ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
Edmonton Journal

BY OTIENA ELLWAND, EDMONTON JOURNAL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

EDMONTON – Jerry Wood describes the 11 years he spent in two Alberta residential schools as the worst of his life.

He left angry and lacking self-confidence.

“I spent probably half my life with alcohol,” he said Monday after the Archbishop of Edmonton, Most Reverend Richard Smith, apologized to residential school survivors on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories at a ceremony at Ben Calf Robe School.

“I realized that I was trying to drown my experiences in the residential schools from the sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, spiritual abuse that I went through,” said Wood, a member of the Council of Elders with Edmonton Catholic Schools, who was on hand to hear the apology.

He is still dealing with the trauma he experienced.

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PUERTO RICO
WPEC

February 25, 2014

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The archbishop of Puerto Rico’s capital has revealed that government prosecutors are investigating five additional cases of alleged sex abuse within the San Juan Archdiocese.

Roberto Gonzalez Nieves told reporters Tuesday that the priests accused in those cases have been suspended. He noted the statute of limitation had expired in all five cases.

He provided no further information but said he was cooperating with prosecutors. He recently announced that one other case was being investigated.

The announcement comes as Puerto Rico’s justice department investigates four cases of alleged sex abuse at the Mayaguez diocese and several other cases at the Arecibo diocese, which has defrocked six priests as a result.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Tuesday, February 25

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

We are grateful that Bob Jones university officials have reversed themselves and will let GRACE complete its report about campus sex crimes.

Still, we’re troubled by the school’s recent, sudden and unilateral move to cancel the report. We can’t help but be worried about university officials’ motives and whether they are trying – or may still try – to influence the report itself.

Regardless, it’s crucial that those who saw, suspected or suffered campus sex crimes or cover ups take two steps. First, they should report to law enforcement, no matter who the perpetrator is, what school officials have done or promised, and when or where the crimes happened. And second, they should realize that the GRACE report is just one step in a long process of slowly beginning to reverse an unhealthy climate of self-serving secrecy at this university.

Victims should stay in therapy, keep attending self-help groups, and continue working hard to recover from the trauma they experienced at Bob Jones. No one event magically erases a horrific betrayal or “cures” a victim of the nightmares, depression, addictions, insomnia, eating disorders and other devastating effects or rape and the sometimes almost equally devastating effects of institutional denial and insensitivity.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE FINAL COST of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund is expected to hit €1.46 billion with some €903.8 million already paid out and religious orders still hundreds of millions of euro short of the contribution expected of them.

Figures presented to Cabinet today show that the scheme, set up to compensate thousands of victims of abuse in residential institutions, has received 15,396 applications since it was set up over a decade ago.

At the end of 2012, 14,378 awards were made of on average €62,860, while 1,018 applications were either withdrawn, refused or no award was made. In addition, some €166.1 million in legal costs have been paid out by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which administrates the fund.

There have been 2,766 late submissions received since applications formally closed in 2005 while the number of applications that still need to be processed stood at 468 at the end of last year, down from 685 at the end of 2012.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clinton News

Clinton Police Chief Michael Warren said a Central Hinds Academy and Raymond Road Baptist Church employee was arrested Tuesday on one count of gratification of lust while in a position of trust or authority.

In a release on Wednesday, Warren said Adam Epperson, 34, of Clinton, was arrested on the charges and bonded out on $25,000 bond the same day.

According to officials, the arrest was subsequent to a complaint received from an underage victim associated with Epperson through the Raymond Road Baptist Church.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at the suspect’s home in Clinton. Epperson surrendered to the Clinton police on Tuesday where he was booked and bonded out.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clarion-Ledger

A Central Hinds Academy and Raymond Road Baptist Church employee was arrested Tuesday on one count of gratification of lust while in a position of trust or authority.

In a release on Wednesday, Clinton Police Chief Mike Warren said Adam Epperson, 34, of Clinton, was arrested on the charges and bonded out on $25,000 bond the same day.

Officials said the arrest was subsequent to a complaint received from an underaged male victim who came to police with a parent. According to Clinton Detective Josh Frazier, the victim associated with Epperson through both the church and the school.

The incident occurred about two years ago, when the victim was 14 years old, Frazier said.

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MISSISSIPPI
WAPT

CLINTON, Miss. —Clinton police have arrested a 34-year-old church worker who is accused of having sexual contact with a teenage boy.

Adam Epperson, who until recently was an employee at Central Hinds Academy and a minister of students at Raymond Road Baptist Church, surrendered to police Tuesday.

Mug shots: February arrests

Police said the boy, who was 14-years-old at the time, knew Epperson through the church.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Herald

The Associated Press
February 25, 2014

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A Spartanburg County pastor has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Twenty-seven-year-old Robert Thomas Norris of Roebuck was charged Monday night with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The warrant said the girl said she was abused between August 2012 and January. She said she was 16 when the abuse started.

Lt. Kevin Bobo said a school official in Woodruff reported that the girl said she had been touched and kissed inappropriately.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WBTW

Spartanburg –
A Spartanburg County pastor has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Robert Thomas Norris,27, of Roebuck was charged Monday night with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The warrant said the girl said she was abused between August 2012 and January. She said she was 16 when the abuse started.

Lt. Kevin Bobo said a school official in Woodruff reported that the girl said she had been touched and kissed inappropriately by a relative. They then talked to the girls’ mother and boyfriend.

It was not clear if Norris has a lawyer.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
World Magazine

By LEIGH JONES
Posted Feb. 25, 2014

Bob Jones University administrators announced today they will reinstate the review into the school’s response to sexual abuse, apologizing for any anxiety the temporary suspension might have caused.

On Jan. 27, school officials terminated their agreement with the Christian group GRACE (an acronym for Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), hired in November 2012 to conduct an independent review of how the Christian university has responded to victims of sexual abuse. Although administrators didn’t give details about why they chose to suspend their relationship with GRACE, which was in the final stages of its review, they said they had concerns about how GRACE was conducting its work.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Fox Carolina

By Casey Vaughn

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –
A few weeks after announcing the school had suspended its work with the ombudsman, Bob Jones University announced it was working again with the independent review group.

The university hired the organization, known as Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or GRACE, to evaluate the university’s procedures after revelations about sexual abuse on college campuses nationwide in 2011.

Then on Jan. 27, BJU suspended the review. The university said Tuesday that they met with GRACE on Feb. 18 and 19 to discuss any potential issues that may hinder their review.

According to the university, they believe the independent review can be completed.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Christianity Today

Jeremy Weber POSTED 2/25/2014

Bob Jones University has resolved its differences with GRACE and will allow the Christian abuse investigator to complete an independent review of BJU’s past response to abuse incidents and how the school can improve.

CT reported how BJU fired GRACE late last month as the review neared completion. Last week, the two groups met to “discuss any issues that might stand in the way of GRACE’s completion of thorough, transparent and objective review,” BJU announced today.

“GRACE satisfactorily addressed the University’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner,” said BJU. “To be clear, GRACE and BJU are united in their commitment to a review that is thorough, transparent and objective.”

GRACE announced the news on its Facebook page, noting the review will be “under the terms of the original agreement. No changes.” “Looking forward to completing this process with excellence,” said GRACE.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Religion News Service

Sarah Pulliam Bailey | Feb 25, 2014

(RNS) After firing an independent watchdog group to investigate allegations of sexual abuse on campus, Bob Jones University has rehired the same group, one month before the findings from a 13-month review were scheduled to be released.

The university had contracted with Lynchburg, Va.-based GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) in November 2012 but suspended the contract on Jan. 27. The university met with GRACE officials Feb. 18-19 to discuss the review.

“GRACE satisfactorily addressed the University’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner,” the university said in a press release.

“To be clear, GRACE and BJU are united in their commitment to a review that is thorough, transparent and objective.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Bob Jones University announced Feb. 25 that an independent investigation into the school’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse can be completed.

The university abruptly terminated its 2012 agreement with Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), a group founded by Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian, a law professor at Liberty University and grandson of Billy Graham, citing unspecified concerns about the directions the investigation team was heading.

After meetings Feb. 18-19, Bob Jones officials said, “GRACE satisfactorily addressed the university’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner.”
.
Bob Jones, a fundamentalist Christian college in Greenville, S.C., founded in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones Sr., consulted with GRACE after nine cases of sexual assault occurred on campus in 2011.

Another controversy involved a student allegedly expelled in retaliation for organizing the school’s first-ever student protest about a former member of the school’s board of trustees accused of covering up the rape of a 15-year-old girl in his congregation.

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CANADA
The Telegram

A woman was in provincial court in St. John’s today to face charges of fraud, theft and forgery related to the Roman Catholic St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s.

The woman’s case was set over.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s says the RNC charged the accused after a forensic audit of the finances of St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s.

A news release notes that in August 2012, the parish priest of St. Patrick’s reported to the Archdiocesan Business Office suspicions of fraudulent activity surrounding the parish finances.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus February 25, 2014

Do you remember the Roman Inquisition? Unfortunately, when people today think of “the Inquisition”, they think of the Spanish Inquisition, which was unduly influenced by the Spanish crown. Even so, its weaknesses were horrendously exaggerated by hostile English historians in what has come to be known as the Black Legend. It is this which gives the term “inquisition” such a bad sound.

But do you remember the Roman Inquisition? Back in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Roman Inquisition operated throughout significant portions of Europe, firmly under the control of the Papacy, with the purpose of protecting the faithful against priests, religious and bishops who did not fulfill their obligations under Church law. It was an ecclesiastical judicial system and, as such, it was primarily used for cases involving ecclesiastical persons, who in those days were universally accorded the right to be tried by the Church instead of by the Crown. This was called “benefit of clergy.” Indeed, it was a significant benefit, because the ecclesiastical justice system protected the rights of the accused substantially better than the secular systems of the day.

