ABUSE TRACKER

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

March 25, 2020

Church on Fire: What Must Be Done?

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo Rising

March 4, 2020

The “Church on Fire” lecture series on church reform kicks off Thursday evening at Blessed Sacrament Church as scandal continues to dog the Buffalo diocese. After enduring months of bombshell after bombshell shaking the foundations of Catholic western New York to its foundations, the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone and the appointment of his temperamental opposite, Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany as apostolic administrator seemed to signal a better day.

Yet recent developments have proven worrisome. Last week the Diocese of Buffalo declared bankruptcy, something unimaginable just a year ago, and a private Mass last week with Bishop Scharfenberger that included priests tainted by the clergy abuse scandal has left reform-minded Catholics stunned. And this week, according to a new story by investigative reporter Charlie Specht, we learned that the priest who hosted that controversial Mass at his church may have been involved in covering up a credible accusation of clerical abuse when he was vice-chancellor of the diocese.

The seemingly endless drumbeat of scandal has had many Catholics asking, “should I stay with the church?” and others, “what must be done?” The lecture series ambitiously attempts to answer both questions, with the answer to the first question inherent in its title, Church on Fire: Stay With Us! The later question, “what must be done?” just happens to be known as “The Vincentian Question,” closely associated with St. Vincent de Paul and the Vincentian religious order he founded (see the brief video below). Appropriately then, kicking off the series will be Rev. Aidan Rooney, a Vincentian priest, who will speak about ecclesiastical reform from the perspective of his order and its founder.

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.

Priest Is Flying Around the Diocese, Previously Accused of Sex Advance on Seminarian

FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Horowitz Law Blog

March 23, 2020

Priest Is Flying Around the Diocese; Previously Accused of Sex Advance on Seminarian

A New Jersey pastor, Anthony Manuppella is in the news today, comparing himself to popes and praying in Latin while flying a plane around his diocese for two hours with a parishioner, a priest on his staff.

Fr. Anthony Manuppella told a reporter that he wants to do his part. . .to contain the Covid-19 spread and minimize its impact (while squeezing into a small airplane with at least two other men, none of them six feet away from each other).

But in a lawsuit, Fr. Manuppella – along with another priest – was accused by a young seminarian of making unwelcome advances, discussing homosexuality, asking him to join them at gay bars and talking often about “sexual acts prohibited by the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

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.

Fred Lutz’s sexual abuse made worse by diocese withholding information

SPRINGFIELD (MO)
News-Leader

March 22, 2020

By Robert Ballay

Letter to the Editor

Thank you and Harrison Keegan for the articles about the sexual abuse perpetrated by Fred Lutz, who is an ordained Catholic priest. Lutz sexually abused me in 1972 when I was 17 years old. There are two more reports of sexual abuse by Lutz of adolescent boys, one in the 1990s and one in 2000. Lutz is being prosecuted for the 2000 report now. The 2000 case was reported in 2002 to the diocese, and I reported my 1972 case in 2006. I regret that I did not report it sooner. We know that the diocese had two sexual abuse reports on Lutz in 2002 and 2006. We don’t know when the 1990s report was made because the diocese has never made that report public. However, you would think if there were two separate reports of sexual abuse by Lutz, the diocese, the bishop would begin to doubt Lutz’s denials.

The diocese did not make any of Lutz’s sexual abuse reports public until 2018, when they finally revealed that I had reported my 1972 abuse in 2006. Why they decided to finally report it then is unknown, since no new knowledge had come to light as far as I know. A friend of mine said they finally reported it because the Missouri attorney general announced the clergy sexual abuse investigation of all Missouri dioceses about a month earlier. The diocese has still not made public either of the 1990s or the 2000 reports of sexual abuse by Lutz.

The diocese has not been honest with me or the public about the sexual abuse by its priests. As recently as 2018 and 2019, I was told that there were no other abuse reports made on Lutz. The diocese said they would cooperate with the investigation, but the Stoddard County prosecuting attorney indicated that in no way did the diocese cooperate.

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.

March 24, 2020

‘Just another Indian’: Surviving Canada’s residential schools

DOHA (QATAR)
Al Jazeera

March 24, 2020

By Brandi Morin

A survivor of schools that took Indigenous children from their families shares her story of abuse, neglect and healing.

Alberta, Canada – Alsena White, aged 67, is illiterate. She gets by with the help of her children and grandchildren.

Alsena was taught at the Blue Quills Indian Residential School near St Paul, Alberta. From the age of five to 16, she lived at the federal government-funded school, ushered through grade after grade. Yet no one seemed to notice – or to care – that she could neither read nor write.

“[To them] I was just another Indian,” she says of the Catholic nuns and priests who administered her education. Leaning slightly forward, as if to make sure it is safe to speak, Alsena continues: “I tell people I spent 10 years in jail even though I never committed a crime.”

It has been more than 50 years since she felt enslaved inside the walls of the school, but the memories still haunt her.

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

Vatican says general absolution may be permissible during pandemic

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Catholic Herald

March 20, 2020

By Cindy Wooden

In places particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and with severe limits on people leaving their homes, conditions may exist to grant general absolution to the faithful without them personally confessing their sins first, the Vatican said.

The Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican tribunal that deals with matters of conscience, including confession, issued a notice March 20 that while individual confession and absolution is the normal means for the forgiveness of sins, “grave necessity” can lead to other solutions.

In a separate decree, the Apostolic Penitentiary also offered the spiritual assistance of special indulgences to people afflicted with COVID-19, to those in quarantine, to medical personnel caring for coronavirus patients and to all those who are praying for them.

“This Apostolic Penitentiary holds that, especially in places most impacted by the pandemic contagion and until the phenomenon subsides, there are cases of grave necessity” meeting the criteria for general absolution, the notice about confession 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.

Priest on PBS special offers frank accounting of past, hope for future

ROCHESTER (NY)
Catholic News Service via Catholic Courier – Diocese of Rochester

March 24, 2020

By Mark Pattison

Washington – If you tune in to the PBS special “Inside the Vatican,” slated to air 9-11 p.m. EDT April 28, you’ll have to wait more than an hour and a half to see him, and to hear what he has to say.

But German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner’s words are a necessary tonic, even if it’s sonic castor oil to some.

Father Zollner wears many hats. He is the president of the Center for Child Protection in Rome, head of the Institute of Psychology and academic vice rector at the Pontifical Gregorian University, also in Rome, and serves as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and as a consultor to the Vatican Congregation for Clergy.

What he has to say in the special about the scourge of clergy sexual abuse should be required listening.

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.

Priest chaplain at Sisters of Loretto Motherhouse had abuse record

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 24, 2020

By Sarah Salvadore

Volunteers were caught off guard by recent discovery

In January, Lindsey Faust and her partner visited the Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx, Kentucky, for a mini vacation. Faust was a former volunteer with Loretto Volunteers and shared a rapport with the sisters and community members. It was almost like home to her. During their stay, Faust’s partner, out of curiosity, inquired about the priest who lived there, celebrating daily Mass. It was then that a community member revealed details about Fr. J. Irvin Mouser that no volunteer knew.

Mouser, a priest from the Archdiocese of Louisville, was removed from public ministry in 2002 on charges of child sex abuse. He is accused of abusing five boys during his time as a priest at the parishes of St. Helen in Barren County and St. Francis of Assisi in Jefferson County. The Holy See directed Mouser to live a life of “prayer and penance” — he was not to serve in any active ministry as priest, celebrate Mass publicly or don clerical garb.

But Mouser did all of that while living in Loretto, where he served as chaplain to the Sisters of Loretto. There he was also in close proximity to children, since students from a nearby high school and young children would often visit the motherhouse and the adjoining farm.

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.

Martinsville priest Father Mark White defies bishop’s orders to stop blogging

MARTINSVILLE (VA)
Martinsville Bulletin

March 19, 2020

By Bill Wyatt

https://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/news/local/martinsville-priest-father-mark-white-defies-bishop-s-orders-to/article_70fb4b83-d061-5511-b9c2-fdf9bb1a90ab.html

A Martinsville priest has defied his bishop’s order to stop communicating online and resumed posting to a blog he made popular with his critical comments of the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of its sex abuse crisis.

Father Mark White, the priest of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Rocky Mount, in February received an order from Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond to remove his blog completely and cease his online communication with more than a million visitors under threat of removal as a priest.

White complied initially, but then COVID-19 happened. In response to the pandemic and in keeping with the Gov. Ralph Northam’s orders that church assembly not include more than 10 people, Knestout issued a public letter earlier this week closing the doors to “public celebrations of Mass, on Sundays, holy days and weekdays in the Diocese of Richmond.” White’s parishes in Martinsville and Rocky Mount are assigned to the Richmond Diocese. Even Knestout is finding a need to expand his own use of online communications.

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.

Post-reformation theology of the priesthood influenced abuse crisis, author says

DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 24, 2020

Interview by Charles C. Camosy of Clare McGrath-Merkle

Camosy: You’ve done a lot of work on the theology of the priesthood. Can you give us the short version of your central view or a couple central ideas that could give Crux readers some insight into how you are thinking about this topic?

McGrath-Merkle: My work has been focused mainly on the theology of the priesthood and its possible role, if any, in the crisis of sexual abuse and cover-up. The causes of the crisis are, of course, varied, but I have wanted to try to understand how this theology might have somehow contributed to a clerical identity prone to the abuse of power.

The understanding I’ve come to is that what we think of as the official theology of the priesthood is actually a 400-year-old revolutionary one, linked to clerical formation spirituality. Its underlying spiritual theology has influenced the training of seminarians up until Vatican II and has had a major resurgence since the 90’s. Interestingly, it hasn’t been of much interest to most systematic theologians.

This theology was proposed in the early 17th century by a little-known cardinal-Pierre de Bérulle, the founder of the French School of Spirituality, and is a rather psychologically and spiritually unhealthy one. Leading up to my research on the possible historical roots of the crisis as found in this theology, I explored some current serious psychosocial maladaptions in priestly identity in a 2010 article.

Arguably, Bérulle’s innovations have contributed to an unhealthy priestly identity and culture over centuries, principally through both an over-identification with Christ and an exaggerated sacrificial spirituality.

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.

Diocese finds 1976 sexual abuse allegations against former St. Augustine priest ‘credible’

ST. AUGUSTINE (FL)
St. Augustine Record

March 23, 2020

By Matt Bruce

https://www.staugustine.com/news/20200323/diocese-finds-1976-sexual-abuse-allegations-against-former-st-augustine-priest-rsquocrediblersquo

A retired St. Augustine Catholic priest was accused of sexually abusing a minor 44 years ago in a recent complaint, the Diocese of St. Augustine announced in a statement Monday.

Father John H. Dux, a former clergyman at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Augustine, was immediately suspended indefinitely in May 2019 after the alleged victim’s attorney sent the Diocese a copy of the complaint. In release Monday, the Diocese said church officials reviewed the claims and deemed them credible.

