ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 17 August 2014)

One of Australia’s most prolific child-abuse criminals, Father Kevin O’Donnell, was harboured in the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese for fifty years. In his final years, he even received public praise from one of his superiors, Bishop (later Cardinal) George Pell.

O’Donnell is dead but his numerous victims — and their families — still bear the scars of his crimes.

Father Kevin O’Donnell was a child abuser from 1942 to 1992. He fitted Masses, weddings and funerals in between his sex-abuse activities.

The Catholic Church now admits that O’Donnell was a child-abuser from day one. Broken Rites has seen a typed transcript of an interview that Mr Peter O’Callaghan QC (sex-abuse commissioner for the Melbourne archdiocese) had with an O’Donnell victim on 23 March 2003. In the transcript, Mr O’Callaghan commented that O’Donnell was engaged in sex abuse from the time he was ordained — and (said Mr O’Callaghan) he did it in every parish he was in.

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ARGENTINA
Pagina 12

[Summary: Archbishop Guillermo Jose Garlatti of Bahia Blanca was indicted yesterday for concealing former chaplain Aldo Vara during the eight months he was a fugitive from justice. Vara was charged with crimes against humanity.]

Por Diego Martínez

El arzobispo de Bahía Blanca, Guillermo José Garlatti, fue procesado ayer por el encubrimiento agravado del ex capellán Aldo Vara durante los ocho meses que estuvo prófugo de la Justicia. El juez federal subrogante Alvaro Coleffi consideró probado que Garlatti omitió informarle sobre el Fondo Integral de Solidaridad (Fides) que el arzobispado le siguió pagando a Vara mientras el Estado ofrecía una recompensa para capturarlo y que ocultó también otros datos útiles para la búsqueda, descubiertos en el allanamiento a la Curia. El magistrado sostuvo que el arzobispo intentó durante su indagatoria “explicar lo inexplicable”, al sostener que “no pensó” o “no se le ocurrió” que los datos que ocultaba fueran valiosos para la Justicia y lo procesó también por el delito de desobediencia. El empresario Leopoldo Bochile, ex apoderado de Vara, quien murió poco después de su detención en Paraguay, fue procesado por encubrimiento.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Tom Bateman
BBC Radio 4 Today reporter

A paedophile at the centre of a forthcoming historical abuse inquiry advised the Home Office on changes to the residential child care system.

Peter Righton gave “considerable assistance” as an expert in child care to a government report in 1970.

He had earlier left a teaching job over complaints of child abuse. He later became a member of a pro-paedophile campaign group. Righton died in 2007.

The Home Office said it was “absolutely committed” to stamping out child abuse.

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UNITED STATES
The Chronicle of Higher Education

August 18, 2014 by Charles Huckabee

A theologian and nun who drew the ire of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops with a book they considered radical and flawed fired back on Friday, saying the church’s investigation of women’s orders was “unconscionable” at a time when the hierarchy’s moral authority has been eroded by financial and child-abuse scandals, the Religion News Service reported.

Speaking in Nashville, Tenn., as she accepted an award from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson, a professor of theology at Fordham University, lambasted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ criticism of her 2007 book Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God, published by Continuum. The book saw a spike in sales in 2011 after the bishops issued a statement saying the work contained “misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors.”

In her remarks on Friday, Sister Johnson said she suspected that the bishops had not read the book. “To this day, no one, not myself or the theological community, the media, or the general public, knows what doctrinal issue is at stake,” she said.

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MEXICO
Pulso

[Summary: The recent case of alleged sexual abuse by a priest in the Fatima church rectory is due to misuse of freedom, according to Archbishop Jesus Carlos Cabrero Romero of San Luis Potosi. The archbishop said during an interview after noon Mass that it is like when Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Priest Jose de Jesus Cruz Rodriguez is accused of trying to sexually abuse a minor.]

Rubén Pacheco / Pulso

El reciente caso de presunto abuso sexual cometido por un sacerdote en la casa parroquial del templo de Fátima, se debe al mal uso de la libertad, señaló el arzobispo de San Luis Potosí, Jesús Carlos Cabrero Romero.

Considera el prelado que San Luis Potosí no es un ejemplo de cómo actuar ante actos de pederastia clerical.

Después de oficiar la tradicional misa dominical de mediodía, en entrevista, el arzobispo ejemplificó que al igual que cuando Judas traicionó a Jesucristo, el cura José de Jesús Cruz Rodríguez, acusado de intentar abusar sexualmente de un joven, probablemente hizo mal uso de su libertad como párroco.

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KENTUCKY
WLKY

[with video]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —A former St. Raphael Catholic School teacher and Trinity football coach is now facing sex abuse charges.

Philip Dale Anderson, 56, is accused of sexually abusing a student while he worked for the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Anderson, who now lives in Somerset, was arrested Friday afternoon at a restaurant on Brownsboro Road.

Police said the abuse allegedly took place around 30 years ago, when the student was between 11 and 14 years old.

Anderson spent a dozen years at St. Raphael’s parish in the upper Highlands neighborhood between 1981 and 1993 and also coached football at Trinity High School during that time.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

A Catholic priest denies raping a West Australian teenager more than 30 years ago but admits he has done some wrong things, a court has heard.

Glenn Humphreys, 61, is charged with abusing a boy between 1983 and 1986, when the boy was aged 15 to 17.

Defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty told the Perth District Court it was not disputed that on a few occasions in 1986, Humphreys had engaged in inappropriate behaviour.
But at the time, his actions were lawful and involved mutual touching, Mr Rafferty said in his opening statement.

Prosecutor James MacTaggart said Humphreys had indecently assaulted the victim without consent on several occasions while he was the assistant parish priest at a church in the southern suburb of Rockingham.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam – There are new developments to report in the ongoing controversy in the local Catholic church as several priests have written a letter to Archbishop Anthony Apuron demanding clarification to statements he made in a press release to the media regarding the removal of Monsignor James Benavente.

Father Tom McGrath, Father Jeff San Nicolas, Father Mike Crisostomo, Father Patrick Castro and Father Gus Gumataotao are the latest in a string of faithful members of the island’s Catholic community seeking answers and clarification from the archbishop specifically on the removal of Monsignor Benavente. Just a week after the monsignor’s 20-year celebration of faith and service, the archbishop removed him from his duties as the rector of the Archdiocese of Agana and the director of Catholic Cemeteries.

The archbishop removed the monsignor based on allegations of financial mismanagement. His sudden ouster created an uproar in the local church many of whom gathered in prayer on the footsteps of the cathedral. Andy Balajadia said at the time, “We are losing confidence and trust in his leadership. I hope that by praying he will change.”

Others who have worked alongside the monsignor on the church’s finances also took the steps of the cathedral to defend the reputation of Monsignor James. “We felt compelled to speak out after the archbishop issued a statement accusing Monsignor James of financial practices that were grave and detrimental to the archdiocese nothing is further from the truth,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Catholic Church is being urged to show its “moral compass” as an inquiry resumes in Melbourne into alleged child sexual abuse by priests.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hear from victims and representatives of the church, including Cardinal George Pell, who is scheduled to give evidence via video link from the Vatican on Thursday.

The church has moved to change its long-standing policy on the way it handles sexual abuse cases, but compensation and redress for victims remains an issue.

The Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) is pushing for a national independent redress scheme.

In the short term, chief executive officer Leonie Sheedy wants churches and charities to start contributing to a fund, primarily to pay the funeral expenses of victims.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Abuse victim Paul Hersbach doesn’t want an apology from the Catholic Church. He doesn’t want the church to burn. He just wants compassion.

Mr Hersbach was sexually abused for three years during the 1980s by the same Catholic priest who had also abused his father and uncle.

Father Victor Gabriel Rubeo had lived with the Hersbach family, was known to the children as “gramps” and even had a cap with the phrase “Super Gramps” embroidered on it.

But when Mr Hersbach made a complaint to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response scheme for abuse victims in 2006, he said he felt like he was being interrogated.

Mr Hersbach told the child sex abuse royal commission in Melbourne he wants the church to show some compassion.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 18, 2014

CAMERON HOUSTON AND JANE LEE

Victims of clerical abuse have told the Royal Commission that the Catholic Church’s response was primarily concerned with avoiding civil litigation and limiting compensation payouts.

The church was urged to reform its controversial Melbourne Response and review all of the 326 cases it has settled since the system was introduced in 1996 by former archbishop of Melbourne George Pell.

The commission was told on Monday that the church paid $17.2 million in ex gratia payments for child sexual abuse claims over the past 18 years, which included medical and counselling expenses. Victims received an average payout of $36,100.

The cost of administering the Melbourne Response was more than $17 million, which included $7.7 million to Independent Commissioner Peter O’Callaghan, QC, and his staff.

Serial paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell was responsible for the largest number of payouts, with 50 victims receiving compensation for abuse spanning from 1944 to 1992.

Chrissie Foster told a packed room in Melbourne’s County Court that O’Donnell was directly responsible for the suicide of her eldest daughter Emma and the permanent brain damage sustained by her daughter Katie in a car accident.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey
theguardian.com, Monday 18 August 2014

Victims have told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse that the scheme established by the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne to investigate their claims lacked compassion and independence and left them feeling betrayed.

During an emotional day marred by a power blackout that delayed the hearing by more than two hours, victims also questioned the so-called independence of commissioners appointed by the church to investigate sex abuse claims, and spoke of feeling pressured by senior church officials into meeting them and accepting compensation.

The hearing taking place in Melbourne over the next fortnight is scrutinising the scheme, known as the Melbourne Response, established by Cardinal George Pell in 1996.

Reading her witness statement on Monday morning, Chrissie Foster described how two of her three daughters, Katie and Emma, were repeatedly abused by Father Kevin O’Donnell at Sacred Heart primary school in Oakleigh. At times her husband, Anthony, took over reading for her.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Monday 18 August 2014

It’s a telling detail: when the abused come to the witness box of the royal commission, they affirm.

They were born deep inside the church to families that never missed mass and sent their kids to the parish primary school over the road. But they don’t swear on the Bible when they come to give their testimony.

Chrissie Foster affirmed. She was the first witness on the first day of the first Melbourne sitting of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. She deserved her place at the top of the billing.

