ABUSE TRACKER

NEW JERSEY
TheMediaReport

In an open letter last week to all of the priests of his archdiocese, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers responded to “false” and “deceitful” reporting that has characterized the recent frenzied media coverage of a case involving Myers’ supervision of a now-dead priest decades ago in the 1990s in the Diocese of Peoria (Illinois) when he was a bishop there.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger newspaper – which has relentlessly attacked Archbishop Myers this year – has claimed that Myers did nothing after he received first-hand knowledge that a priest under his watch in Peoria was accused of abuse.

In truth, after a thorough examination of the matter by TheMediaReport.com, the facts are clear: Myers, while he was Bishop of Peoria, had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of any sex abuse committed by the particular priest in question, and the Star-Ledger has uncritically trumpeted the unfounded claims of Jeff Anderson, the high-profile contingency lawyer who has an extensive history of disseminating misinformation and malice against the Church, and who has been at the center of a money-seeking lawsuit in this case.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

El Juzgado de Instrucción 1 de Castellón ha archivado provisionalmente el primer caso que se conoció en España en el que la propia Iglesia denunció ante la Justicia ordinaria los presuntos abusos sexuales de un sacerdote hacia un menor, siguiendo las nuevas directrices del anterior Papa, Benedicto XVI.

El auto del 30 de julio de 2013, hecho público este martes por el Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Comunidad Valenciana, expone que al cierre de la Instrucción, el titular del Juzgado 1 de Castellón ordena el sobreseimiento provisional de la denuncia contra J. M. M. V., fraile carmelita que ejercía en la localidad de Burriana (Castellón), acusado de un presunto delito de abuso sexual a un monaguillo cuando el joven era menor de edad.

El sobreseimiento de la causa llega tras la petición de archivo por parte del Ministerio Fiscal, que no considera “debidamente acreditada la concurrencia de los elementos exigidos por los tipos de los abusos sexuales del Código Penal” y al no haber formalizado la acusación particular -formada por el propio monaguillo, J. S. G., y su padre- su denuncia contra el imputado.

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

For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 20

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 )

It’s interesting what Archbishop Robert Carlson does NOT say, either in public or in his new eight page legal response.

He doesn’t say “Fr. Jiang never admitted his crimes to me.” (In their civil suit, that’s what the parents say happened.)

He doesn’t say “I never called the girl’s mom.” (In their civil suit, that’s what the parents say happened.)

He doesn’t say “I never asked anyone to turn over the $20,000 check to me.” (In their civil suit, that’s what the girl’s parents say Carlson did.)

He doesn’t even say “I think Fr. Jiang is innocent.”

In a footnote, he does say the charge that he tried to tamper with evidence is “baseless.” But again, he refuses to say whether he called the mom or asked for Jiang’s $20,000 check. Why won’t he just come clean and answer even these two simple questions?

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 20, 2013 NCR Today

Pulling few punches, Newark Archbishop John Myers responded over the weekend to what he classified as “deceitful and misleading” news reports of a deposition he made related to a clergy sex abuse lawsuit in his previous Peoria, Ill., diocese.

In a letter sent to Newark archdiocesan priests, encouraging them to share its content with “parishioners, and all who are interested in the truth,” Myers accused his critics — many of whom have called for his resignation — of raising false and misleading statements of his handling of abuse allegations in both Peoria and Newark.

“For those who are truly with us — the Church — in the protection of children, they have my respect, gratitude, and embrace,” he said. “For any who set out to claim that I or the Church have had no effective part in the love and protection of children, is simply evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement.”

“God only knows their personal reasons and agenda. We are still called to love them. And God will surely address them in due time,” Myers wrote in the letter, a version of which was made public online through the personal blog of Fr. Jim Chern, chaplain of the Newman Catholic Center at Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J.

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NEW JERSEY
Washington Post

[Archbishop Myers deposition via BishopAccountability.org]

NJ archbishop calls critics ‘evil, wrong’ over accounts of settlement from previous Ill. post

By Associated Press,
NEWARK, N.J. — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Newark, N.J., has issued a scathing rebuke to his critics, blasting them as “evil, wrong, immoral” for questioning his handling of an allegation of sex abuse in his previous diocese in Illinois.

In a letter to clergy, Archbishop John J. Myers defends himself in the case of a man who sued the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., which Myers helmed from 1990 to 2001. In a 2010 deposition that a lawyer for the accuser recently released, Myers said he did not know of other allegations against Monsignor Thomas Maloney. The diocese of Peoria reached a $1.35 million settlement in the case this month.

The deposition said diocesan correspondence recorded one allegation of abuse and another of inappropriate behavior against Maloney, but Myers said they may have been lost in the diocese’s slipshod filing system and did not cross his desk. Myers said he wasn’t alerted to the allegations and didn’t see them when reviewing Maloney’s files while recommending him for a promotion in 2000. Maloney died in 2009.

“At no time was I ever aware that some people thought him to be a threat to children or young people,” Myers wrote, noting the case that recently settled was brought to the attention of the Diocese of Peoria in 2007, years after he left.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 20

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 )

It’s inappropriate and unseemly for a purported shepherd to use religious services to harshly attack the motives of others. It’s always suspect when a powerful officials claims the news media is to blame for his difficulties.

And it’s extraordinarily cruel to publicly accuse an abuse victims parents of trying to “undermine the Ministry of individual Priests . . .or Bishops (sic),” as Myers did on Sunday.

Andrew Ward’s brave and caring mom and dad are trying to deter cover ups, not “undermine Ministry.” They are to be commended, not censured, and especially not censured from pulpits paid for by parishioners.

Shame on Myers for heaping even more pain on this family that has already suffered immeasurably.

Myers selfishly exploited his “captive audience” last Sunday for his personal defense. He cynically tries to conflate his own justifiably-tattered reputation with “our Roman Catholic Faith and its Teachings.” But every Catholic knows there’s a difference between one individual bishop’s wrongdoing and the entire collective Catholic faith. To claim otherwise is perverse.

Demanding that Myers apologize or step down is meaningless. The Vatican, not Myers, should take the next step. And that step should be to denounce and demote this selfish man.

Finally, almost 15 years ago, when the first clergy sex abuse and cover up case began to attract national attention, Catholic officials in Louisiana urged their flock to stop reading and buying a local newspaper.

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

Archbishop wants case against him tossed out
He dodges recent & unusual accusations, SNAP says
But he “vehemently” denies trying to tamper with evidence
SNAP: “Carlson promised ‘answers,’ but offers only legal excuses”
He claims church can’t be held responsible for recent alleged abuse
“Disclose where suspended predator priest is living now?” abuse victims ask
Chinese cleric is one of six wrongdoers who worked at Cathedral on Lindell
Self help group wants archbishop to hold public meeting about all offenders

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will hand out copies of a new legal defense motion filed by St. Louis’ archbishop in response to a disturbing recent civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit that charges Catholic officials with evidence tampering. They will, also blast the archbishop’s “legalistic, non-response” and

–point out that five credibly accused priests and one convicted bishop worked at the Cathedral on Lindell,
–prod the archbishop to hold an open public meeting about the predators, and
–urge him to turn over records about all five alleged child molesting clerics to local law enforcement.

When:
TODAY, Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 1:30 p.m.

Where:
Outside the St. Louis Cathedral on Lindell at Taylor in the city’s Central West End

Who:
Three-four members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including a St. Louis man who is the group’s long time director

Why:
Last month, a shocking lawsuit alleging very recent child sex crimes and attempted cover up by St. Louis’ archbishop was filed. Now, Archbishop Robert Carlson has responded to those accusations with a new, eight-page legal response in which he calls “baseless” the charge that he tried to tamper with evidence. On five other charges, however, Carlson basically argues that he can’t be held responsible even if the allegations in the case are true. Carlson’s lawyers want the entire case against him tossed out.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

LCWR 2013 Assembly: Little Evidence Yet of Any Reforms

NEWS ANALYSIS: More than a year after the Vatican mandated changes, the U.S. women religious leaders’ group appears uninterested in complying.

by ANN CAREY
08/20/2013

When the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) met in its annual assembly Aug. 13-16 in Orlando, Fla., the main topic of business was how the sisters would respond to a 2012 mandate of reform from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). The LCWR is a canonically erected superiors’ organization of nearly 1,400 sisters who are leaders of about 80% of the women religious in this country.

Interest in their 2013 assembly was heightened by the presence of the Vatican’s apostolic delegate charged with conducting the reform, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle. He had offered to attend the LCWR 2012 assembly to discuss the mandate that had come out April 18 of that year, but had been told then by LCWR leaders that his presence “would not be helpful.”

This year, Archbishop Sartain addressed the entire membership in a closed session and fielded questions about the mandate from LCWR members. He also met with the LCWR’s 21-member national board during the first of three days of board meetings after the assembly closed.

However, the only decision announced by LCWR in an Aug. 19 press release was simply to continue talking with Archbishop Sartain and Bishops Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., and Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who the Vatican appointed to assist him.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

+Diarmuid Martin surveys the Irish Church in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis and the economic downturn. This article, first published in America on 20 May 2013, is adapted from an address at the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture in New York. Read the original article and comments here

I entered the seminary in Dublin in October 1962, just one week before the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The winter of 1962-63 was one of the bleakest in decades, and our seminary was a very cold place in more ways than one. My memory of the seminary is of a building and a routine, a discipline and a way of life that seemed to have been like that for decades. Even to someone who was not a revolutionary, it all seemed very out of touch with the world from which I had just come, and in which my friends were thriving. But one was not supposed to think that way. Things were to be done as they had always been done. The Catholic Church was unchanging, but that was about to change.

For decades Ireland was looked on as one of the world’s most deeply and stably Catholic countries. Today Ireland finds itself, along with other parts of Europe, being classified as “post-Catholic.” Everyone has his or her own definition of the term. You can fully define post-Catholic only in terms of the Catholicism that has been displaced. Irish Catholicism has its own unique history and culture. Renewal in the Irish church will not come from imported plans and programs; it must be home-grown.

Ireland does, of course, share the same currents of secularization with other countries of the Western world and thus shares many of the same challenges. There are specific challenges within Europe; there are specific challenges common to the English-speaking world. Yet the fact that Ireland is an English-speaking country does not mean it can be put into the same category as the United States and Great Britain. …

The effects of the child abuse scandals have had a demoralizing effect on the entire church in Ireland and continue to do so. In one sense the scandal crisis could not have come at a worse time, in that confidence in the church was well on the wane; and when the scandals broke, their effects were devastating. Today Ireland has strong child protection measures in place, and the Irish church is a much safer place for children than in the past. I would like to pay tribute to the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, and in particular Ian Elliot, for their extraordinary contribution to helping make the church a safer place for children. One still has to ask, however, where the roots of this scandal and its mismanagement were to be found within the church. Was the issue simply the action of a few deviant priests who did not represent the church, or was there something deeper?

Certainly the overwhelming majority of priests in Ireland led and lead an exemplary moral life; they carry out their ministry with great dedication and enjoy great support and affection from their people and contribute and support the new ethos of child safeguarding.

What is extraordinarily high is the number of children who were abused. We are talking about thousands. There is no way you can simply explain away the huge number of those who were abused and the fact that this took place undetected and unrecognized within the church of Jesus Christ. Today we are in a safer place, but it took decades to attain this.

One of the great challenges the Irish Catholic Church still has to face is that of strong remnants of inherited clericalism. The days of the dominant or at times domineering role of clergy within what people call the “institutional church” have changed, but part of the culture still remains and from time to time reappears in new forms. We often overlook the fact that the very term “institutional church” has meaning only in a context of clericalism.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Royal Commission warm-up acts, the NSW and Victorian enquiries, are finished, pending their reports next month. The Queensland enquiry, the Carmody Enquiry, was a real let down and is best forgotten about. The federal enquiry is not due to have its first public hearings until after the federal election.

On the bright side, Cardinal Pell will return from his Roman summer holiday shortly, complete with suitcase full of new outfits, and briefcases full of books. One would hope that none of those pesky protestors take the opportunity to meet him at the airport, wearing offensive T-shirts!

