ABUSE TRACKER

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago.- The months-long investigation by the Santiago Office of the Prosecutor and the analysis of computer files seized from Polish priest Wojciech Gil found that the Catholic prelate abused at least 15 boys.

Among the photos found figure the priest masturbating one of the minors, as well as other aberrant poses.

Most of the minors in the Catholic priest’s photos are from the Santiago province hamlet of Juncalito, near the Central Mountain town of Janico. Many appear dressed in women’s undergarments also seized during raids conduced just days after the scandal broke.

“We’ve found in the hard disks, a laptop, DVD, at least 14 or 15 children in the hundreds of photos that he kept, who are from Juncalito and were forced to put on girls underwear,” said a source quoted by citysantiago.com. A total of 30 pieces were found and of these 10 were small thongs and another eight were tights.

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POLAND
The Kansas City Star

October 4
The Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland — A spokesman for Poland’s Catholic Church says it will not pay compensation

The Rev. Jozef Kloch said in comments aired by Polish Radio 1 on Friday that the responsibility for compensation lies with the perpetrator.

Kloch was reacting to a 200,000 zlotys ($64,000) claim made by a 25-year-old victim against his parish and local church authorities after they failed to reach a settlement.

Kloch says “the Church will not pay compensation to victims of pedophile priests. The wrongdoer should do it.”

Some 27 priests have been convicted in Poland of abusing children. Authorities in the Dominican Republic are investigating allegations that two Polish priests there, including a Vatican envoy, abused boys.

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UNITED STATES
Windy City Times

by Nick Patricca
2013-10-02

Institute for the Works of Religion, the proper name for ‘The Vatican Bank,’ was created in June 1942 by Pope Pius 12 to deal with the money crises caused by WW2, to prepare for post-war recovery efforts, and to work against communist takeovers, especially in Italy and France.

The IOR ( its Italian acronym ) is not a division of the Vatican City State; nor is it an office of the Catholic Church’s organizational and curial structures. It is an independent ‘charitable institute,’ run by a board of supervisors ( usually laymen ), overseen by a committee of cardinals under papal direction.

The principal purpose of the IOR is to promote acts of charity inspired by the Christian faith.

Of course, the Vatican had been in the banking business for a very long time prior to 1942. During the Avignon Papacy ( 1309—1378 ), bereft of its financial base in Rome and in the Papal States and ever at odds with Kings and Emperors, the papacy developed an extensive banking system in order to support its centralization of church authority and administration and to free itself from secular control, thus playing a crucial role in the rapid rise of banking in our modern sense.

One would think that with so much experience with money, power, and organization, the papacy would be competent to run a bank. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The administration of the Vatican Bank has been so unbelievably sordid and incompetent that it defies a rational presentation, giving rise to conspiracy theories ( IN HIS NAME, Yallop, 1984 ) and conspiracy theories about conspiracy theories ( A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, Cornwell, 1989 ).

THE CHICAGO CONNECTION. Although the Vatican is rich in real property holdings and art treasures, it is seriously and chronically short of cash. In 1032 the Norse King Canute imposed a tax ( Peter’s Pence ) upon all his subjects in the British Isles to assist the pope. This tax quickly developed into an independent revenue-stream for the direct support of the reigning pope and his projects, such as, protecting pilgrims and building St Peter’s Basilica. Among the biggest contributors of all time to the Vatican were Cardinal Spellman ( + December, 1967 ) of New York and Cardinal Cody ( + April 1982 ) of Chicago, giving these donors enormous clout with the pope. This clout led to the appointment of Archbishop Paul Marcinkus ( + February 2006 ) of Cicero, Illinois as president of the Vatican Bank for 18 years from 1971 to 1989. ( It is alleged that Marcinkus and Cody made frequent trips between Chicago and Rome carrying suitcases full of cash. )

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MASSACHUSETTS
Reform the Statutes of Limitations on Child Sex Abuse

MA Action Alert: Call (or fax) MA Sen. and House Leaders to Get Window Bill, Bill H. 1455 (& Senate Bill S.633), out of the Joint Judiciary Committee

Hon. Robert A. DeLeo
Speaker of the House
State House, Room 356
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2500
Fax: 617-722-2008

District Office

220 Beach Street
Revere, MA 02151
Phone: 781-289-8965
Fax: 781-289-0582

Hon. Therese Murray
President of the Senate
State House, Suite 332
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-1500
Fax: 617-248-3840
District Office
10 Cordage Park Circle
Room 229
Plymouth, MA 02360
Phone: 508-746-9332
Fax: 508-746-4910

Urge leadership to protect kids — not the institutions that endanger them!
P.S. Do not email.

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UNITED STATES
Chris Castaldo

Chris Castaldo / Friday, October 4th, 2013

Peter McDonough. The Catholic Labyrinth: Power, Apathy, and a Passion for Reform in the American Church. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013. 408 pp. $29.95. cover

A maze is a complex route offering a choice of directions. A labyrinth, by contrast, typically has a single route that leads you from an exterior entrance point to the center. In other words, unlike mazes, labyrinths offer an unambiguous and simple path. Whether Peter McDonough intended to describe The Catholic Labyrinth as a “simple” path is rather doubtful. But ironically, it may actually be an appropriate description.

McDonough, professor emeritus of political science at Arizona State University, is a two-time Fulbright fellow who has spent more than a little time analyzing the history of Catholicism. He’s perhaps best known for his volume on the Society of Jesus, Passionate Uncertainty: Inside the American Jesuits. Writing from a left-of-center perspective, McDonough is a cultural exegete unafraid to critique the unpleasant dimensions of religious life. This book is no exception. However, it is not a screed, as McDonough explains:

The purpose [of this book] is neither to defend nor to indict the church. “Power” and “apathy” take up two-thirds of the subtitle to signal that “a passion for reform” constitutes just one among several positions in American Catholicism—and not an especially homogeneous one at that. My question is why the different strategies emerged in the first place and, second, how they condition the future of the church. (9)

The Catholic Labyrinth presents itself as a behind-the-scenes look at the battle to achieve reform within the Catholic Church. The investigation focuses on numerous challenges facing contemporary Catholicism in America: for example, the sexual abuse scandals, a marked decline in attendance and vocations to the priesthood, and the closing of parishes and parochial schools. Each of these phenomena is influenced by the “Matrix of American Catholicism”—that is, the network of religious traditions, institutions, cultural trends, organizational hierarchy, and power brokers responsible for leading the American church. On this theme, the opening chapters lay valuable groundwork for understanding how recent attempts at aggiornamento (updating or reform of the church) have progressed.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Southtown Star

By Mike Nolan mnolan@southtownstar.com October 3, 2013

A group that represents victims of clergy abuse is calling on the Archdiocese of Chicago to remove the Rev. Robert Stepek from a job he’s held for nearly seven years as a police department counselor in Burbank.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests President Barbara Blaine, speaking Thursday outside the archdiocese offices, said Stepek, former pastor at St. Albert the Great Church in Burbank, “should not be in a position of power and authority over people.”

At least three men have accused Stepek of sexually abusing them when they were boys, and the archdiocese previously had found credible the allegations of two brothers who alleged they were abused by Stepek when he was at St. Symphorosa Church in Chicago in the early 1980s.

The archdiocese removed Stepek from the ministry at St. Albert in November 2006 while the allegations were being investigated. The priest filed a defamation lawsuit against the brothers, claiming they were fabricating their allegations in hopes of a large cash payouts.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

TRENTON — The leader of the Diocese of Trenton on Thursday suspended a priest at the center of a sexting scandal.

The Rev. Matthew Riedlinger now is barred “from all priestly ministry, including presenting himself as a priest or wearing clerical garb,” the diocese said in a statement. Riedlinger is accused of sexting with a man he reportedly thought was a 16-year-old boy.

Bishop David O’Connell called Riedlinger’s actions a “betrayal of trust and confidence.” In a previous statement, the diocese said Riedlinger had taken an indefinite leave of absence Sept. 23.

A victim-advocacy group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, has criticized the diocese for waiting a year to tell parishioners why it removed Riedlinger from St. Aloysius Church in Jackson, Ocean County.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

In less than two weeks, Cardinal Tim Dolan will join Steven Colbert of “Comedy Central’ at the annual Al Smith Dinner – the white-tie roast at N.Y.C’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. For now, Cardinal Dolan is coming under fire from SNAP for his “secrecy” in a clergy child sex case that surfaced this week in Manhattan. Dolan admits waiting months to oust a deacon, Al Mazza, from his post because of substantial child sex abuse allegations. And in a letter to parishioners and in a news release, Dolan urges people who have information about the alleged child molester to call church officials instead of law enforcement. .

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

By Madeleine Baran and Mike Cronin, Minnesota Public Radio
October 4, 2013

Upset that her superiors had refused to take action, a former church official reported to police that leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis had kept secret for eight years images of pornograpy — some of it showing children — belonging to one of its priests.

Jennifer Haselberger, the archdiocese’s former chancellor for canonical affairs, marched the images she’d found into the offices of one church leader after another in May 2012. But none responded.

The last straw for Haselberger came after she provided Archbishop John Nienstedt with copies of some of the images she had discovered in the archdiocese’s files on the Rev. Jonathan Shelley, 52. She said the photos showed boys performing oral sex. The Rev. Peter Laird, the archdiocese’s vicar general at the time, Nienstedt’s deputy, ordered her to hand over the pornographic images.

“I did as I was told,” said Haselberger, who resigned in April. “I went back to my office. I closed the door and I called Ramsey County.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/04/2013

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Thursday the Rev. Peter Laird has resigned as vicar general and moderator of the curia.

In that role, he assisted the archbishop in the general care and administration of the archdiocese.

Laird’s departure came the same day allegations emerged in a court hearing that the archdiocese possessed images of child pornography from the computer of Hugo priest Jonathan Shelley, and 10 days after a Minnesota Public Radio news report about information the archdiocese possessed but did not give to police regarding convicted St. Paul priest Curtis Wehmeyer’s sexual behavior.

“Father Laird’s decision to resign was unexpected and was his decision alone. He did nothing improper,” said James Accurso, spokesman for the archdiocese. “This is an opportunity for a fresh start in leadership.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

ROYAL COMMISSION RETURNS TO PERTH TO HEAR MORE STORIES FROM SURVIVORS OF INSTITUTIONAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold more face-to-face private sessions with Commissioners in Perth commencing 8 October.

Royal Commission CEO, Ms Janette Dines, said the Royal Commission is visiting cities around the country listening to people’s stories.

“This is a chance for Western Australian’s affected by child sexual abuse in an institution to tell a Commissioner what happened to them.

“We understand how difficult it can be for people to come forward and talk about what happened to them. There are trained counsellors available to provide immediate support to anyone in distress,” she said.

“The Royal Commission will offer more than 1,000 private sessions before the end of this year and we will return to Perth later in the year to hear from more people,” Ms Dines said.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

ROYAL COMMISSION RETURNS TO MELBOURNE TO HEAR MORE STORIES FROM SURVIVORS OF INSTITUTIONAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold more face-to-face private sessions with Commissioners in Melbourne commencing 7 October.

Royal Commission CEO, Ms Janette Dines, said there has been a strong response from people in Victoria wanting to tell their story in a private session.

