ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

July 10, 2018

By Danny Tran and Richard Willingham

Admissions of child abuse will continue to be protected by the seal of the confessional in the state of Victoria, after the Andrews Government stopped short of adopting one of the key recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The State Government has indicated it needs more time to consider the proposal from the royal commission, which has called for the sanctity of the confessional to be tossed aside and replaced with powerful new mandatory reporting laws.

The laws would force members of the religious clergy to report any suspicions or explicit confessions of child abuse to police, but their implementation has been met with powerful resistance from the Catholic Church.

The Government has previously agreed to work towards a national approach to the confessional.

The Attorney-General, Martin Pakula, said privilege on religious confessions was set out in Victorian law.

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

BOSTON (MA)
Mass Live

July 11, 2018

By Shira Schoenberg

Attorneys for former Senate President Stan Rosenberg and his husband, Bryon Hefner, argued in court Wednesday that allowing one of Hefner’s alleged victims to shield his identity does not allow for a level playing field.

John Doe is a legislative aide who accused Hefner of sexually assaulting him three separate times in 2015 and 2016. Doe says Rosenberg knew about Hefner’s behavior and still gave Hefner access to his political contacts. Doe sued Rosenberg and Hefner for civil damages. Hefner is also facing criminal charges.

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FRANCE
La Croix (with AFP)

July 11, 2018

A summons addressed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect failed to be delivered in time

Already postponed twice, the trial of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon (France) risks being delayed yet again. The cardinal has been accused by former scouts of having failed to report pedophile assaults in his archdiocese,.

The trial was initially scheduled in the Lyon criminal court for April 4-6, but legal complications have caused it to be postponed.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Catholic World Report

July 5, 2018

By Christopher R. Altieri

The shock and sadness expressed over the allegations Cardinal McCarrick violated the Charter are no more than a red herring.

Over the past sixteen years, there has been much praise of the reform efforts the Church’s hierarchical leaders in the United States have undertaken in the wake of the clerical sexual abuse scandal that erupted in 2002. Much of that praise has come from the bishops, themselves. From the very start, however, there has been ample reason to take a grim view of the thing, and I confess I have never been too terribly sanguine regarding the prospects for successful reform.

When I have heard it said that the US bishops have made the part of the Catholic Church in their charge the safest place in the world for children, I have inwardly – sometimes privately, but never before now publicly – quipped, “Someone needs to tell them that’s not a selling point.” At best, it’s only a little better than saying: The Catholic Church – Now abusing fewer children.

We have heard little about those successes over the past few weeks, especially since several major sees have been caught up in another abuse scandal – this one dating back more than four decades and involving a man, who in the years intervening became a prominent figure in the US Church: the Archbishop-emeritus of Washington, DC, Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick.

Cardinal McCarrick is accused of abusing a minor this time – hence Church authorities have taken action – though his reputation for license with priests and seminarians, many of whom were his subordinates, has been the stuff of black legend for decades.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Inquirer

July 11, 2018

By Liz Navratil and Angela Couloumbis

The law firms and individual lawyers waging a fierce fight over a secret grand jury report detailing sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the state have together donated more than $180,000 to the campaigns of the Supreme Court justices now weighing whether to release the report, records show.

Justice Debra Todd was the first to publicly disclose her contributions in court. In a filing late Tuesday, she acknowledged more than $23,000 was given to her campaign last year by attorneys, firms, or lawyers tied to them. Todd said she would consider recusing herself from the high-profile case if asked to do so.

Most of her colleagues on the high court have not done the same, despite also having accepted donations from lawyers now arguing before them, according to an analysis of campaign finance records from the Inquirer and Daily News and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy filed a similar disclosure Wednesday, after the newspapers asked about her donations and those to the other justices.)

Legal experts say the justices’ actions are not a surprise. They are not required to disclose the donations in court filings, as each is already recorded in campaign records. And if history is a guide, the money they took in is unlikely to prompt any to step aside.

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KERALA (INDIA)
NDTV

July 11, 2018

By Sneha Mary Koshy and Anindita Sanyal

At least 13 priests have been arrested in Kerala over the last 18 months following allegations of sexual abuse.

Thiruvananthapuram – A third woman has accused a priest in Kerala of sexual abuse, adding to the growing scandal that has rocked the state’s significant chunk of Christian population. Over the last 18 months, at least 12 priests have been arrested from different churches in Kerala for allegedly sexually abusing and raping minors and women. Last week, a nun and another woman made allegations of sexual abuse which, they said, went on for years. They also alleged that the Church, instead of impartially investigating the incidents, have been trying to cover up the matter.

The 48-year-old nun, a Roman Catholic, alleged that her complaint against Fr Franco Mullickal, the Bishop of Jalandhar, made in January last year drew a blank.

The church officials, she said, had promised action by June 30 this year. Instead, Fr Mullickal filed a complaint against her and five others, accusing them of threatening him. It was after that, on June 27, the nun filed a complaint with the police, alleging that the priest had sexually abused 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

July 11, 2018

By Melissa Davey

The Victorian government has been criticised for delaying its decision on whether to abolish the seal of confessional for disclosures of child sexual abuse, in its response to the recommendations of the royal commission.

On Wednesday the state government issued its response to the royal commission’s 409 recommendations, 317 of which apply to Victoria. The state’s attorney general, Martin Pakula, said the government had accepted 128 recommendations, accepted 165 recommendations in principle, and would need to further consider another 24.

Abolishing the seal of confessional for any disclosures of child sexual abuse was one of those recommendations still under consideration, Pakula told ABC radio.

Melbourne archbishop says he’d rather go to jail than report child abuse heard in confession

“It needs a degree of national agreement,” he said.

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HONOLULU (HI)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

July 11, 2018

By Jeff Anderson et al.

[Includes a list of accused, several documents, and assignment histories. See also a chart of diocesan officials and a map of origination.]

In 2012, the Hawaii legislature opened a two-year, retroactive window for survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil claims against their perpetrator and the institution that covered up the sexual abuse. In 2014, the legislature extended this window through April 24, 2016. As a result, dozens of survivors came forward to file claims. On July 10, 2018, the Hawaii legislature opened another retroactive window for survivors of sexual abuse in Hawaii. Survivors have until April 24, 2020 to come forward and file a claim.

This report contains the names of clergy associated with the Diocese of Honolulu who have been accused of sexually abusing children. While lawsuits were filed involving many of these alleged perpetrators, the vast majority of the claims against these individuals have been settled or have not been fully evaluated in a civil court. Accordingly, the allegations should be considered just allegations and should not be considered proved or substantiated in a court of law. All individuals should be considered innocent until proven guilty. In some situations, the statute of limitations has expired preventing the cases from being heard in a court of law.

It is believed that the Diocese of Honolulu does not make available to the public the full history, knowledge and context of the sexually abusive clerics. This report is an attempt to compile information already available to the public from various sources in the public media; bishopaccountability.org; and other sources that have attempted to chronicle this information for public use. This report is intended to raise awareness about the important issue of clerical sexual abuse, provide the public with vital information including assignment histories, and provide awareness to survivors. Assignment histories are approximations and were compiled from the Official Catholic Directory, bishopaccountability.org and media reports.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

July 11, 2018

By Andy Newman

In a shrine on the sixth floor of a Manhattan office building, a photo of a man in golden robes hangs above an altar. Another photo of him sits upon a throne.

He is the head of one of the largest Buddhist organizations in the West, Shambhala International, a network of more than 200 outposts in over 30 countries where thousands come for training in meditation and mindfulness and some delve into deeper mysteries.

The man is Mipham Rinpoche. He is known as the Sakyong, a Tibetan word that translates roughly as king, and his students take vows to follow him that are binding across lifetimes. These days, they are feeling sad, confused, angry and betrayed.

Late last month, a former Shambhala teacher released a report alleging that the Sakyong had sexually abused and exploited some of his most devoted female followers for years. Women quoted in the report wrote of drunken groping and forcefully extracted sexual favors. The report said that senior leaders at Shambhala — an organization whose motto is “Making Enlightened Society Possible” — knew of the Sakyong’s misconduct and covered it up.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

July 12, 2018

By Matt Stout

A Superior Court judge will decide whether to publicly identify the man who sued Bryon Hefner and his husband, former Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg, after their attorneys argued Wednesday that publicly unmasking Hefner’s accuser would create a “fair playing field.”

Hefner and Rosenberg’s moves drew a stiff rebuke from the man’s attorneys, who told Judge Robert N. Tochka that they’ve never before had a defendant challenge their request to seal an alleged sexual assault victim’s name from public view.

Hefner already faces multiple criminal counts of sexual assault. The man — identified as John Doe in court papers — is one of the “complainants” whose allegations helped prosecutors build their criminal case, according to his attorney, William H. Gordon.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

July 12, 2018

By Brian Dowling

Ex-Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg and his estranged husband, Bryon Hefner, want to “level the playing field” by publicly naming the John Doe suing them over sex abuse claims — a rare demand the alleged victim’s attorneys say could lead to disastrous ends.

“If his identity is out there, he may suffer irreparable harm,” said Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer for Doe who accused Hefner of sexually assaulting the man twice in Rosenberg’s presence, and once at the couple’s North End condo.

Garabedian — who has represented more than 1,000 sex abuse victims — told Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert N. Tochka that, for some victims, going to the courts for justice opened long-healed wounds and proved too much.

“Some — during proceedings, during the action, during the settlement program — commit suicide,” Garabedian said. “It’s a real concern.”

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Daily Mail

July 11, 2018

By Charlie Moore

– The Victorian Government is considering fining priests who don’t report abuse
– Lisa Wilkinson, aged 58, argued the changes would provide justice for victims
– Waleed Aly, 39, suggested law would be unenforceable and therefore pointless
– Priests say the law is overreaching of the state and violates religious freedom

Sydney – Lisa Wilkinson last night claimed that altar boys were ‘prey’ for paedophile Catholic priests.

Supporting a proposal to fine priests who fail to report abuse, she said: ‘If altar boys in particular are seen as prey for priests then we have to step in, and in a major way.’

‘The church has been a rule unto itself, and we’ve had generation after generation of damaged humans,’ she continued.

Mrs Wilkinson made the comments in a heated discussion with co-presenter Waleed Aly on Channel Ten’s The Project.

The Victorian Government is considering fining priests $10,000 if they fail to break the seal of confession to report penitents’ admissions of child abuse.

Mrs Wilkinson, 58, argued the changes were necessary to provide justice for victims.

Mr Aly, 39, suggested the law would be unenforceable and therefore pointless.

South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Western Australia have announced plans to introduce the law but the Victorian Government said on Wednesday it needed ‘further consideration’.

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SHARON (PA)
The Sharon Herald and CNHI

By John Finnerty

Harrisburg – The state Supreme Court continues to weigh whether or how to release a grand jury report detailing allegations of widespread sex abuse by priests in six of Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses.

As arguments come in from both sides, the head of a watchdog group that tracks efforts to hold the Catholic Church accountable for covering up sex abuse by priests said he’s unaware of any previous case where an appeals court intervened to consider whether individuals should be named in such court documents.

“This precise situation hasn’t happened before,” said Terence McKiernan, president of Bishop Accountability, a Massachusetts-based group. “There’s a strong case that can be made that we can expect bad stuff,” McKiernan said. “It doesn’t surprise me that people don’t want it released.”