“To determine the truth, and to ensure the safety and well-being of our vulnerable populations, the Diocesan Review Board conducted a thorough review of the claim,” Monday’s statement read. “They determined there was a semblance of truth and found the allegation to be credible.”

The alleged sexual abuse took place in 1976, when Dux was assigned to the St. Patrick Parish in Gainesville as a parochial vicar. The information was forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office in Hillsborough County, but prosecutors did not begin an investigation because Florida’s statute of limitations had expired for the charges, Monday’s press release indicated.

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.

To heal the church from the sex abuse crisis, we need apologies, not just policies

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

March 23, 2020

By Colleen Duggan

The day after New Year’s my husband and I packed up our six children and drove to the Encounter Conference, in Toledo, Ohio, where 3,000 Catholics gathered for three days of inspiring talks, Eucharistic adoration and Mass.

I’ll admit it: I limped into the Encounter.

Since the summer of 2018, the revelations of grave sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy in the highest echelons of the church hierarchy has left me devastated and grieving. I am disillusioned with the Catholic Church, in general, and especially the clergy, whom I have always held in high regard. The continually unfolding news about the sinful actions of cardinals, bishops and priests revealed to me the serious level of corruption within the institution and highlighted a lack of virtue and piety among too many priests.

Heartbroken by what has happened in my church and impatient with the spiritual mediocrity I experience with clergy at all levels, I dragged myself to this conference desperate for the revival I believe is needed within the body of Christ today.

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.

March 23, 2020

Kathleen McChesney, director of USCCB Office of Child and Youth Protection, to receive University of Notre Dame Laetare Medal

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 23, 2020

By Carol Zimmermann

Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI executive assistant and the first person to lead the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection, will receive the 2020 Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame.

“It is often the church’s darkest moments that call forth great faith and courage,” said Notre Dame’s president, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, in announcing the award.

He said the university is recognizing McChesney’s efforts in response to the church’s abuse crisis and honoring her “courage, tenacity and love for the church in a tireless pursuit of justice for victims, accountability for abusers and measures that prevent this crisis from continuing.”

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.

New Program to Report Sexual Misconduct Involving U.S. Bishops Launched

HARTFORD (CT)
Norwich Diocese

March 23, 2020

New Program to Report Sexual Misconduct Involving U.S. Bishops Launched

Hartford – In May 2019, Pope Francis released his apostolic letter, Vos estis lux mundi (“You are the light of the world”) to address the issue of sexual abuse and bishop accountability in the global Catholic Church. Vos estis calls upon the metropolitan archbishops to receive and investigate reports pertaining to sexual abuse and related misconduct involving bishops. In June 2019, one month after Pope Francis issued his order, the bishops of the United States approved an implementation plan for carrying out the directives of the Holy Father here in the United States.

As part of this ongoing commitment to carrying out Vos estis, the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service (CBAR) was launched on March 16, 2020. The service is operated by Convercent, Inc. an independent, third- party entity that provides intake services to private institutions for reports of sensitive topics through a secure, confidential, and professional platform. Individuals may go to ReportBishopAbuse.org in order to make a report of certain misconduct by a living U.S. bishop. Reports are also accepted by phone at (800) 276-1562.

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.

Danbury clergy sexual abuse case continued to April

DANBURY (CT)
News Times

March 23, 2020

By Kendra Baker

The pre-trial hearing of the former local priest accused of sexually assaulting two boys has been rescheduled from March 27 to April 21.

Jaime Marin-Cardona, 51, is charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury to child and three counts of illegal sexual contact. He pleaded not guilty to all nine charges.

The warrant for Marin-Cardona’s arrest alleges that he groomed two boys over the course of four years, and sexually abused one of them over the same period of time.

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.

Convicted paedophile Bernard McGrath abused dozens of children. The Catholic Church failed to report his offending

AUSTRALIA
ABC

March 23, 2020

By Sarah Ferguson

Former brother of St John of God, Bernard McGrath, will be eligible for parole in December 2044.

McGrath, who is serving two prison sentences in NSW for sex crimes against children, says his religious order and the Catholic Church covered up his offending at schools in Australia and New Zealand.

In the early 1990s, after decades as a sex offender, new reports emerged about McGrath’s behaviour at a residential school he’d run for street kids in Christchurch, New Zealand.

To learn how to handle the growing number of complaints against McGrath, the head of St John of God in Australia at the time took McGrath to meet Father Brian Lucas.

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.

Former Gainesville priest accused of sexual abuse

GAINESVILLE (FL)
WCJB

March 23, 2020

By Patricia Matamoros

The Diocese of St. Augustine, which presides over catholic churches in much of North Central Florida, is saying that a former priest in Gainesville has been accused of sexual abuse.

In a complaint filed with the church by a lawyer representing the victim, Father John H. Dux allegedly committed the abuse in 1976 when he was serving at the St. Patrick parish in Gainesville.

Since it was 44 years ago, that puts the case beyond the statute of limitations for state charges, but the church finds the allegations credible and father Dux has been removed from his priestly faculties.

He currently resides in the Dioceses of Charleston.

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.

Davenport priest suspended amid inquiry into sex misconduct claim

IOWA CITY (IA)
Associated Press

March 20, 2020

A well-known professor and priest at a Roman Catholic college in Iowa has been suspended while the church investigates a sexual misconduct allegation dating to the 1990s, the school said Wednesday.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport said school officials recently learned of the complaint against theology professor Rev. Robert L. “Bud” Grant and are taking it seriously.

The allegation dates to the early 1990s, when Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs.

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.

Daniel Pilarczyk | 1934-2020: Former Cincinnati archbishop led southwest Ohio Catholics for 27 years

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

March 23, 2020

By Dan Horn

Former Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who guided southwest Ohio’s Catholics through some of the church’s most trying times, died Sunday in Cincinnati. He was 85.

Pilarczyk, who had been in declining health for years, led the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for more than a quarter century and was the nation’s longest-serving bishop when he retired in 2009. His final years in the top job came as the church struggled with widespread allegations of clergy abuse.

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

Court-appointed official says Vatican failing on accountability in Nienstedt case

NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

March 23, 2020

By Christopher White

A court-appointed official for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is alleging that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops is failing to comply with new protocols for bishop accountability created by Pope Francis with regard to a potential investigation into former Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Nienstedt led the archdiocese from 2008 until resigning under fire in 2015 after charges of failing to protect children from sexual abuse. In addition to allegations that he actively covered up for abusive priests, Nienstedt has been the subject of investigations regarding his own misconduct.

According to documents obtained by Crux, on July 17, 2019, Thomas Johnson, who serves as ombudsman for clerical sexual abuse for the archdiocese, submitted a formal complaint against Nienstedt to Archbishop Bernard Hebda outlining two instances in which he argues Nienstedt should be subject to a Vos Estis Lux Mundi investigation, referring to an apostolic letter issued by Francis in May 2019 for bishop accountability.

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

A welcome, long-overdue, smart step by a bishop

WEST VIRGINIA
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 20, 2020

Is there anything worse than an omission or mistake in the law that enables wrongdoers to go unpunished?

YES! A perfectly crafted law that goes UNENFORCED!

Ditto with ‘policies’ – internal rules an organization or company adopts that supposedly forbid certain harmful behaviors.

Policies go unenforced all the time. Here’s one simple reason why.

In a crisis, CEOs and bishops and Boy Scouts executives and university presidents typically holler “Get me the lawyers and the PR people!”

They sit down and write up a policy, procedure or plan. On paper at least, it addresses the situation at hand. Then, they shout from the rooftops “We’ve fixed everything.” (Or, if they have really smart public relations staff, they’re a tad more realistic-sounding and say “We’re FIXING everything.”)

Sooner or later, public pressure and media attention wane, the policies are quietly shelved and the old patterns re-emerge.

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.

Is the Volunteer at John Ortberg’s Menlo Church a NOMAP (Non-Offending Minor Attracted Person) and What Does This Mean in the Long Run?

UNITED STATES
The Wartburg Watch (blog)

March 9, 2020

Before I begin the post, I want to make four points.

– I believe that pedophilia is a profound psychiatric disorder. It is not *normal* and I reject any attempts to make it appear normal.

– I believe that pedophiles, as well as those who have similar paraphilias, can learn to control their impulses with intensive help from psychiatrists, psychologists, trained counselors and the support of family, friends, and, for those who are believers, the church. I do not believe that it is curable at this time.

– I have reason to believe that the volunteer is a male so I will use the pronoun *he.*

– I will not allow any folks who consider themselves NOMAPS or MAPs to hijack the comment thread at TWW or troll my Twitter account. Also, I will decide which comments will be allowed.

What in the world is a MAP and a NOMAP?

Over the weekend, I was made aware of a new advocacy group called MAP which stands for *minor attracted person*. At first, I believed that these were people who had accepted that they were pedophiles, had received and are receiving intensive psychiatric intervention and were doing the hard work of staying away from minors in order not to offend or reoffend. However, a MAP is merely a *minor attracted person.* This descriptor does not address their actions.

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.

Pastor John Ortberg allowed volunteer who was attracted to minors to work with children

CALIFORNIA
Religion News Service

February 2020

By Bob Smietana

John Ortberg, a popular evangelical author and megachurch pastor, betrayed a “bond of trust” by allowing a church volunteer who admitted being attracted to minors to still work with children, according to a statement from the elders at the Bay Area church he leads.

“In July of 2018, a person serving in the Menlo Church community came to John and shared in confidence an unwanted thought pattern of attraction to minors,” the church’s elder said in a statement. “The person assured, to John’s satisfaction, that the person had not acted on the attraction and sought John’s support. John believed the person and provided prayers and referrals for counseling.”

But Ortberg took no steps to bar the person from working with minors, according to the elders. He also did not talk to other staff or church members about the situation.

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.

Archbishop Emeritus Daniel Pilarczyk has passed away

CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO

March 22, 2020

The Archbishop Emeritus of Cincinnati, Most Reverend Daniel E. Pilarczyk, passed away this morning, according to a Facebook post by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

The Archbishop was 85 years old.

Archbishop Pilarczyk earned an M.A in classics from Xavier University in 1965 and a Ph.D in classics from the University of Cincinnati in 1969.

He led the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for 27 years, taking over when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin left Cincinnati for Chicago. He was ordained as bishop in 1974 and installed as archbishop in 1982.

He resigned from his position as Archbishop of Cincinnati in 2009, after 50 years of priesthood. At the time, he was the longest-tenured archbishop and longest-serving active bishop in the United States.

The Rev. Pilarczyk is widely known for working to guide the Archdiocese of Cincinnati through its guilty plea in connection with priest sex abuse cases in 2003.

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.

Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal to be awarded to expert on Catholic sex abuse crisis

SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune

March 23, 2020

The University of Notre Dame’s 2020 Laetare Medal will be awarded to Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI executive assistant director and a leading expert in the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.

The medal, which was first awarded in 1883 to honor a Catholic who embodies the church’s ideals, will be given to McChesney at Notre Dame’s commencement, currently scheduled for May 17, though the university has acknowledged it may have to change its plans based on developments related to the coronavirus.

