ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Von Roland Preuß

Der Wille war da, daran gibt es keinen Zweifel, damals im Sommer 2011. “Wir wollen auch der Wahrheit, die möglicherweise noch unentdeckt in Akten vergangener Jahrzehnte liegt, auf die Spur kommen”, sagte Bischof Stephan Ackermann, der Missbrauchs-Beauftragten der Deutschen Bischöfe vor Journalisten in Bonn. Man wolle mithilfe “unabhängiger Experten” besser verstehen, wie es zu sexuellem Missbrauch durch Kirchenmitarbeiter kommen konnte – und wie dies künftig zu verhindern sei.

Neben ihm schwärmte der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer von “Tiefenbohrungen” in Kirchenarchiven. Für beide Seiten schien es jetzt optimal zu laufen: Die von Missbrauchsskandalen erschütterte katholische Kirche zeigte ihren Willen zur schonungslosen Aufklärung, der Kriminologe Pfeiffer, Direktor des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen (KFN), hatte ein spannendes Forschungsprojekt über 450.000 Euro eingefädelt.

Jetzt, eineinhalb Jahre später, liegt das gemeinsame Projekt in Trümmern, und die Beteiligten streiten sich wie ein frisch getrenntes Ehepaar, das gerade den gemeinsamen Hausrat in Stücke geschlagen hat. Der Kampf um die öffentliche Deutung des Scheiterns hat begonnen. Daneben aber ist es ein schwerer Rückschlag für die Aufklärung des sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester und andere Kirchenmitarbeiter. Womöglich wird die Öffentlichkeit nun nie ein umfassendes Bild über den Missbrauch in deutschen Diözesen gewinnen.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

The Catholic Church in Germany has terminated an investigation into alleged cases of sexual abuse by clergy members. It is unclear whether the research will be continued by a different team.

The German Bishops’ Conference confirmed that it has ended cooperation with the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) which had been investigating sexual abuse cases committed by employees of the Catholic Church, citing the lack of trust.

“The relationship of mutual trust between the bishops and the head of the institute has been destroyed,” the Bishop of Trier, Stephan Ackermann, explained on Wednesday morning, saying that constructive cooperation had become impossible.

“Trust is vital for such an extensive project dealing with such a sensitive issue.”

In an interview with public broadcaster “Deutschlandfunk,” Christian Pfeiffer, the head of the KFN institute accused Church officials of hampering his team’s research efforts by continually attempting to intervene in and control the investigation. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper he spoke of censorship.

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IOWA
World-Herald

By Mike Brownlee
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE

COUNCIL BLUFFS — A former Harlan, Iowa, resident was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy.

Pottawattamie County Judge Greg Steensland found Bobby E. Smith, 68, of El Dorado Springs, Mo., guilty of three counts of third-degree sex abuse and one count of indecent contact with a child for crimes committed 14 years ago in Council Bluffs.

Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Dan McGinn said Smith met the boy through First Baptist Church in Harlan, where Smith was a volunteer. After the boy was unable to go on a church-sponsored fishing trip in the summer of 1998, Smith offered to take the boy on a separate fishing trip, not sponsored by the church.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Bonn. Der Bruch ist da: Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz will den Missbrauchsskandal in der katholischen Kirche nicht mehr vom Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen aufarbeiten lassen. Sie kündigte sie vorzeitig den Vertrag mit dem Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer, teilte die Bischofskonferenz in Bonn mit. Das Vertrauensverhältnis zwischen dem Direktor des Instituts und den deutschen Bischöfen sei zerrüttet, hieß es. Bei dem Streit ging vor allem um die Veröffentlichung von Forschungsergebnissen. Die Kirche hatte unter anderem Veröffentlichungen schriftlich genehmigen wollen. (dpa)

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Eigentlich sollte der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer den Missbrauchs-Skandal in der Kirche untersuchen. Nun gibt es Streit: Pfeiffer sagt, die Katholiken hätten Veröffentlichen zensieren wollen – und spricht von offenbar vernichteten Akten.

Der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer erhebt schwere Vorwürfe gegen die katholische Kirche. Das Projekt um die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals sei an „Zensur- und Kontrollwünschen“ gescheitert, sagte er der „Süddeutschen Zeitung“ vom Mittwoch. Zudem habe er Hinweise erhalten, dass Akten vernichtet worden seien. „Ich denke, das hängt mit den Akten-Inhalten zusammen, dass da auch Fehler der Kirche passiert sind“, ergänzte er im „Morgenmagazin“ des ZDF. Der Sekretär der deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Hans Langendörfer, widersprach dieser Darstellung. „Für eine Vernichtung von Täterakten habe ich keinerlei Anhaltspunkte.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
Ruhr Nachrichten

Hannover Der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer will nach der Aufkündigung der Missbrauchsstudie durch die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz eine eigene Untersuchung zu kirchlichem Missbrauch erstellen. Das sagte der Leiter des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen (KFN) am Mittwoch.

Er rief alle kirchlichen Missbrauchsopfer auf, für eine anonyme Befragung mit dem Forschungsinstitut Kontakt aufzunehmen. Nachdem das KFN bereits für eine andere Studie 500 Opfer von Missbrauch durch unterschiedlichste Täter untersucht habe, sollten diese Ergebnisse nun mit denen von 500 Opfern kirchlichen Missbrauchs verglichen werden.

Die Bischofskonferenz hatte dem KFN am Mittwoch den vor eineinhalb Jahren erteilten Auftrag für eine umfassende Untersuchung von Missbrauchsfällen entzogen und ein zerrüttetes Vertrauensverhältnis mit Pfeiffer als Grund genannt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein Zeitung

Bonn/Trier (dpa) – Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz will den Missbrauchsskandal in der katholischen Kirche nicht mehr vom Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen wissenschaftlich aufarbeiten lassen.

Am Mittwoch kündigte sie vorzeitig den Vertrag mit dem Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer, teilte die Bischofskonferenz (DBK) in Bonn mit.

Zur Begründung erklärte ihr Missbrauchsbeauftragter, Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann: «Das Vertrauensverhältnis zwischen dem Direktor des Instituts und den deutschen Bischöfen ist zerrüttet.» Vertrauen sei aber «für ein so umfangreiches und sensibles Projekt unverzichtbar». Die Bischofskonferenz werde sich einen anderen Partner für das Projekt suchen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Bundesjustizministerin Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger sendet nach der gescheiterten Untersuchung sexueller Übergriffe in der katholischen Kirche einen Appell an die Bischöfe. Die FDP-Politikerin nimmt das Kriminologische Forschungsinstitut in Schutz, das der Kirche versuchte Zensur vorwirft. Die Kirchenoberen kontern ihrerseits mit Kritik.

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz hat die Studie zum Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche wegen Differenzen mit dem untersuchenden Institut gestoppt, nun schaltet sich Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger in die Causa ein. Im Gespräch mit der Süddeutschen Zeitung forderte sie die Kirchenoberen zum Handeln auf. “Der Vorwurf, Zensur und Kontrollwünsche behinderten eine unabhängige Aufarbeitung, sollten durch den Vorsitzenden der Bischofskonferenz schnell aus der Welt geschafft werden”, sagte sie.

Gleichzeitig betonte die stellvertretende FDP-Vorsitzende ihre Wertschätzung für das Kriminologische Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN), das die Missbrauchsfälle untersuchen sollte. Die Einrichtung sei eine “der ersten Adressen, um eine unabhängige wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung auf Grundlage der Personalakten seit 1945 vorzunehmen”, sagte die Ministerin.

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GERMANY
Winona Daily News

Germany’s Roman Catholic Church has fallen out with a prominent outside expert who was tasked with researching sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades.

The church in 2011 tasked Prof. Christian Pfeiffer’s Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute with analyzing data on abuse from German dioceses as far back as 1945. It was part of efforts to address the scandal triggered by revelations in 2010 of abuse in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland, and elsewhere.

But the German Bishops Conference said Wednesday that “mutual trust is shattered” between the bishops and Pfeiffer and it was terminating its agreement with the institute. It said it would seek a new partner for the project.

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Posted: Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Six more jurors were picked Tuesday for the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court trial of a priest and a former parochial-school teacher charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast parish in the late 1990s.

The six men selected on the second day brought the total to 10. Three women and a man were selected Monday.

Prosecution and defense lawyers and Judge Ellen Ceisler will resume the selection process Wednesday in the hope of getting a jury of 12 and several alternatives to hear the trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 66, and Bernard Shero, 49.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Montreal Police announce arrest of 2 Holy Cross CSC pedophile priests for 14 years sodomy at College Notre Dame

Paris Arrow

When Laszlo Csatary, the 97-year old former Nazi criminal, was caught and arrested in Hungary last year, he had lived a quiet life as an art dealer in Montreal until 1997, see news below and read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/trial-of-willaim-lynn-compilation.html In Israel, Efraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office, applauded his arrest and said:

“When you look at a person like this, you shouldn’t see an old frail person, but think of a man who at the height of his physical powers devoted all his energy to murdering or persecuting and murdering innocent men, women and children,” Zuroff told the AP.

Montreal Police announced before the New Year that they have caught two CSC pedophile priests, Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, who are Holy Cross brothers of Saint Brother Andre – for their sodomy crimes of 14 years at CollegeNotre Dame right across the Oratory of St. Joseph. Montreal Police, Montreal Justice Courts and Montreal judges should treat Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, (just like the The Hague treats Nazi criminal 97 year old Laszlo Csatary), and shouldn’t see two old frail religious persons, but think of two men who at the height of their physical powers devoted all their energy to sexually abusing and sodomizing innocent students at the College Notre Dame…

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic News Agency

Los Angeles, Calif., Jan 8, 2013 / 05:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse will soon be released by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, cooperating with county judge Emilie Elias’ order that the files be released without editing.

