ex-Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

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CHILE
der Standard

Staatsanwaltschaft forderte zehn Jahren Gefängnis für John O’Reilly

Santiago de Chile – Einer der einflussreichsten Geistlichen Chiles ist am Dienstag wegen des jahrelangen Missbrauchs eines kleinen Mädchens zu vier Jahren Schutzaufsicht verurteilt worden. John O’Reilly, der 1984 aus Irland nach Chile kam, darf überdies für sein gesamtes Leben keinen öffentlichen Posten mit Verantwortung mehr übernehmen oder beruflich mit Kindern zu tun haben.

Mit seinem Urteil blieb das Gericht gleichwohl deutlich hinter der Forderung der Staatsanwaltschaft nach zehn Jahren Gefängnis zurück. Der 68-Jährige vom ultrakonservativen katholischen Orden Legionäre Christi war vor drei Wochen schuldig gesprochen worden, eine heute Neunjährige von 2010 bis 2012 missbraucht zu haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regenburg-Digital

[The new abuse officer for the Regensburg diocese has produced a first report. A bout 160,000 euros has been paid to victims of sexual violence.]

von Stefan Aigner in Nachrichten, Überregional

Das Bistum Regensburg hat dem Missbrauchsbeauftragten ein paar Zahlen mitgeteilt. Wirkliche Klarheit bringen auch diese nicht. Empfänger des demütigenden Serienbriefes von Generalvikar Fuchs warten nach wie vor auf eine Entschuldigung.

Es sieht aus wie ein Fortschritt. Zum ersten Mal seit 2010 wurden im Bistum Regensburg von offizieller Stelle Zahlen zum sexuellen Missbrauch durch Geistliche und zur Entschädigung der Opfer herausgegeben. Am Montag hat der neue Missbrauchsbeauftragte Dr. Martin Linder, er ist Nachfolger der verstorbenen Birgit Böhm, auf der Bistums-Homepage seinen ersten Bericht vorgelegt.

Rund 160.000 Euro Entschädigung

Demnach wurden zwischen 2011 und 2014 30 Anträge auf Entschädigung bewilligt, für die das Bistum 158.500 Euro ausbezahlt habe. Zu Opfern und Tätern heißt es in dem Bericht wörtlich:

„Von 1945 bis heute wurden von den etwa 2.380 tätigen Geistlichen der Diözese Regensburg 13 Geistliche wegen sexueller Straftaten an 77 Minderjährigen in unserer Diözese verurteilt, davon zwei wegen Besitzes von kinderpornographischem Material und einer, besonders schwerwiegend, wegen sexueller Straftaten an 25 Minderjährigen in zwei Pfarreien Anfang der 50er Jahre. Von diesen 13 Geistlichen leben noch acht, zwei von diesen acht wurden laisiert, das heißt aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen, die übrigen sechs sind suspendiert.“

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 12 November 2014)

A retired Christian Brother who taught in Catholic schools at Manly (in Sydney) and Goulburn (in southern New South Wales) has been charged with a number of historical indecent assaults on five boys. The alleged offences involved three boys at Manly and two at Goulburn, who were aged between 13 and 15 at the time, between 1973 and 1976.

The 75-year-old Brother was arrested on 10 November 2014 at a residence for Christian Brothers in southern New South Wales.

Detectives from Northern Beaches Police Command in Sydney executed a search warrant of his residence and seized documents and computers that are now undergoing further examination.

The charges stemmed from Australia’s current national Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, at which alleged evidence has been produced. The Royal Commission material was referred to Sydney’s Northern Beaches Police for investigation.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Robert Mickens on Disproportionate Influence of Cardinal Burke’s Groupies: Tail Wagging Dog

Robert Mickens reports that, as he leaves his Curia post, Cardinal Raymond Burke continues to fan the flames: to be specific, he continues to speak of the possibility of schism in the Catholic church, if the leaders of the church do not choose to dance to his tune:

Pope Francis’ transfer of Cardinal Raymond Burke on Saturday from being the Vatican’s “chief justice” to a mere cardinal-protector of the Knights of Malta has intensified yet more irresponsible talk of schism within the Catholic church.

And top prize for the person most responsible for being irresponsible goes to none other than the man wearing the long red train. Yes, to Burke himself. …

As Mickens also notes, Burke’s groupies are a tiny minority within the Catholic church, but have disproportionate influence in some sectors of the church — especially in the United States:

The cardinal’s fan base is made up mainly of Tridendine Mass devotees and proponents of the so-called “reform of the reform” of the liturgy, as well as other socially conservative Catholics. They all march (though some seem to just sleepwalk) under the banner of the “hermeneutic of continuity,” a phrase they mistakenly attribute to Benedict XVI. (The retired pope actually espoused a “hermeneutic of reform,” defining it as “a combination of continuity and discontinuity at different levels” and “innovation in continuity.”)

Fortunately, the Burke groupies are a tiny minority within the much, much wider church. But, unfortunately, a good part of this minority seem to be seminarians (especially in English- and French-speaking areas), and a good number of priests ordained in the last five to 10 years. And then there are the bishops. Lamentably, there seem to be no lack of them. At least the loudest ones. And the United States would seem to have more than its fair share.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org]

Tina Sfondeles

Lawyers representing dozens of alleged sexual abuse victims are calling the Archdiocese of Chicago’s release last week of 15,000 pages of documents detailing investigations into 36 priests “misleading” and “disturbing.”

Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman on Tuesday said the release is not a “full disclosure” and are questioning how there are just 66 “credibly” accused priests in a large archdiocese, when compared to the 300 priests accused of sexual abuse in Boston, and the 266 in Los Angeles.

While seated in front of poster boards featuring photos of the accused priests, the two lawyers told reporters in their Loop office that the document release was “selective.”

All of the priests detailed in the documents are out of ministry, and 14 of them are deceased, according to the archdiocese. The cases — many of which include hundreds of pages of documents — concern priests with at least one substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor, according to the archdiocese. Most of the cases included in the documents involve incidents that happened before 1988.

Cardinal Francis George last week said the documents, which follows the release of 6,000 pages of about 30 other priests in January, reveals the archdiocese’s commitment to “transparency.”

“It is a mislabeling by the archdiocese public relations department as saying that it is transparent and a full disclosure,” Anderson said. “It is not only mislabeling. It is misleading.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 12, 2014

Andrew West
ABC radio presenter and columnist

ANALYSIS

Anthony Fisher steps into one of the most powerful jobs in Australian Catholicism when he is installed as archbishop of Sydney on Wednesday night. The big question is whether he can step out of the shadow of his predecessor.

Cardinal George Pell had long hoped that Fisher, a relatively youthful 54, would succeed him as a long-term archbishop. Other names had reportedly gone to the Vatican, including that of Brisbane archbishop Mark Coleridge – a thoroughly Australian, rugby coach-style prelate – and Newcastle’s Bill Wright, a gentle, pastoral man now preoccupied with cleaning up the sexual abuse crises left by his predecessors in the diocese.

But Pell appears to have prevailed in his preference for Fisher. All this would suggest that the new archbishop will continue the long reign of Catholic orthodoxy in Sydney.

Leaders, however, evolve, especially in the Catholic world. At the start of their papacies, few expected radical things of Leo XIII and John XXIII – or, indeed, of Francis. …

On the crucial question of how he handles the sexual abuse crisis, Fisher has clearly learned from an incident during World Youth Day in 2008, when he said some people were “dwelling crankily … on old wounds”. It’s fair to observe that he now speaks with a profound sense of disgust. “We accept that this is a spiritual and moral problem in our church and not just some bad guys in the old days,” he told ABC. He even speaks of the church being “purified by this experience by the humiliation”.

On a practical level, this means replacing the church’s tragically flawed procedures for dealing with abuse victims … and laying some real money on the line.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org]

Christopher Placek

Nearly a week after the Archdiocese of Chicago released child sex abuse files pertaining to 36 priests, victims’ attorneys are publicly questioning whether the release of the documents shed enough light on the decades-long scandal.

Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, who have represented hundreds of victims of priest sex abuse in Chicago and across the country, say they should have had input and oversight in the document review process, as they did when the first set of files relating to another 30 priests was released in January.

They now want incoming Archbishop Blase Cupich, who will be formally installed next week as Cardinal Francis George’s successor, to disclose the names of all priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse — whether the allegations were determined by the archdiocese to be credible.

