ABUSE TRACKER

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New pedophile priest lawsuit filed
Serial predator’s whereabouts are unknown
He fled to Mexico after multiple accusations here
Victims: “Pope must stop child molesting clerics from moving”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will prod Sacramento’s Catholic bishop to do more about a predator priest who fled to Mexico and is being sued again for child sex crimes.

Victims and their supporters will beg the bishop – and Pope Francis – to;

–warn Catholic officials in Mexico about the priest,
–do all they can to put him in a remote, secure, independent treatment center, and
–aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by the priest.

And the victims will urge Pope Francis take firm action to prevent predator priests from moving to other nations when abuse reports against them surface.

WHEN
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 11:30 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the Sacramento Catholic diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 2110 Broadway in Sacramento

WHO
Three-four men and women who are abuse victims and members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation’s largest and oldest support group for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings.

WHY
Two Sacramento area men who are now in their 30s are filing a civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit against the local Catholic bishop and an accused fugitive pedophile priest who suddenly sold many of his belongings at a yard sale, then drove to Mexico, claiming that a relative had a serious illness.

Starting in 2002, As many as 14 youngsters have accused Fr. Francisco Javier Garcia of child sex crimes. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1995, but Garcia fled to Mexico avoiding the charges. Prior to the warrant being issued, a victim came forward and reported their abuse to law enforcement.

According to the lawsuit filed by Garcia’s victims, Garcia was known to have abused other children prior to being moved to other churches.

Garcia was highlighted in an award-winning 2004 Dallas Morning News investigative series called “Hiding in plain sight.” It was about child molesting clerics who went or were sent abroad after accusations against them were made.

[BishopAccountability.org]

SNAP wants Pope Francis to take firm action to prevent child molesting clerics from moving.

“It is extremely irresponsible and dangerous for Catholic officials to let predators flee abroad and suffer no consequences and molest again,” said Tim Lennon of SNAP.

“Church officials hire, train, ordain, transfer, and pay these predator clergy. So the least they can do is ensure they don’t harm any more children,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP. “An easy way to do that is to put them in secure, remote treatment centers.”

According to a Boston-based research and archive group, BishopAccountability.org, there are 20 publicly accused child molesting clerics in the Sacramento diocese. SNAP suspects the real total of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and parochial teachers is much higher.

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

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Sep 16, 2014

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you intend to see Calvary — and you should — and you don’t want to know how this spiritual whodunit (or rather, who’lldoit) turns out, read no further.

Last evening I saw Calvary, John Michael McDonough’s remarkable movie about Father James, a righteous and caring Irish priest played exceptionally well by Brendan Gleeson. The movie opens with the voice of a parishioner in a confessional informing Father James that he was repeatedly raped as a child by a now deceased priest, and that as a result he will murder him in a week’s time — not because he is guilty of anything but precisely because he is a good man.

Over the week’s course, we discover a Catholic world blown apart by the abuse scandal. The parish, located in beautiful County Sligo, is a grim community of skeptics, adulterers, depressives, and drunks. This being Ireland, there’s no shortage of gallow’s humor, and there’s also no doubt that Father James is doing his level best to hold things together. But in the end, his church is burned down, his dog has its throat cut, and his life is, as promised, terminated.

The movie’s title makes it only too clear that this is a parable. It is the Passion of Father James — the final week of a man of God who sacrifices his life to make up for the — original? — sin of another. He throws the revolver he has brought to defend himself — his last temptation — into the sea. He is shot on a beach below the headlands that point to the name of the place outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified — Golgotha, Calvary, Skull. There is, perhaps, a hint of redemption at the end.

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

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Documents from the priest file of Louis Heitzer given to the court earlier this year were released today by Jeff Anderson and Associates. This release is in the interest of public disclosure and accountability.

The archdiocese received reports of sexual abuse of minors by Heitzer prior to Heitzer’s death in 1969. Between 1991 and 2004 the archdiocese received additional reports of Heitzer’s sexual abuse of minors decades earlier.

The archdiocese’s goal is to help victims/survivors of minor clergy abuse and their families heal. The archdiocese recognizes that the healing process is unique for each person and family. The archdiocese, however, has come to understand that for many people it is important to know that abuse will not happen again. Verbal assurance will not suffice; concrete action is necessary.

The archdiocese will continue to develop concrete steps such as new procedures to address reports of abuse. Another such step is public disclosure of the identity and assignment history of the clergy member against whom accusations of sexual abuse of a minor have been substantiated. Heitzer’s assignment history was first released by the archdiocese in December of last year and is now updated with additional assignment information for 1967 up to his death in 1969.

Louis Heitzer

Date of birth: 7/15/1914, deceased
Date of ordination: 1942
Date the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis posted this cleric’s name on a list of those with claims of substantiated abuse against them: December 5, 2013

Cleric’s prior assignments:

Associate priest, Most Holy Trinity, Winsted (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1942-1944;
Associate priest, St. Andrew, Fairfax (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1944;
Associate pastor, Assumption, St. Paul, 1944-1945;
Associate priest, Holy Redeemer, Marshall (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1945;
Associate priest, St. Mary, Sleepy Eye (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1945-1948;
Associate priest, St. Joseph, Waconia, 1948;
Associate priest, St. Aloysius, Olivia (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1948-1950;
Administrator, Sacred Heart, Franklin (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1950-1954;
Pastor, St. Joseph, Rosen (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1954-1955;
Pastor, St. Michael, Gaylord (now part of New Ulm Diocese), 1955-1956;
Pastor, St. Luke, Clearwater, 1956-1958;
Pastor, St. Scholastica, Heidelberg, 1958-1966;
Associate priest, St. Richard, Richfield, 1966-1967;
Assistant pastor, St. Peter, Forest Lake, 1967;
Sacramental service and supply ministry, clergy retreat house, Nevis (Crookston Diocese), 1968;
Chaplain, rest home, Ivanhoe (New Ulm Diocese), 1969
Diocese or religious order: Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Date permanently removed from ministry: 1969
Current location: Deceased
Current status: Died in 1969

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

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

A Blenheim priest who has admitted an indecent assault is the first case of a clergyman pleading guilty at the first opportunity, the head of sexual-abuse charity says.

Alastair Aidan Kay, 71, pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault on a male over 16.

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

He made his first appearance in the Blenheim District Court yesterday morning.

Defence lawyer Rob Harrison asked the conviction not be entered so Kay could go through a restorative justice programme. This would involve a meeting between the offender and victim to work out a way forward.

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

MAINE
MI NBC

BANGOR, MAINE — Adam Metropoulos, originally from Saginaw, has been arraigned in Bangor, Maine for possessing child pornography and photographing a woman without her permission.

Metropoulos, who is 52-years-old, is a priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor.

Police said they began investigating when a woman told them that she thought she had been photographed or recorded without her permission.

He is currently being held on $10,000 bond.

According to the Bangor Daily News, Metropoulos has been suspended from “all priestly duties” until the case has been resolved.

The paper, who ran an extensive background piece on Metropoulos back in 2002, says he moved to Maine from Saginaw in 1990 to teach at a high school there.

Metropoulos was a graduate of Saginaw Valley State University and went on to work at Dow Chemical. He later left Dow Chemical in order to pursue a doctorate from the University of New Hampshire.

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

MAINE
WCSH

Samantha Edwards, WLBZ 5:15 p.m. EDT September 16, 2014

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A Bangor area Greek Orthodox priest was arrested Monday afternoon after a woman claimed he video taped her in the shower. Adam Metropoulos, 52, is charged with a violation of privacy and possession of child pornography.

The investigation began Saturday when the woman reported the alleged video taping to Bangor police detectives.

Sgt. Tim Cotton with Bangor police said, “When she was in the shower she looked across the bathroom and she observed what she believed to be a camera in a basket on a wall. She exited the shower, went and checked on the camera. It, in fact, was a camera and was, in fact, recording her activity in the shower.”

Bangor police interviewed Metropoulos and searched his home where police said they found child pornography.

Sgt. Cotton said, “They also left with multiple items. Computer equipment and hard drives, memory cards, and disks…the initial search found items that we believe meet the criteria to be child pornography.”

Metropoulos does have a criminal past. Sources tell NEWS CENTER Metropoulos was convicted of sexual assault on April 25, 1983 in Saginaw, Michigan.

Metropoulos moved to Maine and taught chemistry at Millinocket’s Stearns High School from 1990 to 1997. We did ask the Department of Education if the prior conviction would have shown up on Metropoulos’ background check, but the state did not begin conducting background checks until 1999.

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

VATICAN CITY
Daily Mercury (Australia)

THE Islamic State (Isis) is intent on killing the Pope, the Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See has warned the Vatican.

Habeeb Al-Sadr, who has been the ambassador since 2010, has advised that one of Isis’ goals is to assassinate the Pontiff and warned that the jihadists “don’t just threaten”, according to Italian newspaper La Nazione.

Mr Al-Sadr confirmed he did not have any specific intelligence on an impending attack but said that their “genocide” of Yazidi Christians and destruction of holy Islamic sites was an indication of their intent.

“What has been declared by the self-proclaimed Islamic State is clear – they want to kill the Pope,” he told La Nazione on Tuesday, adding: “The threats against the Pope are credible.”

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[Rev. Louis J. Heitzer/Rev. Joseph Heitzer – assignment record via BishopAccountability.org]

Father Louis Heitzer Priest File
Father Louis Heitzer Timeline
Key Documents from Louis Heitzer File

Father Louis Heitzer is believed to have abused young boys in every location he worked, ruining the lives of many, and was never held accountable for his actions. Ordained in 1942, Heitzer worked at several parishes during his 25+ years in the priesthood. He worked in cities including Winsted, St. Paul, Marshall, Sleepy Eye, Olivia, Winthrop, Clearwater, Heidelberg, Lexington, Union Hill, Forest Lake, Ivanhoe and Nevis, Minnesota.

At least three Archbishops knew of Heitzer’s inappropriate behavior with children and numerous parents sent letters to Church officials detailing accounts of sexual abuse by Heitzer. Meetings were held in rural parishes with parents of several youths who claimed to have witnessed or experienced abuse by Heitzer.

At least a decade after allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced, Heitzer was hospitalized and after one month of treatment was returned to ministry “with perfect safety.” In 2002, after more victims came forward alleging sexual abuse by Heitzer, then-Vicar General Kevin McDonough, in a September 24, 2002 letter refers to Heitzer as “perhaps the most abusive priest ever to be part of this Archdiocese. I believe he abused boys every place he went.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn.
Sep 16, 2014

Efforts by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to cover up clergy sex abuse stretch back to at least the 1950s — a decade earlier than previously revealed, according to documents released today by victims’ attorneys.

The archdiocese file on the Rev. Louis Heitzer shows that bishops used now-familiar strategies to protect Heitzer from prosecution nearly six decades ago. During the 1950s and 60s, four bishops failed to notify police of allegations that Heitzer sexually abused several boys. Instead, the archbishops transferred Heitzer to 14 parishes over his 27-year career.

The 152 pages, released as part of a clergy sex abuse lawsuit that accuses the archdiocese of creating a public nuisance by keeping information on abusers private, raise questions about how long Catholic leaders in the Twin Cities have covered up abuse.

Memos and letters show a pattern of secrecy by Archbishop John Murray, who served as the third archbishop of St. Paul from 1931 to 1956, Archbishop William Brady, who served from 1956 to 1961, Archbishop Leo Binz, who served from 1961 to 1975, and Coadjutor Archbishop Leo Byrne, who served from 1967 to 1974.

The previously confidential documents reveal a world in which church leaders protected priests who sexually abused children and downplayed complaints from parents and their children, while victims suffered in silence without the aid of support groups or therapy.

Heitzer, a German immigrant who died in 1969, spent less than a year at most parishes before bishops quietly sent him elsewhere. In a 2002 letter, then-vicar general Kevin McDonough described Heitzer as “perhaps the most abusive priest ever to be a part of this Archdiocese. I now believe that he abused boys every place he went.”

