ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

At KSTP-TV, Jay Kolls is reporting: “Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS officials at the Archdiocese are part of a criminal investigation by St. Paul Police, including Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar-General Father Peter Laird. We are told the investigation, in part, involves possible child pornography on a computer used by former priest John Shelley. St. Paul Police closed their case into the child pornography when they could not find enough evidence to charge Shelley. But, sources tell KSTP, police are looking at ‘everything’ connected to the case, including possible obstruction of justice, failure to report possible sexual abuse as required by the state’s mandatory reporting statute and possible child endangerment.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The family of a Willow Grove, Pa. man who died of an accidental drug overdose a month ago (see related story) — after cooperating with authorities in bringing charges in a clergy sex abuse case — has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the young man’s alleged abuser.

Attorneys for the family of 26-year-old Sean McIlmail insist it’s not about the money, but the search for truth and justice for all victims of clergy sex abuse in the archdiocese.

Sean’s mother, Deborah, says the family is still trying to cope with the loss.

“Sean appeared good on the outside,” she said today, “but on the inside, he didn’t believe in himself. The unspeakable, disgusting horrors that had happened to Sean by Father Robert L. Brennan would haunt Sean forever.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CT Post

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Relatives of an alleged priest-abuse victim who died of a drug overdose say the man would still be alive if the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had heeded complaints about the cleric.

Attorneys for the family of Sean McIlmail announced a wrongful death lawsuit against Roman Catholic church officials on Wednesday.

They say the archdiocese moved the Rev. Robert L. Brennan from parish to parish, allowing him to prey on children. McIlmail claimed Brennan abused him for years, beginning at age 11.

Prosecutors filed charges in September against Brennan based on McIlmail’s allegations. They were dropped last month after McIlmail died of an overdose.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Story Highlights
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday the mother of Sean Patrick McIlmail.
The lawsuit contends that church officials’ failure to remove Rev. Robert L. Brennan.
Brennan molested McIlmail from ages 11 to 14, beginning in 1998.

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by the mother of Sean Patrick McIlmail, the 26-year-old Willow Grove man whose accidental overdose death last month ended the criminal prosecution of the Rev. Robert L. Brennan for rape.

The lawsuit by Deborah McIlmail was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court also names Brennan and Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former church official responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by priests.

Lynn, 62, former secretary for clergy, was found guilty of child-endangerment in a trial last year and is serving 3 to 6 years in prison.

The lawsuit contends that church officials’ failure to remove Brennan, a priest with a long history of complaints about misconduct with young boys, directly led to him molesting Patrick McIlmail from ages 11 to 14, beginning in 1998, when he was an altar boy at Resurrection of Our Lord parish at Castor Avenue and Vista Street in Rhawnhurst.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

This is an absolutely heartbreaking case. We grieve with the relatives and friends of Sean McIlmail. And we share their sad belief that only through brave legal action will other innocent children be spared the horror of childhood sexual victimization by Catholic clerics and adult psychological victimization by Catholic officials.

This suit is brought by Deborah and Michael McIlmail, kind but wounded parents, on behalf of their son and other children who have been assaulted by priests, nuns, seminarians, and other Catholic employees. We are deeply moved by and grateful for their deep courage.

For years, these parents fought valiantly to help and save their son. They have suffered immeasurably. We hope and believe this action will bring them some measure of comfort and justice. Because they are speaking up and exposing corruption, they are helping to protect others. From this day forward, they can take some consolation in knowing that they’re doing all they can to prevent more devastating clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Father Robert L. Brennan could – and should – still be charged, convicted and kept away from kids. There are, we strongly suspect, several of his victims who are young enough to still pursue criminal cases. For the safety of children, we desperately hope they will do so.

And we hope that every single current and former church employee or member, who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds – by Father Brennan or other clerics – will find courage and speak up. That’s what protects kids – when adults care enough to call police and prosecutors about known or suspected child sex crimes.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Herald

The Monterey County Herald
Herald Staff Report
POSTED: 11/13/2013

A Monterey judge says he plans to release some of the depositions and documents produced during a clergy abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Monterey and one of its former priests.

In a preliminary determination filed Nov. 6 after review of the documents, Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills says evidence gathered in pre-trail proceedings in a case that ultimately settled, will not be released until after a Dec. 9 hearing to give the parties a chance to take issue with the order. He also stayed the decision for 30 days to give parties an opportunity to take it to appeals court.

The alleged victim filed suit against the Diocese and Father Edward Fitz-Henry in February 2011, alleging Fitz-Henry molested the former altar boy at Madonna del Salsso Church in Salinas in 2005. The diocese concluded the claims were credible, paid the alleged victim $500,000 and suspended Fitz-Henry.

The diocese had sought a protective order while the case was on track for trial and that order remained in effect after the settlement.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

Posted: Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

A judge has ordered the release of documents and deposition transcripts in the case of Father Edward Fitz-Henry, a Catholic priest suspended amidst allegations he molested a teenage parishioner at Madonna del Sasso Church in Salinas, and may have abused other young boys in the Monterey Diocese decades ago.

Monterey Superior Court Judge Tom Wills’ decision comes after the Monterey County Weekly filed a motion to intervene in a civil suit brought by the most recent alleged victim, a man now in his early 20s who claims Fitz-Henry assaulted him multiple times while at Madonna del Sasso starting in around 2005.

In making his preliminary order, Wills ordered the deposition of Don Cline, a former Salinas cop hired by the Diocese to investigate the abuse allegations, to be heavily redacted before its release, meaning portions of the text will be removed or blacked out.

Wills also ordered Fitz-Henry’s own deposition transcript to be heavily redacted, and ordered the same for the deposition of Agnes Leonardich, the former Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese, and Father Nicholas Milich, a priest who allegedly knew about the most recent allegations against Fitz-Henry but failed to alert authorities.

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News Release

November 13, 2013

Family of Sean Patrick McIlmail to File Lawsuit Naming Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Msgr.William Lynn, and Fr. Robert L. Brennan

Archdiocesan Officials had knowledge of Brennan’s inappropriate behavior with young boys as early as 1988

(Philadelphia, PA) – At a press conference today, Philadelphia-area Attorneys Marci Hamilton and Dan Monahan will announce the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of the estate and family of Sean Patrick McIlmail, a sexual abuse survivor who recently pressed charges against Father Robert L. Brennan. District Attorney Seth Williams announced the charges on September 26, 2013, but withdrew those charges on October 23, 2013, after Sean tragically passed away from an accidental drug overdose. Members of Sean’s family will also be present and will speak about Sean, his experience and the importance of pursuing truth and justice for Sean.

The lawsuit alleges that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Bevilacqua, and Msgr. William Lynn knew of numerous child sexual abuse allegations against Robert L. Brennan at least ten years before Brennan sexually abused Sean. Brennan was sent for evaluation on numerous occasions after which the Archdiocese and its representatives persistently and intentionally misled parishioners, parents, and other priests about Brennan’s extreme risk to children, placing him back in ministry.

Whistleblowers came forward complaining about Brennan’s inappropriate behavior with minor boys only to go unnoticed and ignored. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Bevilacqua and Msgr. William Lynn, negligently and recklessly assigned Brennan to positions with ample access to children, including St. Mary’s Parish in Schwenksville, PA, St. Ignatius Parish in Yardley, and Resurrection Parish in Rhawnhurst, among others.

WHEN: Wednesday November 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM EST

WHERE: Marriott Downtown, 12th and Market
Rooms 304-305
Philadelphia, PA

NOTES:

· This is the 18th civil lawsuit filed by Hamilton, Monahan and Anderson involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

· Copies of the Complaint will be available at the press conference.

Attorney Marci Hamilton said: “The McIlmail family is united, resolute, and uncommonly brave in the face of this terrible tragedy. Sean suffered debilitating shame and humiliation as a result of Brennan’s abuse of him, and struggled for years to deal with the abuse. His family did everything they possibly could to support him, and he had made dramatic strides over the last year. They are devastated that he lost his battle with drug addiction, which was caused by the extreme stress of dealing with the abuse, and the callous cover-up, by his home archdiocese, Philadelphia. Sean’s story is the horrific story of too many child sex abuse victims. It is time to bring the institutions that create the conditions for abuse to justice and to force out the full truth, so that we can turn the tide on America’s epidemic of child sex abuse and the institutions that let it happen. Legal justice is what Sean wanted and what he deserves.”

Attorney Daniel Monahan said: “As with all of the other cases we have filed against the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the abuse in this case never should have happened. Sean was only 2-years-old when the Archdiocese first learned about Brennan’s inappropriate acts with children. Had they done the right thing then, Sean would be with us here today, and he might have had the family he dreamed about. Instead, the McIlmail family has had to suffer the worst tragedy any parent can suffer, the loss of a child, because of the callous failures of the Archdiocese.”

Attorney Jeff Anderson said: “We are honored to stand beside Sean’s family today. Sean courageously came forward and started the journey to hold Brennan and top Archdiocesan officials accountable and to help protect other children by reporting Brennan to law enforcement. This lawsuit is a continuation of those efforts and from this unspeakable horror we will continue to fight for truth and justice in Sean’s memory and for all of the other brave survivors who have come forward and who are still suffering in shame, silence and secrecy.”

