ABUSE TRACKER

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola

November 11, 2013

[See also Mounting clergy sex abuse legal claims spark Chapter 11 reorganization, by Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, Gallup Independent, September 3, 2013, with documents.]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup plans to file a petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday, according to an announcement that priests in the diocese were asked to read to parishioners during the Veterans Day weekend.

It was more than two months ago that Bishop James S. Wall asked his priests to break the news of the impending bankruptcy during Masses over the Labor Day weekend.

“In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court,” Wall’s brief and most recent announcement began.

The diocese, which includes much of western New Mexico, northern Arizona and parishes in seven Native American reservations, has announced previously it will file in Albuquerque’s federal bankruptcy court. Wall said the diocese will regularly post information about the progress of the Chapter 11 petition on its website.

[Article includes sidebar listing publicly accused Gallup priests and one brother.]

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

November 11, 2013

Archbishop Nienstedt Putting Kids at Risk by Delaying Release of Names of 33 Priests with Credible Allegations of Sexual Abuse
Archdiocese has known the identities of the offenders since at least 2004

Statement of Attorney Mike Finnegan

(St. Paul, Minnesota) – Nearly a decade ago, the Archdiocese had in its possession the identities of the names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Repeated requests to release these names have gone unanswered and finally, today, Archbishop John Nienstedt says he will release the names of some of these priests – not all of them – and only with specific conditions. The limited release will only include the names of priests who are alive and living within the confines of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

In an “Open Letter from Archbishop John Nienstedt Regarding Clarence Vavra,” issued today, Nienstedt states “upon receipt and permission of the relevant court” he will disclose the names, locations and status of these priests. This is misleading as no court order is needed to release these names. Do it today. Why the delay? Are they giving these offenders more time to move outside the geographic lines of the Archdiocese so they won’t be included on this list?

Archbishop Nienstedt should start protecting children today and release the 33 names the Archdiocese has known about since at least 2004. For decades this Archdiocese has displayed a pattern and practice of protecting the sexual offender instead of putting the safety of the community and children first. Every day that goes by, every hour that passes, more children are put at risk because of their resistance to take action when a crime has been committed. The ongoing lack of transparency and accountability needs to end. The only way to do this is to release the entire list of 33 names, along with all of the documents on these offenders, and openly encourage other Dioceses in Minnesota, and nationwide, to do the same. Only then will our communities be safe for our children.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia

At his first November Meeting in 2006, the late, beloved Archbishop Pietro Sambi – blessings and peace be upon him – took the Nuncio’s customary speaking slot by storm to chide the US bishops on, among other things, an inadequate focus on Scripture in ecclesial life and “the loss of credibility” the church had suffered due to the clergy sex-abuse scandals.

Asked afterward for his reaction, one senior hierarch said that the china-shattering diplomat “turned the knife on us”… and seven years later – at least for some – it’d seem that, at the dawn of another new pontificate, history’s repeated itself here in the Premier See.

Arguably the most respected and appreciated legate to these shores since Pio Laghi – among the bench, that is – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò unleashed a remarkable message at the body in this morning’s Opening Session, implicitly responding to months of criticism of Pope Francis to various degrees among a notable share of the Stateside bishops (most of it expressed in private) and implying the negative effects of the body’s polarization on the life and standing of the American church.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

Cardinal Timothy Dolan endorsed Pope Francis’ “Poor church for the poor,” but said that the U.S. bishops don’t have to do anything new.

The cardinal, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops until the end of their meeting this week in Baltimore, was responding to questions about why the bishops were not doing more about the poor. He said that as president most of the complaint letters he received were from people complaining that the bishops talked too much about social justice, government cut backs, and the poor.

The cardinal noted that “different popes put a spotlight on different issues in the church, and certainly Pope Francis, thanks be to God, has put a spotlight on injustice and needs of the poor, and a ringing call for the church to be poor and for the poor.”

What Cardinal Dolan disagreed with is “the interpretation that the (bishops’) conference has been less than concerned about the poor.” The cardinal argued that this has been a constant concern of the conference since its founding in 1917. But there is no doubt, he said, that the pope is “asking us to be even more vigorous in an area that we already have a pretty good track record on.”

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Voice of the Southwest – Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup

Posted by: Suzanne Hammons on November 11, 2013

The Diocese of Gallup wishes to announce that it will formally file for Chapter 11 reorganization on Tuesday, November 12 in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Albuquerque. Please find below Bishop James Wall’s letter regarding the filing:

“Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus:

In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the Church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court. Since that time, we have been preparing for the filing. I wanted to tell you that the Chapter 11 filing will occur on Tuesday, November 12.

There is a section on the Diocese’s website that is devoted to information about the Chapter 11 filing. That can be found at http://voiceofthesouthwest.org/category/media-releases/chapter-11-filing/. We will regularly post information about the Chapter 11 to keep you informed of the ongoing process.

As I said in my letter to you in September, the process of Chapter 11 will open our Diocese to unprecedented public scrutiny which I believed would be a good thing. I am firmly convinced that as we embark on this journey to bring healing to all who have been harmed and to our Diocese.

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published by the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Nov. 11, 2013

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup plans to file a petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday, according to an announcement that priests in the diocese were asked to read to parishioners during the Veterans Day weekend.

It was more than two months ago that Bishop James S. Wall asked his priests to break the news of the impending bankruptcy during Masses over the Labor Day weekend.

“In early September I told you that I had made the decision that the only way to equitably and mercifully deal with the mounting sex abuse claims, still meet our commitment to you and continue the outreach mission of the church was to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court,” Wall’s brief and most recent announcement began.

The diocese, which includes much of western New Mexico, northern Arizona and parishes in seven Native American reservations, has announced previously it will file in Albuquerque’s federal bankruptcy court. Wall said the diocese will regularly post information about the progress of the Chapter 11 petition on its website.

Once the diocese does file, the public can read the court documents online on the federal government’s website — www.pacer.gov. Members of the public can open an account on the website to view or print court documents for a modest fee.

Bankruptcy delay

Suzanne Hammons, the new media liaison for the diocese, was asked Thursday why it was taking the diocese so long to file its Chapter 11 petition. Hammons stated in an email Friday that the process of filing “is one that must be undertaken with the utmost care so that all sides receive proper consideration.” She promised to send out a news release when the filing date “is made known to the press.” Priests, however, began announcing the date the very next day.

The diocese’s most prominent legal opponent had a different take on the delay.

“The Diocese of Gallup told me that they needed time to prepare the petition for bankruptcy and that it was taking longer than expected because Gallup’s financial records were not well kept or organized,” Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor said in an email Sunday, adding that the diocese has an “army of lawyers” working for it. “I hope that the two months of delay was not used to hide or transfer assets as other diocese have done in the past.”

Pastor has filed 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Diocese of Gallup in Arizona’s Coconino County Superior Court. The first case is scheduled to go to trial in February in Flagstaff. However, once the diocese files its Chapter 11 petition, all of Pastor’s cases will most likely be stayed or suspended.

Pastor’s attempts to depose diocesan officials will also most likely be put on hold. Pastor and co-counsel John C. Manly conducted depositions of Wall and the Rev. Alfred Tachias on Sept. 18. Tachias once worked under the Rev. Clement Hageman, who allegedly sexually abused dozens of children in Catholic parishes along Route 66 from New Mexico to Arizona for more than 30 years. Tachias also sexually assaulted an adult male in an Albuquerque motel room, according to an admission by Gallup’s late Bishop Donald E. Pelotte in a 2002 interview.

Pastor said Wall and Tachias submitted to the depositions on the condition that their transcripts would be confidential and not released to the public.

Four depositions

Pastor said four more current and former diocesan officials were scheduled to be deposed next week, including Deacon Timoteo Lujan and Brother Duane Torisky, O.F.M., who both served controversial terms as chancellors to Pelotte. The Rev. James Walker, the former vicar general, and the Rev. Timothy Farrell, a former media liaison for the diocese, were also scheduled to be deposed.
“We know that for years Deacon Lujan was in the negotiating room on behalf of Bishop Pelotte when the Diocese of Gallup made secret agreements with victims,” Pastor said of Lujan, who resigned in 2009. “We were hoping Brother Duane would explain the workings of the chancery office and the preservations of secret archives that the Diocese of Gallup kept when a priest was accused of sexual abuse.”

Torisky, a Franciscan friar, was also publicly accused of sexual harassment by a Gallup priest, the Rev. Gil Mangampo, who claimed he was punished by chancery officials for speaking out. Torisky has denied Mangampo’s accusations.

As for Walker, he was appointed by the bishop to conduct a review of more than 400 personnel files in the diocese to determine what clergy had been credibly accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. Wall issued a news release in 2009, promising to publicly release Walker’s findings, but he has yet to do so.

In October, Farrell resigned his media liaison position in protest after Wall reappointed Lujan to a position of authority in the diocese as co-director of the deacon formation program. Lujan and fellow deacon James Hoy, who resigned as chief financial officer in June, were frequently criticized by many Gallup priests, who raised questions about Lujan and Hoy’s professional qualifications, transparency and accountability as chancery officials.

Public scrutiny

In the Veterans Day weekend announcement, Wall referred back to his initial announcement about the bankruptcy. “As I said in my letter to you in September, the process of Chapter 11 will open our diocese to unprecedented public scrutiny, which I believed would be a good thing,” Wall said. “I am firmly convinced that as we embark on this journey to bring healing to all who have been harmed and to our diocese.”

Pastor also cited Wall’s first announcement and the bishop’s promise to be “open and transparent” throughout the bankruptcy process.

“I hope that the Diocese of Gallup will disclose the files and names of pedophile priests,” Pastor said. “Perhaps we should all pray for Bishop Wall, that he may find the meaning of true leadership and courage so that he can bring healing to victims instead of protecting the identities of those who hurt children.”

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Nov. 11, 2013

(This is a sidebar to story “Diocese to file for Chapter 11 protection,” published Nov. 11, 2013

In 2003, the Diocese of Gallup announced that seven clergy connected to the diocese had been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors. Ten years later a total of 22 men who have worked, volunteered or lived in the Gallup Diocese have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors in church documents, police reports or court cases.

This list does not include suspected abusers who have not been publicly identified. It also does not include those who have sexually assaulted adults, sexually harassed adults or covered up the sexual abuse of others.

Publicly accused of abuse:

– Rev. William Allison: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Michael J. Aten: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. John Boland: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. James M. Burns: Identified by the diocese; convicted sex offender.
– Rev. Santino Casimano, M.S.S.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz, O.F.M.: Named in Navajo Nation clergy abuse lawsuits.
– Rev. David J. Clark, C.M.F.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Laurence Florez: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Clement A. Hageman: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Julian R. Hartig, O.F.M.: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Robert J. Kirsch: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. James Lindenmeyer: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Bruce MacArthur: Identified by various dioceses; Convicted sex offender.
– Rev. Diego Mazon, O.F.M.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. Douglas A. McNeill: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Harry R. Morgan: Arrested and prosecuted in Arizona.
– Rev. Francis “Frank” Murphy: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Jose H. Rodriguez: Identified by the diocese.
– Rev. Raul N. Sanchez: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Brother Mark Schornack, O.F.M.: Named in clergy abuse lawsuit.
– Rev. John T. Sullivan: Identified by various dioceses.
– Rev. Samuel J. Wilson: Named in lawsuit involving another priest.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255

POSTED: Monday, November 11, 2013

IN YESTERDAY’S church bulletin, the Rev. John Paul wrote that he has resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish “for physical and spiritual health” and because the parish needs “new leadership with new vision and enthusiasm.”