“We know that for many of the victims sharing their story with the Commission is very hard. But, equally, the opportunity to tell their story has proved beneficial for many.

“The private sessions are contributing significantly to the Commissioners’ understanding of the nature and extent of the sexual abuse of children within institutions in Australia.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[Submission: Truth Justice and Healing Council]

October 4, 2013

Those, including this newspaper, who welcomed the announcement of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse are entitled to feel some sense of vindication at the formal submission of the Catholic Church to the commission, made public yesterday. As demands for the commission became increasingly strident late last year, Sydney Archbishop George Pell was arguing, right up to the last minute, that it was not needed.

He maintained that the Catholic Church had fixed the deficiencies in the two protocols it introduced in 1996, the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing. The admissions of failure, and an openness to listen ”to criticism and advice”, that were promised in Thursday’s submission to the commission show how flawed that claim was.

Cardinal Pell was irked by what he said were suggestions that the Catholic Church was ”the only cab on the rank” when, in his mind, it had done more than most to combat this scourge that has so damaged our society. Of course, it was not so much the abuse – appalling as it was, with devastating effects on victims and their families – that diminished the church’s public standing. It was the cover-ups, the silencing of victims, the moving of paedophile priests to unsuspecting parishes that most disgusted the faithful and non-believers alike when, thanks to the media and police, they began to emerge. That behaviour is unlikely today.

The cardinal was correct that his church is not the only cab on the rank. Most churches and secular institutions, particularly orphanages, have had their share of perpetrators, and it is right that the royal commission is casting a wide net. Yet it is also true that the Catholic Church has been disproportionately represented – its clergy and religious offended at six times the rate of all the other churches put together, according to evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
The Week

Bank audits, sex abuse tribunals, and curial shake-ups, oh my!

By Peter Weber | October 3, 2013

In some respects, the Catholic Church is like any giant, multinational organization. It has some amount of corruption, bureaucratic dysfunction, even crime. But it’s also a religious institution, which we generally (and rightly) hold to higher ethical standards than, say, Coca-Cola or ExxonMobil. The Catholic Church is also different in that its chief executive, the pope, has more control over his organization than any CEO.

Since his election in March, and especially in the past few months, Pope Francis has really shaken up the tone and timbre of the church, particularly in its attitude toward controversial issues like gay marriage and abortion. And people have noticed. Even observers prone to be more critical of the Holy See, like The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, are cautiously welcoming a new morning at the Vatican. On Wednesday, President Obama shot some praise the pope’s way, too. “I have been hugely impressed with the pope’s pronouncements,” Obama told CNBC, when asked.

Obama added that Pope Francis’ open-armed “spirit, that sense of love and unity, seems to manifest itself in not just what he says, but also what he does.” But that touches on one of the criticisms (or accolades, depending whom you ask) of the new pope: He says all the right things, but outside of his personal habits and interactions, he isn’t really backing up those words with action.

That may be changing.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | October 4, 2013

The Catholic Church in Australia on Thursday has proposed to work on new systems and procedures on how it would deal child sex abuse cases in the future.

The proposals, according to Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, are being aimed to be presented in the first half of 2014 to Catholic Church leaders in Australia.

Part of the reform proposals include:

Appointing independent compensation commissioners to determine payments to victims who go through the victim response process known as Towards Healing. This would separate the pastoral responses in Towards Healing from the determination of financial payments;

The appointment of lay and independent experts to strengthen the Church’s National Committee of Professional Standards;

The introduction of an independent national board to develop and administer national child protection standards. The board would monitor adherence to these standards and publicly report on compliance;

The board would also provide more rigorous assessment, monitoring, auditing and enforcement of Towards Healing practices;

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Thursday 3 October 2013

The Catholic church believed it had an understanding with the NSW police in 2003 that allowed it to conceal evidence against paedophile priests, a freedom of information (FOI) document reveals.

The file, accessed through FOI laws by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge and obtained by ABC’s Lateline, documents the Catholic church’s attempt to co-opt NSW police to enter into the illegal agreement.

“Church authorities shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused’s account of events only if required to do so by court order,” the unsigned draft memorandum read.

Catholic Commission for Employment Relations executive director Michael McDonald wrote to the NSW child protection squad on 18 June 2003 seeking confirmation the memorandum of understanding (MOU) was still in place.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Vatican rules again that it couldn’t find sufficient proof of molestation, 7 years after Chicago Archdiocese asked cleric to leave Burbank parish

October 03, 2013|By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter

Seven years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago removed the popular pastor of a southwest suburban church after he was accused of molesting two brothers.

But Burbank Mayor Harry Klein thought the Rev. Robert Stepek was innocent. So, in 2007, he recommended the priest for a different position of authority: Police Department counselor, helping victims who sometimes included children. Stepek got the job.

To this day, the mayor and some in the community defend the move, while others question the wisdom of hiring a person accused of such an offense to work in a police department.

“I just don’t understand why you would hire someone (accused of) something like that to work with the public,” said Linda Beck, a Burbank resident who occasionally attends St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, where Stepek was pastor for eight years. “I’m disappointed in their judgment.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY JOSEPH KOHUT (STAFF WRITER)
Published: October 4, 2013

Lackawanna County detectives seized a laptop computer, samples of bodily fluid and DNA as evidence against a suspended Diocese of Scranton priest accused of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old boy, according to search warrant inventories filed Thursday.

Detectives Chris Kolcharno and Justin Leri served the warrants against the Rev. William Paulish, 56, on Sept. 20, hours after he was caught in the backseat of his Toyota Venza in a parking lot at Penn State Worthington Scranton campus with a teenager who was not wearing pants.

Detectives took seven swabs of bodily fluid from the car’s backseat. They also seized a green towel detectives believe was used to clean up bodily fluid after sex acts.

They also served a warrant on his home at 750 Third St., Blakely, and seized an HP Pavilion laptop and power cord. According to an affidavit in support of the warrant, the Rev. Paulish told police he views “Twink” pornography, which depicts teenaged boys engaged in sexual acts in various stages of nudity, detectives said.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton

Trenton NJ, October 3, 2013 – The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, Most Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., has formally suspended Rev. Matthew Riedlinger from all priestly ministry, including presenting himself as a priest or wearing clerical garb.

The Bishop has taken this rare, but significant, step due to Father Riedlinger’s actions which form a ‘betrayal of trust and confidence’ not only for those whom Father Riedlinger has hurt with his online and cell phone activities, but also for the Catholic community and beyond.

All information with regard to Father Riedlinger had been turned over to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Diocese will cooperate fully with them and any law enforcement agency, should further investigation into Father Riedlinger’s activities become necessary.

“I had tried from the beginning to take concerted action, but also to get help for Father Riedlinger. But the more I have learned of his actions during and subsequent to outpatient and inpatient treatment, the more it has become clear that strong, resolute and permanent action must now be taken to protect others, particularly, our youth,” said Bishop O’Connell.

“I am seeking advice from the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith with regard to the next steps, as his actions have clearly contravened his priestly vows, and, although given ample opportunity to atone for his actions and to get help for his problems, he has failed to do so.”

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Amanda Oglesby
@OglesbyAPP

JACKSON — A Catholic priest who once ministered at St. Aloysius Church has been suspended in the wake of a sexting scandal with a man who he reportedly thought was a 16-year-old boy.

The Diocese of Trenton announced Thursday that the Rev. Matthew Riedlinger, 30, was formally suspended by Bishop David M. O’Connell following news that Riedlinger was involved in sexual text message and online conversations that “clearly contravened his priestly vows,” O’Connell said in a prepared statement.

Riedlinger recently took a leave of absence from the priesthood after people questioned his participation in another priest’s funeral Mass that occurred weeks ago, church authorities said.

After taking public criticism Wednesday from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, O’Connell decried Riedlinger’s actions as a “betrayal of trust and confidence” not only to the people hurt by the priest’s sexual conversations but to the Catholic community.

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The top deputy at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resigned amid criticism of how church officials have handled cases of priests accused of sexual abuse.

The archdiocese announced the resignation of the Rev. Peter Laird as vicar general in a statement Thursday. It quotes Laird as saying he’s hopeful his decision can help repair the trust of abuse victims and others.

His resignation follows a report by Minnesota Public Radio last week documenting how top church officials including Laird knew of sexual misconduct by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, who’s now serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 03/10/2013
Reporter: Tony Jones

Francis Sullivan the CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice Healing Council discusses the MOU revealed under freedom of information and the Church’s planned reforms to its Towards Healing program for victims of clericial abuse.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter
6:09 p.m. CDT, October 3, 2013

Members of an advocacy group for people abused by priests delivered a letter to Cardinal Francis George on Thursday, demanding he release details of the Roman Catholic Church’s investigation into a southwest suburban priest accused of molesting boys in the 1980s.

The letter was given the same day the Tribune reported that the Burbank Police Department hired the priest — the Rev. Robert Stepek — as a counselor who sometimes works with children.

With the Archdiocese of Chicago’s information, the residents of Burbank would likely object to Stepek being on the Police Department’s payroll, said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The archdiocese also should prohibit Stepek from holding that job, she added.

“The Police Department should know better,” Blaine said. “They’re supposed to be the people protecting citizens from people like Father Stepek.”

In May 2006, one man alleged to a priest that he and his brother had been sexually abused by Stepek in the early 1980s. Stepek was asked to temporarily step down as pastor at St. Albert the Great in Burbank

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/03/2013

A police investigation into allegations that a Hugo priest possessed child pornography will not lead to charges against him — because the evidence was withheld by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, according to a police report discussed in Ramsey County court Thursday.

The St. Paul police report by Sgt. William Gillet, dated Sunday, says he and Cmdr. Josh Lego met March 5 with Joseph Kueppers, chancellor for civil affairs for the archdiocese, and Andrew Eisenzimmer, who had just retired from that position two months earlier.

They requested a “white banker’s box” that they had been told was in a vault at the archdiocese and contained information about Rev. Jonathan Shelley.

An archdiocese official told them they would find computer discs with “thousands of images of child pornography” and reports that made reference to search terms such as “helpless teenage boys,” “naked boy pics” and “hard core teen boys.”

The discs came from a laptop computer owned by Shelley, the police report quoted the official as saying.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/03/2013

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said Thursday Vicar General Peter Laird resigned.

Laird’s departure came the same day as allegations emerged in a court hearing that the archdiocese possessed images of child pornography from the computer of Hugo priest Jonathan Shelley, and 10 days after a public radio news report about information that the archdiocese possessed but did not give to police regarding convicted St. Paul priest Curtis Wehmeyer’s sexual behavior.

“Over the last few years, this archdiocese has made significant progress in many areas, including how we have strengthened policies and practices regarding clergy misconduct,” Laird said in a statement posted on the archdiocese website. “The challenge to do better can never end until we have done everything in our power to prevent all acts of misconduct.

“I am hopeful that my decision to step aside at this time, along with the formation of a new task force, can help repair the trust of many, especially the victims of abuse,” he said.

Laird will remain as temporary administrator at Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood. Rev. Mark Huberty is on leave from that post in the wake of allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with an adult woman.

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Oct. 3, 2013

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

GALLUP – The Rev. Tim Farrell, the Catholic Diocese of Gallup’s media liaison, upset with a recent appointment made by Bishop James S. Wall, resigned from his position Monday.

