ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 05/07/13

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Tuesday denied there were any internal divisions over its crackdown on the largest umbrella group of U.S. nuns after a top Vatican official complained that he had been sidelined by the reform project.

The head of the Vatican’s office for religious orders, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, was quoted over the weekend as saying his office wasn’t consulted or even advised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about its decision to overhaul the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents 80 percent of American sisters. He said the crackdown had caused him “much pain.”

The Congregation last year placed the Leadership Conference under the authority of a U.S. bishop after determining that the sisters took positions that undermined Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

Braz de Aviz was quoted by the National Catholic Reporter as telling an international gathering of sisters in Rome on Sunday that he only learned of the Congregation’s crackdown after its report had been completed. He said he told the then-prefect of the Congregation, U.S. Cardinal William Levada, that the issue should have been discussed with his office but wasn’t.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

Tzedek, the Jewish organisation which has been established to end the silence on child sexual abuse within the Jewish community, has made an application to appear at the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Manny Waks, founder and CEO of Tzedek and well-known human rights campaigner in the Jewish community has enlisted the help of Maurice Blackburn principal and Tzedek President Josh Bornstein, and will apply for leave to appear at the Royal Commission.

Maurice Blackburn is working with a legal team that also includes Victorian barrister, Daniel Star, Anton Hermann from Minter Ellison and lawyer Joel Vernon, who is also Secretary on the Tzedek board.

Mr Waks established Tzedek in December 2012 as the first organisation in Australia dedicated to the issue of child sexual abuse within the Jewish community. In 2011, Mr Waks publicly disclosed that he had suffered child sexual abuse, making the brave decision to tell his story in a bid to help others speak up and break the cycle of silence.

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NEW MEXICO
Alamogordo Daily News

By Milan Simonich, Texas-New Mexico Newspapers
Posted: 05/07/2013

SANTA FE — A former altar boy, now a man of 34, alleges in lawsuits that three priests at St. Jude Parish in Alamogordo molested him for years.

The plaintiff, Eran Joseph McManemy, also says the Catholic church’s hierarchy knew that one of the priests had been sexually abusing boys since the 1960s but did nothing to stop him.

This priest was the Rev. David A. Holley, who left a long trail of molestations at churches from Worcester, Mass., to ones in New Mexico and Texas.

Finally, in 1993, Holley was sentenced to 275 years in prison for sodomizing and molesting eight other boys in Alamogordo. He died in prison in 2008 at age 80.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Alessandro Speciale | May 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a bid to improve its checkered record on financial transparency, the Vatican on Tuesday (May 7) signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. agency that fights against financial crimes.

The Vatican’s Institute for the Works of Religion, known as the Vatican Bank, has a long history of secrecy and scandals, and it has reportedly been involved in several shady operations during the course of its history. In recent years, top bank officials have been put under investigation by Italian magistrates for alleged money laundering.

For decades, the Vatican Bank operated outside of international oversight, thanks to the Holy See’s status as an independent state.

Facing increasing international scrutiny, the Vatican set up an independent financial watchdog, the Financial Intelligence Authority, in April 2011 as part of its effort to bring its financial practices in line with international standards.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NEIL KEENE From: The Daily Telegraph May 08, 2013

FORMER police officer and National party MP Troy Grant has made explosive claims about cover-ups of child sex abuse within the Catholic church, including deliberate actions by a nun to tip off a paedophile priest.

Speaking to media after giving evidence at a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle this morning, Mr Grant said that while he never encountered a “Catholic mafia” within the police force, there was certainly collusion within the clergy to hide serious sex offences.

“There were individuals who acted completely inappropriately, commensurate with their pastoral care. I believe they acted illegally,” he said.

Those people allegedly included a nun who Mr Grant claimed tipped off a priest, later convicted of child sex offences, the night before he was due to be interviewed by police.

He said he had evidence of senior clergy cover-ups dating back as far as 1974.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 08, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest being investigated for pedophile crimes was tipped off by a nun before his arrest, the former investigating policeman and current NSW MP Troy Grant says.

Mr Grant, the Nationals MP for Dubbo in the state’s west, said he is prepared to give evidence of this as well as alleged cover-ups by senior clergy to the NSW special commission of inquiry into child abuse next month.

Speaking outside the hearing, after giving evidence this morning, Mr Grant said that church officials had colluded to hide serious sex offences.

“There were individuals who acted completely inappropriately, commensurate with their pastoral care. I believe they acted illegally,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

A special inquiry has heard factions in the NSW police force wanted to prevent a full investigation of alleged sex abuse by priests in the Hunter region, but another witness denied speaking of a “Catholic mafia” in the force.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen he formed the belief that parts of the NSW force didn’t want the abuse allegations probed in his investigations, which involved possibly hundreds of victims, over several years to December 2010.

This concern led him to lie about his investigations to colleagues and breach a direction not to speak to journalists, he told the special commission of inquiry in Newcastle on Wednesday.

It also made him reluctant to stop investigating and hand over his files, he said.

Inspector Fox said he had also unearthed links between alleged abuse by priests in the Hunter Valley and priests in other parts of the state.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 08, 2013

A NSW MP and former police officer who successfully prosecuted a pedophile priest in the state’s Hunter Valley has denied claims the force interfered with investigations into the Catholic church.

Giving evidence to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry this morning, Troy Grant explicitly denied claims by a serving detective, Peter Fox, that he once claimed a “Catholic mafia” existed within the police.

“It’s (a phrase) that obviously grabs attention. It’s one that I’m sure I would remember ever saying, it’s one that nobody who knows me would expect me to say,” Mr Grant said.

“I have never had any reason to report any type of activity that would be perceived to be any form of Catholic mafia or any interference from the police force at any time,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON May 8, 2013

FORMER police officer Troy Grant has told the Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse claims that he never used the term ‘‘Catholic mafia’’ and had never encountered any interference from police during his investigations into paedophilia by priests.

Mr Grant, now state MP for Dubbo, described Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox as ‘‘a meticulous investigator’’ but he denied ever saying to him that a ‘‘Catholic mafia’’ existed within the ranks of Newcastle police.

On Monday, Mr Fox had told the inquiry that Mr Grant had warned him about a ‘‘Catholic mafia’’. The claim was made in the context that police investigations into the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests had been shelved or hampered.

As a police officer, Mr Grant investigated and charged paedophile priest Vince Ryan in 1995. Ryan was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in jail for offences relating to 31 victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Jessica Grewal 8th May 2013

A FORMER Northern NSW priest is facing more than 100 child-sex charges spanning two decades.

The 59-year-old, who can not be named, was before the Armidale court for a string of related offences on Wednesday when he faced 64 additional charges.

Police allege he repeatedly assaulted six boys and three girls in the 70s and another boy and two girls in the early 80s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

Charges include 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent and 52 counts of indecent assault.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
May 8, 2013

A court in northern New South Wales has refused to lift a suppression order preventing the naming of a former priest charged with 125 historic child sex abuse offences.

At Armidale Local Court today, Magistrate Karen Stafford ruled there can be no publication of the accused’s name or any information which could lead to his identification, or his place of abode.

In October and January, officers from Strike Force Glenroe laid 61 charges against the defendant relating to the alleged abuse of three girls and six alter boys in the Moree and Armidale areas.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

A former Catholic priest accused of committing historic child sex crimes has been charged with an additional 64 offences.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced Armidale Local Court on Wednesday to face charges related to the alleged assault of three girls and six boys during the 1980s.

He was subsequently charged with further offences related to the alleged assault of three more accusers.

One of his alleged victims, an altar boy in the Moree parish, was allegedly assaulted on several occasions between 1982 and 1985.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jewish Voice

WEDNESDAY, 08 MAY 2013 11:03 BY NOA ZIVYON

After years of countless threats against a New Jersey boy and his family, at long last the trial of his accused molester Rabbi Yosef Kolko is set to being this week.

Yeshiva teacher Yosef Kolko— who is the nephew of notorious pedophile Rabbi Yehuda Kolko— will face a jury this week for accusations of sexually abusing the young boy during summer camp six years ago, according to court documents.

When a religious council of Orthodox Jews refused to take legal action against the man, his family turned to the Office of the Ocean County Prosecutor to seek justice.

As a result of seeking prosecution outside the confines of the Orthodox world, the victim’s entire family was ostracized by residents of their local community in Lakewood, New Jersey. Likewise, several community members took it a step further hoping on board a “terror campaign” to bully the family into dropping charges against the teacher by distributed flyers throughout the town which proclaimed the boy’s father had made a “mockery” of the Tanakh by committing the “terrible deed” of using a secular jurisdiction.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Online

By Deacon Keith Fournier
5/8/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy needs to be disclosed, exposed, prosecuted and explained. This Pope will do that. He will also address the evil which lies at the root of the problem

The exposure of sexual sin among Catholic clergy is not accidental in its timing. It is a part of a time of purification. Such sexual activity, particularly when forced on a child by one in a position of power – priest, bishop or deacon- is an act of evil in its most heinous form. It constitutes a spiritual plundering and attempt to destroy a soul. It is also criminal – and it should be prosecuted. There have been other times in the history of the Church when the clergy have been corrupted. God always begins His Spring cleaning in His own house. As the Apostle Peter wrote to the Church of the first millennium during another great missionary age: “the time has come for judgment to begin with the House of God.” (1 Peter 4:17)

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – On April 5, 2013, Pope Francis met with Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Among the topics discussed was clerical sexual abuse. The new Pope made crystal clear his high regard for the strong approach of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, to confronting this evil.

