ABUSE TRACKER

August 15, 2019

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

The daughter of a former Saints football player is one of two people who filed new lawsuits Thursday in Civil District Court seeking compensation from the Archdiocese of New Orleans over allegations of clergy abuse dating back decades.

In her suit, Linda Lee Stonebreaker, whose father was Saints linebacker Steve Stonebreaker, says she was 4½ years old when a River Ridge priest named Louis LeBourgeois molested her while driving her home in 1968.

Stonebreaker’s suit says she reported her ordeal in 2014 to archdiocesan officials, who agreed to cover her therapy bills, suggesting they believed her. But then the archdiocese omitted LeBourgeois — who died in 2015 — from a Nov. 2 list of 57 clergymen who were considered credibly accused of child abuse.

The suit argues that omission violates transparency policies that the Catholic Church has adopted in its ongoing clergy molestation scandal.

The plaintiff in the second suit is an unidentified man who says he was a 10- or 11-year-old altar boy in 1982 when a Gentilly priest named Michael Fraser started molesting him, abuse he says continued for a decade. Fraser, who is still living, has tried to keep in touch with the plaintiff, attempting to contact him as recently as four years ago, the suit says.

Fraser is on the list of credibly accused priests released by the church.

Generally, statutes of limitation prevent plaintiffs from going to court to pursue damages for long-ago misdeeds.

But in her suit, Stonebreaker, 55, argues that the archdiocese’s decision to pay her therapy bills essentially invalidated any such limitation from applying in her case, because it was an acknowledgment that she had a right to pursue her claim in court.

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.

Get Religion blog

August 14, 2019

By Julia Duin

I attended college in southwest Portland; my first newspaper reporting job was just south of town; I have multiple friends in the area and my brother was an Oregonian reporter for 36 years.

In other words, I know a thing or two about the area, its people and the local media.

Religion coverage at the Oregonian has had some definite highs and lows in past decades. Highs were the coverage of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the 1980s, reporting by Mark O’Keefe in the 1990s and in recent years, Melissa Binder, who was on the beat for a short time. She then left the paper about a year ago.

The beat seems to be at a low point now, if the paper’s recent profile of a Catholic church torn by dissension is any indication. This story is so weak that it’s really hard to read.

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Patheos blog

August 15, 2019

By Barry Duke

BACK in 2017, Nicola Corradi was filmed in Italy by an undercover reporter joking about the sexual abuse of impoverished boys and girls at Argentina’s Instituto Próvolo for deaf-mute children.

The frail Corradi, together with fellow priest Horacio Corbacho 61, and former gardener Armando Gómez, 49, is now on trial in Mendoza, Argentina. The trio face more than two dozen charges of sexual abuse and corruption of minors who were students at the Insititute, located in the town of Luján de Cuyo about 800 miles west of Buenos Aires.

In a written statement provided to the media, those who suffered abuse at the institution said of the accused clerics:

They’re monsters in cassocks who committed abominable crimes against minors. We note that the Catholic Church has given financial support to the defense of the accused. That the results of the canonical probe by Vatican representatives Dante Simon and Alberto Bochatey have not been released is clear evidence of a cover-up and is a mockery of the judiciary and society as a whole.

In an interview with an Italian journalist, Corradi laughed and unapologetically described the abuse of children. A video recorded at a hospital in Italy showed the elderly priest boasting about his crimes.

In total, 14 individuals stand accused of various crimes in three different cases involving more than 20 victims. All of the victims were minors at the time of the abuse. One boy was aged just four when he was first abused. In one case, Jorge Bordón, 50, has already pleaded guilty to charges. The other two cases involve nuns Kumiko Kosaka and Asunción Martínez, as well as several administrative staff members.

The trial is expected to go to the end of August. However, because there are approximately 200 witnesses who wish to prove that systematic abuse occurred not only in Argentina, but in Italy as well, it may go into September.

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DALLAS (TX)
Dallas News

August 15, 2019

By Sarah Sarder and Dana Branham

A judge ordered a North Texas Muslim cleric to pay millions of dollars to a woman he is accused of sexually exploiting after counseling her for years.

Zia ul-Haq Sheikh, who has served as an imam at Dallas-area mosques, must pay $2.55 million for mental anguish and punitive damages and his accuser’s legal fees, District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky decided Thursday, according to a news release.

Sheikh had been working as an imam at the Islamic Center of Irving, one of the biggest mosques in Texas, when he allegedly exploited the woman, according to a lawsuit filed in July 2018 and later amended to include an allegation of sexual assault.

Sheikh said in an email Tuesday afternoon that he believed the judgment against him “is in error.”

“Unfortunately, litigation in this country does not always favor the truth,” he said. “In most cases, it boils down to how much financial stamina one has, and whether one has good legal representation.”

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NEW HARTFORD (NY)
WKTV TV

August 14, 2019

A man who claims he was sexually abused by a local priest as a boy has filed suit against the Diocese of Syracuse and other organizations.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Syracuse, Steven Moran of New Hartford alleges he was sexually abused as a child by Thomas Neary, a priest who was assigned to St. John the Evangelist Church in New Hartford. Moran says from 1954-1960 Neary abused him at several locations in Central New York, including the church, Camp Nazareth in Woodgate, Neary’s parents’ house in Solvay, and in Neary’s car. Moran was approximately ten years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

Moran’s lawsuit alleges personal injuries, emotional distress, and anguish as a result of the sexual abuse. The lawsuit says the Diocese is responsible for monetary damages because they knew or should have known that Neary was a predator and allowed him to be a priest and have access to children anyway. St. John the Evangelist Church and Camp Nazareth are also named as defendants, as well as a second unidentified priest. Neary died in 2001 at the age of 83.

The suit comes on the first day of New York State’s new “Child Victims Act”, which allows people one year to file civil lawsuits that had previously been barred by the state’s statute of limitations, which were among the nation’s tightest. Lawmakers voted this year to extend the statute of limitations going forward and to create the one-year litigation window to give victims a new chance to file lawsuits.

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GREENVILLE (SC)
Greenville News

Aug. 15, 2019

By Mike Ellis

South Carolina’s top Catholic, Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone, was accused in a lawsuit today of sexually abusing a minor while a priest in New York 40 years ago.

Guglielmone denied the accusations in separate statements from the Diocese of Charleston and from a law firm representing him.

The lawsuit, filed in Nassau County, alleges Guglielmone “was known among the community and the children at the church as a sexual predator” and the South Carolina diocese should have known about his reputation.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a man who alleges that Guglielmone forced him, as an 8-year-old, to perform sexual acts 20 to 30 times in the rectory of St. Martin of Tours Church in Amityville, New York.

The lawsuit says the alleged abuse led the man to “became scared, anxious and (he) remains unable to leave his home.” It led the man to cutting class and urinating on himself as a fourth grader and later to drugs and incarceration, according to the lawsuit.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 14, 2019

By Jay Tokasz and Maki Becker

Lawyers on Wednesday filed more than 100 lawsuits in Western New York courts alleging child sex abuse by Catholic priests and nuns, Boy Scout leaders, teachers, a choir director, a neighbor and family members.

The vast majority of the lawsuits accused Buffalo Diocese priests of molesting children decades ago, including one case that dates back to 1948. Several priests were the subject of multiple accusations. Most of the priests identified in the lawsuits were deceased or already had been removed from public ministry due to abuse allegations.

But the filings also included the names of at least five priests still celebrating Masses, including the pastors of two suburban parishes who had not previously been accused.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

August 14, 2019

By Priscilla DeGregory, Elizabeth Rosner and Lia Eustachewich

Hundreds of lawsuits hit state courts across New York on Wednesday, the first day the new Child Victims Act was in effect — with the majority of complaints targeting the Catholic Church.

“Today is a new day. It’s a day of hope,” said attorney Jeff Anderson at a press conference. “It’s a day in which . . . the survivors have an opportunity to not only have a voice but have their voice heard and through a public forum.”

One of Anderson’s clients, Jordan Caramanno, was a 16-year-old junior at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School on Staten Island when he was allegedly molested by Monsignor John Paddack.

Paddack, he said, then tried to use his powerful position to silence the then-teen. “That was a very dark time in my life,” Caramanno said of the alleged abuse that occurred in 2001 and 2002. But Caramanno, 34, had a message for his alleged abuser, “You can’t run and hide anymore.”

He, like many others is suing the Archdiocese of New York, as well as St. Joseph by-the-Sea. Reached by phone, Paddack slammed Caramanno’s accusations as “totally false. Totally 100% false.”

Fifteen CVA suits naming three previously unnamed abusers were also filed on behalf of some 170 alleged child sex abuse survivors by the law firm Seeger Weiss LLP.

“Survivors will no longer be silenced,” said Stephen Weiss.

The CVA opened up a one-year window for survivors to file civil actions against abusers, regardless of how long ago the incident happened. Such claims were previously barred under the state’s statute of limitations.

Lex Filipowski, 54, filed his suit some 44 years after his alleged abuse stopped.

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ONTARIO (CANADA)
London Free Press

August 14, 2019

By Jennifer Bieman

A funeral is set for longtime London-area Bishop John Sherlock, a retired Catholic leader some say has a mixed legacy amid clergy sex abuse scandals that shone a harsh spotlight on his diocese.

The former bishop, who spent more than two decades at the helm of the Diocese of London, died Monday at the age of 93.

Visitation will be held at St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica, 196 Dufferin Ave, London, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, when Sherlock’s funeral mass will take place.

Born in Regina in 1926, Sherlock was raised in Brantford, one of eight children. He entered St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto after high school. Two of his brothers also became priests.

He was ordained in 1950, became the head of the Diocese of London in 1978 — a district that includes more than 130 parishes from Windsor to Huron County with about 440,000 parishioners.

He spent 24 years as the London-area bishop, championing changes to the diocese’s ministry directives and promoting social justice, Catholic health care and education throughout the region.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
WCSC Channel 5 TV

August 14, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Charleston says a lawsuit filed in New York names Bishop Robert Guglielmone and accuses him of sexually abusing a minor.

The lawsuit was filed in state court in Nassau County, New York, according to diocese spokesperson Maria Aselage. In the suit, an alleged victim accused Guglielmone of sexually abusing him during 1978 and 1979 while Guglielmone served as a priest at St. Martin of Tours
Catholic Church in Amityville, New York.

Attorneys Bruce Barket and Aida Leisenring, who are representing Guglielmone, released a statement through the diocese:
“These allegations are false, provably false. As the plaintiff admitted to a family member, he made this up in order to get money from the Church (“it’s worth a try,” the plaintiff said). Bishop Guglielmone is a good man who has devoted his entire career to the church, education, and community service. Although he was under no obligation to do so, he submitted himself to a polygraph examination, which he passed. We will not allow these false allegations to tarnish the outstanding and selfless work he has done throughout his life. We will see the plaintiff in Court and the Bishop will be cleared.”

Guglielmone himself also released a statement on the lawsuit:
“I understand that this individual filed a lawsuit against me today. The allegations are false. I engaged in no wrongdoing. I look forward to being vindicated in Court, and will refer specific questions about my defense to my attorneys, Bruce Barket and Aida Leisenring at Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco, LLP.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily Beast

August 14, 2019

By Olivia Messer

A New York woman who has waited decades to publicly accuse a Catholic priest of rape kicked off more than 100 lawsuits filed Wednesday after a new state law opened a one-year window for sexual-abuse survivors to seek justice.

The 36-year-old, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed suit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, claiming abuse by Father Ricardo Fajardo when she was a minor and he was working as a priest at the Church of St. Catherine of Genoa in Manhattan.

Doe’s suit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleges that she was raped by Fajardo, who “used his position as a dignified religious leader to ingratiate himself with [Doe’s] family as a trusted and respected individual.”

After volunteering to give her a ride home one day, Fajardo instead allegedly drove Doe back to the church rectory and invited her to lay in his bed. Then he gave her alcohol, groped and kissed her, and then raped her, according to the lawsuit.

Doe’s case is one of more than 100 lawsuits that were filed so far on Wednesday in 11 counties, mostly targeting Catholic dioceses in New York, by survivors of child sex abuse.

The suits were enabled by the state’s Child Victims Act, which passed in January and went into full effect at midnight Wednesday. The law removes the state’s statute of limitations on sex crimes against children and provides a one-year window, beginning Wednesday, to pursue legal action—no matter the age of the accuser, when the abuse occurred, or if the alleged perpetrator is alive or dead.

