ABUSE TRACKER

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Minneapolis Star Tribune

September 1, 2018

Reports of sex abuse leave faithful seeking answers.

Ask Cindy and Craig Vana about the state of the Catholic Church and the longtime worshipers will say this: We need to know more about some of the recent headlines before we know what to think, we need to stay with our faith, we need to pray.

The couple have spent 49 years, the length of their marriage, as members of the Church of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, and they take pride in its mission, its community of some 1,500 families, and in the stunning renovation completed four years ago of the neighborhood church’s altar and worship space.

But like other Catholics in recent days, they’ve learned of a damning report out of Pennsylvania of clergy sex abuse, one that was quickly followed by an Archbishop’s allegation that, in yet another sex scandal, high-ranking Vatican officials, including Pope Francis, were long aware of the victimization of seminarian students.

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LIMERICK (IRELAND)
Limerick Leader

September 1, 2018

By Fintan Walsh

The bishop of Limerick has called on members of the Catholic Church who are “hiding some dark secret” to report abuse to State and Church authorities.

Speaking at the annual retreat of the Syro-Malabar community from India at the Limerick Racecourse this Saturday, Bishop Brendan Leahy also called on members of public and victims to report abuse.

This is the fourth time in a number of weeks the Limerick bishop has acknowledged the abuse caused by the Catholic Church. He delivered two speeches in the lead up to Pope Francis’ visit, and this is now the second statement he has released this week, reflecting on the pontiff’s historic visit.

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SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Agence France-Presse via ABS-CBN News

September 1, 2018

By Paulina Abramovich

Scores of new cases of priestly sexual abuse of minors have come to light in Chile, public prosecutors said Friday, deepening a crisis in the country’s Catholic Church that has embroiled Pope Francis.

The country’s chief prosecutor’s office said the number of cases it was investigating had soared to 119 as more victims came forward.

A total of 167 bishops, priests, and lay members of the church are now under investigation for sexual crimes committed in the South American country since 1960.

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UNITED STATES
The Boston Globe

September 2, 2018

Time’s up for Pope Francis and the leaders of the Catholic Church.

Catholics everywhere — and anyone who cares about children — should demand that our criminal justice system start treating the Roman Catholic Church for what many victims believe it is: an international criminal conspiracy to cover up the rape of what in the United States alone might amount to 100,000 children.

Every attorney general in the country should use their subpoena powers to force the church hierarchy to give up their long-held secrets of clerical crimes. Every state legislature should eliminate the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children. In every state, clergy should be mandated reporters of alleged sexual abuse.

Send in the feds, too. As recommended by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), amend the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to allow federal prosecutors to hold church leaders criminally responsible for their roles in covering up sex crimes against children.

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UNITED STATES
The Boston Globe

September 1, 2018

By Mark Arsenault

The devastating grand jury report on Catholic clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania has sent fresh tremors through Catholic communities across the country and prompted calls for a broader reckoning for a church that has failed to move past the abuse scandal that exploded into view in Boston in the early 2000s.

In the two weeks since the landmark report revealed decades of alleged abuse, survivors of clergy sex abuse have urged attorneys general in every state to launch similar investigations, to compel cooperation with the power of the subpoena.

Amid a furor that reached the Vatican, where Pope Francis has been accused of covering up alleged sexual abuse by the former archbishop of Washington, prosecutors in a number of states, including Missouri, Illinois, and New York, have said they are beginning or exploring new investigations.

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ROME (ITALY)
The New York Times

September 1, 2018

By Laurie Goodstein and Jason Horowitz

At a gala dinner in the luxury Pierre Hotel in Manhattan in 2012, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Pope Benedict’s top diplomat in the United States, bestowed an award for missionary service on Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and praised him as “very much loved from us all.”

But if Archbishop Viganò is to be believed, he was keeping a troubling secret — a claim that is at the heart of a new scandal that has thrown the church into upheaval and led some conservatives to call for Pope Francis to resign.

The archbishop now says he was aware at the time of the gala that Cardinal McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, was under orders from Pope Benedict XVI to stop appearing in public on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church because he had sexually abused adult seminary students.

Archbishop Viganò did not explain why he agreed to publicly laud a cardinal under sanctions. But LifeSiteNews — a website run by conservative Catholics — quoted the archbishop on Friday as saying that he could not back out of the even

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MINNEAPOLIS
Business Wire – a company that disseminates full-text press releases

August 31, 2018

When a Duluth jury sided with a Catholic priest’s argument that he was entitled to receive damages after a former student at a Catholic high school falsely accused him of inappropriate sexual contact in the mid-1970s, it certainly broke with recent legal trends – and may have set a precedent, according to Mic Puklich, a partner at the Chanhassen, Minn.-based Neaton & Puklich law firm.

“A priest going on the offensive to clear his name from being falsely accused of sexual abuse – and winning in court. Now that’s rare, if not unprecedented,” says Mic Puklich, the Chanhassen, Minn. lawyer who represented the Rev. William Graham in the civil lawsuit he filed against his accuser. The jury delivered its verdict the evening of Thursday, Aug. 23 (Minnesota Sixth District Court, case file number 69-DU-CV-16-1636).

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GREENE COUNTY (PA)
The Herald-Standard [Greene County PA]

August 31, 2018

Three priests in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, including one serving in Greene County, were placed on administrative leave after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor were lodged against them.

The Rev. John Bauer, 71, was accused of sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980s, according to a release issued by Bishop David Zubik.

Officials said the allegation was received on Thursday, and noted that Bauer — and the other priests who have been removed — have denied wrongdoing.

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BEAVER COUNTY (PA)
The Times [Beaver County PA]

August 31, 2018

By Daveen Rae Kurutz

The Diocese of Pittsburgh has placed a retired priest who served at an Ambridge parish for nearly four years in the 1990s on administrative leave after a new allegation of sexual abuse was reported.

Diocesan officials announced Friday that three priests were placed on administrative leave following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor were received.

The Rev. John Bauer, 71, was serving in team ministry at several Greene County parishes before the diocese received a report of sexual abuse on Aug. 30. Officials said Bauer was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the early 1980s. Bauer was pastor at Good Samaritan Parish in Ambridge from June 1994 until February 1998 before taking an 11-month leave of absence.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 23, 2018

By Naka Nathaniel

Catholics should not keep on filling the pews every Sunday. It is wrong to support the church.

Atlanta – Last Sunday, I did something that no properly raised Catholic ever does. I stood up in the middle of Mass and called out the priest.

As the priest began his homily, I drew my 9-year-old son closer and asked him to pay close attention. Days before, a Pennsylvania grand jury had released a damning report detailing decades of horrific child sex abuse by clergymen and a church culture that covered it up.

The priest addressed the report. He said he was surprised that people showed up for that day’s service. He said the church had to change. Then he began to move on.

I couldn’t help myself. I stood up and yelled out: “Father!” He turned. I asked him, simply: “How?”

He responded that I should write to the nuncio, the pope’s representative in the United States. I told him that this was a bureaucratic answer.

Standing in front of the congregation, I pointed to my son and asked how could I ever let him make his first Communion.

As the priest answered, I became aware of the other families around me. I knew so many of them, and I was reminded of how I had always felt so at home at Mass. It always gave me such pride when my family would take up most of a pew in church.

Now I’m angry. I feel betrayed.

Susan Reynolds, a Catholic theologian from nearby Emory University, witnessed the exchange. She tweeted about it, and her recounting went viral.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

September 1, 2018

By Lisa Tarchak

Readers respond to a dad’s plea for members of the faith to demand the resignation of the entire clergy, including the pope.

A few weekends ago, Naka Nathaniel stood up during a Mass in Atlanta and confronted his priest about the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the Pennsylvania sexual abuse cover-up. In an Op-Ed essay last week, Mr. Nathaniel wrote about balancing his already complex relationship with Catholicism with his role as a father raising a 9-year-old son in the Catholic faith. He concluded that the church can no longer be reformed from within. “I’m mad at the church administration,” he wrote. But, he added, “I’m also angry at the congregation. I’m upset with the people who aren’t demanding that every member of the clergy resign.”

We published more than 900 responses to the essay, many raising the same issues as Mr. Nathaniel. A selection of comments, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Abusing the trust of the faithful

I long ago left the Catholic Church and I never felt the same level of comfort and pride that the author described in his relationship with Catholicism. Yet I was very moved by his obvious love for his church and all that it meant to him growing up. So I find myself even more angry and disgusted with the church, not only for the horrendous abuse of children with all the attendant psychological damage but also the significant trauma to believers who were not physically abused. A source of comfort to many has been forever sullied and it is hard to believe that the Catholic Church can be redeemed. Shame on the church for abusing children and shame on the church for abusing the trust of the faithful and destroying all that they held dear in their faith. — Judith C. McGovern, West Haven

Not all priests should be tarred by the same brush

“I’m upset with the people who aren’t demanding that every member of the clergy resign.” Really? And should they all resign, en masse, who will raise their hand to minister to the poor, the suffering? Who will devote their whole lives to this cause, as Catholic priests (and nuns) have done? Because there are more than 35,000 priests in this country alone, and the overwhelming majority are not criminals. I, too, am angry and disgusted by this horrific behavior, including the abhorrent moral transgression of the cover-up by officials. But I am asking that not all priests be tarred by the same brush. — Ed, Charlottesville, Va.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

August 27, 2018

By Teresa Boeckel

As the Roman Catholic Church grapples with the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing widespread clergy sexual abuse, it faces a critical question: What can be done to protect children?

The Diocese of Harrisburg has detailed a lengthy list of steps it’s taking, such as:

– Reporting every allegation of child sexual abuse to law enforcement for investigation
– Conducting multiple background checks on all employees and volunteers
– Teaching students how to stay safe through age-appropriate child abuse awareness programs.

It’s part of the Youth Protection Program, which is built upon the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Youth and Young People. That charter was developed in 2002 to address child sexual abuse and prevention.

The Harrisburg diocese underwent an intensive, on-site audit last year as part of a nationwide audit, said Joseph Aponick, director of communications for the diocese. The independent agency found it to be in compliance.

Some experts, however, say that more needs to be done to address the problem. More oversight is needed, and lay people need to take a more active role in the church.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

August 28, 2018

By Brian MacQuarrie

Weston – Jolted by the latest sexual abuse storm to hit the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley addressed nearly 300 archdiocesan priests Tuesday in an emotional, closed-door meeting that left some grim-faced clerics shaking their heads as they left.

“It’s a sad day,” said one elderly priest, hurrying to his car after the meeting and waving off questions from a reporter.

The 90-minute meeting at St. Julia’s parish center followed a recent, explosive allegation from a top Vatican diplomat who, in a striking personal attack, said Pope Francis covered up reports of abuse and harassment of seminarians against Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington who resigned from the College of Cardinals last month.

