ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

December 23, 2020

Faith group linked to Amy Coney Barrett urges leaders to report sexual abuse claims

UNITED STATES
The Guardian

December 23, 2020

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner

Group’s head sends letter to all-male leadership after former member shares allegations she was abused

The head of the secretive Christian faith group People of Praise, which reportedly counts the supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, has called on its leaders to report any allegations of previous sexual abuse to a lawyer the group has hired to investigate such claims.

The letter from Craig Lent to the leaders of the group, who are known as coordinators, was sent shortly after one of the group’s former members, Sarah Kuehl, shared her own story of alleged childhood abuse at the hands of a member who lived with the family.

In a letter to members written in November, sent shortly after Kuehl had shared her allegations of childhood sexual abuse with the Guardian, Kuehl described how Barrett’s nomination to the high court had triggered feelings in her because of the manner in which People of Praise had allegedly tried to discourage her from discussing the abuse.

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

Survivor calls on Trudeau to release St. Anne’s residential-school abuse documents

OTTAWA (CANADA)
The Canadian Press via Kamloops This Week

December 23, 2020

By Maan Alhmidi

Residential school survivor Evelyn Korkmaz is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to release thousands of documents that detail the sexual and physical abuse of thousands of Indigenous children at St. Anne’s residential school in the last century.

Korkmaz said the federal government has not turned over 12,300 reports from Ontario Provincial Police investigations of violations at St. Anne’s in Fort Albany, Ont. despite an Ontario Superior Court order.

Following the court order in 2014, Ottawa released heavily redacted copies of materials generated by the OPP between 1992 and 1996.

“They’re useless if they’re redacted,” Korkmaz said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “This is part of Canada’s Indigenous history. We can learn from this.”

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

Survivors of abuse in care of the Catholic Church say their voices matter

NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

December 23, 2020

By Andrew McRae

Victims of abuse while in the care of the Catholic Church say survivor voices matter the most.

SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is a world-wide organisation supporting women and men wounded by religious and institutional authorities (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns, coaches, teachers, and others).

Its National Leader in New Zealand, Dr Christopher Longhurst, said the organisation believed that it was of paramount importance that the Catholic Church use the extent of its powers to look further and deeper to discover where the abuse was still happening today, and make the necessary recommendations to stop it.

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

Almost five years after abuse reports shut Eagleton School, some plaintiffs have been paid

MASSACHUSETTS
The Berkshire Eagle

December 23, 2020

By Heather Bellow

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/almost-five-years-after-abuse-reports-shut-eagleton-school-some-plaintiffs-have-been-paid/article_fd659b94-43a0-11eb-a88d-93c8d7c2ccfa.html

GREAT BARRINGTON — Several lawsuits filed by former students who allege rampant abuse at a now-shuttered boarding school were settled this year for undisclosed amounts. Other lawsuits are still pending.

Three lawsuits against Eagleton School, its founder and former director Bruce Bona, as well as staff, have settled with former students of the school for boys ages 9 to 22 with emotional, behavioral and cognitive disabilities.

Two suits are still pending — one in U.S. District Court in Springfield, the other in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

In two cases, settled in federal court, the former students had asked for $9.9 million and $1 million. Chester Tennyson, their attorney, said he could not reveal the amount of the settlements. One of his cases is pending.

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

German nuns were ‘pimps’ for sick priests, says sexual abuse victim

GERMANY
New York Post

December 22, 2020

By Hannah Sparks

A child rape victim has accused nuns at a now-shuttered Catholic children’s home in Germany of “pimping” out orphans to priests, politicians and other wealthy men.

The victim, now 63, has remained anonymous despite having fought and won a legal battle for compensation in May over the horrors they endured, beginning at 5 years old in March 1963.

The man, who has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression since then, was awarded a total of 25,000 euros by German courts due to claims he’d been raped more than 1,000 times.

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

December 22, 2020

Francis warns Vatican officials their conflicts polarize Catholic Church

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

December 21, 2020

By Joshua J. McElwee

Pope Francis Dec. 21 urged the bishops and cardinals who lead the Vatican’s bureaucracy not to be in conflict with one another, warning that the Catholic Church can become polarized if the prelates appear always at odds.

In an annual pre-Christmas meeting that Francis has frequently used to upbraid his top Vatican officials, the pontiff acknowledged that the church may be in crisis due to scandals “past and present” but said crisis should not be confused with conflict.

“Crisis generally has a positive outcome, whereas conflict always creates discord and competition, an apparently irreconcilable antagonism that separates others into friends to love and enemies to fight,” the pope told the prelates.

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Lawsuit alleges LDS Church, leaders knew of child sex abuse but failed to report it

ARIZONA
KUTV

December 21, 2020

By Larry D. Curtis

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced policy changes in its revised, updated handbook, but a lawsuit in Arizona filed against the Church earlier this month seeks to change how its abuse helpline handles reporting of child sexual abuse.

The Arizona lawsuit contends that the sexual abuse hotline of the Church contributed to years of ongoing rape and sexual and physical abuse of three Arizona children because it instructed local Church leaders not to report it. Bishops in charge of local congregations are instructed to call the helpline for assistance in abuse cases.

A bishop is a volunteer leader appointed over a local congregation (known as a ward) with duties similar to those of a pastor, priest or rabbi. Typical length of service is five years. The Church provided a statement from lawyer Bill Maledon, representing the case in Arizona that said it offers assistance to the victims but will also “vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit.”

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Kerala: Priest and nun found guilty in 28-year-old Abhaya murder case

KERALA (INDIA)
Deccan Herald

December 22 2020

By Arjun Raghunath, DHNS, Thiruvananthapuram

Catholic priests and the nun were even subjected to narco-analysis test to unearth the facts

A priest and nun in Kerala have been found guilty of murdering a nun at a convent in Kottayam district in Kerala 28 years back.

Sister Abhaya, aged 21, was found dead in the well of the St. Pius X convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. Knanaya Catholic priest Thomas M Kottoor, who was the first accused, and Sister Sephy, who was the third accused, were found guilty by the CBI special court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Special judge K Sanil Kumar would be pronouncing sentence on Wednesday.

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

Nuns pimped out boys to priests and politicians who would rape the children as other men watched at German children’s home, it emerges as victim wins compensation battle

GERMANY
Daily Mail

December 22, 2020

By Rachael Bunyan


The victim, now 63, was just five when he joined the children’s home in Speyer
He said he was raped around 1,000 times before leaving the home in 1972
Darmstaft Social Welfare Court awarded the man with compensation over abuse

Catholic nuns running a children’s home in Germany pimped out boys to priests, politicians and businessmen who would rape the children at sex parties, according to a victim who has won a compensation battle.

Darmstaft Social Welfare Court awarded the man, now 63, compensation after he detailed how nuns dragged him to be abused by priests and powerful men at parties, starting at age five. They paid the women for doing so.

The victim, who remains anonymous, said he was raped around 1,000 times during his time at the home in the 1960s and 70s, alongside other boys.

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

Sister Abhaya Murder: 28 Years On, Kerala Catholic Priest, Nun Convicted

INDIA
NDTV

December 22, 2020

By Sneha Mary Koshy

Sister Abhaya Murder: The incident was initially labelled as “death by suicide” by police and Crime Branch officials. Amid protests and petitions, the case was transferred to the CBI.

Thiruvananthapuram: A special CBI court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram today delivered its verdict in a 28-year-old murder case as it held a Catholic priest and a nun guilty. Sister Abhaya, 21, was murdered and her body was dumped inside the well of a convent in Kottayam in 1992.
Among those convicted is Father Thomas Kottoor, who was a Vicar and taught Sister Abhaya psychology at Kottayam’s BCM College. He was also Secretary to the then Bishop. He later rose to be Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese in Kottayam.

Another convict, Sister Sephy, stayed in the same hostel as Sister Abhaya and was de facto in-charge of the hostel. The quantum of punishment will be delivered tomorrow.

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Time running out for some sex abuse victims to file suit

ARIZONA
Arizona Capitol Times

December 21, 2020

By Howard Fischer

Time is quickly running out for many who were sexually assaulted or abused years ago as children to try to get some justice from perpetrators or those who allowed it to occur.

An Arizona law approved last year scrapped existing statutes that required victims to sue before the 20th birthday or forfeit their legal rights. Now they have until age 30.

That portion of the law is permanent.

What is not is a temporary legal “window” that legislators agreed to open for those whose time to file suit already had expired. They have only until the end of this year to bring their claims.

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

Syracuse diocese bankruptcy case: 162 sexual abuse claims from Child Victims Act

NEW YORK
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin via Utica Observer-Dispatch

December 22, 2020

By Anthony Borelli

Victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse might not be getting the day in court they envisioned.

Nearly six months after the Diocese of Syracuse filed for bankruptcy under the weight of 162 active lawsuits through New York state’s Child Victims Act, priest sex abuse victims have a new deadline to meet if they wish to be part of a resolution to its Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings.

The diocese’s filing for bankruptcy in June essentially froze all pending lawsuit cases against it, regardless of what stages those lawsuits had reached in state court. Most recently, a federal judge has set April 15, 2021 as the deadline for victims’ attorneys to file proofs of claim in connection with the bankruptcy case’s next stages.

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

Priestly faculties for Father Jeffrey Finley, CPPS, removed by Diocese of Oakland

OAKLAND (CA)
Catholic Voice (Diocese of Oakland)

December 20, 2020

Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, has permanently revoked the priestly faculties of Father Jeffrey J. Finley, a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.), in the Diocese of Oakland, due to allegations of boundary violations with an adult man. The alleged behavior occurred in 2000 and was reported to the Diocese in September 2020.

This means, although Father Finley remains a Catholic priest, he cannot function as a priest in the Diocese of Oakland by celebrating the sacraments. He has not had an official appointment in the Diocese since 2011, but has assisted on an as-needed basis at Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City.

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In EWTN interview, Cardinal Pell discusses acquittal, Vatican finances

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Agency

December 21, 2020

Cardinal George Pell, who was acquitted this year after becoming the highest-ranking Catholic cleric ever to be convicted of sexual abuse, spoke this week about his time in prison, his hopes for the future, and his thoughts on Vatican financial reform efforts.

Pell was initially convicted in Australia in 2018 of multiple counts of sexual abuse. On April 7, 2020, Australia’s High Court overturned his six-year prison sentence. The High Court ruled that he should not have been found guilty of the charges and that the prosecution had not proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Lawsuit claims former priest sexually abused boy inside Ballantyne church

CHARLOTTE (SC)
WSOC-TV

December 21, 2020

By Allison Latos

There are new claims that a former priest sexually abused a boy inside Ballantyne church.

Former Catholic priest Robert Yurgel is a free man after he went to prison in 2009 for abusing an altar boy at St. Matthew in the late 1990s.

Another man said Yurgel abused him there when he was as young as five years old.

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Philippines poised to lift age of consent for sex from 12 to 16 after decades of lobbying from children’s rights activists

PHILIPPINES
Agence France-Presse via South China Morning Post

December 21, 2020

– Campaigners say the legislation would help protect youngsters in a nation that has become a global hotspot for online child sex abuse

– Prosecuting adult perpetrators in rape cases involving children as young as 12 has been difficult because they can argue the sex was consensual

Manila teenager Rose Alvarez was 13 when she started having sex with a man who was more than twice her age. That would be statutory rape in most countries, but not in the Philippines.
The Catholic-majority country has one of the lowest ages of consent in the world, allowing adults to legally have sex with children as young as 12. Congress now looks set to approve a bill to raise the age to 16.

Children’s rights activists have lobbied for decades to increase the age – enshrined in the penal code since 1930 – but faced resistance from what they describe as a “culture of patriarchy” in a country where abortion and divorce are illegal.

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Philippines to raise age of sexual consent from 12 to 16

ASIA
WION Web Team

December 22, 2020

The Philippines is set to raise the age of sexual consent from the age of 12 to 16. Once the bill is approved, the legal age for sexual consent in the Catholic-majority country would go up.

The country has one of the world’s lowest ages of consent in the world. The Philippines allows adults to legally engage in sexual intercourse with children as young as 12.

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December 21, 2020

‘Beatles church’ vicar John Roberts jailed for child sex abuse

ENGLAND
BBC News

December 21, 2020

A former vicar who sexually abused children for four decades in a “despicable” exploitation of trust has been jailed.

Rev John Roberts, 86 and of Cherry Vale, Woolton, was found guilty of ten counts of indecent and sexual assault at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

Roberts was vicar at St Peter’s Church in Woolton, which is known as the “Beatles church” due to it being where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met.

He was jailed for nine years.

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Granville Gibson abuse: Priest ‘blackballed’ for raising allegations with bishop

ENGLAND
BBC News

December 21, 2020

A clergyman claims he was “blackballed” by the Church of England after reporting sexual abuse by a priest.