“Basically, I am tired and exhausted, and I need renewal for myself,” Paul wrote.

A statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was more illuminating, disclosing that Paul voluntarily resigned after 13 years at the helm of the Northeast Philly parish “amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part.”

The Archdiocese is looking into allegations that Paul sexually abused minors more than 40 years ago as a seminarian. The information has been turned over to law enforcement — which declined to press charges — and Paul has had no unsupervised contact with minors since the allegations surfaced, said Archdiocese spokesman Kenneth Gavin.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE The opening of the U.S. bishops’ annual fall assembly Monday morning was marked by noted changes in tone and emphasis for the prelates, who have focused extensively in the last two years on a fight against the Obama administration’s implementation of the health care law.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is stepping down this week after three years as the conference’s president, barely mentioned that fight in his presidential address, instead focusing on the issue of religious freedom globally.

Likewise, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., focused on the role of bishops as witnesses who adopt a “noticeable lifestyle characterized by simplicity and holiness of life.”

Quoting extensively from Pope Paul VI, Viganò urged the American bishops to be witnesses rather than teachers. If a person listens to teachers, “it is because they are also witnesses,” he said.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
WOWK

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

BALTIMORE (AP) – The Vatican ambassador to the U.S., addressing American bishops at their first national meeting since Pope Francis was elected, said Monday they should not “follow a particular ideology” and should make Roman Catholics feel more welcome in church.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano noted the challenges from broader society to Christian teaching. He cautioned that the bishops’ witness to faith would be undermined if they failed to live simply. Francis, in office for eight months, has captured attention for eschewing some of the pomp of the papacy, including his decision to live in the Vatican hotel and his use of an economy car.

“There has to be a noticeable lifestyle characterized by simplicity and holiness of life. This is a sure way to bring our people to an awareness of the truth of our message,” said Vigano, the apostolic nuncio based in Washington.

“The Holy Father wants bishops in tune with their people,” Vigano said, noting that he visited the pope in June. “He made a special point of saying that he wants pastoral bishops, not bishops who profess or follow a particular ideology.”

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Entorno Inteligente

El Caribe / Santiago. En las investigaciones asumidas por la Fiscalía de Santiago aún no se ha determinado quiénes dieron la voz de alerta al sacerdote Wojciech Gil para que pudiera escapar a las acusaciones por pederastia. Para escabullirse, el cura engañó a uno de sus amigos y utilizó su cuenta de Facebook para comunicarse con una mujer que sin causa de conocimiento le reportó era buscado por los supuestos abusos sexuales. El padre Alberto solicitó a Ambiórix Espinal, actual secretario de la iglesia, que le prestara su cuenta para enviar un mensaje, pero luego resultó ser una estrategia para recibir informaciones. Al hacerse pasar por Espinal comenzó a conversar con una amiga de éste y le preguntó que si sabía lo que estaba sucediendo con el caso del padre. Espinal confirmó a elCaribe que el sacerdote le pidió su cuenta y su clave para entrar a la citada red social, pero no sabía con qué fines iba a ser utilizado, pues tenía confianza en el padre y nunca pensó que sería para nada malo. “Eso sucedió una hora antes de salir desde Polonia hacia la República Dominicana.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on our anti-priest culture:

Two stories in the news today make it clear that no Catholic priest is safe. Anyone can accuse a priest of molestation, no matter how long ago, and get away with it.

Father John P. Paul has stepped down as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary in Philadelphia. He resigned because of the emotional stress he has been under. In all his years as a priest, he has never had an accusation made against him (he was ordained in 1972). But now, out of the blue, he is being charged with abusing two boys in 1968, when he was a seminarian. It’s funny how both of these alleged victims decided to wait 45 years to make their case—in tandem, no less.

The police were contacted but the case was dropped because the statute of limitations had expired.

But Father Paul is still being investigated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Had Father Paul been Mr. Paul, a public school teacher, and he was accused of violating a minor at the end of the school year last June, the statute of limitations would have expired (accusers have 90 days to file charges against public school teachers). Moreover, no one would be investigating him. But when it comes to Father Paul, even though the alleged abuse happened in the year Rev. Martin Luther King and Sen. Bobby Kennedy were shot, it’s not too late to get him. It’s never too late to get a priest.

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

MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

MPR’s case for award consideration is strengthened anew by today’s report on the archdiocese’s handling of one Father Clarence Vavra. Madeleine Baran, Tom Scheck and Sasha Aslanian report: “One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed. The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night? The answer was yes. What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He’s never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general’s filing cabinet at the chancery.”

Very quickly, Tony Kennedy of the Strib has a story up with Archbishop John Nienstedt promising to release names of abusive priests. Except, as Kennedy writes: “Nienstedt said the Archdiocese will disclose ‘the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors’. … the statement said the disclosures will be restricted to priests living in the archdiocese who have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors — and then only with permission of the ‘relevant court.’ [Attorney Jeff] Anderson said those limitations will protect the archdiocese from having to reveal the names of dead priests who committed sex crimes against children in recent decades, past offenders who are now living outside the archdiocese, sexual offenders who have been removed from the priesthood and any priest who has been accused of sexual manipulation of adults, including vulnerable adults.”

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.

NEW JERSEY
Sunlit Uplands

“This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.”

After suffering for more than a decade under one of America’s worst bishops, the Archdiocese of Newark has reason for hope with the installation today of Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda. He will share leadership of the Archdiocese with John J. Myers, until the latter’s retirement in no more than three years.

The pleas of many have been heard by Pope Francis with this appointment. And it is the most important appointment yet made in the United States by this Holy Father. Finally, an aloof, cold, arrogant and unapproachable monarch will be replaced by a true shepherd, an alter-Christus, who radiates Christ’s love in carrying out the Church’s salvific mission.

I came to recognize how utterly unsuited for pastoral leadership Archbishop Myers is shortly after he arrived in Newark. In his knee-jerk defense of priests, against the legitimate complaints of laymen, he attempted to suppress the Archdiocese’s rich diversity of ethnic parishes – particularly Polish parishes, which happen to be among the most vibrant, faithful and orthodox parishes to be found anywhere. Perhaps because he came from the much more homogeneous Peoria, or more likely because he believes no layman should question any decision by clergy, Myers would not meet with the faithful or consider the viewpoints that were expressed in many letters, prayer vigils, demonstrations and boycotts of Archdiocesan charities. I wrote the op-ed below at the height of Myers’ anti-Polish pogrom.

Myers has closed approximately 75 parochial schools and many churches, but his arrogant indifference to legitimate grievances became his undoing when the general public, the media and state political leaders became aware of his scandalous coddling of priests guilty of the sexual molestation of children. He should be in prison, but we are grateful that Pope Francis has replaced him with a man who gives every indication of being the polar opposite kind of churchman.

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

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/11/2013

Advocates for child sexual abuse victims responded with deep skepticism Monday to Archbishop John Nienstedt’s promise to release names of abusive priests.

Nienstedt said in a statement Monday that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis would be “disclosing the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The names will be made public sometime in November, Nienstedt said.

Attorney Mike Finnegan said that he doubts the list to be released by the archdiocese will include all of the 33 that church officials said in 2004 were “credibly accused” of sex abuse of children.

And there is no reason for delay, Finnegan said.

“My biggest question seeing this is, why wait?” Finnegan said. “Keeping this list secret for one day, one hour, puts additional kids at risk.”

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

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

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

Archbishop John Neinstedt now says he’ll release a partial list of predator priests.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

“If Twin Cities pedophile priests now live in Rochester or Winona or Duluth, tough luck. We’re not gonna tell you who or where they are.”

That’s the message Archbishop John Neinstedt is sending to Minnesota parents. We deliberately use the word “citizens” here and not “parishioners” because child molesting Catholic clerics don’t just hurt Catholic kids. They also sexually assault kids from other denominations, because they’re relatives, they live nearby or for a wide range of reasons.

“If a Twin Cities pedophile priest sexually assaulted you and is now deceased, tough luck. We’re not gonna disclose the names of any deceased predator, no matter how many kids he’s hurt, how recently he died or how egregiously we covered up for him.”

That’s the message Archbishop Neinstedt is sending to victims.

There is, of course, no reason to keep hiding any predator priests, whether they are now in Mankato or Morocco, whether they’re alive or deceased. (In fact, arguably, Twin Cities predator priests who are now living far away are likely more dangerous than those who still live nearby.)

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by Jeanette DeMelo Monday, November 11, 2013

This week on Register Radio I talked to Whispers in the Loggia blogger Rocco Palmo about Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s time as president of the United States bishops’ conference, which comes to an end Nov. 12. (Read Joan Desmond’s piece: Evaluating Cardinal Dolan’s Tenure)

In 2010, Dolan’s election to the presidency of the bishops’ conference came as quite a surprise. Rocco explained “since 1966 the foundation of the conference it was almost automatic that the vice president of the conference would be elected the next president.”

Yet, in the last election, the bishops changed course. Rather than electing the incumbent vice president Archbishop Gerald Kicanas, the bishops chose then-Archbishop Dolan. Rocco suggested one reason for the change was Dolan’s popularity with younger bishops who had developed great relationships with him during his time as rector of the North American College in Rome. They saw him as a “guru priest,” said the Church blogger.

Another historic aspect of Dolan’s election, Rocco noted, is that it was the first time the archbishop of New York was elected president of the conference. Again, the Church Whisper (as Rocco is sometimes called) suggested a reason for this: the New York post is already considered prominent in the Church world and bishops of the past didn’t want to give the premier U.S. see more influence than it already had.

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

MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

In a long string of horrific revelations over the past few weeks about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in the Twin Cities archdiocese, today’s disclosures may be the worst.

Why are the revelations about Fr. Clarence Vavra potentially the worst yet?

Because he’s an admitted serial pedophile and because he’s never been “outed” until today, so who knows how many more kids he’s been able to sexually assault because Twin Cities Catholic officials continue to act selfishly and secretively.

For almost 19 years (and likely longer), a top ranking archdiocesan staffer has known that Fr. Vavra admitted sexually assaulting kids.

For at least a year and a half (and likely longer), the current Twin Cities archbishop has known that Fr. Vavra admitted sexually assaulting kids.

Still, neither Fr. Kevin McDonough nor Archbishop John Neinstedt has had the decency to disclose this fact to Fr. Vavra’s current or former neighbors, colleagues, parishioners or relatives (not to mention police and prosecutors).

Can Catholic officials be more irresponsible and selfish?

Until today’s report by Minnesota Public Radio, virtually no one outside the Twin Cities archdiocesan headquarters knew that Fr. Vavra admitted molesting Native American kids at a South Dakota reservation.