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

CALIFORNIA
The Record

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton said it has received 34 claims of sexual abuse since it notified the public of a deadline imposed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The diocese announced the news Tuesday in a statement that also said no priest in active ministry was named in those claims.

Diocese leaders filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in January, saying its finances have been drained by legal costs and settlements arising from claims of child sexual abuse by priests.

Over the past two decades, those costs have mounted to $32 million for the diocese which oversees parishes in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolomne, Alpine and Mono counties.

Following the bankruptcy filing, the courts set Aug. 15 as the deadline for anyone thereafter to file such a claim.

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

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 16 2014

Statement by Tim Lennon of San Francisco, Bay Area Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 415-312-5820, tlennon@snapnetwork.org )

Stockton Catholic officials disclosed today that 34 victims of predator priests have come forward in recent months. We suspect this number – 34 victims of Stockton predator clergy – is a drop in the bucket. The real total, we believe, is much higher.

Our hearts ache for all of these victims, especially those who were not able to come forward by the Stockton bishop’s callous and arbitrary deadline.

Even predator priests who are “not in active ministry” are still dangerous, which is why it is crucial that Stockton’s bishop lets parishioners, police and the public know who and where they are.

A judge required Stockton Catholic officials to do “extensive outreach.” How could the Stockton diocese brag about this same “extensive outreach” if they were compelled to do it by the court?

Stockton church officials claim that a court order means “all information about these claims is confidential.” That does not, however, prevent Stockton Bishop Blaire from publicly disclosing the names, whereabouts and work histories of the proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. Stockton’s bishop should do this, for the protection of the vulnerable and the healing of the wounded.

We note that the Diocese is not interested in “resolving outstanding claims as fairly as possible.” It’s interested in avoiding embarrassing child sex abuse and cover up trials. Church officials are interested in avoiding depositions at which they and other church officials will face tough questions on why they acted recklessly, deceitfully and callously with clergy sex predators.

The high church officials are interested in focusing public attention on those who commit child sex crimes, not on those church officials who conceal them. These officials are interested in protecting the careers and reputations of past and current officials. Their actions are not focused on the healing of the wounded and the protection of the vulnerable. And they’re interested in focusing on money, not corruption.

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

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein | GLOBE STAFF SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Actor Mark Ruffalo was at the Globe on Monday to do research for his new movie “Spotlight,” in which he’ll play Globe investigative reporter Michael Rezendes, a member of the Pulitzer-winning team that broke the Catholic sex abuse scandal. Ruffalo was seen in the newsroom, the cafeteria, and the library — not that we were following him. Ruffalo’s costar Rachel McAdams has been spotted around Boston, so she must be researching for her own role in the film (she’ll play former Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, who’s now a star at WBUR). . . .

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

South Yorkshire PCC Shaun Wright finally resigns in the wake of the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent

Shaun Wright, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire, has resigned in the wake of the Rotherham child sex exploitation scandal.

Mr Wright had come under increasing pressure following the publication of Professor Alexis Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. He was the councillor with responsibility for children’s services in the borough from 2005 to 2010.

But he initially resisted calls to resign including from the Prime Minister, Home Secretary and the Labour party, which eventually expelled him.

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

GROSSBRITANNIEN
Spiegel

[The police chief in Rotherdam has resigned amid controversy about how police handled sexual abuse cases.]

Der Polizeichef der englischen Stadt Rotherham ist zurückgetreten. Shaun Wright wurde seine unrühmliche Rolle in einem riesigen Missbrauchsskandal zum Verhängnis. Er ist sich aber immer noch keiner Schuld bewusst.

London – Premierminister David Cameron, Innenministerin Theresa May und Oppositionsführer Ed Miliband hatten Shaun Wright aufgefordert, den Posten aufzugeben. Er hatte sich lange gesträubt. Jetzt hat der oberste Polizeichef der nordenglischen Stadt Rotherham dem Druck nachgegeben – und trat zurück. Er sei in den öffentlichen Dienst gegangen, um Positives für den Süden Yorkshires zu bewirken. Der Schutz verwundbarer Personen, besonders sexuell ausgebeuteter Kinder, sei seine oberste Priorität gewesen. Doch seinem Anspruch an sich selbst genügte Wright offenbar nicht.

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

OSTERREICH
Kleine Zeitung

[Summary: The civil actions brought by a former pupil against two Admonter Fathers for alleged sexual abuse and aggravated assault goes to a new round in court. On Monday, the legal representatives for the ex-pupil presented the court of upper Styria Leoben a motion for bias against the judge. This motion must now be considered by the district court. The priests say they had no free time in all their years at Admont and they deny responsibility for the offenses at the school and this should be handled by the state.]

Die zivilrechtliche Klage eines ehemaligen Zöglings gegen zwei Admonter Patres und das Stift wegen des Vorwurfs sexuellen Missbrauchs und schwerer Körperverletzung geht in eine neue Gerichts-Runde.

Der Ex-Zögling und sein Rechtsvertreter stießen sich laut dem Sprecher des Klägers u.a. an der Behauptung der Padres, dass sie in all den Jahren in Admont keine Freizeit gehabt hätten. Womit die Verantwortung für die zur Last gelegten Delikte an den Staat als Schulaufsichtsbehörde übergehe und somit die Republik bzw. der Steuerzahler dafür gerade zu stehen hätte.

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

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 16

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

A youth pastor has been arrested for alleged child sex crimes and the question now is what will his congregants do now? Will they actively help police and prosecutors? Or will they sit passively back and force the brave victim to carry the burden of pursuing a predator alone?

[My Fox DFW]

We beg current and former staff and members of the Lord’s House of Prayer in Crandall to aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Steven Gray.

That’s the best way to protect kids. That’s the responsible course of action. That’s what Jesus would do, we believe.

But in most cases, colleagues and congregants of credibly accused child molesting clerics do little or nothing. They leave it up to a wounded victim and overworked police and overwhelmed prosecutor to keep a predator away from kids. Then they express shock and horror when the predator’s shrewd lawyer gets him or her off on a technicality or gets a short sentence and later re-offends.

So we beg every person associated with the Lord’s House of Prayer to show courage and try hard to find and console others with information about or suspicisions about Gray’s crimes. That’s the right thing to do.

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

INDIA/MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Statement by Verne Wagner of Duluth, Northeast MN (Duluth, MN & Superior, WI) SNAP director ( 218- 340-1277, lwagsmn@yahoo.com )

A credibly accused predatory Indian priest has lost another court ruling and is now one step closer to facing a trial in Minnesota. For the safety of children and the healing of victims, we hope he will be extradited soon.

[court document]

Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul is accused of molesting two girls. When child sex abuse allegations against him surfaced, he quickly returned to India, where he remains.

[ABC News]

Twice this year, United Nations panels have harshly criticized Vatican officials for their refusal to help law enforcement apprehend this dangerous cleric, Fr. Jeyapaul, who molested girls in the Crookston, MN diocese and worked at one event (maybe more) in the St. Paul Archdiocese.

We’ve long worried about the safety of girls in India near Fr. Jeyapaul, especially since his bishop put him in charge of overseeing schools, knowing full well that he was considered a fugitive from US criminal authorities.

Fr. Jeyapaul is one of an increasing number of accused predator priests who have been allowed to flee to other countries despite credible child sex abuse allegations or sometimes arrest warrants.

According to BishopAccountability.org, Minnesota Catholic officials “knew of rumors about inappropriate behavior by (Jeyapaul) in 8/04” but Fr. Jeyapaul “suddenly returned to India in 9/05.”

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

POLAND/POKSKA
Ocaleni

Skazany wyrokiem za molestowanie nastolatki w Henrykowie Lubańskim, ksiądz Jan M. przebywa na wolności, w domu księży emerytów w Legnicy. To dlatego, iż otrzymał wyrok w tzw. zawiasach – 1 rok i 8 miesięcy w zawieszeniu na 3 lata. Dla porównania – nastolatka była przez księdza molestowana przez całe cztery lata.Co więcej – w komputerze księdza znaleziono programy i treści pedofilskie. Sąd uznał księdza również winnym posiadaniu nielegalnych materiałów. Wyrok nie jest prawomocny.
predator

Ocaleni I Polish Sutvivors: jesteśmy zaniepokojeni niskim wyrokiem, mimo, że sąd uznał księdza winnego wszystkim trzem postawionym zarzutom. Jeszcze bardziej martwi nas fakt, że ksiądz dostał wyrok w zawieszeniu i pozostaje poza kontrolą: nie mamy pewności, czy nie będzie molestował kolejnych dzieci. Wyrażamy też wielki szacunek dla nastolatki, która odważyła się zeznawać przeciwko swojemu agresorowi – brawo!

Liczymy na to, że adwokat poszkodowanej odwoła się od wyroku i, że ksiądz ostatecznie trafi do więzienia. Liczymy również, że zostanie on dożywotnio pozbawiony kontaktu z dziećmi. Mamy nadzieję, że w międzyczasie ujawnią się kolejne ofiary księdza Jana M., jeśli takowe istnieją. Do tego czasu apelujemy opiekunów legnickich dzieci o ostrożność.

Więcej na ten temat w Polskim Radiu Wrocław
————————————————————————————
The priest Jan M., convicted of sexual harassment of a teenage girl in Henryków Lubański is currently on the loose, staying in the retirement home for priests in Legnica. Why? He was given a suspended sentence – one year and eight months of imprisonment conditionally suspended for three years. To draw a comparison, the junior miss had been sexually harassed for four years. What is more, there was pedophile content and related programs discovered on the priest’s computer. The court found him guilty of possession of illegal material. The sentence is not final and binding.

Polish Survivors: we are alarmed by the degree of penalty, although the court found the priest guilty of all three charges. What concerns us even more is the fact that the he was given a suspended sentence and remains out of control: we cannot rest assured that he will not harass other children. We also express our respect to the teenage girl who dared to testify against her aggressor – bravo!

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

POLAND/POLSKA
Ocaleni

Czy w USA, Anglii, Holandii, Belgii, we Włoszech i innych krajach, z których pochodzą nasi czytelnicy, również pedofile dostają kary w zawieszeniu i chodzą na wolności?

sad-pijani-kierowcy

Oryginalny obrazek (by Andrzej Rysuje) znajdziesz TUTAJ.

O jednej z takich spraw pisaliśmy tutaj: Skandal! Ksiądz pedofil na wolności!

Zupełnie absurdalny wydaje się przy tym fakt, że do więzienia w Polsce można iść za… kradzież wafelka wartego 99 groszy (więcej)!

—————————————————

Do pedophilies from USA, England, the Netherlands, Belgium or Italy receive a deffered sentence for pedophilia and they are still on the loose?

We mentioned such a case here: Scandal! Pedophile priest on the loose.

it is even more ridiculous, as in Poland you may end up in jail for stealing… a wafer which costs about 30 cents.

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

MAINE
WABI

[with video]

By Adrienne DiPiazza

Bangor Police say they arrested a man Monday in Bangor after getting complaints from a woman who said someone had been taking her picture without her knowledge.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, the priest of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor is charged with violation of privacy and possession of sexually explicit material.

District Attorney Chris Almy confirmed Metropoulos is accused of possessing child pornography.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Sept. 16, 2014

BANGOR, Maine — The bishop of the Greek Orthodox diocese that includes Maine has suspended the priest at St. George Church who was arrested Monday after being accused of possessing child pornography.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, of Bangor remained at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post $10,000 cash bail Tuesday morning while the congregation waited for word from its diocesan office in Boston on how to proceed.

He was arrested Monday afternoon after being accused of possessing child pornography and photographing a woman without her permission.

Metropoulos was charged with one count each of possession of sexually explicit material, a Class C crime, and violation of privacy, a Class D crime, according to Bangor police.

Metropolitan Methodios, head of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, announced in an email on Tuesday that Metropoulos “has been suspended from all priestly duties” until the criminal case has been resolved,

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

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

The New Testament contains two Epistles by St. Peter. A third one was recently discovered, but some are doubting its authenticity. It appears to have been written during Jesus active ministry …

***

Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the Other Eleven and to Various Disciples.

