ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the latest round of noise surrounding the film, “Philomena”:

On Saturday, the Independent.ie (Irish Independent) ran a story by Liz O’Donnell on “Philomena” saying that Philomena Lee’s “child was stolen by the nuns.” This is incorrect: the 18-year-old Lee, pregnant out-of-wedlock, was taken to the nuns by her widowed father, hoping they would care for the baby. They did. At age 22, Lee voluntarily signed a contract awarding the nuns her son. The nuns then got her a job. That is the undisputed truth.

Today, Newsday, the Long Island daily, has a story by Anthony DeStefano saying “Philomena Lee had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, where he reportedly is planning to screen the film.” This is incorrect: she was denied her request for a private meeting with the pope, and wound up shaking his hand behind a wall as part of the general audience. Moreover, Father Frederico Lombardi of the Holy See Press Office explicitly said, “The Holy Father does not see films and will not be seeing this one.”

At the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards on Sunday, “Philomena” won the Adapted Screenplay prize. Dame Judi Dench, who plays Philomena Lee, did not win Best Actress, but had they had an award for Biggest Fool, she would have won going away: at the awards ceremony, she flashed her butt in front of Oprah Winfrey; tattooed on it was the name Weinstein, in reference to the film’s distributor, Harvey Weinstein. Dench is 79.

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UNITED STATES
Slate

By Amanda Marcotte

On Wednesday, a U.N. human rights panel released its assessment of the Holy See’s responsibilities in the decadeslong child sex-abuse scandal and offered its recommendations to the Vatican on both how to prevent sex abuse in the future and how to deal responsibly with victims when it happens. The report is scathing in its judgment of the church’s past actions, but what is most startling is how aggressive the panel is in recommending that the church radically change its teachings and culture to prevent more child abuse.

Among the recommendations: “Abolish the discriminatory classification of children born out of wedlock as illegitimate children,” “support efforts at international level for the decriminalization of homosexuality,” “explicitly oppose all corporal punishment in childrearing,” “overcome all the barriers and taboos surrounding adolescent sexuality that hinder their access to sexual and reproductive information,” and “review its position on abortion which places obvious risks on the life and health of pregnant girls.” On that last one, the report mentioned the horrific story of that time the church excommunicated a woman for getting her 9-year-old daughter an abortion after the girl was raped by her stepfather.

The Vatican is not happy about this. On Friday, spokesman Federico Lombardi shot back, accusing the U.N. of being biased against the church. “More attention was devoted to well-known non-governmental organizations that are prejudiced against the Catholic Church and the Holy See than to the positions of the Holy See,” he complained, adding that the panel appears “to go beyond its competences and interfere in the doctrinal and moral positions of the Catholic Church.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

At Slate, Amanda Marcotte explains why the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child took a “wide” view of the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic church, one that addresses questions about sexual orientation and gender: it’s because the committee’s charge is to protect rights. Of children. Of all children.

And to address whatever threatens to abrogate the rights of children, in any organization or social group that happens to be under consideration by the committee at the moment. Of any and all children.

Marcotte writes:

While it’s true that the report did take a (welcome) wide view of the sex-abuse scandal, the problem, if you want to call it a “problem,” is not that it’s biased against the church. It’s that it’s biased in favor of human rights and the well-being of adolescents and children. This is a human rights committee. When Catholic doctrine comes into conflict with human rights, it is the U.N.’s job to prioritize human rights. Since this is children we’re talking about here, it’s especially important that the U.N. not hold back on their support for human rights to protect the sensitivities of the Vatican.

As I maintain in the discussion of the U.N. report in this Bondings 2.0 posting that asks whether the U.N. took an approach to its charge that is too wide, it continues to interest me that there are hidden commitments and presuppositions about gender and sexual orientation in the critical discussion of the U.N. report. Is it beside the point, I wonder, that Amanda Marcotte, who defends the “(welcome) wide view” taken by the U.N. report is a woman–while the three critics of that wide view cited by Bob Shine are all men?

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A commission looking into the Vatican bank briefed Pope Francis and top cardinals on its findings on Tuesday ahead of a papal decision about what to do with the institution that has embarrassed the Holy See for decades.

The Vatican commission, which the pope set up in June, gave Francis and his eight-member advisory board of cardinals from around the world a three-hour briefing.

Afterward, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said no decisions on the bank’s future had been taken.

He said the commission gave the pope and the cardinals an “ample and detailed” report on the current and past situation of the bank, and had offered “several possible indications” on its future.

Lombardi would not give any details. “We are waiting for indications from the pope,” Lombardi said.

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TENNESSEE
New York Daily News

BY LEE MORAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

A devout Christian studies student learning about moral decision-making shot his fiancée dead then tried to make it look like a suicide, police said.

Charles Pittman, 21, allegedly gunned down long-term lover Olivia Greenlee as they sat inside her Toyota Corolla in Union University, Jackson, Tenn., parking lot last Tuesday night.

He is then accused of staging the scene to make it look like the music education student had killed herself.

Charles Pittman, 21, has been arrested for the murder of Olivia Greenlee, also 21.

Greenlee, also 21, was found dead inside the vehicle the following morning.

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TENNESSEE
Jackson University

Affidavit: Union University student Charles Pittman misled police in investigation of Olivia Greenlee’s death

The arrest affidavit for Union University student Charles Pittman, who is charged in the shooting death of Olivia Greenlee in a remote parking lot of Union’s campus, says Pittman tried to mislead police in the investigation of Greenlee’s death.

The affidavit says Pittman provided false evidence and changed the story he initially told police about what happened.

The affidavit says police were called to the campus where Union security had discovered Greenlee dead in her car with the doors locked.

The preliminary cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head, and a 9mm handgun was found in the car.

“Investigators began retracing the hours preceding the discovery of her body and determined that Charles Pittman, later determined to be the fiance of the deceased, was the last person to be in her company before the discovery of the body,” the affidavit said.

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TENNESSEE
East Idaho News

(CROCKETT COUNTY, Tenn.) — A Tennessee judge ordered no bond Sunday for a 21-year-old youth pastor accused of murdering his fiancée.

Investigators believe Charles Pittman shot 21-year-old Olivia Grenlee on the campus of Union University and tried to make the incident look like a suicide. Both Pittman and Grenlee were students of the Christian university.

Grenlee was found dead in the driver’s seat of her car on Feb. 12.

Pittman was a youth and children’s minister at Providence Baptist Church, according to ABC affiliate WBBJ. The church’s reverend did not hold a service on Sunday night due to Pittman’s alleged involvement. The organization’s representatives said he was suspended pending the outcome of he case.

Reverend Randy Kellough released a statement Sunday saying the church is praying for all parties involved, WWBJ reports.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Catholic leaders, public school supporters disagree on Missouri tax credit proposal

By Elisa Crouch ecrouch@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8119

Roman Catholic leaders and Missouri public school officials are butting heads over a potential constitutional amendment that would allow tax credit scholarships to benefit private education.

Thousands of signatures are being collected in Catholic parishes across Missouri to go to voters in November with an initiative that would give tax credits to anyone who donates to foundations that support public or private schools.

The measure, called the Children’s Education Initiative, would set up a $90 million tax credit program intended to leverage private donations to public and private school foundations. Donors would get a 50 percent tax credit for giving to a nonprofit organization that supports private or public schools, including special education programs.

“Our intent on this was to cover all levels of education in the state of Missouri,” said George Kerry, legislative consultant to St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.

The tax credit program bears some similarities to proposals that school choice proponents have pushed unsuccessfully in the Legislature. As more Catholic and Lutheran schools lose students and close their doors, leaders from both denominations have looked to Jefferson City for a change in public policy that could help stem the loss.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 18

Statement by Judy Jones of St. Louis, Assistant Midwest Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 974 5003, snapjudy@gmail.com )

Missouri’s Catholic bishops are trying to get more tax breaks through a petition-gathering drive about schools. Citizens should think long and hard before signing.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Church officials who worry about shrinking Catholic schools should insist that their bishops take real measures, not symbolic ones, to end the long-standing and dangerous church culture of recklessness and deceit in child sex abuse cases. That will no doubt help stem declining enrollment in parochial schools.

And citizens approached with the church-sponsored petitions should keep in mind one fact: For at least three reasons, public schools are inherently safer than private schools. There is more openness and more accountability in public schools than private schools. And there’s less incentive to ignore or conceal child sex crimes in public schools than private schools.

First, law enforcement and fiscal authorities can more readily and easily audit and investigate public schools than private schools.

Second, citizens and journalists can better gain access to records in public schools than private schools.

Third, public school parents can attend and speak at regular, public school board meetings. They can oust board members, back other candidates, and run for those positions themselves.

These “checks and balances” aren’t perfect. Kids do, of course, get molested in public schools, far more than anyone would like to admit. And child sex crimes are sometimes covered up in public schools. But in our experience, there are far fewer cover ups of crimes against kids in public schools than private ones.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, February 18, 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 )

Police in Pretoria acted decisively when they arrested a local priest for acting inappropriately with a child.

[Eyewitness News]

The family of the victim reported to police that the priest from the Archdiocese of Pretoria acted inappropriately with their child. The priest has since been barred from ministry while the investigation continues. Another pastor was arrested for possession of child pornography and has since appeared in court to answer for those charges.

We hope that any victims, witnesses, or whistleblowers will take courage from these arrests and speak up. Only through speaking up can we prevent other innocent children from being hurt. These arrests are an encouraging sign that the rights of children are moving to the forefront of public concern.

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ITALY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, February 18, 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 )

An Italian bishop secretly defrocked an abusive priest and victims are now calling for his resignation. We support this call.

[The Tablet]

The former priest Marco Mangiacasale was fired last December after the CDF determined the allegations against him were credible. Bishop Diego Coletti of Como, however, tried to keep the laicization hidden. That’s wrong. Parents, parishioners and the public need and deserve to know which clerics and ex-clerics pose a danger to kids.

We are glad that Italian victims are speaking up. We are disappointed that Como Catholic officials put their reputations before the needs of victims. We hope Pope Francis will punish Bishop Coletti for his deceitful and irresponsible behavior.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 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 )

Georgia lawmakers may lengthen the time child sex abuse victims can take legal actions against the adults who molested them. We hope this bill (H.B. 771) passes. It’s not perfect but it will make kids safer.

[The Brunswick News]

Giving child sex abuse victims more time to file civil cases helps to publicly expose those who commit and conceal crimes against kids. Ideally, however, we believe the statute of limitations should be removed entirely and a civil “window” be adopted that enables any victim to expose any predator, no matter how long ago the crimes took place.

When California lawmakers did this, more than 300 predators were exposed, many of whom were still on the job or living among unsuspecting neighbors.

Most victims are unable to come forward for years or even decades. We feel that there should be no time limit on when a victim can come forward to get justice for the heinous crime of childhood sexual abuse.