He can then take a firm hand at the helm steering the church through the minefield of the Royal Commission. The absence of his steady influence caused some problems at the NSW enquiry.

One of the problems he would undoubtedly have avoided was the embarrassing matter of the shredding of documents by police from the Church-Police paedophile liaison meetings. He would also have avoided the problems of having the NSW Police minister being caught out saying the Ombudsman had given the ethical nod to these meetings, which the former head prosecutor had implied demonstrated a conflict of interest for the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THOMAS CHAMBERLIN THE COURIER-MAIL AUGUST 19, 2013

A RETIRED Catholic priest facing more than 50 child sex abuse charges says he is still too ill to appear in court.

The Father, 77, who taught in southeast Queensland schools in the 1970s and 1980s, is accused of abusing girls and boys under the age of 16.

Detectives earlier this year charged the man with 57 counts of indecent treatment of children and one count of common assault relating to offences alleged to have taken place between 1977 and 1988.

The retired priest, who cannot be named, did not appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday and his lawyer Barry Ryan tendered a medical certificate to excuse his client’s appearance.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

Jeff Kunerth
August 19, 2013

Leadership Conference of Women Religious concluded their meeting in Orlando Monday no less defiant of the Vatican.

The LCWR, which represents about 43,000 American nuns, has been criticized by the Vatican for deviating from Catholic doctrine, including its positions on gays, women in the ministry, and the gender of God, who is sometimes referred to as “she.”

The sisters, who represent about 43,000 American nuns, met several times with a representative from the Vatican during their convention in Orlando. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was given five years in 2012 to bring the nuns in line with the strict teachings of the church.

On Monday, the LCWR issued a statement that said, “The session with Archbishop Sartain allowed a profound and honest sharing of views…The extraordinarily rich and deeply reverent conversation during the board meeting gave us a greater understanding of Archbishop Sartain, and we believe he now also better understands us…”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The economic costs of child sexual abuse are very difficult to estimate. Most authors err on the side of caution and use the lowest estimate as the basis of their papers. Taylor et al. (2008) (see references below), for example, use the lowest rates of reported abuse, to arrive at a figure for an “incidence cost” (cost to the taxpayer plus cost to victims) of between $13.7 billion and $38.7 billion, in Australia.

Since this is a preliminary article, the average figure of about $25 billion will be used, even though most would agree that even the higher figure of $38.7 billion is probably far too small in reality.

Again, using the lower bounds of the statistics, about 10% of child abuse is child sexual abuse. This means that this abuse costs $2.5 billion.

Allowing, yet again, for the minimum figure, 7% of child sexual abuse comes from strangers, mainly religious sources, and others such as Scouting. This yields a final figure of $175 million, as the cost of clerical and other offenders’ child sexual abuse, to the taxpayer and the victims.

Of this, to be really conservative with the figures, it can be deduced that the minimum cost of clerical child sexual abuse is of the order of $100 million to the taxpayer and victims.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

RELATED DOCUMENTS

• Myers’ letter to priests of the archdiocese
• Myers’ 2010 deposition related to a lawsuit in the Diocese of Peoria
• Myers’ letter thanking Maloney for his ‘much-loved’ camera
• Myers thanks Maloney for the ‘wonderful gift’
• Myers’ thank-you letter indicating he will gamble at the dog track
• Myers thanks Maloney for ‘your most generous gift,’ invites him to Florida
• Myers thank-you letter for a silver object
• Myers invites Maloney to Crete
• Myers assures a parishioner Maloney has not been accused of impropriety

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on August 20, 2013

NEWARK — In a sharply worded offensive, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers lashed out at the media and his critics in a letter released over the weekend, saying he has been the target of “deceitful and misleading” information about his oversight of sexually abusive priests.

Myers, who has limited his public comments in the face of recent scandals, took broad aim in the letter, addressed to priests of the archdiocese and distributed to parishioners at weekend services in Essex, Union, Bergen and Hudson counties.

In addition to the media, he questioned the motivations of politicians and former or retired clergy members who have spoken out against him, terming them “traveling bandwagons” and suggesting they have a prejudiced and spiteful view of the Roman Catholic faith. He suggested, too, they would be judged by God.

“For any who set out to claim that I or the Church have had no effective part in the love and protection of children, is simply evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement,” Myers wrote. “God only knows their personal reasons and agenda. We are still called to love them. And God will surely address them in due time.”

Myers wrote the letter in response to newspaper and television reports last week about a $1.35 million legal settlement reached between the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., and the family of a man who contends an Illinois priest abused him as a child in 1995 and 1996.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
on August 20, 2013

Editor’s note: This letter by Newark Archbishop John J. Myers was distributed to priests of the archdiocese over the weekend. Myers was responding to news stories about a $1.35 million settlement between the Diocese of Peoria, his former post, and the family of a boy who was allegedly abused by a priest there. The family and its attorney blamed Myers for failing to take action against the priest despite repeated warning signs.

August 15, 2013

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

My Dear Brother Priests in the Archdiocese of Newark:

This past week local media, once again, provided deceitful and misleading information about situations in the Diocese of Peoria and in this Archdiocese. I am dutybound to denounce the impressions presented as false and harmful to many people. They can also be confusing to many others.

To the best of my knowledge, the particular case cited was brought to the attention of the officials in the Peoria Diocese in or about 2007, more than five years after I left that Diocese and arrived in New Jersey.

In the deposition given by me and selectively quoted by an interested attorney, some upset parents, and a former Priest of this Archdiocese, I spoke under oath and truthfully about matters relating to a certain Priest. I never vacationed with him, and I received no gifts other than those often given to a bishop by Pastors or Parishes. Since we were both coin collectors, I recall that he once gave me a coin of minimal value, of which he had several examples. At no time was I ever aware that some people thought him to be a threat to children or young people. Officials at the Diocese of Peoria who investigated an earlier case during my years there found that no allegation was sufficiently supported by evidence. In 2007, when Law Enforcement officials investigated the case cited in the lawsuit, the Diocese of Peoria provided all information concerning the earlier case. That investigation by the authorities determined that neither allegation had any basis for any criminal action. If the opposite had been the case, I would have acted to protect children and young people as I did on any other occasions in Illinois and here in New Jersey. Priests would have been taken out of Ministry as I have done in both locations. Children should never be at risk in so far as we can know.

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UNITED STATES
Tikkun

by: Timothy Villareal on August 15th, 2013

Steve Theisen, 61, is the Iowa director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Unlike the vast majority of men and women whose lives have been positively affected by the support SNAP provides to victims of clergy abuse, Theisen was not sexually abused by a Catholic priest: he was sexually abused by a Catholic nun.

The abuse began in the 4th grade, when Theisen was just nine-years-old. He stayed after class one day to wash the blackboards. Alone with the nun in the classroom, she showed him how the Eskimos kiss: by rubbing noses. Some weeks later, she then showed him how Americans kiss. Then a few more weeks passed. The nun then said to the boy, “This is how the French kiss.” And with that, the forty-something nun stuck her tongue in the boy’s mouth. It escalated from there. As Thiesen recalls, the nun never touched his genitals, and neither of them were ever disrobed. But from 4th through 6th grade, after school and sometimes on weekends, the nun would have him on the floor, French kissing and necking. Sometimes the nun would be on top of him, other times she put the boy on top of her.

Theisen also recalls sitting next to the nun in chapel. She would hold his hand under her religious habit so that no one would see.

It was not until well into adulthood that Theisen told someone what had happened to him: his therapist. It took 18 sessions with the therapist to finally open up about the experience that so affected his life. As Theisen explained to me, trust does not come easy to victims of child sex abuse.

Theisen’s testimony is gut-wrenching to hear, for those who are willing to listen. Not only did he live in daily fear as a child that someone would find out what was happening between him and the nun, he was also wracked by guilt. For when the school children would ask the nuns why they wore rings on their fingers, the nuns would tell the children that they were married to Christ. During the abuse, Theisen thought he was committing “the most grievous sin in the entire world because he was fooling around with Jesus’s wife.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

OFFICERS are asking people to contact them after former pupils claimed that they were molested and beaten by the monks who taught them decades ago.

VICTIMS of alleged abuse by monks at two Catholic boarding schools are being encouraged to contact police.

Dozens of former pupils at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands and its East Lothian feeder school, Carlekemp, have claimed that they were molested and beaten by the monks who taught them decades ago.

A group of former pupils told a BBC documentary that they were raped or sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan, an Australian monk who taught at Carlekemp and Fort Augustus between 1953 and 1974.

Fr Duggan died in 2004 but some abuse claims relate to men who are still alive and police said they have been investigating since March.

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AUSTRALIA/SCOTLAND
Herald Sun

AAP AUGUST 20, 2013

VICTIMS of alleged abuse by monks, including an Australian, at two Catholic boarding schools in Scotland are being encouraged to contact police.

Dozens of former pupils at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands and its East Lothian feeder school, Carlekemp, have claimed they were molested and beaten by the monks who taught them decades ago.

A group of former pupils told a BBC documentary that they were raped or sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan, an Australian monk who taught at Carlekemp and Fort Augustus between 1953 and 1974.

Duggan died in 2004 but some abuse claims relate to men who are still alive and police said they have been investigating since March.

One former headmaster of Fort Augustus, Father Francis Davidson, resigned from a role at Oxford University last week amid accusations that he failed to act on reports of abuse during his time in charge in the 1970s.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — A review of churches by the Diocese of Antigonish isn’t about closing churches but instead about ensuring the diocese is properly fulfilling its mandate, an official says.

The diocese already completed a review of churches in Cape Breton and Victoria counties, which led to a number of closures. It is now turning its scrutiny to churches in Richmond, Inverness, Antigonish, Guysborough and Pictou counties.

Rev. Donald MacGillivray, the director of pastoral planning, said the region covered by the diocese is undergoing tremendous demographic change.

“Cape Breton is in decline, in terms of the population, we lose about one per cent of our population per year on Cape Breton Island, and that is pretty well true of most of rural Nova Scotia,” MacGillivray said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON Aug. 20, 2013

The full extent of the horror inflicted on Ballarat children by Catholic priests Gerald Ridsdale and Ronald Claffy, and Christian Brothers Robert Best, Edward Dowlan, Stephen Farrell and Gerald Fitzgerald may never be known.

We know 107 cases have been substantiated during former Bishop Ronald Mulkearn’s 26-year term from 1971 until 1997.

We know through the recent state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse, the Catholic Church Insurance has a list of clergy they would not cover because of their paedophilic activities, yet they remained in service and were just relocated.

We know 40 of the victims committed suicide.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 20 August 2013

THE leading Catholic cleric announced as the successor to shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien has confirmed he has had meetings with the Pope over the role he inherits next month.

Monsignor Leo Cushley, the Archbishop-elect of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said he held talks last Tuesday with Pope Francis over the situation facing the Archdiocese since Cardinal O’Brien was forced to resign after allegations of abuse and admitting decades of sexual behaviour with other clerics earlier this year.

Mgr Cushley, a Vatican diplomat unveiled as Cardinal O’Brien’s successor last month, had said he had not spoken with the Pontiff about the situation despite working closely with both him and Benedict in Rome.

But the former Diocese of Motherwell parish said of his meeting with Pope Francis: “It was encouraging and very heartening to learn how well the Holy Father knows and appreciates the situation of the Archdiocese and its priests and people.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Andrew Hamilton | 24 July 2013

The culture of an organisation comprises the shared attitudes, values, patterns of relationship and practices that make it more likely that members will act in particular ways. In an army unit where there is a culture of binge drinking and contempt for women, more incidents of sexual assault may well occur than in other units where these features are absent.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s recent book on the culture of the Catholic Church carries on his critique of the factors that have contributed to clerical sexual abuse of children and to denial and concealment of it. The aspects of Catholic culture that he believes conducive to it include: a relationship with God dominated by fear; immaturity; compulsory clerical celibacy, an exclusively male caste standing over the church; a lonely way of life; a cult of privacy and secrecy; a compulsive need to defend the actions and attitudes of the Pope.

