ABUSE TRACKER

ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Child sex offender is music minister
Man pled guilty in 2000 to molesting girls
He did prison time and is still on probation
Now, musician heads group that performs in churches
SNAP fears he may have hurt or may be hurting AZ kids

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will pass out leaflets at a Tucson church where a convicted sex offender now works. The leaflets will warn church members about the music minister, who pled guilty in 2000 to two counts of child molestation, and urge them to

–demand his immediate removal, and
–talk to their kids about the sex offender.

When:
Sunday, November 10 at 11:15 a.m.

Where:
Outside of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, 665 W. Roller Coaster Rd (at Oracle) in Tucson

Who:
Members and supporters of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, (SNAPNetwork.org) the nation’s largest support network for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings, including a California woman who is the group’s volunteer Western Regional Director

Why:
This week, members of SNAP learned that Eric Holtan, a music minister at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church in Tucson church http://www.doveofpeacetucson.org/ plead guilty in 2000 to two counts of child sexual abuse involving two girls in Duluth, Minnesota. Holtan served two years in prison and is still on probation. As a part of his probation, he is supposed to have no unsupervised contact with underage females.

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.

IRELAND
RTE News

The Government has agreed details for the implementation of the Magdalene redress scheme.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said 250 applications had already been processed and around 600 applications have been received to date.

Mr Shatter said he would hope that provisional offers of payments would be made in the next four to six weeks.

Eligible women are entitled to a lump-sum payment of between €11,500 and €100,000, with amounts over €50,000 to be paid by weekly instalments.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Lindsay Toler Thu., Nov. 7 2013

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson asked a judge to immediately dismiss a lawsuit from the family of a teenage girl who claims he failed to prevent her molestation by Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang.

Circuit Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer did not immediately dismiss the case, which accuses Carlson of tampering with witnesses by asking the victim’s family to return hush money paid by Jiang.

The archdiocese put Jiang on administrative leave last summer after he was charged with first-degree child endangerment for allegedly fondling a teenage girl on four occasions.

See also: Father Joseph Jiang: Supporters of St. Louis Priest Accused of Molestation Launch Website

Court filings say Jiang, who was a close friend of the victim’s family, offered to pay “any amount of money” to ignore the abuse, eventually leaving a $20,000 check for them on their van.

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.

POLSKA
Super Express

[Summary: The Dominican Republic prosecutor has completed an investigation of alleged pedophilia by Archbishop Jozeph Wesolowski and has sent all materials to the Vatican. The Vatican when it began investigation in August did not have enough material yet to charge the suspect. Vatican authorities have said there is no chance the archbishop will be transferred to Polish authorities.]

Według informacji podanych przez rzeczniczkę dominikańskiej prokuratury Tessie Sanchez, Prokuratura Generalna na Dominikanie zakończyła śledztwo ws. podejrzewanego o pedofilię abp. Józefa Wesołowskiego. Wszystkie materiały zostały przesłane do Watykanu.

Sprawa abp. Wesołowskiego badana jest od sierpnia przez Kongregację Nauki i Wiary. Według informacji TVN24 Watykan nie dysponował dotychczas materiałami wystarczającymi do postawienia zarzutów podejrzanemu.

Czytaj też: Ksiądz pedofil rozgrzeszał seksem! Sąd dał mu drugą szansę…

Sprawę polskiego duchownego bada również polska prokuratura, która wysłała do Watykanu wniosek o pomoc prawną w sprawie abp. Wesołowskiego. W rozmowie z “tvn24.pl” watykańscy duchowni powtarzali, że nie ma szans na to, by arcybiskup Józef Wesołowski został przekazany polskim władzom. Nikt w Watykanie nie wyda zgody na ekstradycję tutejszego obywatela i dyplomaty.

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.

COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

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

We are deeply grateful to Boulder authorities for charging two church staff and two church officials with “duty to report child abuse.”

[9 News]

[Daily Camera]

All too often, church employees and members selfishly try to handle known or suspected child sex crimes privately. All too often, they foolishly put the reputation of their institution above the well-being of the innocent.

And all too often, prosecutors go after the “low hanging fruit” – the child molester himself or herself, and they turn a blind eye to the “enablers” – the church colleagues who ignored or hid suspicions or knowledge of the horror.

If kids are to be protected from predators, we must aggressively report and pursue every single adult who refused to call 911 at the first hint of possible child sex crimes.

We can deter cover ups. We can prevent abuse. We can stop a child molester after his or her third victim, instead of after his or her 33rd victim.

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 Inquirer

By Harold Brubaker, Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: November 06, 2013

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to freeze the traditional pension for about 8,500 parochial school teachers, church office workers, and other lay employees, church officials said Tuesday.

The change, designed to keep the plan’s estimated $150 million deficit from increasing and whittling it down over time, will take effect June 30, after which current employees will no longer accrue benefits under the plan.

The pension plan, known as a defined benefit plan because it guarantees a certain benefit to participants, had $478 million in assets June 30, 2012, about 76 percent of what it needed to meet its projected long-term obligations of $630 million.

“This action isn’t being taken to resolve a short-term concern,” Timothy O’Shaughnessy, chief financial officer for the archdiocese, said in an interview. The plan has enough money to continue paying retiree benefits for years.

“The shortfall of $150 million is an issue that needs to be dealt with for the long term, both for the plan and for the archdiocese,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Rita C. Schwartz, president of the labor union that represents 650 teachers in archdiocesan high schools, said the move was not surprising, given the financial restructuring underway at the archdiocese in the last year.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Cultural differences allow paedophiles to escape the law, says child sex abuse investigator Chris O’Connor

PAEDOPHILES from some ethnic groups in Australia are avoiding capture because of a cultural reluctance to report the abuse.

“I can’t recall the last person of black nationality who was charged with serial sexual assaults on kids,” Det-Sen-Sgt Chris O’Connor said yesterday.

Sen-Sgt O’Connor, one of Australia’s leading child sexual abuse experts, said common sense suggested paedophilia was just as common in ethnic groups as it was among white Anglo-Saxons,

He is calling for urgent research to be carried out into the problem.

Sen-Sgt O’Connor said the ethnic groups who should be targeted would probably claim it was racist to single them out.

But he urged authorities to ignore the complaints and not bow to political correctness by refusing to probe the paedophilia problem just because of the cultures and races involved.

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
St. Paul Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

[Archdiocese led lobby to stop abuse law change – Star Tribune]

November 5, 2013

Dear Partners in Ministry:

Today’s Star Tribune carried an article about the Minnesota Religious Council and the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, in which it identified the six ELCA synods in Minnesota as members of the Minnesota Religious Council (MRC). The article described the MRC’s lobbying effort against recent legislation that changed the statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse. Tony Kennedy, the reporter, spoke with me last week, and I sought to provide accurate information about our involvement.

I think it could be helpful for me to provide you with some perspective so that you are better able to interpret these matters to parishioners and others and to remind you of how we in the ELCA view and respond to matters of misconduct.

I will focus on three arenas: the Minnesota Religious Council; the concerns we had about the proposed legislation; and how the ELCA responds to misconduct and abuse issues.

The Minnesota Religious Council

While records are sketchy and the origin of the MRC pre-dates me and the current ELCA bishops, it is my understanding that the MRC was originally formed when leadership of several church bodies came together in the early 1990s to discuss the concern of sexual abuse and clergy misconduct and how church bodies can properly respond to and seek to prevent such misconduct. The initial group included Roman Catholics, Lutherans (both ELCA and LC-MS), Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and maybe others. Later, faced with lobbying by attorneys and others hoping to change state laws, the MRC became a forum for discussing and responding to proposed legislation aimed at the statutes of limitations for bringing suit against perpetrators and institutions. (See next section.)

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

[with copy of the memo]

Internal memo shows church dispute
Lutherans say they were “unaware” of costs
And they’re refusing to pay for expensive lobbying
Dispute stems from Catholic-led effort against child sex victims

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

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

A Protestant church official claims, in an internal memo written this week, that he and his colleagues were kept in the dark about an expensive but unsuccessful Catholic-led lobbying against a Minnesota child safety law.

The memo, sent by Lutheran Bishop Peter Rogness on November 5 to the Saint Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was written as a response to a Star Tribune headlined “Archdiocese led lobby to stop abuse law change.”

[Star Tribune]

In the memo, Rogness claims that “records are sketchy” but “the cost of the lobbying” against the Child Victims Act “was an expenditure of which we Lutherans were unaware.”

(A copy of the memo, obtained by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is below.)

And Rogness says “In recent months, we were surprised by a request that we help pay for costs which we had neither authorized nor budgeted, and therefore have not paid.”

Leaders of SNAP, say they’re “not surprised” that Catholic officials didn’t disclose lobbying costs to the Lutherans.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Times Union

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press
Updated 8:12 am, Thursday, November 7, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh-area Roman Catholic priest who was removed from public ministry in 2009 after an allegation of past child sex abuse later deemed “credible” by his bishop is set to change his not guilty plea to a federal charge of possessing child pornography.

The Rev. David Dzermejko’s (jer-MAY’-kohs) defense attorney didn’t immediately respond to calls about whether the priest will plead guilty or no contest when he appears before a federal judge Thursday morning.

The 64-year-old priest now lives in Braddock but was pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi when he was removed four years ago.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Victor D. Infante, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Rome is a long way from Uxbridge, but for local filmmaker and Uxbridge native Skip Shea, the journey proved worthwhile. Not only did his short horror film, “Ave Maria,” walk away from the 2013 Interiora Horror Film Festival with the Premio Del Pubblico, or audience award, at the film festival, he got to make a deeply personal artistic statement while doing so.

Shea, an open and vocal survivor of clergy abuse, was able to screen the film —which is to a great degree fueled by the rage and pain of his experiences — on the Vatican’s doorstep.

” There was a satisfaction in showing this in Rome,” says Shea. “I know people who are dead because of clergy sexual abuse, who killed themselves. In a lot of ways, I carry their ghosts with me. I wanted to make a stand there, to say that I’m alive and that they can’t do anything to me. To tell other survivors that they don’t have any control or power over you. There’s just none.”

“Ave Maria” is the sequel to Shea’s first short horror film, “Microcinema,” both featuring a character named Missy, who exacts a harsh brand of justice on men who prey on women.

“I wanted to change the formula of the rape revenge movie,” says Shea. “I wanted to make the woman not be a victim at all when she gets justice. An ‘avenging angel’ kind of character.”

