ABUSE TRACKER

CHICAGO (IL)
Fitch Ratings

June 26, 2020

Fitch Ratings has downgraded approximately $40.1 million in outstanding series 2017 fixed-rate revenue bonds issued by the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority on behalf of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (LA) to ‘D’ from ‘CC’. The Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of the Archdiocese has been affirmed at ‘D’.

Security

The 2017 bonds are secured by payments made by the Authority, and the source of these payments is solely a general unsecured obligation of the Archdiocese.

Key Rating Drivers

Trustee Notice of Non-Payment: The downgrade of the bond ratings to ‘D’ reflects the virtual certainty of a payment default on July 1, 2020 while in bankruptcy. The Archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 1, 2020. The trustee gave notice on June 26, 2020 that the July 1 debt service payments will not be made, as the Archdiocese has not paid the trustee for debt service payments due on July 1, and the trustee does not have funds on deposit to make debt service payments. The IDR of ‘D’ reflects the Archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

ESG – Social Impacts: The Archdiocese has an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) relevance score of ‘5’ for Social Impacts due to potentially significant liability from abuse claims, which appear to be a key driver of the Archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing.

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ANAHEIM (CA)
Orange County Register

June 27, 2020

By Teri Sforza

Lawyers lining up clients to sue bankrupt organization before Nov. 16 deadline to lodge claims
.
He played Santa Claus at a charity Christmas breakfast. He volunteered at tree plantings and neighborhood clean-ups. He worked the pancake breakfast to raise money for Boy Scout programs in low-income Long Beach schools.

“I love to help,” says Lewis Brownson’s Facebook page by way of introduction.

Brownson, 43, has been feted in the city’s “Sparks of Change Neighborhood Leadership Program” for his contributions and hard work. But, in an agonizingly common twist, the Boy Scout leader was arrested June 16 on two counts of lewd acts upon a child under age 14, with an allegation of multiple victims, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

A preliminary investigation by Long Beach police found that an 8-year-old boy had been sexually abused while participating in an after-school program over several years — from 2016 through 2018, according to a police spokesperson. Brownson was booked at the Long Beach city jail, with bail set at $1.2 million.

“The Boy Scouts say they’ve put safeguards in place, that abuse is a problem of the past,” said Andrew VanArsdale, a lead attorney with AbusedInScouting.com. “But we represent the families of children who were abused in the past year, the past two years.

“If the Boy Scouts of America has proven anything over its history, it’s that they allowed this to happen and never cared enough to stop it.”

So far, AIS represents more than 4,500 men and boys who say they were abused in Scouting. The oldest is 93. The youngest is 8.

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SURRY HILLS (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

June 29, 2020

By Victoria Laurie

The Catholic Church is quietly closing an agency set up to audit risks of sex abuse and enforce new standards of child protection in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Church reform groups say Catholic Professional Standards Ltd is being dismantled amid concern that old habits of secrecy and non-transparency are creeping back into the church.

CPSL was formed in early 2017 to act on 60 recommendations by the royal commission, which heard harrowing evidence of child sex abuse and cover-ups.

The new body was instructed by the powerful Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to set national standards for the treatment of children within the church, and conduct independent audits of 264 Catholic Church entities, including all archdioceses, religious orders and lay groups.

But halfway through its audit process, and with only one of seven archdioceses having­ delivered its safety audit, the archbishops have said CPSL will be replaced with “a new national safeguarding entity” in January.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, confirmed the CPSL would be replaced by a new body as a “comprehensive response by the church to safeguarding and professional­ standards needs”. He said the new body would continue the audit process “with appropriate independence”, and oversee a new national protocol to respond to complaints and allegations.

Australian Coalition for Catholic Church Reform convener Peter Johnstone said the church appeared to be taking back control “from an independent body of expert­ members of the laity providing­ independent scrutiny and advice”. “One must ask if this is back to business as usual, of the kind that led to the cover-up of child sexual abuse,” he said.

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BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Infobae

The story of the priest accused of sexual abuse and money laundering of drug trafficking who will go to oral trial

June 27, 2020

By Andrés Klipphan

https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2020/06/27/la-historia-del-sacerdote-acusado-de-abuso-sexual-y-lavado-de-dinero-del-narcotrafico-que-ira-a-juicio-oral/

[Google translation: Agustín Rosa Torino allegedly abused two seminarians and a nun. The Vatican opened a canonical investigation and the complaints reach 30. Pope Francis ordered the closure of the Religious Institute that in 1986 the priest had founded in Salta

One of the many judicial cases for abuses committed in the Argentine Church will add a new chapter. In Salta, the priest Agustín Rosa Torino will be tried for the alleged crimes of grossly outrageous sexual abuse to the detriment of two victims and simple sexual abuse against a third victim.The elevation to trial was filed in Chamber IV of the Salteño Trial Court. Now Judge Maximiliano Troyano will define the starting date of the oral and public trial.

The transit of the file was not easy. Along the way, the complaints and the prosecution encountered obstacles such as abuse of power, requests for annulments, requests for dismissal, and even a counter-complaint against one of the nuns who denounced the priest and who has already been dismissed.

It was because a cousin of another priest, a friend of the questioned religious, denounced the nun – now a former religious – Valeria Zarza, the woman abused by Agustín Rosa Torino.

The intention to discredit one of the three victims – the other two are men – failed. That’s how rare the judicial process was until reaching the oral trial.

Scandal at the Vatican

The priest who faces earthly justice is not just any priest. He knew how to influence the politicians and the local bishopric. Also in the Vatican.

In 1986, and with the approval of the then Pope John Paul II , Father Rosa Torino founded, in the province of Salta, the religious institute of diocesan law Brothers Disciples of Jesus of Saint John the Baptist.

The institute also has offices in Mexico, Chile and Spain and is made up of priests, permanent deacons and consecrated non-clergy who issue perpetual public vows and exclusively practice contemplative, monastic or hermitic life.

Thirty-three years later, on June 18, 2019, and by order of another pope, in this case of Francis , the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life decreed the suppression of the Institute led by the alleged abusive priest.]

Agustín Rosa Torino habría abusado de dos seminaristas y una monja. El Vaticano abrió una investigación canónica y las denuncias llegan a 30. El papa Francisco ordenó cerrar el Instituto Religioso que en 1986 el cura habían fundado en Salta

Uno de los tantos casos judiciales por abusos cometidos en la Iglesia argentina sumará un nuevo capítulo. En Salta será juzgado el sacerdote Agustín Rosa Torino por los presuntos delitos de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante en perjuicio de dos víctimas y de abuso sexual simple contra una tercera víctima. La elevación a juicio quedó radicada en la Sala IV del Tribunal de Juicio salteño. Ahora el juez Maximiliano Troyano definirá la fecha de inicio del juicio oral y público.

El tránsito del expediente no fue sencillo. En el camino, las querellas y la fiscalía se encontraron con obstáculos como abuso de poder, solicitudes de nulidades, pedidos de sobreseimiento, y hasta una contradenuncia contra una de las monjas que denuncio al cura y que ya fue sobreseída.

Fue porque una prima de otro sacerdote, amigo del cuestionado religioso, denunció como abusadora a la monja -ahora ex religiosa- Valeria Zarza, la mujer ultrajada por Agustín Rosa Torino.

La intención de desacreditar a una de las tres víctimas -las otras dos son hombres- fracasó. Así de enrarecido fue el trámite judicial hasta llegar al juicio oral.

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.

PITTSFIELD (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

June 25, 2020

The finding of a retired judge that the claims of a former altar boy that the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon sexually molested him were “unequivocally credible” is painful for many Catholics in the Springfield diocese, including the Berkshires. Bishop Weldon was a revered figure for 27 years.

But the finding, however painful, is part of the process that the diocese, and dioceses across the globe, must go through to address decades of abuse of minors by clergymen and cover-ups of that abuse by the church hierarchy.

Judge Peter A. Velis was hired by the diocese almost a year ago to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations brought forward by an unidentified Chicopee man after an in-house probe unraveled amid dissent over the conclusions of that investigation. Coverage in The Eagle about the man’s frustration led to the decision to conduct an independent investigation, according to the Velis report.

The abuse of the Chicopee man began in the 1960s when he was nine years old and was violent in nature. Judge Velis, who was assisted by a chief investigator, Dennis O’Connor, said he took into consideration that Bishop Weldon, who died in 1982, was not able to defend himself. But what the judge described as the bishop’s “evil deeds” were clear, declaring at a public appearance Wednesday alongside Bishop Mitchell Rozanski that he had “reached an informed and indisputable conclusion.” The nearly 400-page report is now available on the diocese’s website.

The bishop apologized to the victim, who met with stonewalling and skepticism from the diocese hierarchy since making his allegations to them in 2014. The Rev. Rozanski, who will be leaving to become Archbishop of St. Louis, acknowledged “chronic mishandling” of the case over those six years that led to the diocese “failing this courageous man.” Judge Velis said that the investigations by the diocese failed largely because the intent was to protect the memory of the popular Bishop Weldon.

The Velis report shatters the credibility of the diocese’s internal review board process, as many, although not all, of those serving on review committees are biased in favor of the accused. Former Berkshire Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ford will head a task force that will make recommendations about how the diocese should handle future allegations. The diocese’s agreement with district attorneys within the diocese to report allegations against clergy should assure that they are brought to light before they are buried by diocesan allies of the accused.

Bishop Weldon, whose name will be struck from a rehabilitation hospital in Springfield, has been disgraced, just as his accuser has been vindicated. Going forward, the diocese must, along with notifying the authorities, institute measures to assure that if such crimes occur again the will be addressed quickly, rather than institute a cover-up that could last for years. That is a task that the Catholic Church must undertake with all humility and sincerity if it is to compensate for decades of evil deeds and regain lost credibility with Catholics all over the world.

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.

PITTSFIELD (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

June 27, 2020

By Jeffrey Trant – Director, Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance, Diocese of Springfield

Springfield – On Wednesday, June 24, the Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski, Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Springfield, announced that he accepted the finding of credibility by retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis’ independent investigation concerning allegations of sexual abuse against the late Christopher J. Weldon, former bishop of Springfield.

On behalf of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance for the Diocese of Springfield, I would like to publicly recognize the strength and resilience of the survivor who continued to pursue justice and truth since first reporting his abuse to diocesan officials in 2014.

As Archbishop-designate Rozanski noted Wednesday, “In almost every instance we failed this courageous man who nonetheless persevered thanks in part to a reliable support network as well as a deep desire for a just response to the terrible abuse he endured.”

As a result of the investigation, Archbishop-designate Rozanski took the following steps: (1) directed that Trinity Health remove the former bishop’s name from its rehab facilities; (2) communicated to the diocesan cemeteries office to make the necessary plans to remove the former bishop’s remains to a less prominent location marked with a simple gravestone; (3) instructed all Catholic facilities to immediately remove honorable mentions, references, memorials and pictures of the former bishop; and (4) ordered that his name be placed on our diocesan website listing all those with credible allegations of sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. Truly, it was through the continued advocacy by survivors of clergy sexual abuse and ongoing support from the survivor community that this unfortunate matter finally reached a conclusion.

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PITTSFIELD (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

June 24, 2020.

By Larry Parnass and Caroline White

The Springfield Diocese sought to protect the reputation of the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, a retired judge says, despite a former altar boy’s “unequivocally credible” complaint that the bishop sexually molested him repeatedly in the early 1960s, in group assaults joined by other clergy.

Now, Weldon’s name and likeness will be purged from Catholic church venues — and his remains moved from a place of honor.

Judge Peter A. Velis said in a report made public Wednesday that a Chicopee man’s allegations of repeated sexual assaults by the bishop are believable.

Velis was hired by the diocese last July to prepare “an independent and outside” probe, with help from a chief investigator, Dennis O’Connor.

Velis said he reached that conclusion about the bishop’s “evil deeds,” even as he strove to consider that Weldon isn’t alive to defend himself. The bishop died in 1982, after serving the diocese, including Berkshire County, from 1950 to 1977.

“I conducted the process in the light most favorable to him,” Velis said of Weldon. “However … I still reached an informed and indisputable conclusion.”

In an appearance Wednesday alongside the Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, Velis affirmed the outcome of his investigation, which he acknowledged will dishearten Catholics throughout the region.

“The finding I made I stand behind as an indisputable truth,” he said.

Rozanski said he accepted the report’s conclusions and called for mentions of Weldon to be removed from view.

Rozanski directed not only that Weldon’s name be struck from a Springfield rehabilitation hospital, but that his remains in a diocesan cemetery be moved from a place of honor and “marked with a simple gravestone.”

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

June 14, 2020

By Monica Hingston

[With link to letter from Hingston to Cardinal Pell.]

Monica and Peg’s relationship was ‘strictly taboo and vehemently condemned’, but that did not prevent them from building a life together

Sixty years ago, as an idealistic 21-year-old seeking to do good, I made the unusual decision to enter the convent. Twenty years later, on the other side of the world, that decision would play a major part in meeting the love of my life, another nun – my soulmate.