“The Archdiocese will abide by Judge Elias’s decision. We are now working with all parties involved to facilitate the release of the documents as promptly as possible,” said a Jan. 7 statement from the archdiocese.

Carolina Guevara, associate director for Media Relations, added that the archdiocese “has been committed to the release of the files as part of our continued efforts to inform the public of what had occurred and our efforts to prevent abuse and protect children in our parishes and schools.”

Judge Elias’ order for the release of the files was made at a hearing Jan. 7. In December, attorneys representing plaintiffs had argued that edits proposed by the archdiocese were excessive. The edits were in accord with a 2011 decision by a retired judge named Dickran Tevrizian who was acting as arbiter and who had been chosen by both sides.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
San Antonio Express-News

By Abe Levy
Updated 6:50 pm, Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Archdiocese of San Antonio and a Floresville man who claimed he was 12 when his priest began to molest him in the late 1970s have reached an out-of-court settlement.

The agreement, whose terms were not disclosed, ends more than two years of litigation against the archdiocese.

Also named in the lawsuit was Louis Paul White, whom the Vatican had removed from the priesthood in 1989. When he did not appear in court Monday for the start of a trial, state District Judge Cathleen Stryker issued a nearly $181 million default judgment against him.

Observers said the prospects of collecting the judgment were slim but it sent a strong message of backing the Floresville man’s account.

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UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

By Michael J. Salamon
The Times of Israel – Jan. 8, 2013

If you do not believe the generally accepted statistic that one in four women and about one in eight men are sexually abused I have had an interesting few days outside of my clinical practice that may enlighten you.

In the last two weeks, since news of a possible Yeshiva University abuse cover-up scandal broke, since the guilty verdicts leveled against Nechemya Weberman for his abuse of a young girl entrusted to his care for counseling and since I wrote and posted about Tamar and what had happened to her at the hand of her older brother more than 40 people have come forward telling me of their own history of abuse – but what was most significant was that to date 17 men have quietly and privately found the courage to tell me directly, face to face, of their own abuse. I think it is important to focus on these men. They have had the burden of keeping the secret as most abused children do, but also the burden of never showing weakness.

Most of these men told me that they never mentioned their experiences to anyone until they told me. Seven of the men were sexually abused in sleep away camps, at three camps in particular. Nine others were abused by rabbis or bar mitzvah teachers, two names were repeated by three of the men and some of the victims refused to mention their abusers name. One was abused by an older sibling. Most of the men are over the age of 40 and two of the men are in their late 50′s. They told of having been woken late at night in their camps and being told that they should get up for a special night of skinny dipping in the pool. They told of being in the showers while pictures and videos were taken of them. They told of teachers and rabbis who forced them sit on their laps or being touched sexually by them or being forced to touch the teachers sexually.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
NJ.com

By Jason Laday/South Jersey Times
on January 08, 2013

CAMDEN — Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a new leader for the Camden Diocese following Bishop Joseph Galante’s decision to retire due to ongoing health issues.

Dennis J. Sullivan, ordained as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New York in 2004, will replace the outgoing bishop. The 67-year-old native New Yorker stated he will bring his experience as a priest in some of the poorest areas of Manhattan and the south Bronx to the diocese containing New Jersey’s most dangerous city.

“I bring here to this local church my experience as a priest and a bishop, but I have always been a pastor, leading and guiding different flocks, and allowing myself to be guided by them as well,” said Sullivan at an introductory press conference at the diocesan offices on Market Street.

Explaining what he felt was Catholicism’s role communities such as Camden, Sullivan stated “the church must walk with the poor.”

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CANADA
St. Catharines Standard

By Allan Benner, The Tribune

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

DUNNVILLE – More than two years after filing a lawsuit against the priest convicted of molesting him when he was a teenage alter boy, Dunnville resident Michael Blum is still waiting for closure.

He was one of three victims former priest Donald Grecco was convicted of sexual abusing in Welland and Cayuga in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After pleading guilty to the charges against him in 2010, Grecco was released from custody in December 2011.

“There’s very little progress,” Blum said when contacted at his Dunnville home, Tuesday. “It’s very frustrating. He’s been out of prison now for quite some time.”

In 2010, Blum and two other victims, including former Welland resident James Hennessy who now lives in England and another man whose identity is protected by a publication ban, filed lawsuits for $3 million each against Grecco, the Diocese of St. Catharines and former bishop James Wingle.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Vatican Insider

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has stressed they have complied and that “much of the information in question has already been made public”

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
Rome

The judge has ordered the Catholic Church of Los Angeles to turn over the names of priests accused of molesting minors. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has said it will respect Judge Emilie Elias’ decision, which reverses a ruling by retired Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who forbade the publication of the names of the hierarchy for fear they could be used to embarrass the Church further.

Elias, on the other hand, stated that the public has the right to be informed about how the Archdiocese has handled the sex abuse issue, and therefore ordered that all deleted names be re-inserted in the relevant documents. “We are now working with all parties involved to facilitate the release of the documents as promptly as possible,” an archdiocese communiqué reads. The judge and lawyers for the abuse victims and the archdiocese met yesterday to discuss how and when the documents – including psychiatric reports, reports of abuse and letters to the Vatican – will be released according to the Los Angeles Times.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
National Catholic Reporter

by Catholic News Service | Jan. 8, 2013

Washington —
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden, N.J., and has named Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Sullivan of New York to succeed him.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, papal nuncio to the U.S., announced the changes Tuesday in Washington.

Galante, 74, has headed the Camden Diocese since 2004. He previously served as auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, bishop of Beaumont, Texas, and coadjutor bishop of Dallas.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Written by
Gary Stern

Bishop Dennis Sullivan, a former Larchmont pastor who has served as vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York since 2004, was today named by the pope to become bishop of Camden, N.J.

Sullivan, 67, a Bronx native, was pastor of the Church of Sts. John and Paul in Larchmont when he was named an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese in 2004. Shortly thereafter, he became vicar general, the chief administrative officer of the archdiocese.

Working for Archbishops Edward Egan and Timothy Dolan, Sullivan has been a key player in major planning initiatives for the archdiocese.

“One thing I came to expect above all else from Bishop Sullivan was that he would approach every situation with the heart and mind of a pastor, always asking how we can do more for the people, and reminding us that the Church is not the chancery or a building, but the people of God,” Dolan said in a statement today.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Bryan Littel

The Diocese of Camden will install Dennis J. Sullivan as its eighth bishop next month, following the resignation of Bishop Joseph A. Galante, church officials announced Tuesday.

Sullivan, 67, who was ordained as a priest in 1971, has been an auxiliary bishop of New York since 2004, the same year Galante, 74, was named Bishop of Camden.

Born in the Bronx, NY, Sullivan has served in the Archdiocese of New York, the second-largest archdiocese in the country, since his ordination, including his current title as vicar general.

Galante’s eight-year tenure was marked with controversy, as he presided over the consolidation of about half the parishes in the diocese. He has been in declining health, and announced in a 2011 letter to the diocese that he had been suffering from kidney disease, which required daily dialysis treatments.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, a top administrator in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, will be the next bishop of Camden, N.J., the Vatican announced on Tuesday.

Bishop Sullivan, who is currently the vicar general of the New York Archdiocese, will succeed Bishop Joseph A. Galante. Bishop Galante, who has led the Camden Diocese since 2004, is retiring due to failing health, according to the Vatican. The Camden Diocese includes six southern New Jersey counties that are home to about 500,000 Catholics, the Vatican said.

A 67-year-old Bronx native, Bishop Sullivan attended elementary school in St. Anthony’s parish in the Bronx. The school is among 26 being considered this month for closing by the New York Archdiocese.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
DFW Catholic

Camden, N.J., Jan 8, 2013 / 10:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan of New York to lead the Diocese of Camden, N.J., accepting the resignation of his predecessor.

In a Jan. 8 statement, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York praised Bishop Sullivan, calling him “one of the finest bishops I know” and describing him as “an invaluable help” and “my right hand.”

The bishop’s years of service have given him “a special closeness and dedication to the immigrant community, particularly the Latino and Asian population,” the cardinal reflected, adding that he has always treated “every situation with the heart and mind of a pastor, always asking how we can do more for the people.”

“Bishop Sullivan always generously shared with me his wise counsel and insights, based on his more than 40 years of priesthood in this archdiocese he proudly calls home,” he explained.

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MONTANA
San Francisco Chronicle

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Flathead County prosecutors have reached a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with a retired Roman Catholic Priest who was charged in a child pornography case last February.

The Daily Inter Lake reports (http://bit.ly/U1hgld ) the agreement with the Rev. Rudy Bullman allows a felony sexual abuse of children charge to be dismissed if he meets several conditions, including attending counseling and a spiritual support group and having his computer checked for pornography every six months.

Bullman was a priest at Risen Christ Parish in Evergreen for about 10 years. He was placed on administrative leave in December 2011 after someone who bought a game system from him reported finding pornographic images of boys.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thurner admitted to archdiocesan officials in 1982 to having “sexual contact” with a boy. He was allowed to remain pastor of a Minnesota parish until six months later, when an allegation surfaced that he had sexually abused another boy. Thurner went on to serve at three more parishes. He abruptly retired in Dec. 1991, just before a lawsuit was filed by the person he admitted to abusing. In 1993 Thurner was accused in another lawsuit of the sexual abuse of a boy from 1972-1977, beginning when the boy was 16 years-old. Thurner admitted to “sexual contact” with this accuser as well. Thurner is said to have plied his victims with pornography and alcohol.

