ABUSE TRACKER

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

22 OCTOBER 2014

Witnesses in historic child abuse cases should be forced to give evidence as victims deserve more than promises of co-operation from Government agencies, MPs have heard.

Scandals including Rotherham, Rochdale and the brutal paedophile ring who abused boys from the Kincora home in Belfast are linked by allegations of an MI5 cover-up, Alliance Party MP Naomi Long said.

And it would be “utterly naive” to expect former security and intelligence service officials to voluntarily give evidence if they could face prosecution, Ms Long said.

She reiterated demands for the Official Secrets Act to be temporarily suspended to ensure full evidence emerged in connection to the Kincora investigation.

Ms Long added the Government-commissioned UK-wide probe into historic abuse – chaired by Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf – should also have statutory powers to compel witnesses to give evidence, as she warned state institutions had previously failed the victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Updated: Wednesday, October 22 2014

By: Maria Miller

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — It’s only been a day since the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown announced an $8 million settlement with 88 alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Brother Stephen Baker and already 6 News has learned at least one more alleged victim has come forward.

It was announced Wednesday by Road to Recovery, an organization that helps victims of sexual abuse.

The group was in Hollidaysburg with a parent of an alleged victim asking the diocese to do more.

“Your mind is spinning, you can’t believe it happened. You don’t want to tell anyone about this, you don’t even want it to be a reality for yourself,” said Barbara Aponte.

“I know this because as a child I was a victim of sexual abuse, not by a clergyman but by a family member.”

Aponte not only knows what it’s like to be a victim, she knows what it’s like to lose a child because of the stigmas attached to sexual abuse.

Her son, Luke Bradesku, took his own life at 29, but it took nearly 11 years until his family found out why. They say he was a victim of Baker. “Had my son gotten help, he might still be here,” Aponte said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Child abuse investigation: PM confident inquiry chair Fiona Woolf will act ‘with integrity’ despite connection to former minister under scrutiny

Paul Peachey

The head of the Government’s sprawling historical child abuse inquiry is facing demands to step down after she admitted hosting dinner parties with the former minister under scrutiny over his role in an alleged Establishment cover-up.

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, Fiona Woolf, a lawyer, said that she had hosted three dinner events for Lord and Lady Brittan and dined twice at their home since 2008.

Despite other connections with the couple, including living in the same street, she said this did not amount to a “close association” with the former minister.

But concern at her relationship with the couple is mounting, particularly as Ms Woolf was only appointed after the original choice to head the inquiry – Lady Butler-Sloss – was herself forced to step aside over Establishment and family links to Lord Brittan.

The peer faces questions about what actions he took, while serving as Home Secretary in the 1980s, after being handed a now-missing dossier by the late MP Geoffrey Dickens that included claims of the involvement of VIPs in a child sex ring. In her first public grilling since she was appointed head of the inquiry, Ms Woolf – the Lord Mayor of London, former Law Society president, and member of the RAC club – repeatedly denied that she was a member of the Establishment.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Bob Gardinier
Published 4:54 pm, Wednesday, October 22, 2014

TROY — A former School 14 guidance counselor and one-time Roman Catholic priest who was convicted in 2002 for inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy and possessing a library of child pornography had his Sexual Offender Registration level 3 status — the rank assigned to the most the top level, reduced to 2 after a hearing Wednesday.

William J. Heim, now 72, appeared before Judge Andrew Ceresia asking for the reduction. Ceresia heard testimony on how the man had not re-offended since he was released from prison 10 years ago and had complied with and attended all of the sexual offender courses required by parole and probation.

Assistant District Attorney Roman Griffith, however, argued that Heim has only been off probation for a couple of years.

“He has not had that fear of going back to jail hanging over his head for only a couple of years,” Griffith said. “We argued he has not been truly tested and should stay at a level 3, which requires the person to report every 90 days whether he has moved or not.”

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CANADA
North Renfrew Times

by Terry Myers

Father Michael Daniel Miller, 70, a Catholic priest who served in Deep River in the 1970s, will return to Pembroke court December 3 to face the verdict on charges of child sexual abuse.

Miller appeared in Pembroke court last week before Superior Court Justice Martin James on charges of gross indecency and indecent assault on a male.

Miller was previously convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison last year on five counts of indecent assault on a male.

Three of those charges involved victims who had served as altar boys at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and whose families had welcomed him into their Deep River homes.

The current charges were laid following last year’s court proceedings, after another Deep River man came forward to claim that he also was a victim of sexual abuse at Miller’s hands in the early 70’s.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Warsaw. – The Warsaw Office of the Prosecutor on Tuesday announced that a Polish priest has been charged in his country of sexually abusing minors in Poland and the Dominican Republic, AP reports.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Warsaw, Przemyslaw Nowak, said the priest, identified only as Wojciech G., has been charged on 10 counts acts of abuse, eight of them with teen boys under 15.

Nowak said Wednesday that the alleged abuses occurred in Poland in 2000 and 2001 and in Dominican Republic from 2009 to 2013.

The priest, identified as Wojciech Gil in an interview for the TVN network , was also indicted on possession of pornography and possession of an unlicensed weapon and ammo. He was arrested near Krakow in February and has been in police custody since.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

Archbishop’s Residence Committee to be Established to Determine Best Uses for North State Parkway Residence

Chicago, IL (October 22, 2014) – Archbishop Blase J. Cupich has informed the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago of his decision regarding his choice of residence and will live in the former quarters of the late Bishop Lyne at Holy Name Cathedral. Archbishop Cupich made this decision in consultation with Cardinal George, Msgr. Dan Mayall, Pastor of Holy Name Cathedral, and several Chicago priests.

Among the considerations that Archbishop Cupich took into account when making this decision was the historical significance of the North State Parkway Residence with its symbolic meaning for the people in the Archdiocese. As the home of all the Archbishops of Chicago since it was built in 1885 by Most Rev. Patrick A. Feehan, the Residence has hosted St. John Paul II and two of his predecessors before they were elected Pope, Cardinals Pacelli (Pius XII) and Montini (Paul VI). President Franklin D. Roosevelt was also an overnight guest. The important legacy of the Residence is that it was made possible through the sacrifice and financial commitment of Archdiocesan Catholics.

Another consideration for Archbishop Cupich in making this decision was his expressed desire to reside in a place where he could be most effective in serving all the people in the Archdiocese of Chicago. When his schedule permits, the Archbishop intends to say daily Mass at the Cathedral. The location also provides easy access to his office at Archbishop Quigley Center, as well as everything Chicago has to offer in everyday life in the City.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Huffington Post

By Carol Kuruvilla

Chicago’s incoming Archbishop Blase Cupich is foregoing the archdiocese’s lavish $14.3 million Cardinal’s Mansion for humbler digs.

The Chicago Archdiocese confirmed in a press release Wednesday that Cupich is breaking from the tradition set by his predecessors and has made up his mind to move instead to the rectory at Holy Name Cathedral.

The decision was made, in part, because Cupich expressed a “desire to reside in a place where he could be most effective in serving all the people in the Archdiocese of Chicago.”

The Archbishop also has plans to say daily mass at Holy Name Cathedral, which is the seat of the Chicago archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Two clergy sex abuse stories yesterday by television stations – one in Texas, the other in Indiana – made me want to crawl back into bed and stay there.

First, KHOU TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston, reported that a girl, “when she was 13. . . .began a sexual relationship” with her 37-year-old youth pastor, Derek Hutter. The station reported that she “had sex with Hutter over a dozen times” and “had been involved with the youth minister since she was 13-years-old.”

[KHOU]

Then, WBIW, the Fox affiliate in Vincennes, reported that 34-year-old youth pastor Derrick “Duke” Hampsch is accused of “engaging sexual acts with a minor” and that “the probable cause listed three incidents in which the victim described taking part in sexual acts with Hampsch.”

[WBIW]

(emphasis added)

Look at those underlined words and phrases. Each implies consent. Each suggests that the victim, despite being a child, is a willing participant. (And one phrase – “when she began a sexual relationship” – actually says that the child was the instigator.)

Each phrase is dreadfully hurtful. Reporters simply MUST be more accurate and sensitive in their language surrounding sex crimes, especially child sex crimes.

Ever wonder why so many rape and abuse victims stay silent? In part, it’s because of callous, stupid and inappropriate reporting like this.

If I put a gun in a teller’s face and demand the bank’s money, no one writes that she “took part in a financial transaction” with me. So no one should say or suggest that somehow, when adults sexually violate kids or teenagers, there’s no coercion involved.

Child molesters are usually more subtle and less overtly violent. But they still force their victims into what may seem like compliance. But it’s not. And we shouldn’t use careless or callous language that implies an equality and a willingness between child and adult that is just not possible.

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UNITED STATES
Watch Keep

Amy Smith

In August 2014 SNAP entered a community partnership with StoryCorps. Since 2003 StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 50,000 interviews with over 90,000 participants. With the storyteller’s permission, each conversation is recorded on a CD to share and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to their weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and on their Listen pages. To help commemorate the 25th Anniversary of SNAP at the 2014 National Conference, StoryCorps reserved two full recording days for SNAP members to share their stories. Since then, others have been able to record at the StoryCorps booths in San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago.

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

Laura C. Morel, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2014

A wrestling coach arrested Tuesday on charges that he recently hit two students was accused of stripping a Pinellas Park High student naked in 1998 after he caught the boy smoking a cigarette, according to records.

Teachers grew concerned when the student began missing classes around Thanksgiving. When confronted, the student said he felt uncomfortable seeing Scott Stern, a wrestling team volunteer, at school.

According to police records, the boy said that after Stern caught him smoking a cigarette in a car, Stern asked him to come into the wrestling room.

“Coach Stern said he could handle the smoking situation in three ways,” an officer wrote in a report. “One was to call his mother, two was the hard way, and the third was the mental way.”

The boy chose the mental way. Stern forced him to strip naked and balance a ruler on his head, records show.

When confronted by school officials and police, Stern admitted to making the student balance the ruler, but denied making him take off his clothes.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The cardinal has denied last Sunday’s alleged “incident”. At the post-Synod round table the President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Mgr. Melina, argued that the open approaches proposed during the Synod were simply “ways to attract people. It is like introducing end of season sales, Church style”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“It is not true that I deliberately avoided going to greet Pope Francis at the end of last Sunday’s mass because of an argument … these allegations are false,” Cardinal Ludwig Müller said at the end of a round table on the theme “The hope of the family. The Synod and beyond” held at the European University of Rome. He denied that he avoided greeting the Pope after the celebration of October 19th because of an argument a number of individuals claimed he had had with him.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Conversation

Bernard Gallagher
Reader in Social Work and Applied Social Sciences at University of Huddersfield

Bernard Gallagher has, in the past, received funding from the Department of Health, the Home Office, the Economic and Social Research Council, the NSPCC, and The Nuffield Foundation. He is a trustee of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

The Conversation is funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Alfred P Sloan Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Our global publishing platform is funded by Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Fiona Woolf’s first appearance before the Home Affairs Committee as Chair of the independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse provided some useful, albeit minimal, information on what work she and her panel will be undertaking.

Ms Woolf replaced Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who was originally appointed to lead the inquiry by the home secretary, Theresa May, to investigate the handling of abuse allegations by “a variety of public bodies and other important institutions”.

There have been serious misgivings about this inquiry – particularly around its remit – from the outset, and Ms Woolf’s appointment and eventual select committee appearance have done little to address them. Indeed, the problems have only multiplied.

Softly softly

Those overseeing the inquiry seem to be in no rush to commence proceedings. The home secretary set it up on July 7 2014; Butler-Sloss was appointed on July 8, and resigned on July 14 after her establishment links and record on other child abuse investigations was pillorited in the media. Her replacement by Woolf was revealed on September 5.

