ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Catholic Church’s grandiosely-named Truth, Justice and Healing Council (otherwise known as the PR Unit set up by the church to deal with the fall-out from the Royal Commission) has made a submission on the subject of the fourth hearing of the Commission, concerning the “Towards Healing” process.

[Correction: A factual error in the last posting has been pointed out to me. I referred to the “Towards Healing” and “Melbourne Response” as being both the brain-child of Cardinal George Pell. Pell was responsible for the “Melbourne Response”, allegedly following intense pressure from the then Victorian State Premier, Jeff Kennett. The “Towards Healing” program came from the peak Bishops’ body, later. To use my own terminology, I made an “inadvertent misrepresentation” – that is, I stuffed up on my research. All I can do is to apologize for the error and promise to lift my game in the future.]

The above-mentioned Council claims to speak for all sectors of the Catholic Church, in matters relating to the Royal Commission. It says that almost all sectors now use the “Towards Healing” process to deal with allegations of abuse in the church. The Jesuits held out until 2004 before joining the system. The Melbourne Archdiocese, formerly headed by George Pell and now headed by Denis Hart (see previous posting), is now the only one holding out. It still prefers to use its original “Melbourne Response” process.

The “Melbourne Response” process has been severely criticized at the recent Victorian State Parliamentary enquiry, and elsewhere. It seems that the Royal Commission, which has access to all of the data from the Victorian enquiry, will now concentrate on the “Towards Healing” process at its hearings beginning in Sydney on 9th December. The two processes are fairly similar, but there are very real differences which cannot be detailed here, at this stage. A future posting will hopefully be able to achieve this difficult task of showing the differences, and their implications.

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.

PORTUGAL
Publico

O ex-vice-reitor do seminário do Fundão, Luís Mendes, acusado de 19 crimes de natureza sexual sobre menores, conhece hoje a decisão do tribunal depois de mais de três meses de julgamento.

O acórdão será histórico. É um dos poucos padres a entrar no rol de sacerdotes católicos julgados em Portugal por abuso sexual de menores. Em 1993, o padre Frederico Cunha foi condenado a 13 anos de prisão pelo homicídio de um jovem de quem terá abusado sexualmente. Fugiu para o Brasil a meio da pena.

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PORTUGAL
El Periodico

[Summary: A former parish priest in the Guarda diocese, located in the north, was sentenced yesterday to prison after being found guilty of 19 offenses of sexual abuse involving six children.]

Un exvicepárroco de la diócesis de Guarda (norte de Portugal) fue condenado ayer a 10 años de prisión por 19 delitos de abuso sexual a seis menores. Según la sentencia, el condenado, de 37 años, que desempeñaba funciones educativas en una parroquia de la ciudad de Fundao, abusó sexualmente de muchachos de entre 12 y 15 años, cinco de los cuales estaban internados en el seminario de la localidad. El vicepárroco estaba en arresto domiciliario.

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
KSTP

[with video]

Created: 12/02/2013

By: Scott Theisen

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it plans Thursday to release the names of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The archdiocese says the names will be posted on a new page of the archdiocese’s website and in its newspaper, The Catholic Spirit.

A Ramsey County judge ruled Monday that the archdiocese has until Dec. 17 to disclose its list of 33 credibly accused priests. The Diocese of Winona also has until then to disclose its list of 13 priests.

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
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Francis F. Hoefgen became a Benedictine monk in at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN 1973 and was ordained a priest in 1979. He was then assigned to a St. Cloud parish, as an assistant priest. In 1984 he admitted to his superiors and to the local police chief – who was also one of Hoefger’s parishioners – that he had sexually abused a 17-year-old boy. This was after the boy disclosed the abuse to a psychologist, who alerted authorities. Hoefgen was not charged; he was quietly sent to St. Luke’s Institute in MD for six months of psychiatric treatment, then returned to ministry in a St. Paul-Minneapolis parish. He was removed from parish work and returned to St. John’s Abbey after his victim sued, in 1992. Hoefger was allowed to work as St. John’s guest master, and as a spiritual director and private retreat leader until July 2002, after the U.S. bishops established the Charter for the Protection of Childern and Young People. He eventually left the priesthood, and was laicized in November 2011. In November 2013 Hoefgen was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy ages 11-13, from 1989-1992.

Ordained: 1979

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

STOCKTON — Roman Catholic Bishop Stephen Blaire of the Stockton Diocese sent a letter to each parish last week, saying there appears to be no options other than filing for bankruptcy.

“Moving in this direction will enable us to continue to meet our obligations to the victims of sexual abuse, to the poor and vulnerable, and to you, our people,” he wrote. “I anticipate the diocese making a decision based on our financial future after the first of the year.”

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Heart

A Church of England priest has been arrested in Eastbourne on suspicion of child sex abuse and cruelty against a boy dating back up to 25 years.

The 56-year-old man, who does not currently have permission to officiate, was detained this morning (Tuesday 3 Dec) at his home in Jervis Avenue.

Sussex Police said he was held on “suspicion of acts of indecency, indecent assault and cruelty against a boy known to him” who was then aged 12 and 13 in 1988 and 1989.

His arrests follows a review and inquiry by a team of detectives after information was referred to the force by the Diocese of Chichester in 2011, following a report commissioned by the diocese by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The 56-year-old man, who does not currently have permission to officiate, was detained this morning at his home in Jervis Avenue, Eastbourne, East Sussex.

Sussex Police said he was held on “suspicion of acts of indecency, indecent assault and cruelty against a boy known to him” who was then aged 12 and 13 in 1988 and 1989.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

A 56-year-old Eastbourne priest has been arrested this morning (Tuesday) on suspicion of acts of indecency, indecent assault and cruelty against a young boy.

The Church of England priest, who does not currently have permission to officiate, was arrested at his home address in Jervis Avenue.

The alleged offences are against a boy aged between 12 and 13 in East Sussex during 1988 and 1989.

He is currently in custody for interview and further enquiries.

There are currently no allegations of recent or current offending and police emphasise that there is nothing to suggest that any young people are currently at risk.

The arrest results from a review and subsequent investigation, by a team of Sussex Police detectives, after information was referred to the force by the Diocese of Chichester in 2011 following a report commissioned by the Diocese from Dame Elizabeth Butler Sloss.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Courier

By Pay Byrne Dec. 3, 2013

A CONVICTED former Christian Brother yesterday pleaded guilty to a fresh charge of indecent assault on a 10-year-old boy at St Alipius Parish School in 1974.

Ballarat Magistrates Court heard Stephen Francis Farrell, 62, of Balwyn North, was 22 years old when he assaulted the boy.

The latest victim became Farrell’s third after he was convicted in 1997 of nine counts of indecent assault stemming from acts he committed on two nine-year-old boys, also pupils at St Alipius during the same period.

Farrell avoided jail in 1997. Yesterday, the court heard Farrell was teaching the victim during an art class in late 1974 when the victim spilt paint on his pants.

Crown prosecutor Raelene Maxwell, who called for the immediate imprisonment of Farrell, said Farrell told the victim to go straight to the sick bay and take his pants off.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher

BALLARAT, Vic, Dec 3 – The ripple effect of damage caused by a former Christian Brother who confessed to abusing a third schoolboy means he must be jailed, prosecutors and victims’ advocates say.

Stephen Francis Farrell, 62, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a 10-year-old boy while he was teaching at St Alipius School in Ballarat in the mid-1970s.

It is the third victim Farrell has admitted to assaulting, after a 1997 conviction on nine charges of indecently assaulting two brothers at St Alipius about the same period.

On that occasion Farrell avoided jail, with a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years.

But prosecutor Raeleene Maxwell called for Farrell to be jailed for the new offence.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

The Los Angeles Times has published a long article on Cardinal Mahony and the Sex Scandal.

This series is based on nearly 23,000 pages of internal documents from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and various religious orders that were made public this year in compliance with court orders. In addition, Times reporters reviewed thousands of pages of depositions and court filings and interviewed dozens of people, including church officials, victims’ families and law enforcement officials. Cardinal Roger Mahony declined to be interviewed or respond to questions sent to his attorney.

… so the authors assure us.

One of the interviews the Times conducted was with Detective Gary Lyon, who speaks about Mahony and his cohorts …

“They lied as bad as any thug or ex-con I’ve ever come across on the street,” Lyon recalled in an interview. “They were more interested in saving the reputation of the church than helping us find these young victims.”
***

But my point here is not that the bishops are sometimes scoundrels who have abandoned the faith and who enable the sexual abuse of innocent children and lie about it, my point rather is the character of Cardinal Mahony that emerges from the Times article, which is itself a condensed version of a 23,000 page portrait.

Here’s what we learn about the man.

He’s a narcissist.

Grandiose, self-righteous, smug, filled with an elevated sense of his importance, petty, petulant, pissy, not to be trusted, vain, conceited, and consumed with a sense of entitlement and indignation. He allows the faith to falter in Southern California, builds a despicably ugly cathedral that costs hundreds of millions of dollars, attacks Mother Angelica and EWTN for being orthodox and daring to criticize him, and – God have mercy on his prideful soul – he lies when the case calls for it.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In his clearest public reference as pope to the subject of clerical sex abuse, Pope Francis urged bishops to support abuse victims while also reaching out to priests who have “fallen short of their commitments.”

The pope made his remarks Dec. 2 to bishops from the Netherlands making their first visits “ad limina apostolorum” (“to the threshold of the apostles”) since they met with Blessed John Paul II in 2004.

Speaking in French, the pope brought up sex abuse near the end of his talk, in a section devoted to bishops’ care of priests under their authority.

“Like fathers, find the necessary time to welcome (your priests) and listen to them, every time they ask. And do not forget to go out to meet those who do not approach you; some of them unfortunately have fallen short of their commitments. In particular, I want to express my compassion and assure my prayers to all victims of sexual abuse and their families; I ask you to continue to support them along their painful path of healing, undertaken with courage,” the pope said.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

[with video]

Peter Kirkwood | 03 December 2013

In Australia, sexual abuse by clergy is the Church issue of the moment. The ongoing national Royal Commission, which is due to begin public hearings into the Catholic Church next week, and separate recent enquiries in Victoria and NSW, ensure the crisis has been, and will continue to be in the headlines.

