ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

11 November, 2014

The Royal Commission is holding a public hearing in Sydney from 2 December 2014 at 10:00am.

The public hearing will inquire into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram located at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations of child sexual abuse by the Ashram’s former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The response between 1974 and 2014 of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations or reports of child sexual abuse made against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

2. The operation of the Ashram between 1974 and 1989 in relation to matters of child sexual abuse.

3. The systems, policies and procedures in place at the Ashram between 1974 and 1989, and currently, in relation to raising and responding to allegations of or concerns about child sexual abuse.

4. Any related matters.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 21 November 2014.

Applications for leave to appear should be made using the form available on the Royal Commission website entitled ‘Application for Leave to Appear at the Royal Commission’ and include a short submission setting out the basis on which it is said the applicant has a substantial and direct interest in appearing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

November 10, 2014
By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson will hear prosecution arguments this week that a Roman Catholic priest from Somerset County remain in prison pending that outcome of child sexual abuse charges filed against him by federal authorities.

Gibson, presiding in Johnstown, will hear an appeal from a decision made last week by Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto ordering the release of Father Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. to home detention.

Pesto, after three hearings on the detention issue, ruled that Maurizio could leave the Cambria County Prison to reside with a sister in Somerset County.

He ordered Maurizio’s financial accounts frozen and ruled that the priest, relieved of his pastoral duties at Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish in Central City, not have minors in the residence and that other visitors be screened by authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines immediately appealed Pesto’s decision to the district judge, asking that a new hearing be held.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Justin Moyer
November 10

Just a few years ago, former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke was riding high. A conservative leader in a conservative Catholic Church under a conservative pope, he seemed to fall into the Vatican’s favor after taking a few high-profile stands against the godless.

The fights he picked always managed to make headlines. In 2004, the Wisconsin native said he would refuse to give pro-choice Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) communion. In 2007, he resigned from the board of a Catholic hospital after it invited Sheryl Crow, who is pro-choice, to play a benefit concert. And in 2009, he let the University of Notre Dame have it for giving President Obama an honorary degree.

“The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our president, who is so aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda, is rightly the source of the greatest scandal,” Burke said.

The reward for this holy work? In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI made Burke head of the Vatican’s supreme court. In 2010, he made Burke a cardinal.

These were the good times. Then along came Francis — the freewheeling Argentine pope who loves gays, loves divorcees and hates income inequality. After a few high-profile disagreements with Burke, Francis made him patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a charity. The Associated Press called the office “largely ceremonial.”

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
SBS

Source: AAP
11 NOV 2014

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.

At a public hearing of The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in August, Cardinal Pell told commission chair Peter McClellan his request for all papal documents relating to every abuse case involving an Australian cleric was “unreasonable”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Survivors of historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland should receive reparations, a junior minister in the powersharing administration said.

A public inquiry has received harrowing testimony from those who lived in residential homes run by Catholic religious orders.

A panel headed by a retired judge is holding an extensive investigation into claims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against young children made by hundreds of former residents who have contacted the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Stormont junior minister Jennifer McCann said: “I would certainly like to see some sort of reparations made in terms of those people that have went through the inquiry.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

by Matthew Taylor

AN Altrincham school has suspended two members of staff over allegations they knew about the sexual abuse carried out by disgraced former teacher, Alan Morris.

Morris, 64, of Rivington Road, Hale, was jailed for nine years in August after being found guilty of committing a string of sexual offences at St Ambrose Catholic College, Hale Barns.

The former Chemistry and RE teacher was convicted of 19 offences of indecent assault and inciting a child to perform an act of gross indecency.

The offences were committed against ten boys between 1973 and 1990.

On Friday, a St Ambrose College spokesman said: “Following allegations from a former pupil that two members of staff may have been aware of Alan Morris’s activities, on the advice of the police and local authority the school has suspended those two members of staff pending an independent inquiry.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A high profile promotion of a senior Catholic figure in Rome has outraged some Hunter Valley clergy abuse survivors still reeling from a diplomatic stoush involving the clergyman.

In May the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticised the Vatican’s representative in Australia Archbishop Paul Gallagher for claiming diplomatic immunity in refusing to hand over documents.

Those documents related to child sexual abuse in the Maitland/Newcastle Catholic Diocese committed by the now dead priests Dennis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Archbishop Gallagher who is the former Papal Envoy to Australia has now been promoted to the third highest position in the Catholic Church.

Bob O’Toole from the Clergy Abuse Network says it is a disgrace.

“I’m appalled,” he said.

“You do the wrong thing by the people and perhaps the right thing in the eyes of the church and you get a promotion.

“It’s just totally wrong.”

Archbishop Gallagher was promoted as part of a reshuffle by Pope Francis.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Los Angeles, Calif., Nov 10, 2014 / 02:03 pm (CNA).- A Vatican tribunal has “definitively determined” that there is no proof of sexual misconduct by Monsignor Richard Loomis, a prominent Los Angeles archdiocese priest.

“Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations,” the Los Angeles archdiocese said Nov. 8, saying the tribunal’s determination followed “ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial.”

The tribunal’s ruling means that the allegations against the monsignor have been “conclusively resolved” and that he can return to public ministry.

“He remains a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in good standing,” the archdiocese said.

Msgr. Loomis, 68, first faced accusations of sexual misconduct allegations in 2003. The accusations concerned alleged misconduct between 1969 and 1971, when he was a seminarian. A 2003 lawsuit claimed that he had abused a teenage boy while teaching at a Catholic high school in the L.A. area, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Gillian Flaccus

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A high-ranking Roman Catholic official has been exonerated of clergy sex abuse allegations by a Vatican tribunal after a decade of investigation and is once more considered a priest in good standing with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, church officials said Monday.

The decision to reinstate Msgr. Richard Loomis is rare — particularly after so many years — and the move drew immediate condemnation from an attorney for the alleged victim and church critics who say the tribunal never reached out to the accusers of Loomis after they gave an initial account and didn’t inform them of the decision.

Loomis, 68, has been on inactive leave and living outside the church since allegations surfaced in 2003 that he molested a boy between 1968 and 1971 at a Catholic high school where he taught.

Another boy told his parents in 1974 that he had been molested by Loomis, and the family reported it to a parish priest, according to church documents.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — The lawyer for a priest charged with raping a boy at an Ipswich summer camp more than three decades ago suggested to jurors Monday that the accusations are motivated by one thing: money.

“What’s the motive here?” Steve Neyman, who is the Rev. Richard McCormick’s attorney, asked the Lawrence Superior Court jury during closing arguments. He recalled testimony about the accuser first speaking with a civil attorney. “The motive is money.”

But if that was the motive, argued prosecutor Kate MacDougall, wouldn’t the accuser’s story have been more complete, his gaps in memory filled in? “Why isn’t it better? Why didn’t he fill in all these gaps if it was about money?” she asked the jury.

McCormick, 73, is facing five counts of child rape stemming from incidents that prosecutors say took place during the summers of 1981 and 1982 at the camp operated by the Salesian Society of North America, a religious order in which he held a position equivalent to a bishop.

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WALTHAM (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

BishopAccountability.org has prepared searchable versions of the files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago on November 6, 2014. Download these searchable PDFs to your computer for best performance. Some of the files are very large. We have split those files into smaller pieces for easier download at this page.

– Alexander S. Baranowski
– Richard B. Bartz
– Leonard A. Bogdan

– R. Peter Bowman (large file)
– David F. Braun
– Daniel P. Buck (large file)

– Eugene P. Burns
– John W. Calicott (very large file)
– Norman J. Czajka

– Walter G. DeRoeck (large file)
– Francis E. Dilla
– Richard W. Fassbinder

– James V. Flosi
– Robert D. Friese
– Jesus P. Garza

– John E. Hefferan
– James Hoder
– Michael J. Hogan

– Walter E. Huppenbauer
– Robert L. Kealy (very large file)
– John J. Keehan

– John J. Keough
– Leonard P. Kmak
– William L. Lupo

– Robert J. McDonald
– Peter J. McNamara
– Gary M. Miller

– Donald J. Mulsoff
– James M. Ray (large file)
– John A. Robinson

– John F. Rohrich
– Joseph E. Savage
– Albert(o) Tanghal

– Richard G. Theisen
– Joseph S. Thomas
– Anthony J. Vader (large file)

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AUSTRALIA
Cootamundra Herald

Police have charged a former Christian Brother in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in the Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Initial reports from NSW Police Media had incorrectly described the person charged as a former Catholic priest.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Nov 10, 2014 By Todd Fitzgerald

Two teachers at St Ambrose RC College in Altrincham have been suspended after a former student alleged they knew about the actions of disgraced Alan Morris

A school has suspended two members of staff over allegations they knew about the sexual abuse carried out by a disgraced former teacher.

Pervert Alan Morris was jailed for nine years for an horrific 17-year campaign of abuse against boys at St Ambrose RC College in Altrincham.

Morris, 64, of Hale, was found guilty of spanking and groping pupils for his own gratification while he was a teacher at the all-boys grammar school.

The M.E.N. understands the two long-serving teachers, who both hold senior positions, were suspended in September after allegations were made by a former pupil. An investigation is under way.

A school spokesman said: “Following allegations from a former pupil that two members of staff may have been aware of Alan Morris’ activities, on the advice of the police and local authority, the school has suspended those two members of staff pending an independent inquiry.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Rev. Stan Archie of Kansas City is a prominent Kansas City pastor. He says a recent trial shows that he’s been “exonerated” of wrongdoing. But here’s the truth:

–He’s been sued twice.

–One was a young woman who said he sexually violated her when she was a girl.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/Sexual-misconduct-suit-names-Mo-education-board-chief/18273274

–The other was a woman who said he “sexually exploited” her as a church staffer by using his position as a pastoral counselor.”

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article1161589.html#storylink=cpy

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

A former West Michigan radio host who pleaded guilty in August to raping an 11-year-old boy has been sentenced.

John Balyo, 35, was sentenced Monday afternoon in Calhoun County to 25 to 50 years in prison on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

During the sentencing, Balyo said he suffers “deep and constant remorse” for his actions.

The former host at WCSG in Grand Rapids still has to be sentenced in federal court in a separate case. In that case, he pleaded guilty in July to child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child in Kalamazoo County.

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MICHIGAN
Battle Creek Enquirer

Trace Christenson tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com
November 10, 2014

A former Grand Rapids Christian radio host was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping an 11-year-old Battle Creek boy.

“I just want to take this opportunity to say I am feeling very deep and constant remorse for my actions,” said John Balyo, 35. “And I want the family to know I am very sorry and wish I could do something to correct what has been done.”

Balyo pleaded guilty in September to first-degree criminal sexual in a May 17 assault in a Beckley Road motel room.

Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt sentenced him Monday to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of 50 years. He also must register for the sex offenders list and wear an electronic monitor for the rest of his life if he is ever released from prison.

Balyo still faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in December in U.S. District Court on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography. The sentences will be served together.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com
on November 10, 2014

CALHOUN COUNTY, MI – John Balyo, the former Christian radio host who molested young boys, was sentenced Monday, Nov. 10, to 25 to 50 years in state prison.

He had pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal-sexual conduct in Calhoun County Circuit Court after paying a man to set up the sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy.

Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt ordered that Balyo, 35, the former morning show host for WCSG in Grand Rapids, spend the rest of his life on electronic monitoring once his prison sentences end.

He also awaits sentencing in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids for photographing sex acts with a 12-year-old boy in a Kalamazoo-area hotel.

Sentencing in that case is Dec. 5 in Grand Rapids.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fond du Lac Reporter

AP

MILWAUKEE – A federal judge has ruled in favor of an insurance company for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that challenged whether it was liable for the church’s handling of child sexual abuse cases.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa says U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley erred earlier this year when she refused to let OneBeacon Insurance Co. pursue the liability question with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He sent the case back to bankruptcy court for further action.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1EthJ69 ) the ruling may be moot. Church spokesman Jerry Topczewski says OneBeacon has negotiated a tentative settlement with the archdiocese.

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ILLINOIS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest of the Chicago Province ordained in 1971, Rev. Larry Reuter taught and served as president at Loyola Academy in Wilmette IL for many years, ministered at Chicago’s Loyola University and at its medical center in Maywood IL, and was a long-time weekend assistant at an Oak Park IL parish. Reuter was removed from active ministry in March 2010 after Province officials discovered that he had at some point admitted to an “inappropriate relationship” with an 18-year-old Loyola Academy student during the time he was president. His victim received a settlement in the 1990s. A second former Loyola Academy student came forward in May 2010 alleging he was sexually abused by Reuter in the late 1980s, beginning when the former student was a junior and occurring over a two-year period.

Ordained: 1971

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 10, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

Team NCR arrived in Baltimore for the USCCB meeting last night and this morning. As I mentioned last week, the agenda appears pretty sleep-inducing, but already, one has the sense that the bishops are not thrilled about the public perception that they are hostile to Pope Francis or, at least, not able to grasp the direction in which he wants to lead the Church or, in any event, not doing much to implement that vision.

I am sure we will hear a lot of prelates blaming this perception that the U.S. bishops are at odds with the pope on the press. It would be a mistake to do so, as blaming the media will only give us in the media the chance to recount all the many instances when bishops have dissed or diminished or otherwise stepped away from what Pope Francis has been saying, at the very least, and with the most generous interpretation, saying things that are not helpful to the goal supporting the pope as he sets a new course for the Church.

The record is not limited to Bishop Thomas Tobin’s and Archbishop Charles Chaput’s recent comments about the synod. There is the USCCB statement about President Barack Obama’s plans for an executive order on nondiscrimination against LGBT Americans, which is neither “welcoming” nor “providing for” fellow human beings. There are the recent statements from Archbishop George Lucas and Bishop Kevin Rhoades about Catholic universities in their dioceses extending health care benefits to same-sex partners of university employees. Again, not welcoming or providing for fellow human beings. There is the relative indifference to the positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act compared to all the time and money spent confronting the HHS contraception mandate. There was the failure of the bishops to even pass a statement on poverty a couple years back. Shall I go on?

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter November 10, 2014

BALTIMORE — In his first address to the full slate of American bishops as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville praised Pope Francis’ tone and style, but avoided specific mention of the hot-button cultural issues that roiled the Synod of Bishops meeting at the Vatican last month.

Kurtz defended the pope’s emerging “culture of encounter,” with its emphasis on mercy over judgment, embracing those not living in accord with Church teaching, and more directly assisting the poor and disadvantaged. He likened Francis’ philosophy to his own visits to the homes of parishioners when he was a pastor.

“When I’d come to someone’s home, I wouldn’t start by telling them how I’d rearrange their furniture. In the same way, I wouldn’t begin by giving them a list of rules to follow,” Kurtz told the nearly 400 bishops gathered in Baltimore.

During the synod last month in Rome, conservative and liberal bishops battled, sometimes publicly, over how the Church should promote its sometimes-controversial teachings. Liberal Catholics have praised what they say is Francis’ more open, welcoming tone, while conservatives fret that the pope is not placing enough emphasis on opposition to issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

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WASHINGTON
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Paul F. Corkery was a Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province, ordained in 1923. His early career was spent at St. Ignatius College in San Francisco CA, followed thereafter by school and parish assignments in Washington state. For many years he was assigned to Indian missions, where he was pastor and superior. He died in 1959. Corkery’s name was included on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1923
Died: May 10, 1959

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | November 10, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In demoting American Cardinal Raymond Burke from his powerful perch at the Vatican, Pope Francis has sidelined an outspoken conservative agitator — for now.

The pope moved the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis from his role as head of the Vatican’s highest court to the largely ceremonial position of patron of the Knights of Malta on Saturday (Nov. 8).

Francis has effectively exiled one of his loudest critics, but Burke’s supporters — and his opponents — warn that his position at the Catholic charity may actually give him more freedom to exercise greater influence and even rally opposition to papal reforms.

In other words, the stunning demotion may remake Burke into St. Raymond the Martyr, the patron saint of Catholic conservatives.

“His position as patron of the Knights of Malta is Rome-based and mostly ceremonial,” wrote Edward Pentin for the conservative National Catholic Register.

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UNITED STATES
Mic

By Coleen Jose

The news: In a move that’s elicited applause from the victims of clerical abuse, Pope Francis has officially excommunicated a Argentine priest who confessed to pedophilia. While it’s a major step in the right direction, some are still calling it a lax effort considering the church’s supposed “zero tolerance” policy for crimes against children.

In 2011, Argentine priest Jose Mercau received a 14-year prison sentence after admitting to sexually abusing four teenagers but spent only 15 days in jail before spending the rest of his sentence in a monastery in Buenos Aires until his release last March.

Mercau’s excommunication, which was announced Wednesday by the bishopric of San Isidro on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, signals a pivot toward Francis’ zero tolerance policy, which he introduced last year with the hope of bringing abusers to justice and protecting victims of past abuse.

“The church still has a long way to go,” Sebastian Cuattromo, director of the advocacy group Adults for the Rights of Infancy, told the Associated Press. Francis’ policies “are being carried out because of the long fight by the victims,” said Cuattromo, who was sexually abused by a priest at age 13.

A sordid history: While this might seem like a step in the right direction, Mercau’s excommunication and past similar moves having been derided as nothing more than publicity stunts.

In July, victims groups criticized the pope for waiting 16 months before holding a meeting with six victims of abuse from Ireland, Germany and Britain. Francis begged forgiveness for the church in his homily during a private mass with the victims. The pontiff called the abuse a “grave sin,” decrying how it was “camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained.” Though Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi defended the pope for his “positive intentions,” critics were quick to highlight the tardiness of the meeting.

Regardless, many still view this “progressive pope” as just more of the same old guard that won’t do much to correct the church’s various wrongs.

“Over the past 2,000 years, two popes have met with about two dozen clergy sex abuse victims. Very little has changed,” Mary Caplan, the leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement sent to NBC News. “A dozen popes could meet with 100 victims, and very little will change. These meetings are public relations coups for the Vatican and a distracting placebo for others.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory

November 10, 2014

Deficiencies in Archdiocese of Chicago Document Release to be Revealed Tomorrow

Survivors’ Attorneys to Provide Complete Picture of Institutional Practices in the Handling of Child Sexual Abuse

WHAT: At a news conference on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 in Chicago, sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman will:

· Discuss the gaps and deficiencies in the documents recently released by the Archdiocese of Chicago pertaining to 36 priests accused of child sexual abuse.

· Provide summaries, timelines, photographs and key documents detailing individual offenders’ files.

· Identify the enablers in official positions who failed to take action against these offenders.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 1:00PM CST

WHERE: Kerns, Frost & Pearlman and Jeff Anderson & Associates
30 West Monroe, Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603

NOTES:
· All documents will be available prior to the press event at www.andersonadvocates.com.

· Press packets will be available at the press conference Tuesday.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.227.9990 Mobile: 612.817.8665
Contact Marc Pearlman: Office: 312.261.4550 Mobile: 773.368.0142

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Barton Deiters | bdeiters@mlive.com
on November 10, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A former Catholic school tutor faces life in prison if convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

But the attorney for Abigail Marie Simon says it is the teen whom police are portraying as the victim who should face charges — not his client.

Simon, of Grand Blanc, is represented by Michael Manley, a high-profile attorney from the Flint area.

Simon is facing trial starting Monday, Nov. 10, in Kent County Circuit Court.

Manley has said he feels he has switched roles with the prosecutor since the beginning of court proceedings in Grand Rapids District Court more than 19 months ago, when the accusations gained national attention as an alleged example of teachers preying on teen students.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Documents given to James Reilly show Galway City Council were aware of burials

Lorna Siggins

Mon, Nov 10, 2014

Evidence on the Tuam mother and babies home recently presented to Minister for Children James Reilly points to a far more extensive burial site, local historian Catherine Corless has said.

Ms Corless, who is due to speak at a conference at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in NUI Galway (NUIG) this evening, has obtained maps and minutes of meetings from Galway County Council which confirm that the local authority was aware of the burials.

Ms Corless, who conducted the research into the deaths of 796 infants at the Bon Secours home in Tuam between 1925 and 1961, says that minutes of a Galway County Council meeting of December 11th 1979 refer to a proposal to build a children’s playground close to new local authority housing on

The draft terms of reference for the commission of inquiry into the mother and baby homes have now been circulated among all the relevant departments, Minister for Children James Reilly has said. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times.Draft mother and baby homes inquiry terms circulated
Legal advice sought by mothers who gave birth in mother and baby homes

The motion refers to a “children’s burial ground” on the site and the “sensitive nature of the area”.
The maps from the Galway County Council archive show the irregular nature of back gardens attached to the local authority housing, built after the home was demolished.

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

THE FAILURES OF AUSTRALIA TO PROTECT AGAINST AND PROVIDE REDRESS FOR THE SYSTEMIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS

Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture In Connection with its Review of Australia

53rd Session, November 2014

I. Reporting Organisation

This report is submitted by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – Australia (SNAP) which has provided support to and sought justice and healing for Australian survivors of clergy sexual abuse for the past five years. SNAP Australia is part of an international network that was founded 25 years ago by a small group of survivors of rape and sexual violence committed by clergy within the Catholic Church. Today, the Network has over 20,000 members in 79 countries with support groups in 65 cities.1

Since 2011, SNAP has been working for accountability in international legal mechanisms for the widespread and systemic rape and sexual violence within the Catholic Church.2

Further to that effort, SNAP, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, submitted a Shadow
Report and Supplemental Report to this Committee during its 52nd session in connection with
its review of the Holy See.

