ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

May 2, 2019

In the final episode of Deliver Us, we ask: What’s mine to do and not somebody else’s? What part of the church’s healing are we each responsible for?

To grapple with these questions, we spoke to people who have responded to the sex abuse crisis in different ways. Geoff Boisi and Kerry Robinson talk about why they formed Leadership Roundtable, an organization which brings best business practices to church leaders and which has convened experts to discuss the church’s future. Leadership Roundtable has made it a priority to address the “twin crises” of the abuse crisis—one being the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults, and the other being the leadership failures in the church that have led to distrust.

Donna Doucette of Voice of the Faithful also joins the episode to offer her take on how lay people can contribute to healing, and Monica LaBelle offers her experience of setting up listening sessions in her parish.

We also hear from you, our listeners, in this final episode. You tell us what you’ve been doing to help the church move forward.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

May 03, 2019

The California attorney general’s investigation into how the Los Angeles Archdiocese — and potentially other dioceses in California — handled abuse allegations over the years is a major step for prosecutors.

The priest scandal has resulted in record financial settlements for victims as well as criminal charges against individual priests. But this investigation looks at how the institution as a whole has handled the allegations of sexual abuse.

The L.A. Archdiocese was dogged for years by allegations of covering up the sexual misconduct of priests. The church is accused of transferring priests who molested children to other parishes rather than removing them from the priesthood and alerting authorities.

The church also fought for years to keep files about priest abuse secret.

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BUENOS AIRES (AGENTINA)
Associated Press

May 2, 2019

Activist groups are calling on Pope Francis to guarantee the implementation of the Vatican’s “zero tolerance” for sexual abuses by clergy in Argentina, where they say the policy has not been carried out.

The Argentine group Church Without Abuses and the global organizations Ending Clergy Abuse and BishopAccountability.org on Thursday urged Francis to return to his homeland of Argentina, which he hasn’t visited since becoming pope in 2013, to ensure the Roman Catholic Church punishes these crimes and does not protect perpetrators.

“If the pope cannot end abuses and cover-ups in Argentina he will not be able to do it anywhere else. This is where he has more power, influence, it is symbolically the most important country in the fight against abuse in the world,” Peter Isely, co-founder of Ending Clergy Abuse, told The Associated Press.

Isley and representatives of other activist groups gathered near the Monsignor Mariano Espinosa Home for Priests in Buenos Aires, displaying signs calling for zero tolerance for sex abuses.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the online resource Bishopaccountability.org, said that while in other countries thousands of cases of abuse have been detected, in Argentina almost no criminal investigations or litigations have been seen.

In Argentina there is no official registry of judicial complaints about abuses committed by members of the clergy.

The AP compiled a list of 66 priests, nuns and other religious workers who, between 2001 and 2017, were accused of abusing dozens of people, most of them children. The figure was obtained from victims’ testimonies, judicial and ecclesiastical documents, and local media reports corroborated with the BishopAccountability.org database. In several cases there were no canonical or judicial investigations.

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OMAHA (ME)
Omaha World-Herald

May 2, 2019

By Christopher Burbach

Catholic officials in Nebraska have not turned over all sexual abuse records demanded two months ago by sweeping subpoenas, although the vast majority of Catholic institutions in the state have complied, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said in court Thursday.

The records not turned over, according to church attorneys, include psychiatric evaluations of perpetrators, medical records of priests and victims and confidential settlement agreements. The Archdiocese of Omaha says it is prohibited by law from releasing those records, and will turn them over only if a court orders it to do so.

“Those are the only things we have not turned over,” said Deacon Tim McNeil, chancellor of the Omaha Archdiocese.

The Attorney General’s Office issued the subpoenas in late February to Nebraska’s three Catholic dioceses and nearly 400 churches, schools and other institutions across the state.

That followed Attorney General Doug Peterson’s request that the dioceses voluntarily turn over 40 years of records on sexual abuse by priests or other employees.

The dioceses of Omaha and Lincoln filed suit in Lancaster County District Court in March to quash the subpoenas.

The dioceses said they wanted to comply and were trying to do so, but asked the court to quash the subpoenas, saying they carried an impossible-to-meet deadline of three days, were overly broad and could potentially cost millions of dollars to fulfill.

The court case had been on hold, and a hearing twice postponed, while the two sides agreed to work out their differences.

In a hearing Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post said many records are being turned over, and he asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed so the parties could continue to work things out.

Post said the Attorney General’s Office had issued the subpoenas only when, six months after its request for records to be voluntarily turned over, it became clear that not all records were being turned over and that some were redacted.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

May 3, 2019

By Victor Fiorillo

Mitchell Garabedian is easily one of the world’s most well-known attorneys when it comes to suing men accused of sexual abuse.

Garabedian was the lawyer at the center of the notorious Boston clergy abuse scandal — Stanley Tucci played him in the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight — and reportedly obtained a large settlement on behalf of 86 people who claimed they had been abused by one particular Boston priest. He’s called the Catholic church a “corrupt criminal entity” and has said that Catholic priests have “been raping kids at a wholesale pace for centuries.”

When a woman came forward in 2017 with accusations that actor Kevin Spacey had sexually abused her underaged son, it was Garabedian who was sitting next to her at the press conference.

And the horrific Boy Scouts sexual abuse story that broke recently? Garabedian is representing more than 25 accusers, and he’s been all over the news for that.

But now Garabedian finds himself the target of a lawsuit filed by prominent Center City lawyer Jim Beasley on behalf of a Hill School employee who says that Garabedian ruined his reputation by asserting false sexual abuse claims made by a former student. That employee, whose identity is not revealed in the John Doe lawsuit, is currently on leave, says a Hill School spokesperson. Garabedian did not comment for this story.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia’s federal court, the employee in question has held a number of positions at the Hill School over the last 25 years, including coach, dorm parent, administrator and teacher. He “earned and maintained the highest esteem, respect and gratitude of his supervisors, colleagues, students and alumni,” reads the suit.

But that all changed in 2018.

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CEDAR RAPIDS (IA)
Yahoo Sports

May 3, 2019

By Jason Owens

A judge sentenced an influential AAU coach to 180 years in prison Thursday after he pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation charges involving more that 400 boys under his watch.

Former Iowa Barnstormers youth basketball coach Greg Stephen received the maximum sentence from U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams, who said that Stephen deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison.

“The harm the defendant caused to the children is incalculable and profound,” Williams said in a Cedar Rapids, Iowa court, per the Associated Press.

Stephen, 43, faced a minimum of 15 years in prison and saw his pleas for leniency unanswered.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Cathiloc Reporter

May 3, 2019

by Peter Feuerherd

Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York, has suspended three priests after seminarians complained about lewd comments allegedly made by the clergy at an April 11 party at Saints Peter and Paul Rectory in Hamburg, New York.

In announcing the suspensions, the diocese issued a statement indicating that the suspended priests participated in “unsuitable, inappropriate and insensitive conversations.”

The three suspended priests are Fr. Arthur Mattulke, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul, who is also a spiritual director for seminarians; Fr. Patrick O’Keefe, parochial vicar of Saints Peter and Paul; and Fr. Robert Orlowski, pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Blasdell, New York. Two other priests present at the party were reprimanded by the diocese for not putting an end to the allegedly objectionable discussions.

The suspended priests will undergo psychological evaluation and retraining in sexual harassment concerns, the diocesan statement said.

Buffalo television station WKBW reported that the lewd remarks directed to seminarians included a priest describing overhearing the parents of one of the seminarians having sex on a diocesan retreat, the description of a priest of the diocese pursuing sex at truck stops, and a priest questioning a woman on the phone in front of the seminarians, asking if she wanted to have sex with them. WKBW declined to air many of the specific complaints as the statements were considered too graphic for broadcast television.

The suspensions come after a series of sexual abuse concerns raised in the past year in the Diocese of Buffalo. In the past year, the diocese released a list of 42 priests accused of abuse, only to raise that number to 176 in subsequent revisions. A report on CBS’ 60 Minutes featured Malone’s former administrative assistant, who accused the diocese of covering up sex abuse cases.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Fox News

April 29, 2019

By Elizabeth Llorente

The children suffered in silence, their cries and pleas unheard and their injuries unseen beyond the walls of their homes, which the adults responsible for them had turned into torture chambers.

There was the Wisconsin father recently accused of turning a blind eye while his oldest sons sexually abused the younger siblings for years; the California couple who starved and shackled 12 of their children, feeding them once a day and allowing them to shower once a year; a Michigan mother who held her children captive at home, beat them and killed two of them months apart, keeping their bodies in freezers for years.

What they and scores of other children with similar fates have in common is that their abusers kept their crimes against them secret by keeping them out of school – where bruises, wounds or other signs of mistreatment likely would have drawn someone’s attention. The abusers kept authorities at bay by claiming that their children were being homeschooled.

Homeschooling in much of the nation tends to be loosely regulated. Nearly a dozen states have no real regulatory system in place, including no requirement that parents who decide to homeschool their children even inform anyone.

Most of the roughly 2 million children estimated to be homeschooled in the United States are properly educated and cared for by their parents or guardians, experts on the subject say.

But homeschooling unwittingly also provides a convenient and legal cover for families where children are living in squalor or are being neglected and abused.

The Coalition of Responsible Home Education, a national nonprofit, told Fox News that it has tracked nearly 400 cases that have drawn public attention – often through news outlets – since the year 2000. The cases tracked had children whose parents reported them as homeschooled but who were fatally abused or had survived severe abuse and neglect.

Because of the lack of oversight in much of the country, experts say, the scope of abuse and neglect among children who are listed as homeschooled is unknown.

After the 2017 death of an autistic teenager, Matthew Tirado, who suffered starvation, dehydration and injuries — weighing 84 pounds when he died at the age of 17 — the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate analyzed data of families that had records of child abuse and cross-checked them with homeschool data. The agency found that more than one-third of the children who were taken out of schools purportedly to be homeschooled were from homes that had been investigated by child protection officials.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

May 3, 2019

By Teresa Watanbe

The California attorney general’s office will review how the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has handled sexual abuse allegations, including whether it followed mandatory reporting requirements to law enforcement, according to a letter reviewed by The Times.

The letter, dated Thursday, from Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra to Archbishop Jose Gomez, requests that church officials preserve an array of documents related to clergy abuse allegations.

The investigation marks a major escalation in the abuse scandal, which has resulted in massive settlements for victims and criminal charges against individual priests but not the larger institutions.

It’s unclear whether Becerra’s office is also seeking records from other California dioceses. But one source told The Times that other dioceses were being contacted by the attorney general.

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BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Patch

May 3, 2019

By Rich Scinto

A former Diocese of Bridgeport priest who reportedly impregnated a 16-year-old student in the late 1980’s will keep his job as a New Jersey teacher after a state arbitrator ruled in his favor.

Joseph DeShan was removed from the ministry in 1999 after becoming a priest just two years prior, according to Diocese records. He was laicized in 1999. He began teaching in Cinnaminson Public Schools in 1996.

“We are disappointed in the ruling, and we are currently evaluating what options we have moving forward,” Cinnaminson Superintendent of Schools Stephen Cappello said.

He wasn’t charged with any crimes because the woman told her story after the statute of limitations in Connecticut had expired, according to the Harold J. Gerr Law Firm.

Once the alleged pregnancy story became public, he was placed on administrative leave by the Cinnaminson Public School District Board of Education for about three weeks before being allowed to return to work, according to court records.

Sixteen years later, the school district filed tenure charges asking for DeShan’s removal for conduct unbecoming a staff member. The complaint specifically relates one instance in which DeShan told a female student, “Look at me. Let me see your pretty green eyes. You don’t see them too much anymore.”

The student reported that the comment made her feel uncomfortable, and that DeShan made the comment in a “weird voice.”

The complaint also claims many parents are asking for their students to be removed from his class, calling him a “rapist,” a “pedophile” and asking the district to “please protect our children.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 3, 2019

The Catholic University of America decided to give the final guest speaker spot in its commendable series of four programs examining the priest sex abuse crisis to George Weigel. That was unfortunate, because his long-discredited narrative about the causes of the scandal and his illusory ideas about how to deal with it do a great disservice to the Catholic faithful in this moment when so much of the church is finally squaring up to the awful truth.

Weigel has for decades pushed a script, embellished from time to time, that defies logic, that at a minimum misrepresents data, that distorts and even falsifies verifiable history, and that engages in shameless deception to protect his principal enterprise — a gilded portrayal of the hastily sainted Pope John Paul II.

If the case he makes is so flawed, why bother spending any time on it? Precisely because Weigel can still command center stage at signature Catholic settings. He has long been an unabashed apologist not only for a pope but for the clerical and hierarchical culture now under scrutiny. He has an important perch as Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a pulpit at First Things, a magazine that initially helped fashion his misconceptions. He is a regular traveler with Timothy Busch’s Napa Institute, an organization espousing extreme libertarian views and increasingly a gathering point for those opposed to Pope Francis. This year’s Napa Institute main speaker is Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leader of the Francis opposition.

Weigel has been preening hierarchical feathers for years. He is backed by big money. He is a Catholic to be reckoned with.

And so it is imperative that one also reckon with the fact that on the clergy sex abuse crisis, his analysis is terribly defective.

It is an important reckoning, too, because after nearly three and a half decades of public scandal, some at the highest levels of church leadership as well as Catholic lay leaders — some of whom were also represented on the CUA stage — have finally come to accept the truth. This is no time to turn back.

Weigel has most recently targeted, as a way of calling into question the matter of the wide culpability of church leaders, Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro and, by extension, all other attorneys general and the growing number of state investigations underway into the church’s handling of abusive priests. The church is being unfairly attacked, Weigel argues. The events of decades are being “telescoped” to appear that all of the abuse is occurring in the present, he says. And the oldest deflection: abuse is happening everywhere else, so why is the church being singled out?

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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
Staten Island Advance

May 3, 2019

By Maura Grunlund

Now that the reputations of more than 30 Staten Island priests have been tarnished in the Roman Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, should their legacies be trashed as well?

Should the accused in effect be erased?

The names of more than 30 Island clergy were released by the Archdiocese of New York last week on a list of 120 bishops, monsignors, priests and deacons whose alleged actions resulted in payouts to victims. Included on the roster are many of the spiritual founders, builders and reformers who, over the past century, shaped the Roman Catholic Church into what it is today on Staten Island.

The names of some of these priests grace churches, schools and other religious facilities throughout the borough. Ground-breaking programs, scholarships and awards are their legacies.

Should their names, images and historical mentions be relegated — literally or figuratively — to the dumpster and effectively erased as the Archdiocese attempts to dismantle the scandal of priestly sex-abuse and rebuild its church on the Island?

Complicating the issue is the fact that the list has its own shades of gray in terms of culpability.

Although payouts were made to alleged victims, at least 58 of the accused clergy throughout the Archdiocese appear on a portion of the list devoted to priests who did not have the opportunity to defend themselves because they had died or left the ministry before being accused.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET TV

May 2, 2019

By Amber Frias

Wednesday, in our continuing coverage of sexual abuse allegations facing Monsignor Craig Harrison, we took you to Long Beach for a reaction from a prominent accuser in a separate and unrelated case settled years ago.