An undisclosed number of people, including current and former members of the clergy, have asked the court to either redact or bar the release of the grand jury report, which deals with allegations in the dioceses in Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. This report follows a 2016 grand jury report detailing decades of sex abuse cover-ups in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

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HONOLULU (HAWAII)
KHON 2

By Brigette Namata

July 11, 2018

[See also the report.]

Allegations of Hawaii priests sexually assaulting children date as far back as the 1950s.

A detailed report compiled by law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates PA and the Law Office of Mark Gallagher reveal 58 men associated with the Diocese of Honolulu who have been accused of sexually abusing children.

The report also shows a letter written by a priest with Maryknoll Fathers, dated November 6, 1959, to another priest on the mainland. In the letter, the priest admits Hawaii was considered a “dumping ground” for troubled clerics from the mainland and the Philippines and Guam. He warned against transferring two troubled priests to the islands, adding “these two men might be most dangerous out here.”

The letter went on to continue: “If you decide to send them out, I would ask that it is made plain that we will not stand for any nonsense out here.”

Lawmakers have now extended the window for survivors of sexual abuse. Victims have until April 24,2020 to come forward and file a civil claim.

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BRONX (NY)
Fordham Observer

July 11, 2018

By Jordan Meltzer

Fordham University’s Board of Trustees has voted to rescind alumnus Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s honorary degree and “other honors” given to him by the university, according to a statement from University President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J. The former archbishop had recently been removed from the public ministry following allegations that he sexually abused a teenager during his time as a priest, the Archdiocese of Washington said in a statement last June.

McCarrick, a graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill’s class of 1954, served as the Archbishop of Washington from 2000 to 2006.

This is the third time Fordham has revoked an honor it had already bestowed on someone. Last December, Fordham rescinded Charlie Rose’s eponymous award for excellence in broadcast journalism following accusations from eight women that he sexually assaulted them. Similarly, in 2015, Fordham revoked Bill Cosby’s honorary degree from the university. In adding Cardinal McCarrick’s case to this blacklist, all three decisions cite sexual assault or abuse as the reason for action.

The sexual misconduct incidents, which the Associated Press describes as the fondling of an altar boy, allegedly occurred at two Christmas masses in 1971 and in 1972. The Archdiocese of New York, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan and a review board, found that the allegations were “credible and substantiated.” On this basis, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has ordered McCarrick not to conduct any further ministry or other public activity. However, Pope Francis and the Holy See have yet to make a “definite decision” about a permanent action, according to the Archdiocese of Washington. McCarrick has accepted the decision, but he maintains his innocence.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

July 11, 2018

By Brian Roewe

Juan Carlos Cruz recounts pope’s apology in address at SNAP event

Chicago – On a snowy Saturday in April, Juan Carlos Cruz was at his Philadelphia-area home enjoying a quiet morning in bed, watching Netflix and eating Honey Nut Cheerios, when his cellphone rang with a call from the Vatican.

The person on the other end of the line said he was contacting Cruz on behalf of Pope Francis, who wished to apologize in person to him and other abuse survivors. Three months earlier during his visit to Chile, Francis had accused them of “calumny” regarding accusations the survivors had raised against Osorno, Chile, Bishop Juan Barros Madrid of covering up and even witnessing sexual abuse of minors by Fr. Fernando Karadima.

The Barros controversy had dominated Francis’ January trip to Chile and followed the pope back to Rome. In the months since, intense worldwide criticism spurred a Vatican investigation into the Chilean abuse crisis, which in turn resulted in the resignations of nearly all of Chile’s 34 bishops. So far, the pope has accepted five of them, including Barros’.

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AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
NZ Catholic, Newspaper of the Diocese of Auckland

July 12, 2018

By Rowena Orejana

Given the sexual abuse crisis in which the Church is embroiled, theologians need to rethink a faith-based response to sexual violence.

Systematic theology lecturer at Good Shepherd College Dr Rocio Figueroa said theologians “are conscious that theology cannot be the same following the severe crisis of sexual abuse that has happened in our Church”.

“We must rethink a lot of topics. We must rethink our Christology. We must rethink how we see power and many other issues, pastoral topics,” she said.

Dr Figueroa and Otago University Professor David Tombs (Centre for Theology and Public Issues) organised an April 28 symposium called “The Abused Christ: Theologians Respond to Sexual Abuse”. This was part of a wider project they are collaborating on called “When did I see you naked?”

Sixteen theologians from Otago University, Auckland University, St John’s Theological College, Trinity Methodist College and Good Shepherd College participated in the symposium held at Holy Cross Seminary in Ponsonby, Auckland.

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CASPER (WY)
Casper Star-Tribune via Wyoming News Exchange

July 11, 2018

By Seth Klamann

In a statement read at all Catholic Masses on Sunday in Wyoming, the state’s highest clergyman apologized to victims of priest abuse and provided details to his statewide flock about the allegations facing one of his predecessors.

“The abuse crisis in the Church has been devastating,” Bishop Steven Biegler wrote in his letter, which was also placed in all bulletins Sunday. “As a Diocese, we have made a commitment to protect and heal: to protect the vulnerable from sexual abuse and to heal victims and their families.”

The statement came less than a week after the Diocese of Cheyenne announced that an independent investigation had concluded that former Bishop Joseph Hart had sexually abused two Wyoming boys. He first faced allegations here in 2002, the year after he retired. In an investigation that same year, the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office said that allegation had no merit.

The diocese became aware of Hart’s second alleged victim sometime after December 2017, when it hired a private investigator to look into the allegations. That investigator “acquired new substantial evidence,” according to the diocese’s statement. Last week, a church official declined to elaborate on what evidence that investigator had gathered.

Hart had previously faced allegations in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a priest for 20 years before moving to Casper in 1976. He served for two years here before moving to Cheyenne — where he currently resides in retirement — and becoming bishop. Hart has denied all allegations, both in Missouri and Wyoming. He did so again last week.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
WGAL News 8

July 10, 2018

By Susan Shapiro

A district attorney said Pennsylvania’s grand jury process is under assault as the state Supreme Court holds up the release of a report on claims of sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has joined the legal fight calling for the immediate release of the findings of a grand jury investigation at six dioceses, including Harrisburg.

Morganelli said the court’s decision to first allow current and former priests who object to being named in the report to submit written arguments could undermine the entire grand jury process.

“I am concerned about the larger issues,” said Morganelli. “Not necessarily the specifics of this report because I’m not privy to the facts of whether it was a preponderance of evidence. What I am concerned about is the overall attack on the whole grand jury statute.”

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KOTTAYAM (KERALA, INDIA)
NDTV

July 11, 2018

By Sneha Mary Koshy

Her horrifying story was exposed last month when an audio clip of her husband complaining to a church official was circulated online

Three of the four Kerala priests accused of raping a woman for years failed to get protection from arrest today with the high court observing that the priests appeared to have “acted as predators”. The judge said there was no reason for the court to ignore the version of the 34-year-old woman who had given a graphic description of how he was threatened and forced to succumb to the priests.
The four priests, based at the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Kottayam, are on the run.

The three priests had filed the petition to seek the shield against arrest as soon as the police registered a case against them.

“Since then, our focus has been on collecting preliminary evidence to challenge their bail petition in court,” a senior police officer told NDTV.

Her horrifying story was exposed last month when an audio clip of her husband complaining to a church official was circulated online.

The woman, who also impleaded in the case, said her religious beliefs were misused by the church. The woman’s husband said that she was caught in a vicious cycle of sexual exploitation and blackmail.

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KERAL (INDIA)
India Times

July 10, 2018

By Bobins Abraham

Two sex scandals in a matter of just a few days, first in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the second one in the Syro-Malabar Church, two powerful Catholic sects in Kerala have opened a can of worms with, many from the community demanding answers from their leaders.

In the first case, five priests of the Orthodox Church were accused of blackmailing sexually abusing a married woman for years. Based on her complaint all the five priests were suspended and the police have booked four of them under various sections. But no arrests have been made in the case so far.

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NORFOLK (VA)
The Virginian- Pilot

July 11, 2018

By Peter Coutu

A highly decorated retired Marine entered an Alford plea on Tuesday morning to three assault misdemeanors in exchange for prosecutors dropping or reducing several felony charges of child sex abuse.

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SWITZERLAND
Newsweek

July 11, 2018

By Jason Lemon

A former Swiss priest will go to rehab after losing more than $1 million to gambling debts, including money loaned to him by some 50 parishioners.

The man, whose name wasn’t disclosed, was forced to resign from his religious duties under Switzerland’s Diocese of Chur, accused of abusing his position as a priest to secure loans from unsuspecting churchgoers to fund his addiction. According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the disgraced vicar’s debts amounted to 1.4 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million).

Although church authorities were long aware of the former priest’s gambling problem, they did not warn parishioners about the issue. Instead, the diocese offered him help to address the addiction before it got out of hand. Swiss media have reported that several church members are considering pressing charges as a result, but until now, no cases have been filed.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
The Register

July 11, 2018

By Iain Thomson

US, Russian, Ukrainians make big bank with pre-public info

Two former investment bankers, one of whom is also a priest, have been found guilty of an elaborate scam – hacking newswires to read press releases prior to publication, and trade millions using this insider information.

Vitaly Korchevsky, formerly a veep at Morgan Stanley and a pastor at the Slavic Evangelical Baptist Church in Philadelphia, USA, and ex-broker Vladislav Khalupsky were this month found guilty of securities fraud by a jury in New York, and are facing 20 years in the slammer.

According to court documents, the two colluded with a Ukrainian hacking gang and investors in the US, Russia, France, and Cyprus to realized more than $100m in illicit profits. America’s financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, said it has since recovered $53m of the haul.

The scam, carried out between 2010 and 2015 involved Ukrainian hackers getting into the servers of two unnamed newswire services, one in New York and the other in Canada. The miscreants searched for embargoed press releases on companies’ quarterly financial figures, which are typically privately submitted to a newswire a couple of days before they are published, and accessed more than 100,000 of them before being caught.

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WILMINGTON (DE)
STL News

July 11, 2018

By Rizwan Afzal

A Delaware judge on Wednesday approved a revised plan for the sale of the Weinstein Co., the studio forced into bankruptcy by the sexual misconduct scandal that brought down Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The revised plan calls for Dallas-based private equity firm Lantern Capital to pay $289 million for the Weinstein Co.’s assets, down from an initial sale price of $310 million.

Attorneys negotiated the $21 million price reduction after disputes threatened to torpedo the deal. Among those concerns was who would be responsible for paying potentially tens of millions of dollars owed on certain contracts that may be assigned to Lantern.

As part of the settlement, Lantern agreed to pay at least $8.75 million to satisfy certain contractual claims and pay for the Weinstein Co.’s operating expenses since June 29 in exchange for a lower purchase price.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

July 11, 2018

By Brian Roewe

Real estate sales largely will cover archdiocese’s $23.5 million portion of $210 million settlement

The St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese will pay roughly $23.5 million as part of its $210 million bankruptcy settlement, court documents filed in late June show.

On June 28, the archdiocese and the unsecured creditors’ committee, which represents 450 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court their joint plan for reorganization along with a disclosure statement of the archdiocese’s finances, including a breakdown of the settlement’s funding sources.