Farrell, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Farmington, stepped down after serving as the diocese’s media liaison and spokesman for the past year. Wall’s appointment of a controversial former chancery official, Deacon Timoteo Lujan, to help run a formation program for church deacons was the flashpoint for Farrell’s resignation.

“I am stepping down because I found out that Deacon Timoteo Lujan has been named as co-director of the diaconate formation program,” Farrell said in an email Tuesday evening. “I will not work with such a person at the diocesan level and I told Bishop Wall this. I was astounded and quite offended that this appointment was made. Really? We can’t get anyone better than this in such a position. Shame, shame.”

Farrell’s public statement is rare in a Catholic diocese where most priests have been reluctant to publicly question chancery decisions. However, Farrell is not alone in his views. For years, many priests, deacons and diocesan employees have privately submitted concerns to the Gallup bishop, church hierarchy and the media about Gallup chancery policies, decisions and appointments.

A number of such concerns were aired during a priest convocation Wall convened in 2012, according to priests who attended. Central to that were concerns about the actions and decisions made by leading chancery officials in the years leading up to the late Bishop Donald E. Pelotte’s injuries, resignation and death, and in the years since Wall took the helm of the Gallup Diocese. The Rev. James Walker, who served as vicar general under Pelotte and Wall, tendered his resignation at the conclusion of that convocation.

Other chancery officials, Lujan and his fellow deacon, James Hoy, have been at the center of those concerns. Many diocesan personnel believe Lujan, Pelotte’s former chancellor, and Hoy, the diocese’s longtime chief financial officer who resigned in June, were the powers behind the throne.

Media questions to the diocese about the role of both men have been repeatedly dismissed or gone unanswered during the past decade.

Lujan was contacted at his home Wednesday evening for comment. “I do not want to have a conversation with you now or anytime,” Lujan said before hanging up the phone.

Before becoming a priest, Farrell was a newspaper journalist in New Mexico and Mississippi. When he was appointed media liaison, Farrell said he was “not a public relations man,” but he promised to try to “build a bridge between the bishop and the media.” During the past year, Farrell has worked to provide answers to media questions – something that had rarely happened in the two years prior to his appointment.

Suzanne Hammons, the current media coordinator for the diocese, said she would succeed Farrell as media liaison in an emailed announcement Tuesday, which thanked Farrell for his service as liaison. As the coordinator, Hammons has managed the diocesan websites and edited the Voice of the Southwest, the official publication of the Gallup Diocese.

Hammons was contacted Wednesday with questions about Farrell’s resignation and the ongoing concerns about Lujan. Hammons said she would not be able to get any immediate responses from chancery officials, but said she would try to obtain the answers in the future.

Hammons will be the fourth media representative for the diocese in six years. She graduated from Gallup’s Middle College High School in 2007, and she is a 2011 graduate of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., with a degree in mass communications.

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

NEW JERSEY
Patch

Posted by Tom Davis (Editor) , October 03, 2013

A Catholic priest who once ministered to an Ocean County congregation has been suspended following a sexting scandal with a man he reportedly thought was a 16-year-old boy.

The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., has formally suspended Rev. Matthew Riedlinger from all priestly ministry, including presenting himself as a priest or wearing clerical garb.

Riedlinger preached at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson until August 2012, when he entered counseling following complaints of inappropriate cellphone text conversations with other adults, according to USA Today.

The Diocese of Trenton said it has taken this “rare, but significant, step due to Father Riedlinger’s actions which form a ‘betrayal of trust and confidence,’ not only for those whom Father Riedlinger has hurt with his online and cell phone activities, but also for the Catholic community and beyond.”

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

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on October 03, 2013

A Roman Catholic priest caught up in a sexting sting with someone he thought was a 16-year-old boy last year has been suspended from ministry by Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell, who called the priest’s behavior “a betrayal of trust and confidence.”

The Rev. Matthew Riedlinger, formerly an assistant pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson, may not serve as a priest in any capacity and may not wear clerical garb, O’Connell said in a statement issued late this afternoon.

Riedlinger, the subject of a lengthy story in The Sunday Star-Ledger, had already been on restricted ministry, attending to the needs of retired Bishop John M. Smith.

O’Connell removed Riedlinger from the Jackson parish in August 2012 after learning he was the subject of an elaborate sting in which he thought he was corresponding with a teenage boy. Riedlinger also frequently texted in sexually explicit terms with young adults, according to a complaint filed with the diocese and The Star-Ledger’s findings.

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

NEW JERSEY
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 03, 2013

TRENTON, New Jersey — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton has suspended a priest for online and cellphone activities it says represented a “betrayal of trust.”

Bishop David M. O’Connell announced Thursday the suspension of Rev. Matthew Riedlinger from all priestly ministry. Riedlinger had worked at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson until August of 2012.

Allegations had been made that he had sent sexually explicit messages to a person he believed to be an underaged boy. A church administrator said sexual conversations had even taken place while Riedlinger was receiving church-ordered counseling.

The diocese said it turned over all the information it has to prosecutors.

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
Boston.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Subjecting a sex offender who is no longer imprisoned to ‘‘extraordinarily invasive’’ penile stimulation testing risks violating the premise that even convicts retain their humanity, a federal appeals court said Thursday.

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan frees former police officer David McLaurin of a requirement that he submit to penile plethysmography, a test in which a man’s erectile responses are measured as he is shown sexually stimulating images.

An all-male three-judge appeals panel said it saw a ‘‘clear distinction’’ between penis measurement and other conditions of supervised release, including restrictions on where sex offenders may live, their interactions with children and their access to pornographic material.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Oct. 3

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

A convicted sex offender who lived in Vermont and Alabama has won a court ruling in New York that means he won’t have to submit to a test to determine whether he’s attracted to underage girls.

[Boston.com]

Everyone, even pedophiles, deserves his humanity. But the humanity of a predator doesn’t trump the humanity of innocent kids.

Those who oppose this test should propose alternative ways to protect kids from predators. One in four girls and one in eight boys will be sexually assaulted. Given these horrific numbers, and the devastating life-long effects of childhood sexual abuse, something must change. We as a society must re-examine some of our archaic notions if we are to do more to safeguard the vulnerable.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEFF STRICKLER , Star Tribune Updated: October 3, 2013

The Rev. Peter Laird resigned Thursday as vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

He was appointed to the position, which serves as an assistant to Archbishop John Nienstedt in administration of the archdiocese, in 2009. His resignation takes place immediately.

The Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, who is serving as pastor of the Church of St. John Neumann in Eagan, was named to replace Laird, but he won’t assume the post until his current position is filled. In the meantime, the auxiliary bishop, the Rev. Lee Piche, who preceded Laird in the job, will oversee it.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, October 3, 2013
Source:Jim Accurso

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt announced today the resignation of the Father Peter Laird as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, effective immediately.

“Over the last few years, this Archdiocese has made significant progress in many areas, including how we have strengthened policies and practices regarding clergy misconduct. The challenge to do better can never end until we have done everything in our power to prevent all acts of misconduct,” Father Laird said.

“I am hopeful my decision to step aside at this time, along with the formation of a new task force can help repair the trust of many, especially the victims of abuse,” he said. “I know the leadership, the dedicated staff and my fellow priests in the Archdiocese are sincerely committed to proactively addressing these difficult issues.”

Father Laird has served since November 2009 in the position which is responsible for assisting the Archbishop in the general care and administration of the archdiocese. Father Laird will continue to serve in a variety of roles within the archdiocese, including as the temporary administrator at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Rupa Shenoy, Minnesota Public Radio
October 3, 2013

The top deputy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resigned that post today amid growing concerns about the church’s approach to clergy sex abuse cases.

The Rev. Peter Laird explained his sudden departure as vicar general in a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website Thursday afternoon.

“Over the last few years, this Archdiocese has made significant progress in many areas, including how we have strengthened policies and practices regarding clergy misconduct,” Laird said in the statement. “I am hopeful my decision to step aside at this time, along with the formation of a new task force can help repair the trust of many, especially the victims of abuse.”

Archdiocese leaders, staff and priests, he added, “are sincerely committed to proactively addressing these difficult issues.”

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.

POLAND
GlobalPost

AFP

Poland’s powerful Roman Catholic Church on Thursday rejected a first-ever request for damages by a victim of a convicted paedophile priest, opening the door to legal action, judicial officials said.

A demand for 47,500 euros ($63,500) in damages was made by a 25-year-old male plaintiff, identified only Marcin K., who was molested as a child.

A Catholic priest was last year sentenced to two years behind bars in the case, but his diocese refused to be held financially liable.

“The parties did not arrive at an agreement. The door is now open for a civil lawsuit,” Slawomir Przykucki, a court spokesman in Koszalin, northern Poland, told AFP after the mediation hearing at the court failed.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

‘I’m Not Listening!’: Mainstream Media Ignores Current Epidemic of Abuse in Evangelical Church, Instead Focuses on Stale Claims in Catholic Church

Just last week, Boz Tchividjian, a prominent Liberty University law professor and the grandson of Billy Graham, stood before a roomful of journalists and declared that Evangelical missions are a “magnet” for sexual abusers and that Evangelicals “are worse” than the Catholic Church at handling the problem.

Speaking to the annual gathering of the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) in Austin, Texas, Tchividjian said that Evangelicals have “sacrificed the souls” of innocent children, and of known data from abuse cases, a shocking 25 percent are repeat cases, he claimed.

Tchividjian is also the executive director of an organization called Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which works on combating abuse in the Evangelical community.

Last summer, GRACE spearheaded an online petition condemning the “silence” and “inattention” to sex abuse in Evangelical organizations, especially its missions.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Cardinal Francis George
Archdiocese of Chicago
835 N Rush St
Chicago IL 60611

October 3, 2013

Dear Cardinal George:

We belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable.

As you know, one of your priests, Fr. Robert Stepek, now works for the Burbank police department.

At least three men say he molested them as children.

At least three men have filed civil child sex abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese because of him.

At least two of these cases have settled.

Your abuse panel determined that child sex abuse allegations against him are credible.

And this week, it was revealed that Vatican officials say he “engaged in behaviors inappropriate for a priest.”

And this week, you said you would not put him back in a parish.

So while you are protecting yourself and your archdiocese from legal liability (by not giving Fr. Stepek a church job), you’re doing little if anything to really protect others from him. You’re letting him work at the police department, refusing to put him in a treatment center, hiding records about his alleged crimes and sitting behind your desk instead of aggressively reaching out to other who might be able to help put Fr. Stepek in prison.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with full text of Father Lombardi’s briefing]

(Vatican Radio) A new Apostolic Constitution will probably be written to replace Pastor Bonus, which will emphasize the Curia’s service to the universal Church and local churches. The Council of Cardinals appointed by Pope Francis to assist him in his governance of the Church and reform of the Curia has been meeting at the Vatican since Tuesday.

In a briefing, the head of the Vatican Press Office Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, said we can “expect a new Constitution.” He said changes will not be a “simple upgrade” nor “marginal”, but will be “substantial”. He said an important reorientation will be with the Secretariat of State, which should be in all respects a “Secretary of the Pope,” and that this will be part of the guidelines he gives the next Secretary of State, who takes office on October 15th.

