ABUSE TRACKER

CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

By Bob Connors | Monday, Jul 15, 2013

The Department of Children and Families is investigating a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor against Rev. Paul Gotta, according to the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Rev. Gotta, administrator of St. Phillip Church in East Windsor and St. Catherine Church in Broad Brook, has been placed on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said in a statement.

“The Archdiocese of Hartford was surprised and disturbed to learn that such an allegation has been made,” said Maria Zone, spokesperson for the Archdiocese.

Authorities are investigating the sexual assault complaint and “other matters”, the statement read.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 16, 2013

A Branxton primary school principal denies Michael Malone warned him about paedophile priest James Fletcher in 2002, telling the special commission of inquiry he was not at the school on the day the bishop claims to have met him.

Returning to the witness box for the second week, the former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, Michael Malone (pictured), was adamant that he met with William Callinan at St Brigid’s in Branxton on June 20, 2002, and told him to keep the priest away from students.

He told the inquiry he met with Mr Callinan after Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox informed him Fletcher had been accused of sexually abusing a boy and requested he be stood down.

Under brief cross-examination, Mr Callinan’s counsel, William Potter, suggested to Bishop Malone he did not meet with Mr Callinan in 2002 and falsified a diary entry about the meeting when the NSW Ombudsman’s Office informed him it would be investigating how the church dealt with Fletcher.

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CANADA
CBC News

A New Brunswick priest is facing new allegations of sexual abuse dating back almost 40 years, according to court documents.

A 54-year-old man from Grand Barachois alleges that he was sexually abused by Father Yvon Arsenault almost 40 years ago.

The man’s lawsuit also names the Archdiocese of Moncton and three former Moncton archbishops.

He said the archdiocese took no steps to stop the abuse. Instead, he said the church worked to cover-up the behaviour.

The plaintiff also alleges the archbishops involved knew about other allegations of sexual assault involving Arsenault.

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OHIO
Christian Post

By Jeff Schapiro , Christian Post Reporter
June 18, 2013

A jury says an Ohio church should pay $3.6 million to a woman who was sexually assaulted as a teenager by her then pastor.

The Delaware County jury on Monday found that one or more employees of Grace Brethren Church of Delaware, Ohio, was negligent in supporting Brian L. Williams’ hiring and retention as senior pastor of Sunbury Grace Brethren Church, where he sexually assaulted the woman in 2008, according to court documents. Delaware Grace failed to properly investigate and document earlier incidents of sexually inappropriate behavior allegedly committed by Williams, the jury concluded, which allowed him to be “empowered to a greater responsibility” as senior pastor of Sunbury Grace.

“Brian Williams employment at Delaware Grace Brethren Church ended in 2004,” wrote Delaware Grace’s pastor, Gary Underwood, in a statement. “We were shocked when we heard of his criminal actions in March of 2008. However, we could never have foreseen Brian’s crimes, and our church had nothing to do with his crimes.

“We accept the jury’s verdict, but respectfully disagree with their decision. We will continue to pray for [the victim] and her family.”

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OHIO
Deep Thoughts

A woman who was sexually assaulted by former pastor Brian L. Williams of Sunbury Grace Brethren Church, has filed a lawsuit against the church alleging that the church knowingly hired a Williams despite a history of sexual assault allegations. The victim and her father seek $25,000 in compensatory damages and in excess of $25,000 in punitive damages.

Williams pleaded guilty and was convicted of two counts of sexual assault. He is serving two four-year terms in prison and is not a party in the lawsuit.

When this story originally broke, members of Grace Brethren defended Williams in comments on a post here at Deep Thoughts. All comments were anonymous.

Here are a few choice comments.

There have been no other girls that have accused him of anything.

It’s also a shame that people are assumed guilty before it’s proven.

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NEW JERSEY
Sunlit Uplands

He’s hired a top-notch criminal lawyer, but when it comes to public relations and media savvy, the Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, is about as tone-deaf and ill-advised as anyone on the planet.

He had an admitted pedophile among his priests and contrary to agreements with local prosecutors, he not only allowed Father Michael Fugee to provide ministry to local youth groups, hear their confessions and participate in over-night outings, he put Father Fugee in charge of an office that oversees priestly formation — just what the Church needs, more priests like Father Michael Fugee!

After a media and grassroots firestorm had somewhat subsided, Archbishop Myers decided to stir the pot and open raw wounds with an extended interview granted to the National Catholic Register. In the course of the interview, and in characteristic fashion, Myers blamed everyone but himself for the scandal, insisting that he acted in a “professional” manner.

First of all, when everyone has finally stopped talking about an embarrassing story involving you, you don’t give an interview and bring it all back to public attention.

Secondly, like the woman insisting she is “a lady,” if you have to tell people how “professional” you are, you’re NOT.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

For PBS, Tavis Smiley interviews Michael D’Antonio, author of the book Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal (NY: Thomas Dunne, 2013). Some points that D’Antonio makes in this valuable interview:

When Smiley keeps pushing him hard about what seems to set the Catholic church apart from other institutions, including religious ones, in which there is, after all, also abuse of children, D’Antonio replies:

In this case, I think there was all sorts of closing of ranks. The priests support each other. It’s a problem of a clerical culture that’s unique to Catholicism, I think.

And then he adds,

It’s power. This is a story of power and the abuse of power. And it extends into the political realm, it extends into the legal realm. . . . . I think that’s really the crux of the matter here. It’s power and the abuse of power and corruption.

Throughout the interview, D’Antonio repeatedly notes how the acids of the abuse crisis–and, above all, its spectacular mishandling from the highest levels of the church down through the clerical ranks–have perceptibly eroded the moral standing of the Catholic church in the world today. He notes that faithful Catholics are leaving in droves due to what is the greatest crisis for the church since the Reformation: when he was in Ireland in the 1990s, you had trouble finding seat for Sunday Mass. Now, churches in that country are over half-empty on Sundays.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

BY BARRY DUKE – JULY 10, 2013

OOZING contrition, members of the General Synod of the Church of England gathered at York University on Sunday evening to tell victims of Anglican clerical abuse how frightfully sorry they were over the whole affair.

But this – and a 30-second moment of silence – failed to impress victims who rejected the apology and called instead for an independent public inquiry to ensure abusers are held to account and better safeguards put in place.

The General Synod, according to this report, voted unanimously to endorse the apology already made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to victims of abuse, and to back moves intended to tighten its safeguarding procedures.

The synod was told the church had failed victims of abuse “big time” by refusing to listen to their stories and by moving offenders to different areas in the hope that the problem would go away.

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Karen Soto Galindo – 15/07/2013

El ministro de fuero, Juan Manuel Muñoz, acogió la solicitud del abogado Cristian Muga, representante del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, quien solicitó aplazar el interrogatorio del ex párroco, citado a declarar ante el juez este miércoles 17 de julio a las 17 horas.

Según el defensor, el denunciado no estaba en condiciones de salud apropiadas para enfrentar la entrevista con el Ministro.

Además, Muga pidió al magistrado aclarar si la declaración de Karadima se producirá en calidad de testigo o imputado, petición que se resolverá dentro de los próximos días.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Stephen Crittenden | Jul. 15, 2013

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA
An Australian bishop told a special commission of inquiry into sexual abuse that he failed to familiarize himself with the personnel file of a serial pedophile priest “because the whole area of sexual abuse is so distasteful that I would have found it very unpalatable to dig further.”

The inquiry has been asked to report on whether the Catholic church covered up abuse by two pedophile priests of the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle — Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher — or hindered police investigations.

McAlinden died in 2005 without being convicted. Fletcher died in jail in 2006.

During several weeks of public hearings, it seemed the inquiry, chaired by New South Wales Senior Deputy Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, would tackle little more than an internecine dispute within the state police department.

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UNITED STATES
Mary DeMuth

The two men approached me, heads down, hands fidgeting. One man eventually met my eyes. “I was molested,” he said. “It happens in our community, but no one talks about it.”

The men used to be Amish. Now they lived on the “outside” with jobs and wives and kids. They’d just heard me speak about my own story of sexual abuse. I looked at them both, remembering all those sweet bonnet books that peppered the shelves of Christian bookstores, these books that offered escape from modern madness, harkening us back to a simpler time. I couldn’t shake the dichotomy.

“In order to get healing,” the other man said, eyes solemn, “we had to leave the community and get help.”

We talked an hour or so, me still trying to wrap my mind around the conversation. Generational abuse.

Bestiality. Sexual perversion. Spousal rape. Physical abuse. All behind the white doors of white houses and white barns dotting idyllic countrysides. People lived with secrets they could not tell, or risk shunning or excommunication.

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UNITED STATES
City of Angels

Kay Ebeling

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

(Rerun from July 2012, as City of Angels Blog is on hiatus until the end of summer)

Mainstream media has barely reported the story of pedophile priests in the Catholic Church. Most coverage is little more than a surface headline and paragraphs from press releases. As a result most of the stories of hundreds of thousands of children abusedby thousands of Catholic priests have not yet been told.

An in depth look at cases in each city, such as a true crime series based on reports at City of Angels Blog, would highlight patterns in these crimes, maybe even lead to a deeper investigation of the hierarchy’s cover-up of these crimes and federal prosecution.