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 and Associates

[Assignment Record – Rev. Jerome C. Kern via BishopAccountability.org]

Alan Michaud, another Kern survivor, will speak publicly about reporting Kern to Fr. Kevin McDonough and Archdiocesan Officials in the early 1990s

WHAT: At a news conference Thursday in St. Paul, clergy sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will:

• Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf of a man in his 50s, Doe 26, naming Father Jerome C. Kern and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as defendants. Doe 26 was sexually abused from 12-16 years old while a parishioner at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, Minnesota. The lawsuit was filed in Ramsey County District Court and alleges the Archdiocese was negligent in allowing Kern to continue working with children despite receiving reports of misconduct as early as 1969. Kern remained in ministry until 2002.

• Introduce Alan Michaud, a survivor who was sexually abused by Father Kern and met with then-Vicar General Kevin McDonough in the early 1990s. Michaud will share and detail his experience and the broken promises made by Archdiocesan Officials to remove Kern from ministry.

• Again demand the release of a list that contains 33 names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse.

WHEN: Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 11:00 AM CST

WHERE: Law Office of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street
Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

WHO: Sexual Abuse Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will release internal documents and memos exchanged by top Archdiocesan officials pertaining to Father Jerome C. Kern as well as discuss Doe 26’s recent lawsuit filed in Ramsey County. Alan Michaud, a courageous sexual abuse survivor, will recount his meetings and the actions taken by church officials after he reported Father Kern’s abuse.

Notes:
• Information packets and copies of the complaint will be available at the press conference.
• Father Jerome Kern worked in parishes in St. Paul, Edina, Minnetonka and Forest Lake, Minnesota from 1966-2002. Kern’s last two jobs included assignments at churches where there was a school and religious education program for children.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.237.5143 Mobile/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.237.5143 Mobile/612.205.5531

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 7 November 2013)

A former Catholic priest (aged 60 in 2013), who is charged with sexual offences against children in towns (including Moree and Armidale) in northern New South Wales, appeared in Armidale Local Court again on 6 November 2013 for an administrative procedure. The prosecutors and the defence have reached “substantial agreement” in relation to the facts regarding nine of the eleven alleged victims and the defence team is expected to submit a written plea-offer in relation to these nine, the court was told. There might need to be a trial regarding the tenth and eleventh victims.

The ex-priest is charged with a total of 138 sexual offences against boys and girls.

These charges relate only to those alleged victims who have spoken to a special team of detectives (named Strike Force Glenroe) in the NSW Police. The investigation is continuing and detectives are prepared to hear from any more persons who have information about this matter.

The court decided to continue (until further notice) a non-publication order regarding the ex-priest’s name and residential details. This non-publication order can be reviewed at an approprite stage in the prosecution process.

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.

ROME
Zenit

Rome, November 07, 2013 (Zenit.org)

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate of the Legionaries of Christ, has accepted the resignation of Fr. Deomar De Guedes LC, a general counselor of the order.

Fr. De Guedes said he resigned from the Council because he did not have the necessary energy to confront the challenges of the position.

Fr. De Guedes had asked the Pontifical Delegate to be exclaustrated from the Legion, but Cardinal De Paolis granted him permission to resign “extra domum,” meaning Fr. De Guedes may reside outside of the religious community for one year. The Cardinal asked Fr. De Guedes to re-evaluate his situation during that year in light of the new superiors who will be elected in the next General Chapter.

The General Chapter will begin on January 8, 2014, and is an important step in the Legion’s renewal and purification process called for by Pope Benedict XVI and confirmed by Pope Francis.

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
KAAL

The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned an Appeals Court decision granting a new trial for a former Catholic priest convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 2011.

Former Catholic Priest, Christopher Wenthe, admitted in court he had sex with a 21-year-old woman who attended his St. Paul Parish.

But, his attorneys argued the relationship was consensual and was not in the context of his role a religious counselor. The Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial saying there was an entanglement of law and religious doctrine protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

But, the state appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court and Wednesday the state’s highest court struck down the Appeals Court ruling and upheld Wenthe’s conviction.

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
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 7, 2013

FORMER Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and another priest must pay a diocese legal bill of more than $450,000 after failing to overturn sexual misconduct findings against them.

Mr Lawrence declined to say how the bill to the diocese’s insurer would be paid, other than: ‘‘That’s to be worked out’’.

But he ruled out bankruptcy, saying it was ‘‘not an option’’.

Mr Lawrence and former Cardiff priest Graeme Sturt must pay the bulk of a legal bill of about $550,000 to the diocese’s insurer after a cost assessor’s recent decision.

This was in addition to their own legal costs of more than $200,000 after an unsuccessful appeal to the NSW Supreme Court to quash sexual misconduct findings against them.

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.

NEDERLAND
knr

– Vandaag boden de Katholieke Kerk en slachtofferkoepel KLOKK aan minister Opstelten een rapport aan over de stand van zaken rond de aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de Katholieke Kerk.

Het rapport werd gezamenlijk aangeboden door de voorzitters van de Bisschoppenconferentie, de KNR en KLOKK: kardinaal Eijk, broeder Van Dam, de heer Klabbers. Op 15 mei 2013 kwamen zij als voorzitters van de Bisschoppenconferentie, KNR en KLOKK overeen een gezamenlijk Voorzittersoverleg in het leven te roepen naast de al bestaande contactgroep onder voorzitterschap van Mgr. Van den Hende. Terwijl de contactgroep oplossingen zoekt voor concrete probleemdossiers waarin stagnatie is opgetreden, richt het voorzittersoverleg zich op de regelingen als zodanig die met betrekking tot het seksueel misbruik zijn getroffen.

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
Headlines from the Catholic World

November 7, 2013

Washington D.C., Nov 7, 2013 / 02:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When bishops from across the country gather in Baltimore next week, they will consider issuing a formal statement on pornography and discuss a Spanish translation of Mass prayers, among other issues.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will hold its annual fall General Assembly Nov. 11-14.

The nation’s bishops will elect a new conference president, as Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York concludes his current presidency. They will also hear an address from Cardinal Dolan, as well as from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

In addition, the bishops will hear a presentation for a proposal to create a formal statement on pornography, as studies continue to confirm concerns about its devastating social and spiritual effects.

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.

MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

BY HOWARD COHEN
HCOHEN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami is on the shortlist for nomination to the presidency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The position would make Wenski the face and the voice of the Catholic Church in the United States.

But first, Wenski has to get the nod over nine other religious leaders during an election process to be held at the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly Nov. 11-14 in Baltimore.

The position currently is held by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

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
Star Tribune

Article by: BAIRD HELGESON , Star Tribune Updated: November 6, 2013

They want a change in leadership. Nienstedt says he’ll continue to work to restore trust.

Several significant donors to the Catholic Church and Catholic causes say they no longer support Archbishop John Nienstedt and will stop giving money to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until it has a new leader.

“His leadership has lost a lot of effectiveness,” said Jim Graves, a prominent Twin Cities hotelier and devoted Catholic. “I have nothing personally against the archbishop, but I think a change is appropriate.”

The archdiocese and Nienstedt have drawn intense criticism over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by priests and the archbishop said last month he is refocusing plans for a $160 million capital campaign. A feasibility study had been done to gauge support for fundraising the archdiocese described as essential.

In written responses to questions from the Star Tribune Wednesday, Nienstedt acknowledged the difficulties facing the archdiocese.

“I am sorry that many have lost confidence in me,” Nienstedt wrote. “I completely understand the sadness and frustration that is being expressed. It is my most sincere hope that the commitments and actions my leadership team and I are taking and will continue to take will restore trust with our communities.”

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.

ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch

Yereth Rosen
November 6, 2013

A former Anchorage church deacon was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison, with 33 months suspended, for possessing child pornography.

Donald Johnson was arrested in January after state troopers and Anchorage police traced videos of sexual assaults to his home. He could serve as little as 18 months if he qualifies for good-behavior release, officials said.

Johnson’s sentence was the result of a plea agreement struck shortly before a new Department of Law policy was put into effect to limit the scope of such agreements in serious felonies, including sexual offenses. Under the new policy, announced in July, prosecutors and defendants may not negotiate sentence terms in cases involving serious violent crimes, sexual assault, sexual abuse or domestic violence. Prosecutors and defendants may continue to negotiate over charges in such cases under the new policy, but sentences are to be determined by judges.

Johnson, a former deacon at Anchorage’s Shiloh Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to a single consolidated offense. He was originally charged with several felony counts of possession and distribution.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By AMANDA WILLIAMS

Officers working on Operation Yewtree – the police probe sparked by disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile – have earned almost half a million pounds overtime.

The cost is in addition to the £2.2million basic bill for the operation, which has led to the arrests of a string of high profile stars.

Campaign group, the Taxpayers’ Alliance, has labeled the overtime costs – racked up in just ten months – ‘scandalously large’.

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.

COLORADO
9 News

[with video]

LONGMONT – Boulder Police served summonses to two pastors and two elders associated with VineLife Church in Longmont after a police investigation revealed the officials failed to report a youth pastor allegedly sexually assaulted a child – who was a member of the church.

A fifth church official, who is currently out of the country, will be served a summons when he returns to Colorado.

Three tickets were served on Tuesday and one ticket was served Wednesday morning.

The victim in the case is now 23 years old. She told police the relationship with her pastor began when she was 15 years old and continued for seven years.

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.

COLORADO
KDVR

[with video]

November 6, 2013, by Brooke Way and Web Staff, updated on: 10:05pm, November 6, 2013

BOULDER, Colo. — Police plan to serve summonses to five church officials associated with Longmont’s VineLife Church, after investigators say a youth pastor sexually assaulted a child who was a member there.

Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said detectives served summonses to two pastors and two elders associated with the church located at 7845 Lookout Rd. A fifth church official, who is currently out of the country, will be served when they return to Colorado, according to Kobel.

Officials said 35-year-old Jason Allen Roberson, a youth pastor at VineLife, was arrested on Sept. 4 after turning himself in to the Boulder County Jail. He was charged with sex assault on a child by one in a position of trust, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact and stalking.

The victim in the case, now a 23-year-old woman, told police her “inappropriate” relationship with Roberson started when she was 15 years old, and continued for seven years. She said she trusted Roberson as an authority figure and spiritual guide, and felt uncomfortable disclosing the relationship to others, according to police records.