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.

Sinead O’Connor is still in one piece

BRAY (IRELAND)
The Washington Post via Portland Press-Herald

March 22, 2020

By Geoff Edgers

Sinéad O’Connor’s office is a glass, pentagon-shaped porch that’s also the entryway to her house. Most days, before the sun rises over the Irish Sea, she’ll be sitting there, smoking a cigarette, nursing a sugary cup of coffee or shuffling through her iPad. She may even pick up a guitar.

When the water ripples in the wind, the spot can be hauntingly beautiful, “Ulysses” sprung to life. Not that O’Connor, born just four stops up the train line in the Dublin suburb of Glenageary, feels particularly romantic about the setting.

“I (expletive) hate living in Ireland,” she says. “My spiritual home is America. I know that my stork should have dropped me in America. But he got drunk in Dublin. It’s freezing, it’s miserable. Everything’s really expensive. I love America, but I can never leave Ireland. I wouldn’t leave my grandchildren or my children.”

There are four children, a pair of grandchildren, four ex-husbands and an ex-boyfriend, Frank, who lives a short walk down Strand Road with their son, Yeshua, 13. There is her father, a sister and three brothers, all within a drive. They know her not as the pop star who rose to fame singing “Nothing Compares 2 U,” but as a witty, compassionate, difficult, fearless, playful and unpredictable woman who has struggled, personally and professionally, ever since she ripped up that photograph of the pope on “Saturday Night Live” in 1992. And they remember the last time O’Connor left home

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.

High-ranking WNY priest put on administrative leave following sexual misconduct allegation

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB-TV

March 21, 2020

A high-ranking Diocese of Buffalo priest has been placed on administrative leave following an allegation of sexual misconduct.

Rev. Peter J. Karalus, Vicar General andModerator of the Curia for the Diocese is accused of sexual misconduct in 2011 by a person who was a minor at the time of the alleged incident.

An independent investigator will look into the accusation.

Rev. Karalus denies the allegations, saying in a statement to News 4:

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.

Letter to the Editor: Fred Lutz’s sexual abuse made worse by diocese withholding information

SPRINGFIELD (MO)
Springfield News-Leader

March 21, 2020

Dear Editor,

Thank you and Harrison Keegan for the articles about the sexual abuse perpetrated by Fred Lutz, who is an ordained Catholic priest. Lutz sexually abused me in 1972 when I was 17 years old. There are two more reports of sexual abuse by Lutz of adolescent boys, one in the 1990s and one in 2000. Lutz is being prosecuted for the 2000 report now. The 2000 case was reported in 2002 to the diocese, and I reported my 1972 case in 2006. I regret that I did not report it sooner. We know that the diocese had two sexual abuse reports on Lutz in 2002 and 2006. We don’t know when the 1990s report was made because the diocese has never made that report public. However, you would think if there were two separate reports of sexual abuse by Lutz, the diocese, the bishop would begin to doubt Lutz’s denials.

The diocese did not make any of Lutz’s sexual abuse reports public until 2018, when they finally revealed that I had reported my 1972 abuse in 2006. Why they decided to finally report it then is unknown, since no new knowledge had come to light as far as I know. A friend of mine said they finally reported it because the Missouri attorney general announced the clergy sexual abuse investigation of all Missouri dioceses about a month earlier. The diocese has still not made public either of the 1990s or the 2000 reports of sexual abuse by Lutz.

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MY WORD: My case against Father Mark White’s blog

RICHMOND (VA)
Martinsville Bulletin

March 21, 2020

By Bishop Barry C. Knestout, Diocese of Richmond

I write directly to the brothers and sisters of St. Joseph and St. Francis of Assisi as your bishop, regarding the matter of your pastor, Father Mark White, which weighs heavy on my heart. For months, you may have read his written public communications or his words within the secular media. For months, I have chosen to remain silent in the hopes of remedying the situation internally. But, relying on the Holy Spirit, I feel a pressing need to address my concerns with you as members of this diocese entrusted to my care.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, “Doctor of Unity,” wrote: “Your excellent presbyters, who are a credit to God, are as suited to the bishop as strings to a harp. So, in your harmony of mind and heart the song you sing is Jesus Christ. Every one of you should form a choir, so that, in harmony of sound through harmony of hearts, and in unity taking the note from God, you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father.”

Harmony. Unity. St. Ignatius deliberately selects these words when touching on the hierarchy, order and structure of the Church intended to protect the unity of Christ’s flock. As such, The Code of Canon Law indicates that Clergy have a special obligation to show reverence and obedience to the Holy Father and to their own bishop. All clerics are reminded that they are “working for the same purpose, namely the building up of the Body of Christ.” They are always to do their utmost to foster among God’s people peace and harmony based on justice.

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March 22, 2020

Abuse plaintiff calls committee’s work ‘awesome responsibility’ to uncover truth

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 22, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

Richard Brownell recalled watching a 1993 television newscast in which the Rev. Bernard “Corky” Mach, a popular Catholic priest assigned to a Lockport parish at the time, tearfully denied molesting a 14-year-old boy.

Brownell immediately turned to his wife during the newscast and said the priest was lying. He told her the Rev. John Aurelio had sexually assaulted him when he was 11 or 12 years old, and Aurelio was a close friend of Mach. It was the first time he had told anyone about the abuse.

More than 50 years after he alleges Aurelio molested him, Brownell, 62, still isn’t comfortable discussing his own abuse in detail. But he said he’s ready to represent hundreds of survivors of childhood sex abuse in their efforts to seek some measure of justice from the Buffalo Diocese.

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Anne Hailes: New book a disturbing examination of modern Irish Catholic Church

IRELAND
Irish News

March 23, 2020

By Anne Hailes

TEN years ago during a writer’s weekend in The Burren a young man sat and talked with me about his desire to become a writer. It was obvious when we met that Declan Henry had a dedication about his work and now, in 2020, he has published his seventh book, which has been described as explosive.

Forbidden Fruit: Life & Catholicism In Contemporary Ireland is a disturbing examination of the Irish Catholic Church, which he claims is crumbling. However, it is not a spiteful attack on the Church – rather, he pulls aside a curtain to look into the situation.

“The clerical abuse scandals of the 90s sparked this irreparable demise which continues to disintegrate at an alarming rate,” he says.

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Retired Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk is dead, led Cincinnati Catholics for quarter-century

CINCINNATI
Cincinnati.com

March 22, 2020

By Dan Horn

Former Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who guided Southwest Ohio’s Catholics through some of the church’s most trying times, died Sunday in Cincinnati. He was 85.

Pilarczyk, who had been in declining health for years, led the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for more than a quarter century and was the nation’s longest-serving bishop when he retired in 2009. His final years in the top job came as the church struggled with widespread allegations of clergy abuse.

Pilarczyk’s life in the church began as a Catholic schoolboy in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, where classmates knew him as the bright, witty kid who “never got in trouble with the nuns.”

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Letter to the editor: New trial for accused priest heartbreaking

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

March 22, 2020

The Rev. Hugh Lang, who was convicted in November on charges that he sexually abused an 11-year-old boy in 2001, had his conviction vacated this month because a new judge believes Lang did not receive a fair trial. We are dismayed that the victim will have to go through yet another trial, but are hopeful that Lang will once again be found guilty.

Despite the fact that the victim in this case traveled from the other side of the world to testify against his abuser, a new trial was ordered. Our hearts ache for this victim and the fact that his chance at justice has been taken away. We hope that this is only a temporary setback.

The victim’s attorneys are appealing to the state Supreme Court. We are hopeful the appeal is granted and this dangerous abuser’s conviction will stand, and he will be given a sentence that keeps him away from children for the rest of his life.

Judy Jones
Marthasville, Mo.

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Sexual harassment victim wins landmark apology from Anglican Church

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

March 22, 2020

By Kirsty Johnston

A parishioner who fought the Anglican Church for 15 years after being sexually harassed by a priest has won a landmark settlement and apology, including an acknowledgment the Church can be held to account for its ministers’ behaviour.

Until now, the Church has refused to be held liable for clergy, saying they were not its employees but were essentially employed by God.

However, in a successful settlement negotiated after the woman took her case to the Human Rights Review Tribunal, the Church admitted it was responsible, and will now improve its vetting, training and complaints process.

The Church will also pay the woman $100,000 in recognition of the gravity of humiliation and hurt she suffered, and in recognition of its flawed handling of the complaint.

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Child protection pioneer McChesney to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal

NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

March 22, 2020

By Christopher White

Kathleen McChesney, a leading trailblazer in the fight against clergy sexual abuse, will receive the highest honor in the U.S. Catholic Church.

On Sunday, the University of Notre Dame announced that McChesney, who worked for decades in law enforcement before being tapped to establish and lead the Office of Child Protection for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will be awarded the 2020 Laetare Medal, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic award.

Her career in law enforcement dates back to the 1970’s, where she first worked as a police officer and then a detective in Washington State, investigating homicides and sex crimes, including that of the serial killer Ted Bundy. She then entered the FBI, eventually reaching the third highest position in the bureau until she was recruited by the U.S. bishops to parlay that experience into helping restore trust in an institution struggling to respond to the escalating scandals of clergy abuse and cover-up.

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March 21, 2020

High-ranking Buffalo Diocese priest accused of misconduct

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 21, 2020

By Dan Herbeck

An allegation of sexual misconduct against one of the region’s most high-profile priests led to another shakeup in the Diocese of Buffalo on Saturday.

The Rev. Peter J. Karalus, one of the closest aides to acting Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, was placed by the bishop on administrative leave while an independent investigator looks into the allegation made against Karalus, the Buffalo Diocese announced Saturday.

The allegation involves an incident that allegedly took place in 2011 when the man who made the claim was a minor, authorities told The Buffalo News.

In a statement Saturday afternoon, Karalus said, “I emphatically deny and confidently declare as false the allegation that I offered words of inappropriate content to a penitent during the Sacrament of Reconciliation nine years ago. … I trust and will fully cooperate in the process that will investigate this misplaced allegation. I am confident I will be fully exonerated.”

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Buffalo Diocese #2 administrator suspended for sex misconduct allegation

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW-TV

March 21, 2020

By Charlie Specht

The Diocese of Buffalo’s No. 2 administrator has been suspended for allegations of sexual misconduct.

Fr. Peter Karalus, the vicar general of the diocese, was placed on administrative leave Saturday “following an allegation of sexual misconduct by a person who was a minor in 2011,” interim Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said in a news release.

The news release gave no further details about the allegations but said they were referred to the Erie County District Attorney.

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Diocese of Buffalo puts priest on leave over 2011 allegation

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV

March 21, 2020

The allegation involving the Rev. Peter J. Karalus has also been forwarded to the Erie County District Attorney.

The Rev. Peter J. Karalus has been placed on administrative leave, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo announced Saturday.

The Diocese, in a statement, said the decision stems from “an allegation of sexual misconduct by a person who was a minor in 2011, when the incident allegedly occurred.”