The filing represented the next step toward bankruptcy resolution for the archdiocese after it was announced May 31 it had reached a settlement with its creditors totaling $210,290,724 — the largest payout via bankruptcy proceedings in the Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal.

According to the disclosure statement, the archdiocese’s portion of the settlement is $23,475,000. More than two-thirds of the funds come from the sale of real estate, including its chancery and Hayden Center administrative building, and of other assets, as well as $6 million from the general insurance fund.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Associated Press

July 2, 2018

By Mark Scolforo

Two sisters asked a judge Monday to invalidate broad confidentiality agreements other family members made with a Pennsylvania Roman Catholic diocese so they can speak publicly about sexual abuse at the hands of a parish priest more than two decades ago.

The lawsuit in county court in Harrisburg by two adult women said their silence was required in settlements made with the Harrisburg Diocese over sexual abuse of two other sisters in the same family by the Rev. Augustine Michael Giella.

New Jersey court records indicate Giella confessed to fondling one of the girls and taking photos of her unclothed. Giella was facing sexual assault, child endangerment and child pornography charges in Ocean County, New Jersey, when he died in 1993 at about age 72.

A spokesman for the Harrisburg Diocese, Mike Barley, said it no longer enforces nondisclosure agreements in priest abuse settlements.

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Road to Recovery, Inc. – P.O. Box 279, Livingston, New Jersey 07039 – 862-368-2800

A courageous victim/survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a religious sister (nun) will speak publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse she experienced and the re-victimization she was subject to during a recent meeting with the abusive sister’s religious order

A Buffalo-area woman will speak publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse she experienced as an elementary school student at an Amherst, NY, Catholic parish school and convent by a religious sister (nun)

“Jane Doe” will reveal her identity and the two-part story of childhood sexual abuse in a Catholic elementary school and convent AND her re-victimization by the religious order which supervised the abusive religious sister (nun)

What

A press conference by a female childhood sexual abuse victim/survivor of a religious sister (nun) when she was a student at Christ the King Elementary School in Amherst (Snyder), NY. Recently, the victim/survivor met with a representative of the religious order of sisters in a Buffalo-area parish meeting room and was re-victimized by the encounter. The childhood sexual abuse and the subsequent encounter with the religious order will be described in detail.

When

Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 11:30 am

Where

On the public sidewalk outside Christ the King Parish, 30 Lamarck Drive at Main Street, Amherst, NY 14226

Who

“Jane Doe,” a courageous victim/survivor of childhood sexual abuse who will reveal her identity; and, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey and advocate for “Jane Doe”

Why

“Jane Doe” was a minor child when she attended Christ the King Elementary School in Amherst, NY. One of her teachers, a religious sister (nun), sexually abused her on the school and parish campus. She was seriously harmed by the sexual abuse. Recently, “Jane Doe” met with a representative of the religious order that supervised the alleged abusive nun and “Jane Doe” was re-victimized by the encounter. She and her supporters will demand that the religious order of sisters treat “Jane Doe” with compassion and justice and that the Diocese of Buffalo intervene in the matter by conducting a thorough investigation of the religious order of sisters and sexual abuse at Christ the King School.

(OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE VICTIM/SURVIVOR, THERE WILL BE NO PRE-INTERVIEWS)

Contact

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

July 11, 2018

By Melissa Davey

Critics say Victorian government is ‘still putting the church ahead of children’

The Victorian government has been criticised for delaying its decision on whether to abolish the seal of confessional for disclosures of child sexual abuse, in its response to the recommendations of the royal commission.

On Wednesday the state government issued its response to the royal commission’s 409 recommendations, 317 of which apply to Victoria. The state’s attorney general, Martin Pakula, said the government had accepted 128 recommendations, accepted 165 recommendations in principle, and would need to further consider another 24.

Abolishing the seal of confessional for any disclosures of child sexual abuse was one of those recommendations still under consideration, Pakula told ABC radio.

“It needs a degree of national agreement,” he said.

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DEDEDO (GUAM)
KUAM News

July 11, 2018

Another clergy sexual lawsuit is filed this week. 65-year-old J.V.C. alleges he was molested by Father Antonio Cruz as a teen boy.

Cruz, who passed away over thirty years ago, was a priest at Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago at the time.

Only identified by his initials to protect his privacy, J.V.C. alleges Cruz asked him to bring him a coconut. When he returned, the priest was allegedly naked and masturbating and performed sexual acts on the teen boy.

J.V.C. is represented by attorney David Lujan.

He is suing for $5 million.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

July 10, 2018

By Nathaniel Lash and Craig R. McCoy

New filings in a suit to stop the release of a Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on clergy sex abuse offer a window into who is seeking to keep the report secret and why.

The documents were made public Friday by the state Supreme Court, which blocked the release of the grand jury report until the appeals could be heard.

The filings list 14 individuals, identified only by initials, and the reasons they are opposing the release of the report. In some cases, they provide details of the abuse allegations made against the unnamed individuals in the report.

For instance, a church official identified as D.D. objected to the charge that he should have informed a school district that a priest was previously the subject of an “abuse or sexual misconduct investigation” involving children. The filing in D.D.’s case said the grand jury’s criticism was based on misreading of the relevant law.

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WAYNESVILLE (NC)
The Mountaineer

July 11, 2018

By Kyle Perrotti

A former priest currently being held at the Haywood County Detention Center has been charged with eight more felonies relating to the alleged sexual abuse of children.

Howard White, 76, was charged with the felonies Monday afternoon following an indictment by a Haywood County Grand Jury. According to court documents, the charges relate to two alleged victims, one who claims he was abused in 1984 and the other who claims he was abused in 2004.

Prior to his most recent indictment involving two more Haywood victims, White was facing charges of first-degree forcible sex offense, two counts of indecent liberties with a child, first-degree forcible rape, four counts second-degree forcible sex offense, and second-degree forcible rape.

With the latest round of indictments, he is facing five more counts of indecent liberties with a child, one more count of second-degree sex offense, and two more counts of second-degree forcible sex offense.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Fox 8 WVUE

July 10 2018

By Rob Masson

A local attorney said the Archdiocese of New Orleans avoided a lot of bad publicity by reportedly settling a case involving a Loyola priest accused of raping a 5-year-old girl over several years.

The dismissal comes shortly after the Archdiocese paid out a $500,000 sex abuse settlement involving a former deacon and an altar boy.

Two years ago a woman identified as Jane Doe sued the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Loyola University and the Jesuit governing organization, claiming priest Ben Wren sexually abused for her seven years.

Court documents obtained by FOX 8 allege that Jane Doe’s grandmother, a Loyola staff member, trusted Wren, since he was a Jesuit priest and a university professor.

The lawsuit, dismissed last week, said that “Jane Doe would frequently be called on by Father Wren to assist him on errands,” and that “the sexual abuse began slowly with light touching and caressing.” The suit alleged “the sexual abuse continued for the next several years…and included forcible sexual intercourse when Jane Doe reached the age of 9 or 10 years old.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Gustavo Arellano’s Weekly

July 8, 2018

By Gustavo Arelllano

Greetings from Chicago, where the temperature is not triple digits like my Southern California homeland – in fact, it’s a little bit chilly. I’ve been in hotel conference rooms most of yesterday and today, talking about the most important work of my career, work most of you don’t even know about: the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal in Orange County.

I never presume to know why people read my articles, but I’m confident in saying most people – if they even know who I am – know me best for my work about tacos, my former Mexican column, or my time as editor of OC Weekly.

But the real Gs know that 15 years ago, I was essentially a one-man Spotlight as I covered all the pedophile priests that the Diocese of Orange County tried to cover up for decades.

That part of my career is largely forgotten now. But one group remembers: sex-abuse survivors.

That’s why it’s an honor for me to be in Chicago, to be a speaker on the opening night of the annual conference for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. This is their 30th anniversary of them being #metoo before #metoo, and doing it in an era when few dared to tell their stories because the rest of the world dismissed them as lunatics, whores, or just spat upon them.

But SNAP did.

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PAGOSA SPRINGS (CO)
Youtube/Tara Mandala

July 4, 2018 (first recorded on July 1, 2018)

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Lama Tsultrim Allione discuss the allegations of sexual abuse by Shambhala head Sakyong Mipham. Recorded at Tara Mandala, July 1, 2018.

Length: 12:34

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UNITED STATES
Kelly.con

July 9, 2018

By Kelly Conheeney

How did you get to be a professional athlete? It’s a question I am asked often. By parents, coaches, fans, etc. It’s a common question for any professional athlete… “Tell me how you got here….”

My mind shoots to my 10-year-old self kicking a ball against a wall over and over and over again. I was the little girl who slept with a soccer ball next to her pillow at night, under her Mia Hamm poster and US Women’s National Team Calendar hanging on the wall, praying to whatever god was out there, to give me the ability to one day play like these women. It probably went something like, “Hey God, it’s me Kelly. PLEASE let me be Mia Hamm one day.” Just praying to someone I was told would make all my dreams come true. Soccer was life. It’s still life. and sometimes I wonder how I got through it all to get to where I am today. Everyone has a “how they got there” story.

It was my first love and my life’s work from an early age. It’s a beautiful yet unforgiving love; I learned the hard way that playing the game won’t last forever. I endured a head injury in college that put a hold on my career for 3 and a half years and during that time I kept asking myself, “who am I without a ball at my feet?” For a while I didn’t know who that person was. Those days were some of the hardest of my life. I felt like a prisoner in my own body, unable to do the things I once did so freely. Contained to a dark room and isolated from the world around me. It felt like a part of me died in some ways. I had a hard time coping with the loss of something that meant everything to me and at the time defined who I was. Losing the game forced me to take a step back and look in the mirror. It forced me to face a part of me that was buried deep in the darkest pit of my soul. The part where my heart starts racing and my palms start sweating when someone asks me the “How’d you get there?” question.

All I can think of is my youth coach who taught me how to play the game. His name was Keith. He started coaching me when I was 10. “Recruited” me to come play for his team after watching me play every position on the field during a game where his team beat mine 5-0. I guess he saw something in me. Versatility? Nah, a little Tasmanian devil that never stopped working. He was Brazilian and every practice was about getting maximum touches on the ball. I absolutely loved training with him, learning new things and making him proud. You know how you are when you’re 10; When you do something good and your coach praises you, you thrive off of it. I would do anything to make him proud of me. He worked with me everyday and made me feel like I’d be the best to play the game if I stuck around him. He worked his way into my family as the years went on.

At an incredibly influential age, a time when curiosity and a hunger to learn drive you towards a passion, you trust that everyone wants the best for you. You trust the people around you to protect you and help you achieve your dreams. Especially the person who is giving you the tools to succeed. You just trust people at that age, you don’t put up walls. Well, some 10 year olds know what walls are… I didn’t. I don’t remember the specific moment Keith started abusing the power he had. But when I look back on it now, I realize he had been grooming me from the very beginning. He worked with me individually on skills, until I’d master them, and then he would take me to his camps to be the demo girl to show others how to do it. He brought me to play with the older girls he trained, and took me to practice with boys to show them there was a girl out there better than them. And I was, I was fucking good. I was also good at being his puppet. His praise fueled me. Soccer quickly became the single most important thing in my world. It was like nothing else mattered.