May God bless you all. I give thanks always and everywhere for the hard work you are doing in spreading what Jesus is calling the “gospel message”.

Which, of course, needs some refining.

I took Jesus aside the other day for an “ad hoc meeting” and tried to talk some sense into him. He keeps insisting on this whole “cross” thing and claiming that he’s going to suffer. “God forbid!” I told him. After all, we can’t have that – it would be bad for the organization and we have to protect our branding.

Some of you have been asking how he responded to me. Not well, really. “Get thee behind me, Satan!” was a bit of an over-reaction, as far as I’m concerned. He keeps saying that’s the “hour” for which he was sent. Totally beyond me.

Meanwhile, we’re forming a Doctrine Committee to deal with things. Oh, and there’s a Fish Fry on Friday next week, though we clearly don’t have enough at this point to feed the multitude. The Fall Festival is taking volunteers and Scrip is available in the Gathering Area.

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MAINE
USA Today

Matthew Diebel, USATODAY September 16, 2014

The priest of a Greek Orthodox church in Bangor, Maine, has been arrested for alleged possession of child pornography and photographing a woman without her permission, according to reports in local media.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, of was charged Monday with possession of sexually explicit material, a Class C crime, and violation of privacy, a Class D crime, police told the Bangor Daily News.

According to the News, an investigation began over the weekend when a woman complained to police that she believed she had been photographed or video recorded without her permission or knowledge.

Metropoulos, a native of Michigan, has been the priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church since September 2001, the paper reported, and was a high school chemistry teacher before that.

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IRELAND
Ecumenical News

Henri Rose Cimatu
Monday, September 15 2014

The Evangelical Alliance Ireland has said that believers, and not the State, should fund their own schools

The EAI stance is similar to that held by a prominent atheist group and a leading Muslim academic in the predominantly Catholic country.

EAI executive director Nick Park said evangelical Christians feel alienated by State-funded schools that are usually run by the Catholic Church, which has by far the largest religious following in Ireland.

He mentioned Catholic practices such as the First Communion which can be a problem for evangelical parents. …

Increased prosperity in the 1990s along with cover ups by Catholic leaders of child abuse at schools in the 20th century have undermined church credibility and led to many Irish now shunning Catholicism.

The Irish Times reported that the position of EAI to call for a secular education system in Irish schools is similar to the one proposed by Atheist Ireland.

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

SCOTT KAUFMAN
16 SEP 2014

Despite allegations that he abused his position in Victory Church to curry sexual favors from his parishioners, a feature-length documentary about controversial “Fight Church” pastor Paul Burress was released on Tuesday, according to Hemant Mehta.

Earlier this year, former members of his Rochester, New York congregation accused Pastor Burress of abusing his power in the community to entice people into his swinger lifestyle.

In an email, the church’s executive pastor, Al Odgen, characterized those claims as a “vindictive email attack against Paul and Victory [Church],” and accused the church’s “enemies” of being “obviously in collusion with each other.”

The film does not address the controversy surrounding Pastor Burress’s abuse of power within his church, focusing instead on his ministry and the children and young men who fight in it.

The filmmakers, Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel, wrote in The New York Times that one of the abiding concerns of Burress and other pastors who practice mixed martial arts (MMA) is that “the modern church [has] become ‘feminized’” because it fails to realize that “many of the Bible’s core tenets involve fighting.”

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INDIA
Business Standard

Press Trust of India | New Delhi September 16, 2014

The Delhi High Court today dismissed as “premature” the plea challenging a trial court order recommending extradition to the USA of Indian Catholic priest Rev Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in that country during his stay in 2004.

Justice Pratibha Rani rejected Jeyapaul’s plea after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) submitted that the government has not passed any order for extraditing him to the US.

The submission was made before the court by an MEA official, after which the court dismissed the plea as being premature.

On September 12, the high court had refused to stay the trial court’s order.

It had also called for a status report from the Centre on whether the trial court’s recommendation has been accepted.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 15

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

A veteran Catholic teacher, Richard Pryor, has been indicted for allegedly molesting students on out of state trips. Our hearts ache for these 11 boys and their families.

[Sun Herald]

We applaud every person who has cooperated or is cooperating with this investigation. But this is exactly the kind of crime that Catholic bishops assure us can’t happen. For more than a dozen years, they’ve pledged to not let priests, teachers and other staff alone with children. We urge Biloxi Bishop Roger Morin to explain how this happened.

We also urge Bishop Morin to

–emphatically and repeatedly beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Pryor’s crimes to call police and

–personally visit every school where Pryor worked, making the same plea.

If kids are to be safer and predators are to be convicted, it’s crucial that Catholic employees aggressively seek out anyone with suspicions about or knowledge of Pryor’s crimes. Passively sitting back and letting these victimized kids and their families carry the full burden of prosecuting Pryor is callous and irresponsible.

It’s our civic and moral duty to help police and prosecutors keep predators away from kids.

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FRANCE
The Local

Two men are in French jail after they allegedly used an official Vatican vehicle to try to smuggle several kilos of cocaine and cannabis through France, according to media reports.

It must have seemed like the perfect cover to two suspected drug smugglers: an official Vatican vehicle with diplomatic license plates. However, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

The tale began when the personal secretary of 91-year-old Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia turned over the car to two Italian men last week for a tune up. The men allegedly did a lot more than change the spark plugs.

French daily Le Monde reported the pair, who are 30 and 41 years old, promptly drove the car to Spain and picked up four kilos of cocaine and 200 grams of cannabis and headed back to France, which is where their luck ran out.

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FRANCE
Times Live

he Vatican was left red-faced Tuesday after it emerged that a car bearing its diplomatic plates had been stopped in France with four kilogrammes of cocaine on board.

The car — which also contained 200 grammes of cannabis — belonged to 91-year-old Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mejia, emeritus librarian at the Holy See, who retired in 2003 and who is currently bedridden.

Pope Francis, a fellow Argentinian, visited Mejia, who was confined to a hospital in Rome after a heart attack, just two days after being elected.

French radio reported that the cardinal’s private secretary entrusted the vehicle to two Italian men to take it for its annual check-up.

The two men promptly drove to Spain to buy the drugs, thinking that they would be protected by the diplomatic plates, according to RTL radio — a scenario not yet confirmed by legal sources.

The pair were picked up on Sunday at a toll station near Chambery in the French Alps on their way back.

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FRANCE
Le Figaro

Un contrôle routier, mené dimanche matin à Chambéry (Savoie), aurait permis aux douaniers de découvrir dans une voiture diplomatique, avec deux homme à bord, 4 kilos de cocaïne et 150 grammes de résine de cannabis, rapporte RTL.

C’est la plaque d’immatriculation du véhicule qui a permis d’établir que celui-ci appartient à la délégation en France du Vatican. Ses passagers, deux Italiens de 30 et 41 ans, se seraient présentés dans un premier temps comme de simples chauffeurs, expliquant que la drogue ne leur appartenait pas.

Les premiers éléments de l’enquête auraient permis d’identifier le propriétaire du véhicule comme étant Jorge Maria Mejia, bibliothècaire émérite du Saint-Siège et âgé de 81 ans. C’est le secrétaire particulier de ce dernier qui aurait confié quelques jours plus tôt la voiture aux deux hommes pour qu’ils en fasse la révision. Ce dont ils auraient profité pour faire un aller-retour en Espagne et y acheter la drogue, pensant échapper aux contrôles grâce à la plaque diplomatique.

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FRANCE
Midi Libre

La voiture, munie d’une plaque diplomatique, appartiendrait à un cardinal de 91 ans. Deux hommes ont été interceptés à son bord.

Une voiture diplomatique du Vatican transportant quatre kilos de cocaïne et environ 200 grammes de cannabis a été interceptée dimanche 14 septembre à un péage près de Chambéry en Savoie, a-t-on appris mardi de source judiciaire, confirmant une information de RTL. Les deux occupants de la voiture, deux Italiens âgés de 30 et 41 ans, ont été interpellés et placés en garde à vue. Celle-ci a été portée mardi à 96 heures, les deux hommes devant être déférés jeudi matin au parquet de Chambéry pour être présentés à un magistrat et une information judiciaire devant être ouverte pour trafic de stupéfiants.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

By Elisa Martinuzzi Sep 16, 2014

The Vatican Bank named Lazard Ltd. (LAZ)’s Italy Chairman Carlo Salvatori and Banco Santander SA’s Mauricio Larrain to the board as it completes an overhaul of lender’s governance.

The appointments add “significant financial experience and global perspective at a time when the role of IOR is being reinforced,” the bank, formally known as IOR, or Institute for the Works of Religion, said in an e-mailed statement today.

Since becoming pontiff last year, Pope Francis has replaced the Vatican Bank’s leadership and made transforming the scandal-tarnished lender one of his top priorities. The bank has closed 2,000 accounts amid allegations of money laundering.

Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, the former head of Invesco Ltd.’s European business, was named IOR president in July. The new board of seven members includes former Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Clemens Boersig.

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FRANCE
The Guardian (UK)

Agence France-Presse in Lyon
theguardian.com, Tuesday 16 September 2014

A car bearing Vatican diplomatic plates was stopped in France with 4kg of cocaine and 200g of cannabis on board.

The car belongs to the 91-year-old Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mejia, emeritus librarian at the Holy See, who retired in 2003 and who is bedridden after a heart attack. Pope Francis, a fellow Argentinian, visited Mejia in hospital in Rome two days after being elected.

French radio reported that the cardinal’s private secretary entrusted the vehicle to two Italian men to take it for its annual checkup. The two men drove to Spain to buy the drugs, thinking they would be protected by the diplomatic plates, according to RTL radio – a scenario not yet confirmed by legal sources.

The pair were picked up on Sunday at a toll station near Chambéry, in the French Alps, on their way back. Neither of the men had a Vatican diplomatic passport, so the Vatican was not directly implicated, French legal sources said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The group of Cardinals called to oversee the Institute for the Works of Religion has appointed two new members to the IOR Board of Superintendence.

A Vatican statement on Tuesday said the IOR Board of Superintendence is now complete with the nominations of Mauricio Larraín and Carlo Salvatori.

The Commission, which oversees the body known as the “Vatican Bank”, was reshuffled last January.

Please find below the full text of the Vatican statement:

IOR Board of Superintendence completed with nominations of Mauricio Larraín and Carlo Salvatori.

The Cardinals’ Commission of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) has appointed Mr. Mauricio Larraín (Chile) and Mr. Carlo Salvatori (Italy) as members to the IOR Board of Superintendence.

On the occasion of the nomination Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, President of the IOR’s Supervisory Commission of Cardinals, said: “The IOR is looking forward to working with these two new board members who will add significant financial experience and global perspective at a time when the role of IOR is being reinforced and confirmed to meet the objectives of the Holy Father.”

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MAINE
Greek Reporter

AP – Authorities say a Greek Orthodox priest from Bangor is facing child pornography charges.

Police on Monday arrested 52-year-old Adam Metropoulos, a priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, on charges of violation of privacy and possession of sexually explicit material.

Bangor police say they started investigating on Saturday when a woman complained that she thought she had been photographed or video recorded without her permission or knowledge.

District Attorney Chris Almy confirmed Metropoulos is charged with possessing child pornography.

Metropoulos is being held at the Penobscot County Jail on $10,000 bail and could not be reached for comment. It could not be determined if he has a lawyer.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former Catholic school teacher charged with historic child sex offences – Lismore

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Police have charged a former Catholic school teacher with 19 historic sex offences against children and adult teenagers in the 1970s and 1980s.

Officers from Richmond Local Area Command established Strike Force Golvo in April this year to investigate historic sexual abuse at a Catholic school in Lismore.

Today (Tuesday 16 September), detectives arrested an 81-year-old man at his home in Kingscliff.