I came from a typical Catholic family of that time. We accepted without question all the church teachings, a slow-drip indoctrination. I happily embarked on this path, becoming a “bride of Christ” (a peculiar, inexplicable ritual) and donning the veil and habit to signify I was set apart from the enticements of the world.

I loved teaching, but after some years I became disenchanted with the path I was on, and requested leave of absence from religious life. I travelled to South America. It was the first step towards meeting Peg. I still can’t explain why I chose to return to the convent, but that choice, at the fork in the road, took me on the path to her.

*
Those same years have revealed the horrors, the pain and anguish the prelates of this church have inflicted on innocent, vulnerable children by the millions across the globe. They have lost all credibility, especially in claiming the moral high ground on any issue.

I would hope that the good and decent Catholic believers may one day soon decide they no longer need this clerical caste to serve their God and return to meeting in small groups like the early Christians, sharing eucharist, striving to be humane and compassionate people.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Morgan Lewis via JD Supra

June 26, 2020

The Small Business Administration on April 24 issued an update to an interim final rule, crystalizing its view that applicants that have sought protection under the US Bankruptcy Code are not qualified borrowers under the Paycheck Protection Program. Subsequently, dozens of debtors have looked to the bankruptcy courts for relief from the SBA’s unilateral clarification. This LawFlash covers debtor eligibility under the PPP as well as recent legislation and key court decisions moving the needle in this space.

Almost simultaneously with the SBA’s release of its interim final rule stating its view that debtors are not qualified PPP borrowers, a Texas bankruptcy court temporarily enjoined the SBA’s authority to enforce that determination. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated that decision after determining that the SBA is protected by limited sovereign immunity. In the intervening period, numerous debtors have looked to the bankruptcy courts for relief, with most courts deciding the issues on the merits—including one district court—leading to a split over the SBA’s discretion to deny PPP loans solely on the basis of a borrower’s bankruptcy. Meanwhile, debtors obtaining their PPP loans prior to filing have seen few challenges to their requests to use PPP proceeds to fund operations during bankruptcy.

Subsequent PPP legislation, including the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 enacted on June 5, clarified several points and further extended the maturity and forgiveness period of the PPP, but did not address the ineligible debtor issue, which continues to be fought in the courts. The second round of funding of the PPP has not been exhausted and remains available for eligible borrowers, although the deadline to borrow will expire shortly.

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DETROIT (MI)
Varnum Law via JD Supra

June 25, 2020

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) rules and regulations concerning the eligibility of businesses for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans when the business is involved in bankruptcy have recently been a source of substantial uncertainty, with the nationwide split of authority in bankruptcy courts. While these cases deal with a very small minority of PPP recipients and are a relative novelty in that regard, these decisions could foretell future issues for companies who have received PPP loans but are later forced to file Chapter 11, specifically regarding their eligibility for loan forgiveness.

The SBA is enabled with emergency rulemaking authority to adopt rules and regulations to manage application and qualifications for PPP loans under the CARES Act. Pursuant to this authority, the SBA publishes Interim Final Rules (IFR). The SBA’s April 28, 2020 IFR expressly disqualified applicants who are debtors in a bankruptcy proceeding at any time between the date of application and when the loan is disbursed.[1] Several companies in bankruptcy proceedings, whose loans have been denied, have challenged the SBA’s rulemaking authority in this regard, leading to a nationwide split on this issue in bankruptcy courts.

Specifically, these courts have rendered opinions to decide whether the SBA can impose a policy disqualifying a business in bankruptcy proceedings from participating in the PPP and whether the SBA violates other laws for doing so.[2] More than a dozen cases have been decided in the last two months, with the recent decisions highlighting the confusion that bankruptcy courts face in discerning the intent of Congress and the purpose of the CARES Act.

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JEMEZ SPRINGS (NM)
Sotheby’s

June 24, 2020

[Note: This property is part of the Servants of the Paraclete complex in Jemez Springs NM. It was originally known as the Lourdes Retreat, then Our Lady of Lourdes Novitiate, and most recently (earlier his year) Lourdes House of Prayer: “We offer opportunities for spirituality and hospitality to priests and brothers who want to ‘come away to a quiet place’ for a time.” This listing provides photographs and a drone video of the property. It is a few miles north of the main compound of the Servants of the Paraclete. That compound used to extend between Villa Louis Martin Drive and St. Joseph Drive on the west side of NM Route 4 (see map). Some years ago, the buildings along Villa Louis Martin Drive were bought by the National Park Service to house the administrative offices of its Valles Caldera National Preserve. But most of the main compound is still owned by the Servants of the Paraclete, including Mary, Mother of Priests Church across from the Jemez Historic Site. The main complex is now called the Father Fitzgerald Retreat and Renewal Center.]

14 Lourdes Drive – 22.64 Acres
Jemez Springs, NM 87025
United States
Land: 22.64 acres (approx.)
Web #: 0576287
MLS ID: 201804504

Situated in the heart of majestic Jemez Springs, New Mexico, this magnificent compound property sits on 22.64 +/- acres of lush and usable land surrounded by trees and grass. The Jemez River, as well as a long lived acequia waterway run through/flank the property. Three homes/structures are surrounded by dramatic valley views and evergreen tree laden mountain-scapes where wildlife and native birds can be seen traversing the scenery. Jemez Springs is best known for its nearby and off-property natural hot springs warmed by the ancient waters of the Valles Caldera. The property is just an hour drive away from the larger city of Los Alamos or Bernalillo/Albuquerque.

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AIRDRIE (SCOTLAND)
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

June 26, 2020

Second Annual Report of the Independent Review Group (IRG) monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the McLellan Report by the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland

1.1 When the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland (BCOS) accepted in full the recommendations from the review into safeguarding chaired by Dr Andrew McLellan, they established an Independent Review Group (IRG) to monitor progress in implementing the recommendations.

1.2. This is the second annual progress report from the IRG. The remit of the IRG has been reviewed by BCOS and is included as Appendix 1 of this report.

1.3. The findings within this report are based on discussions between the BCOS and the IRG; the production of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the parties ( see Appendix 2); the response of the BCOS to the recommendations from the first report (see Appendix 3) ; the process and outcome of the first 2 external audits of diocesan safeguarding practices and the outcome and analysis of the diocesan internal audits for 2019. Details of the IRG’s membership and a summary of its main activities are in Appendix 4.

1.4. 2019 saw a deepening understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities for safeguarding delegated to the IRG by the BCOS. The introduction of entirely new and entirely independent scrutiny of all aspects of the implementation of safeguarding policy, procedures and practice within the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland was a courageous and decisive initiative by the BCOS. The agreement with the IRG was that two Dioceses in 2019 would be audited by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) as part of a wider commitment by the Bishops to commission external audits of all eight Dioceses over a four year period. This showed a willingness to open all aspects of safeguarding to intense professional scrutiny and to learn lessons. Almost inevitably there were teething issues as commitments and shared values were teased out into effective behaviours and comprehensive relationships.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 27, 2020

By Charles Collins

Leicester, United Kingdom – While noting improvement in safeguarding standards in the Church in Scotland, a new report says putting in place structures that safeguard the vulnerable still presents challenges.

The Second Annual Report of the Independent Review Group (IRG) monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the McLellan Commission by the Catholic Church was released on June 26.

Safeguarding practices in the Scottish Catholic Church were first reviewed by the McLellan Commission, set up in 2013. In August 2015 the commission published a report recommending external and independent scrutiny of polices and practice, and the bishops responded by establishing the review group in May 2017. The IRG is headed by Baroness Helen Liddell, the former UK Secretary of State of Scotland.

“We must never forget that survivors of abuse are at the heart of our work. We need to learn from them and through that put in place structures that safeguard the vulnerable. All of us have a part to play, not just clergy but laity too,” Liddell said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

June 26, 2020

By Michelle Boorstein

[Note from BishopAccountability.org: For the first time in 13 years, since the report about the data for 2006, this new report doesn’t show the aggregate total responses to the survey. In previous years, the surveys were reproduced at the back of the report, with the total responses added for each question. See, for example last year’s report. In this this year’s report, those responses are omitted.

In last year’s report, the survey for religious orders omitted the question: “Of the total number in item 32, the number that have had one or more previous allegations reported against them prior [to the period of the report]. See that question in the report on data for 2016-2017, and see its omission in the report on data for 2017-2018. Dropping this question from the religious order survey meant that it was not possible to calculate the number of religious order priests accused for the first time during the survey period. That question was restored in this year’s report, but the number was not provided, either in the copy of the survey at the end of the report or in the text. This means that for a second year we don’t know how many religious order priests were accused for the first time in the survey period.

By contrast, it is possible to calculate that number for diocesan priests:
2017-2018: 156 diocesan priests accused for the first time (436-280=156; see the survey)
2018-2019: 598 diocesan priests accused for the first time (1,391-(1391x.57)=598; see the text)

The number of priests accused for the first time each year is significant. It allows a running total to be calculated as BA does on this page, which is being updated to include data from the new report.]

The number of allegations of Catholic clergy sex abuse of minors more than quadrupled in 2019 compared to the average in the previous five years, U.S. church officials reported this week, in part the result of new church-run compensation programs for victims as well as survivors driven to come forward by several major clerical abuse scandals.

The annual audit of nearly 200 dioceses and church entities across the country has been done since 2002, when reports of clergy abuse and coverups exploded and U.S. bishops approved reforms, including a yearly review of complaints and compliance. The reform package is often called the “Charter.”

[Photo caption: James Grein is among the men alleging sexual abuse or harassment by now-defrocked cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Here Grein shows postcards from McCarrick. The McCarrick scandal is among the reasons experts think complaints against the church went up in 2019.]

The report released Thursday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the 2019 report — which covered July 2018 through June 2019 — counted 4,434 allegations of clergy sex abuse against minors. That number was 1,451 in 2018, 693 in 2017, 1,318 in 2016 and 903 in 2015.

Of the 4,434 allegations covered in the report, about half — 2,237 — were deemed credible by the church.

Thirty-seven of the 4,434 allegations came from people who were minors during the time period the report covered — eight of which the church-run bodies deemed substantiated, according to the report. In recent years, that’s about average for substantiated, past-year claims. There are about 37,000 diocesan and religious order priests in the country.

The complaints the church deemed credible were analyzed further by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a church-affiliated research center on the Catholic Church. CARA found that of those whose time frame could be determined, 57 percent of credible allegations that came in 2019 happened before 1975, 41 percent between 1975 and 1999, and 2 percent since 2000, the report said.

Church officials said the fact that there remains such a small number of claims of recent abuse shows that their reforms are working and that the jump in reporting of older claims reflects confidence complaints will be taken seriously.

*
Some survivor advocates saw other things in the report. SNAP, a clergy-abuse survivors’ organization, emphasized the report’s finding that the status of 863 allegations is “unknown” and another 956 are ongoing.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via The Dialog of the Diocese of Wilmington

June 25, 2020

More than 4,400 allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy were reported during the year ending June 30, 2019, a significant jump from the previous auditing period, according to a report on diocesan and eparchial compliance with the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

Released June 25, the 17th annual report from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection states that 4,220 child sexual abuse survivors filed 4,434 allegations. In the 2017-2018 audit period, 1,381 survivors filed 1,451 allegations.

[Photo caption: David Lorenz, holding the microphone, addresses a crowd gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington Aug. 26. He was joined by Catholics who showed up to support sex abuse victims.]

While the number jumped, the report said only 37 allegations involved current minors. Of these, the report said, eight allegations were substantiated, seven were unsubstantiated, six were unable to be proven, 12 remained under investigation, three were referred to religious orders and one was referred to another diocese.

The report attributed 37% of the new allegations to lawsuits, the introduction of victim compensation programs by dioceses and eparchies, and bankruptcies. An additional 3% of allegations emerged after a review of clergy personnel files, according to the report.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press

June 26, 2020

By David Crary

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday that the church tallied 4,434 sex abuse allegations against clergy in the 2018-19 audit year, triple the number seen the previous year, with much of the increase stemming from a wave of lawsuits and claims by survivors of decades-old molestation.

In the latest annual report on clerical sex abuse, dioceses and other Catholic entities reported paying out $281.6 million during the year for costs related to allegations, including payments for cases reported in previous years.

Only 37 of the new allegations were made by people who were minors in the audit year ending June 30, 2019. Of those, eight allegations were substantiated, while most of the others were either still under investigation or had been deemed unsubstantiated.

There has been a huge overall surge in allegations over the past three years as dioceses faced unprecedented pressure to address the decades-old problem of clergy sex abuse. There were 693 allegations tallied in the 2017 report, and 1,451 in the 2018 report.

The cases cited in the new report involved 2,982 priests and other church personnel. Of the allegations, 1,034 were substantiated; many other remained under investigation or were unable to be proven, it said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
USCCB

June 25, 2020

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2019 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The report is based on the audit findings of StoneBridge Business Partners, a specialty consulting firm headquartered in Rochester, New York, which provides forensic, internal, and compliance audit services to leading organization nation-wide. A survey on allegations conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) is also included as part of the report.