By age 13 he had gained control of most areas of my life. Sometimes I thought, maybe it was my fault, because I always did what he said. But thats how it was in America growing up. You do what coach says, so from the outside there wasn’t anything unusual about the way he was treating me. Before I knew it I was getting stripped of all the things I called my own until I didn’t recognize who I was anymore.

I remember when I would have a bad game and he would tell me I played like shit. Instead of giving constructive feedback as a good coach would have done, he put me down. I always took what he said to heart, because his opinion really mattered to me. It taught me to believe that a good or bad game decided my worth as a human being. He was the one who got to decide my worth.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Think Progress

July 6, 2018

By Joshua Eaton

The news comes after the leadership of his organization resigned Friday.

UPDATE (7/6/2018, 9:20 p.m. ET): Prominent Buddhist teacher and author Sakyong Mipham, the leader of Shambhala International, announced in a letter Friday night that he is temporarily stepping down from teaching and administration pending the outcome of an investigation by law firm Wickwire Holm into charges he coerced and sexually assaulted several female students.

The move leaves Shambhala with no clear leadership structure following the announcement Friday afternoon that its main governing body, the Kalapa Council, will also step aside.

“The Sakyong fully supports a third-party investigation and wishes to provide the time and space for it to properly occur,” said the letter, which referred to Mipham by his religious title. “He will use this time to enter a period of self-reflection.”

ThinkProgress’ original story about the Kalapa Council’s announcement is below.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Salon

July 9, 2018

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

We need to break down the wall of silence and shaming that surrounds the abuse and harassment of boys and men

Why does Jim Jordan have a job today? Why is working? Why aren’t his colleagues demanding he answer accusations that he was aware of alleged sexual abuse at Ohio State University when he worked there as an assistant coach from 1986 to 1994? And where, at a groundswell period in history where individuals who claim they’ve been abused and assaulted are more united and mobilized than ever, are the claims of boys and men still given only secondary consideration? Why is the male component of #MeToo still so neglected?

Ohio Rep. and founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus Jim Jordan is considered a rising star in the Republican party. A solid supporter of the current administration who’s sponsored an Ultrasound Informed Consent Act and believes in “traditional marriage,” he’s been viewed as a potential front runner to replace Paul Ryan as Speaker if the House remains red in November. But a potential torpedo to his plans first began to emerge in April, when Ohio State announced it was investigating claims of “sexual misconduct” involving former wrestling team doctor Richard Strauss. Strauss, who was the team physician for over twenty years, died by suicide in 2005.

Then early last week, three former team members told NBC News that “It would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware” that Strauss “showered regularly with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments.”

Ex-student Mike DiSabato said, “I considered Jim Jordan a friend. But at the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”

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HALIFAX (NOVA SCOTIA)
Halifax Examiner

July 10, 2018

By Tim Bousquet

1. Shambhala

In a letter published Friday, the entire Kalapa Council, the highest leadership body in the Shambhala Buddhist community, resigned their positions. The letter reads:

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NEW YORK (NY)
Tricycle

July 9, 2018

By Matthew Abrahams

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche stops teaching as the governing Kalapa Council resigns

Shambhala International’s leader, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, has announced that he will step aside amid an investigation into his alleged sexual abuse of students, and the organization’s governing body, the Kalapa Council, said that all nine of its members will resign—leaving the community with an uncertain future.

The Sakyong will stop teaching and step away from his administrative duties until an investigation is completed, he said in a statement released on July 6. He has also resigned from the board of trustees at Naropa University and as the Naropa Lineage Holder, according to a statement from the university released a day earlier.

The Kalapa Council, meanwhile, is planning a “phased departure” as they hand over their responsibilities to new leadership, who have yet to be determined.

“We recognize that parts of our system are broken, and need to dissolve in order to make room for real change,” they said in a July 6 statement.

The change in leadership was spurred by a series of sexual abuse allegations against Shambhala teachers over the past few months. The accusations were contained in two reports created by Project Sunshine, a group that Shambhalian and abuse survivor Andrea Winn started over a year ago, initially as a support network for other survivors. The first report, which was released in February, described five accounts of misconduct that included childhood sexual abuse, betrayal by senior leaders, and a male sangha member exposing himself on retreat. “Phase two” of Project Sunshine, released in late June, revealed allegations against the Sakyong himself. Two women described being abused by him during boozy private parties. (He preempted the report with a statement three days before its publication that apologized for harmful “relationships.”)

Winn told Tricycle on Monday that she was encouraged by Shambhala’s leadership shake-up.

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WEST CHESTER (PA)
Daily Local News

July 10, 2018

By Christine Flowers

In this #Metoo era, reputations have been devalued to the point that even if you have one to protect, the avenging angels of society (prosecutors, investigative journalists, tweeting A-List actresses) will run roughshod over it. Now that we’ve decided that pretty much every accusation ever made against a film producer, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a Catholic priest must be true, our collective concern for avoiding slanderous accusations against someone who cannot defend themselves has pretty much evaporated.

Raymond J. Donovan, Secretary of Labor under President Reagan once famously said, after he was acquitted of corruption charges, “Which office do I go to, to get my reputation back?” It was a rhetorical question that was once considered legitimate, but that today is mocked. Who cares about the reputation of the wrongly accused if we can advance a political agenda that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, right? Who cares if that film producer never laid a hand on that starlet, enough of them did so let’s not worry about the details of a particular case. Why worry about that Fortune 500 CEO since his accuser makes about a tenth in her entire lifetime what he makes in a month? And that Catholic priest? We know he did something, and if he didn’t, so many of them did that it’s a literal sin to obsess over Father Expendable.

I’ve heard a lot about cover-ups these past few weeks, as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court blocked the release of one in a continuing series of grand jury reports that detail alleged abuse in several Catholic dioceses across the Commonwealth. The high court refused to release the report immediately because of a concern that the interests of many people mentioned in that report could not be adequately protected. The interest, obviously, is what Shakespeare called “the eternal part of myself,” a person’s reputation.

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UNITED STATES
Refinery29

July 9, 2018

By Sage Lazzaro

The employees of the popular clothing company Feminist Apparel thought they were creating tools for the resistance. The online store’s viral shirts and accessories — which feature sayings like “Cats against catcalls” and “Trans rights are human rights” — became staples at events like the Women’s March and Pride. The brand amassed over 360k followers on Instagram and Facebook and was behind viral moments like the “No Catcall Zone” signs that took over NYC. Plus every item sold helped support an independent artist, and in many cases, a partnering organization that would receive part of the proceeds.

It all came to a grinding halt in June of 2018 when Feminist Apparel staff discovered that the brand’s founder and CEO Alan Martofel had an admitted history of sexually abusing women. In fact, he claims it’s the reason why he started the company in the first place. After asking for his resignation, all nine employees were fired without notice or severance. (Only Martfel and an outside consultant remained.)

“This is the patriarchy and toxic masculinity at its fucking finest,” says Rebecca Green, the company’s now-former art director. “I feel righteous and angry. I feel supported by my coworkers and friends. I also feel tired. I feel incredibly sorry knowing that there are survivors in this office who were led to believe that their contributions to this company were directly going to creating a safe space and platform for survivors, feminists, and marginalized identities. As an artist myself creating work based on my own experiences with the patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and harassment for this company — and by extension this man — I feel used and willfully mislead.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

July 10, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

A former Guam resident has filed a sex abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana, alleging he was sexually molested and abused by a priest in 1967.

J.V.C., who used initials to protect his identity, now lives in Oregon and alleges he was sexually molested and abused by Antonio Cruz, who is now deceased.

According to the lawsuit filed by his attorney, David Lujan, J.V.C. was raised in a religious family, whose members were devout Catholics and active parishioners at Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago.

Cruz was a priest at the Chalan Pago parish and lived in the rectory on the second floor.

One day after confession, when he was 14, J.V.C. recalled Cruz asking him to bring him a coconut. The boy went to the rectory to deliver it to Cruz and when he opened the door, he saw Cruz sitting on a chair.

The teen was instructed to step inside the room and noticed Cruz was naked and masturbating, court documents state. When the boy was within reach, Cruz allegedly pulled down the boy’s shorts and began sexually assaulting him, the court documents allege.

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
India Today

July 10, 2018

By Niharika Banerjee

Amodern-day Eve finds it convenient to claim that she was raped when she is caught in the act,” reads a column in a weekly magazine run by the Catholic Church that has come out in open support of a bishop and a few priests who have been accused of rape.

The article in the latest edition of Indian Currents by columnist AJ Philip claims that there were “no repeated rapes” in either of the two rape cases that have rattled Kerala churches.

The article titled “Villians as victims” tries to whitewash the accused bishop and the priests as Philip mentions a “memorable encounter” with one of the accused priests. “The priest had a reputation as a good counsellor,” Philip writes.

A school teacher, in Kerala, has alleged that four Orthodox priests blackmailed and sexually abused her after she confessed to having a premarital affair with a priest.

In his column, Philips asks that if the complainant was really a victim of a “terrible” thing as rape, why did she not inform her parents of the incident.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

July 10, 2018

By Doyle Sager

In August of 2017 I made a commitment to preach a series of sermons on rape, abuse and assault. Little did I know that two months later the #metoo movement would explode all over social media as women courageously stepped forward to tell their stories.

In the months leading up to the sermon series, I grew more nervous. What if this approach is too much? Not enough? What if the sermons trigger unanticipated responses? But gut-wrenching personal stories and pervasive data persuaded me to stay the course. One in every four girls will be sexually abused or assaulted by the age of 17. Sixty-three percent of all rapes go unreported. Estimating the size of my congregation, I did the math. My pastoral instincts told me that the issues needed to be addressed, and that words like sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, bullying, domestic violence and harassment needed to be spoken from our pulpit (in later feedback, this proved to be among the most liberating and helpful things).

To prepare the congregation, we sent letters to the parents of all children, birth through high school, explaining the upcoming worship emphasis and its rationale. We also provided parents a resource list of books, online sites and state and national hotline numbers, encouraging them to read ahead and to have conversations with their families. This same resource list was available on our church’s webpage and in our lobby throughout the sermon series.

As an added layer of support, we enlisted several ordained clergy who are members of our church, all trained in clinical pastoral work and with years of experience, to be in the lobby during the most difficult sermon which recounted the rape of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13. I announced that if anyone became uncomfortable during worship, counselors were in the lobby, available to listen and offer support.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

July 8, 2018

By Sarah Smith

On April 8, Pastor John Finley stood before his congregation in Tennessee with an announcement. After 31 years at the church, he resigned.

He held a microphone and read from a piece of paper.

“I made some poor choices and was involved with two females in inappropriate behavior,” Finley said. “There was no sex. Both ladies were over 18. In the best interest of our church, I choose to resign immediately.”

But the women who sent a letter that spurred Finley’s resignation from Bartlett Hills Baptist Church near Memphis have a different story to tell.

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AUSTIN (TX)
Episcopal News Service

July 5, 2018

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

People of all genders told the Safeguarding and Title IV Committee July 5 that the Episcopal Church must do more to eliminate sexual discrimination and abuse.

“What we witnessed last night was just a beginning,” the Rev. Cynthia Taylor, a Georgia deputy, told the committee, referring to the House of Bishops’ “Liturgy of Listening,” a service of lament and confession centered on stories of sexual abuse and exploitation in the Episcopal Church. “That work is incomplete, my sisters and brothers.”