The man was taken to Tweed Heads Police Station where he was been charged with nine counts of sexual assault against a child, three counts of sex assault, four counts of indecent assault, one count of detain for advantage and two counts of soliciting a male to commit an indecent act.

He has been granted conditional bail and will appear Lismore Local Court on October 20.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Leicester Mercury

A welfare helper at a Rosminian-run Catholic boarding school has been jailed for sexually abusing a pupil, in the 1980’s.

Francis Belt (72) pleaded guilty to two counts of gross indecency at Ratcliffe College, Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, when the boy was between 13 and 15 years.

Leicester Crown Court was told that when the matter came to light Belt was moved elsewhere as the Rosminian Order covered up the scandal.

The victim was then made to write an apology letter to his abuser.

Belt worked in a pastoral role offering support to the pupils – especially the homesick or lonely ones – as well as helping with sports, other activities and doing maintenance jobs.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

A former Catholic school teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting students more than 30 years ago.

The 81-year-old man was arrested at his home on the NSW north coast on Tuesday.

The arrest comes as police investigate historical abuse at a Catholic school in Lismore.

The former teacher allegedly assaulted students at the boarding school between 1977 and 1986.

He was charged with 19 offences, including sexual assault and detaining a person for advantage.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bolletino

The Cardinals’ Commission of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) has appointed Mr. Mauricio Larraín (Chile) and Mr. Carlo Salvatori (Italy) as members to the IOR Board of Superintendence.

On the occasion of the nomination Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, President of the IOR’s Supervisory Commission of Cardinals, said: “The IOR is looking forward to working with these two new board members who will add significant financial experience and global perspective at a time when the role of IOR is being reinforced and confirmed to meet the objectives of the Holy Father.”

With these appointments, the IOR Board of Superintendence is now complete. Besides Mauricio Larraín and Carlo Salvatori, it is composed of Mr. Jean-Baptiste de Franssu (France), President of the Board, Mr. Clemens Boersig (Germany), Prof. Mary Ann Glendon (USA) and Sir Michael Hintze (UK), who assumed office on 9 July 2014. In addition to these six lay members of the Board, Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, Secretary-General of the Secretariat for the Economy, serves as its non-voting Secretary.

As set out in the Institute’s revised Statute from 1990, the IOR Board of Superintendence defines strategy and ensures oversight of operations. The members of the Board of Superintendence are nominated in accordance with the new legal framework and for a period of five years.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent September 15, 2014

ROME — The Vatican’s top official for the family says that October’s Synod of Bishops will debate altering church rules barring divorced and remarried Catholics from communion, but considers its emphasis will probably be on practical strategies for helping couples rather than changing doctrine.

Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said that with regard to divorce and remarriage, the synod is more likely to look at better marriage preparation and wider access to church courts for requesting annulments, a process that declares a marriage invalid, rather than changing the current discipline.

Paglia spoke in a September 2nd interview with Crux. He stressed that while the synod will touch on the debate over divorced and remarried Catholics, its real agenda is much broader, including a wide range of ‘profound human problems’ concerning the family.

“We’re focusing on this issue that, though extremely important, isn’t really crucial. We have to consider the children, the elderly, the sick, adoption processes, [and] the lack of intergenerational dialogue.”

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TEXAS
KDFW

[with video]

By: Dionne Anglin

A former North Texas youth pastor was arrested recently for allegedly fondling a young boy.

The 67-year-old former associate pastor, Steven Gray, is accused of fondling a “then” 11-year old boy, who was visiting him inside his trailer at a south Dallas mobile home park.

The arrest warrant affidavit says the victim, who is now 16, told his mother and a friend about what happened during at least one of the visits.

John Hall says he is that friend.

“He came out with me about four or five weeks ago during the summer and he said, ‘This is what happened: I was molested,” said Hall.

According to the affidavit, the victim says at age 11, “He started going over to [Gray’s] residence on a daily basis,” and, “On one of these visits, [Gray] asked about a cowboy hat and [Gray] said if he wanted that hat, he would have to earn it.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Sep 16, 2014 06:00 By John Scheerhout

One in four of Greater Manchester Police’s best detectives are now working on historic sex abuse cases, it has emerged.

Some 40 of the 160 officers on the force’s Major Incident Team are dealing solely with sex cases dating back to the 1960s.

They range from the high-profile probe into disgraced former MP Cyril Smith to investigations into alleged grooming gangs and abuse at care homes across Greater Manchester.

The unmasking of Jimmy Savile and other public figures as sex abusers has encouraged more and more people to come forward with complaints.

The Smith probe has so far uncovered 20 alleged victims who say they were abused between at Knowl View boys’ home in Rochdale and other places.

Some 24 others have come forward and alleged they were abused by others at Knowl View.

It has emerged an investigation into horrific abuse at the former Broome House care home in Didsbury has been re-opened after a man reported he was raped by staff in the mid-1990s. Three men have been arrested.

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NEW ZEALAND
3 News

By Rachel Parkin
Reporter

A 71-year-old Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to indecent assault.

Father Aidan Kay was stood down from duty at his Blenheim parish over the weekend and vowed in court this morning not to go near his victim. But he may yet avoid a conviction.

From church pillar to court defendant, Father Kay looked uncomfortable in court as he fell from grace, pleading guilty to indecent assault, but avoiding conviction so restorative justice can be explored.

It came after a shock announcement at St Mary’s Church mass on Sunday.

Some parishioners were reportedly in tears on learning Father Kay had been charged and removed from the ministry.

Outside court he had a message for his victim: “I’m anxious simply that they not be affected and harmed by all this.”

With alleged offending like this, interim name suppression is usually granted to prevent the victim’s identity being revealed by association. But in this case Father Kay’s identity was revealed by the church before the court could even consider it.

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NEW ZEALAND
Herald Sun

A CATHOLIC priest who moved from Australia to New Zealand a year ago has been removed from his duties at a Wellington parish after a police investigation.

POLICE have charged Aidan Kay, a priest at St Mary’s Catholic Parish in Blenheim, with an offence following a complaint, the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew said in a statement on Sunday.

“As this case is due before the courts no further details will be discussed,” he said.
Parishioners were informed about the situation at mass on Sunday.

The announcement was greeted with gasps and some parishioners cried, The Marlborough Express in NZ reported

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NEW ZEALAND
The New Zealand Herald

By Adam Poulopoulos of the Blenheim Sun

Tuesday Sep 16, 2014

A Blenheim priest has pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault.

Father Aidan Kay, 71, formerly of St Mary’s Catholic Church, appeared in Blenheim District Court today over an incident in July.

Judge Peter Hobbs remanded Kay on bail, and he is due to reappear in court on October 20.

Defence lawyer Rob Harrison asked no conviction be entered.

At Kay’s next appearance restorative justice will be considered.

The victim, who is over 16 years of age, has name suppression.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

Police have criticised the Catholic Church after it named a Blenheim priest publicly before he appeared in court today.

Aidan Kay pleaded guilty in Blenheim District Court to a charge of indecently assaulting a male.

Church leaders began telling parishioners on Saturday evening that Kay had been relieved of his duties. This was followed by a media statement issued after Sunday mass by the leader of the Catholic Church in New Zealand Archbishop John Dew.

Police are now questioning the church’s decision to reveal Kay’s name before he appeared in court today.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan says there is a need for “accuracy and fairness”. He said the accused has a right to apply for name suppression and that can also protect a victims privacy.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Blake McCoy, KARE 11:53 p.m. EDT September 15, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A group of 12 theology professors at the University of St. Thomas have signed an open letter criticizing Archbishop John Nienstedt in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

“The Catholic Church locally here is living in two separate universes and that’s not good,” said professor Massimo Faggioli.

MORE: Theologian letter to Archbishop

The two universes he speaks of are how the local archdiocese views things behind closed doors and reality.

They sent their letter to Archbishop Nienstedt on Monday and are calling for three main points of change:

Leave the legal talk to the lawyers; bring pastoral talk to the people.
Re-introduce yourself to the people and parishes that are our Archdiocese.
Engage lay people in the important work of the Archdiocese.
These professors believe the church is in a spiritual crisis, as well as a legal one.

“The crisis we are in can not be solves by lawyers, by judges, by settlements. It’s too big,” said Dr. Faggioli.

Archbishop Nienstedt responded Monday afternoon saying healing and reconciliation are at the heart of his mission.

MORE: Archbishop response letter

The archbishop claims to have stepped out of the clergy bubble and surrounded himself with more lay people. He says he often makes unpublicized visits to parishes on weekends.

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BOSTON (MA)
Katholisch

[Summary: Married Catholic priest, polygamy, ordination of a terminally ill man, a column about the question of “Why I am Catholic.” This is the topic spectrum one day on the Crux site. The Boston Globe set up the new portal as an “unconventional undertaking.”]

Verheiratete katholische Pfarrer, Polygamie, die Ordination eines Todkranken, eine Kolumne über die Frage “Why I am catholic” – “Warum ich Katholik bin” – das ist das Themenspektrum an einem Tag im September auf der Website cruxnow.com. Die Seite ist da erst wenige Tage alt, und die Tageszeitung Boston Globe, die das neue Portal eingerichtet hat, nennt sie ein “unkonventionelles Unterfangen”.

“All things catholic” – “Alles, was katholisch ist” lautet der Leitspruch der Internetausgründung der renommierten Bostoner Tageszeitung. “Wir haben die journalistische Notwendigkeit gesehen, mehr über die Kirche zu berichten und zu diskutieren”, erklärt Globe-Herausgeber Brian McGrory. Geschehen soll das auf objektive Weise. “Ich stelle mir vor, dass Crux der Marktplatz der katholischen Kirche ist, ein Platz, auf dem alle Stimmen gehört werden”, sagt John Allen, der seit Jahren vor allem für katholische Medien aus dem Vatikan berichtet, und jetzt als Mit-Herausgeber von Crux fungiert.

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FLORIDA
New Times

By Kyle Swenson Mon., Sep. 15 2014

In 2012, Jeffery London, a former youth pastor and charter-school dean of students, was accused of a vicious pattern of sexual assault with the poor kids he let stay with him at an unlicensed foster home dubbed “London’s Hotel.” The investigation reportedly involved up to 40 possible victims.

When London went to trial in early 2014, a jury found him not guilty. But this October, he’s scheduled to again face a jury on 18 additional criminal charges coming from four more accusers.

Additionally, a civil lawsuit has dropped in Broward filed by four alleged John Doe victims rehashing the allegations. The target of this suit: not London but the charitable institutions that allegedly enabled the abuse.

One of the suit’s targets is the estate of Elizabeth Buntrock, a now-deceased philanthropist. According to documents filed in court, in 2000, London moved into a Coral Springs home paid for by a Buntrock charity and meant to provide housing for underprivileged minor male children. But no one in the organization vetted London, made sure the caretaker was properly licensed as a social worker, or directly supervised his interactions with kids, the lawsuit claims.

“London accessed dozens of young boys… for the purpose of grooming, manipulating, and coercing them into becoming sex slaves,” the filing states. “He was able to do this without supervision thereby to brainwash poor and vulnerable children in his custody and control through use of force, threats, guile, church authority and religion, bribes, and the exchange of other benefits for sexual favors, such as treats, video games, shopping tribes, money, transportation, clothing, food, travel, and shelter.”

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ALABAMA
WIAT

PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. (WIAT) — The minister of a Homewood church was arrested late Thursday night for rape and sodomy, according to the Pleasant Grove Police Department.

Glenn VanZandt, who is the pastor of Palisades Church of Christ on Palisades Boulevard, was arrested and faces charges of second-degree rape and sodomy.

Pleasant Grove Police Department spokesman Detective Sgt. Daniel Reid says it involves a female under the age of 16 and that VanZandt was involved in an ongoing relationship with the female.

According to Reid while on patrol, an officer noticed a car parked in a dark area of a park around 10 o’clock Thursday night. The officer went to check it out and found VanZandt and the young girl inside.

Warrants for VanZandt were signed Saturday morning as he was formally charged through the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.