“The whole story about the past has to be revealed, and until we and other outsiders who are professionals in this area are allowed to scrutinize all of the files of all the credibly accused offenders and all those accused, we can’t take any comfort in a partial disclosure,” Anderson said during a news conference at a downtown Chicago law office.

John O’Malley, the archdiocese’s special counsel for misconduct issues, said Tuesday it was an “outrageous and presumptuous” suggestion by the attorneys that they be able to see all those files.

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Mary Ann Ahern

Tuesday, Nov 11, 2014

With just days until his retirement, Cardinal Francis George and attorneys for the Archdiocese of Chicago released the names and files of 36 allegedly abusive priests, but victim advocates argue the documents fall short of the transparency promised.

Attorneys representing victims of priest sex abuse are still going through the 15,000 pages of documents released by the Archdiocese five days ago, but they say the documents are “incomplete.”

“It is so incomplete and confusing,” said attorney Jeffrey Anderson. “It’s tantamount to a half truth.”

“The victims’ stories are completely absent from this production,” said attorney Marc Pearlman.

“They’ll say that’s because they want to protect their privacy, but there’s a way to do that and put the information out there and protect the privacy of victims.”

George, who is attending the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, said making the files public is honoring a commitment to transparency.

“I think we tried as much as possible, to some of the process,” he said. “Healing can begin in earnest. Archbishop Cupich is a very good man to do that.”

Chicago’s next archbishop, Blasé Cupich, is leaving Spokane, Washington for Chicago, but a lawsuit stemming from priest sex abuse settlements there and the diocese’s decision to file for bankruptcy lingers.
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Victims-Advocates-Criticize-Release-of-Priest-Abuse-Files-282355161.html#ixzz3Ir6KKAym
Follow us: @nbcchicago on Twitter | nbcchicago on Facebook

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VATICAN CITY
Latin American Herald Tribune

ROME – Pope Francis has convened a seven-member panel of bishops and cardinals with the aim of speeding up the appeals process for priests convicted of sexual abuse or other serious offenses, the Vatican said in a statement.

The decision stems from the need to ensure greater expediency when considering appeals, the statement said, and added that the committee’s activities will not affect existing competencies.

Cases are to be considered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) the former Holy Office, to which the new commission is attached.

The chairman and the seven members of the new body are to be appointed by Pope Francis himself, the statement added.

During the CDF’s Ordinary Session, named Feria IV, possible violations are examined. The newly-created body will be responsible for analyzing resources but will not “modify any established powers,” under the new rules.

If a bishop were convicted, his appeal would be considered by the CDF’s Ordinary Session, but the Pope may also determine the competent authority to consider other cases.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Alleged sexual abuse by Fr Fenech: Victim says Dominicans paid for her psychological therapy

One of the victims allegedly sexually abused by Fr Charles Fenech saw a psychologist for about a year but was never asked to pay for the services rendered. She is claiming that she was told that the Dominican Province will be dealing with the costs.

She was given advice to go for professional help by another Dominican priest, Fr Charles Tabone, but she does not know whether it was “Fr Tabone, Fr Fenech or the Dominican Province” who paid.

Contacted by The Malta Independent, Fr Tabone preferred to answer in generic terms and refused to be drawn into the individual case. When contacted via phone Fr Tabone asked for questions to be sent via email.

Can you confirm that when Fr. Charles Fenech was the Dominican Provincial in 2004 he asked you to send one of the alleged victims to a psychologist?

No Provincial ever requested me to send someone to a psychologist.

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INTERNATIONAL
Press TV (Iran)

Discredited pedophile priests in the Catholic Church are outsourced to countries where no prosecution takes place, a commentator tells Press TV.

“A lot of the pedophiles who discredit themselves in more advanced white countries, where they’ll be prosecuted, are outsourced to rape, molest and abuse non-white black, brown people – And the church needs to confront its long history of racism,” Randy Short, a human rights activist said in an interview with Press TV from Washington on Tuesday.

“Take Africa – I don’t know of one case. There are easily 200-300 million Catholics in Africa and yet you’ve never heard of one case and I know from doing my academic research on the Congo that these things go on on an epidemic scale,” Short added.

The comments come following the arrest and sentencing of an influential Irish catholic priest to four years’ probation for sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in Chile.

Earlier, a Roman Catholic priest in the United States was charged with sexually abusing children during missionary trips to Honduras.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By NICK BIELBY Nov. 12, 2014
.
The elevation of Archbishop Paul Gallagher to the third highest position in the Vatican is a slap in the face, says a Vacy man who suffered abuse at the hands of a former Hunter Catholic priest.

Peter Gogarty was abused by defrocked priest James Fletcher 40 years ago. Fletcher was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against children and his actions were investigated by a royal commission into child abuse within the Catholic church.

Archbishop Gallagher, who Pope Francis appointed the Vatican’s foreign minister this week, claimed diplomatic immunity in 2013 and refused to give prosecutors documents that related to Fletcher and another disgraced priest Dennis McAlinden.

Mr Gogarty told the Mercury he was not impressed with the appointment.

He said it appeared that the Catholic church had not only tolerated Archbishop Gallagher’s lack of co-operation in efforts to shine a light on institutional abuse, but had rewarded him for his actions.

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UNITED STATES
New York Daily News

BY GINGER ADAMS OTIS

A new panel created by Pope Francis will speed up appeals from clergy accused of sex crimes and other abuses, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Seven cardinals or bishops will sit on the panel and dedicate themselves to examining cases that normally would go to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Francis wants a faster crackdown on priests who sexually abuse children, according to the Vatican.

Critics say the Catholic Church has moved too slowly in the past to remove or punish pedophile priests.

The new panel will handle all appeals except those of bishops. Those will be assessed by the all the congregation members.

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WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Kip Hill
The Spokesman-Review

Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich’s former top lieutenant told attorneys that Cupich has attempted a money grab against the law firm that guided the church through bankruptcy proceedings.

The allegations leveled by the Spokane Diocese against Paine Hamblen, the downtown Spokane firm that represented the church in bankruptcy proceedings sparked by multiple cases of priest sexual abuse, came seven years after a settlement designed to limit the diocese’s liability in future claims. In January, the diocese asked a federal judge to overturn an order to pay attorney fees to the firm.

The church also is asking for damages after several unexpected claims were lodged, exhausting a fund set up through the bankruptcy settlement to compensate victims through 2016.

In its response filed Monday in federal Bankruptcy Court, the law firm says Cupich’s lawsuit caused fractures among the diocese’s inner circle, many of whom disagreed with the decision to go after Paine Hamblen. Former Vicar General Steve Dublinski, who resigned in August after what he called “irreconcilable differences” with Cupich on several matters, said in a recorded interview with attorneys last month that Cupich told him the complaints against Paine Hamblen were a designed money-grab.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org]

By Christy Gutowski, Cynthia Dizikes, Todd Lighty,
Chicago Tribune

They were among the most popular and influential priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Robert Kealy was a lawyer who handled sex abuse claims against priests, R. Peter Bowman was a former high-ranking church administrator and John Calicott was a South Side priest adored by his parishioners and who held leadership roles in the church.

All three men were abruptly pulled from ministry in 2002 by Cardinal Francis George amid accusations they sexually abused children decades earlier. Their removal, with the archdiocese providing scant information, bewildered and angered parishioners, many of whom refused to believe the allegations.

Now, more than 12 years later, a clearer understanding of what the three priests were accused of doing, and how the archdiocese responded, has emerged from internal church documents that George ordered released last week.

Kealy admitted to smoking marijuana and drinking with boys in the 1970s, and the church found he “engaged in acts of sexual misconduct with a minor,” according to the files. Bowman allegedly abused at least seven children, including forcing a seventh-grade boy to perform oral sex on him. Calicott, according to his file, allegedly engaged in oral sex with two boys, ages 12 and 14.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Fox Chicago

CHICAGO (Associated Press) –

A prominent lawyer for victims of sexual abuse says the incoming archbishop of Chicago should require all archdiocese priests to sign statements testifying they never abused a child.

That’s among the actions attorney Jeff Anderson said Blase (BLAHZ’) Cupich (SOO’-pihch) should promptly take to address the festering issue. Cupich takes over the nation’s third largest archdiocese this month. He comes to Chicago after serving as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane.