Two of her children were raped by Father Kevin O’Donnell, not in the dark ages but in suburban Melbourne in the 1990s. One is dead, the other is permanently incapacitated. The church, though it had known about O’Donnell’s criminal ways for at least 30 years, tried to fob off Chrissie and her husband Anthony with pastoral rhetoric and a few dollars.

It’s hard to imagine this commission ever having been called but for the Fosters’ implacable and dignified pursuit of the church. They never lost their tempers. Their good humour has somehow survived. Their judgment has seemed impeccable at every turn.

Twelve years ago, when their campaign began, they went shyly on television in disguise. But the resistance of the church compelled them to put their names and faces to the story of their daughters’ abuse and their own mistreatment. They have told it so many times but what they always wanted was a royal commission and now they stood side by side in the witness box to tell their story all over again.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 18, 2014

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

Paul Hersbach kept his composure until the end.

He, like all the 321 victims of child sexual abuse who have lodged claims to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response, had been forced to tell their stories to strangers before.

The first time he spoke about his abuse in detail, it was to two people at Carelink, the Melbourne Response’s counselling arm, to explain why he needed access to its services as a primary victim, not a secondary victim. He found this confronting and “exceptionally traumatic”.

“I feel I told them more than I needed to and far more than I believe was reasonably required for them to do their job.”

Mr Hersbach explained how the man he once called “gramps” had sexually abused his father, uncle, brother and himself when he was a child.

Victor Rubeo, who died on the day he was to appear in court for a committal hearing over charges of sexual abuse, “inserted” himself between father and son over 16 years.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

Child sex abuse royal commission: Catholic priest abused two generations of boys in the same family, inquiry hears

BY LOUISE MILLIGAN
August 18, 2014

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard a devastating account of how a Catholic priest preyed on two generations of boys in the same family.

Tony Hersbach and his twin brother Will were molested by Father Victor Rubeo in Melbourne in the 1960s.

The priest then abused Tony’s two sons, Paul and Adam, in the 1980s.

Paul Hersbach gave evidence to the commission today and he and his father gave an exclusive interview to the ABC’s 7.30 program about how the domineering and charismatic priest managed to take hold and control their family.

“He was like a father, but like an incestuous father, so he had this real dark, secret side,” Tony told 7.30.

“And you know, in our family life, he was able to do whatever he wanted to. He basically took over.”

Paul said: “We called him Grandpa, which… bothers me a lot.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

BY ANGUS LIVINGSTON AND GENEVIEVE GANNON
August 18, 2014

The victim of a pedophile priest was discouraged from going to police and felt he had to take a Catholic Church payout, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

The church has paid a combined $17 million in compensation to abuse victims in the Melbourne archdiocese, but only 119 of the 326 upheld complaints have been dealt with by police.

Victims told the royal commission they felt betrayed by the church’s Melbourne Response process, which they said lacked compassion, and called for the $75,000 cap on compensation payments to be scrapped.

A victim of pedophile priest Father Michael Glennon said Melbourne Response independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan told him the prospects of Glennon doing any more jail time were low and he might not be charged.

“I felt Mr O’Callaghan was trying to discourage me from going to the police,” the man told the commission on Monday.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Food for thought:

* Imagine your English teacher demonstrating mastery of the language by regularly uttering statements like this, “We seen them deer when we was up north!”
* Imagine your mathematics teacher regularly adding numbers incorrectly.
* Imagine your social studies teacher talking about visiting “Toledo, the capital of the U.S.”
* Imagine your music teacher with an inability to count rhythms correctly or carry a tune.

Now try to imagine yourself valuing these teachers’ lessons. In each case, regardless of the theory expressed, actions belied their true subject-matter expertise to the point you probably justifiably questioned their credibility…a lot… Their actions told you, “I am not qualified to teach about this.”

Now:

* Imagine your Catholic faith teacher, who professes to know more than you about truth, being exposed as a liar.
* Imagine your faith teacher confusing the commandment about adultery with those about murder or stealing.
* Imagine your faith teacher enabling and covering up clergy’s sexual abuse of minors but writing the Church’s norms to protect children.

Such is the case with the Catholic hierarchy and sexual abuse. The bishops declare themselves the ultimate teaching authorities on faith yet, on a weekly basis we read of bishops being caught telling lies or enabling abusers. We live with the appalling reality that bishops equate raping children to an adulterous affair, though rape is about forcefully taking that which is not given and destroying the child’s physical, emotional and spiritual life in the process. Perhaps lesser known, the primary authors of the US bishops’ charter to protect children, themselves harbored sexually abusive priests even after the charter was signed. What is most puzzling of all is that a) the bishops think anyone should take them seriously as moral authorities and b) that anyone does.

Here are just a smattering of proof points:

1. Archbishop John Nienstedt of Minneapolis said in an April, 2014 sworn legal deposition that he didn’t know until March, 2014 that Ken LaVan, a priest with multiple credible sexual abuse accusations, was still in active ministry. However, this past week revealed that ole John was actually getting annual updates about Ken’s ministry activities.

Psst….John, this is called “lying” and violates the 8th Commandment: “Thou shall not bear false witness.” John, I gotta tell ya, this really kills your street creds in the truth department. Plus, when you lie under oath in this country, it is also called a “crime” further crumbling your “truthiness” credibility. Much like Dr. Seuss’ book calling for another liar to depart public leadership, “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!”, I think it’s beyond time we say, “John C. Nienstedt Will You Please Go Now!”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN AUGUST 18, 2014

MELBOURNE’S Catholic Church has paid victims of clerical sexual abuse more than $17 million since introducing an interntal compensation panel, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Sitting in Melbourne for the first time the commission heard this morning ex-gratia payments made under the church’s Melbourne Response scheme totalled $17,259,472.

Of that almost $10 million was paid as compensation while $7.5 million was paid to cover victims’s medical and counselling costs.

A further $1.6 million was paid to victims outside of the Melbourne Response.

The internal complaints system is being scrutinised in the royal commission’s latest public hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 18, 2014

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

THE mother of two girls who were abused by one of Victoria’s most notorious paedophile priests has told how she felt “betrayed” by receiving an apology from then Archbishop George Pell as well as a warning against litigation in the same month.

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has begun a two-week hearing probing the Melbourne Response, through which the Catholic Melbourne archdiocese offered financial compensation and counselling to abuse victims.

Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC told the crowded courtroom there had been no formal or external review of the Melbourne Response since it began in 1996.

The church has paid $11.3 million in compensation since the Melbourne Response began, with $1.6m of that figure for claims outside the Melbourne Response process.

Nearly 20 per cent of all compensation paid by the Melbourne Response relates to a single priest, Kevin O’Donnell, who was found responsible for 50 abuse complaints including from Emma and Katie Foster, who were students at his parish school in Oakleigh.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey
theguardian.com, Sunday 17 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell introduced the Melbourne Response to sexual abuse cases in the Catholic church because victims were not being treated in a compassionate and consistent way, he will tell the royal commission.

The method of handling sexual abuse cases by the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne was introduced in 1996 by Pell, the most senior member of the Catholic church in Australia. It is under review for the first time since its inception in 1996.

Pell, now the Vatican’s financial controller, will give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via video link on Thursday. His argument was outlined on Monday morning by counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness.

She said church lawyer Richard Leder and archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, would also give evidence about how the scheme operated.

Furness said the commission would scrutinise the appointment by the church of independent commissioners to investigate sex abuse allegations; a free counselling and professional support service provided to victims, known as Carelink; and the compensation panel which provided ex gratia compensation payments to victims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 18, 2014

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

Victims have called for all 351 compensation claims to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response to be reviewed and have accused the process as lacking compassion and transparency on the opening day of the Royal Commission.

Paul Hersbach told the Commission on Monday that his father, uncle, brother and himself had been abused by Father Victor Rubeo, who the family had referred to as ‘Gramps’ which had been embroidered on his hat.

“I do not need or want a personal apology. I do not want the church burned down,” he said. “All I want is for someone from the Catholic Church to show compassion and give me a call one day and say ‘Hi Paul how are you going these days?..Can I do anything to help?'”

When Mr Hersbach sought compensation from the church, he said that he was discouraged by independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan, QC, from reporting his abuse to police because he “didn’t think anything would happen”. Six weeks later he received a letter from Mr O’Callaghan saying “with respect to the unsurprising haziness of your memory there would not appear to be much point in your taking the matter to the Police”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Child abuse claims in Victoria since 1996 have cost the Catholic Church more than $34 million, an inquiry has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the church’s so-called Melbourne response to allegations of child sexual abuse by its clergy.

The scheme was introduced by Cardinal Pell when he was Melbourne’s archbishop in 1996, and was a first of its kind.

It allowed anyone allegedly abused by priests or others under the authority of the archbishop to have what the church called “an independent commissioner” to investigate their claims and make findings.

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KENTUCKY
Commonwealth Journal

BY JEFF NEAL
COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL

Former Southwestern High School football coach Dale Anderson was arrested Friday night in Louisville on charges that he sexually abused a young boy over two decades ago.

Anderson, 55, was taken into custody outside a Louisville restaurant, according to a Louisville Metro Police citation, and charged with sodomy, attempted sodomy and sexual abuse.

According to the citation, the alleged victim — now an adult — claimed Anderson sexually abused him beginning when he was 11 years old. The abuse continued until he was approximately 14, according to the citation.

“The (alleged) victim disclosed oral sex, forceful attempted anal sodomy and sexual touching,” according to the citation.

The alleged victim told Louisville Metro Police the abuse occurred when Anderson was a teacher and coach at St. Raphael Catholic School in Louisville. Anderson left the Louisville area to take the Southwestern job in 1993.

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KENTUCKY
WAVE

Updated: Aug 17, 2014
By John Paxton

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – A former teacher and football coach at St. Raphael Catholic School has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a former student.

According to court records, the accuser, now an adult, says the abuse started around age 11 and continued until about age 14.

Philip Dale Anderson Jr. is charged with sodomy, attempted sodomy and sexual abuse. He was taken into custody Friday at 2 p.m. at Austin’s Restaurant on Brownsboro Road.

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OUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

Charlie White, cwhite@courier-journal.com August 17, 2014

A former teacher at St. Raphael Catholic School and football coach at Trinity High School was arrested after a man told Louisville Metro Police he was sexually abused as a boy.

Philip D. Anderson Jr., 56, was arrested Friday afternoon on charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and sexual abuse, said Dwight Mitchell, a police spokesman.