WHO:

Attorney and Professor Marci Hamilton is one of the United States’ leading church/state legal scholars, as well as an expert on child sex abuse in religious and secular institutions. Professor Hamilton holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, where she has taught for over 20 years. She is the author of God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), and Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008, 2012). Professor Hamilton is a 1988 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She clerked for Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court. She is a resident of Bucks County. Contact: Office/212.790.0215 Mobile 215.353.8984

Attorney Dan Monahan has represented thousands of individuals including victims of crime in personal injury cases throughout Pennsylvania since graduating from Villanova Law School in 1978. He is a Board Certified Trial Advocate and admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Federal District Court and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Advocacy. He is a resident of Chester County.

Contact: Office/610.363.3888 Mobile/484.883.2901

Attorney Jeff Anderson (available by phone), is a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation. One of the first trial lawyers in America to publicly and aggressively initiate suits against religious organizations and hold them responsible by utilizing the American civil justice system, Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy. Contact: Office/651.227.9990 Mobile/612.817.8665

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PORTUGAL
TVI 24

[Summary: A judgment in the case of a priest accused of 19 crimes of sexual abuse of minors will be read in December in open court. The trial began Sept. 19 behind closed doors to protect privacy of the victims.]

O Tribunal do Fundão marcou para 02 de dezembro a leitura do acórdão do processo em que um padre está acusado de 19 crimes de abuso sexual de menores, confirmou à Lusa a oficial de justiça que acompanhou hoje a sessão.

O julgamento, que tem no banco dos réus o ex-vice-reitor do Seminário do Fundão, começou no dia 19 de setembro e decorreu à porta fechada para proteger as vítimas menores.

A leitura do acórdão, que ocorre quase um ano depois de o padre ter sido detido – a 07 de dezembro de 2012 – tem início marcado para as 15:00 e já será pública.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

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

A credibly accused predator priest who spent time at three institutions in Baltimore and is accused of molesting in Maryland got “off the hook” yesterday when a court ruling ended a lawsuit against him and his church supervisors.

[Bangor Daily News]

Fr. Raymond P. Melville worked at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Locust Point (1980 to 1984), the University of Maryland Hospital (1982 to 1983), and attended the University of Baltimore and St. Mary’s Seminary (1979 to 1985). Fr. Melville’s been accused of abusing while at the seminary (as well as in Maine).

[BishopAccountabilty.org]

[BishopAccountabilty.org]

He spent much of his clerical career in Maine. Yesterday, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that a civil suit charging that the Maine Catholic hierarchy should have disclosed Fr. Melville’s crimes should be tossed out.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Victims will have a much better chance of claiming compensation for historic child abuse from religious and other organisations if the state inquiry’s recommendations are implemented, lawyers say.

After an 18-month inquiry, the parliamentary committee investigating the matter recommended law reforms to remove major barriers that typically prevent victims from successfully suing the Catholic Church and other religious bodies. These include:

* Dismantling the “Ellis defence”, which prevents unincorporated religious organisations from being sued.

* Excluding child abuse from the statute of limitations, which bars lawsuits after a certain period.

* Creating an independent “alternative justice avenue” for criminal child-abuse victims.

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis said that as a package, the reforms were “the victims’ wish list”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 14, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the brutal abuse suffered by many children in its care, following the release of an eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse.
The report, launched in the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, also recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a “short-term embarrassment”.

The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child a risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional.

Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says.

The report was the result of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse that began last year. A separate national Royal Commission into abuse will prepare an interim report by the middle of next year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Barney Zwartz

The state government’s report on clergy child sex abuse recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ”short-term embarrassment”.

Inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ”a betrayal beyond comprehension” and children suffering ”unimaginable harm”. Launching the report in State Parliament on Wednesday, she said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.

The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child at risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional. Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the civil law’s statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says. Premier Denis Napthine said the government would act quickly to begin drafting legislation reflecting the recommendations.

He said the abuse detailed in the report was ”absolutely appalling” and the religious leaders involved should hang their heads in shame.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

The Victorian joint parliamentary committee’s report into child sex abuse marks a watershed moment for our community. With an unwavering eye on the rights and needs of victims, the committee has peeled away layers of secrecy imposed by perpetrators of sexual abuse and by the non-government organisations which, for decades, did nothing about it. The committee members should be congratulated. Their report is deeply respectful, insightful and measured while traversing awful and confronting evidence of abuse.

This report should change us and the way our community lives. If, as we urge, the government adopts the proposed reforms, protective measures would be strengthened and victims’ avenues for redress improved. For example, anyone who conceals abuse or fails to report it would be criminally liable; an officer of an organisation who puts a child at risk or fails to take reasonable steps to protect a child, knowing there is risk, may be held criminally liable for endangering the child’s welfare. There is also a proposal to review the Wrongs Act to make organisations directly liable for criminal acts of abuse by employees.

These are important proposals because they go beyond staff selection procedures (such as compulsory checks on employees who will work with children) and impose an enduring duty on organisations to stay alert to the potential for abuse.

The inquiry has offered a glimpse into the unfathomable hurt wrought on several thousands of people in this state whose lives were damaged by sexual abuse. It has also highlighted the utter disregard some organisations demonstrated for those same victims’ rights, in particular the shameful conduct of the Catholic Church. That organisations as rich and powerful as the church ignored victims’ complaints, deliberately obfuscated or denied the wrongdoing of criminals in their ranks, almost defies belief today. That the church spends millions of dollars trying to beat down victims’ damages claims is simply reprehensible.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Chrissie and Anthony Foster showed the inquiry’s committee photographs of their daughter Emma’s arms, bloodied by a suicide attempt after she was repeatedly abused by a Catholic priest.

In a matter of hours, they calmly detailed the pain that had helped define their family’s lives. Their daughters, Emma and Katie, had been repeatedly raped by Father Kevin O’Donnell. Emma later committed suicide and Katie was left in a wheelchair after an accident.

But when the committee tabled its report, with recommendations to prevent similar crimes against children, there were no words left for the couple.

They went to embrace the MPs Georgie Crozier and David O’Brien as they entered a room filled with victims and victims’ advocates. Mrs Foster said the committee had been compassionate to victims, believed their stories and acted.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Radio Network

November 13, 2013 By Bob Hague

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has made a move toward resolving a long-running bankruptcy case by reaching agreement with insurers, including Lloyd’s of London, to buy back policies sold to the church in exchange for avoiding liability in paying claims to victims of sex abuse by priests.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that spokesman Jerry Topczewski would not say how much the archdiocese will receive from the settlement. That will be spelled out in the church’s financial reorganization plan which must be approved in federal bankruptcy court, although Topczewski did not know when that plan will be filed.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, in the wake of cases of sex abuse by priests dating back for decades. Archdiocesan officials have stated they don’t have the money to pay millions-of-dollars to those victims. In one of the most contentious Catholic bankruptcy actions in the U.S., both sides have argued over which victims should get compensated and which assets can be protected from creditors.

A bankruptcy court ruled the archdiocese could not tap assets from local parishes to pay creditors, including some 575 sex abuse victims who filed for compensation in the bankruptcy. The attorney representing victims, Michael Finnegan, said the Lloyd’s of London settlement excludes victims. He said that was a first among bankruptcies filed by U.S. Catholic dioceses.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTAQ

MILWAUKEE (WSAU-Wheeler News) The Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese has taken a big step toward resolving its nearly three-year-old bankruptcy case. A group of insurers that includes Lloyd’s of London has agreed to buy back policies they sold to the church, in exchange for avoiding liability in paying claims to victims of sex abuse by priests.

Church spokesman Jerry Topczewski would not say how much the archdiocese will get from the settlement. He says it will be spelled out in the church’s financial re-organization plan which must be approved in federal bankruptcy court. Topczewski did not know when the plan will be filed. Media reports say settlement talks continue with another carrier, Stonewall Insurance.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it doesn’t have the money to pay millions-of-dollars to victims of sex abuse by priests dating back for decades. It’s been one of the most hard-fought Catholic bankruptcy actions in the country, as both sides have wrangled over which victims should get compensated — and which assets can be protected from creditors.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

NICK SQUIRES – 12 NOVEMBER 2013

Pope Francis has delivered a fiery sermon against corruption, quoting a passage from the Bible in which Jesus said some sinners deserved to be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea.

In one of his strongest homilies since he was elected in March, the Pontiff said Christians who led “a double life” by giving money to the church while stealing from the state were sinners who deserved to be punished.

Quoting from the Gospel of St Luke in the New Testament, he said: “Jesus says it would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea.”

While he did not allude directly to corruption within the Roman Catholic Church, his remarks yesterday came just days after a scandal erupted inside an ancient religious order linked to the Vatican, and as he forged ahead with a determined effort to root out cronyism within the Holy See and financial irregularities in the scandal-tainted Vatican bank.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

The Pope’s efforts to tackle corruption within the Catholic Church could put him at risk from the Italian mafia, a leading prosecutor warns

By Nick Squires, Rome3:15PM GMT 13 Nov 2013

Pope Francis is at risk of mafia retribution as a result of his determination to clean up corruption and cronyism within the Catholic Church, one of Italy’s best known anti-mob prosecutors said.

