ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Statement by Karen Polesir of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 267-992-9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com )

We are grateful that Philadelphia prosecutors are following through with their work to protect kids by trying to get Msgr. William Lynn back behind bars.

Yesterday, the DA’s office formally asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the Superior Court’s reversal of Msgr. Lynn’s conviction. We hope the justices respond favorably and put the physical safety of vulnerable kids and the emotional well-being of wounded adult ahead of one wrongdoer’s freedom.

Deterring those who would protect and enable child molesters – that’s the issue here. Pennsylvania lawmakers aren’t doing this. They repeatedly refuse to open a civil “window” that would expose – and deter – adults who hide child sex crimes (thus ensuring that more such crimes happen).

And Catholic officials aren’t doing this (as evidenced by their refusal to even denounce Msgr. Lynn and by Archbishop Charles Chaput’s willingness to bail Msgr. Lynn out and house him at a Catholic parish).

Because of this refusal – by church officials and Pennsylvania’s lawmakers – it’s especially important that Pennsylvania’s highest court takes action to protect kids, discourage crimes and continue letting police, prosecutors and victims use the justice system to go after those who commit and conceal sexual violence against the most vulnerable.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

[court document]

BRIAN X. MCCRONE, PHILLY.COM
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, January 28, 2014

District Attorney Seth Williams has filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the overturned conviction of Monsignor William Lynn.

In the 35-page appeal, Williams argued “the Superior Court erred in holding that a church official who systemically reassigned pedophile priests in a manner that risked further sexual abuse of children did not endanger the welfare of children.”

“If, as the Superior Court held, it was legally impossible for defendant to endanger the welfare of children in his individual capacity, the evidence was sufficient to prove his guilt as an accomplice,” Williams argued in the appeal.

Late last month, a three-judge panel reversed the priest’s conviction and ordered the Archdiocese official to be freed on bail while a ruling by a higher state court weighed whether an official overseeing someone convicted of sexual abuse could in turn be tried under Pennsylvania’s child-endangerment laws.

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ARIZONA
The Catholic Sun

A special tribunal has notified the Diocese of Phoenix that it has found Fr. John Spaulding guilty of sins against the Sixth Commandment with a minor, stemming from four accusations of sexual abuse against the priest.

The judgment was reached by an independent panel of three judges from around the country. The panel was convened at the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome and tasked with the responsibility of investigating abuse allegations against Fr. Spaulding. The three-judge panel was made up of priests from around the country with doctorates in canon law.

The special tribunal recommended that Fr. Spaulding be dismissed from the clerical state, a process commonly known as “laicization.” Fr. Spaulding has the right to appeal and has a canon lawyer representing him throughout the court process.

As a result of the judgment, the penalty of laicization would become effective upon finalization of the case by the CDF, following the completion of any appeal made by Fr. Spaulding and confirmation by the Holy See. Fr. Spaulding would no longer be permitted to function in any way as a priest of the Church and could not identify himself as a Catholic priest.

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TENNESSEE
Chattanoogan

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A 35-year sentence for a former Chattanooga priest has been upheld by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

William Casey served at Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Chattanooga from 1969 to 1972.

In 2011, he was found guilty after a trial by jury of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of aggravated rape. The charges stemmed from conduct that occurred in 1979 and 1980, while the victim attended a school associated with the church.

The ruling says, “On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court erred by refusing to dismiss his indictment because forcing him to stand trial more than thirty years after the crimes were committed violated his due process rights under the federal and state constitutions. However, reviewing these facts in light of the relevant test governing unconstitutional “preaccusatorial” delay set forth in State v. Gray, 917 S.W.2d 668 (Tenn. 1996), we hold that the thirty-two year delay in the defendant’s prosecution did not violate the constitutional rights of the defendant. The defendant also claims that the trial court committed errors with respect to myriad evidentiary and procedural matters relating to his motion to dismiss.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

Philadelphia prosecutors have appealed to the state’s highest court to restore the endangerment conviction of a Roman Catholic church official.

Monsignor William Lynn is on house arrest, restricted to two floors at the rectory at St. William Parish in Northeast Philly after a mid-level appeals court threw out his case. He must report to a probation officer weekly.

Lynn, the former secretary for clergy in Philadelphia, was convicted in 2012 of endangering children by transferring a predator-priest in the 1990s. The Superior Court said last month he should not have been charged because the law did not apply to supervisors.

Lynn was freed after the Roman Catholic Church posted 10-percent of his $250,000 bail. The disgraced priest spent 18 months in prison.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MAC DONALD – 20 JANUARY 2014

CLERICAL abuse survivors claim that they have been excluded from consultations over the establishment of a Catholic Church support service aimed at catering for their spiritual needs.

According to some high-profile survivors, they have been not been given a proper opportunity to advise on how the service, backed by the bishops, the Irish Missionary Union (IMU) and the Conference of Religious Superiors (CORI), should be structured.

Last December, the bishops announced that the ‘Towards Peace’ support service would be launched this year and would offer spiritual support to victims who suffered abuse at the hands of clerics or religious if their faith in God and the Church had been affected by their experience of sexual abuse.

The soon to be launched service will be free to clients, as the costs will be borne by the Bishops Conference (ICBC), CORI and the IMU.

An awareness campaign will be launched later this year, and the operation of the service will be reviewed in 2016.

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SCHOTTLAND
kath.net

[Summary: An appeals court has reversed a judgement against an Edinburgh Catholic priest and chaplain in a sexual harassment case. After eight years, the priest has been acquitted on charges of sexual harassment.]

Das Berufungsgericht Edinburgh hat das Urteil gegen einen katholischen Priester und Hochschulseelsorger wegen sexueller Belästigung aufgehoben. Wichtige Zeugen waren nicht gehört worden.

Edinburgh (kath.net/CWN/jg)
Acht Jahre nach der Verurteilung in erster Instanz ist ein katholischer Priester vom Berufungsgericht in Edinburgh vom Vorwurf der sexuellen Belästigung frei gesprochen worden.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Jack Quann

The Education Minister says he needs to take legal advice before commenting further on the Louise O’Keeffe judgement at the European Court of Human Rights.

The Court overturned an Irish Supreme Court ruling that the State was not liable for the actions of the principal of her primary school when he abused her in the 1970s.

Ms. O’Keeffe was abused at Dunderrow National School near Kinsale in 1973 when she was aged 9. The principal, Leo Hickey, was later jailed and also paid Louise damages following a civil action.

Hickey was jailed for three years and was ordered to pay Ms. O’Keeffe over €300,000 in damages in a civil action.

Both the High Court and Supreme Courts dismissed a claim of direct negligence against the State because they said the State did not directly employ her abuser. Louise O’Keeffe took her case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing in Europe that the structures in place did not properly protect her.

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IRELAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today found the Irish state liable for sexual abuse suffered by a girl at the hands of the principal of a Catholic-run state primary school in the 1970s

In the case of Louise O’Keefe—who was 9 years old when she was abused at Dunderrow National School, Cork—both the High Court and Supreme Court in Ireland had ruled that the state was not responsible for the assaults. However, the ECHR today overruled their judgements.

“The court found that it was an inherent obligation of a government to protect children from ill-treatment, especially in a primary education context,” the Strasbourg-based court said in its ruling. “That obligation had not been met.”

Ms O’Keefe, now 49 years old, said she was ‘delighted’ that the Irish state had been held accountable by the European Court.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

A Corkwoman who was sexually abused by her school principal has won a landmark lawsuit against the Irish state for failing to protect her.

Louise O’Keeffe took Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights claiming inhuman and degrading treatment while aged nine at Dunderrow National School in Co Cork in 1973.

The Strasbourg-based court ruled today that her rights were breached on two grounds in a judgment that could have massive ramifications for other survivors of abuse, including in terms of compensation.

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IRLAND
Sueddeutsche (Deutschland)

30 000 Euro Schmerzensgeld bekommt eine Frau, die als Kind an einer katholischen Schule in Irland missbraucht wurde. Der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte sieht dabei den Staat in der Verantwortung.

Die irische Regierung muss nach einem Urteil des Europäischen Gerichtshofes für Menschenrechte (EGMR) für einen Fall von sexuellem Missbrauch 30 000 Euro Schmerzensgeld zahlen. Das Gericht sprach dem Staat damit eine Mitverantwortung an den Vergehen an einer katholischen Schule zu.

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AUSTRALIEN
Tiroler Tageszeitung

[Summary: Shocking details of abuse were revealed at a hearing on child abuse in Salvation Army institutions from 1966 to 1977. Corporal punishment and sexual abuse occurred frequently, according to inquiry counsel.]

Sydney – Eine Anhörung zu Kindesmissbrauch in vier Einrichtungen der Heilsarmee in Australien zwischen 1966 und 1977 hat am Dienstag schockierende Details zutage gebracht. Der Rechtsbeistand der Untersuchungskommission, Simeon Beckett, sagte zu Beginn, körperliche Bestrafung und sexuellen Missbrauch habe es häufig gegeben.

Die Schutzbefohlenen seien mit Faustschlägen traktiert, mit Gewalt auf den Boden oder gegen die Wand geschleudert sowie mit Stöcken oder Riemen blutig geschlagen worden. Wiederholt wurden demnach die Opfer vergewaltigt, in einem Fall mit einem Gartenschlauch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Augsburger Allgemeine

[Summary: Abbot Theodor Hausmann has responded to accusations made by composer Wilfired Hillier and Michael Lerchenberg, actor, director and artistic director, about abuse they said they suffered at the boarding school at the St. Stephen monastery in Augsburg. The abbott said he believes the descriptions given by Hiller and Lerchenberg are essentially correct and he apologized. He said he has received three complaints.]