Anderson and other plaintiffs’ attorneys criticize outgoing Cardinal Francis George for sometimes appearing to downplay the severity of priest abuse in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Anderson says Cupich comes from a culture that emphasizes secrecy. However, victims’ advocates have extended a hand of cooperation to him.

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UNITED STATES
Room with a Pew

Paul Fericano

“Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.”
–Oliver Goldsmith

An alarming and all-too-familiar issue within the Catholic church has been the question of problem priests: seriously troubled men who are put in charge of parishes where they ride roughshod over the laity. Last month I wrote two separate letters on behalf of parishioners of Saints Simon and Jude church (SSJ), a Franciscan parish in Huntington Beach, California. In both letters, the subject focused on documented grievances of parishioners who spoke of being emotionally and psychologically abused by their current pastor. My first letter was privately addressed to the Franciscan leadership of the Province of Saint Barbara, a governing body of elected friars, with a copy sent to the Franciscan minister general in Rome. My second letter was a public letter directed at members of the various staff, councils, boards and commissions of SSJ, and copied to the bishops of the Diocese of Orange, California.

What has been most upsetting and heartbreaking about the SSJ situation is that this is a parish that has suffered greatly in the past from the fallout of the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Many parishioners and former parishioners are still feeling the effects of that betrayal. A previous associate pastor of SSJ, (former friar) Gus Krumm, a charismatic and much favored priest, was eventually exposed as a perpetrator who allegedly molested several young boys over the course of many years. When friar Michael Harvey replaced friar Larry Dolan as pastor in 2001, there was virtually no parish outreach at SSJ regarding this issue. Harvey was reassigned to Portland in 2012, but during his long tenure at SSJ he helped bring about a certain measure of understanding and healing in the parish by encouraging dialogue and discussions. Although he had his missteps, his pastoral approach was largely responsible for helping many parishioners deal with the crisis honestly, stay with the Catholic church and reconnect with the Franciscans.

Like all things that seem to emanate from the strange universe occupied by the current leadership of the Franciscan Province of Saint Barbara, a decision was made to replace Harvey with friar Dan Barica, a priest with a troubled past. As pastor of Mission Santa Barbara (ground zero for the sex abuse scandal), Barica made no secret of his belief that the clergy abuse problem was exaggerated and that the spotlight on the sexual abuse of minors by Franciscans was far too bright. Barica went so far as to lecture Mission parishioners about putting the issue behind them and moving on–something, apparently, he himself had done.

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CHICAGO
WLS

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org ]

CHICAGO (WLS) — Lawyers representing dozens of priest sex abuse victims accuse the Archdiocese of Chicago of hiding information with last week’s release of abuse files.

The Archdiocese released 15,000 pages of documents involving 36 priests, following the files of 30 priests released last January.

Jeff Anderson and Mark Pearlman say what’s lacking in the latest release are the victims’ stories, and say the victims were left out of the process.

“Until this Archdiocese starts listening to the victims and stops listening to their public relations people, this problem will not and cannot be fixed,” Pearlman said.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said in a written statement: “We stand by the integrity of this document release. We believe it’s time to move beyond inflammatory and hollow rhetoric and seek to achieve understanding and reconciliation.”

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Thomas Noble October 30, 2014

The True Story of a Convent in Scandal
Hubert Wolf
translated by Ruth Martin
Alfred A. Knopf, $30, 482 pp.

If this astonishing tale were not true, one would think it the work of an accomplished mystery writer. The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio takes us back to Rome in 1859, when the Holy Office received a formal denunciation of suspicious goings-on at the convent of Sant’Ambrogio della Massima. For two years these allegations were investigated, and subsequently several members of the community were tried before the Inquisition. Though bits and pieces of this strange story would leak out over the next century and a half, it was only after 1998, when John Paul II opened the archives of the Holy Office, that Hubert Wolf, professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Münster, was able to examine the full record. The result is a sordid tale of sexual misdeeds, false identities, cult worship, theft, and murder.

Wolf’s book teems with characters, many of them trailing lengthy aristocratic names, beginning with Princess Katherina von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who made the denunciation. Born in 1817, Katherina spent her childhood in liberal Catholic circles, but a visit to Rome in 1834 brought her under the influence of Karl August Graf von Reisach, a reactionary and aficionado of women visionaries who was made cardinal by the even more reactionary Gregory XVI. Twice widowed by the age of thirty-six, the princess resolved to become a nun, and in 1858 Reisach placed her in the convent of Sant’Ambrogio. Fifteen months later she smuggled out a desperate and cryptic letter—“Save me,” it pleaded—to her cousin, Bishop Gustav Adolf zu Hohenlohe und Schillingfürst, who marched into Sant’Ambrogio, rescued Katherina, and took her to his country estate in Tivoli. There, under the influence of her Benedictine confessor Maurus Wolter, she recorded her tale of woe in the document that reached the Holy Office.

Katherina’s complaint centered on the convent’s worship of a former abbess, Maria Agnese Firrao, who had presented herself as a living saint, partly via self-inflicted stigmata. Though Firrao was tried and convicted by the Inquisition, and died in banishment, her acolytes at Sant’Ambrogio continued to promote the cult of “Beata Maria,” insisting that the Holy Office had erred in its condemnation of her. Katherina denounced the false sainthood of Maria Agnese as well as the claimed sainthood of the convent’s vicaress and novice mistress, Maria Luisa. She raised questions about the convent’s confessors, and told a disturbing story about Maria Luisa’s relationship with someone Katherina referred to as “the Americano,” a Tyrolean who went to the United States, married and had children, abandoned his family, and went to Rome seeking salvation—and, evidently, nuns to bed. But the most spectacular item in Katherina’s denunciation was her claim that Maria Luisa had made repeated attempts to poison her in retaliation for her complaints.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Today’s Catholic News

By Mark Pattison

BALTIMORE (CNS) — The U.S. bishops Nov. 11 chose a new secretary-elect and chairmen-elect for several committees, all of whom will begin their service in November 2015.

The bishops also selected from among their number to serve on the boards of Catholic Relief Services, the bishops’ international aid and development agency, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans won the secretary-elect job, defeating Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, 100-94.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2010 to 2013, was voted in as chairman-elect of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, over Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, 127-102.

In other committee elections:

– Communications: Auxiliary Bishop Christopher J. Coyne of Indianapolis defeated Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, 114-102. Bishop Coyne was a late replacement candidate for Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York.

Bishop Murphy had said he expects to retire before the end of the three-year chairmanship term in 2018. Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, general secretary of the USCCB, said a recent Vatican “rescript” clarifies that a bishop who retires also must retire from any committee chairmanship. Bishop Murphy turns 75 in May 2015, the age at which canon law requires a bishop to turn in his resignation.

– Cultural Diversity in the Church: Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio defeated Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Washington, 160-60.

– Doctrine: Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit defeated Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts, 149-66.

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CHILE
Jamaica Observer

SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — An influential Irish priest was sentenced in Chile to four years probation Tuesday for sexually abusing a young girl while he was the spiritual advisor of an elite school.

John O’Reilly, the local head of the Catholic Church’s ultra-conservative Legion of Christ order, was convicted last month of repeatedly molesting the girl from the time she was five.

A court in Santiago sentenced the 68-year-old priest to four years and one day of “supervised freedom” — a punishment roughly equivalent to probation that involves no prison time — and barred him from working in schools or with children.

Prosecutors had requested a sentence of 10 years in prison.

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CHILE
BBC Mundo

Constanza Hola Chamy
BBC Mundo

Con un rosario en la mano y las fotos de nueve niñas del colegio del que fue capellán muertas en un accidente, el sacerdote John O’Reilly escuchó el veredicto: culpable.

De origen irlandés, el religioso de los Legionarios de Cristo era declarado culpable en Chile de abusar sexualmente de una menor alumna de la escuela de la cual era director espiritual mientras la niña tenía entre 4 y 6 años.

El veredicto, dado a conocer en octubre, fue un balde de agua fría no sólo para su congregación, sino para muchos de los principales empresarios y políticos chilenos, de quienes O’Reilly se había convertido en guía espiritual y amigo.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org ]

[with video]

NOVEMBER 11, 2014, BY JULIE UNRUH

Last week, the Chicago Archdiocese released 36 more names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Today, lawyers representing victims in some cases say they’re disturbed and alarmed about what has not been released.