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MARYLAND
NBC Washington

A man who some are claiming worked as a deacon in the D.C. area for years has been arrested for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Maurice Blanchard was arrested last week by Prince George’s County Police. He allegedly raped a woman in 2003 who was 15 at the time. Her godmother, Sandra Seega, told News4 Blanchard was a deacon at Grace Apostolic Church in Northeast Washington, which she says gave him trust and access to young girls.

“From what she’s told me, he would ask her to come babysit,” Seega told News4. “Then he would sneak downstairs wherever she was sleeping and have sex with her.”

Court documents claim in a phone call, Blanchard admitted to having sex with the victim when she was 16. News4’s Chris Lawrence spoke to the victim Monday. She said Blanchard threatened to kill her if she told anyone about what happened, and that no one would believe her anyway.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Statement by Becky Ianni of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (703-801-6044, snapvirginia@cox.net)

A Maryland man who is a church deacon has been arrested for the sexual abuse of a teenage girl. We urge church officials to seek out other possible victims.

Our hearts go out to this courageous woman and her family. We are grateful that she came forward and is seeking justice. We hope that her actions will inspire others who may have been hurt by Blanchard to come forward to the police.

When victims speak out and criminals are exposed children are safer.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014

For more information:
David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Victims challenge Twin Cities bishops
They ousted predator priest 7-10 weeks ago
Despite promising “openness,” they told no one
He was publicly exposed yesterday for first time
And he still lives – apparently unsupervised – in the Twin Cities
Self help group blasts “continuing reckless & secrecy” of two bishops

A credibly accused predator priest who was exposed for the first time yesterday was apparently ousted several weeks ago in secrecy, leading a support group for clergy sex abuse victims to blast two St. Paul Catholic bishops for their role in “continuing the recklessness and deceit of Archbishop John Nienstedt, Fr. Kevin McDonough and others.”

Because of a court order, St. Paul Minnesota church officials revealed yesterday that Fr. Kenneth LaVan was removed from active ministry in December 2013 because of allegations that he molested a child.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are blasting Bishop Lee Piche and Bishop Andrew Cozzens for “doing exactly what bishops have done for decades – keeping secrets about child molesting clerics” and urging them explain their “inexcusable and complicity” in the Fr. LaVan case.

“Why on earth, when it was decided weeks ago that Fr. LaVan was too dangerous to keep on the job, did you refuse to tell anyone about him?” asked SNAP in a letter to archdiocesan officials. “How will you justify your secrecy if we later learn that Fr. LaVan molested another child over the past two months when you kept silent about him?”

“Unless Piche and Cozzens start acting differently from Nienstedt and McDonough, they will be viewed – justifiably – as corrupt just like Nienstedt and McDonough,” said SNAP leader Frank Meuers of Plymouth. “’We’ve reformed.’ That’s the carefully-crafted public relations mantra Catholic officials have relentlessly repeated for over a decade. But it’s obvious, in the Twin Cities, this is simply not true.”

“This is incredibly self-serving behavior – right now – by Piche, Cozzens and others in the archdiocesan hierarchy,” Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “These church officials are violating both church policy and common decency by staying silent about yet another predator – who’s living in the Twin Cities – and giving him months to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, shred evidence, and fabricate alibis.”

Archdiocesan staff say that Fr. LaVan retired in 1998 but admit he was only suspended in December. SNAP believes he likely continued to function as a priest, substituting for vacationing colleagues, helping during busy holiday times, etc. A church bulletin suggests he said Mass in the Twin Cities as recently as November at St. Charles Borromeo parish.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/POLAND
Dominican Today

Warsaw.- The Warsaw Office of the Prosecutor on Tuesday indicted Polish priest Wojciech Gil on four counts of pedophilia and against the sexual freedom of children, two of them in Poland in 2006, before his departure to head a town parish in the Dominican Republic, EFE reports.

After Gil’s arraignment which lasted one and-a-half hours, Office of the Prosecutor spokesman Przemyslaw Nowak said the defendant pleaded not guilty and refused to answer most of the questions by prosecutors.

Nowak confirmed that a judge has been asked to extend Gil’s pretrial detention.

He said prosecutors have interviewed dozens of witnesses over the past months and collected evidence, in addition to documents submitted by Dominican counterparts.

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ALABAMA
WAFF

By WAFF.com Staff

On Tuesday, a judge will hear more on the case against a former Muscle Shoals children’s pastor accused of sexually abusing children at his church.

The hearing is a preliminary one, in which the prosecutor will likely try to prove probable cause to a judge that the crime was committed and that Jeff Eddie committed it.

The whole case won’t be laid out, but at the end of the hearing, if a judge finds probable cause, they will send the case to a grand jury.

Jeff Eddie has been in jail since he was arrested on Feb. 4. He’s been charged with multiple counts of sodomy, sexual abuse of a child and having child pornography.

Eddie was the children’s pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, and that is where investigators said he found his victims.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Feb. 18, 2014

MILWAUKEE The Milwaukee archdiocese will walk away from bankruptcy relatively unscathed if its proposed reorganization plan is accepted by Judge Susan V. Kelley.

Although it was lawsuits brought by 570 alleged childhood victims of clergy sex abuse that forced the archdiocese into bankruptcy court, a close reading of the 337-page document shows that the vast majority of those claims will get no financial compensation from a $4 million fund for survivors.

Most other creditors in the case will be paid, although some will get less than they say they are due.

The archdiocese has no plans to reduce its annual $24 million operating budget or sell any property. It will have to put some property up as collateral to “borrow” $2 million from the controversial cemetery perpetual care trust fund — the same $57 million fund church officials fought to keep out of the bankruptcy case that is now being appealed.

Meanwhile, the price tag for bankruptcy legal fees that the archdiocese must pay will be at least $18 million. Already, $12.5 million has been paid and another $4.5 million in bills has accrued. The archdiocese estimates it will cost another $1 million to complete the bankruptcy under the plan.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 17 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Domus Sanctae Marthae the Pope’s third meeting with the Council of Cardinals began. The Council was created on 13 April 2013 and confirmed by Pope’s chirograph of 28 September, to assist in the governance of the Universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia. The meeting will conclude on 19 February. Following the morning session, a press conference was held in which Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, presented information on the meeting which begins ten days of intense activity on the part of the cardinals.

“As usual the Cardinals initiated their work with a Holy Mass concelebrated this morning at 7 a.m. in the Sanctae Marthae chapel, after which they began their meetings in a nearby room. Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State and future cardinal, was and will continue to be present”.

He continued, “The morning was dedicated to hearing the representatives of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). Three members of the Commission were present, rather than the entire Commission: the president Josef F.X. Zahra, the secretary Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda and Joachim Messemer, who is also the international revisor for the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See. The work carried out during the eight months since the creation of this body was presented, but no decision was made. Following the meeting, the cardinals dined together with Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and this afternoon they will continue their meeting, but without the attendance of the COSEA representatives”.

“Tomorrow, Tuesday 18 February, the Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) will be heard. On Wednesday, Pope Francis will hold the usual general audience in St. Peter’s Square, while the cardinals will continue their work in his absence and, in the afternoon, the cardinals of the so-called “Council of Fifteen” instituted by John Paul II and responsible for the general consolidated financial statement of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican City State will meet with the “Council of Eight”, the cardinals who are participating in the meetings held from 17 to 19 February”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 18 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning a press conference was held during which Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, gave a briefing on the second meeting of the Holy Father and the Council of Cardinals (C8). The meeting was also attended by Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State, who will participate at all times, although he will be absent from this afternoon’s session due to an official appointment at the Italian embassy to the Holy See.

Fr. Lombardi communicated that yesterday afternoon the Council reflected on the results of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA), presented during the preceding morning session. The president of the Commission, Joseph F.X. Zahra, was the only member of the Commission present. Msgr. Alfred Xuereb also attended today’s meeting in his role as the papal delegate to the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Institute of Works of Religion.

The day’s events began, as usual, at 7 a.m. with the celebration of Holy Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel; the meeting started at 9.30 a.m. in the same room where yesterday’s gathering was held. The morning was spent hearing the representatives of the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), instituted by chirograph on 24 June 2013. This Commission was the result of the Holy Father’s wish to acquire a better knowledge of the legal position and the activities of the Institute to enable greater harmonisation of the latter with the mission of the Universal Church and the Apostolic See, within the broader context of reforms involving some of the Institutions which offer support to the Apostolic See. Its task is to gather information on the functioning of the Institute and to report the results to the Pontiff.

The session was attended by Cardinal Raffaele Farina, president; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, member; Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, coordinator; and Msgr. Peter Bryan Wells, secretary. Professor Mary Ann Glendon was not present as she does not reside in Rome.

The Commission presented the work carried out during these months, which was received with great interest by the cardinals, and provided information on the current situation of the Institute and the problems that it must face. Suggestions were offered for future changes, although no decisions were made following the hearing. One of the key points was the mission of the IOR in relation to the action of the Church in the world and not only from the perspective of economic performance.

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ITALY
The Table (UK)

18 February 2014 13:46 by Robert Mickens

Italian groups supporting victims of sexual abuse by priests have called for the resignation of Bishop Diego Coletti of the northern diocese of Como after it was discovered that he tried to keep quiet Pope Francis’ laicisation late last year of an abusive priest.

Bishop Coletti, 72, claimed he was acting under the Pope’s instructions, but the families of those abused by the former priest – Marco Mangiacasale – said it was the bishop’s decision to keep the news secret, not the Pope’s.

“Coletti was the one who imposed the obligation of privacy … and now he’s looking for excuses to drag Pope Francis into this,” the families charged.

The Diocese of Como confirmed on 12 February that the Pope had dismissed Mangiacasale, 50, from the clerical state on 11 December, just 11 weeks after the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) concluded a canonical trial against the former priest. A diocesan tribunal sent the case to the CDF after concluding the initial canonical trial on 23 September.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mercury

Adam Davies 18th Feb 2014

A STUDENT protection officer has testified she was concerned about her colleague giving lollies to year seven girls but she had no idea what grooming was.

Catherine Leigh Long, who still works at the Toowoomba school at the centre of the 2007 child abuse scandal, told a Royal Commission on Monday she had been a teacher for 32-years and had worked at the school since 2003.

In a statement shown to the commission she outlined her role at the primary school which cannot be named.

“During my role as student protection contact, my name was displayed on posters in classrooms and other areas of the school,” she said.

“Students were reminded at assembly that I was the student protection contact and I was available if they needed to talk to me about problems or concerns.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

ABC

Child sex abuse royal commission: Victim asked to ‘demonstrate’ encounter with paedophile teacher in Toowoomba, hearing told

The former principal at a Queensland school has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse why a girl and her father were asked to re-enact an encounter with a paedophile teacher.

Teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested 13 female students, all aged between nine and 10, at a Catholic school in Toowoomba in 2007 and 2008.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at why Byrnes was allowed to go on offending for more than a year after allegations were first made against him to the school.