This is the seventeenth such report since 2002 when the U.S. bishops established and adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People a comprehensive set of procedures to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and made a promise to protect and a pledge to heal.

The 2019 report for audit year July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019 states that 4,220 adults came forward with 4,434 allegations. Compared to 2018, the number of allegations has increased significantly. This is in part due to the additional allegations received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies.

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DAYTON (OH)
Journal-News

June 26, 2020

By Michael D. Clark and Josh Sweigart

[See the list.]

Hamilton OH – Five men appearing on a recently released list of Marianist priests and brothers who the order says sexually abused children were assigned to the former Hamilton Catholic High School at some time during their careers, according to a Journal-News review of the documents.

Leaders of the Marianists, a Catholic religious order with a 170-year history in the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton region, released a list Wednesday of 46 priests and brothers they say were found to have abused children since 1950 in the United States.

Marianist officials listed five men who spent some of their careers working at the former Hamilton Catholic High School under the category of “members found to have sexually abused a minor.”

The school, which was located at 533 Dayton Street, closed in 1966, and students transferred to the then-new Badin High School in west Hamilton.

The building has for years been the central office of the Hamilton public schools.

The five — Francis A. Russell, John J. Keegan, Julius F. May, Ralph A. Mravintz and Thomas J. Doyle — all spent some years of their careers working at the former Hamilton Catholic High School. The exact years of employment are not noted in the document.

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DAYTON (OH)
Journal-News

June 24, 2020

By Josh Sweigart

Leaders of the Marianists — a Catholic religious order with a 170-year history in Dayton — released a list Wednesday of 46 priests and brothers they say were found to have sexually abused children since 1950 in the United States.

The list includes 19 men with ties to the Dayton area and Marianist institutions such as the University of Dayton and Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School. Sixteen Marianists on the list served in the Province of Cincinnati, which was headquartered in Dayton until it merged with the other Marianist provinces in 2002.

Chaminade Julienne President Daniel Meixner said in a statement Wednesday that allegations against one of the men, Bro. Francis Russell, stemmed from his assignment to the school during the 1965-1966 school year. He said the Marianists notified the school about Russell in November 2019 and letters were sent to alumni from that year.

Russell joined the order in 1939 and died in 1991, according to information released by the order. He worked at four schools in Ohio, including in Hamilton and Cincinnati.

Meixner said 13 men on the list released Wednesday worked at Chaminade Julienne or its predecessor, Chaminade High School, all prior to 1999, including six Marianists “not previously known to our school.” Russell is the only one with a credible claim of abuse while assigned at the school, Meixner said.

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OSWEGO (NY)
Palladium-Times

June 6, 2020

By Seth Wallace

Earliest case claims abuse at St. Paul’s in 1945

A deluge of lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Syracuse under the state Child Victims Act allege a long-standing, secretive and effective system for concealing clergy sex abuse.

Hundreds of cases are pending against the diocese, which last week filed for bankruptcy in the face of the overwhelming legal battle. Multiple complaints allege sexual abuse of children by priests associated with Oswego parishes. For this story, The Palladium-Times editorial team spoke with attorneys for the alleged victims, reviewed hundreds of pages of court and diocese documents and aggregated credible information from community members who claim to have knowledge of the situation. The names of all alleged victims are being withheld with identities redacted and replaced by the terms “the victim,” “the plaintiff” or “the child” where applicable.

The cases differ in decades, institutions and individuals but many components follow the same sad pattern: an underage male, involved with the Catholic Church through schooling or worship, is sexually abused by a clergy member.

“The Diocese of Syracuse knew for decades that its priests, clergy, religious brothers, religious sisters, school administrators, teachers, employees and volunteers were using their positions within the diocese to groom and sexually abuse children,” reads the opening of one complaint alleging abuse that began more than five decades ago.

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SAVANNAH (GA)
Savannah Morning News

June 26, 2020

By Jan Skutch

By his own admission, Monsignor William Oliver O’Neill is “a person who likes mischief and excitement.”

So when the retired rector at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist in downtown Savannah sat down to pen his life’s stories beginning in Ireland and continuing for the past 53 years in the Catholic Diocese of Savannah, that showed through.

“Some of the stories in this collection may seem to be outlandish or hard to believe!,” he wrote in his introduction. “They are all actually true stories.”

In the recently published “Stories from Ireland and America,” available from Amazon.com, O’Neill writes 124 stories from his childhood on a farm near Tipperary in Ireland to his confrontation with an armed arsonist who tried to burn the Cathedral to the ground. The reader is presented with an entertaining saga — at times challenging to take at face value.

*
But for those who have celebrated Mass with O’Neill at the pulpit, they find a priest who sees humor in daily lives, as well as one who was dedicated to his chosen path of leading his flock to God’s message. And as a fierce critic of the church’s handling of those guilty of cleric sexual abuse.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KQED

June 26, 2020

By Alexandra Hall

Luis said he couldn’t tell the doctor what had really happened.

It had been several days since he first noticed the blood in his urine and the bruising around his groin.

The 40-year-old native of Jalisco, Mexico, had been meeting with a popular local priest in Fresno, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, who went by the name Father Antonio. His family had introduced him to Father Antonio in hope of the priest helping Luis, who had struggled with an addiction to meth, get back on his feet.

“A lot of people would come looking for him,” said Luis, which is not his real name. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story. “They said it was something … like a gift from God he had.”

At the time, Father Antonio was lead pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Spanish-language congregation of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. The priest’s charismatic leadership drew in hundreds from Fresno’s Latino community and his rumored healing abilities had earned him the nickname “el padrecito que hace milagros” — the priest who performs miracles.

During sessions in Father Antonio’s office that Luis said took place over the course of several years, he would lie down on a bench or massage table wearing only his boxers, while Father Antonio prayed and rubbed oil onto his skin. The intensity of the massage was so forceful that the priest often left bruises, Luis later testified.

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EVANSVILLE (IN)
Courier & Press

June 26, 2020

By Abbey Doyle

Bishop Joseph M. Siegal said Friday he found claims of sexual misconduct against a now-deceased priest were “unsubstantiated” after an Evansville Diocese investigation.

In response, the family of the accuser called the announcement, and the investigation itself, “absurd and offensive.”

Testifying in front of the Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2019, Christopher Compton said the Rev. Raymond Kuper sexually abused him multiple times when Compton was 9 years old.

He accused of Kuper of “borderline brainwashing” him.

Kuper died in 2012.

Speaking to reporters at the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Center, Bishop Joseph M. Siegel, said: “On the recommendation of the Diocesan Review Board, I have found that this allegation cannot be substantiated.”

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield Republican via Mass Live

June 26, 2020

By Ron Chimelis

The press conference consisted of a single person, but Robert Hoatson said he spoke for thousands of victims who have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse — and any who still may.

The former priest and president of Road to Recovery, an advocacy group for victims of church-related sexual abuse, called for the resignation of Mitchell Rozanski, the outgoing bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. Hoatson also called on Pope Francis to rescind the bishop’s reassignment as Archbishop of the Archdiocese in St. Louis, Missouri.

Hoatson said he expects neither result, but promised to keep speaking out on behalf of victims of clergy sexual abuse. Speaking in front of diocesan headquarters in Springfield Friday, he said retired Judge Peter Velis’ findings of “unequivocally credible” sexual abuse claims against former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon — and failures in the diocese’s handling of the allegations — stood as a scathing commentary on Rozanski’s tenure in Springfield.

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OTTAWA (CABANA)
CBC

June 26, 2020

Roland Lanoie, 72, pleaded guilty earlier this month to offences dating back to 1980s

A former Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused a 15-year-old boy almost four decades ago has been sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Roland Lanoie, 72, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault earlier this month.

His jail sentence will be followed by two years of supervised probation, during which time he must not work or volunteer in a position of trust involving children, a recommendation made by Crown attorney Dayna Queua-Guzzi.

At Lanoie’s sentencing on Thursday, provincial court Judge Ryan Rolston talked about the importance of a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and the responsibility of the convicted person. The multiple sexual assaults suffered by the victim resulted in trauma, Rolston said.

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

June 26, 2020

By John Lynch

Steubenville OH – Pope Francis decreed that Henry Christopher Foxhoven be dismissed from the clerical state. The Pope’s decision was communicated to Diocese of Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton on June 3 and to Foxhoven on June 19.

Foxhoven pled guilty to three counts of sexual battery in front of Athens County Judge Patrick Lang, Nov. 27, 2018 and is serving a 12 year prison sentence.

Diocese of Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton said, “We must remain vigilant in assisting victims of sexual abuse. We take every accusation very seriously and we will continue to do so.”

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WINNIPEG (MANITOBA, CANADA)
Winnipeg Free Press

June 25, 2020

By Dean Pritchard

A retired Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to 15 months in jail after admitting to sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy nearly 40 years ago.

Roland Lanoie, 72, pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of sexual assault for offences dating back to 1982.

The abuse began shortly after the boy had been sent to live at St. Boniface Minor Seminary following the death of his mother.

“Mr. Lanoie was his priest and his parents all at once,” provincial court Judge Ryan Rolston said Thursday. “It is difficult to imagine a more profound and multi-layered breach of trust.”

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BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX 3 CBS

June 25, 2020

By Ike Bendavid

Winooski VT – Three Catholic churches in Vermont are set to close within the next week– the latest sign of the times for Vermont’s largest church community. Our Ike Bendavid takes a look at what’s behind the closures and what’s next.

I’m told it’s several things. Weekly Mass attendance and access to other churches in the area make it easier to consolidate, but the main reason is not enough priests to lead the parishes in the state.

After near 90 years, St. Stephen’s Church in Winooski will ring the bells one last time this weekend.

*
The number of churchgoers has also been falling for years, driven by aging demographics, a decline in religious interest among younger people and priest sex abuse scandals that have driven away some parishioners.

According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, there were 142,000 Catholics in Vermont in 1990. In 2019, there were 112,000 statewide.

In 1990, there were 2,097 baptisms. In 2019, there were only 384.

Also in 1990, there were 1,290 Catholic funerals. Last year, there were 1,127.

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

June 25, 2020

By Judy Jones

A longtime Catholic priest in Ohio is the subject of a “credible allegation” of abuse, according to the Diocese of Columbus. We call on diocesan officials to use every tool and resource at their disposal to share this information with parishioners and the public in every community where this cleric worked and to encourage victims and witnesses to come forward to local police and prosecutors.

We hope that the findings by the diocesan review board will bring comfort and healing to the survivors of Fr. Kevin Lutz. We know that abusers rarely have only one victim, so we believe there are likely others who he hurt during his four decades as a priest. One public allegation that is found to be “credible” by Catholic officials will often bring others forward. Outreach by diocesan leaders in Columbus can help bring those who were wounded forward so they can find healing and accountability.

We call on Bishop Robert Brennan to personally visit each parish where Fr. Lutz worked and urge others who may have suffered, seen or suspected crimes to come forward to law enforcement. We also hope that prosecutors in Columbus will look closely at this case to determine if there are any chargeable offenses, so that children in Ohio will be safer and survivors will have an opportunity for justice.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

June 25, 2020

By Phyllis Zagano

The sudden appearance of new communities, linked to the personality of some preachers … can conceal the danger … of enclosing the experience of faith in protected and reassuring environments.
— Pope Francis, to participants at the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Sept. 28, 2019.

The cult of personality is a very scary thing. No matter where or how it forms, it usually crashes and burns with the death or diminishment of the individual who gained a following. What Pope Francis spoke of here, to the assembled participants at the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was the theme of their conference: “Pentecostals, charismatics, and evangelicals: Impact on the concept of unity.” His words found their way into the final document of the Amazon synod about a year later.

The dynamics in the Amazon region are clear: The largest numbers of former Catholics there now affiliate with one or another of these groups, too often tied to a single preacher in a single village for a limited time.

Why? One would hope that the gospel is the principal attraction for the adherents to whatever Pentecostal, charismatic or evangelical preacher has won their hearts. But one must recognize the underlying circumstances causing people to gather around him or, increasingly, her.

It often has to do with language and culture. The local preacher comes from the people, or somehow is inserted into the locality, and gains a following. He, or, we must remember, she, is, or at least becomes, a known quantity whose joys, hopes and fears echo those of the followers. The preacher knows them, knows how to heal their wounds, knows how to salve their sorrows. The people hear common sense mixed with promise.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via The Dialog of the Diocese of Wilmington

June 26, 2020

By Carol Glatz

Rome – Ignatius Press will be publishing Australian Cardinal George Pell’s prison journal and it is also appealing for donations it will give the cardinal for outstanding legal expenses incurred in defending himself against allegations of the sexual abuse of minors.

Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, editor of the U.S.-based Ignatius Press, said, “I’ve already read the first half of the journal and it is extraordinary. I think it’s going to be a spiritual classic.”

The complete journal, he said, is about 1,000 pages, “so we will print it in three or four volumes” with the first volume expected to be out in the spring of 2021.

“With your help, we can proceed with this project and offer Cardinal Pell appropriate advances on these volumes, which he can then use to remove much of the worry he now has about his legal debts,” the priest said in a message published in June on the Ignatius Press website.