Together these things made it more likely that priests will be tempted to abuse children, will have the opportunity to do so, will abuse with impunity, and have their actions denied and covered up by others.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

MONDAY AUGUST 19, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

A defiant Newark archbishop lashed out at critics in a letter to Catholic clergy, defending his handling of an alleged pedophile priest and denouncing the media, victims’ advocates and politicians as “evil” for distorting his record.

John J. Myers distributed the letter in response to press accounts that detailed a 2010 deposition in which he denied knowing about a priest’s alleged sexual abuses while he was bishop of an Illinois diocese. But during Myers’ time as bishop in Peoria, the diocese received an allegation that the priest had molested a child and that no action was taken, according to records made public in the settlement.

In the letter, which Myers urged priests to share with churchgoers, the archbishop declared that anyone who claims that he had “no effective part” in protecting children from abuse is “simply evil, wrong, immoral and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement.”

“God only knows their personal reasons and agenda,” the archbishop wrote. “We are still called to love them. And God will surely address them in due time.”

Francis Fiorenza, professor of Catholic Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, said he has never seen such a strongly worded statement from a bishop. Many Roman Catholic prelates have gone on the defensive during the decades-long sex-abuse scandal, but Myers may be the first to cast their critics and the media as sinners, he said.

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NEW JERSEY
Father Jim Chern’s Blog

LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP MYERS

Over the last few months, certain media outlets in our state — including a newspaper which used to be a staple in our family home growing up (that has removed any pretense of objectivity and is blatantly hateful to the Catholic Church, both locally and universally) — have made one of their goals to force our Archbishop John J. Myers to resign. They’ve been selectively reporting and manipulating facts to advance their distorted narrative.

Today, Archbishop Myers sent the following letter to all of the priests of the Archdiocese and has given us permission to share it with people of good will, especially those who, understandably, have been so troubled with scandal plagued headlines.

I appreciate your taking the time to read this and ask that you continue to hold the Archbishop and our Archdiocese in your prayers. As a priest, reading legitimate accounts about the abuse of children by some priests, and some of the actions (or inactions) by superiors when these crimes came to light has been a horror to learn about and has saddened me considerably personally as I’ve witnessed the immense hurt this has caused to the entire body of Christ that is the Church.

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NEW JERSEY
Catholic Culture

In a letter to priests, Archbishop John Myers of Newark strongly denounced recent media coverage of a settlement in which the plaintiff charged that the prelate allowed a priest to remain in ministry despite evidence of prior sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Peoria, which Archbishop Myers led from 1990 to 2001, was party to the $1.35-million settlement.

“This past week local media, once again, provided deceitful and misleading information about situations in the Diocese of Peoria and in this Archdiocese,” Archbishop Myers said in his letter, as quoted on the blog of Father Jim Chern, the archdiocese’s vocations director.

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By PHILIP A. VANNO
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Aug 19, 2013

UTICA —
The Very Rev. Stephen Enea has until Sept. 5 to decide if he will accept a deal offered by the District Attorney’s Office, or go to trial to answer charges that he failed to pay contractors close to $500,000 for renovations to his Cornhill church.

Flanked by a handful of supporters, Enea, head of the Cathedral of the Theotokos of Great Grace, appeared before Judge Michael Dwyer in Oneida County Court Monday morning alongside public defender Corey Zennamo, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The archbishop of the Italo-Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas and Canada, along with his chief operating officer, Phillip G. Barker Jr., were indicted without counsel on Aug. 13, but were required to re-appear Monday with attorneys.

Barker did not enter a plea since he still has no representation — it was determined Monday that he doesn’t qualify for public defense. Dwyer gave him until Thursday to find an attorney, and return to court.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

One churchgoer on Sunday said he has a hard time buying the Newark archbishop’s explanation after a settlement was announced last week between an alleged sex-abuse victim and the Illinois diocese the archbishop once led. Others said he has made mistakes, with a few echoing the suggestion of some state lawmakers that he step down.

Only a few of the more than dozen parishioners interviewed on Sunday praised Archbishop John J. Myers’ leadership and his handling of three priests accused of molesting children.

Following the 10:30 Mass at Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus, Dr. Lino Mier called on Myers to “accept responsibility” in the case that led to the Illinois settlement. The victim’s parents charged that Myers, who led the Peoria Diocese between 1990 and 2001, failed to keep a predator priest from their child and others by not acting on a woman’s abuse claim.

Documents released last week revealed that a top Myers aide received a molestation complaint about the priest and that no action was taken. Myers testified in a deposition that the complaint got lost in the diocese’s “slipshod filing system” and he never saw it.

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press
Published: Friday, Aug. 16, 2013

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police have arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting children he met while working as an usher at a Jehovah’s Witness church.

Police announced 34-year-old Marcelo Alonso Lozano’s arrest Friday, but didn’t say how many children have accused him.

For six years, Lozano was an usher at Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Sun Valley.

Police say he used his position to initiate relationships with victims and their families.

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CALIFORNIA
Guardian Express

On July 29, 2013, around 4:30 p.m., North Hollywood Detective Division detectives arrested 34-year-old Marcelo Alonso Lozano, a suspect North Hollywood Detectives Arrest Serial Child Sexual Assault Suspectidentified in a series of child sexual assaults in the San Fernando Valley. A subsequent investigation has revealed that the he is possibly involved in additional sexual assaults of victims throughout the San Fernando Valley area of the City of Los Angeles. The known victims ranged from eight to fifteen years of age at the time of the sexual assaults.

Lozano was affiliated with the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Sun Valley as an usher for approximately six years and used this position to initiate a relationship with his victims and their families.

Anyone with additional information about this case is urged to contact LAPD North Hollywood Sexual Assault Detectives at (818) 623-4090 or (818) 623-4045. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) using a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.” Tipsters can also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on “Anonymous Web Tips.”

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Southern California

[with video]

By Beverly White | Saturday, Aug 17, 2013

After an usher at a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Sun Valley was charged with sexually abusing four boys he met at the church, investigators are searching for more possible victims.

Los Angeles police are asking families, especially in the San Fernando Valley, to take a good look at the booking photo of Marcelo Alonzo Lozano.

The 34-year-old was charged July 31 with nine felony counts that he sexually abused four boys. He pleaded not guilty and his bail was set at $1.8 million.

Before his arrest for alleged serial child sex assault, Lozano worked as an usher at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sun Valley.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

BY RUBEN VIVES
August 16, 2013

The Los Angeles Police Department released a photo of a man on Friday suspected of sexually assaulting several children in the San Fernando Valley and hope other victims and witnesses will come forward.

Detectives arrested Marcelo Alonso Lozano at 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 29, after he was allegedly identified in a series of child sexual assaults in the Valley, the department said in a statement.

Investigators say Lozano may have been involved in additional attacks and are searching for potential victims or eyewitnesses. The victims ranged from 8 to 15 years of age at the time of the assaults, police said.

Investigators say Lozano was affiliated with the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Sun Valley as an usher for six years. They say he used that position to initiate a relationship with his victims and their families.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Charles J. Reid Jr. | Aug. 17, 2013

VIEWPOINT
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia put into words the anxiety many right-wing Catholics must be feeling at the extraordinary popularity Pope Francis has been enjoying. In an interview with John L. Allen Jr., Chaput, speaking on behalf of his conservative followers, said that members of the right wing of the Catholic church “generally have not been really happy about his election.” The pope, Chaput stated, will “have to care for them, too.”

What worries Chaput in particular is the sudden interest in the new pope from unfamiliar quarters. Practicing Catholics love the pope, of course, “but they’re not actually the ones who really talk to me about the new pope. The ones who do are nonpracticing Catholics or people who aren’t Catholic or not even Christian.” And why should this be so? Chaput has his suspicions: Yes, these outsiders are thrilled by the new pope’s friendliness and his warmth, but “I think they would prefer a church that wouldn’t have strict norms and ideas about the moral life and about doctrine.”

Wow. Where do we start? We could talk about the parable of the prodigal son, since Chaput truly sounds a great deal like the adventuresome young man’s older brother, the one who stayed home and toiled with his father and grew resentful when the old man slew the fatted calf upon his brother’s return. Or we could talk about the shepherd who rejoiced over finding his lost sheep.

But let’s focus instead on what it means to be an evangelical church. For some time now, decades really, the church has been turning in upon itself. This is most especially noticeable in conservative circles. The culture is seen as hostile. The ambient culture is “pagan,” to use Chaput’s description. Indeed, he has even called some Catholics pagan in their approach to the faith.

But shouting “pagan, pagan” is no way to win souls. And this is evidenced by even the briefest consideration of Catholic membership statistics. Catholic membership has grown in Africa, but it has lost members in Latin America to more enthusiastic forms of evangelical Protestantism. And in the United States, Catholic membership would be in decline were it not buoyed by immigration.

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The right wing’s favored response to these dismal trends is to blame the left. But the right wing needs to know that it has controlled the church hierarchy for some three decades now. It is the right wing that must look in the mirror. A stricter form of boundary police will not attract outsiders; it will repel them. Indeed, it has.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Aug. 19, 2013 NCR Today

The leadership of the main group representing U.S. Catholic sisters met this weekend with the archbishop appointed by the Vatican to oversee them and they had a “profound and honest sharing of views,” the group said in a statement Monday.

Representatives of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) were meeting with Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who was appointed by the Vatican in April 2012 as the group’s “archbishop delegate” and given wide authority to revise its statutes and programs,

The prelate and the sisters met following LCWR’s annual assembly, which was held in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 13-16 and saw some 825 sisters, representatives of the country’s Catholic orders of sisters, attend. Sartain also attended the gathering and held a closed door, 90-minute meeting with the LCWR members Aug. 15.

While that closed-door meeting provided Sartain “little opportunity” to answer LCWR members’ questions, LCWR says in its Monday statement, the archbishop “had been listening intently and heard the concerns voiced by the members, and their desire for more information.”

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By SELIM ALGAR
August 19, 2013

A Bible-thumping Seventh Day Adventist pastor shamelessly begged a Queens church secretary for sex despite the fact that both are married — and the organization’s all-powerful leader tried to cover up the scandal, the secretary’s blockbuster lawsuit claims.

Grecia Mena, a staffer at the Jamaica headquarters of the group’s Northeastern Conference, claims in the suit that pastor José Burroughs tried to talk her into the sack for years, despite her protests and complaints.

Mena, 40, says in her suit that the preacher told her that he was accustomed to having women throw themselves at him and could not understand why she didn’t follow suit.

“I don’t understand,” he allegedly said. “Anything I want, I get.”

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: August 19, 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 Houston pastor has been arrested for sexually abusing a 8-year-old girl.

We applaud the young girl’s family for reporting the abuse of Romulo Jimenez to authorities.

We encourage the members of Centro Cristiano Vida Nuevo to report anything they may have experienced, witnessed, or suspected to police in order to ensure that this predator is kept away from children forever.

We urge officials at the Centro Cristiano Vida Nuevo church to also reach out to potential victims at any other church or work place where Jimenez may have spent time.

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ARGENTINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Friday, August 16

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

An Argentine Catholic cleric alleged to have abused more than 50 children faces an appeal of his recent acquittal.

SNAP applauds the seven victims for appealing the court’s decision to free Justo José Ilarraz earlier this month from multiple charges of sexual abuse.

We urge officials at the Minor Seminary of Paraná to encourage anyone formally and currently involved with the institution who may have experienced, witnessed, or suspected abuse by Ilarraz to report to it authorities in order to lock-up this predator and protect children.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Times

Aug. 19, 2013

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will be holding private sessions in Melbourne this week.

Royal Commission chief executive officer, Janette Dines said that more than 200 people have already told their story in private sessions across the country and more than 2500 people have shared their story with the Royal Commission over the phone or in writing.

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

“Many of the personal stories which the Commissioners receive report a level of abuse and mistreatment of children which will shock many people,” said Ms Dines.

“We understand how difficult it can be for people to come forward and talk about what happened to them,” Ms Dines said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP August 19, 2013

ABORIGINAL community groups in Western Australia’s Kimberley region will meet with the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse this week.

The royal commission will visit Broome, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Kununurra.

The meetings will focus on how to make it easier for Aboriginal people to engage with the royal commission and how Aboriginal community organisations can support people wanting to share their story.