In addition, a separate figure acting as a “Moderator of the Curia” could be appointed to coordinate relations between the Pope and the heads of the various Departments and offices.

The Council also spoke about the role of the laity in the Church, and how this role may be more appropriately and effectively recognized and followed in the government of the Church.

The Cardinals also continued their discussion from Tuesday on the Synod of Bishops, as Pope Francis prepares to decide its theme and implementation.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

October 3, 2013. (Romereports.com) The Vatican spokesman has announced that Pope Francis isn’t planning on reforming the Vatican’s Apostolic Constitution. Rather, he’s planning on drafting a completely new document, that deals with the governance of the Church.

FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI
Vatican Spokesman
“The idea is not limited to updating the current ‘Pastor Bonus’ constitution, with small tweaks here and there. Instead the Pope plans on drafting a new constitution that includes new relevant changes. I think we can expect a new constitution.”

The new law will highlight two main aspects. First, that the Roman Curia shouldn’t be a power house, but instead it should be ‘at the service’ of the Universal Church. Also the Vatican’s State Department will more of a branch rather than a full governing body.

The Council of Cardinals recommended that a ‘moderator’ be assigned to coordinate the relationship between the Pope and the dicasteries of the Church. The council of eight cardinals is also analyzing how the role and work of the laity can be recognized more directly within the Church.

FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI
Vatican Spokesman
“Special attention will be given so that institutions can adequately respond to the laity and the service they provide to the Church. Currently we have a Pontifical Council, but that relationship and presence could be strengthened so that the Curia is more involved with the laity.”

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Reuters

By Tom Heneghan OCTOBER 3, 2013

Hans Küng, Roman Catholicism’s best known rebel theologian, is considering capping a life of challenges to the Vatican with a final act of dissent – assisted suicide.

Küng, now 85 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, writes in the final volume of his memoirs that people have a right to “surrender” their lives to God voluntarily if illness, pain or dementia make further

Küng has championed reform of the Catholic Church since its 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, where he was a young adviser arguing for a decentralized church, married priests and artificial birth control. The Council did not adopt these ideas.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Cardinals advising Pope Francis on how to reform the Vatican believe the Holy See’s central government is so problem-ridden that only a total overhaul can fix it, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The unusually stark acknowledgement came on the third and final day of closed-door meetings between the pope and eight cardinals from around the world who are discussing the Vatican’s troubled administration and mapping out possible changes in the worldwide Church.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the cardinals were no longer considering adjustments or changes to a 1998 constitution on the workings of the Vatican’s various departments, known as “Pastor Bonus” (Good Shepherd).

“(The cardinals) are leaning towards a constitution with very significant new elements; in short, a new constitution,” Lombardi told reporters at a briefing.

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VATICAN CITY
adnkronos

Vatican City, 3 Oct. (AKI) – The scandal-tainted Vatican Curia or central administration needs completely overhauling with a new constitution, a group of cardinals advising Pope Francis has reported.

“They are leaning towards a constitution with very significant new elements; in short, a new constitution,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told a media briefing on Thursday.

At the end of three days of closed-door meetings with the Argentinian pontiff, the group of eight cardinals concluded that more was needed than amendments to the current constitution governing the Vatican department, Lombardi said.

The bulky 1998 constitution is known by its Latin name of “Pastor Bonus” (The Good Shepherd) and re-writing the document will be a major task, according to Lombardi. He said he did not know how long this would take.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Fr. Lombardi spoke of a “complete overhaul in the organisation of the Curia” in his briefing with journalists today: the Secretariat of State becomes the papal Secretariat

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

The Holy See waves goodbye to the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor Bonus” which regulates the way the Curia works. The Constitution is soon to be replaced by a new “Charter”. In today’s briefing with journalists, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi announced that the work of the “C8”, Francis’ eight-member group of cardinal advisors, would not involve “amendments or minor changes” but a “complete overhaul of the organisation of the Curia”. All the necessary amount of time needed for this process will be taken but the outcome has already been decided: the Pastor Bonus will be replaced by a “newly configured Constitution that will be include relevant points” and will be inspired on the principle of subsidiarity. The result will be a Curia that serves local Churches.

The aim is to put an end to “Roman centralism”. The “C8” will discuss the following: the pastoral care of families (including the issue of communion for remarried divorcees); the next Synod of Bishops (which bishops have already set the agenda for); turning the Secretariat of State into a papal Secretariat; the introduction of a new “moderator curiae” role to improve coordination between Vatican offices; giving greater weight to the issue of the role lay people play in the Church. These are some of the ideas that emerged from the Council of Cardinals’ meetings. The Council will meet again in January and February. “The Council seemed particularly keen to work towards highlighting the Curia’s role as a body that serves the universal Church and local Churches,” Fr. Lombardi said. Pope Francis’ eight cardinal advisors discussed “subsidiarity”, in other words ensuring the Vatican has less of a “centralist” role so that Rome becomes the place where all necessary work is carried out in order to help the Church’s good actions throughout the rest of the world.

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ITALIA
Il Mattino

di Petronilla Carillo

È lungo 146 pagine il verbale dell’interrogatorio reso da Nunzio Scarano il 24 luglio scorso al procuratore aggiunto di Roma Nello Rossi, al sostituto Stefano Fava e al capitano della guardia di finanza Nisi.

Un interrogatorio che parte con toni sommessi da parte del prelato salernitano il quale ridisegna tutta la geografia politica di Apsa e Ior, lanciando accuse e riferendosi di continuo al memoriale inviato a papa Francesco, ma che termina con una messa all’angolo dell’indagato.

«È mio espresso desiderio dirvi che vi fornirò tutti gli elementi di cui dispongo e che possono essere utili alle indagini». Inizia così don Nunzio rimarcando anche le sue cattive condizioni di salute: «Sono in precarie condizioni di salute fisiche e morali in quanto mi sento molto male, ho avuto un ecodopler arterioso alla gamba destra, sono affetto dal morbo di Pucher, ho avuto due ictus che hanno evidenziato la presenza di una placca all’arteria del piede destro.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

L’ex contabile dell’Amministrazione del patrimonio della Santa Sede interrogato dai pm nell’ambito dell’inchiesta della Procura di Roma: “L’Apsa non poteva avere clienti esterni, ma facevamo banca”. E sul Segretario di Stato Tarcisio Bertone: “Gli ho chiesto di mettere ordine, ma non mi ha considerato”

di Redazione Il Fatto Quotidiano | 2 ottobre 2013

“Pur non potendo l’Apsa avere clienti esterni, facevamo banca, offrendo ai clienti laici tassi più vantaggiosi rispetto allo Ior”. A dichiararlo è Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, ex contabile dell’Amministrazione del patrimonio della Sede Apostolica (Apsa). “Io quando sono andato dal cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (Segretario di Stato del Vaticano, ndr) a chiedere di mettere ordine all’interno dell’amministrazione (Apsa, ndr) non sono stato per niente considerato”, continua la sua confessione Scarano.

L’alto prelato è attualmente detenuto in una struttura ospedaliera a seguito dell’inchiesta della procura di Roma sul fallito tentativo di far rientrare illecitamente in Italia 20 milioni di euro. Le dichiarazioni di Scarano su attività finanziarie dell’Apsa emergono dall’interrogatorio del 24 luglio scorso. Il testo è stato depositato insieme agli atti dell’inchiesta, dopo la richiesta del giudizio immediato per l’alto prelato e altri due protagonisti della vicenda – l’operatore finanziario Giovanni Carenzio e l’ex 007 Giovanni Maria Zito. L’udienza è fissata per il 3 dicembre prossimo.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 3, 2013 NCR Today

ROME
Just days after the Vatican bank attempted to project a new image of transparency with a first-ever audited financial statement, another Vatican financial department faced fresh charges of corruption and shady practices.

Italian newspapers today contained extracts from testimony given to Italian investigators by Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, a former accountant at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA), who was arrested in June for alleged involvement in a plot to smuggle $26 million in cash into Italy from Switzerland at the behest of a family of shipping magnates.

APSA is the primary department that manages the Vatican’s assets, including an “ordinary section” responsible for physical property and an “extraordinary section” that oversees an investment portfolio resulting from a large cash settlement paid to the Vatican by the Italian state in 1929.

While most of the assets of the Vatican bank – technically, the “Institute for the Works of Religion” – belong to dioceses and religious orders, the properties and funds overseen by APSA directly belong to the pope.

According to the newspaper extracts, Scarano charged that during his time at APSA, officials routinely accepted gifts from banks looking to capture part of the Vatican’s assets, including “trips, cruises, five-star hotels, massages, etc.” He claimed that APSA officials frequently transferred funds from one bank to another, in part in order to keep the stream of benefits flowing.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

Priests working in the Vatican’s finance department were offered massages, luxury holidays and cruises by banks keen for their business, Italian investigators have been told.

The claims were made by Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a senior Vatican accountant who was arrested and imprisoned in June on suspicion of trying to smuggle £17 million (20 million euros) into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet.

The allegations concern priests and lay officials working in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See or Apsa, a Vatican department which manages the Holy See’s property.

In questioning by prosecutors in Rome, Msgr Scarano was asked why the department appeared to have frequently changed the banks it dealt with and whether there were any “advantages” for its managers in doing so.

“Many, many advantages – holidays, cruises, staying in five-star hotels, massages, etcetera,” said the priest, according to leaked transcripts of the questioning, which took place in July but has only now come to light.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They’re paying a suspended predator priest
Cleric faces at least three child sex allegations
Yet he’s on payroll of Burbank police department
SNAP: “The real culprit is Cardinal’s continuing secrecy”
In wake of Vatican action, Chicago church officials must act, group says

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will

— harshly criticize Burbank officials for hiring a priest accused of molesting three boys,
— urge them to fire the priest and punish those responsible for the move, and
— prod Chicago archdiocesan officials to release more information about the priest.

WHEN:
Today, Thursday, Oct. 3 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Outside the Archdiocesan headquarters (‘chancery office’), 835 N Rush St Chicago, IL 60611

WHO:
Two – three clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY:
A suspended predator priest – accused of molesting at least three children – now sometimes works around children, because of Burbank city officials and Chicago Catholic officials, SNAP says.

Fr. Robert Stepek now works with the Burbank police department in Burbank “counseling grieving families” and “helping victims who sometimes included children,” according to today’s Chicago Tribune.

Both church and city authorities are to blame here and should take immediate action, SNAP says.

The group wants Burbank Mayor Harry Klein and Police Chief Bruce Radowicz to fire Fr. Stepek and Cardinal Francis George to publicly release details on Fr. Stepek’s alleged crimes and personally visit Fr. Stepek’s former parishes and explain why key archdiocesan staffer convinced Fr. Stepek is a child molester.

SNAP says that the on-going secrecy of top Chicago archdiocesan staffers – including Cardinal George – helps child molesters- perhaps dozens of them – get secular jobs, sometimes around kids.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 04, 2013

PROPOSED reform of the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing process for dealing with sexual abuse claims has been rejected by victims’ advocates, who have called for the in-house system to be dumped immediately.

In its submission to the royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse, released this week, the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council foreshadowed changes including the appointment of independent commissioners who would determine payments to victims.