In addition to the new window, as of Wednesday, criminal charges can be filed against sexual abusers of children until accusers turn 28—up from age 23—in felony cases, and civil cases can be filed against abusers and institutions until the person making the claim turns 55.

More than 1,000 lawsuits took advantage of a similar one-year window in California in 2003, The New York Times reported.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
ABC 27 News

August 14, 2019

By Tin Nguyen

In the year since the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg was reported to have maintained over hundreds of priest accused of sexual abuse crimes, they have attempted to make amends with the community.

Most recently, the Survivor Compensation Program was enacted by the diocese to serve as a means of reparations for the survivors of abuse, managed by private mediation firm Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation, Inc.

112 survivors participated in the program with 106 survivors accepting an offer of compensation. $12.1 million total payments were made to survivors in the program.

The process of attempting to amend began with the removal of all bishops names from positions of honor within the diocese for failing to do enough to prevent childhood sexual abuse and of priests, deacons and seminarians named in the report.

The diocese additionally conducted nine listening sessions for church members and survivors to express their concerns and frustrations with the church.

Moving forward, the Harrisburg diocese looks to continually attempt to right an understated gross oversight by implementing more than a dozen procedures.

The diocese has contracted Janet McNeal, a retired Pennsylvania State Police Captain who oversaw Megan’s Law, to oversee the Diocese’s Safe Environment Program.

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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
Staten Island Advance

August 14, 2019

By Tom Wrobleski

The world is never going to be the same. Not for parents. Not for kids. Not for church parishioners or leaders, not for those involved in Boy Scouts or youth sports.

We may never look at the school teacher or the babysitter the same way, or the neighbor who offers to give our kids a ride home.

We will never again trust like we used to.

The floodgates are open, and lawsuits against accused sexual predators are pouring out. Well-known and popular priests, coaches and youth leaders are being accused of heinous crimes against children, including here on Staten Island.

It’s taken decades for this to come to light. Being a victim of sexual abuse was something that people just didn’t talk about, whether the accused molester was a family member or friend, a clergy member or a coach.

There was no framework for kids to come forward and express what happened to them. Some didn’t even understand that they’d been violated. They might have blamed themselves. Some parents wouldn’t have believed an accusation against a trusted member of the community, even if it meant disbelieving their own child.

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ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

August 14, 2019

By Steve Hughes and Mike Goodwin

A number of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse within the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese were filed Wednesday.

What follows is a list of some of the religious leaders and others who were accused of sexually abusing children:

Bishop Howard Hubbard, the former leader of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old parishioner at St. Mary’s Church in Ballston Spa in 1990s. A lawyer for Hubbard said the accusation is false.

Rev. Paul Bondi, former priest St. Mary’s Church Ballston Spa, accused of sexually abusing the same plaintiff as Hubbard when the plaintiff was between the age of 12 and 15.

Rev. Edward Pratt, a former priest at St. Catherine’s Center for Children, accused of grooming and sexually abusing a boy between the ages of 11 and 15 in the 1980s.

Rev. Joseph Romano, a former priest LaSalle School in Albany, accused of sexually abusing Steven Narbon when Narbon was between the ages of 15 and 16 in 1980 and 1981.

Brother Clement Murphy, an former administrator at St. Paul the Apostle Parish and School in Schenectady, accused of abusing a girl between the age of 7 and 10 between 1964 and 1967.

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

August 14, 2019

Church officials from the Boston Province have instituted a new “independent” system for reporting allegations against bishops. We believe that rather than institute new systems for these kind of reports, people should be encouraged to make reports directly to police and prosecutors instead.

Since 2002, bishops have promised that “fraternal correction” would help ensure that reports of child abuse were taken seriously, routed to the proper places, and that zero tolerance would be enforced. Yet as we have seen, these internal church systems and procedures have not been enough, and what reforms and discipline that we have seen has come from secular officials, not religious ones.

This move by bishops from the Boston Province seems to us to be yet another promise to self-police. The EthicsPoint system will divorce the bishops from the process of investigating themselves, but it remains an internal system, with reports routed to the Apostolic Nuncio instead of police.

Bishops do not conceal or ignore cases of sexual violence because there is a lack of processes or mechanisms. It is hard to see how this move by the church officials in New England will do anything to change that.

It is notable that this news comes the same day that criminal charges appear to have been recommended against former Cheyenne bishop Joseph Hart, charges that were only possible because the current bishop, Steven Biegler, gave information to secular authorities and encouraged them to investigate.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

August 14, 2019

By Jay Sefton

If the Catholic Church had offered me any amount of money in 2007 when I reported the sexual abuse I experienced as a child, I would not be writing this.

I was a 36-year-old active alcoholic struggling to make ends meet and ruining relationships with the people I loved. My abuse came from a pedophile priest named Thomas Smith who cast 13-year olds in a Passion Play he directed every year at my grade school. It was his way of satisfying his “depraved and sadistic” sexual desires, as documented in the 423-page Grand Jury Report from 2005 covering abuses in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I played Jesus.

The Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program (IRRP) began in November of 2018 and ends this fall. Catholic Church child abuse survivors can file claims to be reviewed by the administrators of the program, Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros. A New York Times article, “From 9/11 to Orlando, Ken Feinberg’s Alter Ego in Compensating Victims,” reports, “The goal with many of these payments is grounded in stark financial reality: Offer victims enough compensation quickly enough, and they will agree not to sue.”

When I called the victims’ assistance hotline in 2007, I was offered therapy. With a skilled therapist, I began the long road of untangling the abuse and deceit I had been exposed to for the first eighteen years of my life. Violent nuns (not all of them) and predatory priests (not all of them) did most of the heavy lifting to shape my self-loathing. I was baptized into a culture of shame and fear that equated being assertive with being selfish, self-love with sinning. I was trained to be a well-behaved Catholic boy who didn’t question authority. During therapy, I regained two things the Catholic Church had stolen from me—my voice and my ability to think critically.

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

August 14, 2019

A former US senator is defending an accused predator priest using inappropriate and hurtful language that will likely discourage other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers from reporting suspected child sex crimes to authorities. We call on her to apologize for her comments that could intimidate survivors.

Last week, Carol Moseley Braun expressed support for Fr. George Clements, a Chicago archdiocesan priest recently accused of abusing a child. She told the Sun-Times that “if somebody is coming now to decap him, then I think that’s terrible. I don’t know the nature of what the allegations are. I can tell you, if there’s anybody I’d take a bullet for, it would be Father Clements.”

She is no doubt well intentioned and within her rights to defend an accused abuser. Unfortunately, her remarks also hurt victims and endanger children.

When influential individuals, especially those who admit knowing little or nothing about an abuse report, immediately rally to the side of an alleged child molester this hurts all victims. It says to them “nothing will ever change,” “people disbelieve those who report,” “powerful people always prevail,” and “your pain does not matter.”

Such words also make it less likely for those who see, suspect or suffer sex crimes to speak up, expose molesters and safeguard others, endangering even more children. Many abuse victims believe the deck is stacked against them and that their perpetrators have powerful friends who will back them and make disclosing abuse futile or even potentially dangerous.

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

August 14, 2019

Following a review of accusations of child abuse, authorities in Wyoming have recommended that charges be brought against two unnamed Catholic priests. We are grateful for this development and hope that it encourages others who experienced abuse to come forward and make a report to law enforcement.

According to the Star-Tribune, the announcement from Cheyenne police said that “the investigation stemmed ‘from a case initiated in 2002 that was reopened in 2018’ amid new information provided to authorities by the Diocese of Cheyenne.” Those particulars match what is publicly known about the allegations against former Bishop Joseph Hart.

Though this move is long overdue, we are glad that apparently the accusations against Bishop Hart have finally been investigated by police and that charges have been recommended. At the same time, cases like these are often difficult to prosecute, so we encourage anyone with information or suspicions about the former bishop to find the courage to call law enforcement immediately.

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

August 14, 2019

It’s meeting now in Scottsdale for 3 days

“Sisters are being reckless,” group says

SNAP: “We’ve been ‘repeatedly rebuffed by nuns

Group wants national data base of predatory sisters

“The nuns are more secretive even than the bishops,” victims say

It’s been 15 years since SNAP 1st sought help, unsuccessfully, from LCWR

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, survivors of abuse by nuns and priests will prod the largest US nuns’ group to
–let adults sexually abused by nuns speak at their conference,
–mount an ‘aggressive outreach drive’ to find and help others violated by nuns, and
–post names of credibly accused child molesting nuns on its website.

They will also
–urge the roughly 17 US attorneys general who are investigating clergy sex crimes and cover ups to include nuns and their victims in these probes and
–beg “anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered” wrongdoing by nuns to “come forward, start healing, protect others and call law enforcement.”

WHEN
Wednesday, August 14 at 2:30 p.m.

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CASPAR (WY)
Star Tribune

August 14, 2019

By Seth Klamann

Cheyenne police are recommending charges for two men — one a clergyman, the other who was attempting to become a clergyman — who are accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

The announcement by Cheyenne police, who did not name the two suspects, comes after a 16-month investigation, according to a department press release. The affidavits recommending the charges have been forwarded to the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office, and the documents “outline how two members of the Catholic Clergy sexually abused male juvenile victims in the 1970’s and 1980’s,” according to the the release.

Cheyenne police originally said both men were clergymen. The department issued a clarification just before 1 p.m. that one of the two men was a member of the clergy at the time of the alleged abuse, while the other man was “seeking membership in the Catholic Clergy at the time of the offenses.”

The release says that the investigation “stems from a case initiated in 2002 that was reopened in 2018” amid new information provided to authorities by the Diocese of Cheyenne.

In 2002, a man told Cheyenne Police that he had been sexually abused by former Bishop Joseph Hart in the mid-1970s. Police recommended that investigation be closed, citing a lack of evidence, and Natrona County District Attorney Kevin Meenan formally did so later that year.

Citing state statute, Cheyenne police spokesman Kevin Malatesta declined to provide any details about the suspects’ identities, other than that they were tied to the clergy. He declined to detail the allegations against them, whether their abuse was at all related, or say how many victims authorities had identified of the two men. He said the affidavits providing further information would be made public if and when the two men are charged.

He said police sent the charging documents to the district attorney’s office Wednesday and said he wasn’t sure what prosecutors’ timeline would be. Laramie County District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove was not immediately available for comment early Wednesday afternoon.

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NEW YORK (NY)
CNN

August 14, 2019

By Eric Levenson

The New York State Court system is expecting so many lawsuits as part of a new child sex abuse law that 45 judges have been set aside to deal exclusively with them, spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.

The New York Child Victims Act, signed into law on February 14, expands the ways that those who suffered sexual abuse as children can use the legal system to address the damage.
In particular, the law created a one-year period, starting Wednesday, when any adult survivors of child sexual abuse can sue an abuser or a negligent institution, no matter how long ago the abuse took place.

The designated 45 judges, including 12 in New York City, make up just a fraction of the state’s 1,350 paid judges, but they are preparing for an “influx” of lawsuits, Chalfen said. Lawsuits are expected to be filed against the Archdiocese of New York, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rockefeller University, the Boy Scouts, Jeffrey Epstein and others on Wednesday.

“The revived Child Victims Act cases are critically important cases, raising numerous challenging legal issues, that must be adjudicated as consistently and expeditiously as possible across the state,” Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks said. “We are fully committed to providing appropriate and sufficient resources to achieve that goal.”

The idea behind the law is that many victims of child sexual abuse keep it a secret for years, well beyond the previous statute of limitations, out of shame and fear.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

August 14, 2019

By Christopher White

Cheyenne’s police department is recommending that charges be brought against two members of the Catholic clergy for abuse during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

While state law prevents the suspects from being, a press release on Wednesday said the investigation “stems from a case initiated in 2002 that was reopened in 2018 when new information was produced and provided to the Cheyenne Police Department by an independent investigation conducted by the Wyoming Diocese of the Catholic Church.”