Woolf did not appear before the committee until October 21, more than six weeks after she was selected and 15 weeks after May initiated the inquiry – and still the panel has not begun its substantive work.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A retired priest with the St. Louis Archdiocese has been suspended due to a recently reported allegation of sexual abuse.

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson announced the suspension of retired priest Father John Ghio.
Carlson says the suspension is due to a recently reported allegation of sexual abuse which was alleged to have occurred in the early 1980s.

Click here to read a statement from the St. Louis Archdiocese.

Ghio is currently retired from active ministry and resides in a monitored environment.

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FLORIDA
Fox 13

[with video]

By: Josh Cascio, FOX 13 News

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) –

Even 15 years can’t erase the awful memories.

“Degrading, like I was powerless over it,” recalled Jon.

Jon, who wanted his identity hidden, says he was 16 when he was caught smelling like cigarettes by his wrestling coach, Scott Stern at Pinellas Park High.

Stern allegedly offered not to tell Jon’s mother — if he followed his rules.

“He asked me to take off my underwear and hold a ruler over my head until arms wouldn’t hold it anymore,” Jon said. “I think it was for his own sexual fantasy, maybe for little boys.”

Jon would eventually be forced to transfer schools, and a case he filed against Stern would later be dropped. He says the encounter still haunts him.

“It is definitely still there. The first reaction I saw was, ‘Oh my God,'” he said.

That reaction came after learning of two new cases against Stern, now a wrestling coach at Clearwater Central Catholic.

In one from February, Stern is accused of making a 17-year-old strip naked, then grabbing him by the throat and groin while yelling at him. The other involves forcing another student to strip and slapping him on the rear.

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FLORIDA
WFLA

By WFLA.com web staff

PINELLAS PARK, FL (WFLA) –
A third allegation against a former Clearwater wrestling coach surfaced on Wednesday, one day after the coach’s arrest on battery charges.

Documents released by Pinellas Park Police on Wednesday detail a 1999 abuse allegation against Scott Stern, 45, a former Pinellas Park High School wrestling coach who was arrested Tuesday on charges he battered two students at Clearwater Catholic School.

Deputies say he struck a two male students at Clearwater Catholic School, where he was a coach. Stern resigned from his coaching position at Clearwater Catholic about two weeks ago.

Investigators say Stern made one victim strip naked, he then grabbed the teen in his throat and groin area while yelling at him. The second victim was battered on several occasions between August 2013 and May 2014. Investigators say the victim was forced to take off all of his clothes and was struck with a ruler and Stern’s hand on the buttocks.

On Wednesday, Pinellas Park Police released details from an alleged 1998 incident report involving Stern and another teen. The incident described a similar scenario involving a ruler and a student who was told to strip naked.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

[with video]

THE Archbishop of York has said he is “deeply ashamed” that the Church of England failed to ensure children were not abused by a former cathedral dean.

Dr John Sentamu was responding to a report published today into the handling of allegations of sex abuse against the late Robert Waddington, formerly Dean of Manchester, which found there were “systemic failures” by the Church.

Dr Sentamu’s predecessor as Archbishop, Lord Hope of Thornes, has been accused of failing to act on information he received.

Today’s report, by Judge Sally Cahill QC, found that: “Our conclusion, having heard his (Lord Hope’s) evidence is that his concern for the welfare of Robert Waddington seems to have been paramount in his response to these allegations.”

Lord Hope has said he is “disappointed” that the report has raised concerns about how the cases were handled and denied that there was a cover-up.

Responding to the report, Dr Sentamu said: “I have already been in contact with those who gave evidence to the inquiry regarding their alleged abuse by Robert Waddington.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Oct 22, 2014 By Wayne Ankers

The Church of England failed to ensure children were not abused by a former dean of Manchester, a report has found.

Claims of sex abuse by the late Robert Waddington, formerly Dean of Manchester, were first made in 1999 but the report says there were ‘systematic failures’ in the handling of the allegations.

And a former Archbishop of York Lord Hope of Thornes has been accused of failing to act on information he was given.

The report, by Judge Sally Cahill QC, found that: “Our conclusion, having heard his (Lord Hope’s) evidence is that his concern for the welfare of Robert Waddington seems to have been paramount in his response to these allegations.”

Lord Hope has said he is ‘disappointed’ that the report raised concerns about how the cases were handled and denied that there was a cover-up.

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POLONIA
Al Momento

VARSOVIA, Polonia.- El párroco polaco Wojciech Waldemar Gil (padre Alberto Gil) fue acusado formalmente aquí de abusar sexualmente de menores en su país y en República Dominicana, dijo la fiscalía.

Przemyslaw Nowak, vocero de la fiscalía de Varsovia, dijo este miércoles que el sacerdote fue acusado de diez actos de abuso, ocho de ellos en perjuicio de niños varones menores de 15 años.
Explicó que los hechos habrían ocurrido en 2000-2001 en Polonia y en 2009-2013 en República Dominicana.

El padre Alberto Gil, quien negó los cargos de abuso sexual, también fue acusado de posesión de material pornográfico y posesión de un arma de fuego y municiones sin permiso.

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POLAND
Star Tribune

Article by: Associated Press Updated: October 22, 2014

WARSAW, Poland — Prosecutors say a Polish parish priest has been formally charged in his native country with sexually molesting minors in both the Dominican Republic and Poland.

A spokesman for prosecutors in Warsaw, Przemyslaw Nowak, said the priest, whom he identified as Wojciech G., has been accused of 10 offenses, eight being the sexual abuse of boys under age 15.

Nowak said Wednesday the alleged acts took place from 2000-2001 in Poland and from 2009-2013 in the Dominican Republic.

The priest, who used his own name, Wojciech Gil, when speaking to TVN television, is also charged with possessing pornographic materials and possessing a firearm and ammunition without having a permit. He was arrested near Krakow in February and remains in police custody.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 20 October 2014)

Many years ago, Broken Rites began researching “Brother Gabriel Mount”, who had worked in Catholic children’s homes conduced by the St John of God Brothers in New South Wales and Victoria. We discovered that he eventually became a priest (“Father Roger Mount”), working in Papua New Guinea. In October 2014 he was brought back to Australia, where police charged him with multiple child-sex offences in Melbourne, involving seven Victorian victims, He is scheduled to appear in court in Melbourne again in early 2015. New South Wales police, also, are investigating Father Mount concerning incidents that are alleged to have occurred in NSW.

Broken Rites research ascertained that, early in his church career (in the 1960s and 1970s), Roger Mount was listed in the annual editions of the Australian Catholic Directory as Brother “Gabriel” Mount, a member of a Catholic religious order called the St John of God Brothers. (When men joined this religious order, they normally adopted an ancient “saintly” name – hence Brother “Gabriel”.)

Later, Brother “Gabriel” Mount transferred to Papua New Guinea, where he left the St John of God order and became a diocesan priest. He reverted to his birth name, becoming Father Roger Mount, and was attached to the Diocese of Port Moresby. He reached a senior rank in this diocese. His most recent parish, Sogeri, is on the southern end of PNG’s famous Kokoda Track.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 22 October 2014)

A retired senior Catholic priest from western Sydney, Father Richard Cattell, has been undergoing preliminary court procedures (charged with child-sex offences) and now he is about to appear before Judge H. Syme in Sydney’s Penrith District Court for the final steps in the justice process. On the District Court schedule, Father Cattell is listed as case number 201400062169.

Father Cattell retired from parish work in the mid-1990s. He later lived privately at Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast and, recently, on the Gold Coast in Queensland. On 28 February 2014, New South Wales detectives travelled to Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales side of the Queensland border, and interviewed Richard Cattell at Tweed Heads police station about one former altar boy who has alleged that he was sexually abused while Cattell was based at parishes in western Sydney in the 1980s.

Cattell was taken on 24 March 2014 to Tweed Heads Local Court, to enable the matter to be officially filed in New South Wales.

Richard St John Cattell, aged 73, was charged with indecent acts against this boy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

22 October 2014 14:38 by Christopher Lamb

The Archbishop of York has said he is “deeply ashamed” that the Church of England failed to stop abuse by a former Dean of Manchester Cathedral, Robert Waddington.

An independent inquiry by Judge Sally Cahill found that the allegations made against Waddington, who died in 2007, had not been adequately responded to by the Church and puts forward a series of recommendations for improvement.

Complaints were made against Waddington between 1999 and 2004 relating to incidents that took place in Australia in the 1960s and when he was Dean of Manchester in the 1980s.

Archbishop John Sentamu, who commissioned Judge Cahill’s report, said the inquiry had shown “systemic failures” by the Church.

Archbishop Sentamu’s predecessor Lord Hope was among those singled out for criticism for how he responded when he heard of allegations against Waddington.

These included not taking advice from his child protection officer, failing to take action that might have led to a prosecution, not establishing the risk to children and the fact that he interviewed Waddington about the allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Press Association
The Guardian, Wednesday 22 October

The Archbishop of York has said he is deeply ashamed that the Church of England failed to ensure children were not abused by a former cathedral dean.

John Sentamu was responding to a report published on Wednesday into the handling of allegations of sex abuse against the late Robert Waddington, formerly dean of Manchester, which found there were systemic failures by the church.

Sentamu’s predecessor as archbishop, Lord Hope of Thornes, has been accused of failing to act on information he received.

The report, by Judge Sally Cahill QC, found that: “Our conclusion, having heard his [Lord Hope’s] evidence, is that his concern for the welfare of Robert Waddington seems to have been paramount in his response to these allegations.”

Hope has said he is disappointed that the report raised concerns about how the cases were handled and denied that there was a coverup.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Caroline Wyatt
Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has apologised to victims of sexual abuse by a former cathedral dean.

Dr Sentamu was responding to a report into how abuse allegations against the Very Rev Robert Waddington, formerly dean of Manchester, were handled.

His predecessor was criticised for not acting on allegations in the report, which found “systemic failures” within the Church of England.

At least two men made claims of abuse in 1999 and at sometime in 2003-04.

The then Archbishop of York Lord Hope of Thorne and others were criticised in the report by Judge Sally Cahill for not acting at the time the allegations were made – and therefore putting other children at risk.

Several other boys the inquiry spoke to said they too had been subject to sexual abuse by the late Dean Waddington, who died in 2007.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill

A senior Church of England priest who was deeply sexually and emotionally abusive to young boys escaped prosecution when he was alive, possibly because of a failure to act against him when the first complaints were made, according to a report today.

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu said it was a matter of “shame” and “deep repentance” that the abuse had occurred. The inquiry by Judge Sally Cahill QC found that the former Archbishop of York, Lord Hope of Thornes, did not act on information he was given about abuse by Robert Waddington, former Dean of Manchester, who is now dead.

The 125-page report makes chilling reading and illustrates how a respected churchman could at the same time groom the young boys he had access to while cultivating an illusion of goodness in front of almost everyone else.

Throughout his long career as a paedophile, during which senior clergy praised him as someone with “a special gift with boys”, children were abused in Australia, where Waddington also worked, and in England. He would treat his chosen boys like young adults and give them the pet name of “mon petit”. There were also reports of boys being taken away by him on holiday, and of “boys frolicking with little clothing on.”

Judge Cahill concludes that it is a “possibility” that Waddington might have faced prosecution had any investigation been made into allegations against him in 1999, 2003 or 2004. The last victim identified was in the 1990s but as late as 1999, when the first complaint was made to Lord Hope, Waddington had access to the choirboys’ cloakroom at York Minster.

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FLORIDA
WFLA

[with video]

By Melissa Beckman

CLEARWATER, FL (WFLA) –
A former high school wrestling coach, accused for making students strip naked and battering them and arrested, has bonded out of jail.

Pinellas County Sheriff’s detectives say they know of two victims and believe there may be others out there.

The Sheriff’s Office arrested Scott Stern, 45, Tuesday. He resigned from his coaching position at Central Catholic High School two weeks ago.