John Skinner said he told the Bishop of Durham about Granville Gibson in the early 1980s but was told not to gossip.

A review into how the Diocese of Durham dealt with complaints about Gibson said others may have been spared abuse if he had been “more robustly challenged”.

The church said Father Skinner’s sense of injustice was “understandable” but a “culture of cover-up” had ended.

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EXPOSING BOY SCOUTS SEX ABUSE TURNED INTO BATTLE OF PRESS FREEDOM AGAINST POWERFUL INTERESTS

UNITED STATES
The Intercept

December 21, 2020

By Brian Knappenberger

The film “Church and the Fourth Estate” tells the story of how the Boy Scouts tried to cover up a massive scandal of child sexual abuse.

ON NOVEMBER 16, the U.S. passed a milestone: the end of a window of less than nine months in which nearly 92,700 people came forward with shocking sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America. By way of comparison, in the last 15 years there have been some 15,000 credible child sex abuse allegations reported against the Catholic Church.

The allegations of sexual abuse against the Boy Scouts include highly violent attacks. More than half of the claimants, according to Tim Kosnoff, an attorney who has spent years representing victims of child sexual abuse, described behavior that would constitute a Class A felony — “the most serious child sex offenses,” Kosnoff said. Cover-ups by Scout officials were frequent. Instead of informing authorities, the officials told the subjects of the allegations to quietly leave the organization. Many went on to join other troops, only to face more allegations of child abuse. The young people targeted by abuse were often told by Scouting officials not to tell their parents.

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Should abuse scandals make Church ‘wait and see’ on sainthood causes?

NEW YORK (NY)
CRUX

December 19, 2020

By John Lavenburg

According to one University of Notre Dame professor, the revelations of the Holy See’s report on laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the totality of the clergy sex abuse crisis are grounds enough to increase the number of years after a person dies before a sainthood cause can be opened.

In a conversation with Crux, Kathleen Cummings, who also serves as director of the university’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, said history needs a longer opportunity to play itself out before the process should start.

“What the actual truth of the matter is, we don’t fully know yet. I think any man who served as a bishop at any point since, say the 1960’s, just the possibility something is going to come to light is going to be enough to say, ‘this isn’t a good idea,’” Cummings said. “The legacy of clergy sex abuse is going to be long and I think it’s going to have an effect on canonization as it does everything else.”

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Analysis: Vatican decision on Indianapolis could impact pending lawsuit, and Catholic identity in Catholic schools

DENVER (CO)
CNA

December 21, 2020

By JD Flynn and Ed Condon

The outcome of a Vatican appeal involving same-sex civil marriage and the Catholic identity of an Indiana school could have effect on a pending religious liberty lawsuit, and on the way other Catholic schools approach the issue of Catholic identity among their faculty.

Layton Payne-Elliot is a math teacher at Brebeuf Jesuit High School in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In 2017, the school became aware that Payne-Elliot had contracted a same-sex marriage with Joshua Payne-Elliot, a teacher at Cathedral High School, which is also in the archdiocese.

The archdiocese asked that both schools not renew the teachers’ contracts, because, they said, teachers in Catholic schools are supposed to be witnesses of Catholic doctrine, and contracting a same-sex marriage constitutes a public act of counterwitness to that doctrine.

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Survivors claiming childhood abuse from adults hired to care for them now push for justice

MECKLENBURG COUNTY (NC)
WSOCTV.com

December 17, 2020

A North Carolina orphanage is now at the center of four lawsuits claiming adults hired to care for children decades ago sexually abused them.

The survivors are now coming forward.

Channel 9′s Allison Latos has covered the push for justice for survivors for years now. She found out when state lawmakers signed the Safe Child Act in 2019. Part of the law allowed adults who were abused when they were children a chance to fight back in civil court.

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Vermont review of church orphanage finds misconduct but not murder

VERMONT
The VT Digger

December 14, 2020

By Kevin O’Connor

A two-year investigation of past problems at Burlington’s shuttered St. Joseph’s Orphanage — sparked by a 2018 BuzzFeed News story headlined “We Saw Nuns Kill Children” — has confirmed a history of child abuse but concluded with no criminal charges of murder.

“It’s clear that abuse did occur at St. Joseph’s Orphanage, and that many children suffered,” Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said Monday upon releasing a 286-page report. “But we have found that there is no credible evidence to suggest that a murder occurred.”

The Attorney General’s Office teamed with local and state police and prosecutors after reading BuzzFeed claims that not only recounted previously reported “unrelenting physical and psychological abuse of captive children” but also revealed a few deadly allegations not documented in a series of well-publicized lawsuits in the 1990s.

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Former members of Kingston, Ont., church raise concerns of abuse at independent churches

CANADA
Global News

December 17, 2020

By Alexandra Mazur

Former members are asking for more oversight over non-denominational churches after claiming they experienced religious trauma at a Kingston, Ont., church.

Over the summer of 2020, Kingston, Ont., resident Tianna Weatherdon found herself incensed while researching a non-denominational Christian church in her hometown, called Third Day Worship Centre.

As a gay Christian, she was shocked by the church’s views on the LGBTQ2 community.

“I was pissed,” she says. “I was like, this is my city and these people hate me.”

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Pope Francis Warns Against Division in Response to Vatican Scandals

ROME
The Wall Street Journal

December 21, 2020

By Francis X. Rocca

Pontiff says bad news shouldn’t discourage church after a year dogged by crises

Pope Francis urged hope and warned against polarization in response to crisis in the Catholic Church, at the end of a year marked by scandals over financial dealings and sex abuse that besmirched the reputations of the last three popes and other prominent clerics.

A Vatican report revealed in November that Pope Francis and his two immediate predecessors had failed for years to discipline U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual misconduct. Separately, the church was dogged during 2020 by scandals over a loss-making investment purchase in London real estate by the Vatican’s powerful Secretariat of State.

In his Christmas speech to Vatican officials on Monday, Pope Francis cautioned against “judging the church hastily on the basis of the crises caused by scandals past and present.…Problems immediately end up in the newspapers—this happens every day—while signs of hope only make the news much later, if at all.”

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ISPCC warn new privacy laws could result in 46,000 daily reports of child sex abuse being missed

UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday World

December 19, 2020

By Neil Fetherstonhaugh

https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/ispcc-warn-new-privacy-laws-could-result-in-46000-daily-reports-of-child-sex-abuse-being-missed-39880668.html

The charity says these new privacy rules could prevent online giants from using software that automatically scans their systems for such images.

New privacy rules designed to protect private online communications from being monitored by internet companies could mean that thousands of images of child sexual abuse and grooming could be missed, the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) has warned.

The children’s charity has expressed concern at the prospect of “vital child protection” measures becoming illegal as a result of a failure at EU level to resolve a row over privacy laws.

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Charity fears 46,000 daily reports of child-sex abuse material will be missed

IRELAND
irish Examiner

December 19, 2020

By Cormac O’Keeffe

The ISPCC warns that new privacy rules could prevent online giants from using software that automatically detects child-abuse material.

A children’s charity is alarmed by stuttering efforts at EU level to resolve a row over privacy laws that risks preventing internet firms from automatically detecting child-abuse material.

The ISPCC said that if these software tools were made illegal that an estimated 46,000 reports of child sexual-abuse imagery and grooming behaviour per day could be missed.

The threat is described as the unintended consequence of a broader attempt in the European Parliament to protect private online communications from being monitored by internet companies.

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Tamil Nadu: Christian Pastor kidnaps a 13-year-old tribal girl from a hamlet in Tiruvannamalai, absconding for weeks

TAMIL NADU (INDIA)
OpIndia

December 20, 2020

The Police have found that he was married twice but both the wives left him. They have slapped a case of kidnapping on the pastor and the search for Jayaraj is going on.

A tribal girl was allegedly abducted by a pastor from a tribal hamlet in the Jawadhu hills located in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. According to the reports, the 49-year-old Christian pastor identified as Jayaraj, a resident of Trichy, was camping in Perungattur, a tribal hamlet in the Jawadhu hills of TN. The Christian priest indulged in preaching and evangelism in the village for four years in the garb of a social worker.

In October, as schools were shut down due to the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the pandemic, Pastor Jayaraj took advantage of this situation and proposed that he would like to teach the children at his house.

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Court of Appeal ruling means survivors of institutionalised abuse can seek further damages

VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA)
The Courier

December 21, 2020

By Greg Gliddon

SURVIVORS of child sexual abuse in Ballarat have welcomed a landmark court decision that will allow a Victorian man to to overturn a settlement with the church.

On Friday, the Catholic Church failed in its bid to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by the survivor, despite him having accepted a compensation of $32,500 in 1996.

The Victorian Court of Appeal judges said it was not enough given the wrong done to him

“It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the (1996) deed. Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so,” they found.

This means the survivor can press ahead with suing the church for abuse inflicted by now-dead Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980.

It’s a judgement which could set a precedent for many survivors in abuse in Ballarat.

Phil Nagle, a pupil at St Alipius from 1974-76, who hung new ribbons on the school fence at the weekend, said many people had simply taken money that was offered at the time.

“It was all very unfair and low, insignificant settlements and didn’t fit the crime that were committed against the victims,” he said.

“Once the Ellis defence was lifted, the judges have decided to review theses ‘deeds of release’ and have realised they were unjust.

“Rightside Legal got the deed of release overturned. All these extra cases are now like time bombs as every single one signed pre the Ellis defence can be reviewed.

“They’ve done a terrific job and now this sets the precedence for a lot of appeals.”

Mr Nagle said he himself had accepted a settlement without legal representation in the 1990s.

“I had no legal representation at the time of my deed, this guy had all the legal representation, and so for him to get such a result, it’s brilliant,” he said.

“I signed a deed of release in 1998. After the parliamentary enquiry in Ballarat, the church came to me again, and offered me some more money, so I accepted it at the time.”

The decision means the survivor can press ahead with suing the church for abuse inflicted by now-dead Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980. A Supreme Court trial date had been set down for November but this was vacated because of the church’s appeal.

Rightside Legal Senior associate Laird Macdonald hopes the trial can go ahead in early 2021. “The church went to the highest court in Victoria trying to justify a pittance it paid to a man whose life was ripped to shreds by a pedophile priest,” Senior associate Laird Macdonald said.

In a statement, the Diocese of Sale said it would consider the court’s findings. The church would have to go to the High Court to lodge another appeal.

Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636

– with AAP

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Court refuses Catholic Church appeal against settlement agreement

VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA)
Gippsland Times

THE Victorian Court of Appeal has declined to hear an appeal from the Catholic Church against the overturning of a settlement agreement it had with a Gippsland man.

In a unanimous decision, the Victorian Court of Appeal declined to hear the church’s appeal.

“It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the deed,” the court said. “Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so.”

In the late 1970s the former altar boy, known as WCB, was sexually abused for three years, from the age of 12, by his local parish priest, Father Daniel Hourigan.

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Priest exonerated after abuse allegations by Ellensburg man

YAKIMA (WA)
Associated Press

December 20, 2020

One of four priests accused of sexual abuse by an Ellensburg man has been exonerated, with the man’s attorneys expressing regret over the false accusation and the priest being restored to ministry.

The Rev. Seamus Kerr, 91, was named in a lawsuit filed in Kittitas County last year by a man identified only as John Doe, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported. The man said he was abused as a boy in the late 1970s and early 1980s at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Ellensburg.

But during the course of the litigation, it was revealed that Kerr, who has been a priest for 60 years, was wrongly accused. The lawsuit was settled on Dec. 10, with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima agreeing to pay $15,000 in past and future counseling costs for the man in exchange for the lawsuit’s dismissal.

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

Houston-area priest Manuel La Rosa-Lopez sentenced on child sex abuse charges

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

December 15, 2020

By Nicole Hensley

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1zqI5XEyDHIJ:https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/Houston-priest-Manuel-La-Rosa-Lopez-sex-abuse-15807970.php+&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

CONROE — The woman in the courtroom said shame filled her life in the years that followed the sexual abuse of Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, the Catholic priest whose crimes stained her childhood and those of others at a Montgomery County parish.

She shared the tearful reflection Wednesday as the Houston-area cleric was sentenced to 10 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of indecency with a child. The woman’s 2018 complaint to law enforcement resulted in priest’s arrest and conviction for abuse that spanned from 1998 to 2001 at Conroe’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

The criminal investigation happened amid a closer look at how the Catholic Church handled decades of clergy abuse accusations

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

December 20, 2020

Entre el cielo y el infierno

AñATUYA (ARGENTINA)
Noticias del Estero [Santiago del Estero, Argentina]

December 20, 2020

By Marcela Arce

Read original article

Por Marcela Arce*

El sacerdote Carlos Alberto Dorado, imputado por abuso sexual agravado, se habría aprovechado de la vulnerabilidad de los adolescentes a quienes acompañaba pastoralmente. Los testimonios de ex integrantes de su grupo misionero desnudan situaciones “sospechosas” y visibilizan una conducta “inadecuada”. El repudio al silencio cómplice de la Iglesia.