The “Cardinal George Pell Donation Project,” found on Ignatius.com, said donations made through the publisher’s website or its parent company, Guadalupe Associates Inc., were tax deductible.

A jury in Australia had found Cardinal Pell guilty in December 2018 on five counts of abuse and the Victoria Court of Appeal upheld that verdict in a 2-1 decision.

The 79-year-old cardinal had served nearly 14 months out of a six-year sentence when, in April, seven judges of the High Court of Australia dismissed his conviction on charges of abusing two choirboys in 1996. He was in solitary confinement 23 hours a day for 405 days.

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GEORGETOWN (GUYANA)
Stabroek News

June 26, 2020

Deeply disturbing.

These are the words used by Mount Saint Benedict in responding to a viral Facebook video of a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted by a priest from the Mount from age seven to 12.

The Mount said the allegations in the video are currently under review.

“We shall continue to monitor our policies and controls to prevent incidents of this nature,” the Mount said in a statement on its Facebook page yesterday.

The Mount said the monk against whom the allegations were made is formerly associated with the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and St Bede’s Vocational School.

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RICHMOND (VA)
WTVR via True CrimeDaily

June 25, 2020

A former Richmond City Public Schools elementary music teacher and minister pleaded guilty Wednesday to producing images of child sexual abuse.

Kellen Thomas Donelson, 32, was charged by Homeland Security Agents following an investigation and search warrant on his Richmond home.

The Richmond man came to the attention of law enforcement in 2019 for uploading multiple images of child pornography via Snapchat and Kik Messenger, according to court documents. In the summer of 2019, Homeland Security received tips that Donelson, under the name “love4muziq,” uploaded images of child porn to Snapchat and the messaging app Kik.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

June 18, 2020

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has had his permission to officiate as a priest revoked.

The Church of England said new evidence linking Lord Carey, 84, to a review into allegations of abuse against the late John Smyth, had emerged.

There are no claims of abuse against him, and in a statement he said he was “dismayed” by the revocation.

Mr Smyth was accused of attacking boys whom he had met at a Dorset Christian camp in the 1970s and 1980s.

The independent inquiry was launched into the Church’s handling of allegations against Mr Smyth, a barrister who died aged 77 last year.

Permission to Officiate (PTO) is required for any Church of England priest to preach or minister.

In a statement Lord Carey said: “I am bewildered and dismayed to receive the news a short time ago that due to ‘concerns’ being raised during the review of John Smyth QC I have had my PTO revoked.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix

June 24, 2020

By Céline Hoyeau and Gauthier Vaillant

Famous for their hospitality, monasteries are often asked to house criminals or priests guilty of being pedophiles

A year ago, Jean-Claude Romand traded his prison cell for the monastic cloister.

He was released on parole on June 28, 2019 after spending 26 years in jail for murdering his wife, their two children and his parents.

Romand was an impostor who pretended to be a medical doctor for 18 years prior to the murders. He converted to Catholicism while in prison and, since being paroled, he’s been living at the traditionalist Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault in central France.

He is not the first notorious criminal to seek refuge in a monastery.

In the late 1970s, the Benedictine Abbey of Sainte-Anne de Kergonan, near the Bay of Biscay, took in the double murderer Guy Desnoyers.

There was also Michelle Martin, companion of the Belgian pedophile murderer Marc Dutroux. She spent three years in a Poor Clare monastery near Namur after being paroled in 2012.

In recent years, bishops have also begun to use monasteries as residents for priests guilty of or awaiting trial for sexual abuse.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Associated Press via The Citizen’s Voice of Wilkes-Barre PA

June 26 2020

By Jim Salter and Margaret Stafford

[See the list.]

The Marianists religious order on Wednesday released the names of 46 living and dead religious leaders who they claim sexually abused minors, the latest of several Catholic organizations to complete an investigation and publicly name the accused.

“For decades, despicable and evil acts of abuse committed by clergy and vowed religious of the Catholic Church dwelled in the shadows,” the leader of the St. Louis-based order, Oscar Vasquez, wrote in a letter posted on the Marianists’ website. “Hidden and ignored by church members and leaders, these abhorrent sins festered, stifling the light of our Church.”

Vasquez said investigators looked at files of 2,500 U.S. priests and brothers dating to 1950. Of the 46 men on the list, 33 are deceased.

Of the remaining 13 Marianists determined to have committed abuse, five who are still members of the order are on “safety plans” and eight are no longer with the order.

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ROME
Associated Press

June 25, 2020

By Nicole Winfield and Monika Scislowska

Pope Francis has ordered a Polish bishop to leave his central diocese while he is under investigation for covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second clergy abuse documentary that has rocked Poland’s Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has ordered a Polish bishop to leave his central diocese and let someone else run it while he is under investigation for covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second clergy abuse documentary that has rocked Poland’s Catholic Church.

Francis on Thursday named the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys, to temporarily take over as head of the Kalisz diocese.

The Vatican’s ambassador, in explaining the decision, said the current Kalisz bishop, Edward Janiak, 67, retains the title of Kalish bishop for the time being. But the explanation, posted late Thursday on the Polish bishops conference website, said Janiak must leave the territory of the diocese and can’t have any form of influence on how it is run.

In May, the online documentary “Playing Hide and Seek,” exposed two cases of pedophile priests that Janiak handled, first as an auxiliary bishop of Wroclaw and then as bishop of Kalisz, which he has headed since 2012.

It featured court testimony about Janiak’s role helping transfer one priest, subsequently convicted and defrocked, from Wroclaw to another diocese even after a criminal investigation had begun. The film also documented another case of alleged cover-up of another priest during Janiak’s time as Kalisz bishop.

The film suggests Janiak didn’t follow the Vatican’s own in-house rules to report allegations against the Kalisz priest to the Holy See, and did so only after the case gained media attention. The diocese maintains no actual victims had lodged a formal complaint, though the parents of one victim did. An audiotape of their 2016 meeting, in which Janiak berates the parents, provides one of the more chilling moments of the documentary.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

June 25, 2020

By Michael Powell

The new approach finds unlikely allies among some feminist scholars, who say colleges and universities were failing to sufficiently protect the rights of young men accused of sexual misconduct.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos fired a shot last month in the nation’s culture wars, overhauling how colleges handle investigations of sexual assault and ending what she called Obama-era “kangaroo courts” on campus.

The new Education Department rules give more protections to the accused, primarily young men who face discipline or expulsion as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct.

The move set off a liberal uproar, denounced by unions representing teachers and college professors, by the National Organization for Women and by an array of Democratic senators. The Trump rules, they said, constitute a radical rollback of protections for victims who seek justice after sexual assaults.

But Ms. DeVos’s actions won praise from a surprising audience: an influential group of feminist legal scholars who applauded the administration for repairing what they viewed as unconscionable breaches in the rights of the accused.

“The new system is vastly better and fairer,” said Prof. Janet Halley, who specializes in gender and sexuality at Harvard Law School. “The fact that we’re getting good things from the Trump administration is confusing, but isn’t it better than an unbroken avalanche of bad things?”

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NORTHAMPTON (MA)
Daily Hampshire Gazette

June 24, 2020

By Scott Merzbach

[Note from BishopAccountability.org: The Velis report was released in a 100 megabyte PDF that was not searchable. We made the PDF searchable and reduced its size by half without changing the content in any way. The link above is to the searchable and smaller PDF. This smaller PDF is still 52 megabytes and will be difficult for some readers to download. So we have also posted the reduced-size searchable report in pieces: the text, the exhibits, and the photo exhibits with appendix. The 100 megabyte report with OCR is available here.]

Springfield – Those investigating sexual abuse complaints against late bishop Christopher J. Weldon failed in their duties to report their findings to prosecutorial authorities, a reluctance likely caused by Weldon’s “prominence and revered legacy in the religious community,” retired Judge Peter A. Velis wrote in his investigative report into the allegations released to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

In his 373-page report, released Wednesday, Velis criticized how the Diocesan Review Board handled the initial allegations of sexual abuse against Weldon, calling the response both “weak” and “woefully deficient,” and finding that the allegations by a Chicopee man are legitimate.

“These accusations are unequivocally credible,” Velis said at a press conference at the Bishop Marshall Center Wednesday afternoon, noting that there will be a great deal of pain felt by members of the diocese for calling out the bishop’s “evil misdeeds.” Velis added that he allowed for the highest standard of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, to be fair to the bishop, who died in 1982 and has been unable to defend himself.

Velis wrote that he was disappointed in how investigators assessed the complaint.

“In response to my charge in assessing how the diocese responded to the complainant, I conclude from the myriad of evidentiary factors expressed in my final report that from the inception of the complaint through the follow-up process, the procedure was greatly flawed,” Velis wrote.

Archbishop-designate Mitchell T. Rozanski, who appointed Velis, said he accepts the findings and as such ordered the immediate removal of Weldon’s name from the rehabilitation facility at Mercy Medical Center, that his remains be moved from its current cemetery to a less prominent location, and that all honorable mentions and photos of Weldon in churches, offices and other buildings be taken down. In addition, Weldon’s name will be placed on the diocese website alongside other priests, deacons and bishops, who have faced credible accusations of sexual abuse of children or adults.

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FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant

June 24, 2020

By Bradley Eli

Judge: allegations ‘unequivocally credible’

Springfield, Mass. – An independent report released by the diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts is asserting that sex abuse claims against Springfield’s former Bp. Christopher Weldon are unequivocally credible” and the diocese covered for him.

In a 375-page report released by the diocese on Wednesday, retired judge Peter A. Velis removed all doubt about the credibility of the allegations against the late Bp. Weldon.

“Therefore, I find the allegations of the complainant of sexual molestation committed upon him by Bp. Christopher J. Weldon,” wrote Velis, “that included anal rape, indecent assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress are unequivocally credible.”

He added, “The allegations that were investigated and examined are not dubious, vague or ambiguous in any essentials, nor are they the product of any chimerical conception, fabrication or schematic design.”

The late Weldon, who died in 1982, was the subject of an independent investigation owing to allegations first heard by Springfield’s Diocesan Review Board in June 2018. Velis, who was tapped the following year to conduct an independent investigation, was critical of the board’s gross mishandling of the allegations.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
New England Public Radio

By Nancy Eve Cohen

June 24, 2020

An independent investigation commissioned by the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese found allegations of sexual abuse against the late bishop Christopher J. Weldon to be credible.

Retired judge Peter Velis — who led the investigation resulting in a report released Wednesday — interviewed members of the Diocesan Review Board that heard the complaint against Weldon, Archbishop-elect Mitchell Rozanski, and the individual from Chicopee who said he was abused by Weldon when he was a young altar boy.

Velis said the handling of the complaint was “woefully deficient.”

Rozanski said he wanted to apologize to the victim, and not just for the abuse.

“I want to apologize for the chronic mishandling of this case time and time again since 2014,” Rozanski said. “In almost every instance, we have failed this courageous man, who nonetheless persevered — thanks, in part, to a reliable support network, as well as to a deep desire for a just response for the terrible abuse which he endured.”

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CHICOPEE (MA)
WWLP

By Ariana Tourangeau and Mike Masciadrelli

June 25, 2020

Child sexual abuse claim made against former Springfield Catholic Bishop Christopher Weldon deemed credible

Springfield, Mass. – An investigation into a sexual assault claim against late Springfield Bishop Christopher J. Weldon was released Wednesday afternoon and according to the report, the claim is credible.

Judge Peter A. Velis, now retired, and Archbishop-designate Mitchell T. Rozanski held a briefing at the Bishop Marshall Center to share what the investigation revealed.

The report, which was sent to 22News states that on July 25, 2019, Judge Velis was contacted by Jeffrey Trant, director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield to conduct an “independent and outside” investigation respecting allegations made by a certain individual of sexual abuse committed by the late Bishop Christopher Weldon.

That certain individual, a man, claimed Weldon abused him when he was a child back in the 1960s.

The purpose of the investigation was to assess and determine the credibility of the individual’s allegations, to analyze how the complaint was handled by the Diocesan personnel responsible for protecting children and vulnerable adults and to help identify opportunities for improvement in how the diocese handles these matters.

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CHICOPEE (MA)
WWLP

June 24, 2020

By Lianne Zana

Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital in Springfield to be renamed after sexual abuse claim against Catholic bishop

Springfield, Mass. – A rehabilitation center will be renamed following a report of child sexual abuse by a Springfield Catholic Bishop, deemed ‘credible’ by the Springfield Diocese.

The Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital, part of Mercy Medical Center on 175 Carew Street, will be renamed after a newly released report from Retired Judge Peter Velis. The report contained an investigation involving sexual abuse by Springfield Catholic Bishop Christopher Weldon in the 1960s.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Western Mass News WGGB/WSHM

June 25, 2020

By Morgyn Joubert

A victim advocacy group is calling for the resignation of Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski.

Road To Recovery Inc., an organization based in New Jersey is also pushing for Pope Francis to rescind Bishop Rozanski’s appointment as Archbishop of Saint Louis, Missouri.

