ABUSE TRACKER

ARGENTINA
GlobalPost

AFP

An Argentine diocese apologized for abuse committed by a pedophile priest on Friday and, in a first for the country’s Catholic church, announced compensation for his victims.

Father Jose Mercau, who is serving a 14-year sentence, was pastor of the St. John the Baptist church in San Isidro diocese on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and ran a home for destitute children.

“The diocese of San Isidro, and in particular the bishop and his priests, publicly apologize to the young people who were affected by Father Jose Mercau’s actions,” the Catholic news agency AICA said.

The agency also reported that the office of San Isidro’s bishop, Monsignor Jorge Ojea, was willing to compensate the four males who filed a complaint against the priest.

Father Maximo Jurcinovic, a spokesman for the bishop, told news channel C5N that a financial settlement had been reached and that the diocese would sell some of its properties to fund it.

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ROME
Headlines from the Catholic World

Rome, Italy, Dec 13, 2013 / 05:24 pm (CNA).- The consecrated women of Regnum Christi, the lay association of the Legion of Christ, have elected Spaniard Gloria Rodriguez as their next general director.

The lay association’s general assembly, which has been meeting in Rome since Dec. 2, marks the first time the consecrated women have elected their leadership through a participatory process.

One delegate to the association’s general assembly, Marilú Rodriguez, said the election process will choose a government that will help Regnum Christi “to continue going deeper into our identity” and guide the women “on the path that we have begun.”

“It is a collegial act, an expression of maturity and responsibility,” she said.

Gloria Rodriguez, 38, expressed her gratitude to the team of councilors she has worked with since 2012. She said all the consecrated women of the lay association are in her heart, Regnum Christi reported Dec. 11.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis is to set up a special commission on the sexual abuse of children, which will advise him on ways to prevent abuse and provide pastoral care for victims and their families.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston (above left), a member of the Pope’s advisory Council of Cardinals, announced the decision at a Vatican briefing for reporters last Thursday, during a break in the council’s meetings with the Pope.

The cardinal said that the new commission would continue the work of Pope Benedict XVI against clerical sex abuse, and that among its tasks would be to ‘study the present programmes in place for the protection of children, and to come up with suggestions for new initiatives; by the Vatican, in collaboration with national bishops’ conferences and religious orders around the world.

The news was greeted with great interest in Australia, where there is an ongoing Royal Commission into incidents of the abuse of children within the Catholic Church.

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CIUDAD VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

BY POR NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO — Primero, una de las más altas autoridades de la Legión de Cristo renunció abruptamente a la orden debido a la lentitud con que se procesan los cambios. Después, los sacerdotes facultaron a los protegidos y socios del fundador caído en desgracia, Marcial Maciel, para que eligieran el nuevo líder.

Durante el mes pasado hubo varios retrocesos en el proceso de la legión para reformarse mediante la elección de un nuevo dirigente, con lo que terminará la supervisión del Vaticano que duró tres años. Pero aunque la Legión quiere mostrar una nueva cara, sus más altos directivos siguen hablando con nostalgia y veneración de Maciel, quien violó a varios seminaristas, tenía tres hijos y fue definido como alguien “carente de escrúpulos y auténtica vocación religiosa” por los investigadores designados por el Vaticano para indagar los abusos de los que se le acusaba.

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ARGENTINA
Minuto Uno

El obispo de San isidro leerá en misa un comunicado en que se disulpará por los absusos de José Mercau, perpetrados contra cinco menores en el Hogar San Juan Diego de El Talar.

El obispo de San Isidro, monseñor Oscar Ojea, leerá en misa un comunicado donde se pedirá perdón en nombre de la Iglesia por los abusos del cura José Mercau, que trabajaba en el Hogar San Juan Diego de El Talar, denunciado por cinco menores, de 11 y 14 años. Fue condenado a 14 de prisión.

El texto, que llevará el título “Asumir, pedir perdón y deseo de reparar”, contará con la fima de Ojea, y planteará, tal como adelantó Tiempo Argentino este viernes, que “las secuelas que deja el abuso sexual en el futuro de los niños y de los jóvenes no se pueden medir” y que “su vida vincular y afectiva queda lastimada en lo más hondo por la violación de su intimidad.”

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ARGENTINA
Diario Popular

[Summary: Archbishop Oscar Ojea and his priests on Sunday will offer a public apology to those abused by priest Jose Mercau. Mercau abused the young people while he was pastor of San Juan Bautista, Ricardo Rojas, Tigre. The apology will be read at all Sunday masses in the diocese.]

Un pedido de perdón público a víctimas de una situación de abuso sexual, a raíz de los hechos cometidos por el sacerdote José Mercau, preso desde hace 7 años por este delito, será formulado el domingo próximo por el obispo de San Isidro, monseñor Oscar Ojea, junto con su presbiterio.

Mercau cometió el abuso cuando era párroco de San Juan Bautista, en Ricardo Rojas, partido de Tigre y el texto del comunicado del Obispado será leído el próximo domingo en todas las misas de la diócesis.

“Con claridad que estos actos están abiertamente en contradicción con la Palabra de Dios y con la tarea evangelizadora que día a día comunidades y pastores llevan adelante”, señala el texto que será leído el domingo.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WVVA

[with video]

By Gil McClanahan

PRINCETON (WVVA) – –
A former youth volunteer at a Bluefield, West Virginia church charged with child sex abuse is free on bond.

The attorney for 55-year old Timothy Probert of Bluefield says they plan to try and get evidence of the alleged abuse suppressed under the “Priest Penitent Privilege” law in West Virginia.

That law states whatever you tell your pastor is in confidence and cannot be used against you, and attorney William Flanigan tells us that will be a major part of their defense.

According to the criminal complaint, Probert told Pastor Jonathan Rockness and two elders at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield, West Virginia that he had abused several teenage boys at his house and on mission trips.

Probert is facing more than three dozen charges for sex crimes against children.

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MISSOURI
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

The trial of a Missouri Baptist pastor charged with sexual child abuse scheduled earlier this month has been postponed.

Moniteau County Circuit Judge Kenneth Hayden granted a continuance Dec. 2 in the case against Travis Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, Mo., charged with second-degree statutory rape and second-degree statutory sodomy, Call C felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The new trial date is June 2, with a pre-trial conference scheduled May 16.

Smith, 43, was arrested Oct. 1, 2012, by members of Missouri State Highway Patrol following what police termed a lengthy investigation by the agency’s Division of Drug and Crime Control.

The case received widespread media attention when Smith’s church decided to keep him as pastor, despite the arrest, instead of firing him or putting him on administrative leave.

A deacon at the church told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the pastor “was rough around the edges” when he was younger, but “has a good heart” and is good for the church.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Stephen Crittenden | Dec. 13, 2013

SYDNEY Making its first appearance before the national Royal Commission into sexual abuse this week, Australia’s Catholic church led with another of its characteristic “foot in mouth” moments.
Survivors of abuse stormed out of the Sydney courtroom in tears when the church’s senior barrister, Peter Gray, commenced his opening address with a quotation from St. Mark’s Gospel: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them: for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”

Chaired by New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Peter McClellan, the six-member Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in November 2012 by former prime minister Julia Gillard after years of mounting public pressure. At least 5,000 people are expected to come forward to tell their stories of abuse.

The Royal Commission examines “how institutions with a responsibility for children have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse,” according to its website. The commission will also “investigate where systems have failed to protect children and make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.”

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

by BERNIE DAVIDOW

A report from the Associated Press on Friday casts considerable doubt on the ability of the troubled Legionaries of Christ, a worldwide Roman Catholic religious order with a seminary in Cheshire, to reform itself.

The story says, in part:

” … hopes are dwindling that the Vatican’s effort to radically reform the Legion has succeeded, raising the question of what Pope Francis will do with the once-powerful and wealthy order after the mandate of the papal envoy running it expires.”

The story comes only a week after The Courant’s Kelly Glista reported that an independent investigation had revealed “significant evidence” of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest who served at the order’s Cheshire seminary years ago.

David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is surprised by none of it. He released the following statement Friday in response to the AP report. The statement references the order’s disgraced founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, who, after being accused of abusing boys in seminaries in Spain and Italy, resigned. Before he died, he was censured by Pope Bendict XVI.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

[with video]

by Marcella Raymond
Reporter/Anchor

A teacher fired from Hales Franciscan high school on the south side is suing the school to get her job back.

Rochelle Daniels claims she was let go because she was a whistleblower involving an alleged sexual assault at the school.

Daniels was an English teacher and says she was fired 16 days after contacting the Dept of Children and Family Services about the alleged assault by two male students at the school which went co-ed this year.

Daniels said the administrators told her they were handling the allegations internally and that she should have talked to them before making the call.

State law says school must report abuse allegations to DCFS immediately.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY ASHLEE REZIN Staff Reporter December 12, 2013

A former teacher at a prestigious Catholic high school on the South Side is suing the institution, claiming she was fired because she blew the whistle on an alleged sexual assault involving students.

Rochelle Daniels alleges she was wrongfully terminated from Hales Franciscan High School, at 4930 S. Cottage Grove Ave., less than one month after a female student approached her and claimed to have been sexually assaulted by two male students, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court.

After the student confided to her English teacher on Oct. 31, Daniels, of Kane County, subsequently called the state’s Department of Child and Family Services, something the school’s administration did not do, the lawsuit claims.

Daniels says she was called into a meeting with Hales Franciscan principal Erica Brownfield and school president Jeffrey Gray four days later, during which time the administrators “wanted to know every detail of her conversation with the female student who was assaulted,” according to the lawsuit.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Huffington Post

A teacher at a South Side Chicago high school claims she was fired after reporting a student’s alleged sexual assault to authorities.