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

MINNESOTA
Valley News Live

In an open letter released on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis website Monday morning Archbishop John Nienstedt announced he will release the names of priests who have sexually abused children.

The move marks a major change of position. For years the Archdiocese has refused to release a list of accused priests.

In his letter Nienstedt said, the Archdiocese will disclose “the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The letter said all the priests have been removed from ministry.

There is not an exact time on when the list will be released. In the letter Archbishop Nienstedt said they expect to announce the name of an outside firm to do the file review with in the next week and announce the results when the process is finished.

Nienstedt also explained the reasoning behind the change:

“Serious mistakes have been made in the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases. Offering expressions of regret and sorrow seems so inadequate in the context of the crimes of the offenders and our failures to deal with them properly. And yet, I must say how sorry I am. My heart is heavy for the victims of this repugnant abuse.”

Open Letter From Archbishop John Nienstedt Regarding Clarance Vavra:

Clarence Vavra, a priest ordained in 1965, was removed from ministry in 2003. We take extremely seriously the concerns and questions about Vavra’s crimes against minors and the archdiocese’s handling of them.

In 1995, Vavra self-reported that he engaged in sexual contact with several young boys and a teenage boy during the time when he worked on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in approximately 1975. Vavra was not removed from ministry at the time for his admitted crimes. Instead, he went to inpatient treatment in 1996 and continued with outpatient treatment thereafter until at least 1998. He was allowed to go back into active ministry under the supervision of other priests until 2003. Vavra also engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with other adult males during his tenure as an active priest.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

by Mike Durkin

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
Archbishop John Nienstedt said the names of all priests with “substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors” will be released once an independent review of Archdiocese files is complete.

The pledge to release a list of names was part of an open letter published Monday regarding Clarence Vavra – a priest removed from the ministry in 2003 after self-reported sexual contact with boys and sexual contact with other adult men.

Vavra sought treatment and was eventually allowed back into active ministry, but was removed again after the clergy review board determined he violated the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

ARCHBISHOP NIENSTEDT (NOV. 11)

“To demonstrate our commitment to the safety of minors and transparency, we will be disclosing information about priests who are known by us to have Charter violations. Our ability to disclose all names is reliant on the completion of the independent file review that I ordered in early October and communicated in my column in The Catholic Spirit on October 24. However, during the month of November, and upon receipt of permission of the relevant court, the Archdiocese will be disclosing the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors. All of these men have been removed from ministry.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: November 11, 2013

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced Monday morning that he will release the names of priests who have sexually abused minors.

The move marks an about-face for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has refused to release a list of accused priests for years.

In a strongly worded open letter, Nienstedt said, the Archdiocese will disclose “the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors.”

The letter said all the priests have been removed from ministry.

The decision to release the names of known abusers comes in the wake of the report of another accused priest, Clarence Vavra, who admitted to the archdiocese that he had abused boys on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1995. Vavra was not removed from ministry until 2003.

“Serious mistakes have been made in the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases,” Nienstedt wrote. “Offering expressions of regret and sorrow seems so inadequate in the context of the crimes of the offenders and our failures to deal with them properly. And yet, I must say how sorry I am. My heart is heavy for the victims of this repugnant abuse.”

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Monday, November 11, 2013

Source: Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt

Clarence Vavra, a priest ordained in 1965, was removed from ministry in 2003. We take extremely seriously the concerns and questions about Vavra’s crimes against minors and the archdiocese’s handling of them.

In 1995, Vavra self-reported that he engaged in sexual contact with several young boys and a teenage boy during the time when he worked on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in approximately 1975. Vavra was not removed from ministry at the time for his admitted crimes. Instead, he went to inpatient treatment in 1996 and continued with outpatient treatment thereafter until at least 1998. He was allowed to go back into active ministry under the supervision of other priests until 2003. Vavra also engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with other adult males during his tenure as an active priest.

After the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was promulgated in 2002, Vavra’s status was reevaluated in light of his prior conduct and the archdiocesan Clergy Review Board determined that he had violated the Charter and recommended in May 2003 he be removed from ministry. As a result, Vavra agreed to be removed from all ministry in June 2003.

Clarence Vavra not only violated his victims and their families, he violated his sacred trust as a priest and he deeply offended his fellow clergy and the laity. Serious errors were made by the archdiocese in dealing with him. In the spirit of offering him a path to healing and redemption, too much trust was placed in the hope of remedying Vavra’s egregious behaviors. Not enough effort was made to identify and care for his victims. Under our standards today, Vavra should have been removed permanently from ministry when he openly admitted his crimes and the civil authorities should have been notified immediately.

Further, after Vavra was removed from ministry, he received a transitional support payment of $650 per month that should have been made only until he reached eligibility for retirement benefits, but instead continued until 2012. As soon as these payment errors were discovered as part of an audit process, they were stopped and have not been reinstated.

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MINNESOTA
San Francisco Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it will release names of priests who have sexually abused children.

In an open letter posted Monday on the archdiocese website, Archbishop John Nienstedt says that during the month of November he will disclose the names, locations and status of abusive priests who are currently living in the archdiocese.

Nienstedt says all of these men have been removed from ministry.

Attorneys for victims of sexual abuse by clergy have repeatedly asked the church to release names of all priests who have been credibly accused. It’s not clear if the new disclosures will go beyond names that are already public through lawsuits or media reports.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

For more information: David Clohessy 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Barbara Dorris 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com

Archdiocese claims its abuse costs rising
It says it’s spent more than $10 million over a decade
More than 70% of money spent goes to church lawyers
In six of ten years, church pays more to its lawyers than to victims

Figures just released by the St. Louis Catholic archdiocese show that, over the past decade, the church here claims to have spent $10,261,000 on “clergy misconduct.”

More than 70% of that has reportedly gone to archdiocesan defense lawyers.

The figures come from the archdiocese “financial review,” published in Friday’s St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan website.

This is the sixth time in the last ten years that the archdiocese gave more money to its lawyers than to abuse victims.

The spending was criticized by leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“It’s sad that after a solid decade, Catholic officials are still spending more on fighting victims than helping victims, more on defense lawyers than on wounded victims,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “The reason for this disparity is pure selfishness. Archdiocesan officials are willing to spend whatever it takes to protect their own reputations and hide their own wrongdoing.”

Dorris notes that the only civil clergy sex abuse and cover up trial in St. Louis was held in 1999. (A jury awarded a victim of Fr. James Gummersbach $1.2 million which was later overturned on appeal.) There have been at least two criminal clergy sex abuse trials in the archdiocese. Both Fr. Bryan Kuchar (2003) and Fr. Thomas Graham (2005) were found guilty of child sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
The New Prague Times

Submitted by editor on Thu, 11/07/2013

By Chuck Kajer The New Prague Times

Father David Barrett, associate pastor at the Church of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, has taken a voluntary leave of absence, the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis a n n o u n c e d Sunday. A statement by the Archdiocese said the decision is a result of “prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Barrett has served. The misconduct did not involve a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The Archdiocese has been aware of the misconduct and Barrett has been through counseling and has been under supervision since that incident. Due to recent cases involving priest misconduct in the news, past cases are being reviewed by a special Ministry Standards board.

Barrett has served St. Wenceslaus since 2009, and has primarily served the western portion of the parish, at St. John the Evangelist in Union Hill and St. Scholastica in Heidelberg. Prior to that he was associate pastor at Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and also served at St. Canice in Kilkenny.

The statement said that while on his leave, Barrett “Will not be performing any public ministry and will cooperate with the Ministerial Standards Board of the Archdiocese which will make recommendations as a result of a review of Barrett’s actions.”

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SOUTH DAKOTA/MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 11

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

In 1995, a Catholic priest admitted sexually assaulting several kids on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Yet no Catholic official ever told anyone about him.

Today, Fr. Clarence Vavra’s admissions have been revealed by Minnesota Public Radio.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Fr. Varva now lives in New Prague, Minnesota.

In 2002, US bishops formally pledged to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes.

Yet In 2003, Minnesota Catholic officials let Fr. Varva, an admitted serial child molester, quietly “retire” and told no one that he had committed – and acknowledged committing – heinous crimes against South Dakota kids.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Culture

[candidate profiles – U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published profiles of the candidates who are in the running to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as conference president and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville as conference vice president.

The election takes during the annual fall bishops’ meeting, which begins on November 11 and concludes November 14.

The ten candidates are Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami.

The incumbent conference vice president of the USCCB has traditionally been elected to succeed to a 3-year term as conference president. But that pattern was broken in 2010, when Cardinal Dolan defeated Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, then the conference vice president, in the presidential election.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE As the U.S. bishops start their annual meeting here Monday morning, they are facing a number of tough choices: Who to elect as their new president, what tone to adopt in the new Pope Francis era, and how to engage the wider culture.

Another hard decision: Where to eat dinner each night, and with whom.

If the stakes on this one seem a bit more personal, perhaps they are. But Tomas Murray, a member of a Catholic Worker community in Ohio, thinks where the bishops choose to eat also sends a significant message about how they see the role of the U.S. Catholic church.

Murray is one of several people hosting an alternative dinner option for the prelates on Tuesday night. They want the focus of their meal, held on the night of the annual assembly at which the bishops have in the past had dinners in support of Catholic military chaplains, to be focused on peacemaking.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE Two Catholic nonprofit groups urged Monday that the U.S bishops, meeting here for their annual assembly, follow the lead of Pope Francis in building a “church for the poor” in the United States.

Specifically, the groups said, the American prelates could make their national office a “bishops’ conference for the poor” by drafting a new statement on the continuing economic crisis and by launching a nationwide poverty awareness campaign.

That campaign, they said, could follow a similar game-plan as the bishops’ focus over the past two years on issues of religious liberty, which the bishops devoted significant time and energy to in 2012 and 2013, hosting twice a “Fortnight for Freedom” centered around the implementation of the health care law.

The Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good made the call for the focus on the poor Monday, holding a press conference at which they released an open letter to Louisville, Ky., Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, currently the bishops’ vice president and one of ten candidates to be elected president at this year’s assembly.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Rome Reports

[with video]

November 10, 2013. (Romereports.com) For the last three years, Cardinal Tim Dolan, has served as president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, but a new president will be elected, during the bishops’ General Assembly in Baltimore, from November 11th to the 14th.

The new president will be one of the following 10 candidates:

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans.

From Philadelphia there’s Archbishop Charles Chaput. Also on the list is Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington.

From Galveston-Houston, there’s Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and from Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez.

From Baltimore, Archbishop William Lori is also on the list, along with the the Archbishop of Louisville, Joseph Kurtz, who currently serves as the vice president.

Cincinnati’s Archbishop, Dennis Schnurr is also a candidate, as is Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron and finally from Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathers in Baltimore Monday, the clash between Pope Francis’ gentle, welcoming brand of religion and the bishops’ hard-line push against issues such as abortion and gay marriage will lurk in the background.

The four-day meeting is the first gathering of the bishops since Pope Francis’ widely-publicized comments in September, in which he said Catholic officials should not be “obsessed” with deeply controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion and should instead emphasize helping poor and disadvantaged people.