The results of a survey of Mass-going Catholics released at the end of October by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference Pastoral Research Office shows anger and disillusionment among grassroots believers. The survey of about 2800 Catholics in over 200 parishes found 54 per cent agreed that ‘the response of church authorities to these incidences (of sexual abuse) has been inadequate and shows a complete failure of responsibility’.

But how to diagnose accurately the complex issues underlying sexual abuse in the Church? How to deal fairly, justly and adequately both with victims/survivors and with offenders? Why such a dismal failure of leadership by Church hierarchy and how should it be practicing its responsibility? What is the way forward?

The man featured in this video is a prophetic voice in this fraught territory. What he says is informed and grounded through decades of experience. He speaks with clarity, insight and authority, and his words are deeply challenging.

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MISSOURI
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist pastor charged with sex crimes stands trial this week in a county court in California, Mo.

Travis Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church of Stover, Mo., faces felony charges of sodomy and statutory rape in a high-profile case that gained media attention after church members stood by the pastor acquitted of similar charges in 2011.

Last December the St. Louis Post-Dispatch highlighted the case in a story on the difficulty of handling reported abuse cases in the Southern Baptist Convention, which recognizes the local congregation as sole authority in the hiring and firing of ministers.

Lamine Baptist Association removed the Stover congregation from its membership roll in April, though the official reason was lack of participation and not the pastor’s legal problems. Smith remains listed as pastor on the church website, along with affiliations with the Missouri Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention.

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.

CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Kevin Parrish
Record Staff Writer
December 03, 2013

STOCKTON – Out of options, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton is expected to file for bankruptcy early next year.

Bishop Stephen Blaire has issued a letter notifying the six-county diocese’s 250,000 members that a final decision is likely “after the first of the year.”

Blaire said that after months of research, “no viable option has emerged other than reorganizing financially under the protection of bankruptcy court.”

The letter was distributed Sunday to the diocese’s 35 parishes and 14 missions.

Blaire also encouraged various auxiliary Catholic organizations to obtain legal advice to be ready for possible asset claims that could be made by creditors. He said they “need to be prepared in case they are challenged, as has happened in other dioceses.”

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
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson and The Associated Press

The Diocese of Winona must disclose this month the names of 13 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, a state judge ruled Monday.

The Ramsey County judge also ruled Monday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis must disclose its own list of

33 priests.

If the dioceses do not release any names on the lists, they must file detailed explanations for each arguing why they should be kept private. The dioceses also have until Jan. 6 to reveal names of priests accused of recent sexual abuse of minors.

Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, representing the plaintiff in the case, called the decision “historic” and an important step to assure child safety. The plaintiff maintained that making the identities of the accused clergy public was necessary to protect other children from becoming victims.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A Church of England priest has been arrested on suspicion of child sex abuse and cruelty against a boy dating back up to 25 years.

The 56-year-old man, who does not currently have permission to officiate, was detained this morning at his home in Jervis Avenue, Eastbourne.

Sussex Police said he was held on “suspicion of acts of indecency, indecent assault and cruelty against a boy known to him” who was then aged 12 and 13 in 1988 and 1989.

His arrests follows a review and inquiry by a team of detectives after information was referred to the force by the Diocese of Chichester in 2011, following a report commissioned by the diocese by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.

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.

SPAIN
Sydney Morning Herald

December 3, 2013

Fiona Govan

The botched restoration of a church fresco by an elderly parishioner brought it international fame – and a fortune from tourists. Now, the town of Borja is at the centre of a fresh controversy.

The parish priest in charge of the church where the Ecce Homo draws hundreds of visitors each week was arrested on Friday for allegedly pocketing church funds of about €210,000 ($310,000).

Florencio Garces, 70, was detained by Guardia Civil on suspicion of misappropriating funds, of money laundering and sexual abuse.

The arrest has stirred emotion in a town that leapt into the public eye last year after elderly resident and local artist Celia Gimenez, 83, attempted to restore a 100-year-old fresco of Christ, with dire but highly amusing results.

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
KARE

[with video]

Boua Xiong

MINNEAPOLIS – Monday’s ruling to release names of priests accused of sex abuse isn’t just providing relief for victims, some parishioners are also welcoming the decision.

“It’s time. It’s way past time,” Jan Buczek, who attends the Basilica of St. Mary said.

Buczek said the sex abuse scandal never tested her faith in God but did shake her trust in justice. She believes the move to release names is a step in the right direction.

“I know quite a few people that have been hurt and involved and they’re going to be happy that these men are finally being taken to task,” she said.

Many parishioners at the Basilica did not want to go on camera but their concerns were made clear in the latest church newsletter out Sunday.

In it Father John Bauer wrote a letter to the Archbishop highlighting top concerns after holding listening sessions. Bauer wrote many people have concerns like:

“How can we go forward and believe that things are going to change?”

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: December 2, 2013

WASHINGTON — The notices arrive almost every day. They tell a young woman named Amy, as she is called in court papers, that someone has been charged with possessing child pornography. She was the child.

“It is hard to describe what it feels like to know that at any moment, anywhere, someone is looking at pictures of me as a little girl being abused by my uncle and is getting some kind of sick enjoyment from it,” Amy, then 19, wrote in a 2008 victim impact statement. “It’s like I am being abused over and over and over again.”

Next month, the Supreme Court will consider what the men who took pleasure from viewing Amy’s abuse must pay her.

Images of Amy being sexually assaulted by her uncle are among the most widely viewed child pornography in the world. They have figured in some 3,200 criminal cases since 1998.

Amy is notified through a Justice Department program that tells crime victims about developments in criminal cases involving them. She has the notifications sent to her lawyer. There have been about 1,800 so far.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

The US Supreme Court will soon hear an unusual child pornography case. We disagree with the Justice Department when they say $3.4 million is too much to award to a victim of this heinous crime. Given how widespread and devastating child sex crimes are, and how tough it is to catch and convict predators, we as a society must do more to deter these crimes in the first place.

[New York Times]

It’s important to remember that sexual violence is often used in the making of these images. Kids are often raped and sodomized – sometimes violently and always hurtfully- to make these photos.

Those who download and view these degrading photos of kids being sexually exploited should pay.

The financial awards should both help victims deal with the horrific damage they suffer and deter future crimes. We must make people think twice before they create, search for or download child porn. We must do what we can to dry up the market for child porn, however daunting that goal may seem. If adults can’t make money from it maybe fewer kids will be hurt.

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MINNESOTA
LaCrosse Tribune

• Winona Daily News

A Ramsey County judge today forced the Diocese of Winona to disclose a list of 13 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

Judge John Van de North also ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to disclose a list of 33 priests also accused of abuse. Both lists were compiled in 2004.

The dioceses must release the priests’ names, birth year and age, year of ordination, whether they’re alive or dead and the year of death, the parishes they served, their current status, and the current city and state where they live.

The dioceses must provide detailed explanations for any names they choose not to release.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

Well, if they wanted a judge’s order, they got it. At the Strib, Jean Hopfensperger reports: “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis must release the names of 33 priests accused of sexually abusing minors by Dec. 17, a Ramsey County District Court judge ruled Monday morning. Judge John Van de North ordered that the archdiocese provide not just the names of the priests but their year of birth, year of ordination, the list of parishes where they served, their current ministerial status and residence and whether they are still living. The same information must be provided by the Diocese of Winona, Van de North ordered. … The archdiocese had agreed to provide the information for 29 of the 33 priests on the list. But the judge ruled that the information should be made public for all of them. Last month, in response to new allegations of clergy sex abuse against several priests, Archbishop John Nienstedt promised to release some names of accused priests, with court approval.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: December 2, 2013

Judge orders release of names of 46 priests accused of abusing minors in the St. Paul archdiocese and Winona diocese.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as the Diocese of Winona, must release the names of 46 priests accused of sexually abusing minors, a Ramsey County District Court judge ruled Monday. He set a deadline of Dec. 17.

Judge John Van de North ordered that the church provide not just the names of the priests but their year of birth, year of ordination, the list of parishes where they served, their current ministerial status, current residence and whether they are still living.

The Twin Cities archdiocese has held secret its list of 33 credibly accused abusers since it was compiled in 2004. Another 13 clergy have been on a similar list in the Winona diocese.

“We are greatly relieved that finally there will be disclosure so children will be protected from further harm and those who have been hurt can come forward,” said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney specializing in clergy sex abuse. …

Bob Schwiderski, director of the Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was in the courtroom. He called the ruling “huge.” It comes on the heels of a change in Minnesota law that gives abuse victims a three-year window to file lawsuits claiming past abuse, removing the statute of limitations that prevented may cases from moving forward.

Making public the names of clergy who have sexually abused children over the years will help heal the wounds of survivors, who often have felt alone in their suffering, he said.

“It might not open a flood gate of new victims, but it will open a flood gate of emotions,” said Schwiderski, who was sexually abused by a priest as a boy.

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.

MISSOURI
Connect Mid-Missouri

BRANSON (AP) — A Christian sports camp network based in Branson is facing two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by its ex-director, who is serving a long prison sentence for sexual abuse of boys at a camp.

One lawsuit, filed in Taney County against Kanakuk Kamps, alleges former director Peter Newman molested a boy from 2000 to 2005. The second case, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges Newman sexually abused a camper from 2001 through 2007.

The lawsuits allege camp officials knew about Newman’s behavior but didn’t keep him away from children.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Hans Kung | Dec. 2, 2013

COMMENTARY

Church reform is forging ahead. In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis not only intensifies his criticism of capitalism and the fact that money rules the world, but speaks out clearly in favor of church reform “at all levels.” He specifically advocates structural reforms — namely, decentralization toward local dioceses and communities, reform of the papal office, upgrading the laity and against excessive clericalism, in favor of a more effective presence of women in the church, above all in the decision-making bodies. And he comes out equally clearly in favor of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, especially with Judaism and Islam.

All this will meet with wide approval far beyond the Catholic church. His undifferentiated rejection of abortion and women’s ordination will, however, probably provoke criticism. This is where the dogmatic limits of this pope become apparent. Or is he perhaps under pressure from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its Prefect, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller?

In a long guest contribution in Osservatore Romano (Oct. 23), Müller demonstrated his ultra-conservative stance by corroborating the exclusion of remarried divorcees from the sacraments who, unless they live together as brother and sister (!), are ostensibly in a state of mortal sin on account of the sexual character of their relationship.