Züchtigungen und sexueller Missbrauch in einem katholischen Augsburger Internat: So reagiert Abt Theodor Hausmann auf die Vorwürfe von Wilfried Hiller und Michael Lerchenberg. Von Rüdiger Heinze

Nach dem Komponisten Wilfried Hiller hat auch der Schauspieler, Regisseur und Intendant Michael Lerchenberg erstmals öffentlich schwere Vorwürfe gegenüber mehreren Patres am 2005 geschlossenen Vollinternat St. Joseph des Augsburger Klosters St. Stephan erhoben: Züchtigungen sowie sexueller Missbrauch habe es dort Mitte der 50er bzw. Mitte der 60er Jahre wiederholt gegeben.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the Feb. 13th cover story in Rolling Stone:

The lengthy piece by Mark Binelli on Pope Francis is respectful, though hardly without flaws. Like so many of the pope’s new fans, Binelli’s bouquets come at the price of exaggerating the Holy Father’s uniqueness, and unfairly characterizing his predecessors.

Binelli likes it that Francis smiles a lot in public, but anyone who is objective would extend the same compliment to both Pope Benedict XVI and Blessed Pope John Paul II. Francis is praised for saying “go without fear.” Yet “Be Not Afraid” was John Paul’s signature statement. The new pope is applauded for reaching out to liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, yet a bolder move was made when Benedict invited dissident theologian Hans Küng to meet with him. Francis wins points for kissing the feet of AIDS patients, yet such acts of kindness are hardly unique—the late Cardinal John O’Connor emptied their bed pans.

Binelli says that Francis “still considers abortion an evil.” Still? I bet the pope “still” regards all forms of unjust killing to be evil. Binelli is so excited by the pope’s words, “Who am I to judge?”, that he mentions them twice. But like so many others, he fails to cite what the pope really said: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” The pope’s qualifiers should tell Binelli something.
asdfgh

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 28 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 )

We are grateful that a three judge panel has upheld the conviction of a predator priest. Fr. William C. Casey should remain behind bars. And his former Catholic officials should take aggressive steps to find, and help, his other victims.

[Times News]

We are glad this brave man, Warren Tucker, will get his day in court. We are proud that he is protecting others. And we’re grateful that this predator, Fr. William Casey, is being held responsible for his heinous crimes.

Every time a pedophile priest is prosecuted, kids are safer. We applaud Warren for his courage and are confident that Casey will stay locked up.

We hope this positive news will encourage others who have been hurt by child molesting clerics to come forward, get help, call police, protect kids and start healing.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporteri

Megan Fincher | Jan. 28, 2014

Two East Coast Catholic groups, emboldened by the vision of Vatican II, are advocating for lay participation in the selection of bishops. The unexpected snag is figuring out how the laity are allowed to participate in this little-known process.

“I believe that people may be disinterested in the bishop search … because they do not believe that [their participation] will make any difference given the hierarchical decision-making structure of the church,” Dave Rowell, a member of the Albany (N.Y.) Bishop Search committee, told NCR.

Tom Severin, member of the Ambrosians of Greensburg, Pa., another lay bishop search committee, concurred. Their group is named after St. Ambrose, one of the early church bishops elected by popular vote.

“It’s something completely new to people. Most people have no idea how bishops are elected,” Severin said to NCR. “In my Bible study group, they were excited about the Ambrosians. But then they asked if it was sanctioned by the diocese. You could see the fear on their faces.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
West Sussex Gazette

A retired Church of England priest has been charged with historic sex offences against young men.

Vickery House, 68, of Brighton Road, Handcross, was charged today, (Tuesday January 28), on the authority of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), following an investigation by detectives from Sussex Police over the past 18 months.

House faces a total of eight charges of indecent assault between 1970 and 1986.

Two of the charges relate to a boy then aged 15 in Devon, while the other six relate to men in East Sussex aged between 17 and 34.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

In a surprise move, Pope Francis has accepted the early resignation of a prominent Melkite Catholic archbishop in Israel.

The Vatican announced on January 27 that the Pontiff had accepted the resignation of Archbishop Elias Chacour of Akka, in northern Israel. The archbishop, a noted advocate of non-violence and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. A native Palestinian himself, he was also the first Israeli citizen to be appointed a Catholic bishop.

The announcement of Archbishop Chacour’s resignation was surprising because it came several months before his 75th birthday. The Vatican offered no explanation for the unusual move.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A former resident of a children’s home run by nuns in Derry has likened it to a Nazi concentration camp.

The man told the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry that the church-run St Joseph’s Boys’ Home at Termonbacca in Derry was a “hell hole”.

He told this morning’s hearings in Banbridge that he was in a “chain gang” polishing floors, was bathed in detergent as punishment and was sexually assaulted by a woman when he was aged five or six.

The Sisters of Nazareth oversaw both the St Joseph’s Home and the Nazareth House Children’s Home at nearby Bishop Street. The witness claimed: “It was kind of like a Zyklon B gas chamber.”

The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and 60s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Littlehampton Gazette

A retired Church of England priest from West Sussex has been charged with a catalogue of sex offences on boys and young men dating back more than 40 years.

Vickery House, 68, faces eight charges of indecent assault on a then-aged 15-year-old boy and five males aged 17 to 34 between 1970 and 1986.

He was charged following an 18-month inquiry by Sussex Police with offences which were allegedly committed in East Sussex and Devon.

House, of Brighton Road, Handcross, has been freed on bail and will appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on February 27.

Police said he faces two indecent assault charges on a boy who was then aged 15 in Devon between 1970 and 1971.

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UNITED STATES
Rolling Stone

By Mark Binelli
January 28, 2014

Nearly every Wednesday in Rome, the faithful and the curious gather in St. Peter’s Square for a general audience with the pope. Since the election of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio last March, attendance at papal events has tripled to 6.6 million. On a recent chilly morning in December, the thousands of amassed pilgrims appear to gleam in the sunlight, covering the square like a pixelated carpet. Maybe it’s all the smartphones raised to the heavens.

Up close, Pope Francis, the 266th vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth, a man whose obvious humility, empathy and, above all, devotion to the economically disenfranchised has come to feel perfectly suited to our times, looks stouter than on television. Having famously dispensed with the more flamboyant pontifical accessories, he’s also surprisingly stylish, today wearing a double-breasted white overcoat, white scarf and slightly creamier cassock, all impeccably tailored.

The topic of Francis’ catechesis, or teaching, is Judgment Day, though, true to form, he does not try to conjure images of fire and brimstone. His predecessor, Benedict XVI, speaking on the topic, once said, “Today we are used to thinking: ‘What is sin? God is great, he understands us, so sin does not count; in the end God will be good toward all.’ It’s a nice hope. But there is justice, and there is real blame.”

Francis, 77, by contrast, implores the crowd to think of the prospect of meeting one’s maker as something to look forward to, like a wedding, where Jesus and all of the saints in heaven will be waiting with open arms. He looks up from his script twice to repeat key lines: avanti senza paura (“go without fear”) and che quel giudizio finale è già in atto (“the final judgment is already happening”). Coming from this pope, the latter point sounds more like a friendly reminder. His voice is disarmingly gentle, even when amplified over a vast public square.

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TENNESSEE
Times News

NICK SHEPHERD
General Assignment
nshepherd@timesnews.net

January 28th, 2014 10:40 am by NICK SHEPHERD

A former Kingsport Catholic priest sentenced to 35 years in prison had his sentence upheld by the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

William Casey, 79, was convicted in 2011 for first-degree sexual misconduct and two counts of aggravated rape. He was alleged to have sexually abused an alter boy shortly after becoming priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in the 1970s.

“I’m pleased the the conviction was affirmed,” said District Attorney Barry Staubus. “It was a very tough case and I’m glad the Court of Appeals affirmed it.”

Casey was sentenced to 15 to 20 years on the first-degree criminal sexual misconduct and two concurrent 20-year terms on the two aggravated rape counts.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 29, 2014

A SALVATION Army captain raped young children in his care, sent boys to other adults’ homes to be sexually assaulted, and oversaw a children’s home where members of the public entered the dormitories at night to commit further abuse.

The man, Lawrence Wilson, was one of five Salvation Army officers who allegedly abused dozens of boys at four children’s homes in Queensland and NSW, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard yesterday.

The five worked together or succeeded one another at the homes between 1957 and 1975, the commission heard, with Wilson on at least one occasion allegedly helping one of the others move between states to avoid jail.

Many of the children they allegedly abused had been abandoned or taken from their parents for their own protection before being sent to the homes, where they often went hungry and shoeless, and were subjected to routine cruelty, the commission heard.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Nuns’ treatment of children at a residential care home was “bordering on the psychotic”, Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry has been told.

Sisters of Nazareth nuns thumped and kicked children at Termonbacca, the first witness to give evidence said.

The former resident described the home as a “hell-hole” and likened it to a concentration camp.

He said children were forced to clean floors in a chain, with their arms linked and rags under both feet.

The inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children’s residential institutions from 1922 to 1995.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Huffington Post

Children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns were treated like prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp, a former resident has claimed.

The largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential care homes in Northern Ireland has heard harrowing details of victim’s experiences.

Children at the church-run “hell hole” were made to eat their own vomit, the court had already been told.

Young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Derry were known by their numbers rather than names and many allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Christine Smith QC said.

One witness told the inquiry on Tuesday he was put in a chain gang polishing floors, bathed in detergent as punishment and sexually assaulted by a woman when he was aged five or six.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian (UK)

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Tuesday 28 January 2014

Nuns at a care home for children in Northern Ireland behaved like they were psychotic, the largest ever inquiry in UK legal history into child abuse has heard.

A former child resident told the inquiry on Tuesday that the Sisters of Nazareth in the Termonbacca care home thumped and kicked children.

In his evidence to the historical institutional abuse inquiry, the witness described the Derry home as a “hellhole” and akin to a concentration camp.

Some children, dressed in rags, were chained and forced to clean floors, the man told the inquiry at Banbridge courthouse.

The witness said he was once sexually abused by a woman at the home, although he could not recall if it was a nun or a civilian worker. At the time he was aged five or six years and was later transferred from the Derry home to another run by the Christian Brothers in the Irish Republic.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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

Accused New York priest passes away
He molested young seminarians & worked in Goshen
After his victims came forward, cleric was sent to Rome
He was subject of newspaper investigation on “runaway priests”
Victims blast Cardinal Dolan & religious order for “continuing secrecy”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is disclosing that a New York Catholic priest who was accused of molesting children has passed away. Investigative reporters discovered Mataconis “in hiding” in Rome.