The subject of that 2002 investigation centered around Bishop Joseph Hart, who was bishop of Cheyenne from 1978 until his retirement in 2001.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

August 14, 2019

By Jennifer Araoz

Ms. Araoz has filed a lawsuit against the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The first time I stepped into Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion on the Upper East Side in the fall of 2001, I noticed his security cameras. They were hard to miss. Inside the front door, he had small TVs playing the footage in real time. I was a child, just 14 at the time. But the message was clear: I was in the house of someone important and I was being watched.

I can still remember watching myself on those screens as I walked into the house of the person I came to know as a predator, a pedophile, my rapist.

I’m filing a civil action against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and accomplices today, under New York’s Child Victims Act. A key provision of the law goes into effect today and allows survivors to revive claims if the statute of limitations had expired.

Epstein was found dead, apparently by suicide, in his jail cell last week. I’m angry he won’t have to personally answer to me in the court of law. But my quest for justice is just getting started.

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STATE COLLEGE (PA)
WJAC

August 13, 2019

By Sierra Darville

Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday alleging a Jesuit seminarian and former Penn State University professor sexually assaulted two children and raped one of them years after his superiors were made aware of his admission to crime against children.

According to a press release, Father Leonard Riforgiato was transferred from New York to Our Lady of Victory Church in State College.

The release states Riforgiato was an associate professor at the Shenango Valley Campus of Penn State, where he taught for 27 years, and focused on youth activities.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

August 13, 2019

By Rick Rojas

A new law has created a “look-back window,” during which claims that had passed the statute of limitations can be revived.

Major institutions across New York State, from the Catholic Church to the Boy Scouts of America to elite private schools, are bracing for a deluge of lawsuits now that adults who said they were sexually abused as children will be entitled to pursue formal legal action.

New York joined more than a dozen states this year in significantly extending statutes of limitations for filing lawsuits over sexual abuse. Previously, the state had required that such suits be filed before a victim’s 23rd birthday.

Under the new law in New York, the Child Victims Act, which was approved by the Legislature in January, accusers will be able to sue until they are 55.

The new law includes a one-year period, known as a look-back window, that revives cases that had expired, in many instances decades ago, under previous statutes of limitations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Penn Live

August 13, 2019

By Sean Sauro and Charles Thompson

A Catholic high school teacher from Cambria County who is facing charges of sexual misconduct in the state Capitol is accused of touching two female students on the buttocks and making lewd comments.

That’s according to charging documents filed by Pennsylvania Capitol Police against James E. Luksik, 68, of Johnstown who faces a dozen charges in Dauphin County, including six felonies.

Luksik — who teaches history, geography and sociology at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School in Ebensburg, Cambria County — is the husband of prominent Pennsylvania conservative activist Peg Luksik, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2018.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

August 14, 2019

By Peter Smith

He’s heard the often-quoted saying by a New York jurist — that grand jurors are such pawns of prosecutors, they would “indict a ham sandwich” if asked to do so.

But Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III said the grand jurors he supervised were anything but passive when they prepared a landmark report, released a year ago Wednesday, detailing a sordid history of sexual abuse and cover-up within six Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.

Judge Krumenacker is standing by their work, even if it drew scrutiny to grand jury processes that may make it the the last report of its kind in Pennsylvania.

He was the supervising judge of the 40th statewide grand jury, which issued the report about dioceses including Pittsburgh and Greensburg.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie

August 14, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Bishop also urges prayer, healing in letter issued on 1st anniversary of release of report on clergy sex abuse statewide.

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico said he remains committed to helping victims and eradicating clergy sex abuse a year after the state attorney general released the groundbreaking grand jury report on abusive Roman Catholic clerics statewide.

“My apology is only one step in the long and complex process of healing,” Persico wrote in a letter to the faithful dated Wednesday. “I know words mean very little without action. The Diocese of Erie has taken many important steps in the last year, and will continue on this path.”

“Some could be tempted to want to close this chapter of our history and move on, but that would be a disservice not only to survivor/victims, but also to the faithful who fill our pews every Sunday,” Persico also wrote in the letter, which the diocese said would be shared with parishioners this Sunday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Tablet

August 13, 2019

By James Roberts

Pell: ‘Amazon or no Amazon, in every land, the Church cannot allow any confusion, much less any contrary teaching, to damage the Apostolic Tradition’

Cardinal George Pell has written a letter from prison in which he appears to take issue with the idea of the forthcoming Amazon synod as conceived by Pope Francis.

The letter was posted on Twitter by the Cardinal George Pell Supporters account. Because prison inmates are not allowed to post on social media or ask others to post for them, the justice authorities in Victoria are now investigating whether the letter is in breach of prison rules. “Any prisoner found to be contravening prison regulations faces disciplinary action,” a justice department spokeswoman said.

The twitter account, which used the handle @pellcardinal, has now been deleted.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Associated Press

August 12, 2019

A third parishioner has testified that a Washington, D.C., priest groped her as a child, first caressing her thigh during a “face-to-face” confession and then groping her chest.

The 47-year-old priest Urbano Vazquez is on trial on child sex abuse charges.

The Washington Post reports the 18-year-old woman told the court that Vazquez first touched her thigh when she was 13 in spring 2015. She testified that weeks later, Vazquez shoved his hand into her bra as she sat in a church office. Another woman testified Vazquez kissed her when she was 16 in 2015, a year after he was ordained. And a 12-year-old girl testified that Vazquez groped and kissed her when she was 9 and 10.

The priest’s lawyer says the allegations are fabricated and lack common sense.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

August 14, 2019

By Ray Kelly

Roman Catholic dioceses in four New England states have launched an independent third-party system to report misconduct by bishops related to sexual abuse or any cover-up of clergy abuse.

The bishops of the Boston Province agreed to join a program already established by Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston through an independent EthicsPoint website. The Boston Province includes the Archdiocese of Boston; Diocese of Fall River; Diocese of Worcester; Diocese of Springfield; Diocese of Burlington, Vermont; Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire; and the Diocese of Portland, Maine.

The late Thomas L. Dupre, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States to be indicted on a sexual-abuse claim, resigned as Springfield bishop in February 2004, a day after The Republican confronted him with allegations that he had abused two young men. More recently, allegations have surfaced that late Springfield Bishop Christopher J. Weldon abused a man decades ago. Retired Judge Peter Velis is leading a diocesan probe into the allegations against Weldon.

The Boston Province bishops agreed to make a reporting system available now in the wake of Pope Francis’ Vos Estis Lux Mundi letter on clergy sexual abuse.

“I am grateful to Cardinal O’Malley for his leadership in implementing this important facet of Vos Estis Lux Mundi here in the Boston Province,” said the Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, bishop of the Springfield diocese, in a statement on Wednesday. “This is an important step in assuring accountability for bishops in continuing to be vigilant in our church for the safe environment of all our members, particularly our most vulnerable.”

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

August 14, 2019

By Ivey DeJesus

More than 100 survivors of clergy sex abuse accepted compensation payouts totaling $12 million, the Diocese of Harrisburg announced on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the release of the landmark grand jury report into child sex crimes in the Catholic Church across Pennsylvania.

In a written statement, diocesan officials noted that 112 survivors had participated in the compensation program; 106 had accepted offers. Payment amounts totaled $12.1 million. The average payout to those accepting offers was about $114,000.

The diocese launched its compensation program in February. Those wishing to apply for compensation had to do so by mid-May.

Bishop Ronald W. Gainer highlighted the efforts on the part of the diocese over the past year to support survivors and make the diocese a safer place for children.

“In my own name, and in the name of the Diocesan Church of Harrisburg, I express our profound sorrow and apologize to the survivors of child sex abuse, the Catholic faithful and the general public for the abuses that took place and for those Church officials who failed to protect children,” he said in the written statement. “We have and continue to take steps forward to support survivors and ensure these abuses never occur again.”

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

August 14, 2019

By Ivey DeJesus

One year ago today, Pennsylvania emerged at the epicenter of the global clergy sex abuse crisis.

The 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury outlined in horrific details the criminality and concealment of child sex crimes on the part of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

The report seemed a watershed moment for victims and for advocates looking to reverse decades of legal inaction against church officials.

The 18-month-long investigation – the most exhaustive state investigation into clergy sex abuse – uncovered decades-long abuse and concealment of thousands of children at the hands of more than 300 clergy across six dioceses, including the Diocese of Harrisburg.

“Predators in every diocese weaponized the Catholic faith and used it as a tool of their abuse,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said last August as he released the findings of the investigation, surrounded by several dozen victims of child sex abuse.

The 900-plus page report became the gold standard, and in swift order, galvanized dozens of prosecutors across the country to launch their own investigations. Approximately 20 states attorney generals have launched investigations; dozens of district attorneys have followed suit.

By the fall, federal prosecutors had opened their own investigation, using subpoenas to demand secret files and testimony from high-ranking church leaders. The ongoing investigation marks the first such probe ever launched by the U.S. Justice Department into the Roman Catholic Church.

Momentum from the report renewed efforts in the Pennsylvania Legislature to strengthen laws to protect victims and prosecute predators and those who shield them.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 13, 2019

By Maki Becker

Forty-nine years ago he was told he should be excommunicated when he reported that a priest at Fourteen Holy Helpers Church in West Seneca had molested him.

Twenty-five years ago he was told that he couldn’t sue the priest or the church because the statue of limitations on such cases had run out.

On Wednesday, just after the stroke of midnight, Chris Szuflita saw a measure of justice he never dreamed he’d see.

He was among the very first people to sue under the Child Victims Act.

As of about 6 a.m. Wednesday, 95 lawsuits had been filed in Erie County. Ninety-two of them were against the Diocese of Buffalo; the other defendants included the East Aurora School District and the Boy Scouts of America.

At 12:01 a.m., Szuflita stood quietly behind a paralegal and an assistant seated at a computer desk in the Amherst law offices of Steve Boyd as he carefully typed in his name and the defendants’ names – the diocese, Fourteen Holy Helpers and five unnamed people – and uploaded a summons and complaint into the court system.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 14, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

Retired parole officer Angelo J. Ervolina said he first met Bishop James A. McNulty in 1965 on his newspaper route, which included the bishop’s mansion on Oakland Place.

Ervolina said he proudly told the bishop he was heading soon on a trip to New York City with his parish pastor, Monsignor Michael J. Harrington.

But when the bishop asked him later about the trip, Ervolina wasn’t so cheerful. Instead of telling McNulty about the sites he had visited, Ervolina said he revealed that Harrington had fondled him while he took a bath in the hotel room he shared with the priest. Ervolina said he was about 10 years old at the time.

McNulty promised he would “take care of it,” Ervolina recalled. The bishop then handed him a generous tip for delivering the newspaper: $5 on a 55-cent subscription bill, he said.

As a boy, Ervolina said he assumed the bishop would take care of it. But in hindsight he believes McNulty dismissed his claim. Harrington spent 25 years as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church on Edward Street, retiring in 1985. The diocese didn’t identify Harrington as a child molester until March 2018.

Ervolina refuses to be dismissed any longer. More than a half-century after the alleged abuse, he filed a lawsuit early Wednesday morning against the Buffalo Diocese, saying he wanted to make certain what happened to him doesn’t happen to another child. He’s being represented by Amherst attorney Steve Boyd and the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates in Minnesota.

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

August 13, 2019

A Catholic bishop in California is forging ahead on his own to find new ways to combat clergy sexual abuse scandals. We appreciate these efforts but believe that it is only actions and not words that can be taken at face value.

Bishop Robert McElroy took the unprecedented step of calling every member of the Archdiocese of San Diego together in order to discuss responses to the abuse crisis. The district attorney will also be there. But while the scale of this meeting and the representation of law enforcement may be unprecedented, its content does not appear to be.

The simple fact is that many discussions and meetings on the abuse crisis have taken place over the years. From the Pope’s meeting in February to the annual meetings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, survivors and advocates have watched and waited as meetings of powerful men come and go, often with a lot of tough language but little actual change. We hope that the case will be different in San Diego.

One way of ensuring that it this meeting is different is to give experienced abuse survivors and advocates a chance to speak.

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GREEN TOWNSHIP (OH)
WKRC TV

August 12, 2019

By David Winter

More allegations of inappropriate behavior by a priest were heard this weekend by thousands of Catholics in the Tri-State.

The archdiocese distributed a letter to the area’s 150 priests, several of whom chose to share it with their parishioners. The letter refers to Fr. Geoff Drew, who was the pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Green Township before allegations of inappropriate behavior caused his removal.