Rochelle Daniels filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Bronzeville’s Hales Franciscan High School Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court. Daniels’ lawsuit claims her November dismissal from the private school was a violation of the Illinois Whistleblower Act, the Tribune reports.

Daniels said in late October a female student told her she was assaulted in a stairwell at school by two male Hales Franciscan students, prompting the English teacher to report the incident to the Department of Child and Family Services, according to the Sun-Times.

In an interview with WGN, Daniels said school administrators later told her they were handling the allegations internally and that she should have come to them first before calling DCFS.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has completed its first week of a hearing into the controversial “Towards Healing” process, used by the Catholic Church to deal with allegations of abuse against it.

The early part of the week covered events surrounding the abuse of Mrs. Joan Isaacs by priest, Frank Derriman. The case occurred in the Brisbane Archdiocese, in Queensland State. The main points which arose from that case concerned the inadequacies of the “Towards Healing” process, and problems associated with the involvement of church lawyers and insurance officials, in what was billed as a primarily pastoral process.

The final half has enquired into events surrounding the abuse of Jennifer Ingham by priest Paul Rex Brown. This case occurred in the Lismore diocese in New South Wales State. Lismore was also the location of the North Coast Children’s Home, operated by the Anglican Church, which was the case study for the preceding hearings of the Commission (see previous postings).

The Commission has heard apologies from the Brisbane Archbishop, Mark Coleridge, and the Lismore Bishop, Geoffrey Jarrett. Unlike the Mrs. Isaacs case, the Ms. Ingham case was marked by some positive comments on the process by the victim, particularly concerning the role of Patrick Mullins and Geoffrey Jarrett.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 14, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

‘I wanted to know why, in the diocese of Lismore, then across all of Australia, then the world, why not one good fearless person could have stepped out against the depravities and wrongs that existed, including turning a blind eye to the abusers and moving the clergy from town to town to protect them from being discovered?”

With this anguished plea, Jennifer Ingham gave shaking voice to questions at the heart of hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney this week. Who takes responsibility? Who will lead?

In the strongest statement yet by a senior church leader on its mishandling of the crisis, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge told the commission on Wednesday there had been ”spectacular bungling” and ”drastic failure”. A ”tsunami” of child sexual abuse allegations had caught bishops and other officials ”like rabbits in a headlight”, he said. He cut through on the question other church witnesses dodged all week.

With mounting exasperation commission chair Peter McClellan had been asking whether the church as a whole should bear responsibility for the actions of individuals within it. In other words, should its great wealth not be available as compensation to the victims?

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TEXAS
Beaumont Enterprise

By Tim Monzingo
Published 8:50 am, Friday, December 13, 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont said Thursday it settled a lawsuit filed by six plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse by a priest over three decades because it was in the best interests of all involved, even though the church had “valid defenses to the claims.”

The diocese attorney and the Dallas-based attorney representing the plaintiffs reached a settlement in the case Wednesday, more than a year after the suit was filed. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed at the plaintiffs’ request.

The suit alleged that the Rev. Ronald Bollich abused six men, boys at the time, beginning in the mid-1970s. Bollich, who died in April 1996, worked for the diocese for about 30 years.

“At the time of the settlement, the court was considering motions on behalf of the diocese that could have resulted in the dismissal of the case,” according to a statement by Cashiola and Bean, the Beaumont law firm representing the diocese in the case. “The attorney for the diocese continues to advise that we had valid defenses to all the plaintiff’s claims.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 13, 2013

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

Two credible and knowledgeable Philadelphia Catholics – including noted blogger Susan Matthews – report that they’ve heard rumors that Archbishop Charles Chaput may disclose this weekend the fates of some alleged predator priests by making announcements at some parishes. WE DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS ACCURATE OR NOT.

It’s about time. Victims, their families and Philly Catholics have waited far too long for some clarity from church officials about these accused child molesters. Whenever Chaput makes this announcement, we suspect he won’t be completely forthcoming about key details.

[Catholics4Change]

If this is true, it’s another sign of Chaput’s irresponsible secrecy.

When Chaput’s hand-picked panel makes a decision about an accused priest, he should disclose it immediately. To wait is to be unfair to everyone involved. Worse, to wait is often to endanger kids.

There’s only one reason to delay and to lump multiple accused predator priests together for one big announcement. That reason is public relations. Chaput simply wants to try and make sure there’s just one story about child molesting clerics, not several stories.

And he wants to put his “spin” on these cases with his flock first, before they hear unbiased accounts from impartial media outlets.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Published December 13, 2013
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – First, one of the Legion of Christ’s top officials abruptly quit the troubled religious order in frustration over the slow pace of change. Then priests in the cult-like movement empowered proteges and associates of the order’s disgraced founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, to vote for their next leader.

The past month has seen some setbacks the Legion’s efforts to rehabilitate itself as it moves toward electing a new leadership next month, the culmination of a three-year Vatican experiment aiming to overhaul a damaged order. Yet even as the Legion prepares to present a new face, high-ranking members continue to speak nostalgically and even reverently of Maciel — a sexual predator who molested his seminarians, fathered three children and was, in the words of Vatican-appointed investigators, “devoid of scruples and authentic religious meaning.”

It all means that hopes are dwindling that the Vatican’s effort to radically reform the Legion has succeeded, raising the question of what Pope Francis will do with the once-powerful and wealthy order after the mandate of the papal envoy running it expires.

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, took over the Legion in 2010 and appointed a Vatican cardinal to govern it after investigators determined that the congregation itself needed to be “purified” of Maciel’s influence. In reality, the Vatican knew well of Maciel’s crimes for decades but turned a blind eye, impressed instead by his ability to bring millions of dollars and thousands of seminarians into to the church.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, December 13, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, SNAP Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

We applaud the South Side teacher who reported a case of sexual assault involving Hales Franciscan High School students by contacting the Department of Children and Family Services.

It is disappointing to hear that Rochelle Daniels has been fired for contacting DCFS after a student confided in her when the school’s administration neglected to do so. The school should do everything it can to encourage individuals who have witnessed, suspected, or experienced sexual abuse. But instead, they are choosing to send a terrible message that discourages people from doing the right thing to protect children, expose predators and deter cover ups.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Virtual Lancaster

A former canon at Lancaster’s Catholic Cathedral, Stephen Shield, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after he was convicted of three historic sexual offences.

He has been put on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Shield, 53, of Balmoral Road, Lancaster, was found guilty last month of three counts of indecent assault following a trial at Preston Crown Court and was sentenced earlier today.

The three historic allegations related to one male victim aged between 17-24 years. The offences were committed between 1985 and 1992.

The Bishop of Lancaster, the Right Reverend Michael G Campbell, has described the case as a “tragic episode.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The former Dean of Lancaster Cathedral has been jailed for historical sex offences against a man who was training as a priest.

Canon Stephen Shield was sentenced to 12 months in prison for three indecent assaults between 1985 and 1992.

Shield, 54, of Balmoral Road, Lancaster, abused the man from the age of 18, Preston Crown Court heard.

The Bishop of Lancaster, the Right Reverend Michael G Campbell, said it was a “tragic episode”.

Two of the assaults took place in a church presbytery in Preston in 1992 when the victim was in his 20s, while the other happened at a retreat in the Lake District, the court heard.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

The former dean of Lancaster Cathedral, who abused his power and authority to indecently assault a trainee priest, has been jailed for 12 months.

Canon Stephen Shield, 53, took advantage of his victim, who was learning the priesthood at the time in the early 1990s.

Two assaults took place in Shield’s presbytery in Preston, Lancashire, with one taking place under the table at a dinner party where other priests were among guests.

Giving evidence, the victim said he was convinced that others present knew that Shield had put his hands down his trousers but kept quiet.

Shield committed an indecent assault in a bedroom at the presbytery on another occasion.

He was convicted of the charges last month and was also found guilty of another assault on the same man in the mid-1980s at a Catholic retreat in Cumbria when both were religious students.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Lauren Zumbach, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:18 a.m. CST, December 13, 2013

A former teacher at Hales Franciscan High School has sued the Bronzeville school and its principal, alleging she was fired for notifying authorities that a female student reported being sexually assaulted by two male students.

Rochelle Daniels, who taught English, claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court that she was fired in violation of the Illinois Whistleblower Act.

“Of course I’d like to have my job back, but I would also like the administration to take responsibility and to hold the administration accountable for inaction in this situation,” Daniels said in an interview Thursday.

Rick Hammond, an attorney for Hales Franciscan, said the school “denies any allegations of wrongful conduct and believes they had valid dealings with Ms. Daniels.” He declined further comment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

10 December 2013 by Marie Collins

The news that the Vatican is to set up a commission focused on safeguarding children and caring for victims of abuse is welcome. I would have been more impressed if it had been set up ten years ago as it certainly should. It was obvious by then that the clerical child sexual abuse crisis was not just isolated to one or two countries and it was not going to go away. No amount of defensive statements or words of apology were going to tackle the problem, prevent further abuse or help those survivors who needed justice and healing.

Now that the Vatican is setting up this commission my hope is that it will not turn out to be a false dawn.

That we will see real, practical measures put in place to ensure the safety of children and bring the needed peace and justice to those who have been hurt.

If there is to be lasting progress then the right people have to be chosen as members of this commission. We have had too many decisions made within the Church by those whose priority has been the protection of the institution rather than the protection of children. We have had too many speak for the Church using words which have hurt rather than healed survivors. This must be an end to that.

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GHANA
Spy Ghana

Cape Coast Circuit Court on Wednesday struck out the case of rape against a priest of the Anglican Church in Cape Coast, Reverend Father Emmanuel Quartey, following an advice from the office of the Attorney-General’s Department.