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 YORK
Democrat and Chronicle

Written by
Sean Dobbin
Staff writer

Saying that his first priority in Rochester would be to bring people back to Mass, Bishop Salvatore Matano implored disenfranchised Catholics to return to the church.

“Come home. We miss you. Come home. The Lord is awaiting. Come home. Because again, his arms will be open,” he said.

Matano, 67, who currently serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Vt., has been selected by Pope Francis to become the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. He will be officially installed on Jan. 3.

The move appears to be a promotion of sorts — the Diocese of Rochester has about 350,000 people who identify themselves as Catholic, or about three times as many as those in the Diocese of Burlington. But for Matano, it’s also a fresh start, as his new home will provide some distance from the sexual abuse litigation that plagued the Diocese of Burlington during his tenure. …

Early in his remarks Matano addressed the sexual abuse scandal, which was more damaging to the church’s finances and reputation in the Diocese of Burlington than elsewhere.

“Much of my administration was dealing with these situations,” he said. “It has been a very, very painful time, a very painful time for the victims and all affected by this crisis. I want to take this opportunity again to apologize (to) the victims of sexual abuse for what they’ve endured at the hands of those who they trusted. I pray I handled those circumstances as best I could.”

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.

COLORADO
Huffington Post

Five church officials in Longmont, Colo. are accused of failing to report a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a minor over the course of seven years.

VineLife youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, was arrested by Boulder police on Sept. 4, but it wasn’t until this week that detectives began issuing summonses to two other pastors and two elders associated with the church following an investigation. Failing to report child abuse in Colorado is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

The identities of all but the fifth man were revealed by police on Wednesday: VineLife Church’s executive pastor Robert Phillip (“Bob”) Young, 66; pastor Luke Michael Humbrecht, 30; Edward Charles Bennell, 65; and Warren Lloyd Williams, 66. A press release by the Boulder Police says that the fifth church official is currently out of the country, but that he will also be served a summons once he returns to Colorado.

The victim, who lives in Boulder and is now 23 years old, told police the inappropriate relationship with her pastor began when she was 15 years old. According to an affidavit obtained by 7News, she said she had trusted Roberson “as an authority figure and spiritual guide, and felt uncomfortable disclosing the relationship to others.”

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.

COLORADO
Daily Camera

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer
POSTED: 11/06/2013

Boulder police this week ticketed two pastors and two elders at Longmont’s VineLife Church for failing to report child abuse after investigators say they did not tell police about reports that a youth pastor at the church had sexually assaulted a child, despite evidence he “repeatedly confessed” to them.

Jason Allen Roberson, 35, is facing six felony charges after police said he had an “inappropriate relationship” with a teenage church member.

The victim, who lives in Boulder and is now 24, told police she and Roberson had an inappropriate relationship that began when she was 15 and continued for seven years.

Roberson turned himself in to police in September.

Over the course of the past two days, police ticketed two pastors and two church elders for failing to report the possible sex assault.

Executive Pastor Robert Phillip Young, 65, and Pastor Luke Michael Humbrecht, 30 were ticketed, as were church elders Edward Charles Bennell, 65, and Warren Lloyd Williams, 66.

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COLORADO
TheDenverChannel

lan Gathright
BOULDER, Colo. – Five officials at Vinelife Church in Longmont are accused of failing to report that a youth pastor had allegedly sexually assaulted a church member since she was 15 years old.

Boulder police said Wednesday detectives have served summonses on Vinelife Church executive pastor Robert Phillip “Bob” Young, pastor Luke Humbrecht, pastor Edward Bennell and church elder Warren Lloyd Williams. A fifth church official, who is currently out of the country, will be served a summons when he returns to Colorado, said police spokeswoman Kim Kobel. Police will identify the fifth after he’s been charged.

Each official faces one charge of duty to report child abuse, and is accused of failing to report the alleged child abuse to law enforcement or human services officials.

Boulder police arrested Vinelife youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, on Sept. 4 and charged 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. After reviewing the case, the Boulder County District Attorney added one count of stalking.

The victim, who is now 24 years old, is also a former church staff member. She told police the “inappropriate” relationship with the youth pastor began when she was 15 years old and continued for seven years. She said she “trusted (Roberson) as an authority figure and spiritual guide, and felt uncomfortable disclosing the relationship to others,” police said.

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VERMONT
WCAX

By Keith McGilvery
BURLINGTON, Vt. –
Pomp and circumstance welcomed Bishop Salvatore Matano to Vermont in 2005 when the Vatican tapped him to lead the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

“Bishop Matano is very capable person and certainly it is not unexpected that he might be tapped and chosen to go elsewhere,” said Professor Edward Mahoney, a Religious Studies Professor at St. Michaels College.

Mahoney says Matano has been a strong leader. “I think his strengths are pastoral and also in management in terms of getting a diocese organized and functioning properly,” he said.

But others have been less than impressed with 67-year-old’s time as Bishop. “He came in well after the sexual abuse had come to an end, however he wasn’t willing to take the steps that we really believed were needed going forward,” said Jerry O’Neill, a lawyer who was involved in settling roughly 50 priest sex abuse cases involving the diocese. Those cases forced the church to sell much of its property and fork over millions to victims.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[the court decision]

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
November 6, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court has denied a new trial to a Roman Catholic priest convicted of third-degree criminal conduct for having sexual relations with a parishioner he was counseling.

The decision today reverses an earlier ruling from an appeals court that granted a new trial for Christopher Wenthe, who had a relationship with a young woman when he working at a St. Paul parish.

Minnesota law prohibits clergy members from having sexual contact with people who seek their counsel.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the Supreme Court decision ensures that police and prosecutors can charge clergy who abuse their position of power to sexually prey on the vulnerable.

“There is a huge, huge power imbalance between that priest or clergy person, and that person seeking spiritual guidance and counsel,” Choi said.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Wednesday, November 06, 2013

One of the most senior leaders of the Legionaries of Christ has resigned from the order, saying he “did not have the necessary energy to confront the challenges” of his position.

Fr. Deomar De Guedes LC, second general counsellor of the order, submitted his resignation to Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, pontifical delegate of the Legionaries of Christ.

Cardinal De Paolis has been leading a reform of the Legion since revelations of grave abuse and corruption by its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, came to light.

In a statement, the order said Fr. De Guedes “had asked the pontifical delegate to be exclaustrated from the Legion, but Cardinal De Paolis granted him permission to resign “extra domum,” meaning Fr. De Guedes may reside outside of the religious community for one year.”

“The cardinal asked Fr. De Guedes to reevaluate his situation during that year in light of the new superiors who will be elected in the next General Chapter,” the statement added.

The General Chapter will begin on January 8, 2014 – a meeting the Legion says will be “an important step in the Legion’s renewal and purification process called for by Pope Benedict XVI and confirmed by Pope Francis.”

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PERU
Peru this Week

By Rachel Chase

Priest Luis Alejandro Bazalar García of Ayacucho allegedly raped a 17-year-old victim.

The Catholic Church in Ayacucho has faced another setback in the wake of accusations against priest Luis Alejandro Bazalar García, who has been accused of sexually abusing a young congregant.

According to Peru21, the accusations have split the church in Ayacucho.

Javier Obón, the general vicar of Ayacucho, told Peru21 that the allegations were nothing more than “tall tales” made up by the victim’s family.

However, archbishop of Ayacucho Salvador Piñeiro has openly stated that Bazalar is facing church disciplinary procedures and said that he had already collaborated with the Ayacucho prosecutor’s office on the case as well.

Peru21 reported on Oct. 31 that Bazalar had traveled to Lima on the advice of his lawyer.

The Peruvian Catholic church has been rocked by a number of scandals in recent months. In September, accusations against Gabino Miranda, the now ex-auxiliary bishop of Ayacucho, came to light, claiming that Miranda inappropriately touched a young confessor at his parish. He denied any wrongdoing, but was defrocked and a criminal investigation was initiated.

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MISSOURI
Columbia Missourian

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

BY ALAN SCHER ZAGIER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TROY — The St. Louis archdiocese asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the archbishop of failing to report child sexual abuse allegations against a priest he lived with and apparently mentored.

Attorney Gerard Noce, who represents Archbishop Robert Carlson and the archdiocese, told Circuit Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer that the lawsuit filed by the family of the alleged victim fails to spell out how Carlson and the priest’s other superiors acted improperly. She told attorneys for the two sides she would review the request and scheduled another hearing for next June.

The priest, the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, was charged in June 2012 with first-degree child endangerment and witness tampering. His trial had been scheduled to begin last month but was postponed. Jiang, who has pleaded not guilty, was placed on administrative leave. His attorney, Paul D’Agrosa, didn’t respond to a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.

Prosecutors allege that on several occasions earlier in 2012, Jiang had improper sexual contact with an underage girl in a church rectory parking lot and at her family’s home in Old Monroe, about 45 miles north of St. Louis. She was 16 years old when the alleged abuse began.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

The Associated Press – ST. PAUL, Minn.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld a state law that deems it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they’re advising on spiritual matters.

The court on Wednesday reversed a state Court of Appeals ruling granting a new trial to Catholic priest Christopher Wenthe (WHEN’-thee).

In 2011, Wenthe was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a woman when she sought spiritual counseling.

In a two-part ruling, the Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that Minnesota’s clergy sexual conduct statute is constitutional, and that religion was not excessively entangled in Wenthe’s conviction.

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NORTH CAROLINE
WCNC

by STUART WATSON / NBC Charlotte

Posted on November 4, 2013 at 11:31 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Elevation Church, led by pastor Steven Furtick, has doubled its average weekly offering in the last two years to more than a half-million dollars a week, and plans to open up to five new locations costing up to $86 million in the Charlotte area, three of which it has not made public.

Those numbers are revealed in a confidential internal report obtained by the NBC Charlotte I-Team. The chief financial officer of the church confirms the numbers are accurate, but says they represent potential deals which may not materialize.

Elevation is the largest megachurch in North Carolina, and one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States. The church has kept its finances secret even from donors, asking staff and some volunteers to sign a confidentiality agreement which threatens to sue them if they disclose internal numbers.

The NBC Charlotte I-Team is withholding some numbers contained in the confidential report to minimize any harm to Elevation’s pending real estate deals.