Since then, the archdiocese reports many from its flock have had questions about what happened. So, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr sent the letter saying Drew was removed as pastor of St. Ignatius for reports he engaged in ‘grooming’ behavior. The archbishop admitted the diocese made mistakes handling the matter, and, for that, he was deeply sorry.

In 2013, the archdiocese heard concerns from parishioners at Liberty Township’s St. Maximilian, alleging Drew gave bear hugs, shoulder massages, patted legs above the knee and made inappropriate sexual comments to boys. More of the same came in 2015. The archdiocese referred the case to law enforcement, which decided not to open an investigation.

In August 2018, Drew became pastor of St. Ignatius. Archbishop Schnurr was notified for the first time about any wrongdoing when another allegation arose from Drew’s time at St. Max’s. This time, the Butler County prosecutor recommended the archdiocese monitor Drew. In October, another allegation came from when Drew was a music teacher at Elder High School.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 13, 2019

By Jay Tokasz and Dan Herbeck

The tight lid that the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo kept for decades on clergy sex abuse cases will be peeled open Wednesday with a new state law that gives abuse victims a year to file claims that previously were prohibited from moving forward in court.

Lawyers predicted the diocese would face more than 200 lawsuits by the end of the one-year “look-back” window that will open at 12:01 a.m.

The names of at least a dozen Catholic priests who hadn’t before been publicly accused of child sex abuse will emerge in the filings, according to lawyers filing the lawsuits.

Among the newly identified accused priest is the Rev. David J. Peter, who died in 2017.

David J. Harvey of Buffalo alleged that the diocese allowed Peter to rape and repeatedly molest him more than 35 years ago, when Harvey was an altar boy at St. Edmund Church in the Town of Tonawanda.

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ULTIMO (AUSTRALIA)
ABC News Online

August 13, 2019

Anti-abuse advocate Chrissie Foster has urged Victorian MPs to back a bill before Parliament which would make it mandatory for priests to report suspected child abuse to authorities, breaking legal protection around the confessional seal.

Under current laws, Victorian teachers, police, medical practitioners, nurses, school counsellors, early childhood workers and youth justice workers must tell authorities if they develop a reasonable belief in the course of their professional work that a child has been abused.

But priests and religious leaders have so far been exempt from mandatory reporting laws, despite a recommendation from the child sex abuse royal commission that churches not be exempt from reporting information discovered during religious confession.

In amendments to be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday, the Andrews Government will add religious and spiritual leaders to the list of mandated reporters.

The amendments would also ensure that disclosures of abuse during religious confession are not exempt and must be reported to police.

The Catholic Church last year formally rejected the notion that clergy should be legally forced to report confessions of abuse revealed during the confessional, with one archbishop comparing the religious tradition to lawyer-client privilege or a journalist’s obligation to their sources.

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

August 13, 2019

In recent days we have learned about the lack of transparency and lack of thoroughness by the Archbishop of New Orleans when dealing with the wholesale sexual abuse and exploitation of our precious children. We have also learned that the official list of credibly accused priests should be expanded. This is why we have gathered here today.

Why wasn’t Monsignor Bezou included on the original list of credible abusers? In a recent article in the Times Picayune/nola.com/The Advocate, Archbishop Aymond said the following:

“That’s what my ministry is about — to bring these things to the light so people aren’t abused.”

Then why, as documented over the past year, is it only the courageous survivors and the media that has shed the light on this abuse? When has Archbishop Gregory Aymond ever revealed anything new in these cases? His proclaimed ministry fails in this regard. In addition to the list that he provided, why is it that Archbishop Aymond did not include Monsignor Bezou in his list?

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GUILDERLAND (NY)
Times Union

August 13, 2019

By Paul Grondahl

Each night, after dark, the priest rolled slowly up to the driveway of the green Colonial house on Debutante Manor in his green Cadillac DeVille, and flicked the high beams.

This was their private signal.

One of the four kids turned off the front floodlights, pressed the automatic opener from inside the garage, waited for the big luxury sedan to glide in and then pressed the garage door closed.

The Rev. Francis P. Melfe peeled off his Roman collar and cleric’s black shirt and emerged from the car wearing black slacks, black dress shoes and a white T-shirt.

The Catholic priest stepped into the kitchen and greeted the kids, who called him Dad. He kissed their mother, his secret lover with whom he shared a bedroom and fathered a child — despite taking vows of celibacy and obedience as a diocesan priest.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC 7 TV

August 13, 2019

By Christina Bravo and Melissa Adan

Thousands of San Diego clergy members will meet Tuesday for a first-of-its-kind gathering to address sexual abuse of children within the church.

Bishop Robert W. McElroy has called for more than 2,500 San Diego area priests, teachers and administrators to attend a mandatory meeting with District Attorney Summer Stephan at the University of San Diego.

It is the first time in its history the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has called every member of the church to order.

The meeting focuses on the steps the church is taking to address the abuse of children and was called to address the responsibilities clergy members have in reporting alleged abuse, according to the diocese.

“In our own day, the Church’s blindness to, tolerance of, and participation in the patterns of sexual abuse of minors by clerics constitute the most grievous sin in the life of the Church, a sin that we must recognize, understand and eradicate,” McElroy planned to say, according to prepared remarks.

As part of the effort to address abuse, the Bishop is expected to announce Tuesday the diocese would ban all private communication and direct social media interaction between priests and minors.

McElroy also notes the need for the Catholic Church to play an active role in educating children and parents about the prevalence of abuse and provide resources to combat what he called “an epidemic in our society.”

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

August 13, 2019

By Andrew Pugliese

New York state’s Child Victims Act (CVA) will take effect on Aug. 14, giving those who say they were abused as minors one year to file a civil suit regardless of when the alleged crime occurred.

Similar laws have been passed in Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii and New Jersey. A two-year window for lawsuits in New Jersey is set to begin on Dec. 1.

In New Jersey last week, 30 alleged victims of abuse by priests chose to file their claim with the New Jersey Independent Victim Compensation Program, according to NJ.com. The option is open to alleged victims in the five dioceses in New Jersey, allowing them to bring their claim to an independent mediator where the burden of proof is much less than it is in a courtroom.

The Diocese of Brooklyn is operating a similar program, called the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program. That program, which started in June 2017, gives alleged victims a way to settle claims with the diocese. Anyone who elects to participate in the IRCP must agree not to sue the diocese.

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

August 12, 2019

Another priest assigned to a scandal-ridden diocese in upstate New York has been accused of sexual abuse, and he is still in active ministry.

According to reports, a lawsuit to be filed later this week will accuse a priest assigned to the Diocese of Buffalo of abusing the plaintiff when he was 8-years-old. This news comes less than a week after a report that Bishop Robert Malone kept an accused priest on the job for nearly nine months after he first learned of the allegations.

It is clear that something is deeply wrong in the Diocese of Buffalo and it is time for Bishop Malone to resign. His actions over the past year have included lying to the public about the number of accused priests within his diocese, ignoring zero tolerance policies to return allegedly abusive priests to ministry, and keeping accused priests within active ministry. With a track record as poor as this, we cannot understand why his brother bishops have not yet denounced his behavior, nor why the Vatican has not yet stepped in to discipline the bishop for ignoring the protections laid out in the Dallas Charter.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 13, 2019

By Fr. Peter Daly

If the priesthood is to be reformed, we must tackle the disease of clericalism. It won’t be easy. Clericalism is so deeply engrained in our structures and way of thinking that we almost can’t imagine how things could be otherwise.

In his 2018 “Letter to the People of God,” Pope Francis condemned the sins of sexual abuse and the abuse of power in the church. He linked those sins to clericalism. “To say no to abuse is to say an emphatic no to all forms of clericalism.”

What is clericalism?

The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests put out a white paper on clericalism in June 2019. It defines clericalism is “an expectation, leading to abuses of power, that ordained ministers are better than and should be over everyone else among the People of God.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIBV Channel 4

August 13, 2019

Critics describe the investigative report of sexual abuse allegations against The Rev. Dennis Riter as a biased, twisted sham not worth the paper it is printed on.

Scott Riordan, a former sex crimes prosecutor contracted by the diocese to investigate allegations, told News 4 Investigates in an exclusive television interview that he began this case with the same open mind that he had for the other 12 complaints assigned to him.

His goal, he said, was to find the truth. And contrary to what some critics believe, Riordan said he did bring an independent eye to the cases he investigated for the diocese.

“This isn’t simply me going along with the church and saying what they want,” said Riordan, who also is a defense attorney and village justice.

“In fact, in most of the cases that I’ve investigated, the reports have been found to be substantiated or credible.”

Riter, a priest in Dunkirk, was accused last year of sexually abusing three boys in the 1990s.

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SALTA (ARGENTINA)
Crux

August 13, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Argentina’s northern province of Salta, known for colorful mountains, valleys, and small, picturesque towns that intertwine with exquisite wineries, is also known as the most piously Catholic province of the 23 that make up the nation.

The capital city is often referred to as Salta la linda, meaning “the beautiful,” surrounded by hills short enough that they rarely see snow, but high enough that they’re daunting even for regular hikers.

Salta was founded more or less at the same time as Buenos Aires, in the mid-to-late 16th century, and it’s home to both Argentina’s greatest example of popular religiosity and the local version of Medjugorje.

It also happens to be at the epicenter of the country’s clerical sexual abuse earthquake, because Salta is the metropolitan see of the Diocese of Oran. Gustavo Zanchetta, the former bishop, abruptly resigned his position in 2017 after being appointed by Pope Francis in 2013.

Zanchetta’s appointment caused outrage among the Catholics of his former diocese, Quilmes, in the Buenos Aires province, due to what critics charge are “innumerable cases of anti-Christian witness” from the bishop-to-be.

A few months after leaving Oran, Zanchetta reappeared in the Vatican, working at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Vatican’s most important financial center, and living in the same residence as the pope. As of Jan. 4, he’s been suspended from that position, accused of sexually abusing seminarians.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WSOC TV

August 12, 2019

By Joe Bruno

For the first time since the Diocese of Charlotte announced it will release a list of priests credibly accused of sex abuse, church leaders met with Charlotte media organizations for on camera interviews.

Father Patrick Winslow, newly appointed as Vicar General and Chancellor of the diocese, acknowledged the diocese needs to improve its communication about this crucial topic.

“I think it is of utmost importance for the diocese to get this issue correct,” Father Winslow said. “We have strict protocols and strict procedures for a zero tolerance policy so nobody may be serving in active ministry that has one single allegation of sexual abuse.”

Church leaders are currently preparing a list of all priests credibly accused of child sex abuse since the diocese’s inception in 1972. Diocese officials said the list is on track to be released by the end of the year. An independent investigative firm is conducting a review of tens of thousands of documents dating back to 1972.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said a good list includes a photo, nicknames, a full work history.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

August 13, 2019

By Nicole C. Brambila

The 2018 grand jury identified 301 priests who had sexually assaulted and abused hundreds of children over the past several decades. As large as that number is, the true scope is much higher.

Last year’s grand jury report has been the largest in scale, covering six of the state’s eight dioceses — including the ones based in Greensburg and Pittsburgh — and identifying 1,000 victims. But it was just the latest in a string of Pennsylvania investigations dating back 15 years.

Following the explosive investigation of the Boston Archdiocese, former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham sat a grand jury in 2003 that produced two reports on priest sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Her successor, Seth Williams, followed up with his own grand jury report in 2011.

In 2016, former state Attorney General Kathleen Kane uncovered hundreds of child sex abuse cases in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, naming roughly 50 abusers.

Each of the reports identified a systemic cover-up of priests who sexually abused children.

Since the 2018 investigation, Pennsylvania’s dioceses and religious orders — including the Jesuits and the Benedictines at Saint Vincent Archabbey in Unity — have released their own lists. Catholic dioceses across the U.S. also have followed suit with lists of publicly accused clergy and lay people.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday

August 13, 2019

By Bart Jones

Almost from the time Rich Klein learned to walk, his mom worried about his small stature.

When he was just shy of 2, in 1963, she took him to Dr. Reginald Archibald, a growth specialist at Rockefeller University Hospital in Manhattan.

For the next 15 years, Archibald examined the young Klein once or twice a year for his research. The checkups — just the two of them in the doctor’s private office with the door closed and his mom in the waiting room — went on for an hour or so. Archibald had Klein strip naked and sit in his lap facing the doctor. He took pictures. He fondled him.