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

THE FAILURES OF AUSTRALIA TO PROTECT AGAINST AND PROVIDE REDRESS FOR THE SYSTEMIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS

For Immediate Release Monday Nov 10, 2014

Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) +61 0422 538 440

The UN Committee Against Torture, meeting in Geneva this week, questioned Australian Government officials. They want answers regarding Cardinal George Pell’s refusal to hand over documents about child sex crimes by Catholic officials, to the Royal Commission.

Committee members raised the issue of Cardinal Pell’s response to Justice Peter McClellan, Chair of the Royal Commission, that his request for files held by the Vatican was “unreasonable” as they were “the internal workings of a sovereign state”.

Australian Government representatives were asked by the Committee for their response to this refusal to comply with legal requests for information necessary for the Royal Commission to do its job.

While Cardinal Pell promotes himself as being prepared to “co-operate fully” with the Royal Commission, his actions tell a different story.

Committee Vice-Chairperson, Felice Gaer, described the Australia’s Government’s refusal to investigate these crimes as “compliant or wilfully inactive.”

Survivors complained that Australian politicians seem unconcerned about the Vatican’s blocking of the investigations and call for Government action to ensure all requested documents are turned over to the Royal Commission.

UN Questions Australia’s Commitment to Criminally Investigate Child Sexual Violence

A further question from Felice Gaer, asked whether the Royal Commission was merely an information collecting exercise, or would involve criminal investigations.

The Committee also asked for a response to two individual cases, supplied to them by NGOs (Non Government Organisations). One of those is my own case, which involves dozens of known survivors who have never received any recognition. All charges were dropped despite multiple eyewitnesses to the many crimes. I was present in the Committee meeting in Geneva today when the question about my case was asked and will be present tomorrow (1 am Thu Sydney time) when Australia responds.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

That’s our town’s Lyn Woolfolk in the latest issue of Ebony, discussing his abuse as a boy at the hands of Fr. Thomas Graham. “The archdiocese paid half a million dollars to bail him out of jail on the very day that the jury convicted him of child sex crimes against me,” Woolfolk said.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 10

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

A twice-accused priest who helped conceal child sex crimes under Cardinal Roger Mahony has reportedly been “cleared” of child sex charges by Vatican officials, despite at least two allegations. We are deeply worried by this bizarre decision.

[Los Angeles Times]

Does anyone really believe that Vatican bureaucrats, as Catholic officials claim, really spent more than ten years investigating the child sex abuse allegations against Msgr. Richard Loomis?

Does anyone really believe that a long-time aide to the widely-discredited Mahony who helped protect predators and endanger kids, deserves to be restored to a position of trust and authority, regardless of whether he himself committed heinous crimes against children.

We call on Archbishop Jose Gomez to use his vast resources – church bulletins, parish websites, pulpit announcements, and archdiocesan publications – to prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups by Loomis to come forward, expose wrongdoers, and protect kids.

We also call on Gomez to put Loomis in a desk job far away from families and to be completely honest with his colleagues and supervisors about Loomis’ past.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Nov. 7, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ZUNI — Officials with the Diocese of Gallup are investigating the sudden disappearance of one of its foreign priests, as well as allegations surrounding his abrupt departure.

The Rev. Ravi Kiran, aka Ravi Kiran Dasari or Ravikiran Dasari, a native of India, reportedly left his assignment at St. Anthony’s Indian Mission on the Pueblo of Zuni Oct. 9, according to Zuni parishioners. A multitude of allegations surround the priest, including allegations of possible misuse of parish funds.

Questions emailed Tuesday to Bishop James S. Wall and his chancellor, the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, have not yet been answered. Questions were left Thursday for Zuni Gov. Arlen P. Quetawki Sr., who was out of his office.

A request for comment from Kiran’s provincial superior in India has gone unanswered.

Suzanne Hammons, the media coordinator for the Diocese of Gallup, confirmed Kiran left his priestly assignment without notifying the diocese.

Kiran, who was recruited to the Gallup Diocese by Wall, had served briefly as the diocese’s superintendent of Catholic schools. Wall assigned him to St. Anthony’s after the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had a longtime ministry in the Pueblo of Zuni, withdrew from the mission in 2011. Financial accounts established by the Franciscans are at the center of some of the allegations.

Interviews with parishioners from St. Anthony’s reveal Kiran’s tenure at the mission has left the parish deeply divided. A number of Zuni church members have left, claiming Kiran pushed them out of their own parish. Other Zuni church members continue to support Kiran and believe the allegations against him are untrue.

Hammons said the Diocese of Gallup’s investigation into Kiran is still in its preliminary stage.

Wall’s chancery officials reportedly conducted an audit of St. Anthony’s financial accounts soon after Kiran’s departure. According to parishioners, Finnegan read a letter from Wall during a Mass at St. Anthony’s Oct. 26, but that letter did not explain Kiran’s disappearance nor did it address any of the allegations. Diocesan officials have not released a copy of that letter to Kiran’s supporters, his detractors or to the Independent.

—Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at 505- 870-0745.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Nov. 8, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup has refused to answer any questions about allegations surrounding the mysterious disappearance of one of his foreign priests.

Instead, Susan G. Boswell, his lead bankruptcy attorney, released a short announcement Wall had sent to be read to the St. Anthony Indian Mission parishioners Oct. 26.

The Rev. Ravi Kiran, aka Ravi Kiran Dasari or Ravikiran Dasari, a native of India, “abandoned his assignment” at the mission church on the Pueblo of Zuni, according to Wall’s announcement.

A list of questions about Kiran’s disappearance, allegations of possible misuse of church funds, and a subsequent audit of the mission’s financial accounts were submitted to Wall and to the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, the diocesan chancellor, on Tuesday. As is the bishop’s usual practice, he turned over the responsibility of responding to the media’s questions to his bankruptcy attorney.

“With respect to your questions regarding Fr. Ravi and his departure from St. Anthony Parish,” Boswell said in an email Friday, “attached is the announcement that was provided to parishioners in St. Anthony upon Fr. Ravi’s departure. Neither Bishop Wall nor the Diocese of Gallup has any additional comment beyond what is attached.”

Boswell instructed any further questions be directed to her rather than the bishop.

According to Zuni parishioners at St. Anthony’s, the following three-paragraph announcement was read to them by Finnegan, but they were not provided a copy.

“On Sunday October 11, 2014, the Diocese of Gallup was informed that Father Ravi Kiran former Administrator of Saint. (sic) Anthony Parish in Zuni, New Mexico abandoned his assignment and returned to India. He did this without notifying the diocese or requesting permission for a leave of absence. His actions were found to be unprovoked and a surprise to everyone. Fr. Kiran is a member of the Heralds of the Good News, of which he has been on leave for the past three years. The permission to be on leave from his Order in India expired this last June.”

“It is important to remember that Fr. Kiran did this without any consultation with others and acted on his own accord. Due to his actions, he is no longer the Administrator of Saint Anthony Parish in Zuni. The Diocese is in the process of assigning a Pastor to the Parish and School. As soon as a decision is made the community at St. Anthony’s will be informed of the Pastoral appointment.”

“During this process let us keep faith, maintain hope and in charity pray for Saint Anthony’s to the Glory of the Father and His Son Jesus the Christ. May we all continue to grow in rich Catholic faith, and express it through our daily love of God and our neighbor.”

— Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at 505-870-0745.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

10 NOVEMBER 2014

Victims of historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland should receive reparations, a minister in the powersharing administration said.

A public inquiry has received harrowing testimony from those who lived in residential homes run by Catholic religious orders.

A panel headed by a retired judge is holding an extensive probe into claims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against young children made by hundreds of former residents who have contacted the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Stormont junior minister Jennifer McCann said: “I would certainly like to see some sort of reparations made in terms of those people that have went through the inquiry.”

Memorials, compensation and measures to prevent a repeat of abuse have been discussed by witnesses to the inquiry chaired by Sir Anthony Hart.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Victims of historic child sex abuse speak out, after Catholic Church refuses to accept “liability” for the crimes of their priests

The Catholic Church is refusing to accept “liability” for long-term sex abuse that went on at the Mirfield Junior Seminary, despite paying out £120,000 to eleven victims of child sex abuse.

The seminary, which closed down in 1984, was run by the Verona Fathers (now known as the Comboni Missionaries) and saw sexual abuse perpetrated by priests against children as young as 11.

Three Catholic priests of the Verona Fathers are said to have repeatedly abused boys in their care. Now twelve of their victims have joined together to campaign for justice. The former pupils have launched a website to share their experiences of the seminary, called Mirfield Memories, and to offer support for their fellow victims.

The men’s efforts have led to many of their fellow pupils coming forward to describe their own experiences of abuse at the Mirfield Seminary.

In a press release the “Mirfield 12” describe some of the abuse they suffered at the hands of the Verona Fathers. One of three priests accused of abuse, Fr Pinkman, “used to bring boys, as young as 11 to his bedroom, to explain the facts of life to them and ask them to remove their clothes so that he could explain further. He went on to abuse many of them”.

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INDIA
Zee News

Monday, November 10, 2014

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that there is a “prima facie” case against Indian Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl during his stay in USA in 2004, warranting his extradition.

The submission made before Justice Pratibha Rani against accused Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul also states that the present “petition being without merits and deserves to be dismissed at the threshold”.

“The contention raised by the fugitive criminal (FC) that the requesting state (USA) has sought extradition of the FC on the basis of second amended complaint and the first complaint is not there, so it is irrelevant for the purpose of present proceedings…

“The fact of the matter is that USA has sent all relevant documents in accordance with treaty and therefore, Extradition Magistrate is not obliged to go into other extraneous details for ascertaining the existence of a prima facie case against the FC warranting his extradition,” the central government’s Standing Counsel said in its reply.

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GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims testify to UN Panel on torture

Clergy abuse victims seek government intervention by US and Australia

This week a panel at the United Nations is reviewing compliance with meeting treaty obligations for, among other State parties, the United States and Australia. The review is being conducted by independent human rights experts from ten nations who make up the Committee Against Torture. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, has partnered with the Center for Constitutional Rights in submitting a Shadow Report outlining failures of the United States to protect against and provide redress for the nationwide and systemic sexual violence and cover-up by Catholic clergy. SNAP submitted a similar report outlining the same failures by the government of Australia. (Both reports are available at SNAPnetwork.org)

The review is being conducted by independent human rights experts from ten nations at the High Commission for Human Rights of the United Nations in Geneva. The actual proceedings are available on the internet via live webcast. Representatives from SNAP from both the United States and Australia are providing testimony and reports to the Committee which will review Australia on Monday and Tuesday followed by the United States on Wednesday and Thursday.