Detectives say Stern made the first victim take off all of his clothes, and then grabbed him by the throat and groin area while yelling at him. The second victim claims he was battered on several occasions between August 2013 and May 2014. The teen claims Stern forced him to take off all his clothes and struck him with a ruler.

Stern’s attorney tells 8 On Your Side his client is innocent of the charges.

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FLORIDA
TBO

A former Clearwater high school wrestling coach assaulted two students after he made them take off their clothes, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.

Scott Stern, 45, was arrested Tuesday on two counts of simple battery, deputies said.

He was the wrestling coach at Clearwater Central Catholic High from 2003 until recently.

According to investigators, in February, Stern made an 18-year-old male strip, and then grabbed him by the throat and groin area while yelling at him as a form of discipline.

A sheriff’s office report said another student, a 17-year-old boy, was battered by Stern on several occasions between August 2013 and May. The teen was forced to strip, then Stern struck him with a ruler and slapped him on the buttocks, the report said.

On another occasion, the boy was forced to take off his clothes while Stern conducted a strip search, the report said.

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FLORIDA
Daily Star (UK)

By Cyrus Engineer / Published 22nd October 2014

Scott Stern, 45, was taken into custody by police in Florida after resigning two weeks ago.

An 18-year-old claimed Stern – who taught wrestling and history at Clearwater Central Catholic High School – ordered him to remove his clothing and grabbed him by the groin and throat while shouting at him.

WFLA-TV has said the coach considered it a form of discipline.

The second victim, a 17-year-old, alleges Stern told him to strip before using a ruler to spank him.

There are fears other teens may also have fallen victim to Stern.

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

Laura C. Morel, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2014

A wrestling coach arrested Tuesday on charges that he recently hit two students was accused of stripping a Pinellas Park High student naked in 1998 after he caught the boy smoking a cigarette, according to records.

Teachers grew concerned when the student began missing classes around Thanksgiving. When confronted, the student said he felt uncomfortable seeing Scott Stern, a wrestling team volunteer, at school.

According to police records, the boy said that after Stern caught him smoking a cigarette in a car, Stern asked him to come into the wrestling room, where he forced him to strip naked while balancing a ruler on his head.

The Pinellas Park Police Department forwarded their investigation to the State Attorney’s Office in 1999, but prosecutors declined to file a child abuse charge against Stern.

Stern, who worked at Clearwater Central Catholic High School for 12 years, currently faces two counts of battery.

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FLORIDA
New York Daily News

BY DEBORAH HASTINGS

A 45-year-old Catholic high school wrestling coach and history teacher has been arrested and charged with battery for allegedly “punishing” two students by forcing them to get undressed, then beating their bare bodies, authorities said.

Scott Stern was taken into custody on Tuesday in Florida by Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputies, WFLA-TV reported.

His alleged victims were two male students at Clearwater Central High School. Stern resigned two weeks ago. Deputies began investigating earlier this month after receiving a complaint, WABC-TV reported.

In February, Stern ordered an 18-year-old to remove his clothing and then grabbed him by the groin and throat while screaming at him, authorities said. It was considered a form of discipline, WFLA-TV reported.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC

[with video]

An inquiry has sharply criticised the Church of England’s handling of allegations of child sex abuse against the late Dean of Manchester, Robert Waddington.

Its head, Judge Sally Cahill, said there had been systemic failures by the church in not reporting the sexual abuse, despite several alleged victims from the UK and Australia speaking out 15 years ago.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has offered a wholehearted apology, as the BBC’s Caroline Wyatt reports.

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UNITED KINGDOM
York Press

[with video]

by Mike Laycock

A REPORT on the Church of England’s handling of child abuse allegations against a former cathedral dean has strongly criticised a former Archbishop of York.

It says Lord Hope struggled with the conflict between his responsibilities for both the pastoral care of clergy and discipline, and says his concern for the welfare of Robert Waddington seemed to have been paramount in his response to the allegations against the former Dean of Manchester Cathedral.

The report, published following an independent inquiry set up by current Archbishop Dr John Sentamu, also identifies ‘systemic failures’ in the church’s failure to implement or follow its own procedures and guidelines on the reporting of incidents.

It makes eight recommendations for future handling of allegations, including policies that decision-makers should not have a pastoral responsibility for the alleged perpetrator, child protection should be approached on a national rather than diocesan basis and record keeping should be national.

Dr Sentamu said he was ‘deeply ashamed’ that the church was not vigilant enough to ensure such things did not happen, adding: “Any act of abuse committed by someone in a position of authority in the Church is a matter of shame and requires deep repentance.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

OCTOBER 23, 2014

Michael McKenna
Reporter
Brisbane

ONE of the most senior Anglican clergymen in the world covered up horrific sexual abuse of children in Australia and Britain, according to an independent inquiry whose findings have rocked the church worldwide.

Lord David Hope of Thornes, formerly the Archbishop of York, was slammed by the church-­ordered inquiry, which found that he kept allegations against Robert Waddington secret from police and that his biased internal invest­igation into pedophile clergyman had put more children at risk.

Lord Hope, then the second-highest-ranking official in the Church of England, was also accused of compromising potential police investigations in both countries and misleading Queensland victim Bim Atkinson into dropping his fight against the church.

Victims of Waddington are calling for Lord Hope, who was knighted for his services to the Queen, to be stripped of his life peerage in the House of Lords.

Headed by English judge Sally Cahill, the 12-month inquiry was ordered last year after a joint investigation by The Australian and London’s The Times exposed a high-level cover-up into the 1999 and 2003 allegations into the late reverend Waddington.

The Cambridge-educated Waddington was principal of a Anglican boarding school in far north Queensland for almost a decade until 1970, before returning to England where he rose to become the head of education for the church in Britain and later dean of Manchester. The newspaper investigation revealed that at least six boys and a young clergyman were sexually abused and beaten by Waddington in Britain and Australia.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop of York

Wednesday 22nd October 2014

The Office of Lord Hope of Thornes issued the following statement today. Bishop David Hope is a former Bishop of London, and the former Archbishop of York.

STATEMENT RE THE WADDINGTON INQUIRY

Lord Hope issued the following statement today

(Wednesday 22 October 2014)

I have maintained throughout my career that any allegation of abuse made against anyone connected to the Church must be dealt with professionally and swiftly. Accordingly, as someone who has always taken safeguarding extremely seriously, I am obviously disappointed that this Inquiry has raised concerns about how the two cases in question were dealt with during my time at Bishopthorpe.

As Bishop of Wakefield, then London followed by my time as Archbishop of York I always took great care and acted in, what I believed to be, an appropriate and effective manner in cases where the abuse of victims was brought to my attention. I note that the Inquiry itself is clear that no allegations of abuse in the Diocese of York were ever made during my time as Archbishop.

At the time 15 and 12 years ago respectively such allegations as were reported to me were unspecific. Indeed the full details of the allegations in question have never been brought to my attention either at the time that I was Archbishop, or during this Inquiry. The allegations were also from unnamed sources who had indicated their unwillingness at that stage to go to the police. In such circumstances, at that time, there was no recommendation that reporting to the police and statutory authorities was mandatory and that there was ‘no single, correct procedure for dealing with a disclosure of abuse by an adult'[1]. If any allegations were passed to me today, however, I would not hesitate to inform the police and the statutory authorities.

I am glad that the Report has found that there is no evidence that Waddington abused anyone else after I spoke to him in 1999.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop of York

[with video]

Wednesday 22nd October 2014

Archbishop’s Statement On Publication of the Independent Inquiry by Her Honour Sally Cahill into the Church of England’s Response to allegations against Robert Waddington

I wish to begin by expressing my gratitude to the Judge, Her Honour Judge Sally Cahill QC, Mr Joe Cocker and Mrs Nicola Harding for the work they have done in producing this report. I also want to thank all those who gave evidence to assist the Inquiry team in coming to its conclusions.

I have already been in contact with those who gave evidence to the Inquiry regarding their alleged abuse by Robert Waddington. As I have said to them I am deeply ashamed that the Church was not vigilant enough to ensure that these things did not happen, failing both to watch and to act, where children were at serious risk.

Any act of abuse committed by someone in a position of authority in the Church is a matter for shame and requires deep repentance. We are called as individuals and corporately to a higher standard and to show God’s love and care as revealed in Jesus Christ. Those who trusted us in this only to be grievously wounded deserve not only our wholehearted apology but also the assurance we will keep a watchful eagle’s eye and act swiftly. …

At the request of some of those interviewed by the inquiry to the Archbishop of York this report will not be made available in an electronic format but in hard copy only.

Hard copies of the report are available from Bishopthorpe Palace in York and Church House Bookshop, Westminster. Copies of the report have been sent to newsdesks.

Copies of the Report for the media will be available free of charge on Wednesday 22 October. After this date, the Report will be available at a cost of £7.50 plus postage and packing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Anglican Communion News Service

The Bishop of Manchester issues a statement today on the publication of The Inquiry into the Church of England’s response to child abuse allegations made against Robert Waddington.

Robert Waddington abused children. He abused them in Australia and in England. He exploited the trust placed in him, first as a teacher and then as a priest, to gain repeated and unsupervised access to the children he abused. My heart goes out to those whose lives have been irreparably damaged by what Robert Waddington did to them. When I read of the ongoing effects of his abuse, decades after it took place, it makes my blood run cold.

So I want to thank Archbishop Sentamu for setting up this inquiry. I also want to thank Judge Sally Cahill and her colleagues for their hard work over these last months. But above all I want to say thank you to those who Robert Waddington abused, and who came forward. Thank you, because every time a survivor of abuse speaks out it makes it just a little easier for the next person to speak. Thank you, because every time one of you tells your story, you make a little narrower the space in which abusers can conceal their crimes. Thank you for the courage you have found, and for the long years you may have spent in plucking up that courage.

The Cahill Inquiry has done what it could to encourage other survivors of abuse by Robert Waddington to come forward. They state clearly that they have heard no evidence that he was continuing to abuse children at or after the turn of the millennium, when allegations were first raised with Child Protection Advisors here and in York. Nevertheless, it is plain that a more vigorous and coordinated response by the dioceses involved, and with the police, might have led to a situation where it would have been possible to bring Robert Waddington to account for his earlier crimes, in his lifetime. That opportunity was tragically missed. The eight recommendations in the Report, which largely focus on the national dimension of safeguarding, will go some way to avoiding similar situations ever happening again. Manchester Diocese itself is in a very different place now. Our safeguarding work is led by a full time professional officer, fully qualified to carry out her responsibilities. In her absence and as additional back up we have access to consultancy from one of the major and most highly respected national safeguarding organisations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Crime Editor

Child abusers should no longer be protected from justice by the confidentiality of the confessional, the Archbishop of York told The Times today.

Dr John Sentamu said that after listening to survivors of sexual abuse by a senior clergyman he had pressed the Church of England to undertake legal and theological study on the secrecy of confession.

Under canon law priests are forbidden from disclosing what is said to them in the confessional.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Lawsuit vs. abusive minister & ex-radio host settles
One of his victims will speak publicly for the first time
He sexually repeatedly exploited her during counseling
He surrendered his psychologist’s license to state officials
But he’s now around “vulnerable adults” as hospice chaplain
Last month, he was honored by a large local funeral home chain
And he also reportedly worked for Cardinals & Seattle Mariners
SNAP urges others who “saw, suspected or suffered” misdeeds to “speak up”

WHAT:
Holding signs and a photo of an alleged offender at a sidewalk news conference, a woman who was sexually exploited by a minister, ex- psychologist, ex-St. Louis Cardinals consultant and ex-KMOX radio talk show host will

— blast a funeral home & hospice provider for honoring the minister last month,
— discuss, for the first time, her civil lawsuit against the minister and his church, and
– disclose that the suit has settled and that his psychologist’s license has been revoked, and
— prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his misdeeds to speak up, expose wrongdoing, and protect others.