He directed Archbishop Muller to continue the zero tolerance approach of Benedict XVI and to “act decisively” against sexual abuse. He charged him to carry out “due proceedings against the guilty.” After the meeting the Vatican released a statement which included these directions to the CDF:

“To act decisively concerning cases of sexual abuse – First of all by promoting measures for the protection of minors, as well as in offering assistance to those who have suffered abuse, carrying out due proceedings against the guilty, and in the commitment of bishops’ conferences to formulate and implement the necessary directives in this area that is so important for the Church’s witness and credibility.”

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AUSTRALIA
Otago Daily Times

Wed, 8 May 2013

Catholic Church officials and clergy, not police, obstructed investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse by NSW priests, a special state government commission of inquiry has been told.

The evidence given by state MP for Dubbo and former police officer Troy Grant contradicts the account of the man at the centre of the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

Mr Grant, who as a policeman investigated sex abuse in 1995, denied he had told Insp Fox there was a “Catholic mafia” within the police force that hindered investigations into the Hunter Valley allegations.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen today began hearing the third day of evidence in Newcastle into allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Hunter, including assertions by Insp Fox of a cover-up by the church and that senior police had ordered him to stop his investigations.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

The opposition says victims who emerge as a result of inquiries into sexual abuse won’t be compensated.

Victims who emerge as a result of ongoing inquiries into child abuse won’t be able to claim compensation because of the NSW government’s reporting cap, the opposition says.

Changes to the victims compensation scheme prevent victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse from making a claim more than a decade after the crime.

This will leave many victims of historical abuse excluded from compensation, Opposition Leader John Robertson says.

‘This is a disgraceful act from the O’Farrell government,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Liberal

AN INQUIRY into the handling by police of certain child sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has heard that former policeman and Dubbo MP Troy Grant rejects having used the phrase “Catholic mafia”.

A national newspaper yesterday reported that Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had told the inquiry that the MP used the phrase when referring to police interfering in his own investigation of a paedophile priest.

But counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, is also reported to have told of a sworn statement in which the MP denied he used the phrase or that police had hindered or obstructed his investigation.

Mr Grant is scheduled to appear before the special commission this morning.

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NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News

By Milan Simonich / msimonich@tnmnp.com
Posted: 05/07/2013

SANTA FE — A former altar boy, now a man of 34, alleges in lawsuits that three priests at St. Jude Catholic Church in Alamogordo molested him for years.

The plaintiff, Eran Joseph McManemy, also says the Catholic Church’s hierarchy knew that one of the priests had been sexually abusing boys since the 1960s but did nothing to stop him.

This priest was the Rev. David A. Holley, who left a long trail of molestations at churches from Worcester, Mass., to ones in New Mexico and Texas.

Finally, in 1993, Holley was sentenced to 275 years in prison for sodomizing and molesting eight other boys in Alamogordo. He died in prison in 2008 at age 80.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former Catholic priest charged with 64 additional offences – Strike Force Glenroe

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 11:55:52 AM

A former Catholic priest has today been charged with 64 additional offences relating to alleged historical child assault offences.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court today (Wednesday 8 May 2013) on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

During his appearance, the man was additionally charged with 64 offences relating to alleged assaults against one boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, between 1982 and 1985 in Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

They include 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent; 52 counts of indecent assault; and one count of committing an act of indecency.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON May 8, 2013

A former police office turned politician has denied ever using the term “Catholic Mafia” to describe senior police who interfered with his investigations into Catholic Church paedophilia.

Nationals member for Dubbo, Troy Grant, was the second witness to give evidence on day three of the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Mr Grant rejected claims by Detective Chief Inspector Fox that he said there was a “Catholic Mafia” – members of senior police hindering investigations into sexual abuse by priests.

“I have no reason to have used that term because I have and saw no interference with my investigation,” Mr Grant told the commission.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Stephanie Loder
@Loder1

A support group for clergy sex-abuse victims wants two New Jersey Catholic bishops to reach out to parishioners and get them to report any allegations of abuse by a priest who once confessed to touching an underage boy.

The bishops of the Diocese of Trenton and the Diocese of Paterson should reach out through church bulletins and websites to help victims step forward with any instances of abuse involving the Rev. Michael Fugee, who until recently worked at St. Mary’s parish in Colts Neck with its youth ministry, said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

In a letter sent to to Diocese of Trenton Bishop David O’Connell and Diocese of Paterson Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, SNAP members wrote, “We strongly urge you, as church leaders in the areas where Fr. Fugee ministered — officially or unofficially, with or without permission — to appeal for victims and witnesses to come forward and report any abuse.”

Fugee, a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark, resigned last week. Parishioners at St. Mary’s in Colts Neck say Fugee had been involved with a parish youth group in defiance of an agreement with Bergen County prosecutors that he not work with children.

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AUSTRALIA
7 news

By Dan Cox, ABC
Updated May 8, 2013

A former New South Wales policeman turned state MP has denied describing some senior Hunter Valley officers as the “Catholic Mafia”.

Nationals MP for the state seat of Dubbo Troy Grant has given evidence on the third day of the Special Commission of Inquiry into how New South Wales Police and the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese handled allegations of child sexual abuse by two priests.

Previously Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox said Mr Grant described senior officers as the “Catholic Mafia” because they are “aligned to the church”.

But Mr Grant has told the court that the phrase grabs attention, and he would remember it if he had used it.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

A former Catholic priest is accused of 124 child sex offences after scores of additional charges were laid against him.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court, in the NSW New England region, on Wednesday, when prosecutors laid 64 fresh charges.

He remains on bail until his next appearance in the same court on July 3.

Police allege the offences relate to alleged assaults on a boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, that took place in the early 1980s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

SIMON BLACK THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MAY 08, 2013

A FORMER Catholic priest who is facing a slew of charges relating to alleged child assault offences has been hit with an additional 64 charges during an appearance before Armidale Local Court today.

The 59-year-old man, known only as “the man” due to legal reasons, was due to appear on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

During this appearance he was charged with an additional 64 offences including 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent; 52 counts of indecent assault; and one count of committing an act of indecency.

The new charges relate to alleged assaults against one boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, between 1982 and 1985 in Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale and come as part of ongoing investigations by Strike Force Glenroe, which was established in July last year to investigate claims of sexual abuse by the former priest, and comprises detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad and the New England and Barwon Local Area Commands.

The man is also at the centre of allegations of cover-ups of sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church after he told a court in 2004 he had made an admission to clergy in 1992 that he had performed oral sex on boys.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local North Attleboro

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Posted May 07, 2013

North Attleborough —
Recalling painful memories of crimes that occurred years ago, survivors and their family members asked lawmakers to do away with the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and to increase penalties for certain types of rape.

“I think it’s my fault because I didn’t scream or yell for help. I had Lifeline and I didn’t push the button. I was frozen, numb. I couldn’t speak. Why didn’t I yell? What could I have done to stop him? Why did it hurt so much?” Lisa Flint, of North Attleborough, a woman whose speech and movements are limited by cerebral palsy and who was raped in college, told lawmakers. She said, “This is what my world has been like since May 15, 2000. I ache for some kind of peace within. I have something he wasn’t powerful enough to take and that is hope. I hope someday I can make a difference for someone else.”

Accompanying Flint before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough) said she has known Flint since she was a child and said her rapist was sentenced to 20 years, making him eligible for release after 15. Poirier and Flint support legislation (H 1568) that would allow for life sentences for those convicted of raping people with disabilities.

“It is an aggravating circumstance, and should be recognized as such under the law,” Poirier said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A former policeman turned New South Wales MP is today due to give evidence at an inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church.

It is the third day of the Special Commission of Inquiry into how New South Wales Police and the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese handled allegations of child sexual abuse by two priests.

Former Hunter Valley policeman, now Nationals state MP for Dubbo, Troy Grant is expected to give evidence, followed by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

The first two weeks of the inquiry is looking at the circumstances in which Peter Fox says he was told to stop investigating allegations against former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 6, 2013

EDITORIAL

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox will take the stand on Monday in the first public hearings of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into whether the Catholic Church hindered his and other investigations into child abuse.

The inquiry is welcome for victims in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese. It comes as non-church research shows most complainants feel they have been re-victimised by the relevant institutions and reports suggest a shortfall in NSW policing has left child abuse suspects uncharged.

But the start of the investigation also raises important issues of overlap with concurrent federal and Victorian inquiries.

In particular, the public needs to be sure key evidence and testimony in Victoria about allegedly suspect clergy can be used readily and legally by the NSW inquiry.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Victims want action from two NJ bishops]

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 07, 2013

Most Reverend David O’Connell
701 Lawrenceville Rd
Trenton, NJ 08648

Dear Bishop O’Connell,

It has recently surfaced that Fr. Michael Fugee has violated his signed agreement with prosecutors to have no contact with children. He spent time in your diocese.

Fr. Fugee admitted child sex crimes, was charged in 2001, and convicted in 2003. He was sentenced to lifetime probation and to register as a sex offender. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality. To avoid a retrial, Fr. Fugee signed an agreement with prosecutors to enter a treatment facility, attend therapy, and stay away from children. That agreement was also signed by Fr. Fugee’s Catholic supervisors in the Newark Archdiocese.

We strongly urge you, as head of a diocese where Fr. Fugee ministered, to aggressively appeal for victims and witnesses to come forward and report any abuse. Announcements should be made not only in the diocesan newspaper, but in parish bulletins and from the pulpit during Sunday Masses throughout your diocese. The announcements should encourage anyone who witnessed, suspected or experienced abuse or cover ups or misdeeds to contact law enforcement, not church officials.