They claim that Judge Peter Velis’s validation of the sexual abuse claims made against late Bishop Christopher Weldon shows Bishop Rozanski and his diocese review board are unable to fairly and accurately handle claims of clergy sexual abuse and they must all resign immediately.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Diocese of Springfield

Released June 24, 2020

By Peter A. Velis

[Note from BishopAccountability.org: This report was released in a 100 megabyte PDF that was not searchable. We made the PDF searchable and reduced its size by half without changing the content in any way. The link above is to the searchable and smaller PDF. This smaller PDF is still 52 megabytes and will be difficult for some readers to download. So we have also posted the reduced-size searchable report in pieces: the text, the exhibits, and the photo exhibits with appendix. The 100 megabyte report with OCR is available here.]

Excerpt from the Executive Summary

The processing of the complaint was replete with differing evaluations of the allegations and included conflicting analyses, opinions and conclusions. This reflected a clear lack of industry and concern for the quality of the entire process in terms of the scope of the investigation.

It was clear in my examination that the process included an inexplicable modification and manipulation of the reports received by and acted on by the Diocesan Review Board. Additionally the complaint process was compromised in that mandatory reporters failed in their duties to report the allegations to prosecutorial authorities.

Significantly, in evaluating the actions of those involved in the Weldon assessment, I found that there was a reluctance to fervently pursue an evaluation of allegations against him due to his prominence and revered legacy in the religious community.

Therefore, in response to my charge in assessing how the Diocese responded to the complainant, I conclude from the myriad of evidentiary factors expressed in my final report that from the inception of the complaint through the follow-up process, the procedure was greatly flawed.

I conducted an intensive and in-depth investigation. Concomitant with it was a haunting consciousness of Bishop Weldon’s inability to refute the complainant’s allegations. Consequently, I conducted the process in the light most favorable to him. However, notwithstanding, I still reached an informed and indisputable conclusion. I found the allegations of the complainant concerning the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon to be unequivocally credible.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Marianists – Province of the United States

By Fr. Oscar Vasquez SM

June 24, 2020

[Note from BishopAccountability.org: This list requires that the reader click dozens of times to read the FAQs and assignment histories of each priest and brother with allegations. We have cached a copy of the list with all the FAQs and assignments expanded.

Note that the assignments for the priests and brothers do not provide start and stop years, let alone dates, and the assignments are shuffled into alphabetical order, so that even the sequence of assignments is not represented. The assignment lists also omit some assignments, and the position of the accused Marianist at each assignment is not given. The impact of these features of the list may be assessed by comparing the Marianists’ entry for Fr. Charles H. Miller SM with our assignment history for Miller].

A Journey Towards Healing

Our intent was to publish the list during the recent Lenten season. However, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the provincial council discerned it was in the best interest of the Province and our institutions to postpone the announcement to a more prudent time. The decision was later made to publish this list in June 2020.

A Message from the Provincial

Marianist Provincial Father Oscar Vasquez along with Assistant Provincial Brother Bernard Ploeger announce the publication of a list of names of Province members found to have sexually abused a minor.

Dear Friends in Christ,

For decades, despicable and evil acts of abuse committed by clergy and vowed religious of the Catholic Church dwelled in the shadows. Hidden and ignored by church members and leaders, these abhorrent sins festered, stifling the light of our Church.

The actions of some have wounded victims, sparked righteous outrage, and severely damaged the trust of the faithful. The failure to shed light on sexual abuse in recent decades demands a contrite and transparent response from Church leadership.

Today, in a spirit of sorrow and accountability, and with a sincere desire for reconciliation and healing, we are confronting the darkness of these sins.

To those who have survived sexual abuse at the hands of a member of the Society of Mary, we profoundly regret and apologize for the serious harm you have suffered. We apologize for the betrayal and pain you and your family have endured. Words will never heal your wounds, but we pray that our actions today will help bring you some solace.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
St. Mary’s University

June 24, 2020

By Thomas M. Mengler, St. Mary’s University President

Today, I share a joint statement from the Marianist Ministries in the San Antonio area with the link to the names of Marianist vowed religious members credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. No Marianist brother or priest who is provided in the list is currently at St. Mary’s, nor will any be allowed to live in any of the Marianist residences near or on our campus or to visit the University.

Dear members of our Marianist communities:

The Catholic Church crisis regarding sexual abuse of minors by vowed religious members entrusted with the pastoral care of our children and young adults has been devastating to us and our communities. The Marianist Province of the United States has taken another step in addressing this crisis by releasing the names of Marianist brothers and priests, living and deceased, who were found to have sexually abused a minor since 1950 in the United States.

Over the past two years, the Province has reviewed approximately 2,500 personnel files of Marianists who have served since 1950 in the Province of the United States, which includes its four predecessor provinces (Cincinnati, New York, Pacific and St. Louis) before their merger in 2002. Today, to be accountable and transparent, the Province has published the names of these individuals on their website at marianist.com/healing. Some of those individuals lived and worked at one or more of our institutions in San Antonio or at Tecaboca in Mountain Home, Texas.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
WCBE Public Radio

June 25, 2020

By Alison Holm

The Columbus Catholic Diocese says allegations of sexual abuse by a Columbus priest have been ruled credible.

69-year old Father Kevin Lutz has been placed on administrative leave. He retired from St. Mary’s Parish last year. The allegation of abuse of a 14-year old boy in 1986 was made the day after his retirment.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

June 24, 2020

By Jim Wilhelm

An allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by Rev. Kevin Lutz, a priest in Columbus and central Ohio for four decades who retired last year from St. Mary parish in German Village, has been found credible, the Diocese of Columbus announced Wednesday.

Bishop Robert J. Brennan has accepted a June 17 recommendation by the Diocesan Board of Review for the Protection of Children that Lutz’s name should be added to the published Diocesan list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Father Lutz, 69, continues on administrative leave pending further canonical and administrative processes, the diocese said.

The diocese emphasized that a determination of credibility is not considered proof of guilt. The public announcement of a finding of credibility is made in accordance with the Catholic Church’s Charter and practices and policies by the Diocese for prevention of sexual abuse of minors and response to such allegations.

Lutz announced his retirement last Sept. 9 from St. Mary, where he had supervised a years-long renovation of the historic building. A day later, the accusation that Lutz had sexually abused a minor during his tenure from 1983-1986 at St. Christopher Parish on the Northwest Side was reported, the diocese has said.

The diocese said it reported the allegation to Columbus police the same day it found out about it, and also told Lutz. The abuse is alleged to have occurred from 1982 to 1986.

A Columbus police report obtained by The Dispatch stated the victim was a 14-year-old male and that the incident occurred in 1984. No specific date or location was given.

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BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman via MagicValley.com

June 25, 2020

By Ruth Brown

https://magicvalley.com/news/priest-accused-of-abuse-leading-mass-at-catholic-church-in-mccall-popular-podcast-says/article_37cc2c53-3f27-5213-b2ed-dde74afbe2bf.html

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise responded Wednesday after an investigation done by Reveal, a national public radio show and podcast, outlined past abuse allegations made against a current Idaho priest.

The podcast, “Unrepentant,” was posted online June 20 and outlines the story of two priests accused of abuse and their victims’ attempts to report it. One of those priests, the Rev. Bruno Segatta, is currently assigned to McCall’s Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Cascade’s St. Katharine Drexel Station and Riggins’ St. Jerome’s Chapel.

“Father Bruno Segatta denies these allegations of an incident that allegedly occurred nearly 30 years ago while he was employed by Gonzaga University,” the Diocese of Boise said in a written statement Wednesday. “The matter was handled internally between Gonzaga University and Father Segatta.”

Segatta is also listed as visiting priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Boise. The Our Lady of the Lake’s parish website has been posting videos of mass during the coronavirus pandemic, and Segatta was last seen offering mass as recently as Sunday.

Reported by Emily Schwing, the podcast dives into the story of a woman who claims she was abused by Segatta while studying abroad in Italy. At the time, Segatta worked for Gonzaga University, a Catholic university in Spokane, and he led tours for students in Italy, according the report. The woman claimed Segatta harassed her after the abuse, and the church ignored her complaints.

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BELFAST (NORTHERN IRELAND)
Belfast Telegraph

June 25 2020

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/newry-priest-canon-francis-brown-reinstated-after-being-cleared-of-historical-abuse-allegation-39313814.html

A Newry-based priest has been reinstated to his role after being cleared of an historical abuse allegation.

Canon Francis Brown voluntarily stepped aside from his role as administrator of Newry Cathedral in May 2018 after a safeguarding allegation was made against him which dated back to 1984.

He strongly denied any wrongdoing at the time and agreed to cooperate with a police investigation.

At the time, the Diocese of Dromore was at the centre of a scandal over its handling of abuse claims made against paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan.

In August last year, the Public Prosecution Service said they were dropping the case against Canon Brown after a “thorough and robust investigation”.

An internal church probe has since concluded the claims were “unsubstantiated”.

Canon Brown’s immediate return was announced yesterday during evening mass in Newry Cathedral by the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin.

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AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
New Zealand Herald

June 24, 2020

By Rob Kidd

A Dunedin man posed as a priest while fantasising with others online about violating children, a court has heard.

Andrew Lee Gardner, who has his own computer repair business, was jailed for six months when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday — his third time in the dock on sex offences.

He was first convicted in 2007 of sexual connection with a young person, indecent assault and possessing an objectionable publication.

Gardner was ordered to attend the STOP sex offender programme in Christchurch as part of his sentence but the court heard yesterday he was evicted because of his negative attitude.

Judge Kevin Phillips noted the man thought his offending was less severe than others in the group and became disengaged.

Untreated for his sexual predilections, Gardner was again before the court in 2010 for grooming.

Yesterday, the court heard the defendant initially came to the attention of Canadian authorities for his conduct on a chat website under the username “tkoguynz”.

Gardner used the site from early 2018 to conduct “age-play”, which involves two or more users fabricating an illegal scenario with a child, then describing the sexual liaison.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
Rivard Report

June 24, 2020

By Anthony J. Pogorelc

For years now, as I followed television and online news, I have seen police officers brutalize individuals. Consistently, I have asked myself: Why do they do this? As a Catholic priest who works at the diocesan seminary training future priests, I wonder: How were these officers trained or formed?

The Catholic Church certainly has its problems. The history of sexual abuse and its cover-up is a horror in which those charged with caring for people abused them. One avenue of response by the church was to examine and reform the process of formation for those who aspire to the priesthood.

As a sociologist, I know that formation socializes someone into a culture constituted by shared, socially learned behavior. Reforming a formation process requires a serious examination of the culture and its values. What are we forming aspirants to be a part of? Individual and social change goes hand in hand. Today, it is essential to do this for the institution of policing. Enabling those on the front lines to properly carry out the institutional mission is an essential investment in human resources.

In the church we realized that formation is not only about the acquisition of skills; it is about shaping the human being. In priestly formation, we focus on four dimensions that could also be relevant to the formation of aspiring police officers:

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield Republican via Mass Live

June 24, 2020

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/06/abuse-allegations-against-former-springfield-bishop-christopher-weldon-unequivocally-credible-investigation-finds.html

A retired superior court judge’s review of sexual abuse allegations against former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield for more than 25 years, found the accusations to be “unequivocally credible.”

Meanwhile, mandatory reporters in the diocese who first heard the alleged victim’s account failed to report the matter to law enforcement officials, according to the executive summary for a 350-plus page report released Wednesday by the diocese. The report is the product of an investigation by retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis, who was hired a year ago to investigate the matter.

In an executive summary, Velis criticized the diocesan review board that heard the alleged victim’s account in June 2018.

“It was clear in my examination that the process included an inexplicable modification and manipulation of the reports received by and acted on by the Diocesan Review Board,” Velis wrote. “Additionally the complaint process was compromised in that mandatory reporters failed in their duties to report the allegations to prosecutorial authorities.”

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MONTREAL (QUEBEC, CANADA)
CBC News

June 23, 2020

The men, members of Clerics of St. Viator religious order, allegedly abused boys between 1961 and 1989

Quebec provincial police have arrested five elderly members of a Catholic teaching order, the Clerics of St. Viator, for allegedly sexually abusing boys in their care over the span of almost 30 years.

The Sûreté du Québec’s major crimes unit carried out arrest warrants for the men, who are between the ages of 78 and 88, in a home in Joliette belonging to their congregation, known in French as the Clercs de Saint-Viateur.

The men are facing more than 30 charges in total, including gross indecency, sexual assault and indecent assault. The men were interviewed by investigators and arraigned Tuesday via teleconference in courthouses in Joliette, Valleyfield and Montreal.

The alleged crimes took place between 1961 and 1989, when the men were responsible for instructing minors in religious educational institutions in the Montérégie, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspé and Laurentians regions, the SQ said in a statement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

June 24, 2020

By Soli Salgado

Ali met Catholic composer David Haas when she was 14 years old, attending his Music Ministry Alive camp for three years starting in 2002. She recalled him being a hands-on mentor, remembering names and affirming the talents of the 150-or-so music students who attended the program each summer.