Ordained: 1951
Incardinated: St. Paul
Retired: Dec. 1991

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DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By Brooks Egerton/Reporter
begerton@dallasnews.com
10:56 am on January 8, 2013

Bishop Joseph Galante is retiring early as head of the Catholic diocese in Camden, N.J., nine years after leaving Dallas in frustration over clergy sex-abuse scandals.

Galante is several months shy of the church’s mandatory retirement age of 75 and suffering from chronic kidney disease, according to news reports today.

He became Dallas’ coadjutor bishop in 2000. He expected to soon succeed Bishop Charles Grahmann, whose tenure was marked by a series of abuse scandals. But Grahmann refused to step aside.

Grahmann also refused to suspend a prominent priest who’d admitted “inappropriate contact” with an adult worshipper who sought a pain-relief blessing. The worshipper said the priest agreed to perform the blessing, as I reported in 2002, “then pulled down his jogging pants, groped him and propositioned him.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Zalkin Law Firm

By Clergy Abuse News on January 8, 2013

In Los Angeles County, a Superior Court judge recently ruled that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of the church officials who abused children. The names are listed in a 30,000 page document that lists what high-ranking officials have been abusing children within the congregation for years. For the past years, the documents have been kept confidential in order to preserve the authorities in the church and avoid embarrassment. Yet the Superior Court who looked to the case the other day ruled that the public has the right to know how the archdiocese handled molestation allegations.

The judge also reversed a previous ruling that said priests that only committed one instance of abuse would have their names blacked out on the document. Instead, the new ruling says that anyone who has been accused of a sex abuse allegation should have their names publically released. While this may bring embarrassment and difficulty to men and women in the archdiocese, the judge believes that this is just punishment for their actions. Many of the records detail abuses that occurred years ago, so adults who were abused as children should be prepared to see the names of their abusers posted in public.

Judges and lawyers for alleged victims and the archdiocese are all meeting to discuss how and when the records will be made public. The archdiocese will also need to release psychiatric reports, letters to the Vatican, reports of abuse, and internal church records for others to read. The Los Angeles Times was also involved in the case, and filed papers arguing that it was not just that the names of the abusers should be blacked out in public papers.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

Prospective Juror No. 17 in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case wrote on his questionnaire that he had grave doubts about whether men could abstain from sex.

“Men, no sex? I don’t believe it,” he wrote. When Judge Ellen Ceisler asked Prospective Juror No. 17 what he meant by that, he said, “When I found out about sex it was the last thing I’d give up.”

That prompted a smile from the judge before she dismissed Juror No. 17 for cause.

Prospective Juror No. 21 wrote on his questionnaire that he was taking medication for schizophrenia.

Is there any chance, the judge wanted to know, that you could have a relapse?

“A whole lot of stress” like a trial, yeah, sure, that could bring it back, he said.

Prospective Juror No. 21 was struck for cause.

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ARKANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 08, 2013

Something here doesn’t pass the ‘smell test’ with the defrocking of Fr. Royce Thomas.

A 40 year veteran of the priesthood is not permanently ousted from the priesthood by the Vatican over trivial misdeeds. We strongly suspect that there’s much more here than Bishop Taylor is admitting.

And we know of no priest ever who’s been defrocked because of an alleged drinking problem.

Bishop Taylor and his brother bishops have pledged to be “open and transparent” about clergy sexual misconduct cases. We suspect this may be one of such cases, though we hope we’re wrong. In any event, Bishop Taylor owes his flock more information than he has provided thus far.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By PATTI MENGERS
pmengers@delcotimes.com

Six Roman Catholic parishes in West Philadelphia will be merged into three as part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s ongoing restructuring, parishioners learned on Sunday.

Meanwhile, 12 Delaware County parishes continue to be reviewed for sustainability as part of the archdiocesan Parish Pastoral Planning Area Initiative, which will determine if they close, remain open or merge with surrounding parishes. The decision will ultimately be made by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

“Final decisions regarding parish mergers in this area are expected by the spring of 2013,” said archdiocesan officials in a prepared statement.

The announcement of the initial mergers of parishes in Philadelphia and Chester counties as a result of the initiative was made last April 15.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
The Daily Journal

CAMDEN — Bishop Joseph Galante is retiring as head of the Diocese of Camden and will be replaced by a New York City cleric, church officials said Tuesday.

The South Jersey diocese now is to be led by Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, 67, auxiliary bishop of New York. He will oversee some 511,000 Catholics in six counties, or about 35 percent of the region’s population.

The diocese said Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Galante, 74. The announcement gave no reason for Galante’s departure, but the bishop has faced health concerns in recent years, including the need for dialysis due to kidney disease.

Sullivan, born in New York City, holds degrees from Iona College and St. Joseph’s Seminary. He also studied Spanish at the Catholic University in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 8, 2013

On the heels of Judge Emilie Elias’ ruling that high-ranking Catholic officials’ names may NOT be redacted from clergy sex abuse and cover-up files, an upcoming announcement this Thursday may also be a huge win for victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, Alex Gibney’s groundbreaking and evocative documentary about the sexual abuse of deaf children at a Milwaukee Catholic school has been short-listed for inclusion in the Academy Award’s Best Documentary category. Hopefully, it will make the cut and be one of the movies nominated for the Oscar.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE/PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 08, 2013

A predatory New Hampshire priest has just been found working in a Philadelphia area school, despite the fact that Catholic officials have paid a settlement to at least one of his victims and promised he’d never be around kids again.

Fr. Michael Ledoux was accused of sexual abuse in the late 1980s while he was working in Durry, NH. Until last week, he was the dean of Widener University. Catholic officials, however, quietly let him resign when news of the settlement surfaced recently in Philly.

According to reports, the Franciscans first learned of Ledoux’ sexual abuse in September 2002, but allegedly did not tell the Manchester Diocese about it. Catholic officials then let Ledoux move to Philly and gain more access to children.

This irresponsible behavior helps potentially dangerous criminals to avoid justice and hurt others. We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Ledoux’s crimes – whether in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire – will speak up. And we hope those who wrongly assume that Catholic officials have reformed understand that the practice of secretly moving child molesting clerics continues even now.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 08, 2013

New York Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Sullivan is a poor choice to head the Camden diocese.

He’s a member of the completely ineffectual US bishops sex abuse panel which functions largely as “window dressing” for a public relations campaign masquerading as ‘reform.’ He’s part of the New York archdiocese which, in recent years, has had a disappointing and deceptive track record in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on January 07, 2013

We’re thrilled and grateful that a California judge is refusing to protect corrupt Catholic officials by keeping long-secret and long-promised church abuse records hidden any longer.

For decades, the Los Angeles Catholic hierarchy has successfully kept under wraps thousands of pages of incriminating documents. Because of the courage and tenacity of hundreds of victims, that will soon end. And children will be safer as a result.

We are confident this disclosure will help achieve three goals. First, it will help bring some measure of healing and closure to the hundreds of LA area clergy sex abuse victims who demanded and fought for these records. Second, it will help protect kids by letting the public know which current and former Catholic staff chose to side with predators and against kids. And third, it will help prevent future child sex crimes and cover ups by showing officials in many institutions that it’s increasingly difficult to intimidate victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers into staying silent about known and suspected child sex crimes.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 08, 2013

It’s hard to feel sympathy for either side in the fight between Belleville Catholic officials and their insurers over a serial predator priest, Fr. Raymond Kownacki.

The real culprit is of course the Belleville Catholic hierarchy. Current and former Belleville Catholic employees knew or suspected Fr. Kownacki’s crimes decades ago, but chose to protect him over his victims.

But even in the 1980s, insurers could and should have done more to find and figure out that bishops were hiding clergy sex crimes.

No matter who ‘wins’ this legal dispute, the real losers are those once innocent and trusting children whose lives were shattered by Fr. Kownacki’s crimes because Belleville Catholic officials ignored and enabled child sexual abuse by refusing to tell the police about this serial predator priest. Our hearts ache for these victims and we applaud them for seeking justice in court.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Polesir on January 08, 2013

Originally, we had high hopes when Bishop Joseph Galante became Camden’s bishop. Those hopes have largely been dashed.

While an auxiliary bishop in Texas, Bishop Galante publicly challenged a corrupt colleague, Bishop Charles Grahmann, about his mishandling of a child sex case against a Dallas cleric. Such “fraternal correction” has been sorely lacking through the course of the clergy abuse crisis throughout the church. We praised Bishop Galante for his courage.

But he has done little while in Camden to change the disturbing status quo regarding clergy sex crimes and cover ups. Some 30 US bishops have posted on their websites the names of predator priests. Bishop Galante, however, is not one of them. He’s basically done little or nothing in recent years to distinguish himself from the majority of his peers who continue to act recklessly, secretively and callously in child sex cases.

We hope his successor will show more courage and compassion. We hope he’ll post the names, photos and whereabouts of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on his website (like Philadelphia’s then-Cardinal Justin Rigali has done). We hope he’ll aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes in Camden. We hope he’ll especially warn parishioners and the public about

— Fr. Joseph E. Shannon, who was sued a year ago for child sexual abuse, and

–Fr. David Givey of the Philadelphia archdiocese, who now apparently lives in Somers Point NJ. (Bishop Galante has refused to do this.)

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Arkansas Catholic

Published: January 7, 2013

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced Jan. 6 that Royce Thomas, a former priest for the Diocese of Little Rock, has been dismissed from the priesthood after a “history of professional misconduct as a priest.”