The priest has been remanded twice into prison custody by the same court, for allegedly raping a 20-year old lady, until he was released, following the striking out of the case against him.

The AG’s Department contended that the victim actually consented to having an affair with the priest, explaining that the lady did not make any noise to draw people’s attention to the incident.

It further wondered why the victim was not able to shout in the hotel room to draw the attention of the workers there for the necessary action to be taken.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancaster Today

A Catholic priest from Lancaster has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for sexually abusing a young man.

Stephen Shield, 55, former priest at Lancaster Cathedral, was convicted of three counts of indecent assault upon the man who had hopes of a future in the priesthood.

More than 240 parishioners signed a petition in support of Shield, which was handed to the court by Shield’s barrister, Paul Humphries.

Shield continues to deny the sex attacks but Judge Anthony Russell QC, sentencing, said he had targeted the young man due to his vulnerability, adding that the man felt his complaints would not be taken seriously because of Shield’s status as a priest.

Preston Crown Court heard how the sex assaults, committed in the 1980s and 90s had affected the man psychologically and spiritually.

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CANADA
CTV

CTV Saskatoon
Published Thursday, December 12, 2013

A former residential school supervisor found guilty of abusing young boys was sentenced to just under three years in jail Thursday.

Paul Leroux was found guilty last month on eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency against several boys who attended Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s.

Leroux was a dormitory supervisor at the school in the 1950s and 1960s.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS DECEMBER 12, 2013

BATTLEFORD, Sask. – A former supervisor at a northern Saskatchewan residential school is going to jail after being sentenced on convictions for molesting several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who worked at the Beauval Indian Residential School, was sentenced to three years Thursday after being found guilty on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school.

His victims were angry over the sentence handed down in a Battleford courtroom.

“I feel so totally inadequate. I feel like my life is worthless for what the judge has given him — three years,” said one man outside court.

“With good behaviour he will be out in seven months. He will be out by next summer, while we have to live with what he has done to us.”

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CANADA
CBC News

Paul Leroux, a former dormitory supervisor who has been convicted of sexually abusing boys at a residential school decades ago, has been given a three-year sentence by a judge in Battleford, Sask.

Leroux shook his head as the sentence was handed down on Thursday. Some of his victims who were in court said they were upset with the prison term and that it was not enough considering their years of suffering.

“I feel so totally inadequate,” one of the victims said outside of court. The man cannot be identified because of a publication ban. “I feel like my life is worthless for what the judge had given him. Three years. With good behaviour, he’ll be out in seven months. He’ll be out of there by next summer while we have to live with what he has done to us.”

In his remarks on the sentence, the judge said he recognized the victims have suffered and that any sentence he imposed would not relieve that suffering or seem adequate.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 13, 2013

ONE was lured into a sex cult formed by her parish priest and school chaplain. The other was sexually abused for years by her local priest who paid for her to fly to his church residence for sex.

Joan Isaacs and Jennifer Ingham were both women from religious families who grew up in the Catholic Church. They were teenagers, in that vulnerable stage of life. More importantly, they had put their faith and trust in the priests who had taught them passages from the Bible as they were growing up, such as: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such of these that the kingdom of God belongs.”

To their abusers, the combination of trust and innocence made them the perfect victims.

Last week, both women found an inner strength behind their tears to speak publicly for the first time about how that trust was betrayed as they told their stories to the royal commission into institutionalised responses to child sex abuse sitting in Sydney.

Isaacs, 60, was drawn into a cult which her Brisbane parish priest Father Frank Derriman built around himself, giving his young victims the surname Brown after the Peanuts comic hero.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

One of Lancashire’ s most senior Catholic priests has been jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting a man in Preston.

Canon Stephen Shield, the Dean at Lancaster Cathedral, committed the offences more than two decades ago. against a man who later became a priest.

The Bishop of Lancaster says he is praying for those affected by the case.

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CANADA
CTV

The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, December 12, 201

The Crown rested its case Thursday in the chilling trial of a former priest accused of 80 charges of sexual assault on Inuit children.

A total of 42 alleged victims – many choking with sobs – delivered heart-wrenching testimonies throughout the trial.

Most of the alleged victims were from the small Inuit town of Igloolik where Eric Dejaegar was stationed between 1978 and 1982 while he worked for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

One woman told how, at the age of 12, she was tied to a bed and sodomized. Other witnesses said that Dejaeger had forced them to watch acts of bestiality.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Here’s a few pictures from Iqaluit, Nunavut to give you a feel for (1) the courtroom and (2) the courthouse where the sex abuse trial of Father Eric Dejaeger is ongoing (December 2013), and (3) the detention centre where Father Eric Dejager has been housed for the past three years

(1) The Courtroom

Below – with many thanks thanks to my dear friend with whom I travelled to Iqaluit – a rough diagram of the courtroom in Iqaluit where Father Eric Dejaeger stood trial.

Click on each photo to enlarge.

Note the difference in the courtroom layout in Nunavut: the witness faces the judge, and the tables at which both Crown and defence teams sit are angled toward the witness stand vs facing the judge and witness with back to courtroom observers. With the seating as it is in Nunavut observers seated in the right spots can see the defendant’s face throughout the trial, and can also watch the lawyers. The witness can be seen only from the back barring those times when he/she turns sidewise to speak directly to the Crown, defense lawyer or defendant.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The actions of the Lismore diocese of the Catholic Church came under scrutiny at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today. The case study used was the abuse of Jennifer Ingham by priest, Paul Rex Brown (who died in 2005), and her treatment by the “Towards Healing” process, set up by the church to deal with abuse allegations. Ms Ingham said she suffered bulimia, had ongoing psychiatric problems and attempted suicide.

Previously, the enquiry has heard of a case in the Brisbane Archdiocese, led by Mark Coleridge (see previous posting), who is a member of the “Truth, Justice and Healing Council”, the PR Unit set up by the Catholic Church to handle the fall-out of the Royal Commission. Coleridge, given he was a witness, should have resigned his position with the church’s PR Unit, beforehand.

The bishop of Lismore, Geoffrey Jarrett, apologized earlier this year to Ms. Ingham, for not being available for her “towards Healing” process. Ms Ingham said she wanted Jarrett to answer some questions: “Why in the Diocese of Lismore, then across all of Australia, then the world, why not one good fearless person could have stepped out against the depravities and wrongs that existed…why no one in the church spoke out against turning a blind eye to the abusers and moving clergy from town to town to protect them and the church from being discovered….Why did nothing happen when I finally acknowledged my abuse by Brown to the church?”.

When she finally met bishop Jarrett, Ms. Ingham told him she thought it was “that they were given a direction by the Vatican to bury evidence and lie”. Jarrett’s response seemed to be that “He was shocked by this and tried to answer her “but to me it was just noise. He said he could not understand how a man of faith ‘held her captive’ for four years and could not fathom the corruptness in the church in recent years…I felt in reality Jarrett had no answer … he simply did not know.”

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GHANA
Ghana Web

Cape Coast Circuit Court on Wednesday struck out the case of rape against a priest of the Anglican Church in Cape Coast, Reverend Father Emmanuel Quartey, following an advice from the office of the Attorney-General’s Department.

The priest has been remanded twice into prison custody by the same court, for allegedly raping a 20-year old lady, until he was released, following the striking out of the case against him.

The AG’s Department contended that the victim actually consented to having an affair with the priest, explaining that the lady did not make any noise to draw people’s attention to the incident.

It further wondered why the victim was not able to shout in the hotel room to draw the attention of the workers there for the necessary action to be taken.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

A catholic priest has been jailed for sexually abusing a young man at English Martyrs church in Preston.

Stephen Shield, 55, the former cathedral priest at Lancaster, was convicted of three counts of indecent assault upon the man who had hopes of a future in the priesthood.

More than 240 parishioners signed a petition in support of Shield.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

DECEMBER 13, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Kathy and I have heard through several sources that internal investigations have concluded on most of the priests removed from ministry. These are the priests Archbishop Chaput temporarily removed from ministry in light of the list recovered during Msgr. Lynn’s trial. In some cases, the statute of limitations for child sex abuse had expired while the list was hidden. The Archdiocesan investigators and review board made recommendations to Archbishop Chaput.

The announcements may be made at “affected” parishes this weekend after Masses. However, all Catholics and Philadelphia-area residents are affected by clergy child sex abuse. These priests may go back into the community with no Megan’s Law listing to alert neighbors. Until their appeals to Rome are finalized, they will receive stipends. If they choose a life of prayer and penance, the Archdiocese continues to care for their financial needs. All will receive their full pensions – even if they are laicized.

The Archdiocese does not share specific information on priests who were permanently removed from ministry. We do not know if they’ve chosen a life of prayer and penance, are awaiting appeals to the Vatican or are living in our communities.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

Australia’s indigenous rights leader has called for Aboriginal missions to be considered in the royal commission into institutionalised sexual abuse.

The commission is holding public hearings in Sydney and investigating how various institutions, including the Catholic and Anglican churches, have responded to child sexual abuse.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda says Aboriginal missions, such as those that existed in his home state of Queensland, should be included.

“We would like to see missions confirmed as institutions because back in the day people couldn’t leave,” Mr Gooda told reporters on Friday.

“They were basically called inmates at the missions and a lot of abuse happened at these places.

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IDAHO
KTVB

by Associated Press
KTVB.COM

NAMPA — A church deacon has been charged with lewd conduct after prosecutors said he abused a young parishioner.

The Idaho Press-Tribune reports Alexander Gonzalez Garcia, a deacon with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nampa, was arrested Tuesday. Prosecutors say a girl younger than 16 told investigators in July that Garcia inappropriately touched her in a church storage room during a potluck a few days earlier.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

DAVID QUINN – 13 DECEMBER 2013

It is a remarkable thing that in the various interviews he has granted to date, Pope Francis hasn’t been asked to reflect in any substantial way at all on the clerical child abuse scandals.