“As a 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8 year-old-kid, you don’t think about it,” Klein said in an interview. “Oh, he’s examining me because of my height.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek

August 13, 2019

By Daniel Avery

Two lawsuits being filed this week are targeting the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses for what the plaintiffs claim is a history of child sexual abuse.

Heather Steele, 48, and John Michael Ewing, 48, were abused as children, but they’re filing suits this Wednesday, when New York’s new Child Victims Act goes into effect. Signed earlier this year, the measure removes the statute of limitations on abuse suits, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.

Steele was still a toddler when, she says, a Jehovah’s Witness elder started molesting her in the mid-1970s, when her family lived in New York.”My first memory would be of him fondling me when I was just about 2 or 3 years old while he held me in the back seat of my dad’s car,” Steele told The New York Post.

When she was 10, Steele finally told her mother. But rather than tell police, her mom went to the elders. “It was basically them trying to convince us it was in our minds, that none of this stuff actually happened or that we had bad dreams,” Steele said. The elders “told us that we should pray for [Nicholson].”

After Steele’s parents finally went to secular authorities, Nicholson was arrested and served three-and-a-half-years in prison. But when he got out, he was quietly placed in a New Jersey congregation where few knew of his past.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 12, 2019

Observers are speculating that the Diocese of Buffalo may file for bankruptcy protection this week as it prepares to face a barrage of lawsuits from individuals making claims of clergy sex abuse. While some experts say it could, in some ways, be a fairer way to compensate victims, it could also allow the diocese to keep secrets about child sexual abuse and its efforts to hide it.

A Chapter 11 filing would also likely frustrate victims, who might prefer a prompt and public jury trial. For those reasons and others – including a history of cover-ups – the diocese should simply face the music.

Even though bankruptcy would buy the diocese some time, it would not make the civil claims go away. In other dioceses that filed for Chapter 11, victims who proved they were sexually abused received significant financial settlements or court awards.

The Child Victims Act, which became law in February, allows for a one-year look-back period that begins Wednesday. That enables victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims that were time-barred by statutes of limitations. Potentially thousands of lawsuits could be filed across the state against individuals and institutions such as the Catholic Church, public and private schools, the Boy Scouts of America, day care centers and others that have been named in similar suits.

The Diocese of Portland, Ore., was the first to use bankruptcy to cope with sexual abuse lawsuits, in 2004. Eighteen other dioceses and archdioceses have done the same.

Declaring bankruptcy freezes legal proceedings against an institution, meaning no jury trials occur in state court. That minimizes the pretrial discovery process in which embarrassing details could surface about efforts that were made to cover up past crimes. Far fewer such details will emerge in discovery before a bankruptcy court proceeding.

If an institution is found to be using bankruptcy merely to avoid litigation or to hide assets, the court can find its filing to be in bad faith and shut down the proceedings.

A bankruptcy process that drags on for months is more likely, which is a source of frustration for victims of alleged sex offenders. According to The Wall Street Journal, a typical diocesan bankruptcy case takes more than two years to adjudicate.

Catholic church finance expert Charles E. Zech told The News that bankruptcy can be a fairer way to compensate abuse victims than trials in state courts, which handle cases in the order in which they are filed and may favor large verdicts or settlements in the early cases.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 12, 2019

By Kevin Koscielniak

At what point does a person say enough is enough and initiates something to make a change?

How far do you need to be pushed before you are angry enough to act?

But when it comes to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, has the entire Catholic community seriously asked themselves these questions? Have they consciously taken to heart what has happened to these children and adults, and what is continuing to happen? Do they have a full understanding of the trauma that Survivors have suffered and continue to deal with?

Do you want to know what I, and many survivors go thru? Well here it is. Childhood sexual abuse has lifelong effects. Adults who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse often feel “stuck.” Our efforts to build and manage our lives often seem fruitless, hollow and hopeless.

There is a persistent perception that we are somehow different from others. We feel like we are on the outside looking in, and we believe we just don’t belong.

What was done to me, and every survivor, is no different than being nailed to a cross and left there to die. The only difference for us is that we get to continue walking on this earth even though our souls, emotions and psychological well-being are dead and in a body bag.

Do you think that just because we are still moving, we are truly alive? It doesn’t work like that.

What happens to a survivor of sexual abuse affects the entire community. The ancillary damage is reprehensible. It’s not just the survivors who suffer. It is everyone who is tied to each survivor: family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post Dispatch

August 12, 2019

By Tom Unger

On July 26, the Archdiocese of St. Louis published a list of 61 members of the clergy with verified allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against them, and an additional three with verified allegations of possession of child pornography. Two priests on the list had been stationed at the church I attended when I was growing up, and I knew two others through another parish. One was a close family friend for decades.

The focus of clergy sexual abuse is usually, and rightly, placed on the offenders and direct victims of the abusive behavior. But the radius of the effects is much larger.

For me, the grooming began around fourth grade, as soon as I became an altar boy at our parish church. I went to the grade school connected to our church, so the segue was a given. My path into the inner circle was all but guaranteed since my older brothers had taken that route. It wasn’t long before a close friend and I were favorites of the priests — being pulled out of class to be altar boys for funerals, getting calls to serve weekend weddings, etc.

A select crew of us became the focus of the priests’ attention. We were their companions. Joining in on visits to the country house and boat rides, helping with Christmas shopping, running errands to buy them cigarettes, washing their cars, etc. To a devout Catholic teenager, this was gold.

I felt special and privileged, like I was being treated like a peer. Outside my own home, I spent most of my time in that rectory. In our household no one was more revered than priests. Priests were among the few friends that our family had and socialized with.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

August 12, 2019

By Charlie Specht

A lawsuit that will be filed later this week accuses an active Buffalo priest of sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy, according to the law firm that will file the suit.

“A lawsuit is being filed on behalf of an adult male who was sexually abused when he was 8 years old by an active priest who is still employed by the Diocese of Buffalo,” states a news release sent Monday by the Herman Law law firm.

The news release goes on to state that the suit is one of three locally the firm is filing against the Diocese of Buffalo as part of the Child Victims Act. More than 200 lawsuits are expected to be filed against the diocese and other institutions by other attorneys when the one-year “window” suspending statutes of limitation in civil cases opens up Wednesday.

The news release does not specify the identity of the priest but the lawsuit is expected to do so when it is filed in State Supreme Court on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Herman Law said she could not share the identity of the accused priest until the lawsuit was filed.

More than 150 Buffalo priests and religious have been accused of sexual misconduct, with most of the revelations coming in the last year. Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone is under intense pressure to resign as bishop for his handling of abuse cases involving, minors, adults , and seminarians.

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TAMUNING (GUAM)
Guam Daily Post

August 12, 2019

By Mindy Aguon

A former Boy Scout says he was ordered to swim naked during Boy Scout outings in the late 1960s and witnessed a priest, who also was a scoutmaster, sexually abuse other scouts.

B.Q.V., who is using his initials to protect his identity, filed a civil complaint against the Capuchin Franciscans and the Boy Scouts of America, alleging he was subjected to the sexually predatory practices of the late Louis Brouillard when he served as a priest and boy scoutmaster on Guam.

B.Q.V. attended church in Mangilao and was a Boy Scout when he was 10 years old.

He recalled visiting the Lonfit River four or five times a month during Boy Scout outings over three years.

“On numerous occasions, too many to count, B.Q.V. witnessed Brouillard fondle the genitals of the other Boy Scouts,” the lawsuit states.

B.Q.V. says he was able to pull away from Brouillard when he attempted to abuse him.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

August 10, 2019

By Yonat Shimron

Since they were first offered an opportunity to pool their resources and buy background checks on volunteers and employees at a discount 11 years ago, about a third of Southern Baptist churches have signed up for the OneSource program from LifeWay Christian Resources.

Earlier this year, LifeWay reported that 16,000 congregations and other church organizations ran background checks on men and women it hired through a service called backgroundchecks.com. (The Southern Baptist Convention has so far resisted calls to set up a database of its own, saying the national registry was more dependable.)

Other denominations are also increasingly using searchable databases on prospective employees as the #ChurchToo movement begins to shift church attitudes toward sexual abuse and prevention.

Most background checks sift through more than 600 million felony, misdemeanor and traffic records. Perhaps most importantly, they also check the nationwide sex offender registry.

But that may give churches and other religious groups a false sense of security about preventing abuse, experts say.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Wall Street Journal

August 11, 2019

By The Editorial Board

The results of the investigations need to be made public.

Attorney General William Barr says he’s appalled by the death of sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein in a jail cell Saturday, and he’s not alone. The death by apparent suicide of the politically connected financier couldn’t have been scripted better to undermine trust in law enforcement and the prison and legal systems.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Fox News

August 12, 2019

By Nicole Darrah

Correctional officers at the New York City prison that was housing Jeffrey Epstein didn’t check in on him for hours leading up to his apparent suicide on Saturday, which occurred after his cellmate was transferred for reasons that were not immediately clear.

Epstein, 66, was found unconscious in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and later pronounced dead, raising questions about how the wealthy financier, imprisoned on sex trafficking charges, could have been able to kill himself while in a high-security facility just over two weeks after being placed on suicide watch.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

August 8, 2019

By Mordechai Kremnitzer

Recent police allegations show that in Yaakov Litzman’s case, public interest isn’t a priority. But will Netanyahu do anything about it?

In today’s Israel, the man who is ostensibly the deputy health minister, but is the health minister de facto, has prima facie used his governmental powers to confer benefits on those he favors. Judging by the police’s description, this deputy minister, whose status is so exalted that he has made the prime minister forget during a recent government meeting that he is also actually the health minister, acts as if the public gave him power so that he could do whatever he pleases.

The police say Yaakov Litzman rushed to rescue a favorite restaurant – which even named some of its dishes after him – from an impending closure order over its poor hygiene. The listeria bacterium was repeatedly found in its salads, and a woman who ate there had a miscarriage.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
People

August 12, 2019

By KC Baker

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sex crimes detective was sentenced to three years in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl in 2017 while he was investigating a previous sexual assault she reported, authorities say.

In July, Neil David Kimball, 46, of Agoura, California, pleaded guilty to a lewd act with a child and unlawful sexual intercourse, Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten announced in a news release.

On Thursday, Kimball was sentenced to the maximum term of three years in state prison for sexually assaulting the teen.

Kimball was also ordered to register as a sex offender, pay the victim $50,000 for her pain and suffering and have no contact with her.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

August 12, 2019

By Nicolas Senèze

From Santiago to Dublin – or how the pope’s trip to Dublin in Aug. 2018 marked the beginning of an attack against himRead exclusively the first chapters of the book by Nicolas Senèze, permanent special envoy of “La Croix” in Rome, to be published by Bayard Publishing on Sept. 4. Pre-order from your bookseller.On Sunday morning, Aug. 26, 2018, there was great excitement at The Alex, the small hotel in central Dublin where the Vatican housed journalists following the pope on his trip to Ireland.

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NEW YORK (NY)
WPIX TV

August 12, 2019

They say justice delayed is justice denied, but a provision of a New York state law that goes into effect Wednesday will give child sexual abuse victims a chance to defy that conventional wisdom.

The Child Victims Act, signed into law on February 14, expands the ways that those who suffered sexual abuse as children can use the legal system to address the damage.

In particular, the law specifically said that six months after its passage, there would be a one-year period when any adult survivors of child sexual abuse could sue an abuser or a negligent institution, no matter how long ago the abuse took place.

That one-year “window of justice,” as Child USA CEO Marci Ann Hamilton called it, starts Wednesday.

The idea behind the law is that many victims of child sexual abuse keep it a secret for years, well beyond the previous statute of limitations, out of shame and fear. This law gives them a chance to “reclaim their dignity,” said Michael Polenberg of Safe Horizon, a victim assistance non-profit that worked to pass the law.

“For survivors who understand what has happened to them and know in their hearts what happened to them, they get to name that person in court,” he said.

The one-year reprieve could create new opportunities for lawsuits against people or institutions implicated in child sex abuse scandals, such as the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, or the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 11, 2019

By Father Jeffrey F. Kirby

Last weekend, in observance of the one-hundred sixtieth anniversary of the death of Saint John Vianney, Pope Francis issued an unexpected but affectionate letter to his sons and brother priests throughout the Church.