The bishop released the following statement Jan. 6:

“It is my sad duty to announce that on Dec. 29, 2012, I received from the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome their decree imposing on (former) Msgr. Royce R. Thomas the ecclesiastical penalty of involuntary dismissal from the clerical state. This decree dispenses him from all the obligations connected with sacred ordination, including sacred celibacy, and deprives him of all ecclesiastical honors previously received and offices previously held. This ecclesiastical penalty was imposed due to a history of professional misconduct as a priest, and the decree stipulates that there is no further recourse to this supreme and final decision. I met with (now) Mr. Thomas on Jan. 6, 2013 as directed by the Congregation for the Clergy to inform him of this decree. While he remains a Catholic in good standing, the congregation also required me to inform him of the restrictions imposed on him by Rome regarding any future public ministry as a layman in the Church. Please keep him in your prayers.”

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Arkansas Times

[The furor at Holy Souls – Feb 18, 2010 – Arkansas Times]

Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jan 8, 2013

From Arkansas Catholic:

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced Jan. 6 that Royce Thomas, a former priest for the Diocese of Little Rock, has been dismissed from the priesthood after a “history of professional misconduct as a priest.”

The bishop released the following statement Jan. 6:

“It is my sad duty to announce that on Dec. 29, 2012, I received from the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome their decree imposing on (former) Msgr. Royce R. Thomas the ecclesiastical penalty of involuntary dismissal from the clerical state. This decree dispenses him from all the obligations connected with sacred ordination, including sacred celibacy, and deprives him of all ecclesiastical honors previously received and offices previously held. This ecclesiastical penalty was imposed due to a history of professional misconduct as a priest, and the decree stipulates that there is no further recourse to this supreme and final decision. I met with (now) Mr. Thomas on Jan. 6, 2013 as directed by the Congregation for the Clergy to inform him of this decree. While he remains a Catholic in good standing, the congregation also required me to inform him of the restrictions imposed on him by Rome regarding any future public ministry as a layman in the Church. Please keep him in your prayers.”

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

January 8, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 8, 2013

STATEMENT OF TIMOTHY CARDINAL DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK, ON THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP DENNIS SULLIVAN AS BISHOP OF CAMDEN

Our Holy Father has chosen one of the finest bishops I know to be the new Bishop of Camden.

Since my arrival in New York nearly four years ago, Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan has been an invaluable help to me, as my predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, predicted he would. As Vicar General, he has been my right hand, and I came to rely on his vast and intimate knowledge of the parishes, priests, religious and people of the Archdiocese of New York. While happily living together at the Cardinal’s residence, and working together at the Cardinal Cooke Catholic Center, Bishop Sullivan always generously shared with me his wise counsel and insights, based on his more than 40 years of priesthood in this archdiocese he proudly calls home.

One thing I came to expect above all else from Bishop Sullivan was that he would approach every situation with the heart and mind of a pastor, always asking how we can do more for the people, and reminding us that the Church is not the chancery or a building, but the people of God. His many years of service on the Lower East Side of Manhattan have given him a special closeness and dedication to the immigrant community, particularly the Latino and Asian population, who continue to be a vital and vibrant part of the Church in New York. …

STATEMENT OF EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN, ARCHBISHOP-EMERITUS OF NEW YORK, ON THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP DENNIS SULLIVAN AS BISHOP OF CAMDEN

The appointment of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan as Bishop of the Diocese of Camden is a singular blessing for the people of God of that splendid community of faith. It is also a loss for the Archdiocese of New York, which Bishop Sullivan has served with extraordinary distinction as Pastor, Auxiliary Bishop, and Vicar General. The Bishop and I worked together at the Catholic Center and lived together at the Cardinal’s residence for many very happy years. For me his total commitment to the clergy, religious, and faithful of the Archdiocese, especially those of Latin American and Asian heritage and those most in need, was always a source of genuine inspiration and admiration as well. Having had the honor of consecrating him a Bishop and naming him Vicar General, I look forward to assisting Bishop Sullivan in any way I can over the years that lie ahead, particularly through my prayers for him and the people he will be shepherding.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Staff | Jan. 8, 2013

Editor’s note: After our editorial “Correct an injustice: Ordain women” appeared in the Dec. 7-20 issue, several readers asked us to provide more background on the history of women leaders in the early church. This is the first in an occasional series of articles looking at the history of leadership roles in the development of the church. This article covers the origins of the church up to the fifth century.

The earliest references to local resident leaders in the Pauline churches are Philippians 1:1 and Romans 16:1-2. Paul addresses his letter to the community at Philippi with their episkopoi and diakonoi (both masculine plural titles in Greek, both terms borrowed from secular leadership). These are the terms that later came to mean “bishop” and “deacon.” The episkopoi cannot mean here “bishop” as we understand it because there are many in one community. The role of the diakonoi also had not yet evolved into that which was later understood as deacon. The revised edition of the New American Bible translates the words as “overseers” and “ministers” and acknowledges in a note that the later development had not yet taken place.

Masculine plural forms are used in Greek to refer either to groups of men or to groups of mixed gender. In Romans 16:1-2, Paul introduces to the letter’s recipients a woman named Phoebe, a benefactor who is also a diakonos of the church at Cenchreae, one of the seaports of Corinth. Thus we know that women could hold this title at the time, and therefore the diakonoi in Philippi could be a mixed group. If the episkopoi of Philippians were heads of house churches, as seems likely, it is not impossible that some of them were also women (for example, Nympha in Colossians 4:15).

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Whispers in the Loggia

SVILUPPO: For purposes of calendar-scheduling out there, the installation has been scheduled for Tuesday, 12 February – Mardi Gras – at the below-mentioned St Agnes in Blackwood.

In addition, a concelebrated Mass with both Camden prelates will take place today at 12.05pm in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. All are welcome.

* * *
A month since the 75th anniversary of its founding, this morning the diocese of Camden returns to its oldest tradition – South Jersey’s next bishop will come from New York.

At Roman Noon this Tuesday, the Pope named Bishop Dennis Sullivan – the 67 year-old vicar-general of the 2.5 million-member Gotham church – as the eighth head of the six-county, 530,000-member fold, which stretches from one of the nation’s most violent cities across scores of suburbs and over a farm country with a burgeoning Hispanic population before, of course, ending at Delaware Bay and the southern half of the Jersey Shore.

A New York auxiliary since 2004, the Bronx-born Sullivan succeeds the venerable Bishop Joseph Galante, who’s led the diocese since that same year, his resignation accepted six months ahead of the canonical age of 75 for reasons of health.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier Post

The Diocese of Camden plans a press conference Tuesday amid indications that Bishop Joseph Galante will retire.

Three diocesan priests, speaking anonymously, said Galante is stepping down due to health issues. The bishop, who turns 75 in July, announced in September 2011 he was beginning dialysis due to chronic kidney disease.

A Galante spokesman, Peter Feuerherd, would not identify the reason for the 10 a.m. press conference at diocesan headquarters in Camden.

The bishop’s successor is expected to be named at the press conference, said Rocco Palmo, a church analyst based in Philadelphia. Palmo also serves as an at-large member of the Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – The pope has named a new bishop for Camden, New Jersey, after agreeing to let Bishop Joseph Galante retire a few months early because of his ailing health.

The Vatican said Tuesday that the new leader of the Camden diocese is Bishop Dennis Sullivan, currently the vicar general of the New York archdiocese.

Galante, who has been Camden bishop since 2004, began dialysis due to chronic kidney disease in 2011. He reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 in July.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 8 January 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father appointed Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan as bishop of Camden (area 6,967, population 1,443,274, Catholics 511,822, priests 294, permanent deacons 150, religious 323), USA. Bishop Sullivan, previously titular of Enera and auxiliary of the Archdiocese of New York, was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He served as pastor of several parishes in the Archdiocese of New York before receiving episcopal ordination in 2004. He has been the vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York since 2005 and, in the bishops’ conference, serves as a member of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People as well as the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islanders. He succeeds Bishop Joseph A. Galante, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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MONTANA
Daily Inter Lake

By JIM MANN/Daily Inter Lake

Child pornography charges against a former Evergreen Catholic priest have been dropped with a deferred prosecution agreement approved by Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan.

The Rev. Rudy Bullman was charged last Feb. 29 with felony sexual abuse of children after a handheld game console he reportedly sold was found to have photographs of nude boys on it.

But the charge was dismissed on Wednesday, Jan. 2, with the deferred prosecution agreement that requires Bullman to live up to a series of conditions for the next three years.

“The circumstances of the offense as alleged against the Defendant herein justify this agreement, and it appears that the execution and implementation of this agreement is more beneficial to society and to the Defendant over the long term than continued prosecution of this matter,” the agreement states.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Observed

By Kevin Roderick | January 7, 2013

Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias reversed a private mediator and ordered the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to release 30,000 pages of internal files without blanking out the names of church officials and priests who were involved in the church’s handling of sex abuse allegations or who were accused themselves. The judge acted on a request by the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press to include names when the files are released to the public under a 2007 settlement with more than 500 victims.

Lawyers for the archdiocese argued that the mediator, retired federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian, was right to allow many names to be redacted in order to spare the church from further embarrassment and to proptect those name from guiult by association with the scandal. The lead archdiocese lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, also argued that it would be a massive, months-long job to go back and un-redact the names. But the media outlets argued that the names of the archdiocese hierarchy were essential for the public to understand how the scandal occurred, the Times story says. Elias agreed that the files should not be redacted before going public, even though they contain psychiatric and personnel records.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Eagle-Tribune

[Audit Records: Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire Attorney General – summary audit records on LeDoux – BishopAccountability.org]

[case file – BishopAccountability.org]

[Audit Records: Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire Attorney General – entire Manchester audit archive – BishopAccountability.org]

By John Toole jtoole@eagletribune.com

DERRY — An allegation of sexual abuse dating to the late 1980s in St. Thomas Aquinas Parish has forced a Franciscan priest from his college administrative post in Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Michael Ledoux, 55, never admitted doing anything wrong and has said he was innocent as recently as last week.