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

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Martin J. Reed | mreed@al.com
on September 13, 2014

PLEASANT GROVE, Alabama — A Birmingham-area minister has been formally charged with rape and sodomy after he was arrested Thursday for allegedly victimizing a minor female.

Glenn VanZandt, 55, of Hoover, faces charges of second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy contained in his arrest warrants, Pleasant Grove Police Sgt. Danny Reid said in a phone interview this morning.

“There was a period of victimization over several months where he had sex and sodomized a minor female under the age of 16,” Reid said about the charges against VanZandt.

VanZandt this morning remained in the Pleasant Grove jail awaiting transport to the Jefferson County jail in Bessemer, Reid said. His bond has been set at $60,000.

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ALABAMA
Alabama’s 13

By Robyn Sirmans

JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL –
A local pastor faces criminal charges in connection to the sexual abuse of a female victim under the age of 16.

Glenn Vanzandt, 55, of Hoover, has been charged with second degree rape and sodomy.

Vanzandt served as the lead minister at the Palisades Family Church of Christ located on Palisades Boulevard.

Authorities say the alleged crimes happened over several months.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — A deacon has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor who attended his church.

Maurice Blanchard was arrested this year for raping a 15-year-old in 2003 when he was a deacon at the Grace Apostolic Church.

Blanchard pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor in MD Circuit Court in Prince George County last Tuesday. He could be sentenced to between four and nine years in jail when he returns to court on November 14.

Officials say Blanchard’s wife Kina was “coercing the victim to stay silent about her husband’s rapes.” Other victims came forward after the now-26-year-old victim filed charges.

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CANADA
The London Free Press

By Randy Richmond, The London Free Press
Monday, September 15, 2014

Kelly Grenier is one of the last of the Southwestern Ontario women to seek redress from the Roman Catholic diocese of London for alleged sexual abuse at the hands of disgraced and now-dead priest Charles Sylvestre. After more than seven years of stops and starts, and failed negotiations to reach a settlement, the case heads to trial Monday in London.
– – –

Kelly Grenier could ride this trial out one way or the other.

She could rock in her late grandmother’s chair, which she has insisted be placed in her lawyer’s office to use during breaks.

“When I’m rocking it is very soothing. And I can visualize myself being rocked by her.”

Or Grenier could, as she puts it, take the court on the wild “rodeo ride” that can be her personality.

“I could just melt down. I could just start to cry and not stop. I am exhausted.”

When you’re about to have lawyers and experts pick at all the scars of your life so a judge can determine exactly what caused the bleeding, you don’t know how you’re going to react.

Grenier, 48, is one of the last women to seek redress from the Roman Catholic diocese of London over its disgraced and dead priest, Charles Sylvestre. After more than seven years of stops and starts, and failed negotiations to reach a settlement, the case is headed to trial Monday in London.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Paul Burnell & Jonathan Ali
BBC News

The level of child sexual abuse at the Knowl View school in Rochdale was “beyond horror”, a former pupil who became Tony Blair’s chaplain has said.

Father Michael Seed, 57, started at the school in 1970 and said he was abused by the one person from the school to be jailed for abuse.

The priest said he was interviewed by police about the school in the 1990s.

He has also been asked to provide evidence for Rochdale Council’s internal investigation into the school.

“As a priest I have to forgive what happened but justice also needs to be done,” he said.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Sep 15, 2014

A group of tenured theology professors at the University of St. Thomas sent a letter to embattled Archbishop John Nienstedt on Saturday urging him to “leave the legal talk to the lawyers” and reach out to lay people to repair the spiritual harm caused by the year-long clergy sex-abuse scandal.

“We believe that without such public steps the pastoral state of the archdiocese is not sustainable,” they wrote. “The Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has had a distinguished place in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. The current crisis is a grave blot on that history. Legal action alone will not remove it.”

The letter, signed by 12 of the private Catholic university’s 21 tenured theology professors, does not call for Nienstedt’s resignation. Instead, it asks him to change his approach to the crisis. The archbishop should turn his focus to reconciliation, outreach to the faithful and greater involvement of lay people, it said.

“The Archdiocese is in a spiritual crisis as well as a legal crisis,” the professors wrote. “The resolution of the legal actions now underway will not undo the spiritual damage.”

Massimo Faggioli, an assistant theology professor who signed the letter, told MPR News that in the last several months he has watched Nienstedt increasingly focus on legal battles while the faithful have grown disenchanted with their spiritual leader.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

Archbishop Nienstedt responded to an open letter written to him by University St. Thomas Professors.
————

The letter:

The following tenured members of the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas:
Dr. Cara Anthony
Dr. Bernard Brady
Dr. Massimo Faggioli
Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk
Dr. Michael Hollerich
Dr. John Martens
Dr. Stephen McMichael
Dr. Paul Niskanen
Dr. David Penchansky
Dr. Gerald Schlabach
Dr. Ted Ulrich
Dr. Paul Wojda

c/o Dr. Paul J. Wojda, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Moral Theology
Chair, Faculty Affairs Committee (2014-15)
University of St.Tomas
PJWOJDA@stthomas.edu

September 15, 2014

Dear Dr. Anthony, Dr. Brady, Dr. Faggioli, Dr. Gavrilyuk, Dr. Hollerich, Dr. Martens, Dr. McMichael, Dr. Niskanen, Dr. Penchansky, Dr. Schlabach, Dr. Ulrich, and Dr. Wojda,

Thank you for your recent letter with your proposals and suggestions. I appreciate your interest in helping people draw closer to Jesus Christ and I am grateful for your service to the students of the University of St. Thomas. I know that many have recently had difficult conversations with friends and family about why they still continue to profess their faith. I am very sorry for anything I or my predecessors have done to cause Catholics to doubt their faith or the sacred trust that is placed in Church leadership.

I am grateful, too, for your thoughtful advice and your willingness to share it. Please allow me to address the suggestions you listed:

• Leave the legal talk to the lawyers; bring pastoral talk to the people.

Many Catholics have shared with me the same pain you are describing, and I have taken the initiative to move in the direction you are suggesting. In last week’s issue of The Catholic Spirit is an article on the first of a series of healing Masses designed for allthose who feel they have been hurt by the Church. We are working with local pastors tocommunicate the information about these Masses to the faithful. Here’s a link: http://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/masses-healing-reconciliation-hope-offered-archdiocese.

The theme of healing and reconciliation is at the heart of these liturgies, which can provide powerful prayer experiences for those who have been wounded or those who know others who are suffering.

• Re-introduce yourself to the people and parishes that are our Archdiocese.

The reason I became a priest was to become involved in the lives of people, and I appreciate every opportunity I have to do so. I have met and continue to meet with victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse, their families and their friends. I am also reaching out to community leaders, ecumenical leaders and parish leaders to talk and learn about how we can be a part of the healing process. I often spend my weekends celebrating Mass at local parishes or going to community events. I have not publicized these events, but they are happening on a regular basis.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: September 15, 2014 – 8:41 PM

St. Thomas theology educators are urging the archbishop to quickly start the healing process.

Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt has agreed to meet with University of St. Thomas professors after they sent him an e-mail over the weekend urging immediate action to repair damage caused by child sex abuse investigations.

A dozen tenured professors in the university’s theology department signed off on the e-mail in reaction to a lawsuit that alleges clergy sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and decades of coverup carried out by high-ranking church officials.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office is also reviewing evidence for possible criminal charges in 10 cases of alleged sex abuse of minors by priests.

“The Archdiocese is in a spiritual crisis as well as a legal crisis,” read the professors’ letter, dated Sept. 12.

The professors urged Nienstedt to begin reconciliation with parishioners, to meet directly with parishioners and to increase the presence of lay people in the archdiocese to avoid an insular culture.

“This is having a dramatic impact on the people in the pews,” Bernard Brady, chair of the Theology Department, said Monday of the sex abuse investigations. “We all know people who have … left the church.”

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VATICAN CITY
U-T San Diego

By NICOLE WINFIELD, DEBORA REY Associated Press.SEPT. 15, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met Monday with an Argentine judge who played a key role in the recent convictions of two former military officers for one of the most notorious crimes of the country’s Dirty War.

La Rioja Bishop Enrique Angelelli, an avowed leftist, was killed Aug. 4, 1976 in a car crash, shortly after Argentina’s military seized power and began a crackdown on suspected leftist “subversives.”

For decades, officials insisted the death was accidental. But the case was reopened in 2010 after a former priest who had been riding with the bishop said their car had been forced off the road.

La Rioja judge Daniel Ruben Herrera Piedrabuena ordered new expert investigations into the crash and determined that Angelelli had been assassinated. …

The Vatican provided no details of Francis’ meeting Monday with Piedrabuena. But earlier this year, the Holy See provided Vatican documentation to the court showing that Angelelli had warned Rome of his problems with the military.

In one dispatch to the papal ambassador in Buenos Aires one month before he was killed, Angelelli complained that many “honorable” people were being imprisoned and that the military was justifying its torturous ways by saying they had to “kill the enemies of God and country.”

The future pope — Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was the Jesuit leader in Argentina at the time and was on good terms with Angelelli, though he did not embrace the socialist-influenced Liberation Theology of the elder man.

Bergoglio though intervened at Angelelli’s request to shelter three seminarians targeted by the same death squads that had killed some Catholic lay workers in La Rioja.

Bergoglio hid the three in his seminary in Buenos Aires just as Angelelli was assassinated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

By Walter Perez
Monday, September 15, 2014

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Police are investigating a possible case of child abuse involving an Archdiocese of Philadelphia facility.

It was an employee at Mercy Hospice on S. 13th Street who first noticed what appeared to be signs of child abuse on the youngsters who were living with their mother.

The authorities were called, the children were hospitalized, and the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit is now handling the investigation.

Mercy Hospice is a Center City shelter run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is a place for homeless women and children to grow and heal in their time of need.

And while information about cases like these is strictly confidential, Archdiocesan officials did send Action News a statement saying, in part, “there is no indication that any staff member of the facility is suspected of responsibility for the incident.”

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[See also the previous letter by tenured female faculty of the Department of Theology of the University of St. Thomas.]

By: Megan Matthews

The Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas is calling on the Archdiocese to make changes in light of sexual abuse scandals and how the church has handled those scandals. In an open letter to the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Rev. John Nienstedt, and the local church, the department says the Archdiocese is in a spiritual crisis and legal crisis.

The letter comes after months of mounting pressure for Nienstedt to step down for allegedly covering up child sexual abuse by priests. Nienstedt has repeatedly denied the allegations and said he has no intention of quitting as head of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

The Theology Department says the legal action being taken will not undo the spiritual damage the scandal has done to the church.

“While we support the rights of the victims of sexual crimes to justice and hope that resolutions of the lawsuits will offer appropriate restitution that leads to their healing, we know that no legal decision will heal the damage done to the Body of Christ,” the letter reads.

The letter lays out three main points:

“Leave the legal talk to the lawyers; bring pastoral talk to the people.”
“Re-introduce yourself to the people and parishes that are our Archdiocese.”
“Engage lay people in the important work of the Archdiocese.”

The department members are asking the church to reach out to its community and start to repair the trust. “Trust within the Church and between the Church and the local community has been badly broken,” the letter says. They say one of the steps in the process of restoring that trust is to listen to members of the church.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Sep. 15, 2014

Absent a renewed emphasis in interpersonal outreach, the current pastoral state of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese “is not sustainable,” said 12 tenured theology professors of the University of St. Thomas in an open letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The letter, dated Friday and made public Monday, comes in response to the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal in the archdiocese — what the faculty called “a grave blot” on the archdiocese’s history — that has raised criticisms of how Nienstedt and other church officials handled allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy.

The result has been more than legal troubles for the Twin Cities church, the theologians said, but “a spiritual crisis.”

“The people of God rightly expect bishops to be good stewards of the Lord’s household,” the professors wrote, pointing to Pope Francis’ February address to the Congregation for Bishops where he stated “The bishop as a witness of Christ, is not isolated, but with the Church.”