WHEN:
Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 2:30 p.m.

WHO:
A woman who was sexually exploited by her minister, filed an unusual lawsuit against him, settled the case and now worries about the minister’s efforts to gain access to other vulnerable adults. She’ll be joined by her husband and three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHERE:
Outside the Unity Hospice headquarters, 6406 Wise Ave. (corner of Tamm) in St. Louis’ Dogtown neighborhood

WHY:
Last month, Rev. Bill L. Little was honored by a local funeral home and the hospice company where he works.

[Unity Hospice]

But two lawsuits against him, charging that he sexually exploited congregants or counselees, have settled. And while being investigated, he relinquished his psychologist’s license to state officials and was ordered to surrender his certificates and licenses due to an inappropriate relationship with a patient and for performing treatments for which he was not licensed. (As best SNAP can tell, he has never regained his license.)

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, October 22, 2014

For more information: Melanie Jula Sakoda ( 925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com ), Cappy Larson ( 415-637-2006 cell, cappy@rlarson.com ), David Clohessy ( 314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

Convicted abusive archbishop still gets a salary
Victims’ group is “outraged” by “this hurtful injustice”
Hierarch was retired and is no longer an archdiocesan employee
Survivors believe this set-up is a way to channel archdiocesan funds to the prelate’s legal defense
Officials early on made it clear that church entities must not be involved in raising money for archbishop’s attorney fees
Victims’ beg the synod to put an end to “this hurtful, expensive charade”

Members of an abuse survivors’ group say that Orthodox Church officials are continuing to pay an archbishop who was retired in the wake of hjs conviction on child sexual abuse charges.

Archbishop Seraphim Storheim was found guilty of molesting a child in January of 2014. He was once the highest-ranking Orthodox prelate in Canada. (He worked in Winnipeg and Ottawa.)

[Orthodox Church in America]

However, official archdiocesan minutes that were recently put online show that Storheim received his full salary through the end of August. Although his employment benefits ended in June, he will apparently continue to collect two thirds of his salary, with no end in sight to the payments.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By DAVE SUTOR dsutor@tribdem.com | Posted: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 4:36 pm

Eighty-eight former Bishop McCort High School students who Brother Stephen Baker sexually abused will receive a combined $8 million in compensation.

A settlement, involving four parties – the victims, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Third Order Regular Franciscans and Bishop McCort Catholic High School, was announced on Tuesday.

Baker, whose January 2013 death has been ruled a suicide, abused the children when he served as an athletic trainer at the Johnstown school from 1992 through 2001.

“The victims of Brother Stephen Baker should be proud of themselves for having the strength to step up and fight such devastating evil,” said Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based attorney for almost three dozen of the accusers.

Richard Serbin, an Altoona lawyer who represents some of the other molestation victims, added: “No amount of money eliminates the emotional and physical pain of having been sexually molested by someone you trust and respect. By coming forward, these brave young people took action in an effort to prevent other children from being sexually abused.

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TOWSON (MD)
The Towerlight

20 OCTOBER 2014 BY JONATHAN MUNSHAW, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Update (Oct. 21, 3:42 p.m.): Director of Communications Ray Feldmann told The Washington Post that the University did not know about these trips to the synagogue for Freundel’s class, and that they were unauthorized by the school.

Original story

The University has indefinitely suspended Associate Professor Barry Freundel with pay, following his arrest outside his home in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 14.

Freundel was charged with voyeurism for allegedly setting up a hidden camera disguised as a clock radio in a ritual bath, to which he pled not guilty.

“Dr. Freundel has been suspended from any and all faculty duties and responsibilities, pending the outcome of that investigation and associated criminal proceedings. At this time there is no indication that these activities occurred on the Towson University campus. We are concerned about the serious nature of this matter, and we are providing support and counseling resources to members of the campus community,” Director of Communications Ray Feldmann said in a statement Wednesday.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Alarm grows over news that rabbi accused of voyeurism took students to ritual bath

By Peter Hermann October 21

Police searched a D.C. rabbi’s office at Towson University on Tuesday as students and campus officials expressed growing alarm over news that the rabbi, who was a professor there, took students on field trips to his Georgetown synagogue and invited them to use a ritual bath where he is now accused of secretly recording women.

Students in two of Barry Freun­del’s religious classes said on Tuesday that the professor who replaced the suspended rabbi let students vent and that in back-to-back sessions, several said they either had been invited to shed their clothes and use the bath, called a mikvah, and had declined, or knew classmates who had participated.

“It was very emotional, confusing, frustrating,” said Jenna Taylor, a 22-year-old majoring in health-care management, describing her class on faith perspectives in medical history now being taught by Avram Reisner, a rabbi and theologian from the Baltimore area. Freundel began teaching at the school in 1989.

A woman who had helped Freundel with the ritual bath from late 2013 through May said she assisted at least a half-dozen Towson University students as they showered and immersed themselves in the mikvah as part of the field trips. The woman said she is in contact with D.C. police.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

The offices of a now suspended Towson University professor were searched by police on Tuesday.

The Washington Post reports police were at the office of Barry Freundel yesterday.

Freundel is now charged with six counts of voyeurism. The DC Rabbi was also a professor of religious studies at Towson.

Some students in his class say they were invited to use the religious cleansing bath at a Georgetown synagogue where Freundel worked and which are the focus of the investigation.

Freundel is accused of secretly recording women getting into the baths at the synagogue.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Trisha Estabrooks

More than five decades after the last residential school in St. Albert closed its doors, a new plan is in the works to remember the city’s sometimes-painful past.

There were once two residential schools in what is now St. Albert:

* The Edmonton Indian Residential School (1919-1960), which was originally run by the Methodists and later by the United Church, and

* St. Albert’s Indian Residential School (1941-1948) was run by the Roman Catholics
Both buildings were destroyed by fire and no longer exist.

Now, St. Albert United Church minister James Ravenscroft and well-known aboriginal activist Maggie Hodgson want to create ‘a healing garden’ to commemorate the children who were forced to attend the faith-based organizations.

The story of residential schools in St. Albert’s is not well-told, they said. In fact, many people are often shocked to hear that St. Albert even had residential schools, said Ravenscroft.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Oct 21, 2014 By James Lyons

Three Labour MPs warned that Fiona Woolf’s ties to the Tory grandee meant she should not investigate how historic abuse allegations were handled

The new head of the national child sex abuse inquiry is facing calls to quit before she starts – as the full extent of her links to Leon Brittan were revealed today.

Three Labour MPs warned that Fiona Woolf’s ties to the Tory grandee meant she should not carry out the probe into how historic abuse ­allegations were handled.

Ms Woolf said that she has enjoyed five dinner parties with Mr Brittan and his wife – prompting Labour MP Simon Danczuk to comment: “In the world where I come from if you have people round for dinner regularly, you would consider yourselves friends.”

Mr Danczuk, who exposed Cyril Smith as a paedophile, added: “The public will suspect the government is trying to protect Leon Brittan.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Matthew Weaver and Rowena Mason
The Guardian, Wednesday 22 October 2014

Fiona Woolf, the second person to lead the government’s inquiry into child abuse, is facing parliamentary and legal pressure to stand down after it emerged she was on “dinner-party terms” with Lord Brittan, who was home secretary when a dossier about alleged Westminster paedophiles went missing from his department.

Woolf, a QC and lord mayor of London, replaced the government’s initial choice, Lady Butler-Sloss, who resigned soon after the inquiry was set up when it emerged that her late brother Lord Havers was attorney general at the time of some of the historical allegations.

Now a second conflict of interest row is growing as lawyers representing victims of the abuse insist that Woolf should resign after it emerged that the Tory peer was one of her neighbours, with whom she had dined five times since 2008.

She also faces a legal challenge over her appointment and an parliamentary motion calling for her replacement.

The shadow energy secretary, Caroline Flint, told BBC’s Daily Politics programme: “I think it’s really difficult for her to stay.” But No 10 insisted the prime minister had “full confidence” in Woolf.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Child abuse inquiry chair ‘beyond the pale’ and must step down over dinner party links to top Tory Leon Brittan, say victims

The new chairman of the government inquiry into child sex abuse was dismissed as ‘beyond the pale’ for victims today because of her dinner party links to Leon Brittan.

Fiona Woolf admitted she entertained the former Home Secretary and his wife three times at dinner parties at her house, and twice went to his central London home for dinner.

The revelations showed she was not fit to oversee the official inquiry into historic allegations of child abuse, victims said today.

Asked whether Mrs Woolf should step down, Alison Millar, who represents a number of abuse victims whose cases are likely to be raised in the inquiry, said: ‘Yes. I think this evidence of dinner parties with Lord Brittan really puts her beyond the pale in terms of her credibility with my clients.’

Ms Millar told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘This is not about Fiona Woolf’s ability or her integrity. This is about her independence and her ability to lead this inquiry in a way that is credible to the survivors of abuse whom I represent.

‘The people that I am in contact with because they are my clients, or I am in contact with otherwise, the general view among them is that Fiona Woolf really does not have the necessary credibility to lead what is such an important inquiry for them.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

[with video]

A victim of historical child sexual abuse has launched a legal challenge to the choice of Fiona Woolf as the chair of the inquiry investigating the issue.

A judicial review application, seen by the BBC, claims she is not impartial, has no relevant expertise and may not have time to discharge her duties.

Labour wants Mrs Woolf to meet abuse victims amid concerns over her links to former home secretary Lord Brittan.

Downing Street said it had “full confidence” in her doing the job.

The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith said he believed the government would do everything it could to “cling onto” Mrs Woolf given that her predecessor in the role had already stood down and the inquiry was being asked to produce an interim report by the end of March.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

video report by Tom Lyden

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis brought in some heavy hitters to investigate the child sex abuse allegations plaguing the church, but survivors say they weren’t told about a very relevant bit of history from a new hire’s resume.

Tim O’Malley, the former superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, was appointed to the newly-created position of director of ministerial standards and safe environment at the end of August. Last week, he brought in his old boss — former Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion — to help without much fanfare; however, Campion had first-hand experience dealing with a child abuse allegation 20 years ago — and it’s a case that’s very similar to those the church is accused of mishandling.

Campion’s own methods are raising serious questions, but lawyers announced last week that he will join the investigation of abuse allegations after they announced a settlement involving the archdiocese. Some abuse survivors, including Bob Swiderski, welcomed the idea of having a top cop come into the church.

“We just heard he was this longtime cop,” Swiderski told Fox 9 News.

Yet, back in 1993, Campion was the No. 2 guy at the BCA. That’s when former Minneapolis Police Chief John Laux forwarded a letter he got from two brothers who said they were molested by a counselor at the YMCA’s Camp Warren. That counselor, William Jacobs, had become the Minneapolis Park Police Chief, and Campion arranged a meeting between Jacobs and one of his victims. During that meeting, Jacobs allegedly confessed.

Speaking to Fox 9 News by phone from the chancery office, Campion claimed his hands were tied. The Attorney General’s Office told him the cases were outside the statute of limitations, and the victims didn’t wish to go public. So, Campion told Jacobs he was going to keep an eye on him. When asked whether he conducted an investigation, Campion said, “I did an inquiry.”

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MISSOURI
Fox 2

[with video]

OCTOBER 21, 2014, BY ANDY BANKER

WEBSTER GROVES, MO (KTVI) – Stunning news for parishioners at St. Louis area Catholic churches. Arch-Bishop Robert Carlson has announced the suspension of a long-time priest after an allegation of sexual abuse.

They knew him as Father Jack at Annunciation Parish in Webster Groves. Fr. John Ghio last served as a retired priest in residence. To the allegation of his sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980’s, just revealed in announcement from the Arch-Bishop, seems out of the question.