Along the path to modernity, however, the Church’s judicial system withered. Canon Law is still in place, and some cases are still brought before diocesan courts and then appealed to Rome (especially marriage cases). But the prosecutorial role in the ecclesiastical justice system has largely disappeared. All you need to do is consider the widespread abuse of the rights of the faithful in the areas of the liturgy and Catholic education over the past fifty years to realize that internal prosecution of ecclesiastical persons has been virtually non-existent in modern times. This lack has been apparent in all kinds of abuse including, as all the world now knows, sexual abuse. Ecclesiastical trials seem to have become a thing of the past.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Summary: Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan agreed today that he has information on five more priests accused of sexual abuse and he said he would give the details to the justice department. In a press conference, the archbishop said he will cooperate fully with civil authorities who are investigating sexual abuse by clergy.]

El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, aceptó hoy que tiene información sobre cinco sacerdotes adicionales imputados por abuso sexual de menores y sostuvo que le entregará a Justicia todos los detalles.

En una conferencia de prensa sobre los Servicios Funerarios Católicos, en donde se puntualizó que operan bajo la ley y con todos los permisos del gobierno, González Nieves indicó que tendrá plena cooperación con las autoridades civiles para la pesquisa que realizan sobre los casos de abuso sexual dentro del clero.

Usted indicó a El Nuevo Día que iba a cooperar con las autoridades, ¿le entregó ya a la Fiscalía de San Juan todos los documentos de las pesquisas eclesiásticas sobre abuso sexual dentro de su clero?

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Post by PATRICIA MILLER

One of the more striking accomplishments of tonight’s Frontline documentary “Secrets of the Vatican” (Tuesday, 10 p.m., PBS) is that it almost makes you feel sorry for Pope Benedict, which is no small feat. The man known as “God’s Rottweiler” was a heavy-handed enforcer of doctrinal discipline as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where numerous nuns, priests and theologians saw their careers crippled or destroyed for daring to question supposedly immutable Catholic teaching.

He was also one of many in the curia who turned a blind eye to increasing urgent reports of widespread sexual abuse on the part of priests and influential Vatican allies like Marcial Maciel of the Legionnaires of Christ, and “Inside the Vatican” effectively portrays the devastation that this abuse and subsequent cover-ups wrought on the lives of young Catholics.

It documents how a cascading series of scandals involving clerical sex abuse and Vatican corruption eventually overwhelmed the aging pope and resulted in his resignation one year ago. Confirmed are reports that the infamous “red dossier” presented to the pope—the results of an investigation into the curia that he ordered—contained accounts not only of rampant careerism and outright corruption but of the existence of a clique of gay senior clerics.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The clergy abuse survivors of Australia and the rule of law have scored a major victory. Cardinal Pell has been induced to take a Vatican desk job apparently to avoid the unrelenting and escalating pressure from the Australian Royal Commission’s investigation into institutional child sexual abuse. The pressure was increased by the testimony of a sacked Aussie bishop who described the Vatican’s interference in local abuse scandals as reported here

[My Daily News]

The Royal Commission can likely still reach Pell in due course, if and when it wants to.

The Vatican’s apologists, of course, have tried to spin this as a “promotion”, but this fantasy fools few. Australia’s top Catholic leader has reluctantly had to flee his beloved homeland to seek Vatican protection, as the USA’s Cardinal Law did a decade before.

Meanwhile, a Polish Archbishop, a protege of Pope John Paul II and former Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is already crowding the Vatican’s refuge for hierarchs seeking to avoid the child abuse scandal fallout.

Who will be next as the Vatican circles its wagons to protect cardinals and bishops ? What ever happened to the Pope’s abuse commission? Can the Pope continue avoiding the abuse scandal as discussed here

[Christian Catholicism]

Pell has been made head of Vatican finances, which led a knowledgeable Jesuit insider, Thomas Reese, to ask ” … why did this job not go to a layperson? Do we really need cardinals to handle finances in the Vatican? The answer is that Rome is still a papal court where princes of the church still matter, despite all Francis’ protestations.” A fuller answer is that it gave Francis a face-saving way to yank Pell from Down Under as the heat from the Royal Commission intensifies.

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UNITED STATES
Krapt Poetry

In his twenty-sixth book, Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet’s Journal of Healing, to appear April 1, 2014 from Greystone Publishing of Nashville, TN, Norbert Krapf, at the age of seventy, speaks about his abuse as a child at the hands of a priest and the lifelong effects it has had on him, his family, and his loved ones. He speaks in four voices, the boy, the man, the priest, and Mr. Blues.

Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, Norbert has for almost fifty years had an ongoing love of the blues. In his last several collections, completed or published while he held a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis to combine poetry and music, with an emphasis on the blues, he often pays tribute to blues artists. In Catholic Boy Blues, “Mr. Blues” plays an important role in several ways, not the least of which is as an agent of healing. He speaks in the blues idiom, in dramatic lyrics delivered in the voice of a friend, advisor, counselor, and mentor.

Catholic Boy Blues is a brutally honest narrative filled with words of biting truth, painting explicit images of the effects of abuse. These words detail Norbert’s lifelong journey and show how abuse affected the various stages of his growth. This verse journal is both timely and newsworthy. It is a compassionate anthem directed to those struggling with their own abuse. It provides clarity to those who have never had to experience the indignity of abuse and affirms that healing and success can be achieved despite adversity. The book will appeal to survivors of abuse and their families and friends; the church and its members, clergy, and hierarchy who have an ongoing interest in the emotional, spiritual, and religious effects of child abuse and its prevention; and caregivers and others interested in knowing how to detect early signs of abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A top Southern Baptist official, Richard Land, says that gay couples who use surrogates to have children are essentially committing child abuse.

That’s horribly wrong and dreadfully insensitive to hundreds of thousands of people who have, in fact, suffered from devastating child abuse (and, of course, to gay people as well).

[Huffington Post]

People upset with Obama shouldn’t call him “subhuman.” People who are discriminated against shouldn’t call their opponents “Nazis.” And people who oppose gay couples shouldn’t compare them to child abusers.

Adults who were kicked and raped and tortured and sodomized as kids don’t deserve to have their pain trivialized. Land should apologize and other Baptist officials should denounce him for his hurtful remarks.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 8627688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Yesterday the Iowa senate unanimously approved an extension to the statute of limitations. We applaud this action.

[Quad-City Times]

The Iowa Senate bill will extend the statue of limitations to 25 years past the age of 18, giving deeply wounded victims a longer window to come forward. Now it needs to pass the house, and be signed into law as quickly as possible, to encourage those victims that have remained silent to come forward and receive some justice under the law that they have always deserved.

However, we disagree with the term used by one legislator that this bill now “cures” the injustice that has existed for so many years. This bill would address the need for a larger window for action by victims, except for those that may be now over the age of 43. We strongly believe that many victims are in their 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond, and although they may have wanted, or presently want, to come forward, this has always been denied them, and this bill continues to perpetuate this wrong by still denying them due process. Having a longer window is key to prevention. If predators know they can be prosecuted they may not attack children.

We call on the legislature to pass a bill offering perhaps a onetime window of opportunity for these victims, so that they may truly have an opportunity to seek justice under the law and to prevent future abuse. We of SNAP know of many, many victims that have been abused as young people, and this bill will offer them no relief. We continue to call out on behalf of all victims, that this is one crime where a statue of limitations does not enhance the law, but provides a hiding place for those that prey on others.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

FEBRUARY 25, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Words are not enough. This fact is highlighted by the following excerpt from an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer on September 25, 2005. It relays Father John P. Paul’s words to his congregation after the release of the 2005 Grand Jury Report. The archdiocese removed Paul from ministry this past weekend.

Excerpt:

Just before Mass, the current Calvary pastor, the Rev. John P. Paul, addressed the packed church and struck a conciliatory tone. “I would ask you to pray – especially for those who have suffered the hurt and the pain, those who are the victims,” Paul said. Highlighting a part of the report that mentioned the victims’ souls had been murdered by the abuse, Paul said the description was apt. “It does destroy the soul many times,” he said in an apparent reference to the abuse. He asked the congregation to “pray for those who need forgiveness,” and then adding: “Pray for us. We are the church. But we do not lose our faith in Jesus, and we do not lose our faith in the Catholic Church.”

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

by Jason M. Breslow

One year ago this week, Pope Benedict XVI did something that no other pope had done in nearly 600 years — he resigned the papacy.

It was a decision that sent shockwaves through the Vatican. Just eight years earlier, Benedict had promised a new beginning for the church at a time when it was reeling from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. But rather than stem the scandal, the crisis only grew.

Troubles spread to a second front in 2010 with allegations of money laundering at the Vatican bank. Then came VatiLeaks, a scandal that exposed a Vatican hierarchy plagued by cronyism, power struggles and bureaucratic corruption. For Benedict, it was a crippling blow to his authority.

Five weeks after Benedict’s resignation, white smoke from the Sistine Chapel signaled that the College of Cardinals had chosen his successor: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known today as Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on tonight’s PBS “Frontline” 90 minute presentation, “Secrets of the Vatican”:

“Secrets of the Vatican” marks the 48th time PBS has addressed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Though this problem is practically non-existent in the Catholic community these days, and is rampant in the public schools, as well as in the Orthodox Jewish community, PBS has devoted a combined total of ZERO episodes on both.

All the contrived melodrama is there: ominous dark images; dramatic music; a deep voice-over; bleak hallways; shadowy figures locking doors as a boy enters the room; the words “Power,” “Money,” and “Sex” flashing about, etc. The predictable villain: Pope Benedict XVI. Ironically, he did more than anyone to check this problem, but facts don’t matter when Jason Berry is involved.