Nicola Gratteri, who has lived under police protection for nearly 25 years, said the Jesuit Pope’s campaign to tackle graft was upsetting powerful crime organisations in Italy, which have in the past enjoyed a cosy relationship with the Catholic hierarchy.

“Those who have up until now profited from the power and wealth deriving from the Church are now nervous, agitated. The Pope is dismantling centres of economic power in the Vatican,” said Mr Gratteri, 55, who has spent his career fighting the ‘Ndrangheta mafia of Calabria in the far south of Italy.

“I don’t know if organised crime is in a position to do something, but certainly they are thinking about it. It could be dangerous. If the godfathers can trip him up, they would not hesitate to do so,” he told Il Fatto Quotidiano, an Italian daily.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Tom Kington in Rome
The Guardian, Wednesday 13 November 2013

Pope Francis’s crusade against corruption has made him a target for Italy’s all-powerful mafia clans, a leading anti-mob prosecutor has warned.

Nicola Gratteri, who has battled Calabria’s shadowy ‘Ndrangheta mafia, said on Wednesday that Francis’s attempt to bring transparency to the Vatican was making the white collar mobsters who do business with corrupt prelates “nervous and agitated”.

He told the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano: “Pope Francis is dismantling centres of economic power in the Vatican.

“If the bosses could trip him up they wouldn’t hesitate. I don’t know if organised criminals are in a position to do something, but they are certainly thinking about it. They could be dangerous.”

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

By HANNAH ROBERTS

The Mafia are considering a lethal strike on Pope Francis, a senior prosecutor in Italy’s crime-torn deep South has warned.

The pontiff’s life is in danger because his desire to sweep away corruption in ‘a total clean-up’ is making organised criminal groups ‘nervous’, the deputy chief prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Nicola Gratteri, claimed.

Since Francis took office in April, he has made it clear that he intends to rid the Holy See of its corrupt ways and clean up the notorious Vatican bank, long used by money launderers.

He immediately dispatched the chairman of the IOR bank Gotti Tedeschi and subsequently forced his own number two Cardinal Bertone, who had been accused of corruption, into retirement.

In one of his first sermons as Pope he took aim at the mafia calling on them to repent for ‘exploiting and enslaving people’.

And earlier this week in his most impassioned sermon to date, the pontiff said that officials who took bribes should be ‘tied to a rock and thrown in the sea’.

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CHICAGO (IL)
TheMediaReport

According to a truly shocking story in the Chicago Tribune, two men recently walked into the sacristy of a Catholic church after Mass and demanded cash from a 73-year-old priest.

That alone is frightening enough. But what accompanied their demand should send chills through any decent person. One of the men ominously said to the priest:

“We’ll say you touched us, read the paper, they’ll believe us.”

Indeed, such words are the fear of every living cleric. It is open season on Catholic priests today. An accusation, threat, or mere suggestion of abuse is enough to destroy a priest’s reputation and vault a man out of the priesthood forever.

Even long-deceased priests with previously unblemished records are not immune from specious accusations, which the media then dutifully and loudly trumpet.

Whereas mainstream media outlets like the New York Times and the Boston Globe are willing to fall over themselves to report any and all accusations against Catholic priests – no matter how long ago or how flimsy – the time is long overdue for them to seriously address the issue of false accusations and the dauntingly vulnerable position which priests in society find themselves today.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

RACHEL BAXENDALE
From: The Australian
November 14, 2013

LEONIE Sheedy witnessed brutality almost every day of the 13 years she spent in a Catholic orphanage as a child.

Yesterday, the Care Leavers Australia Network founder and spokeswoman said she was pleased with the recommendations of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, but felt that it should have included abuse in state-run institutions in its terms of reference.

“I feel very encouraged. The Victorian parliament and the committee have validated all the stories,” she said.

“They’ve recognised the extreme, heinous crimes that were committed against Victorian children in orphanages and children’s homes run by the churches and charities, and they’ve acknowledged that these organisations need to contribute to repairing people’s lives.

“The only thing that’s missing is the state-run orphanages . . . sadly this inquiry didn’t cover those institutions, but at least the royal commission (into child sexual abuse) will cover those.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Victorian government says it will not wait to act on a child sex abuse report that is scathing of the Catholic Church and recommends widespread legislative reform.

The government has six months to consider the recommendations of the inquiry into child sex abuse which include a call for concealing child abuse offences to be made a crime.

But Premier Denis Napthine said the government would introduce changes to the law in parliament early next year.

“The government will not wait to act on this report,” Dr Napthine said.

“Criminal abuse of children represents a departure of the gravest kind from the standards of decency fundamental to any civilised society.”

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 12 November 2013)

A court has heard how one of Australia’s most prominent Catholic archbishops, Most Reverend Sir Frank Little (of Melbourne), covered up the crimes of a priest (Father Russell Vears). A parent notified Archbishop Little about the crimes, but the church authorities managed to conceal the crimes from the police until one of the victims contacted the police three decades years later, in 2011.

Sir Frank Little was the archbishop of Melbourne (one of the largest Catholic dioceses in Australia) from 1974 to 1996 (when he was succeeded by Archbishop George Pell).

Father Russell Robert Vears (ordained in 1975) was protected by the Melbourne diocese until the 1980s. He later ceased working in parishes and changed his surname to Walker. However, although he no longer has a parish now, Vears/Walker still has not been officially stripped of his priesthood.

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
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 13 November 2013)

Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into church child-sex abuse tabled its report on 13 November 2013. The report, commissioned by the Victorian State Parliament, criticises the Catholic Church’s culture of cover-up and it recommends changing the laws behind which the Catholic Church has been sheltering.

The report recommends:

MAKING it compulsory for church authorities to report church-related crimes to the police;

MAKING it a criminal offence if a person in authority conceals any church sex-crimes;

A CHILD endangerment offence – making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from risk;

EXPANDING grooming offences to create a separate offence for grooming a child regardless of whether sexual assault actually occurs;

CIVIL law reforms to make it easier for victims to sue non-government organisations, including churches.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Broken Bay, Australia, presented by Bishop David Louis Walker, upon having reached the age limit.

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GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They will face questions from United Nations panel
But church hierarchy has missed Nov. 1st deadline
They were to answer questions about abuse crisis

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

Contact: Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, snapblaine@gmail.com

A date has been set for Vatican officials to appear before a United Nations panel in Geneva and answer questions about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

On January 16 top Catholic officials are to meet for several hours with members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The meeting will be streamed live on line.

The date was announced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and can be found here:

[UN Committee on the Rights of the Child]

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wonders whether the Vatican will send anyone to the January meeting. SNAP is also blasting Vatican staff for missing a deadline to answer questions in writing from the panel about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

“High ranking Catholic monarchs often break promises and rules,” said SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy of St Louis. “These monarchs are very accustomed to being treated like royalty and very unaccustomed to facing tough questions in public about this devastating and continuing crisis. So who knows whether any of them will show up in January?”

Last July, the UN committee sent Vatican authorities a list of about 20 questions, with a November 1 deadline. The questions were designed to help the committee determine whether the church is honoring the 23 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
JEFF WATERS –
November 13, 2013

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says the Government will immediately begin drafting legislation in response to the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

The report calls for a new law to ensure anyone failing to report serious child abuse or concealing it is guilty of an offence.

The report also recommends the creation of a criminal offence of “grooming” children and a new criminal offence of “endangerment” where figures of authority within institutions can be sanctioned for not taking enough precautions.

The report calls upon the Victorian Government to work with Canberra to require religious and other non-government organisations to incorporate legal structures – something resisted by the Catholic Church.

The Federal Government has six months to respond but Dr Napthine says the Victorian Government will not be waiting.

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
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON and RACHEL BAXENDALE
From: The Australian
November 14, 2013

THE Napthine government will criminalise the grooming of child-sex victims and the concealing of abuse by officials after the first wide inquiry into the issue savaged the Catholic Church over systemic failures.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine also promised yesterday to exclude abuse from statute of limitations provisions to ensure victims have enough time to initiate civil legal action.

The Victorian parliament’s inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious and other non-government entities made a series of other recommendations yesterday, including the setting up of an independent, alternative avenue for justice for victims.

This would involve the government reviewing the functions of the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal to consider its capacity to administer a specific scheme for victims of criminal abuse.

The committee backed a new offence of child endangerment for anyone who relocates an offender — such as happened with some Catholic clergy — and offences for failing to report child abuse. This would fall under the government’s pledge to legislate against those who conceal sex-abuse crimes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Editorial

ENDEMIC criminality and cover-ups warrant strong responses. To that end, the recommendations of the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse by religious and other organisations should be considered on a national basis by the royal commission into child abuse and by political leaders. The recommendations include lifting the statute of limitations to assist victims, making it an offence to conceal abuse, a statutory body to monitor and audit compliance on child protection requirements, and an independent body to handle victims’ claims.

After years of frustration, the Victorian inquiry provided victims with much-needed comfort by hearing and understanding their painful experiences at the hands of clerics and others in positions of trust, especially in the Catholic and Anglican churches and Salvation Army. As one victim said: “Any abuse is dreadful … but when it happens within the context of the Christian community, it damages your soul … it attacks your meaning of life.”