After interviewing hundreds of pedophile priest victims for this blog since January 2007, and after watching the shallow coverage of these crimes in mainstream media, I know we could produce original episodes for years about these crimes, and never run out of new material. Here is a sampling of stories I published at City of Angels Blog in recent years, that lend themselves to true crime series coverage:

From Boston: First Posted at City of Angels January 16, 2010:

*6000 is number of Pedophile Priests in U.S. Catholic Church since 1950. Found so far. And still counting
“This year the number will go over 6,000,” Terry McKiernan, president of Bishop Accountability in Boston, emailed me early this month. After we posted “The Public Has a Right to Know how Six Thousand Priests Got Away with Pedophilia” Jan. 2, people

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mancunian Matters

Posted Monday, July 15, 2013

By Glen Keogh

A former teacher has been charged with 47 offences following a police investigation into historic sexual abuse at a prestigious Altrincham Catholic grammar school.

Alan Morris, 63, of Rivington Road, Hale, has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assaults, one count of outraging public decency and five counts of inciting gross indecency.

The charges relate to offences alleged to have been committed between 1972 and 1991, involving 29 boys aged between 11 and 17 during their time at Saint Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

A former teacher at a Catholic boys’ grammar school has been charged with historic sex offences.

Alan Morris, 63, also a church deacon, is accused of 47 offences involving 29 boys aged between 11 and 17.

The offences are said to have taken place between 1972 and 1991 at St Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns, Trafford .

Morris, of Rivington Road, Hale, has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault, one count of outraging public decency and five of inciting gross indecency.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Gazette

A man has been charged following an investigation into historic sexual abuse at a school in Trafford.

Alan Morris (06/11/1949) of Rivington Road, Hale has been charged with 47 offences.

The indictments relate to offences which are alleged to have occurred between 1972 and 1991 and involve 29 boys aged between 11 and 17 during their time at St Ambrose RC School in Hale Barns.

Alan Morris has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault, one count of outraging public decency and five counts of inciting gross indecency.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

Former teacher at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns charged with 47 sexual offences against children

THE Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Alan Morris, aged 63, with 47 sexual offences against pupils at St Ambrose College, Hale Barns, from the 1970s to 1990s.

Alan Morris was a teacher at the school at the time.

John Dilworth, head of the CPS North West Complex Casework Unit, said: “Following investigations by Greater Manchester Police into allegations that Alan Morris, a former teacher at St Ambrose School, sexually assaulted pupils at the school between 1972 and 1991, I have reviewed all the evidence that they have gathered and have authorised the police to charge him with 41 offences of indecent assault on a male, one charge of outraging public decency and five charges of inciting gross indecency with a child.

“These charges relate to 29 former pupils of the school who were aged between 11 and 17 at the time.

“This decision is made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to prosecute this case.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former teacher has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault following an investigation into historical sexual abuse at a Greater Manchester school.

Alan Morris, 63, from Hale, who taught at St Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns, Altrincham, is accused of committing the offences between 1972 and 1991.

The allegations involve 29 former pupils of the boys-only school, who were between 11 and 17 at the time.

Mr Morris is due before Manchester magistrates on 25 July.

He was also charged with one count of outraging public decency and five of inciting gross indecency.

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IRELAND
Catholic League (United States)

Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Prejudice, as the psychologist Gordon W. Allport stressed, is always an “unwarranted” attitude. If someone experiences severe discomfort by eating certain foods, there is nothing prejudicial about refusing to eat any more of them. But there is something prejudicial about making sweeping generalizations about an entire category of food, or a community of people, when one’s experiences are limited. One contemporary example of prejudice is the popular perception of the nuns who ran Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.

From the mid-eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century, the laundries housed “fallen” girls and women in England and Ireland. Though they did not initiate the facilities, most of the operations were carried out by the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. The first “Magdalene Home” was established in England in 1758; Ireland followed in 1765 (the first asylum being a Protestant-run entity).

The popular perception of the laundries is entirely negative, owing in large part to fictionalized portrayals in the movies. The conventional wisdom has also been shaped by writers who have come to believe the worst about the Catholic Church, and by activists who have their own agenda. So strong is the prejudice that even when evidence to the contrary is presented, the bias continues.

There is a Facebook page dedicated to the laundries titled, “Victims of the Irish Holocaust Unite.” Irish politicians have spoken of “our own Holocaust,” and Irish journalists have referred to the “Irish gulag system.” But the fact is there was no holocaust, and there was no gulag. No one was murdered. No one was imprisoned, nor forced against her will to stay. There was no slave labor. Not a single woman was sexually abused by a nun. Not one. It’s all a lie.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

15 July 2013

Vatican City’s chief prosecutor has frozen two bank accounts at the Vatican bank of a senior priest who was arrested as part of an investigation into fraud at the Holy See’s finances.

Mgr Nunzio Scarano was the director of the accounting analysis service at the Vatican’s financial administration, Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See).

He was arrested in June following allegations that he had tried to move €20m (£17m) illegally from Switzerland into Italy.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 15/07/2013
Reporter: Suzie Smith

Former school principal, William Callinan, has told the Newcastle inquiry into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church that former Bishop, Michael Malone, did not warn him that Father James Fletcher was under police investigation for sexual assault and rape.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PAUL MAGUIRE From: The Daily Telegraph July 16, 2013

A RETIRED Catholic bishop has been challenged before a NSW inquiry over his version of how and when he informed a school principal about a suspected pedophile priest.

Bishop Michael Malone was being questioned at a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle into how the church and police handled allegations of child sexual abuse by priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

In earlier evidence to the commission, Bishop Malone said he was told by police on June 20, 2002, that Fr Fletcher was under investigation for child abuse.

He said on that day he went to Saint Brigid’s Catholic Primary School in Branxton and spoke to Fr Fletcher and the principal, Will Callinan. Bishop Malone said he told Mr Callinan charges against Fr Fletcher were imminent and his access to the school and students had to be restricted.

Mr Callinan’s lawyer Mr Potter told Bishop Malone Mr Callinan said he was not at Branxton that day, as he was at a school in Greta.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

This blog has previously argued that victims, and not just lawyers, should be able to interrogate church officials directly. Today, the NSW enquiry made Australian history when it allowed victim, Peter Gogarty, to directly question former Newcastle-Maitland Bishop, Michael Malone – in public hearings. The enquiry head, Margaret Cunneen is to be congratulated for this precedent-setting move. It is much more likely, now, that the Royal Commission will follow suit.

Mr. Gogarty was a victim of Fr. Fletcher, who died in prison in 2008. Mr Gogarty asked Bishop Malone if Fletcher’s abuse was ever discussed at the Australian Catholic Bishop’s conference. Bishop Malone replied that “The [Newcastle-Maitland] region has had its fair share of paedophilia issues to deal with, so in a generic way it came up.” However, he said Fletcher was not discussed specifically.

Bishop Malone said that the Fletcher issue “divided the diocese.” He admitted that some victims and their families were “ostracized” and had their homes pelted with eggs. Indeed, he noted that his own home was similarly pelted in what he described as a “quasi-violent attack.” He further attempted to gain sympathy by saying that he found reading about the Fletcher abuses “to be quite sickening.”

Previously, Malone had admitted that he had not notified two parish school principals about Fletcher, but maintained that he had informed another principal, Will Callinan. Mr. Callinan, however, denies that he was so informed. Indeed, his lawyer stated that Mr. Callinan was not at the school on the date in question.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Sam Levin Mon., Jul. 15 2013

One year after Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang was accused of molesting a teenage girl, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson is now facing a subpoena in the criminal case, according to court documents that offer a closer look at the investigation and the priest’s response to the allegations.

“Child-molesting clerics may perform the actual assault alone, but almost always there are cover-ups involving other church officials, usually supervisors,” David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, tells Daily RFT. “We can’t predict what Carlson will be asked or answer under oath. But simply the fact that he has to face tough questions under oath in a pending criminal case is encouraging to us.”

The group is drawing attention to new details in this case, including information on text message evidence on the victim’s phone and the alleged attempt of the accused to pay off the victim’s family.

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VATICAN CITY
DFW Catholic

Vatican City, Jul 15, 2013 / 05:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Although the Vatican froze funds belonging to Monsignor Nunzio Scarano after the Italian police arrested him, the hold on his account at the Vatican’s Institute for Religious Works and his suspension from work are related to a separate case of alleged money laundering.

Msgr. Scarano, a suspended accountant for the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, known by its Italian acronym APSA, is currently under arrest and charged with planning to illegally bring 20 million euro in cash into Italy aboard a government airplane.

But Msgr. Scarano is also under investigation for a separate alleged instance of money laundering, which is what triggered his funds being frozen by the Vatican on July 9, according to a source who works in one of the Vatican offices related to APSA.

According to a July 11 statement from Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press office, the Vatican investigation “was triggered by several suspicious transactions reports filed with the Vatican Authority for Financial Information.”

Fr. Lombardi also stressed that the investigation “can be extended to additional individuals.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone has been cross-examined by Peter Gogarty, a victim in childhood of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, in Monday’s opening session of the special commission of inquiry in Newcastle.

Asked about his growing awareness in about 2004 of the impact of paedophilia on its victims and on the size of the problem in his diocese, Bishop Malone said the victims were traumatised by their abuse.

Referring to an earlier period in 2002 Bishop Malone said he did not check Fletcher’s file to see if there were earlier allegations against him because – as he said previously – he found reading about these matters ‘‘to be quite sickening’’.

Bishop Malone told how some families who had spoken out were ostracised and intimidated in the church. One family had their house pelted with eggs, which was something he himself experienced when his house at Hamilton was egged later on.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone has disputed suggestions that he altered his personal diary to back up an assertion that he warned the principal of a Catholic school at Branxton about allegations of child sexual abuse against eventually convicted paedophile Jim Fletcher.