“Recent events have shown how badly the pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese has failed to meet those expectations. We refer not only to the multi-faceted sexual abuse scandal itself but also to the manner in which these scandals have been handled,” they said.

In a response letter sent Monday afternoon, Nienstedt expressed gratitude for the “thoughtful advice and your willingness to share it,” adding “I am very sorry for anything I or my predecessors have done to cause Catholics to doubt their faith or the sacred trust that is placed in Church leadership.”

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

The Catholic parish in Marlborough has been thrown into turmoil with the announcement at the weekend that one of the priests based in Blenheim has been charged with indecent assault.

Officials from both the church diocese and the Passionist order to which the priest belongs were at services on Saturday and Sunday to break the news to the congregation that Father Aidan Kay has been removed from the parish and will not be returning. They also said he has been charged by police, but would not give any further detail of what that involves.

Kay is due to appear in the Blenheim District Court today charged with indecent assault on a male over 16.

The church is to be commended for its swift and public response to the situation. With the “employee” yet to appear in court and enter a plea to the charge, many organisations would have kept the situation quiet, treating it as an in-house matter until the legal process had been worked through.

During the past 30 years, the Catholic church has been criticised for the way it has done just that. Rather than being open about the illegal and deviant behaviour of some of its religious leaders, it has quietly and swiftly transplanted them to various outposts and supervised roles. Deals were done, victims were persuaded not to lay complaints with police and charges were avoided.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

NE News reporter Daniel Faitaua
Published: 10:37AM Tuesday September 16, 2014

A Catholic parish priest has pleaded guilty in the Blenheim District Court to indecent assault.

Father Aidan Kay, from St Mary’s Catholic Parish in Blenheim, was removed from his duties after being charged by police.

His defence lawyer Rob Harrison asked that no conviction be entered and he was seeking restorative justice.

Judge Peter Hobbs remanded Kay on bail until October 20 when restorative justice will be considered.

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Boston archdiocese ordained in 1975, Braley was placed on administrative leave in February 2012 after an allegation surfaced that he sexually abused a 14-year-old altar boy while assigned to a Cambridge parish in the late 1970s-early 1980s. Braley denied the allegation. In November 2013 another allegation was publicly reported that Braley sexually abused a 10-year-old girl in the confessional at the same Cambridge parish, during the same time period.

Ordained: 1975

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

CATHIE BELL

Blenheim’s St Mary’s School leaders have assured their community the charge former parish priest Aidan Kay is facing does not involve staff or students from the school or preschool attached to the church.

The school sent a special newsletter to parents and caregivers yesterday with a copy of a letter from Archbishop John Dew announcing Kay’s removal from his role as parish priest at the Catholic church in Blenheim.

The letter was read by archdiocesan vicar-general Monsignor Gerry Burns at weekend masses last weekend.

He told parishioners that Kay, who was parish priest since January last year, would not be returning to the parish.

“During the week, the police formally charged him with an offence following a complaint made to police.

“As a result, he has been removed from ministry.”

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Sept. 15, 2014

BANGOR, Maine — The priest of St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 90 Sanford St., was arrested Monday after being accused of possessing child pornography and photographing a woman without her permission.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, of Bangor was charged with one count each of possession of sexually explicit material, a Class C crime, and violation of privacy, a Class C crime, according to Bangor police.

Efforts to reach members of the St. George Parish Council were unsuccessful late Monday afternoon.

Metropoulos is being held at the Penobscot County Jail. Bail of $10,000 cash was requested by the Penobscot County district attorney’s office.

The investigation began Saturday when a woman reportedly complained to police that she believed she had been photographed or video recorded without her permission or knowledge.

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MINNESOTA
WQOW

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A judge has split an upcoming clergy sex abuse trial against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona into two separate phases.

The plaintiff, identified only as Doe 1, alleges that church leaders created a “public nuisance” by failing to warn parishioners about a priest who sexually abused him in the 1970s. The case has already led to the unprecedented mass disclosures of church documents and names of accused priests.

In an order Monday, Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North said he’ll conduct a bench trial on Doe 1’s public nuisance claim starting Nov. 3. Rebuttal evidence and closing arguments are set for Dec. 8-9.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release
September 15, 2014

(St. Paul, MN) – Today, Judge John Van de North issued an order bifurcating the Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona civil lawsuit. The decision today to separately try the public nuisance claim before the negligence claim is a giant step forward for public safety and child protection.

The trial for the public nuisance claim is scheduled to begin November 3, 2014, followed by the trial of the negligence claim on January 5, 2015.

“The harm being done by the dangerous practices of the Archdiocese is imminent and real,” said Doe 1’s attorney, Jeff Anderson. “This is why the trial of the public nuisance case before the negligence case is a giant step toward public safety and child protection. We are grateful for the chance to share this journey, with this survivor and other courageous survivors, of exposing these dark secrets and reckless practices.”

• Today’s Order is attached and additional information can be found on our website at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3458 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3458 Cell/612.205.5531

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MISSISSIPPI
WLOX

By Michelle Lady – bio | email

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) –
A grand jury has indicted veteran South Mississippi teacher William Richard Pryor for allegedly molesting students. Pryor was in federal court Monday morning for an initial appearance where a judge detailed the four count federal indictment against Pryor.

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

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

Pryor is charged in counts one and three for transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and counts two and four for travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

If convicted on counts one and three, Pryor could be sentenced from 10 years to life in prison on each count. If found guilty on counts two and four, Pryor faces up to 30 years in prison for each count.

According to an affidavit in the case, Pryor confirmed to FBI investigators that the allegations of molestation by two different victims are true. Pryor also identified six other victims, and gave the FBI details about when and where he sexually abused them. Most of the alleged abuse happened during trips Pryor took with the students to California, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, and Georgia.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald@sunherald.com

Richard Pryor, a longtime school teacher in Gulfport, has been indicted on federal charges alleging he took boys across state lines for sexual activity.

GULFPORT — A federal grand jury has indicted a longtime Gulfport school teacher on multiple charges alleging he took boys across state lines to have sex with them.

Richard Pryor, 68, allegedly molested the boys while he was a teacher at Bayou View Junior High. He has admitted molesting eight boys and the FBI has found evidence of others, according to recent testimony.

The indictment was unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court.

Pryor faces charges with maximum penalties of up to life in prison.

He was teaching at St. Patrick Catholic High School in Biloxi when the FBI arrested him in August.

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MINNESOTA
Tenured Members of the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas – via KSTP

“To the extent of their knowledge, competence or authority, the laity are entitled and sometimes duty-bound to express their opinion on matters which concern the good of the Church” (Vatican Council II, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church”, Lumen Gentium, par. 37).

The people of God rightly expect bishops to be good stewards of the Lord’s household. As Pope Francis has said, “The bishop, as a witness of Christ, is not isolated, but with the Church . . . The episcopate is not for the bishop himself, but for the Church, for the flock, and for others” (Address to the Congregation for the Bishops, February 27, 2014). Recent events have shown how badly the pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese has failed to meet those expectations. We refer not only to the multi-faceted sexual abuse scandal itself but also to the manner in which these scandals have been handled.

The harm done affects first of all the victims themselves. But it touches the lives of all of us as members of the Church, including our efforts as professional theologians to represent the Catholic faith and the Catholic intellectual tradition in an honest and credible way to our students, their parents, our alumni, and our colleagues and friends. As theologians and educators, we offer proposals that may open a path toward recovery from the pastoral breakdown we are witnessing. We do so reluctantly and wish to emphasize that we remain committed to working and praying for the good of the whole archdiocese, including its pastoral leadership. We also want to recognize the criticisms and insights already offered by several of our women colleagues in their letter published on July 25, 2014.

Leave the legal talk to the lawyers; bring pastoral talk to the people. The Archdiocese is in a spiritual crisis as well as a legal crisis. The resolution of the legal actions now underway will not undo the spiritual damage. While we support the rights of the victims of sexual crimes to justice and hope that resolutions of the lawsuits will offer appropriate restitution that leads to their healing, we know that no legal decision will heal the damage done to the Body of Christ. A process of spiritual healing could begin within an appropriate liturgical setting and with you taking the initiative. Consider using the Rite of Reconciliation as a model for how this might be done in various places around the Archdiocese. Think about the example set by Pope St. John Paul II’s millennial apology for the failings of the Church. We believe that the people of the Archdiocese would welcome such gestures towards reconciliation.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 15

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

While we disagree with their recommendations, we are grateful to St. Thomas professors who are criticizing Twin Cities Catholic officials over child sex crimes and cover ups.

[Pioneer Press]

Their recommendations largely involve symbolic or long term moves. But kids are at risk now and need protection now. Gestures and “good will” measures come later. Helping to prevent more child sex crimes and cover ups now must come first.

For instance, the theologians suggest that Archbishop John Nienstedt hold some sort of “penitential mass” or reconciliation service. We oppose this.

Events like this do not safeguard vulnerable kids. And that’s the top priority now.

Events like this imply that the abuse and cover ups have ended. They have not.

Events like this suggest that only healing is needed now. That’s not irresponsible.

Events like this convey the message that kids are not being molested now. That’s a reckless assumption.

Here’s what should happen now: every proven, admitted, and credibly accused child molesting cleric must be exposed, suspended, and housed in secure treatment facilities (whether they are diocesan or religious order clerics, whether they’re still in the area or not, etc.)

Nienstedt should widely and repeatedly warn parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about these potentially dangerous individuals, by posting their names, photos, whereabouts and work histories on church websites, both archdiocesan and parishes.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, in my opinion the most beautiful of Marian feasts.

In today’s Mass, there is an optional sequence to be sung or prayed. It is the Stabat Mater, a 13th century hymn, whose stanzas are made up of rhyming couplets followed by a third line that rhymes with the next stanza’s third line: AAB, CCB – like so …

At the Cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to her Son to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.

This is from the 19th century translation by Edward Caswall of the original Latin hymn.

But in the official version of Caswall’s translation, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops have placed on their website some very odd changes, such as this …

Let me mingle tears with you,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.

What the hell??? The official version on the website (and I assume in the Missals) includes only 16 of the 20 stanzas, which is strange – but far stranger are stanzas like this in which nothing rhymes with anything and which throws the whole hymn off.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Sept. 14, 2014

Catholic laity — the people in the pews — will play a more prominent role in the life of the church in southeastern Wisconsin in the coming years, according to a declaration issued Sunday by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki.

And local bishops will lend their voices to the social justice issues that disproportionately affect minorities in the 10-county archdiocese, such as poverty, immigration and gun violence, the declaration says.

The document, issued during Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, outlines Listecki’s long-range vision for the church, which was mapped out in June during a two-day synod that pulled together hundreds of local Catholics from across the archdiocese. …

Listecki’s blueprint comes at a pivotal time for the church in southeastern Wisconsin. The archdiocese is attempting to emerge from a grueling, nearly 4-year-old bankruptcy that has cost it more than $13 million — a bankruptcy prompted by its mishandling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades. Parish membership is declining, despite the growing number of people locally who identify themselves as Catholic. The archdiocese also is bracing for the retirements of dozens of full-time priests in the coming years.

Still, there is room for optimism, said Mark Gray, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which has been conducting a demographic study for the archdiocese.

“We actually predict that the self-identified Catholic population in the archdiocese, looking on toward 2040, will be quite stable,” he said. “These are people who still see themselves as Catholic, and they are. They’re the lowest-hanging fruit for the new evangelization — the people easiest to bring back.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTMJ

[with video]

MILWAUKEE — It was a milestone sermon Sunday morning at the Cathedral of St. John.

Milwaukee’s archbishop, Jerome Listecki, announced the archdiocese’s principles for the next 15 years.

It’s called the Synodal Declaration: the culmination of a spiritual convention that took two years and some 15,000 participants. The Synod measured the pulse of Milwaukee parishioners, and after a summer of scandal and bankruptcy, the Synod wanted to restore the church’s health.