The behaviour of past church leaders was unconscionable. In 1993, for example, former archbishop Frank Little wrote a letter lauding the services of retired priest Desmond Gannon, when he knew the priest had admitted abusing five or six boys. The worst damage occurred in the decades up to the 1980s, when church responses were condemned as “seriously inadequate and sometimes non-existent”. It was for that reason, Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry, he established the Melbourne Response in 1996. It was overseen by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, an appointment welcomed by police. The inquiry was also scathing about the failure of church leaders in not reporting abuse to police. At that time, however, many victims refused to go to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
SNAP Australia

Victorian Parliamentary Committee has listened to victims of child sexual assault

November 13, 2013
Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia

Victims of child sexual assault across the country have reason to celebrate today.

Not only is it one year since the historic announcement of the national Royal Commission into this issue, but the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry hands down its report today, and we can finally see a glimmer of hope for justice, better child protection, and an end to our suffering.

The report itself will be available online shortly, but even from the details already available in the media release, and from the speeches to the Victorian Parliament, it is clear we have been listened to and we have been heard.

Equally importantly, the campaign of excuses, misinformation, minimisation and distraction by religious officials has not convinced anyone. For far too long victims have had a second, and at least equally painful, cause of suffering from not only the deliberate neglect of our rights and need for healing by these organisations, but also from the reassuring lies told to present an appearance that nothing is wrong and there is no need for outside action.

We call on all political parties in Victoria to express support for the law reforms proposed by the Committee, which are an absolute minimum requirement if justice is to be done and children are to be protected.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

Strengthening the criminal law, making access to civil litigation easier for victims and establishing a 
new independent avenue for justice are some of the key recommendations in the final report of the 
Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, 
tabled today. 
 
Committee Chair, Ms Georgie Crozier, MP hoped the recommendations would help victims to pursue
justice more easily and provide a foundation for protecting our children into the future. 
 
‘The criminal abuse of children involves extremely serious breaches of the laws of our community,’ Ms
Crozier said. ‘When it happens in our society’s most trusted organisations, it is a betrayal beyond 
comprehension.’ 
 
‘Those who engage in it, or are in positions of authority and conceal such offences, should be dealt 
with under the criminal law. 
 
‘In the past, crimes have been covered up and organisations have prioritised their reputation and 
finances, but no more.’ 

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UNITED STATES
skipshea

Posted on November 13, 2013

It is no secret that I am a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. Nor is it a secret that it has fueled a lot of my artwork. For most of my life. You can only imagine the excitement I felt when “Ave Maria” my horror short with very Catholic themes was accepted to the Interiora Horror Festival in Rome, Italy. For me that was a major artistic achievement. One that would be hard to top.

And then it won the Premio del Pubblico or Audience Choice Award for Best Film. This may be hard for many to believe, but I was actually rendered speechless. Which worked out fine because I can’t speak Italian anyway.

Image

The fact that those in attendance at the festival picked my very politically charged Catholic film was incomprehensible to me. I was literally on the doorstep of the Vatican and somehow my message was roundly embraced.

But I was viewing this with an American eye. We have distance from the church with it’s centuries of abuses and corruption as an institution. The Crusades, Inquisition, the encouragement of castrato, and sexual abuse of children all happened there. Only a quarter of that equation happened in the USA.

Which is why stories like this play so well here.

Recently Pope Francis made a speech where he said: “Jesus says ‘It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea’,” because “where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be”.

He said this in reference to the corruption with the whistleblowers and the Vatican Bank. They recently passed a law that made whistleblowing a major crime in order to get things back to normal, controlling the narrative while claiming that the corruption is over.

Right.

But the quote he used about the millstone ad nothing to do with corruption. It is in refernce to a quote by Jesus that made three of the gospels. Matthwe 18:6, Luke 17:2 and Mark 9:42. It says: But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Frank McGuire

Despite the suffering of victims revealed by the sex abuse inquiry, some men of God still refuse to accept the damage they did.

Betrayal of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation report on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations examined crime not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering. Many share the blame.

Perpetrators claiming to represent God committed the foulest crimes against children – formerly hanging offences – while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting paedophiles through cultures of concealment. The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.

Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered multiple betrayals of neglect or abandonment as infants; then when taken into the community’s care, they were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.

Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as schoolboys with sunshine smiles. A middle-aged woman presented a happy snap from her first Holy Communion depicting a young bride of Christ. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 13, 2013

Melissa Iaria
AAP

The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the “brutal” abuse suffered by many children in its care.

The organisation, which operated a large number of children’s homes around the country between 1893 and 1995, apologised to victims and their families for abuse that happened under its watch.

“These offences should never have happened,” the organisation said in a statement.

“It was a breach of the trust placed in us and we are deeply sorry.

“The Salvation Army is ashamed of the abuse suffered by many children placed in our care during that time.”

A substantial part of evidence received by the Victorian abuse inquiry related to complaints of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in Salvation Army institutions from the 1930s to the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

13/11/2013
Media release

​The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne welcomes the report by the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, which has been released today.

“We thank the committee members for their careful, thorough and patient work, and also the State Government for establishing the inquiry. It is vitally important that victims have been given the opportunity to be heard in this public way, and that church processes and protocols have been rigorously scrutinised to investigate where improvements need to be made,” said Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier.

He said the Anglican Church would study the findings of the report closely. “It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” Dr Freier said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Anglican Church has backed the recommendations of Victoria’s child abuse inquiry and says it will fully co-operate with any changes to ensure children are adequately protected.

Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier says the church supports the report’s key recommendations.

“It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” he said in a statement.

Dr Freier said the Anglican Church would continue to provide full co-operation with the state government in implementing “whatever is necessary” to ensure children were adequately protected and abuse victims were treated with compassion, justice and equity.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Jana Shortal

NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — In New Prague this week, news traveled fast after an MPR News team filed a report saying a retired priest living in that city admitted to sexually abusing young boys while he was serving in the Minneapolis St. Paul Archdiocese in or around 1975.

On Monday, Nienstedt released a letter acknowledging mistakes made in the case of former catholic priest Clarence Vavra.

Vavra, who now lives in New Prague, is a neighbor to Margaret Lexa. She describes him as a good man, but she admits she has a few reservations after hearing what he’s accused of.

“Oh, I’m totally shocked, totally shocked. You know, you get second thoughts but I’m still in shock,” Lexa said.

Lexa says she and her husband have lived next door to Vavra for 40 years. She says while her husband has been in ill health, Vavra made a point to tell Lexa he was praying for their family.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Jay Kolls

Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS officials at the Archdiocese are part of a criminal investigation by St. Paul Police, including Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar-General Father Peter Laird.

We are told the investigation, in part, involves possible child pornography on a computer used by former priest John Shelley.

St. Paul Police closed their case into the child pornography when they could not find enough evidence to charge Shelley. But, sources tell KSTP, police are looking at “everything” connected to the case including possible obstruction of justice, failure to report possible sexual abuse as required by the State’s mandatory reporting statute and possible child endangerment.

Attorneys for the Archdiocese issued a statement that says “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is aware that St. Paul Police have reopened their investigation into the Fr. Jon Shelley case. We will cooperate fully, as we did in the police’s previous 7- month investigation that found no evidence of child pornographic material. We take very seriously matters of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. We encourage anyone who has been a victim of such sexual abuse to report it to police and to the Archdiocese.”

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON Nov. 13, 2013

OVER the past nine months, I attended three public hearings of the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse.

During the first, in Ballarat, I heard graphic descriptions of rape and abuse that no child should ever have to endure.

In Melbourne, I heard the Catholic diocese of Ballarat lay the blame for its appalling child sex abuse record at the feet of former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and his poor record keeping.

I heard the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, try to rationalise the church’s blatant failings regarding children in its care.

And I also observed a passionate committee of six MPs of all persuasions refusing to accept excuses or be awed by titles.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

By MERRAN REED Nov. 13, 2013

“We recognise the hurt victims suffered,” he said.

Bishop Tomlinson said the church had introduced procedures to address allegations of child abuse.

“In the first instance, victims are urged to contact the police,” he said.

“Where an allegation is sustained, financial compensation and counselling is provided.

“Reality is it can be a challenge to find effective ways to heal people who have been hurt in this way.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 14, 2013

THE national royal commission into child sex abuse can learn a great deal from the Victorian inquiry.

It should treat yesterday’s findings and the method of investigation as a first step towards getting to the bottom of the abuse epidemic.

The Victorian inquiry has suffered from being handed terms of reference that were too restrictive. The parliamentary committee should never have been precluded from properly examining the government sector, where – it could be argued – a large percentage of the offending has occurred and still occurs.

This was a mistake made by the then Baillieu state government that needs to be rectified in a more meaningful sense by the national inquiry. The royal commission’s terms of reference appear to deal with this mistake.

This is not to diminish any of the good work of the committee members in Victoria but the long-term future of public policy needs more work and vision.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The chairwoman of a committee looking at how Victoria’s religious organisations handled reports of child abuse says she was surprised to learn the extent of the problem.