Elevation’s founding principles called “The Code” state “we are all about the numbers”, and emphasize a reliance on numbers as metrics for growth and success. In one promotional film for Elevation, congregation members identify themselves by the “number” of the order in which they joined the church.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/POLAND
Dominican Today

Warsaw.- Poland’s Attorney General confirmed Wednesday that it has received from Dominican authorities around 650 documents in the case of ousted Vatican envoy in the country, Joszef Wesolowski, and Polish priest Wojciech Gil, both accused of pedophilia.

Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for the Poland Office of the Prosecutor said that documents, including testimony from alleged victims, psychological evaluations and investigation results have already been handed to translators.

The Polish officials however didn’t specify whether the documents from Santo Domingo request Gil’s extradition, who’s currently in Poland.

In a press conference, Nowak said they’ll await the translation of the documents, and noted that there’s no extradition treaty between Poland and Dominican Republic.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Watch Keep

An investigative reporter at NBC Charlotte, Stuart Watson, has done a series on the Southern Baptist megachurch, Elevation Church, and its pastor, Steven Furtick’s 16,000 square foot home currently being built in North Carolina. In the most recent report, the NBC Charlotte I-team obtained a confidential Elevation report:

NBC Charlotte obtains confidential Elevation report

Elevation Church, led by pastor Steven Furtick, has doubled its average weekly offering in the last two years to more than a half-million dollars a week, and plans to open up to five new locations costing up to $86 million in the Charlotte area. view full article

Elevation is the largest megachurch in North Carolina, and one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States. The church has kept its finances secret even from donors, asking staff and some volunteers to sign a confidentiality agreement which threatens to sue them if they disclose internal numbers.

Elevation’s founding principles called “The Code” state “we are all about the numbers”, and emphasize a reliance on numbers as metrics for growth and success. In one promotional film for Elevation, congregation members identify themselves by the “number” of the order in which they joined the church.

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ROM
Pisaversteher.com

[Summary: Clergy abuse victim Norbert Denef has been hositalized following a protest in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. He was demonstrating for establishment of a foundation for break the silence on abuse and laid down to rest. He was taken away to the hospital. The demonstration was quickly broken up.]

Veröffentlicht am 2013/11/06 von robertcaesar
Missbrauchsopfer Norbert Denef ist nach einer Protestaktion auf dem Peterplatz in einer Mischung aus Polizei- und Notarzteinsatz ins Krankenhaus gebracht worden. Denef hatte für die Einrichtung einer Stiftung zum Schweigenbrechen demonstriert – und zwar schweigend

PISAVERSTEHER AUS ROM

Wer auf dem Petersplatz in Rom zu lange das falsche Schild hochhält, wir schnell abgeführt. Insofern hatte Norbert Denef, prominentes deutsches Missbrauchsopfer und Vorsitzender des Vereins „Netzwerk Betroffene“, Glück, dass ihn ein halbes Dutzend Carabinieri und ein Notarzt erst nach drei Stunden abtransportierten. Denef hatte zuvor – schweigend und nur mit einem großen Foto von sich als 9jährigem – bei einer Generalaudienz des Papstes für eine Stiftung „Schweigenbrechen“ demonstriert. Das nahm fast niemand der rund 50.000 Gläubigen zur Kenntnis – trotz (oder wegen) mehrfacher Vorbeifahrt des Papstes Franziskus in seinem offenen Papamobil.

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GERMANY
NetzwerkB

Dear members and friends of netzwerkB,
dear supporting members of the printed media, radio and tv,
dear supporters in politics,

On 6 November 1993, I broke my silence at a gathering of my family of origin with my two perpetrators present.

20 years of trying to come to terms with all of this – time for new roads to be explored!

On 13 May 2013 I wrote the following letter to Pope Francis:

Act of Reconciliation – N. 555.086

Your Holiness,

I am writing to you today in regards to the letter of 27 April 2004 (Schreiben vom 27. April 2004) which I received from the state secretary, section 1 General Affairs, with the No. 555.086. This letter was an answer by Pope John Paul II to my letter of 9 December 2003 (Schreiben vom 9. Dezember 2003). Today I would like to ask your holiness for an act of reconciliation.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Schwigen

November 6, 2013 · von nordenef · in Schweigen, Stiften
Norbert Denef auf dem Petersplatz in Rom

Denef demonstrierte schweigend für die Einrichtung einer Stiftung >>> “Schweigen-Brechen”. Siehe auch gesonderten Bericht auf pisaversteher.com

+++ 14:30 Uhr +++ Norbert Denef wird aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen; es geht ihm gut

+++ 13:30 Uhr +++ Denef wird zum Gesundheitscheck ins Krankenhaus Spirito Santo gebracht. Jedenfalls teilt das die Erste Hilfe auf dem Petersplatz mit

+++ 12:54 Uhr +++ Die Polizei entdeckt Norbert Denef und transportiert ihn ab. Alle Filmaufahmen werden sofort unterbunden. Keiner spricht Englisch. Der Kameramann des MDR wird ermahnt, er soll sein Aufnahmegerät sofort ausmachen

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday November 6, 2013

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

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson didn’t get what he wanted this morning – the immediate dismissal of perhaps the most serious clergy sex abuse and cover up suit the archdiocese has ever faced. It charges Fr. Joseph Jiang of molesting a girl as recently as 2012. And it charges Carlson with attempted witness tampering.

[KSDK]

We’re grateful that the judge is taking this case under advisement. Carlson faces six charges in the suit. If even one of them is upheld, this brave family may get to expose the corruption and complicity of top Catholic officials in court.

Despite more than a decade of pledges to be “open” about clergy sex crimes, Carlson still refuses to say

–where Fr. Jiang is now,
–how he met Fr. Jiang,
–why he and Fr. Jiang moved from city to city,
–why Fr. Jiang had a room in Carlson’s home,
–whether Fr. Jiang admitted his guilt to him,
–whether he called the victim’s parents, and
–whether he tried to get Fr. Jiang’s $20,000 check from the victims’ family.

(The latter three or four allegations are included in the civil suit against Carlson.)

(Carlson DID call the allegations against the archdiocese “baseless,” but that’s a legal term. Carlson has never addressed questions about his involvement in the Fr. Jiang case and never flatly denied that he called the victim’s mom and asked if she would give him Fr. Jiang’s $20,000 check.)

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NEW YORK/VERMONT
National Catholic Reporter

Catholic News Service | Nov. 6, 2013

WASHINGTON Pope Francis has named Bishop Salvatore Matano of Burlington, Vt., to head the diocese of Rochester, N.Y.

He succeeds Bishop Matthew Clark, who retired in September 2012.

The appointment was announced Wednesday in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

November is Black Catholic History Month, and each day NCR will profile a different black saint.

You can receive daily email alerts to learn more about these holy men and women. Sign up here for our Black Catholic Saints list.
Matano has headed the statewide Burlington diocese since 2005.

The Rochester diocese is made up of 12 counties, covering a 7,100-square-mile area. It has a Catholic population of more than 311,000 out of a total population of 1.5 million.

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NEW YORK
Webster Post

By Linda Quinlan
Posted Nov. 6, 2013

The community had its first chance to “meet” the ninth Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester this morning.

Pope Francis has named Bishop Salvatore R. Matano, who has been the Bishop of Vermont since 2005, the ninth bishop of the Rochester diocese. The diocese covers a 12-county region, including Monroe County, in central and western New York.

At a press conference this morning, Wednesday, Nov. 6, Bishop Matano talked about blessing a sugar farm in Vermont.

“Was it all idyllic? No,” he answered, noting that he also dealt with “the sexual abuse crisis … and it has been a very painful time.”

Bishop Matano said his first priority will be “to bring people back to Mass.”

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NEW JERSEY
Whispers in the Loggia

Amid these long, strange months in the nation’s seventh-largest church, it wouldn’t be an ecclesial event in Newark if there weren’t protestors.

And so – even if the demonstrations outside yesterday’s Welcome Mass for Coadjutor-Archbishop Bernie Hebda were mostly the customary troupe of 50 guitar-strumming, drum-beating, full-out-rejoicing Neocat singers – three advocates for victim-survivors were likewise on the scene, toting full-body, all-caps signs blaring that incumbent Archbishop John “Myers must still go” and urging “Hebda: ignore Myers.”

If nothing else, that even the toughest crowd of all hasn’t demonized the new arrival – at least, not yet – underscores the extraordinary goodwill and high hopes invested in the figure the locals have dubbed “AB2.” But now that he’s wheels-down and taking anew to life in a college dorm, the question becomes how he’ll handle what archdiocesan officials maintain will be a three-year apprenticeship of one of American Catholicism’s most complex outposts.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert | 11/05/13
Their most avowed enemies couldn’t generate worse press … Tony Kennedy of the Strib reports: “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was at the forefront of extensive lobbying against efforts to expand the time limit for lawsuits by victims of childhood sexual abuse, according to a document obtained by the Star Tribune. An internal accounting analysis prepared by the archdiocese shows that the lobbying association known as the Minnesota Religious Council received more than $800,000 from the Catholic Church during a seven-year period ending in the middle of 2008. A similar analysis was not available for subsequent years, but state lobbying records show the council spent more than $425,000 on lobbyists from 2006 through 2012.” Add that to the cash they spent on trying to defeat gay marriage and pretty soon you’re talking real money.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

Statement by SNAP leader Megan Peterson ( 218-689-9049, Survivor19@live.com )

A law banning clergy from sexual contact with congregants has been upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court. This is a victory for every man and woman who has been sexually exploited by priests, ministers, rabbis and other clerics.

[Pioneer Press]

We are grateful that Minnesota’s highest court has upheld a law criminalizing the sexual exploitation of adults by clergy.

At the same time, we are saddened that Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt let one of his priests (Fr. Christopher Wenthe) challenge this law.

It is inherently problematic when clergy have any sexual contact with congregants. There can be no true “consent” given the power difference between the individuals.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[the court decision]

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling Wednesday that upholds the conviction of a priest on third degree sexual assault.

The decision means Christopher Wenthe will not receive a new trial on charges he repeatedly had sexual relations with a 21-year-old parishioner he was allegedly counseling.

The priest admitted having a relationship with the woman, who was struggling with bulimia and past sexual abuse, but said it did not happen while he was giving her counsel. Wenthe was an assistant priest at Nativity Catholic Church in St. Paul during the time of the sexual relationship.