O’Malley “encouraged us to be heroes” during this difficult time, said the Rev. Paul Soper, the cardinal’s secretary for evangelization, and to be mindful that the new developments “are tearing open the wounds of the survivors” of sexual abuse.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

August 26, 2018

By Ronnie Polaneczky

Dear grand jury members,

Thank you for your 24-month investigation into childhood sex abuse by Catholic priests and the cover-up that perpetuated it for decades.

You must feel drained. But we still need you.

Please convene one more time to investigate why Pennsylvania legislators keep blocking bills that would give all victims of childhood sex abuse a shot at justice.

The actions of some politicians are as chilling as those of the bishops and lawyers who protected the Church’s assets instead of its children’s innocence.

They’re not trustworthy leaders. They’re co-conspirators in an obstruction of justice.

We need you to name names. To connect the dots between legislators and certain lobbyists who infest the state Capitol. To rake through emails, reconcile bank records, and tally campaign donations.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

August 24, 2018

By Margaret Reist

https://journalstar.com/news/local/education/letter-to-pius-x-families-prompted-by-church-abuse-allegations/article_397ab5c0-168e-5164-b9d3-e467bea18758.html

An email sent to Pius X High School parents outlining school safety procedures in light of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln caused a small controversy of its own.

An email sent to Pius X parents Aug. 17 appeared to suggest that parents should report abuse claims to police or the child abuse hotline if they happen outside the school, but to church officials if it involves diocesan officials.

But Principal Tom Korta said that’s the opposite of what he meant to communicate, and after several parents questioned that portion of the email, he sent a clarification to families Tuesday.

He intended to urge parents to report all suspected abuse, regardless of where it occurred, he said.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

August 27, 2018

By Bill White

“Love Story” was a sappy movie, based on a sappy book, starring two bad actors.

Worse, it spawned a terrible catch phrase: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

I think in love and everything else, we should take responsibility for our actions, including those that warrant apologies.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many examples of people and institutions that won’t take genuine responsibility for their bad behavior.

For example, I routinely find myself wanting to give advice to former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who blamed everyone but himself for corruption at City Hall — and continues to do it, even after his conviction on 47 of 54 counts in his federal corruption trial.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown / Chicago Tribune

August 21, 2018

By Ted Slowik

A defensive mindset known as “protect the house” often seems to take hold when an institution feels threatened.

Last week’s release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report helps show that no institution went to greater lengths to protect the house than the Roman Catholic Church in that state.

“The main thing was not to help children, but to avoid ‘scandal,’” the grand jurors wrote. “It’s like a playbook for concealing the truth.”

In the 16 years since The Boston Globe and other newspapers exposed the Catholic Church’s appalling cover-up of sex crimes committed against children, other institutions have faced criticism for protecting the house.

In 2012, former FBI Director Louis Freeh released a report that found former leaders of Penn State University showed “total and consistent disregard” for child sex abuse victims and tried to cover up assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of young boys.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

August 27, 2018

By Patrick M. O’Connell

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said Monday he was puzzled to be named in a scathing letter written by a former top Vatican diplomat who accused Pope Francis of covering up the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals.

Carlo Maria Vigano, the retired Vatican ambassador to the United States, mentioned Cupich by name several times in the caustic 11-page letter released over the weekend in which he called on the pope to resign.

Vigano’s letter hinted at “a wicked pact” in alleging Cupich secured his appointment as Chicago’s archbishop in large part because of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington who resigned last month amid sexual abuse allegations. The letter was released to the National Catholic Register and other outlets, and posted online.

Cupich granted a brief interview at the archdiocese’s offices Monday, one of about a dozen he conducted in response to the letter. Asked if he believed Vigano was taking a shot at his credentials and qualifications, Cupich said he had a long record of accomplishments before he came to Chicago: “Let’s be honest. I’m not somebody who fell out of the sky.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

August 24, 2018

By Jean Marbella

The Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church implicated the former archbishop of Baltimore for covering up the abuse. It’s not the first time the city has dealt with scandals within the Catholic Church. Here’s a timeline of major incidents:

June 1995: John Merzbacher, a former teacher, is convicted of rape and child sex abuse of a student at Catholic Community Middle School in Locust Point in the 1970s. More than 100 other charges of 13 other former students were dropped after a judge sentenced Merzbacher to four consecutive life terms.

April 2002: A man tells the Archdiocese that he had been sexually abused by a former priest, Michael Spillane, in 1968. Spillane had admitted in 1992 that he had abused six boys, and had been stripped of his priestly faculties. A victim who had reported his abuse to the Archdiocese in 1991 told The Sun he had been an altar boy at a church in Ellicott City when Spillane began abusing him, and it continued when the priest became pastor of a church in Crofton.

September 2002: As multiple dioceses dealt with revelations of clergy sex abuse in their churches and schools, Cardinal William H. Keeler releases a list of dozens of priests and brothers who have been accused of sexual abuse over the years. He also discloses that the archdiocese had paid settlements to eight victims totaling $4.1 million in the past 20 years. (The church has since paid out even more.)

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 28, 2018

By Emily Cochrane and Amy Harmon

Washington – As the Archdiocese of Washington celebrated the opening of school with a special Mass on Tuesday, a group of teachers instead marked the occasion by calling for the removal of the capital’s embattled archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

The cardinal is among several American Catholic leaders implicated in the growing sex abuse scandal enveloping the church. This month, Cardinal Wuerl’s name appeared in a Pennsylvania grand jury report, which cited cases when the cardinal, then the bishop of Pittsburgh, allowed abusive priests back into the ministry. Then over the weekend, Cardinal Wuerl was accused by a former Vatican diplomat of knowing about the sexual misconduct of his predecessor in the Washington diocese, Theodore E. McCarrick.

A statement that garnered about 50 signatures from Washington diocese teachers announced that they were boycotting the Mass on Tuesday, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, as “an act of solidarity against the injustices condoned by Cardinal Wuerl and the greater hierarchy of the Church.” They held a brief prayer service themselves outside the basilica to pray for the survivors and victims.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 18, 2018

By Patricia McCormick

The power of seeing one priest’s name on a list.

When I saw the name of the priest who molested me listed in the Pennsylvania grand jury’s report, I thought: I’m gonna be in big trouble. The abuse started when I was about 12 years old, so it’s not a surprise that the language that came to mind was straight out of that period of my life.

I scanned through the nearly 900 pages of the report that was released by the attorney general last week. It detailed abuse in six dioceses over 70 years, listing more than 300 abusive priests. The accounts were horrifying — young victims were given gold cross necklaces to signal to other predators that they were ‘optimal targets’ — and the documentation of what happened is surely a good thing.

But what stunned me was my second reaction: a perplexing disappointment that I still don’t know whether I was his only victim. Of course, I didn’t want others to have experienced what I did. But I did want some confirmation that his behavior was part of a pattern.

In the 1960s, Catholic priests were a special class of bachelors, fed pot roast dinners by a bucket brigade of parish women, so when Father Bradel came to our house in central Pennsylvania for the first of many regular visits, my mother got out the good china.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 27, 2018

By Elizabeth Dias and Laurie Goodstein

Washington – In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, a Pope Francis appointee, said that the pope’s opponents were using the accusations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to advance a larger agenda.

“I do think it’s about limiting the days of this pope, and short of that, neutering his voice or casting ambiguity around him,” Cardinal Tobin said in a phone interview on Monday. “And it’s part of a larger upheaval both within and without the church.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 27, 2018

By Elizabeth Dias

As attorney general of Pennsylvania, Mr. Shapiro rooted out sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, prompting international calls for reform. Now, he talks about the anti-Semitism he faced, how the report shaped his own spirituality, and the possibility of a federal investigation.

Josh Shapiro had no idea about the secret grand jury investigation that was waiting on his desk when he was sworn in as attorney general of Pennsylvania last year.

But he pushed the nascent inquiry forward with the “full force” of his office, and this month that investigation — into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children over decades — was finally revealed in a bombshell report, prompting outrage, anger and international calls for legal and spiritual reform.

“It just was the most purposeful thing, short of giving life to our four children, I’ve ever done in my life,” Mr. Shapiro said in a phone interview.

His investigation into Catholic clergy sexual abuse has certainly garnered the most public attention, but even before it Mr. Shapiro’s broader national profile had been rising. Just two weeks after he was sworn into office, he and other attorneys general fought President Trump’s first travel ban. In December, he got an injunction to halt Mr. Trump’s birth control rollback. Last month, he sued to stop Pennsylvanians from being able to download plans to print 3D guns.

Mr. Shapiro talked with The New York Times about the blockbuster report, the possibility of a federal grand jury investigation, how this case has influenced his own spirituality, and his political ambitions.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 26, 2018

By Jason Horowitz

Dublin – On the final day of Pope Francis’ mission to Ireland, as he issued wrenching apologies for clerical sex abuse scandals, a former top Vatican diplomat claimed in a letter published on Sunday that the pope himself had joined top Vatican officials in covering up the abuses and called for his resignation.

The letter, a bombshell written by Carlo Maria Viganò, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States and a staunch critic of the pope’s, seemed timed to do more than simply derail Francis’ uphill efforts to win back the Irish faithful, who have turned away from the church in large numbers.

Its unsubstantiated allegations and personal attacks amounted to an extraordinary public declaration of war against Francis’ papacy at perhaps its most vulnerable moment, intended to unseat a pope whose predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

August 24, 2018

By Michael J. O’Loughlin

Bishop Richard J. Malone, a former auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Boston under Cardinal Bernard Law who now leads the Diocese of Buffalo, is facing accusations that he mishandled cases of sexual misconduct by priests in his diocese. According to reports published this week by the ABC affiliate WKBW, Bishop Malone returned to ministry a priest whose behavior at a Catholic high school raised the suspicion of parents and administrators. In another case, the bishop is accused of not taking seriously claims by young men that they had been subjected to unwanted sexual advances by another priest.

The reports come as the Diocese of Buffalo faces criticism that it has mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct by priests and as it weathers calls for an independent investigation into its practices. The diocese did not respond to requests for comment on the reports.

In March, it released a list of 42 priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors over decades, and it launched a financial settlement program for victims of abuse. Since then, about three dozen more priests have been accused of sexual misconduct, including some alleged to have abused or harassed adults.

On Aug. 22, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn confirmed that his office was consulting with New York’s attorney general about possibly conducting an investigation into how the Diocese of Buffalo has handled allegations of sexual abuse. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said last week that her office is open to an investigation.

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VERONA (NJ)
Insider NJ

August 30, 2018

By Senator Joseph Vitale

https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/senator-vitale-calls-attorney-general-grewal-empanel-grand-jury-investigate-sexual-misconduct-catholic-dioceses-new-jersey/

Senator Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) issued the following statement on the recent grand jury report in Pennsylvania on clerical sexual abuse of minors.

In the wake of the release of a damning Pennsylvania grand jury report on six Catholic dioceses finding that 300 priests over more than 60 years sexually abused more than 1,000 minors and reporting that priests in New Jersey were involved in some of these crimes and allowed to continue in their ministries and have access to vulnerable children, I have requested a meeting with Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin to review the cases with full transparency.