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NEW YORK
Law 360

By Andrew Scurria

Law360, New York (May 07, 2013, 4:24 PM ET) — New York’s highest court ruled Tuesday that a Catholic priest’s abuse of a minor over more than five years could not be treated as a single occurrence under insurance policies issued to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, saying the diocese must pay deductibles for each policy it was covered under.

Affirming a lower appellate court decision, the New York Court of Appeals held that under the state’s so-called unfortunate event test, the separate instances of abuse shared too few characteristics to be considered a repeated…

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KENYA
Standard Digital

By Lucas Ng’asike and Moses Nyamori

Turkana, Kenya: A Catholic priest has been arrested and arraigned in court for allegedly sodomising a Form Three student in Lodwar.

Father John Manzi was charged in a Lodwar court with indecently committing the act contrary to section 11(A) of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006.

The priest pleaded not guilty before acting Principal Magistrate Harrison Barasa and the case was set for hearing on June 5.

He was released on a bond of Sh100,000 with one surety of a similar amount or cash bail of Sh80,000.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ham & High

by Tim Lamden
Tuesday, May 7, 2013

A man charged with harassment in relation to police investigations into a Temple Fortune rabbi will stand trial in July.

Samuel Erlanger, 37, will appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court for trial on July 11 as part of ongoing investigations into orthodox rabbi Chaim Halpern, 54, leader of Divrei Chaim Synagogue in Bridge Lane, Temple Fortune.

Mr Erlanger, of Powis Gardens, Golders Green, denied one charge of harassment without violence at Hendon Magistrates Court on Thursday.

He was arrested in January on suspicion of harassment via telephone following incidents alleged to have taken place between December 25 last year and January 23 this year.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Colette Douglas Home
Columnist

I too looked at the picture of the old man in the check shirt with mixed emotions – all of them uncomfortable.

The caption was a shout of outrage. It said disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien was moving boxes into his Dunbar house. His holiday home (owned by the church) would now be his retirement home. The subtext was: he’s getting off with it.

My first instinct was to avert my gaze. I was sorry his whereabouts had been drawn to my attention. I was repelled by the invitation to condemn him and I regretted the implication that there would be or should be a witch hunt.

Lynch mobs are dehumanising. No accused person is all bad and no accuser is all good.

And yet could it be right that the Cardinal’s post-scandal retirement mirrored so closely the one he had already planned?

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MARYLAND
U.S. Catholic

SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) — Msgr. Edward J. Arsenault, president and CEO of St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, has resigned in the wake of an investigation into an alleged inappropriate adult relationship and the uncovering of possible illegal financial dealings in the Diocese of Manchester, N.H.

The resignation of Msgr. Arsenault, a priest of the Manchester Diocese, was effective May 3. It was announced in statements issued by the institute and the diocese.

The investigation does not involve St. Luke Institute, a treatment facility for Catholic clergy and religious, the institute said in its statement.

Msgr. Arsenault held senior positions in the diocese from January 1999 to February 2009 and was the diocese’s principal spokesman at the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal a decade ago. He joined St. Luke Institute in October 2009.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Posted by Robert A. Gahl J.r. on May 7, 2013

In October of 1999, at the end of a meeting of departmental chiefs in the Vatican, I confronted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and challenged him. The meeting was meant to discuss available options for dealing with the already-burgeoning international crisis of sexual abuse. Everyone in that room aimed for justice, especially for the victims, but also for the accused. Ratzinger was leading the curial push to decisively deal with perpetrators who were still a threat because of some weak-minded administrators and their policy to move criminals first to treatment and then back into ministry.

I had been invited by the Congregation for Clergy to present an ethical analysis of the extrajudicial, administrative practices used by the church to prosecute cases of clerical sexual abuse. At that meeting, I highlighted the risks of violating the natural right to a fair trial. The cardinals expressed differences of opinion regarding their concern for the rights of the accused and the terrible wounds of the victims who had been abused by those whom they had held in sacred trust. Despite his gentleness, Ratzinger demonstrated deep determination to satisfy justice.

Ratzinger did not aim for a middle place between the competing interests of the victims and of the accused, but to ascertain the truth, reach a verdict, and impose a just penalty, all while doing everything possible to heal the victims and repair the damage done to the church and society. After noting my concern for judicial due process, he indicated his unshakeable commitment to do everything possible to root out abusive clergy, fully cognizant that he could be criticized by canon lawyers for eliminating traditional steps in ecclesiastical trials designed to protect the rights of the accused.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Reuters

By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON | Tue May 7, 2013

May 7 (Reuters) – The regulator of the Vatican bank on Tuesday signed an information-sharing pact with the U.S. agency that tracks suspicious financial transactions, part of an effort by the scandal-ridden bank to improve its international image.

The bank, which manages money mostly for dioceses and religious institutions and is known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), has traditionally been isolated from the international regulatory system.

It has been rocked by three decades of scandals, including the 1982 incident in which Roberto Calvi, an Italian known as “God’s Banker” because of his Vatican ties, was found hanged under London’s Blackfriars Bridge.

More recently, Italian magistrates have been investigating the IOR for money laundering. The IOR has assets estimated between 6 and 7 billion Euros.

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VATICAN CITY
The Motley Fool

By Associated Press
May 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has signed an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department to exchange financial information as part of its efforts to comply with international anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing norms.

It’s the fourth such agreement inked by the Holy See as it seeks to improve its reputation in global financial circles following a series of scandals at its bank and a money laundering investigation launched by Rome prosecutors.

The agreement was signed Tuesday in Washington by Rene Bruelhart of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency and Jennifer Shasky Calvery of Treasury’s financial crimes enforcement network.

The Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee, which is evaluating the Vatican’s financial transparency, noted that the Vatican was limited in its ability to share information by its requirement to have such bilateral agreements in place.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com

By BOB SALSBERG
Associated Press / May 7, 2013

BOSTON (AP) — An attorney who helped lead an $85 million child sexual abuse settlement against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston before revealing that he had been a victim of child molestation urged state lawmakers to raise the statute of limitations on sex-abuse lawsuits.

The measure, heard Tuesday by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, would give victims until age 55 to file civil claims against their alleged attackers. Under current Massachusetts law, most victims have only until age 21 to bring civil lawsuits, according to backers of the legislation.

‘‘It’s not going to be complete justice, there will never be complete justice,’’ attorney Eric MacLeish said before meeting with lawmakers.

‘‘But this bill will be so helpful for so many people and I would like to think that it could have been helpful to me,’’ he said, adding that he would argue for the bill from both the standpoint of a lawyer and abuse victim.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann hat gestern zwei Pfarrern, die des Missbrauchs schuldig sind, endgültig gekündigt. Ein weiterer Pastor bat aus diesem Grund selbst um seine Entlassung. Alle Fälle sind strafrechtlich verjährt

Die Nachricht, dass zwei katholische Pfarrer aus dem Saarland sich wegen erwiesener Missbrauchs taten künftig nicht mehr kirchlich betätigen werden, erreicht die betroffenen Gemeinden auf höchst unterschiedliche Weise. Während Bischof Stephan Ackermann den Missbrauchs-Opfern in einem persönlichen Schreiben sein Bedauern darüber ausdrückte, „was sie an Leid erfahren mussten“, erreichte die Gemeinden die Nachricht offenbar nicht zeitgleich. Nach Informationen der SZ wurde die Burbacher Gemeinde St. Eligius, in der der Pfarrer Klaus K. (71) 30 Jahre lang bis zu seiner ehrenhaften Entlassung in den Ruhestand im September 2011 gewirkt hatte, bei einem Gottesdienst am Wochenende über die Entlassung K.s aus dem Klerikerstand in Kenntnis gesetzt. K. hat erwiesenermaßen mindestens zwei Mädchen missbraucht, wurde dafür jedoch nicht strafrechtlich zur Rechenschaft gezogen, weil die Fälle verjährt waren. Eine der Betroffenen hatte jedoch bereits Ende der 1990er Jahre den damaligen Trierer Bischof auf die Taten des Burbacher Pfarrers hingewiesen. Das Bistum reagierte jedoch abweisend (!!!). Ackermann, der auch Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Bischofskonferenz ist, bekannte bereits Ende 2011 schwere Fehler des Bistums in diesem Fall. Pfarrer K. war an Heiligabend 2010 überfallen und schwer verletzt worden. Der Fall wurde nie aufgeklärt, doch die Vermutungen gingen dahin, dass Rache für die Missbrauchstaten im Spiel war.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

wenn das Bistum bereits Ende der 90er Jahre darauf hingewiesen wurde, dass es zu sexuellen Übergriffen durch Pfarrer K. kam, waren die Taten zum damaligen Zeitpunkt noch nicht verjährt:
Warum nahm das Bistum die Hinweise nicht ernst und vereitelte somit wissentlich eine mögliche Bestrafung des Täters?

Hätte durch eine adäquate damalige Reaktion des Bistums Trier – wenn es denn die Hinweise Ende der 90er Jahre ernst genommen hätte – weiterer Missbrauch durch Pfarrer K. verhindert werden können?

Kann das Bistum Trier versichern, dass im Fall K. keine Hinweise auf mindestens ein weiteres weibliches Opfer vorliegen, welches noch relativ jung und – somit verständlicherweise – noch nicht bereit ist, über den Missbrauch zu sprechen bzw. ihn anzuzeigen? Kann das Bistum Trier ausschließen, dass es Hinweise auf mögliche weitere Übergriffe von Pfarrer K. gibt, die noch nicht verjährt sind?