Wenthe was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 57 months in prison, but was granted a new trial by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2012 when the Minnesota Court of Appeals found that the religious evidence used against Wenthe violated his constitutional rights.

In today’s ruling the Supreme Court disagreed 4-1, saying that a law banning sexual encounters between a member of the clergy and someone he or she is offering counsel does not excessively entangle religion in the legal process.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The St. Louis archdiocese is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit by the family of a teenage girl who claims Archbishop Robert Carlson failed to prevent her molestation by a priest with whom he lived in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

The Rev. Joseph Jiang is accused in eastern Missouri’s Lincoln County of leaving a $20,000 check atop a car belonging to the girl’s family after the alleged improper sexual contact. The lawsuit says Carlson asked for the check’s return. The family instead reported the exchange to police.

A motion by the archdiocese to dismiss the lawsuit was scheduled to be heard Wednesday in a Troy courtroom.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[the court decision]

Article by: ABBY SIMONS , Star Tribune Updated: November 6, 2013

The ruling means the Rev. Christopher Wenthe will not receive a new trial for having sex with a

A Roman Catholic priest convicted of a felony for his relationship with a female parishioner 10 years ago does not deserve a new trial, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, upholding a state law that deems it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they’re advising on spiritual matters.

In a two-part ruling, the court ruled 4-1 that the state’s clergy sexual conduct statute is constitutional, and that religion was not excessively entangled in the Rev. Christopher Wenthe’s 2011 criminal sexual conduct conviction.The ruling reverses a Minnesota Court of Appeals order last year that granted Wenthe a new trial, when they found that the religious evidence used against him violated his constitutional rights under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which holds that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Justice Alan Page dissented on both counts, reasoning that the state law is unconstitutional. Justices Christopher Dietzen and Wilhelmina Wright did not take part in the ruling.

Wenthe was convicted in Ramsey County of third-degree criminal sexual conduct “during the course of a meeting” for a sex act that occurred with a 21-year-old woman in the rectory of Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul in 2003. Wenthe did not dispute that the two had an 18-month relationship, but denied that it occurred while he was providing spiritual aid and comfort. Wenthe had served eight months of a 57-month sentence when he was granted a new trial. Prosecutors appealed and the high court heard arguments this summer.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

[the court decision]

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/06/2013

A former Nativity of Our Lord priest who became sexually involved with a 21-year-old penitent is not entitled to a new trial, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled.

The high court upheld the state’s clergy sex statute, which makes it a felony for a priest or minister to have sexual contact with a person “during the course of a meeting in which the (victim) sought or received religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort from the (clergy member) in private.”

Rev. Christopher Wenthe was convicted in a Ramsey County District Court trial on one count of criminal sexual conduct.

He admitted during trial that he had sex with a 21-year-old member of his parish. She testified that she told Wenthe about her struggles with an eating disorder and previous sexual abuse. He agreed to serve as her confessor. She said Wenthe exploited her vulnerability and her trust in him as a priest.

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MINNESOTA
TheMediaReport

Madeleine Baran and Tom Scheck of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) recently trumpeted the lurid story that a computer owned in 2004 by a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis contained e-mail messages that “may have included inappropriate correspondence” with a “possible minor,” thus suggesting that the priest might be a child molester.

Indeed, any story about a Catholic priest committing a crime with a minor is not only troubling but big news, and the duo’s eye-opening story received wide media attention.

However, as it turns out, the priest, Rev. Jonathan Shelley, a very popular cleric in his region, was simply corresponding with a longtime friend who was not a minor at all.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

The president of the Yeshiva Centre has told Daniel “Gug” Hayman he is not welcome at the syngagogue following confirmed reports that he lead prayers on the same day he was granted bail on charges of indecent assault against two young boys in the 1980s.

Tzedek, an advocacy group focusing on child sex abuse, issued the following statement:

“This morning Tzedek received an anonymous phone call from a concerned member of the Sydney Yeshiva community stating that last night Daniel “Gug” Hayman, soon after his release on bail, went to Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre and led the evening services (as a cantor) in their main synagogue. We have now been able to confirm this with a Yeshiva congregant who was present during these services. Apparently Mr Hayman led the second, smaller service.

It should be noted that Mr Hayman recently lost his mother and there is a special prayer (Kaddish) that mourners are required to say during services for one year (and on other special occasions). However, there is no obligation to lead the services – this is only a custom within mainly the ultra-Orthodox community. There is also no obligation for these prayers to be conducted in a synagogue – they may be conducted anywhere where there are ten Jews (a Minyan).

We believe that everyone should be given the opportunity to adhere to their religious beliefs and practices, but questions must be asked. Importantly, how is it that Mr Hayman was given this honour on the day he was released from prison – and within the same institution that the offences were alleged to have been committed and in light of the allegations that the leadership were themselves involved in a cover-up? It is also astounding that so many members of this congregation felt that it was befitting Mr Hayman to be their conduit to God through this prayer service.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

A FORMER member of Sydney’s Jewish community has been charged with offences relating to child sexual abuse within the community.

Daniel “Gug” Hayman was arrested on Monday and charged with two counts of gross indecency by a male with a male under 18 years.

It is alleged that Hayman, who was a volunteer and director of Yeshiva in Sydney, assaulted two boys, aged 14 and 16 between 1985 and 1986.

Hayman, who is now 49 years old and lives in Los Angeles, was released on strict bail conditions on Tuesday. He has been permitted to attend synagogue services because he was visiting Australia following the recent death of his mother. …

Hayman is the first person to be charged in relation to the police’s investigation into historic child sexual abuse allegations in the Sydney community.

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POLSKA
Natemat

[with copy in English of an Interpol document on Gil.]

[Summary: The Polish prosecutor genernal’s office has received materials from the Dominican Republic government regarding alleged allegations that Father Wojciech Gil and Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski abused minors in the Dominican Republic.]

Polska Prokuratura Generalna otrzymała od dominikańskich władz materiały dotyczące afery pedofilskiej, w którą mieli być zamieszani ks. Wojciech Gil oraz abp Józef Wesołowski. Do Polski trafił m.in. dysk twardy, który został już przekazany biegłemu. Po wstępnym przejrzeniu dokumentów Prokuratura Generalna poinformowała, że mają one “walor procesowy”.

Przekazana Polsce materiały trafiły do Prokuratury Okręgowej w Warszawie, która prowadzi śledztwo ws. domniemanego wykorzystywania dominikańskich dzieci przez ks. Gila oraz abp. Wesołowskiego. Rzecznik Prokuratury Okręgowej w Warszawie prok. Przemysław Nowak poinformował, że dokumenty zostały lub niebawem zostaną przekazane tłumaczom, a ci przełożą je z hiszpańskiego na polski.

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VERMONT/NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

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

Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano has been promoted to head the Rochester diocese. We’re disappointed that Pope Francis has promoted a bureaucrat with a terrible record on children’s safety.

[Whispers in the Loggia]

In 2006, Matano’s diocese was one of just two in America to have been found in violation of the US bishops weak and vague national abuse policy because Matano refused to ensure that adequate abuse prevention training was provided to all his staff, as the policy requires.

[BishopAccountability.org]

For eight years, he refused to list Vermont’s predator priests on his website or house and supervise them, two simple, proven abuse prevention steps that we asked him to take.

[SNAP]

[SNAP]

Matano’s also been accused of financial misdeeds. In 2009, two lawsuits – by 27 alleged victims – were filed charging that Matano “transferred assets into separate entities to make it harder for victims of priest sexual abuse who have sued the church to collect monetary damages in their cases,” according to the Burlington VT Free Press. The newspaper noted that in 2006, “the diocese transferred $3,819,000 to a church pension fund and another $3,704,000 was placed in a newly created trust for Vermont Catholic Charities.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

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 )

Today, Archbishop Robert Carlson is trying to have the most troubling child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit in the archdiocese’s history tossed out of court. Shame on him.

[San Francisco Chronicle]

The suit charges Carlson with attempted witness tampering. It involves Fr. Joseph Jiang’s alleged abuse of a girl that ended in the summer of 2012. Fr. Jiang reportedly left a $20,000 check for the victim’s parents after they learned and confronted him about his crimes.

The Associated Press reports that it is Carlson, not Jiang, who’s trying today to have the case tossed out.

If Carlson did nothing wrong, why not let the suit proceed? Instead, Carlson’s trying to hide behind technicalities. If he wins, there will always be a cloud of doubt over him. So if he’s innocent, wouldst it be better for him to show this through a trial?

The St. Louis archdiocese has faced at least 100 child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits (dating back to the late 1980s or early 1990s).

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

One was convicted of stealing from churches
The other was ousted from parish last Friday
Sex abuse victims want bishop to be more “open”
Neither, as best SNAP can tell, faces child sex allegations

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

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

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is challenging Kansas City’s Catholic bishop over two priests – one who was convicted of burglarizing churches and another who was recently ousted from his parish.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are urging Bishop Robert Finn to be “honest with parishioners and the public” about the two clerics:

–Fr. Glen Gardner, who now works at St. Patrick’s Oratory in Kansas City (806 Cherry, 816 474 8995, http://www.institute-christ-king.org/kansascity/), was convicted on felony theft/burglary charges in Wisconsin in 2000.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Nov. 6, 2013 NCR Today

Pope John Paul II’s former secretary, in a recently published book, defends his late boss’s promotion of the now-infamous Marciel Maciel Degollado by saying that the pope knew “absolutely nothing” about him because of a lack of communication among the curia.

According to a CNS report by Cindy Wooden, Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, personal secretary to the late John Paul for 39 years, said in his book, Hi Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), that the pope should not have met with and praised the founder of the ultra conservative and secretive order, the Legion of Christ, in 2004. ”When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he [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.” The ignorance, he further explains “was the consequence of a still extremely bureaucratic structure” in which there was little communication.

I have not read the book, which is currently available only in Italian. Perhaps Dziwisz provides more explanation and context in the book, but on the face of the information provided in the CNS story, which gives the impression of a single meeting between the two in 2004, a great deal of history is left out.

The record on Maciel, who, according to the Vatican, abused “more than 20 but fewer than 100” of his former seminarians and who, it was ultimate discovered, had at least three children by two different women, is voluminous. Much of it was generated by journalist Jason Berry for NCR.