These disturbing revelations come on the heels of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Newark and former bishop of Metuchen, being removed from ministry by the Vatican because of credible accusations of sexual misconduct.

Today, I am also calling on state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to empanel a grand jury, as was done in Pennsylvania, to confirm whether the generations of hidden sexual abuse uncovered in that state also occurred here. Given the wide scope of abuse found in Pennsylvania and the Vatican’s action against McCarrick, we must investigate now. Victims should not have to wait any longer for accountability and for justice. In addition, I ask that the Attorney General immediately set up a clergy abuse hotline where victims can safely and privately report abuse. This will help inform the Attorney General’s investigation and make sure victims know they are being heard in the short term.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

August 31, 2018

By Yadira Sanchez

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-church-abuse-novea-prayers-mundelein-seminary-st-0901-story.html

In response to a Pennsylvania grand jury report last month that alleges decades of child sexual abuse by priests, Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake officials announced Friday they will launch a nine-day novena prayer session at churches across the Chicago area, including in Mundelein and Waukegan.

Seminary officials released a statement listing dates between Sept. 7 and 15 for an initiative called the Novena for the Healing of Our Church “to unite Catholics in prayer and healing, justice and hope, in light of the ongoing crisis within the Catholic Church.”

Following the Pennsylvania jury report released in August, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she wants to meet with local Catholic church leaders to ensure “a complete and accurate accounting” of the alleged child sex abuse by at least seven of the 300 Roman Catholic priests named in the report who have local ties to Illinois.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

August 28, 2018

By Jason Horowitz

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Rome – At 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò showed up at the Rome apartment of a conservative Vatican reporter with a simple clerical collar, a Rocky Mountains baseball cap and an explosive story to tell.

Archbishop Viganò, the former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, spent the morning working shoulder to shoulder with the reporter at his dining room table on a 7,000-word letter that called for the resignation of Pope Francis, accusing him of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a “homosexual current” in the Vatican.

The journalist, Marco Tosatti, said he had smoothed out the narrative. The enraged archbishop brought no evidence, he said, but he did supply the flair, condemning the homosexual networks inside the church that act “with the power of octopus tentacles” to “strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.”

“The poetry is all his,” Mr. Tosatti said.

When the letter was finished, Archbishop Viganò took his leave, turning off his cellphone. Keeping his destination a secret because he was “worried for his own security,” Mr. Tosatti said, the archbishop then simply “disappeared.”

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

August 28, 2018

By Philip Pullella

Supporters of Pope Francis have rushed to his defense after a former top Vatican official launched an unprecedented attack on him, a move they say dangerously escalates a campaign to weaken his papacy by conservatives who condemn him as too liberal.

Francis’ supporters say the accusations in Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’s 11-page public statement aim to pave the way for a conservative pope to succeed him who would reverse his openings to divorced and homosexual Catholics.

In the statement published at the weekend, Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to Washington, called on Francis to resign on the grounds the pope knew for years about the sexual misconduct of an American cardinal and did nothing.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 27, 2018

By John L. Allen Jr.

Dublin – As Pope Francis wrapped up a 32-hour visit to Ireland on Sunday, the cold, windy and rainy weather undoubtedly put a damper on turnout. Officials had expected around a half-million people to flock to Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the concluding Mass, for instance, but in the end the Vatican said 300,000 people turned out.

Yet as it turns out, the meteorological storms Francis faced paled in comparison to the metaphorical ones breaking on Sunday, in part related to his overall handling of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, but more specifically to an astonishing claim by a former papal ambassador in the U.S. that Francis had lifted restrictions imposed on Cardinal Theodore McCarrick under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, despite being informed of misconduct concerns against McCarrick in June 2013.

Aboard the papal plane on Sunday, Francis basically challenged reporters to judge those accusations for themselves – the clear suggestion being that if they did so, the charges would crumble under their own weight.

Assuming journalists take the pontiff up on his offer, so far we have only the word of that former ambassador, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, that he personally informed Francis on June 23, 2013, of the sanctions imposed on McCarrick by Benedict.

Over and over again on Sunday, I was pressed by colleagues and ordinary folk alike for an answer to one burning question: “How seriously should we take this?”

Here’s my bottom line response: Take it seriously, but with a large grain of salt.

One certainly can’t dismiss the charge out of hand, if for no other reason than never before has a former papal ambassador accused a sitting pope of complicity in what would amount, if true, to a criminal cover-up.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Financial Times

August 31, 2018

By David Gardner and Hannah Roberts

Some call it a Catholic civil war, others a culture war. But, clerical decorum very much to one side, war it is.

Pope Francis, the Argentine prelate whose ascent to the chair of St Peter five years ago has given new life to the Roman Catholic Church, is facing a bitter backlash against his progressive papacy — amid a humbling crisis he has struggled to resolve over the sexual abuse of children by predator priests.

Conservatives have regrouped to fight Pope Francis’s relaxation of old doctrinal anathemas, which he sees as vital to the spiritual renewal of a two-millennia-old institution serving a notional 1.2bn Catholics around the world. Shortly after taking over from Pope Benedict XVI — who took the almost unheard of step of resigning in circumstances the Vatican has never explained — he said the Church had to find “a new balance” or it would collapse “like a house of cards”.

But now traditionalists are trying to stymie Francis’s reforms — and seek to weaponise outrage over clerical cover-ups of the rape of children to bring the pope down. As Francis’s supporters rally to defend him, the Church is being bespattered with scandal.

This new descent into the mud began last Sunday. Francis had just ended a 36-hour visit to Ireland, overshadowed by years of revelations of clerical sexual abuse the Vatican covered up and has failed to redress. The pope met with abuse victims and repeatedly expressed shame and contrition — to a shrunken turnout of the faithful that was a shadow of the vast crowds that greeted Pope John Paul II in 1979. A bombshell greeted Francis on his way home.

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ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

August 30, 2018

By Daniel Burke

Washington DC – Survivors of clergy sex abuse stood in front of the Vatican embassy in Washington on Thursday and urged two higher powers — the Pope and the US Department of Justice — to take concrete steps to prevent more abuses and hold abusers accountable.

“They have plenty of evidence,” said Peter Isely, spokesman for the group Ending Clergy Abuse. “Let’s launch this investigation. Let’s do it now.”

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Center for Constitutional Rights have also sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein demanding an “investigation and prosecution of high-level officials in the Catholic Church” for sexual crimes and cover-ups.

“It is long past time for the US Department of Justice to initiate a full-scale, nationwide investigation into the systemic rape and sexual violence, and cover-ups in the Catholic Church, and, where appropriate, bring criminal and/or civil proceedings against the hierarchy that enabled the violations,” the groups said in the letter.

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WOODLAND PARK (NJ)
The Record / NorthJersy.com

August 31, 2018

By Mike Kelly

In these days when we are learning about all manner of shocking secrets within the Catholic Church, here is one from Newark’s Cardinal Joseph Tobin.

When Tobin arrived in Newark nearly two years ago to lead the city’s sprawling Catholic archdiocese — one of America’s largest with roughly 1.3 million parishioners — no one bothered to tell him that church lawyers had secretly arranged to pay $180,000 to settle two claims of sexual abuse against one of his predecessors, Theodore McCarrick.

Tobin said he learned of the settlements just before they were revealed in media reports in June.

“It’s embarrassing,” Tobin told me in a phone interview the other day. “I was really shocked.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 30, 2018

By Peter Feuerherd

At event, Cardinal Tobin says he was previously unaware of allegations against McCarrick

Newark NJ – On the day after it was announced that his alleged assailant was relieved of parish duties, Fr. Desmond Rossi led an Aug. 29 prayer demonstration in front of the Sacred Heart Basilica Cathedral here, calling upon the church to reform in the aftermath of the sex abuse crisis.

Among the dozen or so attendees was Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, who told the group, “We have to smash the structures and culture that make abuse [in the church] possible.”

Rossi, a priest of the Diocese of Albany, New York, returned to the Newark Archdiocese to call for an overhaul of how the church deals with sex abuse. Last month he announced that he was sexually assaulted by two fellow seminarians in 1988 while serving in the archdiocese.

One of his alleged assailants is deceased; the other, Fr. James Weiner, was to be installed in September as pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Westwood, New Jersey, where he has been serving as administrator for the past eight months. While an archdiocesan review board concluded that the charges were credible but unsubstantiated, Tobin agreed to reopen the case and Weiner was relieved of his duties.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

August 29, 2018

By Steve Lopez

Former Catholic priest Richard Sipe, who died in La Jolla this month, was a vocal critic of clergy sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups by the religious institution. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)

All through the Catholic Church molestation scandals that rocked Los Angeles and Orange Counties, I checked in regularly with an ex-priest named Richard Sipe.

From his home in La Jolla, Sipe would offer me scholarly breakdowns on what was happening in California and the rest of the world — on how an institution whose cross stands as a moral compass could harm children, scar them for life and dismiss their suffering in the interest of self-preservation.

Sipe would throw a light on that dark culture of hypocrisy, abuse and cover-ups, and tell me it extended all the way to Rome. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles run by Cardinal Roger Mahony was one of the worst examples of the church’s failings, in his opinion.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

August 30, 2018

By Stephen Huba

Former and current parishioners of the Rev. Joseph E. Bonafed came to his defense Thursday, saying the public airing of sexual abuse allegations against him a day earlier amounted to a rush to judgment.

“This one I find really hard to believe,” said Chris DeCarlo-Parrendo of Murrysville. “This is just outrageous. He’s loved by so many.”

DeCarlo-Parrendo and her husband, John Parrendo, 57, are parishioners at St. Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Export, where Bonafed was pastor from 2012-17.

Although she is a lector at St. Mary, DeCarlo-Parrendo and her husband regularly attend St. Edward Parish in Herminie to hear Bonafed preach. Bonafed was assigned to St. Edward and Holy Family Parish, West Newton, in July 2017.

“Never, at any point, have I ever gotten the feeling that he was anything other than a holy priest,” she said.

Bonafed was removed from both pastoral assignments Wednesday, a day after the Diocese of Greensburg received a “credible allegation” against him. The diocese would only say that the allegation involved sexual abuse of a minor 28 years ago.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

August 31, 2018

By Brandie Kessler

When Nancy Worley closed on a house on a rural road in Adams County, Pennsylvania, on Friday, July 13, she hoped she’d be able to renovate and get it on the market to rent in a matter of months.

A mother to three sons, Worley wanted to create a home suitable for a family, a place where her future tenants could live comfortably and peacefully.

That was a month before a Pennsylvania grand jury report into allegations of child sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses would name one of Worley’s neighbors among the 301 priests accused of abuse.

But even two weeks after that priest’s name was published as part of the report, Worley still had no idea he lived across the street from her new property in Conewago Township, a rural area not far from Hanover and Gettysburg.

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SHARON (PA)
The Herald

August 31, 2018

By Melissa Klaric

Erie – After Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Temp Joe Scarnati’s recent call for compensation for victims of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Erie diocese is responding.