It wasn’t until five years later that unwelcome sexual advances tainted the relationship, when Ali and Haas ran into each other at the Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles, Ali told NCR.

Taking her to a more secluded area with benches outside the congress, Haas surprised Ali by “aggressively” kissing her and trying to put his hands down her shirt, she said.

Ali, who was 19 at the time, pulled away and turned down his invitations to his hotel room that night. Several times throughout the years, he’d continue to seek her out when he knew they were at the same event through their professions.

Ali learned only recently that her encounter with Haas was part of a pattern of abusive and manipulative tactics that Haas allegedly deployed on dozens of young people who knew him through the Catholic music community.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

June 23, 2020

By Shibani Mahtani and Regine Cabato

[Includes video with interview of teacher.]

Cadiz City, Philippines — The girl, her long hair in a ponytail, stepped into the cramped, dimly lit courtroom, her first time in such a place. Clinging to her mother, she scanned the dozens of faces assembled before her. The girl, then 5 years old, eventually pointed to a bald man in a striped shirt, his spectacles resting on his head.

She appeared nervous and did not speak his name.

Her slight gesture in September — identifying the Rev. Aron Buenacosa as the man who sexually assaulted her — began the rare trial in the Philippines of a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. Her case, in this quiet village on a central Philippine island, will also test Pope Francis’s pledge of an “all-out battle” to confront sexual abuse in all corners of the Catholic world.

The historical reckoning over abuse and coverups has gripped the church in the West for decades. But far fewer public cases have come from other parts of the Catholic world, including Africa, Asia and the pontiff’s homeland in Latin America.

A Philippine family takes on the Catholic Church after priest is accused of molesting their daughter
In some cases, the reasons are institutional: legal systems not built to handle abuse cases, the traditional role of church leaders in politics, and prosecutors unwilling to go against the powers of the church.

How the Vatican deals with new allegations of abuse from these regions could define Francis’s papacy and reflect on his acknowledgment that the church has unfinished business in dealing with its scandals.

The trial in the Philippines — Asia’s largest Catholic-majority country — is such a moment.

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BINGHAMTON (NY)
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

June 23, 2020

By Anthony Borrelli

[Updated version of June 19, 2020 story.]

A former Binghamton priest faces more decades-old sex abuse accusations in a lawsuit under New York’s Child Victims Act.

Father Edward C. Madore, who has already been implicated in at least four prior abuse lawsuits, is accused in a new complaint filed Friday in state Supreme Court of Broome County of abusing a boy who was 10 years old in 1982. It happened while Madore served at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Binghamton.

The lawsuit says Madore used his position to groom the boy to gain his trust and to “gain control over him.”

Other lawsuits previously filed under the Child Victims Act have accused Madore of sexually abusing other children during the late 1970s. He was accused, in lawsuits filed Wednesday, of sexually abusing two children at St. Catherine Church during the late 1970s.

Madore has been laicized, which, according to the Diocese of Syracuse, means he voluntarily sought to be dispensed from clerical obligations and no longer has affiliation with the diocese.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield Republican via Mass Live

June 22, 2020

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/06/springfield-diocese-to-release-report-wednesday-on-sexual-abuse-allegations-against-late-bishop-christopher-weldon.html

A much anticipated investigative report by retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis into sexual abuse allegations against the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon will be released Wednesday, June 24, by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

Mark Dupont, a spokesman for the diocese, said the report will be posted on the diocese’s website at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Velis, who was hired by the diocese last July to investigate the allegations that date back to the 1960s, will meet members of the press at the time, along with Archbishop-designate Mitchell Rozanski, and retired Superior Court Judge Daniel Ford.

Ford heads a diocesan task force that will review any recommendations contained in the report for improving outreach to alleged survivors and how their clergy sexual misconduct claims are handled.

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NORTHAMPTON (MA)
Daily Hampshire Gazette

June 23, 2020

By Scott Merzbach

Springfield MA – Details of an investigation into sexual abuse claims made against late Springfield Catholic Bishop Christopher J. Weldon will be released Wednesday afternoon.

Retired Judge Peter A. Velis this week delivers to the Diocese of Springfield his report, which not only documents the claims made against Weldon, some of which date to the early 1960s, but how the diocese handled the complaint and opportunities for improving how future abuse allegations are addressed.

The full report will be released Wednesday at 2 p.m. on the diocesan website www.diospringfield.org.

At that same time, Velis and Archbishop-designate Mitchell T. Rozanski will hold a press conference at the Bishop Marshall Center, located behind St. Michael’s Cathedral to respond to the report and answer questions.

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RICHMOND (VA)
WRIC via WJHL in Johnson City TN

June 23, 2020

By Dean Mirshahi

“There’s nothing I want more than to serve in peace as a parish priest. But I can’t give in to something that goes against our own principles.”

A Catholic Diocese of Richmond priest who frequently blogs criticism over the church’s handling of clergy sexual abuse had his petition to remain the pastor of two southwest Virginia parishes rejected by the Vatican.

Rev. Mark D. White was suspended from the ministry by Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout last month after being ordered in April to leave two parishes, St. Joseph’s in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount, and relocate to a retreat center in Abingdon, Virginia.

“As your Advocate, Mr. Podhajsky, has told you, the Congregation for Clergy has directed you leave the assignment as pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Martinsville, and St. Francis of Assisi, Rocket Mount, in accord to my original letter of April 13, 2020,” Knestout wrote in a letter dated June 17 to White.

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ROANOKE (VA)
WFXR

June 23, 2020

By Colleen Guerry and Santiago Melli-Huber

Catholic Church rejects Martinsville priest’s appeal of removal as pastor of two local parishes; ordered to take down viral blog critical of Church’s handling of sexual abuse

Martinsville VA – For months now, Father Mark White has been in a fight with the Diocese of Richmond over the Bishop’s attempts to re-assign him as a prison chaplain, a direct result of Father White continuing to maintain his viral blog.

Father White announced mid-April he had been removed from his posts in Martinsville and Rocky Mount due to concerns about his blog, which is often critical of the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse of minors and calls for more transparency from the Church about who helped cover it up.

In May, Father White says the Bishop changed the locks on both of his churches and the residence in Rocky Mount. However, Father White says he was able to stop the locksmith from changing the lock at the Martinsville residence, so he still has a roof over his head.

The priest decided to submit an appeal to the Vatican regarding the Bishop’s decision to move him.

Father White sent WFXR News a copy of the letter his canonical consultant and advocate, Michael J. Podhajsky, received from the Vatican earlier this month. In that letter, Vatican officials say Father White’s petition against his removal as a pastor for the Diocese of Richmond was filed improperly and thus rejected.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
Alaska Public Media

June 23, 2020

By Casey Grove

[Includes audio interview with Emily Schwing about her recent Reveal report.]

A Jesuit Catholic priest who visited Alaska off and on for many years is among nearly a dozen who worked at a prominent university in the Pacific Northwest and are also accused of sexual misconduct.

Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington has been home to more priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse in comparison to all other 26 Jesuit Universities in the nation.

Emily Schwing, a reporter with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, has been investigating Jesuits and allegations of sexual abuse against them for about three years now. Schwing spoke with Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove about her latest piece, “Unrepentant.”

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PRINCETON (NJ)
The Daily Princetonian

June 23, 2020

By Marie-Rose Sheinerman

Former University Chaplain Father Gabriel Zeis, who resigned in September 2019 amid a sexual abuse allegation dating back to 1975, was cleared of the charge on June 16 by an independent investigation, which found the allegation “not credible,” the Diocese of Trenton has announced.

According to a Sept. 11 email sent to student members of the Aquinas Institute, the University’s on-campus Catholic ministry, Zeis denied the allegation at the time but resigned immediately, both from his position as the ministry’s director and chaplain and as Diosecan Vicar for Catholic Education in the Diocese of Trenton.

The misconduct, which surfaced in August 2019, was alleged to have taken place at St. Francis Seminary in Loretto, Penn., in 1975, five years before Father Zeis’s ordination to the priesthood but shortly after his “solemn profession of vows,” according to the Diocese’s statement.

Zeis was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1980 and has since served in a variety of institutions of higher education, including as President of Saint Francis University from 2004 to 2014 and as Chaplain at Princeton University from July 2016 to September 2019.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate

June 22, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

James Adams had helped run the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ fundraising arm for years, even serving as president of its board of directors, when his lawsuit alleging sexual abuse at the hands of a Metairie priest compelled him to step down nearly two months ago.

Now, Adams leads a different board: one formed after the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections May 1, tasked with representing the interests of those who say they are owed money by the church, including fellow clergy abuse claimants.

While securing financial compensation for abuse victims and other creditors is the committee’s key aim, it also intends to fight for the disclosure of documents outlining exactly how the church handled priests and deacons faced with child molestation allegations, Adams said during an interview that marked the first time he publicly identified himself as a clergy abuse survivor.

“We want to know how this happened, how it was allowed to continue to happen, how these pedophiles ended up in the seminary to begin with,” said Adams, who recalls being a fifth-grader at the time of his abuse in 1980. “There’s a healing quality to having this information out there that really validates (the idea) that this was not your fault.”

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CASPER (WY)
Associated Press

June 22, 2020

A criminal investigation into a retired Roman Catholic bishop accused of childhood sexual abuse by more than a dozen men remains open, police in Wyoming said.

A victim advocate from the Natrona County district attorney’s office had told an alleged victim that retired Bishop Joseph Hart would not be charged, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.

Asked why he wasn’t pursuing charges, District Attorney Dan Itzen told Cheyenne police Friday that he is still pursuing charges and the case has not been officially closed, police spokesman David Inman said.

Police and Itzen realized the prosecutor misread or misunderstood details in a probable cause affidavit, Inman said.

Itzen’s office in Casper had received the case after the district attorney in Cheyenne recused herself. Part of the misunderstanding arose from a difference in how police in Cheyenne and Casper handle paperwork, Inman said.

“Basically it was, ‘Oh I didn’t know this and this is what you meant by this and this.’ That’s what’s causing the case to come back to life,” Inman said. “They’re going to convene with their guys, they’re going to call the chief, and we’re going to meet again.”

Communication between police and prosecutors had been difficult, Inman said.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

June 22, 2020

By David Lindquist

Filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk say everyone involved in bringing down former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar — the athletes who spoke publicly about sexual abuse, their attorneys, a Michigan State University police detective and a Michigan assistant attorney general — did what was needed to stop Nassar after decades of molesting children.

If anyone faltered, it’s possible Nassar still would be treating athletes and abusing them under the guise of legitimate medical procedures.

The list of crucial participants in Nassar’s downfall includes four IndyStar journalists featured prominently in “Athlete A,” the Cohen-Shenk documentary that arrives June 24 at Netflix.

IndyStar reporters Marisa Kwiatkowski, Mark Alesia and Tim Evans worked with investigations editor Steve Berta on coverage that led to more than 500 women coming forward to accuse Nassar of sexual abuse.

The first gymnast to speak publicly about Nassar’s crimes was Rachael Denhollander, who contacted the IndyStar investigative team after it published a 2016 report about USA Gymnastics failing to alert authorities when coaches were accused of abuse.

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BINGHAMTON (NY)
NewsChanel 34

June 22, 2020

A lawsuit filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse alleges a gross pattern of heinous sexual crimes against a Binghamton boy by 3 priests at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Central High School in the 1970’s.

The suit, filed by attorneys at Hinman, Howard and Kattel under the state’s Child Victims Act look-back window, accuses the priest at Saint Thomas and a teacher and an administrator at Catholic Central of repeatedly raping, sodomizing and sexually abusing the boy from the time he was 10 until he graduated at age 18.

Attorneys say the victim, who is now 61 years-old, suffered severe physical and psychological abuse leading to PTSD, anxiety, severe depression and chronic migraines.

NewsChannel 34 does not identify victims of sexual abuse.

The accused are former priests Robert Kloster who was the rector at Saint Thomas, David Pichette, who was a teacher at Catholic Central, and Thomas Zedar who served as the school’s principal and later the Superintendent of Catholic Schools in Broome County.

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MUNICH (GERMANY)
Süddeutsche Zeitung

June 10, 2020

By Bernd Kastner

[Google translation: Former students from the St. Michael church boarding school report abuse and ill-treatment. The focus is on a director who has since passed away

The Archbishop’s Study Seminar St. Michael in Traunstein is a special facility within the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. It is a boarding school for boys, they attend classes in nearby schools. For decades, the church has been investing a lot of money in homes and students in order to attract young people. The cadermaker on the Wartberghöhe is proud of one of her former pupils: Joseph Ratzinger visited her from 1939. He was young at the time for twelve years. From 1977 to 1982 he was archbishop of Munich, later he spent many winter holidays in St. Michael until he was elected pope. There is a permanent exhibition about Ratzinger, a “Benedict bell” rings in the church tower of the seminar.