Georgie Crozier MP, who chaired the community development committee’s inquiry, could not say how many Victorian children suffered abuse at the hands of religious and other organisations, but it was significant.

“I was surprised by the extent of the abuse across the state,” she told reporters.

“It was very widespread. Obviously the community of Ballarat was significantly affected.”

Ms Crozier says the inquiry believes there are many more people yet to disclose similar abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Tuesday 12 November 2013

“We have called our report Betrayal of Trust,” said Victorian MP Georgie Crozier as she presented the findings of the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.

“Children were betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing and suffered unimaginable harm,” she said.

“Parents of these children experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension. And the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care.”

The report’s criticism of the Catholic church is unsparing. Its recommendations are radical. If adopted they would strip the Catholic church of its virtual immunity in the courts and compel religious leaders of all faiths to report child abuse to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Victorian parliamentary report into institutional child abuse should allow reconciliation and justice for victims, the Uniting Church says.

Moderator of the Victoria and Tasmania Synod Dan Wootton said the report, which recommends making the concealing of child abuse a criminal offence, was a positive development for victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

[with video]

Victims got everything they could have hoped for from the Victorian report on child sex abuse, but it can never be enough.

Mick Serch said as great as the inquiry was, the scar of abuse can’t ever be healed.

‘You can put a bandaid on it but it keeps falling off,’ Mr Serch told AAP.

Since he suffered sex abuse at the hands of a Christian Brother when he was in grade five at St Leo’s College in Box Hill, Mr Serch has endured chronic depression, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

‘I’ve also got paranoid schizophrenia which they say is due to the abuse,’ he said.

Mr Serch attended a victims’ ‘rally of hope’ on the steps of parliament after the report was tabled on Wednesday.

‘The more of this sort of thing we have the better for everyone,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
13 Nov 2013

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has been tabled in parliament and released publicly – highlighting 15 recommendations.

The two-volume report entitled Betrayal of Trust is the nation’s first major inquiry report to be made public.

The report documents the terrible child abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, and its failure to recognise and respond to that abuse, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to 1985.

The report’s key recommendations cover five important areas: changes to the criminal law; easier access to the civil justice system; an independent alternative avenue for justice; greater independent monitoring and scrutiny of organisations and further improvements to prevention systems and processes.

In tabling the report, committee chair Georgie Crozier said children had suffered unimaginable harm.
“We’ve not only listened but we have heard,” she told the Legislative Council in Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart made the following statement today in response to the release of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.

“I welcome the release today of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.”

“It is our hope that the Inquiry, and its recommendations, will assist the healing of those who have been abused. We also hope they will enhance the care of victims and their families, and strengthen the preventative measures now in place.

“Victims bravely came forward to give their accounts, often at great personal cost. The Inquiry has been an important opportunity for victims to be heard.

Download the statement.

“The report documents terrible abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to1985. It also sets out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to that abuse.

“The Committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust. I have spoken before about this betrayal and the irreparable damage it has caused.

“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime in the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today, acknowledging that the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to abuse. Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria and he spoke to Mark Colvin.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today as we’ve heard. He also put out a statement saying the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out “inexcusable failures” in the Church’s response to abuse.

Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria. I asked him if it was inexcusable, why the Church had spent so long excusing it.

SHANE MACKINLAY: The Church’s submission to this report itself documents those failures and describes them as inexcusable, as terrible failures.

Facing the Truth, our submission, sets out the way in which victims have been betrayed and the trust that was placed in the Church was betrayed by priests and religious personnel who committed these appalling crimes.

And also, by church leaders who failed to respond to that in an adequate and appropriate and timely way: believing victims when they came forward, responding to them in a way that provided genuine assistance and intervening to ensure that that abuse couldn’t happen in the future.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY PATRICK CARUANA AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013

SENIOR Catholic Church leaders protected pedophiles, allowed them to keep offending and kept Victorians in the dark about the problem.

A Victorian parliamentary report is scathing of the church’s leadership prior to the 1990s, saying child abuse was trivialised and their protection of pedophiles meant abuse happened when it could have been avoided.

Archbishop Denis Hart apologised to victims and said previous responses to abuse cases were inexcusable, calling it the worst betrayal of his lifetime in the church.

“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible,” he told reporters.

“I have to accept that church leaders in the past concealed crimes and caused other children to be offended against.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

FRANK MCGUIRE HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

BETRAYAL of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation was into crime, not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering.

Men claiming to represent God committed foul crimes against children, once hanging offences, while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting the paedophiles through cultures of concealment.

The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.

Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered the betrayal of neglect or abandonment as infants, then once taken into the community’s care were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.

The fortitude of the innocents who testified was inspiring. Their courage is humbling. Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as smiling schoolboys. A middle-aged woman had a snap from her first Holy Communion. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.

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
NEWS.com.au

NEW laws to jail fiends who groom children to molest, and church leaders who cover it up, will be introduced next year.

The reforms follow Wednesday’s tabling in State Parliament of a historic report on child abuse, which revealed police were investigating 135 new cases.

Tears flowed as victims stood in the rain to lend their voices in support of the report.

The report slammed leaders of churches and non-government organisations that failed vulnerable children during decades of “betrayal beyond comprehension”.

The report, following an 18-month inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, found “several thousand victims (were) criminally abused in non-government organisations”, many of whom had been denied justice.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THE Christian Brothers spent more than $1.1m over 15 years defending paedophile Brother Robert Best before he was finally jailed 2011 after pleading guilty to aggravated indecent assaults against children.

On another occasion, the Catholic Order hired private investigators to investigate victims who had complained to police about one of its members.

Wednesday’s report of the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse slammed the Catholic Church, saying it had “made a deliberate choice to pursue a course of concealing the problem of criminal child abuse.”

Worse, Church leaders had conceded “the Church had adopted a policy of cover-up and that this involved concealing offending, and moving priests and other religious to areas where further abuse then occurred”.

In dealing with the problem, the Church had been motivated by its desire “to protect itself” the Committee found.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY MIKE HEDGE AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, a parliamentary inquiry reports.

But Cardinal Pell says he welcomes the Victorian inquiry’s report and supports many of its recommendations.

The parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.

In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.

“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Pedophile clerics abused children, thinking their crimes would not be revealed, a Victorian parliamentary report says.

Citing a Ballarat school at which four pedophile staff were employed in the 1970s, the report says pedophiles often relied on the protection of their religion.

“Offenders who were members of religious organisations were confident that they could abuse their victims and that their activities would not be revealed,” the report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, says.

“Victims have explained that upon reporting criminal child abuse to other members of the religious organisation, no action was taken or that they were physically punished.”

The committee says it is concerned the Christian Brothers cannot explain the “startling” situation in which four staff at St Alipius primary school, including Brother Robert Best and Brother Edward Dowlan, were later convicted of sexual offences.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Victorian inquiry into how institutions and organisations responded to child abuse is the latest in dozens of state-based investigations concerned with the sexual abuse of children, either in institutional care, foster care, child migration, or child protection systems. The Royal Commission is expected to gather all of the previous Australian reports, identify the good and bad amongst the recommendations they made, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: While work of the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry has now wound up, the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues its work.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been reporting on the Royal Commission and she joins us now.

Emily, how will the Royal Commission – a national inquiry – handle this state-based report?

EMILY BOURKE: Eleanor, it’s expected that this will feed into the Royal Commission.

This report out of Victoria is just the latest in many state-based inquiries concerned with sexual abuse of children.

In fact The Head of the Royal Commission, Justice Peter McClellan, said this week that over the past 30 years there have been at least 80 state or territory based inquiries that have looked at issues directly relevant to the Commission’s work.

ELEANOR HALL: Eighty?

EMILY BOURKE: Eighty. That’s right. 80. Now, all of these previous Australian reports will be gathered up and the Royal Commission will try to identify the good and the bad amongst the recommendations and how effective they’ve been.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

As the child abuse inquiry report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse, and their families. Some later said they felt a sense of euphoria about the report, but they also had trepidation about the future. They also said they wanted the government to amend laws, as recommended by the report, as quickly as possible.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: As the report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament this morning, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse and their families, many of whom gave evidence at the inquiry.

Our reporter Alison Caldwell spoke to some of them afterwards.

ALISON CALDWELL: Anthony Foster’s daughters, Emma and Katie, were repeatedly raped by their parish priest, Father Kevin O’Donnell, at their primary school in Melbourne’s south east, from 1987 until 1992.

The Catholic Church had received numerous complaints about O’Donnell’s behaviour dating back to the 1940s, but no action was ever taken.

Emma Foster eventually committed suicide. Her sister Katie was seriously disabled when she was hit by a car after binge drinking and now requires 24 hour care.

Anthony Foster says he and his wife Chrissie feel a sense of euphoria today, but also trepidation about what lies ahead.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

More than 100 new allegations of sexual abuse have been referred to Victorian police as a result of the state’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

The final report of the inquiry says that as of November 6, 135 matters had been referred to the Sano task force, established by police to follow up specific allegations of child abuse raised during the inquiry.

The report says more referrals are expected as a review of submissions made to the inquiry continued.

‘As could be expected, the establishment of the inquiry and the task force … encouraged more victims to report abuse to the police,’ the report says.