Broken Rites spokesman Wayne Chamley yesterday said the measures were inadequate and the church should instead dump Towards Healing and take legal steps to enable victims to successfully sue for compensation.

“They have had plenty of opportunity to get it right and it has never been right,” Dr Chamley said. “The church has got to vacate the field. If they are genuine they will repeal all the obstacles that currently exist for people going to civil law.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Oct. 3, 2013

NSW Police and the Catholic Church worked together for years under informal agreements that were in direct conflict with requirements to report child abuse, internal police documents have shown.

The arrangements allowed the church to produce edited abuse reports, carry out investigations and decline to release the results to police without court orders.

When a senior NSW Police officer advised the church in August 2003 that an unsigned memorandum of understanding (MOU) appeared to be ‘‘in direct conflict’’ with legal requirements to report crime, police did not investigate whether the church had failed to report abuse cases.

A year later the church proposed a fresh MOU giving accused clergy and employees effective veto over the release of internal church investigations to police.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Police records accesssed under Freedom of Information laws have revealed that the Catholic Church tried to strike an agreement with NSW police to allow it withold information about paedophile priests.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Police records obtained under Freedom of Information laws have revealed that the Catholic Church was trying to strike an illegal agreement with the New South Wales Police, damaging to investigations of child sex abuse.

The police say the memorandum of understanding was never signed and never in force. But a senior official of the Catholic Church has told Lateline the agreement was in fact operational and the Catholic Church dealt with the police under its provisions. Under the draft agreement, the Church could withhold personnel files from police. That and other provisions were found to be in breach of the Crimes Act.

Steve Cannane has this exclusive report. The producer was Sashka Koloff.

STEVE CANNANE, REPORTER: In recent years the Catholic Church has been accused of covering up child sexual abuse committed by its own clergy.

Now they’re being accused of trying to co-opt NSW Police to help them suppress evidence against paedophile priests.

This draft agreement between police and the Church contains clauses that would allow the Church to withhold evidence from police.

(female voiceover): “Church authorities shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused’s account of events only if required to do so by court order.”

GEOFFREY WATSON, BARRISTER: The point is that under our law, you must report it if you become aware of a serious criminal offence and you’ve got to give all the particulars of that. You’ve got to tell the police. When I looked at the MOUs, they were really in effect trying to get the police to condone the failure to comply with that law, or even perhaps worse, get the police to participate in it.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Exclusive by Steve Cannane and Sashka Koloff

The Catholic Church tried to strike an agreement with New South Wales Police that would have helped shutdown investigations into paedophile priests and placed police in breach of the Crimes Act.

Police records, accessed under freedom of information laws by Greens MP David Shoebridge, show two attempts were made to finalise memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between police and the church over how to deal with complaints of sexual and physical abuse by Catholic Church personnel.

The first agreement, which was unsigned, includes a clause that reads: “Church authorities shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused’s account of events only if required to do so by court order.”

Barrister Geoffrey Watson SC says the agreement would have placed police in breach of the Crimes Act.

“If you become aware of a serious criminal offence, you’ve got to tell the police,” he told the ABC’s Lateline program.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Mail (UK)

The Catholic priest who quit after getting a woman pregnant has revealed that the mother of his child was a member of his congregation and he now thinks that the Church should allow priests to marry.

Father Daniel McFalls left his post at St Mary’s in Stockton, California after making the shocking announcement to his parish that he was going to be a first-time father.

The baby- a boy, named Daniel Gabriel- has since been born and the former priest is speaking out about how he feels the Church needs to change with the times.

‘It’s sad I had to choose between caring for this child and all the people I care for at our church. It’s sad I was put in that position,’ he told The New York Daily News.

‘I know I’m not worthy to be speaking publicly about this because I’m a sinner, but I hope this might help the Catholic Church to look more deeply at the possibility of finding some way to open the door to a married priesthood.’

One of those parishioners who was particularly close to his heart was the mother of his newborn child.

He has not revealed her name, but said that she is a ‘discreet’ member of his church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ewan Gilbert

A Canberra priest is expected to be charged with more child abuse offences.

Father Edward Evans, 84, was arrested earlier this year on allegations he indecently assaulted a young girl at his home during the 1990s.

He pleaded not guilty.

But on Thursday in the ACT Magistrates Court, the prosecution announced the investigation was still open and they expected to lay further charges in the coming weeks.

Evans did not appear in court, but his lawyer argued that he didn’t know anything about the fresh charges and that, in the meantime, the case should progress regardless.

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ARGENTINA
The Tablet

[Detailed Summary of Case of Julio César Grassi, Drawn from Media Coverage and Public Reports – BishopAccountability.org]

3 October 2013

A priest who was defended by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, has begun a 15-year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of an adolescent boy in the 1990s. Fr Julio Cesar Grassi, 57, was the nationally known leader of Buenos Aires’ Happy Children Foundation, a centre for troubled boys, at the time the crime took place.

Grassi has consistently maintained his innocence. He told the provincial court in Moron that jailed him on Monday: “The prosecutors have lied and set up a case against me.”

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi declined to comment on the case, which is making headlines in Argentina.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in a 2006 interview with the Argentine magazine Veintitres, Cardinal Bergoglio Fr Grassi had not been suspended from his priestly duties because his case was “different” from other cases of alleged sexual abuse that had emerged at the time.

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CALIFORNIA
Irish Central

Father Daniel McFalls, who quit his post at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Stockton, CA, has announced that his son Gabriel has arrived. Last week Father McFalls, known as Dean, told his congregation “A child will soon be born, and I am the baby’s father”.

With these words McFalls voluntarily quit his post recently, admitting he had gotten a woman pregnant and leaving his congregants reeling.

But at least one member of his congregations professed herself glad, calling him ‘flirty.’

Diana Garcia, who has attended the church for 15 years, told Fox News: ‘He’s gone after girls before and he’s gone after my daughters.’

‘He’s just lustful, he didn’t say he was in love or would marry the girl, no. It’s not about being a sinner, it’s about playing with God, he made a vow, this is a priest we’re talking about.’

In a letter sent to the church and read to his congregation, McFalls said: ‘I know this comes as a shock to you, and to many a disappointment.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Entorno Inteligente

El Caribe / El sacerdote Rogelio Cruz calificó ayer de “enfermos” a los religiosos acusados de violaciones a menores y consideró que la Iglesia debe ayudarles, al igual que las supuestas víctimas. “No justificamos ningún tipo de violación y si se trata de casos de menores, pues mucho menos. Estoy de acuerdo en que el que hizo un mal, pues tiene que pagarlo”, explicó el padre, quien agregó que no está de acuerdo con que una persona sea condenada antes de ser juzgada por la justicia. Dijo que hasta la misma iglesia está juzgando a los supuestos violadores cuando aún no han sido condenados por la Justicia. “Son seres humanos que necesitan ayuda, así como la necesitan las víctimas”.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Radical priest Rogelio Cruz described on Wednesday called the prelates charged with sexually abusing minors “sick” and said the Church should help them, as well as the alleged victims.

“We don’t justify any kind of violation and when it’s about cases of minors, even much less. I agree that if they did wrong, they have to pay,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

October 3, 2013

Michael Inman
Courts reporter for The Canberra Times.

A Canberra Catholic priest will stand trial over allegations of historical offences against a child in the 1990s.

The ACT Magistrates Court also heard Father Edward Evans was under police investigation over further allegations and fresh charges could be laid in the coming weeks.

Father Evans, 84, was arrested and charged earlier this year with three acts of indecency between 1994 and 1997.

The German-language chaplain is accused of indecently touching a girl three times, twice when she was between 11 and 12, and a third time when she was 13.

He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 3 October 2013 (VIS) – The reform of the Curia and the attribution of of more incisive role to the laity were among the principal themes considered yesterday afternoon and this morning in the meeting of the Council of Cardinals, instituted by the Pope to assist him in the governance of the Church, said the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., in a briefing with journalists.

Before commenting on the issues discussed by the cardinals, Fr. Lombardi referred to the words of the Pope at the end of the audience with participants in the meeting held to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of John XXIII’s encyclical, “Pacem in terris”, in which he recalled the victims, currently numbered at 90, of the shipwreck this morning near the Italian island of Lampedusa. “In the light of this new tragedy”, he said, “we understand more clearly the value and meaning of the first trip of Francis’ pontificate”.

Moving on to the work of the Council of Cardinals, he stated that the Pope was present yesterday in the afternoon session, held between 4 and 7 p.m. “The Holy Father goes to pray at the Chapel at seven o’clock, and that is the end of their collaboration, although the the cardinals may join him together, if they see fit. This morning he was not present as he received in audience the participants in the meeting organised by the Pontifical Council ‘Justice and Peace’”.

The cardinals worked principally on the reform of the Curia. “The direction of their work would not indicate an updating of the apostolic Constitution ‘Pastor Bonus’, with retouches and marginal modifications”, explained Lombardi, “but rather, a new constitution with significant new aspects. It will be necessary to wait a reasonable amount of time following this Council, but the idea is this. The cardinals have made it clear that they do not intend to make cosmetic retouches or minor modifications to ‘Pastor bonus’”.

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CHILE
Terra

Una funcionaria del Colegio Cumbres declaró como testigo “protegida” en el marco de la investigación de la Fiscalía Oriente en contra del sacerdote John O’Reilly, quien se encuentra formalizado por presuntos abusos sexuales a dos alumnas del establecimiento ubicado en la comuna de Las Condes.

“Generalmente me encontraba en las mañanas con el padre John recibiendo niños y después, al mediodía, lo veía que sacaba alumnos chicos a comprar dulces”, relató, agregando que el religioso “se ponía en la entrada del preescolar a saludar a los niños y después se los llevaba a misa”.

“El padre generalmente sacaba a niños de la sala y les regalaba muchos dulces y eso, en un contexto de educación, no es normal. Además, él siempre estaba rodeado de niños”, afirmó la mujer, según consigna Emol.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

APN Newsdesk 3rd Oct 2013

THE Catholic Church has admitted it betrayed its own people and the expectations of the wider community in its handling of sex abuse allegations.

But despite the admission, contained in a submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council has made no significant changes to internal processes designed to bring closure to victims.

The 200-page submission outlines the church’s Towards Healing process, which was created in 1996 to help victims of abuse by Catholic priests.

The program will be the subject of a fortnight of intense scrutiny by the commission, starting on December 9 this year.

While the council has admitted grave faults across its investigation and response to allegations of child sexual abuse, the submission says only it is open to suggestions for improvements from the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Thursday October 3, 2013

Catholic Church reforms to its handling of clerical abuse claims are an attempt to maintain private control of a compensation scheme for victims of abuse, a NSW MP says.

The church announced on Thursday that it was looking at a separation of its pastoral and compensation roles when it came to dealing with victims of child sexual abuse.

Under the proposal the reparation elements of the church’s Towards Healing process could work alongside any future national compensation scheme.

Towards Healing was set up by the church in 1996 to deal with complaints from abuse victims and to pay compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Wednesday 2 October 2013

The Catholic church has admitted grave faults in its dealings with victims of sex abuse by priests. The peak body that represents the church, the Truth Justice and Healing Council, has reported shoddy record-keeping, secrecy, inconsistent outcomes and lack of effective supervision of the dioceses and religious orders responsible for the care of victims.