We gave you a look at “SNAP” the “Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” and told you that the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault in Bakersfield hadn’t commented yet on Harrison’s allegations.

That changed Thursday.

“People are hurting, we’re seeing it in a lot of different forms and people have very different feelings come from personal experiences, some from caring for the people who have gone through it,” said Louis Gill, CEO for Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. “It’s emotional chaos for individuals trying to make sense of the information they can’t comprehend.”

The sexual misconduct allegations against Harrison stunned the community. Whether you believe the Monsignor who’s impacted so many lives in Kern County, or the accusers as all allegations of sexual assault should be taken seriously, this is perhaps one of the most polarizing issues we’ll see here, as some struggle with which side to believe.

“I think anytime a community receives shocking news they go into shock and people respond differently,” said Gill. “Some people get angry, some people get sad. Right now everyone is hurting. What we need to do as a community is not rush to anything other than people are hurting and they need to be loved and cared for.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS LA

May 3, 2019

The California attorney general’s office will review how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has handled sexual abuse allegations.

In a letter from state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to Archbishop Jose Gomez dated Thursday and obtained by the Los Angeles Times, church officials are asked to preserve an array of documents related to clergy abuse allegations.

It’s unclear whether Becerra’s office is also seeking records from other California dioceses. Officials from the archdiocese and the attorney general’s office could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

“The California Department of Justice is conducting a review of your archdiocese’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations involving children, including whether your archdiocese has adequately reported allegations of sexual misconduct, as required under California’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act,” the letter stated, according to the Times.

For nearly two decades, the archdiocese has been roiled by allegations that onetime church leaders mishandled clergy abuse cases, sometimes moving clergy suspected of wrongdoing to other parishes rather than punishing them and informing law enforcement.

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LINCOLN (NE)
KLKN TV

May 2, 2019

By Bayley Bischof

The Lincoln and Omaha diocese went before a district court judge pleading for more time to comply with an expansive subpoena of their history.

In the audience were Kyle and Lauren O’Donnell, a Lincoln couple raised catholic.

“I trusted them,” Kyle said.

They don’t, anymore. Kyle said even going to Sunday mass like he’s done his entire life is painful.

Lauren said while their faith in Christ remains strong, their faith in the church is crumbling, and they’re not going to shove it under the rug.

“We have a personal responsibility to make sure justice is served, that victims get the justice they deserve and people know the truth,” she said.

The truth, the Diocese say is impossible to release in the amount of time the Attorney General gave them.

Attorney General Doug Peterson ordered Nebraska churches to hand in decades worth of history regarding sexual assault, child abuse and misconduct on March 1, 2019. He gave the churches three days to comply.

The subpoenas came after Peterson asked the churches to voluntarily comply in September 2018.

An attorney with Peterson’s office asked the judge to dismiss the Diocese’s claims, saying they’ve had enough time.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

May 2, 2019

By Nicole Hensley

A grand jury on Thursday indicted a former Conroe priest on charges stemming from child sex abuse allegations, according to court records.

Manuel La Rosa-Lopez was indicted on two of the four counts of indecency with a child that led to his Sept. 11 arrest, records show. The two charges stem from incidents alleged to have happened to a female parishioner on April 9, 2000, while the cleric was assigned to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Montgomery County.

The document from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office made no mention of the two other indecency with a child charges that La Rosa-Lopez was facing in connection with allegations from a male parishioner.

Prosecutors handling the case did not respond to requests for comment.

The female accuser, now an adult, came forward to police a month before La Rosa-Lopez’s arrest that in 2000, while her family attended the parish, the priest was grooming her for a sexual relationship, according to a sworn statement from a Conroe Police Department detective. On April 9 of that year, La Rosa-Lopez brought the girl to his office after confession, took off his clerical collar and kissed her, the investigator wrote.

The priest groped her two days later in the church kitchen after practice for a Passion of the Christ play, the statement read.

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MIDDLETON (NY)
Times Record Herald

May 2, 2019

By Steve Israel

Imagine that you’re just a child, maybe 11, 12, 13 years old. You’re sexually abused by the man your family reveres so much — a priest — that they want you to be a priest like him. They’ve invited him for dinner, let him take you to Rye Playland and even let you spend the night at the rectory — where the priest abuses you.

For years you keep that terrible secret bottled up. After all, who’s going to take the word of a kid over the word of a priest?

But you start hearing that other priests are abusing other kids. They’re kids with families for whom the priests are such a big part of their lives that they let them take their sons on overnight trips to the Jersey shore. One family even gives one of those abusive priests a T-shirt that says “Trust Me, I’m a Father.”

You finally get the courage to speak the truth and face one of the most powerful institutions around, the Archdiocese of New York. You say that one of its priests is sexually abusing you.

The priest denies it, stands behind his white collar and says, “You’re ruining my life as a priest.” You don’t yet know that he’s been accused of abuse by other boys in other parishes. You don’t yet know what you and your family will soon learn — just by asking other boys — that he’s abused others in your parish and the Catholic school where he teaches.

You just know that church officials say it’s your word against his.

“And who’s going to believe you? He’s a priest and I’m just a kid,” says Port Jervis’ Patrick Westfall, who was abused in the 1970s by the late former priest Francis Stinner.

When word gets out that you’re accusing the priest of abuse, other church members don’t believe you. They accuse you and your family of attacking the church they love and where your family has worshiped for years.

This is what happened to Westfall. He was one of dozens of local boys who were victims of former priests like the late Edward Pipala and Stinner of Orange County — priests who were defrocked years after the abuse was first reported only because these boys and their families had the courage to speak out.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

May 2, 2019

By Charlie Specht

When Niagara Falls attorney Paul K. Barr was sexually abused by the Rev. Michael Freeman in 1980, the Diocese of Buffalo quietly transferred the priest.

Diocesan leaders chose the Rev. Bernard M. Mach as his replacement — but Mach was a pedophile, too.

And when Barr confided in another church leader — a youth minister at Sacred Heart Church — about the abuse, Barr had no idea of knowing he was talking to someone who would also go on to be accused of sexually abusing minors.

Those allegations are laid out in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Barr this week in State Supreme Court in Niagara County. Click here to view a copy of the lawsuit. The Buffalo News first reported the filing of the lawsuit.

In an interview with 7 Eyewitness News, Barr confirmed he rejected the diocese’s previous settlement offer of $45,000.

“I rejected the offer from the diocese because I wanted to show my support for other people who had been abused, either by clergy or other institutions,” Barr said.

The suit was filed by a New York City law firm, but Barr has plenty of experience as a litigator dealing with issues relating to the Catholic Church. He said he is serving as legal counsel to multiple victims of child sexual abuse in the Buffalo Diocese.

“It’s such an important issue,” Barr said. “I can’t tell you how many of the new cases I got who tell me, I’m the first person they’ve ever told about this.”

The lawsuit states Freeman “carefully groomed” Barr in 1980 while the boy was preparing for confirmation. One evening at Sacred Heart, the priest warned Barr about a supposed medical “condition” that caused sterility and was common among athletes. The priest told Barr he was trained as an Air Force chaplain to detect the condition.

After ordering him to pull down his pants, Freeman “massaged and manipulated” his penis, the lawsuit states.

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BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Reuters

May 2, 2019

Pope Francis should visit Argentina to meet victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and intervene on their behalf, said international groups fighting clerical abuse on Thursday.

“If Pope Francis cannot make zero tolerance (of abuse) happen in Argentina, he’s not going to be able to make it happen anywhere else,” said Peter Isely, a founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse, at a news conference in Buenos Aires.

Representatives of website BishopAccountability.org and individuals who have sued the church in Argentina alleging sexual abuse were also present.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, is a former archbishop of Buenos Aires but he has not visited his home country since he became pope in 2013.

In neighbouring Chile, the Catholic Church was engulfed by scandal after a visit by the pope last year that brought to the surface a string of abuse allegations now being investigated by criminal prosecutors.

The Vatican is meanwhile working on a papal document that would establish procedures for Catholics to report bishops suspected of sexual abuse or negligence in sexual abuse cases.

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KANSAS CITY ( MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 2, 2019

By Michael Leach

Art Contreras who grew up at Maryville Academy, once one of the largest child care facilities in the U.S., is as tough a 70-year-old man as you’re likely to meet. He cried as we spoke on the phone. “I lost my father,” he told me. “I lost my father.”

Fr. John Smyth, 84, had died the night before on April 16 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, after aneurysm surgery and pneumonia. John would never return to Maryville, his only home as a priest for 57 years, where he gave his life to thousands of kids and their families every day without exception. These “Maryville kids” — now in their 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s and 30s — were not only grieving for their father but hurting over headlines that focused not on his unparalleled life but on an accusation made three months previous that they all knew could never be true.

“Rev. John Smyth, former head of Maryville Academy accused of abuse, has died,” announced WGN. The newspaper stories turned on allegations made by two “convicted felons” who had been teenagers at Maryville’s Scott Nolan Center, a lockdown facility two miles from the grounds where Fr. Smyth, then in his late 60s, lived. Smyth, who walked with a cane after two hip replacements, had never, not once, been accused of anything like this in all his years as a priest in a world of children.

Regina Butler Dziewior was 12 when Fr. Smyth came to Maryville in 1962. “He was a father to me ever since,” she says. “He would never harm a child. No one who knew him believes these allegations, and I will go to my death defending his reputation. Sadly, his legacy, regardless of when he is exonerated, will always end with that part of the story. He is the kind of man, like Cardinal Bernardin or Pope John Paul II, who would have forgiven his accusers. If life was fair that would have been ‘the rest of the story.’ ”

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

May 2, 2019

We are disappointed that the child endangerment conviction of ex-Penn State president Graham Spanier has been overturned and we hope prosecutors will re-try him.

We fear this news will bring more pain to abuse victims, especially those who were hurt by Coach Jerry Sandusky.

To many abuse victims, it often feels like those who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes escape justice thanks to outdated laws, shrewd lawyering and legal technicalities. That discourages others who see, suspect or suffer abuse from coming forward. And that, in turn, helps predators and their enablers.

Too many in law enforcement seem to focus solely on the ‘low hanging fruit’ – the abusers themselves. All too often, ‘higher ups’ who knew of or suspected the abuse and ignored or hid it escape justice. So we’re grateful to Pennsylvania authorities who pursued Spainer in the first place. And again, we hope they’ll continue to pursue him.

Those who are concealing child sex crimes right show should beware. More and more, police and prosecutors are slowing starting to come for you too. You might breathe a tad easier because of this ruling. But your day of reckoning will come too. So get on the right side of the law, and history, and tell law enforcement what you know about predators now.

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YPSILANTI (MI)
Saginaw News

May 2, 2019

By Gus Burns

A Catholic priest in Ypsilanti has resigned amid claims he sexually harassed a female colleague, the Catholic Diocese of Lansing says.

Rev. Robert Robbenbuck was placed on medical leave in February. The Lansing Diocese announced Roggenbuck’s resignation April 1.

“After his departure on Feb. 13, 2019, in the course of a diocesan inquiry at the parish, an adult female coworker made a credible claim of sexual harassment against him,” the Lansing Diocese said. “Rev. Roggenbuck has not been accused of harming any minors. While no crime has been alleged, the Diocese of Lansing has reported this claim to the Michigan Attorney General.”

Initiated by former Attorney General Bill Schuette, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s is continuing a probe into alleged priest sex abuse across Michigan’s seven Dioceses.

Details of the behavior that led to Roggenbuck’s resignation weren’t revealed.

“All diocesan staff are bound by a code of conduct requiring all priests, employees and lay ministers to uphold Catholic values as they lead the faithful to be more perfect disciples of Jesus Christ,” the Diocese said.

The Lansing Diocese in March announced that Rev. Patrick Egan of Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor Township “had his priestly faculties removed” related to “inappropriate sexual behavior with an adult male.”

A Saginaw priest, Robert Deland, was sentenced last month to between two and 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury and gross indecency between males. Deland was found not guilty of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a separate case

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NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek

May 2, 2019

By Kelly Wynne

A new HBO documentary about Larry Nassar started production before Nassar’s accusers came forward. At the time, the documentary wasn’t specific to Nassar, but it was going to address sexual abuse in American gymnastics as a whole.

Producers Dr. Steven Ungerleider and David Ulich knew about the rumors years ago, but the Nassar case put a spotlight on the U.S. Olympic team. Ungerleider and Ulich wanted to stop sexual abuse in gyms throughout America, which is how At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal was born.

The leading angle wasn’t immediately clear. “We became aware many years ago of this specific behavior,” Ungerleider told Newsweek. “We were talking every day and deeply concerned that things weren’t being addressed. The goal was to educate parents, athletes, people in all aspects of the sport. There are good people out there, and there are really bad people out there. We need to be aware of where our kids are in a gym situation. Who’s checking up on coaches, background checks, hiring? It was more of an educational mindset. This is a horrific tragedy we want to prevent.”

The timing for At The Heart of Gold happened to fall in line with Nassar’s trial. The team set out to film the victim impact statements that opened Nassar’s trial as the first step of the documentary. “We started this project well before [Nassar’s accusations], and started production when the trial started,” Ulich explained to Newsweek. “We were able to just grab our crew to film the victim impact statements.”

Finding their way into this advocacy project was natural for both Ungerleider and Ulich. “This situation has been pervasive for 30 years,” Ungerleider said. “Because we’re known in the elite athlete world, people were calling us asking how they get help.”

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

May 2, 2019

By Patrick Johnson

The creation two months ago of a telephone hot line to report sexual abuse by clergy has received several tips from callers that are being checked out, but so far no new charges, according to the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Gulluni issued a statement on Thursday that said that since the hotline was launched Feb. 26, several people have called it. The statement did not specify a number.

He thanked those who have called the hotline number, and encouraged those who have information on clergy abuse to call as well.

“We understand the resilience it takes for victims to come forward and speak to their past suffering but even an old allegation that you think has gone unaddressed needs to be reviewed by law enforcement. We need to hear from you.”

Gulluni’s communications director James Leydon said that two of the state police detectives assigned to Gulluni’s office have been assigned to investigate allegations that come in through the tip line.

Several calls that have come in have resulted in the detectives actively pursuing follow-up conversations, but so far none of the information has led to the any new charges or arrests, Leydon said.

Gulluni launched the hotline as a result of what he called dissatisfaction with the “inconsistency in reporting” of clergy sexual abuse by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

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CINNAMINSON (NJ)
Patch

May 2, 2019

By Anthony Bellano

A veteran teacher of 22 years in the Cinnaminson Public School District who allegedly impregnated a teenager when he was priest in Connecticut has come under fire over the past several months for comments he made to a female student.

But a state arbitrator has dismissed the district’s attempt to have him removed from his position, saying the attempt is based on “hearsay,” according to court records.

“We are disappointed in the ruling, and we are currently evaluating what options we have moving forward,” Cinnaminson Superintendent of Schools Stephen Cappello said.