Task force members attended all hearings, liaised with witnesses, gave assistance when required and in some cases the committee arranged for police to seek further information or clarification.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A victim of church-related sexual abuse has hailed the tabling of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations as a “watershed” moment.

The report outlines 15 recommendations to end abuse, including the creation of new criminal offences for concealing abuse and endangerment.

The report also calls for the creation of an independent tribunal to hear abuse complaints.

Premier Denis Napthine has pledged to immediately start drafting legislation in response to the inquiry’s recommendations.

“We will act and act immediately to protect children in Victoria,” he said.

Abuse victims who were in the public gallery stood and hugged each other after the report was tabled.

A former school teacher, who lost her job after pursuing a sex abuse case, called it a watershed moment, while another victim said the tabling of the report is immensely important.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[the report]

JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE nation’s first major inquiry into religious child sex abuse has recommended a sweeping legislative overhaul to curb future criminality.

The Victorian Parliament inquiry also has slammed the behaviour of the Catholic Church for failure to deal with the decades long problem.

The inquiry has called for the lifting of the statute of limitations on offences to assist victims to pursue justice.

It calls for the introduction of a criminal offence relating to child endangerment and backs a criminal offence of grooming.

The report calls for a law to be introduced calling for a new crime of failing to report a serious indictable offence.

As revealed in The Australian, the report backs an independent body to administer a scheme for dealing with victim claims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends from parish priests to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.

The Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.

In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.

“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MELBOURNE Archbishop Denis Hart says senior figures in the Catholic Church made indefensible mistakes in response to sexual abuse claims.

Archbishop Hart said the church acknowledged the failings of the past, as highlighted in a Victorian parliamentary report handed down on Wednesday.

“The committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime.

“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible.”

Archbishop Hart said the church had made significant progress since 1996, when it set up the national Towards Healing protocol and the Melbourne Response to handle abuse complaints.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

November 13, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

It began slowly, amid some well-merited cynicism, but on Wednesday the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse delivered – and brilliantly.

Many of the victims who followed the inquiry religiously throughout its dozens of public sessions were almost euphoric after the report, Betrayal of Trust, was tabled in parliament and committee members rose to excoriate the concealers and enablers, and to recommend far-reaching reforms.

It was not just the recommendations, it was the tone. The inquiry had heard the victims – and believed them. It gave the vital verdict: vindication.

The inquiry heard from the church hierarchy too, in particular the Catholic Church – and took a far more sceptical view. The language with which they described the church made that clear, along with their rejection of the church claim that the problem was purely historical, as Archbishops Denis Hart and George Pell had suggested in evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Hang your heads in shame, Denis Napthine tells Catholic leaders

Hannah Jenkins
From: The Australian
November 13, 2013

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has condemned the culture of the Catholic Church in The Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into religious child sex abuse.

Dr Napthine said the Catholic Church had failed in its duty to protect the welfare of young children who had suffered in the hands of people they had every right to trust.

“The leaders of the Catholic Church should hang their heads in shame,” he said.

Dr Napthine criticised the Catholic Church for decades of concealing abuse and not taking action against the perpetrators responsible.

“The culture seemed to be putting the interests of the church and its priests ahead of the interests of children and victims, and that is totally and utterly wrong,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Olivia Monaghan
PhD student in the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Melbourne

Twelve months ago, I wrote an article encouraging inquiries into child sex abuse to treat the church like a corrupt police force. Today, the first of the nation’s inquiries to child sex abuse, run by the Victorian government’s Family and Community Development Committee, released its recommendations, and they have done just that.

This inquiry was established prior to the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As such, it focuses on child sex abuse in Victorian non-government organisations. Above all else, the findings and recommendations of the inquiry suggest a government-initiated response to child sex abuse in any part of Australia is long overdue.

As the committee acknowledges, the extent of abuse at the hand of non-government actors (especially in religious organisations) is difficult to measure. However, it reasonably estimates that:

…there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organisations in Victoria alone.

The nature of the organisations investigated by the inquiry prevents the true extent of the crime from being known. For example, the inquiry found that victims were often deterred or actively discouraged from making allegations of abuse against members of the Catholic Church because of the esteem held by the church and its employees within the community.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Ray Cassin | 13 November 2013

Will the recommendations of Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in non-government institutions be overshadowed by the proceedings of the Royal Commission that is now under way? Probably, but it doesn’t matter. The first thing to be said about the Victorian inquiry, which tabled its report, Betrayal of Trust, in the state’s parliament today (13 November 2013), is that the MPs have done a far better job than many people — including this writer — had expected them to do in the relatively short time allotted to them, and without the resources available to the commission.

The inquiry’s recommendations are, with one important exception, carefully considered responses to the evidence the bipartisan committee received from 405 written submissions and in more than 160 hearings. Apart from the exception, of which more later, the Napthine Government should implement these recommendations and, if they are later subsumed under all-state legislation recommended by the Royal Commission, that will not render them pointless. They will have been a model and a guide in dealing with a problem that all forms of institutionalised authority — not only the churches — have preferred to avoid dealing with openly for far too long.

That is not to say, of course, that the sexual abuse of children has ever been condoned, let alone treated as less than a serious offence under criminal law. As the inquiry’s report notes, buggery of children under 14 and rape were capital crimes until 1949. But that official abhorrence makes all the more lamentable the fact that until the early 1990s abuse happened extensively in non-government institutions, especially the churches, and that perpetrators were typically redeployed rather than being suspended from their duties and the police notified.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

By Jeff Waters and staff

Melbourne Archbishop says confessional is sacrosanct despite inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has stood by the church’s stance on keeping information on abuse gained through the confessional secret, despite a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.

Denis Hart says he supports all 15 recommendations made by the inquiry into institutional child abuse, but he will not commit to implementing them in full.

Archbishop Hart was speaking to the media hours after a parliamentary committee tabled recommendations that would criminalise the withholding of information relating to child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

[the report]

In its final report, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has condemned the Catholic Church for trivialising the problem, failing to hold perpetrators accountable and keeping allegations from the public. The Church has accepted some of the criticism and says it will consider the report’s recommendations carefully.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse has condemned the Catholic Church for protecting offenders, trivialising abuse and keeping the details from the public.

The inquiry tabled its final report today. It recommends a dramatic overhaul of the handling of abuse in the state’s religious and secular organisations.

The Catholic Church has accepted many of the report’s findings and says it will consider the recommendations carefully. They include setting up an independent scheme to compensate victims and making it a criminal offence to put a child in danger.

The Victorian Government says it will start drafting legislation to make some of the changes immediately.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: After nearly 600 submissions and more than 150 hearings, the committee conducting the inquiry tabled its report in the Victorian Parliament today.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead. Many want the other states to examine and even adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the Inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead.

Many want other states to adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: The survivors of sexual abuse who were inside the Victorian Parliament today as the report was handed down described it as an historic and wonderful moment.

Many say today’s recommendations will go a long way towards protecting children.

ANTHONY FOSTER: I think I feel particularly euphoric that we’ve got to this point. No doubt about that, and I feel great trepidation about the steps from now on. There are some big organisations out there who are going to be trying to protect their wealth because this was always been about the wealth and reputation of organisations like the Salvation Army, the Catholic Church and others.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Darren Mara
Source World News Australia Radio

(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)

Victims groups say they’re satisfied with the outcome of a Victorian parliamentary child sex abuse inquiry.

The inquiry handed down its findings in an 800-page report which recommends making it a crime in Victoria to conceal sexual abuse by organisations.

Darren Mara has this report.

(Click on audio tab above to listen to this item)

The inquiry committee’s report recommends that people in positions of authority should be criminally responsible for placing children at risk of harm by other individuals.

Tabled in the Victorian parliament, the report comes after months of committee hearings, during which victims and Victoria Police alleged the Catholic Church had concealed child sexual abuse by clergy members.

The report states that it’s only in recent months that senior members of the Catholic Church have accepted responsibility for the church’s failure to pay due regard to the safety of children.

It’s also recommended that an independent statutory body be established to monitor and oversee the handling of sexual abuse allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A national compensation scheme is needed immediately for victims of sexual abuse, a Catholic Church body says.

Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, which co-ordinates the church’s response to the royal commission into child sex abuse, has called on the federal attorney-general to establish the scheme now rather than wait for the commission’s findings to be released.

“We think the attorney-general should meet as soon as possible with the state and territories to establish a national scheme for compensation,” Mr Sullivan said.

“People should not have to wait around for the end of the royal commission for other states and territories to address these matters.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Editorial

AT last, the silent victims of sexual abuse of church clergy and other institutions have been given a unified voice.

The emotional tabling of a parliamentary inquiry into the enduring scandal is a major step forward in preventing and detecting future abuse, identifying risks and, hopefully, in healing.

For decades, lone victims have fought church hierarchy and a fraught legal system for true justice — recognition of the depth of damage caused by paedophile priests let loose on those they were obliged to protect.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Such were the words of Jesus, in Mark 10:14.

It is a shameful hypocrisy the Catholic and some other church organisations not only allowed this biblical tenet to be systemically and horribly breached, but then worked to cover up abuse and deny victims access to justice or, in some cases, even recognition.