Bishop Lawrence Persico stated in a press release Thursday that he and the diocese have decided to set up a fund to compensate victims whose options for justice have been thwarted by the statute of limitations. He also calls for changes to how sex abuse cases are handled in the future.

The announcement comes in the wake of the 40th statewide grand jury report detailing widespread child sexual abuse by “predator priests” from the dioceses of Erie, Greensburg, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Allentown.

But representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), say the diocese’s proposal is not good enough. There should be punishments for the crimes committed in, and later, covered up by, the Catholic Church.

“The real message of Bishop Persico only deters public action,” said Judy Jones, Midwest regional leader of SNAP. “He maintained the cover-up for years and perpetuates the practice of cover-ups of previous bishops in Erie.”

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MECHANICSVILLE (PA)
PennLive

August 31, 2018

By Ron Southwick

While some lawmakers and Catholic dioceses have expressed support for creating a reparations fund for victims of clergy sex abuse, Gov. Tom Wolf contends that isn’t the best solution.

The governor said Friday that the Legislature should support the recommendations of the grand jury that investigated clergy sex abuse in six Catholic dioceses. The grand jury recommends abolishing the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases and creating a window for victims to pursue lawsuits in civil court.

“The reforms laid out in the Grand Jury report would deliver what victims deserve,” Wolf said in a statement Friday. “In my view, a limited victims fund outside the judicial system would not.”

“The Church, as a moral authority with a long and important record of social justice, should agree,” Wolf continued. “We cannot shortchange these victims and we must set an example for the country – and the world – that Pennsylvania stands with victims.”

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Salt Lake City Tribune

August 31, 2018

By Scott D. Pierce
·
The Ogden Police Department has opened an investigation after receiving a report alleging “nonspecific abuse” by a Catholic priest who was serving as pastor of St. Peter Parish in American Fork until he was placed on administrative leave.

Father David R. Gaeta served in Ogden between 1980 and 1985. He returned to Utah in 2017 and was serving as pastor at St. Peter Parish in American Fork until his administrative leave began on Aug. 24.

On Aug. 28, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Office of Safe Environment reported to Ogden police “that an adult male reported unspecific allegations of abuse” that occurred in 1981 or 1982 at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Ogden, said Lt. Tim Scott.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

August 31, 2018

By Judy L. Thomas

Saying “transparency is imperative,” the leader of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas told area Catholics on Friday that an independent investigation into priest sex abuse is now underway.

“To ensure that we have an accurate historical knowledge of how the archdiocese has responded to allegations of misconduct, I have decided to engage an independent law firm with the expertise and staff to conduct a review of our priest personnel files going back to 1950,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said in a lengthy column published Friday in The Leaven, the archdiocesan newspaper.

“Transparency is imperative with any substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct by any church leader, regardless if the victim is a minor or an adult.“

The archbishop’s announcement drew sharp criticism from survivors of priest sex abuse.

“The whole idea of an independent law firm investigation is problematic,” said Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who has represented hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims. “When push comes to shove, their client is the archdiocese.”

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
The Leaven (newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas)

August 31, 2018

By Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann

Recent weeks have been painful for all who love the church and our Catholic faith.

Catholics in the United States were rocked by the Aug. 14 Pennsylvania grand jury report revealing over a 70-year period that 300 priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses had been accused of sexual abuse of more than a thousand children or adolescents. The accounts of what the victims endured are gut-wrenching and, frankly, depict despicable crimes perpetrated by those who were called to be protectors of God’s people.

While these were not new incidents that had only been recently discovered, the impetus of the grand jury report was to investigate how church authorities (bishops) had responded to victims, what consequences were imposed on perpetrators, and the actions taken to protect people from future harm. Sadly, the report showed many bishops were woefully negligent in their responsibilities.

The grand jury report came just a few weeks after the announcement that the Archdiocese of New York judged credible and substantiated a recent allegation regarding the abuse of minors occurring many years prior by then-Father Theodore McCarrick, who became the cardinal archbishop of Washington. Even more troubling were the simultaneous revelations that settlements had been made with adult victims of McCarrick by the Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of Newark where he had served previously as the diocesan bishop. Most of the adult victims were seminarians and priests.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Action News 4

September 1, 2018

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Friday that it had placed three priests on leave following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor received in the wake of the state grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses.

One of the priests is active, and two are retired. The diocese said all three have denied the allegations, which are now being handled by the District Attorney’s Office.

The diocese said the Rev. John Bauer has been serving in team ministry at St. Ann in Waynesburg, St. Hugh in Carmichaels, St. Ignatius of Antioch in Bobtown, Our Lady of Consolation in Nemacolin and St. Thomas in Clarksville.

Bauer is accused of sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1980s, the diocese said. The allegation was received Aug. 30. The grand jury report included another allegation of misconduct against him that was not substantiated as child sexual abuse.

The Rev. Bernard Costello, who completed his last assignment in 2011 as a temporary administrator at Mary, Mother of the Church in Charleroi, was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the mid-1960s. The diocese said the allegation was received Aug. 22 and was the first that it has received against him.

The Rev. Hugh Lang, who retired in 2006 as the pastor of Saint Therese of Lisieux in Munhall, was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 2001. The diocese said the allegation was received Aug. 27 and is also the first.

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JOLIET (IL)
Associated Press

September 1, 2018

By Herbert G. McCann

A suburban Chicago Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by three men who say they were molested by their priest when they were boys.

The three men, who requested anonymity, say they were repeatedly abused by Father Leonard Mateo of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet between 1980 and 1982. They were all under the age of 11. They made the allegations against Mateo in 2014.

Announcing the settlement Thursday, plaintiffs’ attorneys said Bishop Joseph Imesch admitted in a deposition that priests with credible sexual abuse allegations were allowed to continue ministry within the Diocese of Joliet without any warning to parishioners.

“This is a priest who was continuously moved from one parish to the next upon allegations of sexual misconduct, normalizing his sexual abuse of children and dispelling any notion it was wrong,” attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said.

The settlement reached in Will County Circuit Court will be distributed between the plaintiffs.

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McLEAN (VA)
USA Today

August 31, 2018

By Doug Stanglin

A Chicago-area Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by three men who alleged they were sexually molested by their priest when they were boys.

The three unidentified men alleged they were repeatedly harmed by Father Leonard Mateo of the Joliet Diocese between 1980 and 1982, before age 11.

After initial complaints were raised by parents, Mateo suddenly was transferred to a parish in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, eventually landing in the Philippines where, the lawsuit says, church records show he died in 2004.

The three first raised their allegations against the priest in 2014.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

August 31, 2018

By David Cerulli

http://www.mcall.com/opinion/yourview/mc-opi-priest-sex-abuse-victim-cerulli-20180830-story.html

In the wake of the recent release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, it has become increasingly clear that victim-survivors must be given the opportunity to speak about their experiences if we as a society will have any chance of preventing this horror from happening over and over.

Abuse thrives in secrecy. It is time to end the secrecy and stop the abuse of children and the vulnerable.

To be sure, it is extremely difficult for survivors of sexual violence to overcome the shame and self-blame to speak about their abuse. It almost always takes years, and frequently decades, for victims of such violence to find their voices.

We as a society must not put unfair and unnecessary barriers in their way. To that end, we need to eliminate confidentiality agreements (also known as nondisclosure agreements) and eliminate the statute of limitations for crimes of sexual abuse.

My personal experience in the area of clergy sex abuse has come to the fore once again with the release of the grand jury report.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

August 30, 2018

By Walter V. Robinson

Walter V. Robinson is editor-at-large of the Globe. He led the Spotlight Team’s investigation that uncovered the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal.

[See also this column in the print edition.]

It is often said that for the Roman Catholic Church, rapid change can take decades. But who knew that law enforcement officials with subpoena power could be equally slow in recognizing their responsibility to bring into full light the hideous crimes by the church that have laid waste to the lives of tens of thousands of children?

Sixteen years later — too much later — it is now time for a full and final reckoning. In the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, prosecutors in every state should finally find the backbone to force the church to tell the truth. The truth we can handle. It is the endless cover-up we must no longer abide.

Until recently, few could have credibly argued — as some are now trying — that Pope Francis and his point man on the sexual abuse scandal, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, should resign. They were, after all, the two men in the Vatican who seemed committed to cauterizing the wounds from a scandal that spools endlessly along. But in light of recent allegations about how, or whether, they dealt with the serial sexual misdeeds of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, their reputations, if not their jobs, are in jeopardy.

Since 2002, when the scandal first broke open, attorneys general in just four states — Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts — and a handful of local prosecutors have used subpoena power to force the church to turn over complete records of clerical crimes. In 46 states, there has been no full accounting: The cover-up continues uninterrupted. It now seems likely that the crimes of several thousand more priests remain hidden.

The recent evidence is nothing if not gut-wrenching. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s grand jury scraped clean the records from six dioceses. Its report found that 301 priests had been credibly accused of sexually molesting more than 1,000 children and that — no surprise — the dioceses, all using the same playbook, kept it hidden for decades. It was the bishops who enabled and sometimes facilitated the abuse. I have interviewed scores of survivors of clerical abuse over the years, but reading the horrific details of sexual assault in the report left me choked up.

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NEW YORK (NY)
National Review

August 29, 2018

By John Sullivan

Francis himself is accused of participating in the cover-up of abuse by priests.

No one can have much to add to NRO’s coverage of the crisis in the Catholic Church. Michael Brendan Dougherty, Kathryn Lopez, and other colleagues have covered all the shocking events fully and with a kind of angry or hurt conscientiousness: the nature and extent of the sexual abuse; the quiet shuttling of pedophile priests from one parish to another; the legalistic bullying and manipulation of victims and their families; the placing of the Church’s political and financial interests above justice and charity; the fact that bishops showed greater concern, even tenderness, towards clerical abusers than towards those they abused; and the repeated assurances that these abuses were being corrected when in fact they were being concealed and smoothed over. These revelations have been deeply disturbing, and anyone predicting them a few years ago would have been dismissed — as indeed some critics of the bishops were dismissed — as dealing in fantasies of sexual perversion and blasphemy.

Despite the sensational nature of the revelations, however, we all had the eerie sense that there might be worse to come. And it came last weekend in the form of the statement by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, on the Vatican’s handling of sexual misconduct by priests that implicated Pope Francis and other senior churchmen in the concealment of such abuses. Archbishop Viganò’s allegations are, for the moment, allegations. But they are extremely serious ones — either a malicious character assassination of the pope and other senior churchmen or a deeply shocking revelation of corruption and wickedness at the highest levels of Catholicism. They are also sufficiently detailed as to be open to either refutation or confirmation by the bishops and Vatican officials accused or exonerated in them. Unusually for criticisms of the Church, especially such grave ones, they have received some support from leading clerics in America, Rome, and elsewhere.