Joseph DeShan began teaching at Cinnaminson Middle School and Rush Elementary School in 1996, two years after he left the priesthood. When DeShan was a priest in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he fathered a child with a 16-year-old student, according to court records.

That relationship was reported by newspapers in Connecticut in 2002, and his name appears on a list of credibly accused diocesan priests and accused religious order priests who served in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

He wasn’t charged with any crimes because the woman told her story after the statute of limitations in Connecticut had expired, according to the Harold J. Gerr Law Firm.

Once the alleged pregnancy story became public, he was placed on administrative leave by the Cinnaminson Public School District Board of Education for about three weeks before being allowed to return to work, according to court records.

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OTTAWA (CANADA)
Canadian Catholic News

May 2, 2019

By Deborah Gyapong

Canada’s Catholic bishops and religious men and women have condemned the clerical abuse of women religious in the wake of a French documentary that was aired on television in Quebec.

The April 25 statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) coincided with the airing of a two-part documentary on the sexual abuse of nuns and religious sisters by priests on the French-language channel RDI. The documentary first aired in France on March 5.

“This is a worldwide tragedy acknowledged by Pope Francis and the International Union of Women Superiors General,” the statement said in acknowledging the accusations in the documentary. “This report, like other media reports, highlights the particular vulnerability of young religious women in the Western world, but most importantly the global south.”

The CCCB and CRC “unreservedly condemn these wrongdoings and insist that the perpetrators must be investigated and judged by appropriate civil and ecclesiastical authorities,” said the statement.

The documentary told the stories of several women religious, some from France who were seduced by their priest spiritual director, others by a priest associated with a L’Arche community there. A woman religious from Montreal named Lucie said she was regularly abused by a priest, but was told to “turn the page” and “forget about it.”

Sr. Marie-Paul Ross, a psychotherapist in Quebec, said on the documentary a predator priest had confessed that women religious who became pregnant were forced to have abortions.

The documentary covered abuse by priests in the Community of St. Jean exposed in 2013.

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OTTAWA (CANADA)
Canadian Catholic News

May 2, 2019

By Deborah Gyapong

Canada’s Catholic bishops and religious men and women have condemned the clerical abuse of women religious in the wake of a French documentary that was aired on television in Quebec.

The April 25 statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) coincided with the airing of a two-part documentary on the sexual abuse of nuns and religious sisters by priests on the French-language channel RDI. The documentary first aired in France on March 5.

“This is a worldwide tragedy acknowledged by Pope Francis and the International Union of Women Superiors General,” the statement said in acknowledging the accusations in the documentary. “This report, like other media reports, highlights the particular vulnerability of young religious women in the Western world, but most importantly the global south.”

The CCCB and CRC “unreservedly condemn these wrongdoings and insist that the perpetrators must be investigated and judged by appropriate civil and ecclesiastical authorities,” said the statement.

The documentary told the stories of several women religious, some from France who were seduced by their priest spiritual director, others by a priest associated with a L’Arche community there. A woman religious from Montreal named Lucie said she was regularly abused by a priest, but was told to “turn the page” and “forget about it.”

Sr. Marie-Paul Ross, a psychotherapist in Quebec, said on the documentary a predator priest had confessed that women religious who became pregnant were forced to have abortions.

The documentary covered abuse by priests in the Community of St. Jean exposed in 2013.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

May 2, 2019

By Nicole Winfield

The head of the international umbrella group of nuns said Thursday that religious sisters are increasingly speaking out about sexual and other forms of abuse by clergy, but that their superiors must be better trained to understand the problem and respond.

Maltese Sister Carmen Sammut said superiors must become more at ease speaking about abuse so that the sisters under their care are comfortable bringing cases to their attention. She said training courses are underway or planned and that a key issue is a proper understanding of “obedience” within religious life.

Sammut spoke with reporters Thursday ahead of the triennial assembly next week of the International Union of Superiors General, the umbrella group of female religious superiors representing more than 450,000 religious sisters throughout the world.

She said the issue of abuse of nuns will be raised in unofficial sessions, while the protection of children and “vulnerable adults” is on the official agenda.

The organization, known as UISG, made waves last year when it publicly denounced the “culture of silence and secrecy” surrounding sexual abuse in the church and urged sisters who had been abused by clergy to report the crimes to police and their superiors.

Sister Sally Hodgdon, the organization’s vice president, said training, protocols and awareness programs were needed because sometimes even the sisters themselves don’t understand what abuse is.

“In some countries, women think that if a person abuses her it is OK because they have authority over her,” she said. “In some areas, it is a lack of knowledge, lack of their own confidence in themselves and that they are worth more than they think they are worth.”

Sammut, who attended Francis’ sex abuse prevention summit in February, said that after the summit she was able to more freely speak with the sisters in her own order about the problem because she had the language to use that she didn’t necessarily have before.

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

May 2, 2019

As victims, we are tired of being turned away by Bishop John Barres. As parishioners, you deserve the same answers we seek. Only then can we protect children.

Long Island Catholics, we are asking you to follow your conscience. Give your church donation to your favorite charity instead of to the Church. Bishop Barres will hear our voices louder. You have heard us and we thank you and ask you to only do what you are able to do. We are with each and every parish, fighting for each and every child.

We’re calling on Long Island Catholics to donate generously, but donate elsewhere until Bishop Barres reveals who and where his child molesting clerics are.

Every day that an abuser’s name is hidden, kids are at risk of horrific harm. Bishop Barres must post accused clerics’ names immediately. That’s the only responsible, caring choice to make.

He’ll claim the process takes time. That’s baloney. A full 17 years ago, bishops in Maryland and Arizona posted proven, admitted and credibly accused clerics’ names. There is no excuse for inaction.

At the very least, Bishop Barres should tell us the names of those accused who are alive and may pose threats to children right now.

Rockville Centre is the biggest diocese in the nation that refuses to post such names.

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JERSEY CITY (NJ)
Patch

May 2, 2019

A Jersey City man, Josue Rodriguez, 60, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a underage female victim.

The alleged sex crimes occurred at Templo Refugio, a house of worship located at 322 3rd Street in downtown Jersey City.

The mother of the girl reported the alleged crimes to Jersey City police earlier in the day on April 30.

Rodriguez was arrested in the area of Communipaw Avenue and Bergen Avenue in Jersey City, at just past 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Rodriguez has been charged with aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, among other charges. Hudson County Prosecutor Suarez credited members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit with the arrest.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office SVU is actively investigating this case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Prosecutor’s Office at 201-915-1234 or to leave an anonymous tip on the Hudson County Prosecutor’s official website at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecu… . All information will be kept confidential.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

May 2, 2019

By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

The Church in the whole of Africa urgently needs to catch up on the abuse issue, the Archbishop of Cape Town and former president of the South African bishops’ conference told the German Catholic news agency KNA on 24 April, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

“An honest, transparent and open process” was called for, Archbishop Stephen Brislin said.

Few countries in Africa had obeyed the Vatican’s call for regulations on how to cope with clerical sexual abuse, he recalled. He also regretted the fact that local churches had received little help with this. There were also differences in understanding how to cope with abuse.

Brislin said the Church was going through “the most difficult time since the Reformation” on account of the abuse crisis. It was imperative that the Church in Africa committed itself more seriously to dealing with the problem.

“We can only deal with abuse in one way, namely as a crime.” The abuse of nuns in the Church in Africa would increasingly preoccupy the Church in future, he predicted.

Regarding the twenty-fifth anniversary of democracy in South Africa this year, Brislin said the Church had not done enough to abolish still extant traces of apartheid. Not much had changed in terms of poverty and inequality in many places, such as Cape Town, he noted. Church communities were still often black or white or Coloured (mixed race).

“Some of our parishes traditionally still have three churches – one for each skin colour,” he noted.

After the national elections, on 8 May, it was essential for the president to tackle social inequality in South Africa, he underlined.

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MARYSVILLE (CA)
Appeal Democrat

May 2, 2019

By Rachel Rosenbaum

Six Catholic priests who served in Yuba-Sutter-Colusa churches are accused of sexually abusing victims. The accusations are made in a document released Tuesday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

Bishop Jaime Soto last year ordered the public release of church records indicating sexual abuse. On Tuesday, those records were made public and show that more than 40 priests serving the Sacramento Diocese abused around 130 victims over the past 70 years. The diocese listed another 22 priests from other dioceses.

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Patheos blog

May 1, 2019

By Kate O’Hare

On May 3, the documentary Hesburgh begins hitting select theaters, telling the story of larger-than-life Father Theodore “Ted” Hesburgh, who was president of the University of Notre Dame for 35 years, from 1952 to 1987.

It’s strange, then, that, outside of the admittedly large Notre Dame community, Hesburgh’s association with major issues of our time has faded from view. This film aims to change that.

Ticket and other information on Hesburgh can be found at the official site, HesburghFilm.com.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1917, into a German/Irish Catholic family, Hesburgh became a priest with the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1943, after an education that included stints at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Holy Cross College (part of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana) and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

During his tenure at Notre Dame, Hesburgh was also involved with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the National Science Board and an immigration-reform commission, among many other national and international groups, under presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Jimmy Carter and beyond. He was also close friends with Pope Paul VI.

Hesburgh rubbed shoulders with such luminaries as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and a variety of world leaders. He died in 2015 at the age of 97, having influenced many generations of politicians, activists and students. Among those attending and/or speaking at his funeral were President Carter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, legendary Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, and a variety of U.S. elected officials, including former Senator Alan K. Simpson, who appears in the documentary (as does the current Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi).

Adamantly pro-choice President Barack Obama, whose 2009 invitation to speak and be honored at Notre Dame was supported by the then-retired Hesburgh, made a video announcement at the event. Ironically, also at the funeral was Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose involvement with the investigation of the sex-abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles left a permanent mark on his reputation; and now-defrocked Theodore McCarrick, who lost his red cardinal’s hat and later his priesthood for his own, more personal involvement in the molestation of minors and seminarians.

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

May 1, 2019

We are glad that the legal issues in the Diocese of Duluth, MN are resolved but hope other Catholic bishops avoid the temptation to seek Chapter 11 protection. This process almost inevitably helps complicit church officials keep a lid on their wrongdoing.

We applaud the brave victims who endured years of legal wrangling and hope their patience, and this result, brings them some sorely-needed and long-overdue comfort and closure.

We also hope Duluth Catholics will remain vigilant. Simply moving money from one place to another doesn’t protect kids. When victims, witnesses and whistleblowers call police, and when church-goers insist on honesty from their officials, that protects kids.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield Californian

May 2, 2019

The accusations against Father Craig Harrison are disturbing. Typically, allegations of sex abuse against popular priests are met with disbelief and anger. Many who defend beloved priests attack his accusers, stating that the accusers waited too long, are liars, etc. Most rape and sex abuse victims, especially minors, are scared to come forward, and that’s why they wait a long time. Attacking alleged victims of sex abuse does not serve the community well, nor does it protect victims of sex crimes. This form of bullying should not be tolerated. I commend the brave accusers of Father Harrison.

If you are a victim of clergy abuse, don’t listen to those who do not want you to come forward. You can come forward if you were abused, and your name will be kept secret. Many clergy sex abusers are able to gain confidence of people, and have a fan club — and that enables them to to do the things they do. Protecting kids should be the top priority of the church and the community, not bashing accusers. If you are a victim of abuse, by any priest, contact the police and Attorney General Becerra’s office, who has a form on his website for clergy abuse victims and information.

Joey Piscitelli, Martinez
Joey Piscitelli works with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star Ledger

May 2, 2019

By Matt Arco

Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday night he plans to act soon on a bill that would give victims of sexual assault in New Jersey significantly more time to file lawsuits against their abusers.

Speaking about the legislation, which stalled in the state Legislature for decades and was fiercely opposed by the Catholic Church, Murphy said “it’s past due that we honor” people who are victims of abuse.

“While I don’t have a specific day for you, this is coming to a head literally over the next week or two,” Murphy said in response to a listener’s question on WNYC’s “Ask the Governor” program.

“The victims deserve their day,” he said. “This has been a long time coming.”

But the governor did not specifically say whether he would sign it into law as is or change some of the language in the legislation with a conditional veto, which would then send it back to the Legislature.

Murphy’s response came as proponents of the measure have stepped up calls for Murphy to act.

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WOODLAND (CA)
KCRA TV

May 1, 2019

By Max Resnik

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released the names of 46 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past seven decades.

The clergy named in the list have been credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors or young adults, ages 25 and younger, the diocese said in a news release. The list is based on the personnel records of nearly 1,500 bishops, priests and deacons from 1950 to the present.

Of the 46, nine worked at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
ABC 23 News

May 2, 2019

By Vanessa Romo

Dozens of locals gathered Wednesday evening at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Central Bakersfield in support of Monsignor Craig Harrison.

On April 24th, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno confirmed with 23ABC News that Monsignor Craig was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation surrounding sexual misconduct allegations made by a man who says he was a minor at the time of the alleged abuse. Since then, another victim has come forward, and we’ve learned that a third allegation was made against the monsignor in 1998.

This event was planned since those allegation of sexual misconduct were revealed against the local religious leader, but other locals and a national organization say the vigil should have never happened.

“Whether it’s a priest or anybody,it’s a bad idea to have a vigil, especially at a church,” said Joe Piscatelli with SNAP, know as Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “That would mean the diocese condoned this and that’s a poor move by the bishop to condone people supporting somebody who has multiple accusations of sex abuse. It discourages victims from coming forward because victims feel as though they’re not having a voice.”

The organization sent a statement earlier Wednesday asking the vigil to be canceled. It says the vigil will “impede a police investigation and deter others who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse from coming forward.

But despite their efforts, the vigil went on.

“If Monsignor is watching this, I want him to see that people are still convening in his name, respecting and honoring him and letting him know that we don’t believe these allegations,” said churchgoer Jamie Arias-Aguilar. “We’ll continue to pray. That’s the best we can do.”

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 2, 2019

A Catholic priest in the Ivory Coast has committed suicide after allegations he had abused an underage girl.

Father Richard Bilé served as the associate pastor at the St. Francis of Assisi parish in the village of Affiénou in the southwest of the country. He was found hanged on April 24 by the pastor of the church.

Bishop Raymond Ahoua of Grand-Bassam said the initial findings pointed to suicide, but the police are still continuing their investigation and the diocese is awaiting their determination of the exact cause of death.

The priest’s death came barely a week after Ahoua received a complaint that Bilé had sexually abused a young girl. The local press reported the girl was in the sixth grade.

“Appropriate decisions relating to the matter were taken awaiting the conclusion of Holy Week,” said Father Lambert Lath Yedo, the diocesan spokesman.

Yedo said the process was underway when the diocese learned of the death of Bilé. Local media reported the priest had been suspended from celebrating Mass until the allegations had been fully investigated.

“After learning about the death, Bishop Raymond Ahoua, overwhelmed by sorrow, calls on all and sundry to remain calm,” the spokesman said.