Byrnes, the school’s child protection contact, pleaded guilty in 2010 to child sex offences, including rape. He carried out all but two of his crimes in the classroom.

Terence Hayes was in charge of the school when Byrnes assaulted the year four students.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 18, 2014

A FORMER Catholic primary school principal who was sacked and charged after failing to report child sex abuse allegations to police is now working at another Catholic school as a Year 7 teacher.

Terence Hayes told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he disclosed his history to the new school – a Catholic P-12 establishment in Burpengary, north of Brisbane.

Mr Hayes was sacked as principal of a Toowoomba Catholic primary school after The Australian revealed he had failed to report to police “serious sexual abuse” allegations in September 2007 about teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes.

Byrnes was arrested in November 2008 and was later jailed for 10 years for molesting and raping 13 girls at the school, aged between eight and 10, in 2007 and 2008.

Mr Hayes was charged and prosecuted but not convicted for the criminal offence of failing to meet his mandatory reporting requirements.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 17 February 2014

The former principal of a Queensland primary school where a teacher sexually abused 13 girls has said he never reported any complaints to police or child protection officers.

Terence Hayes is appearing at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Brisbane.

The hearing is examining how Hayes, and the Catholic primary school he once ran, handled reports of child sex abuse by teacher Gerard Byrnes.

Hayes was a teacher for 26 years, and a principal for six years, before he first heard abuse complaints about Byrnes by schoolgirls in 2007.

The counsel assisting, Andrew Naylor, asked Hayes if he had ever made any mandatory reports under child protection procedures, policies or legislation since the first complaint in September 2007.

“No, I had not,” Hayes replied.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

A Catholic principal didn’t trust or like a pedophile teacher, but never reported child sex abuse complaints against him to police because he did not want to compromise the bishop.

Terence Hayes, who currently works as a year seven teacher, was principal of a Queensland primary in 2007 and 2008 when serious child sex abuse complaints were made against teacher Gerard Byrnes.

But Mr Hayes says he never reported any allegations to police, as the school’s child protection manual and state laws required, because he was always told to go to his superiors first.

“In the Catholic system, principals are not autonomous. We are virtually middle managers. So as, per the advice that had been given to me, we were constantly told we can never do anything without going to the office and getting advice of our superiors,” he told a hearing of the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By Craig Hughes-Cashmore Feb. 17, 2014

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse has brought news about the sexual abuse of children in institutions – in the past and present – into hard focus. Many of those known to have been so abused are boys, an unknown but likely large number of whom tell no one or delay reporting it for years – on average 25 years, according to both local and international research.

Four years ago Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN) was established as the first national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing emotional and practical support to male survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their families.

Since 2011 the network has conducted groups and workshops for men and their supporters. A significant number of men who have completed one of our eight-week groups have engaged with the royal commission and still others are considering making contact.

Survivors & Mates Support Network was established by our own fund-raising efforts and a small community grant from the City of Sydney. What we didn’t anticipate was the avalanche of disclosures triggered by the state inquiries in NSW and Victoria, and the national royal commission and the sudden demand that would create for our service.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Kansas City Catholics call for the removal of bishop who knew about pedophile priest

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

The New York Times is reporting on a group of Roman Catholics in Kansas City that are calling on Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert W. Finn. As NYT reporter Laurie Goodstein explains, Finn was convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest in 2012.

Apparently, the Catholic Church still has no policy about what to do about bishops who fail to report suspected abuse to civil authorities.

Finn knew that Rev. Shawn Ratigan kept hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls – some toddler age — on his laptop, yet failed to let authorities know. While Finn was only given a two-year probation, Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Citizen

A Catholic priest from Pretoria was granted R2000 bail after appearing in court on charges of sexual

The 44-year-old priest from Waterkloof had allegedly made a 17-year-old boy watch a pornographic DVD and showed him his genitals, Beeld reported on Tuesday.

The priest was reportedly on compulsory leave until the matter was completed.

He has to stay with the archbishop of Pretoria, William Slattery, and is not allowed to preach or have contact with his congregation.

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SOUTH AFRICA
City Press

A Catholic priest from Pretoria was granted R2 000 bail after appearing in court on charges of sexual assault.

The 44-year-old priest from Waterkloof had allegedly made a 17-year-old boy watch a pornographic DVD and showed him his genitals.

The priest was reportedly on compulsory leave until the matter was completed.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Post

February 18 2014
By Valeska Abreu

Pretoria – The Catholic priest accused of making sexual advances towards a 17-year-old boy was released on R2 000 bail on Monday.

Once known as one of Pretoria’s most-loved priests, he appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court wearing dark tracksuit pants and a bright green T-shirt.

He kept his head bowed throughout his 30-minute bail application, only looking at the magistrate when directly addressed.

The priest – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was arrested on Friday, although it appears the allegations stem from some time ago.

It is alleged he made sexual advances towards the teenager who had come to him for a confession.

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POLAND/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The News

A priest alleged to have abused boys in the Dominican Republic will be charged in Warsaw on Tuesday.

Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, has confirmed that “several charges” will be brought against Father Wojciech G. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws), following the priest’s detainment on Monday near Krakow.

Nowak also revealed that the house in which Father Wojciech G. had been residing in recent months has been searched.

However, Nowak said that he was not at liberty to discuss the details.

Although authorities in the Dominican Republic have already formally charged the priest, Poland has no extradition treaty with the Caribbean country at present, and it is expected that the priest will be tried in Poland.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/POLAND
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Domínguez on Monday said he’s pleased with the arrest of Polish priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto), and vowed to do all that’s needed to get the maximum sentence for the prelate’s alleged abuse of seven boys in the Dominican Republic.

Poland police announced Gil’s arrest at his family home in a village near Krakow Monday, on a warrant issued by the Poland authorities, and is expected to be taken to Warsaw for questioning and arraignment Tuesday.

According to Poland’s laws, the priest faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

No borders

Dominguez said upon hearing the news through the media, the Justice Ministry contacted its Poland counterpart to learn of all the details on the priest’s arrest.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

MEDIA RELEASE

A public hearing will commence in Adelaide on 17 March 2014 into the responses into the responses by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide and the South Australia Police to allegations of child sexual abuse at St Ann’s Special School.

Royal Commission CEO, Ms Janette Dines, says the scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

* The circumstances in which Brian Perkins gained his position of employment at St Ann’s Special School;
* The monitoring, supervision and oversight of Brian Perkins’s activities as an employee and as a volunteer at St Ann’s Special School;
* The response of the principal and the board of St Ann’s Special School to allegations of child sexual abuse by Brian Perkins including communication with the parents of the children said to have been sexually abused;
* The response, including internal review(s), to allegations of child sexual abuse by Brian Perkins at St Ann’s Special School, by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide (including the Catholic Education Office);
* The experience of the parents of those alleged to have been sexually abused by Brian Perkins at St Ann’s Special School;
* The circumstances around, and the basis for the payment of monies by the Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Adelaide to the parents of those alleged to have been sexually abused;
* The nature of the investigation by the South Australia Police (“SAPOL”) into the allegations of child sexual abuse by Brian Perkins at St Ann’s Special School, including the circumstances in which Brian Perkins was able to leave the State of South Australia in or about 1993 and steps taken by SAPOL to have him return to South Australia; and
* The nature and extent of communications of the investigation and other related matters by SAPOL with the parents of those alleged to have been sexually abused.

The venue for the hearing will be Roma Mitchell Commonwealth Law Court Building, 3 Angas Street, Adelaide.

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NEW MEXICO
KRQE

[with video]

In a recorded message played for church-goers Sunday, Sheehan announced he is following church rules that require him to submit a resignation on his 75th birthday in July.

He says he will write his resignation letter on his birthday.

According to the archdiocese, it will be up to the pope to decide when to accept the resignation and when to appoint a replacement.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan put parishioners on notice Sunday that a successor could be leading the archdiocese by this time next year.

Sheehan said the Roman Catholic Church requires him to submit a letter of resignation on his 75th birthday in July, though it remains unknown when Pope Francis would name a successor, Sheehan said in a recorded message played at some churches during Mass.

“As many of you know, I turn 75 years old on July 9, 2014,” Sheehan said in the recorded message announcing the 2014 Annual Catholic Appeal, the archbishop’s annual fundraising event.

“At that time I must submit my resignation letter to the Holy See,” he said. “It may take awhile for my successor to be appointed but by ACA 2015, I hope that our new archbishop will be here among us.”

Celine Radigan, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, said the decision lies with Pope Francis when to accept the resignation and to choose Sheehan’s successor.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

…Just-disclosed church records in Archbishop Robert Carlson’s home diocese – St. Paul, Minnesota – show that Fr. Gerard Funcheon now lives at a Catholic facility in Dittmer, MO. Funcheon has admitted under oath that he has molested kids in Hawaii and in six other states and on military bases in the U.S. and Germany. Carlson and Funcheon were both Twin Cities priests in the 1970s. . .

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GEORGIA
The Brunswick News

By GORDON JACKSON The Brunswick News

WOODBINE – Extending the time in which a victim of childhood sexual abuse can file a civil lawsuit against an alleged abuser will send a message, State Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, says.

“Their actions will come back to haunt them,” he said. “Very few abuse cases are reported.”

Legislation in the state House of Representatives to extend the statute of limitations on civil actions for childhood sexual abuse has been approved by the Non-Civil Subcommittee, but must clear one more committee to get to the House floor.

Spencer says House Bill 771 is necessary, because under current law, a child sex abuse victim may only bring action against his or her abuser up to five years after reaching the age of 18.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By Kendal Gapinski, Daily Local News
POSTED: 02/17/14

WEST WHITELAND – Justice4PAKids will host a seminar on Sunday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to help residents learned how to better protect their children from abuse.

The “Keep Your Kids Safe” lecture will feature guest speaker Elizabeth Pitts, formerly from the Chester County DA’s office, discussing ways to protect children from sexual abuse. The event will take place at St. Paul’s Parish Hall at 1105 Lincoln Highway in Exton on Sunday starting at 12:30 p.m. and will last around an hour.

Pitts is a former Deputy District Attorney for the county and currently is the associate director of investigations for Swarthmore College. According to the organization, Pitts supervised the Chester County District Attorney’s Office Child Abuse Unit for more than a decade. She has also been a guest lecturer on child abuse and Megan’s Law at local universities.

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ILLINOIS
Lake County News-Sun

By Bridget O’Shea boshea@pioneerlocal.com | @OSheaBridget February 17, 2014

Two lawsuits are claiming that negligence on the part of officials at South Barrington’s Willow Creek Community Church allowed a church volunteer to sexually abuse two young boys in 2012 and 2013.

The most recent suit was filed Thursday, Feb. 13, and claims that the church did not adequately supervise Robert Sobczak, now 20, who allegedly molested the boys.