The letter was another surprise for the pope who, in the words of the prefect of his household, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, “is a person who surprises and welcomes surprises.”

For a pope most known for constructively criticizing his priests, the letter is a welcomed suspension of previous comments. It comes as blessed relief, a letter of paternal reassurance and fraternal charity.

Pope Francis begins the letter: “As an older brother and a father, I too would like in this letter to thank you in the name of the holy and faithful People of God for all that you do for them, and encourage you…”.

After the initial introduction, which provides an outline for the letter, the pope moves into a summary of the pain caused by the current crises, then to words of gratitude, followed by a message of encouragement, and then concludes with praise for the Blessed Mother, who is hailed as an example and model for priests and for the Church.

In the first part of the letter, the pontiff acknowledges the current crises in the Church and the pain they have caused believers and society. He also addresses the suffering of good priests, grieving for the priests whose own faith has been scandalized by the abuse and cover-ups, who are also thrown into an environment of suspicion by people of goodwill, and who have had their own pastoral ministries limited by the questioning and hesitation of others because of the crises.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Verdict Justia

August 6, 2019

By Marci A. Hamilton

On August 14, 2019, the New York Child Victims Act will open a window for the victims of child sex abuse—reviving the expired civil statutes of limitations (SOLs) for one year. This isn’t the best window in the United States, but it is the most hard-fought. It took a total of 16 years, a series of lawmakers, and an army of advocates and survivors to pull New York up from being one of the worst states in the country for child sex abuse victims to being in the top third as the “State Civil SOL Ranking” graphic here shows.

Lest anyone think that this SOL reform victory is the end of the line for improving the plight of child sex victims in New York or anywhere else, let me explain how massive this project is. This is a war on three fronts: we need legal reform, civil society reform, and more effective public education.

Reform the Laws
SOL reform is necessary legal reform to end child sex abuse, because it empowers the victims, but it is not sufficient. It needs to be a priority because it is the most effective way to arm victims against the perpetrators, institutions, and society that let the abuse happen. We can’t win this war without giving real weapons to the victims, and civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution are powerful. This is a banner year for SOL reform, with many states reviving expired civil SOLs for the victims, as listed here. Despite recent advances, however, most states could improve their child sex abuse SOLs.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Forward

August 9, 2017

By Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt

You wouldn’t believe she’s only 20.

With no film schooling or experience, Baltimore native Miryam Rabinowitz has thrown herself into a film project that tells the story of sexual abuse — or rather, its lonely, complex aftermath.

“Still Feeling” [https://www.stillfeeling.org] tells the story of Yuval Goldenberg, a young woman who was abused during her childhood in an Israeli national religious community. Goldenberg, no longer Orthodox, is a singer and composer now. With an earthy voice, standing rather awkwardly, eyes half-closed, she lets song tell her pain.

Still Feeling: Promo – https://vimeo.com/210450474

Rabinowitz is a survivor of sexual abuse herself — and a graduate of the ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov girls school system.

“Most people around me don’t acknowledge the fact that I was abused at all,” she told me in an interview. “I have close friends who don’t acknowledge it. My film trailer was the first time I said it publicly. I’m making this documentary for my friends and family to be able to say, ‘This is for you to know how to talk about it with me.’

“I know it’s hard for people to process. When someone says they were raped by a family member, you’ll never be able to understand what that feels like, but you do understand that basic feeling of shame and suffering. It’s by empathy — through art and music — that we can come to understand another’s pain, rather than through intellectual understanding.”

In her forthcoming film, shot mostly in Tel Aviv, Rabinowitz shows Goldenberg talking about her music and her dissociation, as she bounces between her Orthodox family and her artist friends, many of whom are also survivors of abuse.

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New York (NY)
Raw Story

August 11, 2019

By Matthew Chapman

The National Prayer Breakfast is a relatively uncontroversial affair these days. Presidents from both parties make a habit of attending it, and giving simple speeches about what their faith means to them, and leaders from around the world join them.

But a new Netflix documentary miniseries, “The Family”, explores the shadowy group known as the Fellowship, which originally set it up in 1935.

The Fellowship began as a secretive fraternity of evangelical men, first organized under the leadership of a man named Abraham Veride, who was attempting to gather business leaders to thwart union drives. It evolved into what Rolling Stone described as a “secret theocracy” used by powerful Christian men to influence politics worldwide. Its members include Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Vice President Mike Pence is also reported to have ties to it.

The group has stringent rules against sex and dating, and there is an undercurrent of homophobia — but also simultaneously homoeroticism. “[There’s] a lot of that uneasy joking about masculinity and the potential for it and, at the same time, this desire for intimacy that becomes really challenging for people who have a theological and ideological opposition to that,” said Jeff Sharlet, an author who has written extensively on the Fellowship.

They also have had ties to current and former authoritarians around the world who have committed atrocities in their home countries, for the sake of advancing a conservative religious agenda — including the late former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily

August 12, 2019

By Candy Woodall

The most recent total is 1,862.

But to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, it’s more than a number.

They are 1,862 new stories of abuse. They are 1,862 new victims who came forward since he read a landmark grand jury report on Aug. 14, 2018, identifying 301 abusive priests in Pennsylvania and a cover-up that stretched from here to the Vatican. They are 1,862 survivors.

And those 1,862 people, along with the “thousands” of victims tallied by a state grand jury, are still waiting on state lawmakers to act.

Victims in Pennsylvania continue to come forward, calling a state hotline every day to report crimes against them.

Shapiro wants all victims to know, a year later, they can still call the line at 1-888-538-8541.

“Whenever you’re ready to share your truth, we’ll be here ready to listen, and we’ll be here ready to fight for you,” Shapiro said in an interview with the York Daily Record Tuesday.

The attorney general and his team sometimes seem like the only people who are listening, according to abuse survivor Michael McDonnell, a leader with the Philadelphia chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“Throughout the investigation, they’d call at 9 p.m. just to see how we were doing,” McDonnell said.

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DAYTON (OH)
Daily News

August 11, 2019

By Denise G. Callahan & Michael D. Clark

Alleged inappropriate touching, texting and sexual comments by a former Butler County pastor prompted action by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati that will impact more than 450,000 parishioners.

Late last month, the archdiocese confirmed the Rev. Geoff Drew, former pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Liberty Twp., was suspended for actions involving teenage boys. Drew previously served as pastor of St. Rita of Cascia Parish in Dayton and parochial vicar at St. Luke the Evangelist Church in Beavercreek.

There was a week full of activity in the case that caused strong reaction from the local Catholic community. Beginning with a Monday news conference trhat communicated accusations against Drew, officials took actions that included meeting with members of the Liberty Twp. church where he served from 2009-18.

Church officials also said they would change how they handle investigation accusations of inappropriate behavior against priests because of the Drew case, which caused criticism of church officials.

Communications Director Mike Schafer outlined allegations against Drew that led Archbishop Dennis Schnurr to place him on administrative leave July 23 and order him into “comprehensive physical, psychological and spiritual evaluation at an independent in-patient treatment facility.

“In 2013 and again in 2015, the central office of the archdiocese received concerns from St. Maximilian Kolbe parishioners regarding Father Drew’s behavior. The alleged behavior involved a pattern of such things as uninvited bear hugs, shoulder massages, patting of the leg above the knee, and inappropriate sexual comments about one’s body or appearance, directed at teenage boys,” Schafer said. “This behavior naturally made these boys uncomfortable.”In addition, there was a report of Father Drew texting some of the boys “teasing them about girlfriends’.”

Drew is one of two priests on administrative leave in the archdiocese, which covers 19 counties in southwest Ohio. The Rev. Clarence Heis, who previously served at Holy Trinity Parish in Coldwater, St. Michael Parish in Mechanicsburg and Immaculate Conception in North Lewisburg, is also on administrative leave.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics 4 Change

August 7, 2019

By Susan Matthews

First-person account written by Jim Tucker:
When the Archdiocese announced its’ compensation program last fall, I was extremely skeptical. My first reaction was the church was trying to circumvent efforts to change Statute of Limitation reform in the Pennsylvania Legislature. If the Church could get victim/survivors to accept lesser settlement amounts, the Church would save millions of dollars.

On the other hand, I saw this as the first time the Church has taken any action to help victims of clergy sexual abuse. I was so tired of hearing apologies, begging for forgiveness and other hollow words from those in the Hierarchy. While I can question their motives, this was at least some action.

So I decided to apply for the compensation program, also known as the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program {IRRP]. The first step for me was to contact the Victims Assistance office at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I had never reported the abuse to the Archdiocese directly. I had written several letters but had never sent them. I had been warned by other survivors back in the late 90s, not to do so.

I called the Victims Assistance office and was impressed with the way I was treated. They treated me with compassion, kindness and concern. They offered counseling services. After telling one of the people in the office my story, they promised to request an application form be sent to me. I received the application from the Feinstein Law group late last year.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics 4 Change

August 11, 2019

By Susan Matthews

Experience matters when it comes to leading an independent review of Church policies. Is that why the Archdiocese of Philadelphia chose George Mitchell? According to recent allegations, he has first-hand experience with sexual abuse.

Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking victim names Mitchell in newly-released court documents.

Who better to oversee the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program (IRRP) for victims of clergy child sex abuse? The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Mitchell’s appointment in November of 2018. The Maine senator is a former U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

The National Catholic Reporter quoted Mitchell at the time. “This is a good faith attempt to remedy a number of wrongs,” he said, and noted “the failure of the archdiocese to prevent these unspeakable crimes, the archdiocese has itself recognized there is a need for reconciliation and reparation after many years of suffering by these victims.”

Did Mitchell consider serving on the committee a personal penance?

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV

August 11, 2019

By Katherine Mozzone

Almost one year after Pennsylvania’s attorney general called for statute of limitations reform for sexual abuse, SNAP – the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests — is asking for those same changes here in Louisiana, so victims can pursue justice.

In a shady spot in Jackson Square, Kevin Bourgeois and Richard Windmann stood together Saturday (Aug. 10), united as survivors, feet from St. Louis Cathedral.

“I can’t believe I’m here today. I really can’t. And I can’t imagine being anywhere else today,” Bourgeois said.

Windmann, now a leader with SNAP, is no stranger to publicity. He told his story on FOX 8 last fall, detailing accusations of sexual abuse by Pete Modica, a Jesuit High School janitor and former officer Stanley Burkhardt.

But, Saturday was the first day Bourgeois has appeared on camera, having only recently become public with allegations of abuse against now deceased priest Carl Davidson.

“I feel like a thousand pounds has been lifted off of me,” Bourgeois said.

But that’s not the way he felt at first. Bourgeois said, for 35 years, he didn’t tell anyone what he says happened to him while he attended the now closed St. John Vianney Prep School in the 1980s.

“When Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he was going to release the list of names back in November, I’m like, ‘Wow, my secret is going to be out,’ because it was a secret. I’d never told anybody before,” Bourgeois recalled. “I didn’t have the ability to come forward as a 16-year-old boy. Not at all. No one was going to believe me. I didn’t want to admit it happened. It was horrifying and embarrassing.”

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

August 12, 2019

By Dave Sutor

Shaun Dougherty and Cindy Leech sat, a few feet away from each other, inside the Pennsylvania State Capitol on Aug. 14, 2018.

Robert Hoatson stood, by himself, with his back against a wall.

Together, they, along with about a hundred other individuals, listened as Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro provided details about a grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse and cover-up within six Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the commonwealth.

As invited guests, Dougherty and Leech were behind Shapiro.

Leech held a framed photo of her son, Corey Leech, who battled personal demons for years after being sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker, a trainer at what was once called Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown.

Dougherty, who, as a child, was violated by a priest at St. Clement Church on Lindberg Avenue, had, by last summer, already established himself as a nationally known advocate for victims. Hoatson, co-founder of Road to Recovery, had counseled Leech before his death in 2017.

Now, a year has passed, and all three have watched as victims, their loved ones, advocates, church officials, law enforcement officers and legislators have processed the findings of the grand jury report that pointed to more than 300 priests allegedly committing at least 1,000 acts of abuse.

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HAGÅTÑA (GUAM)
Church Militant (blog)

August 9, 2019

By Stephen Wynne

At least 223 lawsuits filed ahead of August 15 deadline

As an Aug. 15 filing deadline nears, a flood of sex abuse claims is sweeping across Guam.