On his flight back from World Youth Day in Brazil a few months ago, he spent 80 minutes answering questions from journalists and the matter did not come up.

When he granted a lengthy and widely reported interview to various Jesuit publications more recently, again, he was not asked about it.

And when the atheist founder of one of Italy’s leading newspapers, ‘La Repubblica’, interviewed him shortly after that, it did not occur to the interviewer to bring it up.

Here in Ireland, the Catholic Church’s child protection office has published its latest audits of the child protection procedures of a selection of the country’s dioceses and religious orders.

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ARGENTINA
Info News

El obispado de San Isidro anunció a través de un comunicado que pedirá perdón por los delitos de abuso sexual cometidos por un sacerdote de un Hogar de El Talar.

Se trata del cura José Mercau, que trabajaba en el Hogar San Juan Diego de El Talar y fue denunciado por cinco menores de once y 14 años que vivían en el lugar y condenado a 14 años de prisión.

Con el título de “Asumir, pedir perdón y deseo de reparar”, y con la firma del monseñor Oscar Ojea, la esquela comienza planteando que “las secuelas que deja el abuso sexual en el futuro de los niños y de los jóvenes no se pueden medir. Su vida vincular y afectiva queda lastimada en lo más hondo por la violación de su intimidad.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Friday 13 December 2013

A little girl who ran and told a nun after she had been touched by a priest “got a belting” for casting aspersions on the man, an inquiry has heard.

Internal Catholic church records show the man, Father Paul Rex Brown, would later be dumped from his priestly duties following a litany of complaints.

They included claims he was a drunk and that he sexually abused two boys in the 1980s.

Evidence before the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse shows he has been implicated in the alleged abuse of at least six children.

But his only criminal conviction before his death in 2005 related to possession of child porn.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

The director of a pastoral and redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has conceded she lacked influence when dealing with the case of a woman who was abused by a priest for four years.

When she was 17 and in her final year of school, Jennifer Ingham was suffering from bulimia.

It was 1978. She was admitted to hospital, underwent psychological treatment and missed her exams.

Mrs Ingham also required surgery to her face for the condition, and asked to pause in her testimony at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse because she was in severe pain.

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ICELAND
Iceland Review

Minister of Culture and Education Illugi Gunnarsson said in response to a question from MP for the Left-Greens Ögmundur Jónasson at Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, yesterday, that the compensation paid by the Catholic Church of Iceland to the victims of sexual and mental abuse which occurred under the church’s veil was “shamefully low,” dv.is reports.

The Catholic Church of Iceland established an investigative commission after accusations of brutal sexual abuse, bullying and neglect were reported in the media in 2011.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By Samantha Perry
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — A former church youth volunteer was arrested Thursday afternoon on 38 counts of child sexual abuse related charges.

Timothy Probert, 55, of Bluefield, was taken into custody by Sgt. M.D. Clemons, with the Crimes Against Children Unit of the West Virginia State Police. The alleged crimes stem from incidents that occurred when Probert was a youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield.

Probert is charged with 22 counts of sexual abuse by a custodian; six counts of first-degree sexual abuse; seven counts of third-degree sexual assault; one count of distribution and display of obscene matter to a minor; one count of use of obscene matter with intent to seduce a minor; and one count of use of a minor to produce obscene matter or to assist in doing sexually explicit conduct.

Clemons said the abuse charges stem from incidents that date back to 1986. The last incident occurred between July 2008 and 2010.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WSET

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) – A former volunteer in a Bluefield church’s youth program has been arrested on numerous child sex abuse charges.

Media outlets report 55-year-old Timothy Probert was arraigned Thursday in Mercer County Magistrate Court on 38 counts, including 22 counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian.

State Police Sgt. M.D. Clemons says the alleged incidents involved boys ages 12 to 17 and go as far back as 1986. Clemons says some charges involved mission trips and alleged incidents at Probert’s home and that none occurred on Westminster Presbyterian Church property.

Senior Pastor Jonathan Rockness says the church is deeply saddened by the allegations. He says the church has fully cooperated with police.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WVNS

[with video]

By Douglas Fritz
By Jessie Gavin, Digital Journalist

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. –
Tim Probert was arrested and charged Thursday with 38 counts of Felony Child Abuse.

He formerly served as a youth mentor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Mercer County. 59News was in court on Thursday during Probert’s arraignment.

So far, about a dozen victims have come forward accusing the former church youth volunteer and mentor, Tim Probert, of sexual abuse.

The first documented case dates all the way back to 1986.

On Thursday, Probert was charged with 22 counts of Sex abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian, 6 counts of First Degree Sex Abuse, 7 counts of Third Degree Sex Assault, 2 counts of Use of a minor in sexually explicit content and 1 count of Distribution and display of obscene matter to a minor.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WOAY

BLUEFIELD – A Mercer County church official is charged with several counts of sexual misconduct.
Sergeant Melissa Clemons of the west Virginia state police tells Newswatch Tim Probert, 55, of Bluefield was arrested Thursday on 38 felony counts of sexual abuse against children.

Probert is a longtime member of Westminster Presbyterian church where he served as an elder.

Clemons adds some of his charges also stem from his association with the “We Can” volunteer program in Mercer County dating as far as the 1990’s.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

A Maplewood man claiming he was a pastor has been charged for sexually abusing two young girls for roughly 8 years.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged abuse started when the girls were around the age of 6.

The abuse by 61-year-old Jacoby Kindred was reported by the mother to police in July, when the girls, who are now ages 14 and 16, told their mother about it, according to a criminal complaint.

According to the criminal complaint, the girls told police Kindred would touch them inappropriately and would force sexual acts on them.

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MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

By Dan Nienaber
dnienaber@mankatofreepress.com

MANKATO — A priest who died in Ireland while awaiting trial for raping a 15-year-old boy in 1968 has been named in a new lawsuit against the Diocese of New Ulm claiming he sexually assaulted a Granite Falls boy while in the United States to be treated for pedophilia.

The attorneys announcing the lawsuit — Michael Finnegan of Jeff Anderson and Associates and Michael Bryant of Bradshaw and Bryant — also repeated their request to have the diocese release a list of 12 priests who have been accused of sexually molesting children.

The request was made in a similar lawsuit against the diocese, but the diocese will argue against the list being released in a hearing before District Court Judge Robert Docherty during a Jan. 6 hearing. The priest named in that lawsuit is David Roney. The two victims reported they were molested by Roney while attending a Catholic school in Benson.

Last week Archbishop John Nienstedt released a list of 32 priests accused of sexual abuse while working at churches within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. That list wasn’t released until a court order was issued.

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MINNESOTA
In-Forum

NEW ULM, Minn. – Attorneys from the Jeff Anderson law firm have filed a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf of a man who says he was abused in 1982 by the Rev. Francis Markey at St. Andrew Parish in Granite Falls.

The attorneys are also requesting release of the names of priests accused of abusing children in the New Ulm Diocese of the Catholic Church.

The suit names the diocese and Servants of the Paraclete as defendants. It alleges that both were negligent in failing to supervise Markey and allowing him to work in communities and parishes with access to children.

The allegations also state that Markey was placed in St. Andrew Parish without families being informed that he had molested children and had gone through alleged sex offender treatment several times.

The suit was filed Wednesday in Brown County District Court in New Ulm.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

BY SOPHIE TARR
December 13, 2013

Towards Healing was supposed to be a means for the Catholic Church to offer pastoral care and financial redress to people who had suffered years of anguish caused by pedophile priests.

Instead the process pitted lawyer against lawyer, an inquiry has heard, “horse-trading” over compensation sums.

Jennifer Ingham was subjected to four years of sexual abuse from the age of 16, at the hands of northern NSW parish priest Father Paul Rex Brown, and this year received a $265,000 settlement, most of which was paid by Catholic Church Insurance (CCI).

But Emma Fenby, a former CCI executive who dealt with child molestation claims, says she was advised to make an initial offer closer to $30,000.

She told the royal commission she ignored that advice.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Friday 13 December 2013

The Catholic church had known about child sex abuse allegations against a northern NSW priest since the 1980s, an inquiry has heard.

Jennifer Ingham has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that she was abused from the age of 16 in 1978 until 1982 by a parish priest in the diocese of Lismore, Father Paul Rex Brown, who died in 2005.

She claims she confronted church figures in 1990 but only received an apology this year.

On Friday, the commission heard evidence that the church was aware of sex abuse claims about Brown from as early as 1985.

Emma Fenby, a former claims manager for Catholic Church Insurance (CCI), also gave evidence on Friday.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Tyler Utzka, Reporter

A press conference was held this morning in Mankato announcing the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit. It was on behalf of a now, adult man who says he was abused when he was 8 years old.

The lawsuit alleges the Diocese of New Ulm and Servants of the Paraclete were negligent and requests the names of 12 accused child molestors.

Attorneys of the adult man who says he was sexually abused by Father Francis Markey back in 1982. They want the Diocese of New Ulm and Servants of the Paraclete to release the names of 12 accused and admitted child molestors in their clergy.

Attorney Michael Finnegan says, “Tragically, this young man never should have been abused repeatedly. That abuse was told to his supervisors and they continued to move him around until one day he ended up in Granite Falls at St. Andrews where he was abused as a young kid.”

The attorneys say the lawsuit is two–fold. Accusing the Diocese of negligence and nuisance.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, Dec. 12 2013

Former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong says the RCMP have completed an investigation into allegations of sexual assault levelled against him by a former student and found no evidence to support criminal charges.