A dissident Catholic, Berry is a co-producer of this show; he was also featured in Alex Gibney’s film, “Mea Maxima Culpa.” Indeed, tonight’s hit job is nothing more than a retread of Gibney’s propaganda: a New Orleans reporter who previewed it says, “this film reminded me of ‘Mea Maxima Culpa.’” These guys can’t go to the sewer too often.

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MINNESOTA
The Raw Story

By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A Minnesota mother says Catholic Church officials are blaming her for not protecting her two sons from the priest who abused them.

The Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, the former pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul, pleaded guilty in 2012 to abusing the boys, ages 12 and 14, and possessing child pornography.

Wehmeyer is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.

The family has sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which claimed in a Feb. 7 court filing that the mother – who worked at the church — knew that one of her sons was spending time with the priest.

“She was aware of the time [he] spent with Mr. Wehmeyer, and she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy,” the filing said.

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ROME
Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 25, 2014

ROME — The pope’s envoy running the troubled Legion of Christ has ended his three-year reform effort, declaring the order “cured and cleaned” but acknowledging it bears the guilt of its pedophile founder and those who delayed admitting his crimes.

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis celebrated his final Mass as papal delegate on Tuesday and was sent off with a round of applause from a congregation eager to take back the autonomy that was wrested away from it by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

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VATIKANSTADT
Mittelbayerische

[Summary: Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the new Cardinal, celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving with his family and several hundred guests Monday at the Vatican basilica. In his sermon he emphasized the importances of cardinals in the church.]

VATIKANSTADT. Der neue Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat am Montagvormittag im Petersdom eine Dankmesse mit seinen Angehörigen und mehreren hundert Gästen gefeiert. Mit ihm am Kathedra-Altar der Vatikan-Basilika zelebrierten unter anderen der Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, der Regensburger Bischof Gerhard Voderholzer und der frühere Augsburger Bischof Walter Mixa.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen / Globe Staff / February 24, 2014

For an 80-year-old, Philomena Lee gets around.

Last month, she spoke at the Golden Globes before a television audience of millions. A few weeks ago, she met the pope in Rome. He was very nice, she said. And that was after she met in Washington with a bunch of politicians, including US Representative Joe Kennedy.

On Sunday night, Philomena Lee will be sitting in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood with her BFF, Dame Judi Dench, who plays her in the film named after her. Dench is up for an Oscar as best actress.

Philomena Lee is thrilled that the film based on her life has done so well and garnered so much attention, mainly because it has given her a platform to advocate for something close to her heart: opening records so adopted children can learn about their biological parents.

For those who haven’t seen the movie: When Philomena was a teenager, she got pregnant by a young man who wasn’t her husband, which in the Ireland of her youth was considered so scandalous that her family disowned her. She was delivered to a convent, where the nuns delivered her baby boy and treated her as a sinner, forcing her to work. When her son Anthony was 3, the nuns gave him away to an American family behind Philomena’s back. Then they sent her back to work in the laundry and told her nothing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: In the wash-up of the child abuse royal commission’s inquiry in Brisbane, there are calls for a set of nationally consistent rules on how and when child sexual abuse allegations should be referred to police.

Yesterday the former bishop of Toowoomba told the child abuse inquiry that he was still stunned by the failure of senior Catholic Education staff to report allegations that a teacher was sexually abusing 13 students just a few years ago.

One of Australia’s leading child abuse prevention organisations, Child Wise, says there are still ambiguities around the legal obligations to report child sexual abuse, and the existing laws are not well understood.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Gerard Byrnes is in jail for sexually assaulting 13 girls while he was a teacher and child protection officer at a Catholic primary school in Toowoomba.

The latest inquiry by the child abuse royal commission heard that a breakdown in policies and a string of individual failures contributed to Byrnes being able to access and abuse more girls despite allegations being voiced in 2007.

Crucially, the inquiry heard that the school principal and officials from the Catholic Education Office failed to report the matter to police, even though mandatory reporting laws were in place.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

Pope Francis has appointed Antrim native Dr Donal McKeown as the new Catholic Bishop of Derry.

Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Down and Connor since 2001, the 63-year-old was confirmed in the role following a ceremony in St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry City this morning.

The position has been left vacant for more than two years following the retirement of Séamus Hegarty in November 2011.

Monsignor Eamon was initially elected as Diocesan Administrator of Derry before he was ordained Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh last April. Since then, Rouskey priest Fr Francis Bradley has taken up the helm.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

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

St. Paul Catholic officials are basically defending their wrongdoing by blaming the mother of a child sex abuse victim. Shame on them.

Bishop Piché and Bishop Cozzens should fire the lawyer who made this attack and the church official who approved it.

[Star Tribune]

There has long been an enormous gap between what Catholic officials say in public and what Catholic officials do in court. The only silver lining here is that, because this mom is bravely speaking out, the continuing callousness of Twin Cities Catholic officials has been exposed.

The Star Tribune reports that, in a Feb. 7 court filing, church officials said that the mother “was aware of the time one of her boys was spending with (now convicted predator Fr. Curtis) Wehmeyer” and that “she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former resident at St Joseph’s Catholic children’s home, Termonbacca, has told the Historical Abuse Inquiry that he is partially deaf because of the beatings he received there.

He said one nun targeted him for 10 years, hitting him about the head with a brush, a mop or a tree branch.

The 53-year-old told the inquiry sitting in Banbridge that one nun lost her temper and he was her scapegoat.

In a statement, the nun said she had not beaten him with a stick or a strap.

She said she was surprised that he had made such allegations.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Tue, Feb 25, 2014

A nun who has been mentioned a number of times during the course of the Northern Ireland historical institutional abuse inquiry has rejected a claim that she severely physically beat boys when they were residents of Termonbacca home in Derry.

Details of her denial emerged today during evidence given to the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down by a 54-year-old man who was in care in the Sisters of Nazareth Termonbacca home from 1961 to 1972.

Asked what was his chief memory of Termonbacca, he replied, “Getting bate (beaten), that’s one of the main things I remember.”

The witness said one particular nun, who has anonymity, used to say he was her “pet” but then she would beat him, losing “her temper for no reason”. She would strike him with a brush pole or electric cable of a kettle with the result that he ended up with about 20 scars on his head, which he still has. The scars were confirmed through medical examination.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 26, 2014

HIS appointment as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican signed and sealed on Monday, George Pell and a couple of close friends sat down at a restaurant near Domus Australia to celebrate with cotoletta milanese and a good drop of vino.

The appointment was a rare achievement. Pell, who is now on the same level as Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, now ranks second in the Vatican behind Pope Francis. No Australian churchman has risen to such authority before. Retired cardinal Edward Cassidy, 89, served as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the 1980s and 90s. And James Knox, a former archbishop of Melbourne, headed the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments in the 70s and 80s.

Pell has loved Rome since he first arrived there in September 1963 to complete his training for the priesthood at the Pontifical Urban University, where the most promising students from their local seminaries were drawn from all nations.

Almost 50 years after his ordination in St Peter’s Basilica in 1966, and after a career spanning parish work, university and seminary leadership and 18 years at the helm of Australia’s two largest archdioceses, Pell had no trouble on Monday nominating his proudest achievements: “The young priests and the new RE (religious education) program” he told The Australian, without a moment’s hesitation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 26, 2014

AUSTRALIA’S ambassador to the Holy See last night hailed the appointment of George Pell as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican with the words: “Here comes the global south.”

John McCarthy QC said the alliance between the Argentinian Pope and the Australian would form “the baseline on which the Catholic Church will be reformed”.

“Pope Francis has chosen Cardinal Pell for a difficult role which he knows will be a complete success,” Mr McCarthy said. The appointment and the creation of a new Vatican office was “one of the Holy See’s most significant reforms for a long time”.

Tim Fischer, Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See, also endorsed the move. “This is long overdue,” he said. …

A group representing survivors of child-sex abuse by priests called the cardinal’s new job a “golden parachute”. Nicky Davis of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said she believed Cardinal Pell would continue to evade facing up to the church’s responsibility.

“It’s absolutely no surprise that Cardinal Pell has been given a golden parachute by the Vatican to leave the jurisdiction just when things are getting hot at the royal commission,” she said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Catholic Church says it will carry out an investigation into how one of its priests carried out child abuse for more than 30 years.

Francis Paul Cullen, 85, admitted 21 counts of child sex abuse in Derbyshire and Nottingham from 1957 to 1991.

The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers has questioned why the priest, who evaded arrest for 21 years in Tenerife, was not investigated sooner.

The church said it received no complaints of abuse at the time.

‘Absolutely confident’

Cullen, who pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday, will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on 24 March.

Father Andrew Cole, of the Diocese of Nottingham, said an internal disciplinary procedure would start after Cullen’s court case was over.

The matter will ultimately be reported to The Vatican, he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 25 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

– appointed Bishop Donal McKeown, auxiliary of the diocese of Down and Connor, as bishop of Derry (area 2,500, population 327,000, Catholics 245,700, priests 116, religious 107), Ireland.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

JENNY TABAKOFF
February 25, 2014

Cardinal George Pell has the right background for his new role as Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See, one of the Vatican’s most senior roles.

He has the intellect to manage and reform the Vatican’s administration and finances, which have been riven with scandal in recent years. And his orthodox and intellectual stance is in line with Pope Francis, to whom he will report directly.

But he’s a divisive personality and has been caught up in the child abuse scandal plaguing the church worldwide.