These admissions come in a submission to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse, which is soon to examine the church’s Towards Healing process that offers care and compensation to victims of priests everywhere in Australia but the parishes of Melbourne.

“The submission presents to the royal commission a warts and all approach that outlines the strengths but also recognises how Towards Healing operates,” Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, which was set up last year to co-ordinate the church’s response to the royal commission, told Guardian Australia.

“We need to put in place much more rigorous, contemporary best-practice governance arrangements including accountability for all church authorities about the operation of Towards Healing, the safeguards that are in the Catholic church for children, the measures to prevent sex abuse and the achievement of standards across the whole church.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Public submissions received by the Royal Commission for Issues Paper 2 on Towards Healing that discuss principles and procedures are listed below in order of receipt. Information has been withheld in accordance with the advertised conditions.

1. Australian Human Rights Commission

2. Concerned Queensland Catholics

3. Lewis Holdway Lawyers

4. Catholics for Renewal Incorporated

5. Australian Lawyers Alliance

6. Broken Rites

7. Knowmore

8. UTS Business School – Centre for Health Economics Research and Education

9. Bravehearts

10. Australian Association of Social Workers

11. NSW Ombudsman

12. Law Council of Australia

13. Slater and Gordon

14. Judy Courtin

15. Truth Justice and Healing Council

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP OCTOBER 03, 2013

LACK of oversight and accountability by the Catholic Church in handling child sex abuse complaints has led to mixed outcomes for victims, a church spokesman says.

Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council has announced proposals to reform the approach to clerical sexual abuse.

The reforms would include a separation of the pastoral and compensation elements of the Towards Healing process, which deals with victims of Catholic Church abuse.

“There has been a contamination of the pastoral approaches by legal approaches,” Mr Sullivan told AAP on Thursday.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

He has unveiled the true program of his pontificate in two interviews and a letter to an atheist intellectual. With respect to the popes who preceded him the separation appears ever more clear. In words and in deeds

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 3, 2013 – The first meeting, in these days, of the eight cardinals called to consultation by Pope Francis and his visit tomorrow to Assisi, the city of the saint whose name he has taken, are acts that certainly characterize the beginning of this pontificate.

But even more characterizing, in defining its approach, have been four media events of the month just ended:

– the interview of pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio with “La Civiltà Cattolica,”

– his letter in reply to the questions addressed to him publicly by Eugenio Scalfari (in the photo), the founder of the leading secular Italian newspaper, “la Repubblica,”

– his subsequent conversation-interview with Scalfari,

– and another letter in reply to another champion of militant atheism, the mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, this last written not by the current pope but by his living predecessor.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau Oct 3, 2013

As his global popularity soars, the pope is meeting with eight cardinals charged with solving the church’s crises. Barbie Latza Nadeau on what Francis might decide to fix.

While the picturesque Umbrian hamlet of Assisi prepares for what will surely be an epic love-fest when Pope Francis follows the footsteps of his papal namesake St. Francis in Assisi on Friday, a quiet storm is brewing back in Rome.

This week, Francis called his group of eight reformist cardinals to the Holy See for their inaugural summit on reform. The pope appointed the eight in April, tasking them with the tough job of prioritizing the Vatican’s many woes. The group is made up of Sean O’Malley of the United States, Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, Giuseppe Bertello of Italy, Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa of Chile, Reinhard Marx of Germany, Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of the Congo, George Pell of Australia and Oswald Gracias of India. They have been interviewing church leaders and clergy in their home continents to bring what should be a comprehensive list of problems to the pope’s table.

In July, O’Malley told National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen he was interviewing cardinals in the United States and Canada to “get ideas for reform.” Allen, who has his pulse on the Vatican heartbeat like few others, says the so-called G-8 cardinals will have far more reach than as just advisors, even though it remains to be seen whether they will just be “a kitchen cabinet that doesn’t appear anywhere on formal Vatican flowcharts,” he wrote in his recent column on the summit. “The pope takes the G-8 seriously, which means everybody else in the Vatican is obliged to do so as well.”

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PERU
Caretas

Summary: The devil seemed to seize Father Felix Pariona, chaplain of the cathedral in Ayacucho last Sunday. “String of liars!” roared the white cassocked priest who then grabbed the neck and shoved a Caretas reporter. Pariona and a group of folllowers support former Bishop Gabina Miranda who has been accused of pedophilia. They demanded to know the details about explusion of Miranda.Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, speaking from Rome, said he did not know the details of the case.]

El diablo pareció apoderarse del padre Félix Pariona, capellán de la Basílica Catedral de Ayacucho, el domingo último.

–“¡Sarta de mentirosos!”– bramó el cura de blanca sotana para después agarrar del cuello y empujar a un reportero de CARETAS.

Pariona y un grupo de seguidores del suspendido obispo de Ayacucho, Gabino Miranda (53), lucían fuera de sí.

Exigían saber los detalles de la expulsión de Miranda de la Iglesia y atacaban a quienes recordaban las acusaciones de pedofilia contra el sacerdote.

“Hermano Gabino, esperamos tu retorno”, gritaban.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

A VICAR and former magistrate is on trial accused of sexually assaulting a girl.

Christopher Tadman-Robins, 66, pictured, is accused of touching and kissing the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when she lived in Oxfordshire.

Ann Evans, prosecuting, told a jury at Luton Crown Court yesterday that the musician and former musical director of the Northern Ballet had touched his victim and warned her not to tell anyone.

The barrister said Tadman-Robins had tried to make the girl “blame herself” for the abuse and sent her letters to “express sorrow for his actions”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s Catholic church will consider an overhaul of how it handles clerical sexual abuse claims with plans to appoint independent experts and move away from the pastoral management of victim reparation and child protection standards.

In a recommendation endorsed by church leaders and due to be submitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church’s advisory body – the Truth, Justice and Healing Council – has suggested the church should hand over responsibility for determining and distributing who is eligible for compensation and how it should be paid.

‘We think that it is time now to look at a distinct separation of the pastoral responsibility and response of a church and its responsibility and contribution to compensation,’ Council CEO Francis Sullivan told ABC Radio on Thursday.

‘This is a new direction based on accountability, transparency and independent oversight.’

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn

03 October 2013

The Catholic Church is developing a reform agenda, including wide-ranging independent input, as part of an overhaul of its approach to clerical sexual abuse.

Chief executive officer of the Truth Justice and Healing Council Francis Sullivan said the reforms would be presented to Church leaders in the first half of next year and could be put in place late next year.

The reform proposals are outlined in the Truth Justice and Healing Council’s Towards Healing submission to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

“These proposals recognise that we must do better when we are dealing with victims of sexual abuse and as we work to make sure our institutions are as safe as possibly for children,” Mr Sullivan said.

The proposals include:

* Appointing independent compensation commissioners to determine payments to victims who go through the victim response process known as Towards Healing. This would separate the pastoral responses in Towards Healing from the determination of financial payments.

* Appointing lay and independent experts to strengthen the Church’s National Committee of Professional Standards.

* Introducing an independent national board to develop and administer national child protection standards. The board would monitor adherence to these standards and publicly report on compliance. It would also provide more rigorous assessment, monitoring, auditing and enforcement of Towards Healing practices.

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VATICAN CITY
The Sun Daily

Posted on 3 October 2013

VATICAN CITY (Oct 3, 2013): Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of bishop William Lee whom the Catholic Church in Ireland said was stepping down for health reasons.

The Holy See said Lee was relieved of his functions under paragraph 2 of article 401 of the Code of Canon Law, which covers resignations on health grounds as well as offences linked to the handling of child abuse cases and corruption.

In a story on October 1, AFP erroneously linked Lee’s resignation to his handling of a complaint of child sex abuse made against a priest dating back to 1993.

Sources close to the Vatican said Lee is suffering from cancer.

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AUSTRALIA
Pedestrian TV

The Catholic Church has told the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse that it intends to implement new organisation-wide policies and strategies for dealing with complaints of sexual abuse by priests.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Catholic Church has put forward a range of policy reforms in a formal submission to the Royal Commission, including agreeing to contribute to “an independent national compensation scheme if that is what the commission investigating child sex abuse in institutions recommends.”

The submission also addresses criticisms of the Catholic Church’s own Towards Healing, the set of principles “form the basis of the Church’s response to complaints of abuse and the procedures to be followed in responding to individual complaints,” which has been accused of being inconsistent in the way it deals with complaints, and that it lacks “transparency, accountability or independence”. The reforms will include the creation of “an independent lay-led board to audit, enforce and report publicly the Towards Healing abuse protocol”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 3, 2013 NCR Today

Rome – Although Pope Francis has earned a reputation for taking on tough questions and shaking up the status quo, so far he’s been relatively quiet on at least one issue that’s arguably done greater harm to the image and morale of the church over the last decade than any other: the child sexual abuse scandals.

Even when the pontiff has had opportunities to express concern, he’s sometimes let them pass by. For instance, there was no meeting with victims of abuse during his July 22-29 trip to Brazil, even though such encounters had become almost a routine feature of papal travel under Benedict XVI.

The activist group BishopAccountability.org recently asserted of Francis, “He has expressed solidarity with nearly every vulnerable population except for those who were sexually abused within the church.”

Neither have there been many substantive developments on the policy front. On July 11, Francis approved a revision to the laws of the Vatican City State adding crimes for sexual abuse of children, child prostitution, and possession of child pornography, but that merely codified changes already announced under Benedict.

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AUSTRALIA
Gulf News

[Submission from the Truth Justice and Healing Council]

AFP
Published: October 3, 2013

Sydney: Australia’s Catholic Church on Thursday unveiled a major reform of the way it handles child sex abuse cases, as it acknowledged it had “betrayed” the public with cover-ups which put itself before victims.

The Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, established in response to Australia’s ongoing royal commission into institutional child sex abuse, released what it described as the “most significant” reforms in its 200-year history to its processes for dealing with claims of clergy abuse of children.

It came as the commission made public one of the Church’s submissions to the inquiry, in which it admitted it was “deeply ashamed” of the extent of clergy sex abuse of children and said many victims “were not believed when they should have been.”

“The church is also ashamed to acknowledge that, in some cases, those in positions of authority concealed or covered up what they knew of the facts; moved perpetrators to another place thereby enabling them to offend again, or failed to report matters to the police when they should have,” the submission said, describing it as “indefensible.”

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COLORADO
Coloradoan

A Fort Collins man connected to Windsor church Iglesia del Dios Vivo has been found guilty of sexual assault on a child, making him the second man in the church’s recent history to face such charges.

Hugo Ornelas, 49, was found guilty in early September by a jury on four counts of sexual assault on a child stemming from his December 2012 arrest.

Ornelas was ordered not to be in contact with anyone under the age of 18. But in June, he was arrested again, this time on misdemeanor charges of violating the terms and conditions of his protection order, after Windsor Police, working with Fort Collins police, found Ornelas interacting with children ages 3 to 8 at the Iglesia del Dios Vivo church.

According to his arrest affidavit, Ornelas told police he thought the protection order didn’t apply to his church.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Jennifer Delgado
Tribne reporter
8:34 p.m. CDT, October 2, 2013

Seven years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago removed the popular pastor of a southwest suburban church after he was accused of molesting two brothers.