Taylor said the work is incomplete if “we pat ourselves on the back for being open to discussion of the role of institutional discrimination, harassment and abuse of women.” The church must find a way to continue “not just the conversation but the hard work of seeking the truth, respecting the dignity of all human beings through the restoration of their God-given rights as children of God.”

Since she became the first woman ordained in the Diocese of South Carolina more than 32 years ago, Taylor said she has “had personally experienced gender biases in the form of equality of pay, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and gross misuse of power by ecclesiastical authorities” in clergy discipline cases.

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INDIA
The News Minute

July 9, 2018

Two of the accused priests have filed for anticipatory bail, which will be heard by the Kerala High Court on Monday.

The Kerala Police is waiting for the outcome of the anticipatory bail plea filed in the Kerala High Court by two of the four Orthodox priests, accused of sexually abusing a woman parishioner, before proceeding in the case, officials said.

If the court, which will hear the matter on Monday, turns down the plea, the accused priests of the Malankara Orthodox Church will be arrested, said informed sources.

All four accused are now on the run, but the sources say that police have tracked them down and is waiting for the court verdict, which will come out on Monday, to take further steps.

Police have come under further pressure with the National Commission for Women (NCW) monitoring the case.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Sojourners

July 9, 2018

By Kathy Manis Findley

The #MeToo stories touched me in a place deep inside. The stories of sexual abuse that so many women told brought up persistent memories that I have for years tried to forget.

I was abused multiple times by multiple trusted members of my faith community. I can say unequivocally that this caused me pain in the very core of my psyche. There are scars that never go away, lasting wounds that always hurt, wounds that I describe as invisible scars of the soul and spirit.

My story is not uncommon.

Research shows that 93 percent of sex offenders describe themselves as “religious.” 165,500 mostly Protestant churches reported 7095 claims of alleged sexual abuse by church staff, congregation members, or volunteers between 1987 and 2007.

My years of healing have taught me that childhood sexual abuse creates terrible trauma that is stored in our bodies, hiding in the nooks and crannies of a life, struggling to be normal and free of pain. I learned those truths because I was a victim of sexual abuse in what I believed to be a safe place, my faith community.

The healing journey for me was long and arduous. Over twenty years, I worked through my trauma with counselors, spiritual guides, friends, and mentors. When I was in seminary, a professor helped me see a way to move into my pain with courage and to persistently grapple with every personal demon that was holding me hostage. The colleagues in my chaplaincy training held me accountable for my hidden emotions and fears as I began to discern the origin of those emotions and fears. I began owning my trauma and learned that I found strength and resilience by embracing it.

And as a trauma specialist working with adults and children, I learned even more truth about trauma.

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ENGLAND
The Times

July 9, 2018

By Helen Hall

A regime of mandatory reporting might be attractive at first glance, but prevention would be better than cure

An internal Church of England review into allegations of sexual abuse was flawed, and failed to give a complete picture, concluded Sir Roger Singleton, a former head of Barnados in an independent report.

Although there was no evidence of a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, it appears that the scale of the issue was downplayed to protect the church’s reputation.

As a result, journalists and others have been asking whether it is wise for the church to continue to make its own judgments when it comes to reporting such abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs

July 9, 2018

Following a special listening liturgy on July 3 to acknowledge the #MeToo movement and hear personal stories of abuse, harassment and exploitation, bishops meeting at The Episcopal Church’s General Convention in Austin adopted a covenant that commits them to seek changes. The document, which applies only to bishops, is entitled “A Working Covenant for the Practice of Equity and Justice for All in The Episcopal Church.”

The stories which were read by bishops during the liturgy had been chosen from more than 40 testimonial letters submitted. Names and identifying information were redacted, but the readings and silence within the liturgy was both dramatic and profoundly uncomfortable for those attending. The Covenant is meant as a first step in the Church’s response.

Bishop Audrey Scanlan of Central Pennsylvania said that plans are underway to create a toolkit to help dioceses create their own kind of listening events to begin the hard work that is needed. “Sexual violence, aggression, exploitation and harassment exist in our church. We can’t let that be the last word,” she said.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
Vos Iz Neias?

July 9, 2018

Allegations of possible improprieties have surfaced against a Borough Park doctor, according to an elected official from Brooklyn.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind took to Twitter this morning to announce that his office is looking into possible instances of abuse perpetuated by “a prominent Boro Park doctor.”

Hikind said that he first began researching the matter after being contacted by two separate people and has spoken with a number of potential victims in alleged instances that took place as far back as approximately ten years ago. All of the reported incidents involve the same physician who Hikind declined to identify at this time.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

July 9, 2018

By Chelsea Brasted

The deacon who prompted the Archdiocese of New Orleans to pay out more than half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit May 11 after he was accused of repeatedly raping an altar boy in the 1970s and ’80s continued to serve for years as a lector in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

George Brignac, now 83, was removed from Catholic ministry and education in 1988 after he was accused of fondling a 7-year-old boy after a Christmas party, according to a report in The New Orleans Advocate. By then, Brignac had also been criminally charged with sexually abusing children at least one other time — in 1977 in Jefferson Parish — though he was never convicted.

Before he was ordained, Brignac taught at St. Francis Cabrini School, St. John Vianney Prep and St. Matthew the Apostle. Once ordained, Brignac taught at Our Lady of the Rosary from 1976 to 1988, according to Archbishop Gregory Aymond, as well as Cabrini High School “for a time.”

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OKEMOS (MI)
Lansing State Journal

July 10, 2018

By Christopher Haxel

An embattled priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million from a local Roman Catholic parish is trying to raise $300,000 to fund his defense.

The Rev. Jonathan Wehrle is “in dire need” of help, according to a letter dated June 11 and circulated on his behalf.

Opus Bono, a charity based in Lapeer County which raises money to assist priests across the country facing criminal charges or other problems, sent the letter to a “short list” of Wehrle’s family and friends, according to the letter.

Wehrle, the former pastor of St. Martha parish in Okemos, currently awaits trial on felony embezzlement charges. An insurer for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing has filed a separate civil lawsuit against Wehrle after so far paying out $2.9 million in damages.

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UNITED STATES
Stars and Stripes

July 10, 2018

By Nancy Montgomery

The former commander of the Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for abusing children.

Former Col. Todd Shane Tomko pleaded guilty the same day to three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery at the Virginia Beach Circuit Court in Virginia.

Tomko, 55, had been charged with indecent liberties, aggravated sexual battery, and child abuse and neglect involving three children related to him beginning in 2002. Tomko had maintained a high profile, meeting with celebrities, politicians and royalty, until he was forced to retire from the Marine Corps in July 2016 due to sexual harassment and other charges.

Tomko, who had become the pastor of the Parkview Church after retiring, has been in custody since his arrest last November in Quincy, Ill., on federal warrants. He has spent the last several months in the Virginia Beach City Jail.

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INDIA
The Indian Express

July 10, 2018

By Shaju Philip

CBCI vice-president Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios said the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India is probing the incident.

Although the Catholic Church has maintained silence on allegations of sexual abuse against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the family of the victim, a nun, said Monday that she had informed Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto about the alleged abuse.

The diocese of Jalandhar comes under the Delhi Archdiocese. Bishop Mulakkal is a member of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, but the Kerala Church head Cardinal George Alancherry has argued that Bishop Mulakkal belonged to the province of Delhi Archdiocese and “it was up to them to investigate the matter’’.

The nun, who is living at her Missionaries of Jesus’ house at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district, said, “My brother would speak on my behalf,’’ she said.

Her brother, a priest, said: “It was in the first week of May this year. Couto visited the Missionaries of Jesus’ house at Kuravilangad. Then, the nun had directly told the bishop about the incident. Couto stated he would investigate. But, nothing has happened so far,’’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

July 10, 2018

The Diocese of Parramatta and the Diocese of Wollongong and are co-hosting two days of presentations by Fr Hans Zollner SJ.

The two-day event is being sponsored by Carroll & O’Dea, Makinson d’Apice and Catholic Church Insurance. The event is also being supported by the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, Catholic Professional Standards Ltd, the NSW Professional Standards Office and the NSW Ombudsman. Fr Hans will address the most significant issues facing the Catholic Church today with respect to harmful behaviour, including the theological and spiritual implications arising from the abuse crisis and their impact on victims and survivors, together with members of the Church.

Fr Hans will be providing two distinct and separate presentations on Friday 31 August and Saturday 1 September 2018.

Fr Hans will explore why and how the Catholic Church needs to change to survive, flourish and ensure the safest place for the most vulnerable.

Fr Hans is regarded as one of the leading ecclesiastical experts in the field of safeguarding of minors and on areas concerning sexual abuse both in the Roman Catholic Church and beyond. He has been a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since 2014 and head of the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) at the Gregorian University, headquartered in Rome.

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AURORA (CO)
The Associated Press

July 9, 2018

A former suburban Denver middle school teacher has acknowledged sexually assaulting multiple students over several years.

The Aurora Sentinel reports Brian Vasquez pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of sexual assault and one count each of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation. He faces at least 40 years in prison.

Police say that when they went to Prairie Middle School to question Vasquez, they were initially only investigating accusations from one girl who said she had exchanged inappropriate text messages with the teacher. But Vasquez immediately offered the names of four other students and said the relationships included sexual contact.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

July 6, 2018

By Mary Sanchez

To even casual observers of recent news about the Catholic Church, it’s clear that a new day has dawned.

Finally, after decades of stalling, denials and civil lawsuits, Catholic dioceses seem to recognize their accountability for the criminal behavior of pedophile priests.

Consider the case of retired Bishop Joseph Hart. The former prelate of Cheyenne, Wyo., now 86 years old, could face criminal charges under what the current bishop of Cheyenne has deemed credible and substantiated accusations of sexual abuse.

News of the case traveled ahead of the headlines to Kansas City, where Hart was ordained in 1956. Many believe that is where he first groomed young boys for sexual abuse in the parishes where he served until 1976.

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UNITED STATES
Good Morning America

July 9, 2018

By Luis Martinez

2 Navy SEAL leaders relieved of duty after sexual misconduct allegations originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The commander and the senior enlisted officer of a U.S. Navy SEAL team have been relieved of their duties after investigations into alleged sexual assault and sexual harassment while their unit was deployed to East Africa, officials said.

Both senior leaders had been sent back to the United States in May while the allegations were investigated and could possibly face administrative punishments.

“The commanding officer and command master chief of an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare command were relieved of their duties on July 9,” said Lt. Jacqui Maxwell, a spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare Group Two.

“Cmdr. Jarrod Donaldson and Master Chief Jon Franklin were relieved from their position by Capt. Jamie Sands, commander, Naval Special Warfare Group Two,” Maxwell added.

“Donaldson and Franklin have been administratively reassigned to Naval Special Warfare Group Two.”

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INDIA
Opindia

July 10, 2018

By Sanghamitra

The weekly magazine Indian Currents, owned by the Catholic church and published under the patronage of the Capuchins of the Krisht Jyothi province of North India, has published a guest column by author AJ Philip. The article, titled ‘Villians as victims’ openly supports the rape accused Bishop Franko Mulakkal and the priests of the Malankara Orthodox Church against whom allegations of rape and abuse were filed recently.