Commissioners Helen Milroy and Andrew Murray will meet with representatives of the Kimberley Stolen Generations, Yawuru community leaders, Aboriginal legal and medical services, sexual assault and mental health services, and the Kimberley Land Council.

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TEXAS
KTRK

[with video]

Simon Gutierrez

HOUSTON (KTRK) — A local church is speaking out about their pastor’s arrest and the charges he faces. Romulo Jimenez is accused of molesting an eight-year-old girl.

Sunday services went on as scheduled at the church, but members admit the situation is difficult for everyone.

Centro Cristiano Vida Nuevo is a Spanish-speaking church in southwest Houston. This week, its congregation learned Jimenez had been arrested on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

“It’s hard but we trust in Jesus Christ,” member Javier Quinones said.

According to prosecutors, a church member caught Jimenez and a young girl in the church’s bathroom. That started the investigation. The girl told investigators it wasn’t the first time Jimenez had sexually abused her.

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ROME
Business Standard

Rome, Aug 17 (IANS/AKI) A former economy minister in Italy said he was suing a woman member of the new Vatican financial reform panel, who is also a journalist, over tweets she made claiming he is gay.

Giulio Tremonti told the Ansa news agency that he was also suing Alessandro Sallustri, editor-in-chief of Il Giornale daily that printed tweets by 30-year-old journalist Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui.

Chaouqui was last month named the only female and only Italian to a panel to review the Vatican’s financial administration.

“Having nothing to do at all with two well known Vatican ‘lobbies’, I am taking legal action against Chaouqui,” Tremonti said.

Chaouqui reportedly made a number of controversial posts on Twitter before her appointment, including one in March when she called Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone “corrupt”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Crimes

For Immediate Release

Vatican Bank Holocaust Litigation
Dr. Jonathan Levy, PhD
info@brimstoneandcompany.com
+1 202-318-2406

VATICAN CITY, ROME — A formal request has been made to Vatican Bank president, Ernst von Freyberg, to audit approximately 30 current and former Vatican Bank accounts that were identified as having laundered Holocaust era assets from the Balkans. The account information was gathered from several sources including government reports and the testimony of former Special Agent William Gowen who served in Rome in 1946-1947. The request comes immediately after the Vatican Bank’s current bid for transparency which includes a new website, an ongoing audit of private accounts and the appointment of several Vatican Commissions to combat money laundering at the tarnished institution.

Dr. Jonathan Levy, who is the attorney for several thousand claimants, Holocaust victims, their heirs, and organizations, has also asked the European Union Ombudsman and the European Commission to lend their good offices to the effort since the Vatican City State is an associate member of the Euro Zone.

The funds at stake were derived from the Ustasha Treasury, consisting of gold and valuable looted from Yugoslavia during the Second World War and deposited at the Vatican Bank in 1946. The new Vatican Bank website states that the bank also known as Institute for Religious Works is under the jurisdiction and laws of the Vatican City and its courts. Previously, the EU Commission had abstained from becoming involved claiming there were doubts as to the jurisdiction involved.

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GENEVA
Vatican Crimes

For the second time in recent months, a United Nations panel will soon determine if Vatican officials are complying with an international treaty. The Geneva-based UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) has set next May as the date for a review of whether top church officials are honoring the 1984 treaty on torture.

[United Nations Human Rights]

“Every time anyone tells Catholic officials ‘You will be held to the same standard as other institutions,’ that’s progress,” said Barbara Blaine of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “This is an encouraging development. We suspect this committee will see and point out how the church hierarchy continues to tolerate and enable sexual violence.”

“Vatican bureaucrats have long made and broken promises with impunity. Ever so slowly, those days are waning,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “But progress is happening only because of brave victims and determined advocates. So for the safety of innocent kids and vulnerable adults, we all must all keep pressing hard and keep exposing complicity.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
kipa-apic

Freiburg i. Br., 9.8.13 (Kipa) Was lange nur gemunkelt wurde, wird unter Papst Franziskus langsam enttabuisiert: Das Problem der homosozialen “Männerbünde” in der Kirche. Von Franziskus selbst in einem Gespräch mit Ordensoberen aus Lateinamerika als “schwule Lobby” bezeichnet, schanzen sich diese Bünde Titel, Positionen und Machtzugänge innerhalb der Kirche zu, erläutert der bekannte deutsche Jesuit und ehemalige Leiter des Berliner Canisius-Kollegs, Klaus Mertes, in der Zeitschrift “Herder Korrespondenz” (August-Ausgabe).

Es sei an der Zeit, diese Bünde zu “entmachten”. Dabei werde sich Papst Franziskus “hoffentlich nicht einschüchtern” lassen. Mertes, der mit einem Brief an ehemalige Kolleg-Schüler 2010 den Anstoss zur Aufdeckung des Missbrauchsskandals gab, zeigt in seinem Beitrag die vielen Fallstricke und Missverständnisse auf, die das Thema homosexueller Seilschaften in der Kirche mit sich bringt. Zum einen müsse anstelle von einer “schwulen Lobby” – einem Begriff “aus dem Arsenal der homophoben Kampfsprache” – vielmehr von einer “männerbündisch verengten” homosozialen Struktur des Klerus gesprochen werden. Offen sei, ob diese Seilschaften, die zugleich eine “frauenfeindliche Aussenseite” aufwiesen, tatsächlich aus einer “systematisch aufgebauten Subkultur” in der Kirche hervorgingen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
General – Anzeiger

BERLIN. Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch an Kindern in einer katholischen Schule setzten Anfang 2010 eine Welle von Enthüllungen in Gang. Es wurden immer mehr Taten in kirchlichen Einrichtungen und Schulen aufgedeckt.
Einige Beispiele:

Januar 2010: Am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg der Jesuiten werden erste Verdachtsfälle bekannt. In den folgenden Monaten kommen in ganz Deutschland weitere Fälle ans Licht. Auch das oberbayerische Kloster Ettal und die Regensburger Domspatzen sind betroffen.

März 2010: Die Leitung der weltlichen Odenwaldschule im hessischen Heppenheim gibt bekannt, dass es an der Reformschule sexuelle Übergriffe auf Schüler gegeben hat. Weitere Fälle werden publik.

November 2010: Sieben Jahre Haft wegen hundertfachen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern – dazu verurteilt das Landgericht Kassel einen früheren katholischen Pfarrer aus dem Prämonstratenser-Orden. Der Mann war Schulpfarrer in Fritzlar.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Freie Welt

von Professor Adorján F. Kovács

Viele Kommentatoren haben aufgrund der jüngsten Vorschläge der Grünen, von denen der zu einem fleischlosen Tag in deutschen Kantinen nur der spektakulärste ist, festgestellt, dass diese Partei etwas Oberlehrerhaftes hat.

Nicht ohne Grund sehen manche auch einen messianischen Weltverbesserungsdrang, der schon ideologische Züge trägt. Eine Partei der Besserwisser mit höherem Bewusstsein, die die Wahrheit gepachtet haben.

Die Grüne Partei hat aber auch eine merkwürdig doppelte Moral. Nicht nur ist sie die Friedenspartei, die erstmals nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wieder deutsche Kriegsteilnahmen möglich gemacht hat. Diese janusköpfige Ausrichtung zeigt sie auch bei der Unterstützung der sogenannten Homo-Ehe, während die ihr nahestehende politische Stiftung nach Heinrich Böll benannt ist, der ein rheinischer Katholik war und mit einer ganzen Reihe von grünen Themen sicher nicht konform gewesen wäre. Aber er kann sich ja nicht mehr wehren.

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DEUTSCHLAND
dradio

Von Jens Rosbach

Nur jeder sechste Geistliche, der sich an Kindern vergriffen oder Kinderpornografie genutzt hat, hat eine gestörte Sexualität. So lautet das Ergebnis einer Studie von Hans-Ludwig Kröber, Forensiker an der Berliner Charité. Andere Pädophilie-Forscher zeigen sich irritiert.

Die Studie kommt zu einem erstaunlichen Ergebnis: Nur zwölf Prozent der auffällig gewordenen Priester sind tatsächlich pädophil, weitere vier Prozent ephebophil – neigen also zu pubertierenden Jungen. Autor Hans-Ludwig Kröber bilanziert, dass lediglich jeder sechste Geistliche, der Minderjährige missbraucht beziehungsweise Kinderpornografie konsumiert haben soll, eine gestörte Sexualität zeigt:

“Es ist so, dass die große Mehrheit der Täter nicht sexuell pervers ist, irgendwie abweichend auf Kinder gepolt. Sondern Männer sind, die durchaus eine normale erwachsene Sexualität haben, die aber – auch aus ihrer sozialen Situation heraus – dann gegenüber überwiegend pubertären Kindern übergriffig geworden sind und die früher auch durchaus mit erwachsenen Personen sexuelle Kontakte gehabt haben.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

One of the great battlegrounds of the Royal Commission will revolve around the issue of mandatory reporting. At present there is great variability across the states on both who must report, and what must be reported. A national standard would, of course, make sense to many people.

Some of the offending organisations, including the Catholic Church in particular, vigorously oppose mandatory reporting, especially in the context of the confessional. Many commentators have suggested that church law is being elevated to a position above that of the state.

In Ireland, government officials have made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the law of the state reigns supreme. Here, few politicians have dared to comment because of the political power of the churches. As the public becomes more aware of the role of mandatory reporting in protecting children, in the course of the Royal Commission hearings, then there will be more pressure on government to take a clear stand one way or the other.

This is why the Catholic Church, in particular, is pushing its line so fiercely on the issue. Indeed, one member of its PR Unit, set up to deal with the fall-out of the Royal Commission, is an “expert” advocate for winding back existing mandatory reporting laws (see previous posting).

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A helpline for those who may have suffered abuse at two Catholic boarding schools in Scotland has been launched by a children’s charity.

A BBC Scotland programme uncovered evidence of abuse by monks at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands and Carlekemp in East Lothian.

Police are investigating the allegations and there have been calls for a public inquiry.

Children 1st has set up a dedicated support line for anyone affected.

The organisation traditionally helps children, young people and families recover from abuse, neglect and violence and campaigns for children’s rights.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The Curia said today that it could not be held legally responsible for the criminal acts made by former priests Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis, who were convicted of child sex abuse.

The Curia was replying in court to a case filed in May where ten clerical child abuse victims sued the two former priests, the Church and the government for damages.

The victims did not asking for a specific amount but said they were expecting the court to appoint an expert to identify what losses they suffered as a direct result of the abuse.

The civil lawsuit was filed by Lawrence Grech, Joseph Magro, Leonard Camilleri, David Cassar, Noel Dimech, Angelo Spiteri, Raymond Azzopardi, Charles Falzon, Phillip Cauchi and Joseph Mangion.

In its reply today, the Curia said the Church could not be collectively held responsible for the actions of Scerri and Pulis. Although the Archdiocese had pastoral responsibilities, it did not have responsibility for personal actions of its members which exposed them to criminal or civil actions.

Furthermore, without prejudice, the Curia said the requests were unfounded because the Archdiocese was not negligent and had always sought the best interests of those who were less fortunate.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

BY MIKE GORRELL | THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

PUBLISHED AUGUST 16, 2013

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The furor over a proposed pay cut for the priests serving the Salt Lake Valley’s Greek Orthodox community is intensifying.

A report prepared for the parish council by its audit committee said the priests at Holy Trinity and Prophet Elias churches took money out of accounts intended for the needy and used it “in ways that are questionable and appear to be inappropriate.”

The audit was delivered July 15 to the parish council, two weeks before the council cut its three priests’ pay by 40 percent, saving $125,000 annually and helping balance its revenue-barren annual budget.

Greek Orthodox parishioners received a summary of the audit in an email distributed Monday from the Parish Council, the day before the council announced a special assembly will be held Aug. 25 at Prophet Elias church in Holladay to discuss priestly pay — and other short- and long-term solutions to parish financial problems.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Mike Gorrell | The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Aug 08 2013 12:02 pm • Last Updated Aug 15 2013

By official decree, rites marking the Feast of the Transfiguration were allowed to take place Monday and Tuesday in the Salt Lake Valley’s two Greek Orthodox churches, Holy Trinity and Prophet Elias.