His last public appearance as Archbishop of Sydney is likely to be in the witness box next month at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

His appearance has been long anticipated by survivors and their families after he was criticised for his evidence to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse last year in which he attempted to separate the actions of individuals from the wider church.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

When it was announced in 2001 that Melbourne Archbishop George Pell was to be made Archbishop of Sydney, the incumbent, Cardinal Edward Clancy, said Pell was ‘a controversial figure, and controversial figures generally create a few enemies as well as friends along the way’.

Pell’s latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome with authority over all financial matters within the Vatican, is proof of the powerful friends he has made. Pell’s appointment as Cardinal Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy was approved by Pope Francis — the third pontiff to have demonstrated extraordinary confidence in Pell’s abilities since he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne at the comparatively young age of 46 years in 1987.

As for enemies, it is not hard to compile a list of those who will be glad to see Pell go. It would include most liberal Catholics, many priests who have served under him (one of whom once described him as ‘a memory of all those silly stereotypes of authority that used to haunt us as children’), and many of his fellow bishops, who saw him as too eager to please Rome and too prone to do his own thing without acting in concert with them.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 February 2014

The bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, is firming as the favourite to replace Cardinal George Pell as the new archbishop of Sydney.

The vacancy has arisen after Pell’s elevation to “budget supremo” at the Vatican from March.

Brisbane archbishop Mark Coleridge was rated a strong contender but said he wouldn’t be putting his name forward and that he wanted to continue in his current role until retirement.

To find Pell’s successor, local consultations will be undertaken before three dossiers with information on candidates are presented to the congregation for bishops in the Vatican.

Fisher was born in Sydney in 1960 and joined the Dominican order in 1985.

In 2003 Fisher was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Sydney. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the third bshop of Parramatta in January 2010.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rick Feneley

Three names will be proffered to Rome as candidates to replace George Pell as the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney after consultation with Australian bishops, trusted priests and laity.

While speculation has focused on Parramatta’s bishop, the Dominican friar Anthony Fisher, as a front-runner, senior church figures caution against jumping to conclusions.

When pressed to name likely candidates, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Father Brian Lucas, replied: “I have a saying when it comes to the appointments of bishops. ‘Those who talk, don’t know; those who know, don’t talk.’ ”

The few who are talking, privately, also suggest the Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, and the bishop of Newcastle and Maitland, Bill Wright, as contenders.

A local selection process will be led by Australia’s Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, to find the best candidates. Archbishop Gallagher notes that Cardinal Pell is still Sydney’s Archbishop and the position has not yet been declared vacant, but if the Pope makes that move – likely in the coming days or weeks – the Nuncio will start consulting senior church figures.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 25 February 2014)

A Catholic priest (James Patrick Jennings) allegedly committed indecent assaults against boys at two Catholic boarding schools – one in New South Wales and one in Victoria. A Victorian jury in 2014 found him guilty of the Victorian charges but a NSW jury in 2010 had found him “not guilty” of the NSW charges. Same priest, different State. This Broken Rites article is about the NSW trial.

In the Sydney District Court in 2010, a jury heard evidence from four men (now aged in their sixties) alleging that they were indecently touched by Father James Jennings when they were pupils at a boarding school fifty years earlier — in 1960-61. The school was St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, in central-west New South Wales. This school was conducted by Catholic priests and brothers in the Vincentian order (also called the Congregation of the Mission).

The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

Charged in 2009

James Patrick Jennings, who left the Catholic priesthood in the late-1970s, appeared before a magistrate in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 26 May 2009, for preliminary proceedings, charged with indecent assault on boys at St Stanislaus College during 1960-1961.

When charged, Jennings was aged 76 and was living in the Wattle Grove district, south of Hobart, Tasmania.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 25 February 2015)

In 1959-1962, Father James Patrick Jennings began his priestly career, ministering at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, New South Wales, followed by a church school in northern Victoria in 1963-68. Half a century later, on 24 February 2014, a Victorian jury convicted Jennings of committing child-sex crimes at the Victorian school.

The Victorian school was St Vincent’s College, which was then situated at Bendigo, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne. Both the Bathurst school and the Bendigo one were boarding schools, for boys only, and were owned by the Catholic order of Vincentian Fathers (this order is officially known as the Congregation of the Mission).

The Vincentians are an Australia-wide religious order, which has schools and parishes in several states. That is, the Vincentians are not confined to a particular diocese. Father Jim Jennings worked in Queensland as well as in New South Wales and Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Financial Review

JULIAN DRAPE AND PETA MCCARTNEY

Cardinal George Pell, who has been criticised by people testifying to the Royal Commission on sexual abuse, has been appointed to a job at the Vatican in charge of the Roman Catholic church’s budget.

Pope Francis said Pell would be in charge of a new body having authority over all economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and Vatican.

The shake-up – following a wave of scandals at the Vatican bank – is the first major overhaul of the church’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in 25 years.

The Vatican said in a statement that Cardinal Pell “has been asked to start work as soon as possible” as head of the Secretariat for the Economy.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell has been promoted to a newly-created position in the Vatican, to be taken up once he has given evidence to the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse.

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Pell to the new role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, one of the Vatican’s most senior positions.

The announcement by the Vatican is as part of the Pope’s drive for reform to the way the Holy See administers its finances.

CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan said Cardinal Pell will leave his current role after giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney next month.

“The Cardinal has advised me he remains fully committed to cooperating with the Royal Commission and making himself available as it sees fit,” Sullivan said.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY BRAD RYAN
February 25, 2014

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says a child abuse scandal in a Toowoomba Catholic school has prompted positive change in the church.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday concluded a Brisbane hearing into a teacher’s abuse of 13 students at the school in 2007 and 2008.

Archbishop Coleridge says the Catholic church now understands the phenomenon of sexual abuse and how to support victims much better than in the past.

“But the more you learn in this incredibly complex area, the more you see you have to learn,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Feb. 25, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell’s appointment to a top Vatican post is ‘‘unsettling’’, ‘‘disappointing’’ and ‘‘a deadset shocker’’, say victims of the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse crisis and their families.

The cardinal’s move to Rome at the end of March after he gives evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse shocked people who campaigned for the historic inquiry.

Pope Francis named Cardinal Pell as head of a new group to reform the Vatican’s administration and finances in a surprise announcement on Monday.

Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer said it was a wise move.

But, Hunter abuse spokesman Peter Gogarty, and royal commission campaigners Chrissie and Anthony Foster, of Victoria, condemned the appointment.

‘‘This is a brand new job that gives George Pell an opportunity to leave this country in five weeks and there will be nothing compelling him to return to Australia to answer questions about anything raised at the royal commission in future,’’ Mr Gogarty said. ‘‘It’s a deadset shocker.’’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

FRANCIS Paul Cullen came to Derby as the first priest of the newly-formed Catholic parish of Christ the King, Mackworth estate

He was originally ordained in May 1953 and was an assistant priest in Leicester before moving into the same role at the Church of Christ the King in Alfreton.

Cullen arrived in Mackworth in 1960 and conducted services at Kingsway Drill Hall before the church was built in Prince Charles Avenue.

In May 1978, he celebrated his silver jubilee as a priest and the then Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev James McGuinness, held Mass at the Mackworth church to commemorate the occasion.

Later the same year, Cullen was transferred to St Anne’s, Buxton, where he remained until 1987. He then moved to work in Radford, Nottingham.

The cases with which he was charged involved:

1955 to 1963: Victim one, a boy aged eight to 13 – Mackworth
1963 to 1964: Victim two, boy aged 11 – Mackworth
1963 to 1970: Victim three, a boy aged eight to 14 – Mackworth
1967 to 1974: Victim four, a boy aged six to 12 – Mackworth
1980 to 1985: Victim five, a girl aged six to 11 – Buxton
1983: Victim six, a girl aged 13 – Buxton
1989 to 1991: Victim seven, a boy aged 10 to 12 – Nottingham

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Martin Naylor

IT would have been easy for disgraced priest Father Francis Paul Cullen to remain anonymous in Tenerife, according to a leading journalist on the island.

Cullen lived in Tenerife under an assumed name, it was revealed yesterday.

Ross Browning is the editor of Canarian Weekly, an English-language newspaper in Tenerife, where Cullen lived until his extradition last year.

Mr Browning said that he looked into Cullen’s life following his arrest last year.

He said: “Tenerife, especially when this man came to live here 20 years ago, is the sort of place that you can keep your head down and remain pretty much anonymous if you want to.

“People have told me he was the sort of man who very much kept himself to himself, who you might see having an occasional drink or going for a walk. But people did not get to know him.”

Mr Browning said that he discovered that Cullen used an alias – Raul Martin – and lived, until 2007, in an apartment in the Los Alisios complex in Los Cristianos.

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ZIMBABWE
Nehanda Radio

By Arron Nyamayaro

An Anglican priest stationed at St Annes Goto Mission High School is under fire after he was allegedly caught by his wife pants down with a married senior woman advisor from the church.

Reverend T N Mavhezha, who has spent less than six months at the school, was alleged to have decided to quench his sexual appetite with a History teacher’s wife identified only as Mai Motsi.

However, Rev Mavhezha vehemently denies the allegations and accuses detractors of defaming him.

According to the version of events being denied by Rev Mavhezha, he elevated Mai Motsi to a Youth and Mother advisor.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

WHAT more attractive proposition could there be for your retirement years than to spend more than 20 years on a sunshine island?

Sun, sand, relaxation, away from the pressures of daily life – an idyllic way to spend your final years.

The additional attractive for Father Francis Paul Cullen was that he was also away from the pressures of knowing that he was wanted by the authorities here in the East Midlands.

Not for trifling matters, either – serious charges of sexual abuse of children.