The pope himself was “ambushed” by questions from the media as he returned from his visit to Ireland. His response, leaving it to the journalists to judge the archbishop’s charges for themselves, was ambiguous. He may have felt that the charges were self-evidently false and malicious and that it was beneath his dignity to respond to them. But he cannot leave it there. There is no way that the Church can avoid dealing with them promptly, openly, and candidly.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC News

August 31, 2018

The Catholic Church in Australia has formally rejected a landmark inquiry’s recommendation that priests should be forced to report sexual abuse disclosed during confession.

The five-year inquiry found tens of thousands of children had suffered abuse in Australian institutions. The Catholic Church had the most cases.

On Friday, Church leaders accepted most of the inquiry’s recommendations.

But their stance on confession may set up future conflict with governments.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said breaking the seal of confession was “contrary to our faith and inimical to religious liberty”.

“We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people while maintaining the seal,” it said in a statement.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Age

August 30, 2018

By Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar

A 93-year-old woman publicly confronted the new Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne on Thursday with the harrowing story of how the clergy sexually abused her late daughter.

Eileen Piper, her face stricken with grief, presented Archbishop Peter Comensoli with a picture of her daughter Stephanie in her coffin after she took her own life in 1994. She was 32.

Twenty-four years later, Ms Piper says she is still seeking an apology from the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Comensoli, speaking at a Melbourne Press Club function on Thursday, walked from the stage to comfort the elderly Ms Piper, whose story was told by her lawyer Judy Courtin.

The church had not believed Stephanie’s allegations of rape and abuse at the hands of father Gerard Mulvale in suburban Syndal. He was later convicted of other sex crimes.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
ABC News

August 31, 2018

By Paige Cockburn

[See also the response of the bishops’ conference and conference of superiors (this link brings you directly to the portion of the response relating to the seal of confession).]

Key points:
• Breaking the seal of confession would restrict religious liberty and not improve child safety, the Church says
• Voluntary celibacy for some clergy will also be examined
• The Church is considering making child sexual abuse a canonical crime, not a ‘moral failing’

The Catholic Church will not accept the royal commission’s recommendation to lift the seal of confession regarding child sex abuse, arguing it impinges on religious liberties.

Almost nine months after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its findings, the Church has delivered its formal reply.

It said it would not change secrecy rules, meaning clergy do not have to report abuse revealed in the confessional.

“This is because it is contrary to our faith and inimical to religious liberty,” the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) said in their response.

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McLEAN (VA)
USA Today

August 30, 2018

By Ed Mahon, York Daily Record

[Includes video: Lynne Abraham, the District Attorney in Philadelphia from 1991-2010, talks about her motivation behind exposing priests who abused children. By Jason Plotkin, York Daily Record.]

In wake of Pennsylvania’s sweeping and landmark investigation into Catholic clergy members’ sexual abuse of minors, some people want to see every Roman Catholic diocese in the country receive the same level of scrutiny.

One lawmaker has two reasons: Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Democrat from Muhlenburg Township, was abused by a priest in the Allentown Diocese when he was a child.

“I would love to see that happen,” Rozzi said of 50 states worth of investigations in an interview with WHYY-FM, Philadelphia, a day after Pennsylvania’s nearly 900-page grand jury report was released.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also have called for every state’s attorney general to follow Pennsylvania’s lead and launch formal investigations into how U.S. bishops deal with victims and predator priests.

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MELBOURNE (FL)
Florida Today

August 30, 2018

By John McCarthy

Parishioners at the Church of Our Saviour and residents of Cocoa Beach were stunned to learn the church’s new pastor had been removed following allegations that he molested a minor in Pennsylvania sometime before 2005.

The Diocese of Orlando, which includes Brevard County, announced Wednesday that it had “removed the priestly faculties” of the Rev. David Gillis after it had received notice from church officials in Pennsylvania that Gillis had been accused of sexual abuse of a minor there. A letter from the diocese said the allegations had “at least the semblance of truth.”

The Diocese of Allentown said it had provided information to local law enforcement.

Gillis was named pastor of Our Saviour earlier this year.

Brooks Rampersad of Cocoa Beach is one of the church’s parishioners who was shocked by the accusations.

“A number of people I know have been praying regarding the cover-ups in the ministry. I feel the sudden action in this case, on something that has been hidden for over a decade, is a good sign that changes are happening and God is listening to our prayers.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Associated Press

August 29, 2018

A former leader of the Catholic Church in Maine says he won’t resign as a bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, over his handling of sex abuse allegations.

Bishop Richard Malone said Sunday the “shepherd does not desert the flock” during difficult times. Malone was accused earlier this month of protecting priests in Buffalo suspected of sex abuse.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie

August 30, 2018

By Ed Palattella

Bishop joins top Pa. state senator in supporting a fund rather than a two-year window that would allow victims to sue in court no matter how old the abuse.

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico on Thursday endorsed the proposal of Pennsylvania’s top state senator that Catholic dioceses statewide set up compensation funds for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Persico’s statement, like the proposal of state Senate Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, falls short of backing a key recommendation of the statewide grand jury that released its report on the abuse on Aug. 14 — that the GOP-controlled General Assembly approve a two-year window that would allow victims to sue no matter what the statute of limitations or how long ago the abuse occurred.

Persico “is prepared to establish and fund an appropriate program that provides necessary relief to victims,” the Catholic Diocese of Erie said in a statement.

“In my statement to victims on Aug. 14, I committed myself and this diocese to assist in healing for victims and for the wider community,” Persico said in the statement.

“It is time to take action. We must do what is within our power to provide justice to victims. Therefore, I have directed our lawyers to collaborate with the Pennsylvania Legislature to develop an acceptable and appropriate program to make restitution to victims.

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VENICE (FL)
Catholic News Agency

August 30, 2018

Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria University, said Wednesday that he unhesitatingly supports Pope Francis, in the wake of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s call for the pope’s resignation.

Archbishop Viganò, the emeritus apostolic nuncio to the US, alleged that Francis ignored sexual misconduct allegations against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick (who resigned from the cardinalate July 28), lifting sanctions on the former Archbishop of Washington which had been imposed by Benedict XVI.

Towey’s Aug. 29 statement “regarding the rift within the Church” characterized Archbishop Viganò’s testimony as part of a “rift between Pope Francis and some conservative members of the Church hierarchy”, the “battle lines” of which were drawn “five years ago shortly after the Pope ascended to the chair of Saint Peter.”

Towey quoted the pope’s 2018 apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, in which Pope Francis criticized “false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises.”

Affirming that God is full of surprises, the university president asserted that “the call for the Pope’s resignation by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is not one of them. Neither is the challenge to the Pope’s authority by Raymond Cardinal Burke, an American prelate who has consistently opposed the direction Pope Francis has led the Church on certain matters.”

Towey also speculated that Cardinal Burke “may still be smarting” from his 2014 removal as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

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UNITED STATES
One Peter 5

August 28, 2018

By Steve Skojec

This report, originally published by Italian blogger, journalist, and author Aldo Maria Valli, tells the story of how Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former apostolic nuncio to the United States, came to publish his now infamous report about the cover-up of clerical abuse in the highest echelons of the Church and a hint of what it has cost him.

As Valli reports near the end of his story, Viganò told him he had “already purchased an airplane ticket. He will leave the country. He cannot tell me where he is going. I am not to look for him. His old cell phone number will no longer work. We say goodbye for the last time.”

In a report for EWTN, Catholic journalist Edward Pentin confirms this, saying Viganò fears for his safety and that his life is in danger.

A former apostolic nuncio, widely respected for his professionalism and decency, forced to go into hiding at age 78 for simply telling the truth about his fellow apostolic successors. There is perhaps more wisdom in this than there appears to be at first glance. Viganò’s colleague, Monsignor Jean François Lantheaume, whose job it was to inform Cardinal McCarrick of the news that Pope Benedict XVI had levied sanctions against him because of his abuses, said earlier this week, after confirming the veracity of the Viganò report:

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Speaking Out on Sex Abuse Podcast

August 30, 2018

By Shaun Dougherty

In 2012 Shaun Dougherty reported abuse he had suffered at the hands of a priest when he was between the ages of 11 and 13. An investigation opened and was handed over to the Attorney General’s office. The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese report, which included Shaun’s statements, was released in 2016 to the public. It spurred survivors from all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to report their abuse and ultimately led to the PA Grand Jury Investigation. This was the largest investigation into Catholic pedophile abuse in history. It uncovered over 350 pedophiles and over 1,000 victims.

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Washington (DC)
ECA Global

August 30. 2018

Global groups call on Pope to release church files on former cardinal McCarrick and others.

Groups condemn false conflation of sexual orientation and sexual violence in former Vatican ambassador’s letter as “wrong and dangerous”.

Clergy sex abuse survivors and human rights attorneys today are calling upon Pope Francis to order the release of all church files related to all allegations of sexual violence, including by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. They are also demanding the Vatican condemn any suggestion by any church official that links the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults with the sexual orientation of either the victim or the offender.

“There is absolutely no link between sexual violence against children, minors and vulnerable adults and sexual orientation,” said Peter Isely, clergy sex abuse survivor and founding member of the global group Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA). “Making this false link is immoral, dangerous, and wrong,” continued Isely, a licensed clinical psychotherapist,who operated the only inpatient treatment center for survivors of sexual violence by clergy.

The call for release of church files was made by survivors and attorneys who lead three global groups concerned with the Catholic church abuse crisis: ECA, the Survivors Network of the those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). The news conference was outside the Vatican embassy, where documents that allegedly implicate the Pope in the cover-up of McCarrick’s offenses are thought to be filed, according to former Vatican ambassador Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.

“The infighting between factions of the hierarchy does nothing to protect children around the world,” said Becky Ianni, board member of SNAP. “Any attempt by Viganò and others to use the abuse crisis and victims of clergy sexual abuse as leverage in the struggle for church power must stop.”

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HUNTINGTON (IN)
OSV Newsweekly

August 29, 2018

By Brian Fraga

Accusation and revelations around Church’s handling of abuse, cover-up take center stage

An earlier version of this story appeared here.

The already roiled landscape of the Catholic Church’s institutional response to clergy sexual abuse through the years ratcheted up again late Aug. 25 when, in a scathing 11-page written statement, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States accuses Pope Francis of ignoring concerns about Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and lifting sanctions against the former cardinal years before the public became aware of abuse allegations against him.

The letter was released while Pope Francis visited Ireland, which has also been rocked with its own abuse crisis. On Saturday, the pope addressed the crisis during a Mass at Phoenix Park in Dublin.

“Some members of the hierarchy didn’t own up to these painful situations and kept silence. We ask for forgiveness,” Pope Francis said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Cut

August 29, 2018

By Lisa Ryan

Last week, the New York Times reported that actress and #MeToo advocate Asia Argento made a deal to pay off a former co-star, Jimmy Bennett, who accused her of sexually assaulting him as a minor. Argento eventually denied the allegations, but texts purporting to contradict her denial were soon leaked. On Monday, actress and activist Rose McGowan revealed that the texts in question were between Argento and model Rain Dove, whom McGowan is currently dating. Now, Dove is speaking out about why they decided to release the text messages.