But that’s it, for the time being. There won’t be any more Sunday services. No baptisms or weddings, either.

Metropolitan Isaiah, the Denver-based Greek Orthodox leader whose region includes Utah, recently ordered the three clergy members serving the community to “immediately suspend all priestly ministry to the parish.”

“They are not to celebrate any liturgy, sacraments or services whatsoever,” he added, later modifying the order to permit the priests to conduct the Great Vespers, Orthros and Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Transfiguration. “This includes Sunday liturgies, beginning this Sunday, Aug. 4, and all scheduled weddings and baptisms.”

His directive came after the cash-strapped Parish Council voted July 29 to cut the pay of the three priests by 40 percent to balance the 2013 budget.

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SCOTLAND
Scotland on Sunday

by SHAN ROSS
Published on the 18 August 2013

A DEDICATED helpline for victims of alleged sexual and physical abuse at two boarding schools in Scotland run by the Catholic Church is being launched today.

Children 1st, the charity that campaigns for children’s rights, set up the helpline following allegations of abuse at the Benedictine-run Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands and its prep school Carlekemp in East Lothian.

The move follows the former headteacher at the boarding school stepping aside from his current position at an Oxford hall for student monks. Father Francis Davidson faces allegations that he failed to act on reports of sexual abuse that were made during his time at Fort Augustus in the 1970s.

It also follows a BBC Scotland investigation broadcast last month that featured five men who claimed they had been raped or sexually assaulted by two Australian monks Father Aidan Duggan and Father Chrysostom Alexander. Father Fabian Duggan, Father Aidan Duggan’s brother has also been accused of abuse.

About 50 alleged victims at the two schools have spoken about events over nearly three decades. A total of ten monks face allegations of physical abuse; four monks and a lay teacher are accused of sexual abuse, including rape. Police Scotland is investigating the allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Prensa Latina

London, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, ordered to reopen the files of deceased priests who served in his diocese to determine whether or not they incurred in child sexual abuse, reported British media.

Sentamu decided to investigate all priests who worked in his diocese from 1950, an investigation identified as the first of its kind in this religious institution.

In making the announcement, the archbishop acknowledged the immense damage done to children when they are sexually abused, and noted that time does not heal those wounds automatically.

“Where it is established that a child was betrayed by individuals in positions of trust and the institution failed to to protect them, the Church must acknowledge the damage done, provide an apology, and improve policies and practices to ensure that the same mistake will never repeat again”, he said, quoted by the Guardian.

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ILLINOIS
Belleville News-Democrat

By DAVID CLOHESSY

Five years ago this month, a Belleville jury made a stunning decision. They awarded $5 million to Jim Wisniewski who was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest for years.

And exactly 20 years ago, Belleville’s Catholic Diocese made national headlines as the first of 17 credibly accused child- molesting clerics was removed from ministry.

How have Belleville Catholic officials changed, if at all, in the years since these disturbing developments?

Stunningly little. And their response has largely mirrored the arc followed by the rest of the Catholic hierarchy: First, temporary period of improvement and grandiose promises (while the glare of media attention is intense) then a long period of quiet backpedalling (when public pressure subsides).

In 1993, like a row of dominoes, eight clerics were accused of child sexual abuse and suspended from active duty: the Revs. Jerome Ratermann, James Calhoun, Robert Vonnahmen, David Crook, Robert Chlopecki, Deacon Francis Theis, the Revs. Eugene Linnemann and Edwin Kastner.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Lawyers for Bernard Shero and Father Charles Engelhardt have filed legal papers claiming their clients were wrongly convicted due to judicial errors and prosecutorial misconduct.

The lawyers made their claims in separate documents filed on Aug. 1 with Judge Ellen Ceisler, both entitled, “Defendant’s Statement of Errors To Be Complained Of On Appeal.”

Michael J. McGovern, writing on behalf of Father Engelhardt, asserted that Judge Ceisler should have tossed a conspiracy charge against Father Engelhardt a lot sooner than she did. During the trial, the judge overruled defense objections to the charge that Father Engelhardt had conspired with Father Edward Avery to rape Billy Doe, the victim in the case, when he was a 10-year-old altar boy.

After the jury delivered its verdict and convicted Engelhardt of conspiracy, the judge at sentencing announced she was going to throw out the conspiracy charge as unproven. But that decision came after the judge had given “lengthy and repetitive jury instructions on conspiracy and accomplice liability thus unduly emphasizing” the conspiracy charge to the jury, McGovern wrote. The conspiracy charge took up 10 out of 44 pages of jury instructions, and one page of a two-page jury verdict sheet that listed “four separate charges of conspiracy and accomplice liability,” McGovern wrote.

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CALIFORNIA
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

California Assembly Appropriations Committee,vote YES to SB 131… Contact/ Write to members of the House Appropriations Committee – let them know you support the bill!

All good members of the California State Assembly, Committee on Appropriations, please vote “yes” SB 131 – a bill by state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose. Help victims of abuse. SB 131 should be approved as quickly as possible, and Gov. Jerry Brown should sign it.

All good people of California, contact and write to members of the House Appropriations Committee – let them know you support the bill – and let final justice happen for hundreds, if not, thousands of victims of pedophiles (priests) in California!!

Committee members, please “yes” SB 131 – Let Justice ring loud from the hilltops of Los Angeles and Sacramento and all over California!

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The St. Catherine’s Girls Home, at Geelong in Victoria, is yet another of the old Children’s Homes worthy of new look by the Australian Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. There are two main reasons for this.

Firstly, there is the matter that a flat was maintained within the Home for a priest who acted as a “chaplain”. This provided the potential for abuse. Indeed, that happened with one Fr. Bernard Maxwell Day, who occupied the flat between 1961 and 1963.

It was the practice in St. Catherine’s that, after early morning Mass, the priest’s breakfast would be prepared in the convent kitchen and a girl would have to take it to the priest’s flat. A girl would also be sent to tidy the priest’s bedroom and make his bed. These women say that Father Day used to sit girls on his knee and touch them indecently. They assumed that this was the normal job of priests.

Former inmates of St Catherine’s say that Mother Aquin learned about Father Day molesting girls and she therefore had him removed from the institution. This forms the second basis of concern about this particular Home. There is no evidence that Day was reported to the appropriate authorities.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Ken Briggs | Aug. 16, 2013 NCR Today

The otherwise noble Leadership Conference of Women Religious has done itself a disservice by agreeing to be muzzled. The Vatican demanded it as part of the visit to their annual assembly by Archbishop Sartain in his recently appointed role as their disciplinarian. Going along with it continued the sisters’ pattern of believing that secrecy is the means of realizing their goals and assuring Rome’s best behavior. It’s typical of their good intentions but devoid of reasonable expectations. Though there are times when secrecy is justified, it’s mostly a tactic by the powerful to maintain control of events and agenda. This looks exactly like that.

The usual line is that conflicts are much better dealt with behind closed doors. That usually means that those in power pose a threat to the plaintiffs if the silence is broken, while devising means of leaking their side of the story to the press. Our patriot ancestors found this to be cause for Revolution. The Constitution trumpeted openness as the key to a healthy democracy.

No, the church isn’t a democracy, but human interactions on most any level benefit from the light of day.

Many sisters are no doubt caught in two church cultures at this point. Under the old order, acceding to the will of ordained male superiors was a given. Near absolute compliance was the order of the day. Vatican II scrambled that culture by encouraging sisters to take more initiative themselves, only to be widely opposed when they actually tried to do it. That left a good many sisters still caught between two cultures, the deeply ingrained instinct toward obedience tempered by relative autonomy. The experience has surely been wrenching and that calls for oompassion.

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ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

By Alexandra Chachkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporter
August 17, 2013

Officials at a Milwaukee church once headed by the pastor who now leads a Glenview congregation have asked authorities to investigate the way the priest oversaw a trust fund.

Questions surrounding the Rev. James Dokos’ time at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee prompted the parish council at Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview to hold an emergency meeting Thursday night.

Parish Council President James Gottreich said members took “some steps to protect ourselves,” but would not elaborate — except to say the council did not move to oust Dokos.

Dokos arrived at the Glenview congregation about a year ago, replacing the Rev. Angelo Artemas, who headed Sts. Peter and Paul for more than 10 years. Artemas is now the pastor at Annunciation in Milwaukee, which Dokos led for about 20 years.
lenview are concerned about the questions raised in Milwaukee, but have not drawn any conclusions.

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

By Jorge Milian
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The daughter of ex-Rosarian Academy teacher Stephen Budd, who is already facing charges of molesting two of his former fourth-grade students, told police that her father videotaped her childhood friends while directing them to dance and touch themselves.

Jillian Budd, now 26, notified police of the videotaping in April, according to court documents obtained Friday by The Palm Beach Post. The documents detail an interview West Palm Beach Police had with Budd’s daughter and also spell out 59 additional charges of child pornography that Budd now faces.

After executing a search warrant that was prepared June 18, police found 41 images and 19 videos of boys and girls under the age of 12, and girls under the age of 18 having sex with adult males. The videos were described in a probable-cause affidavit as sadomasochistic. However, it is unknown if the girls in the videos are Budd’s former students or his daughter’s friends.

Reached Friday by the Post, Jason Weiss, Budd’s attorney, declined comment on the new allegations because he said he had not yet seen the state attorney’s report. Weis did say that he intends to enter a plea of not guilty at Budd’s bond hearing on his original child molestation charge. That hearing is scheduled for next Friday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

THE Archbishop of York is launching an independent investigation into the records of hundreds of deceased clergy to trace any information that may exist relating to allegations of child abuse.

The dramatic move announced today will involve checking through records more than 60 years old.

It comes in the wake of claims Dr John Sentamu’s predecessor, Lord Hope of Thornes, covered up allegations of abuse against Robert Waddington, a former Dean of Manchester Cathedral.

All the files of deceased clergy who served in the Diocese of York from before 1950 to the present are to be recalled from the archives to be checked by an independent reviewer for any evidence of abuse.

Lord Hope, who was Archbishop of York between 1995 and 2005, has strongly denied all claims of negligence which followed reports he was twice told about allegations about Mr Waddington, who died from cancer five years ago after retiring to York in 1993.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

THE Archbishop of York has appointed an independent reviewer to examine the files of deceased clergy, following growing concerns about child abuse in the Church.

Dr John Sentamu said all the files of deceased clergy who served in the York Diocese from before 1950 to the present day were being recalled from the archives.

A spokesman for the Archbishop said the protocol for the Church of England’s National Review of Past Cases of Child Abuse, which took place in 2008/9, did not include the files of such people, but it was now recognised it was important to review those files as well.

“Where relevant material is found, this will help to inform the response of the Church and of relevant statutory agencies to any reports which may surface in relation to those who have since died,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Crime Editor
Published at 12:01AM, August 17 2013

A trawl of Church of England archives has begun in an effort to find paedophile priests, dead or alive, who may have escaped justice. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has ordered all files on clergy in his diocese to be retrieved and examined by an independent child protection expert.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Church files on deceased clergy who served in the Diocese of York are to be opened as part of an investigation into alleged cases of child abuse.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has ordered all the relevant files from before 1950 until the present day to be scrutinised.

An independent reviewer will examine the batch of files.

Dr Sentamu said the passage of time “did not bring healing to those who may have been abused”.

In July the General Synod voted to acknowledge and apologise for past safeguarding wrongs in the Church of England, and to ensure “that steps were taken to make sure that victims of abuse are always actively listened to and offered appropriate support”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Church of England files dating back more than 60 years are to be reopened in search of evidence of child abuse by clergy who have since died.

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor 17 Aug 2013

The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev John Sentamu, ordered the review as he acknowledged that previous inquiries could have missed important evidence because only files relating to those still living were examined.

It comes after an independent inquiry, overseen by Judge Sally Cahill QC, into the Church’s handling of evidence that the late Robert Waddington, a former Dean of Manchester, abused choirboys and school pupils, got under way.