Yet the astonishing fact remains that he was able to do a disappearing act in 1991, having been remanded on bail.

He was not the first to do that, of course, and he will not be the last – certainly while our prisons are overcrowded and the courts are reluctant to send people there while they await a trial date.

But what was the most bewildering event in this sorry saga came in 2000.

Cullen had been on the run – if that is the accurate phrase – for nine years.

And then somebody in the judiciary system took the utterly astonishing decision that he was no longer wanted. The warrant that was out for him was withdrawn.

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CANADA
London Community News

SARNIA, Ont. – A Sarnia, Ont., judge has acquitted a former Catholic priest of all but three of 18 sex-related charges he faced.

Justice Joseph Donohue found Gabriele DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges — including threatening death or bodily harm — arising from incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

Donohue says the historical nature of the case made it difficult and he cited reliability of evidence as reasoning for acquitting DelBianco on several charges.

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DELAWARE
The Dialog

By Mike Lang
Staff reporter

Funeral services for Father James E. Richardson are set for Monday and Tuesday at Church of the Holy Child. Father Richardson, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wilmington, who died Feb. 14. He was 81.

A wake will be held Monday at 4:30 p.m., followed by visitation from 5-8 p.m. The funeral Mass will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. The church is located at 2500 Naamans Road, Wilmington. Father Richardson had helped out at the parish for several years.

Ordained in 1965, Father Richardson served as an associate pastor at St. Matthew’s and Immaculate Heart of Mary, both in Wilmington, and at St. Mary of the Assumption, Hockessin. From 1977-82, he was rector of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

In 1982, he became a counselor with Catholic Social Services, and the next year he was appointed director of outpatient care at the Center for Pastoral Care, a post he held for nine years, although he continued as an alcohol and drug counselor. In 1991 he became involved in AIDS ministry, working with a local support group. He also was an HIV and substance abuse trainer for the state of Delaware and, for many years, a chaplain at St. Edmond’s Academy in Wilmington.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: February 25, 2014

Archdiocese says she knew abused boy’s visits with priest violated rules.

The mother of two boys sexually abused by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer contends that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is blaming her for not protecting her sons from the priest and has reneged on promises to help her family deal with the trauma.

“The burden this has placed on my family and the devastation … is insurmountable,” the mother said in an interview last week with the Star Tribune. “It really cut deep when they blamed it on me.”

Wehmeyer, the former pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul, is serving a five-year prison term for abusing two of her sons, and the family has sued the archdiocese for civil damages.

In a brief response filed Feb. 7, the archdiocese said that the mother was aware of the time one of her boys was spending with Wehmeyer.

“Plaintiff’s mother worked at Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul during the period when plaintiff was abused by Curtis Wehmeyer,” the filing said. “She was aware of the time [he] spent with Mr. Wehmeyer, and she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy.”

“That’s absurd,” she said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Press Association
theguardian.com, Monday 24 February 2014

An 85-year-old former Catholic priest has admitted sexually assaulting seven children, including altar boys, after spending more than 20 years on the run in Spain.

Francis Paul Cullen was extradited back to the UK last year to face the charges after being traced to Tenerife. The Catholic Church and its safeguarding board helped police to trace Cullen, who was found to have attended mass at a church in Playa de las Americas every Sunday.

On Monday Cullen, looking frail in the dock, pleaded guilty to 21 charges at Derby crown court. The offences, committed between 1957 and 1991 on children aged between six and 16, took place while Cullen was a practising priest in Mackworth, Derbyshire, and later Buxton, Derbyshire, and Hyson Green, Nottinghamshire. Cullen pleaded guilty to 15 counts of indecent assault, five of indecency with a child and one of attempted buggery.

Judge Jonathan Gosling told Cullen, who was born in Dublin, that a “very substantial” custodial sentence was inevitable.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell’s new job at the Vatican is not an honour but an “escape clause”, says a group representing survivors of child sex abuse by priests.

Pope Francis on Monday revealed Cardinal Pell will be in charge of the Vatican budget.

Australia’s leading Catholic said in a statement on Tuesday he was “deeply honoured” to be made head of the new Secretariat for the Economy, which will aim to modernise the church bureaucracy.

Cardinal Pell has come under fire in recent years over his response to cases of historic abuse by priests.

He will take up his new Vatican post in March but has indicated he will still appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse when it sits in Sydney next month.

But Nicky Davis of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says she believes Cardinal Pell will continue to evade facing up to the church’s responsibility.

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UNITED STATES
Dallas Morning News

By Rodger Jones/Editorial Writer
rmjones@dallasnews.com
Follow @rodgermjones

My church, the Catholic church, has made enough hash of itself in recent years without its bishops getting caught up in the hypocrisy of amassing the trappings of wealth.

Case in point is Archbishop of Newark, N.J., John J. Myers, who’s putting a 3,500-square-foot addition on his vacation home, which is soon to be his retirement home. Shoot, his house’s addition is twice as big as my ’50s house in Richardson. (That’s a statement of perspective, not envy.)

The New Jersey bishop is not even in the same league as the so-called Bishop of Bling, the German cleric who was suspended by Pope Francis last year for his lavish spending.

You wonder whether these guys read the newspaper or have Internet access. Pope Francis has made more than a little news with his denunciation of clergy who want to live like princes. That’s precisely the point of a professor who studies, of all things, the spending habits of bishops and who was quoted by the Christian Post. Excerpt:

“Archbishop Myers obviously is not paying any attention to the pope,” noted Charles Zech, faculty director of the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics at Villanova University’s business school who has studied bishops’ spending.

“The pope is calling on clergy to live a simpler lifestyle and to be in touch with their people. This is extreme, way beyond what you’d expect to happen. I can’t believe the parishioners of Newark are going to allow this to happen,” said Zech.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Petula Dvorak, Published: February 24

There are no “toga and yoga” keggers. No football team. No lacrosse team. No jello shots, jungle juice, boilermaker binges or beer pong. And certainly no bongs.

The most dangerous substance around evangelical Patrick Henry College is the Sweet Frog frozen yogurt place across the street from the Loudoun County campus in Purcellville.

Yet, the thing that so many experts say is the tragic result of the unbridled, reckless indulgence of parties and booze — sexual assault — still happens on tightly controlled, super-conservative, dry-as-a-bone campuses.

A New Republic year-long investigation into the way the college known as “God’s Harvard” handled its sexual assault cases tells us that you don’t need John Belushi and togas to get “Animal House” behavior from college students.

It’s a perfect test case into the root causes of sexual assault on campus and the way universities handle it, which President Obama addressed with parental ferocity last month.

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IOWA
Quad-City Times

Rod Boshart Times Bureau

DES MOINES — Victims of child sexual abuse would have more time as an adult to bring criminal or civil action against adults who preyed upon them when they were minors under a bill passed by the Iowa Senate on Monday.

Senate File 2109, which was approved by a 49-0 vote, would extend the statute of limitations to bring action to 25 years after an abused child had turned 18 years of age. The current limit is 10 years year after an abused child reaches 18, although some provisions have longer time frame that also would be extended to 25 years under the legislation that now goes to the Iowa House for consideration.

“This gives child sex abuse survivors a fair chance at justice,” said Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, floor manager of a bill that was amended to extend statute of limitations for criminal offenses of lascivious acts with a child, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, indecent contact with a child, lascivious conduct with a minor and sexual misconduct with a juvenile from the current three years to 10 years after the victim’s 18th birthday.

“For years, persons who suffered sexual abuse, often at the hands of trusted family members and friends, have been denied access to justice,” he said, citing “the atrocities of Penn State” and “almost daily” news accounts of horrific crimes against children in advocating for passage of the bill.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

Dan Corcoran

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A Palm Beach County woman who says she is a survivor of child sex abuse is now in the battle of her life for future victims. This, after a statute of limitations ran out, keeping her from prosecuting her alleged abuser – her own cousin.

After six years of silence, Ashley Foster finally found the courage to say this: “I had just turned 13 and my cousin started to molest me.” Sexual abuse – on a weekly basis, she says, at the hands of her cousin – who is ten years older. “It’s out,” she said.” Ok. Now what are we going to do?”

She went to counseling and then to the Boynton Beach Police Department. Ashley and her parents worked with investigators to press charges against her cousin – but it was already too late. “I finally get the courage to say something and nothing at all can be done about it,” she said.

State law says charges against those who molest children aged 12 or older have to be brought within three years of the alleged abuse. For Ashley, the Statue of Limitations had run out just 60 days earlier.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Nydia Bauzá / nydia.bauza@gfrmedia.com

[Summary: Jaime Perella, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Rep. Luisa “Piti” Gandara on Monday said the Catholic Church should turn over all information on abuse committed by priests that is requested by the Department of Justice. They spoke at inauguration of the first training session for staff at government agencies that will participate in the new protocol for handling child sexual abuse cases. The Speaker said any priest who has abused a minor must pay and the church must deliver information on these priests to the proper authorities.]

El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Jaime Perelló y la representante Luisa “Piti” Gándara se expresaron este lunes a favor de que la Iglesia Católica entregue toda la información que le ha requerido el Departamento de Justicia sobre actos de pederastia cometidos por sacerdotes.

Perelló y Gándara hicieron sus expresiones durante la inauguración este lunes del primer adiestramiento para capacitar al personal de las agencias del Gobierno que intervendrán en el nuevo protocolo de manejo de casos abuso sexual infantil, establecido por la Ley158 de 2013. El estatuto establece Centros de Servicios Integrados para Menores y Víctimas de Abuso Sexual.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Adam Davies 25th Feb 2014

THE Catholic Church has tried to silence a former Bishop about his intimate dealings with Rome in the wake of a child sexual abuse scandal at a Toowoomba primary school.