“This is really an archdiocese that has a deep level of faith,” Listecki told TODAY’S TMJ4. “We want to excite it, ignite it, form people by it and evangelize through it.”

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MINNESOTA
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter September 15, 2014

A group of theology professors from the largest Catholic university in Minnesota penned an open letter to the archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul, lamenting ongoing revelations of clergy sex abuse and “also to the manner in which these scandals have been handled.”

Addressed to Archbishop John Nienstedt, under fire for allegedly mishandling reports of clergy sex abuse, twelve tenured faculty members of St. Thomas University wrote, “Recent events have shown how badly the pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese has failed” to respond to the pastoral needs of Catholics there.

The group stopped short of calling for Nienstedt’s resignation, writing that they “remain committed to working and praying for the good of the whole archdiocese, including its pastoral leadership.”

Nienstedt has faced criticism for a number of scandals in recent months, including accusations from a former archdiocesan chancellor, Jennifer Haselberger, who claimed that church personnel knowingly turned a blind eye to accusations. Other employees have reported hostile working conditions in the chancery, and Nienstedt himself remains under a self-appointed archdiocesan investigation for sexual misconduct. Those allegations involve adult seminarians and priests, and date back before Nienstedt was archbishop. …

Signing the letter were Cara Anthony; Bernard Brady; Massimo Faggioli; Paul Gavrilyuk; Michael Hollerich; John Martens; Stephen McMichael; Paul Niskanen; David Penchansky; Gerald Schlabach; Ted Ulrich; and Paul Wojda.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/15/2014

More than half the tenured faculty members of the University of St. Thomas theology department have sent an open letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt insisting the “pastoral state of the archdiocese is not sustainable” without significant changes.

“The people of God rightly expect bishops to be good stewards of the Lord’s household,” said the letter, sent to Nienstedt on Friday and distributed publicly Monday morning. “Recent events have shown how badly the pastoral leadership of the archdiocese has failed to meet those expectations.

“We refer not only to the multifaceted sexual abuse scandal itself but also to the manner in which these scandals have been handled,” said 12 theologians who signed the letter.

The letter does not call for Nienstedt’s resignation; Assistant Professor of Theology Massimo Faggioli said Monday that the group is not taking a position on that matter.

Aside from a similar letter from women faculty members this summer, the missive is unusual, he said.

“I don’t recall a history of other statements of this kind, but I don’t think there has been a crisis as serious as this one in recent history, either,” Faggioli said.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, September 15, 2014

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

A New Jersey serial predator priest was apparently defrocked months ago, but his bishop essentially kept silent about it, telling only one group of parishioners but refusing to tell the public or other parishioners.

In July, Metuchen Bishop Paul Bootkoski (732-562-1990) wrote to his flock at St. James parish telling them that Msgr. Michael J. Cashman has been defrocked by the Vatican. Cashman worked at churches in Old Bridge, West Trenton, Spotswood, North Brunswick and (most recently) Woodbridge (and likely at other locations too).

[Mutuchen diocese]

Bootkoski’s letter was obtained and posted on line today by BishopAccountability.org, an on line archive about the Catholic church’s on-going clergy child sex abuse and cover up crisis.

Bootkoski, like hundreds of other Catholic officials, has repeatedly pledged he’d be “open and transparent” in dealing with pedophile priests. The twelve year old US national bishops policy (called “the Dallas Charter”) mandates that he be open. But he’s told the smallest group possible about Cashman’s wrongdoing, instead of shouting from the rooftops, “Cashman’s a credibly accused and defrocked predator. Keep your kids away from him.”

Bootkoski’s acting more like a cold-hearted CEO than a compassionate shepherd. He’s trying to do the absolute bare minimum, rather than do what best protects children.

Bootkoski’s refusal to widely announce Cashman’s defrocking is endangering kids. Only a small percentage of Metuchen Catholics know that the child sex abuse allegations against Cashman have been deemed credible and that the Vatican has permanently ousted him. An even smaller percentage of Metuchen area parents, police or prosecutors know this.

Bootkoski should do what 30 US bishops have done: post the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on his diocesan website. He should explain and apologize for his reckless secrecy regarding Cashman. He should make sure that verbal and and written announcements about Cashman are made in every church this weekend. He should disclose Cashman’s last known whereabouts. And he should personally visit each parish where Cashman worked, emphatically begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to protect kids and call police with any knowledge or suspicions they may have about Cashman’s crimes.
Anything less is damage control, public relations, and a violation of the spirit of the church’s abuse policy.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

‘All money in the world can’t make up for what we took…’ Nazareth children were wronged, admits nun

BY JOANNE SWEENEY – 12 SEPTEMBER 2014

Catholic children who were selected for migration “to populate Australia” had been done a “grave injustice”, the Sisters of Nazareth religious order has admitted.

Abandoned, orphaned or illegitimate children were given a “glowing report” of what life would be like for them in Australia and were selected by the order as long as they were white, “(had) good health and good stock”, the Historical Abuse Inquiry heard yesterday.

The admission came from the congregation’s spokeswoman as she gave evidence to the Banbridge inquiry concerning the placement of 111 children from its homes in Belfast and Londonderry in Australian institutions in the 1940s and 1950s.

Sister Brenda McCall acknowledged the lasting impact of the migration scheme on the children and told the inquiry: “With hindsight, the congregation regrets the grave injustice done to these children in sending them out, not just the children but to their families as well.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) has been accused of providing misleading information to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

The inquiry’s chairman, Sir Anthony Hart, criticised the HSCB for its response to a request for welfare records about two children.

He accused the HSCB of “regurgitating” information that the inquiry had already provided to it.

Sir Anthony Hart said: “This is misleading. I am not impressed.”

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) is examining child abuse in religious and state-run institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.

As part of its investigations, the HIA had asked the HSCB for welfare records about the two children who were sent to Australia in the last century.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen

July 29, 2014

Bishop’s letter to parishioners of St. James, Woodbridge, regarding Msgr. Cashman. To read, click here.

——————-

The letter

July 21, 2014

Dear Parishioners of St. James Parish,

I have learned that the appeals court assigned to hear the charges of sexual abuse of a minor against your former pastor, Msgr. Michael Cashman, has ruled that he was guilty of “ongoing sexual abuse” of two minor children in the early 1980s. The court also imposed the penalty of dismissing Msgr. Cashman from the priesthood.

For the sake of the victims, your parish, and Msgr. Cashman, I wish that a final decision in this matter could have been reached long ago. I have every confidence, however, that Msgr. Cicerale and your parish leadership will continue to guide the parish through the process of healing and reconciliation.

I am also mindful of every diocesan bishop’s obligation to see that a person dismissed from the priesthood is assisted with the transition to his new state in life if he is left in need because of the penalty.

Finally, I wish to express my solidarity with the recent words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis: “Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse […] There is no place in the Church’s ministry for those who commit these abuses, and I commit myself not to tolerate harm done to a minor by any individual, whether a cleric or not.” Please pray that I may have the Lord’s assistance at every moment in fulfilling this most important commitment.

Sincerely in the Lord,
Most Rev. Paul G. Bootkoski
Bishop of Metuchen

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MINNESOTA
Jamestown Sun

A Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting two teenage girls a decade ago at a Greenbush, Minn., parish is one step closer to being extradited from his home country of India to the U.S. to face charges in Roseau County.

A judge in India recommended recently that Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 59, be extradited to Minnesota so that he face two charges of first degree criminal sexual conduct in state district court in Roseau, said Mike Finnegan, an attorney with the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, well-known for litigating clergy sexual abuse cases in civil court.

But that may not happen for some time, Finnegan said, since Jeyapaul has the chance to appeal the decision.

“Our hope is that he gets extradited as soon as possible,” Finnegan said.

Ultimately, the Indian government will decide whether to send Jeyapaul to the U.S. to stand trial, according to an Associated Press report.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 15 September 2014 (VIS) – The sixth meeting of the Council of Cardinals with the Holy Father began this morning, and will continue during the days of 16 and 17 September. The Council of Cardinals was instituted by Pope Francis to assist in the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the apostolic constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The Council of Cardinals, which assists Pope Francis in the governance of the universal Church and in the reform of the Roman Curia, has begun three days of meetings in Rome.

It is the 6th meeting of the council.

The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Francis has added Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, as the Council’s 9th member. Cardinal Parolin had been regularly taking part in the meetings of the Council since his appointment as Secretary of State, but had not been formally named a member.

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CANADA
CBC News

A Belgian human rights activist who was active in bringing Eric Dejaeger to justice says Friday’s verdict has vindicated many of Dejaeger’s victims.

“They were afraid that they were not going to be believed,” says Lieve Halsberghe.

On Friday, Nunavut Justice Robert Kilpatrick convicted Dejaeger on 32 of dozens of sex-related charges he faced involving Inuit children more than 30 years ago.

Halsberghe was one of several people who helped track Dejaeger down in Belgium in order to see him extradited to face the charges.

Over 10 months some 40 complainants testified against the Belgian-born former Oblate priest they knew simply as “Father Eric.”

“The people I met in Nunavut… showed extreme courage to face this monster after so many years and so much suffering,” Halsberghe says.

Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss says the trial was taxing on everyone.

“I know it was tough and it was tough on the community but they came and told their story and this is another step towards that conclusion.”

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UNITED STATES
Crisis Magazine

ANNE HENDERSHOTT

In a news story that received little media attention last year, LifesiteNews.com and Breitbart, reported that the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation awarded the National Catholic Reporter a $2.3 million grant to provide positive publicity for the work that is being done by Catholic women religious. It was a noble goal that emerged from Conrad Hilton’s experiences having been taught by faithful nuns during his childhood. Keeping with his wishes to provide for the nuns that helped to shape him, the Hilton Foundation has long supported women religious through its Conrad Hilton Fund for Sisters—a foundation that has been funded with nearly $200 million and has made almost 10,000 grants to various religious communities over the past 26 years.

But, Conrad Hilton could not have predicted that his foundation would one day be helping to fuel the animosities between the Magisterium and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) by funding a newspaper which has had a long history of attacking individual bishops, and criticizing the teachings of the Church. Recalling the faithful women religious of his youth who taught him to love and serve God, it is unlikely that Hilton would have wanted his money to support the kinds of attacks on the bishops—and the teachings of the Catholic Church itself—that the National Catholic Reporter is now engaged in. This new Hilton-funded initiative has effectively purchased positive publicity for the nuns—at the same time the bishops’ are attempting to bring the LCWR closer to the heart of the Church through the doctrinal assessment they have been conducting since 2009.

Defending against such a suggestion, Brad Myers, senior program officer, was quoted in the article published in LifeSiteNews as claiming that the Hilton Foundation “does not take a position on the controversy between the Vatican and the leadership conference.” Myers published a policy paper in February, 2013, indicating that the grant was not related to the current issues related to the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR.

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UNITED STATES
Salon

PATRICIA MILLER

Adapted from “Good Catholics: The Battle Over Abortion in the Catholic Church”

From a father in Missouri who’s looking to keep his daughters from accessing birth control, to the refusal of key contraception mandate plaintiffs to accept the Obama administration’s latest “accommodation,” the Hobby Lobby decision continues to reverberate.

But while the Green family who filed the Hobby Lobby suit objecting to the mandate are evangelical Christians, the road to Hobby Lobby wasn’t paved by the Christian Right. It was the Catholic Church, more specifically the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, that largely engineered Hobby Lobby to block the legitimization of contraception as a standard health insurance benefit—a last ditch effort to prevent by law what it couldn’t prevent from the pulpit: women from using birth control.