The Diocese said the allegation has also been forwarded to the Erie County District Attorney.

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Message to Priests Regarding Fr. Peter Karalus

BUFFALO (NY)
Catholic Diocese of Buffalo

March 21, 2020

From the Office of the Apostolic Administrator

My Brother Priests and Colleagues –

Today, I am announcing that I have placed Father Peter Karalus on administrative leave, given that an allegation of sexual misconduct has been received from an individual who was a minor in 2011 when the person alleges that an incident occurred. This is a source of great sorrow and regret for me personally, as I know it is for you.

According to our rigorous protocols and procedures, an independent investigation into this allegation will now be conducted, with the findings to be reported to the Independent Review Board in order that its members might consider the facts and make an appropriate recommendation. It is important to emphasize that this administrative leave is for the purpose of investigation and does not imply any determination about the truth or falsity of the complaint.

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Opinion: Kerri Judd redaction adds to difficulties following Pell legal process

AUSTRALIA
BrisbaneNews.net

March 18, 2020

By Chris Friel

“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said. “Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”i

This note discusses a redaction in prosecution counsel Kerri Judd’s presentation to the High Court of Australia Thursday 12 March during the Cardinal George Pell appeal. The audio video of the whole (unredacted) presentation has been uploaded by the High Court here.ii I have placed the transcript along with references in the left margin here.iii The video at 3.01:39 corresponds to the redaction at 5940, namely:

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Back to blogging, Catholic priest disobeys order in crisis

RICHMOND (VA)
Channel 8 (ABC-TV affiliate)

March 20, 2020

By Kerri O’Brien

A Catholic priest banned from blogging is back online to help parishioners through these uncertain times. In November of 2019, Father Mark White was ordered by the Bishop of the Diocese of Richmond to stop blogging or lose his job.

The pastor at St. Joseph’s in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount had been critical of the church’s handling of its sexual abuse cases. Bishop Barry Knestout ordered him into silence.

Father White has been obeying the order, until now. For about week, he’s been back at it. He’s been blogging about the pandemic, past pandemics, church closures as well as the felony sex abuse charges filed this week against a Virginia priest.

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Tidbits of Encouraging News

UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 18, 2020

In this era of political, environmental and public health difficulties, we can all use some positive news!

–On Tuesday night, progressive challenger Marie Newman won her primary against longtime Illinois incumbent Representative Dan Lipinski. Marie is the founder of an anti-bullying nonprofit and signed on to lead a coalition of 70 anti-bullying groups working nationwide.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marie-newman-dan-lipinski-illinois-third-district-democrats-primary-2018-a8088421.html

https://theslot.jezebel.com/hell-yeah-marie-newman-1842393738

–Prosecutors in Pittsburgh are appealing a judge’s decision to vacate the conviction of Fr. Hugh Lang, who is accused of having assaulted a boy in 2001.

Judge Anthony Mariani had ruled earlier that the priest had been denied a fair trial because the previous judge had let prosecutors submit evidence that Fr. Lang had searched the internet for ‘defense attorney’ before the 2018 release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of clerical sex abuse.

Just to be clear, Judge Mariani had sentenced Fr. Lang to 9-24 months in jail, but is delaying implementation. Now, there’ll be a second trial.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/prosecutors-appeal-dismissal-of-pittsburgh-priests-conviction-for-sex-abuse-39109

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Where’s McCarrick? Where’s the Report?

UNITED STATES
Church Militant (blog)

March 20, 2020

by Kristine Christlieb

Continual coverage of the COVID-19 scare has served to drive other pressing stories off the front pages.

For Catholics, one important story is suffering from inattention — the long-promised report on the crimes of disgraced former cardinal and abuser Theodore McCarrick is yet to be delivered. It was 612 days ago (July 16, 2018) when a story in the New York Times on the former cardinal’s double life as an abuser of young men and seminarians broke.

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March 20, 2020

Exclusive video: Ex-Abilene church worker pleads guilty to child sex crime, gets probation

ABILENE (KS)
KTXS-TV

March 20, 2020

By Jamie Burch

An ex-Abilene church worker pleaded guilty to a child sex crime and got probation.

KTXS was the only TV station in court Friday morning when Jeff Berry pleaded guilty to indecency with a child by contact.

Berry was accused of touching the genitals of an underage boy in 1996 when Berry worked for Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene.

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Chillán: Vaticano quitó estado clerical a dos curas investigados por abuso de menores

[Chillán: Vatican removed clerical status of two priests investigated for child abuse]

ÑUBLE (CHILE)
Cooperativa.cl

March 16, 2020

Se trata de los presbíteros Jaime San Martin y Renato Toro.

El primero puede apelar, mientras el segundo pidió él mismo la dispensa de sus obligaciones sacerdotales.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: They are priests Jaime San Martin and Renato Toro.

The first can appeal, while the second asked for the dispensation of his priestly obligations himself.]

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Comenzará la revisión de la condena por abuso al cura Escobar Gaviria

PARANá (ARGENTINA)
Elonce.com [Paraná, Argentina]

March 20, 2023

Read original article

El Tribunal de Juicios y Apelaciones de Gualeguay fijó en 23 años la prisión efectiva para el cura condenado por corrupción de menores. La defensa quiere discutir el plazo de la condena.

Este martes, a las 9,30, la Cámara de Casación Penal de Paraná -conformada por los jueces Gustavo Pimentel, Rafael Cotorruelo y Alejandro Grippo- comenzará a revisar la condena impuesta al cura Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria luego de la revisión hecha por la Sala Penal del Superior Tribunal de Justicia (STJ) que anuló parte de la condena impuesta en 2017.

La defensa, representada por Milton Urrutia y María Alejandra Pérez, quiere discutir el plazo de la condena; el Ministerio Público Fiscal, representado por el fiscal Rodrigo Molina, irá por la confirmación de la pena.

El Tribunal de Juicios y Apelaciones de Gualeguay fijó a finales de agosto de 2022 en 23 años la prisión efectiva para el cura Escobar Gaviria, condenado en 2017 por corrupción de menores, hechos cometidos mientras estuvo destinado en Lucas González, en el departamento Nogoyá, entre 2005 y octubre de 2016. El sacerdote cumple la pena en la Unidad Penal de Victoria.

El Tribunal que emitió la resolución estuvo integrado por los camaristas María Carolina Castagno, Mariano Caprarulo y Fernando Martinez Uncal.

Se trata de una reducción de dos años de la pena impuesta el 6 de septiembre 2017 por el mismo Tribunal -con otra integración de jueces-. Entonces, el cura había sido condenado a 25 años de cárcel por haber abusado a cuatro menores. En tres casos se lo acusó de promoción de la corrupción de menores reiterada, agravada por su condición de guardador; y en uno por abuso sexual simple agravado por ser cometido por ministro de culto.

En octubre de 2020, la Sala Penal del STJ hizo lugar a un recurso extraordinario presentado por los defensores del cura y revocó parcialmente el fallo.

El máximo tribunal provincial dispuso “absolver” al sacerdote por uno de los cuatro hechos por los que fue condenado, un abuso sexual simple, por cuanto la víctima no declaró en el juicio -estaba bajo tratamiento médico durante el tiempo en que se desarrolló el debate- y ordenó devolver el expediente al Tribunal de Juicio y Apelaciones de Gualeguay para que emita una nueva condena.

El martes 14 se había fijado fecha de la audiencia de revisión, pero una equivocación en los expedientes a tratar por parte de la defensa obligó al tribunal a reprogramar ese trámite.

El tribunal fijó una nueva audiencia al caer en la cuenta que no podía avanzar con el trámite por cuanto los defensores habían ido preparados para alegar por otra causa distinta de la programada. La nueva fecha es el 21 de marzo, a las 9,30, publica Entre Ríos Ahora.

El caso

Escobar Gaviria fue llevado a juicio en 2017 por cuatro hechos: tres de corrupción de menores agravada y uno por abuso sexual simple agravado. La investigación penal se abrió a finales de octubre de 2016, tras una presentación espontánea de las monjas de la congregación Hermanas Terciarias Misioneras Franciscanas, que dirigen el Colegio Castro Barros San José, de Lucas González.

Hasta el momento de la denuncia penal, Escobar Gaviria cumplió el rol de párroco de San Lucas Evangelista, adonde había llegado en 2005. Pero cuando las monjas se presentaron ante el defensor oficial Oscar Rossi, y dieron cuenta del caso de un nene de 11 años que dijo haber sido abusado por el cura, el arzobispo de Paraná, Juan Alberto Puiggari, ordenó su separación de la función de párroco.

La condena a 25 años de cárcel a Escobar Gaviria -que cumple prisión preventiva en la Unidad Penal de Victoria desde abril de 2017- dictada por el Tribunal de Juicio y Apelaciones de Gualeguay fue confirmada por la Cámara de Casación Penal. Aunque la Sala Penal del STJ tuvo una mirada distinta y revocó parcialmente el fallo.

Concluyó que la cuarta víctima de Escobar Gaviria no testimonió en el juicio, y por eso hizo lugar parcialmente a la impugnación extraordinaria de los defensores Milton Urrutia y María Alejandra Pérez; revocó “parcialmente” la sentencia de Casación y la sentencia del Tribunal de Juicio y Apelaciones de Gualeguay.

Más tarde, en noviembre de 2020, el Tribunal de Juicios y Apelaciones de Gualeguay volvió a juzgar a Escobar Gaviria por un quinto caso, y entonces le aplicaron 11 años de cárcel.

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Fight Covid-19 by letting prisoners go? Let’s be careful!

AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 19, 2020

A 75-year-old who relies on a walker probably can’t be a car-jacker.

An 80-year-old who uses a wheelchair probably isn’t going to hold up a 7-11.

But let’s remember that either of them could hurt a child.

Some say that because of Covid-19, we should let many inmates leave prison early. That might be a good idea in some cases.

Still, let’s keep the sex offenders locked up. They do incredible damage. They’re among the most likely to commit more crimes. And they don’t need to be fast or strong to inflict harm.

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Diocese of Des Moines investigating priest accused of sexual misconduct

DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

March 18, 2020

By Philip Joens

A Catholic priest has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Des Moines after allegations of sexual misconduct in the 1990s surfaced.

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant was placed on leave March 4, the diocese said Wednesday morning. A complaint about sexual misconduct was made to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office last fall, the diocese said. The complaint involves an incident that allegedly occurred in the early 1990s, according to the diocese.

Law enforcement agencies in Scott, Polk and Pottawattamie counties also were notified, the diocese said. Diocesan officials were first made aware of the complaint Feb. 27. An investigation was then opened by Diocese of Des Moines Bishop William Joensen. While on leave, Grant is restricted from all public priestly ministry.

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Davenport priest investigated for sexual misconduct

DAVENPORT (IA)
Southernminn.com

March 18, 2020

By Alma Gaul

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a St. Ambrose University professor known for his activism on environmental issues, is being investigated for sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s when he was serving at St. Albert’s High School in Council Bluffs, part of the Des Moines Diocese.