The article starts with hailing the cordial behaviour and sense of humour of Bishop Fanko, with several anecdotes and examples, the author tries to establish that the Bishop was a great man. The author also mentions he knows the bishop personally and how he had inspired them to write an article about the canonization and subsequent sainthood of sister Alphonsa. He also cites how a priest in the US was ‘caught’ by a camera installed by a woman’s husband while he had gone to their house to settle a marital dispute between the two.

On the issue of the rape allegations against the priests of the Malankara church, the author states his mother belonged to that church and thus he has some idea about their traditions.

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LULING (LA)
The Associated Press

July 9, 2018

A gymnastics coach in Louisiana accused earlier this year of sexually abusing at least six children has been arrested on new child sex charges.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports 26-year-old Jonathan West was arrested Friday by Kenner Police on charges including sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile. The Luling Flipnastics coach is accused of sexually abusing children while giving them rides home and having them send him sexual videos through social media.

West was arrested in May and June by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, respectively, and charged with similar crimes. West also was rearrested Friday by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office on new charges including sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile.

———

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com

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KERALA (INDIA)
CNN-News18

July 10, 2018

By Neethu Reghukumar

The complainant, a 39-year-old married woman, has alleged that the priest Binu Georgee had called her to his office for some discussion and then sexually abused her.

Thiruvanathapuram: A rape case against a priest belonging to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has been filed in Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district of Kerala.

The complainant, a 39-year-old married woman, has alleged that the priest Binu George had called her to his office for some discussion and then sexually abused her. According to her, the incident happened in the beginning of 2014.

“He called the victim to his office saying that he needed to discuss with her about some family matters. However, he raped her in the office. We registered a case of rape against the father,” said Circle Inspector K Sadan.

According to police, her medical examination was also conducted, but will not be of help as the incident happened in 2014 and she is a married woman.

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KERALA (INDIA)
First Point

July 10, 2018

A 39-year-old woman has filed a rape case against a priest of a Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Kerala.

The woman accused the priest Binu George of raping her four years ago at Alappuzha district.

George is serving under the diocese at Koypallikaranma. The complainant said George sexually assaulted her at the office of the church when she approached him for help to settle some family dispute in 2014.

In her complaint to the police, the woman said she informed church authorities soon after the incident and was promised she would not face any further harassment. However, when George continued to torment her and spread “baseless gossip” she decided to take legal recourse, police said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Legal Intelligencer

July 9, 2018

By Max Mitchell

A sex abuse victim who testified as part of secret grand jury proceedings investigating alleged sex abuse in several Catholic Diocese across Pennsylvania has asked the state Supreme Court to unseal a report outlining the grand jury’s findings.

On July 6, Todd Frey, who was allegedly abused by a Harrisburg priest as a child, petitioned the justices to intervene in the proceedings before the high court, saying that their recent decision to block the release of the report has “exacerbated” the emotional trauma he has suffered.

“For his sake and other victims like him, Mr. Frey now seeks to intervene in order to pursue a lifting of the stay preventing public access to Report No. 1 and to encourage public access to the Supreme Court’s docket sheets and filings,” Frey said in the petition.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

By Paul Moses

July 9, 2018

The U.S. Catholic bishops’ system for responding to allegations of clergy sexual abuse of children has shown itself effective if it can act decisively on an accusation against a churchman who once stood near the apex of ecclesial power, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. But the cardinal’s downfall also shows the need for better, more transparent ways for responding to what may be just as widespread a problem within the church: sexual harassment of adults.

With the disclosure of the child molestation claim, two New Jersey dioceses McCarrick once led acknowledged that they had received three allegations “purporting that he had engaged in sexual improprieties with adults during his time here; two of these resulted in settlements.” The Newark and Metuchen dioceses added that “all were reported to law enforcement at that time.”

On that basis, mainstream news media began reporting longstanding accusations about McCarrick’s alleged sexual pursuit of seminarians and young priests. Previously, a number of reporters for major newspapers had tried but failed to verify these allegations.

The charge that McCarrick sexually assaulted a teenaged altar boy in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York forty-seven years ago—which a review board at the New York archdiocese found to be “credible and substantiated”—will advance to the Vatican for further review. McCarrick, who at eighty-seven years old has been a sort of international ambassador for the church since his retirement as archbishop of Washington in 2006, is barred meanwhile from publicly exercising his ministry as a priest. He says he is innocent, and he will have a chance to present his case.

It’s all relatively transparent. But the cases involving adults—alleged “improprieties” deemed serious enough for church officials to refer them to law enforcement at the time they were received—remain a matter of secrecy and speculation. The two settlements were reached out of court, before a lawsuit was filed, so there is not an official court record.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

July 9, 2018

By Jim Mustian

Catholic Church officials have settled a sexual abuse lawsuit that accused a popular Jesuit priest of raping a young girl dozens of times at Loyola University more than three decades ago.

The lawsuit, filed nearly two years ago, claimed the Rev. Benjamin L. Wren sexually assaulted the girl beginning in 1978 — when she was 5 years old — and warned her she would go to hell if she told anyone about their “special secret.”

Wren, an eccentric professor who taught Zen Buddhism at Loyola, died of lung cancer in 2006.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

July 10, 2018

For decades, the Roman Catholic Church has gone to extremes to ignore, cover up and downplay the widespread sexual abuse and rape of boys and some girls across the world. So it comes as no surprise that nearly two dozen current and former priests are seeking to block the release of a grand jury report detailing serial sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.

Fight, deny, and delay have been the Catholic Church’s playbook when it comes to clergy sexual abuse. When all else fails, the church quietly pays confidential settlements to sweep cases under the rug.

But the truth must come out if the church and its victims can ever move past this sordid scandal. That is why the Pennsylvania Supreme Court must allow the release of the more than 800-page grand jury report that shines a light on alleged clergy abuse in all of the state’s Catholic dioceses except for Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, which were the subject of earlier investigations.

The report is the culmination of a two-year investigation by Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office, which included grand jury testimony by dozens of sexual abuse victims.

Church officials in the six dioceses that were the focus of the investigation said they would not try to stop the report’s release. But attorneys for nearly two dozen current and former clergy went to court to block the report’s release, claiming it was full of inaccuracies that tarnish the clergymen’s reputations.

It would be good to know who is paying the legal fees for the clergy, who are represented by the high-powered firm of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW ABC 7

July 10, 2018

By Charlie Specht and Christine Streich

[Includes many links to video reports.]

7 Eyewitness News has compiled comprehensive list

To date, 74 current or former Buffalo priests have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct.

The Diocese of Buffalo in March 2018 released a list of 42 “diocesan priests who were removed from ministry, were retired, or left ministry after allegations of sexual abuse with a minor.” It included deceased priests “with more than one allegation made against them.”

That list did not include the names of dozens of additional priests who were members of religious orders, were publicly accused of sexual misconduct with adult women or men, left the diocese and moved to other parts of the country, or were identified in reporting by 7 Eyewitness News and other media outlets since March. The full list of all accused priests is below.

John R. Aurelio (d. 2009) – The 1990s child sex abuse case against Fr. Bernard Mach and Fr. John Aurelio was one of Buffalo’s first high-profile abuse scandals involving Catholic priests. Aurelio was suspended in 2003 after admitting to sexually abusing multiple children with Fr. Bernard M. Mach. During his tenure as a priest, Aurelio worked at Cardinal Mindszenty High School (1968), St. Leo in Amherst (1969), West Seneca State School (1970-75), St. Catherine of Siena in West Seneca (1976-81), the West Seneca Development Center (1982-86), St. John the Evangelist in Buffalo (1987-90), and Christ the King Seminary (1991-93). Aurelio is believed to have ceased functioning as a priest and moved to Venice, Florida after being suspended from ministry. On March 20, 2018, the Diocese of Buffalo included Aurelio on its list of priests who “were removed from ministry, were retired, or left ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

July 9, 2018

By Patrick Varine

A Philadelphia law firm representing a man who testified he was abused in the 1980s by a Harrisburg priest has joined in the push to unseal a statewide grand jury report into sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

Kline & Specter joined the Pennsylvania attorney general and members of the news media in the legal battle to make the report public.

The firm represents Todd Frey, who testified before the grand jury and believes he and others have a right to see the more than 800-page report completed by the grand jury. The report is expected to detail clergy sexual abuse in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses, including those based in Greensburg and Pittsburgh.

“Mr. Frey is one of many victims whose voice must be heard in opposition to those who seek to keep this grand jury report secret. We hope that the court will act quickly to release the entire report,” said firm co-founder Tom Kline, who represents Frey along with partners David Inscho and Charles Becker.

Kline and Inscho only a few weeks ago obtained the largest-ever settlement against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the family of Sean McIlmail in a case involving his alleged prolonged sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Northeast Philadelphia. The lawsuit claimed that McIlmail was abused between the ages of 11 and 14 and that the archdiocese knew about more than a decade of allegations against his alleged attacker, Rev. Robert Brennan, who was twice removed from prior parishes. McIlmail died of a drug overdose at the age of 26.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

July 10, 2018

By Haidee V Eugenio

A former Guam resident now living in Oregon said a now deceased priest sexually abused him at the Chalan Pago church rectory around 1967 and that incident led him to quit being a Catholic, according to a $5 millionlawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.V.C. to protect his privacy, said he was about 14 or 15 when Father Antonio C. Cruz molested and abused him.

The abuse and molestation included fondling the boy and trying to force him to penetrate the priest, the lawsuit said. It allegedly happened on the day the priest asked J.V.C., after confession, to bring a coconut to his room.

“As J.V.C. walked towards Cruz, he noticed Cruz was naked and masturbating. Once J.V.C. was within arm’s reach, Cruz pulled J.V.C.’s shorts down and began fondling and masturbating J.V.C.,” the lawsuit says. Further abuse allegedly happened in the room.

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EASTON (PA)
Express-Times and Lehigh Valley Live

July 9, 2018

By Pamela Sroka-Holzmann

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2018/07/da_all_state_district_attorneys_need_to_support_release_of_of_report_on_priest_abuse_at_6_pa_dioceses_including_allentown.html

Northampton County’s District Attorney is calling on all state district attorneys to support the release of a grand jury report discussing the handling of sexual abuse claims involving six Roman Catholic dioceses, including Allentown.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli held a news conference Monday afternoon, saying he wants the state’s District Attorneys Association to file an “amicus curiae” brief supporting state Attorney General Josh Shapiro and making it clear the state’s district attorneys supports the release of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury report.

Like-minded organizations should also file briefs, Morganelli said.

“Pennsylvania’s grand jury practice is under assault,” he said. “Pennsylvania’s entire grand jury system could be undermined if a group of people are successful in blocking publication of the grand jury report by the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury into alleged sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.”

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

July 9, 2018

By Tim Darragh

[Includes a video of DA Morganelli’s statement.]

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli is calling on the state District Attorney’s Association to petition for the release of a two-year state grand jury investigation into sexual abuse by priests and others in six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses, including Allentown.

The Supreme Court on June 20 blocked the report’s release, which was expected at the end of June.

The court’s order came after about two dozen unnamed people, including current and former clergy, challenged the release, arguing that naming people who have not been charged with crimes would damage their reputations in violation of the state constitution. The challenge also questioned whether the report adheres to the grand jury law.