But when confronted with the possibility of an investigation into the matter by his superiors at Widener University last summer, Ledoux resigned his post, Widener spokesman Dan Hanson said yesterday.

“He was told he would be placed on administrative leave, pending the investigation,” Hanson said. “He chose to resign.”

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NETHERLANDS
MSN

“This isn’t about pointing a finger, naming and shaming,” said Schilder, insisting that the plan would help the community pray for these people not to leave the Church and perhaps “persuade them to stay”.

Those wishing to leave must send a letter to the priest along with a photocopy of identity papers.

This is where Schilder gets the photos that will be displayed in the entrance hallway of the church in Tilburg in the south of the country.

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jury selection continues in the trial of a Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher accused of raping a former altar boy.

Four jurors were selected Monday on the first day of jury selection in the case against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero. The case had been spun off from last year’s high-profile trial of a church official charged with helping the Philadelphia archdiocese cover up abuse complaints.

The 65-year-old Engelhardt and the 49-year-old Shero are charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy in the late 1990s. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Oren Yaniv / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

They convicted him because of the facts, not because of his religion.

A juror in the sexual abuse case pitting a teen accuser against Hasidic leader Nechemya Weberman said he broke the panel’s silence to refute the notion the jury returned a guity verdict out of anti-Semitic bias.

“It wasn’t religion, it wasn’t their background, it wasn’t revenge,” said the 42-year-old man, who asked not to be identified. “It was a young girl and an old man alone in a room.”

The juror offered the first public account of the jury’s thinking during deliberations in the high-profile trial, which ended Dec. 10 with a guilty verdict to all 59 counts.

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VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By Kevin O’Connor
STAFF WRITER | January 08,2013

Three years after paying more than $20 million to settle almost 30 priest misconduct lawsuits, Vermont’s Catholic Church faces a new challenge: Will the first of a dozen new cases go to trial this week or can it forge an agreement to end them all?

The state’s largest religious denomination had hoped to rid itself of nearly a decade of lurid headlines and legal headaches in 2010 when it sold its historic 32-acre Burlington headquarters and 26-acre Colchester Camp Holy Cross to make good with all its then-known accusers. But that settlement didn’t preclude other former altar boys and young male churchgoers alleging sexual abuse from filing later lawsuits.

Lawyers for the first of 12 new plaintiffs are scheduled to argue their case in U.S. District Court in Burlington starting Wednesday. At a pretrial hearing Monday, Judge William Sessions III asked attorneys for both sides about the possibility of a settlement.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Harriet Ryan and Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
January 7, 2013

Church leaders who mishandled child sex abuse allegations will be named in a 30,000-page cache of internal Archdiocese of Los Angeles records set for public release in coming weeks, a judge ruled Monday.

The decision by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias reversed a ruling by a private mediator that the names of archdiocesan employees should be redacted from the documents to avoid further embarrassment to the church and “guilt by association.”

Elias said the public’s right to know how the archdiocese, the largest in the nation, handled molestation allegations outweighed such concerns. She also reversed the ruling of the mediator, retired federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian, that priests who had faced a single allegation of abuse would have their names blacked out.

“Don’t you think the public has a right to know … what was going on in their own church,” she asked a lawyer for the archdiocese. She said parishioners who learn from the files of a priest accused of abuse in their local church “may want to talk to their adult children” about their own experiences.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The New York Times

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Published: January 7, 2013

A Los Angeles judge ruled Monday that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of high-ranking church officials included in some 30,000 pages of confidential records about priests accused of sexually abusing children. The decision reverses a ruling by a judge who said he worried that including the names could further embarrass the church. But in her ruling Monday, Judge Emilie H. Elias said the public’s right to know how the nation’s largest archdiocese handled molesting charges outweighed other concerns.

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IOWA
WOWT

A Missouri man who worked with youth at a Harlan, Iowa church in the late 90’s has been sentenced for sexually abusing boys in Pottawattamie County during that time period.

Sixty-eight-year-old Bob Ervin Smith was sentenced by Judge Steensland in Pottawattamie County Court on Monday to 20 years in prison for 3 counts of 3rd degree sexual abuse and one count of indecent contact with a child. It’s up to the parole board as to whether or not he’ll serve the full sentence.

According to an affidavit acquired by Channel 6 News, the victim was 12-years-old going into the 7th grade in 1998. That’s when Smith took him away from the town of Harlan, Iowa to go on a fishing trip.

The affidavit notes Smith was the youth coordinator at the First Baptist Church in Harlan back in 1998.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

LOS ANGELES — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles must reveal the names of church officials included in 30,000 pages of personnel files that will be released with information related to allegations of child sexual abuse by church employees, a Superior Court judge ruled Jan. 7.

The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reported that Judge Emilie H. Elias reversed a previous ruling by a retired federal judge who had said that material to be released should have names redacted to prevent the documents’ use to “embarrass or ridicule the church.”

During a Jan. 7 hearing on a request by media organizations to order the names to be released, Elias asked an attorney for the archdiocese, “Don’t you think the public has a right to know … what was going on in their own church?” the Times reported.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said in a brief statement that Elias had revised the previous judge’s order “acknowledging that much of the information in question has already been made public by the archdiocese in the 2004 “Report to the People of God” and updates released in the subsequent proffers.”

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PHILADELHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Three women and a man were picked Monday as jurors for the Philadelphia trial of a priest and a former Catholic-school teacher charged with sexually assaulting a Northeast Philadelphia altar boy in the late 1990s.

The four were selected from about 75 prospective jurors culled from a panel of 130 on the first day of jury selection in the Common Pleas Court trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero.

Judge Ellen Ceisler, prosecutors, and defense lawyers are to resume selecting 12 jurors and several alternates Tuesday at the Criminal Justice Center.

Engelhardt, 66, and Shero, 49, are charged with serially sexually assaulting the 10-year-old boy, called “Billy Doe” in the 2011 county grand jury report about clergy sex abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The assaults allegedly occurred while Engelhardt was a pastor and Shero a teacher assigned to St. Jerome’s parish in the Northeast.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
AFP

LOS ANGELES — A US judge Monday ordered Catholic leaders in Los Angeles to identify senior church officials accused of sexually abusing children, in a move welcomed by campaigners for victims.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles immediately pledged to comply with the order by LA Superior Court judge Emilie Elias, which reversed part of a 2011 ruling.

“The archdiocese will abide by Judge Elias’ decision. We are now working with all parties involved to facilitate the release of the documents as promptly as possible,” said a archdiocese statement.

In 2011 a judge ruled against naming senior clerics, due to fears that including the names of the hierarchy could be used to embarrass the church further.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: The St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese knew in at least 1991 of allegations of abuse by Henrich against “several” people, as stated in a 2011 letter to an accuser from the archdiocesan Delegate for Safe Environment. Henrich died in July 1992.

Ordained: 1933
Retired: 1976
Died: July 23, 1992

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Sandra Hernandez
January 7, 2013

A judge’s ruling Monday requiring the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to release thousands of pages of confidential records, including the names of church higher-ups, is an important victory for the public and victims of sexual abuse.

The battle over the clergy files has dragged on for far too long. In 2007, the church agreed to settle hundreds of claims against it for $660 million. That deal also required the release of clergy personnel files, which include internal memos, Vatican correspondence and medical records. But the release of the files has been on hold. Last year, a court-appointed referee vetted the documents and ruled that the names of church leaders who are not accused of abusing children should be redacted to avoid further embarrassment to the church. The Times and the Associated Press filed motions objecting to the referee’s decision to redact the names of church leaders, including Cardinal Roger Mahony and others.

Fortunately, that ruling was overturned by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias, who concluded that the public’s right to know what happened in such cases trumps the priests’ right to privacy.

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MISSOURI
Missourinet

January 7, 2013 By Jessica Machetta

SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — says the Task Force to prevent child sex abuse did a good job of compiling recommendations for the legislature to modify existing statute to make it safer in Missouri for children.

However, it says one key measure was left off the list of 22 recommendations.

“Getting rid of the criminal statute of limitations is a good start,” the group says, “but the civil statute should be gotten rid of, too.”

SNAP says victims themselves have the greatest knowledge of the crimes and the greatest incentives to prevent more of them, so “predator-friendly laws that keep victims from exposing criminals” in civil court should be revoked.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Judge Elias, please release ALL confidential church records of names of vicars, bishops, others who handled reports of child sexual abuse in Los Angeles Archdiocese

Paris Arrow

Updated January 7, 2013

Dear Judge Elias,

Thank you for your courage and being the “Good Judge” of the 21st Century who will release all the personnel files and the names of high-ranking Catholic church officials in 30,000 pages of confidential records about Catholic priests accused of abusing children in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

You’ll probably be – the first and only judge – to do this but you will set a good example for other dioceses and countries – to be fearless in revealing the whole truth and nothing but the entire truth – that are just beginning to wake up to this most heinous crime systemically covered-up by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
USA Today

Michael Winter, USA TODAY

The Los Angeles Catholic diocese must release the names of priests and church officials contained in confidential records about sexual abuse of children, a California judge ordered Monday.

Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias reversed a previous ruling by another judge that allowed the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to black out the identifies of church officials in 30,000 pages of documents that are to be released, the Los Angeles Times reports. The files include medical and psychiatric records, abuse reports, church memos and letters with the Vatican.

Negotiations on releasing the records are part of the landmark $660 million settlement in 2007 over priest abuse. The diocese had redacted names — including that of retired Cardinal Roger Mahoney — and the release was expected by mid-January. It’s not yet clear whether today’s ruling will delay the release.