As Bishop of Regensburg, Müller, as a clerical hard-liner who provoked numerous conflicts with parish priests and theologians, lay bodies and the Central Committee of German Catholics, was as controversial and unpopular as his brother bishop at Limburg. That Müller, as a loyal supporter and publisher of his collected works, was nevertheless appointed CDF prefect by Papa Ratzinger, surprised people less than the fact that Francis confirmed him in office quite so soon.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 2, 2013

Statement by Megan Peterson, Twin Cities SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 218-684-0073 cell, survivor19@live.com )

A Minnesota judge is ordering two Catholic bishops to reveal names of accused predator priests. Kids will be safer as a result. But it should never take a court order to force Catholic officials to disclose the names of potentially dangerous child molesting clerics.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

These names won’t include all of the alleged predator priests in these two dioceses. We suspect that records have been destroyed and that abuse reports against dozens of credibly accused clerics have been wrongly deemed “unsubstantiated” by self-serving Catholic officials over the past few decades.

Archbishop John Nienstedt wants to keep one name secret because he can supposedly find no proof that the accused priest worked in the Twin Cities. So what? If he’s a proven, admitted or credibly accused child molester, parents, parishioners and the public should be warned about him, no matter where he worked.

Nienstedt wants to keep secret three other names because church officials supposedly can’t substantiate the allegations. That argument might wash except that long-secret church records show that time and time again, even with credible victims and ample evidence; Catholic officials claim they can’t “substantiate” allegations. They have so abused the public trust and their own “kangaroo courts” that no reasonable person believes the church hierarchy when it says that an accusation cannot be substantiated. (One glaring example: the Fr. Michael Keating case)

False allegations do happen. In the case of child molesting clerics, however, they are exceedingly rare. And when they do, it is of course very hurtful to the accused adult. But it’s even more hurtful to many others when credible allegations are ignored or hidden. When we are forced to choose between the reputation of one adult or the safety of several kids, responsible grown-ups always side with kids’ safety.

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/SOUTH DAKOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Clarence Vavra was ordained a priest of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese in 1965. In his 38 years of active ministry, he was transferred 17 times. The Official Catholic Directory reveals several gaps in his assignment history which include a “sick leave” in the early 1970s, an unspecified “special assignment” in the mid-1980s and an unexplained absence from the 1997 and 1998 Directories. He is known to have received inpatient psychological treatment in 1996. In 1975-1976 Vavra worked at a Jesuit mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota; he admitted in a 1996 psychological evaluation to having sexually abused several boys ages 9-12 and a teen boy while there. Vavra agreed to retire in 2003, in exchange for an extra $650 per month from the archdiocese. In November 2013 he is living in a residential New Prague, MN neighborhood, a block away from a school. Also in November 2013, Rosebud Indian Reservation law enforcement officials opened an investigation.

Ordained: 1965

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is Guernsey

A SUGGESTION that Jersey and Guernsey might withdraw from the Diocese of Winchester might not affect most islanders – but the threat is hugely significant.

Historically, the Channel Islands were part of the Diocese of Coutances. However, Pope Alexander VI transferred them to Winchester in 1500. Despite that, the Bishops of Coutances continued to exercise de facto jurisdiction and it was not until an Order in Council of 11 March 1569 that the Channel Islands were finally placed under the Episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester.

So whatever has triggered the latest talk of separation is clearly serious, given the centuries of tradition linking the islands with Winchester.

At the heart of it is the handling of an investigation into a sexual misconduct complaint and the gagging of a report into it which has led to the Bishop of Winchester parachuting two other bishops in on a fact-find mission with the full support of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Capital (Peru)

El papa Francisco expresó este lunes su “compasión” por las víctimas de los abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes, durante el discurso que entregó a los obispos holandeses en visita “ad limina”, la que realizan al pontífice las conferencias episcopales de cada país cada cinco años.

“Deseo expresar mi compasión y asegurar mi oración a cada una de las víctimas de los abusos sexuales y a sus familias”, escribió el papa en su discurso.

El pontífice argentino les pidió además que sigan apoyando a las víctimas “en el doloroso camino de curación, que conducen con valor”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jersey Evening Post

PRESSURE will today be put on the Chief Minister to express concern about the way the Bishop of Winchester has handled an investigation into the conduct of the Dean.

In the States this afternoon, Deputy John Le Fondré was due to ask Chief Minister Ian Gorst two questions relating to the Steel report, which the Bishop is currently refusing to release to anyone – even those directly involved such as the Dean – after a legal approach by an ‘interested party’.

The Bishop, the Right Rev Tim Dakin, has confirmed that no disciplinary action will be taken against the Dean, the Very Rev Bob Key, following the investigation into his handling of a complaint of abuse by a churchwarden on a vulnerable woman.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Politicians have urged Jersey’s chief minister to push for the publication of a report into an abuse complaint handled by the island’s Anglican Dean.

The review into how the complaint was dealt with found no action should be taken against any clergy members.

Last month, the Bishop of Winchester said the findings would not be made public on legal advice.

Jersey’s Chief Minister Ian Gorst said he expected that once the report had been finalised it would be released.

Former High Court judge Dame Heather Steel, who led the review, is currently working on a final report for the diocese.

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CANADA
CBC News

The federal government is seeking private investigators to find as many as 1,000 clergy members, former residential school staff, and students responsible for abuse in residential schools, but one northern lawyer says hunting down abusers could cause more harm than good.

Stephen Cooper, who has represented former residential school students for nearly two decades, says he’s worried about the negative impacts.

“It is really intimidating,” Cooper says. “A lot of survivors will not proceed if they know their abuser will be contacted. Even if the person of interest doesn’t go ahead with the hearing, they are aware of the allegations which, frankly, can be really dangerous to the survivor, both to their mental health and physical well being.”

Aboriginal Affairs says alleged perpetrators will have an opportunity to voluntarily participate in a court-ordered Independent Assessment Process, and will be given a chance to answer to the crimes they’re accused of.

Cooper says it’s just not money well spent.

“They should be looking into the deaths of so many residential school students,” Cooper says. “Take that million dollars and put it to good use.”

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CANADA
The First Perspective

The federal government is hiring private investigators to track down people who are accused of abusing students in Indian residential schools.

The investigators will be deployed across Canada to find those who have been accused by former residential school students of abusing them, according to officials.

Those identified as alleged abusers and who are then found will be invited to participate in court hearings where they can defend themselves and promote reconciliation.

The search for alleged abusers is part of the federal government’s Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which has an Independent Assessment Process (IAP) that provides compensation to former students who claim serious sexual, physical or any form of abuse that caused psychological damage.

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POLAND
GlobalPost

AFP

A Polish court on Monday sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to eight-and-a-half years in jail for sexually abusing underage boys.

The 49-year-old, who was only identified as Slawomir S. because of privacy laws, had abused five boys under the age of 15, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

The priest, from a village parish in central Poland, was arrested in April 2012 after one of the boys said he had been abused.

The court in the town of Rawa Mazowiecka also banned the priest, who had lent his victims cash and helped pay their phone bills, from ever teaching children.

Dozens of parishioners turned up outside the court for the closed-door trial to defend their priest, who pleaded not guilty.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP/WCCO) – A judge has ordered that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis must release the names of 33 priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

The names include 29 priests on a 2004 list of priests deemed to have been credibly accused of abuse, plus one who had a substantiated claim leveled against him later.

That list actually includes 33 names. An archdiocese attorney says one is a member of a religious order and nothing shows he served in the archdiocese. The other three are priests for whom the archdiocese says the allegations can’t be substantiated.

Ramsey County Judge John Van de North also ruled that the Diocese of Winona must release the names of the 13 priests accused there.

That information must be disclosed by Dec. 17.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: December 2, 2013

Archdiocese and Diocese of Winona had sought to release 29 names, but court ordered all to be identified.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis must release the names of 33 priests accused of sexually abusing minors by Dec. 17, a Ramsey County District Court judge ruled Monday morning.

Judge John Van de North ordered that the archdiocese provide not just the names of the priests but their year of birth, year of ordination, the list of parishes where they served, their current ministerial status and residence and whether they are still living.

The same information must be provided by the Diocese of Winona, Van de North ordered.

“We are greatly relieved that finally there will be disclosure so children will be protected from further harm and those who have been hurt can come forward,” said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney specializing in clergy sex abuse.

Anderson is representing John Doe 1, whose sexual abuse lawsuit sought to force the archdiocese to reveal the names of abusive priests. Ramsey County District Judge Gregg Johnson ruled in 2009 that it be kept private in that case.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

Updated: Dec 02, 2013
posted by Mike Durkin
by Rob Olson

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
A Ramsey County judge on Monday ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to release the names of 33 credibly-accused priests released by Dec. 17. The Diocese of Winona must also release its list of 13 priests by the same deadline, bringing the total to 46.

The judge also set a January deadline for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to release the names of any priests credibly accused since the list of 33 was compiled in January.

The archdiocese sought to release just 29 names, arguing that three of the cases do not have credible evidence and one happened outside of the archdiocese. They also wanted to release one name not originally part of the original list of 33.

POPE ADDRESSES CLERGY ABUSE

Pope Francis on Monday addressed the issue of clergy sex abuse in the Netherlands and called for prayers for the victims.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
December 2, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Ramsey County judge ordered that the names of 46 priests accused of sexual abuse — 33 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and 13 in the Diocese of Winona — be made public.

The nearly four-year battle over the list, which had been sealed in a 2009 lawsuit, continued in Ramsey County District Court today, as attorneys for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis argued that some of the names should not be released to the public.

Lawyers for the archdiocese said the church’s internal review found that allegations against three of the 33 priests on the sealed list could not be substantiated. The church would only release the names of 30 priests who had substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse against them, they said.

Nine of the original 33 priests are dead, according to archdiocese lawyers, and 26 are still archdiocesan priests.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Scott Theisen
A judge ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to release the names of 46 priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said it was prepared to release 30 of the 33 names of priests accused of sexually abusing minors if it gets a court order.

Ramsey County Judge John Van de North ordered all 33 of the St. Paul and Minneapolis priests’ names, parishes and whether they’re alive or dead to be made public, plus an additional 13 from Winona by Dec. 17.

The names include 29 priests on a 2004 list of priests deemed to have been credibly accused of abuse, plus one who had a substantiated claim leveled against him later.
Van de North said any investigation into church abuse must be done by a third party.