Furlong has faced allegations stemming from his time teaching in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which first surfaced in a newspaper article last year and then escalated into a series of lawsuits.

Furlong has released a letter he received from an RCMP investigator last week, which says the force’s investigation did not support Abraham’s allegations and that the case is now closed.

He has issued a statement that says the RCMP letter exonerates him, and because of that, he is requesting a trial date in Abraham’s lawsuit.

Furlong released an earlier letter in October that also said there would be no charges, but at the time the RCMP insisted the investigation was still open, while the more recent letter makes it clear the file is closed.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong says the RCMP have closed an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against him by a former student and found no evidence to support criminal charges, prompting him to declare he’s been “fully cleared” in one of a series of allegations and lawsuits facing him.

The allegations stem from Furlong’s time teaching in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which first surfaced in a newspaper article last year.

The article quoted several people who said they were former students and claimed to have been verbally and physically abused by Furlong. It’s now the subject of a libel lawsuit by Furlong targeting the author, Laura Robinson.

Furlong publicly released a letter Thursday written by an RCMP investigator in Prince George, under the heading: “John Furlong — allegation of sexual assault.”

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CANADA
CTV

James Keller, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, December 12, 2013

VANCOUVER — Former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong says the RCMP have closed an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against him by a former student and found no evidence to support criminal charges, prompting him to declare he’s been “fully cleared” in one of a series of allegations and lawsuits facing him.

The allegations stem from Furlong’s time teaching in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which first surfaced in a newspaper article last year. The article quoted several people who said they were former students and claimed to have been verbally and physically abused by Fulong. It’s now the subject of a libel lawsuit by Furlong targeting the author.

Three people, including Beverly Abraham, have filed lawsuits against Furlong alleging sexual abuse, and the RCMP launched its own investigation into Abraham’s claims.

Furlong publicly released a letter Thursday written by an RCMP investigator in Prince George, under the heading: “John Furlong — allegation of sexual assault.”

“Based on the facts uncovered, the allegations made by Beverly Abraham are not supported,” wrote Cpl. Quinton Mackie in a letter sent to Furlong’s lawyer, dated Dec. 5.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/12/2013

A Maplewood pastor has been charged with raping two young girls for years, beginning when they were about 6.

The girls’ mother reported alleged abuse by Jacoby Kindred to police in July, when the girls, now 14 and 16, disclosed it, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court.

Kindred, 61, denied any inappropriate behavior and told police that the girls’ mother must have put them up to it. He made a reference to Minnesota being a “ladies’ state,” and said, “You weren’t there, nobody was there!” the complaint said.

He was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. As of midday Thursday, there was a warrant out for his arrest.

Kindred told police he was a pastor with One Accord Ministries. He refers to himself on his Facebook page as “Jacoby Preacherman.” He declined to describe the church for a reporter but told police it does not have a building.

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MINNESOTA
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Thursday, December 12, 2013

A 61-year-old Minnesota pastor was charged this week with raping two girls for nearly a decade.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that a complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court on Wednesday said that Jacoby Kindred began sexually abusing the girls when they were only about 6 years old.

After a letter was found referencing sex acts with Kindred, the girls, now ages 14 and 16, disclosed the relationship to their mother. Police were notified in July.

The younger of the two girls told a nurse at Midwest Children’s Resource Center that Kindred began digitally penetrating her at the age of 6. He later forced her to perform oral sex on him and then progressed to intercourse, the girl said.

“He told her the devil was inside her and he could take the demons out of her,” according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A self-proclaimed pastor is charged with raping two girls for many years, from the time when one was 6 years old and continuing into her early teens, court documents show.

Sixty-one-year-old Jacoby Kindred, of Maplewood, faces two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. If convicted of both charges, he could face a sentence of 60 years in prison and/or an $80,000 fine.

A criminal complaint states that Kindred knew the girls – the oldest of which is now 16; the younger, 14 — since they were very young.

Police became aware of the abuse over the summer after the younger girl’s mother found a letter the girl had written describing sex acts with Kindred. When talking with authorities in August, the 14-year-old cried, saying the abuse started about eight years earlier and continued until she was 13.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A 61-year-old Maplewood man is charged with first degree criminal sexual assault for allegedly raping two sisters for nearly a decade.

Prosecutors say the defendant, Jacoby Kindred, was a grandfather of sorts to the victims and allegedly began molesting when they were six and seven years old. Police were alerted to the case when a relative found a note that one of the girls had written describing the abuse at the hands of Kindred.

The victims, now ages 16 and 14, told investigators that the sexual molestation took place during sleepovers at Kindred’s house, and involved fondling, oral stimulation and penetration. They said the defendant told them that the “devil was inside them” and that the sexual activity would remove the demons. The girls told detectives that the abuse occurred repeatedly for approximately nine years.

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MINNESOTA
Daily Mail (UK)

By ASHLEY COLLMAN

A 61-year-old Minnesota pastor has been accused of raping two girls for nearly a decade, starting when they were just 6 and 7 years old.

Jacoby Kindred, pastor of One Accord Ministries, was reported by the girls’ mother in July when she found a note one of her daughters wrote describing the abuse.

He has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Kindred became a grandfather-figure to the girls, now 16 and 17, when their mother started dating his son and they would have sleepovers at his house.

That’s when the molestation started, they say. Kindred told the victims that the ‘devil was inside them’ and that the sexual activity was the only cure.

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CANADA
CBC News

The trial of Oblate priest Eric Dejaeger in Iqaluit has been adjourned until January.

Dejaeger, 66, faces dozens of charges related to sexual abuse against children.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik.

After four weeks, the court has heard from 41 people, mostly complainants.

They gave disturbing testimony about alleged sexual acts involving young girls, boys and even dogs.

Dejaeger has pleaded guilty to eight charges.

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NEW YORK
eNews Park Forest

New York–(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2013. Yesterday, as Pope Francis was named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) formally responded to the Vatican’s submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on the handling of widespread sexual violence against children in the church. Today’s document addressed recent cover-ups in the Church and the Holy See’s claims to the committee that it is only responsible for what happens within the walls of Vatican City.

Read the submission here. The Holy See is due to appear before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in January to answer questions in person.

Read the list of questions from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child here.

Read the Vatican’s response here.

For more information, visit CCR’s case page.

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

CANADA
The Record

IQALUIT, Nunavut – The Crown’s case against a former northern priest facing 80 charges of sex abuse against Inuit children has ended after weeks of wrenching testimony from Eric Dejaeger’s alleged victims.

A total of 42 witnesses were called, many from the tiny Nunavut community of Igloolik, where Dejaeger was posted as an Oblate missionary between 1978 and 1982. Dejaeger’s accusers sobbed their way through much of the testimony.

BORDERLINE: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

One woman described how, as a girl of 12, she was taped to a bed and sodomized. Other witnesses told how Dejaeger forced them to watch him commit acts of bestiality.

Another said that Dejaeger raped her and, after she tried unsuccessfully to clean off the blood from her injuries, set her down on a couch over which he had draped garbage bags to prevent staining.

Many in the witness box pushed their bodies as far as possible from Dejaeger, who sat only a few metres from them. It was common for testimony to be given over the sound of loud sobs and wailing from outside court from those who had just told their story.

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

MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — A man who claims he was molested by a priest in Granite Falls sued the Diocese of New Ulm and the Servants of the Paraclete on Thursday to force them to release their lists of clerics accused of abusing children.

The lawsuit filed in Brown County alleges the diocese and religious order were negligent in allowing the Rev. Francis Markey access to children. The plaintiff, identified as Doe 10, claims Markey abused him when he served for three months at St. Andrew’s Church in 1982, when he was about 8 years old.

Doe 10 now lives in Nevada. It’s the second time he has sued the diocese over Markey, attorney Mike Finnegan said. The first was dismissed for procedural reasons. This lawsuit takes advantage of a new Minnesota law extending the statute of limitations for abuse lawsuits, he said.

The lawsuit seeks a list of 12 priests who worked the diocese and an unspecified number treated by the order who’ve been accused of abusing children. It also requests other documents on them and damages over $50,000.

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

CANADA
660 News

IQALUIT, Nunavut – Crown prosecutors have wrapped up their case against a former northern priest facing dozens of charges of sex abuse against Inuit children.

Eric Dejaeger (deh-YAY’-guhr) faces 80 sex-related charges dating from his time in Igloolik, Nunavut, between 1978 and 1982.

That’s an increase of 11 charges since the trial started in November.

Court has heard testimony from witnesses that has included stories of a child being taped to a bed and sodomized and other children being forced to watch acts of bestiality.

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

MINNESOTA
West Central Tribune

By Gretchen Schlosser

WILLMAR — Attorneys from the Jeff Anderson law firm will announce today the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit, on behalf of a man abused in 1982 by the Rev. Francis Markey at St. Andrew Parish in Granite Falls.

The lawsuit names the Diocese of New Ulm and Servants of the Paraclete as defendants and alleges both defendants were negligent in failing to supervise Markey and allowing him to work in communities and parishes with access to children.

The event, in Mankato, will also include a request of the release of the 12 names of accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of New Ulm and discussion of the release of 34 names released in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and St. John’s Abbey release of 18 former monks who likely offended against minors.

According to the lawsuit and other information from Anderson’s firm, Markey was ordained as a priest in 1952 and accused of sexual abuse of at least three children in the 1960s and 1970s while he was serving in Ireland. He was sent to the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico in 1981 and came to Minnesota in 1981 to participate in a clinical pastoral education program at the Willmar State Hospital.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Scott Theisen
A man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in Granite Falls is suing the Diocese of New Ulm and the Servants of the Paraclete to force the release of their lists of clerics accused of molesting children.