In a news conference Monday, Morganelli said those filings put the grand jury process under assault and if they’re successful, would wipe out the grand jury as a corruption-fighting tool.

“The petitioners’ demands in these cases would essentially eradicate the grand jury report as an instrument of accountability for public and private institutions,” Morganelli said.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

July 9, 2018

By Emer O’Toole

Ireland’s political leaders are calling protests against Pope Francis’s visit ‘petty’. Have they forgotten the decades of abuse?

In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited the Republic of Ireland, and approximately 2.7 million people – 79% of the population – came out to honour him. At the time, contraception, divorce, and homosexuality were illegal, and John Paul II was a god.

On 25 August, when Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff to travel to Ireland in 39 years, he will arrive on the shores of a very different island.

Throughout the 1990s, abuse scandals rocked the Irish Catholic establishment and hastened the process of secularisation. Since then, progressive constitutional and legal change has been slow but consistent, signalling rejection of the church’s moral authority. In 1993 homosexuality was decriminalised; in 1995, a referendum to legalise divorce passed by the slimmest of margins; in 2015, the country voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage; and in June, 66% of the electorate voted to legalise abortion.

The separation of church and state in Ireland is far from complete. For example, the church is still involved in running 90% of state-funded primary schools. It is deeply enmeshed in our medical system. We are still wrestling with the scars of decades of abuse, implemented by the church and facilitated by the state. We are still finding children’s bodies in unmarked mass graves.

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MUMBAI (INDIA)
DNA India

July 10, 2018

A case of alleged rape has been filed against yet another priest of a church in Kerala, where a string of clergymen are facing accusations of sexual misconduct, police said on Tuesday.

Binu George, a priest of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, was alleged to have raped the parishioner in Alappuzha district four years ago. He is currently serving at a church under the diocese at Koypallikaranma.

The victim woman has claimed the priest sexually assaulted her at the office of the church when she approached him for help to settle some family dispute in 2014.

In her complaint to the police, the woman said she had informed the church authorities about the incident soon thereafter, and was promised she would not face any harassment from him in the future.

However, when the priest continued to torment her and spread “baseless gossip”, she decided to take legal recourse, police said.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Magazine

July 9, 2018

By Spencer Buell

Maude Gorman has ditched her Miss Plymouth County title in protest after a dumb joke about the movement at a pageant.

I guess we should have expected that the #MeToo movement’s success over the past year would prompt powerful people and institutions to start lashing out and belittling the movement with boneheaded jokes, and that’s what has apparently gone down at the Miss Massachusetts pageant.

Maude Gorman, a former Miss Plymouth County, attracted national attention this weekend after she announced that she would hand in her crown in protest of a tone-deaf joke about #MeToo in a skit during the June 30 Miss America event. In the skit in question, the pageant’s host plays the role of someone telling God she is confused as to why the pageant will no longer include a swimsuit competition, to which a man playing God responds, “Me too,” and holds up two signs reading, “#MeToo.” Video of the performance, which elicited cheers from the crowd but prompted an immediate backlash, can be found on the Observer’s website.

The 24-year-old Gorman, a rape survivor, shared the rationale behind her decision on Instagram. “As both a survivor, and advocate for victims rights and sexual violence on a whole, I refuse to stand idly by and simply ‘let this go,’” she wrote. “Instead, I will stand up for every individual who has ever had the courage to speak out; and for every person who felt liberated by the #metoo movement.”

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WALTHAM (MA)
Bishopaccountability.org

Summary of Case: Leo T. Riley was ordained in 1954 for the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata (Stigmatines). For over then years he taught at Elm Bank, which was the Order’s minor seminary in Wellesley, MA, then assisted at a Milford, MA parish. There appears to be a gap in his assignments 1968-1970, after which he was assigned to parishes in Waltham and then Lynn, Milford and, finally, Agawam, MA, where he was the sole priest. He died in 1995. Per Riley’s obituary, “He was delegate in several provincial chapters. As a general councillor (1976-1979) he contributed much to insure the stability of the Thailand province.”

In 2002 a man informed the Stigmatines that Riley had sexually abused him over a four-year period when the man was a student at Elm Bank and Riley was a teacher. While still a student the man reported the alleged abuse to the Provincial, Rev. Charles Egan. In 2002 Egan acknowledged having received the allegations, and said he did not remember sharing the information with anyone and did not record it.

Ordained: 1954
Died: February 22, 1995

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WALTHAM (MA)
Bishopaccountability.org

Summary of Case: Richard J. Ahern was a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata (Stigmatines), ordained in 1954. He was assigned to Stigmatine parishes in the in the Archdioceses of Boston and New York, and the Dioceses of Richmond, VA and Springfield, MA. Additionally, he was Director in the 1960s of Camp Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA. From 1985 until his death in 2001 Ahern resided at St. Joseph’s Hall, which was a retirement home for priests and brothers at the Stigmatine’s headquarters in Waltham, MA. He was Administrator of the residence from 1988 on. There are several unexplained gaps in Ahern’s assignment history.

The Stigmatines were aware of allegations of child sexual abuse against Ahern at least as early as 1979. Four men are known to have come forward, one alleging abuse as a sixth and seventh-grade altar boy in VA in the 1959-1961, and three others reporting that Ahern sexually abused them at Camp Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA in the 1960s. The boys were said to have been ages 11 to 15, and the abuse allegedly spanned the decade.

By 1988 Ahern’s ministry was restricted. He died in February 2001.

Born: April 12, 1927
Ordained: June 12, 1954
Died: February 1, 2001

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ENGLAND
The Guardian

July 7, 2018

By Harriet Sherwood

General synod backs plan for independent body with powers at national or diocese level

The Church of England is to establish an independent ombudsman to deal with complaints over its handling of sexual abuse cases, and will seek other ways of strengthening independent scrutiny of its processes.

Survivors of sexual abuse within the church have repeatedly called for an independent body to oversee abuse cases following evidence of cover-ups and collusion by senior figures.

The C of E’s general synod, meeting in York, voted overwhelmingly to back priorities for action set out by the national safeguarding steering group (NSSG), which could include an independent body being given powers to intervene at national or diocese level.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox News

July 9, 2018

By Ryan Gaydos

A Massachusetts beauty pageant winner gave up her crown Saturday after a host made a joke about the #MeToo movement.

Maude Gorman, 24, who was the reigning Miss Plymouth County beauty queen and a survivor of sexual assault, resigned from the Miss Massachusetts Miss America Organization competition over a joke made about the women’s movement. The emcee was referencing the removal of the swimsuit competition, according to The Boston Globe.

The host did a skit last week with someone portraying God. The host, a woman, tells “God” she doesn’t understand why Miss America officials would get rid of the swimsuit competition. The person then holds up a sign reading “#MeToo.”

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Daily Beast

July 8, 2018

7th Former Wrestler: Jordan ‘Definitely’ Knew About Abuse

A seventh former wrestler at Ohio State University has come forward to accuse Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of turning a blind eye to alleged sexual abuse by the school’s athletic doctor several decades ago. David Range, a wrestler at the school in the late 1980s, told The Washington Post on Saturday that Jordan, the assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995, was present for conversations about the alleged sexual misconduct by Richard Strauss. “Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening—yes, most definitely. It was there. He knew about it because it was an everyday occurrence,” he said. “We talked about it all the time in the locker room” while Jordan was present, he said. Jordan has been accused of covering up the alleged abuse by several former wrestlers, though he has denied ever being aware of the allegations. On Friday, he told Fox News, “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than people coming up and talking about abuse.”

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COLUMBUS (OH)
MSNBC

July 9, 2018

By Steve Benen

At first, it was three people who alleged that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), during his tenure as a coach at Ohio State, knew about a team physician’s sexual misconduct toward student athletes, but he turned a blind eye at the time. The were soon joined by a fourth witness. And then a fifth. And a sixth.

The Washington Post updated the tally in a report over the weekend.

A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler said Saturday that he believes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) knew about inappropriate behavior that allegedly took place in the school’s athletic department three decades ago, as two more former team members came to Jordan’s defense.

David Range, who wrestled for Ohio State in the late 1980s, said Jordan had to have known about alleged sexual misconduct by Richard Strauss, an athletic doctor whose behavior is under investigation by the school, because it happened regularly to team members and people talked about it. Jordan has denied he knew, saw or heard about any inappropriate behavior while he was an assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995.

Range told the Washington Post, “Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening – yes, most definitely.”

For his part, the Republican congressman went on Fox News on Friday afternoon, and seemed to take a slightly different posture than he had earlier in the week, saying, “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse.”

Asked, however, if he’d heard locker-room banter on the subject, Jordan replied, “No. No. No type of abuse. We did not hear that.”

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COLUMBUS (OH)
ThinkProgress

July 9, 2018

By Adam Peck

A seventh wrestler now says Jordan had to have known about rampant sexual abuse, and did nothing.

Over the weekend, a seventh former wrestler at Ohio State University came forward and accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of doing nothing in the face of the largest sexual abuse scandal in U.S. sports history.

For weeks, Jordan has insisted that, while he was an assistant coach for the Buckeyes wrestling team in the 80’s and 90’s, he was completely unaware that team trainer Richard Strauss was systematically abusing hundreds of OSU athletes.

Three former wrestlers told NBC News that Jordan had to have known about the allegations, and did nothing to stop the abuse. Since then, four more former teammates have corroborated those accounts, saying there was simply no way Jordan didn’t know what was going on.

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UNITED STATES
People

July 8, 2018

By Karen Mizoguchi

Robin Wright is speaking out about former House of Cards costar Kevin Spacey, months after sexual assault allegations were brought against him.

In an interview with Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, airing on Monday, the actress, 52, opens up about her interactions with Spacey on set of the hit Netflix series.

“Was there any kind of red flag, or anything that would have made you think this was possible?” Guthrie inquires as Wright recalls, “Kevin and I knew each other between action and cut, and in between setups where we would giggle.”

However, when the cameras were off, Wright says she did not interact with him.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Deadline

July 9, 2018

By Dade Hayes

Harvey Weinstein was led into a New York courtroom in handcuffs this morning and entered a plea of not guilty to charges of committing a forcible sexual act in the first degree.

Along with the plea, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke heard but did not rule on prosecutors’ demands for a more stringent bail arrangement. The debate about bail took up most of the 15-minute arraignment.

Weinstein, who wore a black suit and tie, has been out on $1 million bail and staying at his longtime family home in Connecticut in recent months. Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, the lead prosecutor, began the proceeding by asking that Weinstein instead be confined to house arrest in Manhattan given the more serious charges he now faces.

Last month, the Manhattan District Attorney hit Weinstein with heavier charges than he had previously been facing in New York, a more serious degree of sexual assault which could potentially put him in prison for life. The charge of committing a forcible sexual act in the first degree pertains to the allegations of a third woman, following the previous case based on the accounts of two other women.

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INDIA
BBC News

July 5, 2018

A woman working at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has been arrested for allegedly selling a 14-day-old baby.

Two other women employees from the centre have been detained and are being questioned about other possible cases.

Police took action after the state’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) registered a complaint.

The charity said the incident had “shocked” its members.