Two lawyers who say they have been challenging the church on this issue for decades say it’s happening in other cities, but not in Chicago. They want the Chicago Archdiocese to unseal all the files and allow for a more thorough review of cases that have dogged the church and its reputation for too long.

They say the numbers are grossly underreported and the release of only 36 more namesis reckless.

Over the years, Boston has named 300 cleric offenders. Los Angeles has named 266. To date, in Chicago the number totals 66.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Australia’s response to Cardinal George Pell queried by UN Committee Against Torture

A UN committee has asked the Australian government to explain its response when Cardinal George Pell backed a Vatican refusal to hand over documents to the child abuse royal commission.

The committee meeting in Geneva this week is considering Australia’s fourth report on human rights and the country’s implementation of the Convention against Torture.

It has received several submissions from non-government organisations in Australia including two from networks representing survivors of institutional and clerical child abuse.

Geneva members of the Committee Against Torture raised the issue of Cardinal Pell’s defence of a Vatican decision not to hand over all documents relating to child sex abuse by clerics in Australia.

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CHILE
12 News

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An Irish-born Chilean priest has been sentenced to four years of probation after sexually abusing a minor while he was chaplain at a school in Santiago.

A court in the Chilean capital also banned Rev. John O’Reilly from any job near children. Prosecutors had asked for a 10-year prison sentence.

O’Reilly was found guilty last month. The court said he committed the abuse while he was the spiritual guide at the school. Relatives had accused the priest of molesting two pre-teen girls between 2007 and 2011. The court absolved him in one of the cases.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org ]

Steve Miller

(CBS) — Five days after the Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese released more documents related to allegations of abuse by priests, lawyers representing past victims say the archdiocese has excluded a lot.

“Very alarmed” is how attorneys for survivors of abuse describe their reaction to the release of new documents by the archdiocese.

Attorney Jeff Anderson says the archdiocese excluded attorneys from the process of what documents should be released, something he says the archdiocese did not do back in January when other documents were released.

Since then, Anderson says the archdiocese has cut off discussion with the attorneys, apparently because the archdiocese was upset with the attorneys’ handling of the documents after their release.
A reporter asked Anderson if he thinks the archdiocese excluded attorneys this time around as retribution.

“I would call the decision by the cardinal’s office not retribution. I would call it intentional exclusion,” he said.

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CHILE
La Nacion

A cuatro años y un día de libertad vigilada fue sentenciado el sacerdote John O’Reilly por el delito de abuso sexual reiterado en contra de una menor.

El religioso, quien no asistió a la audiencia de lectura en el Tercer Tribunal de Juicio Oral en Lo Penal de Santiago, tampoco podrá ocupar cargos públicos ni con relación a menores de edad.

Con esto, el líder de los Legionarios de Cristo no cumplirá pena efectiva de cárcel pese a que la Fiscalía pedía 10 años y un día tras las rejas concordando con un informe entregado por Gendarmería el que consideró “desfavorable” que O’Reilly quedara con libertad vigilad

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CHILE
El Mostrador

El Tercer tribunal Oral en lo Penal leyó la sentencia contra el sacerdote John O’Reilly declarado culpable del abuso sexual contra una menor del Colegio Cumbres entre marzo y diciembre de 2010 y entre marzo y julio de 2011, según se acreditó en la investigación. En principio la acusación incluía a la hermana mayor de la víctima pero este caso no se pudo acreditar.

Desde las 16 horas, el tribunal dio a conocer la sentencia. El sacerdote fue condenado a cuatro años y un día de presidio menor en su grado máximo. Pero se le concedió el beneficio de libertad vigilada por el tiempo que dura la condena. Para el tribunal pesó en esta medida la irreprochable conducta anterior del sacerdote, condición para la que se consideró además el hecho de que se le concedió la nacionalidad por gracia en 2008.

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CHILE
Daily Mail (UK)

SANTIAGO, Nov 11 (Reuters) – An Irish-born priest, found guilty last month of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in Santiago, will avoid jail time under a sentence handed down on Tuesday.

A judge sentenced John O’Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, to four years and a day of “supervised liberty” for abusing the pre-teen girl at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.

O’Reilly, who over the years befriended many powerful conservative businessmen and politicians in Chile, will not be confined at home nor be required to periodically check in with a parole officer. He will be free to travel out of the country.

He will have to attend semi-regular rehabilitation therapy sessions, and his name will be appear on a national pedophile registry intended to keep him from working with children.

Prosecutors had requested that he be sent to prison for 10 years.

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MISSISSIPPI
WLOX

By Michelle Lady
GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) –
A veteran South Mississippi teacher accused of molesting students is changing his plea to guilty, according to court documents.

A South Mississippi teacher has admitted to investigators that he molested at least eight boys who were his students, and the abuse spanned a period of 20 years. That’s according to an affidavit released Thursday.

William Richard Pryor, 68, is in federal custody charged with transportation of minors with intent of sexual activity.

William Richard Pryor is charged with two counts each of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. According to court documents, Pryor allegedly molested 11 former male students between the ages of 12 and 14.

Pryor’s attorney notified federal court that his client will change his plea to guilty this week on the day of the deadline. If Pryor had not changed his plea, his case would have gone to trial in December.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 11, 2014

BALTIMORE — It was a hail and farewell moment at a tumultuous time for the Roman Catholic Church. More than 200 bishops rose to their feet Monday and gave a protracted standing ovation to Cardinal Francis George, a former president of the bishops’ conference, who will step down next week as the archbishop of Chicago.

Among those applauding in the conference room was the man who will soon be installed in the powerful Chicago seat, Bishop Blase J. Cupich. Pope Francis has never met him, but plucked him from the obscure diocese of Spokane, Wash., passing over archbishops considered rising stars under the two previous popes.

Change is rattling the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, and the bishops here say they now feel it even if they do not yet understand where Pope Francis is leading them. The change is reflected not only in appointments — with the Chicago seat the main indicator so far — but also in Francis’ call for the church to open discussion on sticky matters long considered settled, such as communion for the divorced and remarried, same-sex relationships, couples who live together without being married and even polygamists in Africa.

Some prelates, like Bishop Cupich, are exhilarated at the pontiff’s fresh message and the prospect of change, while others, like Cardinal George, are more wary. A few have been downright resistant, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American in Rome who has publicly challenged Francis and was removed on Saturday from his position as head of the Vatican’s highest court.

“The pope is saying some very challenging things for people,” Bishop Cupich said in an interview Tuesday. “He’s not saying, this is the law and you follow it and you get to heaven. He’s saying we have to do something about our world today that’s suffering, people are being excluded, neglected. We have a responsibility, and he’s calling people to task.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com
on November 11, 2014

A Pennsylvania court has refused to overturn a $425,000 restitution order against a former Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to stealing from his own parish to finance a lavish lifestyle.

Richard E. Nachajski, who led the Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Reading for about 15 years, had argued on appeal that he wasn’t given a chance to argue that he actually had stolen far less from his former congregation.

The state Superior Court in a recent ruling turned aside Nachajski’s argument that his original lawyer was ineffective, however, and so concluded that his restitution argument was void.

Berks County Judge Scott D. Keller sentenced Nachajski, now 68, to 2 to 7 years in state prison in September 2012 after the ex-priest pleaded guilty to a theft charge.

Investigators said Nachajski diverted parish money from 1998 to 2008 to his own purposes, including to pay for vacations and finance a time share in Mexico. The theft was uncovered in an audit conducted by the Diocese of Allentown and a probe by the Berks County District Attorney’s Office conducted after Nachajski took a leave of absence from the parish in 2009.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Agence France Presse

VATICAN CITY: Ireland accredited a new envoy to the Vatican on Tuesday, three years after Dublin closed its embassy following a row over a sex abuse probe.

Emma Madigan was received by Pope Francis, the Vatican said in a statement. She also met the Vatican’s number two Pietro Parolin.

Madigan, who presented her credentials, invited the pontiff to visit Ireland, adding that while such an invitation would come from church authorities, the government would do everything “to make the visit a success,” Irish foreign ministry spokeswoman Fionnuala Quinlan said.

“Ambassador Madigan underlined that Ireland is a strong advocate for the freedom of religion or belief. The persecution of members of religious minorities, including Christians, in several parts of the world is a matter of serious concern to the Irish government,” Quinlan added.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Nov 11, 2014 / 11:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis established on Tuesday a new judicial body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with responsibility for dealing with clerical sex abuse, thus confirming the Holy See’s continuing response to the crisis.