“El pueblo de Dios debe ser tu ocupación y tu preocupación. Que en tu calidad pastoral, que busca conocer a las ovejas, nunca te quede ninguna oveja por conocer, que siempre vayas a buscar a aquellas que están lejos y las que son reacias quizás por resentimientos”, le dijo Mons. Adolfo Uriona a Carlos Alberto Dorado, el jueves 12 de marzo de 2009, cuando lo ordenó sacerdotalmente. En una colmada Catedral “Nuestra Señora del Valle”, epicentro de la Diócesis de Añatuya, el novel sacerdote agradeció a todos aquellos que formaron parte de su formación pastoral y dedicó un párrafo especial a “la comunidad de Bandera, que me adoptó, mientras he dado los primeros pasos de mi experiencia”.

No era para menos, la ciudad de Bandera le había abierto las puertas. Mientras aún era seminarista, desarrolló su labor pastoral en la parroquia San Francisco Solano y, simultáneamente, comenzó a desempeñarse como profesor del Instituto Secundario “Monseñor José Weimann”, una institución educativa de gestión privada, mixta, de jornada simple,con orientación en valores de la religión católica, que ofrece servicios educativos en nivel primario y secundario. El secundario otorga el título de Bachiller con orientación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.

En ese ámbito es donde Carlos Dorado comienza a relacionarse con adolescentes y jóvenes de la ciudad de Bandera. A los estudiantes de ese colegio les propone crear el Grupo Misionero “Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús”.
Dorado parecía un verdadero entusiasta en la institución educativa y misionera, sin embargo, en ese ámbito es donde se habrían producido los abusos sexuales a dos menores de edad, quienes asistían al colegio y formaban parte del grupo.

Tal como se explicó en el artículo anterior publicado en la revista La Columna (Nº 1382), en una profunda investigación titulada “Iglesia encubridora”, dos adolescentes que tenían 15 y 16 años habrían sido víctimas del sacerdote. Si bien los hechos sucedieron en 2008, ellas se atrevieron a denunciar a Dorado, ante el Obispo Uriona, en 2013. Mientras que la denuncia penal la realizaron en agosto de 2016 y enero de 2020. Por la primera de esas denuncias, Dorado está imputado de “Abuso sexual agravado”.
Pero no fue una investigación más. Al contrario, fue el inicio de algo mucho más grande, que apenas está comenzando y que podría tener amplias derivaciones.

A FAVOR Y EN CONTRA
Apenas la investigación comenzó a difundirse, las aguas se abrieron en Bandera. Por un lado, pasaron del asombro al apoyo a las mujeres víctimas. Por el otro, tomaron como mentira a la publicación, aun cuando hay una investigación penal en curso y una imputación grave contra el sacerdote. A la vez, mientras unos repudiaban el accionar del cura, otros acusaban a las jóvenes, no solo descreyendo de sus afirmaciones sino calificándolas de la peor manera, e incluso aduciendo que si había pasado “algo” era porque ellas se “lo habían buscado”. Dijeron también que al ser Dorado un cura joven, “chicas se le tiraban encima”.

Otros fueron más allá y dijeron que se trata de una campaña feminista para desprestigiar la labor de la Iglesia. Que las “feminazis” son capaces de “cualquier cosa” con tal de aparecer en los medios.
Argumentos más, argumentos menos, así se planteó la situación en Bandera. Mientras tanto, el Obispado de Añatuya fue un verdadero “hervidero”.
Aunque La Columna intentó en repetidas ocasiones mantener contacto con algún miembro de la curia, no fue posible. Siempre estaban ocupados, no podían, no estaba la persona a cargo, o no tenían nada que decir al respecto. Al final, dijeron que “desde el Obispado no se van a hacer más declaraciones”. (Ver más abajo)

¿PÁRROCO?
Sin embargo, a través de Radio Nacional, el sacerdote Hernán González Cazón, quien fuera administrador y secretario canciller de la Diócesis de Añatuya durante el período en que se realizaron las denuncias de las jóvenes contra Carlos Dorado, confirmó el juicio canónico contra Carlos Dorado, tal como lo había explicado esta editorial.
Asimismo, señaló que “la resolución que se tomó fue suspender por 6 meses al sacerdote, también se le señaló la obligación de realizar una terapia psicológica adecuada para estar al tanto de cómo evoluciona”.

Es más, indicó que “la medida, desde el punto de vista de su ministerio sacerdotal, fue de seis meses, luego volvió a trabajar, a ejercer en su ministerio. No como párroco, pero sí como colaborador”. (Ver más abajo)
Y aquí aparece surge una duda. En el artículo 3 de la resolución a la que hace referencia, firmada por Uriona el 31 de mayo de 2014, dice explícitamente: “Prohibición del oficio de párroco por el término de 10 años”. Entonces, cuál es la diferencia de conceptos. Qué significa ser párroco y qué se entiende por el ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal.

Sacerdotes son aquellos que han recibido el segundo o el tercer grado del sacramento del Orden sacerdotal. Popularmente se identifica al sacerdote solo con el presbítero (a quien se llamado padre o cura), si bien son sacerdotes también los obispos, pero no los diáconos. De hecho, la expresión es utilizada como sinónimo de presbítero, palabraconsiderada preferible en cuanto es más precisa y concreta que sacerdote. La palabra cura sería apropiada usarla solo para aquel presbítero que tiene a su cargo la cura pastoral en una parroquia; es decir al cura párroco y a lo sumo a los vicarios parroquiales.
En general el sacerdote se preocupa de su parroquia, celebrando misa y administrando los sacramentos a la comunidad.

¿Y LA PROHIBICIÓN?
Entonces, si Carlos Dorado se convirtió sólo en “colaborador” de la parroquia “El Santo Cristo”, de Santos Lugares, en el departamento Alberdi, ¿por qué oficiaba misas on line? ¿Por qué aparecía concelebrando la eucaristía en diversas ocasiones, no sólo en su capilla, sino también en su área de influencia, incluso en el Santuario de la Virgen de Huachana? Si bien la página de Facebook de la capilla fue eliminada apenas surgió la publicación, aún se encuentran imágenes en distintos lugares. También se lo ve junto a grupos de jóvenes misioneros, de niños recibiendo la primera comunión y en múltiples celebraciones religiosas en las cuales no debería participar, puesto que sólo es “colaborador”, no párroco.

También resulta llamativo que si Dorado ya no era párroco, participara junto al obispo José Luis Corral de una convivencia del clero en la localidad de Raco, Tucumán, realizada entre el 17 y el 21 de febrero de 2020. La información, emanada del obispado, dice claramente que “los 24 sacerdotes que conforman el clero en la diócesis de Añatuya vivieron la XV convivencia del clero diocesano”.
“Los presbíteros compartieron momentos de diálogos y oración, de recreación y de reflexión sobre diversos temas relacionados con el ministerio y las actividades pastorales”, añade el texto explicativo.
Qué hacía Dorado allí, junto a 23 sacerdotes y un obispo, si ya no es párroco, sólo “colaborador”.

Del mismo modo, Dorado aparece en primer plano en una fotografía de El Liberal, en una nota del 5 de diciembre de 2018, donde dice que “los presbíteros de la Diócesis se trasladaron a Tucumán a visitar al obispo José Meliton Chavez, quien tenía sufría de problemas de salud. También explican que concelebraron una misa junto al prelado.
O sea, Dorado ya no era párroco, y no lo será hasta 2024, si se tiene en cuenta la sanción que firmó Uriona de 10 años de prohibición. Entonces, ¿por qué la curia de Añatuya aún lo considera como tal?

Encubrimiento, no. Quizá sólo fue darle un “lugarcito” a Carlos Dorado, encontrado culpable por delitos contra un menor de edad –en este caso abuso sexual- por el Derecho Canónico, y ahora llamado “colaborador”.
En qué quedó la prohibición de Uriona, la misma que el obispo José Melitón Chávez dijo: “Doy fe que se está aplicando de acuerdo a lo decretado”.

REPUDIO A LA IMPUNIDAD ECLESIÁSTICA
Pero más allá de un posible encubrimiento de la Iglesia a los posibles abusos sexuales cometidos por Dorado -aunque ya fue encontrado culpable por del Derecho Canónico-, el informe de La Columna abrió un fuerte debate en la comunidad de Bandera.
Por un lado, comenzó a correr como reguero de pólvora un comunicado de ex alumnas del Instituto Weimann, titulado“Repudio a la impunidad eclesiástica”.

“A raíz de las denuncias de abuso sexual agravado contra Carlos Alberto Dorado en enero del corriente año, ex alumnas del Instituto Monseñor José Weimann N° 19 y ciudadanos de la Ciudad de Bandera, necesitamos expresar la extrema preocupación e indignación que genera la impunidad de los victimarios”.
“Consideramos este hecho totalmente violento; pero aún más violento es el silencio de las autoridades de las instituciones implicadas, haciéndose partícipes y cómplices de un sistema corrupto y negligente”
, añade el comunicado.

Asimismo, se señala que “empatizamos con las víctimas no sólo por ser contemporáneas; sino porque creemos firmemente que es hora de asumir la responsabilidad que implica participar en la educación que reciben los adolescentes de nuestra comunidad y en la generación urgente de espacios -todavía inexistentes- de apoyo, asistencia e instrucción sobre temáticas de género, sexualidad y ciudadanía”.
A la vez, se hizo hincapié en que “es triste y doloroso entender que estos actos violentos ocurren en espacios que en vez de contener, se aprovechan de la vulnerabilidad social. Pero somos todos conscientes de que estos abusos de poder son posibles en un marco institucional de autoritarismo y por la falta de herramientas de participación ciudadana”.
Por lo cual, se dijo que “es hora de actuar, denunciar los atentados a la integridad humana, brindar las herramientas que nuestros hijos necesitan para no correr peligro y buscar sin descanso la resolución favorable de la justicia”.

Por su parte, la rectora de la institución educativa desde hace 3 años, Leila Villalba, en escueta llamada telefónica dijo:“Me molesta el anonimato de esas que dicen ser alumnas de la institución y que manifiestan tanta preocupación. Lo correcto hubiera sido que elaboren un escrito, una nota y la eleven a quien corresponda. En este caso la Justicia, porque al parecer ellas están condenando el sistema legal y a las autoridades del colegio, porque los acusan de cómplices y partícipes, pero formalmente no hemos recibido nada. Por eso no puedo dar ningún discurso referido al tema”.

ELLAS CUENTAN SU VERDAD
Quienes decidieron actuar fueron ex integrantes del grupo misionero y ex alumnas del Instituto Weimann. Si bien sus testimonios no hablan de abuso sexual, son indicadores del posible abuso de poder que habría ejercido Dorado contra todas ellas.
Los siguientes son testimonios concretos de mujeres que se decidieron a hablar, pero tienen pánico a que sus identidades sean conocidas. Temen “la reacción de pueblo, del colegio, de la iglesia”. Por lo cual, se decidió garantizar el resguardo de sus nombres, aunque no acallar sus voces.
Hoy cuentan sus historias en primera persona:

  • “Decía que los hombres se distraían conmigo”
    Fui parte del grupo misionero Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús. Cuando me sumé al grupo tenía 16 años, era una de las más chicas, ya que era un grupo de adolescentes. Compartí viajes y salimos a misionar con Carlos Dorado. Era un muy lindo grupo de amigos, me sentía cómoda con mis compañeros, hasta que un día me llamó a solas, a la casa parroquial, para pedirme que deje el grupo, que no era algo para mí, y que los hombres se distraían conmigo.
    Me enojé, y me aleje, sintiéndome culpable. Sentí que me juzgaba por mi forma de vestir y, aunque la ropa no me define como persona, me alejé de la iglesia por un tiempo. Cuando los chicos me preguntaban qué había pasado me daba vergüenza contarlo porque creí que era mi culpa.
  • “Decía que yo no era buena influencia porque tenía novio”
    Conocí a Carlos Dorado en el año que llegó a Bandera, 2008. Cursaba mi último año de secundaria, fue profesor de “Evangelio y Sociedad”.
    Yo era una persona muy activa dentro de los grupos parroquiales, aunque no existía grupo juvenil. Cuando él llega, con su juventud y entusiasmo de armar uno, utilizó su lugar como profesor para atraer a los chicos al grupo. Lo logra, ya que fue un grupo grande pero selectivo.Digo selectivo porque en ese grupo solo entraban las personas que a él le caían bien.
    Mi sorpresa fue cuando un día me llama para decirme que yo no podía entrar a su grupo porque, según su criterio, era más grande y ya tenía novio. Por ende, estaba más “avivada”, y no era una buena influencia para los chicos que tenían entre 14 y 16 años y hasta incluso compañeros míos de la secundaria.
    Hoy entiendo el porqué de su selecto grupo. Solo captaba a quienes podía manejar psicológicamente.
  • “Decía que yo le daba asco”
    A Carlos dorado, en el año 2010, lo tuve como profesor de Antropología en el colegio, hasta el 2012, cuando terminé el colegio. Siempre me resultó un tipo un tanto oscuro. En aquel entonces, y como adolescente, me cuestionaba muchas cosas, como por ejemplo “Dios”. Siempre que cuestionaba algo, su reacción era un tanto violenta, me contestaba mal.
    Creo que en el año 2011 llega a nuestro pueblo un nuevo cura, de quien se hablaba mucho y se decía que era trasladado por abusos. Precisamente, eso fue algo que cuestioné al padre Dorado, porque nos obligaban a confesarnos solos en la casa de los curas, que quedaba al lado del colegio. Dorado se enojó mucho, me gritó y me corrió de su clase, a la que nunca más pude entrar. Él llegaba al aula y yo debía de salir afuera. Materia que me mandaba a rendir a febrero porque decía que no me quería ver, porque le daba asco.
  • “Decía que hacíamos algo indebido”
    En 2011, Carlos Dorado fue mi profesor de Antropología cuando yo cursaba 3° año en el colegio. Lo recuerdo como una persona con la cual no se podía hablar de cuestiones que él no compartía, como sexualidad, por ejemplo. Tener un punto de vista diferente al de él, era imposible.
    Recuerdo un hecho puntual: cuando llevaron a nuestro curso a un retiro espiritual en la Ciudad de Añatuya. Debíamos pasar una noche ahí, las chicas teníamos una habitación y los varones tenían otra. Éramos todos muy amigos y compañeros. Esa noche, como travesura, algunos chicos vinieron a nuestra habitación un rato. Dorado entró a la habitación, furioso por encontrar a los chicos ahí, y comenzó a tratarnos muy mal y decirnos cosas horribles. Entre esas cosas, nos dijo: “Si se quieren ir a encamar, vayan a encamarse a otro lado”.
    Nosotros teníamos entre 14 y 15 años, estábamos hablando y riéndonos todos juntos, como típicos adolescentes. No había nada de malo en lo que hacíamos y él, de alguna manera, nos hizo sentir que nosotros estábamos haciendo algo indebido. Por supuesto, se encargó de ponernos en una situación diferente a la de nuestros otros compañeros, haciéndonos sentir mal y juzgándonos.
  • “Era realmente despreciable”
    Yo lo conocí a Dorado, también fui al grupo misionero que él había creado y del cual era coordinador. Realmente despreciable, se enojaba por todo, quería que todo se haga como él quería, hasta era selectivo a la hora de incorporar nuevos integrantes al grupo. Cada aspirante tenía que dialogar con él y una vez que él daba el OK., recién ingresaba.
    Yo actualmente no vivo en Bandera, pero me mantengo en contacto permanente con compañeros y amigos. Cuando la noticia se publicó, cada promoción del Instituto Monseñor JoseWeimann empezó a escribir cosas de él. Que era una persona despreciable, que sacaba del curso a aquellas personas que pensaban distinto a él o que lo cuestionaban, desaprobaban algunos otros.
  • “Tenemos miedo”
    Particularmente, como ex alumna del colegio donde él era profesor, puedo decir y hasta asegurar que son muchísimas más las chicas que sufrieron acoso por parte de este tipo. Le pedimos que, por favor, nos proteja, no es fácil decirlo. Tenemos miedo.
    ¿A quién o a qué tienen miedo?
    -Al colegio, a la iglesia. Aquí repudian al feminismo, y más en esos temas.
    -Pero esto no es un tema de feminismo sino de un delito.
    -No queremos que, por los testimonios que dimos, nos llamen a atestiguar, porque sería tener todo un pueblo en contra.

UN TESTIMONIO VITAL
Los testimonios de todas ellas apuntan en un mismo sentido: Carlos Alberto Dorado, y sus actitudes con sus alumnas. Pueden parecer parcializadas, pero son lo que ellas vivieron.
Sin embargo, no solo ellas se atrevieron a hablar en contra de Dorado. Un joven de 27 años, quien era miembro activo del grupo misionero y estrecho colaborador de Dorado contó detalles acerca de conversaciones con el sacerdote sobre temas como pedofilia, destacando que “él me decía que no todos los curas son pedófilos y violadores”. También que Dorado repetía que “si hacía una macana, la Diócesis lo iba a mandar a otro lugar”.

Aunque también pidió el resguardo de su identidad, su testimonio es demasiado importante. Entre otras cuestiones, asegura presenció un “momento muy sospechoso”, cuando vio a una compañera adolescente salir llorando, de la parte trasera de la iglesia donde vivía Carlos Dorado.
“Me pregunté qué hacía una menor de edad saliendo a altas horas de la noche de la parte oscura de la iglesia, sin iluminación ni nada”, dijo.
A la vez, destaca que “cuando ella salió de la iglesia sí se me cruzó por la cabeza que él se pudo propasar o algo por el estilo, pero en ese momento estaba muy metido en el grupo misionero y es como que estaba ciego”.
Aunque reconoce que “ahora, con la edad que tengo, sí me doy cuenta y digo que es súper sospechoso y que para mí es verdad”
. (Ver entrevista aparte)

“LA ALTERNATIVA”
Un grupo de mujeres de Bandera hizo llegar un comunicado sobre la creación de un nuevo espacio para denunciar los abusos.
“A raíz de la visibilización de los abusos sexuales agravados denunciados al ex sacerdote y docente Carlos Dorado, mujeres de la comunidad de Bandera, Santiago del Estero, nos vimos en la necesidad de conformar por primera vez un movimiento organizado, no excluyente, destinado a la información y apertura al debate de diferentes temáticas, que no encuentran lugar en otros espacios dentro de la ciudad”, comentaron.
Ellas explican que “el primer paso que dimos fue expresar nuestro repudio tanto a la aberración como al silencio de las partes involucradas. Dada la gran repercusión que obtuvimos, que nos tomó por sorpresa, han llegado a nosotras nuevas víctimas, con sus testimonios, y es por eso que estamos trabajando, día a día, articuladas y respaldadas por la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abusos Eclesiásticos de Argentina”.

En ese sentido, explican que el trabajo que realiza esta organización es brindar acompañamiento terapéutico profesional, respetando principalmente el proceso de cada víctima. Suele suceder que las personas que se comunican con la red, luego de un tiempo toman fuerza y deciden visibilizar y/o denunciar el abuso al que fueron sometidas, pero no es necesaria la intención de denuncia para solicitar apoyo a través de la cuenta de Facebook de la red.
Por lo cual, “queremos transmitir que estamos gestando una iniciativa que va a funcionar como un medio en el que podamos compartir información sobre leyes en vigencia, sobre educación sexual, asuntos de género y demás herramientas para combatir a la pedofilia en las iglesias, los abusos sexuales y abusos de poder en general”.

Precisamente, este medio se llamará “La Alternativa”porque nace ante la necesidad de hablar fuerte y claro lo que otros medios, cómplices, eligen censurar. Esto pretende generar una comunidad en la que profesionales, padres y jóvenes puedan participar activamente para concientizar a la sociedad. Están todos invitados a sumarse”.

Hoy Bandera está dividido entre quienes apoyan a las víctimas y quienes las repudian. Entre quienes le creen y quienes las tildan de “enfermas”, del mismo modo que lo hizo el obispo Uriona cuando ellas le presentaron sus denuncias.
Carlos Dorado ya fue declarado culpable por la Iglesia, a través de un juicio de Derecho Canónico. Mientras tanto, la justicia penal continúa trabajando en el tema. Cuando la fiscal Andrea Darwich fue consultada si se evalúa la posibilidad de pedir la orden de detención contra Dorado, contestó que “la calificativa penal le permite estar en libertad mientras dura el proceso”. Sin embargo, “no se descarta la posibilidad que se pida más adelante si las otras causas lo agravan en su situación”.
Hoy, mientras el miedo se apodera de aquellas mujeres que están contando sus historias, la justicia tiene la palabra.

  • “Decía que, si se mandaba una macana, la Diócesis lo iba a mandar a otro lugar”

Él era un miembro activo del grupo misionero, aunque también pidió el resguardo de su identidad. Su testimonio es demasiado importante. Entre otras cuestiones, asegura que vio a una adolescente salir llorando, de noche, de parte trasera de la iglesia donde vivía Carlos Dorado.

-¿Dónde conociste a Carlos Dorado?
-Yo lo conocí en el grupo misionero Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, cuando tenía 16 o 17 años. Ingresé al grupo porque tenía un amigo que me decía que estaba bueno que hacían muchas actividades, que se juntaban a comer o salían. Había un lindo grupo de amigos. Con el paso de los días me gustó todo lo que era el movimiento del grupo misionero.
Pasaron los años y empecé a ir a viajes, a retiros espirituales, a misionar y todo lo que conlleva ser parte de un grupo misionero. Lo empecé a conocer más cuando íbamos a comer a la casa de la parroquia. Una de las actitudes que siempre resaltaba Carlos Dorado era esto de jugar con el chiste de que era “el cura más joven”. Se hacía el pendejo, por decirlo de algún modo. En cada momento o en cada chiste que pudiera tiraba esto de que era pendejo, el más joven, un pibe…
-¿Hablaste con él sobre pedofilia?
-Recuerdo que cuando rezábamos el rosario, rezábamos por X cosa, por los curas y no sé en qué momento se da el tema de la pedofilia. No estoy seguro de mis palabras exactas, pero creo que le digo: ‘Hay muchos casos últimamente”. Entonces salta la conversación. Fue hace años. Sí me acuerdo que él me dice que no todos los curas son pedófilos y violadores.
-¿Alguna vez te contaron o te llegó el rumor de sus supuestos abusos a las chicas del grupo misionero?
-Lo de los rumores, antes de que salga la publicación, ya lo sabía. Ya me había enterado hace como dos o tres años, pero nunca se dijo nada. Cuando me enteré me empecé a dar cuenta de que tenía actitudes muy sospechosas. También presencié un momento que era muy sospechoso, por demás.
-¿Cuál fue el momento sospechoso que presenciaste?
-El momento en que me cerró todo, en el que empecé a creer que era verdad fue cuando, después de misa -porque siempre cuando salíamos con un amigo nos juntábamos en la esquina, nos tomábamos una gaseosa y hablábamos. En ese momento, tipo 11 o 12 de la noche, sale una chica llorando. Era tardísimo. Sale de la parte de atrás de la iglesia, donde viven los curas. Estaba todo oscuro y salía llorando, yo la conocía porque era del grupo misionero.
-¿Qué hiciste?
-La veo y le pregunto qué le pasó, por qué estaba llorando y no me quiso decir nada. La acompañé hasta la casa y le preguntaba y le preguntaba. Ya se le había pasado, se había calmado, pero en ningún momento me pudo explicar, no me quiso decir. No me dijo por qué ni nada, no me supo ni mentir. La acompañé hasta la casa para que llegue bien.
-¿Qué pensaste en ese momento?
-Es como que todo me cerró. Me pregunté qué hacía una menor de edad saliendo a altas horas de la noche de la parte oscura de la iglesia, sin iluminación ni nada. Ahí me cerró todo.
-¿Pensaste que podía haber sido abusada?
-Obviamente, cuando ella salió de la iglesia sí se me cruzó por la cabeza que él se pudo propasar o algo por el estilo. Pero en ese momento estaba muy metido en el grupo misionero y es como que estaba ciego. Era lo anteúltimo que pensaba que podía llegar a pasar.
-¿Por qué lo anteúltimo? ¿Qué sería lo último?
-Lo digo en el sentido de que era sospechoso que una menor de edad salga de ahí. Yo tenía 17, 18 años y uno no piensa razonablemente, más cuando estás metido en la iglesia. Ahora, con la edad que tengo, sí me doy cuenta y digo que es súper sospechoso y que para mí es verdad.
A esa edad es como lo último que quería pensar porque, obviamente, sería algo muy difícil de asimilar el hecho de que un cura, más siendo el que nos manejaba a nosotros, se podría propasar con una chica, con una menor. Eso desencadenaría un mal momento en el grupo misionero y sería un terrible desastre.
-¿Esa joven continuó en el grupo?
-Con exactitud no puedo decir, pero habrá ido un par de meses más y directamente, como varias chicas que iban al grupo, dejó de ir de un día para el otro. Nos sentaban en un grupo, siempre nos juntábamos todos, o eso es lo que creíamos, y nos decían: “Me voy del grupo por x motivo”,aunque hubo mujeres que se fueron sin avisar, sin decir nada. Directamente se les perdió el rastro.
-¿En la actualidad, estás ligado a la Iglesia de alguna manera?
Estoy totalmente desligado de la iglesia, no voy ni a misa. Antes iba todos los días. El grupo misionero empezó a decaer mucho cuando se fue Carlos Dorado. Fue en el 2013. Creo que yo tenía 18 años. Volvimos de Brasil, de la Jornada Mundial, y desapareció el señor, no dijo ni por qué. Era muy raro que se haya ido de Bandera. Se fue sin decir nada. Habló a algunos chicos del grupo misionero para que lo ayuden a empacar las cosas para irse y desapareció. Al otro día fuimos a la iglesia para ver si estaba y no. Nadie sabía nada. El padre se había ido a no sé dónde, no me puedo acordar a dónde se fue.
-¿Te sorprendió que la Iglesia escondiera los abusos?
-Una de las cosas claves que voy a contar es que el padre Carlos Dorado decía que, si se mandaba una macana, la Diócesis lo iba a mandar a no sé qué lugar. Eso, me acuerdo que le dijo entre varios chicos del grupo. Cuando se mandó esa macana, le preguntábamos qué era y no me acuerdo qué es lo que nos respondió.
Cuando volvíamos de Brasil, él se había ido para ese lugar que no me puedo acordar.

