ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRIA
The Local

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

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

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

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MALTA
Times of Malta

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

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

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

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
InfoVaticana

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

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

[Catholic News Agency]

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

[Buenos Aires Herald]

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

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

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

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Religion News Service

David Gibson | November 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Jewish Daily Forward

By Forward Staff
Published November 12, 2014.

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

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

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

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

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

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CHILE
der Standard

Staatsanwaltschaft forderte zehn Jahren Gefängnis für John O’Reilly

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regenburg-Digital

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

von Stefan Aigner in Nachrichten, Überregional

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

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

Rund 160.000 Euro Entschädigung

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

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

Tina Sfondeles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 12, 2014

Andrew West
ABC radio presenter and columnist

ANALYSIS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

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

Christopher Placek

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

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Mary Ann Ahern

Tuesday, Nov 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Latin American Herald Tribune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MALTA
Malta Independent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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INTERNATIONAL
Press TV (Iran)

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
New York Daily News

BY GINGER ADAMS OTIS

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

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Kip Hill
The Spokesman-Review

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Fox Chicago

CHICAGO (Associated Press) –

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Room with a Pew

Paul Fericano

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO
WLS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Thomas Noble October 30, 2014

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

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

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

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

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Today’s Catholic News

By Mark Pattison

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

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

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

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

In other committee elections:

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

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

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

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

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CHILE
Jamaica Observer

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

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

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

Prosecutors had requested a sentence of 10 years in prison.

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CHILE
BBC Mundo

Constanza Hola Chamy
BBC Mundo

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

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

[with video]

NOVEMBER 11, 2014, BY JULIE UNRUH

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

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

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

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

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

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

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CHILE
12 News

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

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

Steve Miller

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

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

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

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

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

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CHILE
La Nacion

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

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

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

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CHILE
El Mostrador

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

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

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CHILE
Daily Mail (UK)

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

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

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

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

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

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MISSISSIPPI
WLOX

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

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

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

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

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

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BALTIMORE (MD)
New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Agence France Presse

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | November 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

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

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

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

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

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

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

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

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ARGENTINA
The Public Opinion

Associated Press

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

A corrected version of the story is below:

Pope defrocks pedophile Argentine priest

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

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press

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

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

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

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

ANNA WILLIAMS

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

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

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson and Associates

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

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

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

SELECTED DOCUMENTS OBTAINED THROUGH OTHER MEANS

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

KEY DOCUMENTS
Cardinal George’s Knowledge of Abusive Priests:

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

Priests Placed Back in Ministry Despite Danger to Minors:

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

Priests Criminally Convicted for Abuse of Minors:

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

Skriba, Raymond
Swade, Thomas J.

Laicized Priests:

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

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

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

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UTAH
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 10, 2014

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

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

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

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

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UTAH
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

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

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

[The New York

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent November 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
U.S. News

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

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

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

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

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

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fortunately, Gallagher later relented.

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

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

[The Tablet]

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

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

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POLAND
The Tablet (UK)

10 November 2014 by Jonathan Luxmoore

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

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

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

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

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Star (Lebanon)

Associated Press

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

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

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

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ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

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

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

11 November 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

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

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

It will also deal with the abuse of the confessional.

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

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

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

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

RESCRIPTUM EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI

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

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

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

il Sommo Pontefice Francesco

ha decretato quanto segue:

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

PUBLISHED ON NOV 11, 2014

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

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

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

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

13 Geistliche seit 1945 verurteilt

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

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DEUTCHLAND
NetzwerkB

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

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

Sehr geehrter Herr Bundesjustizminister Maas,

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

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

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

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CHICAGO (IL)
Rete L’Abuso (Italia)

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

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

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ITALY
The Local

Published: 11 Nov 2014

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

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

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

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

The husband has since separated from his wife.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Post

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

By Michelle Boorstein November 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Oliver Moody and Tom Kington Rome

November 11 2014

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

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

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UNITED STATES
PR Web

Front Royal, VA (PRWEB) November 11, 2014

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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.

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