Grant’s faculties to minister as a priest have been suspended by the bishops of the Des Moines and Davenport dioceses, according to news releases from both dioceses.

He also has been suspended from teaching at St. Ambrose, Davenport, and from his assignment as sacramental minister to St. Andrew Church, Blue Grass, until the report is investigated and the process is concluded according to church law, according to a news release from the Davenport diocese.

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Update: Iowa priest suspended amid inquiry into sex misconduct claim

IOWA CITY (IA)
The Associated Press

March 18, 2020

By Ryan J. Foley

A well-known professor and priest at a Roman Catholic college in Iowa has been suspended while the church investigates a sexual misconduct allegation dating to the 1990s, the school said March 18.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport said school officials recently learned of the complaint against theology professor Rev. Robert L. “Bud” Grant and are taking it seriously.

The allegation dates to the early 1990s, when Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs. A prosecutor said the complaint involved one person who was a minor at the time and that it is too old to be criminally investigated under Iowa law.

St. Ambrose said Grant’s suspension would last pending the outcome of an investigation by the Diocese of Des Moines, which ordained Grant as a priest in 1984.

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Former French priest convicted of sexual abuse of minors

LYON (FRANCE)
CNA

March 18, 2020

Bernard Preynat, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Lyon, was convicted and sentenced by a civil court Monday for the sexual abuse of minors.

He abused dozens of minors between 1971 and 1991, and he had been found guilty by an ecclesiastical tribunal last year.

He was charged with sexual assault of 10 minors from 1986 to 1991.

He was found guilty, and sentenced March 16 to five years in prison. He could have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and prosecutors sought eight years.

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Retrial of US Catholic Official Delayed Over Virus Concerns

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

March 16, 2020

The retrial of the only church official who has ever gone to prison in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal was delayed Monday because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The retrial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese, had been to start Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court but was put on hold until January amid court shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the pandemic.

After an appeals court found his sweeping 2012 conspiracy trial flawed and his conviction was twice overturned, Lynn, 69, now faces only a single child endangerment count. Prosecutors contend he endangered children by transferring a known predator priest to their parish without warning in 1993.

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Convicted paedophile Vincent Ryan confessed to a priest — then he continued abusing children

AUSTRALIA
ABC

March 16, 2020

By Sarah Ferguson

Vincent Ryan is a Catholic priest and a paedophile, convicted of sexually abusing more than 30 children. In Australia’s first television interview with a convicted clerical sex abuser, Ryan said there was no reason why he should not remain a priest.

“It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d have to be a very serious reason, unless I’m stopped by authority, for me to make that decision and at this moment I don’t see it.”

In the ABC’s Revelation series, filmed on the eve of Ryan’s 2019 criminal trial, the paedophile priest is seen performing mass in his home, wearing holy vestments and blessing the communion wine and bread.

Following his fourth conviction in March 2019 on charges of sexually abusing two boys in the Newcastle region in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan, 81, is currently serving a prison sentence in NSW of three years and three months.

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Diocese of Buffalo cutting jobs at its Catholic Center

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

March 19, 2020

Financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the temporary discontinuation of masses and other liturgical celebrations given as the reason.

Financial struggles brought on by the priest sex abuse crisis forced the Diocese of Buffalo to file for bankruptcy last month. Now the coronavirus pandemic is adding to those financial challenges.

The global pandemic, which has required social distancing, means masses and other liturgical celebrations have been temporarily discontinued.

The Diocese announced Thursday that 24 employees at its Catholic Center on Main St. downtown are being impacted. Three full-time positions are being made part-time and another 21 are being eliminated.

“While we deeply regret the very personal impact that this process of realignment will have on dedicated employees of the Catholic Center, we must assess how best to deploy the resources of the Diocese in ways that reflect responsible stewardship and which offer the greatest benefit for our parishes,” said Fr. Peter Karalus, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

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Catholic Priest Who Abused 30+ Kids Says He Should Retain Priesthood

AUSTRALIA
FriendlyAtheist.Patheos.com (blog)

March 19, 2020

By David Gee

A Catholic priest in Australia who was convicted of sexually abusing more than 30 children says that’s not a good enough reason to give up his title as a priest.

Vincent Gerard Ryan (above), who served a 14-year prison sentence for abusing dozens of boys under the age of 13 — only to be hit with another prison term for abusing altar boys — was interviewed by the nation’s ABC network.

“It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d have to be a very serious reason, unless I’m stopped by authority, for me to make that decision and at this moment I don’t see it.”

In the ABC’s Revelation series, filmed on the eve of Ryan’s 2019 criminal trial, the paedophile priest is seen performing mass in his home, wearing holy vestments and blessing the communion wine and bread.

Following his fourth conviction in March 2019 on charges of sexually abusing two boys in the Newcastle region in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan, 81, is currently serving a prison sentence in NSW of three years and three months.

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Opinion: Your thoughts on revelations of abuse by Jean Vanier

National Catholic Reporter

March 20, 2020

It’s a crazy world out there. Just a month ago, the Catholic world was reeling with the news that Jean Vanier, the beloved founder of L’Arche International had sexually abused six adult women. NCR columnist Jamie Manson reminded us that the patriarchal system of the church gave Vanier power and control. And columnist Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese wrote about what happens when saints fall. Letters to the editor are edited for length and clarity. Join the conversation by following the rules listed below.

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Opinion: Indian women wait for when Cardinal Gracias ‘walks the talk’

INDIA
National Catholic Reporter

March 20, 2020

By Astrid Lobo Gajiwala

Cardinal Oswald Gracias’ recent NCR interview has not gone down well with Indian Catholic women.

While it is refreshing to hear the archbishop of Bombay, and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, or CBCI, admit, without evasion, that there has been a bias against giving women more leadership roles in the church, and that it is time the male hierarchy “shed this prejudice,” it is also disconcerting to learn that he is a recent convert to the cause of women.

For Indian women who have been advocating for women’s rights in the church since the 1980s, the cardinal’s comment seems like a denial of all their efforts, and raises serious doubts about their credibility.

How is it possible for someone who is a member of a bishops’ conference that instituted a women’s commission in 1992, and is the only conference in the universal church to issue a gender policy, way back in 2010, to claim to become convinced only in 2019, about the need for women’s leadership?

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Theologian says clerical sexual abuse ‘always about abuse of power’

BELGIUM
Crux

March 20, 2020

By Joke Heikens

Karlijn Demasure taught religion at a secondary school for girls in Belgium when she first came across child abuse. It turned out a girl was sexually abused at home and no one at the school knew exactly what to do.

“The psychiatrist associated with the school was also unable to help us,” said Demasure. “Should we address the father that we knew about it and that it shouldn’t be happening? Should we send the girl to therapy? Nobody knew. This episode made me decide to go back to university for further study, and to specialize as a theologian in this field. We must help these children.”

A short time after the episode at the girls school, the first reports started to pour in from the United States about child abuse in the Church, and in 2010 the bomb went off in Belgium. In her homeland, Demasure was a theologian on the committee which investigated abuse within the Belgian Church. In 2014, she was appointed a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where she also headed the Center for Child Protection.

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March 19, 2020

Santa Fe: juez rechaza apelación a cura pedófilo condenado

MENDOZA (ARGENTINA)
ANRed - Agencia de Noticias Redacción  [Buenos Aires, Argentina]

March 19, 2020

Read original article

Se trata del ex sacerdote de la diócesis de Reconquista, provincia de Santa Fe, Néstor Monzón, quién había sido condenado a 16 años de prisión por abusar en 2016 de una niña y un niño, que por entonces ambos contaban con la edad de tres años. Pese a las argumentaciones del letrado defensor del cura abusador, la Cámara de Apelaciones negó el pedido y el detenido deberá esperar su sentencia final y definitiva tras las rejas. Una multitud agolpada afuera del edificio, compuesta por organizaciones sociales y familiares de los niños, acompañó la resolución. Por Máximo Paz, para ANRed.

Néstor Monzón, el ex sacerdote condenado a fines del año pasado en la localidad de Reconquista, Santa Fe, por abuso sexual a niños, seguirá tras las rejas, en tanto que el religioso acaba de sufrir otro revés judicial, ya que la Cámara de Apelaciones de dicha ciudad confirmó la prisión preventiva al rechazar el pedido de apelación de la defensa del pedófilo.

En primera instancia, Monzón había sido encontrado culpable del delito de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante a una niña y un niño que por entonces contaban con tres años de edad. Por ello, fue sentenciado a 16 años de prisión en suspenso hasta que el fallo quedara firme. De todos modos, se resolvió la prisión preventiva sobre el pedófilo por riesgo a que el reo se diera a la fuga. La defensa de Monzón apeló la medida y Carlos Renna, el juez de la Cámara, acabó por confirmar que el religioso seguirá en prisión.

Ricardo Degoumois, abogado de Monzón, había planteado la libertad de su defendido a través de instancias de libertad alternativas a la prisión preventiva que hoy asume como el uso de una tobillera electrónica o una cámara con IP que monitoree su casa; también planteó la posibilidad de establecer una caución real firme (una suerte de hipoteca que se ejecuta si el sentenciado no cumple los términos de la condena) en la casa de los padres y hasta la posibilidad de que se presente 2 o 3 veces por día a sede policial, del MPA o donde fuere para acreditar su presencia en la ciudad, bajo el argumento de que dicha condena original fue impuesta en el marco de un «clamor general» y que, además, no existía riesgo de fuga por parte del cura pedófilo.

En la extensa resolución, los argumentos del juez recorren varios puntos por los cuales se le niega al delincuente que espere su condena firme fuera del encierro de la institución carcelaria. Allí, el camarista precisó que existen varios motivos para la resolución tomada.

En principio, el magistrado hizo hincapié sobre el hecho en sí y la carga de la condena asignada por –ni más ni menos- los delitos contra la integridad sexual de menores de tres años de edad de la localidad del departamento General Obligado, al conjeturarlos como “aberrantes”.

«El sistema jurídico penal en casos como el que nos ocupa, debe ser rígidamente analizado procurando verificar todas las circunstancias del hecho, las acciones endilgadas al imputado, y lo que le ocurrió a las pobres víctimas», soltó, para concluir que «porque si bien no es función única en materia jurisdiccional la protección de las víctimas, si debo sostener que no pueden las decisiones judiciales ignorar al titular del bien protegido por el ordenamiento jurídico».

Por otro lado, el juez analizó los modos específicos de participación del religioso en redes sociales, para llegar a la conclusión de que tal utilización “permitirían contacto con otras personas con quienes tenga amistad y posibilite una fuga de la localidad” en tanto que «Monzón cuenta con contactos en diversos lugares del país para permanecer oculto y no presentarse al eventual cumplimiento de la pena o al proceso de apelación”.

En la resolución del juez también estuvo presente la cuestión de que el reo ya no utiliza los hábitos sacerdotales y que por lo cual “la pérdida del estado clerical puede influir en su comportamiento evasivo”.