But Burbank Mayor Harry Klein thought the Rev. Robert Stepek was innocent. So, in 2007, he recommended the priest for a different position of authority: police department counselor, helping victims who sometimes included children. Stepek got the job.

The hiring came at a time of increasing public furor over the church’s handling of molestation allegations and divided many in Burbank.

Klein, like some other parishioners at St. Albert the Great, put his trust in Stepek and defended the decision to hire the priest.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis and his Council of Cardinals this week could well paraphrase the ”Veni, Vidi, Vici” of an earlier Roman pontiff, Julius Caesar. Instead, “Venemus, Vidimus, Curia Vicit”, in English, “We came, we saw and the Curia conquered”.

After years of financial and sexual scandals among the Catholic hierarchy and six months’ of propaganda previews, Pope Francis and the “usual suspects” basically preserved the Curia in secret, after some opportunistic tinkering . The “conquered” remain the same, the People of God, especially women and children. Of course, none of these People of God had any real say with respect to the Council of Cardinals.

The titanic Vatican continues to sink, despite the rearranged deck chairs and this new Argentinian paintjob , which didn’t fix the leaks. The papal strategy of ex-Pope Benedict remains intact, along with the time honored papal tactic of saying one thing and doing another.

The strategy is simple. Protect the hierarchy, even criminal ones like Bishop Finn, and their personal assets at all costs, maximize the papal mystique and push docile Catholics to breed more Catholics. These new Catholic rabbits can then fund and staff the future Church and vote for preferred politicians in exchange for continued protection and subsidies for the hierarchy.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Pope has proposed a strategy for speeding up trials, involving cases being heard in first and second instance courts, by different judges

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

The fight against paedophilia and abuse against minors by members of the clergy remains a priority under Francis’ pontificate as it was under Benedict XVI’s. One of the ideas currently being examined for the improvement of the existing system, is to establish national and regional ecclesiastical courts, specialising in these types of cases. This would speed the trial process up.

The idea was discussed during the second part of the Concistory which took place on Monday morning. All cardinals present in Rome attended. After John Paul Ii and John XXIII’s canonization dates were officially announced, Francis consulted the cardinals on the anti-paedophilia regulations currently in place.

Last 6 April, after receiving the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, Francis “strongly urged the Congregation to continue the work Benedict XVI had begun against sex abuse and act with determination to combat it.” Francis asked the Congregation above all to “promote measures for the protection of minors, help past victims of sex abuse, take all necessary measures to bring guilty parties to justice and ensure Bishops’ Conferences introduced and implemented all necessary regulations relating to sex abuse. This is so important for the Church’s testimony and credibility.” This is an unmistakable sign that the clampdown on paedophilia in the Church continues.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Statement by Bishop Lee on his resignation on health grounds as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore

My dear Priests, Religious and People of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore,

As you are aware in July 2011 I was diagnosed with serious illness and, since diagnosis, I have been under medical care. This has impacted greatly on my health and ministry. Recently the medical advice to me has been that, in the interests of my health, I should retire from the office of Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Even though I found the time since diagnosis quite demanding, I had hoped that I would be able to continue in office and looked forward to doing so. Now, my doctors have advised otherwise.

Accordingly, I have in the past few weeks submitted my letter of resignation as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore to Pope Francis. The Holy Father has considered my request and graciously accepted my resignation.

It is with reluctance and sadness that I have come to this decision to retire as I have been very happy and blessed amongst you the priests, religious and people of the diocese. It was a great privilege for me to be your Bishop. I have been ministering in that capacity for just over twenty years since I was ordained Bishop on 25 July 1993. It is a long time and you have been very patient with my shortcomings. My years as Bishop have been so fulfilling and, as well, very challenging. Today I recall with gratitude all who have shared in making God’s love present among us – building community, forming the young, safeguarding children, supporting the vulnerable, caring for the elderly, nurturing goodness and hope at every opportunity. I thank you for your dedication and generosity.

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IRELAND
Catholics4Change

OCTOBER 2, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

I was contacted today by Martin Long, director of communications at the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, on behalf on Bishop William Lee. He shared Bishop Lee’s statement which explains his resignation was due to serious health reasons that have recently worsened. Long states that Agence France-Presse Foundation (AFP), which reported the original story, gravely defamed Bishop Lee in their coverage. He goes on to say that AFP acknowledges their mistake and has apologized. They have since removed the story from their Web site.

As a blog, we frequently link to press stories and broadcast reports. When we find that those outlets have pulled their coverage due to inaccuracy, we will follow suit. We have no interest in furthering lies. The laity has had enough of that. There is no shortage of horrible truths to expose.

He goes on to share an independent audit published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic in Ireland. Click to read report. The content includes comments such as, “The review team strongly commends Bishop Lee for his personal commitment, leadership and absolute desire to keep children safe.”

According to IrishCentral, Bishop Lee publicly apologized in 2010 after admitting his “response to child abuse allegations in the mid-1990s was ‘seriously inadequate.’” We are happy the audit showed progress in the protection of children.

That’s where I would have liked to have ended this post. But Long continues with another request to “publish an apology to Bishop Lee in a phrasing to be approved in advance by me on his behalf. Your website is available in Ireland on the internet and accordingly your defamatory statements are subject to the laws of Ireland. Bishop Lee has consulted lawyers in relation to this matter. His instruction to me is that he would wish that the continuation of the grave wrong done to him be halted by you immediately in order to avert further damage to his reputation. The effectiveness with which you act will determine his next steps. Your response is demanded before 10.00am (Irish time) tomorrow.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 03, 2013

THE Catholic Church has pledged to reform its controversial Towards Healing program for victims of clerical sexual abuse, emphasising greater transparency and independent management of compensation.

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has already received numerous submissions from victims’ advocates accusing church representatives of undermining victims and taking a defensive or hostile position in meetings.

In its submission to the inquiry, the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council acknowledged some of the problems and said it was developing proposals for greater oversight of its in-house settlement process.

“The church readily accepts that Towards Healing is not a complete, or perfect, solution for what is a complex and very difficult issue, and that it will inevitably have shortcomings from the perspective of some victims,” the council said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 3, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

The Catholic Church will create independent strategies for handling clergy sex abuse complaints by the end of next year in response to widespread criticisms, it has told the royal commission.

In its formal submission, to be released on Thursday, the church says it is happy to contribute to an independent national compensation scheme if that is what the commission investigating child sex abuse in institutions recommends.

But that would take years, whereas the church recognises it needs to act immediately to make its response more open, accountable and independent, according to Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

“We don’t want the legal mindset to contaminate what should be a pastoral response,” Mr Sullivan told Fairfax Media.

The council was set up by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and religious orders after the royal commission was announced late last year to co-ordinate the church’s response. It represents 31 Australian dioceses and more than 100 orders.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Australia’s Catholic church will consider an overhaul of how it handles clerical sexual abuse claims with plans to appoint independent experts and move away from the pastoral management of victim reparation and child protection standards.

In a recommendation endorsed by church leaders and due to be submitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church’s advisory body – the Truth, Justice and Healing Council – has suggested the church should hand over responsibility for determining and distributing who is eligible for compensation and how it should be paid.

“We think that it is time now to look at a distinct separation of the pastoral responsibility and response of a church and its responsibility and contribution to compensation,” Council CEO Francis Sullivan told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“This is a new direction based on accountability, transparency and independent oversight.”

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ARGENTINA
BishopAccountability.org – Monitor

[SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MONITOR NEWSLETTER]

– An Argentine court finally sends to prison a priest convicted of child sex abuse in 2009 and defended by the Pope
– This is an opportunity for Pope Francis to be transparent and pastoral
– See our new summary, with translated articles and court documents, of then-Cardinal Bergoglio’s involvement in this controversial case

Dear Friend,

A pedophile priest in Argentina who has stayed free since his criminal conviction four years ago in part because of covert lobbying of judges by the Argentine bishops’ conference, headed by then-Cardinal Bergoglio, finally has started serving his 15-year sentence. This week, an Argentine criminal court ordered Father Julio César Grassi immediately to go to prison for molesting a 13-year-old boy in the late 1990s.

According to news reports, Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, led a private campaign to exonerate Grassi and discredit his victims after Grassi was convicted in June 2009. See our analysis of the Grassi case and dossier of articles and documents, which we made public this week.

Bergoglio and GrassiNow, as leader of the Catholic church, Pope Francis has an opportunity to order a full account of child sexual abuse by clerics in Argentina, and the cover-up by Argentine bishops. Six months into his papacy, the Pope has addressed financial corruption but not the corrupt shielding of sex offenders by bishops. He has expressed solidarity with nearly every vulnerable population except for those who were sexually abused within the church.

We are especially troubled that the Pope lobbied for Grassi so recently – in 2009 and 2010, years after the worldwide cover-up scandal broke and bishops in the US and Europe began implementing reforms, and soon after Bergoglio was nearly elected Pope in 2005.

Pope Francis in his America interview was contrite about his management failings as provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina during the dirty war, though he doesn’t mention his Jesuit subordinates, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, who were arrested, tortured, and released, let alone Mónica María Candelaria Mignone and her friends, who were arrested with the priests, tortured, and murdered. (See also a Google translation into English of the Mignone page.) The Grassi decision is the moment for Pope Francis to use the discernment also discussed in the interview to bring transparency to his time as a high archdiocesan official, archbishop, and cardinal in Buenos Aires. We urge that he order the release of a complete list of all credibly accused clerics with whom he dealt, both as an archdiocesan official and a Jesuit provincial, and that he compel Argentine bishops and religious superiors to publish similar lists, as 26 US bishops and religious superiors have done.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

FRANCIS SULLIVAN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH OCTOBER 03, 2013

THE Daily Telegraph recently reported the case of a Catholic brother jailed for at least three and half years for abusing children at a western Sydney school.

It was the sort of report that is often seen in the pages of most of our newspapers and across other media and which reflects an appalling history of sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church.

The victims of this type of abuse go through extreme damage and suffering and the impact it can have on their lives is profound.

It is this damage and suffering that is at the centre of the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing victims’ reparation protocol.

For the better part of 20 years the Catholic Church in Australia has used Toward Healing to offer victims of sex abuse by catholic priests, brothers, teachers and others church workers a way to tell their story and to receive pastoral care and reparation.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Rev. Alan E. Caparella was ordained a Franciscan priest in 1966. He worked at a high school in the Pittsburgh, PA diocese early in his career, moving to the Boston archdiocese in 1972 where he did parish work and some hospital ministry. He died in March 1991. Caparella was accused of the sexual abuse of a minor in a lawsuit that was settled in May 2013.

Ordained: 1966
Died: March 31, 1991

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
WGEM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – An attorney for a girl and her parents says a lawsuit involving a western Missouri priest convicted of producing child pornography has reached a tentative settlement.

Rebecca Randles, who has represented dozens of clients who claim to have been abused by Roman Catholic priests, declined Wednesday to discuss terms of the agreement.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/15JldnV ) reports a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also declined to comment before a judge approves the deal.

The lawsuit against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese was scheduled for trial Monday. A hearing on the settlement agreement is set for Oct. 25.