At least 223 lawsuits have been filed against the archdiocese of Agaña, with claimants alleging abuse at the hands of 35 Catholic priests, teachers and Boy Scout leaders, including former Abp. Anthony Apuron.

Anticipating at least $45 million in liabilities, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January.

Claims began erupting in 2016 after lawmakers passed a bill retroactively terminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Scores of men came forward, alleging that between 1955 and 1994, as minors, they were raped and subjected to other forms of sexual abuse by archdiocesan priests, including Apuron himself.

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MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
La Croix International

July 24, 2019

By Claire Lesegretain (with Cath-Info)

Francis says the non-protection of minors is a serious problem that has brought “shame to the Church”

The pope has told a workshop on sexual abuse in Mexico City that he would like to see the creation of a “prevention apostolate” because “prevention is a major remedy” in the process of protecting minors.

Anyone who “prevents a young person from coming to Jesus must be stopped in his attitudes, corrected if there is still time, or punished if there is a crime,” Pope Francis said in a video message to the gathering held by the Interdisciplinary Research and Training Center for the Protection of Minors or CEPROME, established in 2016.

The failure to protect minors is a serious problem that has brought “shame to the Church,” Francis continued, referring to Saint John Bosco, founder of the Salesian congregation in the 19th century, who was at the origin of a “preventive system in education.”

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WASHINGTON (PA)
Observer-Reporter

August 11, 2019

It’s August, when the news is supposed to slow and people work in their last trips to the beach before school and the obligations of autumn arrive. Maybe it’s the good weather and lack of anything else to chew over that’s led some pundits to ponder why Americans are in such an incongruously crummy mood right now.

Why we are, in fact, glum.

Hey, the thinking goes, the economy is good and we aren’t in a hot war. Happy days are here again!

Well, mass shootings have a way of making you reluctant to click your heels, as does an unstable stock market, an economy that fails to evenly distribute its bounty, a warming climate that could wreak havoc in the lives of our children and grandchildren, a president whose Twitter feed is little more than a noxious stream of score-settling and self-aggrandizement, and on and on.

The lousy mood is justified.

And certainly another factor you can add to the pile of woe is the decreasing trust many Americans are feeling toward institutions that, in theory, are supposed to provide succor and inspiration. We’re on the eve of the first anniversary of the blockbuster report by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro that detailed the widespread sexual abuse of children by priests across the commonwealth over the last several decades, which has led other states to launch their own investigations into the Catholic Church. At the same time, the Boy Scouts of America is confronting serious allegations that its leaders turned a blind eye to predators within its ranks.

A lawsuit filed in Philadelphia last week by an unnamed 57-year-old man alleges that he was assaulted numerous times by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1970s. The suit also alleges that the Boys Scouts worked to keep abuse quiet, and was guilty of “reckless misconduct” in not confronting abuse more aggressively.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie.com

August 11, 2019

By the Editorial Board

The fallout from the crimes, cover-ups and profound human toll exposed a year ago by a statewide investigative grand jury continue to ripple through the Catholic Diocese of Erie and others in Pennsylvania.

As Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico said earlier this month, coming to terms with the monstrous legacy of predator priests and the hierarchy that harbored and enabled them will continue to roil the church and the faithful in the years ahead. Persico, 68, told reporter Ed Palattella that he expects the sexual abuse crisis to remain at the forefront for the rest of his tenure.

“We just can’t say, ‘Well, OK, that was a year ago. We just move on and it’s business as usual,’” he told Palattella. “It isn’t. It can’t be.”

That’s reflected in the $3 million in claims paid to abuse survivors so far from the church compensation fund Persico established in February. He said the diocese would provide a full report on compensation fund payouts after the claims window closes this month and the remaining claims are processed.

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UNITED STATES
Patheos.com

August 11, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

The organization that oversees the Jehovah’s Witnesses is currently embroiled in a major legal battle that involves child molestation, religious secrecy, and (possibly) the Supreme Court. The entire story is bananas, and both sides have now made their arguments as to why their case should (or should not) be taken up in the Court’s next term.

While we await the Court’s decision, it’s worth summarizing what this is all about.

The case centers around an incident that took place on July 15, 2006.

J.W., a nine-year-old girl with Jehovah’s Witness parents, was invited to her first slumber party at the home of Gilbert Simental. He had a daughter her age, so that wasn’t too weird. Two other girls (sisters) were also at the party. These families all knew and trusted Simental because, while he was no longer a local Witness leader, he had spent more than a decade as an elder in the faith. He was a religious leader who stepped down, he said, to spend more time with his son. They believed him. They all respected him. It’s why they allowed their girls into his home.

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COLORADO
The Legal Examiner

August 11, 2019

By Joseph H. Saunders

In February, the three Catholic dioceses of Colorado announced they would open their records and provide information about allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests that go back decades. Led by former U.S Attorney Robert Troyer, the investigation and review is examining alleged abuse of minors by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church in Colorado since 1950. The initiative also includes a reparation fund for victims to be paid for by the church, and will incorporate a full review of church policies and procedures for responding to and preventing abuse.

This Colorado inquiry is a direct response to the bombshell report released in Pennsylvania last August that found credible allegations that more than 300 priests had abused thousands of victims in the state over seven decades. After the Pennsylvania report calls from victims began to flood the office of then Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman. The Colorado branch of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) organization also reached out to her office as part of its effort to spur all 50 state attorneys general to initiate investigations and reviews.

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WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
WPEC

August 11, 2019

by Denise Sawyer

A licensed mental health counselor in West Palm Beach, who spoke with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged rape victims in 2012, sats down with CBS12 News after Epstein’s suicide. (WPEC file)

A licensed mental health counselor in West Palm Beach, who spoke with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged rape victims in 2012, sat down with WPEC News after Epstein’s suicide.

“It’s infuriating,” said Becky Dymond, as she speaks from the victim’s perspective. “They’re thinking, ‘I didn’t have the option. I couldn’t say no. I couldn’t clock out. But he did.’ That’s enraging.”

Faced with the terror of the abuse, dozens of women will not get a chance to face their accused abuser.

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IRVINESTOWN (NORTHERN IRELAND)
The Impartial Reporter

August 11, 2019

By Rodney Edwards

John McElholm was regarded as a pillar of the Irvinestown community when he was Principal of St. Paul’s Primary School over 30 years ago.

But now it is claimed he abused that position by preying on innocent children and sexually abusing them where they should have been safe – in school.

An investigation by The Impartial Reporter over several months has uncovered serious child sexual allegations against McElholm who died in 1995 and claims that the alleged abuse was well known.

It’s understood specialist detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Public Protection Branch are interviewing his alleged victims as part of a major review into historic sex abuse here, even though none of them will ever get justice.

“Everyone in Irvinestown knew what was going on, it was an open secret in the town,” a source from the area told this newspaper.

“It was accepted, as he was treated as a God in the community,” said another source who claims to have witnessed abuse.

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LIVERPOOL (ENGLAND)
Liverpool Echo

August 11, 2019

By Neil Docking and Kate McMullin

The Catholic Church paid out £35,000 to another man, who said he had been abused by three priests at St Joseph’s Catholic Seminary

A disgraced Catholic priest who sexually abused boys was not the only clergymen to have betrayed his youthful charges, it has been alleged.

Former Darlington parish priest Michael Higginbottom was jailed for 18 years for the sexual abuse of two teenage boys at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, near Skelmersdale , in the 1970s and 80s.

However shocking allegations have been uncovered suggesting that more boys at St Joseph’s seminary were preyed upon by perverted priests.

At least three Catholic priests have been accused of abusing children at the facility in West Lancashire, with several pupils having reported horrifying mistreatment at the hands of clergy who they should have been able to trust.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

August 11, 2019

By Laura Washington

Is nothing sacred in my Church?

That was my question as I read the headline: “Retired Celebrity Priest George Clements Accused of Sex Abuse in 1970s.”

It invades the realm of the unthinkable.

The Rev. George Clements, 87, has been accused of sexually abusing a minor in 1974 while serving as pastor of Holy Angels Church on Chicago’s South Side.

Cardinal Blase Cupich has asked Clements “to step aside from ministry pending the outcome of an investigation,” according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The charge is “totally unfounded,” Clements told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The “atmosphere here today is so toxic,” he added, referring to the never-ending sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. “The overwhelming majority of priests have to wake up each morning wondering, ‘Is this the morning that someone is going to accuse me of something negative?’”

Last year, an investigation by the Illinois attorney general’s office found that 690 Catholic clergy had been accused of sexual assault and abuse by minors.

Now an accusation comes to Clements, once the most famous priest in America.

In black Chicago, Clements is family. African American Catholics who came of age from the 1960s to the 1990s know “Father Clements” as a pioneering icon.

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KERALA (INDIA)
Daily Hunt News

August 11, 2019

By Ashutosh Bharadwaj, Smitha TK and Shubhangi Mishra

Sister Lucy received a dismissal order from the church on 5 August that read “did not show the needed remorse and you failed to give a satisfactory explanation for your lifestyle in violation of the proper law of the FCC”.

Sister Lucy Kalapura: “The church accused me of going to protests, speaking on a TV channel, speaking against the church, buying a vehicle. All those things should not have been done (according to them) but I think I should have done even more.”

Some of her other ‘crimes’ were learning to drive, owning a car and publishing a collection of poems. She was a prominent face in the protests held in September 2018 by nuns demanding the arrest of rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

The Quint spoke to Lucy, who talked about how this seems like a move by the Church to intimidate those who are supporting the victim. We also caught up with Catholic Christians to find out if they thought the church was right and how they view the protests by the nuns against the Bishop.

‘A Blasphemous Order’

‘Absolute blasphemy,’ is what a few students in Kerala and Mumbai had to say about the way the church has dismissed Sister Lucy.

Eugine Augustine, Ernakulam, Kerala”The unceremonious dismissal was totally deplorable and unjust.”

Many Catholics said learning to drive and wanting to publish poems is a person’s right and it is unjust for the church to impose such restrictions and dismiss her ‘on such flimsy grounds.’

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ALBANY (NY)
Associated Press via WENY

August 11, 2019

Thousands of people who say they were molested as children in New York state will head to court this week to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers and the institutions where they worked.

It’s because of a new law that creates a one-year window for molestation lawsuits that had previously been barred by the statute of limitations.

Earlier this year, lawmakers extended the statute of limitations going forward and created the litigation window to victims of past abuse a chance to sue, even if the abuse occurred decades ago.

Large institutions that care for children such as the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts are expected to be named as defendants, along with a long list of smaller groups and individuals.

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[Google Translation: The circle of hell: what role did each of the accused of Provolo play in the abuse network?]

MENDOZA (ARGENTINA)
TN.com

August 10, 2019

Con lengua de señas y sollozos, los alumnos víctimas de los abusos sexuales denunciados en el colegio religioso Antonio Provolo de Mendoza han descripto el espanto y el rol que cumplía cada uno de los acusados.

El miércoles se reanuda el juicio y los jueces del Tribunal Colegiado 2 escucharán los testimonios de las 11 víctimas de la causa inicial, que tiene a dos curas y un administrativo como imputados. El fiscal Gustavo Stroppiana y los abogados de las familias víctimas coinciden en que hubo “un plan sistemático de corrupción de menores, una red de complicidad y la selección de víctimas más vulnerables por su contexto social y familiar”.

[Google Translation: With sign language and sobs, students victims of sexual abuse reported in the religious school Antonio Provolo de Mendoza have described the horror and the role it fulfilled

Each of the accused. On Wednesday the trial resumes and the judges of the Collegiate Court 2 will listen to the testimonies of the 11 victims of the initial case, which has two priests and an administrative as accused. Prosecutor Gustavo Stroppiana and the lawyers of the victim families agree that there was ” a systematic plan for corruption of minors , a network of complicity and the selection of victims most vulnerable by their social and family context.”]

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

August 11, 2019

By Maki Becker, Jay Tokasz and Dan Herbeck

She was making a pot of beef and barley soup in 2013 when her phone rang.

It was a detective from the Niagara Falls police. A woman had told police she was sexually abused many years earlier by a Niagara Falls City School District teacher, and that there may have been other victims. The detective asked the woman making soup if she was one of them.