The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges the diocese and religious order were negligent in supervising the Rev. Francis Markey. The plaintiff claims Markey abused him when he was a boy at St. Andrew’s Church in 1982.

The lawsuit seeks their lists of accused priests and other documents on them, plus more than $50,000.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and St. John’s Abbey have released similar lists.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Catholic Insider

The more we see and hear of the implementation of the Boston pastoral plan, Disciples in Mission, the more we conclude the acronym for the plan, DIM, is a good way to describe the outlook for the plan. One example of the problems are expressed in a guest column in a local paper, “Catholic church ‘collaborative’ plan shrouded in hypocrisy” written by a parish volunteer at St. Mary’s of the Assumption in East Walpole. Here are excerpts:

Guest column: Catholic church ‘collaborative’ plan shrouded in hypocrisy
WALPOLE —Christ’s message of love, respect and service to others seems to be missing from the Boston Archdiocese’s pastoral plan called “Disciples in Mission.” The ouster of the parish priests from their current assignments as part of this plan is the latest in a string of deceptive acts created by the hierarchy and imposed on the parish priests and their congregations. The plan is designed to keep churches “open” so that the money continues to flow in, but fails to address the priest shortage in any meaningful way, while inflicting pain on the parish priests and parishioners.

In gratitude for years of service, parish priests were asked to tender their “resignations” earlier this month. In the work world, requesting a resignation means the termination of employment. Requesting the resignation of priests who have taken a vow of obedience and know they can be reassigned at any time shows a complete lack of respect for these men.

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AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON DECEMBER 12, 2013

Don’t believe it for a second.

Brisbane’s Catholic bishop claims he and his colleagues were “caught like rabbits in a headlight” regarding clergy sex crimes.

He also claims one case is a “dramatic failure of oversight” that showed a “spectacular bungling.”

[ABC News]

Don’t believe it for a second. Remember, bishops are smart, well-educated men.

They have smart, well-educated staffs.

They hire smart, well-educated lawyers.

They can – if they like – hire other smart, well-educated consultants and experts.

And they – and their colleagues and predecessors and supervisors – have been dealing with (and hiding and enabling) clergy sex crimes for decades.

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

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, SNAP Outreach Director, 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com

Six clergy sex abuse victims have settled their civil cases against the Beaumont Catholic diocese.

[Beaumont Enterprise]

We hope this settlement comforts at least some of the many families who have suffered and are suffering because Catholic officials kept Fr. Ronald Bollich on the job knowing he had molested young boys.

At the same time, however, no single event can magically erase decades of pain. So we strongly urge these victims to continue in therapy, twelve step programs and support groups. Long after the checks are cut and the public forgets about these cases, these deeply wounded victims will likely still need help coping with the often life-altering impact of horrific childhood betrayal.

We also hope this settlement will encourage others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward, expose predators, protect kids and start healing. It’s always tempting to keep quiet about child sex crimes – whether known or suspected. However, it’s also always irresponsible. Kids are only safe when adults are brave and caring enough to speak up.

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

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, December 12, 2013

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

The Vatican has named Msgr. Michael J. Sis, 53, vicar general of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as bishop of San Angelo, Texas.

We wish Bishop Sis well. But we are not optimistic about his promotion. As Austin’s vicar general, we strongly suspect he helped conceal clergy sex crimes, as most Catholic vicar generals do.

We hope that Bishop Sis will immediately post on the San Angelo diocesan website the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric who lives or worst (or has lived or worked ) in the diocese. Roughly 30 US bishops have done this. It’s the quickest way to protect kids.

We also hope he visits every parish where Fr. Miguel Esquivel worked, begging those with information or suspicions about this crimes to call law enforcement. We believe Fr. Esquivel belongs behind bars and might get there if Bishop Sis uses his bully pulpit and diocesan resources to aggressively seek out others who were hurt by him.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Thu., Dec. 12 2013

Rumors are a’running through the hardwood floor of Mater Dei High School’s gym, where sources tell the Weekly what the Los Angeles Times first reported last week: its boys’ basketball team is losing senior forward Mario Soto, a team captain and member of a group of players that has won three state championships in a row.

No one is talking at this point, so all we can revel in is the fact that the school’s legendary pedophile-protecting coach, Gary McKnight, is even more annoyed than his corpulent self usually is.

Quick refresher: McKnight’s former assistant coach, Jeff Andrade, was pushed out by school administrators in the 1990s after molesting one teen too many. When the Weekly reported on McKnight’s antics during the investigation, the coach threatened to sue us–so we reported on him more. It eventually emerged that McKnight allowed Andrade back on campus even after school administrators forbade him to–yet they let him keep his job, because winning means more to Mater Dei than protecting students from perverts and their enablers.

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TEXAS
Beaumont Enterprise

By Tim Monzingo
Published 8:37 am, Thursday, December 12, 2013

A civil suit against the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont alleging abuse by a priest against six boys in at least three parishes over three decades was settled Wednesday.

The suit, originally filed April 12, 2012, charged the diocese and Bishop Curtis J. Guillory, in his official capacity, with “negligent and grossly negligent” actions for keeping the Rev. Ronald Bollich on staff when it “knew or should have known he had a propensity to molest boys.”

Tahira Merritt, a Dallas-based attorney who represented the victims, said the settlement amount was not disclosed at the plaintiffs’ request.

“The last victim was abused 20 years after the first victims were abused,” she said by phone Wednesday. “The diocese knew (Father Bollich) was a sexual predator.”

Bollich was a priest for more than 30 years – from 1964 up until his death in April 1996. He worked parishes in Jefferson County, Orange County and Nacogdoches County, according to the final petition in the case, filed Nov. 15, 2013. His duties took him to churches in Beaumont, Bridge City, Port Arthur, Groves, Silsbee, Buna, Moral, Nacogdoches and Chireno, the petition reads.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013

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

We are not encouraged by the appointment of Jackson’s new Catholic bishop. We know little about Joseph R. Kopacz. But he has been named as a defendant in clergy sex abuse suits or been accused of concealing those crimes (see case involving Father Albert M. Liberatore Jr., Father Carlos Urrutigoity, and Father Eric Ensey at BishopAccpoiuntaibllity.org)

Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops have won two key battles in courts and the legislature that make it very hard for clergy sex abuse victims to seek justice. So it’s hard to find out what roles men like Kopacz have played in clergy sex cases. We hope he hasn’t protected predators and endangered kids. But we’re not optimistic.

The minute he takes over in Jackson, we urge Bishop-elect Kopacz to immediately confirm the whereabouts of two Jackson child molesting clerics and warn Catholics and citizens in two places about them:

–Brother William Leimbach, a credibly accused child molester whose last known home was in Burrillville, R.I, and

[BishopAccountability.org]

–Fr. Paul Madden, an admitted molester whose last known home was in Peru where he may still be working as a priest.

[BishopAccountability.org]

These predators belong behind bars or in remote treatment centers so they’ll be kept away from kids. We suspect that few who live or work near them know that they have molested kids.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

[MONEYVAL report]

John L. Allen Jr. | Dec. 12, 2013

Europe’s top financial transparency experts say that “much work has been done in a short time” under Pope Francis to promote reform, but new rules to bring the Vatican in line with international standards still have to be tested in practice.

Until the new systems are implemented and seen to be working, those experts say, the Vatican still risks being used for money laundering.

In particular, evaluators say it’s “surprising” that a new financial watchdog unit created in 2010 under Benedict XVI and strengthened by Francis still has not carried out formal inspections of either the Vatican bank or the other main financial department in the Vatican, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), though it notes internal reviews of accounts in those two entities are ongoing.

According to evaluators, the watchdog unit, the Financial Information Authority, needs “more trained and experienced staff” to handle its responsibilities of flagging suspect transactions and approving outfits that want to do business in the Vatican.

That office, the report said, needs to recruit “appropriately skilled professionals quickly” in order to be able to exercise real oversight.

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VATICAN CITY
4-Traders

[MONEYVAL report]

MONEYVAL – Committee of Experts on the Evaluation : Council of Europe issues report assessing progress by the Holy See on measures to combat money laundering

Press release – DC160(2013)

Council of Europe issues report assessing progress by the Holy See on measures to combat money laundering

Strasbourg, 12.12.2013 – The Council of Europe’s Committee of experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism ( MONEYVAL) today published a report presented by the Holy See (including the Vatican City State) concerning the progress it has made to remedy the deficiencies identified by MONEYVAL in its first mutual evaluation report in 2012.

The report was published together with a detailed assessment of this progress by MONEYVAL with regard to the 16 core and key Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Recommendations 2003. Both documents were adopted this week at MONEYVAL´S 43rd plenary meeting, and take into account developments up to 30 November 2013.

MONEYVAL concludes that a very wide range of legislative and other measures have been taken in a short time by the Holy See to remedy deficiencies identified by the 2012 MONEYVAL report in all areas of the AML/CFT framework, though certain issues still need to be addressed. The following are its main findings:

– The legal structure for criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing, and related confiscation, is in place and much improved but still needs to be tested in practice.

– A new and more comprehensive system for freezing terrorist assets pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373 is now operational.

– There are review processes in place to ensure that the financial institutions within the Holy See/Vatican City State know who their account holders are and that full customer identification and verification measures are applied to them, in line with international standards. The process is being conducted under the supervision of the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA). It is planned to be completed by the first quarter of 2014. It has resulted in accounts being closed and a significant number of suspicious transaction reports in 2013. These are being analysed by the FIA and, where appropriate, referred to the Promoter of Justice.