OBISPADO DE AÑATUYA
“Desde el Obispado no se van hacer más declaraciones”

Ante la publicación y replicación de la noticia sobre denuncia de Abuso Sexual Agravado, que tiene como protagonista al Padre Dorado, desde La Columna se intentó tomar contacto con la institución religiosa que toma intervención en el caso, el Obispado de Añatuya.
Reiterados fueron los llamados durante la semana hasta se pudo concretar la comunicación, y fue la propia telefonista -que recibió y filtro la consulta para luego dar una respuesta- la que manifestó textualmente en nombre de la institución, diciendo que “el Obispado y nadie del Obispado dirá nada. Si ustedes quieren preguntar al Juzgado de Añatuya ¿cómo está el asunto?, pregunten. Pero desde el Obispado no se van hacer más declaraciones, ni explicaciones, ni nada, porqué piensan que se puede interferir a la justicia.

-Pero el caso merece la palabra de la Iglesia…
¡Bueno, sí lo merece!, pero ustedes saben que cuanto más uno habla, más se puede entorpecer. Y no queremos esto, queremos que las cosas sigan como corresponde.

-¿Esta decisión quién se la comunica?
No tenemos ninguna persona responsable de hablar con la prensa, aquí hay un sacerdote que está encargado de estos temas.
No le puedo decir nombre. Me pidieron que reserve todo esto, y que diga así nomás.
Como está en fuero civil, si quieren saber algo más, vayan al Juzgado de Añatuya que les explique cómo está el asunto”.

“Se resolvió suspender por 6 meses al sacerdote”

El sacerdoteHernán González Cazón, quien fuera administrador y secretario canciller de la Diócesis de Añatuya durante el período en que se realizaron las denuncias de las jóvenes contra Carlos Dorado, confirmó el juicio canónico contra Carlos Dorado.

-¿Podría contarnos cómo ocurrieron los hechos?
-Cuando ocurre un hecho por el cual una persona entiende que un sacerdote ha incurrido en un hecho evidentemente desordenado, delictivo, puede hacer la denuncia frente a la Sede del Episcopado. Allí se inicia un proceso llamado “canónico”. Más allá que haya juicio civil y todo lo demás, también se juzga a través de las leyes de la Iglesia, lo que se llama el Derecho Canónico.
En este caso la denuncia fue presentada por las personas afectadas ante la Sede del Obispado. Se hizo el proceso que se llama Derecho Canónico, una investigacióny, finalmente, la resolución que se tomó fue suspender por 6 meses al sacerdote, también se le señaló la obligación de realizar una terapia psicológica adecuada para estar al tanto de cómo evoluciona.

-¿Se comunicó a las partes?
-Sí, sí. La resolución se comunicó a las partes, están enteradas. Ellas tienen derecho a saber lo que el Obispado resolvió. Lo que ocurre aquí es que hay delitos que son de instancia privada; es decir, en este caso, la hicieron por ejemplo solamente ante el obispado.
Creo que ahora una de las damnificadas hizo una denuncia en sede judicial. Pero en su momento, resolvieron hacerla ante el Obispado, no en la justicia civil.

-¿En las sanciones, tomaron en cuenta el tipo de hecho que se le atribuía?
El obispo evalúa todos los elementos que hay. El Código Canónico establece medidas frente a los hechos que se denuncia

-A raíz de esto Dorado continúa en la Diócesis, ¿actualmente se encuentra colaborando en una parroquia?
-Él, actualmente, está en una diócesis, colaborando con una parroquia de Santos Lugares. La medida, desde el punto de vista de su ministerio sacerdotal, fue de seis meses, luego volvió a trabajar, a ejercer en su ministerio. No como párroco, pero sí como colaborador.
Yo no sé exactamente, pero estos hechos ocurrieron unos diez años atrás, cuando estaba Monseñor Uriona, antes que estuviera Monseñor Chávez. Fue hace un tiempo.

-¿El Obispado deja a criterio de las denunciantes a concurrir a la Justicia?
-Sí. Creo que fue el año pasado o este año, pero si resolvieron hacer la denuncia. Ahora La justicia civil investiga los mismos hechos que investigó la justicia de la Iglesia.
Lo que pasa que la justicia civil tiene otras instancias, otras penalidades, diferentes al Derecho Canónico.
Una de las cosas que si es clarísima es que, cuando una persona viene a presentar una denuncia, es que se le tiene que informar a esa persona que tiene todo el derecho de asistir a la justicia penal. Hay obligación, en algunos casos que se requiera, de ayudar a presentar la denuncia en la justicia.
Se busca que se haga justicia, no tapar e ignorar los hechos delictivos que hubieran ocurrido.

-En conclusión, ¿el obispado no dejó de actuar?
No, no dejo de actuar. Hubo resolución, se comunicó a la partes.
Incluso, de esto no estoy seguro, pero creo que se le comunica al Vaticano mismo
Aprovecho para comentar que el Papa Francisco ha mandado a todas las diócesis, una resolución para que se cree una instancia que pueda facilitar a la gente que tenga este tipo de denuncia, para que presente en la sede de del Obispado.
Que nadie deje de denunciar, porque no hace bien a la Iglesia que nosotros los sacerdotes tengamos conductas irregulares, es una barbaridad.
El Papa quiere facilitar, para que salve por un lado las calumnias respecto a un sacerdote. Y por otro lado, cuando hay motivos para hacer la denuncia que nadie deje de hacerla por cualquier dificultad. Para que cuanto antes sean resumidas, y tengan su correspondiente sanción y se tomen las medidas pertinentes.
(Entrevista realizada por Eduardo Espeche, en Radio Nacional Santiago del Estero)

  • Periodista de revista La Columna. Artículo premiado por el Foro de Periodismo Argentino (Fopea) en la categoría “Notas de Investigación” publicada en redacciones pequeñas de hasta 30 periodistas por los trabajos publicados en revista La Columna.

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Monster in our midst: After disgraced deacon’s exposure, recriminations but no justice

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 18, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a three-part series. Earlier:

Part I: Monster in our Midst: How a pedophile clergyman stayed close to prey
Part II: Monster in our Midst: Despite predatory past, deacon welcomed back to Catholic institutions

The email to the Archdiocese of New Orleans came in on a Friday in November 2018.

A week earlier, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond had published a list of clergymen credibly accused of child molestation — a first-ever effort by the leadership in this traditionally Catholic city to fully come clean about the depth of a scandal that blew up in 2002 and had begun to simmer again in summer 2018.

The scandal’s recent flare-up owed mostly to the first name on the list, which was organized alphabetically: George Brignac. That name jumped out at one man, and it prompted him to write the email.

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Monster in our midst: Despite predatory past, deacon welcomed back to Catholic institutions

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 17, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

This is the second part of a three-part series.

Anyone else in George Brignac’s shoes — saddled with the disgrace that accompanies his name — might have gotten the hell out of Dodge and tried to reinvent himself, to outrun the shame.

Over the 12 years he served as a deacon at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, beginning in 1976, Brignac had been accused of molesting at least five boys and was arrested at least three times.

Brignac, who was also a schoolteacher, was never convicted. But he was forced to sign an agreement, under duress, to stay away from children. And, though some fellow priests objected, the Archdiocese of New Orleans suspended him from ministry in 1988.

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Leon Cannizzaro finds one defendant who got away particularly vexing: George Brignac

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 18, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to our three-part series on the career of deacon and serial child predator George Brignac.

Earlier:

Part I: Monster in our Midst: How a pedophile clergyman stayed close to prey
Part II: Monster in our Midst:Despite predatory past, deacon welcomed back to Catholic institutions
Part III: Monster in our midst: After disgraced deacon’s exposure, recriminations but no justice

For Leon Cannizzaro, preparing to leave office after 12 years as Orleans Parish district attorney, one defendant that was in his sights and got away is a particularly vexing one: the inveterate child molester and former Catholic deacon George Brignac.

Cannizzaro had more than two years left in his final term when the local archdiocese in November 2018 released the first version of a list of clerics who had been credibly accused of child molestation over the decades.

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Kerala church shouldn’t glorify rape accused Bishop: Priests

KERALA (INDIA)
Tribune News Service

December 17, 2020

Row over Franco Mulakkal’s photo in church calendar

The release of the official calendar of 2021 by the Syro Malabar Thrissur Diocese bearing the picture of rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has not just evoked protests in Kerala but also angered a section of priests in the Jalandhar Diocese.

The priests supporting the victim nun have said even though they chose not to come out openly over the issue in Punjab as the calendar was not circulated here, they were certainly unhappy with the decision of the Thrissur Archdiocese to go ahead with inclusion of the photograph of Franco Mulakkal.

The 43-year-old victim nun had served as the Superior General in the Missionaries of the Jesus congregation based in Jalandhar.

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Deaf mute Korean priest charged with molesting disabled people

EAST MALAYSIA
Daily Gazette

December 19, 2020

A deaf mute Korean priest was charged in the Magistrate’s Court here Friday with molesting two Persons with Disabilities (PwD) a few years ago.

However, no plea was recorded from Jee Jon Hoon, 55, as Magistrate M.Kalaiarasi postponed the case to Jan 18 for mention for the court to get a Korean and international sign language interpreter.

Jee was charged with using criminal force on the two victims, aged 26 and 27, and are also deaf-mute, with intent to outrage their modesty at an apartment in Kampung Paya here at 12.20am in October 2013 and between 11pm and 1 am in July 2017, respectively.

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Indian bishop’s resignation sought over covering up priest’s child

KERALA (INDIA)
UCA News

By Saji Thomas

December 1, 2020

The priest continues to serve as a pastor five years after he fathered a child with a Catholic nun

A Catholic diocese in southern India has denied allegations of covering up the case of a priest who had a child with a nun, but a campaign is seeking its bishop’s resignation and the priest’s dismissal.

Officials of Thamarassery Diocese in Kerala state maintain some laypeople “with a vested interest” raked up the five-year-old case of Father Jomon Kandathinkara despite the diocese acting against him.

“It is true the priest had a child with a nun, and he was suspended for a year after the matter came to our notice,” Father Benny Mundanattu, the diocesan chancellor, told UCA News on Dec. 1

“The diocese did not laicize him after he expressed deep remorse for his sin, and both of them were not ready to marry and settle down together.”

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Catholic archbishop: ‘The Church in France is jostled from many sides’

FRANCE
Catholic News Agency

December 19, 2020

The Church in France is under pressure, according to the president of the French Catholic bishops’ conference.

But for Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, that is no cause for despair.

“The Church in France is being jostled in many ways; it is reacting, which proves that it is alive,” he told CNA in an email interview.

The archbishop of Reims, in northeastern France’s Grand Est region, has had a busy past few months.

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Cardinal Pell says his conservative views drove public against him

VATICAN CITY
BBC

December 20, 2020

George Pell, the Australian cardinal whose conviction for child abuse was overturned this year, has said his conservative Christian views drove public opinion against him.

Speaking to the BBC, the 79-year-old said there was “no doubt” that his direct style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had contributed to a hostile atmosphere.

The former Vatican treasurer said he would not apologise for those views.

His case rocked the Catholic Church.

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December 19, 2020

Editorial: Abuse in state or church custody is an abomination

NEW ZEALAND
NZ Herald

December 18, 2020

Could there be a crueller phrase for the plight of the estimated 250,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults who have suffered from “abuse in care” over the past 50 years?

Such a contradiction only emphasises how a void of care was tolerated and even promulgated for so long.

Our Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions has conclusively proved our experience mirrors that of overseas. We are not unique but we have an opportunity now to lead the world in redress and rehabilitation.

The release of the inquiry’s draft report, Tāwharautia: Pūrongo o te Wā, this week described the key themes and common issues from the experiences of survivors and witnesses. The sheer scale of neglect, intentional harm and outright violence is nauseating and unbearable.

This is a national tragedy and requires a recovery effort of monumental proportions. To raise our vulnerable and damaged citizens out of this misery must surely be given priority.