[Dallas Morning News]

He is Fr. Richard Mataconis who worked in Goshen in the Archdiocese of New York, where two boys accused him of abuse. He also went by the name Philip Mataconis.

Mataconis’ death was mentioned in the January 23, 2014, newsletter of the Salesians of Don Bosco, the religious order to which he belonged.

In 2012, Mataconis was sued for allegedly molesting two boys at a Salesian center in Goshen, NY, in the Archdiocese of New York. The suits were dismissed because of a legal technicality. Soon after, Mataconis fled the country.

A 2004 investigation by the Dallas Morning News found that Fr. Mataconis was living in Rome, where he was guiding tours of the Catacombs of St. Callistus and “mingling with adults and children.”

[BishopAccountability.org]

SNAP believes he was intentionally sent there by Salesian officials who feared that there may be more Matagonis victims in the US with rights in civil or criminal courts.

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CANADA
Catholic Register

Written by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

OTTAWA – The federal government is suing Catholic entities involved in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement over $1.5 million in contested funds.

“We had requested mediation” and binding arbitration, said Grouard-McLennan Archbishop Gerard Pettipas, who chairs the board of the Corporation of Catholic Entities Party to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement), representing more than 50 Catholic entities, either dioceses or religious orders that ran Indian residential schools.

The archbishop also expressed “frustration” with the results of a fundraising campaign that was part of the $79-million settlement.

“We were to take up a Canada-wide campaign to try to raise $25 million,” Pettipas said. “It is evident to us now we are not going to meet that goal.”

The fundraising portion of the agreement is not a part of the lawsuit, and contrary to news reports, is not owed the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, the archbishop explained.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

28 JANUARY 2014

Church-run “hell hole” children’s homes in Ireland were like Nazi concentration camps, a former resident claimed.

He was in a chain gang polishing floors, bathed in detergent as punishment and sexually assaulted by a woman when he was aged five or six, the witness told the UK’s largest ever inquiry into child abuse.

The Sisters of Nazareth order of nuns oversaw St Joseph’s Home in Termonbacca in Londonderry and used to bath the children in Jeyes fluid.

The witness claimed: “It was kind of like a Zyklon B gas chamber.”

The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and 60s. He was later transferred to a home in Galway in the Irish Republic owned by the Christian Brothers.

“Essentially a Gulag, a child’s prison,” he claimed.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

A former resident of children’s homes in Northern Ireland and the Republic has compared them to Nazi concentration camps or gulags

The 62-year-old Co Donegal native told Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry that he was sexually assaulted by a woman when he was aged five or six.

The man was a resident at St Joseph’s Home in Termonbacca in Derry, which was run by the Nazareth Order of nuns, at the time.

He told the inquiry he did not know whether the woman was a lay member of staff or a nun.

The man said he and his brother were later transferred to an Industrial School in Galway run by the Christian Brothers.

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OREGON
KPTV

[with video]

EUGENE, OR (KPTV) –
She survived years of sex abuse at the hand of her priest, prompting her to file a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Portland.

Carolee Horning has tried to remain out of the spotlight throughout it all over the years, keeping the details of what happened to her private.

But now, she’s deciding to share her personal struggle with FOX 12 as part of an investigative series shedding light on the issue of child sex abuse in Oregon.

“I used to say, when I talked about him, there was this blackness over my soul,” Horning said.

For 20 years she kept his secret, manipulated by her spiritual mentor.

“It started when I was a teen. Nobody knew,” she said. “But you contribute to the problem when you shut it out. It’s happening to someone right now,” said Horning.

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GHANA
Spy Ghana

RESIDENTS OF VALCO Flats, a suburb of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, are on the heels of an Islamic cleric who allegedly sexually abused some pupils of an Islamic school he heads.

The cleric, whose name was only mentioned as Mallam Ibrahim, was said to have lured some female pupils of his school to his room and forced them to suck his manhood before having sexual intercourse with them, so he could spare them sanctions for any wrongdoing.

A resident who captured a spectacle of the Mallam naked on video, confronted him, but the Mallam threatened to deal with him.

Mallam Ibrahim absconded after he was physically confronted by residents who saw the picture of him ‘in action’. He is currently at large.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 28, 2014

DOZENS of children suffered “violent and extreme” abuse at the hands of five Salvation Army officers who worked together at boys’ homes in Queensland and NSW over several decades, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard.

The men swapped jobs, shared victims and in at least one case helped each other move to new positions within the organisation in order to avoid jail, the commission has heard.

Some of the children under their care were also sexually abused by other Salvation Army officers and staff, as well as members of the public, including two pensioners allowed to live on the site of one boys’ home and others who were given access to the children’s dormitories at night.

Other deeply traumatic evidence before the commission alleges boys were raped until they bled, were beaten and kept in cages for days when they attempted to report their own abuse, and were on occasion forced to eat their own vomit.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

The Royal Commission into institutional sexual abuse has begun a public hearing into the Salvation Army.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Tuesday 28 January 2014

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse heard on Tuesday how boys at one Salvation Army home ate grass and raw potatoes because they were so hungry.

Raymond Carlile, who was seven when he and his younger brother were sent to a Salvos home at Riverview in Queensland in the 1950s, also told the inquiry that children who had wet the bed were made to sleep on a veranda with just a lattice frame between them and the elements.

His brother, who had a kidney removed before he was sent to the home, endured the punishment. They were so hungry his brother ate grass.

“I tried to encourage him to eat the potatoes”, said Carlile, who recalled how he found raw potatoes stored under the veranda and ate them.

Carlile said he witnessed boys being caned until they bled. He said Salvation Army officer Lieutenant Laurence Wilson was the most brutal.

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AUSTRALIA
Stuff

Young boys were locked in a cage for days on end as part of a brutal regime of physical and sexual abuse meted out to dozens of youngsters at Salvation Army homes in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, a royal commission into child-sex abuse has heard.

And the Salvation Army’s leadership often failed to discipline or remove the perpetrators, but simply moved them to other homes where they frequently continued the abuse.

The revelations came during the first public hearing in Sydney by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for 2014.

In his opening address, counsel assisting the commission, Simeon Beckett, said the focus of the hearings would be on the “contemporaneous response by the Salvation Army and relevant government agencies to child-sex abuse within the Alkira home for boys in Indooroopilly, Queensland; the Riverview Training Farm, also in Queensland; Bexley Boys home in North Bexley; and the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn”.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has heard young boys were raped, beaten and locked in a cage as part of a brutal regime at Salvation Army boys’ homes.

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AUSTRALIA
Weekly Times

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP JANUARY 28, 2014

A SALVATION Army officer in Sydney would send boys who were in care to the homes of adults to be sexually assaulted, an inquiry has been told.

The officer, Captain Lawrence Wilson, was moved by the Salvation Army between four boys’ homes in Queensland and NSW between the late 1950s and 1977.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its investigation at a public hearing in Sydney on Tuesday into what happened at those homes – the Alkira Home for Boys at Indooroopilly and the Endeavour Training Farm at Riverview, both in Queensland, as well as the Bexley Boys Home in Sydney and the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn, NSW.

All the homes have since closed.

Mr Wilson, who died in 2008, began his career in 1956 when he was posted as an assistant officer to the Riverview farm.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY EMILY BOURKE AND THOMAS ORITI
January 28, 2014

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard harrowing details of small boys being dragged from their beds and raped within children’s homes operated by the Salvation Army.

This morning the commission began its fifth inquiry, this time examining cases of abuse at four boys’ homes operated by the prominent charity.

Some of the evidence presented today shocked even some survivors and their advocates, including the caging of children, punishment parades, and appalling Dickensian conditions.

The hearing is investigating incidents at the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly in Queensland, the Riverview Training Farm at Riverview in Queensland, the Bexley Boys’ Home in Sydney, and the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn in southern New South Wales.

The actions of at least five Salvation Army officers are set to be scrutinised by the commission, with 13 former residents of the homes expected to give evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A Salvation Army officer in Sydney would send boys who were in care to the homes of adults to be sexually assaulted, an inquiry has been told.

The officer, Captain Lawrence Wilson, was moved by the Salvation Army between four boys’ homes in Queensland and NSW between the late 1950s and 1977.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its investigation at a public hearing in Sydney on Tuesday into what happened at those homes – the Alkira Home for Boys at Indooroopilly and the Endeavour Training Farm at Riverview, both in Queensland, as well as the Bexley Boys Home in Sydney and the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn, NSW.

All the homes have since closed.

Mr Wilson, who died in 2008, began his career in 1956 when he was posted as an assistant officer to the Riverview farm.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

January 29, 2014

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

Raymond Carlile’s little brother was so hungry he had started eating grass.

After months of being fed scraps of fruit and vegetables that were intended for farm animals at a Salvation Army boys’ home in Queensland his wasn’t the only stomach that was grumbling.

”They kept a load of raw potatoes under the building and we used to go under there and steal them when we were hungry,” Mr Carlile, now in his 70s, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday.

Mr Carlile’s story is just a tiny glimpse of the deprivation and abuse suffered by scores of young boys at the hands of the Salvation Army at boys’ homes in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the commission heard.

In his opening address, counsel assisting the commission, Simeon Beckett, set out horrific allegations of brutal sexual and physical abuse in which boys aged 6 to 17 were raped and forced to have sex with each other under threat of extreme physical violence that included being flogged, beaten and locked up in cages for up to nine days at a time.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By PAUL BIBBY Jan. 28, 2014

YOUNG boys were locked in a cage for days on end as part of a brutal regime of physical and sexual abuse for dozens of youngsters at Salvation Army homes in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, a royal commission into child-sex abuse has heard.

And the Salvation Army’s leadership often failed to discipline or remove the perpetrators, but simply moved them to other homes where they often continued the abuse.

The revelations came during the first public hearing in Sydney by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for 2014.

In his opening address, counsel assisting the commission Simeon Beckett said the focus of the hearings would be on the ‘‘contemporaneous response by the Salvation Army and relevant government agencies to child-sex abuse within the Alkira home for boys in Indooroopilly, Queensland; the Riverview Training Farm, also in Queensland; Bexley Boys home in North Bexley; and the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn’’.