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OSTERREICH
ooe@ORF

Eine Zivilklage, die ein Missbrauchsopfer gegen das Stift Kremsmünster eingebracht hat, enthält schwere Anschuldigungen gegen den angeklagten 79-jährigen Ex-Pater, aber auch gegen Lehrer und Erzieher. Es ist die Rede von Gruppenvergewaltigungen und Scheinexekutionen.

Bereits Ende 2012 brachten zwei ehemalige Klosterschüler eine Feststellungsklage gegen das Stift ein, in der es um die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle bzw. ein Eingeständnis der Mitwisserschaft geht. Ein Urteil ist noch ausständig.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON May 8, 2013

Peter Fox believed the senior police who ordered him to cease investigations into paedophilia within the Catholic Church were deliberately sabotaging the case.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox resumed his evidence for the second day of the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Inspector Fox told the inquiry the December 2010 meeting with senior police, during which he was ordered to cease investigating any matters relating to sexual abuse by the clergy, was “sinister”.

“I thought the direction was motivated by other matters that weren’t honest and were corrupt,” Inspector Fox said.

When he protested, Inspector Fox was told he would have no role or function in the new investigation dubbed Strike Force Lantle.

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RHODE ISLAND
Telegram & Gazette

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com

WAKEFIELD, R.I. — During a brief court appearance in district court this morning, Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

He is scheduled to appear in traffic court next Wednesday to answer to a charge of failing to submit to a chemical breath test.

The bishop, 61, was arrested in his hometown of Narragansett, R.I., Saturday night.

Bishop McManus was in a hit-and-run accident with a 2008 Hyundai on Boston Neck Road at Bridgetown Road, about two miles from his vacation home in Bonnet Shores, a picturesque waterfront neighborhood.

The driver of the car that the bishop’s 2012 Honda allegedly hit, police dispatcherJohn Smith, called 911 to report the bishop was driving erratically and crossing the center line. He then followed the bishop to his home at 215 Col. John Gardner Road, where police arrested him.

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UNITED KINGDOM
North-West Evening Mail

A RETIRED South Lakes priest has been sentenced to eight months’ jail for the indecent assault of a teenage boy.

Andrew John Folks, of Winfield Road, Sedbergh, was priest-in-charge of a church in the Langdales when he abused the then 15-year-old.

The 70-year-old pleaded guilty in Carlisle Crown Court today to one count of indecently assaulting the victim and another of attempting to indecently assault him.

Judge Tina Landale described the offences as a gross breach of trust.

Folks was placed on the sex offenders for 10 year.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Westmorland Gazette

A VICAR who sexually assaulted a teenager after becoming infatuated by his physique has been sent to prison for eight months.

Andrew Folks, 70, was priest-in-charge of the Langdale parish at the time he got to know the boy, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

As the boy grew up the married clergyman became more and more obsessed by his good looks, prosecuting counsel Katie Jones said.

And when the boy was about 15 Folks fondled the muscles on his chest and abdomen for his own sexual gratification, and then asked to look inside his trousers and touch his private parts, she said.

Folks – who is now retired and lives with his wife in Winfield Road, Sedbergh – pleaded guilty to one charge of sexually assaulting the boy and one of attempting to do so.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A former clergyman from the Lake District has been sentenced to eight months in prison for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

The offences date back to when 70-year-old Andrew Folks was a priest in Langdale.

At Carlisle Crown Court today he pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault against the boy and another of attempting to.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON May 7, 2013

CONVINCED that moves to stop his investigation into the cover-up of paedophile Catholic priests were ‘‘sinister’’, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox lied to colleagues, breached police protocols and grew convinced that his work was being sabotaged.

‘‘The pricks can shove it,’’ he wrote in a personal diary only hours after he had been told by a superior to cease his investigations.

Mr Fox spent his second day before the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle yesterday, admitting that he breached police protocols and directions, and describing a strikeforce set up to investigate Catholic Church cover-ups as ‘‘a sham’’.

Under heavy questioning from Counsel Assisting, Julia Lonergan SC, Mr Fox admitted that he lied to police colleagues about the whereabouts of victim statements that he was asked to bring to a meeting in December 2010.

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RHODE ISLAND
MassLive

By Kevin Koczwara, MassLive.com
on May 07, 2013

Worcester Diocese Bishop Robert McManus pleaded not guilty to charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident Tuesday morning in a Wakefield, R.I., courthouse.

Bishop McManus was arrested on Saturday night in Narragansett, R.I. after he was involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident on Saturday evening. Police said the man hit by McManus followed him and called police to report the accident.

McManus released a statement Monday when news broke about the arrest, saying that he made an “error of judgement” when he decided to drive after drinking alcohol during dinner.

According to Narragansett Police, Bishop McManus allegedly hit a vehicle that was stopped at a red light on Boston Neck Road and continued to the driveway of his home at 215 Col. John Gardner Road. The driver of the car McManus allegedly struck followed him and called police to report the incident.

Police report that officers arrived at McManus’ driveway at 10:32 p.m. and observed fresh damage to the driver’s side of his vehicle, a 2012 Honda Accord. An officer at the scene reports that McManus was swaying in a circular motion while standing and was “unsteady on his feet.” Officer report McManus slurring his words, and police had difficulty understanding the Bishop while he spoke. He also struggled to find his wallet, his face was red, his eyes were severely bloodshot and an officer smelled alcohol on his breath when he spoke, according to the police report.

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RHODE ISLAND
ABC 6

Dee DeQuattro
ddequattro@abc6.com

Worcester Bishop Robert McManus pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident Tuesday morning in Wakefield District Court.

McManus was released on $1,000 personal recognizance. He also faces a civil charge of refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test.

On Saturday Narragansett Police responded to the area of Boston Neck Road and Bridgetown Road after a report of a hit-and-run accident.

On the scene a man identified as John Smith said his vehicle was struck by another vehicle that proceeded to drive to 215 Col John Gardner Road.

Police arrived at the home to find Bishop McManus standing outside his 2012 Honda Accord. The vehicle has sustained damage to the driver side consistent with the accident.

McManus, according to police, was swaying and slurring. He stated he may have hit the other vehicle and not realized it.

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WORCESTER (MA)
dotCommonweal

May 7, 2013
Posted by Luke Hill

Worcester, Massachusetts, Bishop Robert McManus was arrested Saturday night at his family’s vacation home in Naragansett, Rhode Island, on charges of drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and refusing a chemical test.

“I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner,” McManus said in a statement. “There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

That’s all well and good…as far as it goes. I don’t want to make more of this relatively straightforward DUI incident than necessary, but Bishop McManus’s terrible error in judgment extended beyond driving while intoxicated. It also included his decision to flee the scene of the crime after, apparently, causing the accident by rear-ending the other driver’s car. (A neighbor “noticed minor front end damage to McManus’s dark-colored Honda Accord the following morning.”)

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RHODE ISLAND
Fresno Bee

The Associated Press
Monday, May. 06, 2013

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — The leader of a Roman Catholic diocese in Massachusetts charged with driving drunk in Rhode Island pleaded not guilty and was allowed to remain free on $1,000 bail at his arraignment Tuesday.

Worcester Bishop Robert McManus, 61, wearing a white clerical collar in court, did not speak during the two-minute hearing, letting his lawyer enter the not guilty plea on his behalf to charges of driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

“I have instructed him not to comment,” his attorney, former Rhode Island House Speaker William Murphy, said outside.

Murphy referred reporters instead to a statement McManus issued Monday is which he apologized for “a terrible error in judgment” by driving after drinking wine at dinner.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

[with video]

Worcester bishop McManus arraigned on drunken driving, leaving the scene of accident charges in R.I. court

By Brian Ballou, Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Bishop Robert J. McManus, the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, kept silent in court today as his attorney entered a not-guilty plea to charges that he was driving drunk during a crash last weekend and then fled the scene.

McManus, 61, was released on personal recognizance after his attorney, Bill Murphy, told Fourth Division District Court Court Judge Walter Gorman that his client, a Massachusetts resident, waived his right to an extradition hearing.

The arraignment lasted about two minutes. McManus, who appeared in the black suit with white clerical collar usually worn by Roman Catholic priests, did not speak. After the arraignment on the two misdemeanor charges, Murphy spoke briefly with reporters as McManus stood silently by his side. …

According to a report written by Narragansett Police Officer Kevin L. O’Connor, McManus was standing outside his Honda when he arrived.

“I could detect a moderate odor of alcohol emanating from his mouth as he spoke. McManus’s face was red and his eyes were severely bloodshot,’’ O’Connor wrote, adding that it took McManus 15 seconds to get his wallet out of his pocket. “I asked McManus what had taken place, McManus started speaking and slurring his words to the point it was difficult to understand.’’

O’Connor said McManus then told him that “he may have hit a vehicle but he didn’t realize he did.’’

McManus was arrested by O’Connor after McManus failed three field sobriety tests: Following the officer’s finger as he moved it in front of McManus’s eyes, walking an imaginary line for nine steps, and standing on one leg while counting to 10.

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CHICAGO (IL)
University of Chicago

Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 – 12:15pm – 1:30pm
Location: Room V
Contact info (email or phone):
Brett Swearingen: brett.swearingen@gmail.com
Laura LaPlante: laural@uchicago.edu

The St. Thomas More Society, along with Law Women’s Caucus, Christian Legal Society, and Criminal Law Society present

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke

“How the Priest Abuse Crisis Strengthened My Faith”
Wednesday, May 8th, 12:15 pm
Law School Classroom V

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Ireland’s newest and youngest Catholic bishop has used his appointment to weigh into the abortion controversy.