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OWENSBORO (KY)
WKU Radio

May 2, 2019

By Lisa Autry

The Catholic Diocese of Owensboro is recommending that a priest on temporary suspension be removed from public ministry permanently.

Father Joseph Bradley was placed on temporary suspension on March 1 after the Diocesan Review Board determined that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor had been found credible. On March 4, a second individual came forward with a similar complaint.

The allegations dated back to the early 1980s when Bradley was principal of Owensboro Catholic High School.

On April 25, the Diocesan Review Board recommended the allegations be deemed substantiated.

“I have accepted the counsel of the Diocesan Review Board that they believe these allegations have been substantiated,” said Bishop William Medley in a news release.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 2, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

A genuine crisis – not a self-invented melodrama, but an honest-to-God existential threat – is a funny thing, in that often it produces wildly contrasting effects in people. Among some it can generate burning anger and resentment, in others confusion and despair, and in still others only shrugs and ennui.

There’s yet another possibility, however – that in some subset of the population, a crisis will induce a deep hunger for reform, a tighter focus on the essentials, and a strong drive to get things right.

According to faculty and students at Rome’s Pontifical North American College, the seminary for future U.S. priests in the Eternal City, that last effect is strikingly common among today’s seminary cohort. If true, it suggests the tantalizing possibility that the horrors of the clerical sexual abuse crisis may, against all odds, result in a stronger generation of priests down the line – or, at the very least, a generation clearer about what’s at stake.

“None of us would have asked for this scandal and the hurt it’s caused,” said Father Peter Harman, a priest of Springfield, Ill., and rector of the NAC since 2016. “But perhaps, and I trust in God’s goodness, if this makes us want to be priests for the right reasons, then let it be.”

Father Louis Masi, a 28-year-old student priest from New York, said part of those “right reasons” today is a drive to be part of the solution rather than the problem.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday

May 2, 2019

By Bart Jones

Advocates for clergy sex abuse victims plan to protest Thursday outside St. Agnes Cathedral, demanding that the Diocese of Rockville Centre release a list of credibly accused clergy.

The diocese said this week that it will not release such a list now but may do so in the future.

The advocacy group SNAP, which was organizing Thursday’s protest, called on Rockville Centre Bishop John Barres to immediately post credibly accused clerics’ names, at least those who are living “and pose threats to children right now.”

“Every day that a predator’s name is hidden, kids are at risk of horrific abuse,” the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said in a statement.

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KOCHI (INDIA)
Religion News Service

May 1, 2019

In the dirt courtyard of St. Teresa’s Women’s College, in this port city in the southern Indian state of Kerala, a group of nuns cast curious glances toward a knot of chatty first-year students huddled together. The young women are mindful not to speak too loud, lest the sisters overhear the topic of their conversation — the alleged rape of a nun by the bishop who oversees a local religious order.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, a native of Kerala, an enclave of Christians in predominantly Hindu India, is accused of attacking the nun nine times between 2014 and 2016.

What has made the charge of rape more shocking is the Catholic Church’s silence about the allegations.

“Clergy are to be respected no matter how bad,” said 17-year old Catherine, who asked that her last name not be used. “Whatever they do, it must be covered up by the church.”

Mulakkal is facing charges more than two years after the victim, whose name is being withheld, reported the alleged attack to church authorities. When no action followed, the nun approached several bishops, a cardinal and eventually the Vatican’s diplomatic envoy in India, telling them that Mulakkal had raped her while visiting Kerala from his diocese in the northern city of Jalandhar.

The bishop customarily stayed at the survivor’s convent in Kuravilangad, a city two hours’ drive from Kochi, when he returned to his home state.

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FRESNO (CA)
KQED

May 1, 2019

By Alexandra Hall

District attorneys offices throughout the Central Valley are banding together to audit the Catholic Diocese of Fresno’s review of its own records for cases of possible sexual abuse, according to Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno.

At least seven counties, including Fresno and Kern, have agreed to review files or receive cases for prosecution in their jurisdictions.

Earlier this year the Fresno Diocese announced it would conduct an independent review of clergy files dating back to 1922 and release a list of priests accused of sexual misconduct, an effort that other Catholic dioceses around the country have made in recent months.

The diocese hired former FBI Executive Assistant Director Dr. Kathleen McChesney of Kinsale Management Consulting to go through the diocesan records.

Moreno said she aims to make her own determination about whether the review is handled properly. Prosecutors from her office will identify records that could be handed over to law enforcement and cases that can still be prosecuted under the state’s statute of limitations. Those that involve priests who are currently active in the community will be a high priority, Moreno said.

“The Catholic Church as a whole, they don’t have — at this point — credibility to carry forward this kind of an investigation on their own,” Moreno said. “I think they understand that they need help demonstrating that they’re being transparent and if they’re not being transparent, then we’re there to expose that.”

So far, district attorneys’ offices in Merced, Tulare, Inyo, and Mariposa counties have also agreed to participate. The Catholic Diocese of Fresno covers eight counties and extends to the Nevada state line.

“(Moreno) asked me if I’d be interested and I said definitely. I’m definitely interested,” said Mariposa County District Attorney Walter Wall. “The church as an entity has not been the best watchdog of itself. I think it’s important the elected officials who are accountable to the public look at those records and draw their own conclusions for the benefit of the public.”

District attorneys from Kern and Tulare counties said they would not personally review files but would assist in investigating and prosecuting cases that might surface during the course of the audit, which will be led by Moreno’s office.

Moreno, who is Catholic, said she had the idea for the audit soon after taking office in January. She accelerated plans to begin the review this summer because of allegations made recently against a long-time Bakersfield priest, Reverend Monsignor Craig Harrison.

In April, two men accused Harrison of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Harrison has served as pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Bakersfield for nearly two decades. He is also the chaplain for the Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff’s Office.

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Patheos blog

May 1, 2019

By Deacon Greg Kandra

A former priest in the Lafayette Diocese was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty last month to sexually abusing a 16-year-old altar boy four years ago.

Michael Guidry, the 76-year-old former pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, confessed to the crime in June, after Bishop Douglas Deshotel announced the allegation. As part of his plea deal, Guidry was required to stay in Acadia Parish until his sentencing, turn over his passport and be placed on the sex offender registry.

Guidry faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. Judge Alonzo Harris of the 27th Judicial District Court in Opelousas imposed the maximum, including three years of probation. Harris also ordered Guidry to complete treatment for sex offenders.

Peyton’s family sued Guidry and the diocese in August, claiming that a diocesan official said they would discontinue therapy for the victim and his family should they file suit. The family’s attorney also provided a letter from the diocese acknowledging there was a luncheon held in honor of Guidry after the allegations were reported.

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CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Canberra Times

May 1, 2019

Weighing in on recent criticism of the National Redress Scheme by a federal parliamentary committee, Jason Parkinson, principal at Porters Lawyers, says the $3.8 billion scheme to compensate people who were sexually abused as children in Australian institutions is the ”pink batts” of child abuse compensation.

Porters, a leading Canberra, Sydney and Wollongong rights-based law firm, specialises in litigation for individuals. ”People are going to sign up for the redress scheme, where they are being told the average compensation is $81,000 – so they’re already telling people what they’re going to receive before even assessing the cases. ‘Then these people will discover, according to law, their compensation for general damages alone ranges between $100,000 – $300,000, let alone compensation for ongoing medical treatment and economic loss they may have suffered,” says Parkinson. ”Once they deal with the National Redress Scheme, they have extinguished all their common law rights.”

The scheme was created after recommendations were made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It started on July 1, 2018, and will run for 10 years. As of March 22, more than 3300 applications have been received and 115 redress payments made. The five-year Royal Commission made 74 recommendations on how a national redress scheme should operate.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Post Standard

May 1, 2019

By Julie McMahon

The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has paid nearly $11 million to settle claims with 79 sex abuse victims, according to a report released today.

The Independent Reconciliation Compensation Program was administered by New York City lawyers Camille Biros and Kenneth Feinberg, who have handled victims’ funds after tragedies including 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing.

Bishop Robert Cunningham announced the program in February 2018. It was initially expected to conclude in the fall, but officials said some victims took additional time to decide whether to accept offers by the IRCP.

A total of 88 people applied to the program for compensation. Program administrators made offers to 85 claimants, and 79 accepted the offers. Victims who took the offers signed releases that prohibit them from filing lawsuits.

Just four claimants did not respond to their offers, and two victims declined compensation altogether. That includes Kevin Braney, who recently filed a lawsuit against the diocese. Braney and others were only able to sue in New York state after the Legislature passed the Child Victims Act in January, expanding the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

Church officials wrote in a report that the entire program cost about $12.5 million. About $1.5 million was for administrative costs, according to the report. Compensation cost $10,922,500.

In December, the diocese named 57 priests with credible claims of child sex abuse against them.

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PARKERSBURG (WV)
West Virginia Record

May 1, 2019

By Chris Dickerson

The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office alleging it and a former bishop knowingly employed pedophiles.

The AG’s complaint, filed March 19 in Wood Circuit Court, also says the Diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield failed to conduct adequate background checks for those working at the Diocese’s schools and camps, all without disclosing the inherent danger to parents who purchased its services for their children. The lawsuit alleges those actions lacked transparency and stood in sharp contrast to the Diocese’s advertised mission of providing a safe learning environment.

In the dismissal motion filed last month, attorneys for the Diocese and Bransfield say the AG’s office failed to show a violation of the consumer credit and protection act.

A statement from the Diocese after the suit was filed dismissed the allegations, saying the suit does not “fairly portray its overall contributions to the education of children in West Virginia nor fairly portray the efforts of its hundreds of employees and clergy who work every day to deliver quality education in West Virginia.”

Morrisey said the Diocese’s motion to dismiss lacks merit, and he said his office will respond in court.

“Meanwhile, our lawsuit documents the Diocese’s long pattern of covering up and keeping secret the criminal behavior of priests as it relates to sexual abuse of children,” Morrisey told The West Virginia Record. “Not until our office subpoenaed information did the Diocese publish a list of priests that it deemed to have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, and even then that list did not detail the Diocese’s failure to conduct adequate background checks for those working at its schools and camps.

“Furthermore, even while the Diocese talks about turning over some materials, it continues to withhold other documents subject to our subpoenas, a lack of cooperation that inhibits the state’s ability to complete its investigation. Those who pay tuitions to fund the Diocese’s schools and camps deserve a safe learning environment just as the Diocese advertises — not years of cover up and concealment as detailed in our lawsuit.

“Now is the time for meaningful change. The Diocese should come clean with what it knows and focus its efforts on restoring the public’s trust, and that begins with transparency.”

Morrisey was talking about transparency in March when his office first filed the suit.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
ABC 23 News

May 1, 2019

By Kelly Broderick

The Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests (SNAP) is calling for the vigil scheduled tonight for Monsignor Craig Harrison to be canceled

On April 25, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno confirmed with 23ABC News that Monsignor Craig Harrison of St. Francis Church in Bakersfield, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation surrounding sexual misconduct allegations made by a man who says he was a minor at the time of the alleged abuse.

According to a letter, sent by leaders of SNAP, the vigil being held tonight would “impede a police investigation and deter others who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse from coming forward.”

A copy of SNAP’s letter can be read below:

Dear Bishop Brennan:

As you no doubt know, tonight some of your flock plans to hold a vigil in support of an accused molester. Please, for the sake of innocent kids, wounded victims, law enforcement and indeed for your diocese itself, we beg you to do all you can to stop this ill-advised event.

It will impede a police investigation and deter others who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse from coming forward.

Backers of Msgr. Craig Harrison are no doubt well-intentioned. Still, they’ll do great harm tonight if they proceed. As their shepherd, you can – and should – guide them. You must tell them their vigil will scare and depress others, including kids who are being molested today by other predators, into staying silent. That will endanger more children.

Imagine you’re fourteen. Your coach is abusing you. He says “If you tell, no one will believe you.” You know he’s popular and charismatic. You’re torn. Then, you turn on the TV and see Catholics insisting that their popular and charismatic priest is innocent. Imagine how that would feel. Imagine that struggling child then withdrawing further into his or her shell, keeping quiet, and continuing to suffer. And imagine that coach molesting two or three other kids at the same time.

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ATLANTA (GA)
Journal Constitution

May 1, 2019

By Shelia M. Poole

Peter J. Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, has one goal in the review of sex abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Savannah Diocese.

“We will follow the facts where they lead us and go from there,” said Skandalakis, a career prosecutor, who joined PAC last year after more than two decades in public office. There could be further investigation or, perhaps, prosecutions by local district attorneys.

“Our role is to make sure this is an open and transparent investigation so that the public has faith that any past errors will not be repeated and, from this point going forward, cases like this will be handled differently in accordance with the law,” Skandalakis said in a Wednesday interview.

The state Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council is a judicial branch government agency that supports Georgia prosecutors and staffs.

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CONCORD (NH)
Concord Monitor

May 1, 2019

By Alyssa Dandrea

A service to atone for the sexual abuse and misconduct suffered by St. Paul’s School students over decades has stirred feelings of confusion and anger for some victims and alumni, while others who helped plan the event are calling it an important step in a long-term healing process.

At the school’s Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul this Saturday, “A Service of Repentance toward Healing: Witness, Lament, and Apology for Abuse at St. Paul’s School” will include prayer, music, moments of silence and a homily delivered by alumna Valerie Webster, an Episcopal priest and childhood sexual assault survivor. The service will be led by Dean of Chapel Alice Courtright and Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta Robert Wright, who has served on the school’s board of trustees since 2017. All members of the St. Paul’s community, past and present, can attend; however, the service is closed to the general public.

A subcommittee of the school’s Alumni Association, known as “Alumni Doorways,” conceived of the service months ago as one way to connect with former students harmed at St. Paul’s, with the goal of meeting them wherever they’re at in their healing journey, said Alisa Barnard, the association’s executive director and member of the Class of 1994.

But not everyone is on the same page about the service’s intent and its timing.

For alumni who disclosed sexual abuse committed by their teachers long ago and were ignored, they say the service is coming too little too late. They argue the school should not be asking for forgiveness from God but from the victims who should each have a chance to be heard and to confront their abusers.

For others, plans for Saturday’s service feel years premature and ill-conceived because they say the school is only beginning to confront its history as truths emerge from the shadows.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Catholic News Service

May 1, 2019

by Catholic News ServiceSacramento Bishop Jaime Soto published a list of 44 priests and two permanent deacons from the diocese that have been credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors or young adults, aged 25 and under.

The list, published April 30, is based on a review of the personnel records of nearly 1,500 bishops, priests and permanent deacons conducted by diocesan staff and an independent consulting firm retained by the diocese. It spans seven decades, from 1950 to the present.

“This list is heartbreaking. It is a sickening and sobering account of the history of sex abuse by clergy in our diocese,” said Soto. “It is repulsive to see the evil acts that were perpetrated upon innocent children and young people entrusted to our care.”

The bishop said: “the accounting had to be done. I need to own and atone for what happened in the church’s name. I have to be accountable to God and his people. That can only be done where there is transparency.”