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VATICAN CITY
NPR

[with audio]

It’s commonly thought that the Catholic Church fought heroically against the fascists when Benito Mussolini’s party ruled over Italy in the 1920s and ’30s. But in The Pope and Mussolini, David Kertzer says the historical record and a trove of recently released archives tell a very different story.

It’s fascinating, Kertzer tells Fresh Air’s Dave Davies, “how in a very brief period of time, Mussolini came to realize the importance of enlisting the pope’s support.”

In 1933, fascist rallies typically began with a morning mass celebrated by a priest, and churches and cathedrals were important props in the pageantry. Kertzer says Pope Pius XI cooperated closely with Mussolini for more than a decade, lending his regime organizational strength and moral legitimacy. It was a particularly curious alliance he notes, since Mussolini himself was a committed anti-cleric. But both sides benefited from the bargain.

As World War II approached and Mussolini began to persecute Italy’s Jewish population, Pius came to regret his bargain and considered a public break with the regime. The story of why that never happened makes for a dramatic ending to Kertzer’s book.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

A royal commission into child-sex abuse has heard Salvation Army staff disbelieved and punished children who reported sexual abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, January 28, 2014 – In addition to the organizational structure of the Roman curia and the selection of new pastors for important episcopal sees like Cologne, Madrid, and Chicago, in the year just begun Pope Francis must also attend to the appointment, lesser but of no little significance, of the new members of the international theological commission.

Created by Paul VI in 1969, the commission has been renewed – more or less regularly – on a five-year basis.

The current thirty members whose terms are about to expire were appointed on June 19, 2009, when Benedict XVI was pope and the prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, to which the commission reports, was the United States cardinal William J. Levada.

Now on the chair of Peter is Francis, and at the head of the congregation is the German and Ratzingerian Gerhard L. Müller, soon to be a cardinal.

The task of the commission according to its statutes is to “offer its services to the Holy See and in an especial way to the same sacred congregation [for the doctrine of the faith] in examining doctrinal questions of major importance.”

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Jan. 28, 2014 NCR Today

Rome

As the embattled Legionaries of Christ continue trying to chart a new course during a General Chapter meeting that began Jan. 8, there are signs the order is far from unanimous about what that course should look like.

The general chapter is intended to end a three year period of papal receivership, after Benedict XVI imposed a delegate to take control of the order in 2010. That decision followed revelations of sexual abuse and misconduct by the founder, the late Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, as well as defections by several high-profile Legionaries and speculation that the order might be suppressed.

Legionaries taking part in the chapter meeting who spoke to NCR in January insist there’s widespread agreement on several fronts, including the need for less control from Rome and more autonomy for local Legionary operations, a greater tolerance for interval diversity, and a new commitment to transparency.

They also say they’ve made progress toward defining a post-Maciel charism, or mission, for the Legion, focusing on a commitment to evangelization, meaning a missionary drive, and the Legion’s partnership with Regnum Christi, its lay movement.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

MICHAEL MCHUGH – 28 JANUARY 2014

SOME children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns were made to eat their own vomit, a lawyer said.

Those who wet their beds were forced to put soiled sheets on their heads by members of a harsh regime which was devoid of love, a public inquiry into child abuse at residential homes was told.

Children at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Derry were known by their numbers rather than names.

Many were allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, according to Christine Smith, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in the North.

Between 1950 and 1965, small numbers of nuns were involved in caring for hundreds of children in Derry. Help was provided by older children and volunteers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Daily Mail

Nuns ‘forced children to eat their own vomit and put soiled bedsheets on their heads as punishment at care homes’

By LIZZIE PARRY

Children were forced to eat their own vomit and put soiled bedsheets on their heads as punishment at care homes run by nuns, the largest public inquiry into institutional child abuse was told.

The investigation into the behaviour of Catholic nuns from the Sisters of Nazareth children’s homes in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, heard children were also forced to bathe in disinfectant and were beaten for wetting the bed.

In a harsh regime where the youngsters were known by numbers rather than their names, many were subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Christine Smith QC said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

THE death of their mother (in Fintona) during the early 1950s dealt a cruel hand to two local men and their six brothers and sisters.

At a time when they should have been enjoying growing up, the brothers were separated from their siblings, and plunged into a terrifying cycle of sexual and physical abuse in one of the North’s most notorious institutions.

For Patrick Murphy and Willie Kelly, the painful memories of that period will never fade. Both are now aged in their 70s and say they will never forget the horrors of their youth.

The shocking nature of the abuse which children were subjected to at Rubane House in Kircubbin, Co Down and other institutions is currently being investigated by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

Last week, The De La Salle Brothers – which ran Rubane House – was one of two Catholic orders that said sorry for the abuse children suffered in their children’s homes in Northern Ireland. – See more at: http://ulsterherald.com/2014/01/28/brothers-recall-terrifying-cycle-of-sexual-and-physical-abuse-at-childrens-home/#sthash.cxftr4rK.dpuf

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OHIO
Beacon Journal

Letters from children in Philippine orphanage are source of charges against Hudson pastor, two others

By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer

: January 25, 2014

The voices behind the charges against the Rev. Tom Randall, who is jailed in the Philippines, belong to children who were living at the now-closed mission operated by the Hudson pastor’s ministry.

“Two girls from the institution, at great personal risk, smuggled out letters [detailing abuse] to the teacher who gave them to [my daughter] who gave them to me,” said Joe Mauk, a missionary in the Philippines who reported alleged abuse at the Sankey Samaritan Orphanage in Lucena City, Philippines.

The orphanage, founded by Randall and his wife, Karen, in 1998 was raided on Jan. 12 amid reported allegations that the facility had been operating as a front for human trafficking and that children living there had been sexually abused for years. Randall, a pastor at Christ Community Chapel in Hudson, and two orphanage workers were arrested.

According to Filipino news reports, Randall is charged with obstruction of justice for negligence in handling allegations of abuse and sex trafficking. Orphanage administrator Perfecto “Toto” Luchavez and his son, Mark “Jake” Luchavez are reportedly charged with violating Filipino anti-human trafficking laws. The younger Luchavez is also charged with rape.

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UTAH
Standard-Examiner

Loretta Park, Standard-Examiner staff

FARMINGTON — A former licensed social worker entered a guilty plea to one of the four felonies he was charged with in relation to the sex abuse of a teenage girl he was counseling.

Scott Andrew Peterson, 36, of Bountiful, entered a guilty plea to one of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony, before Judge John Morris on Monday.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed two other counts of forcible sex abuse and one count of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony.

A sentencing hearing has been set for March 10. …

Centerville police were notified of the incidents by the legal department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. The girl had reported the abuse to her bishop.

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INDIANA
The Journal Gazette

Jeff Wiehe | The Journal Gazette

Three more people have come forward with claims that a priest with local ties sexually abused them, the Fort Wayne-South Bend Roman Catholic Diocese announced Monday.

And the diocese is urging for anyone else who has been a victim of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy to come forward.

The Rev. James F. Seculoff, 77, resigned and was removed from ministry a little more than a week ago after someone with what the diocese called a “credible” allegation of sexual abuse came forward, the diocese said.

This person said Seculoff, who most recently was a pastor in an area southwest of South Bend, committed the abuse 44 years ago.

At that time, Seculoff was elevated from principal at the former Huntington Catholic High School to superintendent of diocesan schools.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 27 January 2014

The Salvation Army says it feels deep regret for every instance of sexual abuse inflicted on children in its care.

The statement comes as representatives of the Salvation Army prepare to appear before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Tuesday.

The commission is preparing to investigate the charity’s movement of staff linked to sex abuse between children’s homes in New South Wales and Queensland.

“The early phase of the hearing will be a time for former residents to share their experiences with the royal commission – it is our role to listen,” the Salvation Army said in a statement.

“The Salvation Army feels deep regret for every instance of child sexual abuse inflicted on children who were in our care.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY THOMAS ORITI
January 28, 2014

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard harrowing details of abuse within children’s homes operated by the Salvation Army.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this morning began its fifth inquiry, this time examining cases of abuse at four boys’ homes operated by the prominent charity.

The hearing will investigate incidents at the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly in Queensland, the Riverview Training Farm at Riverview in Queensland, the Bexley Boys’ Home in Sydney, and the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn in southern New South Wales.

At least five Salvation Army officers will be scrutinised by the commission, with 13 former residents of the homes expected to give evidence in the coming days.

Counsel assisting the commission Simeon Beckett told the inquiry the content is at the “severe end” of the sexual abuse examined in the case studies to date.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Children at a Salvation Army home in Queensland were fed food donated for animals, savagely beaten, sexually abused and locked in a cage, an inquiry has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is examining four homes run by the Salvos in NSW and Queensland from 1966-77, has been told that evidence to be given of corporal punishment and sexual abuse at the homes were some of the most disturbing the commission had heard.

It is at the ‘severe end of abuse’ examined by the commission, the opening of a two-week hearing in Sydney heard on Tuesday.

Simeon Beckett, counsel assisting the commission, said the hearing would hear many allegations about five identified officers, ‘Laurence Wilson, Russell Walker, Victor Bennett, John McIver and Donald Schultz’.

Mr Walker, Mr Schultz and Mr McIver are still alive and have been given notice of the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
Crikey

by Cathy Alexander

Australia

They say they were sexually abused at boys’ homes run by the Salvation Army. And when they tried to run away, they were beaten or locked in cages on a veranda for up to nine days. When they were let out, some say they were raped again.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has today heard harrowing stories of the alleged victims of five men who worked for the Salvation Army. The commission is looking into what happened at four notorious boys’ homes in New South Wales and Queensland, focusing on the 1950s to the 1970s.

Simeon Beckett, counsel assisting the royal commission, started today’s hearing by running through some allegations of sexual abuse, which were intertwined with horrific allegations of violent punishments at the hands of Salvos’ staff.