It will investigate claims that the Province of York effectively covered the case up by failing to alert the police while Waddington was still alive.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

Elena Curti, deputy editor
16 August 2013

Peter Stanford can’t be alone in sometimes wishing that the endless flow of revelations of clerical sex abuse would just stop. It’s natural for Catholics to feel dispirited that all the good the Church does is continually being drowned out by revelations of what happened to children many decades ago.

Investigative journalists who have turned their attention to Church have, without too much difficulty, been unearthing historic abuse allegations for more than a decade.

The latest case in point is Fort Augustus Abbey in the Scottish Highlands where a BBC investigative team aired one television programme, Reporting Scotland: Sins of Our Fathers, on 29 July, and will transmit a follow-up with more revelations on Monday. The school, which was run by monks of the English Benedictine Congregation, was closed 20 years ago and the abbey community was suppressed not long after that.

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UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal

Written by
Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal

Evangelical churches need to confront sexual abuse and cover-ups within their own ranks, according to a statement signed by more than 1,500 people worldwide and promoted by a former sex-crimes prosecutor.

The “Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ” was prompted in part by a Maryland lawsuit filed by 11 people against Sovereign Grace Ministries, a denomination now based in Louisville, alleging a cover-up of abuse within its churches.

But Boz Tchividjian — a former Florida prosecutor and founder of GRACE, an organization that consults with Christian groups on preventing abuse and investigating past cases — said the lawsuit underscores larger issues. “We make public statements about so many issues in the American evangelical world, whether it’s Obamacare, gays in the Boy Scouts,” said Tchividjian, now a law professor at Liberty University in Virginia and a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham. “But here’s a huge issue that’s facing the church, and there’s nothing but silence.”

The statement alludes to the Sovereign Grace cases as well as to those who have defended the denomination and its former longtime president, C.J. Mahaney, including Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By JENNIFER SMITH
17 August 2013

The Diocese of York will open files on deceased members of its clergy in a bid to address alleged cases of child abuse.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Semantu,has ordered that files dating back more than 60 years be scrutinised and examined by an independent reviewer as part of an investigation into clerical sex abuse.
Dr Semantu told the BBC: ‘The damage done by the sexual abuse of children is immense and the passage of time does not in itself bring healing’.

‘Where young people are shown to have been betrayed by individuals in a position of trust and by the institution’s failure to protect them, it is for the church to acknowledge the hurt which has been done.’

Dr Semantu said it is the church’s responsibility to ensure that ‘policies and practices are improved such that the same systematic failure could never be repeated.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sam Jones
The Guardian, Friday 16 August 2013

The archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has ordered a review of all the files on dead clergy who served in the diocese from 1950 to the present so that an independent investigator can determine whether they may have sexually abused children.

The move comes five weeks after the Church of England’s General Synod apologised for its failure to listen to abuse victims, and a month after Sentamu launched an independent inquiry into the church’s handling of reports of alleged child abuse by the late Robert Waddington, a former dean of Manchester.

Announcing the review, Sentamu acknowledged the “immense damage” done to children who are sexually abused and said the passage of time did not automatically bring healing.

He said: “Where young people are shown to have been betrayed by individuals in a position of trust and by the institution’s failure to protect them, it is for the church to acknowledge the hurt which has been done, to offer a full apology, and to prove, so far as is possible, that policies and practices are improved such that the same systemic failure could never be repeated.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Darlingon & Stockton Times

THE Archbishop of York has launched an independent inquiry into hundreds of deceased clergymen to run alongside another investigation into a former dean who died after being accused of child sex abuse.

Dr John Sentamu has appealed for people from across North Yorkshire and the North-East to come forward with information about deceased clergy who served in the Diocese of York dating back more than 65 years.

The diocese, which includes 608 churches and 127 schools in 468 parishes stretching from the Humber to the Tees and the A1 to the coast, said it believes there may be numerous historic issues relating to safeguarding vulnerable adults and children that have not been reported.

The Archbishop of York said: “The damage done by the sexual abuse of children is immense, and the passage of time does not in itself bring healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Anglican Archbishop of York

Thursday 8th August 2013

The Inquiry set up by the Archbishop of York and Chaired by Her Honour Judge Sally Cahill QC is currently gathering evidence in relation to what complaints were made about alleged abuse by the late Dean of Manchester, Robert Waddington, and the Church’s response to those complaints.

Ordained Deacon in 1953, Waddington began his career as curate at St John’s, Bethnal Green 1953-56. Afterwards he was Chaplain at Slade School in Warwick, Queensland, 1956-59. After 18 months as curate of St Luke’s Chesterton, in the Ely Diocese, he returned to Australia to become Headmaster of St. Barnabas School, Ravenshoe, where he remained until 1971. Returning to England he became a Canon Residentiary at Carlisle Cathedral and Bishop’s Adviser for Education 1972-77, then General Secretary of the Church of England’s General Synod Board of Education and General Secretary of the National Society from 1977-84 until becoming Dean of Manchester Cathedral in 1984. He retired to York in 1993 and died in 2007.

The Chair to the Inquiry asks that anyone who may have relevant information should contact the Clerk to The Inquiry Mrs Nicola Harding at Cathedral Chambers, 4 Kirkgate, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 1PA. njh@tunnardsolicitors.com

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UNITED KINGDOM
Anglican Archbishop of York

Saturday 17th August 2013

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has today announced that there will be an independent review of all files relating to deceased clergy who served in the Diocese of York from before 1950 to the present.

On July 22nd 2013 the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, announced the launch of an Independent Inquiry, led by HH Judge Sally Cahill QC, into the Church’s handling of reports of alleged child abuse by the late Robert Waddington, a former Dean of Manchester.

The Inquiry has now begun its work, and HH Judge Cahill has appealed for those with relevant information to contact the Secretary of the Inquiry, Mrs Nicola Harding, at Cathedral Chambers, 4 Kirkgate, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 1PA. njh@tunnardsolicitors.com

Prior to this, in July the General Synod had voted to acknowledge and apologise for past safeguarding wrongs in the Church of England, and to ensure that steps are taken to make sure that victims of abuse are always actively listened to and offered appropriate support.

In the light of this, the Archbishop has recalled from the archive all files of deceased clergy who served in the Diocese of York from before 1950 to the present, and has appointed an Independent Reviewer to examine these files thoroughly. The protocol for the Church of England’s National Review of Past Cases of Child Abuse which took place in 2008/9 did not include the files of deceased clergy, but it is now recognised that it is important to review these files as well. Where relevant material is found, this will help to inform the response of the Church and of relevant statutory agencies to any reports which may surface in relation to those who have since died.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ic Solihull

Aug 17 2013

The Diocese of York is to open files on deceased members of its clergy dating back more than six decades as part of an investigation into alleged cases of child abuse, it has been reported.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has ordered that all relevant files from before 1950 to the present day be scrutinised and examined by an independent reviewer, the BBC said.

The archbishop said: “The damage done by the sexual abuse of children is immense and the passage of time does not in itself bring healing.

“Where young people are shown to have been betrayed by individuals in a position of trust and by the institution’s failure to protect them, it is for the church to acknowledge the hurt which has been done, to offer a full apology, and to prove, so far as is possible, that policies and practices are improved such that the same systemic failure could never be repeated.”

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MINNESOTA
Independent

August 17, 2013
Steve Browne , Marshall Independent

GREEN VALLEY – For Bob Schwiderski, the nightmare began again in his 40s when he saw his son dressed in his altar boy attire.

Schwiderski said the memories of being abused by a parish priest in Hector came flooding back. What followed was a long period of self-destructive behavior, promiscuity and binge drinking.

“My wife divorced me, and I don’t blame her a bit,” Schwiderski said. “I didn’t know the negative dynamic, I didn’t have a boundary.”

Schwiderski’s parents discovered their sons’ abuse in 1962 when his older brother told them about being touched by the late Father William J. Marks. They reported this to the trustees of the church.

Marks was subsequently transferred to St. Clotilde in Green Valley and to St. Dionysius in Tyler.

“Three weeks later the bishops dropped Marks on the unsuspecting people of this church,” Schwiderski said. “What the folks around here need to know is the bishop knew Marks was a child molester and dropped him here.”

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CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star

Published: August 17, 2013

By Cynthia Hubert — chubert@sacbee.com

Some time during the next week or so, the Rev. Uriel Ojeda will leave Sacramento County’s Main Jail and join other inmates for a long bus ride to state prison.

Once a rising star in the Sacramento Roman Catholic Diocese, lauded by parishioners for his compassion and faith, the young priest likely will spend at least seven years in the harsh confines of an institution where security cameras and uniformed guards will monitor his every movement.

He will be treated “no differently than any other inmate,” said California Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Sessa.

But Ojeda, 33, is no ordinary convict.

Only a few Catholic priests are currently imprisoned in California for child sexual abuse, said Patrick Wall, a former priest and canon lawyer who advocates for victims of clergy abuse from his office in St. Paul, Minn.

“I am aware of only five,” said Wall. He documents such cases along with the nonprofit BishopAccountability.org.

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CANADA
Sun News

GIUSEPPE VALIANTE | QMI AGENCY

MONTREAL – A Quebec judge rejected a motion to delay a multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit against a religious order accused of sexually abusing deaf and mute children.

The Clerics of Saint Viator wanted the judge to force the members of the class-action to prove – before the trial started – that they were legally allowed to sue.

Lawyer Pierre Boivin, who represents the alleged victims, said Canadian law gives victims a three-year window after a crime was committed in order to come forward.

However, in sexual abuse cases, jurisprudence allows victims a larger window, due to the trauma associated with molestation, Boivin said.

Boivin said that if the clerics got their way, members of the class-action would have had to prove that victims were abused significantly enough to be granted a larger prescribed time.

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NEW JERSEY
Press of Atlantic City

By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer

A Margate man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for bilking about 50 people out of more than $1.3 million — including a nun and two priests.

Adriano Sotomayor, 55, is “a ruthless con man” who — after his scheme caused at least one person to commit suicide — continued to defraud the man’s widow, even after his arrest on the charges,

“He not only took my money but he wanted to drive me to despair,” one of the priests, identified only as “Father D,” said in a statement submitted to the court. “Adriano Sotomayor did more than deprive me of my money, he tried to deprive me of my very will to live.”

Sotomayor’s schemes were apparently used to feed a gambling habit that included about $1.6 million in chip buy-ins at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino alone in 2010, records shows. IRS records also show he reported no source of income.

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NEW YORK
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz | News Staff Reporter
on August 16, 2013

A Franciscan priest who once taught at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs received a 20-year prison term, to be suspended after five years, on charges of possessing child pornography and risking injury to a minor in Connecticut.

The sentence on Thursday in New Britain, Conn., Superior Court stems from the 2011 arrest of the Rev. Michael Miller, who at the time was serving as assistant pastor of St. Paul Church in Kensington, Conn.

Police charged him with five felony counts of risking injury or impairing the morals of a minor.

The Hartford Courant reported Miller engaged in inappropriate Facebook chats with seven teenagers and wrote to a boy in graphic detail about sex acts he wanted to perform on the boy.

No illegal physical contact was alleged against Miller, 43, who pleaded guilty in May.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Brittany Larson, News Reporter

This past legislative session the Minnesota Child Victims Act passed 60-0 in the senate. The law allows victims of sexual abuse to sue in cases that are old. Those cases used to be barred under the statute of limitations.

Bob Schwiderski was 7 years old when he says he was sexually abused by Father William Joseph Marks at St. John’s Catholic Church in Hector. Today, he’s director of Minnesota SNAP Survivors Network Abused by Priests.

Bob Schwiderski says, “I personally have met over 1,000 people that were sexually abused by religious people.”

Bob stopped by his hometown today in Hector, Minnesota.

Schwiderski says, “This journey is to prevent this sexual abuse of children and this is something I will continue to do until the day I die.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Royal Commission will make a lot of findings on how organisations can improve their processes in tackling abusers within their ranks. The problem may well be that there will be an emphasis on people who are professionals or otherwise have no link to victims’ concerns.

The general approach from government to deal with problems has been to set up an “Ombudsman”. This is fine in principle, if the right person is appointed. Too often, however, this has not been the case. Eventually, the Ombudsman becomes merely an extension of the government which appointed him or her.