But the record extends back to initial stories by Berry and Gerald Renner, then a religion reporter for the Hartford Courant. In February, 1997, the two published an extensively documented story in the Courant, based on on-the-record interviews with nine former seminarians or ex-Legion priests, detailing a history of sexual abuse of seminarians by Maciel. Apparently the news either did not get to the pope or he chose to ignore the allegations.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Eric S. Fought

As a former senior-level political staffer and as someone who has advised leaders of organizations large and small in the midst of crises, I have often been forced to offer counsel that was difficult for the leader to hear. In some cases, the damage that has been done by their actions (or lack thereof) can be repaired; at other times the damage is far too great and the best path forward is for that leader to step aside.

While I am a member of a parish of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, I in no way serve as an adviser to John Nienstedt, its archbishop. However, if I did, I would advise him to take swift action for the benefit of the organization that he has been called to lead.

That swift action would include his resignation, and his own willingness to cooperate fully with both civil and ecclesial authorities.

If we are to be fully honest with ourselves, we would acknowledge that if John Nienstedt served in a leadership capacity with any organization other than the Roman Catholic Church, such action would have been taken by now. However, the archbishop does serve the church, an organization with a long, painful and unfortunate history of covering up and enabling the criminal behavior of a segment of its clergy — a history that must come to an end.

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CANADA
Le Soleil

Click here for the story.

[Summary: It took much of the day but American priest Thomas Doyle was finally recognized as an expert witness in canon law at the trial of the Redemptorists. Lawyers for the congregation unsuccessfully challenged the credibility of Fr. Doyle and claimed he was biased. By late afternoon on Tuesday, Judge Claude Bouchard agreed to recognize Fr. Doyle, whose curriculum vitae was nine pages long, as an expert in canon law. He can comment on structure and functioning of the Catholic Church as well as procedures of the church in sexual abuse cases.]

ISABELLE MATHIEU
Le Soleil
(Québec) Il aura fallu y passer la journée, mais le prêtre américain Thomas Doyle a finalement été reconnu comme témoin-expert en droit canonique au procès des Rédemptoristes. Les avocats de la congrégation ont attaqué en vain la crédibilité du prêtre catholique, le qualifiant de partial.

En fin d’après-midi, mardi, le juge Claude Bouchard a accepté de reconnaître le père Thomas Doyle comme expert en droit canonique. L’homme, dont le curriculum vitae tient sur neuf pages, pourra donc livrer ses commentaires sur la structure et le fonctionnement de l’Église catholique ainsi que sur les procédures de l’Église dans les cas d’abus sexuels.

Alors que Frank Tremblay et ses avocats souhaitaient qu’il puisse témoigner globalement comme expert dans les dommages spirituels, le juge s’est rendu aux arguments de la défense et demande de limiter la preuve psychologique, déjà couverte par d’autres témoins experts. «Mais du fait de son expérience auprès des victimes, il peut accorder un éclairage à la cour», a estimé le juge Claude Bouchard.

Depuis le milieu des années 1980, Thomas Doyle a rencontré des milliers de victimes de prêtres et témoigné comme expert ou agi comme consultant dans plus de 2000 causes aux États-Unis, au Canada, au Royaume-Uni, en Irlande, en Nouvelle-Zélande, en Belgique, en Australie et en Israël. Conférencier et auteur, Doyle a également été aumônier militaire.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 6, 2013

WASHINGTON On an otherwise dull agenda for the fall assembly of the American hierarchy, one item has been the subject of much discussion inside and outside the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Following a three-year presidency of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the bishops are set to elect a new chief and a spate of other leaders.

The discussion question is basic: Who’s going to lead this group?

More to the point: Will the new conference leadership maintain the status quo, allowing the conference to be, in the words of one former staffer, “defined by what they oppose”? Or will the leadership, in the words of a former conference president, “embrace the tone and the style of Pope Francis”?

Or, in the words of another former staffer, will the new leadership embrace dialogue and collaboration, or will it “hunker down and preserve and protect”?

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RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 6, Interfax – Gleb Grozovsky, the former senior priest of the Church of John the Warrior, St. Petersburg Metropole of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is accused of molesting two children, has denied his guilt

“The case materials are full of emotions and there is not a single piece of evidence of my guilt.

According to the parents, they were threatened and psychologically pressured to accuse me of all these abominable things. The mothers were pressured to make their accusations. Many women gave in to emotions now they realize that they have been deceived and they don’t know what to do,” Grozovsky said on a social networking site on Wednesday.

Grozovsky said only witnesses for the prosecution have now been questioned by the investigators. “They haven’t questioned any camp counselors or the parents of the children who were in the camp, whereas there were educators in the camps who came there with their children and saw everything with their own eyes, plus I had my family and my four children with me,” Grozovsky said.

The priest said he is now on a visit to a center for alcohol and drug-dependent people in Israel at the blessing of the bishop.

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RUSSIA
GlobalPost

Russian investigators on Wednesday charged an advisor with football club Zenit, who is an ordained priest, with sexually assaulting two underage girls while at a religious summer camp.

Investigators said they are looking for 34-year-old Gleb Grozovsky, who works as an advisor to Maksim Mitrofanov, the general director of FC Zenit of Saint Petersburg and is now at large.

The Russian Investigative Committeee said it believed Grozovsky, an Orthodox priest and former rector of a parish near Saint Petersburg, has “sexually assaulted a nine-year-old and 12-year-old girls”.

Grozovsky, 34, was with the girls on the Greek island of Kos as part of an Orthodox summer camp in June, and molested them in a hotel, a statement said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 6 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: …

– appointed Bishop Salvatore Ronald Matano of Burlington, U.S.A., as bishop of Rochester (area 18,400, population 1,580,000, Catholics 461,297, priests 235, permanent deacons 145, religious 148), U.S.A. Bishop Matano was born in Providence, U.S.A. in 1946, was ordained to the priesthood in 1971 and received episcopal ordination in 2005.

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RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 6, Interfax – The Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg has opened a criminal case against priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is suspected of child molestation.

A criminal case has been opened and an investigation is underway, the press service for the Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg told Interfax.

According to media reports, Grozovsky was until recently the senior priest of the Church of John the Warrior in the village of Maloye Verevo, Gatchina district, and also deputy chairman of the diocese department for youth affairs of the St. Petersburg Diocese. However, he left his posts in mid-October and is now abroad.

According to some media reports, Grozovsky is an adviser to the general director of the St. Petersburg football club Zenit and has worked with the children’s village SOS, which is under the care of prominent footballer Andrey Arshavin.

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RUSSIA
RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russian investigators said Wednesday that an Orthodox priest with links to St. Petersburg’s Zenit football club is suspected of sexually abusing two children during a holiday trip to a Greek island.

Law enforcement officials say they have put Russian village priest Gleb Grozovsky on an international wanted list over allegations that he abused two underage girls at an Orthodox summer camp earlier this year.

Grozovsky, 34, is suspected of abusing the two girls, aged nine and 12, in June at a hotel on the territory of the Philadelphia Orthodox travel club on the Greek island of Kos. He also committed “a range of similar crimes in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The clergyman, who formerly served at a village church in the Leningrad Region, was identified by the Investigative Committee as an adviser to Zenit’s general director.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A retired Catholic brother who left Australia to live in Rome has been charged with indecently assaulting Sydney schoolboys during the 1970s.

His arrest comes after a police investigation into allegations that four 12-year-old boys were assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe, or while on camp at Dural.

The alleged assaults occurred between 1972 and 1981.

The 75-year-old was arrested at Strathfield on Tuesday and appeared in court charged with four counts of indecent assault on a male.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Rivers Echo

A RETIRED Catholic brother is the latest clergy member to be arrested over historic child sex offences in NSW.

Police allege that between 1972-81, four young boys were abused by a teacher at schools and at a camp in Sydney’s west.

Investigations into a 72-year-old suspect, who now lives in Rome, began in June this year.

Detectives swooped on the man while he was in Sydney on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

LOCAL police have charged a retired Catholic brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Dural and Sydney’s inner west.

Between 1972 and 1981, four boys – all aged 12 at the time- were allegedly indecently assaulted while on camp at Dural, or at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe.

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

Following inquiries, a 75-year-old man was arrested at Strathfield just before 9.30am on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Retired Catholic brother charged with historical indecent assaults of Sydney school children

Wednesday, 06 November 2013

Police have charged a retired Catholic brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Sydney’s inner west and north west.

Between 1972 and 1981, four boys – all aged 12 – were allegedly indecently assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe, or while on camp at Dural.

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

Following inquiries, a 75-year-old man was arrested at Strathfield just before 9.30am yesterday (Tuesday 5 November 2013).

The man, a retired Catholic brother who now lives in Rome, was taken to Campsie Police Station where he was charged with four counts of indecent assault on a male.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Police have charged a retired Catholic religious Brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Sydney.

A media release from New South Wales police (on 6 November 2013) says that, between 1972 and 1981, four boys (all aged 12) were allegedly indecently assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe (in Sydney’s inner-west), or while on camp at Dural (in Sydney’s north-west).

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

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VERMONT/NEW YORK
Whispers in the Loggia

Capping weeks of speculation surrounding Bishop Salvatore Matano, at Roman Noon this Wednesday the Pope named the 67 year-old prelate – head of Vermont’s statewide diocese of Burlington since 2005 – as bishop of Rochester.

In the upstate New York post, the Providence-born, Rome-trained canonist succeeds Bishop Matthew Clark, who led the 320,000-member diocese for 33 years – a length of tenure practically unheard of in recent times – until his retirement was accepted last September, two months after his 75th birthday.

While Rochester under Clark had been an outlier among Northeastern dioceses in its normative embrace of a progressive post-Conciliar ecclesiology, as was universally expected, the incoming bishop comes from a rather different cloth. And much like last week’s appointment of the now Bishop Leonard Blair to the archbishopric of Hartford, the choice of a fairly conservative figure with an extensive background in law and administration will be seen in some quarters as a clash with the prevailing “Francis narrative” on the wider scene.

A longtime veteran of 1 Cathedral Square – the Rhode Island Chancery, where he capped his service as vicar-general – Matano spent two tours of duty as a local aide at the Washington Nunciature before his appointment to Vermont as coadjutor in early 2005. Ordained in Burlington on the very afternoon of B16’s election, much of the bishop’s tenure has been taken up with the legal and financial fallout of scores of clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, the settlements of which have spurred the diocese to sell off extensive swaths of its real estate holdings – including its Chancery – to pay for the claims while avoiding bankruptcy. While a 2010 settlement for 26 suits totaled $17.6 million, the amount of another agreement to close 11 cases earlier this year was not disclosed.