Former Toowoomba Bishop William Morris revealed he was given two years grace by Pope Benedict to deal with the fallout of child sexual abuse at a Toowoomba primary school before he was forced into retirement.

Bishop Morris also revealed for the first time there had been two other “historic” child sexual abuse victims he had dealings with during his time overseeing the Toowoomba Diocese.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday he negotiated his retirement date with Pope Benedict during a discussion in 2009.

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CANADA
CTV

Julia Parrish, CTV Edmonton
Published Monday, February 24, 2014

“It was the worst years of my life; I guess you could say it destroyed me.”

That’s how Jerry Wood, a man who spent eleven years as one of 150,000 aboriginal children pulled from his home, and placed in residential schools, looks at his time in the residential school system.

“I was trying to drown my experience in residential schools from the sexual abuse, the physical abuse, mental abuse, spiritual abuse that I went through,” Wood said.

On Monday, Wood, now an elder, was in the room to hear words he had been waiting decades for – when Archbishop Richard Smith of the Archdiocese of Edmonton issued a formal apology for the church’s role in the schools.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See. Take a look at Cardinal Pell’s career in the Catholic Church.

Pell’s introduction to the church

George Pell was born in 1941 in Ballarat and grew up in the western Victorian city, where he attended the Loreto and St Patrick’s colleges.

He began his studies into priesthood at Corpus Christi College in Werribee and later travelled to Rome to study at the Propaganda Fide College. In 1966 he was ordained as a Catholic priest and began his work in the Ballarat Diocese.

Over the next 20 years he was heavily involved in Catholic Church organisations, including the Catholic education sector.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

SPARTANBURG, S.C. —The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office has arrested an Upstate pastor for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

A school official notified a Special Victims Unit investigator that a teen told her she’d been sexually abused by Ronald Norris, 27, of Roebuck.

After collecting statements from the girl and her family, the investigator approached Norris and he immediately invoked his right to an attorney. He is charged with criminal sexual conduct, third degree.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Martin Naylor

AN MP has demanded to know how a pervert priest who sexually abused four Derby altar boys was able to evade justice for 22 years.

Francis Paul Cullen was originally charged with offences against youngsters in 1991 by Nottinghamshire police but jumped bail after appearing in court.

In 2000, the arrest warrant against him was discontinued, meaning he was technically no longer a wanted man.

But after a tip-off from a Derby churchgoer, Cullen was arrested by Derbyshire police last year in Tenerife, where he had been using the alias “Raul Martin”.

Chris Williamson said of the news that he had evaded justice for 22 years: “I think it is a shocking revelation.

“Bringing him to justice earlier is an obligation you would have expected the authorities to fulfil.

“I think the victims have been badly let down in this awful case.”

Cullen abused his Derby victims while priest at Christ the King Catholic Church, Mackworth.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

By Peter Blackburn, Rebecca Sherdley and Martin Naylor

PAEDOPHILE priest Francis Cullen is finally behind bars – 23 years after he was first interviewed by Notts Police.

Yesterday, 85-year-old Cullen, who worked at St Mary’s Church, in Hyson Green, for three years, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of sexual abuse, including three offences against one Nottingham victim.

Notts Police first arrested and charged Cullen with sexual offences in 1991.

He appeared at court in October that year but skipped bail and went on the run. But, mysteriously, the warrant for his arrest was withdrawn in 2000.

In August last year, he was detained under a European arrest warrant and extradited to the UK.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

But the case has prompted questions over who withdrew the arrest warrant and how he was allowed to go on the run for so long.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Aly Walsh

PAEDOPHILE priest Francis Cullen almost certainly preyed on more victims than those he has confessed to abusing, police believe.

Cullen, who spent 18 years working at Christ the King Catholic Church, on the Mackworth estate, yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting seven children – four of them in Derby.

Cullen pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

Investigating officer Det Con Matt Goodwin said it was “inconceivable” that Cullen, who is now 85, had not abused more children during his time as a priest.

He said police would investigate any new allegations made if anyone chose to now come forward.

The Nottingham Catholic Diocese, which covers Derbyshire, said there were no records of reports being made to the Diocese at the time of the abuse. Spokesman Father Andrew Cole said: “There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that anybody complained to the Church.”

But at least one victim said he believed his parents did report the abuse to the Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
25 Feb 2014

Pope Francis has appointed the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell to a new senior role in the Vatican.

Cardinal Pell will be the Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See and will be based in Rome.

It is the most senior role to which an Australian cardinal has been appointed and people from business, welfare groups, politics as well as church leaders have applauded the appointment.

Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer said today it is a wise move by Pope Francis and “long overdue”.

Speaking from Rome Cardinal Pell said he was deeply honoured to have been appointed by the Holy Father as the Prefect of the new Secretariat for the Economy. …

It is expected an Administrator will soon be appointed to the Archdiocese until a new Archbishop is named.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

25 February 2014

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal George Pell to the new role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a decision announced as part of the Pope’s reforms to the Vatican’s financial administration. Cardinal Pell will leave his position as Archbishop of Sydney to take up the role, in which he will oversee the annual budget and financial planning for the Holy See and Vatican.

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UNITED STATES
Las Vegas Informer

By Victoria Alexander
Las Vegas Informer

Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, made a startling statement regarding the Roman Curia, the Church’s all-powerful civil service. He said: “The court is the leprosy of the papacy.” He has described the Curia as “narcissistic” and “self-referential.” This FRONTLINE program explores the church he is now head of.

Secrets of the Vatican premiers Tuesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. on PBS and online at pbs.org/frontline. It examines the crisis the Catholic Church faces in light of the devastating charges of financial and sexual corruption.

Secrets of the Vatican is a special, 90-minute FRONTLINE presentation that tells the inside story of the collapse of the Benedict Papacy—and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.

Sex, power and money are all fundamental ingredients of many best-selling novels. In Secrets of the Vatican the factual basis for each is well established. While much has been written about the Vatican’s institutionally sanctioned abuse of power, FRONTLINE has produced one of the most comprehensive television documentaries on the topic ever seen in the United States.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

Pope Francis continues to move ahead with his reform of the Curia by appointing Cardinal George Pell of Sydney as a financial watchdog in the Vatican. His title will be cardinal prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a new office that will “undertake the economic audit and supervision” of offices of the Roman Curia, the Vatican City State and institutions connected to the Holy See. The secretariat will also establish “policies and procedures regarding procurement and the allocation of human resources” for the Curia and Vatican City State.

What is not specifically mentioned in Fidelis et dispensator prudens, the motu proprio establishing this new office, is the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, although it may be included among “institutions connected to the Holy See.”

Pell will report directly to the pope rather than to the secretary of state, through whom almost everything goes to the pope.

Pope Francis is not the first pope to try to clean up Vatican finances. In 1967, the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was established. According to Pastor Bonus, it is in charge “of supervising and governing the temporal goods of the administrations that are dependent on the Holy See.” It is responsible for publishing annual financial statements for the Holy See and Vatican City and for producing budget estimates and “inspecting books and documents, if need be.” It had no authority over the Vatican bank.

Sounds a lot like the new office, doesn’t it?

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Peter Isely: 414.429.7259
Monica Barrett: 414-704-6074

In a unique collaboration between the BBC and PBS a 90 minute FRONTLINE documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy,” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas, will be airing across the US and the United Kingdom tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25 (8:00 p.m. CST time in Milwaukee on MPTV channel 10.)

A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of clergy sexual abuse survivors in Milwaukee and the financial corruption of the archdiocese. Several Milwaukee survivors were extensively interviewed as well as local priests who are members of the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA), a group founded in Milwaukee.

Thomas’ other current film, which is receiving considerable critical acclaim, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the FRONTLINE film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates go here.
“Secrets of the Vatican” is only one of three films airing worldwide in the upcoming weeks that includes interviews and stories of Milwaukee survivors.

On March 9, Al Jazeera America is airing a film by Italian filmmakers on the worldwide financial corruption of the Catholic Church. And on April 1st French television is airing a documentary on the church that features Milwaukee survivors and clergy. Both films are then scheduled to air across Europe.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JUDY BERGERON
jbergeron@theadvocate.com
February 24, 2014

New Orleans author and journalist Jason Berry worked in front of and behind the camera for PBS’ “Frontline” special, “Secrets of the Vatican.”

The 90-minute segment airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WLPB, Channel 27 (cable Channel 12 in Baton Rouge and Lafayette) and WYES, Channel 12 (cable Channel 12 in New Orleans).

The program takes an in-depth look at the collapse of Benedict XVI’s papacy, covering the clergy sex abuse crisis; money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank; and Vatileaks, the release of internal documents which included alleged blackmail within the Holy See.

Berry will be seen in an early part of the program focusing on Marcial Maciel, the leader of the powerful Legionaires of Christ order, who, despite allegations of sexually abusing boys and misappropriating money, was supported by the Vatican for years.

Berry talked to the priest’s son in 2011, and part of that interview will be featured.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Allison Jackson
February 24, 2014

Just when you thought Pope Francis couldn’t get any more popular, he goes and announces what has been described as his “boldest” move yet to clean up the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system.

The pope, who was appointed nearly a year ago with a mandate to overhaul the Catholic Church, said Monday he would invite outside experts to scrutinize the Vatican’s often-murky finances.

The yet-to-be-appointed auditor general will “be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Francis also announced the creation of a new body to oversee the Holy See’s budgets and financial planning, as well as a central bank.

The new agency will be called the “Secretariat of the Economy” and will be headed by Cardinal George Pell, who is currently the Archbishop of Sydney and who was a vocal critic of the Vatican’s poor accounting standards under Pope Benedict XVI.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Monday, February 24, 2014

The former principal of Cardinal O’Hara High School has sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for suddenly firing her last November, just five months after she was asked to be associate superintendent.