In a tense passage of cross-examination before lunch on Monday, Bishop Malone was questioned by counsel for Will Callinan, a principal in the Catholic school system.

Bishop Malone’s evidence is that at the time he gave Fletcher a second parish – against the advice of police officer Peter Fox, who wanted Fletcher stood down – he warned Mr Callinan about a need to keep Fletcher away from the children at his school.

Mr Callinan has not given evidence yet but the commission has heard more than once that he disputes the bishop’s account of events.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

THE former Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, finished his public stint in the witness box on Monday by reading a prepared statement to the Special Commission of Inquiry.

Bishop Malone repeated the statement outside the Newcastle court buildings.

Although Bishop Malone apologised again for the hurt and damage done by decades of paedophilia in the diocese, five people in the inquiry left the room while he made his apology.

Bishop Malone talked about a need for ‘‘vigilance’’ and ‘‘accountability’’ but he did not touch on aspects of the Catholic Church – such as the insistence on priestly vows of celibacy – that some people believe are major factors in the church’s problem with paedophilia.

Bishop Malone said he prayed daily for the victims of child sexual abuse and he hoped they gained reconciliation with ‘‘all people, including the Catholic Church’’.

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

Pope Francis recently overhauled Vatican City laws, criminalizing the leaking of information and instituting harsher penalties for sex abuse. Comments from Twitter and Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Anything that further protects people from any acts of potential harm is the right thing to do.

— @PlumbbobGreen

The criminalization of leaks is more proof that the Catholic Church is not the “one true church” as it claims. The “true” church is transparent. An authentic church of Christ has no secrets.

— Ken Foster

And what if materials that could be leaked contained information about child abuse? Would leaking that be illegal? It sounds to me that none of those people there really cares about the place at all as long as it provides them with a paycheck and protection.

— Joseph Damigella

— Mike Mallory

This is a positive change. The new pope is doing what he can. The whistle-blower law is more of the same, but at least the sexual abuse law is a step in the right direction.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

At last, a female Vatican Pied Piper has arrived on the scene!

And she’s coming in all the way from Down Under in Australia! A far stretch of the Vatican Catholic Kingdom. Australia, a continent of the Vatican Catholic Church (no, it’s no longer the “Roman” Catholic Church — because Rome is now a secular city).

Anne Lastman (ironic man’s name of a female Vatican Pied Piper) arrived just on time in Australia as Aussies awaken to the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army – the tsunami of Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions being unraveled by the Royal Commission (see compilation of news articles below).

A Female Vatican Pied Piper

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

by Dan Cox

A former Hunter Valley Catholic Bishop has told a New South Wales Special Commission into clergy sexual abuse that the diocese has had its “fair share” of paedophilia.

The former Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone has been cross-examined by Peter Gogarty, who was abused by Father James Fletcher and has been given special leave to cross-examine those giving evidence at the public hearings.

Mr Gogarty today asked Bishop Malone if Fletcher’s abuse was ever discussed at the Australian Catholic Bishop’s conference.

Bishop Malone replied: The region has “had its fair share of paedophilia issues to deal with, so in a generic way it came up”.

However, he said Fletcher was not discussed specifically.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 15, 2013

Former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Michael Malone has been cross examined this morning by a victim of disgraced priest Jim Fletcher.

Vacy man Peter Gogarty, who is representing himself at the special commission of inquiry into an alleged sexual abuse cover-up by the Hunter Catholic Church, asked the bishop why he wrote a media release calling for acceptance of victims in 2005.

Bishop Malone said it was apparent at the time of Fletcher’s investigation that one of the priest’s victims was being ostracised and his family intimidated.

The bishop said eggs were thrown at his home in Hamilton and the homes of victims in “quasi violent” attacks.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Paul Maguire, AAP
Updated July 15, 2013

A former Catholic bishop has described his “gradual awakening to the horror of sexual abuse in the church” at a NSW inquiry.

Bishop Michael Malone, formerly the head of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, says he met with “indifference” from some members of the clergy when he began to speak out for victims of child sex abuse.

Bishop Malone told a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle on Monday that he began to speak publicly for victims and their families in 2005 but there was little interest, even from priests in the diocese he ran.

“It was not overt ostracisation, it was more of an indifference to me and the things I was saying,” he said.

He said bad feelings had emerged around 2004 and divided the region’s Catholic community.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The former head of the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church will continue giving evidence at the NSW inquiry into child sexual abuse when the public hearings resume this morning.

The special commission’s investigating senior policeman Peter Fox’s claims that the church protected two Maitland-Newcastle priests.

The inquiry went into private hearings on Friday afternoon with the former Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone still giving evidence.

The public hearings will resume this morning with Bishop Malone expected to continue giving evidence, followed by other senior clergy including Father James Saunders, Father William Burston and Monsignor Alan Hart.

In giving evidence Bishop Malone said that after a 2004 inquiry by the state’s Ombudsman he had “an epiphany” regarding his inadequate handling of abuse allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblase.net

Lewis Blayse

The spotlight on paedophile clergy is gradually widening to encompass those who protected them. In particular, debate is increasing on the issue of failure to report the crime of child sexual abuse. Some jurisdictions exempt the churches from this requirement, and that situation is very likely to change after the Royal Commission.

Misprision of a felony, or cover-up, is a charge possible for some church officials, and indeed, officials of other community organisations, such as the Boy Scouts. The difficulty will be in proving the case adequately for the courts. If past practice is any guide, these officials will spend large amounts of their organisations’ money on expensive lawyers to defend them against any charges.

The giveaway that many of these organisations knew of the child sexual abuse problem is that, as early as the 1980s, they routinely took out insurance policies to cover claims of victims. This was a mistake for them.

To guarantee payouts, they normally had to inform the insurers of the risks. The Victorian enquiry has already touched on this matter. Other examples exist from the past. Since the Royal Commission can subpoena documents of this kind, they may make for interesting reading as to what exactly these officials knew about the paedophiles under their control.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
LaCrosse Tribune

By M.L. JOHNSON

At least one more priest’s personnel file will be made public as the Archdiocese of Milwaukee wraps up its investigations of sexual abuse claims filed in federal bankruptcy court, the archdiocese’s spokesman said.

The archdiocese released personnel files for 42 priests on July 1 as part of a deal with sexual abuse victims suing it for fraud. Some victims have criticized the church for not releasing more records.

Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said this week that another priest’s file has been given to the archdiocese’s attorneys, who will work with victims’ attorneys to decide which portions to make public. A second priest is still under investigation, and his file could eventually become public. But other records will never be released.

The archdiocese has 45 priests on its list of those with verified allegations of abuse. Most of their names have been public since the archdiocese released its initial list in 2004, but one wasn’t added until after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January 2011.

Hundreds of people came forward then with sexual abuse claims, many involving new allegations. The archdiocese treated those claims as new reports of abuse, forwarding allegations about anyone who was still alive to police and opening its own investigations, Topczewski said.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 15, 2013

The former head of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese Bishop Michael Malone said after several years trying to defend the church against sexual abuse allegations he chose to put its victims first.

Bishop Malone told the special commission of inquiry he had to decide between protecting the offending priests or their victims.

“I couldn’t sit on the fence anymore,” he said.

In the years following his appointment as bishop in 1995 he said he struggled to come to terms with the multiple complaints of ­sexual abuse and he got “caught up in the ethos of the church”.

He said that having been a priest for nearly 50 years and a bishop for 20, he developed a tendency to “defend the organisation which you belong”.

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TEXAS
El Paso Times

By Diana Washington Valdez \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 07/14/2013

A lawsuit over a former El Paso priest accused of sexually molesting an altar boy and student in the 1970s was settled July 11, said Lori Watson, a lawyer in Dallas who represented the plaintiff.

“The plaintiff was 8 to 12 years old when he was sexually abused by Father Alphonso Madrid when Madrid was assigned to Sacred Heart Church and school in the El Paso Diocese,” Watson said. “Not unlike many victims, the plaintiff had repressed the memory of the abuse for many years, due to the trauma associated with the abuse.”

According to the lawsuit filed in 2011, the plaintiff, who was identified only as John Doe, suffered serious psychological problems due to the alleged abuse.

Watson alleged that church officials were aware that Madrid was a sexual predator who targeted children, and instead of removing him from positions of trust and reporting him to law enforcement, they covered up the incidents and transferred him around.

No one at the El Paso Catholic Diocese was available on Friday to comment on the settlement. The terms were undisclosed.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 14, 2013

IN simple terms, the special commission of inquiry sitting in Newcastle at the moment is trying to determine whether the Catholic Church helped or hindered police investigations into two paedophile priests, Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

On Friday, counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan, asked Bishop Michael Malone about Canon law – Catholic law, in other words, based on papal authority from the Holy See in Rome, and separate from the secular laws that operate elsewhere in our democracy.

Bishop Malone told Ms Lonergan that he was no expert in Canon law. Neither am I. But I have read enough to know that Rome laid down some very strict edicts about how its 2100-plus dioceses should deal with the sexual crimes of its priests.

Bishop Malone was asked on Friday about a Canon instruction that files on the “moral” crimes of his priests be destroyed on their death or the 10th anniversary of their (Canon) sentencing, with only a text of the judgment and a summary of the facts to remain.

At a break in the hearing, I asked Bishop Malone whether this was part of an ‘‘instruction’’ titled Crimen Sollicitationis in Latin, or the Crime of Solicitation in English. Bishop Malone told me he wasn’t up on the names and advised me to look it up on a computer, which I have done, aided by a couple of books from the library shelf.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post Staff

The Diocese of Camden, seeking to block a lawsuit that claims child sex abuse by a priest, has cited phone calls made by the alleged victim in an effort to protect other youngsters.