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CANADA
CTV

A former residential school supervisor charged with abusing several students was found guilty in a North Battleford courtroom Tuesday.

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

Leroux, who represented himself at the trial inside Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench, was found not guilty of seven other charges. Discrepancies in witness testimonies were cited as reasons for why Justice Murray Acton dismissed the charges.

Leroux pled not guilty to all charges against him. He shook his head in disagreement as Acton read his decision.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

06 NOVEMBER 2013

MORE than half of the Magdalene Laundries survivors will get more than €50,000 in compensation.

Almost 700 survivors of the Magdalene Laundries have applied for compensation under the scheme being headed up by Mr Justice John Quirke. Based on the information provided so far, 55pc of applicants will receive more than €50,000 each. The cost of the scheme is expected to be €59m.

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CANADA
Canada.com

THE COURIER-ISLANDER NOVEMBER 6, 2013

What happened between 1879 and 1986 has been Canada’s dirty little secret.

Family priests, Indian agents and police officers forcibly took 150,000 aboriginal children, ages seven to 15 from their homes and they were placed in one of about 132 residential schools across Canada. The intent was to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.

The white culture. To kill the Indian in the child. There are about 80,000 survivors. Only just now is the damage being recognized. Only just now are significant numbers of individuals beginning to talk about their traumatic experiences of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, medical experimentation, starvation, even murder. Only now are many of us hearing about it.

Because what happened was unspeakable.

But now, survivors are speaking.

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CANADA
Canada.com

BY SIAN THOMSON, THE COURIER-ISLANDER NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Carihi teacher Ray Wilson looks at his oldest daughter, who is soon turning five years old, and knows if he lived back when Residential Schools were in existence, now would be the time “they” would be coming for her.

“They” are the Government of Canada who, according to survivors of Residential Schools, aimed to destroy Aboriginal culture by assimilating Aboriginal children into “good Christian Canadians”. Under the Indian Act of 1876, all Aboriginal people were, by legal definition, wards of the state. School administrators of approximately 143 schools were assigned guardianship, which meant they received full parental rights.

Three of those schools were on Vancouver Island. “Imagine your five year old being taken away from you and sent to a school where you would have no contact and likely not see them again,” said Wilson, who is from Cape Mudge and, after graduating with his teaching degree, returned to Carihi to teach.

“What would you have done? Imagine if there were no children anywhere in your community, They were all gone. What would that do to the psyche of the adults there?” he said.

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MISSOURI
San Francisco Chronicle

TROY, Mo. (AP) — The St. Louis archdiocese is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit by the family of a teenage girl claiming Archbishop Robert Carlson failed to prevent her molestation by a priest with whom he lived in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

The Rev. Joseph Jiang is accused in eastern Missouri’s Lincoln County of leaving a $20,000 check atop a car belonging to the girl’s family after the alleged improper sexual contact. The lawsuit says Carlson asked for the check’s return. The family instead reported the exchange to police.

A motion by the archdiocese to dismiss the lawsuit was scheduled to be heard Wednesday in a Troy courtroom.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

Washington D.C., Nov 6, 2013 / 02:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ten bishops are nominees to become the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the group’s general assembly to be held in Baltimore Nov. 11-14.

The nominees come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The conference president plays a significant role in coordinating and leading charitable and social work and education, while providing a public face for the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond is the first New Orleans native to head the city’s archdiocese, where he had served as an auxiliary bishop from 1997-2000. He is former Bishop of Austin, and has been archbishop of New Orleans since 2009.

The archbishop recently made news for asking Catholic schools in his archdiocese to stop holding Sunday events in order to reduce temptations to neglect faith and family life.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

By VICTORIA NUGENT Nov. 6, 2013

A DEFROCKED priest facing historic child sex assault charges is expected to stand trial in relation to two of 11 alleged victims.

He faced Armidale Local Court heard today.

Crown prosecutor Peter Woods told the court there was “substantial agreement” in relation to the facts regarding nine of the alleged victims and a plea offer would be made.

“In relation to two victims, there is no agreement and we expect those matters to go to trial,” he said.

Mr Woods said the defence and the Crown were agreed on a number of facts relating to certain charges.

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CANADA
GlobalPost

BATTLEFORD, Sask. – A former supervisor at a Saskatchewan residential school has been found guilty of molesting several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is now in his 70s, worked at the Beauval Indian Residential School.

A judge in Battleford court convicted Leroux on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school — eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency

Leroux, who appeared to be stunned by the conviction, has been taken into custody until sentencing Dec. 5.

Leroux was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 for abusing 14 boys and young men at Grollier Hall, a residential school in Inuvik run by the Roman Catholic Church.

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CANADA
Global News

BATTLEFORD, Sask. – A former supervisor at a Saskatchewan residential school has been found guilty of molesting several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is now in his 70s, worked at the Beauval Indian Residential School.

A judge in Battleford court convicted Leroux on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school – eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency

Leroux, who appeared to be stunned by the conviction, has been taken into custody until sentencing Dec. 5.

Leroux was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 for abusing 14 boys and young men at Grollier Hall, a residential school in Inuvik run by the Roman Catholic Church.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former residential school worker in northern Saskatchewan has been found guilty of indecently assaulting young boys nearly five decades ago.

Paul Leroux, now 73, was a dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Residential School in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was accused of molesting 14 boys. Reporters in the court house Tuesday reported that the judge on the case found Leroux guilty on ten counts of indecent assault. Queen’s Bench Justice Murray Acton delivered his decision at the Battleford courthouse Tuesday afternoon.

There were 17 charges altogether, including indecent assault and gross indecency. The allegations included sexual touching, oral and anal sex, and bringing boys to his room where they were given alcohol and shown pornography.

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CANADA
StarPhoenix

A former supervisor at a residential school has been found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency against several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is 72, represented himself at his trial, pleading not guilty to assaulting about a dozen former students at the Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s.

Justice Murray Acton read the verdict, along with a lengthy explanation, in the Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench Tuesday. Leroux was found not guilty on seven other charges.

After a brief deliberation, Acton decided Leroux will be held in custody until his sentencing, prompting applause from the crowded gallery in the courtroom.

The accused denied all the charges against him in his final arguments, made last Tuesday.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, November 5, 2013

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)

An Idaho Catholic priest working in Missouri has been ousted from his parish. Neither bishops – one in Boise and one in Kansas City – are saying why.

[Idaho Statesman]

We’re disappointed that Catholic officials continue to treat their flock like children and withhold potentially helpful information about the misconduct of priests.

KC Bishop Robert Finn is the only sitting US bishop to have been convicted for endangering kids after hiding evidence of a priest’s possession of child porn from police. So prudent people are skeptical of any claims Finn might make about alleged wrongdoing by clerics.

If Fr. Ramirez stole money, exploited adult parishioners or groomed potentially vulnerable kids, even if there’s no solid proof of a crime, Catholics in Idaho and Kansas City deserve to know this.

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MISSOURI
Idaho Statesman

Published: November 5, 2013

By Bill Roberts — broberts@idahostatesman.com

The Rev. Jorge Ramirez, an Idaho Catholic priest serving in the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese in Missouri, has been relieved of his duties by Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.

Ramirez had been serving as the priest at Sacred Heart-Guadalupe, a largely Hispanic parish, in Kansas City.

In a letter read to parishioners last weekend, Finn wrote, “My office has received a variety of complaints concerning Fr. Ramirez which I have considered serious enough to merit removing him from his priestly responsibilities at the parish.”

He did not provide specifics details.

Ramirez was removed last Friday. His removal did not involve impropriety with a minor, Finn said.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 5, 2013

I am super-duper excited to announce my next book project:

Raising the Armored Kid: A victim and advocate gives you the tools to help your children stay safe from sexual abuse (working title)

This easy-to-read, easy-to-use book will teach parents, caregivers and loved ones common sense strategies that will help children stay safe from child sexual abuse. I include age-specific tools to empower children—from toddlers to adults—and repel predators.

But that is only part of the book. I also explain predatory behaviors such as grooming, give insight into institutional cover-up of abuse, and show how something as simple as changing a parenting style can make the difference in your child’s safety.

Why this book?

I thought back to the more than 10+ years of conversations I have had about my work as an advocate for adult victims of child sexual abuse. The dialogue is always the same: They ask me what I do. I tell them. They ooh and ahh for a minute. Then every parent ASKS THE SAME QUESTION:

“Gosh, what can I do to make sure that it doesn’t happen to my kid?”

That’s when I realized that there is no easy-to-read “toolkit” type of book for parents when it comes to preventing child sexual abuse.There are websites here and there, but most are written by academics who have never been “in the trenches” with abuse victims. Information is difficult or impossible to find on important topics such as grooming, parenting styles, and institutional rot.

Somebody needed to write this book. But who?

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 6, 2013

Lucinda Schmidt

Melbourne lawyer Vivian Waller has spent nearly two decades chasing justice for hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. And it’s nowhere near over.

For decades, the scandal of Catholic clergy sexual abuse of children has simmered, flaring up every now and again when yet another paedophile priest is convicted and jailed. Now, the issue is set to reach boiling point as the Catholic Church in Australia faces forensic scrutiny and publicity from three government inquiries into how much its leaders knew, when they knew it – and what they did about it.
On November 15, the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations hands its report to the government, after almost 18 months of hearings and submissions.

A few weeks later, on December 9, the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse begins two weeks of hearings examining the Catholic Church’s national ”Towards Healing” response, set up in 1996 to deal internally with sexual abuse allegations. And, in NSW, an inquiry into the police investigation of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is due to report by February 28.

The Christian Brothers spent $158,000 on legal costs for Robert Charles Best in his 1996 trial on child sex charges. He was convicted and jailed, but 14 years later, when Best was convicted of a further 27 offences against 11 boys, the Christian Brothers spent another $980,000 on legal fees.
The Christian Brothers spent $158,000 on legal costs for Robert Charles Best in his 1996 trial on child sex charges. He was convicted and jailed, but 14 years later, when Best was convicted of a further 27 offences against 11 boys, the Christian Brothers spent another $980,000 on legal fees.
For Melbourne lawyer Dr Vivian Waller, her wish list from the inquiries is topped by a typically blunt assessment. ”The church should no longer be trusted to deal with this issue in-house.”