Sobczak plead guilty in December to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of an 8-year-old boy that he admitted to molesting during church programs. Sobczak was sentenced to two years of probation and has registered as a sex offender.

A second lawsuit was filed in November by an anonymous couple who claimed that Sobczak had molested their son.

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CANADA
The B.C. Catholic

Malin Jordan

For an agency of “peace,” the UN sure likes to lob missiles. Its latest salvo, fired from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, is aimed at re-making the Catholic Church.

The report from the UNCRC was supposed to be on the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Church over the past couple of decades or so. And that would have been fair enough.

The UN body blasted the Vatican in the report over what it called a “code of silence” that Rome used to cover abuse cases, to silence victims, and to move guilty priests around. It likened the Vatican’s actions in dealing with the cases to a culture of protection.

“The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators,” the UN report stated.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

[with video]

Toowoomba primary school where paedophile Gerard Byrnes raped 13 girls had PowerPoint presentation on dealing with sex abuse

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 18, 2014

THE assistant principal at the Toowoomba primary school where paedophile Gerard Byrnes raped and sexually abused 13 girls has admitted she was not equipped with the skills to deal with the “catastrophe’’ which hit the school.

Megan Wagstaff, assistant principal overseeing religious education, has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse she was not properly trained.

Commissioner Jennifer Coate asked: “Do you think you were properly equipped as the deputy principal of the school in terms of knowledge, training, and understanding of this complex area?”

“No I was not,’’ replied Ms Wagstaff

Ms Wagstaff said while she followed protocol in reporting the first complaint of Byrnes’ behaviour to the principal, she did not follow procedure correctly.

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

Chris Calcino 18th Feb 2014

UPDATE: Toowoomba Catholic Diocese management has been accused of deleting claims that a teacher put his hand down a student’s pants from a disciplinary letter.

The Royal Commission inquiry into child sex abuse at a Toowoomba school has heard Toowoomba Diocese senior education officer Christopher Fry told the school’s principal to remove “hands down the pants” claims from a letter to since-convicted pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes.

Issues were also raised over the original draft sent by then-principal Terence Hayes, in which allegations Byrnes put his hand up girls’ skirts were also omitted.

Mr Hayes attributed the omission to haste rather than any conscious decision, despite the fact notes taken by student protection officer Catherine Long detailing the allegation were in the same office from which he sent the draft email.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/POLAND
Lawyer Herald

Priest seized by Polish authorities over alleged sexual abuse charges in Dominican

Dominican Today published a report by TheNews.pl, which said that a Polish priest has been arrested on Monday in Poland for allegations of sexual abuse. Polish priest Wojciech Gil, or Padre Alberto to his parishioners Juncalito, a town in the Dominican Republic, reportedly abused several boys sexually. Przemyslaw Nowak, a spokesman for the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed the priest’s arrest. The priest’s full name was withheld under the privacy laws of Poland according to the report.

Since late September of last year, Padre Alberto was under investigation by authorities in connection to several sexual abuse allegations. In the Dominican Republic, Padre Alberto has been formally charged with molesting several local boys in Juncalito while keeping his post as head of the parish. Aside from the testimonies provided by his alleged victims and authorities, officials in the Carribean country confirmed that Padre Alberto had child pornography material on his computer. He has since then denied the accusations filed against him, TheNews.pl said in its report.

The Polish news site said that Padre Alberto’s case was part of a broad investigation into Pope Francis envoy Jozef Wesolowski, who is also a Polish prelate and was charged with sexually abusing minors. After his secret was outed by the Holy See, the Vatican pledged to conduct a investigation regarding the allegations filed against Wesolowski. The Vatican has already relieved Wesolowski of his duties as an ambassador of the Church to the Dominican Republic due to the investigation.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

JOHANNESBURG – Leaders of various catholic churches in Pretoria say their members have been left completely shaken following allegations of sexual abuse against a local priest.

The priest was granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrates Court yesterday.

He was arrested on Friday after a family claimed that his conduct towards one of their children was inappropriate.

He has since been barred from preaching as the police investigation commences.

Father Chris Townsend says he is offering support to those who are struggling to come to terms with the claims.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 17, 2014

The list includes the former head of a Catholic Youth Center. Victim’s advocates ask, Why the wait?

The names of nine more priests accused of sexually abusing minors were made public Monday by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, prompting victims’ advocates to ask why the names weren’t on the list released in December.

Most of the priests named were already known abusers, and some for decades, said Patrick Wall, victims advocate at Anderson Advocates law firm. The law firm had already sued many of them in Minnesota or other states, he said.

The now-former priests include Michael Kolar, the nearly 20-year assistant director of the Catholic Youth Center in St. Paul; Gerald Funcheon, a former Anoka priest who has admitted to abusing nearly 50 boys; and Kenneth LaVan, who served in nine parishes before retiring in 1998.

In a statement announcing the names, the archdiocese said the release is part of its ongoing commitment to addressing clergy misconduct.

“We are making these disclosures as part of the ongoing review of clergy personnel files conducted by Kinsale Management Consulting,” said the statement. More names may be forthcoming.

But victims’ attorneys charge that the disclosures were made because of court pressure.

“This is just another example of how important it is for there to be court oversight in the archdiocese’ release of information about child sex offenders,” said Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Anderson Advocates. “This is all information they’ve had, and have kept secret. It wasn’t until their attempt to keep this secret was denied that they released these names.”

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MINNESOTA
Le Sueur News-Herald

Posted on Feb 17, 2014

by Suzy Rook

Included on a list of nine priests “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors released Monday by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is a former Le Sueur pastor.

According to the diocese’s statement, Harold Walsh, 79, served as pastor of St. Anne’s Catholic Church from 1975-79.

Walsh, who now resides in Monticello, was ordained in 1960. He took a leave of absence in 1991 and retired a decade later. He was removed from the ministry in 2005, according to the diocese.

Monday’s release is in addition to a December listing of 34 priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

All but one of the nine cases occurred anywhere from 25 to 50 years ago and all priests listed have been removed from the ministry. Three of the nine are deceased, according the statement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Some area Catholics want to see Bishop Robert Finn removed from his position. They held a rally outside the diocesan offices in downtown Monday afternoon.

“Either the Pope, the nuncio, the cardinal or the archbishop in St. Louis should come back and say ‘we’re going to ask you to resign’,” Sister Jeanne Christensen told KMBZ’s Bill Grady.

“Bottom line: we’d be very happy if he’d leave this diocese.”

Finn has headed the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese since 2005. In 2012, he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. A priest under his supervision, former priest Shawn Ratigan, will serve 50 years in the child sexual abuse case. Finn got two years supervised probation.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a rare move, a local nun is joining the appeal to the Pope to discipline their bishop.

Holding a sidewalk news conference outside the Kansas City Catholic Diocesan headquarters downtown, they said Bishop Robert Finn needs to be punished.

They say he mishandled complaints against a priest who admitted to taking pornographic photos of young parishioners.

Sister Jeanne Christensen was once a church insider helping victims, but now she’s revealing continuing failures by Finn.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years Catholics around the metro have signed petitions to have their voices heard about the hurt they feel with Bishop Robert Finn as head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

With the help of a former priest who has expertise in canon law, that’s the church law, they hope letters sent to Rome will make their way to Pope Francis. He has the authority to ask for Bishop Finn to step down.

When Bishop Finn was convicted in 2012 for failing to report a priest involved in child pornography, it was viewed as a victory for some victims. However, the guilty plea did not force the bishop step down as head of the diocese as some had hoped.

“There’s been no discipline or retribution from within the church structure, and yet he allowed children to continue to be abused after he knew he didn’t report,” former victim advocate Jeanne Christensen said.

There are more than 100,000 people who have signed a petition calling for Bishop Finn to step down. So far, that pressure has not pushed the bishop out.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A group of activists is calling on Pope Francis to take action against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn over his role in the sex abuse scandal in Kansas City’s Catholic Church.

Finn was convicted on a misdemeanor count of not immediately reporting a priest who was accused in a child pornography case. That priest, Shawn Ratigan, is now serving 50 years in prison for having sexually graphic pictures of young girls on his computer.

Finn’s critics gathered outside the local Catholic headquarters Monday.

James McConnell said he was about to become a deacon, but went to Finn to tell him that he could not serve under him.

“I told him I could not go before him and promise respect and obedience as required for ordination,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
eurweb

Lawsuits for sexual abuse cases of children and adults; as well as Pastor’s resignations after admitting infidelity are at an all time high. Weaving in his personal experiences, real-life lessons, and going against the grain of traditional preachers, author and Pastor Jonathan K. Sanders in his new book, “Sex in the Pews,” has put on paper what most just talk about at the restaurant after church. “There is a hidden sex culture in the Church that must be confronted if things are ever going to change,” says Sanders.

Recently in the news a large church in Gilbert, Arizona says its married lead pastor resigned after confessing to engaging in extramarital affairs with more than one woman from the congregation. Pastor Isaac Hunter of Summit Church in Orlando, the son of mega church pastor Joel C. Hunter, resigned his position recently after admitting to an affair with a former church staff member. But, it’s not just the mega churches and it’s more than affairs.

“This subject of sex in the pews goes beyond one religion” says Sanders. “From Catholic priests to Pentecostal pastors, no one is exempt in the wild church sex culture. Even at the Kingdom Hall and Mosques, there are indiscretions that would shock and amaze you.”

In his book, Sex in the Pews: An exposé on the hidden sex culture in the church, Sanders pulls the cover off of sex, adultery, child sex abuse, hidden agendas, the church gay agenda, marriage cover ups, and other indiscretions in the church that most pastors shy away from discussing.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

Posted by Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer
By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/AP) –
Roman Catholics in the Kansas City area have joined a formal request to Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography.

An online petition signed by more than 110,000 people worldwide asking for Finn’s removal was also sent to the Vatican. The petition asks for Finn’s resignation.

Others want Pope Francis to initiate a “canonical penal process” against the area’s top bishop.

Finn, the head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was placed on two years of court-supervised probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge.

The case was related to Finn’s handling of complaints against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest who admitted taking lewd photographs of young parishioners. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and 21 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 17

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

Shame on Archbishop John Myers. Despite claims that he’s imitating Christ, Myers is spending an exorbitant amount for his own comfort, status and worldly prestige.

[The Star-Ledger]

Hundreds of Newark Catholics have been betrayed twice – first, by a predator priest, then by a corrupt archbishop. Many of them are unemployed, underemployed, or unemployable, struggling with crippling medical and therapy bills. Meanwhile, Myers spends parishioners’ hard-earned contributions to make himself feel better.