Ghio served in 8 other parishes since his ordination in 1980, Including St. Joseph’s in Manchester from ’83-’86. there will be an announcement of his suspension, in the Sunday bulletins of all 9 parishes.

St. Catherine, Alexandria in Riverview Gardens, St. John the Baptist in St. Louis, St. Joseph-Manchester, St. Angela- Florissant, Our Lady of Lourdes U-City, St. Joseph–Farmington, St. Peter in St. Charles, Assumption in Mattese, and Annunciation in Webster Groves.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Vindicator

Staff and wire report

PITTSBURGH

Attorneys for about half of the 88 former students sexually abused by a Franciscan friar, who worked as a teacher and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown, Pa., say the students’ claims have settled for $8 million.

Altoona attorney Richard Serbin represents 13 former students at the school, and Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian represents 33. The students said they were abused by Brother Stephen Baker, who worked at the school, 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, from 1992 to 2001.

Baker, 62, committed suicide in January 2013 by stabbing himself shortly after two former Warren John F. Kennedy students and Garabedian disclosed that 11 former Kennedy students had reached a settlement with that school, the Diocese of Youngstown and the religious order under which Baker served, the Franciscan Third Order Regular. The newest settlement involved the Diocese of Youngstown as well.

The Warren revelations prompted many of the alleged McCort victims to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

By SAMANTHA-JO HARRIS Oct. 22, 2014

THE hearing into a defrocked priest facing historic child sexual abuse charges was halted on Wednesday after the prosecutor was rushed to hospital suffering chest pains.

Just after lunch, Peter Woods complained he was “feeling flat”, before walking out of the courtroom clutching his chest.

Later, court staff said Mr Woods had been complaining of symptoms which indicated a problem with his heart, but he said he was feeling no pain when treated by the paramedics.

Crown solicitor Edward Freelander, who had been in the district court, offered to step up for the hearing, which was expected to involve the cross-examination of three witnesses, including one of the complainants.

The committal was to determine which witnesses would be needed to give evidence when the case went to trial.

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POLSKA
Gazeta Wiadomosci

Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie skierowała do sądu akt oskarżenia przeciwko Wojciechowi G., duchownemu podejrzewanemu o molestowanie nieletnich na Dominikanie.

Do Sądu Rejonowego w Wołominie trafił akt oskarżenia przeciwko Wojciechowi G. podejrzewanemu o wykorzystywanie seksualne nieletnich w wieku poniżej 15 lat na Dominikanie.

W akcie oskarżenia pojawiły się zarzuty popełnienia łącznie 10 przestępstw, w tym osiem dotyczy “obcowania płciowego z małoletnim poniżej lat 15 lub dopuszczenia się wobec takiej osoby innej czynności seksualnej, lub doprowadzenia jej do poddania się takim czynnościom”. Zarzuty te dotyczą ośmiu różnych osób, w tym dwóch Polaków i sześciu obywateli Dominikany. Dwa przestępstwa miały być popełnione w Polsce w latach 2000-2001, pozostałe w latach 2009-2013 na Dominikanie.

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POLSKA
Newsweek

Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie skierowała w środę do Sądu Rejonowego w Wołominie akt oskarżenia przeciwko księdzu Wojciechowi G.

Ks. Wojciech G. został oskarżony o obcowanie płciowe z małoletnim oraz molestowanie. Zarzutów jest dziesięć: osiem zarzutów dotyczy obcowania płciowego z małoletnim poniżej lat 15 lub dopuszczenia się wobec takiej osoby “innej czynności seksualnej” lub doprowadzenia jej do poddania się takim czynnościom. Za pokrzywdzonych prokuratura uznała 8 osób: 2 obywateli polskich i 6 obywateli dominikańskich. Z ustaleń śledztwa wynika, że dwa czyny ks. G. popełnił w latach 2000-01 w Polsce, a pozostałe – w różnych okresach na przestrzeni lat 2009-13 na terenie Republiki Dominikańskiej.

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POLAND
The News

22.10.2014

A Polish priest accused of child abuse in both the Dominican Republic and Poland has been formally

Father Wojciech G.’s case has been referred to a district court in Wolomin, 12 miles east of the capital, according to Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for a public prosecutor’s office in Warsaw.

Nowak has confirmed that the priest stands accused of 10 offences, 8 of which relate to the sexual abuse of boys below the age of 15.

“Two acts were committed in 2000-2001 in Poland, the others at various times over the years 2009-2013, in the Dominican Republic,” he outlined on Wednesday.

Nowak also revealed that the priest is accused of possession of pornographic material involving minors, as well as the possesion of a firearm and ammunition without the necessary permits.

“We have ample evidence in this case, including the testimonies of over 100 witnesses, and over a dozen reports by experts,” he noted.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Mark Peterson’s article is Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team Stunt of Day — to complement Synod of Bishops and defend all-empty-talk charade of pre-selected Opus Dei Bishops.

Mark Peterson is wrong to identify the story of Judas Iscariot and the Apostles in the Bible likened to the story of the bestial pedophile priests in the Catholic Church.

When Australia’s Vatican Pied Piper Anne Lastman first defended the pedophile priests in her country being investigated by the Royal Commission, she put it cleverly in such a way that it was the Catholic Church being persecuted despite all its predator bestial priests:

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

By PATRICIA RICE

St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson announced Tuesday the suspension of retired priest John J. Ghio because of a recently reported allegation of abuse — allegedly in the early 1980s.

In a letter to parishes of the Archdiocese, Carlson said:

“Having consulted with the Promoter of Justice, the Vicar for Priests, and the Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and to ensure the integrity of the process, I have suspended Father Ghio’s priestly faculties until a canonical process is concluded.”

Ghio, already retired from active ministry, now resides in a monitored environment.

All parishes where Ghio served will get church bulletin announcements, the archdiocese said in a release. According to the St. Louis Review, Ghio was at St. Catherine of Alexandria in Riverview Gardens (1980); St. John the Baptist in St. Louis (1982); St. Joseph in Manchester (1983); St. Angela Merici in Florissant (1986); Our Lady of Lourdes in University City (1989); St. Joseph in Farmington (1991); St. John the Baptist in St. Louis (1995); St. Peter in St. Charles (2000); senior Assumption in Mattese (2008); and Annunciation in Webster Groves (2011).

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY AMANDA FERGUSON – 21 OCTOBER 2014

It was a tragic waste of life.​

The sister of a man who claimed he was sexually abused as a boy at Rubane House in Kircubbin is speaking out for the first time about the torture he told her he suffered at the hands of the men tasked with caring for him.

Rosaleen O’Connor (69) from Larne is sharing John Christopher Magill’s story, following his death in 1999, as the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI) hears disturbing witness testimony from ex-residents of the former Catholic care home, run by the De La Salle Brothers.

“He didn’t get any justice in this world,” Rosaleen said.

John’s alcohol addiction began after he emerged from Rubane House, at the age of 14, following what he told his sister was nightly episodes of abuse.

On New Year’s Day 1999, aged just 48, John was found dead with a large quantity of alcohol and three types of prescription drugs in his system.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

John Ferguson
Victorian Political Editor
Melbourne

ONE of the nation’s most senior Catholics has warned that the church must take legal, moral and collective responsibility for the systemic abuse of children before 1996.

Frank Brennan, professor of law at the Australian Catholic University, yesterday condemned the church’s handling of abuse more than 20 years ago and called for collective institutional responsibility.

He stopped short of criticising Cardinal George Pell, the former archbishop of Sydney, arguing that the church’s structures had been so opaque before 1996 as to have been dysfunctional.

He said Cardinal Pell’s recent evidence to the royal commission into child abuse made it possible to properly analyse the church’s position on the subject.

While it was understandable that Cardinal Pell’s critics had focused on his comments comparing the church’s responsibilities with the criminal act of any truck driver, the bigger picture could be missed, he said.

“Reviewing Cardinal Pell’s evidence, I have concluded that we Catholics need to accept moral responsibility and legal liability for all child sexual abuse committed by clergy prior to 1996, regardless of what might be the moral or legal position after 1996 when improved measures for supervision and dismissal of errant clergy were put in place,’’ he wrote in the online church publication Eureka Street.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Road to Recovery

88 of Br. Stephen Baker’s courageous sexual abuse victims to share 8 million dollar settlement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA; Bishop Mc Cort High School, Johnstown, PA; and the Franciscans Friars Third Order Regular of Hollidaysburg, PA

At least one sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen Baker from the Altoona-Johnstown area who is not part of the recent settlement has come forward to report that he too was sexually abused by Br. Stephen Baker, and more victims are expected to come forward. Br Stephen Baker was a serial predator.

What: A press conference to discuss the 8 million dollar settlement for 88 victims of Br. Stephen Baker, a Franciscan Third Order Regular religious brother who resided at the headquarters of the Franciscans in Hollidaysburg, PA and was assigned to Bishop Mc Cort High School in Johnstown, PA as a religion teacher, coach, and athletic trainer, although unlicensed and uncertified.

When: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at 11:30 AM

Where: On public property in front of the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, 927 S. Logan Boulevard, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648 – 814-695-5579

Who: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; Barbara Aponte of Poland, Ohio, whose son, Luke Bradesku, took his own life because of sexual abuse by Br. Stephen Baker in Ohio.

Why: 88 courageous sexual abuse victims of Br. Stephen Baker will finally try to realize some sense of validation and closure through the settlement of 8 million dollars from the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, Bishop Mc Cort High School, and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular. Br. Stephen Baker was a serial sexual abuser of minor children and his victims number in the hundreds. At least one more sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen Baker has come forward, and other victims will be encouraged to come forward to begin the healing process and hold the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and the Franciscan friars accountable for enabling the sexual abuse of minors. All sexual abuse victims of Br. Stephen Baker and any other clergyman or religious person should know that it is not too late to come forward, report the sexual abuse, and begin the healing process. It is known that Br. Stephen Baker sexually abused innocent children in Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio before sexually abusing innocent children in Pennsylvania. Why weren’t the supervisors of Br. Stephen Baker doing their job?

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

ALTOONA – An $8 million settlement has been reached between 88 victims of Brother Stephen Baker and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, Bishop McCort High School, The Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and several individuals.

Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, Bishop of the Diocese, released this statement saying, “The diocese hopes that this outcome will allow the victims to seek counseling and find the healing and comfort they deserve. We continue to pray for them and all victims of sexual abuse.”

Brother Stephen Baker was a member of the Franciscan Order of the Third Order Regular and assigned to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. He taught religion at Bishop McCort High School and was also an athletic trainer between 1992 and 2001.

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UNITED STATES/JAMAICA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest of the New England Province ordained in 1941, Dooley’s early career was spent in parishes and schools in Jamaica. Subsequently he was assigned briefly to Boston College High School in MA, followed by several-year stints at Cheverus High in Portland ME and Fairfield College Preparatory School in CT. He returned to Boston College High in 1958 where he remained until his death in 1983. In 2000 the Portland diocese received a call from a woman who said Dooley sexually abused her “many years ago.” Her age at the time of the alleged abuse was not ascertained. Another woman reported to the diocese in 2002 that Dooley sexually abused her when she was 3 to 11 years-old, from 1956-1964. She said the abuse occurred in Portland and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Ordained: 1941
Died: July 31, 1983

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Massimo Faggioli on Shifting Tectonic Plates of Global Catholicism: Europe and Latin America at Forefront of New Openness, North America, Africa, and English-Speaking Catholics Determined to Resist

Massimo Faggioli in Conversation US on how the synod on the family reveals a tectonic shift in global Catholicism, in which old alliances and loyalties are breaking down and new ones forming:

In this new map [of the Catholic world] Europe and Latin America are at the forefront of the new openness. On the other hand, North America, Africa, and in general English-speaking Catholics are more inclined to hone to a firm countercultural line, refusing to evolve the doctrine and pastoral practice of the church with regard to marriage and family. Asia presents a more complex picture, although the Cardinal from Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, for example, was one of the leaders of Francis’s majority.