The list was compiled by the diocese with the assistance of Kinsale Management Consulting headed by Kathleen McChesney, formerly the third ranking official at the FBI and the founding administrator of the Office of Child Protection at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. None of the men listed are currently in ministry with the diocese.

For the purposes of this list, “credible” represents a reasonable person’s conclusion that, based on the information at hand, the accusation is more likely to be true than not.

The list is available on line at www.scd.org/clergyabuse. It is divided into five parts: priests from the diocese; priests from religious orders; priests from other dioceses; permanent deacons; and priests who briefly served or lived in the diocese, but where the alleged incidents of abuse occurred outside the diocese.

Each name on the list is linked to a file showing the name of the priest or deacon, his status or last known location and other biographical information. It lists his diocesan assignments and provides information on the nature of the alleged abuse, when it took place and when it was reported to the diocese.

Also on April 30, Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr announced the start of an investigation into past sexual abuse claims within the Catholic Church in Georgia.

The state’s two bishops, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory and Savannah Bishop Gregory Hartmayer, issued similar statements April 30 saying they offered “full support and cooperation” for the third-party file review and were doing so “in the spirit of continued transparency and concern over the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States.”

The bishops agreed to a memorandum of understanding concerning the process and both expressed “genuine concern for all who have been hurt directly or indirectly by abuse of any kind by anyone.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

May 1, 2019

By Julie Zauzmer

The news that Georgia’s attorney general is investigating sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, coming just after Atlanta’s Archbishop Wilton Gregory was chosen for the top job in Washington’s Catholic church, came as yet another blow to those who had been hoping for a relief from scandal when their new archbishop arrives.

Gregory, 71, has been cast as a much-needed reformer for the Archdiocese of Washington. Within the past year, ex-archbishop Theodore McCarrick was disgraced and defrocked after accusations that he committed sexual abuse, and then his successor Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the leader of Washington’s Catholics for the past 12 years, retired early due to revelations about his own handling of abuse cases.

When Pope Francis picked Gregory last month to replace Wuerl, many Catholics hopefully heralded Gregory as someone who could clean house.

On Tuesday, Atlanta media cast a pallor over that hope, by reporting that the archdiocese that Gregory has led for the last 14 years, in Atlanta, is the latest of dozens of dioceses nationwide to be the target of a criminal investigative probe.

“Washington is both a wounded church, and a vital and diverse Catholic community. What we don’t need is PTSD [from another investigation]. Hopefully we’ll avoid that. That depends on the result,” said John Carr, who worked with Gregory at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the 2002 crisis and who spoke out in the past year about his own childhood abuse.

He said he still trusts that Gregory can steer Washington’s Catholics faithfully. “Let me be clear, no one did enough. But Archbishop Gregory showed courage and compassion and urgency in addressing this crisis in 2002 and since then. He has been a leader and I expect him to continue to be a leader.”

In statements, the Atlanta archdiocese and the Savannah diocese both said that they support the investigation and had entered into a “memorandum of understanding” to provide their cooperation, which seemed to mean access to previously private diocesan files on priests.

The bishops said that the investigation would eventually lead to a published report.

Joe Grace, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, said on Wednesday that since that state completed its massive inquiry into sexual abuse by Catholic priests last summer, documenting abuse of more than 1,000 children by more than 300 clergy over a span of 70 years, Attorney General Josh Shapiro and his top staff have spoken with the attorneys general of 45 states. Following Pennsylvania’s example and acting on the belief that similar abuse took place in secret in every state, many of these attorneys general launched investigations last year. Georgia’s Chris Carr is now the latest.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
Long Island Herald

April 11, 2019

By Anthony O’Reilly

When I see stories of sexual abuse by clergy members, I’m often angry with many people. Mostly, I’m angry with those who allowed the abuse to go on uninterrupted for years, whether they be church officials who helped cover it up, or the older generation of Catholics, who wouldn’t believe victims because they didn’t think priests would commit such heinous acts.

For years, it seemed so easy to me: Catholics are taught from an early age not to lie, and that withholding the truth is a form of lying. At Mass, we often hear of the Golden Rule preached by Jesus Christ: “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:12.) How, then, could we hear of these horrible acts and not want to expose the bad priests and bring an end to the abuse? Doesn’t our faith command us to do so?

I always thought I would speak up if I found myself in that situation. But I didn’t.

In 2011, I worked as a sacristan, setting the altar before Mass and caring for the church, at my home parish of Holy Family in Fresh Meadow, Queens. One of the priests, the Rev. Lou Aufiero, was an old family friend who had baptized my youngest brother. For months we got along well, and talked often in the rectory. But our relationship changed after what started as an innocent discussion about my ethnicity. “My father is Irish and my mother is Hungarian,” I told him.

“You know what’s the good thing about Hungarians?” he asked. I shook my head, not knowing where he was going with this. “They’re good-looking and well-hung,” he answered with a chuckle. I remember being in shock for the rest of the day, and for a few days after that, at what he had said.

From then on, I viewed Aufiero’s friendly gestures with suspicion, and tried my best to keep my distance from him, though I acted cordial when in his presence. I was 19 at the time, and never thought I was in any danger around him. Still, something about him never seemed right after that remark.

I told only a handful of people what had happened, mostly close friends and one of my brothers. But I never reported the incident, even as I heard others’ stories about what they saw as Aufiero’s suspicious behavior.

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DULUTH (MN)
Star Tribune

May 1, 2019

By Dan Browning

The Diocese of Duluth and its insurers have agreed to a $40 million settlement with 125 plaintiffs who said they were sexually abused as children by clergy and others in the diocese.

As part of the agreement, the diocese has agreed to relinquish secret files on 37 priests who it had determined were credibly accused of abuse. It also must develop procedures to ensure that children will be protected from such abuse going forward.

The settlement is pending approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; the Diocese filed for protection from its creditors in December 2015. Under the agreement, the diocese must pay $10 million and the balance will be paid by its insurers.

The Diocese of Duluth’s bankruptcy claim is similar to one filed by the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, which announced its intentions in November.

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester set a deadline of April 8 for those wishing to file a claim to do so. As of last November, a total of 121 claims had been filed against the diocese, naming 17 priests. Many of them were filed as a result of the state’s Child Victims Act, which lifted the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse for three years.

Settlement negotiations are ongoing.

Jeff Anderson, who represents 120 of the claimants against the Diocese of Duluth, called the settlement “vindication and validation” for clergy sex abuse victims who he said held the Diocese and Catholic bishops accountable financially and by demanding disclosure of what was known by top Diocesan officials.

“We applaud the courage and patience of the survivors, who have handled this difficult process with grace and strength. They have accomplished so much for the protection of children and for themselves,” Anderson said. He said the settlement may bring some comfort to other survivors of clergy abuse, knowing that they were not alone.

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Get Religion blog

May 1, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

What are you supposed to think when you pick up the newspaper in your driveway and see a headline that proclaims, “Catholic Church In Crisis”?

I don’t know about you, but this question immediately jumps into my mind: OK, so which Catholic crisis are we talking about?

Thus, when I started reading the massive USA Today feature (which ran on A1 in several Gannett newspapers in Tennessee, of course) on this subject, I assumed that the “crisis” in question was the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal. However, I wanted to see (a) if this feature would accurately note how long this scandal has latest and (b) whether it would place the sexual-abuse crisis in the context of several other major problems in the American church (and the Western world in general). Also, if the USA Today team connected sexual abuse to any other issues, what would those issues be?

Right up front, readers learn that the “crisis” is people leaving the Catholicism or seriously thinking about doing so. That’s interesting and a valid way to approach the current state of things.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

April 30, 2019

By Claire Giangravè

Members of a global anti-clerical abuse network met with the Argentine Ambassador to the Holy See, Rogelio Francisco Emilio Pfirter, on Monday to promote initiatives in support of “zero tolerance” in Pope Francis’s native land.

“Argentina is also the land of Pope Francis, and we thought it was important to bring forward certain requests to the Argentine government,” said Francesco Zanardi, president and founder of Italy’s most prominent survivor network Rete l’abuso, in an April 29 interview with Crux.

Unlike the situation in Italy, Zanardi said, actions to promote accountability and transparency in Argentina are proceeding “very well.”

The Italian clerical abuse survivor and activist led a delegation of “Ending Clarical Abuse,” (ECA), a global network of survivors, during a meeting Monday with the ambassador in Rome only a stone’s throw from the Vatican.

From May 3-6, ECA will launch a series of initiatives in Argentina calling Francis to address the growing concerns about clerical abuse and cover-up in the country.

The pope hasn’t traveled to his native country in the six years since the beginning of his pontificate. Despite bishops from all over the world generally being required to come to the Vatican for an ad limina visit every five years, meaning “to the threshold” of the apostles, the Argentinian episcopacy will be travelling to Rome for the first time since 2009 in the coming weeks.

Some believe that the upcoming visit from Argentine bishops is meant to encourage Francis to return to his homeland.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield Californian

May 1, 2019

By Ema Sasic and Sam Morgen

A prayer vigil being held tonight in support of Monsignor Craig Harrison has received some backlash from members of the community, even calling for the cancellation of the event.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, penned a letter to Fresno Catholic Bishop Joseph V. Brennan to cancel the vigil because it “will impede a police investigation and deter others who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse from coming forward.”

“Backers of Msgr. Craig Harrison are no doubt well-intentioned. Still, they’ll do great harm tonight if they proceed,” the letter stated. “As their shepherd, you can — and should — guide them. You must tell them their vigil will scare and depress others, including kids who are being molested today by other predators, into staying silent.”

Joey Piscitelli, the northern California leader for SNAP, said he’s seen vigils such as the one scheduled for 6 p.m. today at St. Francis Church in the past. When a priest has a large following in the community, often their supporters “bash” the alleged victims.

“We understand that a lot of people want to support him, but the problem is that’ll scare alleged victims from coming forward,” he said. “They’ll think they’re outnumbered and that they’ll be bashed.”

Piscitelli said when he came forward after a priest abused him, supporters of the priest called him a “liar.”

“They’re not involved or know what happened,” Piscitelli said. “They’re not a party to the act, so how could they call victims liars?”

Piscitelli said he is planning on putting on a vigil for alleged victims the “early part of next week.” He and other SNAP members will pass out pamphlets with more information on next steps to take if someone is allegedly abused by a priest.

News of the vigil sparked more than 70 comments on The Californian’s Facebook page.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
WSHU Radio

May 1, 2019

By Margaret Osborne

The Diocese of Rockville Center will not release the names of priests who were accused of abusing children.

Other dioceses have published such lists. The Archdiocese of New York released the names of 115 priests and five deacons on Friday. Connecticut’s three Catholic dioceses have also released lists.

Newsday reports that investigations are still ongoing, but none of the priests or deacons under investigation are currently active in the diocese.

A priest in Manorhaven stepped down after allegations of child abuse earlier this month.

Last year lawyers released a report naming 51 alleged child molesters who are associated with the Diocese of Rockville Center.

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star Ledger

May 1, 2019

By Kelly Heyboer

A veteran Burlington County teacher who had a baby with a 16-year-old girl while he was a Catholic priest nearly 30 years ago should not lose his job because of his past, a state arbitrator told the school district.

Cinnaminson school officials brought up tenure charges against middle school teacher Joseph DeShan earlier this year after parents learned about his history as a priest in the diocese in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

DeShan left the priesthood in 1994, four years after he impregnated a teenage girl in a church youth group he had allegedly been sexually abusing since she was 14, according to news reports in Connecticut newspapers after the relationship was revealed in 2002.

By then, DeShan was already a popular teacher in Cinnaminson. School officials removed him from the classroom for three weeks in 2002 while they investigated. But he quickly returned to teaching after some parents and students rallied to his defense.

Earlier this year, the school district changed its mind and filed tenure charges against DeShan after the parents of current students learned about the former priest’s past and complained to the school board that a “rapist” was teaching their children at Cinnaminson Middle School.

DeShan is included on a list of current and former clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse released by the Diocese of Bridgeport. DeShan said the sexual relationship with the teenager was consensual and he was never prosecuted in Connecticut due to the statute of limitations law on sexual abuse.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee

April 30, 2019

By Marcos Breton

After publishing the list of priests credibly accused of molesting children within the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento over the last 70 years, the first email I received was from a gentleman concerned with the image of the church:

“Demonizing the Catholic Church. Well it’s just wrong,” he wrote. “It sends a message that like 90 percent of priests are sexual abusers. You have to go to page 7, deep into the article to read that 3 percent are abusers. That’s 3 percent too much. But it’s shameful the need to sensationalize. To focus and unfairly categorize. Attack an institution like the Catholic Church because it sells papers?”

He then emailed me a Bee story about homeless people being evicted by the county from a camp on Stockton Boulevard and asked: “What percentage of sexual predators within this community? Do a study. Will it hit the headlines? Front page. Above the fold.”

This is a common refrain about the coverage of pedophile priests within the Catholic Church. The argument being: It’s a small percentage. It’s a few bad apples. Why are you condemning the whole church?

Well, as a cradle Catholic and a journalist for more than 30 years, I can’t categorize these complaints as anything other than denial. Yes, the names of Catholic priests that Sacramento’s Diocese made public on Tuesday – 44 in all – constituted about 3 percent of personnel files of priests, bishops and deacons who have ministered to Catholics from Vallejo to the Oregon.

And three notorious former priests – Francisco Javier, Mario Blanco and Gerardo Beltran – accounted for almost half of the 130 victims in the list of sexual abuse cases made public by the diocese.

Does that mean many wonderful priests have tended to the spiritual well being of Catholics throughout the region? It is absolutely true. My life has been enriched by knowing wonderful men such as Monsignor James Murphy, the former vicar of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

The late Bishop Francis Quinn was as dear a man as you would ever meet and one of the most beloved figures in Sacramento of the last half century.

The current Bishop, Jaime Soto, is a fine man who is trying to bring more transparency to a church that once shielded pedophiles and moved them around to different parishes, where they preyed on more people.

So how do we balance the good within the church with the criminals who abused children and, in too many instances, got away with it?

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 1, 2019

By Inés San Martín

There’s no such thing as a dull moment when it comes to the Catholic Church in Latin America, Pope Francis’s backyard and home to an estimated 40 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.

Tuesday was, once again, a day of revolt and protest in Venezuela, where an ongoing crisis has led a country with the world’s 10th largest oil reserve into a place where an estimated 96 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

With Juan Guaido, leader of the opposition and proclaimed president by the General Assembly leading the Operación Libertad, or Operation Freedom, hundreds of thousands took to the streets with the support of at least one military base that revolted against President Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez.

Maduro won elections last year, but the result was rejected by the opposition, the country’s General Assembly and many foreign countries and institutions, including the European Union. Guaido was sworn in as a rival temporary president in January, but Maduro never stepped down.

The bishops, who are gathered in their national assembly from April 29 to May 1, are expected to release a statement during the last day of the meeting, and at press time they hadn’t yet made any official comments on Tuesday’s revolt.

However, the Venezuelan bishops in the past have been very vocal against Maduro.