The claim that donations from the flock aren’t paying for Myers’ opulence are disingenuous. The Catholic church manufacturers nothing. Its wealth is given to it – either in cash, checks, stocks, bonds or property. Myers can try to spin this any way he likes. But it’s obvious that he’s exploiting the kindness of rank-and-file Catholics to enhance his own luxurious lifestyle, while those who have been severely hurt by his selfishness, recklessness and callousness continue to suffer.

At least Myers is consistent. He’s as deceptive with church finances as he is with predator priests

America’s Catholic bishops steadfastly refuse to say even a peep about their colleagues who continue to endanger kids and protect predators. Let’s hope at least a few of them have the decency to decry their colleague Myers for his latest irresponsible extravagance that rubs salt into the already-deep and still-fresh wounds of hundreds of victims and thousands of parishioners.

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NEW JERSEY
Beaumont Enterprise

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A major expansion is under way at the northwestern New Jersey home where the Archbishop of Newark will live once he retires.

The Star-Ledger (http://bit.ly/1jLyQIO) reports the new three-story, 3,000-square-foot wing at the Franklin Township residence will include an indoor exercise pool, a hot tub, three fireplaces, a library and an elevator, among other amenities.

The 4,500-square-foot home sits on 8.2 wooded acres and is valued at $800,000. It now serves as Myers’ weekend residence and has five bedrooms, a three-car garage and an outdoor pool.

The expansion will cost at least $500,000 — an amount that doesn’t include architectural costs, furnishings and landscaping.

The construction comes as the 72-year-old Myers asks the Roman Catholic archdiocese’s 1.3 million members to donate funds for the “archbishop’s annual appeal.” The fundraising effort that supports an array of initiatives, including religious education, the training of future priests and feeding the poor.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

Nine more priests … eight from long ago. Says Jean Hopfensperger of the Strib: “Nine more priests who sexually abused minors were named Monday morning by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. ‘In all but one case, the incidents occurred 25-50 years ago and all of the clergy involved have been out of ministry in the archdiocese for many years, in most cases for decades,’ said a statement announcing the list. ‘Of the nine men disclosed today, three are known to be deceased.’ ”

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MINNESOTA
Stillwater Gazette

By Jonathan Young
February 17, 2014

A former priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Stillwater is on a new list of priests the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor. The list also includes a former pastor at Guardian Angels in Oakdale and St. Francis of Assisi in Lake St. Croix Beach.

On Feb. 17 the archdiocese added nine names to the list of priests “against whom claims of sexual abuse of a minor … have been found to be substantiated.” The archdiocese says it released the nine names in response to an ongoing review of personnel files by Kinsale Management Consulting. The review began in December.

The latest list of names includes Thomas Gillespie, 76, a former priest at St. Mary’s in Stillwater. According to the archdiocese, Gillespie served at St. Mary’s 1978-1986, when he left the archdiocese. The archdiocese says he was removed from ministry in 1996 and currently lives in Collegeville.

Also on the new list is Kenneth LaVan, 82, who served at Guardian Angels in Oakdale (formerly Lake Elmo) 1970-1983 and at St. Francis of Assisi in Lake St. Croix Beach 1983-1985. According to the archdiocese, LaVan retired from full-time ministry in 1998 and now lives in Oakdale. He was removed from all active ministry in December 2013, according to the archdiocese.

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CONNECTICUT
Darien Times

By Susan Shultz on February 17, 2014

The new head of the Diocese of Bridgeport, which includes Darien and other Fairfield County towns, continues to make strides in open communication as he strives to ‘build bridges’ within the diocese.

Bishop Frank Caggiano was originally set to meet with the Bridgeport chapter of the Voice of the Faithful at its public meeting Thursday night, marking the first time the head of the diocese has attended a public meeting with the organization since it was formed in 2002. The meeting has been postponed due to the upcoming storm.

“The Bishop shares VOTF’s commitment to zero tolerance for children abuse as well as a healing outreach to those who were abused and affected in any way by the crisis,” Diocese Communications Director Brian Wallace told The Darien Times.

The Voice of the Faithful began in Massachusetts as parishioners’ response to allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen. Reports of sexual abuse hit a crisis level nationally in 2002, according to Connecticut Magazine, with reports of misconduct involving hundreds of Roman Catholic priests and thousands of young victims. There were 23 lawsuits involving sexual abuse in the Diocese of Bridgeport alone.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 17, 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 )

Recalcitrant Twin Cities church officials have been forced to finally make nine more predators’ names public by a safety-conscious judge and victim. But Catholic officials must go further. They have shielded these predators for years. Now they must warn citizens and Catholics about them, not just in Minnesota but in every state they worked.

It’s irresponsible for Twin Cities Catholic officials to do what protects them – suspend these predators, when caught, from local parishes – while doing little or nothing to protect others.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, Bishop Lee Piche and Bishop Andrew Cozzens must use their tremendous resources – pulpit announcements, parish bulletins, diocesan websites, newspaper ads and personal visits to the places these predators worked.

We’re especially worried about Fr. Freddy Montero, who is now reportedly living among even more vulnerable families in Ecuador – who almost certainly don’t know his criminal past.

We challenge archdiocesan officials to disclose how many child molesting clerics “remain under investigation” and when each of these so-called investigations began. It’s been clear for a long time that Catholic officials move extraordinarily slowly when they’re confronted with clergy sex abuse reports and eventually only announce a finding of “substantiated” when they’re virtually forced to do so.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 17, 2014

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

A South Dakota legislative panel will vote tomorrow on a measure that moves the state backwards and endangers kids.

[Indian Country Today Media Network]

South Dakota Senate Bill 130 will effectively reinstate the statute of limitations to 1960s levels and deny victims their chance to expose child molesters in court.

Hundreds of Native Americans, mostly from the Lakota and Dakota tribes, have come forward with lawsuits against the Catholic Church hierarchy. They report that they were violently sexually assaulted while living in Catholic boarding schools in the 1960s.

We urge lawmakers to block this bill. Being heard in a court of law and seeing justice served is an extremely important step in the healing process, not to mention important for holding those responsible accountable and deterring cover ups in the future. We urge SD legislators reject this archaic, predator-friendly bill.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on February 17, 2014

The 4,500-square-foot home sits on 8.2 wooded acres in the hills of Hunterdon County. With five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a three-car garage and a big outdoor pool, it’s valued at nearly $800,000, records show.

But it’s not quite roomy enough for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers.

Myers, who has used the Franklin Township house as a weekend residence since the archdiocese purchased it in 2002, is building a three-story, 3,000-square-foot addition in anticipation of his retirement in two years, The Star-Ledger found. He will then move in full-time, a spokesman for the archbishop said.

The new wing, now just a wood frame, will include an indoor exercise pool, a hot tub, three fireplaces, a library and an elevator, among other amenities, according to blueprints and permits filed with the Franklin Township building department.

The price tag, the records show, will be a minimum of a half million dollars, a figure that does not include architectural costs, furnishings and landscaping.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Euan Kerr St. Paul, Minn. Feb 17, 2014

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released more names Monday of priests it says have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

The list, posted on the Archdiocese website, includes nine names. All but two of the men are already known to the public. Three are dead. Only one was accused in the past decade.

The list includes Harry Walsh, a former priest whose alleged abuse was disclosed in an MPR News investigation in December.

In a statement, the Archdiocese said the private firm it hired to review its files is also looking at other priests who’ve been accused of abuse more recently. It said if the private team substantiates those claims, those names will be added to the list.

The move comes less than a day after a Ramsey County District Court Judge ruled for the release of more names. The judge also denied a motion to block depositions of former Vicar General Kevin McDonough and Archbishop John Nienstedt.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

A Minnesota archdiocese is releasing the names of nine more priests it says were “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor.

The announcement Monday from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis follows its earlier disclosure of 30 such priests.

The disclosure follows a review of clergy files by an outside firm the archdiocese hired after it came under intense criticism for its handling of clergy sexual misconduct.

The archdiocese says it became aware of two of the nine priests after 2004, when it previously released a list of accused priests.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 17, 2014

Bishops are very quick divert attention from their role in the cover-up of sex abuse by pointing fingers at public schools, where there is another, very real child sex abuse crisis.

But why haven’t the bishops helped to publicly fund or support any legislation that helps victims in public schools? Why haven’t they spoken out against the unions, who have put millions of dollars into defeating legislation that would protect children in public schools?

And why do they try and divide the victims’ movement by pitting survivors against each other?

It’s simple: they don’t care about stopping abuse. It’s just lip service. They only care about silencing victims—all victims, no matter the abuser. The bishops will do everything to keep the lid on sex abuse in public schools, because once you start peeling the layers of the onion …

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 17, 2014

A big question I get from parents is: How can I keep my child safe?

While I have a book on the subject coming out soon, there is one thing we can all do right now to make our kids safer:

Go with your gut.

If you are in a situation and things seem odd, they probably are. If you have to be talked into taking yourself or your child places that make you feel “hinky” or uncomfortable, go with that gut feeling that tells you to stay away. Never rationalize yourself or your child into danger.

As the commercials say: Most of your immune system lives in your gut. When it tries to tell you something, listen.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Amnesty International has expressed concern at claims that the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog is being undermined through funding cuts.

The claims were made by the former chief executive at the National Board for Safeguarding of Children (NBSC), Ian Elliott, who retired last summer.

He said the Catholic Bishops, the Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union, which together fund the board, were undermining its work by consistently cutting that funding.

He claimed he had been made to curtail further probes of dioceses, missionary organisations and religious orders by starving investigators of resources.

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REPUBLICAN DOMINICANA/POLONIA
Noticias Sin

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- La policía de Polonia arrestó este lunes al sacerdote Wojciech Gil, acusado de abusar sexualmente de al menos tres menores en el país, quien será trasladado a Varsovia para ser interrogado por la fiscalía y escuchar los cargos que pesan sobre él.

Los agentes se personaron en la casa familiar de Gil, en una localidad cercana a Cracovia (sur del país), con una orden de detención emitida por la fiscalía polaca. De probarse las acusaciones, el sacerdote podría pasar hasta doce años de prisión según la legislación de Polonia.

La fiscalía de Varsovia pretende que Wojciech Gil comparezca mañana, cuando se decidirá si se prolonga o no su arresto.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Indian Country Today Media Network

Stephanie Woodard
2/17/14

In March of the following year, a South Dakota circuit court judge relied on the new law to dismiss 18 of the Native American cases, telling The Huffington Post that he felt the law could be applied retroactively, in other words, to lawsuits filed before its existence. More cases were dismissed during 2011.

“Our case was six days from trial when…the court retroactively applied HB 1104,” recalled Dahlen. She and her sisters, who’d sued along with her, appealed to South Dakota’s supreme court, which again denied them the right to be heard, she said.

Not fair, many from in and outside the state have said. “Right now, the point is not for the legislature to litigate these cases,” said state representative Troy Heinert, Rosebud Sioux. “The point is to pass a bill that will give people their day in court.” The abuse phenomenon is not confined to South Dakota, Heinert noted, but part of a worldwide phenomenon facing the Church.