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ARGENTINA
El Civico

[Detailed Summary of Case of Julio César Grassi, Drawn from Media Coverage and Public Reports – BishopAccountability.org]

Buenos Aires.- La defensa de Julio César Grassi, presentó en las últimas horas un recurso extraordinario ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia para que revean la condena del sacerdote a 15 años de prisión por abuso sexual de menores, fallo que ratificó la Suprema Corte bonaerense.

Ante esta decisión, el patrocinante de la defensa de Grassi, Carlos Irisarri, argumentó: “El tribunal de juicio partió de la base de que la palabra del acusador valía más que la palabra del acusado, decapitando así la palabra de éste sin dar ninguna razón crítico-racionalista para tal diferenciación, que, en principio, a falta de otra prueba, sólo podría basarse en razones extraordinarias, mientras que su acusador está en la doble debilidad de ser ‘declarante único’ + ‘interesado en la causa'”.

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ARGENTINA
Terra

[Summary: Priest Julio Cesar Grassi has appealed his 15-year sentence for abusing minors to the Supreme Court.]

El cura Julio César Grassi apeló el fallo de la Suprema Corte Bonaerense que confirmó la pena en su contra de 15 años de prisión por abuso sexual de menores y por la cual fue detenido la semana pasada tras recibir la condena en 2009.

Con un recurso extraordinario, el abogado Carlos Irisarri, patrocinante del sacerdote, pretende llevar el caso a la Corte Suprema de Justicia para que revise la condena a 15 años por “abuso sexual agravado por resultar sacerdote, encargado de la educación y de la guarda del menor víctima, reiterado, dos hechos, en concurso real entre sí, que a su vez concurren formalmente con corrupción de menores agravada”.

“El tribunal de juicio partió de la base de que la palabra del acusador valía más que la palabra del acusado, decapitando así la palabra de éste sin dar ninguna razón crítico-racionalista para tal diferenciación, que, en principio, a falta de otra prueba, sólo podría basarse en razones extraordinarias, mientras que su acusador está en la doble debilidad de ser ‘declarante único’ + ‘interesado en la causa'”, acusó el letrado.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 2

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

A “permanently” suspended predator priest will be restored as “a priest in good standing” because Vatican bureaucrats have overruled Chicago church figures and claim that they can’t “find evidence strong enough to merit a judgment that (he) had sexually abused a minor.”

The cleric is Fr. Robert A. Stepek. Cardinal George should put him in a remote, secure treatment center immediately, so that kids will be safer. And every single Catholic church employee and church member – current and former – who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. Stepek should step forward.

[Catholic New World]

At the same time, however, Vatican officials “also found that Father Stepek had engaged in behaviors inappropriate for a priest.”

Cardinal George promises he’ll keep Fr. Stepek out of ministry. We hope George will honor this pledge. We’re skeptical, however, because we see pledges like this broken by bishops often. And we’re worried because a child molester without a job is still a child molester.

Kids are safer when predators like Fr. Stepek are behind bars. Since Catholic officials recruited, educated, ordained, hired, transferred and protected Fr. Stepek – and continue to pay him now – Catholic officials have a duty to help police and prosecutors go after him.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

October 2

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Days before the case was to go to trial, the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese has tentatively settled a second civil lawsuit involving a priest convicted of producing child pornography.

The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court against the diocese, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn by a minor girl and her parents, was resolved this week, the attorney for the girl’s family said Wednesday.

It is the third settlement involving allegations of sexual abuse by a priest in five months. The previous cases resulted in settlements totaling nearly $3 million.

“There’s a tentative agreement, but we can’t discuss any of the terms until the court approves the settlement, because a minor is involved,” said Rebecca Randles, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Bowling Green Times

Posted on Tuesday, October 1, 2013

A Catholic priest from St. Louis accused of sexual crimes with a minor was granted continuance Monday, just a day before he was slated to be seen in a Pike County courtroom for trial by jury.

Father Xiuhui “Joseph” Jiang, 30, of the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, was scheduled for a two-day jury trial to begin Oct. 1. This continuance grant will yet again delay his case, which began over a year ago in Lincoln County.

Jiang was charged in the summer of 2012 with one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child First Degree – First Offense – Sexual Conduct after he reportedly had inappropriate, sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl on several occasions earlier in the year.

The priest, who was a friend of the victim’s family, is also charged with felony witness tampering after he allegedly admitted his actions and placed a check for $20,000 on the victim’s family car.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Waste and external consulting were among the issues addressed at Francis’ meeting with the eight-member Council of Cardinals. The Pope’s advisor task force also discussed the possibility of nominating a moderator of the Curia

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

Nothing will ever be the same again. Francis has opened the “G8” meetings for the reform of the Curia entrusting them with the mission of freely discussing everything that can help improve the Holy See. The eight cardinals took him by his word, immediately putting innovative proposals on the table to simplify Vatican bureaucracy.

The number one priority is to make the Curia n machine more efficient by cutting costs and positions of power. Ideas currently being discussed are the merging of dicasteries and the nomination of a “moderator curiae” (a moderator of the Curia). There are too many bodies that share the same tasks, particularly in the financial field (Prefecture, APSA, Governorate) and the field of welfare (Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace, Health and Migrants). Too many external consultants have been hired to oversee the Secretariat of State, the Vatican bank (IOR) and the Holy See’s communications in particular. A spending review is currently being studied to prune the incomes of individuals in certain roles within the ecclesiastical “caste” system. The Curia needs to help spread the faith not act as an obstacle. So career-focused clerics would do well to leave the Holy See and go back to ministering in the parishes. The president of the Vatican bank (IOR), Ernst von Freyberg told Vatican Radio that the bank is ready for an inspection of its management system and embassies with Vatican bank accounts will have to conform to international financial transparency standards. The first “G8” meeting was held in the private library of the papal apartment in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. The papal apartment has remained vacant since Ratzinger resigned on 28 February.

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NEW JERSEY
Newsworks

Phil Gregory

A group that assists victims of sexual abuse is calling for the resignation of the bishop of the Trenton Catholic Diocese.

The Road to Recovery group claims Bishop David O’Connell waited more than a year to tell the parish of St. Aloysius Church in Jackson that assistant pastor Matthew Riedlinger was removed from his position for exchanging more than 1,000 sexually explicit text messages with someone he thought was a 16-year-old boy.

Parishioners should have been informed immediately, said Robert Hoatson, a former priest and the president of Road to Recovery.

“In 2002, the bishops with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth made a pledge that they would be open and transparent about all allegations of sexual abuse,” Hoatson said. “This is another example where they have not been.”

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Religion News Service | By David Gibson
Posted: 10/01/2013

(RNS) Pope Francis has done it again: Just two weeks after the publication of a lengthy, detailed interview in which he expounded on his new vision for the church he has given another interview, this time with the atheist editor of an Italian daily.

Francis had recently written an open letter to Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica, and then called the editor up out of the blue — as is his habit. The exchange, Scalfari wrote, went like this:

“Hello, this is Pope Francis.”

“Hello Your Holiness,” I say and then: “I am shocked. I did not expect you to call me.”

“Why so surprised? You wrote me a letter asking to meet me in person. I had the same wish, so I’m calling to fix an appointment. Let me look at my diary: I can’t do Wednesday, nor Monday, would Tuesday suit you?”

“That’s fine,” I answer.

“The time is a little awkward, three in the afternoon, is that OK? Otherwise it’ll have to be another day.”

“Your Holiness, the time is fine.”

“So we agree: Tuesday 24 at 3 o’clock. At Santa Marta. You have to come into the door at the Sant’Uffizio.”

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Jeff Kunerth, Staff writer
1:01 p.m. EDT, October 2, 2013

A lawsuit filed this week against the Catholic Diocese of Orlando alleges that the diocese covered up the sexual abuse of an altar boy by a Catholic priest serving in Sanford.

The lawsuit contends Father William Authenreith sexually molested a 14-year-old altar boy at All Souls Church in Sanford between 1983 and 1984. The suit alleges that the diocese, after learning of the molestation, transferred Authenreith to a parish in Mount Dora, but did nothing to punish the priest.

“Indeed, Father Authenreith climbed the ladder of the Diocese of Orlando’s hierarchy while simultaneously being transferred between and among parishes to prevent parishioners from learning of Father Authenreith’s pattern of abuse,” said the suit filed Monday by Jeff Herman, a Boca Raton attorney who represents sexual abuse victims.

In response, the diocese said it has not yet been served with the lawsuit, but Chancellor for Administration Carol Brinati issued this statement: “We are saddened at the allegation of abuse which occurred more than twenty-five years ago and pray for this person and those who have been victims of acts of abuse by any person. We pray that the healing process may begin for each one of them.”

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COLOMBIA
Aleteia

[Summary: Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bogota, has called for people to report cases of clergy sexual abuse to civil authorities. The Catholic Church has a zero tolerance policy on child sexual abuse, he said.]

El cardenal Rubén Salazar Gómez, arzobispo metropolitano de Bogotá, en Colombia, hizo un fuerte llamado a denunciar –no solamente ante los obispos—los casos de abusos sexuales del clero.

“La invitación es a que denuncien cuando sepan de algún caso de estos. Sin denuncias es imposible proceder. Se necesita la denuncia ante las autoridades civiles, que no se contenten con denunciar ante el obispo o la autoridad eclesiástica competente, sino que recurran también a las autoridades civiles”.

Posición muy clara

En declaraciones recogidas por la prensa colombiana durante un foro multisectorial sobre reconciliación nacional, monseñor Salazar Gómez puntualizó: “La posición de la Iglesia frente a los casos de pederastia cometidos por sacerdotes y miembros de la Iglesia es perfectamente clara: tolerancia cero”.

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AUSTRALIA
Group of Concerned Queensland Catholics as submitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is seeking submissions from all interested parties about the content and operation of the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing process. The authors of this submission come from a variety of walks of life. However, the overwhelming driving force in us making this submission is not our varied skills and life experiences but, rather, our deep concern for the victims of abuse within the Catholic Church (“Church”) and our condemnation of the manner in which the Church treated those victims in the past and continues, under present Church leadership, to treat those victims at the present time.

2. This submission does not dwell on the past treatment of victims as the Church Leadership has publicly acknowledged its failings in the past. We are concerned here with how the Church treats victims of abuse now, and into the future. To this end the Church puts Towards Healing forward as its successful vehicle for providing healing, support and justice to victims of abuse. For example, the Church, through its advisory organisation, the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, recently stated that “Towards Healing is evidence of the Church’s professional approach to the scourge of sex abuse” and also that “ The Towards Healing protocols have radically improved the Church’s handling of sex abuse allegations and its treatment of victims of abuse”. Of course, at its highest levels, the Church
has had to address the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and religious. Whilst in Australia in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI stated, “Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice”.

3. Accordingly, we are left in no doubt that Towards Healing is the Church’s flagship in regard to the treatment of victims of sex abuse. The Church will be judged, ultimately, if it is established that Towards Healing truly provides compassion, care and justice. To assist the Royal Commission we have set out to examine, in some detail, the content and operation of Towards Healing so that we can express our views on the extent to which this process does give victims compassion, care and justice. Unfortunately, we have concluded that Towards Healing fails on all accounts and we will call upon the Royal Commission to recommend the dismantling of Towards Healing, and in its place,
recommend the creation of a truly independent and transparent body, funded by the Church, to investigate and determine complaints of abuse against the Church.

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