More than 20 priests have exhausted appeals to prevent the release, arguing it would violate their privacy rights.

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UNITED STATES
The Awareness Center

Study Defines When Disclosing a Whistle-Blower’s Identity, Like in an Email, Becomes Retaliation
Indiana University news release – Jan. 7, 2013

Under the law, whistle-blowers are supposed to be protected from direct reprisals on the job, including discrimination. But what if they and their actions becomes the subject of a widely distributed email? Is that a form of retaliation?

Two professors at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business set out to answer that question and determine when public disclosure of the whistle-blower’s identity — like in an email — is sufficient to support such a claim, in a paper that has been accepted for publication in North Carolina Law Review.

“When someone makes a complaint of discrimination that’s covered by federal anti-discrimination laws, you’re automatically cloaked in protection from retaliatory actions that could come in response,” said Jamie Prenkert, associate professor of business law at the IU Kelley School of Business Bloomington and the study’s lead author. “But what can be retaliatory is a broad-ranging continuum of actions that the courts don’t specifically define.”

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ILLINOIS
Madison-St. Clair Record

January 7, 2013
By Bethany Krajelis

A pair of St. Clair County lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a former priest has spurred a battle over insurance coverage.

TIG Insurance Company on Monday filed a complaint in federal court, seeking declaratory judgment that it doesn’t have a duty to defend the Diocese of Belleville or former priest Raymond Kownacki in the underlying suits.

Brought by John Doe S.W. in 2011 and John Doe S. in July 2012, the two separate suits accuse Kownacki of sexual abuse in the 1980s, when they were both minors attending St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Valmeyer.

Kownacki, who is retired and lives in St. Louis, was removed from the ministry in the mid-90s after multiple allegations of sexual abuse were lodged against him.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 7, 2013
By Tom MacDonald

This week, another trial about allegations of sexual abuse in Philadelphia Catholic schools begins. It has national implications.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and former Philadelphia Archdiocese teacher Bernard Shero are accused of abusing a student at St. Jerome’s parish in Northeast Philadelphia in the 1990s.

Cases such as this bring out evidence that has been kept hidden by the Catholic Church, says David Clohessey, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“These kinds of trials are very, very rare,” Clohessey said. “So they provide a really unique opportunity to see firsthand what the evidence is about how much Catholic officials knew about abuse and yet tolerated, minimized, ignored it and, in some cases, enabled it.”

Clohessey says few allegations of abuse by church employees come to either civil or criminal trial.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
ABC 13

By GREG RISLING
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge on Monday ordered the release of thousands of pages of personnel files that would identify Roman Catholic priests accused of child molestation and their leaders in the church.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias contradicts a previous order in 2010 by another judge that allowed the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to redact the names of church higher-ups.

Attorneys for the archdiocese previously said they planned to make the confidential files public by the middle of this month with the names of the church hierarchy blacked out.

It was unclear how long it would take to adhere to the new ruling. Church attorneys expressed concern about combing through 30,000 pages of documents.

Elias continued to meet with attorneys following the hearing.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

A Superior Court judge has ruled the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of high-ranking church officials in 30,000 pages of confidential records about priests accused of abusing children.

In making the order Monday, Judge Emilie H. Elias reversed a key part of a 2011 ruling by a retired judge who said he feared including the names of the hierarchy could be used to embarrass the church further. Elias said the public’s right to know how the archdiocese, the largest in the nation, handled molestation allegations outweighed such concerns. She also reversed retired Judge Dickran Tevrizian’s ruling that priests who had faced only a single allegation of abuse would have their names blacked out.

“Don’t you think the public has a right to know … what was going on in their own church?” she asked a lawyer for the archdiocese, adding that parishioners “may want to talk to their adult children” about abuse alleged in their local church.

The judge and lawyers for alleged victims and the archdiocese were meeting Monday afternoon to discuss how and when the internal church records, which include psychiatric reports, reports of abuse and letters to the Vatican, will be released.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Ventura County Star

GREG RISLING, Associated Press
Posted January 7, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has ordered the release of personnel files that would identify Roman Catholic priests accused of child molestation.

Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias also said Monday that she wants the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to unredact the names of church higher-ups.

How long the process will take remains unclear. Church attorneys expressed concern about combing through 30,000 pages of documents.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 07, 2013

The thousands upon thousands of long-secret Catholic documents that describe horrific crimes against children by members of the catholic clergy have come to light only because of brave victims. Catholic officials have used every weapon in their vast arsenal to keep these files hidden and keep Catholics and citizens in the dark about their involvement in moving, shielding and enabling predators. We hope that the judicial system will not only release all the documents but allow the names of all complicit church staff to be made public.

Catholic officials have very little incentive to change their callous behavior when all their needs are being met. Only when they are held accountable for their reckless behavior will they change their ways and perhaps begin putingt the safety of the children first.

Protecting children must take priority. But a very simple first step is for the truth to come out – not just about the child molesting clerics but also about their irresponsible church supervisors. Real healing and closure and prevention will only begin to happen when the public knows exactly who has hurt kids either by sexually exploiting them or by ignoring or helping those who sexually exploit them.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

(by Jerry Slevin, retired Wall Street lawyer)

As the Vatican’s favored U.S. media types try to spin on behalf of likely “papal preferences” to be next U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, President Obama must remind himself that he just won his recent re-election despite numerous papal agents, especially the U.S. Bishops’, unrelenting efforts to derail Obamacare and defeat him, including by comparing him to Hitler and Stalin. President Obama must show some real spine, like Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny did when PM Kenny closed his Vatican Embassy in evident protest against the Vatican’s alleged cover-up of priest child abuse, as well as to save money.

According to experts at a recent Vatican conference, Catholic priests have so far sexually abused over 100,000 children in the U.S. alone.

If President Obama doesn’t want to save money as well by closing the U.S. Embassy that the U.S. did fine without for over 200 years, then he at least needs to appoint someone as Vatican Ambassador who is both firm and independent and who has not already served on behalf of the U.S. Bishops.

That then excludes Nicholas Cafardi, who apparently has not yet explained adequately his actions in his role as Anthony Bevilacqua’s diocesean lawyer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cardinal Bevilacqua’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania diocesean subordinate, Monsignor Lynn, now sits in a Pennsylvania prison cell convicted of child endangerment. Monsignor Lynn’s main defense was that he was just following Cardinal Bevilacqua’s criminal orders.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

January 7, 2013 by Susan Matthews

SAVE THE DATE: January 23, 2013

Why: New bills in regard to abolishing the of statutes of limitations for child sex abuse will be introduced at a press conference.

Where: The Harrisburg State House Rotunda
When: 10 am
PLEASE COME OUT!
RSVP to: info@justice4pakids.com

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 07, 2013

Like prosecutors, this brave mom accuses Victory church employees of refusing to report – for weeks – child sex crimes by a church janitor. We hope she prevails in court. And we hope her filing this suit will discourage other officials from ignoring, minimizing or hiding suspected child sexual assaults.

Shame on Victory employees and Victory church members. Both should be ashamed of the legal maneuvers church lawyers are using to protect church assets and church staff reputations.

This mom deserves her day in court. If Victory officials did nothing wrong, they shouldn’t fear this case. But we suspect they know full well they’ve broken the law, and violated common sense and decency, and are desperately trying to exploit legal loopholes so that the full truth about their wrongdoing can remain hidden.

We also hope that every single person who has knowledge or suspicions about the cover up at Victory will step forward. Keeping silent only helps criminals, endangers kids and hurts victims.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on December 30, 2012 by frankcocozzelli

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Yes, it’s that time of the year, folks. It’s time for the presentation of the annual Coughlin Award. The competition was stiff, but one Catholic Right mover and shaker stood out out from the crowd, head and shoulders above the rest.

The Coughlin Award — affectionately known as “The Coughie” — is our way of recognizing the person who has best exemplified an exclusionary, strident interpretation of the Catholic faith in the preceding year. The award is named for Father Charles Coughlin, the notorious radio priest of the 1930s who is the role model for today’s Religious Right radio and television evangelists, and other conservative media personalities.

This year our judges had a small but distinguished field of candidates from which to choose. Of course there was last year’s winner, Catholic League head honcho Bill Donohue. He, along with 2011 honoree, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, used the occasion of the indictment of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Finn for failing to report a priest of suspected pedophilia to launch a war of attrition against a victims’ advocacy group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). For their efforts, the dynamic duo were awarded (dis)honorable mentions.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Joseph A. Slobodzian, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: Monday, January 7, 2013

Prosecution and defense lawyers this morning began the process of finding a jury of 12 Philadelphians to hear the criminal case against a priest and former parochial schoolteacher accused of serially sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy from the Northeast in the late 1990s.

A panel of 130 prospective jurors spent the morning completing a long questionnaire to determine what they know of the case against Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero.

By noon, the lawyers and Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler had dismissed all but about 75, mostly for personal issues such as vacations, family events and health problems that would prevent them from sitting through an estimated two weeks of testimony.

The remaining jurors return to the Criminal Justice Center courtroom later this afternoon to be questioned individually by Ceisler to select a jury of 12 plus several alternates.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

The calendar year opens today with simultaneous court appearances by two of the largest Roman Catholic Archdioceses: Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

In Philly, jury selection begins in the criminal trials of priests accused of sodomy and child sexual abuse. These cases will continue to expose the “omissions” of Cardinals Antonio Bevilacqua and Justin Rigali.

In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press will argue for the release of unredacted secret personnel documents of priests and bishops accused of sodomy, rape and sexual abuse of minors. These documents expose the “acts of commission” by Cardinals Manning, Mahony and Levada.