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AUSTRALIA
Rappler

BY MARTIN PARRY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
POSTED ON 11/13/2013

SYDNEY, Australia – An Australian state inquiry into the handling of child sex cases by the Catholic Church on Wednesday, November 13, said religious leaders trivialized the problem and recommended concealment of abuse should be a crime.

Its report tabled in the Victorian parliament follows a long-running probe and concluded that “we can reasonably estimate that there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organizations in Victoria alone”.

The most senior Catholic in Victoria, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, previously admitted to the hearing that the Church had been too slow to act on pedophile priests, but insisted things had changed.

The report, “Betrayal of Trust”, said failure to report serious child abuse should lead to prosecution, a move likely to conflict with the church’s insistence that information gathered in the confessional should remain secret.

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SLOVENIA
GlobalPost

Slovenia’s Catholic Church has warned a court decision ordering it to compensate a victim of sexual abuse could open the floodgates for lawsuits against other institutions, like schools or hospitals.

Local media reported a court ruling over the weekend that ordered the archdiocese of Maribor, Slovenia’s second city, to pay 80,000 euros ($107,000) to a woman who had been sexually abused as a child by one of its priests.

“Court sentences have to be obeyed,” the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference said in a statement on its website.

But it warned: “We are convinced it will open the doors for lawsuits not only against the Church, but also other institutions in education or health, for example.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

[the report]

A Victorian Parliamentary inquiry has released a scathing report accusing the Catholic Church of a systemic cover up of child sex abuse cases over years.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: It was another day of reckoning for the Catholic Church today with the Victorian parliamentary inquiry releasing a scathing report accusing the Church of a systemic cover-up of child abuse cases over many years. Other churches and institutions were also slammed for failing in their duty of care to children. The findings could open up hundreds of claims for financial compensation in the courts, as national affairs correspondent Heather Ewart reports.

LES LAST: I’ve got about four plants in the house, and if they can survive, then I think there’s a chance for me.

HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: It’s the simple things that help ease a lifetime of suffering for Les Last.

LES LAST: I’ve been such a failure at so many things for so many years, it still amazes me that I have any desire to attempt anything, you know.

HEATHER EWART: Les Last and his sister Helen share a terrible story. He was repeatedly sexually abused by a Christian brother at Melbourne’s Aquinas College in the 1960s from the age of 12.

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GEORGIA
The Christian Century

Nov 07, 2013 by Bob Allen

An independent Baptist pastor has resigned his church in Georgia after allegations about sexual abuse 18 years ago in Michigan resurfaced on the Internet.

Leaders at King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, confirmed in a letter dated October 18 that Bill Wininger has resigned after more than 15 years as pastor. Another letter dated October 27 acknowledged that church leaders were aware of recent allegations and charges.

Wininger’s troubles started when a woman who is now 25 years old claimed she had been abused by Wininger, stating that it began when she was three at North Sharon Baptist Church in Grass Lake, Michigan. A Facebook group titled Justice for the Victims of Bill Wininger went online October 23 and in the first week grew to 466 members.

“The beauty of the technological age we are in today is that perps cannot hide any longer,” Julie Silvestrone, an Iowa resident who studied at Hyles-Anderson College, posted October 25. “We are forming an army that will not be silenced and powerful in-roads are being made behind the scenes.”

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MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

November 12, 2013
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that with a court’s permission, it plans this month to release the names of some priests who sexually abused children. Archbishop John Nienstedt said the initial disclosure will be limited to priests who live in the archdiocese and have substantiated claims of abuse of a minor.

Critics are skeptical, noting Nienstedt’s criteria excludes priests who have died, moved from the archdiocese or have been accused of abusing adults.

While Nienstedt and other church leaders have previously argued against disclosing a list of accused clergy, about two dozen other archdioceses and dioceses have done it — including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles — in different ways.

ORIGIN OF ‘THE LIST’

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a nationwide study published in 2004 to determine the scope of clergy sex abuse.

For the study, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis compiled a list of 33 priests deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Attorneys for victims obtained the list in 2009, but a judge ruled they couldn’t release it. At that time, archdiocesan attorneys said all the priests already had been removed from active ministry, and 23 of them had been publicly named.

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AUSTRALIA
North Queensland Register

[the report]

BARNEY ZWARTZ

The state government’s eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accused its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ‘‘short-term embarrassment’’.

Launching the report in State Parliament, inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ‘‘a betrayal beyond comprehension’’ and children suffering ‘‘unimaginable harm’’.

She said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.

The report into how the churches handled clergy sexual abuse wants to establish a new crime for people in authority knowingly to put a child a risk, and to make it a crime not to report suspected child abuse or to leave a child at risk, which apparently includes what priests hear in the confessional.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THAT child sexual abuse by clergy has been found to be considered by Church hierarchy as “a short-term embarrassment” and not a reason to question their own culture is a toxic delusion hopefully to be exploded by today’s State Government report. It found the abuse of trust of children and parents was beyond comprehension.

Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as something that could be minimalized and trivialised, and that “a sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church”. How terrifying, how dangerous and yes, how incomprehensible.

As chairwoman Georgie Crozier said tabling the Betrayal of Trust report, and as became painfully clear during the committee’s hearings, the children betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing suffered unimaginable harm.

“Parents experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension, and the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care,” Ms Crozier told Parliament.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST
HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

KEITH MOOR HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

NOTHING in the new parliamentary report on sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church comes as a surprise to paedophile catcher Chris O’Connor.

He was reactiing to the horrific sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church which has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

The recently retired detective senior sergeant has been Victoria Police’s child sex expert for decades.

He has been warning for years about the disgraceful behaviour of the Catholic Church and other institutions with responsibility for caring for children

Sen-Sgt O’Connor said evidence suggested some priests chose to be priests because of the hold it would give them over children they could abuse, just as other paedophiles were attracted to jobs which gave them easy access to children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

A man who claims to have been sexually abused by a senior priest in Preston came face to face with his attacker in Rome, a court has heard.

Stephen Shield, 53, denies three counts of indecent assault against the man – who had dreams of joining the priesthood – more than two decades ago.

Shield trained in Rome and spent some time at English Martyrs Church in Garstang Road, Preston, where two of the offences were alleged to have taken place.

The man told the court he had been targeted by the priest several years earlier at a retreat centre in the Lake District. Rachel Grimshaw, a friend of the victim, said she had spent time with him at a retreat centre outside Rome.

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MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

November 12, 2013
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Authorities on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation have opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest.

Supervisory special agent Grace Her Many Horses says authorities will try to locate several men who as boys may have been sexually abused by the Rev. Clarence Vavra.

She tells Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1fzesG0) authorities also will try to interview Vavra and officials with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Vavra self-reported in 1995 that he had sexual contact with several boys while working on the Rosebud reservation in 1975. Vavra was removed from ministry in 2003.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

SEXUAL abuse victims and their supporters burst into tears and applause as they welcomed a State Parliament report calling for sweeping new laws to protect children.

Some said the recommendations, including for new offences related to grooming and cover-ups, offered a “glimmer of hope” that children would be better protected.

Others called for a fresh look at compensation paid by churches to victims.

Chrissie Foster, two of whose three daughters were raped by a Catholic priest, Kevin O’Donnell, while they were in primary school, said the release of the report was a happy occasion.

One daughter, Emma, committed suicide in 2008.

Emma’s sister, Katie, became a heavy drinker and was left disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.
Despite the family’s tragedies, Ms Foster said the release of the report of the parliamentary inquiry was a happy occasion for victims.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Crann, Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Tribal authorities on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota are opening a criminal investigation into alleged sexual abuse of several boys and a teenager by the Rev. Clarence Vavra. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis kept the priest in ministry after he admitted to abuse on the reservation in the 1970s.

MPR News reporter Madeleine Baran talked to All Things Considered host Tom Crann about the potential legal ramifications of Monday’s report.

How are tribal investigators handling this case?

They are first trying to locate the men who Vavra may have abused when they were children. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that one of his victims was nine or ten years old at the time. That person would likely now be in his late 40s.

Today, Grace Her Many Horses, the supervisory special agent at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said that she wants to question Vavra and anyone at the archdiocese who knew about the abuse. Vavra is now retired and lives in New Prague, Minn., halfway between the Twin Cities and Mankato. Her Many Horses said it is likely that she will need to ask the FBI for assistance.

This abuse is said to have taken place in the mid-1970s. Is it still possible to file criminal charges against Vavra?

It depends. The situation is complicated, because it involves a reservation. We don’t have all the information yet. Since this is considered a major crime, tribal authorities can investigate, but they will ultimately turn the case over to the FBI.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Victorian police say they’re pleased the issues raised by the government’s inquiry into child abuse have been given the prominence and scrutiny they demanded.

Victoria Police made significant submissions to the inquiry, including that the Catholic Church destroyed evidence, shielded paedophile clergy members and put its own image ahead of the needs of victims.
In its response, the church acknowledged past failures but said it was not aware of a single example of a clergy authority not co-operating with police.

The inquiry’s final report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, recognised Victoria Police’s work in dealing with victims of sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST HERALD SUN
NOVEMBER 13, 2013

HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.