Waller has spent the past 19 years chasing justice for hundreds of victims of Catholic clergy abuse. Many of her clients have been abused by Christian Brothers – she files these matters under ”U’ for unchristian. Since she set up her own firm Waller Legal in 2007, she has never advertised her services, but her three-room office in Thornbury has files stacked five deep on tables and the floor.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday November 5, 2013

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

A long time top Catholic official now says that Pope John Paul II knew “absolutely nothing” about multiple credible child sex abuse reports against Legion of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

[National Catholic Reporter]

We find this very hard to believe. And if it’s true, we find this very troubling.

Polish Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Krakow was the personal secretary to Pope John Paul II for 39 years and had been ordained to the priesthood by him. In a new book, Dziwisz claims the pontiff should not have met with Maciel.

Again, we just don’t believe this. (The first known letter to Vatican officials about Maciel’s crimes was in the mid-1990s though we suspect there were other reports even earlier. And the first known letter to Pope John Paul II about Maciel was in 1998.)

Among many excuses offered by Catholic prelates about their refusal to take action to protect kids, this is the most common excuse. And it’s the most inexcusable one. Bishop after bishop after bishop claims, over and over again, “I just didn’t know” about clerics who commit and conceal heinous crimes against children. After hearing this claim repeatedly for decades, we just don’t believe that any more.

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MINNESOTA
The Progressive Catholic Voice

Saturday, November 9, 2013
1:30-2:30 p.m.

Outside the Cathedral of St. Paul
239 Selby Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102

In recent weeks it has become clear that many Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis no longer accept the leadership of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt.

Archbishop Nienstedt has failed to garner the trust of a significant number of Catholics in the archdiocese or lost such trust over the course of his tenure. This failure in pastoral leadership is the result of a number of factors, including his leadership style, his unwillingness to dialogue with Catholics on their legitimate concerns, his dismissive stance and pastorally insensitive way of dealing with those who disagree with his agenda and priorities, his promoting of a culture that values self-protection and secrecy above disclosure and justice, and his ill-judged, perhaps even criminal mishandling of a number of recent cases involving both known sexually abusing priests and highly suspect ones. These cases and the archdiocese’s well-publicized mismanagement of them have shocked and scandalized many – both within and beyond the archdiocese.

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IRELAND
Journal

THE JUSTICE MINISTER Alan Shatter has confirmed that the first payments to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries will be made in the next four to six weeks.

Speaking in the Dáil this evening, Shatter said that over 600 applications have been made for lump-sum payments from the redress scheme established by his Department in the wake of the McAleese report.
Of these, Shatter said that over 200 applications have been processed to an advanced stage and the final details of the scheme were agreed at Cabinet this morning.

He said he expects his Department to be in a position to make its first offers of payments to survivors of the laundries in the next four to six weeks.

He also said that the provision of other benefits, including weekly payments from the Department of Social Protection and medical services from the Department of Health, will be dependent on the introduction of administrative and legislative measures and said work has already begun on this.

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NETHERLANDS
The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, November 4, 2013

A Dutch rights group said Monday it had identified over 1,000 paedophiles around the world by offering online sex with a computer-generated 10-year-old Filipina girl called Sweetie.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands has now handed over to police the identities of those who were willing to pay children in developing countries for online sex, a growing phenomenon, it said.

“They were ready to pay Sweetie for sexual acts in front of her webcam,” the rights group’s head Albert Jaap van Santbrink told journalists in The Hague.

The group said it wanted to raise the alarm about a largely unknown but quickly spreading new form of child exploitation that has tens of thousands of victims in the Philippines alone, known as webcam child sex tourism. …

Within a 10-week period, over 20,000 predators from 71 countries approached Sweetie, asking for webcam sex performances.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Editorial

Amid the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ recent disclosure it will limit information provided to panels it created to look into clergy sex abuse issues, here are three simple questions.

• What’s the price of silence?

For Pennsylvania State University, it’s literally $59.7 million to 26 sexual abuse victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky — plus more than $50 million on related costs. (Think lawyers’ fees, public relations expenses, and making new rules related to children and sexual abuse complaints.)

But be assured, it’s costing those victims and Penn State much more than money.

Those 26 people must live their lives knowing they were abused because adults didn’t do the right thing. Suddenly a big check seems like small compensation.

Meanwhile, a once-storied football program stands decimated while clouds hang posthumously over the record and reputation of once-iconic coach Joe Paterno.

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PERU
Jornada

[Summary: Priest Victor Medina, who is accused to sexually abusing a 17-year-old ex-seminarian, would be free from prosecution since the law allows full sex with minors who are older than 14, according to the dean of the Ayacucho bar.]

Según el decano del Colegio de Abogados de Ayacucho, Víctor Oriundo Medina, el sacerdote implicado en el presunto delito de abuso sexual contra un exseminarista de 17 años podría quedar libre de toda acusación según el pleno de jurisprudencia que permite las relaciones sexuales con menores de edad que sean mayores de 14 años.

Oriundo Medina dijo que en caso de que la presunta víctima mayor de 14 años declare que la relación sexual fue con su consentimiento el presunto responsable quedaría exculpado, ya que la ley lo ampara.

El decano de los abogados ayacuchanos lamentó que situaciones de posibles violaciones queden impunes por este tipo de leyes que van en contra de los derechos de la persona, pues las declaraciones podrían variar por cuestiones de presión o amenazas a la víctima.

En caso del menor que acusó al sacerdote Alejandro Balazar García, Oriundo Medina dijo que los abogados que llevan el caso deberían pedir una ampliatoria de sus declaraciones para verificar sus versiones, porque se podría sospechar que haya aceptado por algún tipo de presión o amenaza por parte del acusado.

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – A state judge approved a $1.35 million settlement against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, in a civil lawsuit alleging priest sex abuse.

The girl, who was not identified, and her parents sued the diocese, Bishop Robert Finn and the Rev. Shawn Ratigan in 2011.

Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison in September this year after pleading guilty to five child pornography counts.

Courthouse News first reported on the lawsuit in June 2011. The girl and her parents claimed the diocese and Finn knew about the pornographic pictures of the girl and other minor victims for almost six months before notifying police.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

THE BISHOP of Limerick has re-iterated his message to survivors of “horrific” clerical abuse that he wants to make their pain ‘his own’ and seek forgiveness, writes Anne Sheridan.

Speaking at a mass for survivors of abuse, called A Mass of Healing and Hope in St Saviour’s Church, Dr Brendan Leahy said: “We are all of us here because we want to support one another and, in some way, bring comfort and healing to what has been a most painful experience for many here today. It is moving that so many are here, still caring enough to want to be here, despite the abuse you have suffered in the past.”

“You have made this journey because this is a time of healing and hope. On the one hand, we receive this gift from God but also we give this gift to one another by coming here to support and be with one another.

“Thanks for hanging on in your faith despite everything. Thanks for making the effort to be here. Thanks for this coming together as part of our ongoing process of reconciliation.

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KENYA
Standard Digital

By Willis Oketch

Mombasa, Kenya: A Catholic priest who was sued by a woman in Mombasa for allegedly siring a child with her 14 years ago now wants the case against him dismissed.

Father Josephat Mweu Mwanzia wants the case filed by Syovinya Cecilia Mbiki dismissed after DNA tests done in South Africa and Kenya exonerated him from blame.

Monday lawyer Kiunga Kingirwa for Fr Mwanzia told Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Betty Koech that the case against his client should now be dismissed on grounds that there is no evidence against him.

He said laboratory reports from The Karen Hospital in Nairobi and Pathcare Paternity laboratory in South Africa had clearly shown that his client was not the biological father of the child in question.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Nov. 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY Blessed John Paul II’s 2004 meeting with and praise of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ — who later was banished to a life of penance because of sexual abuse — was a mistake, said the late pope’s longtime secretary.

“The Holy Father should not have received that individual,” said Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who served as personal secretary to the pope for 39 years.

In a new book, Ho Vissuto con un Santo, (“I Lived with a Saint”), released in early November, Dziwisz said the meeting was just one example of a serious lack of communication in the Roman Curia, which Pope John Paul tried, largely without success, to reform.

Although rumors had been circulating for years that the Legionaries’ founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had sexually abused seminarians, Dziwisz said, “When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he 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.”

“Unfortunately,” the cardinal said, “it was the consequence of a still extremely bureaucratic structure” where important information was not always shared.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano Tue., Nov. 5 2013

It’s almost been 3 years since I broke the news that Ricardo Aldana, a Spanish teacher and volleyball coach at JSerra High School down in San Juan Capistrano, was arrested on charged of molesting a student at the school. He faces seven felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, and sources tell the Weekly it’s a seeming slam dunk case for the prosecution.

But yesterday came word that Aldana’s trial has been postponed yet again at the request of super-attorney Michael Molfetta (who also represents accused serial killer Itzcoatl Ocampo–Mikey really knows how to pick’em!), meaning any proposed trial won’t happen until January 2014 at the earliest? Reason? The delayyyyyyyyyyyy game.

It’s a classic tactic of defense lawyers in the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal: keep postponing a trial until the victim becomes an adult, until the teenager becomes a young adult and an easily swayed jury can be persuaded that the molestation was consensual because look at them! They’re young adults of age!

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Hunter Stuart
Hunter@huffingtonpost.com

In a move toward destigmatizing pedophilia, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in its updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), distinguishes between pedophiles who desire sex with children, and those who act on those desires.

The former group — those who want to have sex with children but whose desires are not distressing or harmful to themselves or others — is no longer classified as having a psychiatric condition in the updated DSM.

“The difference [from the last edition of the DSM] is, you’re not automatically saying that as soon as someone has a marked, unusual erotic interest that they have a mental disorder,” said Ray Blanchard, who cowrote the chapter on sexual disorders in the new DSM.

The change in the DSM, a kind of Bible among medical professionals, lawmakers, and drug and insurance companies, doesn’t just apply to pedophilia, but to several other deviant sexual desires listed in the manual. It represents “a subtle but crucial difference that makes it possible for an individual to engage in consensual atypical sexual behavior without inappropriately being labeled with a mental disorder,” explains the APA in its DSM-5 Paraphilic Disorders Fact Sheet.

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