Lisa Syvertson Shanahan contacted the diocese in 2004, saying she was molested in the early 1980s by the Rev. Thomas Harkins and she wanted to warn others about her former parish priest in Hammonton. Church officials heard from Shanahan again in 2012, when she sued the diocese over the alleged abuse.

U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman ruled June 27 that the lawsuit could proceed, accepting Shanahan’s argument that the two-year statute of limitations for her case began in October 2009. That’s when Shanahan says she realized she had grounds for legal action against the diocese.

The two sides agreed to suspend the passage of time toward the deadline after Aug. 8, 2011. But a diocesan lawyer has asked the judge to reconsider that view.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Read the letter here

See all the court transcripts and exhibits here

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 14, 2013

A LETTER from Bishop Michael Malone to paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, expanding his duties despite a warning from Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, is one of a new set of documents made public by the Special Commission of Inquiry.

Public hearings are scheduled to resume in Newcastle at 9.30am on Monday after a closed session of evidence by Bishop Malone on Friday afternoon.

Monday’s witness list has Father James Saunders and Father William Burston scheduled to give evidence after Bishop Malone.

Under the rules of the special commission, transcripts of public hearings are made available, along with a number of exhibits requested by the media.

The commission heard last week that Mr Fox had asked Bishop Malone to stand Fletcher aside in mid-2002 after allegations of ‘‘multiple and violent sexual abuse’’ of a boy, AH, were made against him.

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UNITED STATES
PBS

The Pulitzer Prize winner unpacks his new text on the Catholic Church, “Mortal Sins.”

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INDIANA
Journal Gazette

Last updated: June 20, 2013

Statement as issued by the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers:

Last week, on Monday June 10, 2013, Fr. Thomas O’Hara, CSC Provisional Superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross, U.S. Province of Priests and Brothers, received a letter from the legal representative on an adult individual.

The letter claimed Fr. Cornelius Ryan, CSC had sexually abused his client when he was a minor around twenty (20) years ago.

Fr. Ryan, a member of the U.S. Province of Holy Cross, was working as a priest at that time in Africa where the abuse was said to have occurred. Fr. Ryan is seventy six (76) years old and has spent a large portion of his ministry in Africa.

Father O’Hara immediately conducted an investigation of the claim and found it to be credible. As a result he notified Bishop Kevin Rhoades and Father Ryan was removed indefinitely from all public ministry. A more detailed and thorough investigation is underway as Holy Cross, and this claim will be addressed in a pastoral manner consistent with its long standing policies and mission.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By: Geraint Jones
Published: Sun, July 14, 2013

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has supported the shift after campaigners warned an apology by the Church’s General Synod last week was not enough.

It followed a series of convictions of clergy who had abused scores of victims.

However, “hundreds, if not thousands” are said to be ready to give evidence at an inquiry, while others could well speak out without one.

Sources say the Archbishop believes tackling the issue is the best way to limit damage to the Church’s reputation.

Campaigners and church officials are expected to meet to prepare a statement for Government ministers, who are likely to back an inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A national funding boost to services for child sexual assault victims will benefit two Tasmanian organisations.

A $45 million fund is being rolled out to support victims taking part in the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

The Tasmanian Sexual assault Support Service has been given $1.2 million and Relationships Australia Tasmania has been given $750,000.

Mat Rowell from Relationships Australia said dedicated counsellors and support workers would be brought in to help victims cope with the stress of the Royal Commission.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

Saturday 13 July 2013

THE Vatican has refused to rule out the attendance of shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien at a historic meeting of the world’s leading Catholic clerics in Rome.

The Consistory, in October, will see cardinals from across the world gather in Rome to discuss the proposed canonisation of former Popes John Paul II and John XXIII, as well as advising Pope Francis on major papal appointments. It is expected to see the creation of around 10 cardinals.

Authorities on Catholic affairs said there was a potential for Cardinal O’Brien to attend. But the prospect of him attending such a high-profile event, just months after admitting decades of sexual behaviour with other clerics and being exiled by the Vatican, would be met with shock by Scotland’s Catholics, according to one prominent members of the laiety.

When asked if the Cardinal would be attending the Consistory, the Vatican said yesterday it was in no position to confirm details of the meeting.

It is understood there has been no communication instructing him not to attend and according to one commentator a period of several months of “penitence” out of the public eye could see him sufficiently redeemed in the eyes of the church to take part.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

With the increase in historic child abuse cases and in light of the Jimmy Savile affair and Church of England sex scandal, an Eastbourne support group is urging victims to speak out.

The Eastbourne Survivors Group says since the news broke about the Savile allegations and revelations of local sex abuse scandals, such issues cannot be ignored any longer.

Judy Pass from the group said, “It must have been my fault – I let it happen, maybe if I keep quiet I will be able to forget about it, pretend it never happened. Children who have been abused tell themselves these things because more often than not it is easier than admitting what is or what has happened.

“The difficulty that adults who were abused as children experience in trying to overcome their traumatic and disturbing past is even less talked about. People abused as children often end up living with a dark secret, filled with anger, mistrust, shame and guilt. It has for many been really difficult to get help – that is if they even realise that they can be helped.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

Written by STEVE LOWE

IT is time for the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for past child abuse by Catholic priests and its own failure to prevent it.

This week the Church of England made just such an apology.

Revelations of abuse at the former St Francis Boys Home, Shefford, run by the Catholic Church until 1974, grow every week.

Only this week another former boy contacted Bedfordshire on Sunday to tell of how he suffered extreme physical abuse, as well as sexual abuse, at the home.

He described the home as ‘a living hell’, from which he has never really recovered.

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VATICAN CITY
The Independent (UK)

The Bank of keeping mum or being dead: The financial scandals just keep piling up for the Vatican’s money-men

MICHAEL DAY MILAN SUNDAY 14 JULY 2013

Just a month ago, in his crusade to take his flock back to basics and deliver it from the clutches of Mammon, Pope Francis said the Church “must go forward… with a heart of poverty, not a heart of investment or of a businessman”.

St Peter, he noted, “did not have a bank account”. As we learnt a few weeks later, though, the senior Vatican official Monsignor Nunzio “Don 500” Scarano certainly did – at least two of them, which, prosecutors say, he used to smuggle €20m (£17.3m) into Italy from Switzerland, and to launder money used to buy a €1.7m luxury flat in Salerno.

Don 500 – so named because of his tendency to dish money around in the form of €500 notes, the criminal’s favourite denomination – can’t be dismissed as an isolated case. Two years ago there was the affair of Evaristo “Don Bancomat” Biasini, an official working for the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, who was accused of shady financial dealings in the construction sector.

Most damaging for the Vatican is the role that its own bank, the IOR (Institute for Religious Works), may have played in these affairs. In the case of Mgr Scarano, investigators are in no doubt he used his two IOR accounts like overseas slush funds. Records show that on one occasion last year Mgr Scarano withdrew €560,000 from an IOR account in a single transaction. He is currently in the Regina Coeli prison, awaiting trial. On Friday the Vatican announced it had frozen his assets and warned that other people may be caught up in the investigation.

Aware of the IOR’s scandal-struck reputation, Pope Francis hired a new president for the institution, Baron Ernst von Freyberg, in May. The German industrialist immediately made himself a hostage to fortune, however, by declaring that the IOR was a “well-managed and clean financial institution” whose reputation was paying the price for past scandals.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, has said no prosecution is to be taken against current or former gardaí who connived with the Catholic Church to protect the paedophile former priest, Patrick McCabe.

The Commissioner was responding to the Murphy Commission’s finding that a previous Commissioner had taken a personal interest in pursuing a blackmail complaint against McCabe’s first known victim and that the man’s phone was tapped.

In a statement tonight, the Commissioner told RTÉ News that following a Garda investigation into the force’s handling of the McCabe case, the DPP had decided that no prosecution was to be taken against current or former gardaí.

He said it is a matter of regret to him personally that people did not receive the appropriate attention and action from the Garda Síochána to which they were entitled.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

David O’Reilly, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: Sunday, July 14, 2013

Despite long-term debt of $350 million, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has no plans to seek bankruptcy protection, its chief financial officer said.

The church is committed instead to bringing its annual operating expenses into balance within a few years, CFO Tim O’Shaughnessy said in an interview, and will sell off real estate to bring down its long-term debt.

Earlier this month Archbishop Charles J. Chaput pulled aside the curtain that his predecessors had kept around church finances for decades. The archdiocese had incurred a $39 million deficit for fiscal year 2012, he revealed, and was carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt.

In a wide range of interviews with church insiders and parishioners, many applauded the archdiocese’s newfound transparency, but one church finance expert offered very stern words for recent cardinals’ handling of church funds that has led to the financial crisis.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

A Rome court has rejected an appeal presented by Mgr. Nunzio Scarano’s lawyers

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

Mgr. Nunzio Scarano of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) has been ordered to stay in prison by the Court of Review in Rome after it rejected an appeal presented by the prelate’s lawyers.

Judges also rejected an appeal presented for financial broker Giovanni Carenzio and Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in the AISI intelligence agency.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 11

OSHKOSH – A former priest convicted of sexual assault in Winnebago County – and recently approved for release from a treatment center for sexual predators – will be living in Oshkosh.