A “travesty” was how Yates described SB 130. “We now know because of science that it takes most people many years to come to terms with childhood sexual abuse. The statute of limitations proposed in SB 130 gives them only a couple of years to do so and grants church entities immunity in the care of all of our children. If this bill is passed, South Dakota will make it more difficult to protect all its children.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Independent Catholic News (UK)

Posted: Monday, February 17, 2014

A petition signed by more than 113,000 people, and a letter from a group of parishioners and religious in Kansas City, Missouri, has been sent to Pope Francis this week urging him to take disciplinary action against Bishop Robert W Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest who was an active paedophile, the Kansas City Star and New York Times report.

Bishop Finn was found guilty on a misdemeanour charge for failing to inform authorities after he learned there were hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls and toddlers on a laptop belonging to Fr Shawn Ratigan. He was given two years of court-supervised probation. Ratigan has begun a 50-year prison sentence.

The group ask why Pope Francis suspended a German bishop who spent many millions of Euros building his luxurious quarters, but left in office a bishop who failed to protect children. They argue that Bishop Finn also broke church law and should be subject to a penal proceeding.

The request to the Pope was initiated by Fr James E Connell, a priest and canon lawyer in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, who belongs to a newly-formed group of Catholic priests, religious and laypeople called Catholic Whistleblowers.

Father Connell cited Canon 1389 in the church’s Code of Canon Law, which says that a person who through ‘culpable negligence’ harms another person by performing or omitting his ‘ecclesiastical power’ is to be given a ‘just penalty’. Fr Connell said he cited this canon because it was recently mentioned by Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor, as a means of holding church officials accountable.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 02/17/2014

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has released names of nine additional priests with “credible claims against them of sexual abuse of a minor.”

The names were released Monday after a review of clergy files by Kinsale Management Consulting, a Los Angeles agency hired by the archdiocese, officials said in a statement posted to the archdiocese website.

All have died or otherwise been removed from ministry.

The priests are:

— Robert Blumeyer; worked at St. Boniface in Hastings and St. Bartholomew in Wayzata; died 1983.

— Gerald Funcheon; worked at St. Odilia in Shoreview and St. Stephen in Anoka; now lives in Dittmer, Mo.

— Kenneth Gansmann; served at St. John’s of Union Hill, near New Prague; died; date of death unknown.

— Thomas Gillespie; worked at St. Bernard in St. Paul and St. Mary’s in Stillwater; now lives in Collegeville.

— Michael Kolar; served as assistant director and director, Catholic Youth Center in St. Paul; lives in St. Paul.

— Kenneth LeVan; worked at St. Michael in St. Paul, St. Anne in Minneapolis, Guardian Angels in Oakdale, St. Joseph in Lino Lakes, and other locations; lives in Oakdale.

— Francisco (Fredy) Montero; served as chaplain to the Hispanic community, Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, Minneapolis; now believed to be living in Ecuador.

— James Stark; served at St. Stephen’s in Anoka, St. Andrew’s in St. Paul, Nativity in Bloomington, Holy Spirit in St. Paul, St. Peter’s in Richfield; St. Michael in Farmington; died 1999.

— Harold Walsh; served at St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Paul, St. Stephen in Minneapolis, Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, St. Henry in Monticello; retired 2001.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Olson

A Minnesota archdiocese has released the names of nine more priests it says were “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor.

The announcement Monday from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis follows its earlier disclosure of 30 such priests. The disclosure follows a review of clergy files by an outside firm the archdiocese hired after it came under intense criticism for its handling of clergy sexual misconduct.

The archdiocese says it became aware of two of the nine priests after 2004, when it previously released a list of accused priests.

A Ramsey County judge on Sunday had rejected the archdiocese’s request that it not have to release the names of all local priests accused of sexually abusing children since 2004.
Out of the nine priests on the list, three are dead, and all are no longer serving in ministry. The most recent person on the list was removed from ministry in December; the archdiocese removed the rest between 1960 and 2007.

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POLAND
BBC News

Police in Poland have arrested a Catholic priest suspected of committing sex offences against children in the Dominican Republic.

The 36-year-old, identified only as Wojciech G, is accused of molesting boys while serving as a parish priest on the Caribbean island.

He denies the accusations.

Last year Polish archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was recalled to Rome amid claims he sexually abused children in the Dominican Republic.

The 65-year-old archbishop, formerly the Vatican’s representative to the island, is one of the highest ranking Catholic Church officials to be investigated for alleged abuse.

In the latest case, Wojciech G was arrested at his home near Krakow on Monday and is expected to be formally charged on Tuesday.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis began meeting Monday for the third time with a select group of eight cardinals advising him on reforming the global Catholic church, but it remains unclear just what reforms are in the offing.

The meeting of the group, known formally as the Council of Cardinals, opens a week at the Vatican that could be a bellwether for the effect of the pope’s intended reforms of the central command structure for the church.

In the space of eight days, the pontiff is to:

* hear reports from three groups studying reform of the Vatican’s finances;
* welcome cardinals from around the world for a special ceremony adding new members to their ranks; and
* kick off more formal preparations for an October meeting of the world’s bishops that could lead to changes in the church’s pastoral practices focused on family life.

Responding to questions at a press briefing Monday afternoon, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said the Council of Cardinals had not told him whether they made any decisions Monday morning or whether they expected to do so before their meetings wrapped up Wednesday.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Updated February 17, 2014

Below is a list of ordained ministers of the Catholic Church who previously had assignments in the archdiocese, and who have had credible claims against them of sexually abusing a minor in our archdiocese. All of these claims have been substantiated, which means that there is reasonable grounds to believe that the reported abuse occurred. Most of the reported incidents of abuse occurred between the mid-1950s and the 1980s, and most of these men have been previously identified in media reports. All of these men have been permanently removed from ministry, and most of them have been out of ministry for a decade or more.

Clergy who have committed acts of sexual abuse have caused insufferable harm to victims, families, parishioners, and the Church. We grieve and pray for all who have been harmed and are committed completely to combating acts of sexual abuse and doing all we can to ensure that these horrors are never repeated in the Church.

For more information, read a Q&A on the disclosure of names.

Priests with credible claims against them of sexual abuse of a minor

Notes regarding disclosure: Included in this disclosure are clergy members from other dioceses or religious orders who at one time worked in the archdiocese and were accused of engaging in sexual abuse of minors in our archdiocese, to the extent we have reliable and sufficient information to determine whether the claim was credible and could be substantiated. These disclosures will indicate that the individuals are non-diocesan clergy. We may not be able to report on the present status of such clergy members because the archdiocese does not always have access to such information since they are under the authority of their respective diocese or religious order. We do not have sufficient information to make a disclosure regarding priests from outside our archdiocese who may have served here at some point in time but committed child sexual abuse elsewhere.

Also, please note: Despite our best efforts to provide accurate information, our listings at this time may include some errors or omissions. The archdiocese requests that anyone with additional information or corrections regarding clergy members that are or should be subject to disclosure, to contact Greta Sawyer, the archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Coordinator at 651-291-4497.

Thomas Adamson – Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 1985.
John Brown – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Cosmas Dahlheimer – Permanently removed from ministry (date unknown, died in 2004).
Gilbert DeSutter – Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.
Gilbert Gustafson – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Louis Heitzer – Permanently removed from ministry in 1969 (died in 1969).
Rudolph Henrich – Permanently removed from ministry in 1976 (died in 1992).
Francis Hoefgen – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Richard Jeub – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Dennis Kampa – Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.
Robert Kapoun – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Jerome Kern – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Lee Krautkremer – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Ronan Charles Liles – Permanently removed from ministry in 1985 (believed to have died sometime before 2006).
Alfred Longley – Permanently removed from ministry in 1968 (died in 1974).
Brennan Maiers – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Timothy McCarthy – Permanently removed from ministry in 1991.
John McGrath – Permanently removed from ministry in 1995 (died in 1995).
Paul Palmitessa – Permanently removed from ministry in 2012.
Joseph Pinkosh – Permanently removed from ministry in 1992.
Francis Reynolds – Permanently removed from ministry in 1987 (died in 1988).
Richard Skluzacek – Permanently removed from ministry in 2005 (died in 2012).
Michael Stevens – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Thomas Stitts – Permanently removed from ministry in 1985 (died in 1985).
Robert Thurner – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.
Clarence Vavra – Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.
Joseph Wajda – Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.
Raymond Walter – Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.
Curtis Wehmeyer – Permanently removed from ministry in 2012.
Robert Zasacki – Permanently removed from ministry in 2002 (died in 2008).
Disclosures As a Result of Comprehensive File Review

The following names were released February 17, 2014 as a result of a comprehensive file review by an outside national firm. For more information about this disclosure, please see this statement from the archdiocese.

Robert Blumeyer – Permanently removed from ministry in 1983 (died in 1983).
Gerald Funcheon – Permanently removed from ministry in 1993.
Kenneth Gansmann – Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 1960 (died, date unknown).
Thomas Gillespie – Permanently removed from ministry in 1996.
Michael Kolar – Permanently removed from ministry in 1991.
Kenneth LaVan – Retired from full time ministry in 1998. Removed from all active ministry December 2013.
Francisco (Fredy) Montero – Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 2007.
James Stark – Permanently removed from ministry in 1986 (died in 1999).
Harold Walsh – Permanently removed from ministry in 2005.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, February 17, 2014

Source: Jim Accurso

Continued Disclosure of Names Part of The Archdiocese’s Comprehensive Approach to Address Clergy Sexual Misconduct

As part of our ongoing commitment to address clergy sexual misconduct, especially for the healing of victims and safety of children, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis today released the names and related information of nine priests against whom claims of sexual abuse of a minor within our archdiocese have been found to be substantiated. Consistent with Archbishop Nienstedt’s previously stated commitment to disclose information regarding clergy against whom there are substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors, information can be found on our web site in the special section created for this purpose in December 2013.

In all but one case, the incidents occurred 25-50 years ago and all of the clergy involved have been out of ministry in the archdiocese for many years, in most cases for decades. Of the nine men disclosed today, three are known to be deceased.

Two of these nine cases were made known to the archdiocese after the compilation of the John Jay list in 2004, bringing the total number of cases made known to the archdiocese after 2004 to three, including Curtis Wehmeyer, who has already been disclosed by us to the public and widely covered in media reports. Of the three claims made known to the archdiocese after 2004, one relates to incidents that occurred in the 1950’s but that were not made known to the archdiocese until several years after the compilation of the John Jay list.

We are making these disclosures as part of the ongoing review of clergy personnel files conducted by Kinsale Management Consulting at the request of the archdiocese. This file review process, which began in December 2013, initially focused on all living clergy, whether in active ministry or not. It now also includes several priests who are deceased.