Howthe pope’s tone will be promoted is not on the conference agenda, but futurestances from the bishops group likely will be found in who is elected to leadership posts during the conference. Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, 65, is among the 10 nominees for the group’s president and vice president.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 10, 2013

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Several months into the era of a new pope with a flair for disarmingly dramatic pastoral gestures, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops begin meeting in Baltimore today to elect their own new leadership, with several candidates for top positions hailing from Pittsburgh and other parts of Pennsylvania.

This will be the first major gathering of the bishops since many of the headline-making actions of Pope Francis, such as his denunciations of clerical privilege; his literal embrace of the poor; and his interviews with media outlets, both secular and religious, in which he has called for a poorer, more pastoral and less combative church.

Francis, while calling himself a “son of the church” upholding its traditional teachings on sexuality, has said in interviews the church should not be “obsessed” with such battles and that he would not judge someone who is gay but also seeking God and acting in good will.

And yet the American bishops continue to find themselves in what they consider major struggles over religious freedom as they fight an increasingly rear-guard battle against provisions of the Affordable Care Act as well as same-sex marriage — which Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize, making it the 15th state to do so along with the District of Columbia.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Columbus Dispatch

By Mary Wisniewski
Reuters Monday November 11, 2013

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops will choose new leaders at an assembly in Baltimore this week and might signal a new direction for the American church under the influence of Pope Francis.

The conference begins today and all eyes will be on whether the new leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continue vigorous opposition to gay marriage and Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, or increase their push to help the poor and immigrants given Pope Francis’ emphasis on social-justice issues.

The new leaders also will be preparing for an “extraordinary synod” of bishops in Rome to discuss teachings related to the family. The Vatican has asked bishops and parish priests around the world about local views on gay marriage, divorce and birth control ahead of the October 2014 meeting.

“Bishops have been stuck in a bunker fighting the culture war,” said John Gehring, the Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group. “Pope Francis has said we can’t just be known by what we oppose.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun
5:00 a.m. EST, November 11, 2013

The nation’s top Catholic bishops will convene this week in Baltimore to choose a new leader, a decision that will help set the course for an American church striving to build its appeal while grappling with stances on immigration and contraception coverage.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops expects close to 300 active and retired members as it holds its annual convention at the Waterfront Marriott Hotel. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is to begin the four-day gathering Monday with his final address as president after serving a three-year term.

The bishops will elect Dolan’s successor Tuesday from a slate of 10 nominated bishops — including Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori.

It will be a telling decision at a key time in church history. This week’s meeting is the first during the tenure of Pope Francis, the first Latin American-born pontiff and a man widely seen as offering a friendlier face to the non-Catholic world than many of his predecessors.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of New Jersey

In response to today’s announcement from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office concerning the conclusion of the matter of Michael C. Fugee, James Goodness issued the following:

The Bergen County Prosecutor and Grand Jury have completed their investigation into the matter of Michael Fugee. The Grand Jury determined that there was no basis for any criminal proceedings against Michael Fugee. The Archdiocese’s position has remained consistent throughout the investigation: the Archdiocese did not violate the terms of the Fugee Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) and never authorized or condoned Fugee’s unauthorized actions that led to the Prosecutor’s investigation.

Throughout the past nine months, the Archdiocese of Newark has cooperated fully with the investigation. The Archdiocese has produced hundreds of documents. The Archbishop and other Archdiocesan staff have answered every question asked of them either by the Prosecutor’s staff or the Grand Jury. At all times, the Archdiocese has complied fully with the investigation process.

When the allegations that gave rise to the Fugee matter first surfaced in early 2001, Archbishop Myers was not Archbishop of Newark. At the time of the Archbishop’s arrival in October 2001, Fugee already was out of ministry and remained so throughout the time of his trial and appeal.

We are quite frankly stunned that the Prosecutor would even suggest, much less state outright, that the Archdiocese “did not nor would ever obtain” laicization of Michael Fugee, since there is direct evidence as well as Grand Jury testimony by the Archbishop that he had begun setting the preliminary groundwork for laicization.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Nov 11, 2013

Yo, Catholic bishops meeting today in Baltimore!

As you may not have heard, last Friday the Bergen County (N.J.) prosecutor announced a pretty amazing agreement with a priest charged with violating the terms of the deal by which he avoided being retried for sex abuse. The priest, Michael Fugee, pledged to seek to be laicized by Rome. The amazing thing was that his boss, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, was cut out of the arrangement.

How come? Prosecutor John L. Molinelli put it thusly:

By way of this agreement, the State of New Jersey need no longer rely upon cooperation by RCAN [the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark] in supervising Michael Fugee. It has appeared, based on many public comments by Archbishop Myers, that the Church had no intention of monitoring Fugee any further and, based upon this office’s review of the Archdiocese compliance with the terms of the original MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] dated July 18, 2007 wherein the Church committed to monitor Fugee, it does not appear that the Archdiocese made and significant effort to adhere to the terms of the MOU such that, at this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding, which had placed direct oversight responsibility upon the RCAN.

I recognize that your excellencies are unaccustomed to being called out by officials of the criminal justice system, especially when they have names like Molinelli, and that you may find the language here a bit harsh. Indeed, you’ll probably not be surprised to learn that the Archdiocese of Newark took umbrage at the prosecutor’s remarks, issuing a defense of its conduct in re: Fugee via a statement from Vice Chancellor James Goodness.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Watch this page for live streaming of the public sessions
November 11-14, 2012

INSTRUCTIONS: To watch the live stream, mouse over the player (black box) to see the controls, and then click on the play button to start the stream.

NOTE TO iOS DEVICE USERS: We regret that we cannot bring you the live stream at this time.

Watch the archived video on the Video On-Demand page.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia

So, here we go again – greetings from Baltimore and, for the 95th time, another edition of American Catholicism’s Fall Classic.

Under Benjamin Latrobe’s stupendous and resonant dome, this USCCB Plenary will open with a 7am Mass this Monday in the Basilica of the Assumption – the nation’s first cathedral, the holy shrine built upon the tomb of John Carroll: cousin of the lone Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, founding shepherd of these shores, and the preeminent visionary of this faith’s meaning and role in a society unbound to the old Continent’s alliances of altar and throne.

Even if its complete agenda remains to be released, the meeting’s public sessions are slated to get underway at 10am Eastern. The morning business headlined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s farewell address from the conference presidency and the customary remarks from the Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, full coverage in video and text will be on-tap here all through.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago.- The investigation by the Santiago Office of the Prosecutor has yet to determine who tipped off the priest Wojciech Gil escape indictment on child abuse.

To sneak out of the country, the Polish national deceived one of his friends and used their Facebook account to communicate with a woman who unwittingly revealed that he was being sought for alleged sexual abuse.

Gil asked current Parrish secretary Ambiorix Espinal to let him use his account to send a message, but in fact used it to get the information.

Quoted by elcaribe.com.do by phone, Espinal said he didn’t know what the priest wanted with the access to Facebook, because he had confidence in the prelate and never thought he would do something wrong. “That happened an hour before leaving for Poland from the Dominican Republic.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘We’ll say you touched us’: Police arrest two men for intimidating and threatening to rob a Catholic priest, 73, after following him into sacristy after mass

By CHRIS PLEASANCE

Two men have been charged after attempting to rob a Catholic priest following Mass in Chicago.
Deandrea and Markquis Little, 22 and 20, followed the 73-year-old into the sacristy at around 8.30am last Monday before demanding money.

Deandrea is alleged to have poked the priest in the head and threatened to hit him before saying he would tell the papers the priest had ‘touched us’ if anyone found out.

According to police reports the pair had carried out a four-year campaign of intimidation against the church in the Back of the Yards area, taking at least $10,000, damaging windows and jumping on the priest’s car.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

School assistant could face jail over sex video with 16-year-old Belfast pupil at St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School

BY AMANDA FERGUSON – 11 NOVEMBER 2013

A former classroom assistant who allegedly made a sex tape with a Belfast schoolboy that ended up on a pornographic website could face up to five years in prison for ‘abuse of trust’ if charged and convicted.

Jo O’Neill-McBurney (21), from Crumlin, Co Antrim, was suspended from St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School in west Belfast after a 30-minute sex video, featuring her and a teenager, thought to be a 16-year-old, emerged on the internet.

It’s understood the footage, believed to have been recorded by the pair in April, has in recent weeks been viewed more than 6,000 times on a free website.

It is not known who uploaded the graphic footage to the site.

The age of consent for sexual activity in Northern Ireland is 16, however it is illegal for anyone in a position of trust to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella

There’s fire in the portly Charles Scicluna, the auxiliary bishop whose diminutive stature belies not just his independence of mind, but the fact that he had been the Vatican’s chief prosecutor on the sexual abuse cases that rocked the Catholic Church ever since 2002. For years he stood by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, when the latter headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the successor to the Roman and Universal Inquisition – and in its modern incarnation, Scicluna served as a latter-day Bernardo Gui, an enforcer for the Roman pontiff and a hunter of sinners.

When Benedict XVI announced Scicluna’s appointment to auxiliary bishop, it was believed that a man who had done his job well on the Vatican’s hard-line stance against sex abuse was being punished through a “face-saving promote and remove” tactic. But as Scicluna himself said before leaving Rome, “if you want to silence someone, you don’t make him a bishop”. And silenced, he won’t be, having blogged and tweeted his views on, most recently, gay marriage and the sale of citizenship.

“Why are you so vocal – why are you entering the fray in this manner?” I tell him as we end our interview at the Curia in Floriana. “Because Charles Scicluna’s in town, and that’s who I am,” he responds, very matter-of-factly.

Canadian-born, the 54-year-old had to relinquish his citizenship under a Labour government in the late 1970s because Malta did not yet accept dual nationality. You can understand why the sale of citizenship under the IIP, approved in the House yesterday by a new Labour government, is a sore point for Scicluna. “Apart from the fact that a Bishop will always remain a citizen and will always enjoy the right to express himself as a normal citizen, given that he has also a say in democratic society, the Church cannot shy away from giving input with respect on issues that concern the common good. I have a great respect for citizenship, which is my bond to my homeland and to my country, and I feel that when you put a price on such a bond you are not necessarily doing citizenship and what it means the best of services.”

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COLORADO
Christian Post

BY MORGAN LEE , CP CONTRIBUTOR
November 10, 2013

Five Colorado church leaders covered up information about a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a female church attendee starting when she was 15, claim Boulder police officials.

Law enforcement have accused Vinelife Church executive pastor Robert Phillip “Bob” Young, pastor Luke Humbrecht, pastor Edward Bennell, church elder Warren Lloyd Williams and another member of the leadership team who is currently out of the country, of failing to report the alleged sexual abuse to law enforcement or human service officials.

Police arrested youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, on Sept. 4, “charging him with one count of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust; one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of unlawful sexual contact,” according to 7NEWS. The Boulder County District Attorney office later “added one count of stalking,”

Roberson is currently on administrative leave at the Longmont church, where his father, Walter Roberson, is senior pastor. Walter has not been charged, though his relationship with the investigation remains unknown.