Sometimes, the appointment becomes simply a cushy job for some politically-connected hack. At other times, the position itself is not given any teeth. The Ombudsman makes a lot of good-sounding noises, but little change occurs. This may appear to be a bit of a cynical view, but a quick review of the many instances where an Ombudsman has been installed tends to reinforce this view.

Government will always tend to support a professional in such positions, because they can be counted upon to be “responsible”, or, to put it another way, not to be too critical of their employer, the government.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY DEBORAH HASTINGS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2013

Survivors of an infamous dormitory school who were abused, subjected to medical experiments and put on starvation diets for several years after World War II, received a personal apology this week from the Presbyterian Church of Canada.

A recent study revealed that children at the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, and five other institutions, were unwitting subjects in medical and nutritional experiments.

In the 1940s and 1950s, researchers at Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Reisdential School, as well as five other dormitory schools, kept students on severely low diets, administering vitamins only to some to gauge the effectiveness of the supplements.

Vitamins and mineral supplements were new medical products at the time and scientists were keen to track their benefits to humans.

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WISCONSIN
The Cap Times

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel criticizes U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa for failing to disclose that he has family connections to the Milwaukee Archdiocese as he sits in judgment of the church’s bankruptcy petition. Randa has relatives buried in the archdiocese’s cemetery and has ruled that the church’s cemetery funds are apart from the bankruptcy. The least he should have done, the paper says, is to reveal that information.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Il Mattino

Era il 2005 quando monsignor Nunzio Scarano lasciò il «gregge» sostenendo la dichiarazione di obbedienza alla Curia di Salerno, che l’allora vescovo Gerardo Pierro, impose a tutti i «pascoliani».

Scarano, che già allora era in Vaticano, in servizio presso l’Apsa, si dichiarò subito dalla parte del vescovo, pronto a fare da intermediario per ricucire lo strappo con la chiesa salernitana. Il presule, ora in carcere a Regina Coeli con l’accusa di corruzione e indagato a Salerno per riciclaggio, faceva parte di quel gruppo di sacerdoti, di età compresa tra i 40 e i 50 anni, in un primo momento destinatari della fiducia dell’allora capo della Chiesa salernitana, ritenuti i punti nevralgici del governo curiale.

Portabandiera del «gregge», l’allora responsabile della Caritas diocesana, Franco Fedullo, il quale (invece) non firmò alcuna dichiarazione di obbedienza a Pierro.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Aug 15, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA).- The Vatican accountant who was recently suspended for allegedly trying to smuggle $26 million had been part of a group known as “The Flock,” which has supposed Mafia connections.

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is currently under arrest in Italy for an alleged plan to transfer 20 million Euro from Switzerland to Italy aboard an Italian government airplane.

Italian newspaper “Il Mattino” reports that Msgr. Scarano was entrusted with the management of a network of real estate activities for the spiritual family “L’opera del gregge del Bamin Gesù,” or “The works of the flock of the infant Jesus.”

“The Flock,” as it is known, was a sort of spiritual family formed in Salerno by a group of priests aged 40-50 who gathered around a visionary known by his first name, Caterina.

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FLORIDA
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Aug. 16, 2013

ORLANDO, FLA.
In his first address to representatives of U.S. Catholic sisters since his appointment in April 2012, the archbishop tasked by the Vatican to oversee their leadership group reportedly had little to offer regarding the reason for Vatican concern or how the process goes forward.

Leaving Thursday’s closed-door meeting between Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), several sisters said they felt frustration at the lack of detail given by the prelate nearly 19 months into his mandate.

Sartain met Thursday afternoon with some 825 LCWR members, who are representatives of orders of Catholic sisters around the county. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has named the prelate the group’s “apostolic delegate” and given him wide power to revise its statutes and programs.

LCWR members were asked by the group’s leaders not to discuss Thursday’s meetings with members of the press. The doors into the convention hall where Sartain was speaking were locked with uniformed guards placed near them to prevent unauthorized entry.

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

Justo José Ilarraz está acusado de abusar sexualmente de al menos 50 seminaristas, de entre 10 y 14 años, entre l984 y l992. Para la Justicia, la causa está prescripta por el paso del tiempo.

Los abogados querellantes y los fiscales presentaron recursos de casación para apelar el fallo que sobreseyó al ex prefecto del Seminario Menor de Paraná Justo José Ilarraz, quien está acusado de abusar sexualmente de al menos 50 seminaristas, de entre 10 y 14 años, entre l984 y l992. Voceros judiciales confirmaron que el planteo presentado anoche cuestiona la decisión de la Sala I de la Cámara del Crimen de Paraná, que concluyó a principios de este mes que la causa contra el sacerdote está prescripta por el paso del tiempo.

El pedido de casación fue presentando por los abogados de los siete ex seminaristas que denunciaron ante el juez de Instrucción Alejandro Grippo los supuestos abusos cometidos por el sacerdote cuando ellos eran niños.

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ARGENTINA
Primera Fuente

El procurador general de Entre Ríos, Jorge García, anticipó que apelará el fallo que sobreseyó al ex prefecto del Seminario Menor de Paraná, Justo José Ilarraz, acusado de abusar de 50 seminaristas

Al llegar a los tribunales locales, el funcionario remarcó que apelará la decisión de la Sala I de la Cámara del Crimen, que concluyó que la causa contra el sacerdote está prescripta por el paso del tiempo.

“Vamos a agotar hasta las últimas instancias para que esto se investigue y este señor, no solamente no vuelva a la capilla, sino que vaya con sus huesos a la cárcel” Jorge García, procurador general de Entre Ríos “Vamos a agotar hasta las últimas instancias para que esto se investigue penalmente y este señor, no solamente no vuelva a la capilla, sino que vaya con sus huesos a la cárcel”, sostuvo García.

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ARGENTINA
Uno

El caso Justo José Ilarraz, el cura denunciado por abuso sexual de menores que iniciaban la carrera religiosa en el Seminario Arquidiocesano de Paraná entre 1984 y 1993 sumará un nuevo capítulo. Ayer los querellantes y la Fiscalía terminaron de presentar los recursos de Casación ante la Sala I de la Cámara del Crimen que serán elevados ante el Superior Tribunal de Justicia.

Los abogados que representan a los siete denunciantes entienden que la investigación debe seguir, a pesar del paso del tiempo. Por eso cuestionan la resolución de los camaristas Hugo Perotti y Miguel Giorgio, quienes declararon prescripta la causa y dictaron el sobreseimiento del sacerdote, que en la actualidad vive en San Miguel de Tucumán.

En primera instancia, el juez de Instrucción Alejandro Grippo consideró que no correspondía la prescripción, rechazó el pedido de la defensa y siguió investigando. Pero en segunda instancia la Justicia le dio la razón al cura.

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NEW JERSEY
Catholic Star Herald

The Office of Child and Youth Protection is announcing CAP (Child Assault Prevention) sessions. CAP is the safe environment training program for adults who have regular contact with minors.

Attendance is required in order to comply with the USCCB’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The policy of the Diocese of Camden is that adults will attend CAP once every five years.

CAP 1 teaches attendees to recognize child abuse and neglect and how to report to the proper authorities. Adults are taught that children have the right to be safe, strong and free. CAP 1 is for new volunteers and employees.

CAP 2 is called No More Bullies, No More Victims and is a workshop addressing bullying awareness and bullying prevention. Cyber-bullying is also presented.

CAP 3 is called Cyber-Empowerment and is a workshop which promotes adult understanding of cyber activity of youth while teaching them realistic ways to help children keep their own rights and guard the rights of others in the cyber-sphere.

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NEW YORK
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

By Charisma L. Miller, Esq.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

An elite Brooklyn school is in court again on an issue related to a well-publicized sex scandal case that was settled.

The plaintiffs in the original case against Poly Prep Country Day School are now suing the school’s attorneys, Manhattan law firm O’Melveny & Myers, alleging that the lawyers fraudulently misrepresented facts in an attempt to deceive the court into reaching a decision in Poly Prep’s favor.

Ten alumni and two former students brought suit against Poly Prep in 2009, charging that the school concealed 25 years of sexual abuse by Peter Foglietta, its football coach for since the 1960s.

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NEW YORK
Corporate Counsel

By Andrew Keshner
New York Law Journal
August 16, 2013

Former students who settled a lawsuit alleging a prestigious private school in Brooklyn covered up a football coach’s years of sexual abuse are now suing the school’s outside counsel at O’Melveny & Myers for allegedly trying to “deceive” the court with “fraudulent evidence” and “materially false and fraudulent statements.”

Naming O’Melveny and Jeffrey Kohn, managing partner of the firm’s New York office, as defendants, the action argues they “should not be allowed to escape sanction for their grievous and oft-repeated falsehoods.”

The lawsuit, Zimmerman v. Kohn, 652826/2013, was filed Aug. 11 in Manhattan Supreme Court (See Complaint). It demands that, in addition to other things, O’Melveny reimburse the plaintiffs for $2 million in legal fees expended to achieve a confidential settlement. In addition, the plaintiffs are seeking that all fees paid to O’Melveny by Poly Prep Country Day School be turned over to the plaintiffs.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Anne Cohen
Published August 16, 2013

A federal judge’s recent decision barring discovery to 31 adults who say they were sexually abused as students at Yeshiva University High School for Boys years ago bodes poorly for the plaintiffs’ case, say two legal experts who have been following the case.

The August 6 decision by United States District Judge John G. Koeltl will effectively deny the plaintiffs’ attorney, Kevin Mulhearn, access to internal records from Y.U. as he seeks to counter a motion by Y.U. attorneys to dismiss the case.

That was a crucial tool in his surprise success in overcoming the state’s statute of limitations in a similar child sexual abuse case against Poly Prep Country Day School.

“You know what I would say [to Y.U.] … I’d say, ‘Let’s not do anything,’” to settle the case, said Karen Burstein, a former judge. “Let’s make the strongest motion [to dismiss the case] that we can.’”

Indeed, in an accompanying ruling, Koeltl agreed to consider a motion from Y.U. to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs had filed their suit long after the state’s statute of limitations for such misconduct had passed. He ordered Y.U. attorneys to submit written arguments supporting their motion by September 13, after which he will hear counterarguments from the plaintiffs before issuing a decision.

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FLORIDA
Catholic News Service

By Laura Dodson
Catholic News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) — The president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said organizers of this year’s assembly hope attendees would find it to be a contemplative experience because “it is imperative to view religious life within the context of our faith and in an evolving world.”

“We have included an hour and a half of contemplative prayer at all meetings to determine what the signs of today are calling us to and we hope that the entire experience of this assembly will be an act of contemplation,” said Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon.

A sense of quiet and expectation seemed to permeate the assembly as 825 women religious gathered at the Caribe Royal Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando Aug. 12-16.

Representing the majority of 57,000 religious sisters in the U.S., the attendees undertook an agenda that included: discussions on the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as a focus on immigration issues; a resolution on nonviolence; presentation of the 2013 Outstanding Leadership Award; and the election of a new president-elect and secretary.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

Posted by Robert Mayer (Editor) , August 16, 2013

St. Paul Priest Father Michael Miller pled guilty last month to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor in in GA 15 Courthouse and as part of the deal he made he was sentenced to five years in prison, 10 years on the sex offender registry and 20 years probation.

Miller stood in court and listened to the mother of one of his victims as she told the court her son completely trusted “Father Michael.”

In a statement from the Hartford Archdiocese, Maria Zone said. “Michael Miller’s guilty plea to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor comes after many months of personal deliberation, reflection and prayer. During this time, Miller has received medical treatment and undergone therapy.

“Two years ago, when the Berlin Police Department contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford and Miller’s Order, the Franciscan Friars Conventual, about the charges, Miller was immediately suspended from performing any priestly duties. Now that Miller has pled guilty, he will never function as a priest again. We hope that Miller’s plea will give some solace and closure to the minors he violated — and their families.

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is Kent

By Matthew Young matthew.young@courier.co.uk

A FORMER Tunbridge Wells catholic priest who preyed on boys in the 1980s has avoided jail after being found guilty of molesting an altar boy at another church.

Malcolm McLennan, 69, committed sex crimes against church boys in 1985 and 1986, when he was priest at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church in Crescent Road.