This week, the Government said it was considering two changes in areas which concerned survivors – a centralised claims process and reform of the Limitations Act. The inquiry isn’t due to table a final report and recommendations until January 2023 but there is enough in this draft report to act much sooner.

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LDS handbook adds warning against prejudice and misinformation, revises entries on sex abuse, conversion therapy, stillborn babies and more

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Salt Lake City (UT)

December 18, 2020

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled new wording Friday for the faithful on a host of social issues — from sexual abuse to conversion therapy, cremation to stillborn babies, counseling to HIV infection.

The Utah-based faith also added two significant sections to its “General Handbook” — one decrying “prejudice,” building on recent speeches against it by church leaders, and the other on “seeking information from reliable sources.”

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Control of the Vatican: What’s at Stake

UNITED STATES
Open Tabernacle (blog)

December 14, 2020

By Betty Clermont

The Catholic Church is the only religion headquartered in an autonomous country. The sovereignty of the Holy See – the name of the government of both the Vatican City State and the worldwide Church – provides criminal and civil immunity from any other authority to Vatican residents and government officials.

The Vatican has immense wealth. How it is earned, how it is spent, who profits remain hidden because it is shielded by self-rule. Vatican officials’ access to global financial markets is facilitated by its status as a sovereign city/state.

As officials of an independent nation, a pope and his appointees have access to, and some influence in, many international organizations.

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Victim of paedophile vicar tragically died before he could see justice served

LIVERPOOL (ENGLAND)
Liverpool Echo

December 18, 2020

By Luke Traynor

The victim’s complaint to police took the case to court which today saw Rev John Roberts found guilty of abusing children in the 1980s

A former vicar who indecently assaulted a choirboy in the 1980s was today found guilty of abusing more children.

Rev John Roberts, who was based at St Peter’s Church in Woolton, until his retirement in 2013 was found guilty by a jury of nine more counts of indecent and sexual assault.

It relates to three different victims, all children, and abuse committed in the 1980s.

Now 86, Roberts was allowed to carry on working for 24 years despite his 1980s conviction.

And tragically, one of his victims whose complaint to police took the case to court, died recently and didn’t get the chance to see justice delivered.

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Saskatoon Diocese Responds to Allegations Against Priest

SASKATOON (SASKATCHEWAN)
DiscoverHumbolt.com

December 18, 2020

By Maury Wrubleski

St. Anne’s Parish in Annaheim was one of those served by Fr. Anthony Atter.

In response to charges laid against Lake Lenore and area priest Anthony Atter alleging sexual abuse and sexual interference relating to a minor, Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Diocese of Saskatoon issued a response on December 17.

The statement confirmed that Atter had been removed from his ministry in the parishes of St. Anthony centred in Lake Lenore, St. Anne in Annaheim, and St. Gregory in St. Gregor.

While the Diocese stated that it would make no further comment relating directly to the case, it would cooperate to the utmost with the police investigation.

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Hillsong Church Fostered “Inappropriate Sexual Behavior,” According to A 2018 Internal Complaint

UNITED STATES
Vanity Fair

December 18, 2020

By Dan Adler

A group of church volunteers sent a letter to ministry leaders about a pattern of staff conduct.

Since Carl Lentz was fired from Hillsong Church in November over his cheating scandal, the megachurch has faced a number of allegations about its culture. Page Six added to the growing pile on Thursday night, reporting that in 2018, a group of “high-level” volunteers sent a letter to ministry leaders claiming that there were “verified, widely circulated stories of inappropriate sexual behavior amongst staff/interns” at the church.

In a statement to Vanity Fair, Hillsong acknowledged that it “received a letter with serious allegations regarding specific members of the Hillsong NYC volunteer and staff teams.” The church said that after a three-month inquiry into the claims, it learned that “some of the allegations were true.”

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Legislators to revive bid to ease sex abuse suits against UM

DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News

December 18, 2020

By Oralandar Brand-Williams

Two state lawmakers plan next month to reintroduce legislation that would lift the statute of limitations for accusers of former University of Michigan doctor Robert Anderson, removing barriers to lawsuits against the school over allegations that he sexually abused them.

Michigan Reps. Ryan Berman, R-Commerce Township, and Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, announced during a Zoom conference Friday that they will propose the bipartisan legislation at the start of the new session of the Michigan Legislature next month.

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Child sex abuse survivors have until Dec. 30 to file claim in Arizona

PHOENIX (AZ)
3TV/CBS 5

December 18, 2020

By Nicole Crites

https://www.azfamily.com/news/original_reporting/child-sex-abuse-survivors-have-until-dec-30-to-file-claim-in-arizona/article_47ca37da-417b-11eb-9e26-cf3fdff7c7a8.html

Survivors of child abuse in Arizona have less than two weeks to file a claim against their abusers or the institutions that gave the abusers access to children.

Last year, Arizona lawmakers extended the statute of limitations for people who were sexually abused as children to come forward to seek justice.

And now that window for legal action is coming up on a fast-approaching deadline of Dec. 30. In Arizona, child sex abuse survivors now have less than two weeks to file a claim against their abuser or the institutions that gave them access to children.

Whether you were abused by a family member or someone in Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is really the last call for adult survivors who are ready to say “me too” in the fight to find at least some accountability.

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Priests behaving badly: a Friday round-up

UNITED STATES
Patheos (blog)

December 18, 2020

By Barry Duke

TOP of the list of crimes committed mainly by Catholic priests is Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, above, formerly of the Sacred Heart Church in Conroe, Texas. On Wednesday he was jailed for ten years for repeatedly abusing at least two minors between 1997 and 2001.

He faced a possible longer sentence but agreed to plead guilty in exchange for less time behind bars.

Tahira Merritt, attorney for two of the plaintiffs, uniquely identified as Jane Doe and John Doe, said:

It is not a long enough sentence, but at least it will be away from children while he is incarcerated and he will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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Yakima Diocese priest exonerated in lawsuit settlement

YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic

December 18, 2020

By Tammy Ayer

One of four priests accused by an Ellensburg man of abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been exonerated.

The Rev. Seamus Kerr, a senior priest with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, was exonerated as part of a settlement, according to a news release from the diocese. The March 2019 lawsuit filed in Kittitas County Superior Court alleged an Ellensburg man was sexually abused by priests at St. Andrew Catholic Church when he was a minor.

An order of dismissal was entered Dec. 10 after the settlement was reached. The diocese, which has provided more than $10,000 in mental health counseling for the man, agreed to provide an additional $5,000 in counseling payments, the release said.

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Author of UK Catholic sex education book convicted as pedophile

ENGLAND
LifeSite News

December 18, 2020

Church leaders did not report allegations to the police against the priest, who helped to bring sex education into Catholic schools 20 years ago.

Father Joseph Quigley of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England was convicted this week of sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, false imprisonment (he liked to lock children in a crypt) and cruelty. One case against him dated from the 1990s, another concerned his actions between 2006 and 2008.

The Archdiocese, headed until 2009 by Vincent Nichols, now the Cardinal Archbishop of Birmingham, and since then by Archbishop Bernard Longley, failed to report Quigley to the police when they learned of one set of his crimes in 2008. Instead, they flew him to the United States for “rehabilitation” in a specialist clinic and subsequently allowed him to return to work in the UK.

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December 18, 2020

Vancouver Catholic Church names another three priests who abused minors

VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Vancouver Sun

December 18, 2020

By Glenda Luymes

Thirteen previously unknown victims have come forward since a historic 2019 report on clerical sexual abuse

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has named another three priests who sexually abused minors.

All three men — John Edward Kilty, Johannes Holzapfel and Armand Frechette — served in at least one parish in the Archdiocese of Vancouver between the mid-1940s and early 1980s, and all three are now dead.

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Priest of the Diocese of Yakima exonerated

YAKIMA (WA)
Catholic News Service

December 18, 2020

A senior priest of the Diocese of Yakima, Father Seamus Kerr, was exonerated as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed against the diocese in 2019 alleging a man from Ellensburg, Washington, was sexually abused by priests at St. Andrew Catholic Church there when he was a minor.

“On behalf of our client … we acknowledge that the allegations of sexual abuse and improper conduct made against you, including statements in court pleadings and the press, have proven to be false,” said a letter to Kerr from the attorneys representing the man.

“We hereby withdraw the allegations and express our regret for any harm they may have caused to you and your reputation,” it added.

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DC mayor adjusts COVID-19 limits on churches after archdiocese files lawsuit

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

December 18, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Washington, has modified the current pandemic limits on gatherings at houses of worship in the District to 25% of capacity and no more than 250 people.

Bowser took the action in an executive order issued Dec. 16. It became effective at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 17 and will be in place through Dec. 31.

“In order to resolve litigation,” it said, “this order repeals the numeric cap of 50 persons on gatherings at houses of worship and allows physically large facilities to accommodate more worshippers based on their overall capacity, up to a maximum of 250 persons.”

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LDS handbook adds warning against prejudice and misinformation, revises entries on sex abuse, conversion therapy, stillborn babies and more

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

December 18, 2020

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also issues new instructions on cremation, AIDS, therapy and medical care.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled new wording Friday for the faithful on a host of social issues — from sexual abuse to conversion therapy, cremation to stillborn babies, counseling to HIV infection.

The Utah-based faith also added two significant sections to its “General Handbook” — one decrying “prejudice,” building on recent speeches against it by church leaders, and the other on “seeking information from reliable sources.”

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Cincinnati Catholic priest accused of rape asks for reduction in $5M cash bond due to COVID

CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO

December17, 2020

By Craig Cheatham

Geoff Drew: COVID has him ‘fearful for his life’

Geoff Drew, a Cincinnati Catholic priest charged with 9 counts of rape, is making a third attempt to lower his $5 million full cash bond.

The priest is accused of sexually assaulting a former altar boy from 1988 to 1991 when Drew was the music minister at St. Jude Parish in Green Township.

Drew has been held in the Hamilton County Justice Center since his arrest on Aug. 19, 2019.

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Bishop Coyne apologizes to victims of Burlington orphanage abuse

BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX

December 17, 2020

By Darren Perron

Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne is apologizing to survivors of abuse following the release this week of an investigation on the former St. Joseph Orphanage in Burlington.

While Coyne says he’s relieved the investigation turned up no evidence of murder, allegations made by some former residents there, he says he is saddened about the confirmation of abuse of kids who lived there. He says the Burlington Diocese and Vermont Catholic Charities worked with investigators and have been transparent in providing all of their records.

Reporter Darren Perron: You know Bishop, back then before the priest sex abuse scandal, claims against clergy, frankly, weren’t believed. Do you believe the claims?

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Archdiocese of New Orleans pushed confidential settlements with victims of monstrous deacon George Brignac

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

December 18, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

Lawyers representing the church or its insurers took a hard line, arguing that plaintiffs had waited too long, and that they would be lucky to get anything.

The email to the Archdiocese of New Orleans came in on a Friday in November 2018.

A week earlier, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond had published a list of clergymen credibly accused of child molestation — a first-ever effort by the leadership in this traditionally Catholic city to fully come clean about the depth of a scandal that blew up in 2002 and had begun to simmer again in the summer of 2018.

The scandal’s recent flareup owed mostly to the first name on the list, which was organized alphabetically: George Brignac. That name jumped out at one man, and it prompted him to write the email.

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Catholic priest facing sex abuse charges against boys dating back 40 years

UNITED KINGDOM
Wakefield Express

December 17, 2020

By Tony Gardner

A Catholic priest has appeared before a court to face charges of sexual offences against boys dating back more than 40 years.

Father Patrick Smythe entered not guilty pleas to four charges of indecent assault when he appeared before Leeds Magistrates’ Court this week.

The 77-year-old is alleged to have committed the offences against four different boys aged under the age of 16 between 1978 and 1983.

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University of Colorado Removes Honors from Accused Priest

COLORADO
SNAP Network

December 17, 2020

Following an updated report on clergy sexual abuse from Colorado’s attorney general, the University of Colorado revoked an honorary degree it had bestowed on a Catholic priest that the report revealed had multiple allegations against him. We applaud this move and hope that other institutions follow suit for any wrongdoers that they have honored.

Now that Fr. Charles Woodrich – aka Fr. Woody – has been exposed an abuser, Catholics and secular leaders in Colorado must reckon with how these crimes remained hidden for so long.

For parishioners, they must ask their bishops and leaders who knew what when. For Colorado politicians and other secular leaders, they must ask how they can reshape Colorado laws to better serve their citizens and prevent future children from experiencing the horrors of sexual abuse.

While we applaud this decision by the University of Colorado, the fact is that the AG’s report does not expose the full scope of Catholic clergy abuse in Colorado. In a key omission, the report contains no information about abuse by religious order priests, which means there are probably other Fr. Woodys out there wearing the robes of the Capuchins, Jesuits, Franciscans, or others.