A su vez, el magistrado volvió sobre un tema fundamental al colocar como motivo de la negación solicitada «la protección moral y psicológica de las víctimas del hecho, con raigambre constitucional en la Convención de Derechos del Niño”.

Los delitos investigados y condenados fueron cometidos entre el jueves 26 y el viernes 27 de noviembre de 2015 en la residencia del cura perteneciente a la diócesis de Reconquista, ubicada dentro del predio de la parroquia ‘María Madre de Dios’. En la sede religiosa, el sujeto inquirido desempeñaba su labor eclesiástica bajo el rango de sacerdote. Las víctimas fueron una niña y un niño a quienes además de violarlas sexualmente, también hizo que se vieran recíprocamente mientras eran vulnerados.

Cabe destacar que el inculpado además no tuvo condena por la imputación sobre el hecho, a partir de los bestiales actos, de transmitir una enfermedad venérea a uno de los niños abusados amparado, según la dictaminación de los jueces, por el «beneficio de la duda».

El 18 de diciembre de 2019, un tribunal compuesto por los jueces Claudia Bressán, Martín Gauna Chapero y Santiago Banegas, condenó por unanimidad al sacerdote Néstor Fabián Monzón. Fue declarado autor material y penalmente responsable del delito de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante, aunque el religioso quedó en libertad en la espera de que la condena quede firme.

El 20 de diciembre de 2019, a pedido de los fiscales y querellantes, y por el riesgo de fuga, la Jueza Penal Norma Senn resolvió la inmediata detención del sacerdote, quien está en prisión preventiva desde ese día.

“La conducta de Monzón no fue ejemplar, porque estamos hablando de la responsabilidad de un delito aberrante, es decir anómalo, antinatural y repugnante. Si bien siempre se presentó ante los requerimientos de la Justicia, era su obligación hacerlo”, remató el juez mientras, otra vez, «un clamor popular», protagonizado por organizaciones sociales, vecinos y familiares de las víctimas reclamaba que el ex sacerdote, otrora cabecilla de la de la Parroquia “María Madre de Dios”, continuara tras las rejas. Monzón fue transportado de nuevo a la cárcel de Santa Felicia en un móvil del Servicio Penitenciario.

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Editorial: A D.C. Council member discloses he was the victim of sexual abuse and sets a powerful example

WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

March 19, 2020

By Editorial Board

THE INDICTMENT last week of a former Catholic priest from Northern Virginia on a charge of sexually abusing a minor more than 30 years ago might have attracted little notice. The news is dominated by the novel coronavirus, and, sad to say, reports of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are not all that uncommon. But the disclosure by D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) that he was the victim put a face to this terrible crime that hopefully will encourage other survivors to step forward and seek justice.

“The minor he assaulted was me,” Mr. Grosso wrote in an emotional email released on Monday, the same day the arrest of Scott Asalone, 63, the former rector of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Loudoun County, was announced by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring. An indictment returned by a Northern Virginia multi-jurisdictional grand jury charged Mr. Asalone with one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor. The indictment doesn’t name Mr. Grosso — the press release from Mr. Herring’s office refers only to a “former parishioner in 1985” — and Mr. Grosso had been assured he could remain anonymous.

Mr. Grosso, 49, said it was difficult to revisit this painful part of his life. Contacted by Virginia State Police, who had received a tip from a hotline set up in 2018 when Mr. Herring launched a probe into clergy abuse, he debated what to do. The investigation “ripped open old wounds, stirred dark memories and caused fresh trauma,” and was a factor in his decision not to seek reelection to a third term on the council. But he cooperated with investigators “to prevent Mr. Asalone from ever hurting another child,” and he decided to make the public statement “because I understand the tremendous burden that victims of sexual assault and abuse carry throughout their lives [and] we must find the courage to come forward.”

By telling his story, Mr. Grosso sets a powerful example, though he stressed it is important for victims to know their names can remain confidential. Credit also to Mr. Herring, who decided no crime of this heinousness is too old to investigate; he launched a probe into possible criminal sexual abuse and coverups in Virginia Catholic dioceses after reading an explosive report by a Pennsylvania grand jury in 2018. Mr. Asalone’s indictment is the first to result from that investigation. The number for the VirginiaClergyHotline.com is 833-454-9064.

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Sixth person accuses former Santa Fe mayor, Boys & Girls Club official of abuse

SANTA FE (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican

March 18, 2020

By Amanda Martinez

A sixth lawsuit has been filed against the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, accusing former executive director and onetime Santa Fe Mayor Louis Montaño of sexually assaulting a boy in the 1970s and ’80s.

The man is the sixth person to accuse Montaño of sexually grooming, abusing and manipulating individuals since April 2019. The group includes five men and one woman who say Montaño abused them during his tenure at what was then called the Boys Club of Santa Fe.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Albuquerque-based law firm Hall & Monagle LLC, which specializes in representing survivors of child sex abuse and has brought cases against Catholic organizations and the Boy Scouts of America.

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Justiça de Araras aceita denúncia e padre responderá por atentado violento ao pudor contra 4 vítimas

[ Araras Justice accepts complaint and priest will respond for indecent assault on 4 victims ]

BRAZIL
March 12, 2020

Ministério Público entrou com o processo em dezembro de 2019. Pároco, que está suspenso de suas funções, irá responder em liberdade; defesa informou que irá constetar a denúncia.

[Google Translation: The Public Prosecutor’s Office filed the lawsuit in December 2019. Pároco, who is suspended from his duties, will respond in freedom; defense informed that it will establish the complaint.]

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Analysis: What Could Happen Next for Cardinal Pell

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic News Agency via National Catholic Register

March 17,2020

By Ed Condon

Cardinal George Pell remains in prison, while the seven justices of the Australian High Court consider his petition for special leave to appeal. After two days of arguments from lawyers, the justices reserved their judgment last week as Pell seeks to overturn his conviction on five counts of child sexual abuse.

It is not known how long they will take to deliver a decision, but there are four options open to the court.

The first option is to grant Cardinal Pell special leave to appeal and find in his favor, overturning his conviction and immediately setting him fre

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Former Priest-Turned-Bookstore Owner From Asbury Park Charged With Having Sex With Teen

NEW JERSEY
Daily Voice

March 18, 2020

By Jon Craig

Authorities in Virginia charged a former priest and current independent bookstore co-owner from Asbury Park with having sex with a minor.

Scott Asalone, 63, was arrested in Asbury Park this past weekend by Virginia State Police and New Jersey law enforcement officers, authorities said.

Asalone — an author, speaker and poet who’s also worked as a consultant for private and non-profit groups — has co-owned a bookstore on Cookman Avenue for more than a decade.

He was being held pending extradition proceedings.

A grand jury in Virginia indicted Asalone three days earlier on what is known there as “carnal knowledge of a minor” between 13 and 15 years old.

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DC Council member David Grosso alleges he was sexually abused by former Virginia Catholic priest as a child

AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 18, 2020

According to media reports, on Saturday, March 14, 2020, a former Catholic priest from northern Virginia was charged with the sexual abuse of a minor between 13 and 15 years old that occurred in 1985. The following Monday, DC Council member David Grosso said, “The minor he assaulted was me.”

“I am making this statement because I understand the tremendous burden that victims of sexual assault and abuse carry throughout their lives,” Grosso said. “As I did many years ago, we all must find the courage to come forward, tell our stories, and seek justice and accountability from the perpetrator, as well as the churches and other institutions that have hidden or excused their behavior.”

The councilman’s alleged abuser, Scott Asalone, 63, is the former rector of St Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia. At the time of his arrest he was a management consultant and bookstore owner in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He will be extradited to Virginia to stand trial.

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Allegations against Robert ‘Bud’ Grant stem from early 1990s in Council Bluffs

IOWA
Quad-City Times via The Gazette

March 18, 2020

By Alma Gaul

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a St. Ambrose University professor known for his activism on environmental issues, is being investigated for sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s when he was serving at St. Albert’s High School in Council Bluffs, part of the Des Moines Diocese.

Grant’s faculties to minister as a priest have been suspended by the bishops of the Des Moines and Davenport dioceses, according to news releases from both dioceses.

He also has been suspended from teaching at St. Ambrose in Davenport and from his assignment as sacramental minister to St. Andrew Church in Blue Grass, until the report is investigated and the process is concluded under church law, according to a news release from the Davenport diocese.

Grant served at St. Albert’s from 1988 to 1994 when he came to Davenport to teach at St. Ambrose. At St. Albert’s, he was chairman of the religion department, taught religion, was chairman of ministry and was the soccer coach, according to a former student.

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Iowa priest suspended amid inquiry into sex misconduct claim

IOWA CITY (IA)
Associated Press

March 18, 2020

By Ryan J. Foley

A well-known professor and priest at a Roman Catholic college in Iowa has been suspended while the church investigates a sexual misconduct allegation dating to the 1990s, the school said Wednesday.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport said school officials recently learned of the complaint against theology professor Rev. Robert L. “Bud” Grant and are taking it seriously.

The allegation dates to the early 1990s, when Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs. A prosecutor said the complaint involved one person who was a minor at the time and that it is too old to be criminally investigated under Iowa law.

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Former St. Albert priest accused of sexual misconduct faces diocese investigation

DES MOINES (IA)
Nonpareilonline.com

March 19, 2020

By Tim Johnson

A priest who once served on the faculty at St. Albert Catholic Schools has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a press release distributed Wednesday morning by the Diocese of Des Moines.

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a priest of the Diocese of Des Moines, has been on the faculty at St. Ambrose University in Davenport since 1994 but served on the faculty of St. Albert Catholic Schools from 1988-1994.

The complaint alleges that sexual misconduct occurred in the early 1990s, the press release stated. Diocese officials were first made aware of the complaint on Feb. 27. Bishop William Joensen directed the opening of a preliminary investigation, placed Grant on leave and restricted his ministry of March 4.

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Boy Scout Sex Abuse Class Action Sidetracked by Bankruptcy

UNITED STATES
PacerMonitor.com (corporation’s blog)

March 19, 2020

By Juliette Fairley

When the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy, the class action suit over allegations of child sex abuse was automatically stayed in favor of a plan that will create a Victims Compensation Trust.

Just how much money will be set aside is hard to tell, but if Catholic Church litigation is any indication, it could be millions of dollars.

“BSA consistently misrepresented itself as a safe, wholesome, values-based organization where scouts would be prepared for life, when BSA knew, in fact, that its programs were infested with pedophiles, its organization-wide abuse problem dated back to the 1910s, and the rampant abuse in its programs was doing serious harm to thousands of boys,” wrote plaintiffs’ attorney Carl S. Kravitz in the Jan. 6 complaint.

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March 18, 2020

Editorial: Bishop who promised transparency should release personnel records

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 18, 2020

A cult of secrecy protected serial sex abusers in the Catholic Church for decades. Many victims of childhood sexual abuse had their pain multiplied when adults refused to believe their stories, because few could accept the idea that members of the clergy could perpetrate such crimes.