Among those who spoke is Cardinal Jorge Urosa, emeritus Archbishop of Caracas, who told the French newspaper La Croix that the bishops are “appalled.”

“The government has ruined Venezuela with the application of a totalitarian economic, political, statist, Marxist-style plan that has ruined agriculture and industry,” Urosa said.

Bishop Fernando Castro of Margarita had a reflection published by the conference on its Facebook page right before the assembly began, comparing Venezuela to Paris after the Cathedral of Notre Dame was engulfed by flames on Monday of Holy Week.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

May 1, 2019

By Matt Malone, S.J.

Since last summer I have taken part in about a dozen panels and programs across this country that were organized to discuss the causes and consequences of the crisis of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic clergy. I have visited several cities and met people from every walk of life—victims, survivors, bishops, priests and religious, lay leaders, moms and dads, young and old. It has been humbling, enlightening and inspiring to take part in these important conversations—the most important conversation we could ever have.

As you might imagine, there are recurring insights and themes. And not a few people have named what they believe to be the principal cause or causes of this catastrophic phenomenon. Even Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, recently weighed in, arguing in an open letter that the cultural and sexual revolution of the 1960s created the conditions in which evils like sexual abuse could flourish. After 1968, he wrote, “there could no longer be anything that constituted an absolute good any more than anything fundamentally evil; there could be only relative value judgments.” The danger of relativism is not a new theme for Benedict. And I have expressed similar concerns about the loss of absolutes, often citing his insights about this phenomenon in this column.

But it is precisely this familiarity that troubles me. The cause of the greatest crisis facing the contemporary church just happens to be the very same thing about which Benedict has been concerned for his entire career? That seems suspicious, almost as if he might have had his answer before he had his question, the kind of inverted reasoning one usually finds in ideological and similarly circular forms of thought. Of course, even if such thinking is at work, it doesn’t necessarily follow that Benedict’s conclusion is wrong. But it does give me pause, all the more because I have discerned a similar pattern in the observations, commentaries and conclusions of many people in the U.S. church, some of whom are sympathetic to Benedict’s worldview and some of whom are not.

I have heard, for example, from a number of people who have been concerned for many years about homosexuality per se, or the presence of a large number of homosexuals among the Catholic clergy, that what caused the sexual abuse crisis in the church was homosexuality per se or the large number of homosexuals among the Catholic clergy. Similarly, I have heard from a number of people who have been concerned for many years about the lack of female ecclesiastical leaders that what caused the sexual abuse crisis in the church was the lack of female ecclesiastical leaders. I have also heard from people who have expressed deep concern over the years about the culture of clericalism in the church that what caused the sexual abuse crisis was the culture of clericalism in the church.

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

April 30, 2019

The Diocese of Sacramento has finally released its list of clergy “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children. There are 62 names on the list, including at least 25 that, as far as we can tell, have never been publicly identified before:

Fr. Thomas Allender, SJ; Deacon Alejandro Arroyo; Fr. James Casey; Fr. Robert Casper, SDS; Fr. Andrew Coffey; Fr. Malachy Conway; Fr. Pablo Cortes, SDB; Fr. John Crowley; Fr. Michael Dermody; Fr. Thomas Dermody; Fr. John Dowling; Fr. Oscar Figueroa; Fr. John Hannon; Fr. David Hernandez Cota; Fr. Joseph Hoan, Diocese of Long Xuyen, South Vietnam; Fr. Michael Lynch; Deacon Jesus Magallanes; Fr. James Mennis; Fr. Luis Michael O’Halloran, OP; Fr. Z. Enrique Perez, CO; Fr. Vernon Petrich, SDS; Fr. Michael Proulx, OSsT; Fr. William Storan; Fr. Simon Twomey; Fr. John “Casper” Watts, CP.

Eight of the 62 have not previously been associated with abuse in the Diocese of Sacramento:

Fr. David Brusky, SDS; Fr. Charles Gormley, Diocese of Cheyenne WY; Fr. Victor Marron, Diocese of Clogher, Ireland; Fr. Luis Martinez, SF; Fr. Kevin O’Brien, OCarm; Fr. James McSorley, OMI; Fr. Oliver O’Grady, Diocese of Stockton CA; Fr. Luke Zimmer, SSCC.

However, there are at least 17 others, who have been publicly identified as abusers and who worked in the Diocese of Sacramento, who are not included on the list:

Fr. Raymond Devlin; Fr. Martin Donnelly; Fr. Mark A. Falvey; Br. William C. Farrington; Fr. Michael M. Garry; Fr. Patrick Gleeson; Fr. Gunter Klingenbrunner; Fr. James F. Kuntz; Fr. Angelo C. Mariano; Michael Martis; Fr. Cornelius F. O’Connor; Fr. Charles J. Onorato; Fr. Umberto Penunuri; Fr. Jose Ribeiro; Fr. Renerio Sabuga Jr.; Fr. Stephen Speciale (Specialle); Fr. Philip Sunseri.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

May 1, 2019

By Michelle Boorstein

Georgia’s attorney general Tuesday has followed more than a dozen state prosecutors by reportedly opening a probe into sex abuse claims against the Catholic Church – this time in a region whose leader heads in a few weeks to take over the scandal-ridden Archdiocese of Washington.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta reported that Attorney General Chris Carr and others have been working on the case since summer, and the investigation itself is just starting, the outlets reported.

Carr told Channnel 2 that his office has been in “open dialogue” with the church and that Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory encouraged them to do the investigation. Georgia has a second Catholic diocese, based in Savannah, which is also included in the probe.

Pope Francis in early April named Gregory to replace Cardinal Donald Wuerl, a longtime administrator in Pittsburgh and Washington who resigned in the fall after coming under fire for his handling of abuse cases. Wuerl’s handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church was scrutinized in a grand jury report out of Pennsylvania last summer about the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. That report led multiple state prosecutors to open investigations of their own.

It wasn’t clear what specific evidence or cases, if any, led Carr to open the probe into the Atlanta and Savannah dioceses. Some of the states that recently began investigating the church said they assumed the problems and cover-ups named in Pennsylvania exist everywhere, and that they mostly want to hear from victims to be sure crimes committed are punished.

Carr told the Atlanta media that the investigation will be handled by Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council. If any prosecutions come out of the investigation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, they’ll be handled on a local level, he said.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

May 1, 2019

By Ed Palattella

In April 2018, Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico released the first version of the Catholic Diocese of Erie’s list of clergy and laypeople credibly accused of sexual abuse and other misconduct with minors.

A year later, the list continues to grow — it started with 51 names and is now at 81 — and so has the diocese’s financial exposure.

As state lawmakers extended their debate about whether to adjust the statute of limitations to allow abuse victims to sue over old cases, Persico joined other dioceses statewide and created a compensation fund to pay claims to victims outside of court.

The dioceses made their moves after the statewide grand jury’s report on the abuse crisis recommended rolling back the statute of limitations to allow more victims to sue.

The six-month claims period for the Erie diocese’s fund ends in August, and Persico said the diocese has already wrapped up six claims. And while Persico said the 13-county diocese has set aside funds to cover the payments, he also told the Erie Times-News on Tuesday that the abuse crisis has strained the diocese’s finances.

“We’re not bankrupt yet,” Persico said. “But we’re fortunate that there was good and frugal management of the finances. All of this investigation, whether with the grand jury or what we’re doing on our own, has cost us a great deal of money.

“But I think the spending is well worth it, because we really need to clean this up and try to get it right.”

Persico spoke to the Erie Times-News during a 30-minute interview that was streamed live on Facebook. The interview focused on how the Catholic Diocese of Erie has responded to the abuse crisis under Persico, 68, who started as bishop in October 2012.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit News

April 30, 2019

By Dawud Walid and Paul Long

The socio-political discourse in society has descended to a point where elected officials are implored to lead by example and use language that helps set the tone for civility and respect for differing beliefs and opinions.

Simply stated – words are important. They can inform or inspire, but, conversely, they can also disrupt or instigate.

As leaders within our organizations which are informed by sacred principles and values, we share the common concern that those who hold office in Michigan refrain from tearing down or disrespecting others in executing the trusts given to them by residents of the state. Moreover, we hold that in the pursuit of liberty, justice and inclusion no person should be compelled to accept moral standards in their private lives that contravene the faith values to which they subscribe.

Relating to these two issues, our mutual constituents hold concerns regarding recent words – and actions –of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

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DAVIS (CA)
Yolo County News

May 1, 2019

By Lauren Keene

A list of 46 Sacramento-area clergy accused of sexual abuse, released this week by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, names three priests who once served at St. James Church in Davis — including one whose conduct was the subject of a high-profile Yolo County court case.

Others on the list were assigned to Catholic churches in the neighboring Yolo County communities of Woodland, Winters, West Sacramento and Clarksburg.

“I am repulsed and heartbroken by the evil acts that were perpetrated upon the innocent by those entrusted with their care,” Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said in a written statement accompanying the list, which was posted on the Diocese’s website shortly after midnight Tuesday.

“The pain and suffering of the victims from the betrayal and loss of innocence has continued for decades and will never go away,” Soto added. “I apologize for the sins and failures of the past. I am determined that such acts of abuse should never again occur in our diocese.”

Comprising 44 priests and two deacons, the compilation details what Soto called “credibly accused” clergy dating back to the 1950s, involving more than 130 male and female victims under the age of 25. The Sacramento Diocese covers 20 Northern California counties.

Prior to release, the list was reviewed by a team of legal professionals as well as a former executive assistant FBI director, Soto said.

For two of the former St. James priests, the reported abuse occurred while they were still assigned to the B Street church, though one incident was not relayed to authorities for several decades, records show.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Examiner

May 1, 2019

By Laura Waxmann

A lawsuit that would force the Archdiocese of San Francisco to release the names of clergy accused of sexual misconduct was allowed to proceed last week.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is among 11 diocese across the state that, along with the California Catholic Conference (CCC), are named in the lawsuit that could force church officials to release the names of alleged abusers and provide documents on clerical offenders. The lawsuit alleges that these documents are kept in the dioceses possession, concealed from the public.

While most of the state’s diocese have made public their lists of names, San Francisco is one of two that has not done so.

Diocese officials had previously said they would produce a list last November, but on Tuesday, a spokesperson said that an “independent analysis of over 4,0000 files is not yet complete,” and that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordilione “will communicate results when it is completed” — potentially by this summer.

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to force the church to release a list of names, Plaintiff Tom Emens alleges that he was sexually abused by his priest, Monsignor Thomas Joseph Mohan, at age 11, and that church officials continue to conceal and fail to report systematic abuse.

In an April 17 ruling, Judge Michelle Williams dismissed part of the lawsuit filed last October, which alleges civil conspiracy, public and private nuisance, but left some of the claims open to further proceedings.

Emens is not seeking financial compensation, but is pushing for the release of names and concealed documents relating to the sexual abuse of minors.

“It’s not about me. It’s about the public. It’s about the safety of our children,” said Emens at a press conference held in Burbank, Calif. on Monday. “We have to be cautiously optimistic but [the ruling] is a victory.”

Per her ruling, Williams determined that “there is no right to conceal sexual assaults from authorities,” and that protecting abusers from criminal prosecution is “neither free speech nor petition.”

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
ABC 10 News

May 1, 2019

By Daniela Pardo

Anthony Cano, 59, says he was just 10 years old when he was abused by a Sacramento priest.

His alleged abuser, Father Mario Blanco Porras, was just named publicly Tuesday after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released a list of local priests and deacons who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors and young adults.

Cano told ABC10 that he was the youngest member in a band called Orchestra Costa Rica when Father Blanco Porras began to “take advantage of us kids.”

“He would give us alcohol and would get us drunk and on the way home,” Cano recalled. “He played little games and start touching the legs. It was hard to grow up as a kid with that in your mind.”

According to Cano, the sexual abuse went on for two years, and he didn’t open up about what happened to him till he was in his 40s.

“I couldn’t tell anyone,” he said. “My mother is a devoted Catholic, and so is my grandmother. So, it was hard for me to try to attempt to tell them. To tell you the truth, I think they would have went on the priest’s side rather than the kids. That’s how much they believe in their religion.”

While Cano said it’s still very painful talk about his childhood, he said he’s telling his story because he wants other survivors to share theirs.

“If you’re a little kid right now, don’t be afraid to tell somebody, because it’s not your fault. You were the victim, you were taken advantage of,” Cano added.

The diocese said it reviewed nearly 1,500 personnel records dating back to the 1950s and found 46 clergy members were “credibly accused” of abusing at least 130 children or young adults.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Fordham Ram

May 1, 2019

By Erica Scalise

Alumnus, two term Fordham College board member and author Paul Elie, FCRH ’87, accused Rev. Edward Zogby, S.J., the associate vice president for Lincoln Center for 10 years during the 1980’s, of sexual misconduct in an article from “The New Yorker” released on April 8. Zogby was a resident of Murray-Weigel Hall and died there in 2011.

In the article entitled “What Do The Church’s Victims Deserve,” Elie weaved together a historical summary and personal narrative recounting the Catholic Church’s history of clerical sex abuse.

The article also names Rev. Joseph Towle, S.J. whom Elie volunteered under at a Catholic community center.

According to “The New Yorker,” Towle, who was credibly accused of sexual misconduct in 1971, lived at the infirmary for elderly Jesuits on the Fordham campus and engaged in internal ministry after he was removed as principal at St. Ignatius School in the Bronx.

Towle is listed as one of the friends who surrounded Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. when Berrigan died at Murray-Weigel in 2016, according to a statement by the Berrigan family in an article by Ignatian Solidarity Network.

Towle is also listed under the Northeast Province’s list of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Zogby is not listed.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Patheos blog

April 30, 2019

By Mary Pezzulo

I have just read a deeply upsetting article about the Diocese of Buffalo. I encourage you to read it yourself– but be careful if you read the attached complete written account, as it is extremely graphic.

The article concerns a report from a group of seminarians who wish to remain nameless for fear of repercussions. These seminarians were forced to listen to extremely disgusting, sexually explicit conversation and jokes about sexual abuse made by priests at a party. These priests have been suspended for the moment, but a diocesan spokeswoman suggests that they will be allowed back into active ministry.

The priest are identified as Reverend Art Mattulke of Saints Peter and Paul Church in Hamburg, New York; Reverend Bob Orlowski; and Reverend Patrick O’Keefe. Mattulke is a designated spiritual director for the seminarians at Christ the King Seminary. They jokingly described the sounds of a man and woman having sex on a retreat; they joked that a female dentist of their acquaintance wanted to “f*** a seminarian” and repeatedly asked the young men if they wanted to have sex with her. They laughingly shared the story of a priest professor from the seminary who gave oral sex at truck stops and compared the ejaculate to Holy Communion.

Reverend Orlowski referred to a woman who had formerly worked at his parish by the c-word multiple times and bragged about “putting her in her place.” He joked about the bishop enjoying anal sex. He and Mattulke made cruel jokes about obese and incontinent parishioners. Mattulke bragged in graphic detail about a series of photos of an ejaculation that were sent to him by a parishioner. The priests even joked about the professors and formation director at Christ the King Seminary sexually harassing and abusing seminarians, even perhaps engaging in anal sex with them in the dormitories as part of an “exam.”