An archdiocese attorney said one priest that it does not want included in the list is a member of a religious order and nothing shows he served in the archdiocese. The other three are priests for whom the archdiocese says the allegations can’t be substantiated.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 December 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis today received in audience a group of prelates from the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands on their “ad limina” visit. The Holy Father focused on how to accompany those who suffer from “spiritual emptiness” and who seek the meaning of life. “Listen to them”, he said, “to help them share in the hope, joy, and capacity to carry on that Jesus Christ gives us”.

“The Church”, he continued, “not only proposes immutable moral truths and attitudes which go against the grain, but also proposes them as the key to the good of humanity and social development. Christians have the mission of taking up this challenge. The education of consciences therefore becomes a priority, especially through the formation of critical judgement, in order to have a positive approach to social realities: superficial judgement and resignation to indifference can thus be avoided”.

In the society of the Netherlands, “strongly characterised by secularism”, the Pope invited the prelates to “be present both in public debate in all spheres which affect humanity, to make visible God’s mercy and his tenderness to every living creature. … As I have often stated, … the Church enlarges not by proselytism but by attraction. She is sent everywhere to awaken, reawaken and maintain hope! This brings us to the importance of encouraging the faithful to seize opportunities for dialogue, to be present in those places where the future is decided; they will thus be able to bring their contribution into the debates on important social matters regarding, for instance, the family, marriage and the end of life”. …

“In particular”, he added, “I wish to express my compassion and to ensure my closeness in prayer to every victim of sexual abuse, and to their families; I ask you to continue to support them along the painful path of healing, that they have undertaken with courage”.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By BILL KELLER
Published: December 1, 2013

AMONG the teaching nuns at St. Matthew’s Catholic School, Sister Mary Robert was my favorite. She was young, not yet 30, with a gentle face framed by the starched white wimple. She tamed a classroom of hormone-dizzy eighth graders by making us want to please her. We offered up our compositions and our ventures in iambic pentameter, and were rewarded with encouragement that, at least in my case, never wore off.

Not many years after I left St. Matthew’s, I left the church. Leaving your church is not so much like quitting a club as emigrating from the country where you grew up. You forfeit citizenship and no longer consider yourself subject to its laws, but you follow the news from the Old Country and wish its people well, because they are still in some sense your people. And if you write for a living you may sometimes write about that world, from a distance.

Last year, 50 years after eighth-grade graduation, Sister Mary Robert saw something I wrote on this subject and sent me a letter. Only she was no longer Sister Mary Robert. She had met a priest, Father John Hydar. They fell in love and, after extricating themselves from their respective religious vows, they married. At the time of her letter the marriage of Roberta (her reclaimed birth name) and John Hydar was in its 41st year, and it seemed to be a happy one.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

December 1

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Kanakuk Kamps, a Branson-based Christian sports camp network that draws thousands of youths every summer — many from the Kansas City area — is facing two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former director.

One lawsuit, filed in Taney County, alleges former director Peter D. Newman molested a teen from 2000 to 2005, beginning when the boy was 13. The second case, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges Newman sexually abused a camper from 2001 through 2007, beginning when the boy was 10. Two similar lawsuits, both filed in 2011, were settled this year.

Newman is serving a lengthy prison sentence for sexually abusing numerous boys during the decade that he held a supervisory position at the camp.

The lawsuits allege camp officials knew about the man’s troubling behavior, including swimming and riding four-wheelers in the nude with campers, but failed to remove him or keep him away from children.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/02/2013

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will release the names of 29 of 33 priests “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors, an attorney for the church said in Ramsey County District Court Monday.

This follows a statement from Archbishop John Nienstedt, who previously said he would disclose the names, locations and status of all living archdiocesan priests who have substantiated claims of sexual abuse against them, regardless of where they now live.

But he said he needed a court’s permission because the list is under a protective order. Attorneys for alleged victims of abuse said the archdiocese doesn’t need permission to release its own information.

In 2004, the archdiocese compiled a list of 33 priests deemed to have credible accusations against them. It’s not clear how many names Nienstedt would release, or whether they’ve already been made public.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 2, 2013

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

At least four girls say Rev. Travis Smith of Stover (near Jefferson City) molested them. Smith goes on trial today. We hope his victims get justice and we hope Smith is convicted and imprisoned so that kids will be safer.

[Connect Mid-Missouri]

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Shame on the misguided and reckless members of First Baptist Church of Stover who are choosing, despite four alleged victims and six felony charges, to keep Rev. Smith on the job. This is stunningly callous behavior. It’s also a severe misreading of the notion of forgiveness. We can forgive wrongdoers without putting others at risk.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Associated Press |
ST. PAUL — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is seeking a court’s permission to disclose the names of some priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors.

Archbishop John Nienstedt says he will disclose the names, locations and status of all living archdiocesan priests against whom there are substantiated claims of sexual abuse, regardless of where they reside.

But he says he needs a court’s permission because the list is under a protective order. Attorneys for victims of abuse say the archdiocese doesn’t need permission to release its own information. A hearing is scheduled today.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Minnesota Child Victims Act Has Eliminated Statute of Limitations on Sexual Abuse Lawsuits for 3 Years

Posted by Mike Bryant
December 2, 2013

Since Governor Mark Dayton signed the Minnesota Child Victims Act in July, statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits has been lifted within Minnesota for the next three years. This law (the Minnesota Child Victims Act) now gives sexual abuse survivors a voice which allows them to come forward and find justice. They can now sue their abusers and ensure that the truth comes out.

Two individuals who lead the fight and deserve great thanks are Senator Ron Latz (DFL) District: 46 and Representative Steve Simon (DFL) District: 46B. They showed leadership in getting the bill passed and made into law.

The stories are real and now finally they can be brought out into the open.

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WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Public Radio

[with audio]

By CHUCK QUIRMBACH

Clergy abuse victims in Milwaukee say they’re being left out of potential bankruptcy settlement talks involving the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese, but the Archdiocese says the victims are being kept up to date.

It’s coming up on three years since the Milwaukee Archdiocese declared bankruptcy. Archbishop Jerome Listecki has spent $11 million on lawyers’ fees trying to limit the amount of money paid to the more than 500 people who say they were sexually abused by local Catholic clergy. Recently, insurance companies started buying back policies they sold to the archdiocese as a way of limiting liability.

Peter Isely of the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance says the church and insurers are talking behind closed doors, and he worries the victims won’t get a fair offer. “Money … in our society, is about what we care about, what we value,” Isely said. “We think it’s going to be very revealing when that number is released to the court, what exactly the Archbishop values and who he values.”

Isely says victims in the ten or so other U.S. church bankruptcies have received between $220,000 and $800,000 per person. Milwaukee Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski says the victims’ attorneys are being told about the settlement talks. “They’ve been informed as to exactly what the dialog has been with regards to any insurance settlement.”

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POLAND
Mercury News

The Associated Press
Posted: 12/02/2013

WARSAW, Poland—A priest in central Poland was sentenced Monday to more than eight years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing five boys.

It was the toughest punishment given to a priest in Poland in a child sexual abuse case. Priests are considered to be top moral figures by most people in the predominantly Catholic nation, where the church has helped preserve national identity and supported independence efforts under decades of communism.

Previously, priests were generally treated with leniency and handed small or suspended sentences.
But church authorities recently declared “zero tolerance” for pedophile priests after the head of the Episcopate, Archbishop Jozef Michalik, drew outrage with remarks suggesting that children were partly to blame for the sex abuse they suffer from priests. The courts then toughened up their verdicts, like in the case Monday in Rawa Mazowiecka.

The local court handed an unprecedented high prison term to and also banned the 49-year-old priest from approaching his five victims, who were under the age of 15 at the time of the abuse, and from teaching children in the future. The priest was only identified as Slawomir S. because of Polish privacy practices.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 2, 2013 NCR Today

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis for the first time on Monday publicly discussed the issue of clergy sex abuse, telling Catholic bishops from the Netherlands he wished to express sympathy for victims in their country.

The pope mentioned the abuse scandal, which has continued to rock the Catholic church globally, towards the end of his remarks to the bishops. 13 Dutch prelates were part of the meeting, which comes as they are making their ad limina visit to Rome.

“I promise compassion and prayer for every victim of sexual abuse and their families,” the pope told the prelates, speaking in French.

“I ask you to continue supporting them on their painful path to healing, undertaken with courage,” he said, according to the Vatican’s text of his remarks.

The sex abuse scandal has particularly impacted the Dutch Catholic church. A 2011 report by a inquiry commission created by the Dutch government said church officials had “failed to adequately deal with” abuse affecting as many as 20,000 of the country’s children in Catholic institutions between 1945 and 1981.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 2, 2013

Joanne McCarthy

In late 2008 a Newcastle woman wrote to a senior Australian Catholic clergyman and sought a meeting. She wanted a personal apology from him. In 1995 the clergyman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had a role in the attempted defrocking of notorious paedophile priest Denis McAlinden. The woman, who attended the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle this year, was eight when McAlinden first sexually abused her during confession.

The senior clergyman replied on November 20, 2008. His heart was ”full of compassion” for her and she was ”constantly” in his prayers, he wrote. Learning her story was ”one of the saddest experiences of my life”. He had offered a Mass for her where he ”asked the Lord to give you a deep sense of peace and healing”. But there would be no meeting or apology.

In a separate letter to the Maitland-Newcastle diocese the senior clergyman made that abundantly clear. He had not been impressed by the ”totally inappropriate … hostile and obscene language” she had used in some emails to him. ”Her anger does not excuse or justify the use of such language in formal communications,” he wrote. ”Her issues should be directed to Maitland-Newcastle diocese and not to me. I do not propose to meet with her.”

History shows he should have. The woman kept complaining to the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. She wanted her apology from the clergyman. An increasingly frustrated diocese tried a compromise. It couldn’t get her an apology, but at least could give her some documents from McAlinden’s expansive file.

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MISSOURI
Connect Mid-Missouri

by Juliette Dryer
Posted: 12.01.2013

STOVER, MO. — The trial for a Stover pastor accused of sex crimes begins Monday in Moniteau County Court.

Travis Smith is charged with one count of second-degree statutory rape and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.

Moniteau County Prosecuting Attorney Shayne Healea said in June that the charges come from multiple alleged victims.