And:

This October the strongest objections to the German bishops’ proposed welcome to gay and divorced Catholics came from the representatives of English-speaking Catholics from the United States, Africa, and Australia. Their opposition was carefully planned even before the Synod as one can see from the long paper trail of interviews, op-eds and books laid down by Cardinal Raymond Burke (USA) and Cardinal George Pell (Australia). Once in Rome they argued with the Europeans in a way that has created a new sense of self-awareness in their churches back home.

I might add to Faggioli’s statement that the opposition of Burke, Pell, and other right-wing prelates to the proposed welcome to gay and divorced Catholics was not merely carefully planned in advance of the synod: it was also heavily financed in advance of the synod. The fear that the Catholic church may simultaneously loosen its hard line about issues of sexual morality (which have been instrumentally useful to the 1% and the political right in the U.S. for a long time now as they play their divide-and-conquer political games) while stepping up its teachings about socioeconomic justice galvanizes economic elites who want to assure that the leaders of the Catholic church continue to dance to their self-interested tune about these issues.

One of the interesting aspects of most U.S. media discusssions of what’s taking place in the Catholic church right now is how heavily invested these discussions are in a false, simplistic meme that emanates from the religious and political right. This meme maintains that Catholic teaching about homosexuality and contraception is carved in doctrinal stone and can’t be changed. The media have bought into a mindless dualism which keeps parroting what is essentially a line prepared for them by the hard right within the church: that doctrine cannot and will not change, and that what is under discussion right now at the top levels of the church is a pastoral shift rather than a doctrinal shift.

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UNITED STATES
The Washington Times

By Meredith Somers – The Washington Times – Tuesday, October 21, 2014

A blacklisted priest is calling on Catholics to keep up the momentum for change generated by this month’s Extraordinary Synod of Catholic Bishops, which divided church leaders on how welcoming the 2,000-year-old faith should be toward 21st century issues like gay marriage and divorce.

In his address to synod participants, Pope Francis said the church has one year “to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront.”

But Father Tony Flannery, founder of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests, said Tuesday that the next 12 months “will be enormously important in the life of the church.”

“A major impact is the changing tone of the synod,” he said. “They began by talking about the real lives of people. That’s a real change for the church [as] normally it starts by talking about doctrine.”

Father Flannery shared his vision of a more accepting church during a newsmaker press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, the first stop of an 18-city speaking tour across the country.

A native of Galway, Ireland, he is a member of the Redemptorist Congregation. He was ordained a priest in 1974 and is the author of several books and was a columnist for the Redemptorist magazine Reality.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Lilly Fowler lfowler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82210

A former priest with the Archdiocese of St. Louis was sued Tuesday by a man accusing him of sexual abuse at St. George Parish in Affton 30 years ago.

Due to a recent sexual abuse allegation, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has suspended a retired priest.

The archdiocese announced today that it had suspended the Rev. John J. Ghio, who is alleged to have sexually abused a minor in the early 1980s.

Ghio retired in 2011 and currently resides in a monitored environment, according to a press release.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

One of the first lessons in the monastery is: “The Habit does not make the monk.”

Why? People are easily distracted by holy garbs, nice shoes, tailored clothes, and expensive cars. White collar criminals who use their position of trust to commit crimes against children depend on this. They need children and the public to be easily distracted.

Do not be distracted by a monk’s habit, a doctor’s white coat, or a judge’s black robe. By putting on a habit, one is not instantly infused with wisdom and understanding. Rather, it comes from years of listening to people, prayer, reflection and learning to recognize the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Why do I bring this up?

Recently, my eyes have been opened to other versions of the white collar crime I know as “solicitation in the confessional.” Crimens Sollicitationis—simply put—is the confessor’s abuse of power over the penitent.

Apparently, this kind of crime is not limited to Catholicism.

Very recently, a Rabbi was discovered to have been using the Mikvah—the ritual bath—to film the unsuspecting faithful. In the age of the internet and file sharing, one has to be concerned for those unknowingly filmed.

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TOWSON (MD)
The Towerlight

21 OCTOBER 2014 BY JONATHAN MUNSHAW, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When I signed up for Barry Freundel’s honors seminar last spring, I never expected to be covering his arrest.

Over the course of the past few days, I’ve received calls and requests for interviews from The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and NBC4 in Washington, D.C.

These requests — as well as my role in covering the story as Editor of The Towerlight — have tested my ability to be a student, a journalist and a human being all at the same time.

On Tuesday, we had our first class meeting under the new professor, who is in just as unfortunate a position as the students. It was emotionally exhausting to say the least. No one knows where to take the curriculum at this point, and it’s impossible to avoid the topic of Freundel’s arrest.

I have never been in a classroom environment where students were on the verge of tears, with some of them even having to exit the room early. Despite the fact that the University emailed students in the class with outlets for support, it still couldn’t have prepared the class for the emotion of the first class back.

These are students who had been invited to Freundel’s synagogue and asked to shower in the mikvah — the same shower that Freundel is now accused to setting up hidden cameras in. Although his court case has not been settled yet, just the accusations levied against him have put these students in an adverse position.

I never went to Freundel’s synagogue, but he was still a professor of mine who I trusted to share his knowledge with me, on ethics no less. Journalists are expected to be perfectly impartial writers, but unfortunately as a student in his class, I have become part of the story.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

A Towson University student, whose professor is now accused of secretly recording women changing at a ritual bath in Washington, D.C., says she and several other students were asked to use the bath during a tour last fall.

Nicole Coniglio tells the student newspaper The Towerlight, that she and several female students were taken on a tour of the National Capitol Mikvah last fall, when they were students in a religious studies class taught by Rabbi Barry Freundel.

Freundel was arrested last week and charged with voyeurism for setting up the hidden camera and recording women who were using the changing rooms.

The incidents took place in June, and earlier this month.

Coniglio tells the newspaper, Freundel asked the students if they wanted to use the bath. Coniglio said that she declined, but two other female students, who were Jewish, accepted Freundel’s offer.

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MARYLAND
In The Capital

Towson University has indefinitely suspended associate professor Rabbi Barry Freundel, who was arrested October 14 after being charged by D.C. police with six counts of voyeurism. He was allegedly using a camera under the guise of a clock radio to record women in a ritual bath. An affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court seems to suggest that Freundel has been “engaging in the criminal act of voyeurism in several locations and with the use of several devices and over a period of time.”

While there’s no information that has been made public about whether students were recorded, law enforcement authorities say that they’re just at the beginning of their investigation. Towson officials do remain concerned that students could be among the victims, which explains Freundel’s suspension.

“Dr. Freundel has been suspended from any and all faculty duties and responsibilities, pending the outcome of that investigation and associated criminal proceedings,” Director of Communication Ray Feldmann said in a statement Wednesday. “At this time there is no indication that these activities occurred on the Towson University campus. We are concerned about the serious nature of this matter, and we are providing support and counseling resources to members of the campus community.”

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Judy Maltz | Oct. 21, 2014

Responding to strong international condemnation, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has backtracked on its decision to review conversions performed by Rabbi Barry Freundel, the American rabbi charged with secretly filming women in his synagogue’s ritual bath.

In a statement published Tuesday afternoon, the Chief Rabbinate spokesman Ziv Maor announced: “After a thorough reviewing of the various aspects of Jewish law on the issue, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel now announces that past conversions of Rabbi Freundel will not be affected by recent events. Anyone with a conversion certificate from Rabbi Freundel will not face special problems when approaching the Chief Rabbinate with questions of marriage or any other questions.”

On Monday, Haaretz reported that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel was looking into conversions performed during the period when Freundel allegedly had hidden cameras installed in the shower stalls near the synagogue’s mikveh. It had no intention, though, of reviewing conversions overseen by Freundel prior to then. The first accusations against Freundel began to surface in 2012.

The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) – an umbrella organization for the Modern Orthodox movement in the United States – announced on Monday that all conversions ever performed by Freundel were valid. The announcement created intense pressure on the Chief Rabbinate to back down and not interfere with decisions taken by the religious Jewish establishment abroad.

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WASHINGTON (DC)/MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

Derek Valcourt

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) — The popular DC rabbi accused of voyeurism apparently took some of his female Towson University students to the synagogue in Georgetown where he’s accused of secretly video-recording women.

Derek Valcourt explains the students were apparently part of a field trip in their religious studies class.
To be clear, no wrongdoing was alleged to have happened at the university, where the rabbi has taught classes since 2009—but any field trips the professor apparently took some of his students on to that synagogue could raise some red flags.

Respected rabbi and Towson University religious students professor Barry Freundel led the Kesher Israel congregation in DC for 25 years—until last week, when he was arrested on charges that he set up a hidden camera and recorded videos inside the synagogue’s ritual bathing area known as a mikvah, where women immerse themselves during sacred rituals.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
JTA

October 21, 2014

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rabbi Barry Freundel asked Bethany Mandel to take a “really long shower” before a “practice dunk” in the mikvah prior to her formal conversion to Judaism, the whole request seemed a bit odd, she says.

For one thing, Freundel instructed her to skip the pre-mikvah checklist, which includes things like cleaning out one’s navel, trimming nails, and getting rid of excess hair and skin. For another, she had never heard of practice dunking.

But Mandel eventually bought the rabbi’s explanation: that women performing the ritual for the first time at their actual conversions might in their nervousness and confusion turn around and mistakenly expose themselves to the three rabbis present. Mandel said she, like other women who took practice dunks, actually found the trial run helpful.

But that was before last week when Freundel, a prominent Orthodox leader and rabbi at Washington’s Kesher Israel synagogue, was arrested for allegedly installing a clock radio with a hidden camera in the mikvah’s shower room. He is believed to have clandestinely filmed women showering and undressing before their practice dunks and the monthly immersions that married Orthodox women perform following menstruation.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris of SNAP 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

Another credibly accused St. Louis predator priest has been “outed” but Archbishop Robert Carlson is providing only the sketchiest of details about him.

He’s Fr. John J. Ghio. Carlson will only say the accusations against him are “recently reported.”

[St. Louis archdiocese]

But we suspect that allegations against Fr. Ghio surfaced months or even years ago.

We applaud the brave person who was strong enough to step forward, get help, expose Fr. Ghio and warn the public about him. We hope this disclosure will help that individual in his or her healing. And we are confident that this move will make children safer.

We urge victims, and whistleblowers to contact secular authorities, not church officials. And we beg anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered clergy crimes – by this cleric or others – to come forward, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.

Carlson should personally visit every parish where Fr. Ghio worked and beg anyone with information or suspicions about him to call law enforcement immediately. And he should put Fr. Ghio in a remote, secure, independent treatment center so that kids are safer. Until this happens, Carlson should disclose where Fr. Ghio is now, again, so that kids will be safer.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A man who was abused at the notorious Kincora Boys’ Home said he believes the full truth of what happened there will not be uncovered because of the decision not to include it in a UK government inquiry.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed in a statement from Secretary of State Theresa Villiers that the east Belfast home, where boys where abused in the 1970s, will not be included in the review being conducted by Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf.

Instead, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry chaired by Sir Anthony Hart will be responsible for looking into sexual abuse claims at the home.

In 1981, three senior care staff – William McGrath, Joseph Mains and Raymond Semple – were jailed for abusing 11 boys at Kincora in the 1970s, but it has also been claimed that high profile members of society were connected to the scandal.

It has been alleged that UK security services knew about the crimes but did nothing to stop them.

Gary Hoy, who was abused during his seven years at the home, believes the truth will not come out as a result of the decision.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

21 OCTOBER 2014

The Government’s refusal to investigate a notorious Belfast boys’ home in its UK-wide child abuse inquiry adds to a “conspiracy of silence” over the crimes committed there, Amnesty International has claimed.