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VATICAN CITY
Economia

12 December 2013

Today the Council of Europe has released its second evaluation of the Holy See and its private bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). Conducted by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s monitoring arm in anti-money laundering and countering of financial terrorism, it analyses whether anything has changed since last year’s report, which concluded: “Further important measures still need addressing in order to demonstrate that a fully-effective regime has been instituted, particularly in respect of supervision of the financial institutions”

On the day of its publication, Laura Powell interviews Nigel Baker OBE, British Ambassador to the Holy See since 2011, about what the IOR is doing to address issues of transparency. And whether the IOR needs to become more transparent still – and far more rigorously scrutinised.

How has the reputation and public perception of the Vatican Bank changed since you were appointed as Ambassador to the Holy See in 2011?

“It was a standing joke that whenever a journalist wrote an article about the IOR, it had to include a mention of Banca Ambrosiana and Roberto Calvi under Blackfriars Bridge*. Yet that scandal happened over 30 years ago. There was a sense amongst commentators and others that the Holy See had in the past only paid lip service to the need to change its financial structures. Now, articles about the IOR tend to focus on the process of reform, increasing transparency, and efforts to modernise. Such a process will inevitably cast light into some dark corners. However, even basic steps like publishing better accounts and opening the IOR to outside scrutiny is, in my opinion, gradually changing the organisation’s image for the better.”

*Roberto Calvi, former chairman of Banca Ambrosiana, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge, shortly after the bank’s collapse, in a Mafia-associated murder thinly-veiled as suicide. Calvi was nicknamed God’s Banker for his close ties with the Vatican.

The IOR was nicknamed the world’s most secretive bank, by Forbes magazine in 2012. How has it addressed concerns about secrecy and transparency?

“Holy See authorities have made steady progress in opening Vatican financial management up to greater outside scrutiny, in particular through the Moneyval process, focusing on compliance with international money laundering and terrorism financing rules. Its official regulator, the Financial Information Authority has been strengthened through a series of modifications to its working practices and regulations; outside experts have been brought in to scrutinise the IOR and APSA; and staff have been changed. There is a clear direction of travel towards greater openness and professionalism, instituted under Benedict XVI and driven forward by Pope Francis. This is unprecedented.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Press Release from the U.S. bishops’ conference:

Pope Names Bishops for Mississippi, Texas Dioceses

December 12, 2013

WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has named Father Joseph R. Kopacz, 63, a priest of the Diocese of Scranton and pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania, as bishop of Jackson, Mississippi, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph Latino,76, from the pastoral governance of the Jackson diocese. The pope also named Msgr. Michael J. Sis, 53, vicar general of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as bishop of San Angelo, Texas, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Pfeifer, 76, from the pastoral governance of the San Angelo diocese.

The appointments were publicized in Washington, December 12, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pocono News

SCRANTON – Pope Francis appointed the Reverend Joseph R. Kopacz, Ph.D., pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish, Mount Pocono, as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. Bishop-elect Kopacz succeeds Bishop Joseph Nunzio Latino, whose resignation was accepted, having completed his seventy-fifth year of age. Bishop-Elect Kopacz’s episcopal ordination and installation as Bishop of Jackson are scheduled for February 6, 2014 in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter the Apostle, Jackson, Mississippi.

The son of the late Stanley and Carmella Calormino Kopacz, Bishop Elect-Kopacz is a native of Dunmore, PA and is a graduate of Dunmore Central Catholic High School. He is the second of three children with a brother, Robert, and a sister, Mary Ellen Negri. He attended St. Pius X. Seminary, Dalton and received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Scranton and his Master’s Degree in Theology from Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, New York. He also earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Psychology and a Doctorate in Human Development from Marywood University.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 13, 2013

A PRIEST alleged to have cried when told by a victim that she had been sexually abused as a child by a member of the clergy said he had not shed a tear since he was a boy.

“Not even when my mother and father died,” Father Francis Mulcahy told the royal commission into child sex abuse yesterday.

An emotional Jennifer Ingham, who was sexually abused for four years by a Catholic colleague of Father Mulcahy, has told the commission he was one of the first people she told.

But yesterday he was called as a witness and denied knowing her or having been at such a meeting.

Ms Ingham, 51, said Father Mulcahy, who was in her dad’s class at a Catholic boarding school, was at a meeting of senior clergy in 1990 at Lismore when she got up the courage to confront the church and tell of her years of abuse by the late Father Rex Brown.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clarion-Ledger

The Rev. Joseph Kopacz has been appointed bishop of Diocese of Jackson to succeed Bishop Joseph Latino who reached the age of retirement.

The appointment by Pope Francis was announced Wednesday and was released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

Kopacz, 63, will be ordained and installed on Feb. 6 at noon in the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle in Jackson.

Kopacz is a priest of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was ordained in 1977. He has served the Scranton diocese in many capacities, including as a pastor, formation director, vicar for priests, vicar general and coordinator for Hispanic Ministry.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

MEN and WOMEN of the YEAR

TIME magazine named Pope Francis its Person of the Year for 2013.

We believe it’s important for the advocates who receive NSAC News to write to TIME magazine.

It’s impossible not to see the groundswell of good feeling for this pope – from believer and non-believer alike — and the attraction to simplicity and the projecting of the human desire that the Pope and the Church actually be as good as what Popes and Churchmen say in public pronouncements.

What worries us is the effect on the survivors and their families.

If it worries you, and if you are a subscriber to NSAC News we believe it ought to, we think you should write to Time magazine.

We thought about saying we urge you to write to Time magazine but we don’t think the people who subscribe to NSAC News need urging – you get it – children and minors shouldn’t be raped and sodomized by priests and nuns under a tent of cover-up by bishops, cardinals, popes, chancery and Curia officials – what you need is reminding.

It’s a busy time of year. Consider this your reminder.

When the talk at holiday parties, around Christmas cookie swaps, at church, in the concert ticket line, and the checkout line, and with the folks riding in a car with you, turns to how wonderful Pope Francis is and how all the Church’s troubles have been forgotten, God’s in His heaven and all is right with world – please consider this a reminder to say it is not.

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ROME
Religion News Service

Eric J. Lyman | Dec 11, 2013

ROME (RNS) Pope Francis was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year on Wednesday (Dec. 11), adding yet another high-profile accolade to what has been an unprecedented nine-month reign for the shepherd of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

Time called Francis “The People’s Pope” and said it honored him for “pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest church to confronting its deepest needs, and for balancing judgment with mercy.”

Francis has been celebrated worldwide since becoming pope in March. Even before the Time honor, he was the top trending topic on Facebook. He is credited with increasing church attendance across Italy, making “Francesco” Italy’s most popular baby name for boys and helping to recast the tarnished image of the church.

A new poll released Wednesday showed the pope is more popular than ever: The St. Leo University Polling Institute released the results of a survey that showed more than three in five Americans approve of the pope — a number that jumps to 82 percent among U.S. Catholics. …

But not everyone was pleased with the choice. Barbara Blaine, president of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, complained that Francis has done too little to address victims of clergy sexual abuse within the church.

“The pope has made many feel hopeful with his personal humility, down-to-earth gestures, and obvious deep compassion for the poor,” Blaine said in a statement. “But he has not made a single child safer. He hasn’t exposed one predator priest or disciplined one corrupt bishop.”

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TEXAS
Whispers in the Loggia
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Gig ‘Em, Bishop Mike – Austin’s Beloved Sis Off to San Angelo

Aggies, you’ve been waiting on this one for a long time… and finally – amid what’s already American Catholicism’s biggest night – está aquí.

At Roman Noon, the Pope named Msgr Mike Sis, 53, heretofore vicar-general of Austin – a beloved, legendary figure who built St Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M into the Stateside church’s premier campus ministry outpost – as bishop of San Angelo.

In the West Texas post, the Jersey-born Sis succeeds another revered Bishop Michael who knows the “smell of the sheep”: Mike Pfeifer, who’s led the sprawling, mostly rural diocese encompassing Midland, Abilene, Odessa and 29 counties in all since 1985, having reached the retirement age of 75 in May 2012. An Oblate of Mary Immaculate, the Rio Grande-born missionary – named to succeed the future Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza on the native son’s return to Houston – is said to have felt cheated out of his religious vocation on his appointment as bishop, and has already started making plans to begin his retirement in the assignment his superiors were sending him before the hat came: namely, Africa.

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CANADA
Chatham Daily News

By Ellwood Shreve, Chatham Daily News
Tuesday, December 10, 2013

A valuable project that helps survivors of male sexual abuse will have to try to survive without its major source of funding.

Tom Wilken said the Diocese of London has committed another $80,000 to the Silence to Hope (STH) project for 2014, which will be the eighth and final year it will provide the funding.

“We’ve had a good run, we’ve had some really good sponsorship from the Diocese,” he said. “We’ve been able to do a lot of good.

“We wish it could continue, but at least we got what we’ve got,” he added.

The Diocese began providing the funding to help male sexual assault survivors who had been victimized by a representative of the Catholic church. Wilken said the funding is not limited to male victims abused by clergy, but for any man who has been sexually abused.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 12, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Jennifer Ingham says she should not be alive. She was abused by predatory priest Father Paul Brown of the Catholic church’s Lismore diocese from age 16. Within a year she could not complete her HSC because she was hospitalised for bulimia.

For the next few years, while her peers were finding their way in the world with new-found freedom, she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals and attempted suicide several times. The abuse continued as Father Brown arranged to meet her regularly at the Sydney University Motel in Glebe or flew her to where he was living at St Joseph’s Parish Church, Tweed Heads.

He arranged for her psychiatric treatment. Her family was never billed. She thinks he paid.

“I shouldn’t be medically alive,” Mrs Ingham, 51, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. All the $256,000 compensation she got from the church earlier this year had already been spent on medical bills for her survival, she said. Operations she needed because of the bulimia have left her with such severe mouth pain that she had to break and rest when telling her story to the Commission.