Beckett said the five alleged perpetrators had worked together or succeeded each other in their posts; most were moved between the four boys’ homes. He said key questions for the commission included whether the homes’ managers had sought to frustrate claims of sexual abuse or impede investigations; whether the alleged perpetrators were transferred to new homes once allegations had been made; and whether the Salvos took claims of sexual abuse seriously.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

January 28, 2014

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

Young boys were locked in a cage for days on end as part of a brutal regime of physical and sexual abuse meted out to dozens of youngsters at Salvation Army homes in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, a royal commission into child-sex abuse has heard.

And the Salvation Army’s leadership often failed to discipline or remove the perpetrators, but simply moved them to other homes where they frequently continued the abuse.

The revelations came during the first public hearing in Sydney by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for 2014.

In his opening address, counsel assisting, Simeon Beckett, said the focus of the hearings would be on the “contemporaneous response by the Salvation Army and relevant government agencies to child sex abuse within the Alkira home for boys in Indroopilly, Queensland; the Riverview Training Farm, also in Queensland; Bexley Boys home in North Bexley; and the Gill Memorial Home in Goulburn”.
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“It will examine processes at the time to identify, investigate, discipline, remove, dismiss and/or transfer persons accused of or found to have engaged in child sexual abuse,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Sunday 26 January 2014

A national inquiry into the Salvation Army’s movement of staff linked to child sex abuse between children’s homes in two states will open this week.

The fifth case study by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will start in Sydney on Tuesday.

The focus of the public hearing will be the response of the Salvation Army to allegations of child sexual abuse within four homes: the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly; the Bexley Boys in New South Wales; Riverview Training Farm in Queensland; and the Gill Memorial Boys Home in Goulburn in NSW.

As well as the movement of officers and staff, the Salvation Army’s processes for dealing with allegations of abuse will be examined in the two-week hearing.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Written by
David Unze

The St. Cloud diocese and St. John’s Abbey have made public all of the names of priests and monks who have credible allegations against them of sexual misconduct with minors, according to the leaders of both institutions.

Abbot John Klassen and Bishop Donald Kettler said Monday that they are confident they know of all allegations made against members of their orders to date and that the names of those credibly accused have been released.

Klassen and Kettler met Monday with the St. Cloud Times Editorial Board, at the invitation of Executive Editor John Bodette, to discuss the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal, their responses to it and their acknowledgment of a need to rebuild trust with parishioners.

“Should there be somebody who has been abused, and we haven’t been notified, please come and tell me,” Kettler said. “I want to know. But I feel confident that … we’ve revealed everything that I know about for anybody that’s likely abused.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The royal commission into child sexual abuse will today examine cases of abuse that took place at four Salvation Army boys’ homes in Queensland and New South Wales.

The two-week investigation will scrutinise how the prominent charity has dealt with instances of child sexual abuse, and how the Salvation Army dealt with offenders in its ranks.

The Salvation Army says the abuse, most of which took part in the 1960s and 70s, is a “failure of the greatest magnitude”.

Robert Conway was 13 when he was sent to one of the boys’ homes.

“First impressions… well I was molested the first night I was there by the major who ran the place,” he said

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ALASKA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest ordained in 1927, John P. Fox lived and worked for five decades in remote Alaskan villages. There is one known accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against him, as revealed in 2010 by the Fairbanks diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization documents. Fox died in 1983.

Ordained: 1927
Died: May 1983

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[list of accused priests]

By Jean Hopfensperger  hopfen@startribune.com

The Catholic Diocese of Crookston has released the names of six priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct with minors. The action means all Minnesota dioceses have released lists of accused priests that have been kept secret for a decade.

Five of the six priests on Crookston’s list are dead. The sixth, the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul, is facing extradition from his home in India to face charges that he sexually assaulted two teenage girls while he worked in the Crookston diocese between 2004 and 2005.

Bishop Michael Hoeppner oversees the diocese serving Catholics in 14 counties in northwestern Minnesota. He did not issue a statement about the list.

Advocates immediately urged the diocese to post the list prominently on its website and make it easily accessible to the public.

“We strongly suspect it’s an incomplete list,” said David Clohesey, national executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “And we strongly suspect that Catholic officials took this step because they feared that a judge would soon order them to do so.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

27 JANUARY 2014

Some children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland were made to eat their own vomit, a lawyer said.

Those who wet their beds were forced to put soiled sheets on their heads by members of a harsh regime which was devoid of love, the UK’s largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential homes was told.

Young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Londonderry were known by their numbers rather than names and many allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Christine Smith QC said.

Kathleen Forrest, a ministry of home affairs inspector, said in a 1953 report: “I find these homes utterly depressing and it appals me to think that these hundreds of children are being reared in bleak lovelessness.”

The treatment of children in church-run residential homes is a key concern of the investigation being held in Banbridge, Co Down. It is chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart and is considering cases between 1922, the foundation of Northern Ireland, and 1995.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[Summary: It is reported that there are more than 100 victims of abuse by priests in the state of Coahuila.]

México, DF. Carlos Llamas Gómez aún recuerda con miedo e indignación el momento en que subía al altar cuando servía como monaguillo en una iglesia de Saltillo, Coahuila, a la edad de 14 años: “Lo ayudaba a ponerse la sotana. Se me acercaba, y veía su pene erecto. Eso significaba que después de la misa iba a tocarme, a manosearme. Es un trauma que me ha atormentado todo este tiempo”.

Ha esperado 15 años para romper el silencio. El domingo pasado escuchó al obispo Raúl Vera decir que en los 14 años que lleva al frente de su diócesis, solamente ha habido dos casos de sacerdotes que cometieron abusos sexuales contra menores: “Es mentira. No son dos, yo conozco a cinco, otros hablan de nueve sacerdotes aún en funciones. Son más de 100 casos en los que se abusó de menores”, dice en entrevista, luego de prestar declaración ante la Procuraduría General de Justicia de Coahuila.

¿Por qué hasta ahora? Porque cada quien tiene “su momento”, dice, y porque su decisión coincide también con la construcción de Casa Emaús, una “clínica” para la “rehabilitación” de sacerdotes pederastas ubicada entre los ejidos San Juan y El Tunal de Arteaga, Coahuila, según reconoció el propio vicario general de la diócesis de Saltillo, Gerardo Escareño.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Gerald Russell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

LANCASTER — The case of a Roman Catholic priest removed from his parish last week by the bishop is under investigation by the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Paul Jarvey, a spokesman for Mr. Early, said diocesan officials referred the matter to the district attorney last week.

Rev. Edward P. Lettic was placed on administrative leave because of what Bishop Robert J. McManus has described as a credible allegation of misconduct. Rev. Lettic has been pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Lancaster since 1993. The allegation is about sexual misconduct from 40 years ago. The allegation is also being investigated by the Diocesan Review Committee.

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MEXICO
Diocesis de Saltillo

[Summary: After more than three years of work, the first stone has been laid for what will be the Emmaus Project located on the campus of San Benito in the town of El Tunal in Arteaga, Coahuila. It will focus on rehabilitation of priests in situations or difficult moments ranging from the moral to the spiritual and psychological.]

Luego de más de tres años de trabajo en Monterrey, enfocados a la rehabilitación de sacerdotes en situaciones o momentos difíciles que van desde lo moral a lo espiritual y psicológico, se colocó la primera piedra para lo que será el Proyecto Emaús con sede en el Predio San Benito, ubicado en el poblado de El Tunal, en Arteaga, Coahuila.

El sacerdote Rodolfo Mora Becerra, religioso Misionero de Guadalupe además de Fundador y Director del Programa Emaús, explicó que el plan surgió del compromiso hecho con el Cardenal Adolfo Suárez Rivera, quien falleció hace dos años, y unos meses antes, le solicitó personalmente a nombre de la Provincia, iniciar un proyecto de atención a sacerdotes con problemáticas específicas.

“Desde ese momento Dios sembró en mi corazón esa semilla que más tarde vino germinando y ha dado inicio ahora aquí en la Diócesis de Saltillo. El proyecto se llama Emaús porque es el encuentro de los discípulos con el resucitado que los reanima a salir adelante”, expuso. La construcción del centro se tiene proyectada a terminar en un máximo de ocho meses y contará con los servicios de psicología, dirección espiritual, atención médica y la manutención de los internos en todos sus lineamientos; el programa con los sacerdotes tiene una duración mínima de tres meses y máxima de cinco.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[Summary: Priests accused of pedophilia can go into spiritual rehabilitation at Emmaus House which is nearly completion in Arteaga.]

POR: MARÍA EUGENIA ALVARADO viernes, 24 de enero del 2014

Sacerdotes que cometen pederastia sí podrían ir a parar al centro de rehabilitación espiritual Casa Emaús que se construye y está a punto de concluirse en Arteaga, aceptó el vicario general de la Diócesis de Saltillo, Gerardo Escareño.

VANGUARDIA dio a conocer que en la Sierra de Arteaga, entre los ejidos de San Juan y El Tunal, a unos 50 kilómetros de Saltillo, se erige el centro destinado a la rehabilitación espiritual de los sacerdotes que han perdido el camino o están en periodos de crisis.

Cuestionado al respecto, el Vicario General de la Diócesis dijo desconocer específicamente el programa de rehabilitación o de terapia que se implementará en dicho centro, pero al ser cuestionado si sacerdotes pederastas podrían llegar al lugar, señaló que:

“Si es posible, incluso que (dichos sacerdotes) hayan ya pasado por esa etapa no necesariamente en este centro, (pero) que hayan ya pasado por algún otro centro de los que hay en el país para atender a los sacerdotes”, expuso.

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OHIO
Canton Daily Ledger

By Bill Knight
Retired WIU Journalism Professor
Posted Jan. 27, 2014

In the New Testament, Jesus says, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Nevertheless, it’s unclear whether Pope Francis will be able to directly hear from area Catholics about their thoughts on cohabitation, contraceptives, divorce and other questions that the Vatican has asked in preparation for an October Synod of Bishops, who’ll be discussing family topics. Unfortunately, Jan. 31 is the deadline for the survey data to be sent to Rome, so there are mere days to try to give your feedback to Rome.

This is despite a request by the Vatican official overseeing the process directing bishops to distribute the questionnaire “as widely as possible, to deaneries and parishes, so that input from local sources can be received.” Instead, the Diocese of Peoria says it sent the survey to parish priests, who were expected to confer with laypeople.