In 2009 the pervert was jailed for the offences for 18 months – but has now avoided a further sentence after admitting he molested another boy in a church in Chatham, also in the 1980s.

He was handed a three-year community order at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday.

After the sentence, the victim, now in his 30s, said: “I am devastated. Justice has not been served.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

John P. Martin, Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: Friday, August 16, 2013

When her cellphone rang in May 2009, Sister Celeste Ortiz thought God had answered her prayers. On the line was Samuel Alvarado, who said he was a priest in New Jersey with wonderful news.

A parishioner had bequeathed $1 million to Ortiz’s order, the Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. A fee was needed to process the inheritance, Alvarado said, but it would be reimbursed.

He would personally deliver the papers. Then 67, Ortiz was the superior for her order, which is based in Puerto Rico and has 130 nuns working in impoverished spots worldwide, including, at the time, Philadelphia.

The call came as she was struggling to find funds for a mission in Haiti and to pay for an international gathering the order was holding that summer. God’s handiwork, she thought. Weeks later, she wired $3,792 to New Jersey. Requests for more money followed.

Then pleadings, demands, and, finally, threats. By 2011, the nun, two priests, their friends, relatives, and parishioners had handed more than $1 million to the fake priest, a con man named Adriano Sotomayor who gambled it away in casinos. …

Breaking what he said had been a decades-long silence, Sotomayor told the judge he had targeted the clergy because he was raped by a priest in Puerto Rico when he was 13. He claimed other members of the church community – including Ortiz – knew about the attack but ignored his allegations and conspired to protect the abusive priest.

“Nobody knows what I’ve suffered inside for 40 years,” Sotomayor said in Spanish through an interpreter, his voice rising and choking. “They molded me, they created me. If they would have listened to me, I wouldn’t be here today, I wouldn’t be here.” Ortiz denied the claim.

“He’s lying,” she later said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
SWNS

A former Catholic priest who regularly rubbed himself against an altar boy while he was changing his robes has walked free from court.

Malcolm McLennan, 69, targeted the victim at his church – groping and putting his hands in the his pants between 1987 and 1989.

But when the victim raised the abuse with a dicoses bishop at the time, the high-ranking clergyman dismissed it by saying: “We’ll have no more of your silly talk.”

The victim later reported the attacks to police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal and McLennan was arrested and charged.

He admitted one charge of indecent assault at Magistrate’s Court last month and was sent to Maidstone Crown Court for sentence.

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CONNECTICUT
New Britain Herald

Thursday, August 15, 2013

By LISA BACKUS
STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN — A former Berlin priest, who court officials said used his position “as a man of God” to attempt to lure young boys into having sex, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison followed by 20 years probation, including a decade as a registered sex offender.

Michael Miller, 43, once affectionately called by parishioners “Father Michael” or “Father Mike,” stood quietly as the mother of one of his victims explained to the court that he had taken advantage of her son at a time when the family was struggling with a prolonged illness.

“He befriended my son with the primary reason of having a sexual relationship with him,” said the woman, only identified in court as “Pat.”

“My son completely trusted Father Michael with his thoughts and feelings.”
Miller’s activities came to light in June 2011 when the woman became uncomfortable with some of the comments her son made about the Franciscan Friar who was serving as a priest at St. Paul Catholic Church.

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MINNESOTA
SNAP Minnesota

News Release
August 14, 2013

Serial child molesting priest worked at churches in Tyler, Hector, & Green Valley
Victims are visiting his parish assignments to reach out to “others he’s hurt”
Self-help group urges anyone who ‘saw, suspected, or suffered clergy crimes’ to get help

WHAT
At sidewalk news conferences, a clergy sex abuse victim will:

– disclose that a serial child molesting Catholic priest, Fr William Marks, worked at local churches,
– publicly urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered his child sex crimes to step forward, and
– identify why a new law, Minnesota Child Victims Act, opens courthouse doors to victims and
their loving families previously denied healing, recovery and civil justice.

WHERE / WHEN
a) Hector Community Center, 130 S Main Street, Hector, MN
Thursday, August 15th at 10:00 a.m.

b) Outside the front entrance of St Dionysus, Tyler, MN
Thursday, August 15th at 3:00 p.m.

c) Outside the front entrance of St Clotilde, Green Valley, MN
Thursday, August 15th at 6:30 p.m.

WHO
A local man and long time Minnesota Director of a national support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org),

WHY
In 1992-1994, four former altar boys filed civil lawsuits in Minnesota for their molestation as prepubescent kids. The notorious abusive priest, Fr. William “Bill” Marks, was the assigned priest at St. Dionysus, St. John’s and St. Clotilde. The lawsuits accused Marks’s supervisors of knowing about Mark’s crimes, yet warning no one and putting children in harm’s way at parishes and church events.

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Salt Lake City (UT)
The National Herald

Theodore Kalmoukos

August 15, 2013

Salt Lake City, UT – Alarming situations have been created at the parish of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Salt lake City and also at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America because a financial audit at the parish discovered strange financial activities by two priests which may implicate the parish and the Archdiocese with the Internal Revenue Service.

Confidential documents acquired by TNH show that priests Mathew Gilbert and Mike Kouremetis had open benevolent funds accounts supposedly to assist discreetly and confidently people in need, but instead Gilbert wrote checks to his sons and Kouremetis paid his secretary’s house rent. He had also authorized her as a cosigner on the account.

The Salt Lake City Greek Orthodox Community has two churches: the Holy Trinity Cathedral where Gilbert is pastoring and the Prophet Elias where Kouremetis is the priest.

According to the documents sent to Archbishop Demetrios of America and Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver, 11 checks were paid to Gilbert’s sons over 9 months totaling $4,637.18 for car repairs, assisting with church services, schoolbooks, and undetailed reasons. Also a check of $ 75.13 was issued payable to Gilbert for a lunch with another cleric named Maximos.

On December 20, 2011 Fr. Gilbert wrote a check payable to his son, Andrew, at the amount of $350.00 for car repair. On February 17 he wrote a check to his other son Christopher Gilbert for $1,000.00 with the description Deacon Chrysostomos. On the same date Gilbert wrote a check to his other son, Aaron, for $300.00 with the description Seminarian.

Gilbert opened the benevolent account in February 2006 and he closed in May 2013 after the parish council had started auditing the finances of the parish and requested to examine all the accounts that use the church’s tax ID number.

From Kouremetis’ benevolent account 14 payments were made for household rent for the Church secretary’s benefit totaling $12,835.00 ($600 of this was a cash payment – says for rent).

Also, the records show that 4 cash payments to the Church secretary totaling $1,337 plus $ 215.49 in other miscellaneous payments.

The documents show that $13,787.49 expenditures from the benevolent account went to the Church secretary.

According to the records sent to Demetrios and Isaiah, another $7,212.70 or another 25% of the total contributions made to the benevolent account were unidentified, including a $2,000 payment to law firm Scally&Reeding.

On August 20, 2009 Kouremetis issued a check for $1,010.00 payable to H.C. Moody & Associates (Rental Mgt Company for Elizabeth Michaelson rent (Church secretary).

The audit committee wrote that “because of tax reporting problems it must be determined if any of these amounts went to the Church secretary or any other person receiving “income” from the church.”

Parishioners, donors, and also the parish were contributing to the benevolent accounts of the two priests trusting that their contributions would be used for philanthropic purposes assisting people in need. Tom McGrath, chairman of the audit committee declined to speak to TNH stating that “we have not yet informed
the members of the parish in detail and I don’t think isn’t right to be
published first in the press.”

Gilbert, Kouremetis, Demetrios, and Isaiah all failed to respond to TNH’s request for comment.

On July 24, Prophet Elias Parish Council President Dimitrios Tsagaris informed Isaiah in writing, attaching a number of revealing documents of Gilbert’s and Kouremetis’ benevolent accounts, including copies of checks. Isaiah not only did nothing but he closed the churches as TNH wrote last week because the Parish
Council was forced to reduce the salaries of the priests by 40% due to lack of funds at the parish.

Isaiah in a letter dated February 4, 2013 sent to Gilbert, who had complained to him that the Parish Council was requesting to audit his benevolent account instructed him no to give any information the audit committee while calling the benevolent account “extension of the Sacrament of Confession.” Isaiah stated among other things that “as I mentioned to you previously, the Benevolent Fund
is an extension of the Sacrament of Confession. You could be defrocked from the holy priesthood, if you were known to divulge such confidential information. Moreover, you would be going against the words of the Lord when He says, `take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them (Matt. 6:2).’ Our Lord continues on to say, `but when you do a charitable deed,
do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your
charitable deed may be in secret…(Matt. 6:3).’ What our Lord is saying is that you, also, must forget the good that you do for others.”

Isaiah went on to instruct Gilbert not to keep records: “If this is the case, and it is, you must not keep lasting records of the good deeds which are being done with the funds you receive for this purpose. These words of our Lord can also be explained as the left hand, which is the Audit Committee and the right hand, which is you.”

He also wrote to Gilbert that “if the Audit Committee continues to be insistent in this matter, it should communicate with me, since I ratified the current Parish Council. You are not to have any more dialogue on this matter with anyone in the parish.”

In an August 4 letter to Demetrios, the Parish Council wrote that “We, the Parish Council, feel it is imperative to inform you about a serious issue our community is faced with and ask for your timely guidance and help. This is in regards to the benevolent funds of our community in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

They also wrote that “one of the administrative priorities of this Parish Council was to look into all accounts that were using Church tax ID to better understand their qualification of a tax exempt status. Our audit committee was assisting us during this process by providing findings and recommendations.

“As a result, we were made aware earlier this year that some accounts appear to be potentially problematic. The auditors chose to continue the process of gathering and analyzing all information prior to disclosing more specific findings to the Parish Council. At the conclusion of the regularly scheduled July 15, 2013 Parish Council meeting, the audit committee invited us to attend their scheduled meeting where they presented the above mentioned more specific
findings.

“Attached please find what was presented to the Parish Council on July 15, 2013 by the auditors. This information has also been mailed to our Metropolitan.”

They also wrote to the archbishop that “Rest assured that our Community’s concern is not that of divulging the sources that funded the Benevolent Fund accounts; the concern is appropriateness of the expenditures of the funds, and the Parish’s liability under the IRS laws.

“Items for your consideration that merit further investigation should include but not limited to the following:

• Why does the “Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church Benevolent Fund” Zions Bank Account No.: 0041-45001, contain the name of “Elizabeth Michaelsen” as an owner and signatory party to the account, in addition to “Michael A. Kouremetis.

• In view of the fact that Elizabeth Michaelsen has been a long time employee of and acted as the secretary to Fr. Kouremetis, she became the primary dollar amount beneficiary of the Benevolent Fund. Please note the payment of rents, attorney’s fees, etc ..

• Who authorized her to write checks for her own benefit, and to sign the name of Fr. Michael Kouremetis

• Who informed/authorized the payee bank to accept and pay the checks signed by someone other than Michael Kouremetis, as it is evident by some of the signatures on the sample checks?

• What are the IRS implications of paying an employee additional funds without issuing an IRS 1099 Form. We have been advised that this affects both Ms. Michaelsen and the underage family members of an employee. There are additional serious IRS concerns raised by the auditors as set forth therein.

Tsagaris said “what can I say about the benevolent fund? It’s a philanthropic fund from which the priests give money to people in need.” He declined to say who contributed to this fund and if the parish was included. Tsagaris said “the priests must give this information” and her added “you should get all these answers from the audit committee which have all the details.”

In regards if the Parish Council has confronted the two priests, Tsagaris said “this is a very sensitive issue and our Archdiocese and Metropolis are looking into it and I want them to examine it and tell us what to do, but we haven’t heard anything up to now from them.”

About the concerns the Parish Council has raised in its letter to the archbishop about possible IRS implications, Tsagaris said “we have sent everything to Archbishop Demetrios and Metropolitan Isaiah and I can’t say anything more and they should help us to see the legal implications.”

He declined to say if the two priests attempted to communicate with him the last few days about the benevolent accounts issue, he said “I don’t wish to go into details on this issue.”

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