From 1976 to 1985, beyond Ratzinger’s time as an archbishop, Engelbert Siebler was the director of the study seminar. Siebler became auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese in 1986, and for many years he headed the Education and School Commission at the German Bishops’ Conference. In 2018 he died at the age of 81. The name Siebler always comes up when you speak to ex-schoolchildren who lived in the seminar in the 1970s and ’70s, he was the dominant man at the top. So far, the past of the seminar is not a public issue. The diocese has been aware of serious allegations for at least four years.

In January 2016, Leon Härtl (name changed) called the abuse officer of the archdiocese. Härtl, who had come to boarding school at the end of the 1970s, accused Siebler of drastically saying that he “consistently exposed him, tortured him sadly and massively beat him” at the boarding school. His “specialty” was to “pull the sideburns with massive force”. The abuse officer noted it in a memo. When asked whether Siebler had also committed sexual abuse, Härtl said: “There had been strange physical advances. Nothing had actually happened, however. “]

Frühere Schüler des kirchlichen Internats St. Michael berichten über Missbrauch und Misshandlungen. Ein inzwischen verstorbener Direktor steht im Mittelpunkt

Das Erzbischöfliche Studienseminar St. Michael in Traunstein ist eine besondere Einrichtung innerhalb der Erzdiözese München und Freising. Es ist ein Internat für Jungen, den Unterricht besuchen sie in Schulen der Umgebung. Seit Jahrzehnten investiert die Kirche viel Geld in Haus und Schüler, um Nachwuchs zu gewinnen. Die Kaderschmiede auf der Wartberghöhe ist stolz auf einen ihrer früheren Zöglinge: Joseph Ratzinger besuchte sie von 1939 an. Zwölf Jahre war er damals jung. Von 1977 bis 1982 war er Münchner Erzbischof, später verbrachte er, bis zu seiner Wahl zum Papst, viele Winterurlaube in St. Michael. Es gibt dort eine Dauerausstellung über Ratzinger, imKirchturmdes Seminars läutet eine „Benediktglocke“.

Von 1976 bis 1985, also über Ratzingers Zeit als Erzbischof hinaus, war Engelbert SieblerDirektor imStudienseminar. Siebler wurde 1986Weihbischof der Erzdiözese, in der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz leitete er über Jahre die Kommission für Erziehung und Schule. 2018 starb er im Alter von 81 Jahren. Der Name Siebler fällt immer wieder, wenn man mit Ex-Schülern spricht, die in den Siebziger- und schtzigerjahren im Seminar lebten, er war der dominanteMannan der Spitze. Bislang ist die Vergangenheit des Seminars öffentlich kein Thema. Dabei sind der Diözese seit mindestens vier Jahren schwere Vorwürfe bekannt.

Im Januar 2016 rief Leon Härtl (Name geändert) den Missbrauchsbeauftragten derErzdiözese an. Härtl, derEndeder Siebzigerahre ins Internat gekommenwar, beschuldigte Siebler mit drastischen Worten: Dieser habe ihn im Internat „konsequent bloßgestellt, sadistisch gequält und massiv geschlagen“. Seine „Spezialität“ sei es gewesen, „mit massiverKraft an den Koteletten zu ziehen“. So hielt es derMissbrauchsbeauftragte in einem Gesprächsvermerk fest. Auf seine Nachfrage, ob es auch zu sexuellemMissbrauch durch Siebler gekommen sei, habe Härtl gesagt: „Es habe komische körperliche Annäherungsversuche gegeben. Konkret sei allerdings nichts geschehen.“

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

June 22, 2020

By John W. Miller

In the 1990s, Steve Hurley was a police officer in Ocean City, Md., chasing down speeding teenagers and locking up beach bums driving drunk. At 34, he traded the badge for a collar, and he is now a monsignor in the Diocese of Wilmington, Del. “People see a 180-degree turn, but in both jobs the primary responsibility is care for souls,” he says.

The Catholic Church and the U.S. law-enforcement system have something else in common: They are both powerful institutions with fiercely loyal agents who have covered up misdeeds—clergy sex abuse and police brutality—and have been in need of reform.

The outcry over the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd, an African-American man, in Minneapolis on May 25 has forced a reckoning with the philosophy and culture of U.S. policing. Across the country, demonstrators have marched to demand an end to police brutality and a change in the tasks assigned to the roughly 18,000 police departments and agencies across the country.

The Catholic Church and the U.S. law-enforcement system have something else in common: They are both powerful institutions with fiercely loyal agents who have covered up misdeeds.
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Local, state and federal agencies from Phoenix to New York are now considering efforts to revamp policing and police culture. Already President Trump has ordered the creation of a database that tracks violent officers and has approved guidelines restricting the use of chokeholds, although critics said his proposals are not serious about tackling bigger issues of systemic racism.

In that conversation, is there anything to be gained by looking at the Catholic Church and how it has tried to better train and manage its priesthood, if not always successfully?

The parallels are not perfect, but they abound. Priests and police both wear iconic uniforms and perform service work for their communities. Both have at times commanded immense public trust that has now been eroded. Both are fiercely loyal to their “professional” communities with good and bad consequences: Catholic priests struggle with clericalism and U.S. police are reluctant to cross the thin blue line.

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

June 22, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone decries the toppling of a statue of St. Junipero Serra and suggests that the Catholic Church is the victim of oppression by today’s protesters for social justice. However, he admits there may be “historical wrongs” committed by the saint and that those wrongs, perhaps, deserve discussion.

But what about current wrongs caused by the Archbishop’s actions? Oppression comes when facts are suppressed and people are prevented from knowing about dangers in their community and protecting their children from them. Archbishop Cordileone may eloquently argue to defend a saint, but we at SNAP want him to eloquently support current survivors of sexual abuse by clergy.

The Archbishop still has not published a list of abusers from the San Francisco Archdiocese. As such, his Archdiocese is only one of about two dozen dioceses nationwide that have failed in this basic outreach to survivors.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 22, 2020

By Sanne Gerrits

Last year, 55-year-old Father Pierre Valkering published an autobiographical book in honor of his 25th anniversary as a priest. In the book he talks openly and in detail about his homosexuality, his sexual relationships and also says he visits gay saunas and “dark rooms,” and likes to watch porn.

As a result now-retired Bishop Jos Punt of Haarlem-Amsterdam, asked Valkering to lay down his priestly duties and enter into a period of reflection. According to the diocese, Valkering refused to do so and was therefore removed from his parish in Amsterdam.

Valkering decided to lodge an appeal to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. The priest also appealed directly to Pope Francis. Both have now ruled that Punt’s decision to remove Valkering was valid.

On June 1 Punt was succeeded by Bishop Jan Hendriks.

Hendriks expressed his respect for Valkering as a person and as a priest. According to the diocese, the bishop also said it’s very important to him to find a satisfactory solution for Valkering, so that he might return to work in another parish after a period of reflection and guidance.

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BINGHAMTON (NY)
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

June 23, 2020

By Anthony Borrelli

A former Binghamton priest faces more decades-old sex abuse accusations in a lawsuit under New York’s Child Victims Act.

Father Edward C. Madore, who has already been implicated in at least four prior abuse lawsuits, is accused in a new complaint filed Friday in state Supreme Court of Broome County of abusing a boy who was 10 years old in 1982. It happened while Madore served at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Binghamton.

The lawsuit says Madore used his position to groom the boy to gain his trust and to “gain control over him.”

Other lawsuits previously filed under the Child Victims Act have accused Madore of sexually abusing other children during the late 1970s. He was accused, in lawsuits filed Wednesday, of sexually abusing two children at St. Catherine Church during the late 1970s.

Madore has been laicized, which, according to the Diocese of Syracuse, means he voluntarily sought to be dispensed from clerical obligations and no longer has affiliation with the diocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

June 20, 2020

By Kathleen Sprows Cummings

The Catholic Church may soon name another American saint. In late May, Pope Francis, affirming the verdict of medical and theological experts, credited the Connecticut priest Michael McGivney for the 2015 healing of a pregnant woman. This paves the way for his beatification, tentatively slated for next fall. McGivney, who died in 1890, is best known for founding the Knights of Columbus, the fraternal organization that has sponsored McGivney’s cause.

*
In a dramatic turn, it is now Sheen’s stint as Rochester’s bishop that has stalled his cause for canonization, perhaps permanently. After the body question was settled by protracted legal proceedings (he’s back in his home town after all), Sheen’s beatification was scheduled for last December. Preparations for an elaborate celebration in Peoria were in place when the Vatican abruptly cancelled the event, reportedly because of concerns that Sheen’s name might surface in a state attorney general’s investigation into clerical sexual abuse in New York.

Whether or not there are specific allegations that Sheen covered up abuse is unknown and largely beside the point. Allowing Sheen’s cause to languish would be a tacit admission of a horrific truth many Catholics are just beginning to grasp. Levels of complicity surely vary, but no man who has held high office in the Catholic church over the last half century should be presumed to be blameless in this ongoing crisis. None of them are the models of heroic virtue we need today.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield Republican via Mass Live

June 21, 2020

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/06/report-on-sexual-abuse-allegations-against-late-springfield-bishop-christopher-weldon-could-prove-pivotal.html

A soon-to-be-released report nearly a year in the making could shed light on decades of sexual abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield and forever change how one of its most influential bishops is viewed.

Last July, retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis was asked by Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct made against the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon dating back to the early 1960s. The report is expected to be released before Rozanski is installed as Archbishop of St. Louis on Aug. 25.

The findings will impact not only the alleged victim — who reiterated to Rozanski a year ago his claim that he was sexually abused as a boy by Weldon and two diocesan priests — but also questions that continue to linger around how early in time the diocesan hierarchy may have participated in, covered up and enabled clergy sexual abuse of minors. It could either encourage or discourage other alleged survivors of clergy sex abuse to continue to come forward.

Weldon’s 27 years as Springfield’s fourth bishop, starting in 1950, were influential ones in the growth of the diocese. However, they also have emerged as ones during which many allegations of sexual abuse by clergy occurred — as well as the murder of an altar boy in which a former priest, Richard R. Lavigne, remains the only publicly identified suspect.

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DENVER (CO)
Colorado Sun

June 20, 2020

By Mark Crawford

I read with great disappointment the failure of Colorado state lawmakers to once again take action which would have granted access to our legal system for child victims of sexual abuse.

It was right for victims and advocates to pull support from House Bill 1296, eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse only going forward. The bill as proposed, failed to address the needs of past child sexual abuse victims.

Some legislators expressed concerns any retroactive provision would violate the Colorado constitution. The lawmakers could have advanced two separate bills simultaneously if they feared a “look back” provision of the bill would later be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

Many other states have in fact passed such “look back” provisions that have survived constitutional challenges. I do understand laws differ from state to state, but where there is a will, there is a way!

Mental health professionals have told us one in four girls and one in six boys will be the victim of unwanted sexual contact by the age of 18. The average age a child of sexual abuse reports such crimes is 52 years of age. Astonishing facts, some may ask, why did these child victims wait so long?

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BINGHAMTON (NY)
WBNG 12 News

June 19, 2020

By Anne Sparaco

As the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, more survivors are coming forward with decades-old accusations against a local former priest and a former Catholic school teacher.

The Diocese of Syracuse announced in a press conference on Friday it is declaring bankruptcy in wake of dozens of recent lawsuits and pandemic-related financial struggles.

Many of the victims are just now coming forward because the Child Victims Act signed into law by Governor Cuomo in 2019 opens a “one year look back window” in which anyone who was under the age of 18 when sexually abused can file a civil suit.

Former priest of St. Catherine of Siena in Binghamton, Father Edward C. Madore, has five cases against him, accusing him of years-worth of sexual abuse. He was ordained back in 1970 and stayed until 1987 when he left priesthood and disappeared from church records. Madore is believed to be somewhere in Upstate New York, but his specific whereabouts are unknown.

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SYDNEY (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
Sydney Morning Herald

June 21, 2020

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Large Christian churches and other major religions have applied for the JobKeeper scheme to fund clergy salaries, after the government belatedly opened it up to religious practitioners.

The Catholic, Anglican and Uniting churches, as well as the Great Synagogue in Sydney, have confirmed hundreds of religious ministers across NSW are receiving the JobKeeper Payment of $1500 a fortnight, to plug a “dramatic” shortfall in income caused by the pandemic lockdown.

The suspension of religious services meant no collection plates or other donations connected to a service, while public health orders also shut down community hire of church property for events.

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MANCHESTER (ENGLAND)
Catholic Universe

June 22, 2020

By Nick Benson

The US Diocese of Syracuse has filed for reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, citing the financial implications of more than 100 lawsuits alleging past child sexual abuse as well as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

‘From the start of my ministry among you, it has been my intent to make reparation to all of the victims of sexual abuse for acts perpetrated against them by clergy, employees or volunteers of the Diocese of Syracuse,’ Bishop Douglas J. Lucia wrote in a recent letter to the faithful.

‘However, the growing number of CVA (Child Victims Act) lawsuits against the diocese,’ he wrote, ‘presents a risk that those claimants who filed suits first or pursued their claims more aggressively would receive a much greater portion of the funds available to pay victims, leaving other claimants (potentially, even some who have suffered more) with little or nothing.