The victim told police he was between the ages of 11 and 14 when he was abused by Anderson when he was a student at the parish school in Louisville’s Upper Highlands neighborhood, Mitchell said.

Police took Anderson, who now lives in Somerset, Ky., to Metro Corrections after arresting him, Mitchell said.

A Metro Corrections records room worker said Anderson was released late Friday night on his own recognizance. His court arraignment date wasn’t immediately known.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

August 16, 2014

Paris Arrow

Vatican is apex of materialism

The Vatican Circus for Idiot Catholics is in full swing in South Korea for 5 days and Pope Francis – the Pretender and Impostor of Jesus and biggest thief in mankind’s history – and fattest clown-in-white is busy deceiving South Koreans idiot Catholics especially the youth – with his classic hypocrisy and papal farts of pathological lies concocted by the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team. On Friday, he met with young people of the Asian Youth Day (a version of World Youth Day of Satanas St. John Paul II) where he told them to “combat the allure of materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife” and to “reject inhuman economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalize workers.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

One of the world’s first child abuse compensation schemes will be scrutinised when the Child Abuse Royal Commission sits in Melbourne this morning.

The Melbourne Response, introduced in 1996, was the one of the Catholic Church’s first redress schemes for victims of paedophile priests.

The commission will hear from Cardinal George Pell via video link from the Vatican on Thursday about his involvement in setting up the scheme and in responding to allegations of child sex abuse in Melbourne where he is archbishop in the 1990s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Catholic
Posted: Tues., Aug. 12, 2014

Pittsburgh Catholic Staff Report

Bishop David Zubik has placed Father John Fitzgerald, 66, the pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Conway, Beaver County, on administrative leave pending further investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

This action was taken the day after diocesan officials met with an individual who alleged abuse by Father Fitzgerald in the late 1990s. Diocesan officials immediately reported the allegation to the district attorneys of Allegheny County and Lawrence County because the abuse was alleged to have occurred in both jurisdictions.

Prior to this, no other allegation of sexual abuse against Father Fitzgerald has come to the diocese’s notice. Father Fitzgerald has denied committing any acts of sexual abuse. While he is on administrative leave he cannot administer the sacraments, dress in clerical attire or identify himself as a priest.

A letter from Bishop Zubik was read at all Masses Aug. 2-3 at Our Lady of Peace, and a diocesan official answered questions afterward. A copy of the letter will be mailed to all the parishioners.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

August 17, 2014

A priest in the Archdiocese of Boston has been accused of sexually abusing a minor while he was a priest in the Pittsburgh area in the early 1970s.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh announced today that the allegation against the Rev. John P. Carroll concerns when he was assigned to Saint Michael Parish in Elizabeth Township from 1962 to 1963.

The victim made the allegation directly to the Archdiocese of Boston, according to a news release issued by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik wrote this weekend to Saint Michael Parish and all parishes where Father Carroll served while in the Diocese of Pittsburgh informing them of the allegation.

Bishop Zubik said his purpose in writing “is to discover whether anyone else may have an allegation against Father Carroll or anyone who was acting in the name of the church.”

Father Carroll served in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 1962 to 1972. In addition to his assignment as a parochial vicar at Saint Michael, Father Carroll served at St. Isaac Jogues, Elrama; Saint Margaret, Greentree; Saint Susanna, Penn Hills; Saint Alphonsus, Springdale; and Saint Denis, Versailles (now Saint Patrick, McKeesport).

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MISSOURI
St. Ann Catholic Church

From our Archbishop:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I have accepted the recommendation of the Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in its determination that a report alleging the sexual abuse of a minor by the late Father Alexander Lippert in the early 1970s is considered credible. Father Lippert died in April 2000, prior to any allegations being made against him. Although he is unable to offer a defense, the allegation against Fr. Lippert is considered “credible though unsubstantiated” because there was enough evidence to conclude that the abuse could have occurred as reported.

Father Lippert’s priestly assignments in the Archdiocese of St. Louis were as follows:

April 1956 Assistant pastor, Holy Guardian Angels
July 1959 Immaculate Conception, Union
1961 St. Liborius
1963 St. Teresa (in residence)
1965 St. Ferdinand, Florissant (in residence)
May 1968 St. Aloysius, Spanish Lake
July 1970 Requested leave of absence; took up residence at St. Paul the Apostle, Pine Lawn
June 1980 Associate pastor, Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France
Nov. 1980 Administrator, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Coffman
May 1983 Associate pastor, St. Ambrose
April 1986 Associate pastor, St. Thomas of Aquinas
July 1988 Sick leave
Jan. 1991 Relieved of priestly duties and granted retirement.

Anyone who wishes to make a report of the sexual abuse of a minor by Father Lippert or by any other priest, deacon or employee of the Archdiocese of St. Louis may contact De-con Phil Hengen, Director of Child and Youth Protection, Archdiocese of St. Louis at 314.792.7704 or phengen@archstl.org. Reports may also be made to the Missouri Division of Social Services Child Abuse Hotline at 800.392.3738 for allegations involving a person who is currently under the age of 18, or to civil authorities for allegations involving a person who is now an adult, but was abused as a minor.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson
Archbishop of St. Louis

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Bill Zlatos
Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014

Authorities are investigating a claim that a Boston priest molested a child in Elizabeth more than 50 years ago.

The Rev. John P. Carroll, a priest from the Archdiocese of Boston, has been accused of sexually abusing a minor while he was assigned at St. Michael Parish in Elizabeth, officials of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh disclosed Sunday.

They learned about the allegation from Boston church officials Aug. 5 and alerted authorities here.
Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik warned St. Michael Parish and all the parishes where Carroll served of the allegation in a letter this weekend.

“I urge anyone who has been abused by any person representing the church to notify civil authorities and to contact the diocese to obtain assistance with counseling to help with recovery from abuse,” Zubik wrote.

Carroll worked at the Pittsburgh Diocese from 1962 to 1972, including his stint at St. Michael. He also worked at St. Isaac Jogues in Elrama, St. Margaret in Green Tree, St. Susanna in Penn Hills, St. Alphonsus in Springdale and St. Denis in Versailles, now called St. Patrick in McKeesport.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

Nicholas Kristof

IN an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes. And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns.

“I may not believe in God, but I do believe in nuns,” writes Jo Piazza, in her forthcoming book, “If Nuns Ruled the World.” Piazza is an agnostic living in New York City who began interviewing nuns and found herself utterly charmed and inspired.

“They eschew the spotlight by their very nature, and yet they’re out there in the world every day, living the Gospel and caring for the poor,” Piazza writes. “They don’t hide behind fancy and expensive vestments, a pulpit, or a sermon. I have never met a nun who rides a Mercedes-Benz or a Cadillac. They walk a lot; they ride bikes.”

One of the most erroneous caricatures of nuns is that they are prim, Victorian figures cloistered in convents. On the contrary, I’ve become a huge fan of nuns because I see them so often risking their lives around the world, confronting warlords, pimps and thugs, while speaking the local languages fluently. In a selfish world, they epitomize selflessness and compassion.

There are also plenty of formidable nuns whom even warlords don’t want to mess with, who combine reverence with ferocity, who defy the Roman Catholic Church by handing out condoms to prostitutes to protect them from H.I.V. (They surely don’t mention that to the bishops.)

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 18, 2014

Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago

The Catholic Church has expelled an inner-Melbourne priest after allegations of sexual impropriety as the sex abuse royal commission begins its Melbourne hearings into decades of abuse and alleged cover-ups.

The disclosure that the priest’s alleged victim received a financial settlement from the church and refused to assist police has led to the accusation that the church paid hush money. Father Mato Krizanac, 60, of the Croatian Catholic Centre at St Nicholas’ church in Clifton Hill, was the subject of a 12-month internal investigation by the church’s independent commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan, QC, of the Melbourne Response, and the Archdiocese of Adelaide, where the alleged offences are said to have taken place in the mid 1980s.

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart told Father Krizanac in June that he would be permanently stripped of all clerical duties, while parishioners were believed to have been informed at Mass on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Melbourne confirmed the allegations had been referred to South Australian police in April 2013 – a month before Father Krizanac was placed on “administrative leave” by the church.

The alleged victim received a financial settlement from the church, but refused to assist police, who were unable to investigate the matter.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 17, 2014

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

There is a cloud over when all of the state inquiry’s recommendations for preventing child abuse will be legislated, three months before the Victorian election.

The state inquiry into the handling of child abuse made the recommendations in its Betrayal of Trust report, which was tabled last November. The Coalition has so far only implemented three of its 15 recommendations, creating offences for grooming, failure to protect children from abuse and failure to disclose abuse. Reforms for a fourth – ensuring religious ministers have working with children checks – are before Parliament.

Attorney-General Robert Clark told a forum hosted by victims’ support group Commission Of Inquiry Now on Friday that the government was working on laws and considering options for the other recommendations, which aim to make organisations more accountable for child abuse, and make it easier for victims to claim compensation.

Mr Clark would not say whether all would be implemented in the 12 sitting days before the November election: “We’re working through each…and when we’re in a position to do so we’ll bring [proposed laws] to the Parliament particularly in relation to the civil redress, limitation of actions and civil liability provisions.”

He would not say whether the government would hold an extra parliamentary sitting to ensure all the recommendations were implemented.

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IRELAND
The Journal

CLERICAL ABUSE SURVIVOR Brendan Boland says that the resignation of Sean Brady as Primate of All Ireland has come too late.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Boland said that Brady had been “rewarded” for covering up child sex abuse.

Boland disclosed that he had been abused by notorious paedophile Brendan Smyth to a priest in 1975. He has written a book, Sworn to Silence about the cover up that ensued.

He said that he has no desire to meet with Brady, but said that he wants Brady to read the book.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The Maltese Church’s leadership is in a worse situation than that of the Nationalist Party after the 1976 general election, according to Fr Joe Borg.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Former Mġarr parish priest Emanuel Camilleri’s assertion – as reported in The Malta Independent – that the Catholic Church in Malta faces a “leadership crisis” has been echoed by priest and university lecturer Joe Borg.

In an opinion piece which appeared on today’s edition of The Sunday Times of Malta, Fr Borg argued that the leadership crisis faced by the Archdiocese of Malta was the elephant in the room which “all those I have talked to in the Church readily admit to in private to its existence, only to remain totally silent about it in public, or, worse still, deny its existence.”