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

By Hilary Lane
November 10, 2013

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – Father Michael Kolodziej worked in the Buffalo area for about 15 years. Now that he is facing charges, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese is asking anyone who has knowledge of child sexual abuse to call a confidential hotline number.

That number is (716) 895-3010.

Father Kolodziej is accused of sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at a Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. The alleged victim claims Father Kolodziej abused him several times while Kolodziej “wrestled him.” The alleged incidents occured from 1975 to 1979.

Now, the Buffalo diocese is asking anyone with knowledge of any type of sexual abuse to come forward and call a hotline number. One alleged victim called our newsroom and told us he tried to call, but couldn’t get through. We tried the hotline multiple times, but found only a busy signal. When we contacted the diocese about the problem, they said they would look into it. However, the number still doesn’t work.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

Michelle Armstrong attended regular Sunday Night Mass at Our Lady Of Calvary Parish in Northeast Philadelphia not expecting to hear it’s leader of 13 years, Father John Paul resigned amid child sexual abuse allegations.

“I haven’t heard anything through the grapevine so this really surprised me,” Armstrong said.

She got the word from church leaders who say the allegations date back more than 40 years…during father Paul’s time in seminary and it took time for the news to sink in.

“It was quiet. It was solemn. People had time to kind of grieve” Armstrong said.

The Archdioceses Of Philadelphia says it learned of the accusations earlier this year and allowed Paul to stay at the parish under a watchful eye.

Officials say he was later banned from having unsupervised contact with minors but church officials say it was his choice to leave out of emotional stress caused by the investigation.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 11, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a reversal of decades-old policy, Archbishop John Nienstedt said he plans to release the names of some priests who have sexually abused children.

The list will be limited to living priests who still reside in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and who have been determined by the archdiocese to be guilty of abuse. Nienstedt did not say how many names would be released, and it’s unclear if the list would include any priests not already known to the public through lawsuits and media reports.

Nienstedt’s decision comes in response to an MPR News investigation, which found that the archdiocese continues to protect a 74-year-old priest who admitted to sexually abusing children on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the mid-1970s. The Rev. Clarence Vavra admitted to the abuse as part of a psychological evaluation in 1995, but Archbishops John Roach and Harry Flynn kept Vavra in ministry and did not contact police. Flynn asked Vavra to retire in 2003 – and gave him $650 a month in extra retirement payments. Vavra lives half a block from a middle school in New Prague, Minn. Prior to MPR News’ report, he was not a known abuser. …

THE LIST

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who’s represented thousands of victims of clergy sexual abuse across the country, has asked the archdiocese for years to release the names of offending priests.

Anderson often refers in news conferences to the list of 33 priests that he received from the archdiocese as part of a lawsuit in 2009. The list, which named priests against whom there were credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors, was sealed by a judge and cannot be released without a court order.

At a hearing in Ramsey County on Oct. 3, Anderson asked Judge John Van de North to unseal the list. “Until we know who the credibly accused offenders are and where they are … the peril exists,” he said.

The list of 33 priests is likely much longer than the one the archdiocese plans to release.

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

MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[documents]

[with audio]

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio,
Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio

November 11, 2013

One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed.

The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night?

The answer was yes.

What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He’s never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general’s filing cabinet at the chancery.

Today Vavra lives in a small, gray home in New Prague, Minn., less than a block from a school. He wouldn’t answer questions when approached by a reporter.

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.

ARIZONA
Tucson News Now

By Mauricio Marin

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) –
Joelle Casteix, with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spent Sunday handing out flyers to parishioners at the Dove Peace Lutheran Church to warn them about a convicted child sex offender. SNAP organizers say the church’s Music Director, Eric Holtan, should not be working at the church where he could be so close to children. Casteix says, “We feel that this is a serious problem. The fact that he’s here is a violation of the churches own rules of having sex offenders in positions of power inside of churches.”

In 2000, Holtan plead guilty to having sex with two underage female students in Minnesota. He served two years in prison and is currently on probation.

Casteix says she is fighting so hard to let people know about Holtan because she was molested as a teen by her own high school choir director. According to Casteix, as part of his probation conditions, Holtan is not allowed to be alone with underage girls.

Those we spoke we at the end of Sunday’s service say they received a letter from the church this past Friday about Holtan’s criminal past. Many were hesitant to comment about the matter, but Anita Balthaser told us, “He’s always been very nice, very cordial to us. He’s a great guy, he’s a great music director. We’ve never seen anything other than that sight of him.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Archdiocesan Statement

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed. …

A NOTE FROM FR. JOHN PAUL –

On November 6, I resigned as Pastor Of Our Lady of Calvary. For physical and spiritual health, I feel this is best for myself and the Parish.

Basically, I am tired and exhausted and I need renewal for myself. I have been Pastor for 13 years and I feel proud of our parish – the school, the renovations, the new ministries – much has been accomplished. Our Lady of Calvary Parish is in need of new leadership…with new vision and enthusiasm.

I thank my fellow priests, our secretaries and maintenance staff, our school administrators and teachers for their loyalty and support. Please pray for me as I will pray for you.

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
International Business Times

By Athena Yenko | November 11, 2013
An ex-Sydney priest, Kevin Lee, who had been married to a Filipina was one among the feared 10,000 dead in the wake of the world’s fourth strongest typhoon in 2013, storm Yolanda (Haiyan).

Mr Lee had been controversial when he exposed incidents of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. He was removed from service for publicly admitting that he married a Filipina in 2011 and for owning up to his sins of having had girlfriends while still serving in church as a priest for 20 years.

Back in Sydney, he made an important contribution when he established the Padre Pio in Glenmore Park, in Western Sydney. He was, however, removed from his parish in 2012 when he comes clean about his marriage and ex-girlfriends.

In a tribute done on Sunday, Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, expressed his sympathy for Mr Lee and acknowledged his roles for being a good husband and a father.

“I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow Josefina and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them and devastation for the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan,” News.com.au reported.

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.

GEORGIA
WRDW

By: Christie Ethridge

Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) — News 12 confirms a priest has been removed for theft of funds at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church.

According to the church, Father Avery Hanna, a Parochial Vicar at the church, has been placed on administrative leave and no longer resides at the church.

Pastor Gerald Ragan made the announcement to church members at mass on Sunday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah has released this statement:

“Father Avery Hanna, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese as a result of criminal charges involving the theft of church property. Father Hanna, a native of the Bahamas and an Assistant Pastor at St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta, Georgia, has been placed on administrative leave as a result of his theft of tuition payments from the church office over a period of several weeks.

The total amount believed to have been stolen is approximately $1,700.00. As a result of these acts, which Father Hanna has admitted, criminal charges will be brought against him. Father Hanna has been removed from St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta and will reside at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah pending the outcome of the criminal charges and a determination of his immigration status.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

Northeast Philadelphia –
Pastor Father John Paul of Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after 13 years.

The Archdiocese says. earlier this year, they were notified of allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Paul dating back 45 years.

After investigating the matter, law enforcement authorities declined to press charges against father Paul.

Officials say none of the cases of sexual abuse involve members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Pastor no longer resides at the church.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA – November 10, 2013 (WPVI) — A priest from Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after serving 13 years as head of the congregation.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was notified of alleged sexual abuse of minors by father John Paul. The allegations dated back 45 years.

After an investigation, law enforcement officials decided not to press charges against the Catholic priest.

In a letter to the congregation, Church officials added that the allegations did not involve any members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Archdiocese says Father Paul has denied the allegations and that he decided to resign on his own.

Read the full statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia below:

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed.

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.

LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Written by
Jodi Belgard
Louisiana Gannett

ALEXANDRIA — Decades after charges of sexual misconduct hit retired Alexandria priest Frederick James Lyons, the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in Rome has stripped him of the title of monsignor and imposed “a life of prayer and penance” on him.

Lyons, now in his late 80s, was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest.

The Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, suspended Lyons from all priestly functions in 2006. Lyons’ case was sent to Rome at that time for examination.

Herzog announced the decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in a news release issued Thursday. The diocese was closed Friday.

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MINNESOTA
The Progressive Catholic Voice

By Bob Beutel

Note: On November 9, 2013 approximately 200 Catholics gathered outside the chancery of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to call on Archbishop John C. Nienstedt to resign. One of the speakers at this event was Bob Beutel (right), co-chair of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR). Following is the transcript of Bob’s speech.

We are here today to express the faithful’s loss of confidence in the administration of Archbishop John Nienstedt and to ask for his resignation.

We won’t recite the litany of our issues with him, but they can be summarized as follows.:

He sows division among Catholics and among the public at large by excluding members of the GLBT community, women, abuse victims,and critics.

He intimidates his priests, his staffers, his critics, and the victims and survivors of clergy sex abuse.

He wastes our money on partisan political campaigns and holds himself unaccountable despite a pledge to be transparent.

He has embarrassed and shamed our holy Church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[Unholy vows– The Weekend Australian Magazine]

HARRY EDWARDS THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 11, 2013

A FORMER NSW priest who kept a marriage secret for over a year and blew the whistle on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is among the thousands killed by Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines.

Kevin Lee, 49, was a parish priest at the Padre Pio Church in Glenmore Park in western Sydney and one-time police chaplain. He is reported to have been killed while swimming as part of a religious ritual.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed a 49-year-old man from NSW had died in the storm but declined to confirm the name.

Mr Lee spoke out on abuse in the Catholic Church, including in his book Unholy Silence.

Last year he provided NSW police with information about at least one Catholic school teacher who he believed had sexually abused boys at a religious school in western Sydney in the 1990s.

After 20 years as a priest, Mr Lee was defrocked in 2012 when he revealed he had married.

He had been living on the island of Samar in The Philippines with his wife Josefina, whom he had secretly married in 2011 in Manila, and their baby daughter Michelle, born in September.

Mr Lee told The Weekend Australian last year that when an alleged victim of sexual abuse had come to him seeking help, he had “taken it to police this time because I’m tired of keeping secrets for the Catholic Church”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Our Lady of Calvary

MEMO from Sister Mildred & Mrs. Costello:

What you should know about the resignation of Father John Paul as Pastor of Our Lady of Calvary parish:

1- This weekend Father Dunleavy, Regional Dean, will inform the parish that Father John Paul has resigned as Pastor and no longer resides at OLC.
2- Earlier this year, the Archdiocese was notified of allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Paul dating back 45 years.
3- Consistent with its policies concerning such allegations, the Archdiocese immediately provided this information to law enforcement authorities.
4- After investigating the matter, law enforcement authorities
DECLINED TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST FATHER PAUL.
5- These allegations involved no member of OLC either 45 years ago or since.
6- As a result of the extreme emotional duress experienced by Father Paul while the allegations were being investigated, and out of heartfelt concern for the families of OLC, Father Paul voluntarily resigned as Pastor so that the best interest of the parish could be served.
7- DURING THE THIRTEEN YEARS IN WHICH FATHER PAUL WAS PASTOR, OLC WAS, AND CONTINUES TO BE A SAFE AND WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT.
8- The Archdiocese has appointed Father John Babowitch as our new Pastor and he will be arriving on December 2nd.
9- As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at any time.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Documents via The Star-Ledger

• Read the consent order
• Read the prosecutor’s press release
• Read the archdiocese’s response
• Read Michael Fugee’s confession to police.]