Online records show Smith is also charged with forcible rape, sexual abuse and two counts of statutory rape, for which he is scheduled to go to trial in June 2014.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says church leaders are strongly committed to protecting young people and addressing the fallout in the wake of clergy sex abuse scandals, including those in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who studied for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Merion, was recently elected president of the conference. He is now head of the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Kurtz says he is supportive of Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput’s direct and firm measures to deal with the crisis, but he concedes it’s an ongoing concern across the country for all bishops:

“We’re made great progress,” he says. “Is there more that needs to be done? You’d better believe it. To continue to create a safe environment, we need to do more. And I would also say that I hope that our example will be a help to other parts of society in which, sadly, abuse is all too common.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN DECEMBER 02, 2013

FORMER Salesian College principal Frank Klep has pleaded guilty to a string of sex crimes against students at the college.

The 69-year-old former priest pleaded guilty to 14 charges at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this morning after prosecutors withdrew a further 22 charges.

Klep abused a several students at the college, including while acting as rector of the school, while teaching there during the 1970s and 1980s.

The convicted pedophile, who was jailed in 2005 for similar offending, was re-arrested by police this year after new victims came forward.

One victim told police Klep abused him just weeks after starting at the college when the priest saw him crying.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A FORMER Victorian priest and principal has admitted to sexually assaulting 14 schoolboys, many of whom were sleeping when they were attacked.

Frank Gerard Klep, 70, confessed to sexually assaulting the boys at Salesian College Rupertswood in Sunbury during the 1970s and ’80s.

He was the school’s principal when he preyed on several of his victims.

Klep, of Burwood, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault, plus one count each of rape and attempted buggery, in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

It is the third time Klep has either pleaded guilty to or been convicted of abusing schoolboys.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Ron Zeitlinger/The Jersey Journal
on December 02, 2013

A former St. Aloysius priest who sexually molested a 17-year-old boy in the early 1980s appears headed for trial in Missouri on similar charges, according to a published report.

Gerald “Gerry” Howard, whose name was Carmine Sita when he was a priest at St. Aloysius in Jersey City, is seeking a non-jury trial that could begin after the start of the new year, connectmidmissouri.com reported.

In 1982 Sita pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Jersey City. In January 1983, Sita was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to undergo treatment.

After getting treatment in New Mexico, Sita legally changed his name and joined Ss. Peter and Paul in Boonville, Mo. Authorities say he sexually assaulted three minors there between 1984 and 1987.

In 2009, a Virginia man who accused Howard of abuse received a $600,000 settlement from church officials in Jefferson City and Newark, New Jersey.

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UNITED STATES
Kill Your Stereo

Fitting with their recently released Christmas album, Bad Religion have unveiled an online advent calendar, which is featured on the band’s website.

Bad Religion writes:

Yes it’s true, we recorded a Christmas album. To celebrate, we made this advent calendar where we’ll be giving away “presents” every day as we count down to Christmas. We’re also donating 20% of all album proceeds to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, so thank you to all who’ve purchased Christmas Songs and to everybody, Happy holidays!

The first video released can be viewed below.

You can check out the advent calendar here.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northampton Chronicle and Echo

by Callum Jones
callum.jones@northantsnews.co.uk
Published on the 02 December 2013

Recent high-profile child abuse investigations into people such as Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall has led to a rise in the reporting of historic sexual offences in Northamptonshire, a detective chief inspector has said.

Northamptonshire Police has organised a week of action to encourage victims of violence and sexual assault to come forward and report offences and get the specialist support they need.

Speaking to the Chronicle & Echo, DCI Steve Lingley, who works in the Protecting Vulnerable Persons department, said there had been a five per cent rise in the number of historic sex abuse cases reported in Northamptonshire.

He said: “There have been a lot more cases reported of historic sexual abuse claims since the publicity around Jimmy Savile.

“Every police force in the country has noticed an increase in reporting of the victim’s know their claims will be dealt with thoroughly.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP DECEMBER 02, 2013

THE national inquiry into how institutions handled allegations of sex abuse against children has referred 54 matters to authorities, including police.

The royal commission, which has been holding public hearings since September, will open a two-week inquiry in Sydney next Monday into the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing process adopted by the church to respond internally to sex-abuse allegations.

This will focus on the experiences of four people who came through that system.

They are Queensland residents who were abused by priests and brothers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, the Catholic diocese of Lismore and Marist Brothers.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has so far received 8500 phone calls, 3000 emails and 170,000 visits to their website.

In a statement on Monday it said it has also held more that 917 private sessions. These are continuing across the country.

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NEW YORK
WKBQ

[with video]

By Kendra Eaglin

Updated Dec 2, 2013

Town of Hartland, NY
The parking lot of the Community Fellowship Church in the Town of Hartland was packed Sunday.

One the worshipers attending service was the reverend of the church, 70 year old Roy Harriger Sr. That may not seem unusual except that Harriger is accused of sexually assaulting two children and is fresh out of the Orleans County Jail after being bailed out by members of the community Thursday.

The news spread fast in the small town and angered one resident who didn’t want to be identified.
“I think that it is just absolutely outrageous that people around here who have children with children could possibly support this kind of monster,” the man said.

Harriger was arrested Wednesday on felony sexual conduct, incest and sodomy charges stemming from incidents in 2000 and 2001.

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AUSTRALIA
IF

By Don Groves

The Broken Bay Diocese of the Catholic Church has donated $20,000 towards the cost of producing a 30-mnute drama which tackles sexual abuse in the Church.

A Priest in the Family stars Lynette Curran, Susie Porter, Gillian Jones and Lisa Hensley and is based on a short story by Irish writer Colm Tóibín about an elderly woman whose son, a parish priest, is accused of molesting his former students.

Co-directed by producer Anni Finsterer and Peter Humble, who wrote the screenplay, the film has finished shooting. Finsterer tells IF that Humble is assembling footage so the producers can apply for funds to complete post production.

Curran plays Molly, a vigorous Irish woman in her late 70s who attempts to keep up with the changing times of her grandchildren by mastering the Internet. When Molly learns that her son ¨Frank, a local parish priest, is about to go on trial for the sexual abuse of former students, the horrifying case gives them a chance of reconciliation.

“We had a huge show of support from the Diocese, (retired) Bishop David Walker and Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuses,” Finsterer tells IF.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

John Allen, Vatican expert for CNN and the independent National Catholic Reporter (NCR), is likely correct in his current NCR column. John says “experts” will pore with a fine tooth comb over Pope Francis’ new 200+page “Letter”, entitled “The Joy of the Gospel” (“Evangelii Guadium”).

But many Catholics and others, not “experts”, also will soon ask their own questions: Why is this Letter being published now on these particular topics? Does the Letter address one of their major concerns–making bishops trustworthy again? What’s missing and why is it missing?

Bishops were originally selected by, and accountable to, the general Catholic faithful, the so called “People of God”, in the Church the Apostles left behind in the New Testament era. All Catholics were considered spiritually equal on the first Pentecost. If Catholic bishops will not be accountable to the faithful again, why not? What is Francis’ objection to the full Gospel message?

As the absolute monarch he in fact is, Francis picked the specific points he wanted to address in his Letter. On many of the points he selected, he wrote marvelously and spiritually. But he didn’t ask Catholics what they wanted addressed, and thereby he avoided essential but uncomfortable topics that remain unaddressed.

The Church’s current child abuse and financial scandals show how untrustworthy some in the the Catholic hierarchy have been. Francis surely cannot just assume most disillusioned Catholics and others will accept only fine words, without real deeds reflecting these words. They won’t if they think clearly and are paying attention !

As with Pope John Paul II, the honeymoon with this friendly, likeable and seemingly well intentioned pope will not last too much longer. His actions will be measured closely by his words. Will they match up? …

Francis, I think, missed real opportunities in his Letter, likely intentionally. I want to point out a few of them and also consider what the omissions can tell Catholics. As a Christian Catholic, I try to assess Francis through the lens of my extensive experience with some leaders of mutinational organizations I encountered as a Wall Street lawyer.

Abused children hurt by priests, disrespected women treated unequally, desperate couples denied contraception and gay persons withheld rights, all deserve prompt support. For them, “wait and see” at this point is another risky approach.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Megan Stewart

The names of Twin Cities priests accused of sexual abuse could be released Monday if a Ramsey County judge decides to make the list public.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said he would disclose the names, locations and status of these men in November with “permission of the relevant court.”

The archdiocese said a protective order has been in place in Ramsey County District Court since 2009 related to the disclosure.

On Friday, the archdiocese said it just learned that a meeting with a Ramsey County judge has now been scheduled for Dec. 2. The archdiocese said the need for court approval will delay its schedule for disclosure. But the archdiocese said it is prepared to release information once the judge approves the plan.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

For Roger Mahony, clergy abuse cases were a threat to agenda

As clergy abuse scandal erupts, Roger Mahony put in spotlight

This series is based on nearly 23,000 pages of internal documents from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and various religious orders that were made public this year in compliance with court orders. In addition, Times reporters reviewed thousands of pages of depositions and court filings and interviewed dozens of people, including church officials, victims’ families and law enforcement officials. Cardinal Roger Mahony declined to be interviewed or respond to questions sent to his attorney.

Unless otherwise stated, and excepting historical and biographical information from Times archives, all information in the story is based on internal church records released through court order or sworn depositions. Statements that appear within quotation marks are from depositions, church records, public statements, interviews and contemporaneous coverage in the Los Angeles Times. Some comments and conversations have been paraphrased based on the recollections of participants; in those instances, quotation marks are not used.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

For Roger Mahony, clergy abuse cases were a threat to agenda – Part 1

Part 2

BY HARRIET RYAN, ASHLEY POWERS AND VICTORIA KIM

As the clergy abuse scandal unfolds nationwide, Roger Mahony’s moral authority — and his legacy — erode.

On a brilliant Sunday afternoon, Cardinal Roger Mahony stood before thousands jammed into a vacant lot overlooking the 101 Freeway. The archbishop, resplendent in gold and crimson, told the crowd that the cathedral that would rise from the dirt would stand for centuries as a monument to the church’s stature in Los Angeles.

“This revered ground is blessed and dedicated to God for the ages to come,” he declared. Three hundred doves fluttered into a cloudless sky, a choir of 800 sang and the faithful roared their approval.