Pope Francis announced the promotion of Father Denis Nulty, 49, from Slane in Co Meath, as the new Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.

He will take up the high-ranking role left empty for more than three years as a result of the child abuse scandals that rocked the church.

In his first public address as Bishop-elect, Fr Nulty praised a demonstration at Knock Shrine in Co Mayo on Saturday against the planned laws to allow abortion in certain medical circumstances.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 7, 2013

Note to ThinkProgress blogger Tara Culp-Ressler: You got it all wrong. A RAPIST is the one who makes the victim feel worthless, dirty and filthy. Not the victim’s educational background. And using Elizabeth Smart? That’s pretty low … Are you blaming her and her faith for how she feels about the crimes committed against her?

It doesn’t matter if the victim is a prostitute or a Mormon, or if she received abstinence education or was schooled in a free-love philosophy. She will feel ashamed. She will feel violated. She will feel dirty and disgusted.

Why? Because rape is not about sex, as Culp-Ressler and ThinkProgress are insinuating here. Rape is a crime of power. By making the shame a victim feels afterward attributable to her education on sexuality, Culp-Ressler is embracing a philosophy similar (but far less intense and fatal than) Honor Killings, where rape victims are killed because they have been sexually “ruined.”
Again – Rape is not about the sex!

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging two New Jersey Catholic bishops to discipline church employees who let an admitted predator priest work recently in their dioceses.

They also want the bishops to warn their flocks about the priest and aggressively seek out anyone who “may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by him.”

Leaders of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) are writing the bishops in Trenton and Paterson about Fr. Michael Fugee.

SNAP wants both prelates to seek out anyone who may have information or suspicions about Fugee’s crimes or misdeeds to law enforcement. Fr. Fugee, a Newark archdiocesan priest who was forbidden to be around children, has worked recently in the Trenton Diocese and the Paterson Diocese.

The letters were sent to Trenton Bishop David O’Connell and Pateron Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli.

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ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON MAY 07, 2013

One week. Catholic officials couldn’t keep a monk away from children for one week, even after the monk was forbidden to have contact with children and had been arrested and charged with a felony for attempted child abduction and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Where’s the outrage by Chicago area Catholic officials? It’s their flock that the monk likely assaulted. Where’s the outrage by Wisconsin Catholic officials (especially Milwaukee’s archbishop). It’s their flock that the monk’s supervisors likely endangered (by callous or careless supervision).

Here’s the short version:

On April 25, Thomas Chmura of the Benedictine order in Wisconsin drove up to a 14-year-old girl who ran away after repeatedly being asked to get in his car. Authorities said he later admitted he had approached the victim for the purpose of sexual gratification and had also offered rides to teenage girls several other times in recent weeks.

On May 2, he was “ordered back to jail,” the Chicago Tribune reports, “after authorities said that, during a routine check of the abbey by court officials, children were found to be present in the complex. That violated the conditions of Chmura’s bond, which forbids him contact with anyone under the age of 17, prosecutors and police said.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 08, 2013

THE detective at the centre of a NSW inquiry into child abuse within the Catholic church disobeyed orders not to contact journalists or witnesses after a confidential police investigation was launched into the alleged cover-up of these crimes.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry yesterday heard that Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox sent an email to Newcastle-based journalist Joanne McCarthy containing details of this inquiry in December 2010, just hours after being told not to contact her.

This and other emails between the two included the identity of potential witnesses, as well as Detective Fox’s personal reaction to being told he would play no part in the investigation.

“The pricks can shove it . . . the whole thing stinks and they can bit (sic) me,” he wrote, the inquiry heard. He told the inquiry he subsequently attempted to deceive his bosses about his relationship with Ms McCarthy.

He also remained in contact with potential witnesses, despite being told contact with these people would be made by detectives assigned to an existing police strike force carrying out the investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Detective Chief Inspector, Peter Fox told the Newcastle unquiry into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church that he had lied to colleagues because he thought they lacked integrity, commitment and professionalism.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The New South Wales policeman at the centre of a special commission into the handling of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church has admitted he deliberately ignored directions from his superior to cease contact with the media. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox faced intense scrutiny on day two of the inquiry in Newcastle. Peter Fox said he lied to colleagues because he thought they were not police with integrity, commitment or professionalism. In one email read to the inquiry, he described his superiors as pricks who should shove it. As Suzie Smith reports, there was a total breakdown of trust between DCI Fox and some of his superiors.

SUZIE SMITH, REPORTER: Day two and new insights into the relationship between Peter Fox and his police bosses. Again, in sharp focus a critical meeting in early December 2010 at the Waratah police station in Newcastle. DCI Fox told the inquiry he intentionally disobeyed an order from the Newcastle commander Max Mitchell to bring all his investigation documents. Those documents included an explosive witness statement which he didn’t hand over because he told the inquiry he didn’t trust Commander Mitchell or his fellow officers. “So you lied to the police at the meeting?” she said.

PETER FOX (ACTOR’S VOICE): Oh absolutely yes, I deliberately kept them myself, but I realised there was other knowledge by police that I had them.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Words cannot solve the crisis of clergy and nun sexual abuse of children and minors.

Only action can.

That’s why it’s disheartening, to say the least, to read Pope Francis speech about a “courageous” defense of children to protect them from abuse at the end of the Mass he celebrated on Sunday.

But words, it appears, are the extent of it.

Here’s a link to a news story:

[Ottawa Citizen]

Pope Francis, and Pope Francis alone, holds the power to remove Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph. MO Bishop Robert Finn and Archdiocese of Newark, NJ Archbishop John Myers and to remove them now, at this very moment, in the next minute, the next hour and all of today and tomorrow for as long as he occupies the papacy.

And not only these hierarchs but all the others who did not courageously defend children but actually put them and kept them in harm’s way by protecting their perpetrators and covering-up the rape and sodomy these children suffered by the priests and nuns that were and are part of these hierarchs’ responsibility as moral and spiritual leaders.

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AUSTRALIA
Special Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to the Police investigation of certain child abuse allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle

Monday, 6 May 2013: Transcript – Day 1, [PDF, 1036kb]
Monday, 6 May 2013: Opening Remarks of Julia Lonergan SC, PDF, 169kb]
Monday, 6 May 2013: Opening Address of Commissioner Cunneen SC [PDF, 174kb]
Monday, 22 April 2013: Directions Hearing for Term of Reference 1 [PDF, 156kb]
Wednesday, 13 February 2013: Opening remarks of Commissioner Cunneen SC and mention [PDF, 88kb]

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

The Rev. Robert M. Gillelan, Jr., pastor of Prince of Peace parish in Steelton on Monday was selected diocesan administrator by the College of Consultors of the Diocese of Harrisburg.

Gillelan had previously assisted in the running of the diocese, serving as Vicar General/Moderator of the Curia for the late Bishop Joseph P. McFadden.

McFadden died Thursday of a heart attack at the age of 65.

“My previous position as Vicar General has helped to prepare me for this new role,” Gillelan said in a written statement released to the news media. “I appreciate the confidence the College of Consultors have in me by electing me to this position.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 06, 2013

Fr. Robert Gillelan is the new temporary head of the Harrisburg Catholic diocese. We hope he’ll promptly post on the diocesan website the names and whereabouts of all the child molesting clerics who have worked or lived in the Harrisburg area.

Some 30 US dioceses have done this. It’s the least Catholic officials can do to help protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. It’s irresponsible for church bureaucrats to recruit, ordain, hire, train, transfer and protect pedophile priests, then merely suspend them when they become admitted, proven or credibly accused predators.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– appointed Fr. Denis Nulty as bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (area 4,170, population 255,400, Catholics 239,400, priests 171, religious 369), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Slane, County Meath, Ireland in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1988. Since election he has served in several pastoral and administrative roles, most recently as vicar forane for the Duleek Deanery, chairperson of the Council of Priests in the Diocese of Meath, and pastor of St. Mary’s a Drogheda.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) – “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life have for some time been collaborating on a renewed theological vision of Religious Life in the Church. The concern of the Holy See, expressed partially in the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States, is motivated by a desire to support the noble and beautiful vocation of Religious so that the eloquent witness of Religious Life may prosper in the Church to the benefit of future generations.”

“The initiatives of the Holy See in this area are concerned primarily with the faith of the Church and its expression in Religious Life. The Church’s faith—in the loving plan of the Father who sent his Son to be our Saviour, in the inspiration of Sacred Scripture, in the gift of grace through the Sacraments, in the nature of the Church guided by the Holy Spirit—this faith is at the heart of the Evangelical Counsels. It motivates the passion for justice shared by so many Religious women and men, and it seeks ever to be expressed in active charity towards those most in need.”

“Recent media commentary on remarks made on Sunday, 5 May, during the General Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General by Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, has suggested a divergence between the CDF and the Congregation for Religious in their approach to the renewal of Religious Life. Such an interpretation of the cardinal’s remarks is not justified. The prefects of these two Congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities and have collaborated throughout the process of the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR. Archbishop Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Braz de Aviz met yesterday and reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of Religious Life, and particularly to the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father.”

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

WORCESTER (MA)
NECN

[with video]

(NECN: Mike Cronin) – Worcester’s Roman Catholic bishop is asking for forgiveness and says he has no excuse after being arrested this weekend for driving under the influence. Bishop Robert McManus was arrested Saturday night in Rhode Island.

“He should have had a designated driver. It would be wiser,” says Cheryl Goguen.