[United Nations Human Rights]

The Committee Against Torture reviewed the Holy See earlier in 2014 and explicitly recognized cases of rape and sexual violence committed by clergy as within the purview of the treaty which both the United States and Australia have adopted. The Committee and other sources of international law view rape and sexual violence as amounting to torture.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Die Welt

Als im Jahr 2002 die ersten Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs minderjähriger Jungen und Mädchen innerhalb der katholischen Kirche bekannt wurden, ahnte vermutlich kaum jemand in den USA, zu welchem Skandal sich die Vorwürfe ausweiten sollten. Mittlerweile ist bekannt, dass in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten mehrere Tausend Jugendliche Opfer von Priestern wurden. Allein die amerikanische Bischofskonferenz listet in einem Bericht 6700 Missbrauchfälle auf und klagte 4392 Priester an. Viele der Opfer waren dabei erst elf oder zwölf Jahre alt, keiner über 17.

Die Fälle reichten dabei so weit in die Vergangenheit zurück, dass eine Aufbereitung nur schwer möglich war. Der größte Teil der Täter (etwa 3300) war nach der Aufdeckung bereits gestorben. Nur gegen einen Bruchteil der Beschuldigten (384) wurde ermittelt, und noch weniger, gerade einmal 252 Priester, wurden auch verurteilt. Von den durch die Bischofskonferenz identifizierten Tätern waren das knapp fünf Prozent.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Paul Collins | 10 November 2014

Archbishop Gallagher with ABC religious broadcaster Noel Debien

An important power shift has just occurred in Rome, and it has a genuine Australian connection.

The long-rumoured removal of US Cardinal Raymond Burke as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the top tribunal in the Vatican’s judicial system, and effectively the appeals court for all other tribunals in the church, occurred at midday on Saturday.

Burke has been made Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta. His replacement at the Signatura is Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States, effectively the Vatican’s foreign minister. Mamberti’s replacement is Liverpool-born Archbishop Paul Gallagher, currently papal nuncio to Australia.

The sidelining of the 66 year old Burke signifies an important power shift. A bluntly outspoken conservative critic of Pope Francis’ pastoral approach to difficult moral issues, his rejection of a hierarchy of truths (the notion that some teachings are more important than others) has placed him at the far right of the Catholic spectrum. Burke has said that Catholicism risks schism if bishops at the Family Synod next year ‘go contrary’ to the Church’s established dogmas.

A ‘folk hero’ for some Catholics, Burke was appointed bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1994, and promoted to Archbishop of St Louis in late 2004. He was appointed Prefect of the Signatura in 2008 and was made a cardinal in November 2010.

He exercised considerable influence on the appointment of new bishops in the US as a member of the Congregation of Bishops. He was removed from the Congregation by Pope Francis in December 2013. His dismissal from the Signatura was certainly brutal by Vatican standards. The Roman saying is ‘Let him be promoted that he may be removed’, but with Burke they didn’t even pretended he was being ‘promoted’. Perhaps it is because he had ‘leaked’ his own demotion some weeks earlier.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Dennis Shanahan
Political Editor

THE Vatican’s Ambassador to Australia, British archbishop Paul Gallagher, has been appointed the Holy See’s Foreign Minister, joining Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell as another new broom in a top papal post.

The 60-year-old Archbishop Gallagher was born in Liverpool and became the first English-born ambassador for the Holy See when he was appointed to Guatemala in 2009. He became the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia in April last year.

As well as Australia, he has served in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, often in countries torn by civil war.

Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Gallagher, the first Briton to serve as Secretary for Relations with States, to replace one of his conservative critics, US cardinal Raymond Burke, in a continuing shake-up of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Foreign Minister for the Holy See is considered the third-highest position in the Vatican, which has diplomatic relations with more than 150 countries.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 November 2014 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of San Carlos de Venezuela, Venezuela, presented by Bishop Tomas Jesus Zarraga Colmenares, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

– appointed the following members of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA): Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A.; Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

On Saturday, 8 November, the Holy Father appointed:

– Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, U.S.A., as patron of the Order of Malta. Cardinal Burke is currently prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;

– Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, France, as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Archbishop Mamberti is currently secretary for Relations with States;

– Rev. Chad Zielinski as bishop of Fairbanks (area 1,061,508, population 164,355, Catholics 13,939, priests 20, permanent deacons 25, religious 17), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1996. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1983 to 1986 and subsequently obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master of divinity from the Sacred Heart major seminary in Detroit. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish priest of St. Philip Neri, Empire and of St. Rita and St. Joseph, Maple City. He is currently Air Force chaplain at the military based of Eielson, Fairbanks.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

British archbishop who claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid handing documents to paedophile investigators is promoted to third highest role in Vatican by the Pope

By JENNY AWFORD FOR MAILONLINE

A British archbishop, appointed by Pope Francis as his new foreign minister, claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid handing over Vatican documents to prosecutors investigating two paedophile priests.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, 60, from Liverpool was promoted on Saturday to the third highest position in the Vatican as part of a reshuffle by Francis.

But the appointment of the former papal envoy to Australia to the Vatican’s most senior hierarchy will be a blow for campaigners against clerical sex abuse.

Earlier this year the United Nations said it was ‘concerned’ after Mr Gallagher cited diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests by prosecutors for documents on two priests that abused more than 100 children over 40 years.

A report by the UN Committee against Torture reported that the Holy See was still ‘resisting the principle of mandatory reporting of allegations to civil authorities’, and withholding information, citing Gallagher by name.

Only after months of bureaucratic wrangling and an embarrassing diplomatic standoff did the Archbishop eventually agree to turn over some of the documents which were wanted as part of an inquiry into Australia’s worst abuse scandal.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Mitch Keegan, Anchor, KEYC News 12

The central office of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is planning to cut its budget by 20 percent, including unspecified staff reductions.

The archdiocese issued a statement Saturday saying the cuts will exceed $5 million. Vicar General Charles Lachowitzer says budgets and staff have grown over the past several years and need to be cut back.

The statement did not cite the archdiocese’s recent settlement with victims of clerical sexual misconduct. But it said that even without “unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees,” the operational budget was unsustainable.

Whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger says she thinks the cuts are less a consequence of the settlement than of declining contributions from parishioners who object to how the archdiocese has handled the clergy misconduct crisis.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By JAMES CARROLL
NOV. 7, 2014

SOMETIMES, when I kneel alone in a pew in the far back shadows of a church, face buried in my hands, a forbidden thought intrudes: You should have left all this behind a long time ago. The joyful new pope has quickened the affection even of the disaffected, including me, but, oddly, I sense the coming of a strange reversal in the Francis effect. The more universal the appeal of his spacious witness, the more cramped and afraid most of his colleagues in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church have come to seem.

It is easy to love Pope Francis for his resounding defense of the poor, his simplicity, his evident large heart. But the moral grandeur of his personal triumph throws into stark relief the continuing pettiness of the institution over which he presides, a pettiness that inevitably seeks to impose itself on him. What magic, actually, can Francis’s singular magnanimity work on the church’s iron triangle of bureaucracy, dogma and male power?

The intruding voice in my head keeps asking, for example, why has Francis, too, joined in the denigration of American nuns?

Why is the culture of clerical immunity that unleashed a legion of priest-rapists being protected instead of dismantled?

Why in the world beatify, or advance toward sainthood, Pope Paul VI? With his solemn reiteration, in 1968, of the ban on contraception, that pontiff, whatever counterbalancing virtues he displayed, single-handedly made Roman Catholicism a church of bad conscience.

Is an awful truth about dogged church backlash on display here?

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Rachel Attard
Monday, 10 November 2014

A criminal complaint was filed this morning against Dominican priest Fr Mark Montebello, the accusation being that he tried to bribe a witness in a case involving alleged sexual abuse by Fr Charles Fenech.

The criminal complaint was filed at the Birkirkara police station by Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is claiming that Fr Mark phoned him on 1 April 2014 at 10.18pm and offered him a six-figure sum for the woman who is alleging that Fr Fenech sexually abused her to withdraw her allegations.

Mr Bonnici Cachia said that his answer was that “we are not for sale”. It is not true, as Fr Mark is saying in The Times, that it was Mr Bonnici Cachia who called. “I did not even have Fr Mark’s number,” he told The Malta Independent.

This newsroom is also informed by a number of sources that Fr Mark knew about this case long before it surfaced in the media, so much so that 10 years ago he had taken the alleged victim to a particular media house for her to tell the story involving Fr Fenech.

Fr Mark has said that he did not act as an intermediary in the Fr Fenech case.

Fr Charles Fenech is charged with sexually abusing a number of women, with his case due to be heard on 17 December. He has so far not turned up for three sittings. He has since been removed from the post of Kerygma Movement director and stopped from administering Holy Sacraments.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Fr Mark Montebello has denied acting as an intermediary between a victim’s lawyer and an unidentified person who was ready to pay a six-figure sum in exchange for the woman’s silence.

The woman is one of the complainants in the clerical sex abuse case involving the former Kergyma Movement director.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times of Malta reported that the offer had been communicated by Fr Montebello to Edgar Bonnici Cachia, the victim’s lawyer.

Bonnici Cachia told the newspaper that it was Montebello who called him, informing him of the offer. According to the same newspaper, Montebello had passed on a message on behalf of a married person.

But in reply to the news report, Montebello denied having ever acted an intermediary.

“I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Lawrence, MA criminal trial of priest pedophile, Fr. Richard McCormick, former Provincial of the Salesian Father and Brothers, set for closing arguments on Monday, November 10, 2014 and then jury deliberations

Fr. Richard McCormick’s sexual abuse victim is to be congratulated for his bravery and perseverance in bringing the clergy sexual abuse case to trial

One more clergy sexual abuse victim whose abuser lived in Methuen, MA, will attend closing arguments in Fr. Richard McCormick case and then speak about the Catholic Church’s tactics

What: A press conference by a clergy sexual abuse victim of a Methuen, MA priest.

When: Monday, November 10, 2014 immediately after closing arguments in the Fr. Richard McCormick criminal trial.

Where: On the public sidewalk in front of Lawrence Superior Courthouse at 2 Appleton Street, Lawrence, MA 01840

Who: Bassam Haddad, a sexual abuse victim of Fr. Ross S. Frey, B.S.O, recently deceased Melkite Greek Catholic priest from Methuen, MA; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that provides assistance to sexual abuse victims and their families.