The human rights group said victims of a brutal paedophile ring who abused boys from the Kincora home will feel betrayed by the announcement.

It has long been alleged that well-known figures in the British establishment, including senior politicians, were involved in the abuse of vulnerable boys living in the infamous facility in east Belfast in the 1970s.

Moreover it has been claimed that the UK security services knew about the crimes but did nothing to stop them, instead using the knowledge to blackmail and extract intelligence from influential men who were committing abuse.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Kincora Boys’ Home will not be included in UK child abuse inquiry, says Theresa Villiers

BY CLAIRE CROMIE – 21 OCTOBER 2014

Kincora Boys’ Home abuse allegations will not be included in the new UK-wide inquiry into child sex abuse.

Secretary of State Theresa Villiers has said the best way to address the claims was for them to be examined by Sir Anthony Hart’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland.

DUP, UUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance politicians have all called for the east Belfast case to be part of the Home Office probe chaired by Fiona Woolf.

First Minister Peter Robinson said it was a “national scandal” with questions that needed to be answered about an alleged cover-up.

The UK inquiry will consider whether, and to what extent, public bodies and other institutions fulfilled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Arizona Jewish Post

October 21, 2014
By Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rabbi Barry Freundel was known to the Washington Jewish community as a champion of moral rectitude. But on Tuesday, the spiritual leader of Kesher Israel congregation for the past 25 years, was charged with the most intimate of transgressions: voyeurism.

Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs, after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department searched his home in the Georgetown section of Washington. A local NBC affiliate reported that the rabbi had installed a clock radio with a hidden camera, called the “Dream Machine,” in the women’s showers of the congregation’s mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath.

The arrest marks a startling turn in the career of a rabbi known as a national leader in establishing precepts for conversion and as a strict moralist, who just last month railed against the corrosive effect of pornography on marriages. His synagogue, Kesher Israel, is one of the most prominent in Washington; Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier are members, and former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman is a former congregant.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Dayton Daily News

By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — Eighty-eight former students who were sexually molested by a Franciscan friar who worked as an athletic trainer at a Catholic high school have settled their legal claims for $8 million, according to two attorneys who represent more than half the victims.

Altoona attorney Richard Serbin represents 13 former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, and Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian represents 33. The students said they were abused by Brother Stephen Baker, who worked at the school, 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, from 1992 to 2001.

Baker, 62, committed suicide at his monastery in Newry by stabbing himself in the heart in January 2013. That occurred nine days after the Youngstown, Ohio, diocese disclosed abuse settlements with 11 former students who said they were abused by him at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, from 1986 to 1990.

News of those settlements prompted many of the Bishop McCort victims to come forward.
Serbin has been pursuing clergy abuse claims for nearly 30 years but said, “What’s unique here is the sheer number of students that were abused.”

“I’ve filed claims against child predators who have had multiple victims, but this certainly was a predator that was prolific, and the position he was given as an athletic trainer allowed him to have such easy access to young people,” Serbin said.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis

October 21, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Gabe Jones
Community Relations Specialist
Phone: 314.792.7557

ST. LOUIS – Most Revered Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis, announced this week the suspension of retired priest Reverend John J. Ghio due to a recently reported allegation of abuse which was alleged to have occurred in the early 1980’s.

In a letter to parishes of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Carlson said:

“Having consulted with the Promoter of Justice, the Vicar for Priests, and the Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and to ensure the integrity of the process, I have suspended Father Ghio’s priestly faculties until a canonical process is concluded.”

Father Ghio is currently retired from active ministry and resides in a monitored environment. In keeping with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, to ensure transparency in communicating with the public about the sexual abuse of a minor and as an outreach to potential victims, a bulletin announcement will be made available in parishes where Father Ghio served.

Anyone who wishes to make a report of the sexual abuse of a minor by any priest, deacon or employee of the Archdiocese of St. Louis may contact Deacon Phil Hengen, Director of Child and Youth Protection, Archdiocese of St. Louis at 314.792.7704 or phengen@archstl.org. Reports may also be made to the Missouri Division of Social Services Child Abuse Hotline for allegations involving a person who is currently under the age of 18, or to civil authorities for allegations involving a person who is now an adult, but was abused as a minor.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Review

SUBMITTED ON OCTOBER 21, 2014

Father John J. Ghio has been suspended from his priestly faculties, following an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980s, the archdiocese announced Tuesday.

Father Ghio retired in 2011. During his priesthood, he was named as associate pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Riverview Gardens (1980); associate pastor, St. John the Baptist in St. Louis (1982); associate pastor, St. Joseph in Manchester (1983); associate pastor, St. Angela Merici in Florissant (1986); associate pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes in University City (1989); pastor, St. Joseph in Farmington (1991); pastor, St. John the Baptist in St. Louis (1995); pastor, St. Peter in St. Charles (2000); senior associate pastor, Assumption in Mattese (2008); and retired priest in residence, Annunciation in Webster Groves (2011). He currently resides in a monitored environment, according to a statement by the archdiocese.

Anyone who wishes to make a report of the sexual abuse of a minor by any priest, deacon or employee of the Archdiocese of St. Louis may contact Deacon Phil Hengen, director of child and youth protection with the Archdiocese of St. Louis, at (314) 792-7704 or phengen@archstl.org.

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UNITED KINGDOM
New York Times

By KATRIN BENNHOLD
OCT. 21, 2014

LONDON — First there was abuse at the hands of a popular BBC host. There were scandals at private schools and in the church and talk of a pedophile ring in Parliament. Then there was Rotherham: over a thousand teenagers sexually exploited as the authorities looked away.

Over the past two years, high-profile revelations of sexual abuse of children have painted a picture of Britain as a place where such abuse is not just endemic but systematically covered up — either because the perpetrators are of the very highest status or because the victims are of the very lowest.

There are two lessons here, scholars and officials say. The first is that sexual abuse is far more common than previously believed: Currently, 2,500 children in England have child protection plans because they are deemed to be at risk of sexual abuse. But the police now speak publicly of “tens of thousands” of victims a year.

The second lesson is that the main driver of abuse is impunity: “Abuse happens in a context of permissibility,” said Helen Beckett, an expert on the subject at the University of Bedfordshire.

Whether Britain’s lingering class system has made abuse more permissible is an open question, she said. But fixating on a particular stereotype — the white celebrity or the pedophile priest or the Pakistani taxi driver — may allow other perpetrators to go undetected.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Francis Burris was ordained a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in 1937. He was a parish pastor in the Seattle diocese for two years, then moved to the Spokane diocese where he was assigned to Gonzaga College High School, St. Mary’s Indian Mission and then Gonzaga University. His whereabouts after 1950 are unknown. Burris’ name was included on the Province’s 2011 list of “perpetrators of sexual abuse”; the Jesuits agreed to post the list on its website as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Ordained: 1937

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PENNSYLVANIA
Seattle PI

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press
Tuesday, October 21, 2014

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The attorney for some of the 88 former students allegedly abused by a Franciscan friar who worked as an athletic trainer at a Pennsylvania Catholic high school says the students claims have settled for $8 million.

Altoona attorney Richard Serbin represents 13 former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown. The students claimed they were abused by Brother Stephen Baker, who worked at the school 60 miles east of Pittsburgh from 1992 to 2001.

Baker committed suicide in January 2013 after the Youngstown, Ohio diocese disclosed abuse settlements with 11 former students at a school in that state, which prompted many of the alleged McCort victims to come forward

Serbin says the 88 victims will get different amounts from the settlement, depending upon the duration of the abuse and its impact on them.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

ALTOONA – An $8 million settlement has been reached between 88 victims of Brother Stephen Baker and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, Bishop McCort High School, The Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and several individuals.

Brother Stephen Baker was a member of the Franciscan Order of the Third Order Regular and assigned to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. He taught religion at Bishop McCort High School and was also an athletic trainer between 1992 and 2001.

Brother Stephen Baker committed suicide after the allegations against him were made public.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of SNAP ( 314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com ), Barbara Dorris ( 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Church officials in four states concealed allegations

SNAP: “How many other child molesting clerics are still hidden?”

Roughly $8 million will be paid to 88 victims of Br. Stephen P. Baker, a notorious child molesting Catholic cleric. We suspect these 88 are just a fraction of the total number of boys that Baker assaulted while his church supervisors quietly moved him from state to state (PA, MI, OH and MN) .

We applaud these brave and persistent men who were strong enough to step forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, endure delays and win some measure of justice. We hope this settlement will help in their healing and we hope they stay involved in therapy, 12-step programs, self help groups and other efforts to rebuild their lives.

We urge victims, and whistleblowers to contact secular authorities, not church officials. And we beg anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered clergy crimes – by this cleric or others – to come forward, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.

Catholic figures claim the first accusations against Baker surfaced in 2009 in the Youngstown area. We believe, however, that other victims likely came forward long years earlier. No church officials however, made the allegations public.

Months ago, 11 men settled with the Youngstown diocese and Baker’s direct supervisors, the Franciscans. Again, no church officials made this public.

Then, on Jan. 16, an attorney for victims disclosed the settlements.

So it’s clear that Catholic officials continue to try to keep even credible child sex abuse reports against clerics secret. Shame on them.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

David Gibson Religion News Service | Oct. 21, 2014

ANALYSIS

Pope Francis and senior Catholic leaders wrapped up their two-week Vatican summit on the challenges of modern family life on Sunday without reaching a consensus on a number of hot-button topics. So where does that leave Francis’ papacy? And the church?
Here are seven takeaways:

1. Hard-liners won the battle

A midpoint status report on the debate among some 190 cardinals and bishops was described as a “pastoral earthquake” because of its unprecedented (for Catholic churchmen) language of welcome of and appreciation for gay people, as well as divorced and remarried Catholics and cohabiting couples.

The media tsunami over that apparent breakthrough panicked conservatives, who waged an intense public and private campaign to make sure none of that language — apparently favored by Francis himself — made it into the synod’s final report. They succeeded, and even the few watered-down paragraphs on gays and remarried Catholics did not reach the two-thirds threshold needed for formal passage.

Rockhurst-event.jpgJoin Rockhurst University and NCR Nov. 1 for a series of discussions on the milestones and lessons of Pope Francis’ transformative papacy. Learn more.
Hard-liners claimed victory, and headlines spoke of Vatican “backtrack” and a “resounding defeat” for Francis that left his papacy “weakened.”

2. Reformers may win the war

That could be a Pyrrhic victory, one that cost more than it was worth. If the controversial passages did not reach the two-thirds benchmark, they nonetheless won strong majorities. In addition, a growing number of reform-minded bishops say they voted against the contentious proposals because they did not go far enough in emphasizing the church’s welcome, respect and value for gays and lesbians.

“I didn’t think it was a good text because it didn’t include those words strongly enough, so I wasn’t satisfied with it,” British Cardinal Vincent Nichols told The Telegraph.

Many other synod participants, including Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also made a point of using the language of welcome that had been rejected. Controversial efforts to alter church practice to allow remarried Catholics to receive Communion are also still in play, prominent church leaders said.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: William N. Bischoff was a Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province, ordained in 1947. He was an academic affiliated with the Jesuits’ Gonzaga University in Spokane in the 1950s, and Seattle University from 1969 until his death in 1991. He appears to have been based in the Province’s Indian Missions during the 1960s. Bischoff’s name was included on the Province’s 2011 list of “perpetrators of sexual abuse”; the Jesuits agreed to post the list on its website as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Ordained: June 16, 1947
Died: June 7, 1991

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UNITED KINGDOM
Exaro News

By David Hencke | 15 October 2014

The Church of England has given a strong lead, and instituted urgent root-and-branch reform of how it deals with child abuse

Bishops and vicars are to undergo training on safeguarding children as part of a drive to combat child sex abuse in the Church of England.