“We are shocked to know what has happened in our home… It is completely against our moral conviction. We are carefully looking into this matter. We will take all necessary precautions that it never happens again, if it has happened,” Sunita Kumar of the Missionaries of Charity told the BBC.

Police officials said they were widening the scope of their inquiry.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Associated Press

July 7, 2018

By Marc Levy

One after another, witnesses beat back fear of revealing details many had kept largely private and recounted to grand jurors their stories of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests whom they had trusted.

As they spoke, many said they felt compassion from the grand jurors in the sweeping investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse and cover-ups in six Pennsylvania dioceses. And they felt believed.

Now, many are eagerly anticipating the public release of the grand jury report, which is pending clearance from Pennsylvania’s highest court as justices sort through arguments by current and former clergy named in the document that releasing it would violate their constitutional rights.

“I was scared and probably, in the first few minutes, visibly shaking because it’s big,” said James VanSickle, recalling his experience as a witness. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I’ve held this secret for so long and now I’m telling you the details and I want to get this right.’ There’s a lot going through your head.”

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Magazine

July 6, 2018

By Hayley Glatter

Last month, Doe filed court documents alleging Rosenberg knew his husband posed a threat to others but did not act.

As Bryon Hefner’s sexual misconduct scandal unfolded, his husband, former Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, lost his powerful position at the State House, the trust of his colleagues, and the respect of his constituents.

And now, it seems, he’s comfortable with losing his polite, wonkish, nice-guy reputation, too.

On Tuesday, Rosenberg’s attorney filed court documents requesting that the identity of Hefner’s unnamed accuser be revealed publicly on the grounds that there’s not a strong enough case to warrant anonymity, the Boston Herald reports.

“[John Doe] fails to advance any grounds sufficient to justify permitting him to continue to level highly public, incendiary, and destructive allegations against Mr. Rosenberg from behind ‘a cloak of anonymity,’” Rosenberg’s attorney, Michael Pineault, wrote in the filings, according to the Herald.

Hefner’s attorney, Tracy Miner, filed court documents to the same effect on Thursday and told the Herald that releasing Doe’s name is necessary because “nobody can challenge his credibility publicly because he is anonymous.”

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

July 6, 2018

By Brian Dowling

Ex-Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg and his estranged husband, Bryon Hefner, want to remove the “cloak of anonymity” shielding the John Doe who has sued them over his sexual assault claims, but a victim’s rights advocate is calling it an “intimidation tactic.”

In a filing made minutes before Suffolk Superior Court closed Tuesday ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, Rosenberg’s attorney argued the alleged victim’s request to remain known publicly as John Doe is not compelling enough to outweigh the court’s default of having parties in a lawsuit reveal their names.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo Lifestyle

July 7, 2018

By Tanya Edwards

The nuances of sexual consent have been on the table recently thanks to the #MeToo movement, and one state in Australia is trying to clarify what consent should actually look like.

The new law states, in effect, that if you want to have sex you must ask for it clearly, and then hear a verbal “yes” back, under new reforms announced by the New South Wales (NSW) government in Australia, the New York Post reports.

The state, which is on the east coast of Australia (Sydney is its capital), has placed sexual consent at the core of a strategy to battle sexual assault after a high-profile rape case seemed to show that the existing laws did not protect victims.

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CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA)
Eyewitness News

July 9, 2018

Sinethemba Mbuli was employed by the Kingdom Prayer Ministry in 2017.

He exposed child sexual abuse after witnessing an incident at one of the church’s branches in December last year.

“I started experiencing bad things that were happening at the church. In December last year, they had a huge service in one of the community halls in Soweto and that was the first time I saw the prophet sleeping with a minor in one of the pastor’s cars.”

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GARDEN CITY (NY)
LI Herald

July 6, 2018

By Jeff Bessen

Dylan T. Stolz teaches fourth grade at Ogden Elementary School

A fourth-grade teacher at Ogden Elementary School in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District who was working at an upstate summer camp for boys was arrested on July 4 and charged with five counts of first-degree sexual abuse, state police said.

The school district sent a letter to parents on July 5. In part the letter states: The district “has taken appropriate and responsible action to address this matter. The Hewlett-Woodmere School District immediately placed this individual on administrative reassignment pending the outcome of this matter.”

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INDIA
Fox News

July 7, 2018

By Hollie McKay

A nun and one other employee serving at a Missionaries of Charity center in India founded by Mother Teresa has been arrested and accused of child trafficking.

Acting on a series of complaints, the Indian Child Welfare Committee (CWC) affirmed that they are in the process of investigating the sale of a newborn baby boy from the Nirmal Hriday (Pure Hearts) home to a couple in Uttar Pradesh for 120,000 rupees – around $1,700. The baby was reported to have been born at the charity on March 19 and sold through the black market to a couple on May 14.

The nun at the center of the scandal, publicly identified only as Concilia, was detained on July 4 and the following day was placed under judicial custody by the court. Another employee from the center, set up by the late Mother Teresa — who was canonized as St. Teresa in 2016 — was also arrested in connection to alleged trafficking cases.

The charity has expressed shock over the allegations.

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ALBANY (NY)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany

June 30, 2018

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger announced today that he has permanently barred Rev.
Jeremiah Nunan, 81, from ministry after the Albany Diocese Review Board found reasonable grounds to believe he had sexually abused a minor in the early 1990s.

Nunan was placed on administrative leave by the Diocese six years ago. He was barred from officiating at sacraments, wearing clerical garb, or presenting himself as a priest. Bishop Scharfenberger accepted the recommendation of the Diocese Review Board following an independent investigation and confirmed Nunan’s permanent removal from ministry. Nunan has denied the allegation.

The Bishop’s actions were taken in accordance with the U.S. Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Albany Diocese’s zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse of children by clerics. Nunan’s name will be added to the list of known clergy offenders published by Bishop Scharfenberger two years ago on the diocesan website. (www.rcda.org/offices/protecting-children-young-people)

When Nunan was accused of sexual abuse in 2012, the Albany Diocese, consistent with its policy, immediately notified the Greene County District Attorney and announced that Nunan had been placed on administrative leave. An earlier allegation against Nunan, received in 2006 and involving alleged abuse in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was investigated by the Independent Mediation Assistance Program but could not be substantiated.

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GUATEMALA
Times of Israel

July 7, 2018

By Maya Kroth

As elusive as they are radically devout, Lev Tahor, which fled from North to Central America following accusations of child abuse, lays low after chief rabbi drowns in river

It’s been almost a year since Shlomo Helbrans drowned in Mexico, leaving Lev Tahor, the controversial religious sect he founded in Israel in the 1980s, without its charismatic leader.

The flock, which followed Helbrans from Jerusalem’s Beit Yisrael neighborhood to Brooklyn to the snowy suburbs of Montreal before settling in tropical Guatemala, now faces an uncertain future.

Driven by Helbrans’s anti-Zionist beliefs and known for its extreme customs — women and girls are covered head-to-toe by full-length black garments, marriages are arranged and separation by gender is strictly enforced — Lev Tahor has been dogged by legal troubles everywhere it’s gone.

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ADELAIDE (AUSTRALIA)
The Advertiser

By Matthew Abraham and Andrew Hough

July 7, 2018

A senior Adelaide Catholic Church priest has publicly called for Archbishop Philip Wilson to resign over his conviction for covering up child-sex abuse, signalling a mounting grassroots crisis of confidence.

Monsignor Rob Egar, a respected and influential cleric, told the Sunday Mail that many, if not most South Australian-based priests, now believed Wilson, 67, should quit.

His public intervention came as the Vatican and Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See remained silent.

Monsignor Egar, a former Vicar-General in the 1990s and a member of the Council of Priests, said he should offer his resignation to Pope Francis as a clear sign of “compassion” for abuse victims.

“The priests of the archdiocese have great sympathy for Archbishop Wilson in his daunting dilemma and are conscious of his tireless leadership in the area of the protection of children,” he said in a statement.

“However, many priests, if not most, believe that, as a demonstrable sign of the Church’s compassion towards the victims of abuse, it would be most appropriate for the Archbishop to offer to Pope Francis his resignation.”

In his 60 years as a priest, Monsignor Egar has worked in the Croydon, Brighton, Morphett Vale, Salisbury, Glenelg and Seacombe Gardens parishes.

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MECHANICSBURG (PA)
PennLive

July 9, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

When they take their vows, Catholic priests make two promises: to be celibate and to obey. They are expected to lead simple lives. (Only religious order priests take vows of poverty.)

So where does a priest get the money to hire a high-power attorney?

The answer underscores the long-standing patterns that have emerged nationwide and even worldwide in the decades-old clergy sex abuse scandal.

“They are not paying for it themselves. Of that I’m sure,” said Charles Zech, director of the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics at Villanova University.

There are several possible funding sources, he said. The dioceses, or religious orders, even pro bono work, but that’s not likely.

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Buzz.ie

July 8, 2018

By Ruairi Scott Byrne

Police in Scotland are investigating after it was claimed a catholic priest had been spat on, verbally abused and attacked as a large Orange parade passed by.

The incident happened outside St Alphonsus’ church in Glasgow at around 4.20pm yesterday as Canon Tom White was meeting parishioners following Mass.

The Archdiocese of Glasgow claims the priest was spat on, ‘lunged at’ by a man carrying a weapon and pelted with verbal abuse as people congregated for vigil mass.

In a statement on Facebook, the Archdiocese said that both Canon White and his parishioners had been “subjected to vile abuse”.

He wrote: “Yesterday evening after vigil Mass at St Alphonsus, Canon Tom White was meeting and greeting parishioners. An Orange march approached.

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LA GRANGE (IL)
Catholic Citizens of Illinois

July 8, 2018

By Thomas D. Williams

“Entrusting children to so-called homosexual couples constitutes in the last analysis a moral abuse of children, the smallest and most defenseless,” said Bishop Athanasius Schneider in an interview with Italian media last week.

Mincing no words, the bishop said gay adoption “will go down in history as one of the greatest degradations of civilization. Those who daily combat this gross injustice are the true friends of children and the heroes of our age.”

An auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, Schneider told the Italian daily Il Giornale that the “Catholic Church, just like every human person with good sense and sound reason, has always rejected homosexual activity.”

Handing children over to homosexual couples “is a violation of the fundamental right of every child to grow up and be raised by a dad and a mom,” he said.

The bishop’s words come in the wake of an ongoing battle in the United States over the unwillingness of adoption and foster care agencies run by the Catholic Church to place children in homes with gay couples.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Voice of America

July 7, 2018

By Phil Mercer

The Australian archbishop convicted for covering up child abuse says he will appeal his sentence and will not resign. His defiance has prompted criticism from the Prime Minister and other political leaders, who are urging Philip Wilson to quit. He is the most senior Catholic in the world to be convicted of concealing child sexual abuse.

Archbishop Wilson has been given a maximum sentence of 12 months in custody, but is likely to avoid jail and serve his time in home detention.

He has said he would only resign if his appeal against his conviction for covering up child abuse fails. It is, however, a stance that has been widely condemned. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was surprised the 67-year old Catholic cleric had decided not to quit immediately, and urged him to do so. There is also mounting pressure within the Catholic Church for Wilson to stand down from a position he has held for 18 years.

Members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, which represents the Church’s hierarchy, are also reported to have advised him to resign.

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