Certain clergy members who we have made known to the public through press releases or who have been the subject of media reports over the past many months are not included in this disclosure. They remain under investigation. If claims against them are substantiated, their names will be added to our web site. Similarly, if the claims against them are not substantiated, that too will be made known.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 17, 2014

All but one case involves incidents 25-50 years ago, archdiocese said in a statement.

Nine more priests who sexually abused minors were named Monday morning by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“In all but one case, the incidents occurred 25-50 years ago and all of the clergy involved have been out of ministry in the archdiocese for many years, in most cases for decades,” said a statement announcing the list. “Of the nine men disclosed today, three are known to be deceased.”

The disclosures were announced as part of the review of clergy files the archdiocese commissioned after allegations of clergy misconduct escalated last fall, along with criticism of the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases.

The statement said that two of the cases became known after the archdiocese compiled its list of credibly accused priests for the John Jay review in 2004. One involved incidents from the 1950s.

The priests named Monday are:

Robert Blumeyer: Permanently removed from ministry in 1983 (died in 1983).
Gerald Funcheon: Permanently removed from ministry in 1993.
Kenneth Gansmann: Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 1960 (died, date unknown).
Thomas Gillespie: Permanently removed from ministry in 1996.
Michael Kolar: Permanently removed from ministry in 1991.
Kenneth LaVan: Retired from full time ministry in 1998. Removed from all active ministry December 2013.
Francisco (Fredy) Montero: Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 2007.
James Stark: Permanently removed from ministry in 1986 (died in 1999).
Harold Walsh: Permanently removed from ministry in 2005.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO/AP) – The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released the names of nine priests on Monday who have had substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors against them.

A judge denied an attempt by lawyers for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to block a court order requiring the archbishop to testify about how the church handled clergy sexual abuse and release the names of all local priests accused of abusing children since 2004.

The archdiocese contended Ramsey County Judge John Van de North exceeded his authority in allowing attorneys for an alleged clergy abuse victim to depose Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough.

Minnesota Public Radio News reports Van de North said in his ruling that there was “no persuasive legal or factual basis” for the motion.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/POLAND
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Polish journalist Miroslaw Wekly on Monday said his country’s public opinion was surprised with the arrest of countryman priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto) on Sunday, on charges of sexually abusing seven boys in the Dominican Republic.

Speaking on Skype from Krakow, the journalist said he and other colleagues had traveled to the mountain town of Juncalito, northern Santiago province, and other places where the prelate allegedly committed the abuses. “Gil claimed that the charges against him were a plot by drug traffickers in the region but when I was in Juncalito, no one mentioned this, and the priest mentioned this only after his arrest.”

Wekly, speaking on CDN channel 37, added that Gil is expected to be interrogated in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/02/2014
Reporter: Leonie Mellor

The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has heard a Queensland Catholic school was initially reluctant to act against a teacher who was eventually convicted of raping some of the girls in his class.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse has heard a Queensland Catholic school was initially reluctant to act against a teacher who was eventually convicted of raping some of the girls in his class. The sex attacks began on the primary school pupils in 2007. The inquiry started taking public evidence in Brisbane today and heard from angry parents as well as the school’s former protection officer, who blamed some of the children for not coming forward. From Brisbane, Leonie Mellor reports for Lateline.

LEONIE MELLOR, REPORTER: The shocking sequence started in 2007. 13 girls in Year Four were abused by their teacher, Gerard Byrnes.

GAIL FURNESS, COUNSEL ASSISTING: 10 of the offences were particularly serious and involved digital, anal and vaginal rape. All but two offences were committed by Byrnes during class time in his classroom at the primary school.

LEONIE MELLOR: The commission heard that despite strict protocols, the Catholic primary school …

GAIL FURNESS: … employed and re-employed a teacher against whom credible and serious allegations of child sexual abuse had been made without taking any action against him.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A must-read article from this past week: Stephanie Krehbiel on the “Woody Allen Problem”: how is it possible to read pacifist Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder now, now that we know that Yoder was a serial sex abuser? Here’s the problem:

Small wonder, then, that Mennonite church leaders wanted nothing less than to deal with the evidence, mounting throughout the 1980s and 90s, that Yoder was a serial sex abuser. Many of his victims were women students at what is now the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), and at the University of Notre Dame, where he was also employed. Dozens of women lodged complaints with seminary officials and church leaders, who seemed by and large helpless or unwilling to control his predatory behavior. Yoder died in 1997 without any formal charges ever having been filed against him. The secrecy with which church leaders and administrators dealt with his behavior meant that many people who were influenced by his theology had no idea that women had accused him, repeatedly, of sexual violence.

As Krehbiel goes on to point out, it’s not just that the Mennonite church did nothing to deal with Yoder: “[W]hat they did do was too little, too late, and more about institutional damage control than about justice or healing for Yoder’s victims.” And, of course, as Krehbiel also notes, the re-emergence of the story that Woody Allen sexually molested his step-daughter Dylan Farrow raises questions all over again about what we do with Yoder’s legacy–just as it is raising questions for many of us about how to interpret Allen’s work.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Leslie Dyste

A Ramsey County judge ruled Sunday the Archbishop and a former Vicar General still must testify on record about how the church handled clergy sex abuse allegations.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis tried to get last week’s ruling against Archbishop John Nienstedt and Father Kevin McDonough put on hold while it appealed. It argued the court doesn’t have the authority to order them to testify.

On Sunday a judge threw out the request while also denying a request to delay the release of the names of priests accused of sexual abuse since 2004.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: The child abuse royal commission has heard that a primary school in Toowoomba failed as recently as six years ago to stop a serial sex offender from abusing more than a dozen girls at the school. It happened despite a raft of child protection policies.

The inquiry’s first public case study outside Sydney is focusing on the abuse of 13 girls in 2007 and 2008. Their teacher Gerard Byrnes was found guilty of 44 offences. He remains in jail.

Today the inquiry heard from some of the parents of the victims who detailed the profound impact the abuse had had on their children and their families.

The inquiry also heard that the school’s student protection officer did not, and still does not, understand the concept of how children can be groomed by sex offenders.

PM’s Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: The girls who were abused by their primary school teacher, Gerard Byrnes, were either sworn to secrecy or were too afraid to speak out. And when they did, it took some time for their complaints to be taken seriously.

The effect of the abuse on the victims and their families has been profound.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

EDITORIAL: Brisbane Royal commission hearings into child sex abuse set to bring yet more disturbing stories

THE royal commission into child sex abuse began its hearings in Brisbane yesterday with one certainty – that we will hear yet more disturbing stories of dreadful abuse and institutional failing in dealing with both innocent victims and perpetrators of these horrendous crimes.

Since the commission began public sittings in April last year, it has revealed a problem that was even more distressing and widespread than any modern society could have imagined possible.

Before the commission started its work it had been a lazy tradition, in some circles, to regard institutionalised child abuse as a particularly Catholic problem, somehow tangled up with priestly vows of abstinence and a secretive church hierarchy more interested in protecting its own than practising the Christian charity it preached.

But the testimonies presented thus far to the commission show that abuse of children in institutions is an insidious vileness that can fester and grow wherever adults of a particular inclination have control over the young, even when purportedly there are systems in place to stop exactly this sort of exploitation.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 17 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Domus Sanctae Marthae the Pope’s third meeting with the Council of Cardinals began. The Council was created on 13 April 2013 and confirmed by Pope’s chirograph of 28 September, to assist in the governance of the Universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia. The meeting will conclude on 19 February. Following the morning session, a press conference was held in which Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, presented information on the meeting which begins ten days of intense activity on the part of the cardinals.

“As usual the Cardinals initiated their work with a Holy Mass concelebrated this morning at 7 a.m. in the Sanctae Marthae chapel, after which they began their meetings in a nearby room. Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State and future cardinal, was and will continue to be present”.

He continued, “The morning was dedicated to hearing the representatives of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). Three members of the Commission were present, rather than the entire Commission: the president Josef F.X. Zahra, the secretary Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda and Joachim Messemer, who is also the international revisor for the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See. The work carried out during the eight months since the creation of this body was presented, but no decision was made. Following the meeting, the cardinals dined together with Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and this afternoon they will continue their meeting, but without the attendance of the COSEA representatives”.

“Tomorrow, Tuesday 18 February, the Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) will be heard. On Wednesday, Pope Francis will hold the usual general audience in St. Peter’s Square, while the cardinals will continue their work in his absence and, in the afternoon, the cardinals of the so-called “Council of Fifteen” instituted by John Paul II and responsible for the general consolidated financial statement of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican City State will meet with the “Council of Eight”, the cardinals who are participating in the meetings held from 17 to 19 February”.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 17, 2014

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

A priest in Poland has been arrested for sexually abusing children in the Caribbean.

[Capital News]

Poland arrests suspected paedophile priest

We are grateful for law enforcement officials and for the brave victims who spoke up. Poland has largely ignored the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in many European and Western nations. We take this as an encouraging sign that officials in Poland are ready to start taking this crisis seriously.

We hope that those who were hurt or witnessed child sexual crimes will be encouraged by this arrest to speak up. We also want church officials in Poland and the Caribbean to reach out to any other possible victims.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Judge Denies Archdiocese’s and Diocese’s Motion to Stay Discovery and Depositions of Archbishop Nienstedt and Fr. Kevin McDonough

(St. Paul, MN) – Ramsey County Judge John Van de North denied a request today from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to stay discovery in a civil lawsuit and delay the release of names of priests who have been accused of sexual abuse since 2004. Also, the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough will proceed in the civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a sexual abuse survivor, Doe 1, who was abused by Father Thomas Adamson at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park.

“The judge’s decision over the weekend reflects the urgency of this information needing to be known and revealed as soon as possible and addresses the perils that exist,” said Doe 1’s attorney Jeff Anderson. Judge Van de North’s clerk alerted attorneys today and told the parties it was sent “prior to signing and filing because of the upcoming deadline.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: And the Royal Commission is also looking at the mandatory reporting regime that was in place at the time of the abuse at the Toowoomba School. The rules were tightened after the school principal was found not guilty of failing to refer the allegation to police.

Monique Scattini represented the families of five victims who took the civil action. She spoke to Emily Bourke about how the mandatory reporting rules have changed since then.

MONIQUE SCATTINI: In 2006 the reporting requirements under the Education General Provisions Act, that required that a person must provide a written report, and that that written report needed to be handed to police where there was an allegation.

Now, what happened, the principal of the school satisfied the test, if you like, under that piece of legislation that was in place around reporting – albeit fairly wanting in relation to the sum of his sort of emails and phone calls with his superiors at the school.

However, he was found not guilty, and his charges dismissed, because he didn’t, it was the obligation, under that particular piece of legislation, for the senior staff in Catholic ed to report it, and the charges weren’t brought against them, and therefore the charges were dismissed against the principal.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

The former student protection officer at a Queensland Catholic primary school still can’t believe that 13 girls didn’t have the courage to speak out about being sexually abused by their teacher.