Police in Narragansett, R.I. say it happened around 10:30 Saturday night. He allegedly drove drunk, hit another car and continued driving. The person in that car was not seriously hurt. Police say he also refused to a chemical test.

“He’s a terrific man, he’s a great priest, a wonderful bishop, but he’s a human being,” says St. John’s Church Pastor John Madden, who has known McManus since he became bishop nine years ago. He says he was very surprised by the news.

“Many have made the same mistake that he has made and I think just no excuses, just an apology and a commitment to grow and to move forward and that’s all any of us can do with the mistakes we make.”

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NEW JERSEY
This Cultural Christian

I was just taken aback that the local New Jersey PBS news program spent close to eight minutes on the news story of Democratic State Legislators among others demanding resignation of what appears to be a Serial Pedophile Protector RC Bishop moved from diocese to diocese over the years who does not do anything to protect children from accused pedophile priests.

NJ Today also interviewed the mother of an abuse victim from Archbishop Myers former assignment and how he had threatened to take away the parents’ business of the abuse victim if they would not shut up and stop making trouble for the Bishop in Peoria.

Apparently the RC church besides sending pedophiles, priests from parish to parish and state to state does the same for the Pedophile Denying and Pedophile Protecting Hierarchy.

New Jersey is a Catholic state with close to 40 percent of the population listed as Catholic and it is the only religion to have a double digit membership in that statistical category.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

[Click here for the story]

There should be a medal for the Lakewood family that is seeking justice for their son in the courts, despite being ostracized by some in the Orthodox Jewish community to which they belong. Their courage should inspire others to break the thick wall of silence within that community.

The trial of Yosef Kolko, a counselor at a summer camp at a yeshiva in Lakewood charged with sexually assaulting a boy who was 11 and 12 years old at the time of the incidents, could begin as early as this week.

When the boy said he had been molested, between September 2007 and February 2009, his family sought justice from a local rabbinical court. The council did nothing. So the family went to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office for help. Kolko was charged with aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment.

Some in the Lakewood Orthodox community believe that going to secular authorities is treasonous, if not blasphemous. Those beliefs have intimidated the families of abuse victims in Lakewood for too long. Concern inside and outside the Orthodox community over the lack of sex crime reporting in Orthodox neighborhoods has been bubbling for years.

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

IRELAND
Westmeath Examiner

Tuesday, 7th May, 2013

The pope has appointed Fr Denis Nulty PP VF as the new bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.

Fr Nulty spent ten years in Cathedral House in Mullingar during the 1990s as part of the Mullingar parish clerical team, before being appointed to serve at St Mary’s Parish in Drogheda as parish priest, becoming, at the time, the youngest parish priest in the country.

He now becomes the youngest bishop in Ireland.

Known for his stature, Fr Nulty was fondly dubbed “the high priest” during his time in Mullingar.

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

IRELAND
Independent Catholic News

Posted: Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Pope Francis has appointed as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, the Very Reverend Denis Nulty, Parish Priest of Saint Mary’s Parish, Drogheda, Diocese of Meath.

Denis Nulty was born in Slane, Co. Meath on 7 June 1963 to parents Den Nulty and Nan Balfe. He is the youngest of five children, with two brothers and two sisters. The family farm was the home where Denis and his siblings were reared. He attended Primary School at Saint Patrick’s National School, Slane and Secondary School at Saint Patrick’s Classical School, Navan, completing the Leaving Certificate exam in 1981.

Denis entered the seminary at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth in September 1981, completing a BA in 1984 and a BD in 1987.

He was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Meath in Saint Patrick’s Church, Slane on 12 June 1988 by Bishop Michael Smith in the presence of Bishop John McCormack.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Archdiocese needs to immediately ban retreats at Kenosha Abbey
Benedictine officials violated court agreement to keep youngsters away from monk who attempted to abduct children
Archbishop Listecki again fails to enforce church authority to hold predators and church supervisors accountable

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

It took less than one week in the second case of child sex abuse under investigation by police for church officials in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to demonstrate that their statements, promises and assurances mean nothing and why they are in Federal Bankruptcy Court as a result of a decades long pattern and practice of fraud by concealing and transferring known child molesters.

Last week a Kenosha County judge agreed with police and prosecutors that Saint Benedict Abbey in Benet Lake, a Catholic retreat facility in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, violated a court agreement to keep one of its monks, Thomas Chmura, away from children.

Chmura was arrested on April 25th in Antioch Illinois for attempting to abduct a child for purposes of sexual gratification. According to police, the monk not only admitted to the attempted abduction but said he had been unsuccessfully trying to abduct a child on at least ten occasions over the past several weeks.

That’s a lot of time away from his abbey in a car supplied for him by his superior, Fr. Donald Gibbs, prior and administrator of the facility.

The Benedictines posted bond for Chmura and promised court officials that he would be kept away from children. Gibbs then issued a statement that Chmura was assigned to the abbey’s mail room and that “Allegations of sexual abuse are thoroughly and rigorously investigated, even when they lead to painful information about a member of our community. We do not approve or sanction any misconduct.”

But last week court authorities, on a routine check of the abbey, found that Chmura was, in fact, around children at the abbey and that Gibbs and the Benedictines were in violation of the court agreement. Chmura was rearrested. He is now back in jail indefinitely until some housing can be found for him that is safe, in other words, not the abbey and the retreat facility and not under the watch of Gibbs. Needless to say, Gibbs is no longer issuing statements or talking to the media.

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

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com

Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus apologized Monday after his weekend arrest in his hometown of Narragansett, R.I., on charges of drunken driving and refusing a chemical test.

The bishop was in a hit-and-run accident on Boston Neck Road before he was arrested, according to Narragansett Police Capt. Sean Corrigan.

“On Saturday evening, May 4, I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner,” the bishop said in a statement released Monday morning after news stories appeared about the arrest. “There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

The other driver, whose car the bishop allegedly hit, was not injured, Capt. Corrrigan said. The man followed the bishop and called police, Rhode Island TV station NBC 10 reported.

The accident occurred about two miles from the bishop’s vacation home at 215 Col. John Gardner Road in Bonnet Shores, an enclave with waterfront views and high-end homes near Narragansett Beach.

The 1,200-square-foot ranch-style house with its ocean view was once Bishop McManus’ late mother’s home, said Raymond Delisle, a diocese spokesman. The property is valued at $476,400, according to town assessor records.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

TUESDAY MAY 7, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Parishioners of a Nutley church are confronting questions about a priest’s involvement with its youth programs even though he was banned from working with children, at the same time a Monmouth County church is recovering from three resignations following a scandal involving the same priest.

The pastor of Holy Family Church in Nutley, Monsignor Paul Bochicchio, told reporters that the Rev. Michael Fugee gave talks to his parish’s youth group and went with them on trips to Canada, even though Fugee had signed an agreement with prosecutors strictly prohibiting such activities.

Fugee was convicted in 2003 of aggravated criminal sexual contact after being charged with groping a 13-year-old boy while he was assistant pastor of St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary Church in Wyckoff. The conviction was overturned on a technicality, but to avoid a second trial, Fugee agreed to never supervise or minister to children, and to stay away from youth groups, in an agreement signed by the Newark Archdiocese and the Bergen County prosecutor.

Lynn Falduto, secretary of the Nutley parish, defended her pastor and Fugee, saying he was only with the youth group when parents and other adults were present. Bochicchio also had said the supervision of Fugee should have satisfied the terms of his agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office.

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

UGANDA
AMERICAblog

by John Aravosis

The Catholic Church reportedly suspended a Ugandan priest for blowing the whistle on child sex abuse in that country. The priest was told to apologize and help cover up the crimes, because, he was advised, that’s what one is supposed to do. He refused, and got suspended.

The priest is named Anthony Musaala. And the LA Times reports that he was suspended indefinitely by the archbishop of Kampala for blowing the whistle on child sex abuse, among other wrongdoing, in Uganda.

To appreciate why the Catholic Church is so upset with Musaala, you have to appreciate something about Africans and child sex abuse – they (at least their Catholic leaders) think it’s a white thing. I wrote a while back about Ghanian Cardinal Peter Turkson, who was reportedly on the short list for Pople, who recently said that pedophilia isn’t a problem in the African church because being gay is a white thing (so many levels of ignorance in that one statement).

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ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

May 03, 2013|By Ruth Fuller, Special to the Tribune

A Benedictine monk accused of trying to lure a suburban girl into his car is back in Lake County Jail after a judge revoked his bond.

Thomas Chmura, 57, who resides at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., is charged with felony attempted child abduction and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

He was ordered back to jail Thursday after authorities said that, during a routine check of the abbey by court officials, children were found to be present in the complex. That violated the conditions of Chmura’s bond, which forbids him contact with anyone under the age of 17, prosecutors and police said.

Chmura was first arrested after, according to police, he drove up to a 14-year-old girl in Antioch on April 25 and repeatedly asked her to get in his car before she ran off. Authorities said he later admitted he had approached the victim for the purpose of sexual gratification and had also offered rides to teenage girls several other times in recent weeks.

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UNITED STATES
The Awareness Center

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Honoring Kathleen A. Shaw

Kathy Shaw has been writing about religion since 1991. In 2001 she became an innovator when it came to creating the Clergy Abuse Tracker. She is a true pioneer in the field of sexual abuse/assault. Kathleen’s work has made a major impact in cases across the globe when it comes to exposing sexual predators who are members of the clergy of all faiths, who prey upon both children and adults. Kathleen’s tenacity to maintain this huge database, has not only assisted survivors of sex crimes; yet also continues to help law enforcement officials in putting cases together for prosecution and also helped activists with the legislative process in making the world safer for our children

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

By Thomas C. Fox | May. 6, 2013

COMMENTARY

ROME Some 800 global women religious leaders, gathered Sunday under the umbrella of the International Union of Superiors General, witnessed what some described as an unusual, hopeful moment in the torturous saga of Vatican-women religious affairs.