Norbert Maday, 75, was convicted in 1994 and served his sentence for sexually assaulting teenage boys. The state then had him committed as a sexual predator. At a hearing last month, a judge approved a supervised release plan but details of that plan were sealed.

However, the Oshkosh Police Department issued a news release, stating Maday will be released on or before Aug. 2, and will be living at 747 Bowen St. He will be under the supervision of the state Dept. of Corrections and Dept. of Heath Services.

Among the terms of his release:
– No contact with victims
– No unsupervised/unauthorized contact with minors
– No presence in taverns, bars or liquor stores. No use of alcohol or illegal drugs.
– May not leave the residence without an approved chaperone for at least the first year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 14, 2013

Chris Johnson
National Political Correspondent

Survivors of child sexual abuse taking part in the current royal commission will be given more support, following a $45 million injection into community-based service providers.

The federal government will on Sunday list 28 support services around the nation that are sharing in the grants, to be used to help people wanting to submit evidence, attend royal commission hearings or cope emotionally with the proceedings.

The money will help those who have been personally affected by child sexual abuse and the families and carers of victims.

In January former prime minister Julia Gillard established the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and hearings began in April. The six-member commission, headed by Justice Peter McClellan, is inviting people who wish to share their experiences of child sexual abuse in an institution to contact it.

Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said it was hoped the new funding would make it easier for those who wanted to share their experiences with the commission. ”The Australian government understands the importance of ensuring that survivors of child sexual abuse and affected family members are supported to participate in the royal commission,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

All three of the last Popes have proclaimed they are against the crimes of their paedophile priests, even if they have tended to see their actions as more of a sin than an actual crime. It has been described as a “filth” and the “smoke of Satan,” etc.

Pope Francis has added to the usual initial statements about rooting out this evil from the Catholic Church. Finally, the Vatican State has just made it a crime. It is too early to decide if his words are as hollow as his predecessors’.

Comments from most sources have remained skeptical. For example, SNAP says the new law against paedophilia represents “tweaking often-ignored and ineffective internal church abuse guidelines to generate positive headlines, but nothing more.”

SNAP also pointed to his acceptance of Cardinal Bernard Law. “One of the first actions he took was to visit perhaps the most high profile corrupt prelate on the planet, who remains a powerful church official despite having been drummed out of Boston for hiding and enabling crimes by hundreds of child-molesting clerics.”

Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has called on the Pope to institute a process where de-frocking of paedophile priests is automatic once their crimes become known. This is prompted by the notorious case of Father Stephen Kiesle, which tainted both of Pope Francis’ predecessors.

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IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
IrishCentral

[Chapter 20]

By PATRICK COUHINAN, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Saturday, July 13, 2013

Three former Archbishops of Dublin have been damned in the latest publication of the Murphy report into clerical abuse of Ireland – and accused of dumping a known paedophile on a parish in California.

Current archbishop Diarmuid Martin has abjectly apologized for the behavior and asked for forgiveness.

The previously unpublished Chapter 20 of the Murphy Report was finally released on the orders of Dublin’s High Court on Friday, almost four years after the remainder of the document was made public.

It contains damning allegation against the Archbishops over their handling of former priest Patrick McCabe, now 77 and a convicted serial child abuser.

At one point in 1988 McCabe was sent to St Patrick’s psychiatric hospital in Dublin but while there he told diocesan authorities he had secured a job working with homeless people at Stockton, California.

The report says that McCabe left hospital in February 1988. It concluded: “The bishops decided to let him go to the USA. They, in effect, set him loose on the unsuspecting population of Stockton, California. There is no record that they notified the Bishop of Stockton of his arrival.”

McCabe was extradited from America in August 2010 but walked free from court last March after an 18 month jail term was backdated by a judge.

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

July 12, 2013

AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU

ESKASONI — In 1955, a government Indian agent told Margaret Johnson that she had too many children.

On Friday, one of those children, now herself a mother, stood in front of a black granite memorial to the residential school system.

“There were 13 of us, but I never remember being cold or hungry at home,” said Lottie Johnson.

“We always had a cow and a pig and chickens and each other.”

She and eight of her siblings were packed on a train and sent to the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School.

There, they were beaten for speaking Mi’kmaq or for running or showing disobedience. They grew up away from their parents, along with aboriginal children from across Nova Scotia.

All of Eskasoni on Friday was remembering the residential school system and the harm that travelled through ensuing generations like a wave refusing to break against the shore.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

By Laura Jean Grant Cape Breton Post

ESKASONI — Residential school survivors like Lottie Johnson will be remembered and honoured for generations to come in the form of a monument located in the heart of the community.

The 68-year-old resident of Eskasoni is a traditional teacher with the aboriginal program Journey of Healing, a certified addictions counsellor, and a local member of a survivors committee of the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“What survivors have always wanted here in our community was a monument so we had meetings with survivors trying to decided what we wanted,” said Johnson.

The end result was unveiled Friday outside the Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselling Association of Nova Scotia office in Eskasoni, near the church. The monument features a special dedication “to the Eskasoni survivors who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School as well as their families and our community who have endured the intergenerational impacts.” A poem, titled “I Lost My Talk” by celebrated Mi’kmaq poet Rita Joe is engraved on the monument alongside the dedication.

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IRELAND
IrishCentral

By PATRICK COUNIHAN, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Saturday, July 13, 2013

The current Archbishop of Dublin has warned the Catholic Church not to regard the publication of final chapter of the Murphy Report as closure.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin issued a statement in the wake of the publication of Chapter 20 of the Murphy Report into clerical sex abuse in the Dublin diocese between 1975 and 2004.

The Irish Times reports that the Archbishop has warned against drawing a line under a ‘dark period in the history of the church in Dublin’ now that the final chapter of the Murphy report has been published.

The Archbishop also revealed that he was ‘aware of allegations against Patrick McCabe by over 30 named persons here and in the United States’.

The previously unpublished Chapter 20 of the Murphy Report slams how the McCabe case was handled by three previous Archbishops of Dublin – archbishops Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara and Cardinal Desmond Connell.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The head of the Catholic church in St. Louis, Archbishop Robert Carlson, has been subpoenaed to give a deposition in the criminal case of a priest at the Cathedral Basilica accused of sexual misconduct with a teenage girl.

Court records show the Lincoln County girl was under 17 at the time of the alleged fondling by Father Joseph Jiang, who is also accused of offering money to the girl’s family five days after he was charged with the sex crime.

“This priest gave this family a $20,000 check, which apparently they turned over the police and prosecutors , and that’s why he is being charged not only with sexually violating a young girl but also tampering with a witness,” says David Clohessy, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “We don’t have any idea where that money came from and arguably it doesn’t matter. No matter whose money you use to try to tamper with a witness it’s wrong and we’re grateful that he is being prosecuted for that charge, as well as the child sex abuse.”

Jiang is free after the Archdiocese reportedly paid his $25,000 bond. Archbishop Carlson was scheduled to give his deposition next week, but it has been postponed indefinitely.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox
Posted Sat Jul 13, 2013

A former Hunter Valley Catholic bishop concedes the church has a culture of hiding abuse rather than being transparent.

The inquiry went into private hearings yesterday afternoon with the former Maitland-Newcastle bishop Michael Malone still giving evidence.

The Commission is investigating Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s claims that the diocese protected two priests.

Bishop Malone told the public hearings that after a 2004 inquiry by the state’s Ombudsman he had “an epiphany” regarding his inadequate handling of abuse allegations and he was keen to become “transparent”.

Counsel assisting the Commission Julia Lonergan asked the former bishop if he “found that difficult because of church culture and its closeted environment”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 12 July 2013 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., gave the following update this morning regarding the ongoing investigations into the case of Msgr. Nunzio Scarano by the competent authorities. Msgr. Scarano was the director of the accounting analysis service of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) and was arrested at the end of June by Italian authorities in the context of a corruption and fraud investigation.

“By court order on the 9th of July, the Vatican Promoter of Justice has frozen funds at the IOR attributed to suspended Vatican employee Nunzio Scarano as part of an ongoing investigation by the Vatican judicial authorities. The investigation was triggered by several suspicious transaction reports filed with AIF and could be extended to additional individuals.

“IOR commissioned an objective review by Promontory Financial Group of the facts and circumstances of the accounts in question and is fully cooperating with the Vatican Financial Intelligence Unit AIF and judicial authorities to bring full transparency in this matter.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The revelation that one of the nation’s most senior priests deliberately ignored allegations of sexual abuse has been greeted with horror by victims groups. The startling admission came from the former head of the NSW Maitland-Newcastle diocese, retired Bishop Michael Malone. He’s giving evidence at the special commission of inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the diocese by priests.. and members of the state’s police force.

Transcript

SIMON SANTOW: The revelation that one of the nation’s most senior priests deliberately ignored allegations of sexual abuse has been greeted with horror by victims groups.

The startling admission came from the former head of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales, retired Bishop Michael Malone.

He’s giving evidence at the Special Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the diocese by priests as well as by members of the state’s police force.

Eliza Harvey reports.

ELIZA HARVEY: The New South Wales inquiry is looking at whether the Church covered up the crimes of two paedophiles, Catholic priests Dennis McAlinden and James Fletcher, who served in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese.

It was commissioned after whistleblower Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox claimed that the Church – and New South Wales Police – tried to hinder the investigation into child abuse committed by the men.

Julia Lonergan SC is the counsel assisting the inquiry.