The training, to include how to respond after receiving a complaint of child sex abuse within the Church of England (CoE), is to be introduced first for new clergy. The plan is to roll out training for existing bishops and vicars later.

The CoE is also to change canon law to make bishops accountable for the safeguarding of children in their diocese for the first time since it broke away from the Roman Catholic church during the reign of King Henry VIII. The changes mark what one expert called a wholesale “re-writing” of the CoE’s policy towards safeguarding children in the wake of scandals over paedophile priests.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Oct. 21, 2014

Last year, a coalition of Catholic progressive and reform organization sponsored “The Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations,” a 15-city tour featuring Austrian Fr. Helmut Schüller, who gained international attention in 2011 for his “Call to Disobedience.”

This year, the tour is back, and the featured speaker is Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery, founder of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland. He has been a popular writer and speaker in Ireland and has publicly questioned official church teaching on celibacy for priests, contraception, homosexuality and women’s ordination.

For most of 2012, Flannery was forbidden to minister as a priest as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reviewed his writing. In January 2013, he said he was threatened with excommunication unless he made a clear and public statement — preapproved by the doctrinal congregation — fully supporting official church teaching.

According to tour organizers: “Fr. Tony will tour the U.S. this fall, from October 22 – November 18, 2014, visiting 18 cities and speaking with Catholic laity and leadership on topics of women in the Church, the future of ministry, the problem with infallibility, and the sexual teachings of the Catholic Church. ”

Visit the website for more details: www.catholictippingpoint.org

Here’s the tour cities in chronological order:

Father Flanner Tour Dates: October 22 – November 18, 2014
Washington, DC * Baltimore * Philadelphia * New York City * Boston * Providence * Syracuse * Cleveland * Detroit * Minneapolis * Memphis * Sarasota * San Antonio * St. Louis * Phoenix * Sacramento * Portland, OR * Seattle

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Maura Grunlund | grunlund@siadvance.com
on October 21, 2014

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The former Moore Catholic High School gym teacher and assistant basketball coach facing 30 counts of statutory rape for alleged sexual trysts with a former student was released without bail on Monday.

Megan Mahoney, 24, of Franklin Avenue in New Brighton, was arrested and arraigned on Monday in Stapleton Criminal Court for allegedly having sex with a then-16-year-old male student at Moore Catholic on at least 30 occasions, between last Oct. 31 and Jan. 9.

Ms. Mahoney and the teen had sex at least twice a week during that period, according to allegations in the criminal complaint filed against her.

The victim turned 17 in March and Ms. Mahoney — who is listed in the police report as his friend/acquaintance — will be 25 in November.

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NEW YORK
WABC

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (WABC) — A former gym teacher and assistant basketball coach at Moore Catholic High School has been accused of having an ongoing sexual relationship with a male student.

Megan Mahoney, 24, was arrested Monday and faces charges of rape in the third-degree, criminal sexual act in the third-degree and endangering the welfare of a child. The victim is 16, according to a criminal complaint, and the relationship continued between Oct. 31, 2013 and Jan. 9.

She was arraigned and released on her own recognizance.

Mahoney resigned from Moore in January. Richard Postiglione was also forced to step down as athletic director, but remained with the school.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Maura Grunlund | grunlund@siadvance.com
on October 21, 2014

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Megan Mahoney, a former Moore Catholic High School gym teacher and assistant basketball coach, has been arrested and is facing rape and other charges in connection with an affair she allegedly had with a student, according to an NYPD spokesman.

She was arrested on Monday morning and faces charges of rape in the third-degree, criminal sexual act in the third-degree and endangering the welfare of a child, the spokesman said.

Ms. Mahoney, who resigned from Moore in January, is alleged to have had sex repeatedly with a 16-year-old male student while employed by the Graniteville school.

She was released without bail, according to a report by the New York Post.

Ms. Mahoney is one of two former female basketball coaches at Moore Catholic who have been reported in the New York Post and other media of having sexual relationships with students.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Larry Celona, Brad Hamilton and Bruce Golding
October 21, 2014

A former Catholic high school gym teacher was arrested Monday on charges she repeatedly had sex with a 16-year-old male student — including on the Staten Island campus, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Megan Mahoney, 24, was charged with 30 counts of statutory rape for a series of trysts that authorities say took place between Oct. 31, 2013, and Jan. 9.

Mahoney romped with the teen “on numerous occasions, that is at least two times per week during the period,” court papers claim.

She also was charged with four counts of “criminal sexual act” because of mutual oral sex that she and the boy allegedly engaged in “at least two times per month during said period.”

The sexual shenanigans at Moore Catholic High School were exclusively reported by The Post in August, along with athletic director Richard Postiglione being stripped of his duties over the scandal.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

A former gym teacher and assistant girl’s basketball coach at a Staten Island Catholic secondary school was arrested this week for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old male student. The 24-year-old teacher reportedly faces statutory rape and criminal sex act charges.

The Post reports that Megan Mahoney, a former gym teacher at Moore Catholic High School, had sex with the unidentified teen about 30 times between October 31st, 2013 and January 9th of this year.

According to court papers, Mahoney and the student had sex “on numerous occasions, that is at least two times per week during the period,” and some of their trysts allegedly occurred on campus. She is also being charged with a criminal sex act, having allegedly engaged in oral sex with the teen “at least two times per month during said period.”

News about Mahoney broke in August, and earlier this year the school’s athletic director and chief operating officer, Richard Postiglione, resigned in the wake of allegations that he knew about Mahoney’s relationship with the student, though a source told reporters he stepped down for health reasons. Authorities also allege that Postiglione knew of and protected another female teacher who was having sex with a student from 2006 to 2007, and Mahoney may have had a relationship with another student in 2012.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Catholic primary school teacher banned from going near children as he awaits trial for allegedly uploading child abuse material

LEMA SAMANDAR THE DAILY TELEGRAPH OCTOBER 21, 2014

A SYDNEY primary school teacher is banned from going anywhere near children while awaiting trial for allegedly uploading child abuse material to the internet.

Peter Ronald Kleist faced Burwood Local Court today after he was charged last month with two counts of using a carriage service for child pornography material and four counts of possession of child abuse material.

Kleist has not yet entered a plea but is expected to deny the allegations and defend the charges.

The 58-year-old, who is a teacher at a Catholic primary school in southwest Sydney, is banned from being near children while on bail.

Court papers show that his bail conditions restrict him from seeking paid or voluntary work or social activities that bring him in contact with kids and he is not to be in the vicinity of premises known to be frequented by children including schools, playgrounds and sporting venues.

Kleist is also banned from having an internet connection at his house or accessing social networking websites.

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TEXAS
Baptist Press

PLANO, Texas (BP) — The National Day of Prayer Task Force has named Jack Graham, who served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, as honorary chairman for the 2015 National Day of Prayer.

Graham leads the 37,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church, which includes three locations in the Dallas area. He is also the voice of PowerPoint Ministries, a radio and television broadcast ministry from the Prestonwood pulpit that shares the Gospel throughout the world.

The 64th annual National Day of Prayer will be held on Thursday, May 7, in Washington, D.C. Graham will lead the members of Congress in prayer. The theme for 2015 will be “Lord, Hear Our Cry.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, October 21, 2014

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

A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention has been named the honorary chair of the 2015 National Day of Prayer, despite having refused to call police about a now-convicted child molester who was once on his staff. We are deeply saddened by this choice.

Jack Graham is the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. Graham has done little or nothing to help police or prosecutors pursue his one-time youth minister John Langworthy. Langworthy is now a convicted child molester. And Graham has done little or nothing to find or help others who may have been hurt by him.

We have written to Graham and begged him to take more serious action to ensure kids in the Baptist church are kept safe. We have begged him to make moves to support victims and not predators. So far we haven’t seen any such action.

Wrongdoers should be punished, not rewarded. Punishing those who conceal child sex crimes deters others from concealing child sex crimes.

This move – tapping Graham for this honor – sends a dangerous message to other officials: “Don’t worry about kids’ safety. Just focus on secrecy and your career will be fine.”

For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, we hope members of the National Day of Prayer Task Force will reconsider their decision, disinvite Graham, and replace him with another minister who doesn’t have such a tarnished record.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daventry Express

A Roman Catholic priest from Solihull has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl while her parents were in the same room.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told that Father Edward Simpson, who has now retired, committed the offence at the home of a devout Catholic family in the mid-1980s.

Simpson, 85, of Olton Friary in Solihull, denies indecently assaulting the alleged victim, who made a complaint to police last year.

In evidence to a jury of eight men and four women, the woman claimed Simpson, who was routinely known as Father Ted, groped her underneath her top and then put part of his hand into the waistband of her skirt.

Estimating that the initial touching had lasted for around 15 seconds, the woman told the court: “I just got out of the room as fast as possible.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Sept. 22, 2014

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

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Bankruptcy judges delivered two significant decisions in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case this month.

With the first decision, a major deadline in the church bankruptcy case has been pushed back to next spring, and with the second decision, a U.S. Appellate Panel has dismissed an appeal filed in the case by the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Extended deadline

On Sept. 8, Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma, of the District of New Mexico, granted an order extending the exclusivity period for the Diocese of Gallup to file its plan of reorganization.

This is the second time Thuma has approved a motion by attorneys for the Gallup Diocese to extend the reorganization plan deadline. After filing its Chapter 11 petition on Nov. 12, 2013, the Diocese of Gallup had been scheduled to file a plan of reorganization by March 12, 2014.

However, Susan G. Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, filed a motion to extend the exclusivity period through Sept. 8, and Thuma approved that extension. In August, Boswell filed a second motion to extend the deadline once again.

Boswell cited a number of factors, including the complexity of the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case, the difficulty of determining what real property the diocese owns that can be sold, the need to hire an insurance archaeology company to determine insurance coverage, and the identification of other Catholic entities that might have “indemnification or contribution obligations” to the Gallup Diocese for sexual abuse that occurred in the past.

Those other Catholic entities include other Catholic dioceses and religious orders that allowed their sexually abusive clergy to serve in the Diocese of Gallup.

With Thuma’s order, the diocese now has until May 12, 2015, to file its plan of reorganization.

Dismissed appeal

On Sept. 16, the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Tenth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by Albuquerque attorney Jennie D. Behles on behalf of her client, the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas.

Behles had appealed an order by Thuma concerning a motion to examine the finances and insurance coverage of the Corpus Christi Diocese. The motion had been filed by James I. Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which advocates for the interests of abuse survivors who have filed confidential claims against the Gallup Diocese in the bankruptcy case.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi was drawn into the case because Clement A. Hageman, one of its former sexually abusive priests, was allowed to move to the Gallup Diocese and work here for more than three decades. During that time, Hageman molested untold numbers of Catholic school children and altar boys.

After considering a number of legal arguments by Behles and Stang, Thuma issued a memorandum opinion and order that attempted to navigate what Thuma called “reasonable middle ground” between Stang’s motion and Behles’ opposition.

Behles then filed an appeal of Thuma’s order. In their dismissal of Behles’ appeal, U.S. Bankruptcy Judges Terrence L. Michael, Janice Miller Karlin and Dale K. Somers, members of the Tenth Circuit Appellate Panel, said allowing “an appeal at this juncture” would not further the bankruptcy case and it would not “result in an efficient use of judicial resources.”

As a result of the dismissal, the Diocese of Corpus Christi must now produce the financial and insurance information to Stang and the Unsecured Creditors Committee as required under Thuma’s order.

Ultimately, the Diocese of Corpus Christi, along with other Catholic dioceses and religious orders who sent sexual abusers to serve in the Diocese of Gallup, may be required to contribute money toward Gallup’s reorganization plan and its financial negotiations with abuse survivors who have filed confidential claims in the bankruptcy case.

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