Abuse survivors and their advocates work to puncture the church’s cover-up culture. Secrecy and silence are their enemies. For many, justice means not getting paid a settlement, but exposing the past misdeeds of the perpetrators.

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger’s promise to promote transparency after he took over as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo is so far ringing hollow. The bishop pledged in January that abuse survivors would be able to examine diocese files on their alleged abusers at the chancery offices. However, survivors making that request have gotten little or no response.

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Catholic church attendees can now anonymously report abuse

RAPID CITY (SD)
NewsCenter1.tv

March 18, 2020

By Claudia Contreras

Last year, Pope Francis called for a solution to the ongoing issue of child abuse within Catholic churches across the world.

Now worldwide catholic churches are mandated to use a third-party reporting system in order to hold bishops accountable.

The reporting system was created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The system is referred to as CBAR, which stands for Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service.

Church attendees can now anonymously report sexual abuse from a bishop online or via phone. This includes holding bishops responsible for trying to interfere with investigations of the alleged abuse.

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Judge grants defense’s motion for mistrial in City of Pewaukee priest case

WAUKESHA (WI)
GMToday.com

March 13, 2020

By Nikki Brahm

The defense’s motion for a mistrial was granted by Circuit Court Judge Michael Maxwell Friday morning due to the disclosure that the mother of the accuser is an undocumented resident in the case of a City of Pewaukee priest accused of touching a teen girl inappropriately.

The trial of Rev. Charles Hanel will now be postponed; a status conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 22.

Hanel, 62, was charged in 2018 with second-degree sexual assault of a child after a girl, then 13, reported he touched her breast in a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church.

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The trial for a Pewaukee priest accused of sexually assaulting a teen parishioner ends in mistrial

PEWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

March 13, 2020

By Steven Martinez

After nearly a week of testimony, a Waukesha County Circuit judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Pewaukee priest accused of sexually assaulting a teen parishioner in a confessional.

The decision Friday from Judge Michael Maxwell comes shortly after the alleged victim’s mother’s attempts to gain legal status to stay in the U.S. became public.

Defense attorneys Jerome Buting and Kathleen Byrne Stilling of Buting, Williams and Stilling S.C. successfully argued that the “late disclosure” of that information fundamentally shifted the defense strategy for their client, the Rev. Charles Hanel — and would have had they known about it from the start.

Hanel is accused of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly groping a then-13-year-old girl as she spoke to him in December 2017 inside a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church in the city of Pewaukee.

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Former St. Ambrose priest accused of sexual misconduct in early 1990s

DES MOINES (IA)
Radio Iowa

March 18, 2020

By O. Kay Henderson

A priest on the St. Ambrose University faculty has been accused of sexual misconduct in the early 1990s and the bishop of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese has placed the priest on administrative leave.

According to a news release from the Diocese, authorities in Scott, Polk and Pottawattamie Counties have been notified of the complaint. Reverend Robert Grant, who goes by the nickname Bud, taught at Council Bluffs St. Albert High School from 1988 to 1994. In that same year — 1994 — he began teaching at St. Ambrose in Davenport.

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‘Spotlight’ Attorney Faces Defamation Charges

MANHATTAN (NY)
The Tablet

March 18, 2020

By Christopher White

Prominent attorney Mitchell Garabedian may face defamation charges following a ruling from a U.S. District judge that Garabedian never intended to bring charges against a teacher his client accused of sexual abuse. That teacher maintains his innocence.

Judge Jan DuBois of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania said in an opinion this week that statements Garabedian made to an employer of a man he was threatening to sue could void the judicial immunity given to lawyers.

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DC Council member David Grosso confirms he was sexually abused by Catholic priest as a child

UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

March 18, 2020

By Tom Jackman

‘Though the deep scars remain, I largely believed this incident was behind me, especially after I underwent intensive therapy in the 1990s,’ says Grosso

After a former Catholic priest from northern Virginia was accused of sexual abuse that occurred in the 1980s, and his arrest was announced Monday, DC Councilmember David Grosso said he was the victim. Mr Grosso said the opening of an investigation into his childhood trauma played heavily into his decision not to seek another term on the city council.

The alleged abuser, Scott Asalone, 63, is the former rector of St Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia, and more recently a management consultant and bookstore owner in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He was a member of the Capuchin Friars order who was removed from public ministry in 1993 and dismissed from the friars in 2007, according to records released last year by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The diocese included Asalone’s name in a list of all clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse in northern Virginia.

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Service to report sex abuse of US Catholic bishops goes live in midst of coronavirus pandemic

UNITED STATES
LifeSite News

March 17, 2020

By Paul Smeaton

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service allows complainants to file confidential reports with an independent, third-party service.

A new system paid for by the 197 dioceses and eparchies of the United States was launched yesterday to report “sexual abuse or misconduct” committed by U.S. Catholic bishops. The service was launched in the midst of the country reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service (CBAR) allows complainants to file confidential reports with an independent, third-party service, either via telephone or an online form. Reports will then be forwarded, unedited, to the appropriate Church authority, which is usually a Metropolitan archbishop, or a Senior Suffragan bishop if the report is about the Metropolitan.

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‘Learn. Protect your children from clergy.’ The ABC’s Revelation reveals a tragic story

AUSTRALIA
Eternity News (blog)

March 18, 2020

By John Sandeman

The ABC’s Sarah Ferguson has taken us into a place where most Christians have not wanted to go – up close and very personal with pedophile Christian leaders in her series Revelation on the ABC. The series focuses in scarifying detail on abuse by pedophile Catholic Priests.

“They are men living among us like Lucifer’s fallen angels – they look like ordinary men,” is how Ferguson begins her narrative. “Their very ordinariness is what I find disturbing. They should look like monsters but they don’t.”

Chrissie Foster, who has seen extreme family tragedy from clergy pedophilia, tells Eternity her response to Revelation: “If you have a child in the Catholic system you will learn that your child is worthless to the Catholic priesthood.

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New poll shows Catholics have more favorable opinion of Church than last year

NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

March 18, 2020

By Christopher White

While Catholics in the U.S. continue to grapple with fallout stemming from the clergy abuse scandals, new polling suggests that Catholics have a higher opinion of the Church than they did this time last year.

According to data from the Saint Leo University Polling Institute, the favorable opinion – those who responded strongly and somewhat favorably – was recorded at 73.5 percent, up from 69.3 percent in November 2019.

In addition, the new data shows a significant increase from April 2019, where U.S. Catholics only expressed a 57.1 percent level of favorability.

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More on Forgiveness and Clergy Abuse Situation: Kaya Oakes on Need for New Understandings

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage (blog)

March 5, 2020

By William D. Lindsey

A month ago, Ruth Krall offered us a valuable statement about the “sin or crime” dilemma facing religious bodies as they deal with sexual abuse of vulnerable people by religious authority figures. Should a community frame sexual abuse of the vulnerable by pastors, priests, religious authority figures primarily in terms of forgiveness? Or should religious communities begin from the starting point of recognizing that sexual abuse of minors is a crime, as they deal with these issues?

Ruth’s essay was a meditation on what forgiveness means in a religious or theological context. It provoked a lively, fruitful discussion which signals to me how much this theological investigation is needed right now. As I noted in a posting building on Ruth’s essay, one of its important contributions was to highlight what Christian communities of faith might learn from Jewish discussions of sin and forgiveness.

Given our recent discussion of these issues, I’m interested to see in Kaya Oakes’ recent essay “On Forgiveness, Clergy Abuse, and the Need for New Understandings” the following testimony:

But in spite of the many cases of abuse coming to light around the world, the clerical impulse to plead for forgiveness, and what that does to victims, has rarely been discussed. In 2018, I pitched a story on the role of forgiveness in clergy abuse to a Catholic magazine for which I occasionally write. My hunch was that, like many of the women who were being asked to forgive abusive men as #MeToo revelations unfolded, many victims of clergy abuse might be hesitant to grant forgiveness to those who had violated them because of the corrosive nature of trauma.

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Diocese says abuse victims can see secret priest files, but blocks access

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

Gary Astridge has spent much of his adult life cobbling together dribs and drabs of information about the Rev. Edward Townsend, the priest he says molested him multiple times in the 1960s, starting when Astridge was 7 years old.

So, when Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger first suggested in January that abuse survivors could examine Buffalo Diocese files on their alleged abusers at the chancery offices, Astridge left three messages with Scharfenberger’s office seeking an appointment.

Two months later, the City of Tonawanda resident said he has yet to receive a return call.

“To me, once again, it’s just words, empty,” said Astridge, who last August sued the diocese over the abuse. “Emotionally, it’s so disheartening, so discouraging. It’s a slap in the face.”

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Oregon Ducks administrator Jim Bartko beat his demons to the finish line

OREGON
Herald and News

March 18, 2020

By John Canzano, Oregonian Sports Columnist

We met at 9:30 a.m. at a Starbucks a couple of months ago. He picked the spot. And when I arrived, Jim Bartko was tucked against a large window, corner table, mentoring a college student.

He’s frozen there in my mind forever.

Bartko died on Monday. He was 54. And before you can say, “that’s way too young,” which is true, let me tell you what killed him — his childhood.

Officially, the long-time University of Oregon athletic department administrator collapsed during a workout on Monday. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died in surgery. But I’m left with no doubt that he would be alive today to do good deeds if only someone years ago would have just done one for him.

A church.

A priest.

A pile of abuse, denial and betrayal.

Bartko had been outspoken about all of it recently. He’d gone public, as part of his recovery a couple of years ago. He’d spilled his guts, talking in horrific detail about Father Stephen Kiesle, a convicted serial molester. The since-defrocked Kiesle wreaked havoc on the children of Pinole, Calif., 7-year old Jimmy Bartko among them.

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Former Priest From Asbury Park Charged With Sex With Minor

ASBURY PARK (NJ)
Patch.com

March 18, 2020

By Tom Davis

A 63-year-old former clergyman from Asbury Park was charged with having sex with a minor, according to a release

A 63-year-old former clergyman from Asbury Park has been charged with having sex with a minor, according to a release from the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced charges against former clergyman Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park for one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old, according to the release.

Asalone was identified through Herring and Virginia State Police’s investigation into clergy abuse in Virginia. Asalone was indicted by the Northern Virginia Multi-Jurisdictional Grand Jury on Thursday, March 12 and the case will be tried in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

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Letter to the Editor: Where does the church go from here?

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Gazette

March 18, 2020

The 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury exposed clergy sexual abuse, pay-offs and systematic cover-ups in our Diocese. Now, in response to Bishop David Zubik’s letter sent last month to all members of the Diocese, in which he implied we have been negligent in our monetary giving, I have the following to say.

Bishop Zubik has held many listening sessions, but has not yet begged the entire laity for forgiveness.

Accordingly, the laity have listened to his words, but are not giving.