The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.

Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.

The committee also recommended:

A CHILD endangerment offence, making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from risk;

EXPANDING grooming offences to create a separate offence for grooming a child regardless of whether sexual assault actually occurs;

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

These are the 15 recommendations of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations

Reform criminal law

Compulsory reporting to police – Legislative amendments to ensure that a person who fails to report or conceals criminal child abuse will be guilty of an offence.

A new child endangerment offence – Making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from a known risk, of criminal child abuse.

A new grooming offence – The creation of a separate criminal offence extending beyond current grooming laws to make it an offence to groom a child, their parents or others with the intention of committing a sexual offence against the child (regardless of whether the sexual
offence occurs).

Easier access to the civil justice system

Address legal entity of non-government organisations – Require non-government organisations to be incorporated and adequately insured.

New structures – The Victorian Government is to work with the Australian Government to require organisations that engage with children to adopt incorporated legal structures.

Remove time limits – Legislative amendments to exclude criminal child abuse from the current statute of limitations, recognising that it can take decades for victims to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

[the report]

Incorporating non-government bodies so they can be sued is a landmark recommendation from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, lawyers say.

Judy Courtin, a lawyer who is conducting research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church, says the recommendations contained in the inquiry report are extremely comprehensive.

“They address all the criteria for justice for victims and their families,” she told AAP.

She said at the moment the Catholic Church did not exist as an entity so could not be sued.

The committee has recommended such bodies be incorporated or miss out on tax exemptions and government funding.

“I think that’s a landmark recommendation,” Ms Courtin said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops puts him in the positions to be a key player in the appointment of bishops in the United States, perhaps even the kingmaker.

DiNardo has all of the attributes necessary to be a kingmaker. As a former staff person in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, he knows the process, the key players, and the politics of episcopal appointments. As a cardinal, and now as vice president and eventually as president in three years, he will make numerous visits to Rome where he can make his recommendations known to the right people, including Pope Francis. He has the additional advantage of being able to communicate with the pope in Italian, since the pope is not at home in English.

Pope Francis has little personal knowledge of the United States. He will be dependent on people to advise him. The American prelate closest to him is Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, but O’Malley is a saint, not a politician. He will not push his favorites or even give his advice unless the pope asks him.

In previous papacies, Cardinals Joseph Bernardin, John O’Connor, Bernard Law, Justin Rigali, William Levada, James Stafford, and most recently Raymond Burke have influenced episcopal appointments in the United States. Cardinal Burke is still a member of the Congregation for Bishops, a committee composed mostly of cardinals in Rome.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published November 12, 2013.

The troubled bribery and extortion trial of a Brooklyn man who says his son was a victim of child abuse has been delayed — again.

Laughter could be heard in the Brooklyn Supreme Court courtroom, November 12, when prosecutor John Holmes said that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office was still not ready to try the case, which has dragged on for two years.

Kellner is accused of paying a witness $10,000 to falsely testify in the trial of a Brooklyn cantor on sex abuse charges. He is also accused of trying to extort the cantor’s family for $400,000.

Kellner’s lawyers had anticipated that the charges against their client would be dropped this week.

Lawyer Michael Dowd told the court that prosecutors contacted his office last week to say that they were dropping the case for lack of evidence.

The same prosecutors told the court in July that a key witness against Kellner had given inconsistent testimony.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Josh Saul
November 12, 2013

The office of lame-duck Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes tried to postpone a troubled sex abuse-extortion case Tuesday until after the veteran DA leaves office in January after 23 years – but an exasperated judge set another hearing for later this month and chastised the latest unlucky prosecutor assigned to handle the case.

“I have an ADA who has no info on this case,” said Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Ann Donnelly, who told prosecutors to turn over evidence faster. “In a case from 2011, this should already have been done.”

Assistant District Attorney John Holmes took over the case this week after controversial rackets chief Michael Vecchione booted the two veteran ADAs handling the case Friday when they demanded he dismiss the evidence-challenged prosecution against Sam Kellner. The Post first reported the shakeup on Monday.

Asked if the DA investigation into the extortion was complete, Holmes said, “I’m not sure, Your Honor.”

“You’re not sure?” Donnelly said incredulously.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY OREN YANIV / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013

The Brooklyn District Attorney seemed intent to kick the can of a problematic extortion case in the Hasidic community down the road Tuesday as possible new evidence and allegations of prosecutors’ infighting added to the legal mess.

A new prosecutor assigned to the case against Samuel Kellner — after two assistant district attorneys that had handled it were demoted Friday — tried to push it back to January, days after lame duck DA Charles (Joe) Hynes leaves office.

The new ADA, John Holmes, said his office is not ready for trial and that he has no information about the status of the case, which has been dragging since April 2011.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

The last we heard from ultra-Orthodox sex abuse whistleblower Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg he was recovering from an assault involving a cup of bleach tossed in his face on a Williamsburg sidewalk. Rosenberg, who was nearly blinded, has become anathema in the tightly-knit Satmar community for exposing perpetrators of sexual abuse. Almost a year after the bleach attack, Vice checks in on Rosenberg, who of course has more horrifying stories to tell:

On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”

Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face—fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”

Rabbi Rosenberg believes around half of young males in Brooklyn’s Hasidic community have been victims of sexual assault, but Ben Hirsch, director of Survivors for Justice, tells Vice, “From anecdotal evidence, we’re looking at over 50 percent. It has almost become a rite of passage.” And yet it’s extremely rare that any of the perpetrators are brought to justice, a fact that may have cost Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes his job.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

A group of insurers has agreed to pay the Archdiocese of Milwaukee an unspecified sum to settle a lawsuit over its liability for sex abuse claims filed against the church, a move hailed as a major step toward a resolution of the archdiocese’s nearly three-year-old bankruptcy.

Under the terms of the agreement still to be finalized, London Market Insurers, including Lloyds of London, would effectively “buy back” policies they sold to the archdiocese in return for a release of liability for any current or future claims, according to court records.

Those general liability insurance policies, uncovered by creditors during the bankruptcy proceedings, could cost the insurers hundreds of millions of dollars if they were ruled enforceable, according to victims’ attorneys.

Church Spokesman Jerry Topczewski said Tuesday that the settlement amount would be spelled out in the archdiocese’s forthcoming plan of reorganization, which must be approved by the bankruptcy court for it to exit Chapter 11. He said he did not know when that would be filed.

Settlement talks are continuing with a second carrier, Stonewall Insurance, according to court records.

“This is just one part of a complex plan that will address the demands of all the creditors,” said Topczewski, who serves as chief of staff to Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “We’re as anxious as anyone to move this forward.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Government has been challenged by the UN Human Rights Committee on what measures it has taken “to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings”.

It has also been asked to explain the narrowness of abortion provision in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, and the lack of an independent inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. Ireland’s treatment of asylum seekers and Travellers has also been raised, as have the issues of overcrowded prisons and why members of the judiciary must take a religious oath.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

The name of an evangelical preacher linked to an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse has been dropped from a list of speakers at an upcoming conference at an SBC seminary.

By Bob Allen

A controversial evangelical preacher, named in a highly publicized lawsuit alleging participation in what has been described as the biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date, is no longer listed as a speaker for an upcoming collegiate conference at a Southern Baptist seminary.

C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Ky., and close friend to Southern Baptist proponents of theology that goes by names including the New Calvinism and “young, restless and Reformed,” originally appeared among speakers scheduled for next year’s 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Last month ABPnews reported his name on the program for “Ekklesia: God’s Perspective on the Church,” scheduled Feb. 7-8, 2014, alongside other speakers that included Southeastern Seminary President Daniel Akin and SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

Volume1

Volume 2

Each year hundreds of thousands of children and young people in Victoria spend time involved with religious and other non-government organisations. These organisations provide a broad range of valuable services and social programs including child care, education, social activities, spiritual guidance and sports and recreation programs.

Some organisations also provide temporary or permanent residential care away from the family.
The overwhelming majority of children who participate in organisational activities or who are cared for by personnel in non-government organisations are safe and they gain great benefit from engaging in such activities and services. …

There has been a substantial body of credible evidence presented to the Inquiry and ultimately concessions made by senior representatives of religious bodies, including the Catholic Church, that they had taken steps with the direct objective of concealing wrongdoing.

The Committee welcomed the commitment made by many organisations during the course of the Inquiry to actively cooperate with any new schemes that the Victorian Government establishes in response to the Inquiry’s recommendations. The CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Mr Francis Sullivan, recently stated that the community should ‘judge us on our actions’.3 It is reasonable for the community to expect that organisations will honour their undertakings.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[the report]

November 13, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

A government report on child abuse has savaged the Catholic Church, recommending a new independent mechanism for pursuing justice and new criminal laws.

Betrayal of Trust, the report of the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, recommends a new law making it a criminal offence to allow a child to remain at risk, plus making it

The report also recommends excluding child abuse from the statute of limitations because victims can take decades to come forward.

It says organisations should be held accountable for their legal duty to protect children and should be vicariously liable – an indication the committee wants to end the so-called Ellis defence by which the Catholic Church argues it cannot be sued.

Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as a short-term embarrassment and not as a reason to question their own culture. “A sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church,” Ms Coote said.

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