NEWARK — In a rare agreement with prosecutors, an ex-priest who worked in Colts Neck agreed to leave the priesthood after admitting to violating a court order barring him from unsupervised contact with minors.

Michael Fugee has agreed to seek laicization from the Roman Catholic Church as part of settling charges with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Fugee, who served adults and children at St. Mary’s Church in Colts Neck, resigned from the Archdiocese of Newark in May. Prosecutors charged him with flouting a 2007 agreement that allowed him to return to ministry after being convicted on charges that he fondled a boy.

On Friday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli slammed the archdiocese for not properly monitoring Fugee after he returned to the 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.

MINNESOTA
KTSP

[with video]

By: Josh Rosenthal

They’re protestors, but they’re also Catholics, and marching in front of the St. Paul Cathedral isn’t easy.

“It’s not an easy thing for any Catholic to do,” said Virginia Meuers.

Added Bob Beutel, “it’s hard, it’s painful, it’s something wrong in our family.”

As Paula Ruddy put it, “this is very difficult. There’s nothing joyful about this experience.”

The group of a few dozen people who protested Saturday afternoon wants Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign after the way the church handled accusations of sexual misconduct.
“We are the church, this is our church,” Beutel said, “and we not only have a right to speak up, we’ve got a duty to speak up.”

KSTP reached out to the Minneapolis-St.Paul Archdiocese for comment, and they gave us a statement from Archbishop Nienstedt. It reads in part, “it is my most sincere hope that the commitments and actions that my leadership team and I are taking, and will continue to take, will restore trust with our communities.”

For some Catholics, that trust is already there.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Central

Tom Deignan

Much attention was paid this week when rumor spread that an Irish academic named Linda Hogan may well become the first female cardinal in Rome.

“She’s married and a feminist to boot, but Irish theologian Linda Hogan is being touted as a candidate to become the first female ‘prince’ of the Catholic Church,” is how the New York Daily News breathlessly reported the rumor.

While canon law says only men can become cardinals, the pope is free to ignore such rules. A papal spokesperson said, “No nomination of women cardinals are due.”

Nevertheless, the rumor seemed to confirm the feeling that Pope Francis may indeed support radical change within the Vatican.

What did not receive much attention this week was an actual appointment Pope Francis made. Leonard P. Blair, the bishop of Toledo, was named archbishop of Hartford.

What’s the connection?

Just over a year ago, a group of nuns led by Irish American Pat Farrell were causing some trouble by speaking out on women’s issues and the church.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Sunday, November 10, 2013

A pastor of a Northeast Philadelphia Catholic church who was accused of sexually abusing children 45 years ago has resigned and moved out of the parish’s residential premises, according to a memo to parishioners.

The Rev. John P. Paul, pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish since June 2000, voluntarily resigned “so that the best interest of the parish could be served,” according to the memo by Sister Mildred Chesnavage and Jeanne Costello, administrators of Our Lady of Calvary School. It is posted on the school’s website. Father Paul’s resignation also was expected to be announced at each Mass at the Knights Road church over the weekend.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia was made aware of the accusations against Father Paul earlier this year and immediately alerted law-enforcement officials, the school communication says. Authorities declined to press charges, the memo says.

Father Paul served as the parish’s pastor for 13 years.

“These allegations involved no member of OLC either 45 years ago or since,” says the memo on the school’s website, further asserting that the parish was and “continues to be a safe and welcoming environment.”

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INDIANA
News-Sentinel

From The Associated Press
Sunday, November 10, 2013

GARY — The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Gary has submitted his resignation to the pope, as required under church law at age 75.

Bishop Dale Melczek tells The Times of Munster he doesn’t expect Pope Francis to act immediately on his letter.

“He will begin a process that will lead to the eventual appointment of a successor. It could take a few months or it could even take a year,” Melczek said. “I mentioned to the Holy Father my gratitude to God for the gift of life, the gift of faith in baptism, an essential in my life, and then the call to minister to God’s people as a priest and bishop.”

Melczek will become the fifth bishop in Indiana to retire in recent years, all of them serving at least two decades.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Democrats

November 10, 2013
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Steve Krueger
617-817-8617
media@catholicdemocrats.org

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Christopher Jolly Hale
615-424-6003
christopherjollyhale@gmail.com

Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good Prayerfully Urge U.S. Bishops to Embrace the Leadership of Pope Francis in Creating “a Church for the Poor”

Will Offer Help to, and Make Recommendations for, All U.S. Bishops and Candidates for their Leadership

WHAT:
Two religious advocacy organizations, Catholic Democrats (CD) and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), will urge the U.S. bishops to do more for the poor and to become-in the words of Pope Francis-“a Church for the poor.” The organizations will be making specific recommendations that capture the focus and new hope that Pope Francis has brought to both the Catholic Church and the global community. They will also offer their help to the U.S. bishops in solidarity with them and with those living in poverty.

A nationally known expert on Catholic Social Justice ministry, Fr. Ray Kemp of Georgetown University, will discuss one of the recommendations related to social justice ministry in Catholic parishes. He will look at how Catholic social justice can rejuvenate the prophetic role of the Church as a strong and unambiguous advocate for the poor.

CD and CACG will also be releasing a joint public letter to the ten candidates for president and vice-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The letter will highlight some specific challenges and opportunities the candidates will face and will prayerfully urge the elected candidates to take some additional specific actions on the day of their election.

Despite the passage of six years since the beginning of the Great Recession, the U.S. bishops have yet to collectively issue any statement on poverty. Representatives from Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance will examine how the USCCB’s collective advocacy for the poor has been diminished since the 1980s and 1990s. The two groups will detail the pressing need for the Church to recall its prophetic voice in advocating for the poor at this critical juncture for the United States, the global community, and for the Church, at a time of sustained record poverty and unabated “glaring inequalities.”

Additionally, Catholic Democrats will be available for comment on a new study that looks at a partisan ideological index of the ten U.S. Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals who have been nominated to become the next USCCB president and vice-president.

WHO:
Rev. Raymond Kemp, Guest Speaker, Georgetown University
Steve Krueger, President, Catholic Democrats
Fred Rotondaro, Chair of the Board, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

WHERE:
Hilton Garden Inn
Chesapeake Room
625 S. President Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Phone: (410) 234-0999

Note: The Hilton Garden Inn is across the street from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel where the USCCB will be holding its conference.

WHEN:
Monday, November 11th
8:15 AM
Please note time change.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

[Former priest alleges ‘system of abuse cover-ups’ – ABC Latline]

November 11, 2013

Dan Harrison

An Australian man removed from the priesthood for secretly marrying has been killed by typhoon Haiyan just weeks after becoming a father.

Kevin Lee, who made headlines worldwide in May last year when he was defrocked after revealing he had been married for more than a year, drowned after disappearing in rough surf off Samar Island in the Philippines.

Police found his body on Sunday morning, Australian time.

Mr Lee had been living with his Filipino wife Josefina in her home village, and recently celebrated the birth of a baby girl, Michelle.

The 49-year-old, a whistleblower on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, recently reflected on his blog that had he not broken his vow of celibacy, his daughter would not be alive.

”I have always believed that nothing happens without God’s divine permission,” he wrote.

The couple met in a Manila karaoke bar in 2011, when Mr Lee, then the priest at Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park in Sydney’s west, was on a pilgrimage with other members of the church.

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OHIO
Cleveland.com

on November 10, 2013

In response to a story examining the media coverage surrounding the arrest of a local priest for solicitation, cleveland.com users speak out about the need for priests and public officials to be held to a different standard.
Mark Crawford posts:

It would be absolutely irresponsible for the media if they DID NOT cover this story. As a priest this man has unfettered access to children and vulnerable adults. Would you care to know if this man was working in youth ministry with your child. Are you willing to take the chance he becomes sexual with anyone else and NOT inform them of his HIV status. This is NOT picking on the church, you can bet other priests knew or suspected he was sexually active, these things don’t remain secret from other clergy for very long.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

U.S. Bishops General Assembly — November 11-14
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) 2013 November General Assembly in Baltimore will be held on November 11-14. You will be able to view the bishops’ actions at the meeting by viewing the live stream or reviewing video-on-demand of the public sessions and reading through the tweets below. You will also find links to related USCCB news releases and coverage from Catholic News Service on this page. Links to the agenda, speeches, votes and other material are posted in the right hand column of this page.

WASHINGTON—The annual fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be November 11-14, at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott Hotel. During the meeting, the bishops will hear addresses by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of USCCB, and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The bishops will also hear a report from the National Advisory Council and a report on the status of their strategic/pastoral plan, The New Evangelization: Faith, Worship, Witness. They will elect the next president and vice president of USCCB, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, the chairmen-elect of five other USCCB committees, and members of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Incorporated (CLINIC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) boards.

Other agenda items include:
• Discussions and votes on the 2014 Conference budget and 2015 diocesan assessment
• Consultation on the sainthood cause of Mary Teresa Tallon, Servant of God
• Discussions and votes on the Misal Romano, the Spanish translation of the book of prayers at Mass, and adaptations to it for use in the United States
• Discussions and votes on the draft translations of the Order of Celebrating Marriage and the Order of Confirmation, as well as proposed adaptations for the Order of Celebrating Marriage
• An update by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage
• Presentation for a proposal to develop a formal statement on pornography
• Presentation by Bishop Gerald R. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, chairman of CRS, and Carolyn Woo, CRS president, on the work and strategic priorities of CRS
• An update and discussion on the Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty
• Discussions and votes on proposed revisions to the USCCB handbook and regulations

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 11 November 2013)

Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations will table its findings in mid-November 2013. This inquiry, established by the Victorian State Parliament, paved the way for a national Royal Commission which was later established by the Australian Federal Government.

Observers expect that the Victorian inquiry’s report will criticise the Catholic Church’s covering up of child-sex abuse. That is, the church authorities have been failing to make sure that criminal offences are reported to the Victoria Police.

The Victorian inquiry held more than 160 hearings over nine months in late 2012 and early 2013.

The inquiry heard evidence from victims, their families, experts, and other professionals. Almost half of its hearings were held in secret.

The inquiry considered more than 400 written submissions, including two written submissions from Broken Rites.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[photos]

More than 100 protesters asked for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt as they protested across the street from the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Saturday

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

A FORMER Australian priest and sex abuse whistleblower is believed to be among the thousands feared killed by a super typhoon in the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the death of a 50-year-old NSW man in Typhoon Haiyan, but declined to confirm his identity.

However he is believed to be former Australian priest Kevin Lee.

A whistleblower about child sex abuse in the Catholic church, he was living in the Philippines with his wife.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

PATRICK LION THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 10, 2013

A FORMER NSW priest who blew the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church is among more than 10,000 people feared killed by the devastating Philippines typhoon.

Kevin Lee, formerly of Penrith, was believed to be living in the Philippines with his wife when Typhoon Haiyan hit, the ABC has reported.

Mr Lee, 50, blew the whistle on the abuse last year as he was also removed from his parish responsibility after admitting to marrying a woman in secret.