It happened in the form of a visit from Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect at the Congregation for Religious, to the UISG gathering. Unlike his predecessor, Cardinal Franc Rode, who was a complete no-show when the assembly convened here three years ago, Braz de Aviz made himself available, spending much of a day at the conference, celebrating a Mass, offering reflections on the readings, and later answering questions put to him by the women and the media.

During his time at the assembly the cardinal displayed an openness and showed a comfort level not often seen when Catholic prelates come into contact with bright women. By day’s end more than a few of the women were breathing more easily, saying they have a friend in the Congregation for Religious.

Some described the cardinal from Brazil as a man with a “big heart.”

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz Says He Was Sidelined In Crackdown Of U.S. Nuns

By Alessandro Speciale
Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The head of the Vatican department that oversees men’s and women’s religious orders says he was left in the dark about the Vatican investigation that led to the makeover of the largest umbrella group for American nuns.

In a story first reported by National Catholic Reporter, Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for religious orders, said on Sunday (May 5) that the tensions sparked by the Vatican crackdown of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious caused him “much pain.”

Braz de Aviz’ remarks reflect the turf battles encumbering the Vatican, as Pope Francis sets about to reform the Roman Curia, or central bureaucracy, and add a new layer of intrigue to one of the major stories involving the American church in recent years.

In April 2012, the Vatican issued a “doctrinal assessment” that criticized the LCWR for not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women’s ordination.

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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

The Jewish organization that has been established to end the silence on child sexual abuse within the Australian Jewish community, Tzedek – which means ‘Justice’ in Hebrew – has made an application to appear at the Royal Commission investigating child sexual abuse in religious organizations.

The epicenter of the child sexual abuse scandal in the Australian Jewish community, Chabad’s Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne.

Tzedek To Seek Justice At Child Abuse Royal Commission

The Jewish organisation that has been established to end the silence on child sexual abuse within the Jewish community, Tzedek – which means ‘Justice’ in Hebrew – has made an application to appear at the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Manny Waks, founder and CEO of Tzedek and well-known human rights campaigner in the Jewish community has enlisted the help of Maurice Blackburn principal and Tzedek President Josh Bornstein, and will apply for leave to appear at the Royal Commission.

Maurice Blackburn is working with a legal team that also includes Victorian barrister, Daniel Star, Anton Hermann from Minter Ellison and lawyer Joel Vernon, who is also Secretary on the Tzedek board.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, May 7, 2013 – For the Institute for Works of Religion, the IOR, the Vatican “bank,” no sort of “suppression” is expected. And of the pope’s advisors – those designated by him for this task, those who are so by office, and those who claim to be so by their own initiative – is asked the “highest discretion,” “silence,” and “prayer.”

This is the twofold message that Pope Francis wanted to issue both “ad intra,” meaning to prelates and cardinals who are bit too chatty, and “ad extra,” meaning to the media and banking circles that have a great interest, and perhaps interests as well, in the fate of the Vatican financial institute that manages “assets” of more than 6 billion euro.

The pontiff, however, did not do so directly, but left the task of “hatchet man” to the substitute of the secretariat of state, the archbishop – a diplomat and member of Focolare – Angelo Becciu, who spoke out in a self-interview published on the front page of “L’Osservatore Romano” printed on the afternoon of April 30 with the date of May 1, supplemented with two further questions and answers in the news broadcast of Vatican Radio on May 1:

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Ein Trierer Bistumspriester schmeißt von sich aus hin, ein anderer wird von Bischof Stephan Ackermann nach Missbrauchsvorwürfen aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Die spannende Frage: Was passiert eigentlich mit den gestrauchelten Geistlichen?

Trier. In den keineswegs immer so guten alten Zeit hatte es die Kirche noch relativ einfach: Ließ sich ein Geistlicher seinerzeit etwas zuschulden kommen, wurde er kurzerhand in eine andere Pfarrei versetzt. Ob dort immer jemand über den Fehltritt informiert wurde, war wohl eher Zufall. Das ist im Internet-Zeitalter etwas anders. Kaum ist da ein Priester ins Zwielicht geraten, da hat sich die Nachricht schon verbreitet. Ob an den Vorwürfen immer etwas dran ist, steht auf einem anderen Blatt. Geheimniskrämerei ist jedenfalls kaum noch möglich.

Womöglich ist das mit ein Grund, warum ein 47-jähriger Bistumspriester nun von sich aus die Flinte ins Korn geworfen und um Entlassung aus dem Klerikerstand gebeten hat. Reine Formsache, auch wenn offiziell der Papst darüber entscheiden muss. Der Fall ist bemerkenswert, weil der katholische Geistliche weder strafrechtlich noch kirchenrechtlich für die ihm vorgeworfenen Missbrauchstaten zur Verantwortung gezogen worden ist. Nach Angaben des Bistums hat er die Vorwürfe eingeräumt.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

Schüler klagt Stift und jenen Pater, gegen den bereits Anklage erhoben wurde auf 35.000 Euro Schmerzensgeld

Steyr/Kremsmünster – Die Missbrauchsaffäre im oberösterreichischen Stift Kremsmünster zieht bereits den zweiten Zivilprozess nach sich. Das Landesgericht Steyr bestätigte am Dienstag entsprechende Berichte von “Kronen Zeitung” und ORF-Radio OÖ. Ein ehemaliger Schüler klagt das Stift und jenen Pater, gegen den die Staatsanwaltschaft bereits – nicht rechtskräftig – Anklage erhoben hat auf 35.000 Euro.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Police whistleblower Peter Fox continues evidence at child sex abuse inquiry in Newcastle

by: Neil Keene
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 07

POLICE whistleblower Peter Fox developed such a mistrust of senior colleagues that when called to a meeting to discuss investigations into child sex offences in the Catholic church he deliberately left critical documents sitting on his desk.

Continuing his evidence today at the special commission of inquiry into the alleged cover-up of paedophilia within the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, Det-Chief-Insp Fox was asked whether he deliberately lied to his colleagues who had convened that meeting in late 2010.

“Absolutely, yes,” he replied.

Det-Chief-Insp Fox said he was told to bring all documents relating to his investigation to a meeting to discuss furthering his investigations.

But he held fears the meeting with senior Newcastle police would actually result in him being forced off the case.

“Sadly, the latter was true,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 07, 2013

A NSW detective who previously claimed he was ordered to stop investigating a pedophile priest has said it was reasonable for the case to be given to another detective, but he was disappointed not to be involved.

A NSW special commission of inquiry is investigating claims by the policeman, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, that he was ordered “to stand down from the case” of the alleged cover-up of pedophile crimes committed by Father Denis McAlinden in Newcastle, NSW.

The inquiry heard this morning that NSW Police established a Strike Force in 2010 to investigate the allegations, operating under the control of the city’s regional police Local Area Command.

Detective Fox, who was assigned to a different police command, had been conducting his own private investigation of the allegations, without telling his bosses or making any record of this work on the police system.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

NSW police whistleblower Peter Fox has told an inquiry he lied to fellow officers when he said he forgot to bring statements from sex abuse victims to a meeting.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox told the hearing in Newcastle on Tuesday he had deliberately left the documents on his desk.

Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, if he had lied to police in saying he had forgotten them, he replied: ‘Absolutely.’

He has previously testified that he had lost trust in some senior police.

‘I was hoping I wouldn’t have to surrender them (the documents),’ Insp Fox said.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

By Ken Kolker
SAUGATUCK, Mich. (WOOD) – The impact of sexual abuse that allegedly went on for years in Chicago — involving a youth minister and four boys — is being felt 20 years later in Saugatuck.

It is forcing the Presbytery of Chicago to sell its 130-acre Presbyterian Camp on dunes overlooking Lake Michigan to a Grand Rapids developer, according to those familiar with the deal.

The camp has served thousands of children over the last century, many of them from the Chicago area.

“I don’t think it should be up to the camp to pay for his sins, and I don’t think the Presbytery should have the camp pay for his sins either,” said Lisa Lenzo, who worked at the camp for 11 years and still lives in the Saugatuck area.

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CANADA
Calgary Herald

BY DARYL SLADE, CALGARY HERALD MAY 6, 2013

The mother of a young boy who was sexually molested by former church youth volunteer Kyle Roderick Janssen says her entire family “was devastated by the blatant and absolute breach of trust.”

The woman, who cannot be named in order to protect her son’s identity, said in her victim-impact statement she read in court at a sentencing hearing on Monday that her family had not yet recovered from the betrayals of trust.

“We are emotionally raw and more vulnerable than we have ever been,’ the mother, whose son was one of a half-dozen victims of the pedophile, told provincial court Judge Catherine Skene.

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

UTAH
Deseret News

By McKenzie Romero, Deseret News
Published: Monday, May 6 2013

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City man is charged with sexually assaulting a boy he met at church.

Michael Driggs, 62, is facing four counts of sodomy on a child and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies, as well as one count of providing harmful material to a minor, a third-degree felony, according to charges filed Monday in 3rd District Court.

Driggs is accused of sexually abusing the boy between January 2004 and December 2005, when the boy was 12 and 13 years old, charges state.