Fr Camilleri, who had previously served as the parish priest of the St Mary parish in Birkirkara and of Msida, was only appointed parish priest of Mġarr last March.

However, his tenure was soon met with controversy as he sought to enforce a decree he had nothing to do with – it was issued by the Curia on 28 March – on the Via Sagra procession held in the locality.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

In Recent News (One Hand, Other Hand): How Catholic Leaders Deal with Priests Guilty of Abusing Minors v. How Catholic Leaders Deal with Lay Employees Who Are Gay

In the news lately, there’s this: as this editorial in the Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) indicates, this past Wednesday, Father James Taylor, a Catholic priest in Niskayuna, pled guilty to having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl. Taylor was arrested in April. His bishop, Edward Scharfenberger, placed him on administrative leave after the arrest, but has announced that the diocesan sexual misconduct review board will not make a final decision about Taylor’s continuing work as a priest until after the civil proceedings against him have finished.

Scharfenberger’s approach to the case prompts the Daily Gazette to ask,

[W]hy wait until civil legal proceedings have been completed before holding a hearing, to then determine whether Taylor should remain a priest?

As the editorial notes,

If you own a business and one of your employees is convicted of having sexual contact with a minor, the second that court case is over, that guy is fired. . . . If the bishop really wanted to send a message about zero-tolerance, he would use the outcome of the criminal court case as the final arbiter and kick this guy to the curb now.

And then there’s this, also in the news recently: in July, William Nifong, a Latin teacher at Northside College Prep School in Chicago, proposed to Colin Collette, a longtime music director at Holy Family Catholic church in Inverness, Illinois. Collette announced the engagement on Facebook.

And then he was fired. Immediately after his wedding plans appeared on Facebook. Lisa Black tells the story for the Chicago Tribune here and here.

A priest can be arrested after having had sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl. He can plead guilty to the charge in civil court.

But his bishop will still bend over backwards to assure that the priest receives every consideration as his clerical career is assessed.

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NEW ZEALAND
Scoop

Sunday, 17 August 2014
Press Release: Mike Ledingham

Shadow of Priest’s Abuse Over Author’s Grunt Sequel

Wairarapa author Mike Ledingham tackles the difficult topic of abuse in the Catholic Church in Always a Grunt, the newly published sequel to his popular first book, Once a Grunt.

Like his first book, Always a Grunt is chocker with short stories laced with humour and sharp observations of human foibles and vanities.

However, two of the stories also delve deeper into sensitive areas of emotional turmoil as they recount the awful tragedy of an infant’s death, and the sickening and unjust dilemmas a youngster faces after falling victim to paedophile priest.

“The feedback after the first book came out was really encouraging,” says Mr Ledingham. “So I feel braver about branching out into some different areas with some of the new stories. It’s still in the same style, though. People who enjoyed the first book won’t be disappointed.”

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CALIFORNIA
New York Daily News

Friday, August 15, 2014

BY CAROL KURUVILLA

A Christian school employee is in police custody for allegedly molesting two children who were attending Sunday services.

Jonathan Macy, 31, was cuffed by California police on Wednesday morning after an investigation into the abuse, CBS reports.

The Lancaster man is an employee at the Grace Chapel Church, which is on the same campus as the Desert Christian School.

After allegations arose that he had sexual contact with a young girl on Aug. 5, a second victim stepped forward.

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on August 16, 2014

A couple of things struck me about the recently released clergy file of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese priest Thomas Stitts. I saved the best for last, so be sure to read to the end.

There is the 1985 “mystery letter.” The letter, which became known around the time of Stitts’ death, allegedly “named names” of scandalous priests in archdiocese. Rumors abounded that details in the letter were licentious and detailed. Priests all over the archdiocese begged Archbishop Roach to keep the document a secret.

Where did the letter go? According to the file, it mysteriously disappeared and was allegedly destroyed. Something tells me that copies are still floating around. Stitts knew he was dying and had nothing to lose by writing the letter. He also had nothing to lose by making lots of copies.

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

By Jesse Marx
Fri., Aug. 15 2014

Father Thomas Stitts had been dead for mere days before his colleagues began digging up his spirit.

In a “STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL” memo dated November 22, 1985, then-Bishop Robert Carlson writes of Stitts’s possible exploits with boys. Rumors were circulating that, before the cancer got him, Stitts had come clean about his “moral activity” and named similarly abusive priests in a letter.

Carlson’s memo draws no definitive conclusion, but suggests that a choir director burned the confession to avoid scandal.

What remains of the priest’s secret personnel file — released Thursday as part of an upcoming lawsuit — is open to interpretation. Stitts is a more mysterious figure than the other priests who’ve been scrutinized over the last year. He seems to have been intensely private.

But it’s also clear from reading his file that he was deeply troubled, and that his superiors worried about him openly.

In 1979, for instance, then-Archbishop John Roach wrote, “I am very pleased to hear that the whole issue that you and I discussed has worked out,” meaning an allegation of abuse. “I would add only one thing,” Roach continued, “and that is that if there is something you feel you ought to be facing that you be sure to get some help.”

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source AAP 17 AUG 2014

One of the world’s first child abuse compensation schemes will be scrutinised when the child abuse royal commission sits in Melbourne this week.

The Melbourne Response, introduced in 1996, was the one of the Catholic Church’s first redress schemes for victims of pedophile priests.

Cardinal George Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s, will give evidence via video-link on Thursday from the Vatican about his role in setting up the scheme.

But first up will be Christine Foster, whose daughters were raped by a priest in Melbourne in the 1990s.

One daughter committed suicide while the other is in 24-hour care after being hit by a car.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

John Spain 

Published 17/08/2014

The author of the recently published book Sworn to Silence that made devastating revelations about Cardinal Sean Brady has dismissed his resignation letter as “too little too late”.

Brendan Boland was an 11-year-old altar boy in Dundalk when he was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth in the 1970s. Two years after the abuse began, he told another priest what was happening and a secret church inquiry was arranged.

He was questioned in isolation by a group of priests, including the then Fr John Brady. He was sworn to silence and the gardai were never informed, even though he had given the names of other boys who were at risk.

Yesterday, Brendan Boland made clear his dissatisfaction with the letter sent by Cardinal Brady.

He told the Sunday Independent: “This resignation is a long time coming. Cardinal Brady should have handed in his resignation back in 2010 (when a TV expose was broadcast).

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Claire Taylor, Ken Stickney August 16, 2014

A survivors group for victims of pedophile priests has rejected as unsatisfactory Bishop Michael Jarrell’s decision to not identify the 15 accused Lafayette Diocese priests for whom the diocese has made financial payouts.

“Changing locations or jobs doesn’t cure a pedophile,” said Barbara Dorris, the outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “So it’s incredibly disingenuous for Jarrell to imply that Lafayette police, parents and parishioners shouldn’t worry because some predator priests aren’t saying Mass now or have moved a few towns away.”

The bishop has turned away numerous requests to release the names of offenders. Late Thursday, he said of the 15, seven have died, five have moved away and none are involved in ministry.

In response to questions from The Daily Advertiser, the bishop conceded that the church is unable to account for the whereabouts of some offenders.

“Monitoring their activities is practically impossible,” he said.

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TEXAS
Watch Keep

M. Dustin Brimberry

to me

Amy,

Let me start off by saying that I 100% support the victims that have been molested (and I believe they probably were), that is not in question. I would never support a predator, I have the facts on my side and we need to catch the actual person that did this, the longer we wait, the more likely that person is to strike again because Greg Kelley is not some monster and he did not do this! Do your research, the police destroyed communication between themselves and CPS, which the judge partially blocked at trial. Greg is also a victim of a corrupt and evil DA, and police department. Do you really think a church would support Greg if he did this? NO. The pastor of the church was not even taking sides in the matter until he saw the real facts of the case with his own eyes. As soon as he was presented with the facts that were suppressed at trial, he quickly got on board because he saw the injustice of this whole thing.

I am extremely disappointed in your recent comments regarding the Greg Kelley case. I know that you probably published the letter from the Cedar Park Chief of Police to be used to try and smear the #FightforGK movement that is quickly gaining momentum, but that is about to backfire on you.

I love how enemies of the true and living God (though they pretend they are not), play right into his hands when they partner with satan. God loves to mock and ridicule satan, satan is always so arrogant that he always overplays his hand. That is exactly what our and all the others who clearly have no understanding of the GK case and have continued to falsely accuse an innocent young man. Your day along with all those others who have been on the side of injustice and corruption by the law enforcement (what a joke) of Williamson County have a day of reckoning coming very soon. God is about to rub all your faces in your lies because the truth is about to explode on the scene and it is Greg Kelley, his supporters and his family that are about to have the last laugh.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. . .Poor Archbishop Robert Carlson can’t get a break. Even aging rocker and gun enthusiast Ted Nugent pillories Carlson in a recent blog post under the headline “Are You A Gullible Stooge or Real American?” Nugent compares the prelate to the IRS (“They both believe the American public is full of gullible idiots”) and calls Carlson “a fraud, liar, punk.” Nugent’s tirade ends with advice to parishioners: “Any Catholic who fails to step forward and condemn such evil is no better than Muslims who don’t speak out against the evil of the so-called honor killings. Silence is complicity and equally guilty as all hell”. . .

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Eugene Cullen Kennedy | Aug. 15, 2014

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious spent the first day of its annual assembly in Nashville, Tenn., exploring the group’s “contemplative, collaborative process for making decisions,” which we know the Vatican has found troublesome.

This is, in fact, but an example, much as patients use in their search to explain to doctors what is bothering them, of the fundamental conflict between Roman authorities and America’s women religious.

The complaints made against these valiant women by Roman authorities are also illustrations of what bothers these officials about these women that they have not, cannot, or dare not express simply and directly.

That is why the indictments brought against American women religious appear to be a compilation of trivialities about problems, such as with the speakers they invite to their assemblies or those, theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson in particular, they honor for their work for the church.

These matters have been raised to an operatic level of complaint — or perhaps we might better say, “irritation” — by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who insisted that the offenses were so grave that he needed to use “blunt” rather than “flowery language” in questioning whether the LCWR leadership was promoting programs “opposed to Christian Revelation.”

It might have been better — and more expressive of his deepest reactions — if Cardinal Müller had simply said, “We just don’t like the way you decide things.” And perhaps he could have added, “We never went along with you women thinking for yourselves, and I’m reasserting our male hierarchical control over you.”