‘In order to ensure that victim claims are treated justly and equitably, I feel it is necessary to enter into Chapter 11 where available funds will be allocated fairly among all victims in accordance with the harm each suffered.’

Filing for Chapter 11 is a voluntary action taken by an entity to reorganise financially with the goals of being able to respond to financial claims and to emerge with its operations intact, the diocese explained in an FAQ; this filing also immediately stops all efforts at debt collection and legal actions against the entity.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Post-Standard

June 17, 2020

By Marnie Eisenstadt

Nearly 40 new lawsuits have been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, alleging child sex abuse by priests and a teacher.

The suits filed today alleged allegations of abuse that happened at the hands of priests in parishes across Central New York, spanning more than 50 years.

The lawsuits were filed under the New York State Child Victims Act, and join 40 suits already filed against the diocese under the act.

Four priests named in today’s filings are being sued by multiple people, according to lawyers from Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave, Wein & Frament, which together filed 32 suits. Lawyers from Marsh Law also filed six new cases.

The claims include …

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EMERYVILLE (CA)
Reveal – Center for Investigative Reporting

June 20, 2020

By Emily Schwing

Despite revelations of clergy sex abuse and promises of transparency, a prominent Jesuit university is doing little to punish priests who cross the line.

In this follow-up investigation about the Jesuit order in the Pacific Northwest, reporter Emily Schwing has two stories about Gonzaga University, which among Jesuit schools has the highest number of predatory priests who worked as staff and faculty. The first story takes us to a remote Alaska Native village where a prominent priest was accused of sex abuse by four young men.

Then Schwing tells the story of a former Gonzaga student who’s been trying for almost three decades to convince the university to investigate the priest who she says behaved inappropriately when she spent a year abroad in Italy.

We end with a story about a creative response to the pandemic that’s spreading throughout Native American communities. COVID-19 has prompted many of them to cancel powwows and other summer gatherings. So culture bearers are taking their songs and dances online, creating a virtual powwow movement that is keeping traditions alive while maintaining social distancing.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

June 21, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

Cardinal George Pell, the former Vatican finance minister who was convicted and then acquitted of sexual abuse in his native Australia, is set to publish his prison diary musing on life in solitary confinement, the Catholic Church, politics and sports.

Catholic publisher Ignatius Press told The Associated Press on Saturday the first installment of the 1,000-page diary would likely be published in Spring 2021.

“I’ve read half so far, and it is wonderful reading,” Ignatius’ editor, the Rev. Joseph Fessio, said.

Fessio sent a letter to Ignatius’ email list asking for donations, saying Ignatius wanted to give Pell “appropriate advances” for the diary to help offset his legal debts. The publisher envisages putting out three to four volumes and the diary becoming a “spiritual classic.”

Pell served 13 months in prison before Australia’s High Court in April acquitted him of molesting two choirboys in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne while he was archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city during the 1990s.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

June 20, 2020

By Carolina A. Miranda

It began with a prayer and ended with a loud clunk.

On Saturday afternoon, a group of about five dozen indigenous activists of all ages — children and elders included — gathered at Father Serra Park in downtown Los Angeles, just south of Olvera Street. As Tataviam/Chumash elder Alan Salazar burned sage and invoked the spirit of his ancestors, a group of young activists bound the nearby statue of Father Junipero Serra with ropes and tore him off his pedestal to chants of “Take it down! Take it down!”

After the statue flew off its pedestal, the crowd erupted with shouts and drumming.

Statues of Serra, the 18th century Franciscan friar who served as principal architect of the California mission system during the era of Spanish colonization, have long been a flashpoint among indigenous activists. The mission system was designed to convert and acculturate the Native population to Catholicism and European culture, and this was done by confining them to missions up and down the coast. Natives who tried to escape were captured. Those who disobeyed were beaten. Indigenous beliefs and customs were banned.

Nonetheless, the Catholic Church — quite controversially — canonized Serra in 2015.

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WAUSAU (WI)
WSAW 7 CBS

June 20, 2020

Richmond served as an Associate Pastor at St. Bronislava in Plover from 2017 to 2019.

Chippewa Falls WI – Father Charlie Richmond, a Catholic priest facing charges related to sexual assault of a child in Chippewa Falls served as an Associate Pastor at St. Bronislava Parish in Plover from July of 2017 to July 2019.

Richmond served as the former chaplain for the Notre Dame Middle and McDonell Area Catholic High Schools in Chippewa Falls. He was also Associate Pastor at St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter the Apostle Parishes. He currently lives in Viroqua.

NewsChannel 7’s sister-station in Eau Claire reported on Wednesday that Richmond is facing charges related to contact he had with a student at McDonell, including touching her back, shoulders and butt.

The alleged incidents happened between September 2016 and May 2017.

The student said that Father Richmond would have her sit on his lap and give him hugs, as well as being in constant communication with the student over social media apps.

In May, Richmond was interviewed by investigators and admitted to three to four incidents of sexual contact, according to the criminal complaint.

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MUNICH (GERMANY)
Süddeutsche Zeitung

June 13, 2020

By Bernd Kastner

[ As a student, Franz Kurz seeks help from a monk – but he abuses him. The order later vows to keep the priest away from young people – but it breaks its promise. Now the head of the Minor Franciscans admits fundamental mistakes

Franz Kurz is a level-headed man. He reports in a differentiated and analyzing manner, and when he no longer remembers, he says so. He sits at the dining table in his house; calmly and factually he tells of his school days. “The whole thing is somewhere in the closet,” he says, “and every now and then the door opens”. Suddenly he cries.

Franz Kurz, whose real name is not mentioned by SZ to protect his personal rights, is one of the countless people who have been abused by clerics of the Catholic Church. Kurz’ history with the Church consists of four chapters. The first two are about how he was disregarded and abused; the third, how he feels taunted; Chapter four tells what he had only feared so far, but now knows that the man who abused him had been in contact with young people for years – despite all the promises to stop him.

Kurz grew up in a Catholic parental home in the country, where a pastor was considered the “moral authority” and “half God” as he describes it today. At ten he moved to the Archbishop’s seminary in St. Michael in Traunstein. The Diocese of Munich and Freising endeavored to recruit young priests from their boarding school. Kurz describes his time there until he graduated from high school in the mid-1980s in a three-page letter. “What triggers this deep anger in me today when I think about my time in Traunstein is the presumptuous negligence with which we were managed as adolescents. I lacked a minimum of interest in myself, that someone would have asked me how I really am, what moves me, what touches me, what is currently bothering me.” ]

Als Schüler sucht Franz Kurz Hilfe bei einem Mönch – doch der missbraucht ihn. Später gelobt der Orden, den Pater von Jugendlichen fernzuhalten – doch er bricht sein Versprechen. Jetzt räumt der Oberste der Franziskaner-Minoriten fundamentale Fehler ein

Franz Kurz ist ein besonnener Mann. Differenziert und analysierend berichtet er, undwenn er sich nicht mehr erinnert, sagt er das.Er istAnfang 50, lebt mit seiner Familie an einem sehr schönen Fleckchen in Oberbayern. Er sitzt am Esstisch seinesHauses, erzählt ganz ruhigundsachlich von früher, aus der Schulzeit. „Das Ganze steckt irgendwo im Schrank“, sagt er, „und ab und zu geht die Tür auf“. Plötzlich weint er.

Franz Kurz, dessen echten Namen die SZzumSchutz seinerPersönlichkeitsrechte nicht nennt, ist einer der unzähligen Menschen, die von Klerikern der katholischen Kirche missbraucht wurden. Kurz‘ Geschichtemit der Kirche besteht aus vier Kapiteln. Die ersten beiden handeln davon, wie er missachtet und missbraucht wurde; das dritte, wie er sich verhöhnt fühlt; Kapitel vier erzählt, was er bislang nur befürchtet hat, jetzt aber weiß: Der Mann, der ihn missbrauchte, hatte über JahreweiterKontakt zu Jugendlichen – allen Versprechen zum Trotz, ihn zu stoppen.

Kurz ist in einem katholischen Elternhaus auf dem Land aufgewachsen, wo ein Pfarrer als „moralische Autorität“ und als „halber Gott“ galt, wie er es heute beschreibt. Mit zehn zog er ins Erzbischöfliche Studienseminar St. Michael in Traunstein. Die Diözese München und Freising war bestrebt, in ihrem Jungeninternat Priesternachwuchs zu rekrutieren. Seine Zeit dort bis zum AbiturMitte der 1980er- Jahre beschreibt Kurz in einem dreiseitigen Brief. „Was in mir heute diese tiefe Wut auslöst,wenn ich an die Zeit in Traunsteindenke, ist die anmaßendeFahrlässigkeit, mit der wir als Heranwachsende verwaltet wurden. Mir fehlte ein Minimum an Interesse an meiner Person, dass jemand einmal nach mir gefragt hätte, wie es mir denn wirklich geht, was mich bewegt, berührt, wasmich gerade beschäftigt.“

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EAU CLAIRE (WI)
WEAU 14 NBC

June 17 2020

Chippewa Falls WI – A former chaplain for the Notre Dame Middle and McDonell Area Catholic High Schools in Chippewa Falls is facing charges related to sexual assault of a child.​

This week, 30-year-old Father Charlie Richmond was charged in Chippewa County Court with repeated sexual assault of a child.​

He was also the Associate Pastor at St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter the Apostle Parishes. Richmond currently lives in Viroqua.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged incidents happened between September 2016 and May 2017.​

An officer with the Chippewa Falls Police Department interviewed the victim on March 5 of this year.​

She told the officer that Father Richmond inappropriately touched her while at McDonell Area Catholic School, including touching her back, shoulders, and butt.​

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

June 19, 2020

By Judy L. Thomas

A bizarre twist surfaced Friday in what was thought to be the closed criminal sexual abuse case of a former Kansas City priest who later became a Wyoming bishop.

The prosecutor, whose office last week informed one of the alleged victims that no charges would be filed against retired Bishop Joseph Hart, is now going to re-examine the case, according to Cheyenne police, who conducted the investigation.

Police spokesman David Inman said Friday that Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen in Casper, who was serving as special prosecutor on the case, had “misinterpreted” part of the probable cause statement that police had sent him. The document recommended that charges be filed against Hart, who retired as Bishop of Cheyenne in 2001.

“Basically, some new information came to light during our meeting,” Inman said, “and now they’re going to re-examine what they have.”

Inman said Cheyenne police spoke with Itzen in a conference call Friday.

“It was something that we brought to his attention in the PC (probable cause) affidavit,” he said. “Upon reviewing all the paperwork, they looked at something and they’d misinterpreted what was said. So now, there’s an understanding of what we were trying to get across.”

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 16, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Rosario, Argentina – An Argentinian bishop suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct with seminarians went back to work in his Vatican post after the restrictions due to COVID-19 coronavirus were lifted. His lawyer told Crux that the Church process against him is “almost over” and that he’s confident the bishop’s name will be “cleared.”

Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta was sent by Francis to the diocese of Oran, in northern Argentina, in 2013, making it one of his first episcopal appointments. However, in 2017 the bishop resigned, alleging health reasons. A few months later, the pontiff appointed him to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which functions as the central bank for Vatican City and which administers the Vatican’s financial portfolio.

In APSA Zanchetta works as an “assessor,” a position created for him. However, on Jan. 4, 2019, the bishop was suspended from the post pending an investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct with seminarians dating to his time as a diocesan bishop.

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BINGHAMTON (NY)
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

June 19, 2020

By Anthony Borrelli

A former Binghamton priest faces more decades-old sexual abuse accusations in two lawsuits filed Wednesday under the New York Child Victims Act.

Father Edward C. Madore, who has already been implicated in at least three prior abuse lawsuits, is accused in the new complaints of sexually abusing two children during the late 1970’s while he served at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Binghamton.

One lawsuit alleges Madore committed sexual abuse beginning when the victim was 8 years old, between 1978 and 1980. The second lawsuit claims he abused a child beginning when the victim was 9 years old, from 1977 to 1980.

The lawsuits, which do not name the victims, were among 32 Child Victims Act complaints filed in courts Wednesday by the Albany-area law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave Wein & Frament. As with similar lawsuits, these complaints name the institutions as defendants — in this case, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

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ISELIN (NJ)
NJ.com

June 19, 2020

By Chris Sheldon

An allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor leveled against Princeton University chaplain Father Gabriel Zeis last year was found not to be credible, the Third Order Regular Franciscans announced Thursday.

The Third Order Regular Franciscans notified the Diocese of Trenton in August about the allegation against Zeis, who was employed by diocese and also served as the diocese’s vicar for catholic education, officials said.

He resigned his positions with the diocese and was placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation of the accusation.

The sexual misconduct was alleged to have occurred in 1975 at St. Francis Seminary in Loretto, Pennsylvania, five years prior to his ordination to the priesthood, the order said in a statement.

The allegation was reported to Office of the District Attorney for Cambria County (PA) in September 2019 and on Dec. 16, 2019, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General’s office called into question the credibility and accuracy of the allegation and announced the case closed, officials said.

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.