Driggs reportedly helped the boy set up an email account, which he used to send him pornographic movies and photos. He allegedly sexually abused the boy when he came to the Kearns house where Driggs lived at the time, according to the charges.

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Jennifer Dobner | The Salt Lake Tribune

A Sandy man is facing multiple counts of felony charges for alleged sexual encounters with a young teen boy whom he met at church.

Prosecutors on Monday filed four counts of sodomy, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of dealing in harmful materials to a child against 62-year-old Michael Driggs in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.

A judge also issued an arrest warrant for Driggs.

Driggs was not in custody on Monday night and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.

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

AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON May 7, 2013

A senior policeman lied and deliberately withheld documents relating to child sex abuse by Maitland and Newcastle priests because of suspicions about why he was summonsed to a meeting with senior police.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s admission came as he resumed his evidence this morning at the Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Counsel assisting Julia Lonergan SC asked Inspector Fox why he “lied” to Newcastle Supreme Court yesterday, after claiming he forgot to bring the documents to the meeting at Waratah Police Station in December 2010.

“I may have misheard and I apologise for that but I certainly didn’t lie,” Inspector Fox said.

“So you lied to police at the meeting?” Ms Lonergan asked Inspector Fox.

“Absolutely yes,” he replied.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

Former top Diocese of Manchester official under investigation for ‘improper financial transactions’

By BEN LEUBSDORF
Monitor staff
Monday, May 6, 2013

A priest who was the public face of the Diocese of Manchester during a damaging sex abuse scandal is being investigated for “improper financial transactions” involving church funds, the diocese said yesterday.

Monsignor Edward Arsenault, who was a senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in New Hampshire from 1999 to 2009, is being investigated by both the diocese and the attorney general’s office after a church review “discovered evidence suggesting improper financial transactions by Msgr. Arsenault involving diocesan funds,” the diocese said in a news release.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said church officials approached the attorney general’s office about two weeks ago, and a criminal investigation is under way.

She said the office is working with investigators from the state police and the FBI but declined to comment on any possible charges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Star

By JASON GORDON May 6, 2013

DETECTIVE Chief Inspector Peter Fox described a meeting at which an investigation into child paedophilia was taken off him as ‘‘sinister’’.

Mr Fox again spent the morning giving evidence to the Special Commission of Inquiry into alleged cover-ups of child sex abuse within the Newcastle area, detailing a December 2010 meeting where he was told to cease his eight-year investigations.

Mr Fox told the inquiry that he was instructed by Superintendent Max Mitchell to cease contact with all witnesses and alleged victims, as well as Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy.

‘‘I said, ‘these people have been through hell, they have trusted me and I promised them I would see this through,’’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

The NSW policeman who blew the whistle on an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse within the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church says Newcastle’s chief police officer was keen to see him fired.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox is back in the witness box for the second day of a special commission of inquiry’s public hearings in Newcastle.

The inquiry is looking at how complaints about deceased former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese were investigated.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox told the hearing, the former Newcastle superintendent Max Mitchell told him to hand over the files on the church and stop investigating the allegations, stop communicating with journalist Joanne McCarthy and stop speaking with witnesses.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY DOUG CONWAY, AAP SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
From: AAP May 07, 2013

WHISTLEBLOWER cop Peter Fox was axed from investigating alleged child sex abuse by priests in the NSW Hunter region, despite his protests that victims had been through hell and he’d promised them he’d follow through.

Subsequently, he breached an order not to contact a journalist because he felt it was a sinister move designed to sabotage the investigations.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox, who has alleged a “Catholic mafia” of police and others tried to cover up the clergy’s pedophilia in the NSW Hunter Valley, told an inquiry in Newcastle on Tuesday he was ordered off the case at a “hostile” meeting in December 2010.

Superintendent Max Mitchell, now an assistant commissioner, had made it clear to him that he would have no role in “any way, shape or form” in a new investigation.

But Insp Fox said the new probe was a sham he believed was “set up to fail”, and the meeting confirmed his suspicion that some senior police were effectively trying to “sabotage” the investigations.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON May 7, 2013

A contingent of more than 20 journalists and their camera crews occupied every seat of the designated media section of Newcastle Supreme Court for the first day of inquiry hearings into an alleged Catholic church cover up.

Media from the country’s largest publishers and broadcasters reported on the Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Three bar tables were installed in the court to seat 12 solicitors and barristers including counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC.

Members of the public, the majority in their 50s and 60s, listened to Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC speak of Maitland’s “troubled history” of sexual abuse.

“It has rightly been said that child sexual abuse is no longer a crime in which the conspiracy of silence continues to the grave,” Commissioner Cunneen said.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Washington Post

Former diocese of NH leader investigated for misuse of funds, improper relationship

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, May 6

CONCORD, N.H. — The leader of one of the nation’s top clergy treatment centers resigned Monday over allegations involving an inappropriate adult relationship and misuse of church funds in New Hampshire, where he previously served in numerous leadership positions with the Diocese of Manchester.

Msgr. Edward Arsenault held several senior positions in New Hampshire from 1999 to 2009 before becoming president and CEO of Saint Luke Institute in Maryland in October 2009. In New Hampshire, Arsenault had been former Bishop John McCormack’s top lieutenant, handling the clergy sexual abuse crisis and being responsible for the church’s new child protection policies.

The Diocese said Monday that it received allegations earlier this year regarding a potentially inappropriate relationship involving Arsenault. During its investigation, the diocese found evidence of improper financial transactions, and reported the matter to the attorney general’s office.

In a statement, Bishop Peter Libasci said the diocese will cooperate fully with the investigation.

“I am committed to reviewing our internal diocesan operations to ensure that any issues are identified and corrected, as necessary,” he said. “We will do this in the light of day.”

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Public Radio

[with audio]

By JOSH ROGERS
The New Hampshire attorney general’s office is investigating a former top official in the Manchester diocese.

Monsignor Edward Arsenault is under investigation for improper transactions involving diocesan funds.

According to Diocese of Manchester, it was allegations about a inappropriate adult relations that prompted its scrutiny of Monsignor Edward Arsenault. That in turn, uncovered evidence suggesting Arsenault misused diocesan funds.

Arsenault was the diocese point person for during its landmark settlement sexual abuse settlement with the state a decade ago.

Arsenault left New Hampshire in 2009 to lead the St. Luke institute, a Maryland treatment center for Priests.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE/MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 06, 2013

Today, a former high ranking New Hampshire diocesan Catholic official has stepped down from his position because of allegations of sexual and financial impropriety.

He is Msgr. Edward Arsenault of the St. Luke’s Institute in Maryland, where hundreds of child molesting clerics have been housed over the years.

We’re saddened but not surprised by this news. All too often Catholic officials who are in charge of pedophile priests turn out to have accusations of sexual misdeeds against them as well.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON MAY 06, 2013

Peoria’s former Catholic bishop is now in hot water in New Jersey.

Newark Archbishop John Myers – who headed the Peoria diocese for more than a decade (1990 to 2001) – may face criminal charges of violating an agreement to keep an admitted predator priest away from kids.

He’s essentially behaving in New Jersey the same way he behaved in Illinois – recklessly, callously and deceitfully.

In 2001, Fr. Michael Fugee admitted to police in New Jersey that he molested a boy several times.
In 2003, Fr. Fugee recanted, was tried, and was found guilty of child sex crimes.
In 2006, a higher court reversed the verdict due to improper jury instructions.
In 2006, Myers agreed to keep Fr. Fugee away from kids (in a written deal with prosecutors).

But a Newark newspaper has disclosed that Archbishop Myers put Fr. Fugee in a hospital chaplaincy and a parish. Facebook photos also show that Fr. Fugee heard kids’ confessions, went on retreats with kids and even took kids to Canada.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2013

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
KEVIN DONOVAN
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION
603-669-3100, EXT. 185

Earlier this year, the Diocese of Manchester received allegations regarding a potentially inappropriate adult relationship involving Msgr. Edward J. Arsenault, a priest of the Diocese of Manchester. The diocese began a review of the claims. The review discovered evidence suggesting improper financial transactions by Msgr. Arsenault involving diocesan funds. Because the diocese was concerned that illegal acts may have been committed, it reported the matter to the New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General. The diocese is cooperating with the Attorney General’s investigation.

The Attorney General’s office and the diocese continue their respective investigations. As a result, the diocese cannot discuss this matter further. The diocese will offer more information when it is appropriate to do so.

Msgr. Arsenault held senior positions in diocesan leadership from January 1999 to February 2009. Since October 2009, he has been serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland. Msgr. Arsenault has resigned from that position and will refrain from all public ministry, pending the investigations.

Bishop Peter A. Libasci said, “I am committed to reviewing our internal diocesan operations to ensure that any issues are identified and corrected, as necessary. We will do this in the light of day. In the meantime, we will be cooperating fully with the Attorney General’s investigation. Please join with me in keeping all those involved in your prayers.”

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
WCVB

MANCHESTER, N.H. —A priest of the Diocese of Manchester is being investigated for possible “improper financial transactions,” the diocese said Monday.

The diocese said that earlier this year, it received allegations that the Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Arsenault was having an inappropriate adult relationship. The diocese said that as it was reviewing that claim, it discovered evidence of improper transactions involving diocesan funds.

No details of the allegations were released. The diocese said it was concerned that illegal acts might have been committed, so it contacted the Attorney General’s Office.

“I am committed to reviewing our internal diocesan operations to ensure that any issues are identified and corrected, as necessary,” Bishop Peter A. Libasci said in a written statement. “We will do this in the light of day. In the meantime, we will be cooperating fully with the attorney general’s investigation.”

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