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Media Release

August 16, 2014

Rev. Robert Gibney allegedly sexually abused in Newark and Cedar Grove parishes

Newark Archdiocese needs to alert parishioners and the general public about allegations of sexual abuse against Fr. Robert Gibney

What: A demonstration and leafleting alerting the parishioners of St. Catherine’s Parish, Cedar Grove, NJ to the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against their former pastor, Rev. Robert Gibney.

When: Saturday, August 16, 2014 before and after the 5:00 and 6:00 PM Masses
Sunday, August 17, 2014 – after the 7:15 AM Mass; before and after the Masses
at 9:15 AM, 10:45 AM, and 12:15 PM

Where: On the public sidewalk outside St. Catherine Roman Catholic Church, 339 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009

Who: Members of a victim/survivor advocacy group known as Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Why: Two sexual abuse victims of Fr. Robert Gibney, former pastor of St. Catherine’s Parish, Cedar Grove, NJ, have come forward to claim that they were sexually abused by Fr. Robert Gibney. One of the victims alleges that he was sexually abused at Sacred Heart Parish in Newark in the 1960s when Fr. Robert Gibney was assigned to that parish. Another victim has alleged that he was abused when Fr. Robert Gibney was pastor of St. Catherine’s Parish. Fr. Robert Gibney was also stationed at St. Mary’s Parish, Dumont, NJ, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Ridgewood, NJ. He was also a seminary dean and a military chaplain. Demonstrators will urge other sexual abuse victims of Fr. Robert Gibney to come forward to begin healing.

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

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Last month I offered my resignation to Pope Francis in accordance with the requirement of Canon Law. I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow.

On 18 January 2013 Pope Benedict XVI acceded to my request for episcopal support and Archbishop Eamon Martin was appointed as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh. This means that as soon as Pope Francis accepts my resignation Archbishop Eamon will become Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

Archbishop Eamon has been warmly welcomed into the diocese. He has worked tirelessly in getting to know its priests, religious and lay faithful, as well as by becoming involved in every aspect of the life of the Church in Armagh and beyond.

I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY CORMAC MCQUINN – 16 AUGUST 2014

CARDINAL Sean Brady has said that his planned successor at the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, co-adjudicator Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, is “excellently prepared” to take on the role when his resignation is accepted by Pope Francis.

And the 75-year-old has said he is “looking forward to the day” that the Vatican approves his retirement.

Dr Brady has faced criticism over his role in the church’s handling of abuse claims against paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth.

Victims of clerical sexual abuse had called on Pope Francis to accept his resignation immediately.

This week it emerged that Dr Brady has written to the Pope requesting approval to retire.

In a statement issued last night, Dr Brady said he offered his resignation to Pope Francis last month in the “anticipation” of his 75th birthday, which he celebrates today.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 16 August 2014

Research by Broken Rites has revealed how the Catholic Church harboured this abusive priest, Father Victor Gabriel Rubeo, for three decades while he committed child-sex crimes in the Melbourne archdiocese. Broken Rites first exposed Rubeo in the 1990s, prompting some more of Rubeo’s victims to contact Broken Rites. In August 2014, Australia’s national Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is receiving new evidence about more of Rubeo’s crimes, committed during the cover-up. Rubeo (pronounced “roo-BAY-oh”) was born in 1933 and was ordained as a priest in 1959; he died in 2011.

Rubeo’s victims included two boys (Tony and Will) in one of his earliest parishes (in Melbourne in the 1960s). In 1996 he pleaded guilty in court after these two victims finally spoke to police. On 28 October 2011, Rubeo appeared in court again, charged with 30 additional offences (in the 1960s) against the same two boys. He was ordered to re-appear on 16 December 2011 for a full hearing but he died a few hours before his next scheduled court appearance, aged 78.

The two boys in these court proceedings (Tony and Will) were twin brothers who were born about 1952. Their parents were Dutch working-class migrants. Their father had been badly affected by World War 2 and he had an alcohol problem. Their mother was missing her relatives in the Netherlands.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Francis X. Nawn was ordained a Jesuit priest for the Wisconsin Province in June 1951. He was assigned to Jesuit high schools in Colorado and Wisconsin, then to Creighton University in Omaha NE for a year. In 1962 Nawn was transferred to Alaska, and was transcribed to the Oregon Province in 1973. He lived and worked in remote Alaskan villages until 1988, with the exception of a year’s sabbatical at Fordham University in New York. He died Oct. 1, 1992. In 2004 Nawn’s name first surfaced in lawsuits as having perpetrated child sexual abuse in Sheldon Point AK. The abuse was said to have occurred as early as 1963 and until at least 1977. By August 2005 nine men and a woman had come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by Nawn when they were children.

Ordained: June 14, 1951
Died: Oct. 1, 1992

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

SNAP was at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting June 11 in Baltimore, handing out flyers and urging Baptists to get serious about dealing with clergy sex abuse and cover-ups.

The evangelical “good-old-boys” network is just as effective at covering up clergy sex crimes as the Catholic hierarchy, said Pam Palmer, a SNAP member who spoke with the media there.

This problem is not going away, and the sooner Baptists start responsibly addressing it, the safer kids in Baptist churches will be.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

16 AUG 2014

The national inquiry into child sexual abuse in institutions plans to make final recommendations on compensation for victims by June of next year.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in its interim report published two months ago said it would need another $104 million and a two-year extension on its December 2015 deadline to produce its final report.

It promised, however, to make earlier recommendations on redress and civil litigation for thousands of victims of abuse, many of whom are elderly.

On Friday, the royal commission’s chief executive, Philip Reed, said June 30, 2015 was the target date for those recommendations.

“In order to achieve this shortened time frame, we are adopting an intensive consultation process involving both broad public consultation and targeted private consultation,” he said.

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TEXAS
Truth About FightforGK

Friday, August 15, 2014

I have stood just slightly to the side of the Fight for GK movement. Most in the movement would view me as part of the movement although I have not actually actively participated. I simply had the chance to be close. I know many, but not all, of the people directly involved in the movement. I watched the lead up to the trial and the trial itself (although I dared not to be in the actual courtroom). #PrayforGK on its face was noble if you also #PrayforTheVictims. I have no problem with people praying for someone even if that person has committed a crime. In fact, that original hashtag and slogan was chosen to draw in people who were not sure of guilt or innocence. However, the effect of the verdict and the switch to #FightforGK drew me in to watch the psychology of how a large group attempts to deal with this event.

#FightforGK will try to figure out who the “mole” is. I will be careful and not tell every detail that I am aware of, because there are things that I have overheard or been told directly that could tip them off to my identity.

My purpose is not to cause harm to anyone. I truly do feel terrible for almost everyone involved.

My purposes are:
1. Speak out to do a small part in helping to prevent child abuse in the future.
2. Stand for and uphold the Rule of Law that hold very dearly.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Ken Stickney and Claire Taylor, kstickney@theadvertiser.com, cxtaylor@theadvertiser.com
August 15, 2014

Lafayette Bishop Michael Jarrell confirmed today that at least some of the 15 diocesan priests who were credibly accused in child molestation incidents that led to diocesan payout settlements are beyond the point where the diocese knows what they are doing.

Seven of the 15 have died, the bishop said. Of the remaining eight, none are involved in ministry and five have moved away, he said. But in some cases, the bishop concedes, “Monitoring their activities is practically impossible.”

The bishop’s disclosures and comments came in response to a series of written questions submitted to Jarrell by The Daily Advertiser through the Rev. Richard Greene, media liaison for the diocese.

“When these men move out of the diocese, we sometimes know where they are moving. If so, we inform that Diocese,” the bishop said in one written response to a question. The bishop also said that when prospective employers seek information about the former priests, “We respond truthfully.”

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TENNESSEE
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Stockman | Aug. 15, 2014

NASHVILLE, TENN. The Vatican and women religious are caught up in a tension with historical, sociological and ecclesiastical roots, but a solution could be found, Sr. Elizabeth Johnson said.

The Fordham University theologian praised the sisters for their commitment to “meaningful, honest dialogue” and urged them to stay the course.

Johnson was honored Friday with the Outstanding Leadership Award by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest group of women religious leaders in the nation, representing about 80 percent of the 51,600 sisters in the United States.

Both Johnson and LCWR have been criticized by the church, and Johnson told the nearly 800 sisters gathered here for LCWR’s annual assembly that the criticisms of her writing and of LCWR are intertwined.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: “How Could a Catholic Priest with Such a History End Up As Second in Command of a Diocese—in 2014?”

At Commonweal, Grant Gallicho examines the curious case of Father Carlos Urrutigoity, who was removed by the Vatican in July from his position as vicar general in the diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. In defending Urrutigoity and the decision of Ciudad del Este bishop Rogelio Livieres to make him vicar general of the diocese despite repeated (and seemingly credible) allegations that he had sexually abused minors and seminarians, diocesan officials state that Urrutigoity came to Ciudad del Este with the recommendation of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI.

Gallicho writes:

The priest’s rise to prominence tracks closely with the church’s growing awareness of the gravity of clerical sexual abuse. Accusations of misconduct have followed him from Argentina to Pennsylvania. That’s what makes his reappearance in Ciudad del Este—where the bishop had him helping with seminary formation before promoting him to vicar general—so difficult to understand. How could a Catholic priest with such a history end up as second in command of a diocese—in 2014?

How, indeed?

As Joe Navarro notes in this Psychology Today article, predators appear to be attracted to religious institutions for all kinds of reasons: because the aggregation of congregants at worship services and other religious events creates a pool of potential victims for the predator to prey on; because of the prestige afforded religious leaders; because the club mentality of the leadership structure of many religious organizations affords protection and secrecy for predators; because the predator can exploit claims that he represents God to layfolks and that critical questions about his behavior represent an attack on divine authority; because of the money and other material resources provided to the ordained, etc.

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TEXAS
Cleburne Times-Review

August 15, 2014

According to a Fort Worth newspaper, another victim has come forward claiming Dan Haby Jr., pastor of Cowboy Way Church in Alvarado, sexually abused him as a teen.

Haby, 51, is charged on two counts of indecency with a child and remains free on bond after his July 25 arrest on allegations that he sexually abused a teen he mentored while he was a pastor of the Stockyards Community Church in Fort Worth.