In a Wednesday morning statement, released to the Cut through a publicist, Dove confirmed that the text exchange was between them and Argento, and that they reported the messages to police. Dove said in the statement:

While the conflict may feel murky- the situation is cut and dry. An individual admitted to sexual engagement with a minor (according to the age stated by California) which is an illegal act that can qualify as statutory rape. As well as such they admitted to receiving continued nude images without reporting/blocking the account/written rejection/or action. When the individual made it clear that they were not going to be honest about their engagement, I turned in materials that may contribute towards an honest investigation. All victims deserve justice. Justice can rarely exist without honesty.

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ROME
The Telegraph

August 29, 2018

By Nick Squires

A Vatican whistle-blower who has accused Pope Francis of having covered up sexually abusive behaviour by an American cardinal stepped up his attack on Wednesday, speaking from a secret location.

Archbishop Carlo Mario Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador to the US, has plunged the Catholic Church into crisis with allegations that the pope failed to act against Theodore McCarrick, a US cardinal, who was accused of sexually abusing young priests over decades.

Cardinal McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, resigned in disgrace last month, becoming the first cardinal to step down since 1927.

Archbishop Vigano, 77, released an 11-page document detailing the allegations at the weekend and called on Francis to resign.

He then went underground amid reports that he feared for his safety.

After days of silence he gave an interview, from an undisclosed location, to an Italian journalist, renewing his criticism of Francis’ papacy.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
ABC7

August 27, 2018

By Victoria Sanchez

John Wojnowski was a daily fixture protesting in front of the Vatican embassy for two decades. Now the 75-year-old man makes the three- to four-hour trip to protest sexual abuse and cover-up just once or twice a week.

Wojnowski said he was molested by a priest in Italy when he was a 15-year-old boy. It was more than 30 years later and after he became a citizen, he wrote letters to bishops and the pope about his case. He did not hear back.

“They knew that I would write but I would be too ashamed to do anything else,” he said.

In 1997, he did do something else and made protesting his daily mission.

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LANSING (MI)
Yahoo Sports

August 30, 2018

By Liz Roscher

Michigan State University announced on Thursday that it has been cleared of any NCAA violations in its handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

Bill Beekman, Michigan State’s new athletic director, was notified of the NCAA’s decision in a letter from Jonathan F. Duncan, the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement. In the letter, Duncan said the investigation “has not substantiated violations of NCAA legislation,” and “that it does not appear there is a need for further inquiry.” The NCAA’s investigation is over.

The NCAA also cleared Michigan State of any violations in a second investigation into how the university handled sexual assault allegations against basketball and football players.

The NCAA investigation began in January, when it sent a letter of inquiry to Mark Hollis, who was Michigan State’s athletic director at the time, asking for a response to any violations it had committed while handling the Nassar sexual assault case. Hollis resigned three days later, which happened to be the same day ESPN released a report on sexual assault allegations against football and basketball players at the university. The NCAA later started a separate investigation into how university handled those allegations.

Michigan State responded on March 23, saying that it didn’t believe it had violated any NCAA legislations. The NCAA ended up agreeing.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

August 29, 2018

By Charles Noone

For the last five weeks, the Sunday gospels have focused on readings from the sixth chapter of John, which focuses on Jesus offering the bread of life and the gift of faith to his followers.

Not all of them were up to the arduous journey of faith and love to which Jesus called them. As a result, John writes, “Many of His disciples returned to their former way of life.”

Their desertion rattled the faith of the few who remained.

“Do you also want to leave?” Jesus asked them.

The question stunned Simon Peter, one of the Lord’s most beloved followers.

“Master, to whom shall we go?” he asked, bewildered. “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God!”

Peter’s crisis was that he could not return to his former life, yet his faith had been shaken to its core.

In a very real way, this is where so many Catholics are in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report of sex abuse in six of the state’s dioceses.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Wire

August 27, 2018

By Matt Walsh

A former high ranking official in the Catholic Church, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, claims that Pope Francis personally helped cover up the abuses of degenerate predator Cardinal McCarrick. Vigano spilled his guts in an 11-page report, which he says he is publishing now in order to “discharge his conscience” so that he can “present himself to God with a clean conscience.” What follows from there is tantamount to a nuclear bomb dropped right on top of the whole network of cowards and perverts in the upper echelons of the Church.

Vigano spends the first half of his report accusing numerous cardinals and bishops by name. He reserves special (and deserved) scorn for Cardinal Wuerl, who covered up abuses in Pittsburg, saying Wuerl “lies shamelessly.” He names a host of other top officials, indicting them as liars, conspirators, and deviants or defenders of deviants. Finally, he lands on Pope Francis himself.

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GREENFIELD (MA)
Daily Hampshire Gazette

August 28, 2018

By Diane Broncaccio

Greenfield lawyer John Stobierski, who has successfully litigated at least 80 cases of clergy sexual abuse, believes the Massachusetts attorney general’s office should investigate the Diocese of Springfield.

“My impression is that our attorney general needs to do an investigation of our area,” Stobierski said Friday. “Back in 2002, when the Boston Globe was reporting on clergy abuse, the attorney general did investigate Boston (diocese).” Despite Stobierski’s request, however, the attorney general refused to do an investigation on Springfield, Stobierski said.

“Our diocese is as ripe with that kind of activity as is Pennsylvania’s,” he said. “And, in our diocese, we’ve had an actual abuser leading the diocese and fighting our claims,” said Stobiersi, referring to the late bishop, Thomas Dupre, who was indicted on child rape charges in 2004.

Recently, a two-year grand jury investigation of sexual abuse allegations by Catholic clergy, and the systematic cover-up of such abuse, resulted in a 900-page report, listing 300 priests accused of abuse and 1,000 children victimized.

In Franklin County, one of the first major reports of clergy sexual abuse began with the 1991 arrest of then-priest Richard R. Lavigne, who pleaded guilty to molesting three boys at St. Joseph’s Parish, in 1992. Eventually, more claims were brought against Lavigne, with Stobierski representing many claimants.

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CANADA
Globe and Mail

August 27, 2018

By Sean Fine

Never had a Canadian Supreme Court judge been attacked like this.

Claire L’Heureux-Dubé had just been publicly blamed – by a judge from Alberta’s highest court – for the high male suicide rate in Quebec. Compounding the insult, Ms. L’Heureux-Dubé had lost her own husband to suicide two decades earlier.

What happened next, within the court itself in that 1999 episode, is revealed in legal historian Constance Backhouse’s groundbreaking biography, Claire L’Heureux-Dubé: A Life, using documents from the personal papers of Ms. L’Heureux-Dubé, now 90.

Chief Justice Antonio Lamer chose not to speak up in her defence, prompting the fiery Ms. L’Heureux-Dubé to send a memo to all eight of her colleagues. Pointedly, she told them that Israel’s Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, had defended his court when it was under attack.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Associated Press

August 29, 2018

The top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate responded Wednesday to a sweeping grand jury report on the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy by saying he opposes legislation to retroactively loosen time limits on lawsuits by the victims.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said such a change would violate the state constitution, and although he would support amending it, that is “an extended process and has no absolute certainty.”

It is a change in state law that bishops have successfully fought in recent years even as a handful of other states have opened such windows to let victims sue the church, raising the prospect of massive payouts.

Instead, Scarnati said, the church should set aside money to pay victims.

“The church needs to establish a victim compensation fund this year, to make restitutions to its victims,” Scarnati said in a statement. “Monies should also be utilized to prevent abuse from happening in the future.”

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UNITED STATES
CNN

August 21, 2018

By Carol Costello

Editor’s note: Carol Costello is the host of “Across America With Carol Costello” on HLN. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

Dear Pope Francis,

It is hard to be Catholic today. I know you finally spoke out to us — in a letter — about the horrific allegations of sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses. I’ve been waiting for days to find comfort from Rome. And you notably began your letter by quoting St. Paul: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with.”

While I appreciate the words, I need to see action. I need to see real change.

We are suffering from disappointment so deep it is, for some of us, hard to believe in God. On Sunday, at my church, Sacred Heart Chapel on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, Father Allan Deck put it into words: “The emotional and sexual abuse and manipulation of others, especially little children, constitutes a gross rejection of the healthy and holistic love exemplified by Jesus and proposed by our Catholic tradition.” (Full disclosure: My husband is President of LMU.)

And then he cautioned, “These terrible reports are not going to stop.”

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UNITED STATES
The Mighty

August 30, 2018

By Vanna Winters

When I was a teenager, I served at a small diner between college classes. I was painfully shy and found myself preparing to “go into character” each shift as I buttoned up my uniform and pinned on my name tag. One day, on a particularly busy lunch time, I found myself in the weeds trying to cover my section and the section of a co-worker who had called off. I remember double checking each order before I put it in, paranoid I would let something slip my mind.

A gentleman, watching me stare down at my notepad over and over, chuckled as he loudly, sarcastically exclaimed to me: “If this is too hard for you, sweetheart, maybe you’re not cut out for it.” My eyes welled up and I bit my lower lip in anger.

He didn’t know me. He didn’t know I was covering nine tables. He didn’t know I had worked a double the day before or that I had a second job after that. He didn’t see my backpack full of textbooks for college classes while all my peers were still in high school. He only saw what he wanted to see.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
KOLA 10

August 26, 2018

A bishop from the Jefferson City Catholic Diocese agreed to cooperate with an investigation by the attorney general’s office into potential sexual abuse by priests.Bishop Shawn McKnight said he sees the investigation as an op…

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VATICAN CITY
La Stampa

August 28, 2018

By Andrea Tornielli

A lucid reading of the former nuncio’s statement requesting the Pontiff’s resignation and its contradictory conclusions

“I believe that the Viganò press release speaks for itself, and you have the professional maturity to draw conclusions. With these words, addressed to journalists on the return flight from Dublin, Francis invited them to read the 11-page dossier dropped by the former nuncio to the United States, Carlo Maria Viganò, who asked for the Pope’s resignation, accusing him of having covered up the 83-year-old Cardinal Emeritus of Washington Theodore McCarrick, who had had homosexual relations with adult seminarians and priests. It is therefore necessary to start from a careful reading of the text, analyze it and separate the facts reported from opinions and interpretations. And above all from omissions.

The anti-Bergoglio operation

The clamorous decision of the Vatican diplomat to violate the oath of fidelity to the Pope and the official secret represents yet another attack against Francis carried out in an organized way by the same circles that a year ago had tried to arrive at a sort of doctrinal impeachment, after the publication of the exhortation “Amoris laetitiaˮ. Attempt failed. Viganò is in fact one of the signatories of the so-called “Professione” in which Pope Bergoglio is defined as divorce-friendly, and well connected to the most conservative circles overseas and in the Vatican. That it is not simply the outburst of a Church man tired of the rotten things he has seen around him, but of a long and carefully planned operation, in an attempt to get the Pope to resign, is demonstrated by the timing and the involvement of the same international media network that for years has been propagating – often using anonymous ones – the requests of those who would like to overturn the result of the 2013 conclave. This is attested by the same testimonies written in the various blogs by the journalists who published the Viganò dossier: always in the forefront in the defense of the traditional family, but careless to drop the bombshell on the very day in which Francis concluded with a great mass the international meeting of families.