Timing was a problem, according to Monsignor James Kruse, a Vicar General with the Diocese. “It was a very tight timeline,” Father Kruse said. “It was sent to pastors before Thanksgiving, and they were to meet and discuss it. Admittedly, it was not widely disbursed.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Now that it is official that I will not be permitted, by the chairman of the Australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Peter McClellan, to give evidence on my old Boys’ Home, “Alkira” – otherwise known as the Indooroopilly Salvation Army Home for Boys – it is time to explain some things. (The commission has stated that my case fell within its terms of reference, so that is not a point of dissention.):

1. It was the practice when I was in the Home for new boys to be put in the bunk next to mine, and I was to help them learn the Home routines, and help them feel a bit better (they usually cried most of the night for the first couple of days). In effect, I gave them “pastoral” care.

2. Because of the above, the boys had considerable trust in me, and possibly some affection. They confided in me about the abuses they experienced.

3. When it was known that I would be leaving the Boys’ Home to go to my own home, at least twenty boys asked me to get their story out to the public and authorities.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

MAGGIE ARMSTRONG – 25 JANUARY 2014

Islam is Ireland’s fastest-growing religion, with the number of Muslims recorded in the 2011 Census – 48,130 – expected to reach 100,000 by 2020. In a country where only 34pc of approximately 3.8 million Catholics attend Mass, many people are drifting away from religion. But a small number are finding that Islamic beliefs and practices, which allow for a peaceful and community-oriented life, fit their spiritual needs.

It is estimated that up to 500 Irish people convert to Islam every year. There is no official register and no baptism – to convert you simply have to recite the testimony of creed in front of two Muslim witnesses.

While more women convert than men, and most conversions are for marriage, people can have very personal reasons for converting – or reverting as it is known in the Islamic faith, in which it is believed that everyone was born Muslim. …

Bridget Darby (68, retired hotel manager)

When I was 18 I went to England to study nursing. I met an Englishman in the Royal Air Force. I was at a very vulnerable time and I fell in love with him and we got engaged. He wasn’t a Catholic, so he and I had to have some religious instruction.

One day I showed up by myself and the priest asked me, “Have you got your dress?” He went from the dress to say, “Have you got new underwear?” I tried to answer as best I could, cringing on the edge of the seat. He then asked me: “Did you get a new girdle? I’ve never seen one, can you show me yours?” I was devastated. I got out of that office without having to show him my underwear or my girdle, but I was shaking.

I made myself a promise: that after we married I wouldn’t walk into a Catholic church again, and I never did. We got married, had a child and were stationed in Cyprus and Australia. We got divorced after about 15 years, and in 1985 I went to America. I still had no religion, but I was a good person – I believed in God.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[Summary: According to a newsletter on the Saltillo diocese website facilities are being provided for rehabilitation of priests in difficult times or situations ranging from the moral to the spiritual and psychological. The facilities are in the town of El Tunal, municipality of Arteaga. The building is part of an initiative called Emmaus Project. A source consulted by Vanguardia revealed that, if confirmed, this would be a concern because the Emmaus house would be a center of “refuge” for priests who have been involved in unlawful conduct in other regional of the world, including Europe.]

De acuerdo con un boletín contenido en la página web de la Diócesis de Saltillo, en el poblado de El Tunal, municipio de Arteaga, se construyen instalaciones para la “rehabilitación de sacerdotes en situaciones o momentos difíciles, que van desde lo moral a lo espiritual y psicológico”.

La edificación es parte de una iniciativa denominada “Proyecto Emaús”, que habría iniciado sus actividades en la Ciudad de Monterrey, Nuevo León, y buscaría ofrecer apoyo institucional, por parte de la misma Iglesia Católica, a miembros de su cuerpo de clérigos que registren “problemáticas específicas”.

A primera vista, la iniciativa podría ser clasificada en el apartado de las estrategias que cualquier gremio o agrupación de individuos realiza para ofrecer apoyo a los suyos.

Sin embargo, una fuente consultada por VANGUARDIA ha revelado datos que, de confirmarse, constituirían un motivo de preocupación para la comunidad: la casa “Emaús” estaría llamada a ser un centro de “refugio” para sacerdotes que habrían incurrido en conductas ilícitas en otras regiones del mundo, entre ellas Europa.

El dato resulta particularmente relevante en momentos en los cuales se discute en Saltillo sobre la presencia de dos presuntos sacerdotes pederastas cuya existencia fue revelada el fin de semana anterior por el Obispo Raúl Vera López.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

Editorial

[Summary: The public agenda in recent days in Saltillo has been occupied mainly by themes of sex. Specifically it is for detection of illegal behaviors such as pedophilia and child pornography. In the first case came statements from Raul Vera Lopez, bishop of the Saltillo diocese, who revealed that he knew of at least two cases of alleged child abuse committed by Catholic priests. This statement followed by an avalanche of information that would place Coahuila as a kind of “paradise” of pedophiles to the extent tha tthere might be in-state facilities to “rehabilitate” European priests suspected of abusing children.]

La agenda pública de los últimos días en Saltillo fue ocupada fundamentalmente por temas de índole sexual. Específicamente por la detección de conductas que constituyen actos ilícitos, tales como la pederastia y la pornografía infantil.

En el primer caso, fueron las declaraciones del obispo de la Diócesis de Saltillo, Raúl Vera López, las que encendieron la polémica al revelar que conocía de al menos dos casos de presunta pederastia cometidos por sacerdotes católicos, uno de los cuales tendría su adscripción en la diócesis que él mismo encabeza.

A las declaraciones de Vera López le siguió un auténtico alud de información que colocaría a Coahuila como una suerte de “paraíso” de los pederastas, al grado de que en territorio estatal se estarían construyendo instalaciones para “rehabilitar” a sacerdotes europeos presuntamente responsables de conductas de abuso sexual en contra de niños.

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PERU
Metro

[Summary: Father Jose Colon Otero of St. Martin de Porres parish in the Arecibo diocese on Monday denied committing acts of sexual abuse against minors and of violating the sacramental seal. He said he received a decree from the Vatican but does not mean he has been defrocked. He said he has been a priest for 12 years and has never abused minors or violated the sacramental seal. On Monday it emerged that the Vatican issued a decree expelling Otero Colon from the priesthood for allegedly sexually abusing minors and violating the sacramental seal of confession.]

El padre José Colón Otero, de la Parroquia San Martín de Porres de la Diócesis de Arecibo, negó el lunes haber cometido actos de abuso sexual contra menores, que haya violado el sigilo sacramental y afirmó que un decreto que recibió del Vaticano no significa que haya sido expulsado del sacerdocio.

“Tengo 12 años de sacerdote. Yo jamás he violado el sigilo sacramental y jamás he abusado sexualmente de nadie. Lo dije en una conferencia de prensa hace unos meses atrás y lo repito ahora”, dijo Colón Otero en entrevista radial (Radio Isla).

El lunes trascendió que el Vaticano emitió un decreto que expulsa a Colón Otero del sacerdocio, quien en el pasado fue señalado por presunto abuso sexual contra menores. Además se informó sobre señalamientos contra el cura por supuesta violación del sigilo sacramental o secreto de confesión.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Jan. 27

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

It’s troubling that Worcester Catholics seem to be the last to be told about credible child sex abuse allegations against a local priest.

[MassLive]

Catholic officials admit they’ve already told police and Vatican officials about accusations against Fr. Edward P. Lettic. But only yesterday did they tell parishioners at his Lancaster parish.

To distance themselves from heinous crimes by predator priests, bishops virtually always say when the crimes allegedly happened. But they virtually never say how long ago they allegedly got the report. That’s an important fact. Worcester police, prosecutors, parents and parishioners deserve to know whether Catholic officials took six days or six months to “investigate” the child sex abuse allegation against Fr. Lettic.

We call on Bishop McManus to disclose this fact. We also call on him to

–use his vast resources (church bulletins, diocesan publications, etc.) to prod anyone with knowledge or suspicions about Fr. Lettic’s crimes to call police immediately,
–post on the diocesan websites the names, photos, work histories and whereabouts of every current or former Worchester child molesting cleric (like 30 US bishops have done) and,
–personally visit every other place where Fr. Lettic worked – even for a short time – and beg those who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to contact law enforcement.

Every delay is problematic. Every day the bishop refuses to aggressively do outreach gives Fr. Lettic and his church colleagues or supervisors more chances to destroy evidence, fabricate alibis, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses and perhaps even flee the country.

Finally, we commend the brave individual who reported Fr. Lettic’s crimes and call on others who may be suffering in silence, shame and self blame to step forward, get help, protect kids, expose wrongdoers and start healing.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Preists

Chile– Victims blast Catholic Archbishop of Santiago Ricardo Ezzati, one of the newly appointed cardinals by Pope Francis

For immediate release Monday, January 27

Contact: David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ) Juan Carlos Cruz, JCCruz1@aol.com

Victims blast Catholic Archbishop of Santiago Ricardo Ezzati, one of the newly appointed cardinals by Pope Francis
They criticize his “self-serving” plea

He claims those molested should “look forward and trust the Church”

They counter: “But kids are still being abused now and mostly the Chilean hierarchy continues to cover up and hide, protecting themselves and their own and have complete disregard for survivors”

And cover ups continue too, support group maintains

A support and advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims is blasting a top Chilean Catholic official who has urged that those molested by priests “don’t look at the past, look forward and trust the Church”.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say that Archbishop of Santiago Ricardo Ezzati’s remarks are “self-serving, disingenuous and hurtful.”

“Kids are still being hurt, victims continue to be victimized by Church authorities like Ezzati and crimes are still being covered up,” said Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of Fr. Fernando Karadima’s abuse. “So actually, it’s irresponsible to ‘look forward’ and pretend that centuries old habits of secrecy and denial have suddenly and magically been reversed. That’s a huge disservice to children and vulnerable adults. This attitude by Ezzati and his colleagues not only hurt victims that have been outspoken and have been brave to speak about their terrible ordeal, but there are thousands who are quiet and anonymous and have to hear this rhetoric that keeps hurting them and their families”

Ezzati made his comments at the opening of a new Salesian Church this Saturday in the Chilean diocese of Linares where the current bishop, Tomislav Koljatic, also covered up sexual abuse as he directly witnessed the abuse that Fr. Fernando Karadima perpetrated on his victims. Yet, he is still there with no consequences.