In 1997, a dozen years into his tenure, Mahony was at the height of his power. He was a national advocate for immigrants in the country illegally, and his voice carried sway on issues including welfare reform and the racial tensions arising from the O.J. Simpson trial. Residents — Catholic and others — consistently voted him among the region’s most popular public figures in opinion polls.

But in a locked cabinet in the archdiocese headquarters, files bulged with evidence that Mahony was covering up sexual abuse of children.

Manila folders alphabetized by abusers’ names contained letters from distraught parents, graphic confessions from priests, and memos between the archbishop and his aides discussing how to stymie police investigations and avoid lawsuits.

To Mahony, the meticulous files were a record of problems solved and scandals averted. In the years to come, however, it would become increasingly hard — and finally impossible — to keep the problem of sexual abuse locked away.

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NEW JERSEY/CONNECTICUT
New Jersey Herald

Updated: Nov 30, 2013

By JESSICA MASULLI REYES
jmasulli@njherald.com

STANHOPE — A Stanhope man, who was studying in a Connecticut seminary, claims he was sexually assaulted and “preyed upon” by his spiritual advisor and then stonewalled by the Diocese of Paterson when he tried to continue a path to priesthood.

In a civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Paterson, Joshua Cascio, 28, is alleging that his advisor, Father Addison (Tad) Hallock, at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., sexually assaulted him the day after Thanksgiving 2011.

The 10-count suit, filed last week in state Superior Court in Newton, details the alleged assault, as well as allegations that several top officials in the Diocese of Paterson and at the Holy Apostles College & Seminary are not allowing Cascio to return to the seminary. The lawsuit names Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who oversees the Catholic diocese covering Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties.

“Obviously, this has been his motivation throughout this whole thing, to become a priest, but the process is being denied to him,” Cascio’s Parsippany-based attorney, John O’Reilly, said.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

KOMMENTAR DER ANDEREN | HANS KÜNG
27. November 2013, 19:08

Der neue Papst hat ganz klar andere theologische und pastorale Vorstellungen als die Reaktionäre im Vatikan. Das zeigt sein erstes apostolisches Schreiben. Die Frage ist: Wird er sich durchsetzen können?

Mit der Kirchenreform geht es voran: Im apostolischen Schreiben Evangelii Gaudium verstärkt Papst Franziskus nicht nur seine Kritik am Kapitalismus und der Herrschaft des Geldes, sondern spricht sich auch eindeutig für eine Kirchenreform “auf allen Ebenen” aus. Er plädiert für Strukturreformen: eine Dezentralisierung hin zu Bistümern und Gemeinden, eine Reform des Petrus-Amtes, Aufwertung der Laien und gegen ausufernden Klerikalismus, für eine wirksamere weibliche Gegenwart in der Kirche, vor allem in Entscheidungsgremien. Ebenso deutlich spricht er sich aus für die Ökumene und den interreligiösen Dialog, besonders mit Judentum und Islam.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Koblenz/Trier – Die Übergriffe sollen fast 30 Jahre zurückliegen – und eine strafrechtliche Klärung wird es nicht mehr geben. Aber für die mutmaßlichen Opfer des katholischen Priesters, der nach wie vor in Koblenz und im Kreis Altenkirchen tätig ist, ist der Fall keineswegs abgeschlossen.

Im Juli 2012 hatte sich ein heute 44-Jähriger Saarländer beim Bistum Trier gemeldet. Er sei im Jahr 1985 vom Pfarrer einer Gemeinde im Saarland sexuell missbraucht worden. Seitdem läuft das interne Verfahren der Kirche. Und seitdem läuft auch sein Antrag auf Entschädigung durch die Kirche. Wie die Sache ausgeht, ist offen. Klar ist nur: Der beschuldigte Pfarrer ist weiter im Amt, hält weiter Messen, nach Informationen unserer Zeitung auch regelmäßig in Koblenz.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

From the start of his tenure as the leader of L.A.’s Catholics, Roger Mahony had ambitious plans for the archdiocese. But clergy molestation claims were vying for his attention.

BY HARRIET RYAN, ASHLEY POWERS AND VICTORIA KIM
December 01, 2013

A year after arriving in Los Angeles, the youngest archbishop in the U.S. Catholic Church had a schedule and an agenda befitting a presidential candidate.

Roger Mahony raced around the city in a chauffeured sedan, exhorting labor leaders to support immigrant rights and rallying hundreds against a proposed prison in Boyle Heights.

Where his predecessors had talked up praying the rosary, Mahony touted his positions on nuclear disarmament and Middle East peace, porn on cable TV and AIDS prevention. No issue seemed outside his purview: When an earthquake struck El Salvador, he cut a $100,000 check. When a 7-year-old went missing in South Pasadena, he wrote her Protestant parents a consoling letter.

Reporters took notes and the influential took heed. The mayor, the governor, business executives and millionaires recognized a rising star and sought his company.

Among the thousands of papers that crossed his desk in September 1986 was a handwritten letter.

“During priests’ retreat … you provided us with an invitation to talk to you about a shadow that some of us might have,” Father Michael Baker wrote. “I would like to take you up on that invitation.”

The note would come to define Mahony’s legacy more than any public stance he took or powerful friend he made.

In the child sex abuse scandal that has shaken the Catholic Church, Mahony is a singular figure.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Take the Survey Now

In preparation for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family to be held 5th – 19th October 2014, the Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to seek the opinions of Catholics on a number of church teachings including contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce.

Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops, asked the bishops’ conferences to commence a survey “immediately as widely as possible to deaneries and parishes so that input from local sources can be received.”

We are aware that the Vatican document is difficult to complete, so we are presenting here a version that is as close as we can make it to the original, but is such that we believe will made this canvass of views more readily available to a greater number. We suggest that you fill it in either as individuals or as groups. The important thing is that it represents the lived experience of as many people, single, couples, families, in our Church.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Tony Flannery rejoices in the difference Pope Francis is making in the Church, but fears that local church leadership may not have the capacity to implement the change the pope wishes for.

Pope Francis has certainly created a new mood in the Church, a mood of optimism and hope. But his latest exhortation goes much further; it shows we have as pope a man who is determined that his period in the Vatican will be a time for more than just talk. It is clear now that there is a determination, almost a degree of impatience about him, like a man who realises that he hasn’t got an endless amount of time, and that the task is urgent and difficult.

It is also clear that his vision of Church is dramatically different from the two men who have gone before him, and that those who are still trying to say that Francis is in the direct line of Benedict and John Paul are becoming less credible. The simple life style, the constant calling for a poor Church, for a simple liturgy, the critique of the Curia, the challenge to the local churches to begin to take responsibility, all amounts to dramatic changes of direction from the papacy. Someone referred to his most recent encyclical as a charter for church reform.

The question that occupies me now is will the local churches rise to the challenge. Reading back over the history of the Second Vatican Council, it is clear that many new ideas and approaches were presented that would, if implemented, amount to a big change in pastoral approach, in governance, and even in interpretation of doctrine. But only a small part of it was ever put into practice because the local churches were not willing to take up the baton and move courageously into the future. John Charles McQuaid’s famous sentence when he came home from the Council that nothing had happened that would disturb the tranquillity of the faith of the people was a good illustration of the mentality that ultimately blocked change.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Sydney commencing Monday 9 December 2013. The public hearing will look into the Towards Healing process adopted by the Catholic Church in responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines explained that this hearing will be the first of a number of public hearings that will examine the application of Towards Healing in responding to victims and allegations of child sexual abuse against personnel of the Catholic Church.

“This first public hearing into Towards Healing will focus on the experiences of four people who participated in the process,” she said.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated November 30, 2013

While John Allen and the Vatican Pied Pipers are all tooting Francis-mania worldwide, Hans Kung is hitting the bull’s eye of the ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ Latin for “Joy of the Gospel”, the new Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis. Hans Kung’s analysis is entitled “The Pope and his ‘double’” (Italian, Il papa e il suo “doppio”) and like a prophet, he points out what the Vatican Pied Pipers are not saying (must not say) and what the 1.2 billion Catholics cannot see (must not see) — that Pope Francis is acting on the directive of his “shadow pope” Ratzinger – God’s Rottweiler Benedict XVI. At the beginning of Kung’s article, there’s a big photo of the two white popes face to face almost kissing each other (creepy creepy photo of the two very very old males ‘Brides of Christ’ in white!) Hans Kung points out that Pope Francis’ “indiscriminate rejection of abortion and women priests should arouse criticism” and that “his dogmatic scope is limited because Francis is under pressure of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and its prefect, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller?” (Read the English translation of his article below – with our highlights in yellow).

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is calling on members of the public, who suffered sexual abuse as a child within the Anglican Church and have subsequently made a claim to the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide since 2004, to contact the Royal Commission.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said Healing Steps was implemented by the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide in 2004 to provide pastoral support and practical assistance for victims of sexual abuse. The program was established after an internal inquiry made recommendations about how the Diocese could improve its response to sexual abuse and misconduct, including child sexual abuse.

“Healing Steps was established by the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide as an alternative approach to civil proceedings for resolving claims of sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse.

“The Royal Commission is in the process of gathering information relevant to these matters, and would like to talk to anyone who was sexually abused as a child within the Anglican Church, and who has participated in the Healing Steps program.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The next hearings of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will begin on 9th December, in Sydney. More than a year after the announcement of the Royal Commission by former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, it will finally touch on the Catholic Church.

The recent Victorian Parliamentary enquiry analyzed the system set up by Catholic cardinal, George Pell, to deal with victims of paedophile priests in Melbourne (see previous postings). As Pell was, at the time, Archbishop of Melbourne, he called it the “Melbourne Response”. The Victorian enquiry revealed it as being anti-victim, pro-church and an affront to the dignity of victims.

When Pell went on to be a Cardinal, he set up a national version of the “Melbourne Response”, termed “Towards Healing”, which was no better in terms of outcomes for victims. The main thing about Pell’s programs is that, because it was impossible to sue the Catholic Church, victims were bullied into accepting low compensation and forfeiting their rights against the church.

Both processes were billed by Pell as being “independent”, but because they were funded by the church, operated only for the church. From the Royal Commission’s point of view, the Towards Healing process represents the problems which can arise when there is not a truly independent process. It could lead to such a body in the future, which will finally give victims the help they need and deserve.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

BY JAMES MACKENZIE
ROME Sat Nov 30, 2013

Nov 30 (Reuters) – The Vatican bank said on Saturday it had appointed Rolando Marranci, a consultant called in to help improve transparency, as director general to take charge of operations as the institution seeks to reform after a series of scandals.