Philippine Community Council of NSW president Arturo Sayas, who returned from a family trip to Manila the day before the typhoon hit, said the group did not know the identity of the NSW man killed.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

A FORMER Sydney priest who secretly married a woman he met in the Philippines is among the hundreds killed in the typhoon that has devastated the archipelago nation.

Kevin Lee, a whistleblower on child sex abuse in the Catholic church, was defrocked last year after he went public about his 2011 marriage and admitted to having had girlfriends during his 20 years as a priest.

Mr Lee founded the Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park, in western Sydney, but moved to the Philippines after leaving the ministry.

It’s been reported he went swimming as part of a religious ritual, as Super Typhoon Haiyan lashed the Philippines with winds of around 315km/h.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Melinda Miller | News Staff Reporter
on November 9, 2013

A Franciscan friar who was vice principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs and later principal at Cardinal O’Hara in the Town of Tonawanda is accused of molesting a student while he was a teacher at a high school in Baltimore in the 1970s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has revealed.

The Rev. Michael Kolodziej, 69, has been suspended from the priesthood following allegations that he abused a boy at Archbishop Curley High School during his tenure there in 1975-79. The former student says the priest sexually abused him while “wrestling.”

Following these accusations from Baltimore, the mother of two former students at O’Hara said that Kolodziej also made a habit of wrestling with students there as “punishment” in the 1980s.

Both Curley High School and St. Francis High School, where Kolodziej was assigned from 1979 to 1982 as a teacher and assistant principal, are run by the Franciscan Order.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Brian Cahill, Special to CNN
updated 8:34 PM EST, Fri November 8, 2013

Editor’s note: Brian Cahill is the retired executive director of San Francisco Catholic Charities. He is a volunteer suicide prevention trainer with the San Francisco Police Department. He writes occasionally for the San Francisco Chronicle and the National Catholic Reporter.

(CNN) — It is impossible to ignore the impact of Pope Francis, a modern-day pope who operates with humility and directness, who lives simply, who prefers to spend his time with the poor and the marginalized, and who sees his role as pastor, compassionate friend and fellow sinner on the Christian journey.

The photos of Pope Francis embracing a man disfigured by neurofibromatosis and the scene of the little boy on the stage in Vatican Square as Francis addressed pilgrims tell us all we need to know about the humanity and accessibility of our new Pope.

Some bishops are desperately trying to reassure their followers that nothing is changing. But that’s a tough sell when the head of the Roman Catholic Church tells his bishops that they are obsessed with abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage and when he says he doesn’t judge gays and lesbians. Something is changing. But is this change simply one of tone?

Francis’ comments on the appointment of bishops suggest that his criteria has less to do with loyalty and orthodoxy and more to do with pastoral experience and compassion. But in his first American appointment, one that was not in the pipeline before his papal election, he named Bishop Leonard Blair as the new archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
KEYC

[with video]

By Joel Runck, Weekend News Anchor

Catholics gathered in front of the Saint Paul Cathedral on Saturday, urging Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

The issue stems from allegations of clergy sexual misconduct.

Nienstedt previously acknowledged that serious mistakes have been made in regard to how he himself handled the allegations. Now some are calling for Nienstedt to resign after allegations of a cover-up.

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SLOVENIA
STA

Maribor, 9 November (STA) – The Maribor Higher Court has upheld a first instance ruling that ordered the Maribor Archdiocese to pay EUR 80,000 to a victim of a paedophile priest, the dailies Delo and Dnevnik report on Saturday. Dnevnik comments that this is a precedence that establishes objective responsibility of the Catholic Church for sexual abuse committed by priests.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

[with video]

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Dozens of members of the Catholic Church are calling for a change in local leadership.

Nearly 100 people gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday, calling for Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation.

They’re angry about past accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members that became public within the last few weeks.

Eric Fought of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform says he’s looking for renewed faith in church leadership.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Sydney priest Kevin Lee the first confirmed Australian death in Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

PATRICK LION THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 10, 2013

JUST six weeks ago former western Sydney priest Kevin Lee was celebrating the birth of his daughter Michelle, joking about buying her a Sydney Roosters jersey and enjoying the family life he would never have experienced in his former life as a celibate priest.

But yesterday the priest, who helped blow the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and was removed from the Glenmore Park parish last year after admitting to secretly marrying his wife, became the first confirmed Australian death in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

A Melbourne family yesterday also pleaded for details of their traveller daughter last heard from in the Philippines as a regional police commissioner upgraded the disaster death toll estimates from 1000 to at least 10,000 people, mainly in the Leyte province, following Haiyan’s sustained winds of up to 315km/h and 3m-high storm surges.

It is understood Mr Lee, who helped bring about the royal commission into child sexual abuse, drowned after going out into the typhoon during his daily swims.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Renee Tessman

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Protesters marched in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday demanding change from the top.

The public call on was for the resignation of the Twin Cities Archbishop. The push comes in the wake of the ongoing priest sex abuse scandal.

Protestors claim Archbishop John Nienstedt is not the right man to lead the church as it deals with multiple allegations of clergy sex abuse.

This is the first time the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform has actually asked for Nienstedt’s resignation.

While they still have their faith in God, they said they have lost faith in church leadership.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

By Will Ashenmacher
washenmacher@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/09/2013

On Saturday, strong gusts of wind couldn’t whip away the message of the signs at a protest in front of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s personal residence: “Morally bankrupt.” “Again?” “Resign.”

About 150 people gathered on Cathedral Hill in St. Paul to ask that Nienstedt step down. The demonstration followed a tumultuous period for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in which it has been alleged that officials there concealed the sexual misconduct of priests.

“We should not have to stand here,” said Eric Fought, a first-year seminarian at St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minn. “Over the course of the past 10 years, we’ve been told that these mistakes have been corrected. They haven’t.

Many of those at the protest said they still consider themselves Catholic. They said they respect the religion itself but are angry with the archdiocese’s leadership for what they perceive as its impropriety.

“Why should we not just pray for healing and be nice to one another?” said Bob Beutel of St. Paul, co-chair of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform. “The answer is simple — wounds cannot heal until the knife is pulled out.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
November 9, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — About 100 people gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul Saturday to urge Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

The group, which was made up of victims of clergy sex abuse and others calling for greater transparency in the Catholic Church, marched outside of Nienstedt’s office. Some held signs calling for Nienstedt to step down.

Demonstrators criticized Nienstedt’s handling of alleged sexual misconduct by priests, his support for a failed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and the decision by church leaders to make extra payments to priests who have sexually abused children.

Shawn Plocher of Minneapolis said he was sexually abused by a priest in 1986.

“Who can you trust when you were abused by a person of God in the House of God?” said Plocher. “Something needs to change.”

The protest comes after a series of MPR News reports found Nienstedt and others disregarded warnings of a priest’s sexual conduct and debated internally whether another priest’s computer contained child pornography. The investigation also found that several priests accused of sexually abusing minors were given extra payments after they were removed from ministr

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, November 7, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

Today’s press conference concerns a matter that is alleged to have occurred more than three decades ago. Jerome Kern was removed from ministry in 2002 and has been compliant with a monitoring program.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will investigate and respond to the claims raised today.

We are completely committed to ensuring the safety of children and young people who have been entrusted to our care. Since 2002 we have implemented policy and procedural reforms to clarify guidelines and strengthen enforcement. Some of the actions we have taken include completing more than 3,000 adult safe environment training sessions for approximately 70,000 adults; conducting 105,000 background checks on clergy, staff and volunteers; and providing over 100,000 children with age-appropriate lessons to help keep them safe.

As a further demonstration of our commitment to handling these matters aggressively and consistently, an independent, lay task force has been formed and is conducting a full review of our policies and practices. This objective and independent body brings specific and relevant expertise, experience, and a fresh perspective to ensure we are following best practices. Its findings will be made public when final.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, November 7, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

The Minneapolis StarTribune recently published an article regarding the Minnesota Religious Council (MRC), which is a coalition of Minnesota churches from several denominations that has worked together for common causes since the early 1990s.

While the Archdiocese funded much of the costs of the MRC, there were many churches that supported the cause as members and leaders. More importantly, all of the churches that are part of the MRC have a deep heartfelt commitment to creating and maintaining safe environments and protecting minors.

The MRC, along with dozens of organizations that provide programming and care for minors, had serious concerns about the appropriateness of lifting the statute of limitations for organizations that serve children in Minnesota. One of the just purposes of having a statute of limitations is that after significant time has passed, the ability to reconstruct the situation that is alleged is very difficult, if not impossible in many cases. In addition, lifting a statute of limitations does nothing to protect children going forward. This is why the MRC, and many others, lobbied to protect the rights of youth-serving organizations to defend themselves and to support measures that would genuinely protect young people.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Analysis: In a new book, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz absolves John Paul of blame for praising a priest accused of pedophilia, claiming that the pope was unaware of the accusations at the time.
Facebook

In a new book, John Paul II’s longtime secretary claims that the former pope is not to blame for his support and praise of a disgraced power broker accused of pedophilia and bribery, according to a Catholic News Service report.

The book, written in Italian by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and titled Ho Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), has apparently changed certain memories of factual inconvenience — creating a sort of performance piece that sings truths people never knew.

Pope Francis has ordered the canonization of John Paul II despite his failure to act on 1998 pedophilia charges lodged by nine ex-seminarians at the Vatican against Legion of Christ founder Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, a native of Mexico.

During a 1993 speech in St. Peter’s Square, John Paul said, “You are all sons and daughters of Father Maciel!” In 1994, he called Maciel “an efficacious guide to youth.” John Paul continued to praise him after the allegations were filed against Maciel at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — where they gathered dust for six years.

“When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing,” Catholic News Service quotes Dziwisz. “For him, [Maciel] was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around.”

These allegations certainly weren’t ‘rumors.’ In 1997, nine victims gave sworn statements for an investigation Gerald Renner and this writer led for the Hartford Courant. Maciel claimed innocence. The Vatican would not comment. Jose Barba, a Mexico City college professor, led the victims’ 1998 canon law request to ex-communicate Maciel in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s tribunal.

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GREECE
Greek Reporter

By Ioanna Zikakou on November 9, 2013

Two priests were arrested in Trikala and then convicted by Larissa’s Court of Assize to 18 years and 6 years imprisonment on charges of embezzling a total of 930,000 Euros that were destined for the payroll of clergymen in Farsala.

According to the indictment, the two priests from Farsala, who were responsible for collecting and paying salaries of clergymen in the Metropolis of Thessalia, submitted false documents to the Tax Office by exploiting the fact that the salaries of priests are outside the budget. Having paid their priests the amounts that they were entitled, they kept the extra money reaching a total of 710,000 Euros for one and 220,000 Euros for the other!

The first priest, who was responsible for the payroll in Farsala was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for fraud, forgery and use of forged documents. The second one who was responsible for collecting-cashing money from the Tax Office of Farsala and the NBG in Farsala was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for complicity in fraud.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 9, 2013

I don’t know the answer to this myself, but it has been bothering me since learning about Tucson conductor/convicted child sex offender Eric Holtan.