Haby used to live in Fort Worth and the alleged abuse began in 2000, when the first victim was 15, and occurred in his home on Creston Avenue. The victim contacted police in June and investigators obtained two arrest warrants for indecency with a child by sexual contact.

According to the article, the second alleged victim, 25, contacted Fort Worth police detective C.W. Daniels on July 31 after news of Haby’s arrest.

A Fort Worth police report filed Thursday indicates the alleged abused also occurred in Haby’s home on Creston Avenue in Fort Worth.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hour

Fri Aug 15, 2014.
By STEVE KOBAK
Hour Staff Writer

NORWALK — A former New Canaan Sunday school teacher avoided jail but must register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old male Friday at Norwalk Superior Court.

Morgan Frawley, 26, received a 10-year suspended prison sentence and 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to risk of injury of a minor. Should she violate her probation, she would be subject to serve all or a portion of her 10-year suspended sentence. She must also register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Frawley was ordered to stay away from persons under the age of 16 nor can she have any contact with the victim or his family. She must also undergo mental health treatment.

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UNITED STATES
Charisma News

JENNIFER LECLAIRE

Spiritual abuse. I’ve endured it, so I know what it looks like.

As I’ve said in the past, spiritual abuse, cultish churches and controlling ministries are less often exposed than pastors who coerce teenaged boys and unsuspecting church secretaries to have sexual relations.

Mark Driscoll may pour out crude sermons about oral sex and sex toys in sermons—he’s long been ultra-controversial—but the spiritual abuse allegations are most troubling. Those allegations emerged earlier this month—before the Acts 29 network he co-founded disassociated itself with him and the church, and before LifeWay pulled his books off the shelves.

What Is Spiritual Abuse?

I had never heard the words “spiritual abuse” until I escaped a controlling ministry where the subtle practice ran rampant. Someone close to me who had observed the behavior in the church I attended recommended a book called The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.

Jeff VanVonderen, co-author of the classic book, explains spiritual abuse this way: “Spiritual abuse occurs when someone in a position of spiritual authority … misuses that authority placing themselves over God’s people to control, coerce or manipulate them for seemingly godly purposes which are really their own.”

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Telegram

Ex-Norwalk pastor, suspected of molesting 20 women, sentenced to 6 years in sexual-penetration case

By Beatriz Valenzuela, Press-Telegram
POSTED: 08/15/14

A former Norwalk pastor was sentenced to six years in state prison this week after he pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a congregant.

Jorge Castro, 55, who was a pastor at Las Buenas Nuevas Church in Norwalk, pleaded no contest to a felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object and was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

In April of 2010, one of the church’s female congregants went to Castro for spiritual counseling, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. While praying for the woman, he sexually assaulted her. Castro, however, is suspected of molesting as many as 20 women, most of whom were Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants.

Castro was arrested in September after reports of the abuse. He was charged with six felony counts in connection with the alleged sexual assaults of four women between ages 18 and 39.

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GEORGIA
WSB

[with video]

By Carl Willis
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A former pastor, who has been in the headlines before, is now accused of touching an employee against her will.

Bill Wininger, 62, was arrested on four counts of simple battery Thursday.

The Solicitor-General’s Office announced Friday that they filed a formal accusation of four counts of simple battery. They say Wininger made unwanted physical contact with a teacher at the King’s Way Christian School.

Prosecutors say sexual conduct by Wininger was also directed toward other employees at the school.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Vikram Dodd
The Guardian, Friday 15 August 2014

Police investigating a claim of sexual abuse by Sir Cliff Richard on Friday said new people had come forward with information after media coverage of a raid by detectives on the home of the entertainer.

Richard’s property in Sunningdale, Berkshire, was searched on Thursday by detectives investigating a single claim of the sexual abuse of a boy aged under 16 at an evangelical rally held by Billy Graham in Sheffield in 1985 at which the singer performed.

The search is mired in controversy because the BBC had journalists, who apparently knew the raid was going to take place, waiting for the police outside.

South Yorkshire police on Friday said they had worked with the BBC ahead of the raid, but denied being the source of the leak. …

Police raided Richard’s home over allegations of a sexual assault at a rally held by the US evangelical preacher Billy Graham nearly 30 years ago.

Richard said on Thursday that he had been aware of rumours circulating on the internet for some time, but that the allegation was “completely false”. The police raid, he added, was “without notice, except, it would appear, to the press”.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Business Journal

Staff
Kansas City Business Journal

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph must pay a $1.1 million breach-of-contract award for violating a settlement with victims of priest sexual abuse as an arbitrator ordered, the Jefferson City News Tribune reports.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Bryan Round upheld the arbitrator’s finding that the diocese failed to abide by “the terms of the non-monetary commitments” in the 2008 settlement, the report says.

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TENNESSEE
Religion News Service

Heidi Hall | August 16, 2014

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) A nun who drew U.S. Catholic bishops’ ire with what they consider radical feminist writings fired back Friday (Aug. 15), saying their investigation of women’s orders is wasteful when financial mismanagement and sexual abuses are being covered up.

Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theology professor at Fordham University, accepted the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ top award and then lambasted bishops for criticism of her book “Quest for the Living God,” saying it appears they’ve never read it.

“To this day, no one, not myself or the theological community, the media or the general public knows what doctrinal issue is at stake,” she told the Nashville assembly of about about 900 women representing 80 percent of the nation’s nuns.

In her 20-minute acceptance speech, Johnson suggested the conference’s support of her work prompted the investigation by the church’s top enforcer of orthodoxy, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.

Johnson’s book includes chapters on black and feminist theology and interfaith engagement. She said book sales skyrocketed after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops criticized it.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Irish representative on the Vatican’s new child protection council said “it would have been better” for the survivors of abuse by Brendan Smyth if Cardinal Sean Brady had resigned two years ago.

The Catholic Primate confirmed yesterday that Cardinal Brady offered his resignation to Pope Francis this week in advance of his 75th birthday, which falls today.

Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin will take over Cardinal Brady’s role as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland when his resignation is accepted by the Pope.

Speaking in a personal capacity, clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins, who called for his resignation when his role in the Smyth canonical tribunal came to light two years ago, said the Cardinal’s failure to resign then “created a deeper wound for survivors of Brendan Smyth”.

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ARIZONA
KTAR

PHOENIX — A Phoenix pastor was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting two children and having inappropriate sexual contact with two women, police said.

Jorge Vasquez, the pastor of Iglesia Pentecostales en el Desierto near Interstate 17 and Grant, is accused of committing the crimes between January 2007 and March 2014. Police said the alleged sexual contact and molestation happened during counseling sessions and other times when he was alone with the victims.

Police said there are two adult female victims and two juvenile female victims. None of the victims have been named.

Vasquez was charged with molestation of a child, sexual conduct with a minor, sexual abuse and sexual assault.

Anyone with more information on these crimes is asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department at 602-262-5151 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

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ARIZONA
KPHO

By Breann Bierman

PHOENIX (CBS5) –
Police say a pastor is in jail for allegedly sexually assaulting two girls and two women, and they’re investigating if there are more victims.

Detectives believe Jorge Vasquez, 47, had taken advantage of the victims through his position as a minister.

Phoenix police said the alleged abuse between January 2007 and May 2014 often happened at counseling sessions when he was alone with the victims.

Vasquez was arrested on Thursday at his home in the 8800 block of W. Pinchot Ave. and was booked into the Maricopa County Jail.

He is a pastor at Los Pentecostales en el Desierto in the 2100 block of W. Sherman Ave. in Phoenix. It’s a branch of the The Rock Church based in California.

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ARIZONA
Arizona Republic

Police have accused a Phoenix man of taking advantage of his position as a minister to sexually abuse at least two women and two girls in his congregation.

Jorge Vasquez, 47, was arrested Thursday and is being held in a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of six counts of child molestation, two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, four counts of sexual abuse, two counts of sexual assault and four counts of kidnapping, among other allegations.

Detectives from the Family Investigations Bureau of the Phoenix Police Department first learned about the allegations earlier this month, according to a police statement issued Friday.

Investigators say they developed probable cause to believe Vasquez engaged in sexual contact with females ages 12 to 33 against their will during counseling sessions or on other occasions during his 7-year tenure as pastor at La Roca, or the Rock Church, near 21st Avenue and Buckeye Road.

Vasquez has denied any of the allegations, police say.

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ARIZONA
Beaumont Enterprise

PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix pastor is in custody for allegedly molesting two children and having inappropriate sexual contact with two women.

Phoenix police announced Friday that 47-year-old Jorge Vasquez is being held on suspicion of molestation of a child, sexual conduct with a minor, sexual abuse and sexual assault.

He’s the pastor of Iglesia Pentecostales en el Desierto. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer yet.

Police say the alleged sexual contact and molestation happened during counseling sessions and other times when Vasquez was alone with the victims between January 2007 and March 2014.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail

A man accused of sexually abusing a family member about 25 years ago is set for sentencing in October after recently reaching a plea deal.

Christopher Mark Winnell, of Ripley, entered a Kennedy-Frazier plea to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. In this plea, a person maintains innocence but concedes there is enough evidence to convict. The state dismissed Winnell’s other 10 counts.

Winnell, a former pastor, could face one to five years in prison on each charge and a $10,000 fine.

Assistant Special Prosecutor Jennifer Gordon said the evidence the state would present if the case were to go to trial is that when the victim was about 8 or 9 years old, Winnell inappropriately touched the victim and had the victim inappropriately touch him. This continued until the victim was 11, Gordon said.

Gordon was moved over from the Kanawha prosecutor’s office in June to assist Chief Special Prosecutor Don Morris. Bloom appointed Morris and other special prosecutors to handle certain cases involving children in light of Kanawha Prosecutor Mark Plants’ misdemeanor charges.

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TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Posted Friday, Aug. 15, 20140

BY DEANNA BOYD
dboyd@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — An Alvarado pastor already charged with indecency of a child for allegedly sexually abusing a teen boy in 2000 and 2001 was arrested again Friday, now accused of molesting a different teen in 2005.

Dan Haby Jr., pastor of the Cowboy Way Church, turned himself in Friday afternoon at the Tarrant County Jail on an arrest warrant accusing him of indecency with a child/fondling.

Haby, 51, had been charged last month with indecency of a child/fondling on allegations that he sexually abused a teen he had been mentoring while pastor of the now defunct Stockyards Community Church.