This opportunity in L.A. for public accountability does not come twice in a lifetime. The Cardinals’ fingerprints are on these documents. If produced unsanitzed, they peel back the thin, sacred veneer covering the Cardinals’ business practices.

Not since Judge Sweeney ordered Boston’s Cardinal Law to turn over the documents in 2001 have we been at such a crossroads for child protection.

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VATICAN CITY/UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Jan. 7, 2013

Analysis

Rome —
President Barack Obama needs to find a new envoy to the Vatican since Ambassador Miguel Diaz, appointed in 2009, has accepted a position as professor of faith and culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Obama’s choice for a replacement is being closely watched in Rome, according to one senior Vatican diplomat, because it signals what kind of relationship Obama wants to have during his second term.

Filling the slot tends to be a special headache for Democratic presidents because they have to find somebody who can pass muster both with their party and with the Vatican. The custom that it has to be a Catholic complicates things further, because it’s not just a candidate’s policy positions that might cause problems, but his or her internal standing in the church.

For those with an appetite for speculation, names making the rounds include two members of the national “Catholics for Obama” team: Stephen Schneck of The Catholic University of America and Nicholas Cafardi of Duquesne University. Both would be acceptable to the White House, but might trip some wires on the Catholic side — if not with the Vatican, which typically vetoes an appointment only if there are concerns about personal morality (especially marital status), then with the U.S. bishops.

Another hot tip is Ken Hackett, the former longtime president of Catholic Relief Services, who served on Obama’s delegation to the consistory in Rome last February when both Timothy Dolan and Edwin O’Brien became cardinals. (For all intents and purposes, Hackett was the delegation, along with Diaz.)

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TULSA (OK)
Washington Post

Tulsa megachurch says mother of raped 13-year-old girl is not entitled to claim $75K damages

By Associated Press
Updated: Monday, January 7

TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa megachurch is asking for the dismissal of a civil lawsuit that accuses employees of trying to cover up the rape of a 13-year-old girl by a worker on the church’s campus.

The Victory Christian Center argues that the girl’s mother, who filed the suit, is not entitled to any relief under the law. A hearing is set for Monday at the Tulsa County courthouse.

Ex-janitor Chris Denman was sentenced to 55 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple sex-related charges. Denman admitted raping the teenage girl in a stairwell on church property.

The lawsuit accuses employees of not reporting the August rape to the authorities while the church conducted an in-house investigation.

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TULSA (OK)
Fox 23

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A hearing is planned over a civil lawsuit filed by the mother of an underage girl who was raped by a former employee on the campus of Victory Christian Center.

The Tulsa megachurch is asking that the civil suit be dismissed, arguing that the girl’s mother is not entitled to any relief under the law. Ex-janitor Chris Denman was sentenced to 55 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple sex-related charges. Denman admitted raping the 13-year-old girl in a stairwell on church property.

The lawsuit accuses employees of trying to cover up the abuse by not reporting the August rape to the authorities while it did an in-house investigation.

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TULSA (OK)
The Raw Story

Tulsa church moves to block rape victim’s mother from claiming damages

By Arturo Garcia
Monday, January 7, 2013

A megachurch in Tulsa, Oklahoma has asked for the dismissal of a civil suit by the mother of a 13-year-old girl raped on church grounds, saying she is ineligible from claiming damages.

According to the Associated Press, the Victory Christian Center will argue in a hearing on Monday that the child’s mother is not entitled to any monetary relief under the law. She is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

The suit accuses employees at the center of not reporting the attack by Chris Denman, a former church janitor.

Denman was sentenced last month to 55 years in jail after pleading guilty to raping the girl and one more victim, a 15-year-old girl.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on January 07, 2013

Though the child sex abuse trial involving a Catholic priest and Catholic teacher starts this week, it’s never too late for other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward and help make sure these criminals are convicted and kept away from kids.

We strongly suspect that there are current and former Catholic employees who know about or suspect child sex crimes by Fr. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero. Though pedophiles are very secretive, often others who live or work with or near them have some evidence that can help prosecutors.

So we urge anyone with knowledge of these men and their wrongdoing to speak up now. It’s irresponsible to stay silent and risk that one or both of these defendants may get off on a technicality.

This trial is significant because few Catholic abuse and cover up cases ever go to trial. So much incriminating evidence remains concealed. And Catholic officials can then deny their complicity, no matter what happens to the actual molesters.

Through trials, the truth is revealed. At almost every trial like this one, involving Catholic predators and supervisors, witnesses and documents and evidence clearly show that top church staff acted with recklessness, callousness and deceit. The true extent of the corruption in the Catholic hierarchy is often laid bare. That, in turn, educates Catholics and citizens, and better enables them to protect their children in the future. And when wrongdoing is exposed, wrongdoing is deterred. So trials like this one can help dissuade officials in other institutions who may be tempted to try to sweep child sex abuse reports under the rug.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 07, 2013

The man who accuses a Hawaii priest is speaking publicly about his case. (“Colorado man suing Bismarck Diocese comes forward,” January 06, 2013) [read here]

The accused is Fr. Maurice McNeely. The accuser is Steven Crochet. We applaud Steven for his courage. And we hope it will inspire others who may have seen, suspected or suffered wrongdoing by McNeely to similarly step forward.

Child predators count on victims to stay silent. And staying silent only helps predators and endangers kids. So every time a person making abuse accusations takes legal action and discloses his or her identity, it’s a step forward towards openness and safety.

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INDIA
Parda Phash

Published by: Shubhanshu Sharma
Published on: Mon, 07 Jan 2013

New Delhi: A 55-year-old priest was arrested for allegedly raping his colleague’s wife at his house in New Delhi, Police said on Monday.

The incident took place on January 1 night when the victim, in her early 30s, was called to the accused Madan Mohan Sharma’s home in Pandav Nagar area in east Delhi on the pretext of making some sweets to offer in the temple and raped.

The victim narrated the incident to her husband who reported the matter to Pandav Nagar Police station the next day.

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MISSOURI
Southeast Missourian

Monday, January 7, 2013

By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian

They profess the same faith, recite the same prayers and, in many ways, live largely the same sort of lives that he did.

Still, when the Revs. Randy Tochtrop and John Harth learned that Father Walter C. Craig, a long-dead priest who came before them at each of their Southeast Missouri parishes, had been newly accused of abusing a child, they tried to channel some empathy for both accuser and accused.

Because, whatever the truth, both of them deserve it, they said.

“There’s no way to know for sure whether there’s any veracity to this particular allegation,” Harth said. “It’s one person’s word against someone who cannot speak for themselves. … Anybody can make an accusation. If it’s true, deal with it. If it’s not, they’ve besmirched the reputation of someone who can’t defend themselves.”

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DELAWARE
NECN

Jan 7, 2013

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — In the spring of 2011, when attorneys representing 152 victims of sexual abuse by priests were close to settling with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, attorney Thomas Neuberger made a promise to his clients.

No matter what happened with the settlement, he said, he would make sure their stories were told — free of the filter of media or church — by writing a book.

“They wanted to make sure their voices would be heard, and they wouldn’t be forgotten,” Neuberger said.

After more than a year away from his law firm, Neuberger has fulfilled his promise publishing, “When Priests Become Predators: Profiles of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors.”

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SOUTH AFRICA
Sowetan

Jan 7, 2013 | Sally Nyakanyanga

HARARE – The sight of a pastor is usually a relief to vulnerable people such as orphans and those with disabilities. There is little or no suspicion that men of the cloth will prey on those who have invested their trust in them.

But this is exactly what happened to Chengetai Mutasa*. The wheelchair-bound 25-year-old woman was raped by Pastor Musindo* in September last year.

On that fateful day the pastor asked Mutasa to accompany him to a nearby business centre in rural Chihota, about 80km from Harare. On the way he raped her.

Mutasa told her family, who decided on an out-of-court and traditional settlement . The pastor did not abide by the agreement, so Mutasa’s family reported the matter to the police.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

[Audit Records: Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire Attorney General – summary audit records on LeDoux – BishopAccountability.org]

[case file – BishopAccountability.org]

[Audit Records: Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire Attorney General – entire Manchester audit archive – BishopAccountability.org]

By VINCE SULLIVAN
vsullivan@delcotimes.com
@vincesullivan

CHESTER — A Franciscan friar who served as dean of Widener University’s School of Education before abruptly resigning in July was accused by a teenage boy of sexual abuse while he served at a Catholic parish in New Hampshire.

In July, Widener officials were tipped off to the allegations and informed Ledoux that he would suspended until an investigation could be completed, according to university Director of Public Relations Dan Hanson.

“University officials immediately met with (Ledoux) about the allegations and told him he would be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation,” Hanson wrote in an email Friday. “Dr. Ledoux chose to resign instead.”

The accusations were first levied by a man who said Ledoux had performed oral sex on him while he was a teenager in the 1980s. The alleged victim came forward in the 2000s, according to a complaint form filed with the Diocese of Manchester.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

[findings and order – BishopAccountability.org]

[2011 grand jury report – BishopAccountability.org]

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Monday, January 7, 2013

It’s been almost two years since a Philadelphia grand jury probe of Catholic clergy sex abuse of children resulted in charges against four priests and a teacher.

On Monday – after last year’s landmark, three-month trial ended in the first criminal conviction of a church administrator for covering up the crimes of deviate priests – the last two defendants, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and former parochial schoolteacher Bernard Shero, are to go to trial.

Prosecutors, defense lawyers, and Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler will begin winnowing a large group of candidates down to a jury of 12 plus several alternates.