We, the laity, had a sacred relationship with the clergy, which Bishop Zubik and many of his fellow clergy have violated. They are servants of the Church, not masters of the castle. However, they seemed to care more for material goods and reputation than they did for the people, who are the real church. They must first love Christ, who is in the people: “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

Such a gross violation of trust as we have recently endured requires deep, heart-felt, on-the-knees, sack cloth and ashes confession, apology and radical reformation if there is any hope of salvaging the relationship at all. The status quo is not acceptable. The church saying, “we already have it under control” is not acceptable. This impasse might be more obvious to those of us living a marriage covenant.

In contrast, the arrogant deafness with which the clergy leadership has proceeded is a testament against itself and an offense to the laity: “ whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

We are the church. We are listening and waiting.

MICHAEL MARTINO, M.D.
Whitehall
The writer is a member of Catholics for Change in Our Church and a parishioner at St. Thomas More/​St. John Capistran Parish.

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Remembering Mart Crowley

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Bay Area Reporter

March 17, 2020

By Brian Bromberger

Mart Crowley, whose landmark 1968 play “The Boys in the Band” became the first American stage production to deal openly and candidly with gay lives, over a year before the Stonewall Riots, died March 7 at age 84, from complications following heart surgery after suffering a heart attack. Without “Boys,” other breakthrough gay dramas such as “Torch Song Trilogy,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Angels in America” would have been inconceivable, as its popular success opened doors for honest depictions of LGBTQ people in mainstream theater and films. Its witty, acerbic banter (“Who do you have to fuck to get a drink around here?”) became part of gay vernacular. And its portrayal of gay men leading ordinary existences with similar issues such as the search for meaning and love, just like their straight counterparts, helped spur acceptance of queer folk in the prevailing cultural landscape. …

… Meanwhile, Crowley wrote several other dramas, including 1992’s “For Reasons That Remain Unclear,” about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (he had been molested as a child) a decade before the scandal arose, and 2002’s “Men from the Boys,” a sequel to “Boys.” None were winners. Wood’s widowed husband, actor Robert Wagner, made him producer and executive script consultant on his hit 1980s TV series “Hart to Hart.” Crowley also stopped drinking.

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Catholic Diocese of Arlington responds to announcement that former Capuchin priest is charged with abuse

ARLINGTON (VA)
Catholic Herald

March 17, 2020

The Virginia Attorney General’s office has announced that Mr. Scott Asalone, a former Capuchin priest who was assigned to St. Francis de Sales Parish in Purcellville from 1984-1993, has been arrested on charges involving sexual abuse of a minor in 1985.

Mr. Asalone was removed from the parish by the Capuchin order in January 1993, and the Diocese of Arlington subsequently was advised that the Capuchins had received an allegation against him. He was dismissed from the Capuchin order in 2007, and was living in New Jersey at the time of his arrest.

The Diocese of Arlington has cooperated fully with all law enforcement agencies and will continue to do so in an effort to help ensure anyone guilty of abuse is brought to justice. Our concern and prayers are for the victims of abuse at any place and time. The Diocese has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of a minor, and no one with a credible accusation of abuse is serving in the Diocese. Mr. Asalone was included on the Diocese’s list, published in February 2019, of priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

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Erie, other dioceses unveil system to report bishops

ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

March 17, 2020

The creation of the nationwide Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service grew out of the clergy abuse crisis.

Roman Catholic dioceses nationwide have launched a system to report claims of abuse against bishops, the Catholic Diocese of Erie announced on Tuesday.

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service, which started operating on Monday, grew out of a document called “Vox estis lux mundi,” or “You Are the Light of the World,” which Pope Francis issued in May 2019 after an international meeting of bishops in Rome in February 2019 to address clergy sexual abuse.

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March 17, 2020

France’s Worst Case of Clergy Abuse Is Over

FRANCE
Newser Editors and Wire Services

March 17, 2020

Ex-priest who abused at least 75 boys is sentenced to 5 years

A French ex-priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over decades was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, in France’s worst case of clergy abuse to reach trial. The court in Lyon issued the verdict against 74-year-old Bernard Preynat behind closed doors because the coronavirus outbreak has shuttered most activity in France. Preynat’s case forced the first serious reckoning with sex abuse within the Catholic Church in France. Preynat testified that multiple cardinals and other senior church officials were aware of his misconduct dating back to the 1960s, but he wasn’t removed from the priesthood until last year, the AP reports. Victims of Preynat’s abuse, primarily boy scouts, welcomed his conviction for sexually abusing minors. Preynat was a scout leader.

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Former Priest Gary Jacobs Returns to Michigan, Arraigned on Additional CSC Charges

LANSING (MI)
White Lake Beacon

March 16, 2020

In the latest update from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s investigation into sexual abuse by members of the clergy, Gary Allen Jacobs was formally arraigned late Tuesday, March 10, in Ontonagon County on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases that he reportedly committed in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

Jacobs was originally charged in January on seven additional criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.

Since January, two new victims came forward making sexual assault reports against Jacobs, 74, now of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the two cases, he is charged with three criminal sexual conduct counts stemming from incidents that reportedly occurred between the dates of Jan. 1, 1981 and Dec. 31, 1984 in Ontonagon County.

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Diocese of Allentown to implement new abuse reporting service

ALLENTOWN (PA)
69 News

March 17, 2020

The Diocese of Allentown says it’s using a new system that lets people report sexual abuse allegations against bishops.

It’s called the “Catholic Abuse Reporting Service.”

Officials say the reports go to an independent group that will oversee an investigation.

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Prosecutors appeal dismissal of Pittsburgh priest’s conviction for sex abuse

PITTSBURGH (PA)
CNA

March 17, 2020

Allegheny County prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to vacate the conviction of Fr. Hugh Lang, who is accused of having assaulted a boy in 2001.

On March 9 Allegheny County Commons Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani said he was granting Fr. Lang a new trial.

He said the priest had been denied a fair trial because the previous judge had allowed prosecutors to submit evidence that Fr. Lang had searched the internet for defense attorney shortly before the 2018 release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors.

Prosecutors have said the internet search demonstrated “consciousness of guilt,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, while Mariani responded that the search could have been for other reasons, such as looking on behalf an accused colleague, or out of fear of being falsely accused.

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Church of England accused of ‘marking own homework’ after Dean returns to work following safeguarding scandal

ENGLAND
Telegraph

March 16, 2020

By Gabriella Swerling

The complaint was brought by the Church of England’s national director of safeguarding Melissa Caslake

The Church of England has been accused of “marking its own homework” after a Cathedral Dean left her post amid an abuse scandal – but was allowed to return to work following extra training.

The Very Reverend Christine Wilson took a leave of absence in April 2019 following a complaint about how she handled a safeguarding allegation concerning the Cathedral’s chancellor. The Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, Very Reverend Christine Wilson – who was the first woman to assume the role and whose appointment in October 2016 was approved by The Queen – said that she needed to take a leave of absence for “personal reasons”.

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Former Purcellville Church Friar Indicted in 1985 Sexual Abuse Case

LEESBURG (VA)
LoudounNow

March 16, 2020

Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced former clergyman Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park, NJ, was indicted on one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old.

The indictment is related to alleged sexual contact by Asalone in 1985, while he was a friar assigned to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville involving a former parishioner in 1985.

Asalone was taken into custody on Saturday, March 14 by the Virginia State Police and New Jersey law enforcement officials in Asbury Park, NJ and will face extradition to Virginia. The case will be tried in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

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Summit held to address church’s ‘twin crises’ of abuse, leadership failure

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

A summit of U.S. Catholic leaders was convened recently in Washington “to continue to respond to the twin crises in our church, a crisis of abuse and a crisis of leadership failure,” said Kim Smolik, CEO of the Leadership Roundtable, which organized the gathering.

The Catholic Partnership Summit, held Feb. 28-29, had as its theme, “From Crisis to Co-Responsibility: Creating a New Culture of Leadership.” It drew 260 Catholic leaders from 63 U.S. dioceses, including bishops, diocesan staff, Catholic university presidents, corporate leaders, abuse survivors, philanthropists and more than 30 young adults.

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DA’s office appeals tossed conviction of Pittsburgh-area priest accused of abuse

ALLEGHENY (PA)
TribLive

March 16, 2020

By Tom Davidson

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Monday appealed a judge’s decision last week to vacate the conviction of a retired priest who was accused of sexually abusing an altar boy two decades ago.

The office filed the appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reconsider a county judge’s decision.

The Rev. Hugh Lang, 89, who was formerly superintendent of schools for the Pittsburgh Diocese, was found guilty in a nonjury trial last year. He was sentenced in February to nearly two years in jail by Allegheny County Judge Anthony Mariani.

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Once McCarrick report issued, church urged to ‘make reparation, learn’

WASHINGTON (DC)
CNS

March 17, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

Once the Vatican releases the McCarrick report, the church must listen to the reaction to it in a “spirit of humility” and must seek to “make reparation, learn and keep moving forward in a new way,” said a leading U.S. woman religious.

Sister Carol Zinn, a Sister of St. Joseph from Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, who is executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, made the comments in a call with news media following the Catholic Partnership Summit, held Feb. 28-29 in Washington.

She said she hopes that as Catholics react to the report, “the church would take a listening stance rather than a defensive one,” to acknowledge it and recognize that “the institutional church, cannot govern itself the way it has governed itself before.”

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Reporting system to record abuse complaints against bishops begins

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2020

By Dennis Sadowski

A reporting system accepting sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. bishops and eparchs is in place.

Called the Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service, or CBAR, the system became operational March 16.

The mechanism incorporates a website and a toll-free telephone number through which individuals can file reports regarding a bishop.

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New Group Set Up To Deal With Church Workplace Abuse

AUSTRALIA
Vision Christian Radio

March 17, 2020

An advocacy group is aiming to make churches better places to work by supporting those employees who are being bullied, abused, or unfairly treated.

Eternity News reports the Gospel Workers Advocacy Group has been set up to help church workers facing difficult situations at work.

This can include abuse, bullying, and in some cases the unfair termination of their jobs.

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Madison Catholic Church Confirms 2nd Sexual Abuse Allegation Against Priest

MADISON (WI)
State News

March 16, 2020

The Diocese of Madison says a second person has come forward to make a sexual abuse allegation against a priest.

That person stepped up when the diocese released the names of priests credibly accused saying one name was missing from the list – the Reverend Patrick Doherty.

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End safeguarding self-regulation, IICSA urged

UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

March 17, 2020

By Ruth Gledhill

Forty years of public scandal has “forced” the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches to admit they have a problem of child sex abuse, the latest hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has been told.

“No current Catholic or Anglican leader would come before this inquiry now and seriously try to maintain that clerical sex abuse scandals had never happened,” Richard Scorer, representing several core participants, told the first day of the hearing into child protection in “religious organisations and settings”.

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7 Years Of The First Non-European Pope

ROME
National Public Radio

March 16, 2020

By Sylvia Poggioli

Seven years after Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, the first non-European pontiff is under attack from traditionalists who think he’s leading Catholics astray.

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