Why: Bassam Haddad was a minor child when he was sexually abused at St. Joseph’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Lawrence, MA by serial pedophile Fr. Ross S. Frey, a priest of the Basilian Salvatorian Religious Order centered in Methuen, MA. Fr. Ross Frey, recently deceased, was allowed to flee to Lebanon and his religious order has wrongfully treated Bassam Haddad.

Contact: Dr. Robert M. Hoatson
Road to Recovery, Inc.,
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ, 07039
roberthoatson@gmail.com

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Beth McDonough

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced 20 percent in spending cuts over the weekend. That’s about $5 million worth of reductions in jobs and programs.

Archdiocese officials say these cuts don’t directly affect the budgets of parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic groups, because they operate independently.

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” the Reverend Charles Lackowitzer of the Archdiocese said in a statement.

The archdiocese, along with the Diocese of Winona, says they’re considering all options to help pay for a historic settlement

Although the exact amount of the settlement is confidential, experts say it will likely cost the Archdiocese tens of millions of dollars – perhaps more money than the Catholic church can afford.

A Minnesota judge signed off on the settlement Monday in a groundbreaking case that accused Catholic church leaders in Minnesota of creating a public nuisance by failing to warn parishioners about an abusive priest.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

A Marlborough priest will face internal disciplinary action from the Catholic Church after he was discharged without conviction for indecently assaulting a teenage boy.

Alastair Aidan Kay, 71, appeared in the Blenheim District Court today after pleading guilty at an earlier appearance.

Judge Bruce Davidson told the court his decision was a close call.

“In my view, the offence in itself is of lowish-level seriousness. By the narrowest of margins, I am prepared to exercise my discretion,” he said.

“I find that the consequences of conviction are out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence and I exercise my residual discretion to discharge you without conviction.”

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NEW ZEALAND
Otago Daily Times

A Blenheim priest has been discharged without conviction over an indecent assault.

Father Aidan Kay, 71, formerly of St Mary’s Catholic church, pleaded guilty in September to a charge of indecently assaulting a male over the age of 16.

He appeared in the Blenheim District Court today, where he was ordered to pay $1500 reparation to his victim, who has name suppression, and discharged without conviction.

Kay had been the parish priest at St Frances Xavier in south Hobart, Australia, for five years before his appointment to St Mary’s.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Nov 10, 2014 By Cathal McMahon

Fr Shay Cullen says traffickers have lured kids out of the ravaged city of Tacloban and forced them to work as sex slaves

An Irish priest told yesterday how dangerous traffickers have lured children out of a typhoon ravaged city and forced them to work in brothels.

Fr Shay Cullen revealed many of the Filipino children are then pimped out to Irish and other westerners as sex slaves.

The Dublin priest, who set up the Preda Foundation in 1974, has devoted his life to rescuing child sex victims and bringing their abusers to court.

And now, in an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror, the 71-year-old cleric has revealed how dangerous predators have exploited children orphaned by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.

He said: “We travelled to Tacloban after the typhoon like every other charity to help with the emergency.

“But very soon it was reported to us about the trafficking of the orphans. Immediately I got information about the orphans of the dead people – 6,000 people died overnight in that terrible storm.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Advertiser

A FORMER Catholic priest living in Cootamundra has been charged with alleged historic sex offences in Sydney and Goulburn.

About 9am on Monday, police went to a house in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the house and a number of items were seized, including documents and computers.

The items will be undergo forensic examination.

The man was taken to Cootamundra police station and charged with nine counts of indecent assault of a male and one count of committing an act of indecency.

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Police have charged a former Catholic Priest in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Goulburn.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the man’s home and a number of items were seized including documents and computers, which will now undergo further examination.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Catholic priest has been charged with indecently assaulting boys in New South Wales schools in the 1970s.

Police arrested the 75-year-old man at his home in Cootamundra, in the state’s south, on Monday morning.

They allege the man assaulted the boys at schools in the northern Sydney suburb of Manly, and at Goulburn on the state’s southern Tablelands.

The assaults allegedly took place between 1973 and 1976.

Police said they began investigating in May after receiving information about incidents involving five victims.

They said documents and computers had been seized from the man’s home for examination.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former Catholic priest has been charged with historical indecent assaults on a number of children in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The 75-year-old was arrested at his Cootamundra home on Monday after police seized a number of documents and computers from the premises.

In May, investigators information about alleged a series of alleged indecent assaults involving five boys between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

The man was charged with nine counts of indecent assault of a male and one count of act of indecency.

He was given conditional bail to appear at Cootamundra Local Court on December 5.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Monday, 10 November 2014

Police have charged a former Catholic Priest in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in the Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the man’s home and a number of items were seized including documents and computers, which will now undergo further examination.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

[with video]

An elderly Blenheim priest who pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault has been discharged without conviction and ordered to pay $1500 in reparations for emotional harm.

Father Aidan Kay must pay $1000 today and the rest by December.

Judge Bruce Davidson said Kay’s offence was at the low level of offending and the former priest was discharged without conviction by a narrow margin.

The court heard on the July 15 2014, the 17-year-old male victim was staying at the local Catholic presbytery. Kay, 71, was helping the teen and his family deal with issues.

In the evening, Kay and the victim had dinner together. At the end of the evening, Kay stood up and hugged him. He then slid his hands down his trousers to the back of his underwear and kissed the victim.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, November 9, 2014 by Fr Joe Borg

This newspaper was the first to prudently but professionally break the story about the pending court case against Fr Charles Fenech, who stands accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable person. This report was followed by other newspapers and other media which sometimes preferred to give a sensationalist bend.

The accusations against him are very serious, even horrible. This piece is not intentioned to diminish in any way or manner the seriousness of what is alleged.

It is not meant to defend Fenech in any way as I have no brief or interest to do so. But it interests me to analyse whether its reportage in the media is or is not another example of the state of unbearable shambles of public discourse in Malta.

Many media outlets lost their sense of proportion. I believe that journalistically and objectively the disgraceful revelations of the mass exploitation of foreign workers at the Chinese-owned company, Leisure Clothing, should have been given much more importance by our media outlets than the allegations against Fenech. The sense of proportion was lost in the enormous hullabaloo that ensued on Facebook. The comments of genuinely concerned people were mixed with comments of those grossly misinformed about the story. Naked hatred of the Church oscillated with genuine concern for it. This is to be expected as the allegations are serious enough for the police to press criminal charges.

Reneging on celibacy vows is as morally reprehensible as reneging on marriage vows, but both are only criminally relevant if they involve violence or minors or lack of consent resulting from vulnerability, as this case is alleged to be.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Dominican priest Mark Montebello is denying that he acted as an intermediary in the money offer made to a complainant in the clerical sex abuse case involving the former Kerygma Movement director Fr Charles Fenech, in return for her silence.

Following a telephone interview with him on Saturday ahead of the story in The Sunday Times of Malta, Fr Montebello is now saying that he had not acted as an intermediary in the matter.
Times of Malta is publishing Fr Montebello’s statement and, in view of his comments, it is also publishing the transcript of the phone call made before the Sunday Times of Malta story was published.

FR MONTEBELLO’S STATEMENT

“There must have been some misunderstanding with regard to the report by Matthew Xuereb in today’s Sunday Times on the cash offered to silence the alleged victim of Fr. Charles Fenech.

“May I make it clear that I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused.

“Mr Bonnici Cachia told me that he was aware of such cases and that neither he nor the alleged victim were for sale. I vouch that I had not passed on to him or to someone else any message on behalf of anyone. May I add that I consider such money offering to be unethical and immoral, and that I would never accept to be part of such dealings.”

PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT

(MX is the journalist Matthew Xuereb, MM is Fr Montebello)
MX​​ Fr Mark?
MM​​ Yes
MX​ Good afternoon. It’s Matthew Xuereb from The Times. How are you?
MM​​ OK, thank God
MX​ I’m working on a story on Fr Charles Fenech and you were brought into the picture as the person who offered the victim money?
MM​ I offered the victim money? This is good. I don’t even know the person.
MX​​ We were told you spoke to Edgar Bonnici Cachia…
MM​ Ah, wait. Yes. Rephrase because I think I’m misunderstanding you. Not I gave…
MX​ No, you called him and told him: “Hemm sinjur li lest joffrilkom sitt figuri basta tirtiraw kollox.” That is what they are saying you said.
MM​​ No, it’s not that. They offered me money?
MX​ They offered you money? Why should they offer you money? They are saying that you called Edgar Cachia…
MM. ​I did not call Edgar Bonnici Cachia…he called me. That’s number one.
MX​ OK, and you told him: “Hemm sinjur li lest joffrilkom sitt figuri basta tirtiraw kollox.”
MM​ To the police? To Edgar? I don’t think we are understanding each other. What I told Edgar is that I know of people who are saying…it’s complicated…I know people who told me that someone told them to call the victim because they know them and tell her that there will be this exchange of money. Am I getting through?

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

By JACINTA CARROLL Nov. 8, 2014

RELIGIOUS leaders have shown their support for reform within the Catholic Church in its efforts to prevent future child sexual abuse within the organisation.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive officer Francis Sullivan was in Bathurst yesterday to speak with a group of 40 local church officials including Bishop Michael McKenna, priests and representatives from Catholic welfare and health organisations about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and the church’s response to it.

The Catholic Church established TJH to help it fully embrace the Royal Commission.

The council helps the church deal with the tragic legacy of child sexual abuse and to help victims and survivors be heard and supported.

Mr Sullivan told the Western Advocate that he spoke to yesterday’s conference about the Royal Commission and what the council is doing.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Dominican priest Fr Mark Montebello said that contrary to what The Sunday Times reported yesterday, he did not serve as an intermediary to offer money to one of the victims allegedly sexually abused by Fr Charles Fenech.

Fr Montebello wrote to the newspaper as a right of reply following yesterday’s report, saying that he had been misunderstood.

A copy of the letter was sent to other media, including The Malta Independent. It is being reproduced below.

“Dear Sir, there must have been some misunderstanding with regard to the report by Matthew Xuereb in today’s Sunday Times on the cash offered to silence the alleged victim of Fr. Charles Fenech. May I make it clear that I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused. Mr Bonnici Cachia told me that he was aware of such cases and that neither he nor the alleged victim were for sale. I vouch that I had not passed on to him or to someone else any message on behalf of anyone. May I add that I consider such money offering to be unethical and immoral, and that I would never accept to be part of such dealings.”

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on November 08, 2014

The RCMP and social services agencies of the day did not do enough to pursue the investigation of Dr. Stephen James Collins, who was convicted in the 1980s of sexually abusing children, says a lawyer who’s been on the case for several years on behalf of people who say they were Collins’ victims.