The new body, which is known as a college and which goes into effect Nov. 11, was established “due to the number of appeals and the need to guarantee that they are examined more rapidly and following detailed reflection.”

The decision was taken by Pope Francis during a Nov. 3 audience with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, and issued in a rescript.

The department will be composed of seven members appointed by the Pope from among cardinals and bishops, and will be entrusted with examining appeals by clergy accused of commiting ‘delicta graviora’, or ‘more grave crimes’, in order to lighten the work of the ordinary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The department’s members do not have to be members of the congregation.

The ordinary session is the plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and it meets once a month, on Wednesday – hence the name of ‘feria quarta’ to label the meeting, ‘feria quarta’ being the Latin name for Wednesday.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | November 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Tuesday (Nov. 11) created a new Vatican body to deal with the most serious cases of child sexual abuse and to streamline complaints against the clergy.

The Vatican said the pope would nominate seven cardinals or bishops to consider appeals from clergy accused of abusing minors in a bid to speed up the judicial process of clergy who have received an initial assessment by local bishops.

The members of the panel, or “college,” may come from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which currently handles cases, or elsewhere in the church. Members will also be asked to deal with serious abuses of penance in the confessional.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, called the pope’s proposal a “good solution” to help alleviate a backlog of cases.

Bishops accused of sexually abusing minors will still have their appeals handled by a session of CDF members at their monthly meetings

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

One of Australia’s largest yoga retreats on a NSW Central Coast mountain will be the focus of a national hearing into child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says its 21st public hearing will inquire into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain to allegations of child sexual abuse by a former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

Akhandananda Saraswati was charged, convicted and jailed in the late 1980s for sexually abusing teenage girls living at the Ashram.

The Swami spent 14 months in prison and the convictions were overturned by the High Court appeal in 1991. He died in 1997.

The commission at a hearing in Sydney on December 2 will examine the response of the Ashram to allegations and reports of child sexual abuse made against Swami Saraswati.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Theresa May orders review into MI5’s handling of child sex abuse claims, as she admits: ‘There may have been a cover-up’

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

Theresa May today ordered a review into how MI5 handled allegations of Establishment child abuse.
The Home Secretary also admitted to MPs that ‘there might have been a cover-up’ at the Home Office in the 1980s.

She has now asked advisers to examine whether files alleging abuse by senior figures in the 1980s were ever passed to the security services, and what action they took.

It came after a review by NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless and barrister Richard Whittam QC found no evidence of an organised Home Office cover-up of abuse claims.

Mr Wanless was brought in to investigate in July after an internal review found the department ‘lost or destroyed’ 114 files between 1979 and 1999.

A list of names of alleged abusers, compiled by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, was not found.

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ARGENTINA
The Public Opinion

Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — In a story Nov. 6 about papal action against a pedophile priest, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the man was excommunicated. He was stripped of priestly status, not excommunicated.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Pope defrocks pedophile Argentine priest

Clerical abuse victims applaud pope’s decision to defrock pedophile Argentine priest

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Pope Francis has defrocked a pedophile Argentine priest, a move applauded by advocates for victims of clerical abuse.

Jose Mercau was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011 after admitting to sexually abusing four teenagers. He spent 15 days in jail and was then held in a monastery in Buenos Aires province until he was released last March.

The pope’s decision was made public Wednesday by the bishopric of San Isidro on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

ANNA WILLIAMS

A former Blenheim priest who fondled a young man’s buttocks committed a serious offence and will never be a parish priest again, says the acting leader of his Catholic order.

Passionist order acting leader Kevin Hennessy said there was no way Alastair Aidan Kay would escape the consequences of his actions. The order saw the offending as serious despite Judge Bruce Davidson saying it was a low level indecent assault, made worse by a substantial breach of trust.

“It’s not at the lower end of the scale. For us, it’s a serious matter,” he said.

Hennessy talked to Kay after he was sentenced, and said the former St Mary’s parish priest understood he would have to face up to what he did. “It’s a breach of trust. Father Aidan realises that and he realises that there are consequences to his actions,” he said.

“Even though he had become very popular in that part of New Zealand, he has broken the trust and he has to face up to that.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson and Associates

* Files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago on November 6, 2014

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org ]

PRIEST FILES
• Baranowski, Alexander Sylvester * Timeline
• Bartz, Richard Barry * Timeline
• Becker, Robert C. Timeline
• Bennett, Joseph R. Timeline
• Bogdan, Leonard Adolph * Timeline
• Bowman, Robert Peter * Timeline
• Braun, David Francis * Timeline
• Brigham, Kenneth. Timeline
• Buck, Daniel Peter * Timeline
• Burns, Eugene Patrick * Timeline
• Calicott, John Walter * Timeline
• Cloutier, William J. Timeline
• Craig, Robert D. Timeline
• Curran, John Timeline
• Czajka, Norman J. * Timeline
• DeRoeck, Walter George * Timeline
• Dilla, Francis Emil * Timeline
• Fassbinder, Richard Wayne * Timeline
• Fitzharris, Joseph L. Timeline
• Flosi, James Vincent * Timeline
• Friese, Robert * Timeline
• Garza, Jesus P. * Timeline
• Hagan, James C. Timeline
• Hefferan, John Edward * Timeline
• Hoder, James * Timeline
• Hogan, Michael J. * Timeline
• Holihan, Daniel M. Timeline
• Huppenbauer, Walter Edward * Timeline
• Job, Thomas J. Timeline
• Kealy, Robert Louis * Timeline
• Keehan, John James * Timeline
• Kelly, Thomas F. Timeline
• Keough, John Joseph * Timeline
• Kissane, Joseph P. Timeline
• Kmak, Leonard Paul * Timeline
• Lupo, William L. * Timeline
• Maday, Norbet J. Timeline
• Mayer, Robert E. Timeline
• McCaffrey, Vincent E. Timeline
• McDonald, Robert Joseph * Timeline
• McNamara, Peter John * Timeline
• Miller, Gary M. * Timeline
• Mulsoff, Donald John * Timeline
• O’Brien, William J. Timeline
• Owens, Joseph Timeline
• Pallakunnen, Emmanuel Timeline
• Ray, James M. * Timeline
• Robinson, John Allen * Timeline
• Rohrich, John F. * Timeline
• Romano, Russell L. Timeline
• Ruge, Kenneth C. Timeline
• Savage, Joseph E. * Timeline
• Skriba, Raymond Timeline
• Snieg, Marion J. Timeline
• Steel, James R. Timeline
• Stewart, Victor Timeline
• Strand, Ralph S. Timeline
• Swade, Thomas J. Timeline
• Swider, Henry P. Timeline
• Tanghal, Albert * Timeline
• Theisen, Richard Gregory * Timeline
• Thomas, Joseph S. * Timeline
• Turlo, Walter J. Timeline
• Ulatowski, Donald Francis Timeline
• Vader, Anthony Joseph * Timeline
• Weston, Michael Timeline

SELECTED DOCUMENTS OBTAINED THROUGH OTHER MEANS

• Przybylo, Chester J. Timeline
• McCormack, Daniel J. Timeline

KEY DOCUMENTS
Cardinal George’s Knowledge of Abusive Priests:

Brigham, Kenneth Maday, Norbet J. Curran, John Holihan, Daniel M. McCormack, Daniel J. Strand, Ralph S. Bennett, Joseph R.

Priests Placed Back in Ministry Despite Danger to Minors:

Brigham, Kenneth. O’Brien, William J. Skriba, Raymond Mayer, Robert E. Curran, John Cloutier, William J. Hagan, James C.
Fitzharris, Joseph L. Becker, Robert C. Snieg, Marion J. Holihan, Daniel M. Job, Thomas J. McCormack, Daniel J. Swider, Henry P.
McCaffrey, Vincent E. Romano, Russell L. Ruge, Kenneth C. Stewart, Victor Strand, Ralph S. Swade, Thomas J. Weston, Michael

Priests Criminally Convicted for Abuse of Minors:

Maday, Norbet J. Fitzharris, Joseph L. McCaffrey, Vincent E. Mayer, Robert E. Strand, Ralph S.
Reasons for Removal of or Restrictions on Predator Priests Other than Abuse of Minors:

Skriba, Raymond
Swade, Thomas J.