Marranci, 60, has acted as deputy director general since July, when the then-director general Paolo Cipriani and his number two Massimo Tulli resigned after a senior cleric with close ties to the bank was arrested on suspicion of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland.

He previously worked with Promontory Financial Group, an outside consultancy called in by Pope Francis to help review all accounts held by the bank’s customers and tighten anti-money laundering procedures.

A former executive with Italy’s Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Marranci’s appointment is the latest in a series of changes at the bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) as it battles to emerge from allegations it has dragged its feet in improving transparency standards.

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IOWA/ILLINOIS
Quad-City Times

By Barb Ickes

The way Natalie Long sees it, the rape of a child is like a murder.

“Sexual abuse takes the soul of a child,” the Rock Island woman said. “It takes away your innocence and how you view the world. It challenges every foundation you have — everything you believed in and trusted.”

Because of the lasting and life-changing trauma of being sexually abused as a child, Long regards many states’ time limits for prosecuting offenders a secondary form of abuse. She wants to change that and has begun her appeal against such statutes of limitations in Iowa and Illinois.

Long and Rock Island lawyer Arthur Winstein have launched a new foundation with a goal of changing many states’ statutes of limitations for sexual abuse against minors, dubbed S.A.A.M. (saamfoundation.org).

“Our argument is that there is not enough time to come to terms with, cope and face your abuser within these time frames,” Long said, citing Iowa’s 10-year limit as an example of a too-short statute. “We had a 72-year-old woman come to us who’d been keeping it to herself for 60 years.”

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VATICAN CITY
BBC

Why did Pope Benedict resign, and can Pope Francis clean up the Vatican? Mark Dowd explores the crises that hit the Roman Catholic Church in the months leading up to the Papal resignation: the leaking of secret documents by the Pope’s butler revealing power struggles at the top of the Church; investigations into money-laundering at the Vatican Bank; and claims that a ‘gay lobby’ controls sections of the Roman Curia, the Church’s civil service

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Opinion: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse shows men of God failed to act

TERRY SWEETMAN THE SUNDAY MAIL (QLD) DECEMBER 01, 2013

“That’s not the Pat Comben I knew,” said a former ministerial staffer and current political tragic over a beer last week.

Nor was it the Pat Comben I knew as my former member of parliament, a former cabinet minister, a late-ordained Anglican minister, and neighbourhood acquaintance.

This was a man against whom few had ill to say, whose table was invariably a gathering of good and interesting people, who frequently filled his ministerial limo with strangers on the way to the office and by all accounts was a more than competent minister.

We were discussing allegations levelled by former workmate Tommy Campion, who accused Comben of duplicity and betrayal in what have been called “cruel and inappropriate” church responses to claims of abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore.

We were discussing Comben’s appearance before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse during which he made the bewildering claim that he had “no idea” why he did not report serious allegations of abuse to police.

The commission was told that Comben had driven the hard line the diocese took in dealing with requests for compensation and apologies for people who suffered in the home.

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VATICAN CITY
Boston.com

By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / November 30, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The troubled Vatican bank announced its new top manager Saturday, promoting an outside consultant who had stepped in when the bank’s top two managers resigned amid scandal last summer.

Rolando Marranci had worked for Promontory Financial Group advising the Institute for Religious Works on cleaning up its accounts when he was named acting deputy director July 1. The bank’s senior managers, Paolo Ciprianni and Massimo Tulli, had been forced out after a Vatican accountant with close ties to the bank was arrested for trying to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland without declaring it at customs.

At the time of the ouster, the bank’s president, Ernst Von Freyberg, was named acting director while he continued on as president and board member, a seeming conflict of interest that appears to be resolved now that Marranci has taken over day-to-day operations of the institute.

Von Freyberg remains on as president.

Marranci’s appointment was announced Saturday, days before the Vatican is due to be evaluated by the Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee on its progress complying with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Bulletin

RELATIONSHIPS Australia will support victims of child sexual abuse in institutions who wish to talk to the royal commission.

Counsellor Aaron Kenney said as people began to tell their stories it would bring up a lot emotionally.

“Certain counselling services have been contracted by the royal commission to provide support as they go through the process,” he said.

“We can support them to articulate their story.

“Some people, they haven’t talked about it for quite a while, if ever.”

Mr Kenney said the service would offer support emotionally to help identify coping mechanisms and other social support groups, reducing the feeling of isolation.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Lez Get Real on November 29, 2013.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic say that that the former apostolic nuncio to that country, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, is guilty of molesting at least five boys.

Wesolowski was relieved of his duties and recalled to Rome in August, after Church leaders in the Dominican Republic informed Pope Francis that they had uncovered evidence of sexual abuse by the papal representative. The Vatican turned over the evidence to the Dominican government, and has pledged to cooperate with prosecutors there and indeed, Dominican authorities report that the Vatican and church officials were fully cooperative in their investigation.

The Dominican prosecutors, in turn, report that they have sent the final results of their investigation to the Vatican, including testimony from five young men who say they were molested, and from a deacon who admitted to having relations with the former nuncio. The also say that the archbishop bought and used cocaine.

They will now have to determine if they will charge Wesolowski with child sexual abuse and other crimes.

A Vatican spokesman has said that the it is willing to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic if requested to do so. However, Wesolowski’s whereabouts have been unknown since the Vatican removed him as apostolic nuncio Aug. 21 after the allegations against him came to light.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

29 November 2013 16:45 by Brian Morton and Sabrina Sweeney

The man chosen to lead an external inquiry into how the Catholic Church in Scotland handles sexual abuse says he has been given a free hand to review child protection in order to guarantee that the “awful” lapses of the past could not be repeated.

The Church in Scotland has been under pressure to commission an outside inquiry into its safeguarding procedures following a BBC documentary showing evidence of physical and sexual abuse carried out at the Benedictine-run Fort Augustus School and its prep school, and the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him by five men, four of them priests. Those allegations did not involve minors.

On Sunday, the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland announced the review by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, as part of a three-pronged initiative to confront issues of clerical abuse.

This also includes the publishing on the bishops’ website of a breakdown of abuse allegations made against dioceses between 2006 and 2012, against religious between 2009 and 2012 and a statistical review of all historical cases of abuse from 1947-2005.

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RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

[with video]

Updated: Nov 29, 2013

By Katie Davis

An alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse is calling for more transparency from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence after an NBC 10 investigation.

The NBC 10 I-Team uncovered dozens of letters detailing abuse by Catholic priests in local churches going back decades.

A man who grew up in Rhode Island says he found his own case in those files. The letter is the most recent one the I-Team found in Rhode Island State Police files.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence sent it to detectives 10 months ago, but it details an alleged assault from 48 years earlier.

The alleged victim, Joe Corcoran, spoke publicly for the first time to NBC 10.

“It didn’t get easier, like you would think, as time went by. The memories. It got harder,” Corcoran said.

Corcoran grew up Warwick. As a high school student in the late 1960s, he worked at the Providence Visitor, the Catholic newspaper published by the Diocese of Providence.

It was one of the paper’s editors, the Rev. John Ferry, who Corcoran said sexually assaulted him.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The head of the Anglican Church was given the last word at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s third hearing, into Allan Kitchingman (see previous posting) and the Anglican Church’s North Coast Children’s Home. That word was “help”.

Like Catholic Cardinal, George Pell, Primate Aspinall is keen to remind anyone who will listen, that he is not like a CEO of his church, in that he has no power over his apparent underlings. Aspinall has so little power, that he has called on the commission to recommend that the government pass laws to force his church to be more humane towards its victims, through a national compensation system.

“I think, in terms of the Anglican Church, it would be much quicker and simpler for us if that were imposed on us from outside. And then dioceses wouldn’t fall into the trap that Grafton did in terms of focusing on financial matters to the detriment of victims. They would simply be given a determination by a statutory body and required to find the money,” Aspinall said.

He felt that it would be essentially impossible for the Anglican Church to set up such a fund, because it would require agreement from all 23 dioceses. Agreement was unlikely, because, as he poetically put it, “Anglican politics makes federal politics look like kindergarten.” Members of the Church would “take a dim view” of having to sell property to raise cash for victim compensation and assistance.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

The Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit heard a fresh voice at the trial of Eric Dejaeger Nov. 29, who said the former priest set up “camping” sessions with sleeping bags for children in an upstairs church bedroom.

Nicole Arnatsiaq was a religion teacher at the school in Igloolik in 1981 and 1982 and lived at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church when Dejaeger was a priest there.

Arnatsiaq told Justice Robert Kilpatrick that Dejaeger used to wear “tight jeans,” but said, “at the time I did not [see] any abnormalities.”

However, she did see sleeping bags upstairs in a bedroom once when Father Robert Lechat, head priest of the church, was away on one of many regular trips to neighbouring missions.

“Eric told me they were camping here,” Arnatsiaq told Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss.

Dejaeger, 66, faces 77 sex-related charges. Of those, he pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent assault on day one of the trial.

Those charges stem from incidents that are alleged to have occurred in Igloolik during his tenure as a priest there between 1978 and 1982. Most of the witnesses so far have been complainants — there are 39 in total.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

29 November 2013 16:35 by Christopher Lamb

The recently appointed Vatican prosecutor for abuse cases travelled to Britain this week for his first overseas visit in his new role.

Fr Robert Oliver, the “Promoter of Justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), met abuse victims, canon lawyers and addressed two seminars attended by bishops and safeguarding professionals in London and Leeds.

He was invited to Britain by the Chairman of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission for England and Wales, Danny Sullivan.

Fr Oliver, a priest from the Archdiocese of Boston who assisted with that diocese’s response to the clerical sexual abuse scandals which led to the resignation of its then archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, was appointed to his role at the end of last year.

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CANADA/FRANCE
Lethbridge Herald

By The Canadian Press on November 29, 2013.

A priest wanted on child sex-abuse charges in the North says he doesn’t know if he’ll return from France to face them.

Reached at his home in the Avignon region, Joannes (yoh-HAH’-ness) Rivoire (rih-VWAR’) seemed aware of a Canadian warrant for his arrest that was issued in 1998.

Three-sex-related charges against him date from his work in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, between 1968 and 1970.