I don’t think it can be denied that powerful people intimidating an underling into listening to prurient talk is a form of sexual harassment. Imagine how you’d feel if the priests were talking to a laywoman that way, instead of a seminarian, and the woman reported feeling like she couldn’t just leave, that she was forced to listen, that she was repeatedly asked to have sex with someone even if the request was framed as a joke.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee

May 1, 2019

By Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks

Sex abuse victims and advocates are unmoved by the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento’s disclosure of 46 clergy members who were accused of sexually abusing more than 100 people, arguing the release of the list Tuesday is too little, too late.

The diocese found 44 priests and two deacons in the Sacramento area had been credibly accused of sexually abusing roughly 130 children and adults in the last seven decades. Bishop Jaime Soto told The Sacramento Bee on Monday, “it speaks to the cultural pathology of how we allowed this to happen” and “there was no excuse for it.”

David Clohessy, the former executive director at the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized Soto for trying to “minimize the crisis and fixate on the past while essentially ignoring the real issue which is danger in the present.”

“I just keep shaking my head and thinking, why didn’t Soto do this his first week or month on the job, and how many kids have been hurt needlessly as a result?” Clohessy said.

The diocese should have released the names of priests accused of sexual abuse as cases were corroborated, said Northern California leader for SNAP Joey Piscitelli. Doing so would have given victims more flexibility in pursuing legal action, he said.

“Today these names prove they kept names secret and hidden from the public,” Piscitelli said. “But now the statute of limitations have run out on these cases, and that’s because the diocese enabled them to.”

Advocates are also concerned that the list lacked certain information, such as the current whereabouts of those named, which Clohessy described as “incredibly irresponsible.” Some dioceses, such as the Catholic Diocese of Erie in Pennsylvania, have released the current or last known locations of living clergy accused of abuse or other inappropriate behavior.

“Soto should be taking out full-page newspaper ads in the counties where his priests are still around kids,” he said.

Clohessy hopes the release of the list will push victims and “every single person who saw abuse no matter how long ago, no matter how seemingly slight “ to call their local police department and the California attorney general’s office, which is collecting complaints of clergy abuse.

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CINNAMINSON (NJ)
New Jersey 101.5

April 30, 2019

By Sergio Bichao

A national organization representing sex-abuse survivors are calling on Catholic Church officials to help oust a defrocked priest who was once accused of impregnating an underage girl but who now works in this public school district.

New Jersey 101.5 reported on Monday that a state Department of Education arbitrator blocked the district from firing middle school English teacher Joseph DeShan after parents raised concerns with his past.

The arbitration decision this month said officials could not fire DeShan unless he was convicted of a crime or has done something wrong while employed by the district.

David Clohessy, a past president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said church officials have the “duty” to “warn people about him and beg witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward.”

“Victims aren’t inclined to break years or decades of silence unless they’re confident that somebody is really paying attention and someone will take action,” he said Tuesday.

“Bishops [need to] stand there in the pulpit and say: Please, if you have any information that might help law enforcement pursue a case against DeShan, it’s your Christian duty, it’s your civic duty to pick up the phone and call 911.”

Earlier this school year, the district suspended DeShan — the second time it has done so since 2002, when officials first learned that DeShan had impregnated a 15-year-old girl while he was a priest in the late 1990s in Connecticut. But officials in 2002 could find no cause to fire DeShan, who also had support from parents. Seventeen years later, DeShan no longer has support from a new set of administrators and parents.

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Catholic Cultur blog

April 29, 2019

By Phil Lawler

Cardinal Angelo Sodano met with Pope Francis today in a private audience. Which gives us another occasion to note that Cardinal Sodano remains the Dean of the College of Cardinals, at the age of 91.

Since the new Code of Canon Law came into effect in 1983, and with it the expectation that aging bishops would retire rather than die in office, there have been four Deans of the College of Cardinals:

Cardinal Agnelo Rossi resigned in 1993 at the age of 80.

Cardinal Bernardin Gantin resigned in 2002 at the age of 80.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had not yet reached the age of 80 when he assumed another office, from which he resigned in 2013 at the age of 85.

Cardinal Sodano—who has shown a marked penchant for hanging onto his titles, having remained in the office that he had occupied as Secretary of State even after his replacement began work—stays on.

There is no urgent reason why the Dean should resign; his role is mostly ceremonial. But if the Pope dies it is the Dean who presides at his funeral, with the world watching.

Since Cardinal Sodano has been charged with protecting prelates tarred by the sex-abuse scandal, his is not the face that the universal Church should put forward in a time of crisis. More to the point, why would Cardinal Sodano want to continue in office, aside from his well-established desire to continue wielding influence within the Vatican?

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Fox 40

April 30, 2019

By Rowena Shaddox

Kurt Hoffman was a freshman at Jesuit High School and on the swim team when he says his coach, Brother William Farrington, sexually assaulted him.

“I was 14 years old in 1987, in the spring, when he assaulted me,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman addressed the media Tuesday, the same day the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released a list of more than 40 priests and deacons accused of sexual abuse. Cases were dated from the 1950’s up to as recent as 2014.

Farrington does not appear on the least.

“My question is just if the diocese is really interested in transparency, full disclosure, I’m shocked that Farrington was no on this list,” Hoffman said.

Farrington was named last year, on the Jesuit West Province list of accused abusers.

In a prepared statement, Bishop Jaime Soto says they will update their list to incorporate the information on Jesuit’s list.

A spokesman for the diocese says revealing the names of accused abusers is important.

“We want people to see this,” spokesman Kevin Eckery said. “Because we need to be held accountable. and the only way is to own it and atone for it.”

Hoffman’s parents reported the assault to Jesuit. They say Farrington was gone the very next day.

But Hoffman says he later learned that Farmington was transferred to Loyola in the early 2000’s, where he served as a freshman counselor.

Once Hoffman notified the school of Farmington’s sexual abuse, Farmington was removed and placed in Los Gatos, where he remains at an enfirmery.

“It’s up to the church to make sure they get reported to civil law enforcement and not be transferred to other places where they can prey upon kids,” Hoffman said.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
News 12

April 30, 2019

Famed Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian on Tuesday released the names of two former Long Island priests who he says were credibly accused of sexually abusing minors decades ago.

Garabedian says Father Edward J. Byrne is credibly accused of sexually abusing a boy around 11 years old while he was assigned to St. Barnabas Church in Bellmore in 1971 and ’72. Garabedian also named Father Harold H. Paul, of St. Joseph’s Church in Hewlett, who he says sexually abused a 10-year-old boy in 1961.

Last week, News 12 reported on a list released by the Archdiocese of New York containing the names of 120 clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing children. All have either died or been removed from ministry. The Diocese of Brooklyn has also released a list of accused abusers that includes more than 100 clergy members.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, however, continues to refuse to release its list.

Garabedian says that refusal prevents alleged victims from healing and children from being safe.

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ATLANTA (GA)
Journal-Constitution

April 30, 2019

By Shelia M. Poole and Christian Boone

Georgia has become the latest state to launch an investigation into past sexual abuse claims within the Catholic Church, Attorney General Chris Carr said Tuesday.

The repercussions could be widespread. In Pennsylvania, a grand jury report identified hundreds of priests accused of molesting at least 1,000 minors over the past seven decades in that state.

“I think people should be prepared for some bad news, revelations that some people don’t want to come out,” said attorney Darren Penn, who represents an unidentified man in a lawsuit alleging abuse at the hands of former Dalton priest Douglas Edwards.

Carr said the state’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council will lead the probe. If any prosecutions come out of the investigation, they’ll be handled on a local level, he said.

“I heard from those that I go to church with every Sunday,” he said during an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. “And I saw the level of anger and frustration and distrust. Both on a personal and professional level, this was important to me. I think it’s important that we hold accountable those that have done wrong but also lift the cloud of suspicion from those that may not have.”

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

April 30, 2019

By Robert Downen

Citing a sexual abuse crisis revealed in a recent Houston Chronicle investigation, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm has overhauled its 2019 national conference in Grapevine to focus on abuse.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is expected to announce Tuesday that it has changed the conference’s theme to focus on “the current crisis within the SBC denomination.”

The announcement follows a February investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that found more than 700 people, mostly children, had reported being sexually abused by roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders or volunteers since 1998.

Southern Baptist leaders vowed sweeping changes in the wake of the “heartbreaking” report, titled “Abuse of Faith.”

In a statement, commission President Russell Moore said the change was spurred by a “realization” when planning seminars for the conference, which was previously focused on “courage.”

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
KSL TV

April 30, 2019

By Annie Knox

A former Latter-day Saint bishop was convicted Monday of inappropriately touching a teenage family friend in his congregation and being lewd with other boys.

A jury found Jeffrey Byron Head, 54, of Draper, guilty of attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony, and two counts of lewdness, a class B misdemeanor. Jurors also found him guilty of a lesser offense of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, instead of a more severe count of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Prosecutors say Head went to one boy’s house in May 2016 and asked about a recent surgery to his genitals, then asked “to see the surgery” before the teen pulled his pants down and Head inappropriately touched him. The same boy said Head rubbed his shoulders and placed the boy’s hand on his own thigh during an outing to buy milkshakes in 2016.

At a preliminary hearing in February, the teen testified the behavior happened when he was 16 and 17. Head was his bishop and the teen sometimes attended church but was not very devout, he recalled.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it removed Head from his position, notified police after the allegations surfaced and emphasized that abuse of any kind cannot be tolerated.

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.

GREENE COUNTY (VA)
WHSV TV

April 30, 2019

A Ruckersville man is facing multiple child pornography charges, as well as charges of sex with a minor.

According to the Greene County Sheriff’s office, 25-year-old Dustin J. Kramer was arrested and is being held without bond at Central Virginia Regional Jail.

Kramer is charged with five counts of possessing child pornography, three counts of computer solicitation of a minor over the age of 15, and four counts of consensual sex with a minor over the age of 15.

Virginia law distinguishes between child sex crimes involving juveniles under 15 and juveniles over 15, but the age of consent is 18.

Anyone with information connected to Kramer’s case is asked to contact Investigator J.M. Tooley (434) 985-2222.

Due to the involvement of a juvenile, no further information is being released by law enforcement.

A social media profile matching Kramer’s description lists him as a youth intern at a Charlottesville church and as having studied criminology at Christopher Newport University.

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MCHENRY COUNTY (IL)
Northwest Herald

April 30, 2019

By Katie Smith

A previously convicted sex offender remained at the McHenry County Jail Tuesday evening after police said he was present on St. Mary’s School property in Woodstock earlier this week.

Woodstock police received a complaint about 3:30 p.m. on Monday claiming that a registered sex offender, was on property at St. Mary’s School, 320 Lincoln Ave., according to a news release sent Tuesday.

The man, Michael D. Colberg, told police he was seeking “support from the church,” Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb said in an email Tuesday.

In Illinois, people convicted of sex crimes are subject to a number of restrictions, which include notifying police when they change addresses and staying away from schools and parks.

Officers arrested 30-year-old Colberg, who is homeless, and charged him with being a sex offender in a school zone.

Upon conferring with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, a charge against Colberg was approved for unlawful presence of a child sex offender within a school zone. The alleged offense is a felony typically punishable by one to three years in prison.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

April 30, 2019

By Elizabeth A. Harris

A founder of the Sundance Film Festival is expected to go to prison for at least six years after he pleaded guilty in a Utah courtroom on Tuesday to molesting a young girl. The case came to light after he was recorded apologizing to a man he admitted having groped more than 25 years ago.

Sterling Van Wagenen, a director who helped establish what became the country’s most prestigious annual film exhibition, pleaded guilty in Utah County to one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. His lawyer, Steven Shapiro, said Mr. Van Wagenen planned to plead guilty to an additional count, involving the same girl, in neighboring Salt Lake County on Thursday. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Mr. Shapiro said he is expected to receive two sentences of six years-to-life in prison that he will serve concurrently.

Mr. Van Wagenen, 71, was charged with molesting the girl on two occasions between 2013 and 2015, when she was between 7 and 9 years old. But this was not the first allegation against him.

Sean Escobar, who as a boy was friends with two of Mr. Van Wagenen’s sons, said that Mr. Van Wagenen had touched his genitals during a sleepover at the director’s house in the early 1990s.

Mr. Escobar, who is now 38, told his parents the next day. They in turn reported it to a local leader in the Mormon Church, to which they belonged.

Mr. Van Wagenen eventually admitted to a Salt Lake County sheriff’s detective that he had touched the boy inappropriately, but the authorities dropped the case after Mr. Escobar’s parents said they did not want to press charges. (The Greater Salt Lake Unified Police Department, which absorbed the sheriff’s department, said its policy today is to move forward with child sexual abuse cases regardless of the parents’ wishes.)

Mr. Van Wagenen received a two-year “disfellowship” from the church, but went on to teach at Brigham Young University, which is closely affiliated with the church, and also directed movies for the church. Brigham Young said it had been unaware of the allegations when it hired him, and the Sundance Institute said he has had no role in the festival since 1993.

Last year, Mr. Escobar reached out to Mr. Van Wagenen, who agreed to meet with him. Mr. Van Wagenen apologized for what he had done, and said that nothing like it had happened before or since.

Mr. Escobar recorded the conversation on an iPhone he had hidden in a potted plant, then released the recording to the Truth & Transparency Foundation, an investigative website that focuses on religious reporting, thinking it might spur any other victims to come forward. Shortly afterward, the girl did.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

April 30, 2019

By Maria Benevento

A Los Angeles, California, superior court has ruled that a survivor of sexual abuse can sue the state’s Catholic bishops and the California Catholic Conference.

In a press conference livestreamed from Burbank, California, April 29, survivor of clergy sexual abuse Tom Emens spoke alongside attorneys with the Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm. The firm, based in Minnesota, has a decadeslong history of suing the Catholic church and other organizations over their handling of sexual abuse cases.

Emens is not seeking financial compensation in the lawsuit he filed Oct. 2, 2018, but rather the release of complete information about offenders in each diocese, as well as information regarding the bishops’ knowledge of sexual abuse and their handling of victims and abusers.

He and his legal team “seek to uncover what was known, when it was known, and how children can be made safer today,” said Mike Reck, one of Emens’ attorneys, during the press conference.

The lawsuit alleges “that there is a nuisance, a dangerous condition existing” in the California dioceses from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Reck said. By uncovering concealed information on sex abuse, they hope “to not only heal the past but to protect the future.”

A native of Anaheim, California, Emens alleges that he was assaulted at age 10 by Msgr. Thomas Joseph Mohan, who died in 2002 and whose name doesn’t appear on a list of over 300 priests accused of abuse in the Los Angeles Archdiocese that Anderson & Associates compiled from public records.