Laicized Priests:

Job, Thomas J. Holihan, Daniel M. Weston, Michael Fitzharris, Joseph L.
Hagan, James C.
Steel, James R.

Abusive Priests whom Cardinal George or Cardinal Bernardin Chose Not to Laicize:

Curran, John
Maday, Norbet J.
O’Brien, William J.
Ruge, Kenneth C.
Skriba, Raymond F.
Bennett, Joseph R.

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UTAH
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 10, 2014

Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old.

The church’s disclosures, in a series of essays online, are part of an effort to be transparent about its history at a time when church members are increasingly encountering disturbing claims about the faith on the Internet. Many Mormons, especially those with polygamous ancestors, say they were well aware that Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, practiced polygamy when he led the flock in Salt Lake City. But they did not know the full truth about Smith.

“Joseph Smith was presented to me as a practically perfect prophet, and this is true for a lot of people,” said Emily Jensen, a blogger and editor in Farmington, Utah, who often writes about Mormon issues.

She said the reaction of some Mormons to the church’s disclosures resembled the five stages of grief in which the first stage is denial, and the second is anger. Members are saying on blogs and social media, “This is not the church I grew up with, this is not the Joseph Smith I love,” Ms. Jensen said.

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UTAH
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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 Mormon hierarchy for gradually becoming more open about the sexual behavior of its founder, especially the fact that Joseph Smith took a 14 year old “bride” which constitutes child sexual abuse.

But now, church officials should unequivocally denounce child sexual abuse and tell and remind their flock that it is always illegal and immoral for any adult to have any sexual contact with any child. And they should beg anyone with information or suspicions about child sex crimes – past or present – to call police and prosecutors now.

[The New York

“That’s not needed. Everyone knows this,” some may protest. But this is a reckless assumption, especially in a denomination with a sordid history of secrecy around sexual crimes and misdeeds. If such a strong and clear declaration helps embolden one person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes in a Mormon church or family to call law enforcement, it will have been worth it.

Reversing decades of sexual secrecy and misconduct in any institution is tough. It requires repeated and vigorous action, including public statements.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

My friend Tom Leith notes that most people view marriage as a legal or consensual arrangement, not as an ontological change. By “ontological change” he means a change in our very being.

There are many of these ontological changes that we go through in our lives. Adolescence is the first big one, one in which we grapple with the great change of going from being a child to being an adult. But we recognize other ontological changes in life as well, if only subconsciously.

When a man becomes a father or a woman becomes a mother, we realize that this changes who we are. At least we used to recognize that readily. Many people are very casual about this ontological change these days and don’t recognize the responsibility suddenly thrust upon them by becoming different people from what they once were. And we fathers are surprised to learn that, foolish and inept as we sometimes are, our children nonetheless view us as entirely different sorts of creatures from every other person on the planet. Mommy or Daddy is something other and something greater than Aunt or Uncle or brother or sister. Our kids see that, sometimes to our embarrassment and chagrin. …

And the higher the goal, the greater the disparity when we don’t reach it.

Take, for instance, Holy Orders. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the majority of bishops and even a solid contingent of priests are not only bad at what they do (which is to be expected, as they are called to be remarkably great), but simply scoundrels, bad men who have adopted a mask that allows them to exercise their badness is ways that normal people can’t.

Here’s a long description of a priest who simply appears to be a predator in a collar. It’s by Peggy Warren of Wichita, a woman who (if her story is true) was preyed upon by a priest and treated with contempt by his bishop, while, because of the whole sordid mess, her marriage and sanity began to crumble around her. I’m not sharing her story to enter into a discussion on the fiduciary duty of priests and to examine how abuse can happen even between adults, when one of them is in a position of authority and the other is vulnerable. I’m sharing it because priests having affairs with married women is much more common than priests molesting children, and this flouting of marriage and the priesthood does an incredible amount of damage, despite the fact that bishops take it lightly.

Note that it’s the ontological change, which is apparently viewed as a mere mask by the priest in the story – it’s this ontological change or alteration of identity that allows the abusive relationship to happen. The priest was able to begin his long process of grooming, he had access to the wife, to the home, to the family in the way that he did because he was a priest. No unmarried guy off the street would have been given the opportunity this man was given. He was operating under cover, a convenient cover that works automatically in the minds of many people. “Father is a priest! He’s a nice guy! Why would I worry that he spends time alone with my wife in my living room after I go to bed at night?”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent November 11, 2014

ROME — In Pope Francis’ latest effort to show resolve about cleaning up the sexual abuse scandals in Catholicism, the Vatican is creating a college of experts to speed up the procedure for expelling abusers from the priesthood.

Since 2001, the process to remove an alleged abuser has been supervised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with most cases taking four or five months to process once they arrive in Rome.

The seven-member college created by Francis on Tuesday, to be composed of cardinals and bishops, is designed to cut that lag time significantly. The college also will handle other grave offenses under Church law, including violations of the secrecy of the confessional and impersonating a priest.

Members of the team haven’t been appointed yet, but a document released Tuesday and signed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, says they will be chosen by Pope Francis in the near future.

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

Pope Francis has created a new commission to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of child sex abuse, the Vatican has said.

“The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists, without specifying how many cases are currently being examined.

Speeding up the process would see sex abusers handed a definitive conviction more quickly, as well as helping innocent priests eager to clear their names.

The new commission, made up of seven cardinals and bishops, will work for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which currently oversees such appeals.

The Vatican said in May that church courts had sanctioned at least 3,430 priests and other religious figures over the past ten years.

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UNITED STATES
U.S. News

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

America’s Catholic bishops came together Monday to project an image of unity, after a Vatican meeting on the family unleashed an uproar over the direction of the church.

Last month’s gathering in Rome on more compassionately ministering to families featured open debate — alarming many traditional Catholics, who argued it would undermine public understanding of church teaching. Pope Francis encouraged a free exchange of ideas at the assembly, or synod, in contrast to previous years, when such events were tightly scripted.

At a meeting Monday in Baltimore, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops, signaled there was no conflict between a gentler approach and upholding church orthodoxy. Kurtz cited his home visits to parishioners, where he wouldn’t give them “a list of rules to follow firsthand,” but would instead “spend time with them trying to appreciate the good that I saw in their hearts,” before inviting them to follow Christ.

“Such an approach isn’t in opposition to church teachings. It’s an affirmation of them,” said Kurtz, who attended the Vatican gathering.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

Statement by Nicky Davis, Australia SNAP director ( nicky@nickydavis.com.au ) (in Switzerland now)

Pope Francis has made a poor promotion. This time, it’s his new top diplomat: Archbishop Peter Gallagher.

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=42281#.VGEmMPnF_Mh

Less than a year, in Australia, Gallagher “claimed diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests for archival documentation that might assist” a governmental inquiry into clergy sex crimes and cover ups. In other words, he exploited legal technicalities to conceal evidence of crimes and cover ups, like literally hundreds of other Catholic officials have done for decades and continue doing.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/australian-abuse-inquiry-faces-diplomatic-standoff-vatican

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2013/11_12/2013_12_19_Crittenden_AustralianAbuse.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/05_06/2014_06_05_Barlow_WillPope.htm

Fortunately, Gallagher later relented.

But once again, it seems like church officials who conceal crimes, protect predators and endanger kids get rewarded. Once again, it feels like church officials who respond legalistically and selfishly, rather than pastorally and responsibly, get moved up the clerical career ladder.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

Like his precedessors, Pope Francis tweaks policies instead of firing criminals. He’s doing it again now.

Yet another new church body will reportedly be created. This one will supposedly deal with the “most egregious” clergy sex crimes.

But it’s the front end where attention is needed, not the back end. The Pope should focus on independent prevention work, not on biased church adjudication.

And it’s not progress when the very prelates who conceal abuse rule on abusers’ fates.

The Tablet reports there will be a new “special procedure for any bishop accused of grave crimes.”

[The Tablet]

Again, new procedures aren’t needed. Decisive action is needed. And historically, only bishops who commit child sex crimes face even the slightest discipline while the hundreds more who conceal the crimes are ignored or promoted.

Defrocking dangerous molesters is a first step not the last that any bishop should take. While this long overdue step may bring some comfort to the victims and their family members who have been hurt by these men, it is important to remember that molesters are not cured and may still pose a serious threat to nearby children.