Holtan was convicted in 2000 of first- and third-degree sexual assault against two of his former students while he was a teacher in Duluth, MN.

According to the Duluth News Tribune:

“Holtan, who was convicted of first-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, was ordered at his 2000 sentencing to serve two years at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, register as a sex offender and meet the conditions of his probation for 15 years. Any violation of that probation could result in him being sent back to prison for more than 16 years.”

He is currently the music minister at a Lutheran Church, an obvious problem. But there is another issue:

Holtan is the conductor and the executive director of the Tucson Chamber Artists, a classical music group that performs throughout the area. The TCA is comprised of all adults, although they do perform in churches and their audiences do not know that he is a sex offender.
TCA receives grant money from the Tucson Pima Arts Council and the Arizona Commission of the Arts, among others.

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ALABAMA
Daily Mountain Eagle

by Rachel Davis

Walker County Circuit Judge Doug Farris declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a Carbon Hill man accused of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

The motion for mistrial was made by defense lawyer Herbie Brewer and granted by Farris after hearing arguments from both sides.

Ricky Robinson, a former Carbon Hill pastor, had been on trial all week facing four charges of sex abuse of a child under the age of 12.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Warren said his understanding was that the case would be slated for retrial on the next trial docket in February.

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POLSKA
Money

[Summary: The Vatican is silent on former apostolic nuncio Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. He was dismissed in August by Pope Francis in connection with allegations of pedophilia in the Dominican Republic. Vatican representatives have refused to comment and answer questions on steps to be taken in the Wesolowski case. He is the first such high-ranking prelates to be accused to abusing minors. This is why the situation faced by the Holy See is unique. It also shows the position that the Vatican has taken since the beginning of the scandal.]

Przedstawiciele Watykanu odmawiają wszelkich komentarzy i odpowiedzi na pytania, dotyczące kroków, jakie zostaną podjęte w sprawie abpa Wesołowskiego – pierwszego tak wysokiego rangą dostojnika kościelnego, któremu zarzucono czyny pedofilskie.

Właśnie z tego powodu sytuacja, w jakiej znalazła się Stolica Apostolska, jest wyjątkowa. Świadczy również o tym stanowisko, jakie Watykan zajmuje w tej sprawie od początku skandalu. Wybuchł on latem, gdy dominikańska telewizja pokazała dostojnika, odwiedzającego w stolicy kraju miejsca, znane z prostytucji nieletnich, a następnie zebrała relacje bezpośrednich świadków.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A group of Catholics are planning to gather in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday to urge Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

Catholic Coalition for Church Reform said the archbishop is not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.

They’re upset about several cases that have been filed in recent weeks alleging sexual abuse by Twin Cities Catholic clergy members, and the potential cover-up by the church.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Joe Kimball | 11/08/13

A group of Catholics plan to protest Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Paul to “respectfully” call for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The Catholic Coalition for Church Reform is urging people “to bring banners and signs respectfully conveying your call for Archbishop Nienstedt’s resignation.”

Recent press reports of allegations of the cover-up of sexual misconduct by priests have led to increased calls for new leadership in the local church.

Bob Beutel, chair of the group, said:

“We need healing, but healing cannot begin with the knife still in the wound. The archbishop himself is fomenting divisiveness, not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.”

There also have been complaints about Nienstedt’s use of church funds for an expensive campaign against gay marriage.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Minnesota SNAP

Saturday, November 9
1:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Cathedral of St. Paul
239 Shelby Ave., Saint Paul, MN

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

Minnesota Catholics are still calling for one of their own to step down Saturday.

The Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) wants Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign from the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese after the way the church handled accusations of sexual misconduct.

“We need healing, but healing cannot begin with the knife still in the wound,” said Bob Beutel, St. Paul, co-chair of the CCCR. “The archbishop himself is fomenting divisiveness, not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.”

Since 2002 the Catholic Church has said it has and is following protocols for protecting children. Nienstedt took over the leadership of the Archdiocese in 2008, succeeding former Archbishop Harry Flynn.

In his October 24 statement in the Catholic Spirit, Nienstedt admits that “There is reason to question whether or not the policies and procedures were uniformly followed. There is also a question as to the prudence of the judgments that have been made.”

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NEW YORK
WIVB

By Rich Newberg
Updated: Friday, November 8, 2013

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A priest who used to be an assistant high school principal in Hamburg has been accused of sexually abusing one of his former students.

Fr. Michael Kolodziej has now been banned from public ministry. The Buffalo Diocese and other dioceses where he once worked are asking if anyone else may have been abused by the priest.

Kolodziej was ordained in Buffalo in 1970 and first served as a hospital chaplain. Later he was a teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, Associate Pastor at St. Mary of Sorrows Church, and teacher at Bishop Turner High School and Villa Maria College.

During his time as a teacher Baltimore’s Archbishop Curly High School, from 1975 to 1979, one of his former students now has come forward saying he was sexually abused by Kolodziej.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2013, 9:08 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Click here to read the court order

In a sweeping agreement that legal experts said is unprecedented in its scope, the Bergen County prosecutor announced Friday that he has taken over the job of monitoring a former Wyckoff associate pastor who confessed to fondling a 13-year-old boy because he does not trust church officials to watch him.

The prosecutor, John L. Molinelli, said law enforcement authorities “no longer have confidence” in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark to abide by a 2007 agreement that barred the Rev. Michael Fugee from working with children. He also pointed to recent statements by Archbishop John J. Myers, who said the church is not equipped to monitor priests and never should have signed the agreement.

He also agreed to be defrocked, a process known as laicization that removes him from the supervision of church officials and permanently strips him of priestly authority. And he acknowledged that he was telling the truth when he confessed to fondling a 13-year-old parishioner of the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary years ago. He previously alleged that his confession was coerced.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

RELATED DOCUMENTS

• Read the consent order
• Read the prosecutor’s press release
• Read the archdiocese’s response
• Read Michael Fugee’s confession to police.

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on November 09, 2013

The New Jersey priest charged earlier this year with violating a lifetime ban on ministry to children will not face criminal prosecution, but his freedom comes at the expense of his occupation.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, will petition the Vatican for his permanent removal from the priesthood, one of dozens of conditions he must abide by for life under a court-approved agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Among the restrictions, Fugee is forever barred from unsupervised contact with minors.

In announcing the consent order Friday, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli sharply rebuked Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, saying it was clear neither Myers nor his deputies made any significant effort to monitor Fugee as required under a previous memorandum of understanding.

Fugee signed the 2007 agreement to avoid retrial on charges he groped a teenage boy on multiple occasions.

The prosecutor said he no longer had confidence in Myers and felt compelled to shift the supervision of Fugee from the archdiocese to the prosecutor’s office.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Berlin Daily Sun

Judge denies motion to dismiss in LaFerriere’s harassment case

Published Date Friday, 08 November 2013

There are three complaints of harassment (by phone) against LaFerriere. The complaints allege that he called the cell phone of William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in New York City in January and February of this year leaving, in Donohue’ words, “abusive, annoying and threatening” messages.

At hearing on the charges October 1, tapes of some of the messages left on Donohue’s cell phone were played. At the end of the state’s case, LaFerriere’s attorney, Jay Duguay, filed a motion to dismiss. He argued that although Laferriere’s language on the tapes was offensive, his messages all did have a “legitimate communicative purpose”, something he said the U.S. Supreme Court has held up as freedom of speech.

Berlin Police Prosecutor Dan Buteau argued that LaFerriere’s purpose was solely to alarm, which, Buteau said he does not have an unlimited right to do.

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

[with video]

Dave McKinley

BUFFALO, NY – Police in Baltimore, Maryland are investigating an allegation that a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused a student while he was teaching at a High School nearly 40 years ago.

However, because that priest also spent considerable time in Western New York, the catholic diocese here is also reaching out to its parishioners, and urging them to come forward with any information they might have.

Father Michael Kolodziej, 69, is a Franciscan Friar who has been suspended from public ministry following the allegations. He most recently served as Vicar of a parish in Jonesboro, Ga.

Kolodziej was ordained as a Priest here in 1970 and was first assigned as a hospital chaplain, while also serving associate pastor and school director at St. Mary of Sorrows Church on Genesee Street.

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LOUISIANA
Alexandria Town Talk

Written by
Jodi Belgard

Decades after charges of sexual misconduct hit retired Alexandria priest Frederick James Lyons, the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in Rome has stripped him of the title of monsignor and imposed “a life of prayer and penance” on him.

Lyons, now in his late 80s, was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest.

The Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, suspended Lyons from all priestly functions in 2006. Lyons’ case was sent to Rome at that time for examination.

Herzog announced the decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in a news release issued Thursday. The diocese was closed Friday.

Lyons is prohibited from publicly celebrating or concelebrating Mass or publicly or privately administering the other sacraments, except for confession in danger of death. He may not preach or participate in or attend any public liturgical celebration. He may not wear clerical dress, in public, Herzog said in the release.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

November 8, 2013

Father Michael Kolodziej, 69 is accused of sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at a catholic school in Baltimore, MD.

The victim claims Kolodziej abused him several times all while the father wrestled him. The alleged incidents happened between 1975 to 1979.

Kolodziej was ordained into the priesthood through the Diocese of Buffalo in 1970 and over the next 18 years he served in many roles in Western New York including hospital chaplain, associate pastor and school director at St. Mary of Sorrows church in Buffalo. He was a teacher at Bishop Turner High School and Villa Maria College in Buffalo until he entered the franciscan order in 1974.

Kolodziej was also a teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School and principal at Cardinal O’hara High School.

The allegations from Baltimore have prompted the Buffalo Diocese to take action and release this statement,

“We are now following our Diocesan policies to determine whether there are any issues arising from his tenure as a priest of our diocese. We have posted the information on our website and requested anyone with knowledge about father Kolodziej to contact us.”

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NEW YORK
KABC

NEW YORK (KABC) — A rabbi with ties to Beverly Hills accused of child sex abuse in New York pleaded not guilty on Friday.

Rabbi Mendel Tevel, 30, was arrested in October on a charge of committing a sexual criminal act. According to a grand jury indictment out of Brooklyn, the rabbi is accused of performing an oral sex act on one victim several times in the past. The alleged incidents occurred about eight years ago when Tevel was 22 and the victim was 14.

Although only one victim is mentioned in the indictment, authorities are investigating other possible allegations as well.

Community members say Tevel has worked at JEM, a Jewish youth center in Beverly Hills, for the past two years. His father-in-law, Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, is the center’s director.

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NEW JERSEY
ABC News

[press release – Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office]

NEWARK, N.J. November 8, 2013 (AP)
By KATIE ZEZIMA Associated Press

In a rare agreement with prosecutors, a priest who admitted to violating a court order barring him from unsupervised contact with minors has agreed to ask to be laicized.

Michael Fugee has agreed to seek laicization from the Roman Catholic Church as part of settling charges with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Fugee resigned from the Archdiocese of Newark in May. Prosecutors charged him with flouting a 2007 agreement that allowed him to return to ministry after being convicted on charges that he fondled a boy.

Friday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli slammed the archdiocese for not properly monitoring Fugee after he returned to the 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.