In that case, the alleged victim, now 29, told police that the abuse began in 2000, when he was 15, and occurred at Haby’s then Fort Worth home on Creston Avenue.

The second alleged victim, 25, contacted Fort Worth police Detective C.W. Daniels on July 31 after news articles about Haby’s arrest appeared in the Star-Telegram and Cleburne Times, according to a Fort Worth police report filed Thursday.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 15, 2015

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 )

We applaud the 42 brave and determined men and women who were assaulted as kids by Kansas City priests. And joined the unusual “breach of contract” lawsuit against KC Catholic officials. Their ground-breaking effort has inspired child sex abuse victims across the country and have shown that civil lawsuits can bring reform, prevention, healing and justice in unexpected ways.

We also want to express our gratitude to two officials: arbitrator Hollis Hanover who awarded this historic judgment and Judge Bryan Rounds who upheld it, the only such award in the country. They are to be commended for doing their jobs justly, showing fairness but not favoritism to Catholic officials who, for far too long, have repeatedly been given every benefit of the doubt by the justice system.

Twice now, Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese have been ordered to pay $1.1 million to these victims because he repeatedly broke at least five of his pledges to improve how he deals with pedophile priest cases. With his legions of lawyers, he can of course find and file some “Hail Mary” appeal. We hope, however, that he chooses to avoid running up even more expensive lawyer bills. We hope he will resolve this without delay so that these courageous individuals can focus on their healing. He and his top staff have already spent millions defending crimes, cover ups and other misdeeds. It’s time to stop fighting and start reforming.

We also hope that for the safety of kids and as a sign of contrition, Finn permanently post on his diocesan website, the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics who are or have been in his diocese.

As best we can tell, there’s never been a case like this – anywhere – in which victims have successfully held a bishop responsible in court for breaking the promises he made during a settlement. And the amount of this award is significant because it may well deter more Catholic officials from breaking the promises they make to victims.

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ILLINOIS
Oakpark.com

[with copy of her statement]

An interview with sex abuse survivor Gail Peloquin Howard
Friday, August 15th, 2014

By Ken Trainor
Staff writer

Gail Howard graduated from Ascension School in 1961 and Trinity High School in 1965. Recently she went public in accusing former Ascension pastor Monsignor John Fitzgerald of sexually assaulting her in the Ascension rectory. The incident took place in 1964 when she was 17.

Fitzgerald, now deceased, was pastor of the south Oak Park parish from 1951 to 1973.

In consideration of her mother, Dorothie Peloquin Cahill, who worked at the rectory for many years, Howard said she did not speak of the incident until 2002, when she met with the Voice of the Faithful, Bridgeport, Connecticut chapter (using an alias), and did not report the incident to the Archdiocese of Chicago until 2005, when she met with them in person.

While attending the annual conference of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), she appeared at a press conference July 31 outside the Archdiocese’s Chancery Office, 835 N. Rush St., and, for the first time, made her accusation fully public.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Advocates for Awareness of Watchtower Abuses

A group of international experts will come together in London on the weekend of August 22-23, 2014 to address some of the major concerns relating to the undue influence of extremist groups and cults. Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Islamic extremists are just some of the groups that will be considered. The context of their discussions will be the impact these groups have and the control they are able to maintain over people’s lives. This is an invitation only meeting. The meeting will be recorded and the information will be shared with a wider audience at a later date.

Undoing the damage of such groups is a huge task for governments and agencies who often struggle trying to understand their inner workings and cultures. Dealing with the fallout and damage is often left in the hands of professionals who are still trying to develop appropriate response and recovery techniques.

Some Government policy initiatives such as “social cohesion” are directed to the integration of such groups into mainstream society. But these policies do not directly address either the immediate or the ongoing impact of the beliefs and ideas disseminated by such groups. These cultish groups promote ideas that weaken or destroy family and societal relationships. The result is the creation of a continuum where mental health issues exist at one end – and extremism and terrorism at the other.

These groups operate using “undue Influence”

Undue influence is any act of persuasion that overcomes the free will and judgment of another person. People can be unduly influenced by urgent warnings, flattery, trickery, coercion and deception. In a court of law, “undue influence” is a legal term that applies when individuals or organizations take advantage of their position of power over other persons or groups.

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IRELAND
Patrick J. Wall

AUGUST 15, 2014

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Ireland is a grand example of what needs to be done to put kids first.

One of the lessons the commission learned when they investigated the Irish Christian Brothers is that all roads lead to Rome AND all files on child sexual abuse are transported to Rome. Here is a section of the report and what the archivist found while reviewing the Roman archives of the Irish Christian Brothers:

Consistent with the American experience of Civil and Criminal Court litigation is the finding that the leadership of the Church is lethargic in producing or even making known the location of their files and knowledge of childhood sexual abuse. (emphasis mine)

6.168 The Rome Files make it impossible to contend that the issue of abuse and, in particular, sexual abuse of boys was not an urgent and continuing concern to the Congregation. In circumstances where the issue of abuse in institutions had been the object of so much media attention from 1995 onwards, it is surprising that these files were only discovered to the Committee in 2004.

Rome Files and documentary evidence

6.159In the Emergence hearings in July 2004, Br Gibson described how files, which came to be known as ‘The Rome Files’, came to the attention of the Leadership Team in Ireland.

6.160In 2003, the Leadership Team took the decision to employ an archivist to look at all the documents in the possession of the Congregation. This archivist was asked to go to Rome to look at the files there that related to the Irish Communities for any references to abuse. He explained that, in the early 1960s, a decision was taken to move the Congregation’s headquarters from Dublin to Rome. The management team brought with them the relevant archives for their own work, and left in Ireland the files and records that dealt with the Christian Brothers in Ireland.

6.161Br Gibson explained:

However, when our archivist went to Rome, she came across their minute books of their Council decisions, the General Council decisions. In those, she came across details of allegations of abuse in the institutions in Ireland that did not exist in our files … Yes, all of these dealt with incidents of child abuse in our institutions between, say, 1930 and when they closed.

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TENNESSEE
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Stockman | Aug. 15, 2014

NASHVILLE, TENN.
The gathering of nearly 800 religious sisters here drew one protester Thursday.

Bob Hoatson, president of advocacy organization Road to Recovery, based in Livingston, N.J., stood outside the convention center where the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is holding its four-day assembly holding a sign that said, “Nuns abuse kids too.”

Hoatson said there had been another local protester with him, but he had left.

Hoatson said while abuse by priests may be more visible, it is a problem for women religious, too, and — more importantly — they have failed to address it.

“I’m dealing with a good number of men and women abused by nuns,” Hoatson said. “The nuns have been much better at burying it than the bishops.”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By James Kleimann | NJ.com
on August 15, 2014

TENAFLY — A Jewish youth day camp has “instituted additional safeguards” and fired a 16-year-old camp counselor charged with sexually abusing three young campers, its president and CEO said following the arrest.

Officials at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades learned that charges were filed against a 16-year-old camp counselor on Thursday, president Tina Guberman and CEO Avi Lewinson said in a joint press statement.

“This counselor, who is a minor, was immediately suspended by the camp upon learning of the alleged incident,” the statement read. “We continue to cooperate fully with the local authorities in their investigation.”

Prosecutors said the counselor, of Teaneck, sexually touched three campers under his supervision at the Neil Klatskin Day Camp. Another camp employee claims to have directly witnessed inappropriate touching, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.

The accused was released to the custody of his parents and must wear an electronic monitoring device. He’s charged with three counts each of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, August 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 teenaged camp counselor has been arrested for inappropriately touching several young boys under his supervision. We applaud the brave witness who came forward and reported to police. When those who see, suspect, or suffer child sex crimes speak up children are safer.

The counselor was working at Neil Klatsin Day Camp, which is run by Kaplen Jewish Community Center , when he allegedly inappropriately touched at least three 6 year old boys.

We are glad camp officials informed parents of the abuse and law enforcement were able to interview all the children the counselor had contact with. We urge officials from Kaplen Jewish Community Center and any other organizations the counselor was a part of to seek out victims.

Anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered abuse should immediately call police, help protect others and start healing.

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

Unless Finn appeals, victims will share $1.1 million
Their message to bishop: “Accept justice, don’t appeal”
They urge Catholic officials: post predators’ names on church websites

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, victims of clergy sex abuse and their supporters will discuss and give copies of a new court ruling upholding their unprecedented $1.1 million “breach of contract” award. They will also urge KC’s Catholic bishop to:

– stop waging an “incredibly expensive” legal defense battle, and instead honor his pledges by not appealing the ruling, and
– permanently post on his diocesan website, as a way to protect kids and show contrition, the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics who are or have been in the KC diocese.

And the group will:

– explain how their unprecedented lawsuit and the arbitrator’s historic decision impacts victims across the country, and
– urge those victims in other cities and states to consider filing similar suits to force bishops to live up to their child protection promises.

Finally, they will also prod everyone who sees, suspects or suffers clergy sex crimes to keep coming forward and calling police.

WHEN
TODAY, Friday, Aug. 15, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Catholic Church, 3333 Broadway Blvd. in Kansas City MO

WHO
Four-six individuals who were assaulted as kids by Kansas City priests, including at least one or two who are part of the unusual “breach of contract” lawsuit against KC Catholic officials. Most are members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
WHY

Yesterday, a KC judge has upheld an unprecedented “breach of contract” award to 42 clergy sex abuse victims, the only such award in the country.

Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese have now been twice ordered to pay $1.1 million to these victims because he broke his pledges to improve how he deals with pedophile priest cases.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Indiana Gazette

HOLLIDAYSBURG (AP) — A judge has scheduled a settlement conference for civil claims by people who say a Franciscan friar molested them when he was an athletic trainer at a Johnstown Catholic high school from 1992 to 2001.

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has said it may sell its bishop’s residence to raise money to settle the cases involving Brother Stephen Baker.

Baker committed suicide in January 2013 after abuse settlements with an Ohio diocese where he formerly worked were publicized.

That has prompted dozens of former students at Bishop McCort High School to come forward with similar allegations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: August 15, 2014

ALTOONA, Pennsylvania — A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown says the sale of the bishop’s home is pending and that money from the nearly $1 million asking price might be used to care for sexual misconduct victims.

The diocese has been named in several legal claims filed by former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, who claim they were molested by Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar, from 1992 to 2001. Baker committed suicide in January 2013 after the Youngstown Ohio diocese disclosed abuse settlements with 11 former students at a school in that state, which prompted many of the alleged McCort victims to come forward.