Saying he felt “cautiously optimistic” and considered the court’s ruling a “victory,” Emens stated during the press conference that his goal in bringing the lawsuit was to help other victim-survivors as well as children who could be currently at risk.

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Patheos blog

April 30, 2019

By Barry Duke

RICHARD J Malone, above, a Catholic bishop from Diocese of Buffalo, NY, is reportedly investigating three priests who allegedly made ‘pornographic’ remarks at a party in the presence of seminarians.

What the priests actually said has not been revealed, but according to this report, seminarians said they engaged in salacious and inappropriate conversation at a parish rectory party.

A statement from the diocese said that during the April 11 gathering:

Unsuitable, inappropriate and insensitive conversations occurred that were disturbing and offensive to several seminarians in attendance. The complaints did not include or infer any instance of physical sexual abuse of a minor or adult.

The Diocese of Buffalo is thankful the seminarians followed the proper protocol and the Seminary responded correctly by immediately investigating and forwarding the findings to Bishop Richard J. Malone and other diocesan officials, including the Office of Professional Responsibility.

Fr John Staak, interim rector at Buffalo’s Christ the King Seminary noted in a statement:

Our primary mission is the education of our students and the formation of our future priests, deacons, and pastoral ministers.

I am pleased the seminarians stepped forward to voice their concerns about unsuitable, inappropriate, and insensitive conversations which occurred … Several seminarians in attendance found the conversations disturbing and offensive.

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HOLLYWOOD (CA)
Hollywood Reporter

April 30, 2019

By Scott Roxborough

German-French channel Arte says it will fight to overturn a court injunction that prevents it from rebroadcasting the documentary, which accuses rogue priests of sexually abusing French nuns.
A French television documentary that accuses Catholic priests of sexually abusing nuns has been pulled from the French-German television channel Arte after a priest filed a complaint with a German court.

French director Marie-Pierre Raimbault and investigative journalist Eric Quintin shot the documentary, Sex Slaves in the Catholic Church, over three years, basing it on firsthand testimony of nuns who claim they were used as “sex slaves” by priests. The women say when they presented their allegations to church authorities at the Vatican, they were ignored and often moved elsewhere in a cover-up that stretched across four continents.

Arte first aired the film in March. Some 1.5 million French viewers caught the original broadcast, with a further 1.7 million watching on replay, making it the most-watched documentary of the year for the channel. The film has sold worldwide.

Pope Francis has publicly acknowledged the problem, noting that the Vatican had to dissolve a French order because its sisters had been reduced to “sexual slavery” at the hands of its founder and other priests.

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
Lafayette Daily Advertiser

April 30, 2019

By Ashley White

A former St. Landry Parish priest was sentenced to seven years of hard labor and three years of probation for sexually assaulting a teen boy.

Michael Guidry, 76, pleaded guilty to molesting a juvenile in March. He faced a maximum of 10 years.

Guidry was the longtime former leader of St. Peter Church in Morrow. Authorities said they opened the investigation after the victim reported he’d been given alcohol before being sexually molested by Guidry at the priest’s home.

The report was made last year, but the abuse happened several years ago when the victim was 16. He’s now 20.

Guidry confessed that he provided the victim with alcohol and admitted to the sexual assault, authorities said.

The Diocese of Lafayette placed him on leave and previously said it has not paid for Guidry’s legal expenses.

Letitia and Scott Peyton, the parents of the abused teen, also are pursuing a civil suit against Guidry and the diocese, seeking damages for pain and suffering. The suit alleges that although the diocese has paid for counseling since the allegations came to light, a senior church official threatened to halt the payments if the family sued.

Earlier this month, the Diocese of Lafayette released a list of 33 priests and four deacons credibly accused of sexual abuse. Guidry was on that list. The diocese did not offer information on what they were accused of or when the accusations

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Angelus

April 30, 2019

The following are statements from the California Catholic Conference (CCC) and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from April 29 regarding comments made by attorney Jeff Anderson in a press conference held the same day.

California Catholic Conference statement:
Contrary to statements by Attorney Jeff Anderson today, the ANTI-SLAPP court ruling supported the California Catholic Conference and Dioceses of California’s position against Jeff Andersons’ claims of nuisance. The court dismissed five of the eight claims made by Jeff Anderson. The Court reaffirmed that Anderson’s client had no claim for nuisance. The California Dioceses have established broad policies and programs at parishes, schools and ministries to report allegations of abuse to law enforcement, prevent and protect against misconduct and to help support victim-survivors of abuse. The failures of the Church to address the issue of abuse in the past caused great harm and the trust in the Church has been broken. Victim-survivors such as Mr. Emmens are rightfully angry for the harm that was inflicted by members of the Church in the past. That is why the Catholic Church in California has taken responsibility not just in words but in action and will continue to take the necessary steps to support victim-survivors, cooperate with law enforcement and help make our parishes, schools and ministries safe places for all.

Archdiocese of Los Angeles statement:
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has had a long-standing commitment to supporting victims of abuse, the protection of children and the vulnerable, and the prevention of abuse and misconduct in our parishes, schools and ministries. The Archdiocese was one of the first dioceses in the nation to publish a comprehensive report about the failures of the past to address the issue of abuse which included a list of names of clergy accused of abuse, whether living or deceased.

The 2002 Report to the People of God had been updated throughout the years with the most recent update published in December 2018.

Of the 307 names that Jeff Anderson has released concerning the Archdiocese, only one was a priest of the Archdiocese who had not been disclosed in the Archdiocese’s public releases because that one priest was not accused of sexual abuse. All the other individuals listed have been disclosed, had no affiliation with the Archdiocese, or no allegation of abuse against them was known to the Archdiocese while they were affiliated with the Archdiocese.

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

April 30, 2019

West Virginia Catholic officials are doing what Catholic officials have done for decades: claiming they cannot be sued for clergy sex crimes and cover ups. In a twist, this time the action was not filed by a victim, but rather the state’s top law enforcement officer.

In a new court filing, Church officials claim Attorney General Patrick Morrisey lacks proper legal authority to go after the diocese for its “long pattern of covering up and keeping secret the criminal behavior of priests as it relates to sexual abuse of children.”

While AG Morrisey has said that the motion “lacks merit,” we find it disturbing that once again Catholic officials prefer to defend themselves on technicalities rather than to address the allegations of the lawsuit in open court.

It would be reassuring – and shocking – to just hear one bishop, anywhere, say “We could battle to try to have this lawsuit thrown out of court. Or we could prove that we’re innocent. And that’s what we’re going to do, because we are indeed innocent of these charges.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survi ors Network of those A used byPriests

April 30, 2019

Last October, Pope Francis called for a “thorough study” into Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and how he was able to advance up the church hierarchy despite the allegations of serial abuse that had been made against him.

It has been six months since then. Surely it is time for at least a preliminary report.

Why such a glacial pace, especially when high ranking church staffers who knew of or suspected McCarrick’s crimes and misdeeds and ignored or hid them are very likely still on the job today (and may still be ignoring or hiding OTHER clergy sex crimes or misdeeds)?

Such a slow pace sends the wrong message. It says to those who conceal or enable powerful priests to hurt youngsters “No worries. We’ll drag our feet on our ‘investigations,’ giving you ample time to fabricate alibis, rehearse excuses, shred documents, quietly retire or whatever.”

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick quickly. So it is clear that, when he wants to, the pontiff can move quickly on abuse and cover up. It is time he publicly disclose and discipline those who essentially helped McCarrick hurt so many.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

April 30, 2019

By Claire Giangravè

Members of a global anti-clerical abuse network met with the Argentine Ambassador to the Holy See, Rogelio Francisco Emilio Pfirter, on Monday to promote initiatives in support of “zero tolerance” in Pope Francis’s native land.

“Argentina is also the land of Pope Francis, and we thought it was important to bring forward certain requests to the Argentine government,” said Francesco Zanardi, president and founder of Italy’s most prominent survivor network Rete l’abuso, in an April 29 interview with Crux.

Unlike the situation in Italy, Zanardi said, actions to promote accountability and transparency in Argentina are proceeding “very well.”

The Italian clerical abuse survivor and activist led a delegation of “Ending Clarical Abuse,” (ECA), a global network of survivors, during a meeting Monday with the ambassador in Rome only a stone’s throw from the Vatican.

From May 3-6, ECA will launch a series of initiatives in Argentina calling Francis to address the growing concerns about clerical abuse and cover-up in the country.

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

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

April 17, 2019

The below is a copy of a letter that was sent to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt from leaders of SNAP Missouri.

Dear Attorney General Schmitt:

We’re very confused. We need your help.

On the one hand, we want to encourage our members to cooperate with you and your probe of clergy sex crimes and cover ups. We know many victims find it stressful in the short term but healing in the long term to talk with secular authorities about their betrayal. We know that many victims feel better when they do their part to expose and deter irresponsible behavior that endangers kids.

On the other hand, the very last thing we want is for already-suffering abuse victims to suffer more. We do not want to prematurely and falsely raise hopes for possible justice and healing, only to have those hopes dashed later. We don’t want to urge them to cooperate with a probe that turns out to be a whitewash.

So we don’t know what to do about your office’s supposedly look into clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

We’re particularly puzzled and frustrated by your unwillingness to respond to us. For more than six months now, we’ve tried in various ways to reach you. We’ve sent emails. We’ve send registered “return mail requested” letters. We’ve held news conferences outside your offices. We’ve written op eds.

But we get no reply.

Would you investigate racist crimes and cover ups without talking with the NAACP?

Would you look into harm done to agricultural personnel by chemicals without talking with the Farm Bureau?

Would you claim you’re doing a probe into wage theft without talking to labor unions?

So why on earth would you say you’re delving into clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic institutions without talking with the leadership of SNAP, the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy sex abuse victims?

Please, for the healing of victims and the safety of kids, help us understand this. Please, at this point, at least respond to our letter.

Thank you.

David G. Clohessy

314-566-9790 (cell)

davidgclohessy@gmail.com

Jim McConnell

Kansas City SNAP Leader

816-590-4752

jm0832@att.net

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

April 30, 2019

By Gwendolyn Wu

The social services arm of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is seeking to open a home for teenage victims of sexual trafficking, but the church’s plan to help girls who have been abused is facing opposition on multiple fronts.

Claire’s House, named after the mother of Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, plans to house up to 12 teenage sex trafficking victims at a location in Sequoyah, a forested neighborhood of the eastern Oakland hills, said Mary Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Charities of the East Bay, which will oversee the home.

O’Malley has focused on fighting human trafficking, and when she approached the diocese and other East Bay leaders about a new initiative, the nonprofit offered to convert a former rectory into a shelter.

“If we don’t have housing or some safe place for people to be, what do we expect to happen?” said O’Malley, whose late mother had a reputation for taking in her children’s friends if they needed a place to sleep.

But the proposal has met resistance from some advocates for survivors of sex trafficking, who say the church’s stance on abortion and contraception could harm victims. Meanwhile, neighbors of the home worry that traffickers will bring crime, drugs and guns to their community.

Short-term residential therapeutic programs are usually designed for foster youth and licensed by the California Department of Social Services. Claire’s House, which is still awaiting certification from the state, would differ slightly in that it would provide a bridge to intense support for young sex trafficking victims.

Clients will be able to stay up to 18 months at the facility while accessing mental health services and schooling, Kuhn said. The program will bill Medi-Cal for therapeutic services.

But the shelter will take a strict approach in facilitating access to contraception and abortions.

Catholic Charities of the East Bay will not make appointments for clients at clinics that provide contraception or abortion services, nor will it provide transportation, Kuhn said. Instead, Claire’s House will post a sign in a common area that explains the teens’ medical options.

Beyond that, Kuhn said, they will need to rely on their guardians to arrange for such services.

Ingrid Persson, a former grant manager at Catholic Charities of the East Bay, said she fears the nonprofit will run afoul of regulations that allow minors access to birth control or abortions, which the Oakland Diocese’s top official denied.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
KCRA TV

April 30, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released the names of 46 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past seven decades.

The clergy named in the list have been credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors or young adults, aged 25 and under, the diocese said in a news release. The list is based on the personnel records of nearly 1,500 bishops, priests and deacons from 1950 to the present.

“This list is heartbreaking. It is a sickening and sobering account of the history of sex abuse by clergy in our diocese,” Bishop Jaime Soto said in a news release. “It is repulsive to see the evil acts that were perpetrated upon innocent children and young people entrusted to our care.”

The list was posted at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday on the diocese’s website. See the list of the 44 priests and two permanent deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse here.

“We believe really strongly, and the bishop here believes really strongly, that if we’re going to recover the trust of the people, the trust of Catholics and the public, that begins with the accounting of what happened in the past,” diocese spokesperson Kevin Eckery said. “By having this accounting, by seeing, frankly, what was a catalogue of evil and failure and pain, that it’s always going to stay with us and we’re always going to be, you know, on target watching for this, to make sure it never happens again.”

The list was originally supposed to be released last fall, but it was pushed back to March after the diocese hired an outside consultant to go through the personnel files. The diocese then announced on Sunday that the list would be released this week.

The Diocese of Sacramento serves 1.3 million Catholics across 20 counties and is one of 12 dioceses in California.

Other dioceses in the state have also said they would release the names of priests facing abuse claims in the wake of revelations about priest sex abuse in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
The Bakersfield Californian

April 29, 2019

By Stacey Shepard

A third allegation against Monsignor Craig Harrison surfaced Monday when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno confirmed an accusation of sex abuse was reported two decades ago.

In 1998, a man reported the alleged abuse to the Firebaugh Police Department, and then later reported it in 2002 to the Fresno Diocese, according to Teresa Dominguez, communications director for the diocese. The diocese investigated and took no action.

“(The accuser) didn’t feel that it got its due attention in 1998 so he did return in 2002 to the diocese,” Dominguez said. “The diocese determined it to be unsubstantiated.”

The man said the abuse occurred at St. Joseph Church in Firebaugh, where Harrison served as pastor from July 1, 1992 to June 30, 1999.

“However, it’s our policy … if we do discover something comparable that occurred in the past we bring it into the current conversation,” Dominguez said.

Harrison’s attorney, Kyle Humphrey, said he was surprised the Diocese of Fresno had revealed the latest accusation, given the circumstances of the allegation.

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FRESNO (CA)
KGET TV

April 29, 2019

By Jason Kotowski

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno said an allegation of abuse in 1998 against a well-known Bakersfield priest who is currently facing accusations of sexual misconduct was unsubstantiated.

Msgr. Craig Harrison, who for years has served as pastor of St. Francis Catholic Church, is facing sexual abuse allegations from two men. One is claiming sexual misconduct occurred while Harrison served as a priest in Firebaugh, the other in Merced.

Diocese officials on Monday said an allegation against Harrison in 1998 was unsubstantiated.

The current allegations surfaced Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Harrison has denied wrongdoing.

His attorney, Kyle J. Humphrey, has said, “These people are committing character assassination on a good man. We will continue to fight against these false allegations and we will restore Monsignor Craig’s good name and see him reinstated to his rightful place as pastor of Saint Francis parish.”

Harrison has been placed on leave.

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