St. John’s lawyer Bob Buckingham launched two civil cases. One was settled and the other is still before the courts. He also has several other clients and thinks Collins should face the criminal justice system again.

“(The RCMP) should have gone after him. They should have continued the investigation,” Buckingham said. “And then he does minimal amount of time in jail.”

He said Collins was able to manipulate adults and children into a level of trust in rural Newfoundland because he was a “double god” — both a doctor and an ordained minister. …

The United Church of Canada, named as a second defendant in three civil cases against Collins, has denied liability or responsibility for Collins’ actions in a statement of defence in Buckingham’s civil case that is still before the courts.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Los Angeles

By Jakcie Giordano

A high-ranking clergyman has been cleared of sexual misconduct charges after an investigation spanning 10 years, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced this weekend.

In 2003, Monsignor Richard Loomis was accused of making lewd remarks and attempting to grope a student from his Bible study class, according to a report posted on the archdiocese website.

The abuse allegedly occurred between 1969 and 1979, while Loomis was still a seminarian – before he had been ordained as a priest.

“Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence against these allegations,” the archdiocese said in a statement posted Saturday.

The investigation determined that “no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven,” the statement said.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Bishop Charles Scicluna yesterday told The Malta Independent that he deplores all offers of monetary compensation to alleged victims of sexual abuse by members of the church.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times reported that Dominican priest Mark Montebello served as a go-between to offer a “six-figure sum” to the alleged victim of sex abuse by fellow Dominican priest Charles Fenech. Fr Montebello reportedly passed on the offer during a telephone conversation with Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is assisting the female victim.

Last week, The Malta Independent made attempts to contact the Dominican Provicen’s Fr Frans Micallef for clarifications regarding Fr Montebello’s involvement in this case but to no avail. The Malta Independent also requested an interview with Fr Micallef regarding Fr Fenech’s case, which the former refused.

In October, The Malta Independent broke the story that the offer had been made by a member of the Dominican Order.

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AUSTRIA
The Local

Published: 10 Nov 2014

Defectors from a Catholic community called The Work (Das Werk), which is based in Bregenz in the west of Austria, have spoken out about abuse in the community.

Darren Canning, originally from England, told Austrian state broadcaster ORF that he spent six years as a member of The Work and cried every day. “It was hell, I hoped and prayed that I would die,” he said.

He left in 2003, with no money and no education, and said he had to start a new life from scratch in England.

The Work was founded in 1938 in Belgium by a woman called Julia Verhaeghe, and was given papal approval in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Both nuns and priests belong to the community, as well as non-ordained male and female members.

The Work’s headquarters are in Bregenz but it also has communities in several European countries, the US and Jerusalem.

‘Temptresses’

Canning said that it operated a “system of religious mania, surveillance and oppression that must be stopped”. He said contacts with people outside ‘the family’ were discouraged and that all telephone conversations and letters had to be screened by a religious superior.

Canning said that when his grandfather died he wasn’t even allowed to travel to England for his funeral – the reason given was that his grandfather hadn’t been a Christian.

A spokesman for The Work told the ORF that although these rules had been in place, they had now been abolished – and said that if Canning had insisted, he would have course have been allowed to attend the funeral.

A former priest who was part of The Work has also spoken out, although he wished to remain anonymous.

He said that he knows of cases of abuse in the community and that even in confession priests typically viewed women as “temptresses”. “Even if a woman had been sexually abused, she was seen as being complicit, just because she was a woman,” he said.

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NEW ZEALAND
3 News

By 3 News online staff

A Blenheim priest who admitted indecently assaulting a man at a parish presbytery believes a conviction for the crime would stop him entering Australia.

Former St Mary’s parish priest Alastair Aidan Kay appeared in the Blenheim District Court today for sentencing, but was adjourned so his lawyer could prove the consequences of a conviction.

Kay previously pleaded guilty to the charge, in which he slid his hands down a man’s trousers and groped his buttocks while trying to kiss him on the lips.

Defence lawyer Rob Harrison said the conviction would impact the 71-year-old returning to Australia.
He had already been banned from working in the Marlborough district, and a conviction would stop him returning to his former order, he said.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON—The 2014 Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore will be live streamed on the Internet, November 10-11, and will also be available via satellite feed for broadcasters wishing to air it. The feed will run Monday, November 10, from 9:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Eastern, and Tuesday, November 11, from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern, covering both the open sessions of the meeting and media conferences.

The live stream will be available at www.usccb.org/about/leadership/usccb-general-assembly/index.cfm. News updates, vote totals, addresses and other materials will be posted to this page. Those wishing to follow the meeting on social media can do so at http://twitter.com/USCCBLive with the hashtag #usccb14. Updates will also be posted to www.facebook.com/usccb.

The meeting will include the first presidential address of Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of USCCB, and an address by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The bishops will vote for the secretary-elect of the Conference and the chairmen-elect of five USCCB committees, as well as members of the boards of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). They will also vote on liturgical action items and whether to proceed with a possible revision to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Liturgical matters will take center stage on the agenda of action items at the fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to be held Nov. 10-13 in Baltimore.

There will be five liturgical items up for consideration. All are subject to amendments from bishops. All but one require approval of two-thirds of the bishops, followed by final approval from the Vatican.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who is president of the USCCB, will deliver his first presidential address. He was elected to a three-year term last November. As is customary, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, also will address the assembly.

During the meeting, the bishops will choose a new secretary-elect for the USCCB, and vote for the chairmen-elect of five committees.

A number of presentations will be made, including one on underserved communities and Catholic schools, and another on a recent pilgrimage of prayer for peace in the Holy Land.

The bishops also will conduct the canonical consultation on the sainthood cause of Father Paul Wattson. Father Wattson was an Episcopal priest who co-founded the Society of the Atonement, also known as the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, to further Christian unity. He was received into the Catholic Church as were all men and women in the society at the time, and devised the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, still observed each January.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts,
The Baltimore Sun

Nearly 300 bishops from across the nation will determine the coming year’s agenda for the American Roman Catholic church when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops begins its annual fall meeting Monday in Baltimore.

The bishops will spend four days at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Harbor East, where they will hammer out organizational positions and courses of action on matters ranging from schooling and medical care to liturgy and exorcism.

The Baltimore archdiocese, the oldest in the United States, is marking its 225th anniversary this year, a milestone the conference will celebrate with a Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption Monday evening.

To Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, it will be a highlight of the conference.

“The practice of bishops gathering together to discuss important matters in the life of the church began at the Basilica many, many years ago,” Lori said. “It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the anniversary, but also to celebrate our efforts to work together as a conference. It will be a homecoming.”

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Megan Stewart

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is anticipating a 20 percent cut in budget for the central offices, and it will include job cuts.

Archdiocese officials say these cuts don’t directly affect the budgets of parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic groups.

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

The archdiocese, along with the Diocese of Winona, says they’re considering all options to help pay for a historic settlement

Although the exact amount of the settlement is confidential, experts say it will likely cost the Archdiocese tens of millions of dollars – perhaps more money than the Catholic church can afford.
A Minnesota judge signed off on the settlement Monday in a groundbreaking case that accused Catholic church leaders in Minnesota of creating a public nuisance by failing to warn parishioners about an abusive priest.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — After a year filled with scrutiny and scandal, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says cuts are coming.

The archdiocese will cut more than $5 million, or about 20 percent from its budget.

That will include job layoffs, starting this month.

Church officials say their current operational budget wasn’t sustainable on top of the legal fees surrounding dozens of allegations of child abuse by clergy members.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By CARLA RIVERA

A former high-ranking member of the Los Angeles Archdiocese was cleared of sexual misconduct charges after a 10-year investigation by the Catholic Church, officials announced.

Monsignor Richard Loomis had been accused in a 2003 lawsuit of sexually abusing a teenage boy while teaching at a Los Angeles area Catholic high school. A second person claiming to have been abused had also been identified by archdiocesan investigators.

The abuse allegedly took place between 1969 and 1971, while Loomis was a seminarian before being ordained as a priest.

Loomis had been serving as pastor of Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Parish in San Marino at the time of the accusations and was placed on temporary inactive ministry pending the investigation.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Saturday released a statement on the resolution of the case.

“After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations,” the statement said.

“Now that the allegations against him have been conclusively resolved, Canon Law provides that the temporary restrictions on Monsignor Loomis’ public exercise of his priesthood have ceased.”

Loomis, 68, the former vicar for clergy of the Archdiocese who oversaw allegations of misconduct against priests, was a top aide to former head of the Archdiocese, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.

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CALIFORNIA
KPCC

[full statement from the archdiocese]

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has cleared a Monsignor of charges of sexual misconduct, the Office of the Vicar for Clergy announced Saturday.

Msgr. Richard Loomis was acquitted of charges of sexual misconduct that were made in 2003, the archdiocese said. A report posted on the archdiocese’s website suggests Loomis was accused of making lewd remarks and attempting to grope a student from his Bible study class, as well as abusing students at a high school when he was a teacher, prior to being ordained.

In a statement posted Saturday, the archdiocese said:

After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a Tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

ANNA WILLIAMS

Last updated 10/11/2014

A Blenheim priest charged with indecent assault is being sentenced in the Blenheim District Court today.

St Mary’s priest Father Aidan Kay, 71, was stood down from St Mary’s parish in Blenheim after a complaint was made to police about an incident on July 15.

On his first appearance in court, Kay admitted the charge of indecent assault on a male over aged 16.

The summary of facts, released by Judge Peter Hobbs, shows the assault happened at the parish presbytery and that Kay slid his hands down the man’s back, into his trousers and groped his buttocks. He also attempted to kiss him.

The summary shows the victim was not a member of the clergy and was a guest at the presbytery when the victim and Kay had a meal together and drank some wine.

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OSTERREICH
kath.net

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

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

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OSTERREICH
Vorarlberg.orf

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

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

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

[Two people who have dropped out of a religious community called The Work in Bregenz said the Vatican should investigate the group. They allege sexual assaults and restriction of freedom.

One of the dropouts, a 35-year-old Briton, lived in the former Dominican convent at Bregenz-Thai Bach since age 18 and since 1983 the person has been living at the headquarters which has about 100 sisters and 30 brothers and priests. He described the group as being like a sect where they were constantly monitored. He was not allowed to leave to attend the funeral of his grandfather.

Women who raised allegations of sexual abuse were always presented to be temptresses.]

9. November 2014

Zwei Aussteiger berichteten von sexuellen Übergriffen und Einschränkung der Freiheit – Vatikan soll ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben – Sprecher: “Man kann das jetzt Fehler nennen. Ich würde sagen, das waren Entwicklungsschritte”

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

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Nov 8, 2014

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, sometime archbishop of St. Louis, once bestrode the Vatican like a bedecked colossus. Trailing his cappa magna behind him, he presided over the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See’s highest court, and, as a member of the Congregation for Bishops, had a major hand in deciding who would rise to the top of the American church and who would not.