Catherine Long, who is still a teacher at the school, gave evidence at a hearing of Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Monday.

Ms Long was present at a 2007 meeting between the school’s principal Terence Hayes and a girl who had a complaint about being abused by teacher Gerard Byrnes.

She says although she was the school’s student protection officer at the time, she did not report the complaint to police.

“No, I didn’t think I was in charge of the situation,” Ms Long told the enquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 18, 2014

A DOZEN schoolgirls may have been saved from sexual abuse at the hands of their classroom teacher if their principal or Catholic authorities immediately reported allegations to police.

Veteran schoolteacher and student protection officer Gerard Vincent Byrnes was arrested for molesting or raping 13 of his students, aged eight to 10, in November 2008, 14 months after one of his Grade 4 students complained to the principal, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard yesterday.

Holding public hearings in Brisbane for the first time, the commission was told principal Terence Hayes relayed the girl’s complaint — that Byrnes had touched her chest under her shirt and put his hands up her skirt — only to the local Catholic Education Office. The police were not informed.

It was only when another girl told her mother in November 2008 that she had been abused by Byrnes that the police became involved, discovering Byrnes had raped and molested 13 girls in total, mostly at his classroom desk during class time.

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POLAND/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Capital News (Kenya)

By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE | February 17, 2014

WARSAW, Feb 17- Polish police on Monday arrested a Roman Catholic priest suspected of sex offences against children in the Dominican Republic, state prosecutors said.

The 36-year-old priest, who served in the central city of Santiago on the Caribbean island and is identified only as Wojciech G for legal reasons, will be formally questioned and charged on Tuesday, said Dariusz Nowak, a spokesman for prosecutors in Warsaw.

“We received documents from the Dominican Republic that, among other things, will allow us to press charges,” Nowak told reporters.

Wojciech G flatly denied any wrongdoing in an October 2013 interview with Polish media, suggesting he was set up by local drug gangs.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 17

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is opening the most critical week of his year-old papacy: Two commissions of inquiry on Vatican finance will report their recommendations for reform and preparations get underway for a summit on family issues that will deal with the widespread rejection by Catholics of church teaching on contraception, divorce and gay unions.

In between, Francis will preside over his first ceremony to formally welcome 19 new cardinals into the elite club of churchmen who will eventually elect his successor. In typical Francis style, the new cardinals hail from some of the poorest places on earth, including Haiti, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

The first half of Francis’ busy week will be devoted to the third meeting of his “Group of Eight” advisers, the senior cardinals representing every continent who Francis appointed to help him govern the church and overhaul the antiquated and inefficient Vatican bureaucracy. They are due to hear recommendations from two panels of experts on reforming the troubled Vatican bank and rationalizing the Holy See’s overall financial and administrative structures.

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POLEN
Europe Online

Warschau (dpa) – Ein polnischer Priester, der in der Dominikanischen Republik mindestens zehn Jungen sexuell missbraucht haben soll, ist am Montag in Polen festgenommen worden. Ein Sprecher der Warschauer Staatsanwaltschaft teilte mit, der Ordenspriester werde am Dienstag vernommen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft in der Dominikanischen Republik ermittelt seit Monaten gegen den 36-Jährigen und hatte die polnische Justiz um Rechtshilfe gebeten. In Polen laufen ebenfalls Ermittlungen gegen den Mann wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern und Kinderpornografie.

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POLEN
Tiroler Tageszeitung

[Summary: A Polish priest who allegedly abused at least 10 boys in the Dominican Republic was arrested Monday in Poland. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, according to the Warsaw prosecutor’s office.]

Warschau – Ein polnischer Priester, der mindestens zehn Buben in der Dominikanischen Republik sexuell missbraucht haben soll, wurde am Montag in Polen festgenommen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft in der Dominikanischen Republik ermittelt seit Monaten gegen den 36-Jährigen Ordenspriester und hatte die polnische Justiz um Rechtshilfe gebeten. Die Vernehmung ist laut Warschauer Staatsanwaltschaft für Dienstag geplant.

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MINNESOTA
kathweb (Osterreich)

[Archbishop John Nienstedt must testify about abuse cases in his archdiocese. The court in Ramsey County dismissed an appeal by the archdiocese.]

Washington, 17.02.2014 (KAP) Der Erzbischof von Saint Paul und Minneapolis in den USA, John Nienstedt, muss vor Gericht über Missbrauchsfälle in seiner Erzdiözese aussagen. Das zuständige Gericht von Ramsey County (Minnesota) wies einen Einspruch der Erzdiözese zurück, wie die Online-Zeitung “Twincities.com” (Sonntagabend Ortszeit) meldete. Zugleich bestätigte Richter John Van de North in seiner Entscheidung die Anordnung an die Kirchenleitung zur Namensveröffentlichung. Bis Dienstag müssen die Namen aller seit 2004 des Missbrauchs beschuldigten Priester vorgelegt werden.

Gemeinsam mit Nienstedt muss auch Generalvikar Kevin McDonough in einem Missbrauchprozess als Zeugen aussagen. In dem Fall geht es um einen Priester, der trotz bekannter Übergriffe seit 1964 weiter als Geistlicher beschäftigt worden sein und zwischen 1976 und 1977 erneut einen Buben missbraucht haben soll. Nienstedt lehnte den Ruf in den Zeugenstand unter Hinweis darauf ab, dass er für die Kirche in Minneapolis erst seit 2008 Verantwortung trägt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Weser Kurier

[Father Hans Zollner, Jesuit and psychology professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, coordinates the Center for Child Protection at the university. Zollner said the Holy See has not delivered 14 years of the required reports to the United Nations so he knew the UN report would be unpleasant. He said Pope Benedict XVI tightened the rules of how abuse cases are handled.]

„Kirche hält Fälle nicht geheim“
Herr Zollner, sind Sie von der Schärfe des UN-Berichts überrascht, der dem Heiligen Stuhl weiterhin schwere Versäumnisse im Hinblick auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern attestiert?

Hans Zollner: Der Heilige Stuhl hat 14 Jahre nicht die geforderten Berichte geliefert, insofern wussten alle, dass es unangenehm werden würde. Auch mit Enttäuschungen und berechtigtem Ärger wurde gerechnet. Am Anfang des Berichts ist der Ton: Ihr habt eure Hausaufgaben nicht gemacht, aber ihr gebt euch Mühe. Dann folgen allerdings schwere Vorwürfe.

Trifft der Vorwurf zu, die Kirche sei mehr an der Wahrung des eigenen Rufs interessiert, als die Interessen der Opfer zu verfolgen?

Auf die Vergangenheit bezogen stimmt das. Aber heute ist das anders. Der Heilige Stuhl hat sich erstmals dem UN-Komitee gestellt. Benedikt XVI. hat die kirchliche Gesetzgebung verschärft, immer wieder Missbrauchsopfer getroffen und um Verzeihung gebeten. Franziskus hat eine Kommission zu diesem Thema angekündigt. Die Glaubenskongregation hat eindeutig gesagt, dass die Gesetze in dem jeweiligen Land eingehalten werden müssen, ohne Wenn und Aber.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
My Fox Orlando

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. –
Bishop Robert Finn was placed on court-supervised probation in 2012 after being caught in the middle of a sex scandal, but some parishioners believe the crime is more punishable than that.

Liz Donnelly, a life-long Catholic, wants Bishop Finn removed from his post. She, 13 other parishioners, a priest, a nun, and 113,000 signatures on a petition want the matter taken directly to Pope Francis.

“The Catholic Church is built on peace and justice principles, yet within the church there’s not justice,” said Donnelly. “I think we’re meant to stand up for what we believe in. If we don’t speak out, we can’t sit in the pews and grumble.”

Donnelly has left her church and does not provide them any money. Leaving the church was not an easy decision, but she plans to return if Bishop Finn leaves.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[with video]

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 17, 2014

A TEACHER at a Toowoomba Catholic school where 13 pre-teen students were sexually assaulted or raped by their classroom teacher says she doesn’t “get” why the victims didn’t have the “courage” to complain.

Catherine Long was a student protection officer and learning support teacher in 2007 and 2008 at the Toowoomba Catholic primary school when Gerard Vincent Byrnes abused the girls, aged eight to ten.

Ms Long gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing in Brisbane today. She and principal Terence Hayes listened in September 2007 as one of Byrnes’ students and her father told them Byrnes had put his hands up her skirt and inside her shirt.

Neither Mr Hayes nor Ms Long reported the matter to police, and other children were abused in the complaint’s wake. The allegations only went to the local Catholic Education Office, which did not take the matter further.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard that a primary school in Toowoomba had a raft of child protection policies but failed to stop a serial sex offender from abusing more than a dozen girls at the school. The inquiry also heard that the student protection officer at the school did not, and still does not, understand the concept of how child can be groomed by sex offenders.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The child abuse royal commission has heard that a primary school in Toowoomba failed as recently as six years ago to stop a serial sex offender from abusing more than a dozen girls at the school. It happened despite a raft of child protection policies.

The inquiry’s first public case study outside Sydney is focusing on the abuse of 13 girls in 2007 and 2008. Their teacher Gerard Byrnes was found guilty of 44 offences. He remains in jail.

Today the inquiry heard from some of the parents of the victims who detailed the profound impact the abuse had had on their children and their families.

The inquiry also heard that the school’s student protection officer did not, and still does not, understand the concept of how children can be groomed by sex offenders.

PM’s Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: The girls who were abused by their primary school teacher, Gerard Byrnes, were either sworn to secrecy or were too afraid to speak out. And when they did, it took some time for their complaints to be taken seriously.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 17 February 2014

A Queensland Catholic school did not tell parents or police about sexual abuse allegations against a teacher for more than a year, an inquiry has heard.

Complaints of abuse were first made against Gerard Byrnes in 2007 but he remained working as a teacher at the school until he resigned in June 2008, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Brisbane was told on Monday.

A month later, Byrnes was re-employed as a relief teacher at the school in July and held the position until he was arrested that November. Over his course of employment at the school he sexually abused 13 girls.

The principal, Terence Hayes, the school’s student protection officer, Catherine Long, and the Catholic Education Office were aware of the sexual abuse complaints and took no action, the commission was told.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY MARTY SILK
February 17, 2014

A pedophile teacher continued to work and abuse girls at a Catholic primary school despite both the principal and the student protection officer knowing about child sex abuse complaints against him.

Gerard Byrnes was eventually jailed in 2010 after pleading guilty to 44 counts of abusing 13 girls between 2007 and 2008.

School Principal Terence Hayes and student protection officer Catherine Long first heard a complaint from a schoolgirl, who said Byrnes touched her breast, in September 2007.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard in Brisbane on Monday that during a meeting with the girl’s father, Mr Hayes said he would deal with Byrnes internally.

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