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VATICAN CTY
Slate

August 27, 2018

By Isaac Chotiner

How church rifts may have inspired the latest accusations against Pope Francis.

Carlo Maria Viganò, who was once the Catholic Church’s chief diplomat in the United States, wrote a letter this past weekend stating that Pope Francis and other Vatican officials were involved in covering up sexual abuse committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington. Not only did Viganò’s letter arrive in the midst of an already sensitive trip the pope was making to Ireland—which has seen its share of sexual abuse scandals—but it also represented another shot in the long war between Pope Francis and more conservative elements in the church, including Viganò himself. (Viganò, who has cast blame on gay people for the sex abuse crisis, has previously battled with Francis: He lost his job in 2016 amid anger over his handling of the pope’s trip to the United States, which included—thanks to Viganò—a meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.)

Viganò’s specific claim is that Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, punished McCarrick by refusing to allow him certain privileges and that Francis later reversed Benedict’s decision. In response, allies of Pope Francis have pointed out that that McCarrick’s supposed punishment by Benedict has not been proved, and McCarrick continued to do things like give homilies. The pope himself, departing Ireland, stated, “I will not say a single word on this. I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions.”

To talk about what all this means for Francis and the future of the church, I spoke by phone with Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and a contributor to Commonweal magazine. During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed how Francis’ approach to the sexual abuse crisis is and isn’t distinct from Benedict’s, whether we should view the latest developments through the prism of a church culture war, and what the pope should do to respond.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Spectacle Blog

August 29, 2018

By Wlady Pleszynski

Our reporter George Neumayr reports that he believes he’s found the house where disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick lives. It’s near Tenleytown, near American University, in Washington, D.C. According to D.C. property records, it is worth $2.1 million. The archdiocese of Washington has owned the house since at least the days of Cardinal Baum.

George adds the housekeeper let him in, but proved none too cooperative. The question arises. Why would embattled Cardinal Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, play host to the man about whom he knows so little?

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VATICAN CITY
National Public Radio

August 29, 2018

By Sylvia Poggioli

For centuries, the words “Vatican” and “intrigue” have gone hand in hand. But the Holy See’s centuries-old code of secrecy ensured that scandals and conspiracies usually remained hidden behind the tall and sturdy Renaissance walls of the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, unbeknownst to the faithful masses around the world.

Now, in the era of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, mudslinging between rival church factions is being waged out in the open.

“It’s as if the Borgias and the Medicis had Twitter accounts,” Christopher Bellitto, a professor of church history at Kean University in New Jersey, told the National Catholic Reporter.

The power struggle has been simmering ever since the Argentine-born Jorge Maria Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013. He signaled a break with his two predecessors by promoting a message of mercy over strict dogma, of inclusion over punishment.

The anger of a traditionalist faction critical of the pope’s more welcoming church broke out into the open for the whole world to see last weekend, with the publication by conservative Catholic media outlets of a bombshell letter by a former Vatican diplomat. The letter was released just as the pope was on a highly charged visit to Ireland — ground zero in the clerical sex abuse crisis.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CNN

August 30, 2018

By Daniel Burke and Rosa Flores

The attorney general for the nation’s capital. The president of a Catholic college. Teachers at a celebrated Catholic elementary school. A former White House appointee on religious freedom. Even a popular priest in his own archdiocese.

It’s not just how many people are asking Cardinal Donald Wuerl, one of the world’s most powerful Catholics, to leave office. It’s who.

Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, has spent more than 50 years climbing the ranks of the Catholic Church, building a reputation as a loyal churchman and fastidious teacher.

He is also known as a political moderate and a key ally of Pope Francis who sits on the Vatican committee that appoints bishops around the world and is one of only 10 American cardinals who could choose the next Pope.

But in the wake of a damning 900-page report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania and a letter from a former top Vatican official accusing Wuerl of covering up for his disgraced predecessor, the cardinal is facing increasing pressure to step down from his perch atop the church’s hierarchy.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

August 30, 2018

By Philip Pullella

The archbishop who sparked a crisis in the Catholic Church by calling on Pope Francis to resign has denied he was motivated by personal vendetta and said he sought to show that corruption had reached the top levels of the Church hierarchy.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano reads during the episcopal ordination of Auxiliary Bishops James Massa and Witold Mroziewski, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., July 20, 2015. Picture taken July 20, 2015. REUTERS/Gregory A. Shemitz
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has gone into hiding since conservative media published an 11-page statement in which he alleged the pope knew for years about sexual misconduct by an American cardinal and did nothing about it.

Vigano has been communicating through Aldo Maria Valli, an Italian television journalist who Vigano consulted several times before releasing his statement last Sunday when the pope was in Ireland.

Italian media has reported he was upset because he was never made a cardinal by former Pope Benedict or because Francis blocked his further advancement in the Church.

“I have never had feelings of vendetta and rancor in all these years,” he was quoted as telling Valli, who has been publishing statements from Vigano in his blog.

“I spoke out because corruption has reached the top levels of Church hierarchy,” said Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador to Washington.

The Vatican had no comment on the new accusations by Vigano.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
KJZZ 91.5

August 27, 2018

By Holliday Moore

Less than two weeks after a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed more abuse by priests, retired Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of the Phoenix Diocese has died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at age 82.

In 2002, O’Brien was head of the Phoenix Diocese, and Rick Romley was Maricopa County Attorney.

On the other side of the country, the Boston Diocese was roiling as five of its Roman Catholic priests were indicted for sexually abusing children.

Soon after those indictments, Romley got a tip while investigating similar abuse in Arizona.

It was, he said, “Information from a former priest that there were cover-ups that went up to Bishop O’Brien inside the Catholic Church.”

O’Brien was ultimately granted immunity from prosecution after signing a document admitting his part in the cover-ups.

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VATICAN CITY
LifeSiteNews

August 29, 2018

A highly placed Vatican source told LifeSiteNews that Cardinal Gerhard Müller, together with his much-experienced three CDF priests, were dismissed by Pope Francis because they all had tried to follow loyally the Church’s standing rules concerning abusive clergymen. In one specific case, Müller opposed the Pope’s wanting to re-instate Don Mauro Inzoli, an unmistakably cruel abuser of many boys; but the Pope would not listen to Müller. In another case, the Pope decided not to give a Vatican apartment to one of Müller’s own secretaries, but to the now-infamous Monsignor Luigi Capozzi, in spite of the fact that someone had warned the Pope about Capozzi’s grave problems. The Vatican source also said that it was known to several people in the Vatican that some restrictions were put on Cardinal McCarrick by Pope Benedict XVI, and he thereby confirms Viganò’s own claim.

When LifeSiteNews reached out to this very trustworthy and well-informed Vatican source, asking him about the then-breaking Viganò story and the archbishop’s allegations that Pope Francis knew of McCarrick’s habitual abuse, he answered: “Cardinal Müller [as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)] had always decidedly and most sharply followed up on these abuse cases, and that is why he was dismissed, just as his three good collaborators [the three CDF priests] were also dismissed.”

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SEOUL (REPUBLIC OF KOREA)
International Policy Digest

August 28, 2018

By Binoy Kampmark

“Now that the corruption has reached the very top of the Church’s hierarchy, my conscience dictates that I reveal those truths.” – Cardinal Carlo Maria Viganò, Aug 25, 2018

It could be called the apology drive, a journey of institutional contrition. Pope Francis’ Ireland trip has seeped with remarks of forgiveness, seeking understanding from those who found themselves victims of child abuse within the Catholic Church. “We apologise,” he told a church service attended by some hundred thousand at Dublin’s Phoenix Park, “for some members of the hierarchy who did not take care of these painful situations and kept silent.” He “wished to put these crimes before the mercy of the Lord and ask forgiveness for them.”

The Vatican, however, is sibilant with the calls of vipers, and the efforts being made within the organisation to out and implicate Pope Francis as a hypocrite in the business of targeting child abuse found form in Saturday’s note of condemnation by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Viganò had cut his teeth as the Vatican’s ambassador to Washington, and has never warmed to Francis, an official he accused of nursing a “pro-gay ideology” receptive to homosexual clerics.

On Saturday, the National Catholic Register, amongst other sites, ran news of testimony purportedly written by the aggrieved Cardinal. The flashpoint here was the case of former Cardinal and retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore McCarrick, who now stands as a gruesome personification of institutional climbing and abuse in authority.

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UNITED STATES
Patheos

August 28, 2018

By Mark Shea

Here is all we actually, documentably know.

A man with a huge grudge against Francis and various others in the heirarchy accuses the one guy who actually got rid of McCarrick of being The Villain and the Usual Suspects instantly start screaming “RESIGN!”

Me: I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that the guy who, by his own confession, knew McCarrick was an abuser and did not call the cops, but did celebrate a dinner honoring him as a Great Evangelist is now accusing the one guy who did get rid of McCarrick as the villain and everybody is treating the guy who protected McCarrick as the hero.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
KMSP

August 20, 2018

By Iris Perez

United by sadness and brought together by hope, Catholics from the Twin Cities metro area gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul to pray for the survivors of alleged clergy abuse in the light of recently surfaced allegations in Pennsylvania.

“It’s devastating to hear time and again how the church has failed our most vulnerable,” said Tucker Moore, a Twin Cities Catholic. “I think there needs to be a reckoning of bad actors.”

“There’s no other response than sorrow and grief because it’s terrible,” said Anne Morath, a Catholic from the Twin Cities.

The evening of prayer and reflection comes after a grand jury investigation last week unveiled accusations that more than 1,000 children had been abused by 300 “predator priests” in six Pennsylvania dioceses, across eight decades.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

August 27, 2018

By Ed Mahon

Prosecutors in Illinois, Florida, Missouri and New York are considering or pursuing investigations into Catholic dioceses.

The moves come on the heels of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that described more than 300 “predator priests” and more than 1,000 victims in six Roman Catholic dioceses in the state.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have said formal investigations are necessary in every state.

“We find in Pennsylvania that the church hierarchy will only report child sex abuse by … clergy when forced to by outside agencies like a grand jury,” the organization said in a news release.

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TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL 11

August 29, 2018

By Viviana Hurtado

Reforms to better protect children and vulnerable adults from predator priests has come in the form of grand jury reports like this month’s report from Pennsylvania.

August began with the Boston Globe’s reports in 2002 which exposed decades of clergy sex abuse.

Spiritual and legal reckonings around the country and world followed. In addition to some changes to beef up laws like extending statutes of limitations, as well as legal prosecution of predator priests and their superiors who don’t stop their abuse.

“The Church I don’t think failed. The hierarchy failed. And clericalism is at the heart of the problem,” said Lourdes University Emeritus professor Geoffrey Grubb, Ph.D.