The Altoona Mirror (http://bit.ly/1oAfx8d ) reports the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home is listed at $995,000.

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IRELAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, August 15, 2014

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 )

Whether the Vatican accepts Cardinal Sean Brady’s resignation sooner or later, we caution Irish citizens and Catholics to not become complacent about the safety of kids.

We agree with Irish victims who are urging Pope Francis to move quickly on this resignation. At the same time, however, we worry that when Brady’s gone, many will automatically assume that his successor will do a better job of safeguarding the vulnerable and helping the wounded. That’s a tempting assumption. But it may or may not be true.

Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects kids. So we urge everyone in Ireland who sees, suspects, or suffers clergy sex crimes or cover ups to contact law enforcement officials, not church officials. And we urge them to judge Brady’s successor by his deeds, not his words. No one should be impressed or mollified by symbolic gestures from a Catholic official on abuse. Only tangible steps that expose and punish those who commit or conceal child sex crimes really matter.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By James Kleimann | NJ.com
on August 14, 2014

TENAFLY — A 16-year-old counselor at the Neil Klatsin Day Camp was arrested Tuesday on charges he sexually touched a trio of 6-year-old male campers under his supervision.

Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said the 16-year-old counselor from Teaneck, who has not been identified due to his age, was charged with three counts of sexual assault and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was released to his parents’ custody and is required to wear an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, Molinelli said.

The prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation in late July after supervisors of the day camp, which is run by the Kaplen Jewish Community Center on the Palisades, told Tenafly police that another employee at the Neil Klatskin Day Camp came forward with the allegations, Molinelli said.

That employee directly witnessed the counselor touching a boy inappropriately, the prosecutor told NJ.com.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Michael Kelly
August 14, 2014

Cardinal Seán Brady turns 75 on Saturday and, so, is obliged to send his resignation to Pope Francis. Few expect the resignation to take effect immediately, however, it’s believed that the cardinal will be relieved of his duties before Christmas.

When his resignation is accepted, it will mark the end of an often turbulent and tumultuous time for Seán Brady as Primate. As President of the Irish Bishops’ Conference since 1996, he has led the Catholic Church in Ireland during some of its darkest days. Dr Brady will surely breathe a sigh of relief as he steps down.

The past 25 years have been a period of monumental crisis for Catholics in Ireland as they have watched their Church and its leaders grapple to come to terms with the dreadful clerical abuse crisis.

Most fair-minded people acknowledge that there has been a sea-change in Church leaders’ approach and that real progress has been made to ensure that the Church is a safe place. While there have been admirable approaches at reconciliation and healing with victims, they will continue to carry the wounds of their abuse for the rest of their lives. And the Church in Ireland will – and should – continue to carry that wound.

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NEW YORK
Daily Gazette

Friday, August 15, 2014

Gazette Editorial

If you own a business and one of your employees is convicted of having sexual contact with a minor, the second that court case is over, that guy is fired.

But when you’re the Catholic Church, which has a history of dragging its sandals in dealing with pedophile priests, you tend not to be as efficient.

And so the pattern is repeated with Father James Taylor, a 30-year-old local priest who pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor count of child endangerment for having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl in his Clifton Park parish.

New Bishop Edward Scharfenberger says he has a zero-tolerance policy toward child abuse, and he has removed Taylor from all priestly duties, including contact with children. That’s fine. But why wait until civil legal proceedings have been completed before holding a hearing, to then determine whether Taylor should remain a priest?

Isn’t a confession and a conviction in the United States criminal justice system enough proof that this man is not worthy to serve the church anymore?

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Denise Calnan Twitter

Published 15/08/2014

Cardinal Sean Brady has declared he is ‘looking forward to the day’ when his resignation as Archbishop of Armagh will be accepted.

Dr Brady, who faced criticism over his role in the Church’s handling of abuse claims against paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth, has spoken after clerical sexual abuse victims called on Pope Francis to accept his resignation immediately.

In a statement issued today, Dr Brady said he offered his resignation to Pope Francis last month with the ‘anticipation’ of his 74th birthday which he celebrates tomorrow.

“I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared,” he said.

“Last month I offered my resignation to Pope Francis in accordance with the requirement of Canon Law. I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY has confirmed he has offered his resignation as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland to Pope Francis.

In a statement issued this morning, Brady confirmed he offered his resignation to the Pontiff last month in accordance with the requirement under Canon Law that he retire at the age of 75 which he will turn tomorrow.

The statement confirms reports earlier this week that Brady had written to the head of the Catholic Church indicating he would step down.

It’s thought the Pope will accept Brady’s resignation despite often deciding to allow diocesan bishops to continue in their roles beyond the age of 75.

Brady has been the subject of controversy in recent years after the BBC alleged that he failed to protect children from the abuse of paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Aug 15, 2014 By Brynmor Pattison

Cardinal Sean Brady has offered his resignation to Pope Francis.

The Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, who was made a cardinal in 2007, confirmed he had offered to step down in keeping with canon law.

The religious law states that bishops must resign by the age of 75 – and Cardinal Brady turns that age tomorrow, Saturday, August 16.

The move should see Archbishop Eamon Martin take both places in the hierarchy.

A statement by Cardinal Brady read: “Last month I offered my resignation to Pope Francis in accordance with the requirement of Canon Law.

“I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow.

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IRELAND
Derry Journal

by Staff Reporter
editorial@derryjournal.com
Updated on the 15 August 2014

All Ireland Primate Cardinal Sean Brady has confirmed he has offered his resignation to Pope Francis.

The resignation of Cardinal Brady will lead to the elevation of Derry’s Eamon Martin, currently Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, to the cardinalship.

In a statement issued this morning, Cardinal Brady said: “Last month I offered my resignation to Pope Francis in accordance with the requirement of Canon Law. I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow.

He added: “I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared.”

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.

IRELAND
Tyrone Times

Cardinal Sean Brady has confirmed that he offered his resignation as Archbishop of Armagh to Pope Francis last month.

In a statement Cardinal Brady said the offer was made to the pope in anticipation of his 75th birthday which occurred on Saturday.

The statement confirms reports last week that the Cardinal had written to the head of the Catholic Church indicating he would step down.

It’s believed the Pope will accept Cardinal Brady’s resignation despite often deciding to allow diocesan bishops to continue in their roles beyond the age of 75.

“I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared,” he said.

Dr Brady said that as soon as Pope Francis accepts his resignation Archbishop Eamon, who was appointed as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh in 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI will become Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

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IRELAND
The Anglo-Celt

Cardinal Sean Brady has tendered his resignation to Pope Francis in advance of his 75th birthday tomorrow (Saturday, August 16) and says he is ‘looking forward to the day’ when it is accepted.

However, a victim of clerical abuse says to allow Dr Brady to retire without sanction over his role in the Fr Brendan Smyth abuse would be part of a “cover up”.

The resignation letter is in accordance with Canon Law [church law] ahead of his 75th year.

The Archbishop of Armagh Diocese Dr Brady’s statement, who faced criticism over his role in the Church’s handling of abuse claims against paedophile priest Fr Smyth, comes after clerical sexual abuse victims called on Pope Francis to accept his resignation immediately.

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.

IRELAND
Irish Times

Genevieve Carbery

Fri, Aug 15, 2014

Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, has confirmed that he offered his resignation as Archbishop of Armagh to Pope Francis last month.

In a statement Cardinal Brady said the offer was made to the pope in anticipation of his 75th birthday tomorrow.

Cardinal Brady said he did so “in accordance with Canon Law”.

As soon as his regination is accepted by Pope Francis, Archbishop Eamon Martin will become Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, he said.

Eamon Martin is Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh and was appointed to the role in January 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Brady said he looked forward to “the day when my resignation will be accepted and when “Archbishop Eamon will take over”.

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IRELAND
News Letter

Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has confirmed he has offered his resignation.

Amid much speculation that he was to stand down, the senior churchman said he wrote to Pope Francis last month asking if he could resign as Archbishop of Armagh.

“I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Archbishop Eamon Martin will take over the role as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland as soon as Pope Francis accepts the resignation.

“I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared,” added Cardinal Brady.

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IRELAND
Yahoo! News

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, whose career was plagued by scandal over the sexual abuse of children by clergy, said on Friday he had tendered his resignation, confirming his plan to retire on his 75th birthday.

Brady, who turns 75 on Saturday, will leave office once his resignation has been accepted by Pope Francis.

Brady had resisted calls by three of Ireland’s four main parties to resign earlier over the sexual abuse scandal. Last year the Vatican appointed Monsignor Eamon Martin as “coadjutor” to run the day-to-day affairs of the Church in Ireland.

A BBC television documentary in 2012 reported that Brady had failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused by a priest in 1975 after he had been given the information by one of the victims.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

15 AUGUST 2014

Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has confirmed he has offered his resignation.

Amid much speculation that he was to stand down, the senior churchman said he wrote to Pope Francis last month asking if he could resign as Archbishop of Armagh.

“I did so in anticipation of my seventy-fifth birthday which I will celebrate tomorrow,” he said in a statement today.

Archbishop Eamon Martin will take over the role as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland as soon as Pope Francis accepts the resignation.

“I look forward to the day when my resignation will be accepted and when Archbishop Eamon will take over as Archbishop, a position for which, I believe, he is excellently prepared,” added Cardinal Brady.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Friday 15 August 2014

A PRIEST has denied he targeted a fellow clergyman after being offended at a controversial book that alleged a gay mafia was operating within the Catholic Church.

Father William Nolan, 60, replaced Father Matthew Despard at St John Ogilvie Church in High Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, after Father Despard was ordered out by the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal.

Father Despard had been suspended after writing the book, Priesthood In Crisis. It was later withdrawn after threats of legal action were made.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Dingle
Updated 15 Aug 2014

The Salvation Army has abruptly dismissed a whistleblower, just months after her husband publicly aired concerns about the organisation’s commissioner, James Condon.

Major Marina Randall had been volunteering four days a week at the organisation’s Professional Standards Office, to assess the complaints of victims of child abuse.

The couple gave evidence in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in February in Sydney.

In the 1970s Mrs Randall and her husband Major Cliff Randall had been houseparents at the Alkira Salvation Army boy’s home in Brisbane when they reported an incident of violence against a child involving a Salvation Army officer to Queensland’s Department of Children’s Services.

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