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IRELAND
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin

[Chapter 20]

“For those who were abused by Patrick McCabe the publication of the final sections of Chapter 20 of the Murphy Report will bring to life again for them horrific experiences. My comment made on the occasion of the publication of the major part of the Report of the Murphy Commission in November 2009 remains my sentiment today as the final section of the Report is published:

“The hurt done to a child through sexual abuse is horrific. Betrayal of trust is compounded by the theft of self esteem. The horror can last a lifetime. Today, it must be unequivocally recalled that the Archdiocese of Dublin failed to recognise the theft of childhood which survivors endured and the diocese failed in its responses to them when they had the courage to come forward, compounding the damage done to their innocence. For that no words of apology will ever be sufficient.”

My concern today is with the victims of Patrick McCabe, those who have come forward to tell their stories and those for whom the pain of telling their story is still too raw. I think of the parents and the spouses and the children of the victims whose lives have also been damaged by what happened.

For those abused by Patrick McCabe, the wait for truth has been a long one. They rightly also feel that their fight for justice has been a long one and as I know from my meetings with some of the survivors, justice delayed compounded their suffering. I hope that today, with the publication of the full Chapter 20 of the Murphy Report some of their suffering will ease.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

[Chapter 20]

Patsy McGarry

Sat, Jul 13, 2013

Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin warned last night against drawing a line under a “dark period in the history of the church in Dublin” now that the final chapter of the Murphy report has been published.

The Murphy commission investigated the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations by church and State authorities in Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese between 1975 and 2004.

Much of Chapter 20 of its report had been withheld pending the trial of former priest Patrick McCabe, which ended last March. On the publication yesterday of the remaining excerpts, the Archbishop revealed he was “aware of allegations against Patrick McCabe by over 30 named persons here and in the United States”.

The Murphy report said “the DPP’s office, in an internal memorandum, expressed the view that Fr Patrick McCabe should be prosecuted, were he available to be prosecuted”.

Investigation stopped after contact with DPP

The commission had been aware of 21.

Archbishop Martin said: “There are still those who would challenge the work of the Murphy commission. I repeat that the Murphy report represents and remains a true milestone which marks our history. What happened to children in the Church of Jesus Christ in the Archdiocese of Dublin is something that must never be forgotten . . . It is a part of the history of the archdiocese and can never be whitewashed away.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By DAN VERBECK
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph will not have the benefit of an insurance policy to blunt it’s out of court settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit connected to alleged sex abuse.

In court filings, as reported by the Kansas City Business Journal, Chicago Insurance Company said the $2.5 million diocese payment agreed to July 8th isn’t covered.

The diocese settled with parents of Brian Teeman as jury selection was underway in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The suit alleged the teenager killed himself in 1983 at age 14 after sexual abuse by his parish priest, Monsignor Thomas O’Brien. O’Brien agreed to a $2,500 settlement to close the case.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video and audio]

By Eliza Harvey

Victims groups say they are horrified by the revelation that one of Australia’s most senior priests deliberately ignored allegations of sexual abuse.

The startling admission came from the former head of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales, retired Bishop Michael Malone.

He has given evidence at the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the diocese by priests as well as by members of the police force.

The inquiry is looking at whether the church covered up the crimes of two paedophiles, Catholic priests Dennis McAlinden and James Fletcher, who served in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KTTS

By Mike Morgan

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A former insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is seeking to avoid paying for priest sexual abuse settlements.

The Kansas City Business Journal reported Friday the Chicago Insurance Co. is claiming in a federal court filing that it has no obligation to cover a $2.25 million settlement the diocese reached with the parents of Brian Teeman. The parents contended their 14-year-old son committed suicide because of repeated sexual abuse by a priest The insurer also is seeking to deny coverage for six claims from a 2008 settlement.

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WISCONSIN
The Northwestern

A former Catholic priest who sexually assaulted two boys in the 1980s will move into a home in the 700 block of Bowen Street in Oshkosh.

Norbert J. Maday, 75, has been in a secure treatment facility because he was previously classified as a sexually violent person. He recently was re-evaluated and a judge approved a plan for his conditional release on or before Aug. 2.

Maday, a former associate pastor at Our Lady of the Ridge parish in Chicago Ridge, Ill., was convicted of sexually assaulting two altar boys while on a church outing to Father Carr’s Place 2B in Oshkosh in 1986. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on two second-degree sexual assault convictions in 1994.

He was released from prison in 2007, but remained confined under the states’ Sexually Violent Person Law.

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MISSOURI
Fox 2

[with video]

LINCOLN COUNTY, MO (KTVI)– For the first time, the head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis is set to speak under oath in a criminal case against a priest.

Archbishop Robert Carlson is supposed to give a deposition in the criminal case against Father Joseph Jiang.

Jiang is charged with four counts of sexual abuse against a girl in Lincoln County. He’s also charged with witness tampering because Father Jiang allegedly offered $20,000, in what prosecutors call hush money to the victim’s family.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says prosecutors may want to ask the archbishop where that $20,000 came from.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 12, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone has opened a window into the secretive world of Catholic canon law, saying he defied edicts from Rome which required clergy to destroy documents associated with priestly paedophilia.

In his third day in the witness box at the Special Commission of Inquiry sitting in Newcastle, the former head of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese was again taken to task about aspects of his handling of allegations against two of the diocese’s priests – Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

This section of the inquiry is investigating whether Church officials “hindered or obstructed” police investigations in any way, including by a failure to report alleged criminal offences.

As it had been for the previous two days, Bishop Malone’s recall of specific events of the time was sometimes vague, as he continued to answer numerous questions from counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan, by saying he was unable to recall the detail of what she was asking him about.

Bishop Malone spoke again of a personal journey that began with a desire to protect the Church from attacks, and finished with a stand on Church paedophilia he said had put him at odds with some of his fellow senior clergy.

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LOUISIANA
KPLC

Posted By Anne Robicheaux

The bond was upheld this week for former priest Mark Broussard by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal. The court upheld the ruling made by 14th Judicial District Court Judge David Ritchie, after Ritchie had lowered Broussard’s bond to $1.5 million from $3.42 million, due reduced charges.

Broussard’s attorneys had requested that the bond be lowered to $200,000.

Broussard, 57, is accused of molesting male juvenile victims between 1986 and 1991 while he was a priest in Calcasieu Parish.

Broussard faces two counts of aggravated rape, one count of oral sexual battery, one count of aggravated oral sexual battery and one count of molestation of a juvenile.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY July 12, 2013

TWO sisters sat in a court this week and silently raged at the paedophile priest who molested them more than five decades ago, and the Church that failed to stop him.

“When his name’s said I’ve got this picture in my mind from all those years ago,” said one of the sisters about Denis McAlinden.

“I just wish they’d call him mongrel.”

The other sister, whose daughters were also victims of McAlinden, described the “harrowing” experience of learning this week that Maitland-Newcastle Monsignor Patrick Cotter wrote to Bishop Leo Clarke in 1976 about McAlinden’s “inclinations . . . towards the little ones”.

Her daughters were molested by the priest in the 1980s.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

At last, the United Nations is employing its UN power over Vatican power.

At last, the United Nations is reestablishing its secular power which is above Vatican religious power.

At last, the United Nations is applying its secular authority which is higher than the sacred or holy authority of the Vatican.

At last, the United Nations is reinforcing its secular laws that are above Canon Laws which are mostly out-of-touch with reality.

At last, the United Nations is exercising its human powers which are more important and more relevant than the godly powers of the Vatican which are out-of-touch with human reality.

At last the United Nations is questioning the Vatican, its hidden secret records and its church practises instead of minimally agreeing and chanting “Amen” in Latin. The Opus Dei Latin deceiving days are over.

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EL PASO (TX)
KFOX

By Jesse Martinez

Merritt & Watson PLLC | Attorneys at Law

EL PASO, Texas — A child sexual abuse case involving a now-deceased El Paso priest was settled earlier this week.

A suit was filed in 2011 against the New Orleans Province of the Jesuit Order and the El Paso Diocese by a former student and parishioner over an incident dating back several decades.

Documents stated that the victim had repressed the memory of the abuse due to the trauma associated with it. The victim claimed that he was 8 to 12 years old when he was sexually abused by Father Alphonso Madrid when he was assigned to Sacred Heart Church and school.

Madrid was assigned to Sacred Heart from 1970 to 1982, and before that, he was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Archdiocese of San Antonio from 1966 to 1970.

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WISCONSIN
WBAY

The Oshkosh Police Department announced a public meeting on the release of a sex offender who’s a former priest.

Norbert Maday, 75, is moving to the 700-block of Bowen Street by August 2, according to police.

The meeting is next Wednesday, July 17, at 6 p.m. in room 406 of Oshkosh City Hall.

It’s routine for police to announce and hold neighborhood meetings when a sex offender is released or moving into a community.

Maday was convicted in 1994 of fondling two teenage boys while he was a priest.

He was released from prison in 2007 but he remained confined under the Sexually Violent Person Law until a court recently ruled he met the criteria for supervised release.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Business Journal

Paul Koepp
Reporter-
Kansas City Business Journal

An insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has denied coverage for settlements of sexual abuse claims against its priests.

In a federal court filing Wednesday, Chicago Insurance Co. said it has no obligation to cover a $2.25 million settlement the diocese reached Monday with the parents of Brian Teeman, who committed suicide in 1983 after being abused by Monsignor Thomas O’Brien. The case settled on the eve of trial in Jackson County Circuit Court.

According to the filing, the diocese spent $1.4 million to defend the case, including a pre-trial appeal on statute of limitations questions that went to the Missouri Supreme Court.