Specifically, bishops who have been chosen not for their independence, but their submission to the authority of the Vatican, explained University of Toledo Catholic Studies professor Peter Feldmeier.

“What gets rewarded in the Catholic Church in the case of the hierarchy is less robust shepherds than lambs,” observed Dr. Feldmeier.

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UNITED STATES
The Associated Press

August 28, 2018

A committee created by the Catholic Church specifically to prevent sexual misconduct by clergy on Tuesday issued a damning assessment of the failings to stem the abuse, calling it an “evil” caused by “a loss of moral leadership.”

The National Review Board called for an investigation led by parishioners, saying a new wave of abuse scandals point to a “systematic problem” and that the bishops themselves can’t be trusted to lead an investigation.

Some survivors of clergy sex abuse said the call was a disingenuous attempt by the church to get around a true independent investigation.

The board was formed in 2002 in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal that started in the Boston Archdiocese and rocked the church globally. The committee said it was compelled to seek a lay-led investigation after recent revelations from a grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania and allegations that led to the resignation last month of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C.

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ Herald

August 29, 2018

By Mick Hall

The Catholic Church was aware of sex abuse accusations against paedophile priest Father Michael Shirres nearly three decades before he was finally withdrawn from public ministry.

Another victim of the disgraced Dominican theologian has come forward to say Shirres abused her and her sister in Auckland in 1966 and her parents reported it to a parish priest.

The Herald has confirmed that the priest then told the Dominican order’s provincial – the most senior cleric in Australasia at the time – and that Shirres was later sent away from Auckland to live at Aquinas College in Dunedin, but continued to work with families and children for decades.

Shirres was exposed in the Herald last month (July 25) as a self-confessed paedophile who had abused Whangarei woman Annie Hill, 56, from the age of five.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
ABC7

August 27, 2018

By Victoria Sanchez

American Catholics are calling for immediate changes in the church as the re-emerging international scandal of child sex abuse is causing some to speak out in protests.

The pope wrapped up a trip to Ireland this weekend. During the trip, he apologized for decades of sex abuse at the hands of priests and for the systemic coverup.

The Vatican’s former top diplomat in the United States claims Pope Francis was a part of sexual abuse allegation coverups and released an 11-page document accusing the Pontiff of turning a blind eye.

Former Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused several senior church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations linked to former Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Vigano claims Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Pope Francis knew about allegations for years.

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ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

August 29, 2018

By Jeff Weiner

The Catholic Diocese of Orlando announced Wednesday that it had removed from the ministry a priest facing an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor in Pennsylvania.

The Rev. David C. Gillis had been serving as parochial administrator for the Church of Our Saviour in Cocoa Beach before his his removal.

In a letter, the Rev. John Giel, chancellor of canonical affairs for the Diocese, said Gillis was facing an accusation of abuse involving a minor “that has at least the semblance of truth.”

“The safety and well-being of our vulnerable populations are very important to us,” Giel wrote. “… We pray for all victims and their families and for those involved in this situation.”

The removal of Gillis stemmed from an accusation currently being investigated by authorities in Berks County, Pa.

Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams confirmed his office was in the early stages of investigating the case. Gillis has not yet been arrested or charged, Adams said Wednesday.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

August 29, 2018

By Shona Murray

An industrial school abuse survivor is calling on the Government to release victims from the non-disclosure agreement set up in relation to the Ryan Commission.

Michael O’Brien was brutally raped during the eight years he spent in St Joseph’s Industrial School, Ferryhouse, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

Mr O’Brien said he was disappointed following the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland and would now write to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and request he be allowed to disclose the main predator who raped him at St Joseph’s.

He also wishes to reveal how much he received in compensation following his testimony – which is also included in the non-disclosure clause.

Mr O’Brien said the pontiff did not go far enough in remedying the Church’s role in abuse and cover-up during his visit last weekend.

He told the Irish Independent: “I was disappointed but not surprised by Pope Francis’s visit this weekend.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
Newser

August 29, 2018

By Kate Seamons

Bishop Patrick McGrath says he realized he ‘erred in judgment in the purchase’

Bishop Patrick McGrath’s retirement digs won’t be as posh as initially planned. In response to the backlash that emerged after it was revealed the Diocese of San Jose in California had purchased for him a $2.3 million five-bedroom home in the city, the 73-year-old has now said he will not move into what was described as a “Tuscan estate,” reports the New York Times. He had originally justified the purchase, made last winter, by saying it was made using a fund that could only go to housing; that it was a sound investment for the diocese; and that he didn’t want to live in a rectory where he might disturb the priests. But that’s where he’ll end up: “in a rectory at one of our parishes,” McGrath said in a Monday statement.

“I erred in judgment in the purchase of a 5-bedroom home for $2.3 million,” he continued. “I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis.” As for the fate of the 3,269-square-foot house, it will be relisted and sold, with any profits going to Charities Housing. “I assume full responsibility for this decision and I believe that the sale of the house is the appropriate action,” McGrath said in his statement.

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GREENSBURG (PA)
KDKA

August 29, 2018

Former Bishop’s Name Also Removed From Diocese Facility

A priest in the Greensburg Catholic Diocese has been removed after a credible allegation of sexual abuse of minor was received.

According to a statement from the diocese, the allegation was made against Fr. Joseph Bonafed and dates back 28 years.

“My understanding is the Attorney General’s hotline received this report in April,” said Bishop Edward Malesic, of the Greensburg Catholic Diocese. “We received the report earlier this week from a person related to the survivor, and we took action immediately.”

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UNITED STATES
Yahoo Lifestyle

August 29, 2018

By Elise Solé

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is introducing new measures to colleges and universities that would, among other changes, allow people accused of sexual misconduct to cross-examine their victims and request evidence.

According to the New York Times, which obtained the proposed rules, last fall DeVos rescinded a 2011 letter prepared by the Obama administration, which detailed how schools that receive federal funding should handle sexual crimes.

“The truth is that the system established by the prior administration has failed too many students,” DeVos said in September 2017. “Survivors, victims of a lack of due process and campus administrators have all told me that the current approach does a disservice to everyone involved.”

As the Times reports, DeVos’s rules would maintain much of the law under Title IX, a federal civil rights law, which protects students from sex and gender discrimination, along with sexual misconduct. However, there are notable changes.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times via The Daily Beast

August 29, 2018

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò—the man who sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church last week by accusing Pope Francis of covering up reports of sexual abuse among the U.S.’s church hierarchy and urging him to resign—has reportedly “disappeared.” Viganò, former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, wrote the letter with the help of a conservative journalist last Wednesday. When it was released to the press Sunday, the archbishop took his leave, turned off his cellphone, and disappeared to a secret location for “his own security,” according to Marco Tosatti, the writer who helped him pen the letter. Meanwhile, Pope Francis, speaking Wednesday during his first public appearance at the Vatican after the accusations, lamented how Ireland’s church authorities failed to respond there to crimes of sexual abuse.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

August 29, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

Buffalo Diocese spokesman George Richert is leaving the job, as calls intensify for Bishop Richard J. Malone to step down amid a scandal over his handling of sex abuse and sexual harassment allegations.

The diocese announced on its website this afternoon that Richert will step down as director of communications, effective Sept. 7.

Richert, a former television reporter, had been in the post since 2016. The announcement followed recent calls for Malone to resign from Rep. Brian Higgins, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, and others.

“I am extremely grateful to George for his counsel during his tenure with the diocese, especially in these tumultuous times,” Malone said in the statement on the diocese’s website. “George was a valued member of my leadership team, respected in the community, and a gentleman of high integrity. I wish him the very best as he pursues other opportunities.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

August 29, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

An online effort to raise money for a Buffalo Diocese priest accused of inappropriate conduct with a child has resulted in three donations totaling $450.

A GoFundMe campaign that began in May on behalf of the Rev. Arthur J. Smith seeks to raise $5,000.

Bishop Richard J. Malone’s handling of the allegations against Smith, 72, are at the center of a firestorm of calls for Malone to resign.

Malone returned Smith to ministry in the Buffalo Diocese and wrote the priest a glowing recommendation for ministry outside the diocese, despite complaints from a school principal who had accused Smith of inappropriate “grooming” behavior with a male elementary student.

Without explanation, former Bishop Edward U. Kmiec removed Smith in 2012 as pastor of St. Mary of the Lake Church in Hamburg. Under Malone, Smith returned to limited ministry, and not as a pastor, until this past April, when he was put on administrative leave due to a child sex abuse allegation. A diocesan investigation determined that the allegation was substantiated, and Smith was removed from ministry in June.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

August 27, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

The odds are probably against Bishop Richard J. Malone resigning any time soon – based on the few examples of American bishops who stepped down after being exposed for covering up clergy sex abuse.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday became the latest elected official to call for Malone to step down over his handling of sex abuse and harassment complaints against Buffalo Diocese clergy.

But within Catholic tradition, powerful political leaders don’t determine whether a bishop stays or goes. Only the pope has that kind of authority.

While bishops can remove priests from ministry, they can’t remove another bishop, said Catholic Church scholar Michele Dillon. And bishops stepping down prematurely was a “fairly rare” occurrence within the church, added Dillon, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire.

Despite revelations of cover-ups of clergy sexual abuse in dozens of U.S. dioceses, just five American bishops or archbishops resigned in the past 16 years, according to the website BishopAccountability.org, which maintains a massive database of clergy abuse cases.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

August 29, 2018

By Jill Filipovic

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the book “The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN.

As long-simmering tensions in the Catholic Church again boil to the surface over allegations of child sex crimes, a prominent — and controversial — archbishop is calling for the Pope’s resignation. Is the church confronting a coup, or is it finally facing a reckoning?

It’s both.

Of course, the church needs to be held accountable for the scandal — up to its highest leader. But there is little evidence that the new calls to oust Pope Francis are being made in good faith over genuine concern for children abused over decades — or the culture of male impunity that enabled it.

No, this current wave of outrage is led by the conservative clergy, via a recent 11-page later from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò — the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States, who Francis chose to replace. Viganò alleges that a “homosexual current” led to the sexual abuse scandal and that Francis covered for a cardinal he knew was a “sexual predator.” The Pope’s response: “I will not say a single word on this.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
briantoale.com

August 23, 2018

By Briane Toale

The recent Pennsylvania grand jury report that covers six of the eight Catholic dioceses in the State of Pennsylvania names 301 “Predator priests” and over 1000 victims. The jurors themselves state that in their belief, they have not identified even half of the actual number of victims.

All around the globe for the past half-century, wherever an investigation of the Catholic Church has been undertaken, the same pattern of sexual abuse and cover-up is exposed, and the lengths that the Church’s hierarchy will go to to protect their own reputation and financial holdings is revealed, yet again.

This should come as no surprise. The Catholic Church has been dealing with the issue of the sexual violation of minors for nearly its whole existence. Catholic Church canon law regularly dealt with the issue of priests having sexual contact with young boys and other violations of celibacy. The Church’s own records over the centuries show these were not rare exceptions but reliable predictors of clerical behavior.

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