Rivoire says he’s not willing to discuss the warrant.

Asked if he would return to Canada, he said that he might, but added that he is old and sick.

He gave his age as “something like” 83.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

What better place to find evidence of concealing clerical child abuse than in a newly opened secret archive?

For her book Fallen Order, Karen Liebreich began digging in a previously closed archive and discovered the sordid story of the Piarist Fathers and “things not remembered.”

One of those “things not remembered” was how a child abuser rose to become the General Superior of the Order. This sounds like fodder for the Darknet, but the story illustrates how the cover-up of child sexual abuse has occured in Roman circles for centuries.

Father Stefano Cherubini Sch.P. was a rich Roman lawyer’s son who was accused of sexually abusing boys in Naples in 1629. In classic cover-up language, the founder of the Piarists, Father Joseph Calasanz Sch.P. writes, “it seems best to me, that if we are allowed to be the judges of this case, we will not permit it to come into the hands of outsiders.”

Instead of being punished to a life of prayer and penance, Cherubini was promoted and became General Superior in 1643. Complaints against Cherubini, then at the Piarists Roman School, continued. Instead of facing the issue, Pope Innocent X dissolved the religious order. Pope Alexander VIII resurrected the Piarists in 1656.

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BERLIN (NH)
Berlin Daily Sun

By Debra Thornblad

Frank LaFerriere was found guilty of three counts of harassment against the head of the U.S. Catholic League in Berlin District Court last Friday, Nov. 22. He was sentenced to a minimum of six months in jail but was released on bail after telling Judge Paul Desjardins he will appeal the finding.

LaFerriere, 53, of Berlin, was arrested on the three counts of harassment earlier this year. The complaints allege that LaFerriere called the cell phone of William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in New York City in January and February of this year leaving “abusive, annoying and threatening” messages.

Berlin Police Prosecutor Dan Buteau presented the state’s case at a hearing that started in October. Donohue testified he received between 100 and 150 calls from December 2011 to earlier this year. He said the calls had concerned him to the point that he had hired a bodyguard and reported them to the New York City police, who contacted Berlin police.

At the October hearing, LaFerriere’s attorney Jay Duguay focused his cross examination of Donohue on comments he made on various media and how these comments might affect the state of mind of a victim of priest abuse. In various forums Donohue had called the victims “liars, dropouts, thieves and gold diggers looking for a pay day.” Donohue did not deny the quotes, although he claimed the comments were directed at dishonest organizations that portrayed themselves as helping these victims, not the victims themselves. Donohue also admitted saying he believed a teenage boy 15-17 years old had the ability to fend off sexual attacks by a priest and if they didn’t do it, it must because the boys were homosexual and the sex consensual. LaFerriere testified he was 15 when a priest sexually abused him.

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Huffington Post

Diane Weber Bederman

We all have a bit of Cain in us. The part of us that is still connected to the animal emotions within that have not been filtered by our more mature moral pre-frontal cortex. We’ve seen it in Rob Ford: that bare-naked uncontrollable rage against someone, against the world.

I know that feeling all too well. It comes over me when I read about child abuse, especially child sexual abuse, especially committed by clergy.

I envision myself in front of the abuser, military weapon in hand, the kind that shoots out gazillions of bullets per nano-second. And I just fire away slicing the creature in half. These hateful, angry feelings had once led me to believe in capital punishment because I did not believe these monsters had the right to breathe the air we share.

It’s those emotions deep within my amygdala that make me thankful for my belief in the God of justice and mercy. I feel His hand on my shoulder reminding me that “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” I can let go of the hate and remind myself again that I do not believe in capital punishment. That I don’t want the state taking life. I leave that in the hands of God. It is our responsibility as citizens to rage against these heinous acts.

We’ve witnessed sexual abuse by priests and the cover up. Now we face sexual abuse, rape, of children in ultra-orthodox Jewish communities around the world, with its attempted cover up. Orthodox Jewish groups instruct “their” Jews they may only report allegations of child sexual abuse to district attorneys or the police if a rabbi first determines the suspicions are credible. There are in these cloistered communities those who believe the secular court system is unreliable and “allegations” must be reviewed by a rabbinical court system.

No. We must never be so tolerant of any religious group they feel they’re separate and protected from the laws of the land. Spanking a child can lead to a visit from Children’s Aid. Why do these religious cults get a pass?

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ISRAEL
The Jewish Voice

WEDNESDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2013

A rabbi in the Israeli town of Kiryat Gat was arrested and charged with assault last week after allegedly beating his wife and children with a hanger, according to a police report filed in Israel. The rabbi, who is a resident in southern Israel, was charged on last Tuesday with violence against his wife and children.

The rabbi is accused of physically abusing his wife and children, issuing terroristic threats and obstructing justice, according to Ha’aretz.

The indictment, which was filed with the Kiryat Gat Magitare’s Court, accuses the prominent rabbi, abused his wife and his two children, who are two and five-years-old. The abuse occurred over a prolonged period of time, according to the indictment.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Editorial
From: Herald Sun
November 29, 2013

FATHER Gerald Ridsdale will be remembered as Victoria’s worst sex abuser. His victims number hundreds when the families of those he molested are also counted.

Today, the Herald Sun reveals that his years of paederasty began long before he was ordained as a priest.

He slept with two boys aged 10 and 12 six years before he was ordained. The mother of the boys said Ridsdale was supposed to sleep on a mattress she had made up for him, but she found him in the boys’ bunk bed the following morning.

The Catholic Church knew that Ridsdale had started abusing young children and kept moving him from parish to parish to cover up his crimes. He was sent to New Mexico for counselling instead of being reported to police.

Ridsdale was defrocked in 1993 and jailed on dozens of charges. He has since pleaded guilty to further crimes of abuse and will appear in the County Court next year.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

A little more on the sentencing of Father Dan Miller today. I just scanned and posted Justice Timothy Ray’s Reasons for Sentencing:

28 November 2013: Reasons for Sentence (Ontario Superior Court of Justice: Between Her Majesty the Queen and Daniel Miller)

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

Catholics in Glasgow are being consulted before Christmas, ahead of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia’s individual meetings with each Glasgow priest during Lent

Priests and parishioners in Glasgow Archdiocese are to be consulted by the Church on future plans for the parishes in the diocese.

A leaflet asking some tough questions under challenging circumstances about falling congregations—and the way congregations are served at local parish level—is currently on its way to all Glasgow parishes. The majority of Scotland’s Catholics live within Glasgow Metropolitan Archdiocese and its two suffragan dioceses of Motherwell and Paisley.

Called simply Archdiocese of Glasgow: This Affects You, the leaflet ‘lays the groundwork’ for potientially necessary ‘changes’ to come, according to a Church insider.

“When was the last time you saw your church packed?” the leaflet asks of Glasgow Catholics. It also highlights that the number of parishes in the diocese have fallen from 111 in 1977 to 93 today.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

ALEKS DEVIC HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 29, 2013

ONE of Australia’s worst paedophiles was sent by the Catholic Church to the US for “counselling”, rather than reported to police.

Despite knowing in 1975 that priest Gerald Ridsdale had begun abusing children, the church moved him from parish to parish: at least seven in 11 years.

The Catholic Church paid $70,000 for Ridsdale, now 79, to attend a monastery in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Another priest and a brother were sent to the same United States monastery.

Fr Paul David Ryan, who served jail in 2006 for molesting two boys in western Victoria, was also sent to the US for counselling. A 1992 attempt to send him to Jemez Springs was rejected.

According to its website, the Servants of the Paraclete offer help to priests and brothers “facing particular challenges in their vocations and lives”.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Predator priest Gerald Ridsdale found victims wherever the Catholic Church moved him across Australia

UNDER the cover of clergy, Gerald Ridsdale was given the power to be a predator.

No occasion was too sacred. No location was out of bounds. No victim was out of reach. The more vulnerable the young children were, the more it pleased his depraved lust.

Parents were befriended and in a fooled sense of trust and put their children in the hands of Ridsdale.

There were fishing trips to Anglesea, lifts home after mass, beach excursions to Geelong and camping trips to the country.

Then there were the trappings at his presbytery. Video games, colour televisions, a video player and a pool table all luring his prey into his evil world.

As a priest, parents entrusted him to look after their children. He made the children initially feel special but all that was a saintly illusion.

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CANADA
The Tyee

By BOB MACKIN
Published November 28, 2013

A year after John Furlong filed a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper and reporter, the saga may finally see a courtroom.

But the CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics has still not set dates for a B.C. Supreme Court trial, according to the lawyer for journalist Laura Robinson.

Furlong sued the Georgia Straight and Robinson on Nov. 27, 2012, two months after the newspaper published Robinson’s “John Furlong biography omits secret past in Burns Lake” expose. Furlong emphatically denied allegations in Robinson’s story that he had physically abused eight students of a Catholic elementary school where he taught physical education in 1969 and 1970.

Furlong’s Patriot Hearts memoir, published a year after the 2010 Games, made no mention of the Irish native’s missionary work in Burns Lake before his 1974 arrival at Edmonton.

Robinson’s lawyer Bryan Baynham filed a Nov. 22 application under the Libel and Slander Act seeking a judge to order Furlong post a $100,000 security with the court. The sum represents the estimated costs if a verdict or judgment is given in favour of Robinson.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

29/11/2013
Media release

The Anglican Bishops of Victoria reaffirm their resolve to work to strengthen the child protection measures already in place in the five dioceses that make up the Province of Victoria.

“We have worked together to scrutinise our protocols and ensure they meet the high standards we expect of clergy and church workers. We are completing the process of checking all clergy files to confirm that any past instance of abuse is known and has been dealt with properly,” said the bishops. “The welfare of the victims is paramount.”

The Anglican Church has a National Register of clergy where there has been a breach of professional standards, including any confirmed instance of child abuse. The Register is one of the sources of information used by the Anglican Church in ensuring that clergy are cleared to carry out ministry.

Archbishop Freier said, “We welcome the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry and the work of the Royal Commission.”

Archbishop of Melbourne, the Most Revd Dr Philip Freier
Bishop of Ballarat, the Right Revd Garry Weatherill
Bishop of Bendigo, the Right Revd Andrew Curnow AM
Bishop of Gippsland, the Right Revd John McIntyre
Bishop of Wangaratta, the Right Revd John Parkes AM

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