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ITALIA
AGI

15:20 12 LUG 2013

(AGI) – Roma, 12 lug. – Davanti al gip ha preferito avvalersi della facolta’ di non rispondere. Tuttavia, l’ex sacerdote Patrizio Poggi, gia’ parroco della Chiesa San Filippo Neri, a Roma, finito in carcere il 28 giugno scorso con l’accusa di aver calunniato esponenti del clero e alti rappresentanti del Vaticano indicati come i protagonisti di un giro di prostituzione maschile e minorile, ha deciso di giocarsi le sue carte davanti al tribunale del riesame.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Archbishop is subpoenaed in child sex case
It’s believed to be the first time that’s happened
Carlson is to be questioned under oath next week
Criminal trial vs. Chinese priest is postponed 3 times
Evidence includes voicemail from cleric & text messages
SNAP will provide 26 pages of court records about the case
Group urges “victims, witnesses & whistleblowers” to “speak up now”

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

–disclose that St. Louis’ archbishop has been subpoenaed in a pending criminal child sex abuse case involving a priest, and

–give out copies of 26 pages of court records in the case.

They will also urge:

–anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes to contact law enforcement immediately, and

–parishioners and the public to keep open minds and avoid taking actions and making comments that might discourage any other victims, witnesses or whistleblowers from stepping forward.

When
Friday, July 12 at 12:45 p.m.

Where
On the sidewalk outside the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, Lindell and Newstead in the CWE

Who

Three-four victims of clergy sex crimes who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s executive director

Why
In June of last year, Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang was removed from his post as associate pastor at St. Louis Cathedral Basilica parish on Lindell. He was criminally charged with fondling a teenage girl (under 17) on four occasions earlier in the year.

On Tuesday, July 16, two top archdiocesan officials have been subpoenaed in the criminal case. They are Archbishop Robert Carlson and Deacon Philip R. Hengen. They are also to produce Fr. Jiang’s personnel file to prosecutors.

It’s believed to be the first time Carlson has been subpoenaed in a criminal case. In the past, he has sat for depositions in civil suits.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: July 12, 2013

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

First, we commend this brave family for cooperating with law enforcement. That takes courage and compassion.

It’s always easiest to do nothing. It’s always tempting to believe an adult over a child (especially a trusted religious authority figure). It’s always easy to naively assume that wrongdoing was unintentional or a one time “slip.” It’s always appealing to worry strictly about oneself and let others worry about protecting other kids.

This family obviously is choosing a different course. They are helping police and prosecutors. They are acting responsibly and compassionately. We applaud them for doing the right thing, however hard it may be. They are protecting others from a dangerous predator.

But we hope they don’t have to carry this burden alone. We hope that others, who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Jiang and misdeeds by Archbishop Carlson have already come forward. If not, we hope those individuals will do so. Child molesters rarely molest once. We strongly suspect Fr. Jiang has hurt others.

We’re troubled by the $20,000 Fr. Jiang reportedly left with this family. But we’re more troubled by Archbishop Carlson’s silence about this charge of witness tampering. As best we can tell, in this case and in others, he’s never once spoken out against efforts by church employees or volunteers to discourage others reporting of child sex crimes. We urge Carlson to strongly denounce such serious crimes.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

Posted by Ryan Fitzpatrick (Editor), July 12, 2013

After 40 years of silence, a man is suing a priest, a Midlothian Catholic church and the Archdioces of Chicago in a nine-count, sexual abuse-related lawsuit, according to a WLS.com report.

David Kott filed the suit Thursday, July 11, claiming Rev. Daniel Collins sexually abused Kott between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, from 1971 to 1973, the report stated.

The lawsuit charges Collins with assault and battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, the report stated. In the suit, St. Christopher Catholic Church and the archdiocese are charged with negligent hiring, negligent retention/supervision, negligent entrustment and a breach of fiduciary duty, the report added.

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TEXAS
KTSM

EL PASO, TX (KTSM) — A settlement was reached Thursday for a suit filed by a former parishioner who claims he was sexually abused by a former priest of the El Paso Diocese.

The settlement was between the New Orleans Province of the Jesuit Order and the El Paso Diocese.

The boy who filed the suit was between 8 to 12 years old when he was sexually abused by Father Alphonso Madrid, S.J.

Madrid was assigned to the Sacred Heart Church in south El Paso.

He worked there from 1970 to 1982.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

[Chapter 20 – Department of Justice and Equality]

A High Court judge has ruled this evening that the Murphy report into child abuse in the Dublin Catholic archdiocese can be published in full.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan had previously made orders prohibiting publication of chapter 20 of the report. Yesterday the Judge said he was setting aside orders restraining publication of chapter 20 and the Minister for Justice could now publish the Commission’s report in its “complete original form.”

The Judge said it was “in the public interest” to explain why certain prohibitions were put in place in regards to certain chapters of the report. The restrictions were put in place to ensure criminal proceedings against certain people mentioned in the report were not prejudiced.

The Judge said when the Commission’s report was first published prosecutions against a number of people mentioned in the report were pending. In the case of one individual extradition proceedings from the United States were in being, the Judge added.

The Minister had expressed his concerns, in hearings held in private, about the effects that publication may have had on the trials. The Judge said in light of the Minister concerns the Court had used its discretion not to publish certain parts of the report.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

[Chapter 20 – Department of Justice and Equality]

Patsy McGarry

Fri, Jul 12, 2013

Three former Archbishops of Dublin have been criticised in trenchant terms in a previously unpublished section of a report on the handling of child abuse cases in Dublin.

Archbishops Dermot Ryan, Kevin McNamara and Cardinal Desmond Connell are named in Chapter 20 of the Murphy report, published this afternoon.

Chapter 20, which dealt with former priest Patrick McCabe (77), was released for publication by the High Court yesterday and placed in its entirety on the Department of Justice website this afternoon. McCabe walked free from court last March after an 18-month jail term was backdated by the judge.
Des Hogan, acting chief executive of the Irish Human Rights Commission, said the mandate of the McAleese committee “was fact-finding only”.

Archbishop Ryan was Archbishop of Dublin between 1972 and 1984, Archbishop McNamara from 1984 to 1987, and Cardinal Connell from 1988 to 2004.

The chapter found “shocking”, Garda “connivance” having the affect of “stifling one complaint and failing to investigate another, and in allowing (then) Fr McCabe to leave the country”

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

A demonstration was held yesterday outside of Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes’s office to protest the controversial prosecution of Hasidic sex-abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner. Chaim Levin, a Jewish activist from Crown Heights, organized the protest, and called upon D.A. Hynes to drop all charges against Kellner.

“We already know that the case against Kellner is falling apart,” said Levin. “But the way it just became so abundantly clear that he’s being wrongfully accused, and the real danger is not being pursued at all, it’s just so disturbing and distressing.”

As we previously reported, Kellner first came into the spotlight when he pushed for justice on behalf of his son and other alleged victims of sexual abuse within the ultra-Orthodox community. Kellner spoke out after learning that his son was allegedly molested by Borough Park rabbi/travel agent Baruch Lebovits.
After obtaining permission from a rabbinical court to report the abuse to the Brooklyn DA’s office, Kellner was told that prosecuting was useless and that unless he could prove Lebovits was a serial offender, he would most likely go free. As a result, Kellner found two victims to come forward, and Lebovits was convicted of eight counts of molestation. However, in spite of the conviction, Lebovits, 62, has not seen much jail time.

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UNITED STATES
JTA

By Uriel Heilman
July 12, 2013

The Rabbinical Council of America — the main professional association for Modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States — has put out a statement calling “upon all synagogues and schools to adopt policies geared towards preventing sexual abuse.”

Is this notable, or can we just assume that rabbis are against sex abuse?

Among the recommendations:

Training staff to prevent sexual abuse.
Using sex registries to warn communities when a convicted sex offender moves to town.
Running background checks on all employees.
Not allowing an adult and child to be alone together.
Clarifying what kind of physical contact is unacceptable.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

FRIDAY, JULY 12

Five more former Yeshiva University High students have stepped forward to say they were molested by staffers at the prestigious Jewish institution — just days after 19 other alumni filed a bombshell $380 million lawsuit that claims the school had covered up decades of sexual and physical abuse.

Attorney J. Michael Reck said he has been unable to reach a suitable settlement with Yeshiva University officials and that he is preparing to file a lawsuit on behalf of the five men.

“Institutions like Yeshiva University failed to put the safety of children ahead of their reputations,” Reck said.

Reck also represents a woman who says she was assaulted by a former YUHS principal, Rabbi George Finkelstein, during the 1990s after he became the dean of her Florida school.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

July 13, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Not everyone laughed when Bishop Michael Malone joked in the witness box at the Newcastle sex abuse inquiry that he should have destroyed documents relating to criminal priests in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

There was disgust in the public gallery, where victims of paedophile priests and their families have spent several weeks following the evidence on whether the Catholic Church and police covered up sex abuse allegations.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Julia Lonergan, SC, asked the bishop about Catholic canon law, which requires bishops to keep files on criminal cases involving priests at their dioceses secret, locked and closely guarded. He agreed the church law requires bishops each year to destroy documents where the guilty party has died or 10 years have passed since sentencing.

Asked whether he had followed these rules, Bishop Malone replied: ”No, I didn’t destroy any documents in my time as bishop.” Then he joked: ”Perhaps I should have.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday July 10, 2013

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

A new South Carolina study finds that in child abuse cases “churches often stand between victims and help” and that churches “were least likely to report abuse and sometimes covered it up, urging victims to forgive their abusers instead of reporting them,” according to today’s New York Times.