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Catholic Laity in Wisconsin Stand Up for Transparency in Cases of Clergy Abuse

WISCONSIN
SNAP Network

December 17, 2020

Hundreds of graduates from four Catholic schools in Wisconsin signed a joint letter to a local religious order, demanding answers and actions following a recent article that detailed one man’s struggle with clergy abuse that ultimately culminated in suicide. We applaud these men and women for using their voices to fight for truth and transparency and hope that their example inspires lay Catholics around the country.

The example set by graduates from Notre Dame Academy, Premontre High School, Abbot Pennings, and St. Joseph Academy gives us hope that more and more lay Catholics are choosing to be less deferential to Church officials and less willing to believe what they say when it comes to cases of clergy abuse. Minimization, obfuscation, and sanitizing language regarding cases of abuse are key parts of the “playbook” for clergy abuse uncovered by Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro. We believe that the recent comments from Abbot Dane Radecki regarding Nate’s abuse were attempts to follow that playbook. We are grateful to see these alumni push back.

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Church’s appeal loss paves way for abuse survivors to sue

AUSTRALIA
The Age

December 18, 2020

By Adam Cooper and Tom Cowie

The Catholic Church has failed in its appeal over a compensation payout to a sexual abuse survivor, and now faces the prospect of being sued by hundreds of other victims who received meagre payments in exchange for their silence.

A former altar boy known as WCB was in 1996 paid $32,500 by the church after he was repeatedly abused by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980.

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Church loses abuse settlement appeal

AUSTRALIA
Wellington Times

December 18, 2020

By Georgie Moore

The Catholic Church has failed to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by a Victorian sexual abuse survivor.

The former altar boy earlier this year became the first Australian to overturn a settlement with the church in the state’s Supreme Court.

The survivor received $32,500 in 1996 after taking legal action against the church. The Court of Appeal has agreed it was not enough given the wrong done to the man.

He was abused from the age of 12 by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan, between 1977 and 1980. The priest took his own life after being charged.

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Survey: Catholic Poland increasingly distrusts Church

EUROPE
Catholic Herald

December 18, 2020

Despite Poland being over 90 percent Catholic, a survey published on Thursday suggested that approximately 41 percent of Poles view the Church favorably. This is a decrease of 8 percent from September, according to The Straits Times Europe and a survey by the CBOS institute, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.

Meanwhile, 47 percent of the 1,010 adults surveyed earlier this month said they disapproved of the Church, up from 41 percent in September.

The survey echoes the results of a poll by another group last month when 40.4 percent of respondents said they trusted the Church, a decrease from 58 percent four years ago. Similarly, 42.4 percent of Poles said they distrusted the Church.

The Church’s reputation in Poland has been impacted by scandals, such as that of Polish Bishop Edward Janiak who resigned in October over suspicions he covered up sexual abuse of children.

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Church in bid to stop pedo priest’s payout

QUEENSLAND (AUSTRALIA)
Central Queensland News

December 18, 2020

By Frances Vinall

The Catholic Church tried to block a victim who experienced ‘horrific’ abuse as an altar boy from accessing compensation.

The Catholic Church’s attempt to block a paedophile priest’s victim from accessing a payout has failed.

The Victorian Court of Appeal on Friday rejected an application from the church that would have prevented the victim, known by the pseudonym WCB in court to protect his identity, from seeking compensation.

In their written reasons, judges David Beach, Stephen Kaye and Robert Osborn said WCB had been subjected to abuse “of the most horrific kind”.

He was tormented from the age of 11 while he was an altar boy at Warragul, in the Diocese of Sale, from 1977-1980.

The abuse was also inflicted on his brother, the justices said.

The paedophile priest, Daniel Hourigan, admitted the repeated sexual abuse before his death in 1995, the justices said.

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At a Challenging Moment, Cardinal Gregory Makes His Mark

WASHINGTON D.C.
National Catholic Register

December 17, 2020

Amid a national reckoning on racial equality, a polarized campaign season, and the Vatican’s release of the McCarrick Report, Washington’s Catholic shepherd became the first African American to be named a cardinal.

By Joan Frawley Desmond

During the Nov. 28 consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica where he would become the first African American cardinal, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington heard Pope Francis preach on the Gospel and warn against the temptation to abuse ecclesial power.

In his homily for the consistory, the Pope reflected on the passage from Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus refers to his crucifixion while walking with his disciples to Jerusalem. On that journey, said Francis, Jesus alludes to his death to prepare his disciples “for the trials to come” and to encourage them to accompany him to the cross.

But James and John want to take a different path, the “road of those who, perhaps even without realizing it, ‘use’ the Lord for their own advancement,” the Pope added, calling out the use of “the scarlet of a cardinal’s robes” for “worldly” gain.

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Cardinal Pell, publicizing new book, forgives enemies, praises Trump

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

December 17, 2020

By Claire Giangravé

Forgiveness is a recurring theme of the former Vatican official’s prison journal, and he told reporters that if anyone in the Vatican meant him harm, ‘I will pray for them.’

Cardinal George Pell was not soured by his fall from the Catholic Church’s top ranks after he was accused of sexually abusing minors, the Australian prelate told reporters Wednesday (Dec. 16). Nor did the Vatican’s tepid defense of its former financial reform czar alienate Pell as he went to trial and was eventually acquitted on appeal.

“Right throughout Pope Francis was very respectful, as was the Vatican, of the due process in Australia, but he made no secret privately and to me of his belief that I was innocent and he supported me,” Pell said in an online news conference to publicize his new book, a prison journal.

Pell, 79, said his advanced age prevents him from returning in any formal capacity to his anti-corruption work in the Vatican.

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The Top 7 Pope Francis Stories of 2020

ROME (ITALY)
America

December 17, 2020

By Gerard O’Connell

Pope Francis celebrates his 84th birthday on Dec. 17, and four days later he will give his traditional (and often challenging) Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia for the eighth successive year.

Soon after his election on March 13, 2013, Francis told close friends that he had the distinct feeling that his would be “a short pontificate”—not more than a few years. Now he knows he was mistaken. Informed sources confirm he is in good health and continues to have the deep inner peace that he first experienced at the time of his election. Vatican officials who meet the pope regularly say there is no conclave on the horizon.

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December 17, 2020

Philippines: Paedophilia and the Church

PHILIPPINES
Arte.TV

December 2020

Written and directed by Marianne Dardard. Produced by Séverine Bardon

[VIDEO]

Our months-long investigation on clergy sex abuse in the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines is now available with English subtitles. Unlike other countries, there is no association of victims for clergy sex misconduct in the Philippines.

The Philippines, despite being one of the most Catholic countries in the world, has never convicted a member of the clergy for sex abuse. And yet there are survivors who say that the abuse has been going on for years. At the end of 2018, an American priest who had officiated for forty years was arrested for pedophilia by the Philippine police and the American federal authorities.

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French Court Convicts Former Vatican Envoy of Sexual Assault

PARIS (FRANCE)
Wall Street Journal

December 16, 2020

By Francis X. Rocca and Noemie Bisserbe

Archbishop Luigi Ventura is one of several prominent Catholic churchmen accused of sexual misconduct in recent years

A former Vatican envoy to France was found guilty of sexually assaulting five men, in the latest case of such misconduct by a senior Catholic Church official.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, who served as papal nuncio to France until December 2019, received a suspended eight-month prison sentence from a court in Paris Wednesday for the assaults, which occurred between 2018 and 2019.

One of the victims, an employee of the city of Paris who was tasked with welcoming the cleric at the mayor’s New Year address in 2019, said the archbishop had groped him in an “insistent and repeated” manner.

The 76-year-old archbishop was convicted in absentia. The court had accepted a note from his doctor saying that he shouldn’t travel from Rome to Paris during the current phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Holy See Press Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. An attempt to reach the archbishop through the Vatican wasn’t successful.

In July 2019, the Vatican took the unusual step of withdrawing the archbishop’s diplomatic immunity to prosecution, in accordance with what it said were his wishes, to “collaborate fully and spontaneously with the French judicial authorities.” This summer, the Vatican spokesman said Archbishop Ventura reaffirmed his innocence.

Archbishop Ventura, a longtime Vatican diplomat, is one of several senior members of the Catholic hierarchy accused of sexual misconduct with adults in recent years, adding another dimension to the church’s long-running crisis over the clerical abuse of children.

In June, the pope reinstated his longtime protégé Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta in a high-level Vatican job, even though he is facing charges of sexual harassment in his native Argentina. Bishop Zanchetta has denied wrongdoing.

Last month, a Vatican report showed that Pope Francis and his two immediate predecessors had failed for years to discipline U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual misconduct. St. John Paul II appointed Mr. McCarrick as archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, even after being warned that he had been accused of sharing his bed with adult seminarians and of pedophilia.

Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican pressed Mr. McCarrick to resign as archbishop of Washington and asked him to keep a low profile, but didn’t subject him to a church trial. Pope Francis followed the lead of his predecessors and assumed that the allegations had been rejected, the report said. In 2019, Mr. McCarrick became the first cardinal in modern times to be dismissed from the priesthood after a church trial found him guilty of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with adults. Mr. McCarrick denied wrongdoing.

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Former Vatican envoy to France Luigi Ventura convicted of sexual assault

PARIS (FRANCE)
France24 News

December 16, 2020

A Paris court on Wednesday sentenced former Vatican ambassador to France Luigi Ventura to an eight-month suspended prison sentence after being convicted of sexual assault against five men.

The Vatican had previously lifted Ventura’s immunity while on trial. The court ordered Ventura to pay 13,000 euros in damages and he will now appear on sex offenders Register.

Former Vatican Ambassador to France was not present during the sentencing, nor was he present during the proceedings after his lawyers told the court that his doctor advised him against traveling from Italy to France due to the risks for health in the middle of coronavirus pandemic.

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Ex-nuncio to France given suspended 8-month prison sentence

Catholic News Agency

December 16, 2020

A Paris criminal court on Wednesday gave a former nuncio to France an suspended 8-month prison sentence for sexual assault.

The court found Archbishop Luigi Ventura guilty of placing his hands on the buttocks of five men while conducting his public diplomatic duties.

He was ordered to pay 13,000 euros ($15,800) to four of the men and 9,000 euros ($10,900) in legal costs, reported AFP.

Ventura’s lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that the Italian archbishop was considering an appeal.

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Ex-Vatican envoy to France gets 8-month suspended sentence for sexual harassment

PARIS (FRANCE)
Reuters

December 16, 2020

A French court has found former Vatican ambassador to France Luigi Ventura guilty of sexual harassment against five men in 2018 and 2019 and given him an eight-month suspended sentence, AFP reported on its Twitter feed on Wednesday.

Prosecutors had opened an investigation after a junior official at Paris City Hall accused the papal nuncio, then 74, of molestation in January 2019, and city authorities filed a complaint. Other men later came forward with similar allegations.

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Former nuncio convicted of ‘sexual aggression’

PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet

December 16, 2020

By Tom Heneghan

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, a former nuncio to France who fled to the Vatican last year under accusation of sexual aggression, has been given an eight-month suspended sentence in absentia by a Paris magistrates’ court and ordered to pay unusually high fines.

His case was unprecedented because the Vatican lifted his diplomatic immunity to allow a civil court to try him. Ventura denied the five counts against him and vowed to defend himself, but then quietly left France during the summer of 2019 and resigned on turning 75 that December.

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Former nuncio convicted of ‘sexual aggression’

PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet

December 16, 2020

By Tom Heneghan

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, a former nuncio to France who fled to the Vatican last year under accusation of sexual aggression, has been given an eight-month suspended sentence in absentia by a Paris magistrates’ court and ordered to pay unusually high fines.

His case was unprecedented because the Vatican lifted his diplomatic immunity to allow a civil court to try him. Ventura denied the five counts against him and vowed to defend himself, but then quietly left France during the summer of 2019 and resigned on turning 75 that December.

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Paris court convicts former Vatican envoy of sexual assault

PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press

December 16, 2020

By Masha MacPherson

A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence.

Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 — who was not present in court — was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. She said she was uncertain whether he would lodge an appeal because the procedure “has been extremely painful for him.”

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable in France by up to five years’ imprisonment and fines in France.

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Paris court convicts former Vatican envoy of sexual assault

PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press

December 16, 2020

By Masha MacPherson

A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence.

Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 — who was not present in court — was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. She said she was uncertain whether he would lodge an appeal because the procedure “has been extremely painful for him.”

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable in France by up to five years’ imprisonment and fines in France.

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Archbishop Ventura sentenced to eight months’ probation

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

December 16, 2020

The former Apostolic Nuncio to France, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several men, has always proclaimed his innocence. Archbishop Ventura had waived his diplomatic immunity in order to cooperate with the French justice system.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 years old, who had served as Apostolic Nuncio to France from 2009 to 2019, was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for sexual harassment of several men. The prelate will also have to pay €13,000 to the victims, as well as €9,000 in legal fees.