The Catholic bishops’ interest in “conscience clauses” that would allow employers to opt out of reproductive health care services began in earnest in the late 1990s, with the increased viability at the state and national levels of contraceptive equity measures designed to ensure that health plans covered prescription contraceptives like the Pill just like other prescription medications. For years, insurers had omitted contraceptives from prescription drug plans—the only entire class of drugs routinely and explicitly excluded—which made women’s out-of-pocket medical expenses some 70 percent higher than men’s. Measures to ensure contraceptive equity had been stalled by male legislators and social conservatives who asserted that employers and insurers shouldn’t be forced to pay for what they called a “lifestyle” choice, not a health care need. Despite that fact that nearly all women use contraceptives at some point in their lives—98 percent, according to government surveys—and that at any given moment two-thirds of women of child-bearing age are using a contraceptive method, the implication was that fertility management was frivolous or immoral and that “other people” shouldn’t be forced to pay for it.

When Connecticut considered a contraceptive equity measure in 1999, a Catholic priest, the Rev. Joseph Looney of Bethlehem, Connecticut, told the legislature that covering contraceptives would only benefit “playboys” and would fund “craziness and irresponsibility.” It was a framework that conservatives had successfully applied to abortion—asserting that it must be segregated from other health services and government funding because it was immoral—and now were trying to apply to birth control.

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IRELAND
Ulster Herald

ONE of Ireland’s leading commentators on the Catholic Church has expressed surprise at the speed of the Vatican’s acceptance of Cardinal Seán Brady’s resignation.

In line with Church rules, Cardinal Brady offered to resign as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland on the occasion of his 75th birthday last month. That resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on Monday, allowing the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop Eamon Martin (52), to become the 116th Archbishop of Armagh and leader of the Church in Ireland.

Omagh native Michael Kelly, who edits the Irish Catholic newspaper in Dublin, said there was surprise that Pope Francis took just three weeks to accept the resignation.

When Seán Brady’s predecessor Cahal Daly turned 75 in October 1992, he remained in office for four years until his retirement in 1996.

“That would be normal enough,” said the editor. “The surprise is that it has been accepted relatively quickly.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY JIM CUSACK – 15 SEPTEMBER 2014

The Catholic Church is believed to have paid out up to €50m (£40m) in compensation to abuse victims since it was revealed former Cardinal Sean Brady had direct involvement in swearing two of the victims of paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth to secrecy.

Senior legal sources said there was a rush to settle the bulk of up to 300 high court cases in the Republic in which the former Archbishop of Armagh was nominally named as lead defendant on behalf of the Church.

Many of the cases had been before the court for more than a decade – some for up to 16 years – as the Church stonewalled the plaintiffs.

The case that exposed Brady’s direct involvement, where he was the note-taker in a case involving the boys raped by Smyth, had been before Dublin’s High Court for 13 years.

However, since Brady’s involvement came to light in March 2010, a considerable number of the cases that had been before the courts for years have been reported on official records as ending with “no orders made in this case”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Survivors of child sex abuse are criticising the Victorian Government for failing to expedite laws to deal with abuse in response to last year’s parliamentary inquiry.

The Betrayal of Trust report was handed to the Government last November, which has passed some legislation in response.

But abuse survivors are angry that the state election appeared likely to prevent many of the report’s 15 recommendations from being acted on this year, with only one week left before election preparations begin.

John, a child abuse survivor from regional Victoria, said he was frustrated with the delay.

“There’s got to be mandatory action in my opinion,” he said.

“Reporting’s very well, but if government bodies aren’t funded enough, then they need to be funded so that they can act on the reporting.”

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY MARK O’REGAN – 15 SEPTEMBER 2014

Former Irish president Mary McAleese should name and shame a senior Catholic cleric who “laughed” when she told him to “tell the people of God” details of sexual abuse within the Church.

A leading children’s rights campaigner in the Republic said Mrs McAleese now has a “duty” to disclose the identity of the person.

The former president had said the cleric, who she would not name, had come “looking for advice” at Aras an Uachtarain.

The incident occurred at a time when Church authorities were under increasing pressure to investigate a variety of abuse allegations.

She suggested to him that the Church should “open up the diocesan archives” and having carried out a relevant audit relating to the allegations “tell the people of God what’s going on”.

But the cleric only “laughed” at her, she recalled. “I said if you don’t the state will intervene. And his last words to me, getting into the car were, ‘the state would never cross that line’. A week later, the state crossed that line,” the Belfast-born woman added.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Colum Kenny
Published 14/09/2014

‘Sing a new song to the Lord”. That’s the motto of the new head of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Last week, Eamon Martin became Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland when Cardinal Sean Brady stepped down.

Like many priests and nuns he is committed to helping people who are isolated, lonely, ill and anxious.

But a Catholic Church that really strikes a new note will do much more than that. It must offer all people hope by being believable itself. …

If Irish bishops really want to set an encouraging example, the hierarchy should be seen to engage in a process of honest self-criticism of its institutions and its doctrines, a process leading to real and painful changes. Instead, the Irish hierarchy still sounds like it’s singing off an old hymn sheet.

Archbishop Martin was full of feel-good sound bites last week. He said that he would not want back the 1940s and 1950s: “It was very much tarnished gold.”

But he needs to be more specific. What exactly does he think was wrong then, and why? And how much is fundamentally different in the organisation that he leads.

The absolute power of bishops has not changed. The way that policy is decided still ultimately excludes the laity in general and women in particular.

This will be graphically illustrated when a synod of bishops meets in Rome next month to discuss family matters.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

Paul Kendrick’s relentless allegations of molestation by a Haiti orphanage founder got him nowhere, except taken to court. Then, a break – the surprise arrest of his target.

BY SCOTT DOLAN STAFF WRITER
sdolan@pressherald.com | @scottddolan

Freeport resident Paul Kendrick has been so dogged in spreading his often unwelcome message about victims of child sex abuse that his past efforts have gotten him banned from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland and threatened with formal rebuke from the Roman Catholic Church.

That didn’t stop him.

If anything, Kendrick’s message has become even more insistent in the past few years as he focused on an American man who founded an orphanage decades ago for impoverished boys in Haiti. Kendrick has accused the man, whom he has never met, of raping many youths in his care.

Since 2011, Kendrick has made those accusations against 62-year-old Michael Geilenfeld in a torrent of letters, hundreds of emails, Web postings and radio broadcasts. He made so many allegations that the orphanage founder and an American nonprofit organization that raises money to fund his Haitian efforts, Hearts with Haiti, sued Kendrick for defamation last year in federal court.

But Kendrick, scheduled to defend himself against the charge at a U.S. District Court trial in Portland starting Oct. 7, is far from deterred. He feels encouraged.

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AUSTRALIA
The Examiner

A FORMER Hobart-based Catholic priest has been removed from his duties in a New Zealand parish after being charged with indecent assault.

Police have charged Aidan Kay, a priest at St Mary’s Catholic Parish in Wellington, with an offence following a complaint, the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew said in a statement yesterday.

Father Kay was based in Hobart for five years and took up his post in New Zealand in February 2013.

“As this case is due before the courts no further details will be discussed,” Archbishop Dew said.

Archdiocese vicar-general Monsignor Gerry Burns told parishioners at mass yesterday that police had charged Father Kay, a Passionist priest, with indecent assault following a complaint, The Marlborough Express reported.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

In our last post, we shared why we thought it was scandalous and gravely wrong for Cardinal O’Malley to appear at the Boston Globe’s Crux launch event, publicly endorse this heretical pub, and help lead souls away from salvation. So much was bad about the content of the event that we will not have time to go into everything. But we will share a few points, including how unfortunate it is that the Sean O’Malley who seemed to have the courage to preach on certain moral issues in 2005 (e.g. homosexuality) was not the Sean O’Malley at the Crux launch event responding to a question about homosexuality.

As we noted earlier this year in our post, “Boston pastor praised by Cardinal O’Malley puts Holy Family on par with homosexual couples“, on November 23, 2005 Cardinal O’Malley published a Letter from Cardinal Sean O’Malley on Homosexuality where he said:

In the Gospel when the self-righteous Pharisees bring the adulteress to be stoned, Jesus says let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Then to make sure they got the point Jesus wrote their sins on the ground. The stones fell from their hands and they fled. Jesus said: “Neither do I condemn you”, but He added, “Go and sin no more.”

If we tell people that sex outside of marriage is not a sin, we are deceiving people. If they believe this untruth, a life of virtue becomes all but impossible. Jesus teaches that discipleship implies taking up the cross each day and following Him with love and courage.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

AFTER a 16 year investigation by this newspaper there is real hope of justice over allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a former Catholic boys home.

The police announced this week that they are reviewing and stepping up the investigation into the former orphanage, St Francis Boys Home in Shefford. It is to be led by a senior officer who will have a team focusing entirely on this case. They will be reviewing all complaints and evidence.

Two suspects are still alive and have been questioned by police.

Since the announcement many more former residents have come forward and the total number claiming they were abused could exceed 100.

They said they suffered physical and sexual abuse by the priests who ran the orphanage and physical and emotional abuse from the nuns who worked there.

The accusations relate mainly to the 1950s and 1960s. The home was closed in 1973, as the then Bedfordshire County Council was suspicious of how the facility was being run.

An FoI (Freedom of Information) request put in by this newspaper into the inspection reports demonstrate concern, which a former member of the then team, has said went well beyond what was written.

Two former boys, Damian Chittock and Tony Walsh, did win substantial amounts in out-of-court settlements from the Catholic Church but it never admitted guilt. Following an investigation by BoS, one of the accused priests, Father John Ryan, was interviewed by the police under caution but was not charged.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

Two attorneys will soon ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Missouri Supreme Court’s restrictive 1997 Drewer ruling, which protects institutions that are sued for child sex crimes by their employees. And they’re challenging a more recent decision in the Fr. James Tierney abuse case in which Catholic officials are seeking thousands of pages of records from SNAP about clergy sex abuse victims.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Tom Reese, one of the pope’s fellow Jesuits and his usual strong supporter, says it flatly:

The list of those attending the Synod of Bishops on the family is a disappointment to those hoping for reform of the Curia and for those who hope that the laity will be heard at the synod.

A disappointment to those hoping that the laity will be heard at the synod. . . .

Let those words remain in your ears for a bit. We’ll return to them in a moment.

As Reese notes, for Catholics who may wonder whether “natural family planning” (that is, the rejection of contraception) is the church’s great gift to the laity, it appears the synod on the family is shaping up to be a repeat of the failed 1980 synod on the family: the pope has stacked the synod’s council of auditors (observers) with lay Catholics who promote “natural family planning” and oppose birth control.

Reese:

At the 1980 synod on the family, the lay participants were remarkable for how totally out of touch they were with the views of average Catholics. I fear this is a rerun.

This despite the fact that responses to the questionnaire sent out by the Vatican to lay Catholics in preparation for the synod uniformly and consistently report, insofar as bishops’ conferences have been willing to release their results, what we all have known for many years now: namely, that an overwhelming majority of Catholics in the developed sector of the world resoundingly reject the magisterial teaching about contraception. And that those lay Catholics had thought, when they replied to the Vatican questionnaire asking for honest feedback about church teaching re: family matters, that they were at last being given a voice in the church’s deliberations about these matters.

And then there’s the fact that Pope Francis’s list of pontifical appointees to the synod on the family includes Cardinals Angelo Sodano and Godfried Danneels. As Jerry Slevin notes in an essay just posted at his Christian Catholicism site, both men have deplorable records vis-a-vis the abuse crisis in the Catholic church — which is surely a family issue of the greatest critical importance to lay Catholics everywhere.

Regarding Sodano, Jerry quotes Jason Berry, who wrote last year in the New York Times:

But Cardinal Sodano ranks with the Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony as an egregious practitioner of the cover up. As John Paul II’s secretary of state, he pressured Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict, in two notorious cases.

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

CANADA
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Published on Sep 12, 2014
A court in Canada has found a former Roman Catholic priest guilty of 24 of the 70-plus sex-related charges involving children.

Eric Dejaeger had already pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual assault dating back thirty years ago. Dejaeger was returned to Canada from Belgium in 2011 for an immigration violation. Sexual abuse of children by priests has rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent years. The Vatican has come repeatedly under fire for its handling of the child sex abuse cases. A UN report into the abuse scandals in February called on the Vatican to immediately remove all clerics who were known or suspected child abusers.

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