Lawyers for the two men wanted them tried separately from the other defendants. One reason was to avoid tarring the two in a trial that focused largely on church records documenting how archdiocesan officials for decades ignored victims to protect the institution.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
WPEC

January 07, 2013

By GREG RISLING Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge is weighing whether the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles can release thousands of pages from the confidential files of priests accused of sex abuse with the names of church higher-ups blacked out.

An attorney for The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times will argue Monday that the redactions ordered in 2010 are overbroad and not in the public’s interest.

The files are expected to be released any day now, more than five years after the church reached a record-breaking $660 million settlement with more than 550 plaintiffs.

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ELIZABETH (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By Ryan Hutchins and Mike Frassinelli/The Star-Ledger
on December 24, 2012

ELIZABETH — It was not the usual kind of Christmas message.

When parishioners from St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Elizabeth arrived for Mass on Sunday, they had no idea they would be saying goodbye to three priests and a monsignor who have served the parish for decades.

“This is all a mystery to me,” Msgr. Robert Harrington, the pastor of St. Mary’s, the oldest church in Union County, wrote in a letter to parishioners. “… We regret leaving, and so suddenly, and at this time of year.”

Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Archbishop John J. Myers said the changes were necessary for the parish’s success, and that they should not come as a surprise.

He cited Harrington’s medical problems, which led him to take a leave of absence about 10 years ago, and the parish’s financial difficulties in recent years.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Richard Khavkine/The Star-Ledger
on January 02, 2013

NEWARK — Despite the recent ouster of three parish priests and the reassignment of another, the financially troubled St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Elizabeth has a future, an official for the Archdiocese of Newark said today.

James Goodness, a spokesman for Archbishop John J. Myers, said a new administrator will assess both the church’s finances and the parish’s operations before a permanent pastor is installed, possibly in the next few months.

“The archdiocese truly believes in the future of the parish,” Goodness said.

Goodness spoke after about 20 parishioners from St. Mary’s gathered across the street from the archdiocese’ offices to express concern about St. Mary’s, Union County’s oldest church, following the ouster of the church’s pastor, Monsignor Robert Harrington, and of the Revs. Jack Martin and Pat Donohue.

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NEWARK (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By Eric Sagara/The Star-Ledger
on January 06, 2013

NEWARK — More than 100 Catholics converged on the Basilica Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark today, calling it their modern day Jericho.

Their plan was to circle the towering church near the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark seven times, hoping to bring down what they say is a wall of silence around the decision to dismiss a monsignor and three priests from their parish in Elizabeth.

Instead of a horn, they carried signs declaring their support of the priests at St. Mary of Assumption Church and a list of questions they want Archbishop John Myers to answer.

“That’s the one thing that makes us upset,” said Maritsa Jaramillo, a St. Mary’s parishioner from Rahway. “He has to have time to talk to his people.

“He’s thinking as a corporation,” she said. “He’s not thinking as a human being.”

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NEW JERSEY
WABC

[with video]

Carolina Leid
Eyewitness News

ELIZABETH (WABC) — Parishioners from a New Jersey church staged a vocal demonstration on Sunday to say they are being left out in the cold after a popular decision by the Archdiocese of Newark to remove their parish priests.

Many people say they are upset by the lack of communication.

“We want the bishops to hear the voice of the faithful,” said parishioner Theresa.

About 100 people marched in Newark hoping that the turnout spoke volumes to the Archdiocese about their love for Saint Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church. Just two days before Christmas, parishioners found out four priests including the monsignor were being forced out by Newark’s Archbishop.

“We find that the way they decided to remove our priest was a lack of respect for them, and a lack of respect for our parish,” said Alejandra Aramejo.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pocono News

LACKAWAXEN TWP – Police have charged a New Jersey man, who was a counselor at a camp in Pike County, with indecent assault, relating to an alleged incident almost 12 years ago.

Aryeh Goodman, 30, of East Brunswick, NJ, allegedly had inappropriate with a juvenile male camper. The alleged incident happened in 2001 at Camp Manachem. The victim reported the assault last summer.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

LACKAWAXEN TWP. – An East Brunswick, N.J., man is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania for a crime allegedly committed while a counselor at Camp Menachem in summer 2001.

In summer 2012, a teenage boy came forward to police and reported having been assaulted by Aryeh Goodman, 30, while at camp in 2001, state police said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 30, a former counselor at Chabad’s Camp Menachem in Lackawaxen County, Pennsylvania and the current director of Chabad of East Brunswick, New Jersey – was reportedly arrested by New Jersey State Police Friday and is incarcerated in the Middlesex County Prison awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania on charges related to an alleged child sexual assault just over a decade ago.

During the summer 2012, a now-teenage boy told police that he was sexually assaulted Goodman while he was a camper at Camp Menachem and Goodman was counselor there in 2001, the Times-Tribune reported.

According to a brief biography on the Chabad of Central Jersey website, Goodman was born in Highland Park New Jersey. He studied in Chabad yeshivas Brooklyn, Toronto, and Morristown, New Jersey, completing his rabbinic studies and at Chabad’s Sydney, Australia, yeshiva.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Father Georg Gänswein is consecrated Archbishop reinforcing his position at Benedict XVI’s side

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

This morning in Saint Peter’s Basilica Benedict XVI will ordain as bishop his private secretary, 56 year-old Georg Gänswein, the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household. The appointment of Father Georg is without precedent as he will now control even the official hearings and will continue to shadow the Pope. The archiepiscopal promotion comes twelve months after the beginning of vatileaks: a clear recognition and declaration of appreciation for his work, but also a consequence of the scandal that shook the Vatican.

The new Prefect has a web site dedicated to him at and since 2005, when he entered the spotlight as the secretary of the new Pope, the media have not given him any peace, comparing him to George Clooney. Most famous was the comment about him expressed by Mrs Franca Ciampi during Ratzinger’s first visit to the Quirinale. Interviewed on Vatican Radio for his fiftieth birthday, Father Georg remarked about the comments on his looks: “I pretended not to hear them and with time I got used to them”. And he also revealed that he “had a serene and very natural relationship with women”. With the passing of time and the disappearance of the gossip about “Gorgeous Georg”, he carved himself an increasingly important role alongside the Pope, with an influence inversely proportional to his appearance.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Saturday, January 05, 2013

The head of a Catholic Church council set up to work with the royal commission into child abuse says the church wants to work transparently with authorities so ‘the truth can come out’.

But Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the new Truth, Justice and Healing Council, says the seal of confession remains ‘intimate’ for the church and its followers, and should be maintained.

The new council, announced in December, will be headed by former NSW Supreme Court chief judge Barry O’Keefe and Mr Sullivan, the former secretary-general of the Australian Medical Association.

Two bishops and a nun have already been nominated to the 10-person council but it will be led by lay people, whose brief is to nationally co-ordinate the church’s ’embrace’ of the royal commission.

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VERMONT
The Republican

By Stephanie Barry, The Republican
on January 05, 2013

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The state’s Roman Catholic Diocese will be forced to defend itself against allegations it hired a priest it knew had a history of child molestation in an upcoming trial in federal court.

The accusations surround a defrocked priest, Edward Paquette, 84, now living in Westfield, Mass., whom the complainant said sexually abused him when he was 12-year-old altar boy in 1974, according to the Burlington Free Press. The case is set to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

The suit states the abuse occurred at Christ the King Church in Rutland, and that the diocese hired Paquette in 1972 knowing he had previously molested parishioners in Indiana and eastern Massachusetts. The diocese counters that officials believed Paquette had been cured of his problem.

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CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star

By Tom Kisken
Posted January 5, 2013

More than 30 years after he claims an Oxnard priest molested him, 11 years after terrorist attacks unearthed buried memories, five years after a $660 million settlement brought a church promise to release clergy abuse files, and one day before a court hearing on those still-unreleased files, Manny Vega worries about the truth.

“Are we any closer today than we were 10 years ago?” he said in a work office decorated with Marine posters. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias is expected to rule on an earlier decision to redact the names of cardinals, bishops and other Catholic Church leaders in files that may show what they knew about molesting priests and when they knew it.

Although more than 230 priests and lay people associated with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles were accused of molestation in a scandal that exploded in 2002, the files of 69 priests are currently

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

(by Jerry Slevin, retired Wall Street lawyer)

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI, a foreign sovereign, interfered significantly in the U.S. election campaign by pressing his indefensible moral position against couples in the U.S. planning their families with contraception as covered by Obamacare. This was especially objectionable because this Pope has failed for over three decades to curtail effectively the sexual abuse by priests of children in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Pope apparently protects zygotes much more than he protects children. Not surprisingly, U.S. voters, including a majority of Catholic voters, rejected strongly this papal interference.

Experts at a Vatican conference recently estimated over 100,000 children in the U.S. alone have been abused so far by priests. It is clear by now that this Pope will not take effective action to curtail priest abuse of children sufficiently. A new Pope will be arriving soon.

President Obama needs to do some of his own election signaling. He needs to make clear to the Vatican now that whomever is elected the new Pope, he must curtail the abuse of children by priests or else. The Prime Ministers of Ireland and Australia have already sent their own signals, now President Obama must do so as well. Children in the U.S. deserve no less.

Beginning in a few weeks on February 4, HBO will begin airing multiple showings of the documentary, “Mea Maxima Culpa”, about a Milwaukee priest who sexually abused over 200 deaf boys. Millions of viewers worldwide will see the sickening story that includes the failure of the present Pope to deal with this predatory priest promptly. State governments in the U.S. are too beholden to organizational child abuser protectors like the the Catholic hierarchy and have failed dismally to protect children adequately from organizational sexual abuse. These viewers surely will, and should, demand prompt and effective action at the Federal level by President Obama.

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