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Archbishop Ventura sentenced to eight months’ probation

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

December 16, 2020

The former Apostolic Nuncio to France, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several men, has always proclaimed his innocence. Archbishop Ventura had waived his diplomatic immunity in order to cooperate with the French justice system.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 years old, who had served as Apostolic Nuncio to France from 2009 to 2019, was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for sexual harassment of several men. The prelate will also have to pay €13,000 to the victims, as well as €9,000 in legal fees.

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Florida pastor jailed on child pornography charges

ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

December 15, 2020

By Tiffini Theisen

The pastor of a Baptist church in the Florida Panhandle was arrested Monday on child pornography charges, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Agents tracked uploads to an IP address at the Milton home of William Dalton Milam, 62, the FDLE said.

Milam remained jailed Tuesday morning with no bond, Santa Rosa County jail records show.

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Florida pastor jailed on child pornography charges

ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

December 15, 2020

By Tiffini Theisen

The pastor of a Baptist church in the Florida Panhandle was arrested Monday on child pornography charges, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Agents tracked uploads to an IP address at the Milton home of William Dalton Milam, 62, the FDLE said.

Milam remained jailed Tuesday morning with no bond, Santa Rosa County jail records show.

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Saskatchewan priest charged with sexually assaulting minor

CANADA
CBC News

December 16, 2020

Police say incidents allegedly happened between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4

A Saskatchewan priest responsible for three parishes in small rural villages has been accused of sexual assault.

Anthony Tei Atter, 45, faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference for multiple alleged incidents involving one victim.

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim is under the age of 16.

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Saskatchewan priest charged with sexually assaulting minor

CANADA
CBC News

December 16, 2020

Police say incidents allegedly happened between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4

A Saskatchewan priest responsible for three parishes in small rural villages has been accused of sexual assault.

Anthony Tei Atter, 45, faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference for multiple alleged incidents involving one victim.

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim is under the age of 16.

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Granville Gibson: Church dismissed sex priest abuse as drunkenness

ENGLAND
BBC News

December 17, 2020

Church officials dismissed claims a priest was sexually abusing young men as “drunkenness”, a report has found.

Granville Gibson was jailed in 2016 and again last year for sexual offences committed in the 1970s and 80s.

In a review of how the Diocese of Durham handled complaints about Gibson, clinical psychologist Dr Stephanie Hill said a number of “red flags” were missed.

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Granville Gibson: Church dismissed sex priest abuse as drunkenness

ENGLAND
BBC News

December 17, 2020

Church officials dismissed claims a priest was sexually abusing young men as “drunkenness”, a report has found.

Granville Gibson was jailed in 2016 and again last year for sexual offences committed in the 1970s and 80s.

In a review of how the Diocese of Durham handled complaints about Gibson, clinical psychologist Dr Stephanie Hill said a number of “red flags” were missed.

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Monster in our midst: Timeline of George Brignac’s abuse in New Orleans area churches

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV

December 16, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

A review of more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office reveal a timeline of George Brignac’s abuse over decades in Archdiocese of New Orleans churches.

Jan. 6, 1935: George Feldner Brignac is born to Horace L. Brignac Sr. and Ethel Marie Cocke Brignac.

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Monster in our midst: Timeline of George Brignac’s abuse in New Orleans area churches

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV

December 16, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

A review of more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office reveal a timeline of George Brignac’s abuse over decades in Archdiocese of New Orleans churches.

Jan. 6, 1935: George Feldner Brignac is born to Horace L. Brignac Sr. and Ethel Marie Cocke Brignac.

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A diocese’s scandal, a college’s adversity, a daughter’s anguish and a QB’s tweet among top 2020 stories by Jay Tokasz

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

December 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

While the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed most other local news this year, one of the biggest stories of 2018 and 2019 – the Buffalo Diocese’s clergy sex abuse scandal – spilled into 2020 in a major way. The diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing represented an historic new chapter in the scandal. The New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the diocese is unique in its effort to hold some of Buffalo’s bishops personally accountable, through state charitable law, for mishandling abuse claims. We’ve published many stories on the diocese’s bankruptcy case this year. I included the first story on the filing because it encapsulated much of the scandal to that point, while also giving a thorough account of what the bankruptcy will mean for the region. The story on the attorney general’s action shows how officials for decades covered up for a priest who is now accused in 21 separate Child Victims Act lawsuits. I also included three stories unrelated to the diocese scandal. A thoroughly sourced story prompted intense reader interest and outrage over how the current D’Youville College president has gone about making personnel and other changes at the college. Another story highlighted how a woman who was abused as a girl by her father is seeking justice through the Child Victims Act, even though she doesn’t expect to reap a financial windfall. And finally, a breaking news story about former Bills great Jim Kelly’s controversial tweet was just fun to write.

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A diocese’s scandal, a college’s adversity, a daughter’s anguish and a QB’s tweet among top 2020 stories by Jay Tokasz

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

December 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

While the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed most other local news this year, one of the biggest stories of 2018 and 2019 – the Buffalo Diocese’s clergy sex abuse scandal – spilled into 2020 in a major way. The diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing represented an historic new chapter in the scandal. The New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the diocese is unique in its effort to hold some of Buffalo’s bishops personally accountable, through state charitable law, for mishandling abuse claims. We’ve published many stories on the diocese’s bankruptcy case this year. I included the first story on the filing because it encapsulated much of the scandal to that point, while also giving a thorough account of what the bankruptcy will mean for the region. The story on the attorney general’s action shows how officials for decades covered up for a priest who is now accused in 21 separate Child Victims Act lawsuits. I also included three stories unrelated to the diocese scandal. A thoroughly sourced story prompted intense reader interest and outrage over how the current D’Youville College president has gone about making personnel and other changes at the college. Another story highlighted how a woman who was abused as a girl by her father is seeking justice through the Child Victims Act, even though she doesn’t expect to reap a financial windfall. And finally, a breaking news story about former Bills great Jim Kelly’s controversial tweet was just fun to write.

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

Irish Times view: Abuse on a massive scale in New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND
The Irish Times

December 16, 2020

Quarter of a million children taken into care in state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered abuse

Nearly four in ten – or 250,000 – of the children taken into care in New Zealand state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered from abuse, a royal commission into historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults in institutions between 1950 and 1999 has reported.

The interim findings of the inquiry, the Tawharautia: Purongo o te Wa, lay out what prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who set it up two years ago, describes as the “unconscionable” treatment of young people and particularly the Maori. The report warns that such practices have not been entirely eradicated and complains that the redress system is complex and unsympathetic.

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

Irish Times view: Abuse on a massive scale in New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND
The Irish Times

December 16, 2020

Quarter of a million children taken into care in state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered abuse

Nearly four in ten – or 250,000 – of the children taken into care in New Zealand state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered from abuse, a royal commission into historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults in institutions between 1950 and 1999 has reported.

The interim findings of the inquiry, the Tawharautia: Purongo o te Wa, lay out what prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who set it up two years ago, describes as the “unconscionable” treatment of young people and particularly the Maori. The report warns that such practices have not been entirely eradicated and complains that the redress system is complex and unsympathetic.

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

Catholic church’s dismissive attitude toward women pushed me away; Thank you for speaking truth; Child sex abuse by clergy profoundly devastating | Letters

NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

December 17, 2020

Letters To The Editor

Editor’s note: The following letters are in response to Jersey Journal Faith Matters columnist the Rev. Alexander Santora’s recent piece “Time for a Reckoning: Church must confront, change old boy’s network exposed in Vatican’s McCarrick report.”

Church disregards women

I am one of the lucky women educated by the church from kindergarten to graduate school without ever encountering an instance of abuse.

I did encounter constant and omnipresent prescriptions on how to live and think, with the underlying message that the most valuable female virtues in the eyes of the church are obedience, service and respect.

As a professional woman in Manhattan, however, over the years I came to view the church as out of touch, with no messages truly applicable to the experiences and demands of my life. There were no relevant views from the church to consider in ever greater areas of my life.

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

Catholic church’s dismissive attitude toward women pushed me away; Thank you for speaking truth; Child sex abuse by clergy profoundly devastating | Letters

NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

December 17, 2020

Letters To The Editor

Editor’s note: The following letters are in response to Jersey Journal Faith Matters columnist the Rev. Alexander Santora’s recent piece “Time for a Reckoning: Church must confront, change old boy’s network exposed in Vatican’s McCarrick report.”

Church disregards women

I am one of the lucky women educated by the church from kindergarten to graduate school without ever encountering an instance of abuse.

I did encounter constant and omnipresent prescriptions on how to live and think, with the underlying message that the most valuable female virtues in the eyes of the church are obedience, service and respect.

As a professional woman in Manhattan, however, over the years I came to view the church as out of touch, with no messages truly applicable to the experiences and demands of my life. There were no relevant views from the church to consider in ever greater areas of my life.

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

Why File a Lawsuit if You Faced Church Sexual Abuse

UNITED STATES
Legal Reader

December 16, 2020

By Addie Davison

If you are one who chooses to fight against church sexual abuse, there are many taking the legal route and getting assistance and justice. Regain your confidence and restore your lost faith by standing for yourself.

The Catholic Church has suffered an epidemic of misconduct. A study by the University of Chicago found that over 100,000 people have been victims of molestation by Catholic priests. A Pew Research center survey tells that approximately 8 in 10 U.S. adults have faced church sexual abuse as a child, reflecting a big issue.

Places of worship offer peace and solace, and if these institutes get polluted with wrong intentions and activities, it is scary. So what to do if a believer becomes a victim in the hands of the clergy? What to do if you or someone is known to you has faced molestation in a church? This article explores the legal options that a victim can have.

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

A Notre Dame Academy graduate alleged abuse by priests, then died by suicide. Over 400 alumni demand answers.

WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

December 16, 2020

By Haley BeMiller

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2020/12/16/notre-dame-academy-alumni-call-out-st-norbert-abbey-after-suicide/3886222001/

DE PERE – Graduates of four Catholic high schools are demanding action from St. Norbert Abbey after its leader disputed allegations of sexual abuse lodged by a fellow alumnus who died by suicide in March.

The call for change came after the Green Bay Press-Gazette published an investigation detailing the story of Nate Lindstrom, who said three Norbertine priests abused him as a teenager in Green Bay in the late 1980s. Lindstrom received $420,000 in secret payments from the Catholic order over 10 years until the abbey stopped sending checks in 2019.

Lindstrom, 45, killed himself less than a year later.

Over 400 graduates of Notre Dame Academy and the former Premontre High School, Abbot Pennings and St. Joseph Academy signed a letter sent Wednesday to the Norbertines and Notre Dame officials imploring them to address Lindstrom’s allegations. Signees include members of Lindstrom’s family and Anne Horak Gallagher, an actress and wife of U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher of Green Bay.

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

Investigation: Florida was dumping ground for priests accused of sex abuse

FLORIDA
ABC-7 News

December 16, 2020

By Jeff Butera

SOUTHWEST Fla. – Investigators in the Florida Attorney General’s office have completed a two-year investigation into sexual abuse inside Florida Catholic churches, revealing three major findings:

– Using 267 tips to a tip line, investigators found 97 Florida priests accused of sexual abuse in Florida.

– The investigation did not uncover current, ongoing or unreported sexual abuse by Florida priests.

– Investigators found 81 priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse in other states, then transferred, relocated or retired to Florida, sometimes without the knowledge of the Florida churches they were being moved to.

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

Lawmakers could let voters decide whether to allow lawsuits for abuse survivors in 2021

HARRISBURG (PA)
Tribune Democrat

December 16, 2020

By John Finnerty

https://www.tribdem.com/news/lawmakers-could-let-voters-decide-whether-to-allow-lawsuits-for-abuse-survivors-in-2021/article_a11e2e0a-3ff4-11eb-bb8a-1b0a9e21195e.html

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee says that moving a bill to amend the Constitution to create a window of time for lawsuits by adult survivors of child abuse will be a top priority when lawmakers return to the Capitol next month.

The bill has already passed once, but because it’s a proposed constitutional amendment, it must pass unchanged a second time before it goes on the ballot for voters statewide.

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, announced Tuesday that she plans to introduce legislation that will mirror House Bill 963, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly in 2019.

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

St. Joseph’s Orphanage abuse survivors disappointed following task force report

BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX-TV

December 16, 2020

By Dom Amato

Abuse survivors, known as “The Voices of St. Joseph’s Orphanage”, shared stories Wednesday, of what they experienced at the orphanage decades ago.

Some of the group of more than 30, are sticking to their claims that children were murdered while they were being care for. In a nearly 300 page report released on Monday, Attorney General T.J. Donovan says evidence of abuse exists, but there isn’t enough evidence to substantiate murder.

Donovan also says law enforcement, and the state should have investigated when the claims were first made.

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