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POLAND
The Tablet (UK)

10 November 2014 by Jonathan Luxmoore

A Polish priest has been charged with 10 counts of sex abuse in connection with the case of the laicised Polish former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski.

In a statement, Warsaw’s District Procurator said the charges against Fr Wojciech Gil had followed over 100 witness testimonies during a year-long investigation, and covered offences in Poland and the Dominican Republic between 2001 and 2013.

It added that the priest, who was suspended last year, also faced counts of possession of child pornography and illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition. Prosecutors said 91,000 images and over 400 films involving child pornography were found on the priest’s computer hard drive.

Fr Gil, a member of the Michaelite order, was arrested during a holiday in Krakow last February and suspended from priestly duties, during the preparation of charges against Archbishop Wesolowski, who was defrocked in June and is currently under pre-trial house arrest in the Vatican. Prosecutors have not yet detailed how Fr Gil was connected with the disgraced ex-nuncio.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Papst Franziskus hat bei der Glaubenskongregation eine neue Stelle eingerichtet, die die Untersuchung von Missbrauchsfällen und anderen schweren Delikten durch Kleriker beschleunigen soll. Das Kollegium setzt sich aus sieben Kardinälen und Bischöfen zusammen und soll Einsprüche gegen Entscheidungen der Kongregation bearbeiten, wie der Vatikan am Dienstag mitteilte. Den Angaben zufolge treffen im Monat rund vier bis fünf Einsprüche ein. Für ihre Aufarbeitung war bisher die Kardinalssitzung der Glaubenskongregation zuständig. Diese wird durch das neu errichtete Kollegium entlastet.

Das Kollegium kann eigene Entscheidungen treffen. Für Untersuchungen gegen Bischöfe bleibt jedoch die reguläre Kardinalssitzung zuständig, heißt es in der Anordnung. Die Ernennung des Vorsitzenden und der Angehörigen des Kollegiums erfolgt durch den Papst. Sowohl Mitglieder der Glaubenskongregation als auch Experten von außen werden vertreten sein, hieß es. Die Statuten des Kollegiums müssen noch erarbeitet werden.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Star (Lebanon)

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has moved to speed up rulings on appeals by clergy who have been accused of sex abuse of minors and other grave abuses.

The Vatican announced Tuesday that the pope is setting up a panel, made up of seven cardinals or bishops, to examine appeals that reach the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Congregation is cracking down on priests who sexually abuse children, but critics say the Vatican is moving too slowly to decide the ultimate fate of these priests.

Bishops accused of sexually abusing minors will still have their appeals handled by all congregation members, not by the new panel.

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ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

Milan, November 11 – A priest arrested on suspicion of drug possession for dealing after being discovered at a ‘cocaine party’ in Milan in July is to be judged in a fast-track trial, judicial sources said Tuesday. Don Stefano Maria Cavalletti, 45, is set to appear before a preliminary hearings judge on January 29. He was detained in July after police were called out to investigate noise and shouting during a party in Piazza Anghilberto in Milan. There police found traces of white powder throughout the apartment, with the majority in the lavatory together with the priest’s shredded passport. Don Stefano, who served in the Piedmont town of Stresa, told police he had started to use cocaine as a form of ‘self-treatment’ for depression after first running into trouble with the law. In September 2013 he was convicted by a court of first instance of fraud against an elderly woman whom he allegedly convinced to pay 22,000 euros into his bank account.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

11 November 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

Pope Francis has set up a new judicial body to deal specifically with the most serious cases of sexual abuse committed by clergy.

The Vatican said today that the college, which will be overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), had been set up because of the large number of cases and the need to deal with them more swiftly.

It will also deal with the abuse of the confessional.

The college will consist of seven cardinals or bishops who can come from within or outside the CDF and will be chosen by the Pope.

The document announcing the new body outlines a special procedure for any bishop accused of grave crimes. He “shall have his case examined by the whole body of members of the Congregation – the Ordinary Session – which may also examine other specific cases upon papal request, and/or examine cases referred to it by the newly created College.”

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VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

Pope Francis has created a new commission (Coleggio) of seven bishops and cardinals to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of serious crimes, including sexual abuse on minors, the Vatican said.

The commission, under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will examine the case of any bishop accused of grave crimes as well as other specific cases upon Papal request.

The Pope’s decision is intended to expedite the handling of these cases, according to the Holy See Press Office. “The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 November 2014 (VIS) – St. John Paul II’s Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST), published on 30 April 2001 and implemented on 21 May 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, defines the offences reserved to the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (cf. Art. 1-6), in accordance with Art. 52 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith judges these offences by penal or administrative procedures (cf. Art. 21 paras 1 and 2, No. 1 SST), taking into account the possibility of submitting the decision directly to the Supreme Pontiff in the most serious cases (see Art. 21 para. 2, No. 2 SST). Crimes against faith remain, in the first instance, within the sphere of competence of the Ordinary or the Hierarch (cf. Art. 2 para. 2 SST).

Due to the number of appeals and the need to guarantee that they are examined more rapidly and following detailed reflection, in the Audience granted to Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on 3 November 2014, the Holy Father Francis decreed the following:

1. A special college is to be instituted within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, composed of seven cardinals or bishops, who may either be members of the Dicastery or external to it;

2. The President and the members of the aforementioned College are to be appointed by the Pope;

3. The College is a provision made by the Ordinary Session of the Congregation to enable greater efficiency in processing appeals in accordance with Art. 27 SST, without substantive modification to its competences as established in the same Art. 27 SST;

4. Should the offender be of episcopal dignity, his appeal shall be examined by the Ordinary Session, which will also be able to decide specific cases according to the Pope’s judgement. Other cases to be decided by the College may also be deferred to the Ordinary Session;

5. The College shall periodically report its decisions to the Ordinary Session;

6. Specific internal regulations shall determine the working methods of the College.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Rescritto del Sommo Pontefice Francesco sulla istituzione di un Collegio, all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, per l’esame dei ricorsi di ecclesiastici per i delicta graviora, 11.11.2014

[Rescript of the Holy Father Francis on the establishment of a College within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the consideration of the appeal to the clergy delicta graviora, 11/11/2014]

Rescritto del Sommo Pontefice Francesco sulla istituzione di un Collegio, all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, per l’esame dei ricorsi di ecclesiastici per i delicta graviora

RESCRIPTUM EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI

Il Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST) del 30 aprile 2001, aggiornato il 21 maggio 2010, precisa quali sono i delitti riservati alla competenza della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede (cfr. artt. 1-6), a norma dell’art. 52 della Costituzione apostolica Pastor Bonus.

Nel giudicare i delitti sopra indicati, la Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede procede tramite processo penale, giudiziale o amministrativo (cfr. art. 21 § 1 e § 2, n. 1 SST), salva la possibilità di sottoporre direttamente la decisione al Sommo Pontefice per i casi gravissimi (cfr. art. 21 § 2, n. 2 SST). Resta inteso, relativamente ai delitti contro la fede, che la competenza in prima istanza è dell’Ordinario o del Gerarca (cfr. art. 2 § 2 SST).

A motivo del numero dei ricorsi e della necessità di garantire un più rapido esame degli stessi, dopo approfondita riflessione, nell’Udienza concessa al sottoscritto Cardinale Segretario di Stato il 3 novembre 2014,

il Sommo Pontefice Francesco

ha decretato quanto segue:

1. è istituito all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede uno speciale Collegio, formato da sette Cardinali o Vescovi, che possono essere sia membri del Dicastero, sia esterni ad esso;

2. il Presidente e i membri di detto Collegio sono nominati dal Papa;

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

PUBLISHED ON NOV 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis has created a new commission to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of child sex abuse, the Vatican said Tuesday.

“The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists, without specifying how many cases are currently being examined.

Speeding up the process would see sex abusers handed a definitive conviction more quickly, as well as helping innocent priests eager to clear their names.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[The Regensburg diocese has paid 150,000 euros to 30 victims of abuse. Thirteen clergy were convicted of abuse since 1945. These included 77 minor sexual offenses. Two priests possessed child pornography. Eight of the 13 priests are still alive and two were released from the clerical state. Six were suspended from priestly functions.]

Das Bistum Regensburg hat bislang 30 Missbrauchsopfer finanziell entschädigt – mit insgesamt rund 159.000 Euro. Das geht aus dem ersten Tätigkeitsbericht hervor, den der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Diözese vorgelegt hat.