But that was then, under Pope Benedict XVI. Under Pope Francis, Burke was first kicked off the bishops congregation and has now been removed from the Signatura. His new position is Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, with the task of promoting the Maltese knights’ spiritual interests.

The appointment has a certain appropriateness, if you have a taste for Jesuitical irony. Although originally established to care for sick pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Knights Hospitallers (as they were called) soon became a major crusader militia, and through the centuries served the Church as one of its fiercer fighting forces.

In recent years, Roman Catholicism has had no fiercer culture warrior than Raymond Burke. He led the way in arguing that Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights should be denied Communion, going so far as to allow himself to be videotaped criticizing fellow bishops who failed to do so as “weakening the faith of everyone.” Recently, he’s called the Church under Pope Francis “a ship without a rudder” and attacked the pope’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family for sowing confusion.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Bill Catlin St. Paul, Minn. Nov 9, 2014

The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is planning a 20 percent budget cut and layoffs in its central office.

A statement on the archdiocese website states that centralization of services in recent years led to unsustainable growth in spending, and that its budget is unsustainable regardless of unexpected legal and outside professional fees.

Last month the archdiocese settled a major clergy sex abuse lawsuit with undisclosed financial terms.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

11/08/2014

Sometime this afternoon, the Archdiocese released a statement confirming what I reported this morning: the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis plans to reduce its overall budget by 20%, through ‘staff and other expense reductions’. …

Is the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Planning to Layoff 20% of its Lay Employees?

11/08/2014

I am hearing rumors that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is planning a reorganization that will result in layoffs for 20% of the lay employees serving the Archdiocese in offices and ministries in the Chancery and Hayden Center (Pastoral Center).

Such a move would not be a surprise. You may recall that in 2012 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which has been rocked by similar scandals involving employee embezzlement and mishandling of accusations of sexual abuse, announced a similar shake-up. In Philadelphia, 45 lay employees lost their jobs, several offices and ministries were consolidated, and the Archdiocese eliminated its print newspaper.

In Saint Paul and Minneapolis, an attempt at reorganization has already been undertaken in the last ten years (2006-2008, if I remember correctly), mainly by offering voluntary buyouts. This effort was successful in reducing the number of overall employees, but as a reorganization plan it largely failed, because the Archdiocese was unable to control who accepted the VBO. High performing employees often took the buyout and moved on to other things, meaning the Archdiocese was forced to reorganize with a less skilled and less motivated workforce. And, when particular individuals were targeted, the consequence was the elimination of a critical department. I think most are in agreement that doing away with the Human Resources department was a mistake.

As for the Archdiocesan newspaper, well, that battle has already been fought and lost.

Speaking from experience, and from an organizational perspective, an effective reorganization is necessary and long overdue. The Archdiocese has long been hampered in making effective personnel decisions by its employment policy, Justice in Employment, in which the Archdiocese gives up its status as an at-will employer. The requirement that terminations only occur for cause means that ineffective employees are often retained at the expense of the services Archdiocesan offices provide.

However, the human cost of reducing 20% of lay employees is significant and should give us pause. If those reductions were to occur from amongst the ranks of those who are most responsible for the current crisis, I would celebrate such an announcement (should it occur). It is far more likely though that those individuals will be the architects and implementers of any proposed organization, and that the negative consequences will fall most strongly on the innocent and goodhearted people who have tried to be of service to the people of God.

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LEBANON
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Mansour Labaki, a Lebanese priest convicted of pedophilia in 2012 by the Vatican, broke his silence on the affair Sunday, denying any crime and accusing the top Catholic authority of corruption.

“People in the church were bribed and I have proof of this,” he told Voice of Lebanon radio station, insisting that the charges against him were fabricated.

Labaki said that he was expecting a fair trial when he arrive to Rome, but was surprised to learn that he was not allowed to respond to the accusations made against him.

He said he wished the court would listen to the testimonies of people who have worked with him and several students that he “raised” who, according to him, would attest his innocence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

An irate pensioner is threatening to chain herself to railings in protest at the shock closure of an historic city centre church.

Moira Cardwell will join other angry parishioners demonstrating outside the doomed St Ignatius RC in Preston tomorrow to condemn the “disgraceful” decision to shut it down after 178 years of worship.

The rare, pre-Victorian church, with a spectacular interior reputedly designed by world-renowned architect Augustus Pugin, has been earmarked for closure at the end of the month because of a shortage of priests.

The 140-strong congregation has been asked to relocate to sister church English Martyrs, almost a mile away.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 9, 2014

Just by reading the news, one has the impression that religious freedom is under threat today. From the carnage unleashed by the self-declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to church/state tensions across the West, the picture seems to grow murkier and grimmer by the day.

Thankfully, we don’t have to remain at an anecdotal level. “Aid to the Church in Need,” a global Catholic charity based in Germany, puts out an annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world, and its new 2014 edition contains sobering results, indeed. …

Burke out, but English-speakers get a boost

In one of the most anti-climactic personnel moves in recent history, the Vatican yesterday officially confirmed that American Cardinal Raymond Burke has been removed as head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court, and assigned as patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta, which functions as a Catholic charitable group.

Burke, of course, is a strong theological and liturgical conservative who emerged as the leader of the traditionalist camp at the recent Synod of Bishops on the family. His demotion will likely be seen in those circles as another sign of disfavor from Francis. It may also be seen as slightly punitive, given that whatever one makes of Burke’s political views, he’s long had a stellar reputation as a church lawyer.

Italian media had reported Burke’s impending exit as early as September, and the cardinal himself confirmed it in comments to reporters during the recent synod. As a result, the only question about the move was “when,” not “if,” and clearly Francis decided to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.

Going forward, perhaps the key question about Burke’s removal is how he’ll settle into his new role.

Will the 66-year-old go quietly, deciding to step out of the public spotlight? Or will he decide that since he no longer has any real Vatican responsibilities, he’s free to speak his mind even more forcefully — hitting the lecture circuit, writing essays, giving media interviews, and in general emerging as the face and voice of what might be called the conservative “loyal opposition” to Francis?

The old wisdom holds, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Though “enemy” may not be quite the best word to describe the relationship between Burke and the pope, Francis has clearly opted to go a different direction, in this case sending Burke into a sort of ecclesiastical exile.

It remains to be seen whether, from the pope’s point of view, the transfer simply solves one problem while creating another.

As a footnote, with Burke’s departure, there is now no American heading any significant decision-making Vatican department. Traditionally, at least one American is asked to fill such a role, so from this point forward, speculation will likely mount as to which American prelate may be summoned to Rome to take up a Vatican post.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Radio Gong

[A priest from the Wurzburg district must face accusations of sexual abuse of a minor. Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann has relieved him of duties.This action does not constitute prejudice but the priest is on leave until final clarification of the accusations, the bishop said.]

Ein Priester aus dem Landkreis Würzburg muss sich dem Vorwurf des sexuellen Missbrauchs stellen. Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann hat ihn deshalb mit sofortiger Wirkung von seinen Tätigkeiten entbunden. Der Bischof traf die Entscheidung, nachdem gegenüber dem Priester der Vorwurf einer “sexualbezogenen Grenzüberschreitung gegenüber einer minderjährigen Person“ erhoben wurde. Wie das Bistum betonte, erfolge diese Maßnahme in erster Linie aus Präventionsgründen und stelle keine Vorverurteilung dar. Der Priester ist bis zur endgültigen Klärung des Vorwurfs beurlaubt.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

A single sentence in a papal document issued today may signal that Pope Francis is willing take a stronger hand in removing some bishops from office.

The one-page document deals primarily with the age of a bishop’s retirement. But it also states: “In some particular circumstances, the competent Authority (the pope) may consider it necessary to ask a bishop to present the resignation of his pastoral office, after letting him know the motives for such a request and after listening attentively to his justifications, in fraternal dialogue.”

The power of a pope to sack a bishop has always been presumed, but here it is spelled out. It comes after Pope Francis has already removed a Paraguayan bishop from office over pastoral controversies, and accepted the resignation of a German bishop in the wake of a spending scandal. The Vatican is actively investigating the pastoral leadership of at least two other prelates, including Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, Mo., who was convicted two years ago by a civil court on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse by a diocesan priest.

A Vatican spokesman quickly underlined that today’s document contained “nothing truly new,” but was a forceful restatement of existing norms. But surely there was a reason it was issued.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Saturday, November 8, 2014

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, Moderator of the Curia

“In order to balance the budget for the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation, leaders are reducing the budget by 20 percent (over $5 million) with staff and other expense reductions beginning this month.

Over the past several years, the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation has implemented budgets that included the development of needed resources for parishes and Catholic schools and archdiocesan initiatives. This strategic centralization of services and expansion of our resources meant that department budgets were expanded and staffing increased.

Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable. We are called to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted us.

This budget revision is collaborative and will require that each department reorder its services to provide that which is of proven benefit to the people, parishes and Catholic schools within the archdiocese and, most important, is of greatest value to the mission of the Church.

Personnel and program expense cuts will be identified and a comprehensive plan will be presented to the Archbishop for his final approval and immediate

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

Church Says They’ve Cleared Monsignor Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations After Decade-Long Investigation

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Office of the Vicar for Clergy of the LA Archdiocese on Saturday released a statement regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Monignor Richard Loomis.

Allegations against Loomis first surfaced, according the statement, in late 2003.

On Saturday, the church wrote, in part, “After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a Tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations.”

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TENNESSEE
Fox 6

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) –
The most progressive Catholics in America are in Memphis this weekend to argue for more gender equality in the Catholic Church.

Many of the people attending the Call To Action gathering at Cook Convention Center downtown want to see women in higher church roles. One of the speakers is an Irish priest named Tony Flannery.

The Vatican suspended Flannery from ministry after he refused to sign a document saying that women would never be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church:

“I believe women should have full equality in the Catholic Church and that’s a matter of justice.That’s a much broader question than ordination,” said Flannery. “And in fact, having women’s voices heard in decision making and policy making in the church is actually much more important than whether or not women are ordained.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein November 8

Once Stephanie Doucette decided to convert to Orthodox Judaism, the choice of a rabbi to guide her was obvious: Barry Freundel.

Freundel, leader of the prestigious Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown, was a trusted adviser to the likes of retired U.S. senator Joseph I. Lieberman and literary figure Leon Wieseltier on the endless legal and ethical details Orthodox Jews live by: Is a chicken kosher if its leg is broken? Can infertile couples use donor eggs? What percentage of the mikvah, or ritual bath, must be rainwater?