She said the first time she told her story to the church was at a meeting of senior clerics in Lismore in 1990. One of them was Father Frank Mulcahy, who had been to school with and remained friends with her father.

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MINNESOTA
CT Post

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — A man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in Granite Falls is suing the Diocese of New Ulm and the Servants of the Paraclete.

The lawsuit expected to be filed Thursday alleges the diocese and the religious order were negligent in supervising the Rev. Francis Markey, who was in the diocese in 1984. The plaintiff claims Markey abused him when he was a boy at St. Andrew Parish.

The lawsuit also asks the diocese to release the names of 12 clerics accused of molesting children.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and St. John’s Abbey have released similar lists.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Kos

Frederick Clarkson

A few months ago I wrote about how the child sex abuse crisis in evangelical Christianity, although less reported, is at least as bad as it is in the Catholic Church. Taken together, this suggests that there is a crisis of a different kind looming for the leaders of the Religious Right, whose concern for the victims of abuse has been too muted, and too often belated when it is evident at all. There is also too often an obvious and alarming tendency to sympathize and side with the abuser over the victims. The proud defenders of what they call “family values” become bizarre self-parodies, at best, under such circumstances.

There are signs that accountability is coming.

This week as the the world considers the life of Nelson Mandela, a leading advocate for victims of sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention offered a remarkable idea. Christa Brown of Stop Baptist Predators suggested a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, modeled on the one that helped South Africans put the horrors of apartheid behind them, might also help the Southern Baptist Convention come to grips with it’s child sex abuse scandal. She thinks that Baptist leaders have been long on reconciliation and short on truth, and that maybe a comprehensive effort at both might help.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

December 7, 2013

Esme Murphy

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul announced a list of 34 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse earlier this week.

Critics said more names should have been on that list, that the Archdiocese was forced to release the names and that without a court order they would not have done so. The skepticism is understandable. Just looking at the list, the number of times accused priests were transferred in an apparent effort to conceal or ignore the problem is chilling.

Archbishop John Nienstedt also announced new policies, including putting names of all those credibly accused in the future on the Archdiocese web site. Nienstedt promised there would also be a press release to help alert the broader community.

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (CN) – The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights defamed a man who says he is a victim of priestly sex abuse as a drug-abusing murderer and a Catholic-hating bigot, the man claims in court.

Jon David Couzens Jr. sued The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, its President William Donohue, the KC Catholic League, KC Catholic League President Joe McLiney and KC Catholic League Capacity Secretary James O’Laughlin, in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Couzens claims Donohue defamed him in statements responding to the Kansas City Star’s three-part series on priestly abuse, written by Judy Thomas in December 2011.

The series centered around Couzens’ claims – and subsequent lawsuit against the KC Diocese, Msgr. Thomas O’Brien and Fr. Isaac True – that he and three other altar boys, one of whom committed suicide, were sexually abused in the early 1980s.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya Brachear Pashman, Chicago Tribune reporter
December 12, 2013

A 27-year-old Chicago man on Wednesday became the first person to identify himself in a sex abuse allegation against former Roman Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack.

Darryl McArthur, who like all of McCormack’s accusers is African-American, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court and said he wanted to combat “the culture of secrecy” involving sexual abuse.

“I respect the privacy of any individual who wants to put their name (as John Doe) … because it’s a lot to deal with,” McArthur said. “I feel as though me being a young African-American male I can raise awareness not only … of childhood sexual abuse but especially my culture. Where I come from there’s a sworn secrecy of ‘Don’t tell.'”

The lawsuit alleges that the abuse started in 1994 at St. Ailbe Parish, in the Calumet Heights neighborhood, shortly after McCormack was ordained and began his first assignment.

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UNITED STATES
Seattle PI

Posted on December 11, 2013 | By Joel Connelly

A whopping 57 percent of Americans take a favorable view toward Pope Francis, nearly twice as many as viewed positively predecessor Pope Benedict XVI at his retirement, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday.

Only 5 percent have a negative view of the Argentine Jesuit who sits on the throne of Peter. Others have no opinion or do not know the man chosen Tuesday as Time’s “Person of the Year.”

Just nine months into his job, Francis has connected strongly with America’s Catholics, millions of who have become disaffected with their church over its removed, authoritarian hierarchy and bishops’ mishandling of clerical sex abuse scandals.

Pope Francis gets a thumbs-up from 76 percent of U.S. Catholics and 74 percent of the faithful aged 18-49. Just 45 percent of young Catholics had a positive view of Benedict XVI when he resigned last spring.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Helen Jung | hjung@oregonian.com
on December 11, 2013

Michelle Lee Freeman’s instincts led her to kick her husband out of their Salem house after he confessed he had sexually abused a young relative of theirs.

But her fundamentalist church pastor lectured her that she had done wrong by her husband and needed to let him come back home, said her lawyer, Nell Brown. And Freeman, a sexual-abuse victim herself whose ability to stand up to her husband had been worn down by nearly 20 years of emotional and verbal abuse, reunited with him, Brown said. Freeman kept her husband’s abuse of the girl to herself.

The decision would eventually lead to “the gradual erosion of Michelle Freeman’s inner moral compass,” Brown said. The wife soon not only photographed and videotaped her husband’s sexual exploitation of the girl, then about 8 or 9, and the girl’s younger sister, but also began sexually abusing the older girl herself for her husband’s enjoyment.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

by Maggie Ruper
WHAS11.com
Posted on December 11, 2013

RADCLIFF, Ky. (WHAS11) — Edwin Bonet-Ruiz, a Central Hardin Spanish teacher, is accused of kissing and hugging a 14-year-old student his classroom last Thursday.

The district fired him after the allegations surfaced. Bonet-Ruiz also had his ministry credentials revoked at Abundant Life Church in Radcliff after charges were filed.

Associate Pastor Terry Linscott said Bonet-Ruiz’s wife of 33 years called and informed them on Monday night after her husband was arrested and allegedly confessed to police.

“She was just distraught. You can only imagine the emotions going through her mind of anger, hurt and disappointment,” Linscott said.

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KENTUCKY
WAVE

By Katie Bauer

RADCLIFF, KY (WAVE) – A Hardin County church is in shock after one of its ministers stands accused of hugging and kissing a teenage student at the school where he taught.

For nearly a decade the Central Hardin teacher was also a special deputy volunteer with the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office helping as an interpreter and with traffic during special events. Now all of Edwin Bonet-Ruiz’s titles have been revoked and a community is left stunned.

“When you think of Edwin, you don’t think of someone doing something like this,” said Terry Linscott, associate minister at Abundant Life Church in Radcliff.

For 18 years Bonet-Ruiz was in a leadership role at the Abundant Life Church. The high school teacher ministered in Spanish as part of the church’s Hispanic outreach program.

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VATICAN CITY
Europe Online Magazine

Vatican City (dpa) – The Vatican has done “much” to improve clean up its track record on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, the Council of Europe said Thursday.

In recent years, the Vatican has been trying to turn a page over the financial scandals that have dogged its bank, the Institute for Religious Work (IOR), which has been linked to the Sicilian mafia and other criminal groups.

“It is clear from this review that much work has been done in a short time,” the council‘s Moneyval committee said in a report, which was approved Monday but published only three days later.

It checked progress against a more comprehensive July 2012 report, where Moneyval experts concluded that the Vatican was meeting only nine out of 16 international core financial transparency standards.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) European evaluators have highlighted the progress made in the past year by the financial institutions of the Holy See in a progress report published Thursday. The Council of Europe’s Moneyval published the report as a follow-up to its original 2012 report, which named several areas that needed updating to meet international standards. Since that time, several new laws have been passed by the Holy See and Vatican City State to better implement the suggestions.

The Director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, René Brülhart, spoke to the head of Vatican Radio’s German section, Father Bernd Hagenkord about this latest report…

You have just returned from Strasburg [from meetings with Moneyval]. Are you happy with these discussions and this report.

The report has been fully adopted, so yes I think it is a very positive sign and the resolve you see is a very good one.

Is Moneval also happy?

I can’t talk for Moneyval, so I think the question should be addressed to them, but the discussions we had were very much focused…done in a very constructive manner. When you look at the report, it is a very comprehensive report, describing very much in detail about the steps the Holy See has taken over the last months, and obviously it seems we have satisfied Moneyval, otherwise the report would not have been adopted.

Last time we heard from Moneyval there was a kind of rating system, 16 important points, 9 of which fulfilled by the Vatican. Is there some ratings system this time as well?

What has been presented this morning is a so-called progress report, which is a follow-up report to the report which has been presented in July 2012, and based on the rules of procedures of Moneyval these progress reports never have any kind of re-rating. In other words, this report focusses on the implementation of the recommendations which have been made by Moneyval in its report of July 2012.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Businessweek

By Chiara Vasarri and Alessandra Migliaccio December 12, 2013

The Vatican has made progress in improving financial transparency, though it still needs to carry out more internal controls, according to a European report on the city-state’s efforts to prevent money-laundering.

Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s body that monitors money laundering and terrorism financing, approved a progress report on the Vatican following an initial evaluation in July 2012. The watchdog praised financial transparency agreements signed by the city-state with other countries as well as its efforts to bring to light suspicious transactions.

“It is clear from this review that much work has been done in a short time,” according to the report published today. “The legal structure for criminalization of money laundering and terrorism financing and related confiscation is much improved, but still needs to be tested in practice.”

The watchdog recommended more checks be carried out by the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, or FIA, and said staff should be more experienced and better trained. The fact that the Vatican bank, also known as the Institute for Works of Religion, and the Holy See’s administrative body, APSA, weren’t subject to formal inspections is “surprising,” Moneyval said in the report.

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