Von 2011 bis heute hat das Bistum Regensburg 158.500 Euro an Missbrauchsopfer ausgezahlt. Unter den 30 entschädigten Personen sind sowohl Opfer von verurteilten Straftaten als auch Antragssteller, deren Vorwürfe nicht mehr juristisch geklärt werden konnten. Nur vereinzelt hätten sich die erhobenen Vorwürfe nicht als plausibel erwiesen, bilanziert Martin Linder, der Missbrauchsbeauftragte des Bistums Regensburg, in seinem Tätigkeitsbericht.

13 Geistliche seit 1945 verurteilt

Er gehe davon aus, dass “nur eine Minderzahl der Opfer” einen Entschädigungsantrag gestellt habe, so Linder. Die Zahl der von Geistlichen missbrauchten Menschen in der Diözese Regensburg dürfte um ein Vielfaches größer sein als die Zahl der entschädigten Personen.

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DEUTCHLAND
NetzwerkB

[Norbert Denef, a clergy abuse survivor, has written an open letter to Heiko Maas, federal justice minister. He said victims of sexual violence can often not talk about abuse for decades out of fear, shame and guilt. He questions why Germany has taken no steps toward having an inquiry into abuse and cover-ups.]

Offenen Brief an Bundesjustizminister Heiko Maas, 6. November 2014, als PDF herunterladen

Sehr geehrter Herr Bundesjustizminister Maas,

Opfer von sexualisierter Gewalt können oft viele Jahrzehnte nicht über die Verbrechen, die ihnen angetan wurden, reden – aus Angst, Scham und aufgrund von Schuldgefühlen.

Erst mit 65 Jahren ist Norbert Denef in der Lage, den sexuellen Missbrauch durch seinen Schwager, den Organisten Rolf Henry Kunz, strafrechtlich anzuzeigen. In Deutschland ist das nicht – erfolgreich – möglich, weil die Verbrechen verjährt sind.

Warum gelingt es Großbritannien, Missbrauchstaten noch nach vielen Jahrzehnten anzuklagen und in Deutschland ist das nicht möglich? Wieso schafft es das Königreich, Missbrauchs-Berichte zu recherchieren und zu schreiben und dabei die Mitwisser zu befragen und zu demaskieren – aber in Deutschland hat bislang keine Behörde auch nur ein Verbrechen von damals peinlich hinterfragt?

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CHICAGO (IL)
Rete L’Abuso (Italia)

La mole di documenti inquietanti, pubblicati a Chicago sugli abusi commessi dal clero tra gli anni 1950 e 2010, è un campanello di allarme per il Vaticano. Al di là dell’impegno personale di papa Francesco – evidenziato dalla decisione di sottoporre a processo penale il pedofilo ex nunzio nella Repubblica dominicana Jozef Wesolowski – la vicenda ripropone la questione della grande disparità esistente da una nazione all’altra, più precisamente da una conferenza episcopale all’altra, nelle strutture per contrastare le violenze contro ragazzi e ragazze.

La speciale commissione anti-abusi, formata dal Papa va a rilento. C’è stata qualche riunione, ma finora non sono state elaborate linee-guida, che organizzino a livello planetario le modalità per accogliere le denunce, indagare sui misfatti e risarcire le vittime. LA CHIESA ha molto da recuperare. Perché gli Stati in quanto tali non hanno praticato sistematicamente una politica di insabbiamento quando un insegnante o un allenatore compivano atti di pedofilia.

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ITALY
The Local

Published: 11 Nov 2014

A priest has abandoned his parish in a small town on the outskirts of the northern Italian province of Rovigo following revelations of an affair with a parishioner.

The 40-year-old decided to leave the parish in the Medio Polesine for a period of “reflection” after the affair was exposed last week, Il Gazzettino reported.

The relationship was discovered by a private investigator hired by the woman’s suspicious husband, who heads the church’s choir.

The priest reportedly told Bishop Lucio De Franceschi that he intended to use the time to “reflect on his future”.

The husband has since separated from his wife.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: November 11, 2014

$5 milllion in cuts to chancery’s operating budget linked to abuse cases, other spending.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will cut 20 percent of the chancery’s operating budget, or more than $5 million, in response to growing financial pressures resulting from clergy sex abuse lawsuits and other spending.

Staff layoffs in the central office as well as a reduction in some parish support services are expected in the move, which may be followed by the sale of some church assets.

Minnesota’s roughly 200 Catholic parishes and 90 Catholic schools are incorporated separately from the chancery and not directly subject to the budget cuts.

“Even without including unanticipated legal … fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” said vicar general Charles Lachowitzer in a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website.

Lachowitzer said budgets and staffing in chancery departments had expanded in the past several years, to provide “needed resources for parishes and Catholic schools and archdiocesan initiatives.”
The archdiocese has faced unprecedented expenses related to its handling of clergy sex abuse cases over the past year. Last month, it reached a comprehensive settlement with the more than 16 victims represented by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson who have filed sex abuse lawsuits. It now must reach financial settlements expected to reach millions of dollars in those lawsuits and future litigation.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Post

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves’ is U.S. Catholic bishops’ outlook as they meet

By Michelle Boorstein November 10

In their first meeting since a closely watched Vatican synod on family issues last month, U.S. bishops emphasized Monday that the gathering in Rome was merely the beginning of a process to examine church practices concerning matters such as remarriage and the place of gay families.

Catholics around the world have been intently analyzing last month’s synod on the family, which Pope Francis called in order to have frank talks on teachings many Catholics ignore, such as those against divorce, cohabitation and same-sex relationships. The meeting ended with what appeared to be no consensus, but on Monday, top U.S. bishops said pastoral changes were not planned to take place, if they happen at all, until a follow-up meeting in fall 2015.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We are Americans, we want answers now,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, head of the Louisville archdiocese and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opened its annual meeting Monday in Baltimore. “Abstractly, while the teachings of the church remain timeless, the opportunities to reach out creatively have changed with each age because the circumstances change. . . . So let’s give ourselves a chance to let that unfold so that creative ways . . . can bubble up.”

Kurtz was speaking on a panel in which some of the bishops who had attended the synod shared their experiences with the entire group.

The pope has opened dialogue on Catholic teachings and practices in a way that has thrilled many Catholics and alarmed many others. Experts say this has created a challenging environment for Catholic leaders as they shape their own priorities.

The U.S. bishops stressed Monday that they would be focusing largely on their pre-Francis agendas, including religious freedom (and their fight against the White House health plan’s mandate that employers offer birth control coverage), protecting traditional marriage and promoting natural family planning.

The tension over how rigidly to emphasize doctrine was on display this past weekend, when the Vatican confirmed long-standing rumors that Francis was removing leading conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke of the St. Louis archdiocese as head of the Vatican’s high court. The pope didn’t say why, but Burke is known for actions that run contrary to Francis’s welcoming tone, such as pushing for the denial of Communion to Catholic politicians and others who support abortion rights, and other efforts to emphasize doctrine explicitly. He also criticized Francis for suggesting that the church was overly focused on abortion and homosexuality.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Oliver Moody and Tom Kington Rome

November 11 2014

A Catholic archbishop from Liverpool who has been appointed to one of the most powerful posts in the Vatican tried to withhold church documents from an inquiry into child sex abuse last year by citing diplomatic immunity.

The Most Reverend Paul Gallagher, 60, was named the church’s first English foreign minister by the Pope on Saturday, and is expected to take up the post early in 2015. He will be responsible for dealing with requests from foreign governments for documents relating to sex abuse investigations.

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UNITED STATES
PR Web

Front Royal, VA (PRWEB) November 11, 2014

Nearly 20,000 Catholics have signed a petition in support of outspoken Cardinal Raymond Burke, just days after Pope Francis removed him from his influential Vatican post.

Launched by LifeSiteNews, a pro-life news agency, the petition thanks Burke “for being a strong and uncompromising voice in defense of the truths of life and the family.”

“Many have tried to paint Cardinal Burke as a heartless conservative ‘villain,’” said LifeSiteNews managing director Steve Jalsevac. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Cardinal Burke is humble, gentle, and deeply compassionate, but – because he stands uncompromisingly for unpopular truths – he has often been ill-treated.”

“The overwhelming response to our petition shows, however, that despite the best efforts of his enemies, Cardinal Burke remains a much-beloved figure to many everyday Catholics in the pews.”

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