The suit maintains that Marie Rogai was a distinguished Catholic school educator who was told she did not smile enough and was too direct in a meeting with her bosses on Nov. 8 in which she was asked to resign.

When Rogai refused to step down, she was fired three days later with no explanation to her or the school community, the lawsuit says.

The sudden mid-year termination of a principal implies there was “misconduct, generally of a sexual, criminal, fraudulent or similar basis,” according to the suit, which was filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

EDMONTON – Catholic bishops in Alberta and the Northwest Territories have apologized for abuse that aboriginal children suffered in residential schools.

Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith said Monday the group is the last one in the country representing Catholic bishops to make a public offer of regret.

Others have issued formal apology letters as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held events in their regions, he said. The commission is to hold its final national event in Edmonton next month.

“We are adding our voice to those of the Catholic bishops and leaders of religious communities across Canada,” Smith told several dozen junior high students at Edmonton’s Ben Calf Robe School.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Feb. 24, 2014

Local victims of clergy sexual abuse and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy are featured in a Frontline documentary that will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday on local PBS station Channel 10.

“Secrets of the Vatican,” recounts the transition from the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and “illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers,” according to the Frontline web site.

The film explores a number of issues, including the global sex abuse crisis, Francis’ efforts to reform the Vatican bank and bureaucracy; and the Vatileaks scandal that resulted in the theft conviction of Benedict’s butler.

The film features interviews with Milwaukee-area sex abuse survivors Peter Isely, who was molested by a Capuchin priest at St. Lawrence Seminary in Fond du Lac County and Monica Barrett, who was raped by the late Father William Effinger. Both would be excluded from the archdiocese’s compensation for victims under its proposed reorganization plan.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell is the Vatican’s new ‘budget supremo’, saying he is honoured to take up the role to modernise the church bureaucracy to better help the poor and disadvantaged.

Pope Francis on Monday revealed that Australia’s most senior Catholic would become one of the most powerful men in the church, working in a new body with authority over economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and Vatican.

The shake-up – following a wave of scandals at the Vatican bank – is the first major overhaul of the church’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in 25 years.

The Vatican said in a statement that Cardinal Pell ‘has been asked to start work as soon as possible’ as head of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Cardinal Pell said in a statement he was ‘deeply honoured’ to have been appointed to the role.

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VATICAN CITY
PRI

When Pope Francis became head of the Roman Catholic Church nearly a year ago, many Catholics around the world were expecting change. Pope Francis was even named Time Magazine’s 2013 Person of the Year.

Last week, Pope Francis announced a major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy, including a package of reforms and economic policies to monitor the Vatican Bank, long seen as an institution wrought with corruption and scandal.

A new Frontline documentary exposes just how bad things had gotten in Rome. “Secrets of the Vatican,” which airs Tuesday night, looks in depth at Pope Benedict’s papacy.

The documentary examines the years of scandal over clergy sex abuse, corruption at the Vatican Bank, power struggles, and cronyism within the Holy See. It finds that clergy in Rome were frequenting gay bars.

The director, writer, and producer of the documentary, Antony Thomas, spent a year investigating the secrets of the Vatican. He believes the mounting problems, combined with the ailing health of Pope Benedict, led to Benedict’s dramatic resignation — an action not taken by a pope in 600 years.

“They happened on his watch, and it was very unfortunate,” Thomas explained. “He just couldn’t cope with it anymore.”

According to Thomas, Pope Benedict had considered resigning in early 2012, but was pressured into postponing his resignation by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. That decision, Thomas said, was “before the ‘Vatileaks’ thing got really serious and before these scandals came out.”

Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi received the classified documents now known as Vatileaks. His book, “Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI” was released in mid-2012, and revealed extensive confidential information, including documents from the pope’s personal office.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Dave Battagello

A former Windsor priest accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen early-adolescent girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s was found guilty Monday of three of 18 sex charges he was facing in Sarnia.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, will be sentenced in Superior Court May 14 and will remain out of custody until then.

The trial began in October with four of Del Bianco’s alleged victims testifying in court. Del Bianco was represented by Windsor lawyer Andrew Bradie.

The former priest was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women, but found guilty by Justice Joseph Donohue for his actions involving the other two. He was guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 2014

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

A Chilean archbishop who is accused of hiding evidence of child sex crimes from civil authorities, was promoted to cardinal this past weekend. We are disappointed Pope Francis did this.

[Santiago Times]

Santiago’s Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati allegedly concealed evidence of child sexual abuse by a Salesian priest, Rimsky Rojas.

This weekend Pope Francis urged his newly promoted cardinals to avoid misconduct and “May all of us avoid, and help others to avoid, habits and ways of acting typical of a court: intrigue, gossip, cliques, favoritism and partiality.”

The Pope should take his own advice. Ezzati should have been fired, not promoted. Hiding evidence is not only a crime, but it is a dangerous, callous and selfish move that puts the reputations of predators over the safety of kids.

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CANADA
Chatham Daily News

By Neil Bowen, Sarnia Observer
Monday, February 24, 2014

SARNIA – Former Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, was convicted Monday on three of 18 charges related to sexual misconduct involving four teenage girls.

Sentencing has been set for May 14. The convictions relate to two of the women, now in their 40s.

Superior Court Justice Jospeh Donohue found DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other victim.

A pre-sentence report was ordered and DelBianco remains out of custody.

The key issues were possible consent to sexual activity and the reliability of the evidence, Donohue said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

PBS’ award winning news and documentary program, “Frontline,” is to air tomorrow night (Feb. 25) “Secrets of the Vatican,” from British director Antony Thomas and co-producer Jason Berry, a name that should be well-known to NCR readers.

Most PBS stations will broadcast the show Tuesday, February 25, at 9 p.m. eastern time, but check your local TV listings to get the correct time.

Here’s how a press release I got describes the show:

“Secrets of the Vatican” illuminates the challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the Church.

“The documentary tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy, from a far-reaching clergy sex abuse scandal, to money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank, to power struggles and cronyism within the Holy See, to hypocrisy within the Vatican when it comes to homosexuality.”

Work on the film began more than a year ago. Berry talks about his involvement with the project in an interview with his hometown newspaper, New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune. Here’s Berry’s synopsis of the film:

“The film takes viewers into the Vatican’s baroque internal dynamics”

“The infighting under Pope Benedict that exploded in the Vatican Bank and Vatileaks scandals”

“Viewers will get a clear story of the last pope betrayed by his own bureaucracy.

“Antony’s treatment of the gay priest culture in the Vatican — an explosive topic to be sure — is nuanced and even-handed, certainly not homophobic.”

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CANADA
Blackburn News

By Chelsea Vella on February 24, 2014

A former Catholic priest has been acquitted of all but three of 18 sex-related charges in Sarnia’s Superior Court.

Justice Joseph Donohue found 57-year-old Gabriele DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges including threatening death/bodily harm.

The charges relate to incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980′s.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: The Canadian Press
Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

SARNIA, Ont. – A Sarnia, Ont., judge has acquitted a former Catholic priest of all but three of 18 sex-related charges he faced.

Justice Joseph Donohue found Gabriele DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges — including threatening death or bodily harm — arising from incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

Donohue says the historical nature of the case made it difficult and he cited reliability of evidence as reasoning for acquitting DelBianco on several charges.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Two sisters who claim they suffered physical and mental abuse while at St Joseph’s home at Termonbacca in Derry have rejected claims by a nun that the abuse never took place.

The sisters were among five children from a large family who were placed in the home in the late 1960s.
The girls were also placed there as their mother thought they would be together. However two of the girls who gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry said she did not know that they were separated once at the home.

A series of claims by the sisters involving physical abuse, forced work and hunger were all denied by a named nun whose statement was detailed to the witnesses.

The nun said she could not recall the girls and she denies that any child was forced to work in the nursery at the home which would have housed up to 24 babies and infants.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

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

As a trial begins against an accused Philly predator priest (Fr. Andrew McCormick), we remind citizens and Catholics that it’s never too late to speak up with information or suspicions about known or alleged child sex crimes.

[Enquirer-Herald]

Sooner beats later. But speaking up always beats staying silent.

It’s our civic and moral duty to help police and prosecutors convict child molesters by sharing what we know and have seen and have heard with them, even if we think it’s small, old or “second hand.”

So we hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. McCormick will find the courage to pick up the phone and call law enforcement officials immediately. That’s the very least we should do if we care at all about kids.

We especially appeal to current and former parish and archdiocesan staff – from bookkeepers to bishops – to find the strength to break your silence if you know or suspect something that might help prosecutors in this case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2014

THE former head of a Catholic body handling child abuse allegations has criticised the church’s flagship Towards Healing protocol.

Retired Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a new national independent body should be established to deal with all institutional abuse allegations and subsequent out-of-court financial settlements.

“Where (Towards Healing) fell down was where the communication wasn’t there and (the victims) were left hanging, in a vacuum,” Bishop Morris said. “That was my experience.”

Bishop Morris was at the helm of the Toowoomba Catholic diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested and raped 13 girls in his classroom in 2007 and 2008. Bishop Morris sacked a school principal and two Catholic Education officials when it was revealed they failed to report sexual assault allegations against Byrnes to police in September 2007.

Until he was forced into early retirement by the Vatican in 2011, Bishop Morris was also the co-chairman of the National Committee for Professional Standards, which founded Towards Healing as the Catholic Church’s pastoral response to child abuse within its ranks.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Andy Parks 25th Feb 2014

A VICTIM of abuse at the Anglican Church’s North Coast Children’s Home has said the offer of compensation made to him was an insult.