This is very distressing. Churches know better. But time and time again, church officials and members timidly put their selfish interests above the safety of kids.

It’s been more than 25 years since the first shocking clergy sex abuse and cover up case garnered national attention. In just one denomination (Catholic), church officials admit there have been more than 6,200 child molesting clerics (and we strongly suspect the real figure is substantially higher).

Yet we still see, time and time again, spiritual figures acting like cold-hearted CEOs instead of like compassionate shepherds.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Stephen Crittenden | Jul. 12, 2013

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA The Hunter Valley in New South Wales, two hours north of Sydney, is best known for its vineyards, surf beaches, coal mines and polluting power stations. But in recent years, the region has also become known as the epicenter of Catholic sex abuse in Australia.

Since 1996, seven priests, four religious brothers and six lay teachers of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese have been convicted. The church has paid compensation to the victims of eight other priests, and four priests and two brothers are currently facing abuse or concealment charges. There are 400 known victims.

Now, a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle has heard that leaders of the diocese knew of the numerous pedophiliac activities of one priest, Fr. Denis McAlinden, for 50 years, but did not notify police until 2003.

The inquiry was established in November after allegations by a senior Hunter Valley detective, Chief Inspector Peter Fox, that the Catholic church “covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the church.”

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

A former Niagara Falls principal and priest at a Catholic high school has been convicted of possession of child pornography. After pleading guilty, Rheal LeBlanc was sentenced to 14 days in jail to be carried out on the weekends.

This punishment is unfit for this heinous crime. Child pornography is often an indication of larger, more threatening issues. A full investigation into his history must take place in order to insure that LeBlanc is not a threat to children.

We urge officials at Saint Paul High School, Holy Cross Fathers, and Notre Dame College School to reach out to alumni and members asking for anyone to come forward with information regarding inappropriate actions by LeBlanc. We hope that others will report what they know to the police in order to prevent this man from getting away with a minor punishment for a major crime.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a report issued by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child:

Last month, both Israel and B’nai B’rith International blasted a totally politicized report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child that condemned Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Now the disgraced Committee has attacked the Holy See: it is demanding that the Vatican turn over every document it has on priestly sexual abuse, and wants to know what the Catholic Church has done about discrimination between boys and girls; it is concerned about sexual stereotypes in school textbooks.

The Committee should be dissolved—its moral authority is shot. Of the 18 nations that comprise this entity, Freedom House rates half of them either “not free” or “partly free.” To see what the U.S. State Department says about ten of these nations, click here. In other words, at least half of these nations have a record of oppressing its own people, many in ways that are positively shocking. And they have the audacity to point fingers at the Holy See?

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 12/07/2013
Reporter: Suzie Smith

The former Bishop of Maitland Newcastle diocese, Michael Malone, told the inquiry into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, that he felt compelled to defend the Church in favour of reporting a paedophile priest.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The former Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle has told a NSW inquiry into alleged abuse by the clergy that he felt compelled by Church culture to play down the problem.

Bishop Michael Malone today said there’d been resistance from some priests to confront the issue.

Until 2011 Bishop Malone was head of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese for 16 years.

It has been one of the worst centres of clergy sexual abuse against children with hundreds of victims and at least 14 priests either charged, convicted or under investigation.

Suzie Smith reports from Newcastle.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

(By Denis Greenan). Vatican City, July 12 – The Vatican on Friday said it would from now on show “zero tolerance” to illicit dealings at its troubled bank, whether committed by clerics or people outside the Church. “The Vatican is determined to pursue a zero-tolerance policy on possible financial irregularities, whether by clerics or lay persons,” Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, citing a recent statement from the new head of the Vatican Bank, Ernst von Freyberg. Lombardi was speaking shortly after a Vatican prosecutor froze two accounts held in the Vatican Bank by a top prelate and former accounting chief arrested in connection with a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of laundered money back from Switzerland to Italy.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

July 12, 2013 (Romereports.com) The Vatican has hired a consulting company, to investigate suspicious transactions reported under the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Unit, known as AIF.

In light of the recent arrest of former Vatican accountant, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, the Vatican’s Bank, or IOR, hired a team from the ‘Promontory Financial Group.’ The company was hired to carry out an objective review of suspicious transactions.

On June 28th, Scarano was arrested in Rome. Investigators claim he was secretly plotting to transport 20 million euros from a Swiss bank account to Italy. At the time of his arrest, Scarano had already been suspended from his post as a Vatican accountant.

About a week after his arrest, on July 9th, The Vatican Promoter of Justice, froze all assets connected to Scarano. According to a Vatican’s press release, those suspicious transactions, could involve additional suspects.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN Money

By Alanna Petroff @AlannaPetroff July 12, 2013

The Vatican has suffered another setback as it tries to shed a reputation for murky financial dealings.

Vatican officials said an investigation into suspicious transactions at the Vatican bank could be widened to include “additional individuals” after they froze the funds of a senior cleric arrested last month on suspicion of trying to smuggle cash.

Nunzio Scarano, a priest who worked as a financial analyst for the Vatican, was arrested along with a financial broker and a former secret service police officer. Rome’s prosecutor says the trio had tried to smuggle tens of millions of euros across Europe using a private plane in July 2012.
Scarano has denied any wrongdoing.

Investigators are looking at transactions from two accounts Scarano held at the Vatican bank, one a personal account and the other used for donations.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA BLAINE ON JULY 12, 2013

To many, the headlines sound wonderful. To me, they’re heartbreaking:

“Pope Tightens Rules on Child Sex Abuse”

“Vatican broadens child abuse crimes in legal reform”

“Pope widens criminal punishment for child abuse in Vatican”

“Pope issues first penal laws for Vatican, criminalizes leaks of Vatican info, child sex abuse”

How can this be bad news?

It’s bad news because it’s deceptive. It will lead to inaction, not action, and to false security, not real security.

A closer look reveals a troubling truth: this “reform” affects .0000000007174% of the earth’s surface – the actual, physical grounds of the tiny, tiny 0.2 square mile Vatican state. That’s what it covers. Nothing more.

And like almost every other so-called Vatican “reform” about abuse, it’s words, not deeds. It’s a possibility, not a reality. I strongly suspect this “tiny tweak” (as we in SNAP have called it here) will never be used even once to punish a single wrongdoer.

Other popes have tweaked the church’s internal “age of consent” and statute of limitations on abuse.

The results have been negligible.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Catholic

GREENSBURG, Pa. (CNS) — Bishop Emeritus Anthony Bosco, who served as bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg for nearly 17 years, died July 2 at his Unity Township home. He was 85. “It was with deep sadness that I learned of the death of Bishop Emeritus Anthony G. Bosco last night. He was a faith-filled, humble servant of the Lord who loved his priesthood and the church. He served the people of Greensburg with joy as their shepherd for 17 years,” said Greensburg Bishop Lawrence Brandt. “I always appreciated his friendship and wisdom. His passing is not only a great loss for the people of the Diocese of Greensburg, whom he loved, but it is a great loss for the national and universal church that he served so faithfully for more than six decades.”

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh stated that “Bishop Bosco was an exceptional leader of the faithful in southwestern Pennsylvania, and not just for the Catholics in the Diocese of Greensburg.”

“He was an ecumenical leader who engaged peoples of all faiths with his strong voice, quick wit and homespun preaching. He was a Pittsburgh priest who became our auxiliary bishop,” Bishop Zubik said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Laetitia Lemke

Barriers of culture, language and distance are challenging the Royal Commission on Institutional Child Sexual Abuse as it reaches out to remote communities, including the Tiwi Islands.

Residents of the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, still have not decided if they want to talk to the commission about a 30-year-old case.

Dozens of children on the islands had claimed they were sexually abused by the principal of the local boys’ school, Brother John Hallett, over several years from the mid-1980s.

Brother Hallett was found guilty on two counts of committing an act of gross indecency, but both convictions were quashed on appeal.

Tiwi Islands Shire Council deputy mayor Marius Puruntatameri says the incident had a profound psychological impact on the community.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

While the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse within Australian institutions has been welcomed by victims, lobby groups within indigenous communities believe that because of cultural and language barriers, as well as the tyranny of distance they may not get all the benefits that flow from it. The Tiwi islands, north of Darwin is one such place, where locals are still coming to terms with past allegations of sexual abuse in the catholic church.

Transcript

SCOTT BEVAN: The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse within Australian institutions has been welcomed by victims.

But lobby groups are warning it won’t reach some Indigenous Australians because of cultural and language barriers, as well as the tyranny of distance.

Laetitia Lemke travelled to the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, the home of a former Catholic mission, where locals are still coming to terms with past allegations of sexual abuse in the church.

LAETITA LEMKE: It’s a case that’s haunted the Tiwi Islands for two decades. In 1994, multiple claims of child sexual abuse were levelled at the principal of the local boys’ school, Brother John Francis Hallett.

Marius Puruntatameri from the Tiwi Islands Shire Council says the allegations had a deep impact among residents.

MARIUS PURUNTATAMERI: It had a profound impact perhaps psychologically moreso to the children that may have been affected and perhaps the families who were going through that investigation.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

Sentencing has been postponed until August for a former Connecticut priest who previously taught at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs and who admitted to engaging in sexual online chats with an underaged boy.

Michael Miller, a Tonawanda native, pleaded guilty in May to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.

Miller’s guilty plea stems from a 2011 investigation into his online conversations with several young boys and police allegations that he sent pornographic images to one of the boys.

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