“I dropped an entire bottle of parsley in the pot I was so shocked,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be published.

She says her music teacher, Patrick Kuciewski, began sexually abusing her in the seventh grade. Because of New York State’s statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, which only allowed victims to pursue charges or file lawsuits up until their 23rd birthday, it was too late for the woman or police to do anything.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

August 11, 2019

By Erin Schumaker

When she was a child, Beatriz Mendoza told her mother that she was sexually abused by an adult.

Mendoza remembers her mother’s response. “‘That’s not possible. How could that be?’” her mom questioned. “She really took no action,” Mendoza recalled. “I was 6-and-a-half.”

Because her mother didn’t believe her, Mendoza kept the assault to herself until she started working in victims’ assistance decades later.

It’s stories like this that New York’s Child Victims Act, which was signed into law in February, is intended to correct. The legislation, which extends the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for reporting child sex abuse, also includes a one-year, one-time-only look back window, in which victims of any age can file civil lawsuits against their abusers between Aug.14, 2019 and Aug. 13, 2020.

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ALBANY (NY)
Newsday

August 11, 2019

By Yancey Roy

New York courts, law firms, Catholic dioceses, Boy Scout troops and schools are bracing for an onslaught of civil lawsuits to be filed by people seeking justice for long-ago sexual abuse when a special one-year “look back” period begins Wednesday.

Thousands of cases are expected to be filed on that first day alone. At least two law firms are handling upward of 400 claims each, court officials said.

Forty-five judges have been designated around the state to hear the claims, including five on Long Island. All the judges went through special training this summer. Expedited timelines for proceedings have been established and all cases will be offered mediation services as a way to settle claims more quickly.

“It is really unprecedented, what is happening in New York,” said Jason Amala, an attorney whose firm anticipates filing more than 100 claims on Wednesday.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV

August 11, 2019

By Katherine Mozzone

Almost one year after Pennsylvania’s attorney general called for statute of limitations reform for sexual abuse, SNAP – the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests — is asking for those same changes here in Louisiana, so victims can pursue justice.

In a shady spot in Jackson Square, Kevin Bourgeois and Richard Windmann stood together Saturday (Aug. 10), united as survivors, feet from St. Louis Cathedral.

“I can’t believe I’m here today. I really can’t. And I can’t imagine being anywhere else today,” Bourgeois said.

Windmann, now a leader with SNAP, is no stranger to publicity. He told his story on FOX 8 last fall, detailing accusations of sexual abuse by Pete Modica, a Jesuit High School janitor and former officer Stanley Burkhardt.

But, Saturday was the first day Bourgeois has appeared on camera, having only recently become public with allegations of abuse against now deceased priest Carl Davidson.

“I feel like a thousand pounds has been lifted off of me,” Bourgeois said.

But that’s not the way he felt at first. Bourgeois said, for 35 years, he didn’t tell anyone what he says happened to him while he attended the now closed St. John Vianney Prep School in the 1980s.

“When Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he was going to release the list of names back in November, I’m like, ‘Wow, my secret is going to be out,’ because it was a secret. I’d never told anybody before,” Bourgeois recalled. “I didn’t have the ability to come forward as a 16-year-old boy. Not at all. No one was going to believe me. I didn’t want to admit it happened. It was horrifying and embarrassing.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
CNN

August 10, 2019

By Catherine Valentine

“I am sorry. I have been sorry. I will always be sorry for raping you.”

In a 20-minute long phone call in 2013, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Briggs confessed to raping SSgt. “DK” in 2005. After receiving a call from the victim, Briggs detailed how he went to her room after a long night of drinking, pushed himself on her and continued to have sex with her despite pleas for him to stop.

A recording of that call would be played in a military court in 2014. Briggs would be tried by a judge, found guilty and sentenced to five months in prison. He would be dismissed from the Air Force and registered as a sex offender.

It was understood, based on military law and reinforced through legal precedent, that there was no statute of limitations for rape in the military. Though the assault occurred in 2005, and Briggs was not accused for eight years, defense counsel did not even raise the issue of statute of limitations at trial.

But last year, the top military appeals court came to a different understanding. When presented with a separate rape charge brought years after an alleged incident, it found that a five-year statute of limitations existed before 2006. The decision eventually led to Briggs’ rape conviction — and the convictions of at least three other service members – being vacated.

This one decision has reverberated through the entire military court system. It has not only vacated convictions. It has prevented at least 10 new cases from being heard, the Justice Department says. This comes as #MeToo trickles through the armed forces.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

August 8, 2019

By Jonathan Pitts

Baltimore County police have arrested a former pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist church in Dundalk on charges he sexually abused a teenager on the church’s grounds and elsewhere in the Baltimore area more than 10 years ago.

Cameron Shane Giovanelli, 42, of Orange Park, Florida, was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church from 2004 to 2014.

Authorities charged him with sexual abuse of a minor, perverted practice and a fourth-degree sexual offense involving the girl, who was part of the congregation. The incidents allegedly occurred in 2007. Police said Thursday that they believe there may be other victims, and encouraged them to come forward.

A warrant for Giovanelli’s arrest was issued Monday, and he traveled Tuesday to Maryland to turn himself in to county police under an agreement made through his attorney, county State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said. Giovanelli was released on his own recognizance.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

August 8, 2019

By Peter Rowe

Dr. Marianne Benkert Sipe, a psychiatrist and world-renowned expert on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, will address next month’s meeting of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

The free session will be held 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 7, on the second floor of the Rancho Bernardo Library, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive, San Diego.

A former Maryknoll nun and practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Sipe in 1970 left her order and married Richard Sipe, a former priest and also an expert in this field. They were jointly awarded the 2019 Presidential Citation from the American Psychiatric Association, Richard Sipe posthumously as he had died in August 2018. He was 85.

“Dedicated Catholics,” the citation read in part, “they have endeavored to restore their church to the morality they have always known it should represent.”

La Jolla residents since 1999, the Sipeses published books and papers on this topic, counseled victims and testified in court cases brought against priests and church officials. In 2001, they were contacted by the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting team, as the journalists were working on a series of articles exposing sexual abuse within that city’s archdiocese.

The Globe’s work, including the Sipeses’s contributions, was dramatized in the 2015 Oscar-winning film, “Spotlight.”

Since her husband’s death, Dr. Sipe has continued to work in this field. Among her areas of expertise is the sexual abuse of — and by — nuns. She’s also examined sexual abuse within other faith traditions.

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BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
The Courier

August 3, 2019

By Jolyon Attwooll

The mother of one of Paul David Ryan’s victims has said she was “devastated” by the sentence imposed on the convicted paedophile this week.

Helen Watson, whose son Peter was abused while Ryan was working as a priest in Ararat, said she was dumbfounded when she left the sentencing hearing earlier this week.

Now aged 70, Ryan was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment at the County Court of Victoria, after pleading guilty to three charges involving the sexual abuse of children.

After dispensation for his guilty plea and time served, it means he could be entitled to apply for parole in just 13 months’ time.

Mrs Watson, who now lives in Beaufort, said she supported one of the three victims through the trial process.

Her own son Peter was abused while staying overnight at the Ararat presbytery in 1991. Ryan was never tried for the crime as Peter took his own life eight years later.

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Patheos blog

August 9, 2019

By William M. Shea

Answers to serious questions, especially political ones, tend to multiply and to develop and change over time. I began a spectrum slide from William Buckley-Barry Goldwater small-government Republican politics some sixty years ago and have landed in the past few years in the mystery called democratic socialism. I wish I could say that I slid on the basis of pure knowledge but I admit to my slide being a matter largely of opinion, belief and social conviction. In political matters too much is involved to call any one position simply true. The best one can do is call it “informed opinion.” I should be immune, then, to the foolhardiness of suggesting any definitive answer to the question of reform in the Catholic Church. Think of the other possible answers, says my conscience, and then I blush. For example, there is a lot to be said for the episcopal form of church governance.

Think of the complications of understanding a church with a two thousand year history in which many answers to the issue of governance have been tried and in which each form has been subject to abuse and even failure, often extraordinary. None had proved perfect or even reasonably and consistently successful. So my antipathy to the monarchical system of government atop the Catholic Church is a matter of opinion. Like my years’ long slide into democratic socialism, my gradual slide into governmental reform in the church started small with Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle’s crushing of any dissent in the archdiocese of Washington from Pope Paul’s tragic mistake in the matter of contraception (1968). Is there really only one Catholic voice? Can Pope Paul be wrong and pope at the same time? Ultimately, some forty years later, I decided that monarchy, even in the church, is absurd and the dying remnant of the Empire.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 9, 2019

By Michael Sean Winters

The Holy Father was true to his name last weekend when he published a fatherly letter to priests on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney. The letter was remarkable in many ways, a most exemplary text in understanding how Pope Francis brings our tradition alive and uses it to face the challenges and opportunities of our day. I should like to highlight some elements that seem to me to be quintessential Papa Bergoglio.

First, there is his brutal frankness. He begins by addressing the clergy sex abuse and its effects on the presbyterate. “As you know, we are firmly committed to carrying out the reforms needed to encourage from the outset a culture of pastoral care, so that the culture of abuse will have no room to develop, much less continue,” he writes. “This task is neither quick nor easy: it demands commitment on the part of all. If in the past, omission may itself have been a kind of response, today we desire conversion, transparency, sincerity and solidarity with victims to become our concrete way of moving forward. This in turn will help make us all the more attentive to every form of human suffering.”

The direct acknowledgement of both the scourge and the challenges they face is followed by a deeply spiritual insight: Accompanying the victims of abuse will “make us all the more attentive to every form of human suffering.”

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OMAHA (NE)
Associated Press

August 9, 2019

A new trial date has again been set for a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a woman in central Nebraska.

Television station KSNB reports that trial for the Rev. John Kakkuzhiyil (kah-kuh-ree-AL’) is now set for Jan. 6. The trial had been set to begin next month. Court documents did not indicate the reason for the delay.

Kakkuzhiyil was arrested earlier this year following a monthlong investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol after a woman told police he sexually assaulted her in November in his Ord home. The woman told investigators she blacked out after having a couple of drinks with the priest.

Kakkuzhiyil was the parish priest in Ord and Burwell at the time of the accusation. He was placed on leave Dec. 15.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun-Times

August 8, 2019

After the Rev. John Calicott was removed from ministry at a Chicago parish years ago following sexual misconduct allegations, a group of parishioners signed a petition urging the Archdiocese of Chicago – the Catholic Church for Cook and Lake counties – to return him.

“We now firmly believe that the allegations made against Father Calicott were scurrilous and totally without substance,” the petition stated.

On Thursday, a decade after he was laicized following credible accusations of sexual abuse of children, a Chicago law firm announced an $8 million legal settlement has been reached with the archdiocese over long-ago allegations that Calicott sexually abused a boy in the 1990s.

It’s the largest payout of its kind, according to lawyer Blake Horwitz, whose firm represents the victim, now a grown man who was identified as “John Doe” to protect his identity.

No lawsuit was filed; the settlement was reached out of court, Horwitz said, adding the archdiocese has already paid up, with the last installment arriving in July.

Reached by phone Thursday night, Calicott said that while he does not know definitely who made this accusation, he insisted he didn’t molest the person accusing him of abuse. He called the accusation “crazy” and “absurd.”

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese declined to comment, saying in an email, “We do not confirm or comment regarding settlements.”

Calicott was once assigned to Holy Angels Church on the South Side, where the Rev. George Clements was also a long-time pastor.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

August 8, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, an Argentine prelate whom Pope Francis transferred to Rome after accepting his resignation due to what he acknowledged was “despotic” behavior, presented himself in court today in the diocese he once led, where he faces charges of “aggravated continuous sexual abuse.”

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. As the pope revealed in an interview earlier this year, the bishop is also being investigated by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that deals with cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors but, on the pope’s request, also cases involving adults.

The bishop left the chambers of Judge Cluadio Parisi in Oran, Salta, northern Argentina, after only 10 minutes and with a smile on his face. He refused to answer questions from the media, instead going straight to the white Audi of an unidentified man who accompanied him to see the judge.

He had been ordered by the judge to attend on August 8 to present his passport and other travel documents. He’s been banned from leaving the country and his movements are restricted since he’s been ordered to be at the disposal of the justice system.

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