Mr S (to protect his identity) said the offer of $3000 was for years of abuse that had left him “a total wreck”.

“The Church is saying ‘take it or leave it, that’s the offer’… It’s like they’re saying ‘that’s all you’re worth’. That’s what they said to us when we were in the home; that we were worth nothing.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year heard evidence of brutal physical and sexual abuse at the Lismore home from the 1940s to the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Adam Davies 25th Feb 2014

FORMER Bishop William Morris said he cannot believe the principal at the centre of the child sexual abuse scandal at a Toowoomba primary school is still teaching in the Catholic education system.

Bishop Morris was highly critical of the school’s then principal Terence Michael Hayes and his handling of the scandal which allowed teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes to sexually abuse 13 girls in his class.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Mr Hayes was first made aware of allegations against Byrnes in September, 2007, some 14 months prior to his eventual arrest.

“I think the Catholic Education Office in Brisbane has to review that,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Raymond A. Schroth | Feb 21 2014

In one sense there are few surprises in Tuesday evening’s broadcast of Frontline’s latest documentary on the scandals that continue to rock the Catholic Church. Few surprises, that is, if you have been following the story for the last ten years: though this is not about birth control, abortion, women’s ordination, liberal nuns or health care’s alleged anti-Catholicism. It is about the corruption of a local culture, where the combination of lust for power, sex and money has undermined the credibility of an institution originally modeled on the body of Christ.

The scandals are familiar—the plague of sex abuse, the victims’ demand for justice, the disgrace of the Legion of Christ and its founder, the Vatican Bank scandal, the charges of homosexual cliques among the priests and hierarchy, the leak of documents by the pope’s butler—as is the scramble of the investigative reporters to make all this public.

Frontline’s documentaries remind me of the old Edward R. Murrow radio and TV dramas, “You Are There,” where the reporters grab Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson after a meeting of the Continental Congress. Except that the Frontline cameras and researchers are really there to show us the young Marcial Maciel Degollado, of a powerful conservative elite Mexican family, as he founds the Legion of Christ in 1941, rises in Vatican influence by raising money and collecting vocations and wins the favor of Pope John Paul II as he enjoys his double life. We see the faces and hear the voices of former seminarian Juan Vaca, abused at 10, from 1949 to 1961, and of Raul Gonzales, one of Maciel’s two sons, both of whom were abused on every visit. As Raul weeps, so do we.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Monday, February 24, 2014

A Philadelphia judge imposed a gag order Monday barring prosecution and defense attorneys from making public comments during the trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast church in 1997.

Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright issued the order after a pretrial motions hearing began dealing with some sensitive evidentiary issues and Bright granted a defense motion to take the hearing behind closed doors.

Jury selection is to begin Tuesday in the trial of the 57-year-old priest on five counts involving sexual assault, child endangerment and corruption of minors in an incident that allegedly occurred when McCormick was a priest at the St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

McCormick, then pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, was one of 26 Roman Catholic priests suspended in March 2011 for possible inappropriate conduct with children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Enquirer-Herald

The Associated Press
February 24, 2014

PHILADELPHIA — A judge has issued a gag order in the latest priest-abuse case going to trial in Philadelphia.

A former altar boy accuses the Rev. Andrew McCormick of sexually assaulting him at a northeast Philadelphia rectory in 1997.

The 57-year-old McCormick is fighting the charges. The trial is expected to take about three days, after jury selection this week.

The accuser says he contacted police in 2012 after seeing news accounts of the Penn State and Philadelphia archdiocese sex-abuse trials.

McCormick is one of about 25 priests suspended in 2011 after a grand jury report found many accused priests still in ministry.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
February 23, 2014

The special “Secrets of the Vatican,” from PBS Frontline/BBC can be seen this week> The story features Milwaukee survivors and the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA).

The Frontline documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas will be airing across the US. A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of survivors in Milwaukee and the financial dealings of the archdiocese.

Included in the film is Monica Barrett of the Survivors and Clergy Alliance (SCLA). Filmmaker Thomas was in Milwaukee filming for several days last fall, interviewing clergy and survivors from the group, as well as the group itself. Thomas other current film, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates. The film airs Tuesday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

[with video]

February 24, 2014 by Jason M. Breslow

Pope Francis announced a sweeping set of reforms for the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system on Monday, establishing a new central office with broad authority over the Vatican’s economic and administrative affairs.

Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, will head the new office, which is being called the Secretariat for the Economy. Pell will work with a council of eight bishops and seven lay financial experts to prepare an annual budget, conduct financial planning and oversee various support functions, such as human resources and procurement. The pope will also name an auditor general who, according to a Vatican news release, “will be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican city state at any time.”

The changes come as Pope Francis continues to weigh the future of the Vatican bank — otherwise known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) — amid ongoing criticism over its struggles to adhere to international financial transparency standards. Those struggles reached a tipping point in 2010, when Italian investigators froze 23 million euros held by the IOR in two Italian banks on suspicion of possible money laundering violations. Lacking confidence in the IOR, Italy’s central bank shut down electronic payments in and around St. Peter’s Square, effectively turning the Vatican into a cash-only city-state.

In the following scene from tomorrow night’s FRONTLINE investigation, Secrets of the Vatican, award-winning director Antony Thomas traces what happened next: a power struggle within the Vatican administration; resistance to opening the bank’s books; and ultimately the resignation of the man Pope Benedict brought in to clean up the IOR, Italian economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Brian Lowry
TV Columnist
@blowryontv

Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented retirement and subsequent enthusiasm surrounding Pope Francis has certainly stoked interest in the Catholic Church, an organization (with apologies to Dan Brown’s readers) that remains shrouded in mystery. Yet PBS’ “Frontline” provides the documentary version of a page-turner with “Secrets of the Vatican,” a look at scandals that may have led to Benedict’s departure and could provide formidable challenges to Francis’ reform attempts. For all the coverage pertaining to pedophile priests, writer-producer-director Antony Thomas unearths fresh material, painting a portrait of an institution that still mightily endeavors to keep its secrets buried.

Because so much has been done about the clergy abuse story – including HBO’s stomach-turning “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” from filmmaker Alex Gibney — one might think there’s relatively little new to say. Yet Thomas’ multi-pronged report covers not just sexual abuse and the manner in which the Vatican protected such predators, but also corruption and hypocrisy that goes well beyond that, including a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture consisting of illicit liaisons and wild parties.

The documentary also makes a reasonably compelling inference that Benedict’s decision to leave when he did stemmed in part from knowledge of the pending investigation into misdeeds ranging from the abuse scandals to Vatican finances, as well as the impediment an apparatus within the church, the Roman Curia, presents to any attempt to alter how the institution operates.

Given how adept the Vatican’s defenders have been at circling the wagons, there will undoubtedly be an effort to dismiss this as simply more piling on by the religion-hating media hordes. Thomas, however, builds such a persuasive case as to raise questions about how the Vatican, as a sovereign entity, can ever be changed if the onslaught of bad publicity hasn’t led to greater soul-searching already.

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MINNESOTA
kathweb

[Summary: An American priest convicted of abuse will receive a pension from the diocese because his pedophilic inclination for years was due to disability.]

.Washington, 23.02.2014 (KAP) Ein wegen Missbrauchs verurteilter US-Priester soll aufgrund einer Berufsunfähigkeit wegen seiner pädophilen Neigung seit Jahren eine Pension seiner Diözese beziehen. Das berichtete die Zeitung “Star Tribune” am Sonntag unter Berufung auf eigene Recherchen. Demnach wurde der heute 62-jährige Geistliche, der bereits 1983 wegen sexueller Vergehen an Minderjährigen aus dem Dienst entfernt wurde und inzwischen als Berater für Führungskräfte arbeitet, im Juli 2006 von der Erzdiözese St. Paul and Minneapolis als berufsunfähig mit entsprechenden Versorgungsrechten eingestuft. Die Erzdiözese habe dies bestätigt und gerechtfertigt.

Dem Bericht zufolge hatte der Priester zwischen 1977 und 1982 mehrere Jungen missbraucht. Ein Gericht habe ihn neben anderen Sanktionen zu einer Haftstrafe von sechs Monaten verurteilt, von denen er viereinhalb verbüßte. Bis 2002 sei er als Geistlicher in einem Frauenkloster eingesetzt worden. Dann verabschiedeten die US-Bischöfe eine Null-Toleranz-Linie. Der Priester wurde daraufhin laut der Zeitung vom Vatikan dienstenthoben. Die Kirche habe ihn bei einer Therapie und einem beruflichen Neuanfang unterstützt.

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SCHOTTLAND
Religion@ORF

[Summary: Leo Cushley, archbishop of Edinburgh, has filed a complain with the Vatican against Cardinal Keith O’Brien because of alleged sexual assault. Three priests alleged the cardinal used his position as former seminary head to force them into inappropriate sexual relationships.]

Der katholische Erzbischof von Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, hat im Vatikan Anzeige gegen seinen Vorgänger Kardinal Keith O’Brien wegen sexueller Übergriffe eingereicht. O’Brien war 2013 altersbedingt zurückgetreten.

Laut Berichten mehrerer britischer Zeitungen am Montag werfen drei Priester dem heutigen Kardinal vor, seine frühere Position als Leiter eines Priesterseminars in den 1980er Jahren zu „erzwungenen“ und „missbräuchlichen“ sexuellen Beziehungen genutzt zu haben. Der 75-jährige O’Brien lebt nach seinem altersbedingten Rücktritt im Februar 2013 in einem Ordenshaus in der nordwestenglischen Grafschaft Cumbria.

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