More important for a convert such as Doucette, Freundel’s judgment was respected by rabbis around the world — no small feat in the divided world of Orthodox Judaism. So highly regarded was the rabbi that Eli’s Restaurant, a gathering spot for Washington’s kosher power players, named a pastrami and smoked turkey sandwich after him.

But Doucette, a George Washington University graduate student, says she started to feel uncomfortable soon after she began meeting with the husky, bearded New Yorker in early 2013. She said he commented regularly about the dating habits or sex lives of women in the congregation and about her own appearance. Earlier this year, the 22-year-old said, she asked to meet Freundel in the sanctuary of tiny Kesher Israel to complain that some men at the synagogue were staring at her and making suggestive comments.

She says that Freundel, now 62, told her: You have to understand, you’re an attractive young woman; this will happen in whatever community you’re in. “If I was younger and single,” she recalled him saying, “I would be interested in you, too.”

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

By Tom Hillen

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Cadet leader at a Muskegon church has been accused of sexually assaulting young boys back in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office said Randall Doctor is being investigated for the alleged crimes but so far is not being charged.

“He would take us out in the woods after the driving of the semi and he would do terrible and horrendous things to us,” said Brad White, one of Doctors alleged victims.

The reason he isn’t being charged is because the alleged abuse happened at a time where Michigan had a statute of limitations on first degree criminal sexual conduct against a child.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, November 9, 2014, 00:01 by Michael Falzon

A section of the Maltese press went to town the other week with reports on the alleged sexual misadventures of a Dominican friar accused of abusing of a woman who was in a vulnerable situation. Many lurid details were exposed for all to see, although I understand that the newspaper that published excerpts from the woman’s sworn statement actually left out certain parts because of their explicit nature.

There are many interesting observations one can make from this episode.

First and foremost is the role of the free press in all this. When The Sunday Times of Malta broke the story two weeks ago by reporting that the case had ended in the courts – and it was therefore in the public domain – it refrained from mentioning the name of the renowned Dominican concerned. I’m sure that this was a conscious decision on the part of the paper. A few days later, another newspaper decided to publish the name, and the floodgates were opened.

The decision to publish the name was also a conscious one: it defied the traditional omertá that the press used to observe in connection with such stories, even though there were no such qualms recently in the reporting of the court case concerning the abuse of young boys in a Church institute.

This, of course, indicates that the Church and the members of the priesthood no longer enjoy the privilege of being above the scrutiny of the media.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Dominican priest Mark Montebello served as a go-between to offer a “six-figure sum” to the alleged victim of sex abuse by fellow Dominican priest Charles Fenech.

The Sunday Times says that Fr Montebello passed on the offer during a telephone conversation with Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is assisting the female victim.

Recounting the conversation, Mr Bonnici Cachia said Fr Montebello offered the six-figure sum in exchange for the victim’s silence.

Mr Bonnici Cachia reportedly rebutted that neither he nor the victim are for sale.

Fr Montebello confirmed to The Sunday Times that the conversation did take place, but he was passing on a message “on behalf of a married person” whom he declined to name.

In October, The Malta Independent broke the story that the offer had been made by a member of the Dominican Order.

The case regarding sexual abuse on vulnerable women by the Dominican priest has been before the Curia Response Team for at least eight years.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Fox 11

Months after documents showed it had concealed the sexual abuse of children by priests for decades, the Archdiocese of Chicago released files Thursday on about three dozen more abusive clergy members to fulfill Cardinal Francis George’s pledge to do so before he retires.

One of the case files is that of Norbert Maday, a former priest who was convicted in Winnebago County in 1994 for assaulting boys at a retreat center. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and served 13 years before being paroled.

The Maday file includes 507 pages of documents, covering a wide range of topics. Those include complaints to the Chicago diocese about Maday, letters about housing arrangements after his prison release, Wisconsin court documents, and official letters regarding Maday’s status as a priest.

Some of the documents have been disclosed previously, such as a 2002 letter from Chicago Cardinal Francis George to Maday in prison, saying the diocese was trying to reduce Maday’s sentence, but without success.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Anne Jarvis
Nov 06, 2014

The Paul Martin Building in the heart of Windsor’s downtown, the old post office in historic Sandwich, the old jail in Sandwich — they’re all stately, heritage buildings.

But if there is one building around which this city must unite, if there is one building that we must save, it is Our Lady of Assumption Church. There is none more important, not only for its grandeur, which is magnificent, but for its role in the very formation of this community. We must do whatever it takes.

Undoubtedly, you can question the role of the Diocese of London in the seemingly doomed attempts to raise money to restore the 169-year-old icon.

Parishioners reportedly gasped when the diocese — which says it’s committed to preserving the landmark that towers over University Avenue and Huron Church Road, which talks about the historical, cultural and architectural significance of Assumption, the oldest Catholic parish in Canada west of Montreal – announced that it wouldn’t contribute a cent to the $10-million project.

“Are you kidding me?” some people have asked fundraisers. “If the diocese isn’t giving any, why should I give?” …

You can wonder, as Kim Spirou, one of the volunteer fundraisers does, if the diocese really has the will to save Assumption.

This is a tarnished brand, for sure, $10 million in debt because of settlements, legal costs and counselling for victims of its priests’ sexual abuse. Its parishioners have been shunted from Holy Name of Mary Church to Assumption and back to Holy Name of Mary.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By EMMA SPILLETT Nov. 9, 2014

A Wollongong lawyer, whose client was embroiled in a battle with the Catholic Church, claims new measures to help survivors of institutionalised child sex abuse fail to address fundamental legal problems with the church.

Mark Johnston spent nearly a year trying to get a fair settlement for a man who had allegedly been repeatedly abused by a Christian Brother at Edmund Rice College.

No criminal charges have ever been laid against the brother over the alleged abuse.

Mr Johnston claims the man’s case exposed the failings of the church’s “Towards Healing” program, its internal settlement regime used to allegedly steer people away from legal action, in exchange for compensation.

While Mr Johnston welcomed initiatives introduced by the state government last week in light of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, he believes more work needs to be done.

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FLORIDA
Truthout

Saturday, 08 November 2014
By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout | News Analysis

It bills itself as “southwest Florida’s newest hometown . . . A town where children can ride their bikes to school, walk to the candy store and scoot their way to the ice cream shop. Where neighbors are friends and life is good. Where everyone enjoys life as it is meant to be lived.”

Yes, it sounds like Mayberry, USA, but this is not the description of a made-for-TV utopia. Indeed, it’s a very real place created by Domino’s Pizza founder and former Detroit Tigers’ owner Tom Monahan, in partnership with the Florida-based Barron Collier companies.

Indeed, Ave Maria, Florida, was founded as an unincorporated “stewardship community district” in 2005. Florida’s then-governor Jeb Bush attended Ave Maria’s groundbreaking and dubbed it “a new kind of town where like-minded people live in harmony between faith and freedom.”

Faith? Freedom? For Monahan, the two are inseparable, and he has trumpeted his intention of creating a city “according to strict Roman Catholic principles.” As he sees it, this means that stores will be unable to sell pornography, pharmacies will be barred from selling condoms or other forms of birth control, and cable TV will not be allowed to carry X-rated channels.

Small wonder that civil libertarians, secular humanists and those who believe in religious pluralism have a host of questions about church-state separation in Ave Maria.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Nov. 8, 2014

One of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s insurance companies should have been allowed to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on whether it is liable for the church’s actions in its handling of child sexual abuse cases, U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa has ruled.

However, the ruling may be moot because OneBeacon Insurance Co. has negotiated a tentative settlement with the archdiocese, church spokesman Jerry Topczewski said.

Randa said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley erred earlier this year when she refused to lift an automatic stay so OneBeacon could pursue the liability question. He remanded the case back to Kelley for further action.

Before the archdiocese entered bankruptcy in January 2011, lower courts had ruled that OneBeacon was not liable for its sex abuse claims because they involved intentional acts rather than accidents. The archdiocese had appealed to the state Supreme Court, but the case was automatically stayed when it entered bankruptcy.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Will Ashenmacher
washenmacher@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/08/2014

The centralized offices of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will see their budget cut by 20 percent, starting this month. That will include at least some cuts to lay staff.

A statement from the archdiocese issued Saturday afternoon avoided any implication that the settlement the archdiocese recently struck with sex abuse victims was responsible for the move, which the archdiocese hopes will save its Chancery Corporation $5 million. Both the attorney for the sex abuse victims and the archdiocese have said the financial terms of the settlement, which was announced Oct. 13, will remain confidential.

In the statement, the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer said budgets and staff had grown over the past several years and needed to be cut back.

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” Lachowitzer said.

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ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch

The Diocese of Fairbanks has a new bishop — a priest who may be uniquely qualified to serve the members of the military in the Roman Catholic diocese that spans more than 400,000 square miles, from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the west to the Canadian border in the east and all the way to the North Slope.

Rev. Chad W. Zielinski, named Saturday as the new leader of the diocese, is currently an active-duty chaplain at Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks, according to the Catholic Anchor, the newspaper published by the Archdiocese of Anchorage.

The Catholic Anchor reports that “Bishop Elect Zielinski was ordained a priest for the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan, in 1996. Before becoming a priest, he was an active duty Air Force serviceman for four years, before feeling called to the priesthood.

“Bishop Elect Zielinski has seen three tours of duties in war zones. His last assignment was in Afghanistan where he served 18 forward combat positions. Often his prayer services and Masses were punctuated by the sound of live fire. On one occasion he was travelling in a military convoy that came under attack and the truck in front of his was destroyed by a rocket. One of his parishioners was driving that truck and died in the attack. He ended that day conducting a funeral service.”

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BELGIE
HLN

[That priest Tom F., who sexual assaulted a minor and yet was able to work as a priest in Middelkerke, shows that the church feels more empthy for the perpetrators than for the victims, according to church lawyer Kurt Martens. In an opinion piece in The Standard, Martens said Pope Francis should thoroughly investigate the Bruges diocese.]

De affaire rond priester Tom F., die een minderjarige aanrandde en toch aan de slag kon als pastoor in Middelkerke, toont aan dat de Kerk meer empathie voelt voor de daders dan voor de slachtoffers. Dat zegt kerkjurist Kurt Martens in een opiniestuk in De Standaard. Martens vindt dat paus Franciscus het bisdom Brugge grondig moet onderzoeken.

Martens, professor aan The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., vroeg zich vrijdag in De Morgen en Het Laatste Nieuws al af of het bisdom van Brugge de zaak ooit naar Rome stuurde, en welke informatie dan overhandigd werd, omdat het hem erg zou verbazen dat Rome zou aanbevelen de priester een nieuwe benoeming te geven. In De Standaard maandag bevestigt het bisdom dat alle nodige informatie werd doorgestuurd naar de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer.

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