“We believe many child molesting clerics remain on the job or hidden by church officials,” said David Clohessy, Executive Director of SNAP. “While some of those who commit clergy sex crimes are disciplined – only when bishops are forced to do so by external pressure – none of those who conceal clergy sex crimes are ever disciplined. We know that no church employee who is concealing child sex crimes has ever been disciplined in Chile. So this strongly suggests that little is changing and that kids are still at risk.”

The January 2014 results of the reputable survey from the “Centro de Estudios Públicos de Chile” (CERC) revealed that the confidence and trust in the Catholic Church and its hierarchy in Chile has fallen to its lowest levels of 34% from 75 % in 1990 and even much higher numbers 1990.

“There’s a reason for this dramatic decline in parishioners’ trust in Catholic officials,” added Clohessy. “It’s because those leaders are still denying, minimizing and concealing heinous crimes against innocent kids and vulnerable adults. Archbishop Ezzati, his predecessor Cardinal Errázuriz who covered dozens of crimes – now part of the Group of 8 that counsels Pope Francis – and many of their colleagues should realize that exhorting their flock to trust bishops won’t work. People will trust the church hierarchy when bishops remove all predators, punish all enablers, aggressively seek out and help victims, rather than attack and humiliate victims. That’s how trust will be restored, not through wishes and pleas and much less through covering up the past.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Children at Derry care homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth were made to eat their own vomit and were beaten for wetting the bed, a public inquiry has been told.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children’s residential institutions across the North from 1922 to 1995.

Among the institutions under the microscope are Nazareth House Children’s Home, Bishop Street, and St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, both in Derry, which were run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

The Sisters of Nazareth who ran children’s residential accommodation in Derry have been sharply criticised by the inquiry investigating historical institutional abuse.

Senior Counsel Christine Smith told the inquiry that disclosure of documents by the order had been slow, haphazard and piecemeal. “There was a less than whole-hearted response,” to the inquiry’s requests, she alleged.

“Co-operation from the Sisters has not been as complete or as rapid as had been hoped,” she said. Requests for the documentation had led to a flow of “copious correspondence” with the order and this leading to additional work for inquiry staff.

“Material was not stored in a single, well-ordered archive,” Ms Smith told the inquiry in Banbridge which opened public sessions earlier this month.

“Information which has been received has been received in a haphazard and piecemeal fashion despite requests.” She said valuable time had been spent trying to get the material into order. This information “ought to and could have been provided much earlier”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Mirror

Jan 27, 2014 16:11 By Steve Robson

The largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential care homes in Northern Ireland has heard harrowing details of victim’s experiences

Children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland were made to eat their own vomit, a lawyer said.

Others who wet their beds were forced to put soiled sheets on their heads by members of a harsh regime devoid of love, the largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential homes was told.

Young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Londonderry were known by their numbers rather than names and many allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Christine Smith QC said.

Kathleen Forrest, a ministry of home affairs inspector, said in a 1953 report: “I find these homes utterly depressing and it appals me to think that these hundreds of children are being reared in bleak lovelessness.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Inishowen News

CHILDREN in the care of Nazareth nuns in Derry were sometimes brought across the border to the sisters’ home in Fahan, Buncrana, an inquiry has heard.

Former residents of two children’s homes in Derry are giving evidence today at the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

And delays by the religious congregation in submitting evidence to Northern Ireland inquiry have caused “considerable difficulties”, a lawyer said.

Christine Smith QC for the inquiry said material given by the Nazareth order of nuns was not properly ordered and was still being received up to last week, RTE is reporting today.

Homes run by the Nazareth nuns included Bishop Street and Termonbacca in Derry city. This module of the inquiry is expected to last a number of weeks.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Some children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland were made to eat their own vomit, a lawyer said.

Those who wet their beds were forced to put soiled sheets on their heads by members of a harsh regime which was devoid of love, the UK’s largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential homes was told on Monday.

It is tasked with looking into child abuse in 13 church and state run homes in Northern Ireland.

Christine Smith QC, Counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, said that young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Derry were known by their numbers rather than names and many were allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse.

Ms Smith outlined details of the alleged abuse, which included physical assaults using sticks, straps and kettle flexes.

Others involved:

* bathing in Jeyes fluid disinfectant, today more associated with outdoor cleaning jobs like clearing drains
* separation of brothers and sisters, not even telling them if they were in the same home
* locking in cupboards or threatening to send them to a hospital for those with learning disabilities at Muckamore Abbey in Antrim
* forced farm labouring or working in the laundry instead of going to school
*removal of Christmas presents and other personal items
* leaving youngsters hungry through inadequate food or alternately force feeding.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
The Guardian, Monday 27 January 2014

Children were forced to eat their own vomit and bathe in disinfectant at residential care homes run by nuns, the UK’s largest public inquiry into institutional child abuse was told on Monday.

During evidence on the behaviour of nuns from the Sisters of Nazareth order at two Catholic church-run children’s homes in Derry, the inquiry heard that children were beaten for bedwetting and had soiled sheets placed on their heads to humiliate them.

Nazareth House children’s home and St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, were both run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Derry. Forty-nine ex-residents of the two homes gave evidence about their treatment in written and oral testimony to the historic institutional abuse inquiry sitting at Banbridge courthouse.

A total of 16 church- and state-run orphanages, care homes and other institutions in Northern Ireland are under scrutiny in a public inquiry expected to last until June 2015.

Young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Derry were known by numbers rather than their names, and many were allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, said Christine Smith QC, senior counsel for the inquiry.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a movie that has been nominated for four Oscars:

Owing to many false impressions about Catholicism that have been generated by the movie, “Philomena,” I decided to write an extensive review of the film, and the book upon which it is based.

The film and the book maintain that cruel Irish nuns stole Philomena’s baby in 1952 and sold him to “the highest bidder.” In reality, Philomena’s widowed father found the nuns—the only persons willing to accept the teenager’s out-of-wedlock baby—and they subsequently found a home for him in the United States; no fee was charged.

The film and the book also maintain that Philomena went to the United States to find her son, but this is patently untrue: she never set foot in America looking for him.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Jan. 27

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

Crookston Catholic officials made a shrewd move on Friday when they released a list of child molesting clerics.

[Grand Forks Herald]

We storngly suspect it’s an incomplete list. And we stronlgly suspete that Catholic officials took this step because they feared that a judge would soon order them to do so.

And shame on them for releasing the list on a Friday, which is when public relations consultants tell wrongdoers is the best time to disclose embarrassing news so it’s seen by the fewest people.

What now?

We call on Fargo Catholic officials to release their list, and stop hiding behind claims of confidentiality. (Those who sexually assault kids, we feel, have forfeited their right to secrecy.)

We call on Crookston Catholic officials to

–make this list more visible by putting it on the diocesan home page,
–keep it there permanently,
–post it in church bulletins periodically.
–disclose more about these child molesting clerics, especially their last known address,
–post their photos as well,
–personally visit every parish where they worked, begging victism, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward to law enforcement
–investigate and punish any church empoloyee who ignored or concealed these clerics’ crimes.

We also urge them to use all of their resourcrse and political clout to help get Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul back to the US to face justice.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Catholic Culture

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has filed suit against its former insurance company in an attempt to recover $2.6 million in legal fees related to allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

“OneBeacon has an obligation to pay for these costs under the insurance policies and … the archdiocese is committed to pursuing the monies it has coming to help pay the cost of the bankruptcy proceeding,” an archdiocesan spokesman said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Kevin Parrish
Record Staff Writer
January 27, 2014

STOCKTON – U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Klein, no stranger to Stockton City Hall finances, is about to get familiar with the Catholic Diocese of Stockton.

Klein, already the city’s bankruptcy judge, also is handling the Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing by the diocese.

Klein indicated last week in Sacramento that the case’s first substantive hearing will be held in early February.

Last week, he held a hearing on several perfunctory motions that will allow the diocese to meet its payroll and keep its lights turned on.

Almost a dozen attorneys – representing sex-abuse victims, insurance companies and various Catholic organizations – were inside the federal courtroom for the hearing.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MassLive

By Megan Bard, MassLive.com
on January 27, 2014

The Rev. Edward P. Lettic has been put on administrative leave following an allegation of sexual abuse of a child, which is alleged to have occurred 40 years ago, according to The Diocese of Worcester.
The Diocese of Worcester

The Diocese of Worcester has placed a long-term priest on administrative leave after a 40-year-old “credible allegation of sexual misconduct” was lodged against him recently, according to the bishop.

During Mass on Sunday at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Lancaster, Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus told parishioners that he has relieved Rev. Edward P. Lettic of his pastoral duties while the church investigates the allegations.

This is the first and only such allegation made against Lettic, McManus said in a news release.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

[Norbert Denef, a clergy abuse victim, has written to Pope Francis asking him to act on the child sexual abuse scandal in the church and offer help to the victims.]

Ein Betroffener sexueller Gewalt schreibt an Papst Franziskus

Sehr geehrter Heiliger Vater Papst Franziskus,

der Vatikan hat in der letzten Woche vor dem UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss in Genf erstmals zum Skandal des Missbrauchs Minderjähriger innerhalb der katholischen Kirche ausgesagt. Papst Benedikt XVI. versetzte 384 Priester wegen Missbrauchs in den Laienstand, im Jahr 2012 waren es etwa 100, im Jahr 2011 etwa 300. Danach forderten Sie Ihre Kirche zu mehr Schuldbewusstsein auf. Wir Betroffenen haben mit großer Freude zur Kenntnis genommen, dass Sie die Taten als »Schande der Kirche« geißeln.

Aber genügt das? Jahrzehntelang wurden die Täter von ihren Vorgesetzten geschützt. Anstatt die Verbrechen aufzuklären und den Opfern zu helfen, wurden die Täter stillschweigend in immer neue Gemeinden versetzt. Fast 400 Priester weltweit wurden wegen Missbrauchs in den Laienstand versetzt – aber was passiert mit den Amtsträgern, die die Täter jahrzehntelang schützten?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

[Summary: German Catholics do not live according to teaching of their church. This is according to a survey conducted at behest of the Vatican.]

Die Katholiken in Deutschland leben nicht nach der Lehre ihrer Kirche. Das ist nach SPIEGEL-Informationen das Teilergebnis einer Umfrage, die der Vatikan in Auftrag gegeben hat. Laien-Vertreter appellieren an die Bischöfe, alle Zahlen offenzulegen.

Hamburg – Der Vatikan hat eine Umfrage zum Themenkomplex Familie und Sexualmoral durchführen lassen. Nun liegen Ergebnisse vor – nur was soll mit ihnen geschehen? Laien-Vertreter verlangen Transparenz von den deutschen Bischöfen. “Wir fordern die Bischöfe auf, die Ergebnisse der Umfrage ungeschminkt und ungeschönt nach Rom zu geben, aber auch in Deutschland zu veröffentlichen”, sagt der Bundesvorsitzende der Basis-Bewegung “Wir sind Kirche”, Christian Weisner, dem SPIEGEL – “so schwer es den Bischöfen auch fallen mag”. (Lesen Sie die ganze Geschichte hier im neuen SPIEGEL.)

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Delays by a Catholic congregation in submitting evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry have caused considerable difficulties, a lawyer for the investigation has said.

Material given by the Catholic Sisters of Nazareth order of nuns was not properly ordered and was still being received up to last week, despite hearings being planned for many months, Christine Smith QC for the inquiry said.

Ms Smith said: “This less than whole-hearted and rapid response on the part of the congregation has caused considerable difficulties to the work of the inquiry.

“The congregation is not the only body whose approach has produced problems.

“We do appreciate that this is not always avoidable but we hoped that such late delivery could have been avoided, given the difficulties which it causes for the inquiry.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

NI inquiry hears about nuns
RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO

An inquiry in Northern Ireland has heard how young children from the Republic were sometimes transferred to homes run by nuns in Derry and in one case moved to Australia under a migrant scheme.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is hearing about two homes run by the Nazareth sisters at Termonbacca and at Bishop Street in Derry.

In the early years the homes, catering for boys and girls, received no state funding and relied entirely on voluntary contributions.

Small numbers of nuns were involved in caring for hundreds of children.

Staffing was supplemented by older children, volunteers and former residents.

The nuns also ran an orphanage over the border at Fahan in Co Donegal and children were sometimes transferred between the jurisdictions.

According to Christine Smith, a senior counsel for the inquiry, in one case a child born in the Republic was transferred to a home in Derry and later moved to Australia under a migrant scheme.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Zachary T. Sampson | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JANUARY 27, 2014

A veteran priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester has been placed on leave following an allegation that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a boy about 40 years ago, Bishop Robert J. McManus said in a statement Sunday.

Edward P. Lettic, now pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in Lancaster, was ordained in 1973, about the time the alleged sexual misconduct occurred, according to the statement. Lettic was then an associate pastor at St. Joan of Arc Church in Worcester.

A diocesan review committee, made up of members of the clergy as well as several doctors and social workers, oversaw an investigation into the allegation and found it credible, McManus said in the statement. He said it is the only accusation officials have received against Lettic.

The diocese did not release any further information about the allegation on Sunday.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Sentinel & Enterprise

By Nick Mallard, nmallard@sentinelandenterprise.com
POSTED: 01/27/2014

LANCASTER — The pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish has been placed on administrative leave by the Worcester Diocese following allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Bishop Robert J. McManus informed the parish that a “credible allegation” from a victim placed the Rev. Edward P. Lettic in the misconduct incident from 40 years ago.

“It is the first and only report of an allegation of misconduct which we have received involving Father Lettic,” McManus told parishioners. “Because of the serious nature of the allegation, and consistent with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, I must relieve Father Lettic of his duties as pastor of the parish and to remove his faculties as a priest.”

Ray Delisle, director of communications for the Dioceses, said that an initial investigation into the allegations was enough to put Lettic on leave.

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FORT WAYNE (IN)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne

Subsequent to the publishing of the announcement regarding the receipt of a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor involving Fr. James Seculoff, the diocese has received additional allegations. Three more persons have separately come forward to report being sexually abused by Fr. Seculoff when they were children. The diocese, with great care and concern for all involved, initiated preliminary investigations. The results of those investigations were presented to the diocesan review board and to Bishop Rhoades.

The diocesan review board found these allegations, separately presented, to be highly credible and supported by substantial evidence, and so advised Bishop Rhoades. As required by Church law and procedures delineated in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (USCCB 2002, 2005, 2011), Bishop Rhoades directed that these allegations be forwarded to the Indiana civil authorities and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bishop Rhoades asks everyone to please pray for all parties involved, especially for those that have come forward, as well as Fr. Seculoff, our priests, parishioners and all the faithful during these painful and difficult days.

If anyone has been the victim of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy, please contact the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator, Mary Glowaski at (260) 399-1458 or the Vicar General, Monsignor Robert Schulte at (260) 422-4611.

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INDIANA
News-Sentinel

News-Sentinel staff reports
Monday, January 27, 2014

Three more people have contacted the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to report they allegedly were sexually abused as minors by the Rev. James F. Seculoff, the diocese reported on its website, www.diocesefwsb.org.

The alleged victims all came forward separately after published reports in mid-January that Seculoff, a Fort Wayne native, had been removed from public ministry after the diocese received what it determined to be a credible report he abused a minor about 40 years ago, the diocesan website said.

The diocese conducted preliminary investigations of the new reports and provided the results to the diocesan review board and to Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, the website said. No details were provided on whether the review board or Rhoades had reached any decisions or had taken any action.
The diocese followed the same process with the first allegation against Seculoff.

To protect the alleged victim in that case, who reported the abuse Dec. 16, the diocese declined to say if the person is male or female. The diocese also declined to say where within its boundaries the abuse allegedly took place.

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MINNESOTA
Bring Me The News

January 27, 2014 By Kevyn Burger

The Diocese of Crookston has become the latest in Minnesota to publicly release a list of the names of priests who have been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors.

The Grand Forks Herald reported that the list of the priests followed a request from the newspaper.

The newspaper said that five of the priests on the list are dead and that the abuse they are accused of happened decades ago. The sixth, the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul, remains awaiting extradition from his home country of India. He faces charges from Roseau County, where he is accused in the sexual assault of two teenaged girls a decade ago. He worked in the diocese as a visiting priest for about three years. Details of the case are on the website of the Diocese of Crookston.

MPR News notes that the half dozen names on the list are already publicly known, through lawsuits and media reports.

The release represents a shift for the Crookston diocese. In October, an attorney for the diocese argued against litigation by St. Paul attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who was seeking a list, that there was no harm in keeping it private.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

An inquiry into alleged historical child abuse in Northern Ireland’s church and state-run homes will have its first formal hearing on Monday.

Earlier this month, former senior judge Sir Anthony Hart opened the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge.

It will examine the extent of wrongdoing in a number of institutions including industrial schools, workhouses, and borstals.

It is the biggest inquiry of its kind in the UK and is tasked with looking into child abuse in 13 church and state run homes.

Many were run by religious orders which at the time evaded scrutiny.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Delays by a religious congregation in submitting evidence to Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry have caused considerable difficulties, a lawyer said.

Christine Smith QC for the inquiry said material given by the Nazareth order of nuns was not properly ordered and was still being received up to last week.

Meanwhile, former residents of two children’s homes in Derry are due to give evidence at the inquiry today.

The homes were run by the Nazareth nuns at Bishop Street and in the Termonbacca area of Derry city.

This module of the inquiry is expected to last several weeks.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Henry McDonald Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 27 January 2014

The UK’s biggest ever child abuse inquiry will hear evidence on Monday from victims who were abused in two Derry homes run by Catholic nuns.

Based in Banbridge courthouse in Northern Ireland, the historical institutional abuse inquiry will focus on the maltreatment of children in Nazareth children’s home and Termonbacca, both run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

The order of nuns has already issued an apology to victims at the tribunal.

Christine Smith QC welcomed the apology the nuns made at the hearing earlier this month.

But the senior counsel for the inquiry added: “This less than wholehearted and rapid response on the part of the congregation has caused considerable difficulties to the work of the inquiry.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Sisters of Nazareth nuns have given their evidence to Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry in a “haphazard and piecemeal fashion”, the inquiry has been told.

The inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children’s residential institutions from 1922 to 1995.

On Monday morning it heard that some statements came as late as last Friday.

This was despite the initial request for documents being made in November 2012.

The inquiry’s senior barrister, Christine Smith QC, welcomed the apology the nuns made at the hearing earlier this month.

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NEW YORK
The Daily Beast

WRITTEN BY
Antonia Marrero
Adam Grannick

Hasidic Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg has faced ostracism and violence to expose child molestation in his Brooklyn neighborhood.

The choice to expose a pedophile is a no-brainer, right? Mostly.

But if your community believes that ‘informing’ on other community members is unthinkable, pedophiles are left free to continue preying on kids. In fact, pedophiles flourish in insular communities.

And there are few communities more insular than Williamsburg’s rapidly-growing population of Hasidim, a branch of Orthodox Judaism whose name signifies piety.

Brooklyn’s neighborhood of Williamsburg is home to approximately 180,000 Hasidim. One of them is Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, and he’s on a mission.

“Boys used to come and tell me that they go the ritual bath—they’re being sodomized,” the rabbi said. “Girls used to tell me that their father sleeps with them.” Faced with mounting reports of child molestation, Rosenberg founded a free hotline to inform his community about sexual predators, as well as how to get the police involved.

Other rabbis denounced the open condemnation of community pedophiles, labeling Rosenberg an “informer” against the Jewish people. The smear has given apparent permission for violence against Rosenberg himself. Fellow Jews have hurled rocks at him. One particularly nasty street ambush included having bleach thrown in his face, disabling one of his eyes for a time. Of all the synagogues in Williamsburg, the rabbi can count on one hand how many will let him enter to pray.

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