ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

June 8, 2018

By Joanna Menagh

A man who ran a hostel in Perth for wards of the state has been sentenced to 20 years’ jail for what a judge described as the sadistic, perverse and persistent sexual abuse of eight children for whom he was supposed to be caring.

Martin James Cooper, 66, was found guilty last month of 30 child sex offences dating back to between 1978 and 1983 when he and his wife ran the Warminda hostel in East Victoria Park.

Cooper was found to have repeatedly physically and sexually abused the eight children, including raping three girls who were aged between 11 and 16.

Warminda was owned by the government but operated by the Uniting Church, and housed children who had been taken from their families because they could not, or would not, look after them properly.

Each of the children had government-appointed welfare officers and some of them testified at Cooper’s trial that they had tried to tell these authorities, and others including the police, what was happening.

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.

UNITED STATES
NBC News

June 8, 2018

By Alex Johnson

“Many women have experienced horrific abuses within the power structures of our Christian world,” Beth Moore, an evangelical teacher, wrote in a letter.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest evangelical denomination, is headed for a showdown over its treatment of women that could not only have far-reaching ramifications for the church but also influence the broader secular #MeToo movement.

At its annual meeting next week in Dallas, delegates called “messengers” will decide whether to approve a resolution acknowledging that, throughout the church’s history, male leaders and members of the church “wronged women, abused women, silenced women, objectified women.”

“The #MeToo moment has come to American evangelicals,” Albert Mohler, president of the flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote last month. “And I am called to deal with it as a Christian, as a minister of the Gospel, as a seminary and college president, and as a public leader.”

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.

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
The New York Times

June 6, 2018

By Ed O’Loughlin

They are a haunting sight in the aftermath of wars and natural disasters: the notice boards that spring up outside Red Cross tents and hospitals, covered in notes from desperate people searching for loved ones lost in the chaos.

As 220 survivors of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries convened for a state-sponsored meeting in Dublin on Tuesday, strikingly similar pleas for the lost went up at their hotel.

Orders of Roman Catholic nuns ran the laundries for profit, and women and girls were put to work there, supposedly as a form of penance. The laundries were filled not only with “fallen women” — prostitutes, women who became pregnant out of marriage or as a result of sexual abuse and those who simply failed to conform — but also orphans and deserted or abused children.

“Their names were changed in the laundries, and it was often hard to talk, and they didn’t get the chance to really know each other there,” said Maeve O’Rourke, legal adviser for the Justice for Magdalenes Research project. “So they’ve put up a notice board in the hotel, for people to put messages on, to try and trace people they knew in the laundries.”

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WBNG/WROC

June 8, 2018

By Michael Schwartz

A non-profit organization which aims to help victims of sexual abuse is accusing eight Diocese of Rochester priests of sexually abusing children. One of those priests serves in Owego.

According to Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Father Thomas Valenti allegedly sexually abused his client, who is now in his late fifties, when he was a teen. Garabedian said his client was 15 years old when the abuse started in 1975, while Valenti worked at St. Mary’s of the Lake Church in Ontario, New York.

“He abused my client as a deacon, but in one of those years he became a priest so he was a deacon and a priest when he sexually abused my client,” claimed Garabedian

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.

UNITED STATES
The Presbyterian Outlook

June 8, 2018

By Leslie Scanlon

The 2018 General Assembly is being asked to consider the implications of #MeToo in the church — including a recommendation from the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns that the denomination’s stated clerk issue a confession on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for its failure to listen to the victims of pastoral sexual misconduct.

That recommendation also asks for some effort to be made to quantify the number of sexual misconduct charges presented at all levels of the church, including in congregations.

And it calls for the creation of a task force composed of victims of sexual assault and advocates of victims, which would conduct a comprehensive examination of PC(USA) policy, judicial process and rules of discipline regarding sexual misconduct.

Also (perhaps surprisingly) coming to the assembly is this question: whether a violation of a council’s sexual misconduct policy should be seen as contrary to Scripture and the denomination’s constitution, and thus subject to the Rules of Discipline.

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.

WESTERVILLE (OH)
10tv

June 7, 2018

By Glenn Mcentyre

The mental health worker accused of sexually assaulting a young boy has a long, troubled history with children.

Monday morning 33-year-old Matthew Gatton turned himself into Westerville Police.

Gatton is charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition against an 11-year-old boy in his care.

Gatton was an employed by OhioGuidestone as a mental health worker.

“It seemed like Matthew was a godsend, to be honest,” said the mother of that boy.

We’re not identifying them, to protect his anonymity.

“He helped him a lot with anger management, how to deal with regular day to day stuff.”

But this week Westerville Police said Gatton admitted to touching their son’s penis between 20 to 50 times.

“It’s just such a shock and betrayal,” said the boy’s father. “It’s a sucker punch and we’re still reeling from it.”

Public records reveal a long, disturbing trail of red flags in Gatton’s history with children.

Vineyard Columbus church says approximately five years ago, Gatton was a volunteer with their kids’ ministry.

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.

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

June 8, 2018

By Gina Kaufman and Joe Guillen

Michigan State University interim President John Engler was directly involved in the crafting of a detailed public rebuke of a rape accuser’s allegations, a statement that potentially violated a federal privacy law and endangered grant funding for sexual assault counseling services, the Free Press has learned.

Emails obtained by the Free Press show Engler and his closest advisers sharing “essential facts” and edits to be included in the university’s official response to a lawsuit, which accuses MSU counseling staff of discouraging a student from reporting she was raped by three basketball players. Among the emails was one where a spokeswoman acknowledged they had moved quickly “to get materials the President wanted out the door.”

The statement was posted on MSU’s website and sent to reporters April 11. It said allegations in the lawsuit were untrue and refuted the claims with information about the woman’s counseling center history.

MSU’s decision to release details about the woman may have violated a federal student privacy law, experts previously told the Free Press, because the information could be used to piece together her identity. Details in the statement included when the woman sought counseling, services provided to her and that she never filed a police report or Title IX complaint.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WENY

June 7, 2018

By Caitlin Murphy

On Tuesday, June 5, attorney Mitchell Garabedian spoke on behalf of sexual abuse victims who say that eight priests who were ordained or assigned in the Diocese of Rochester abused them.

Garabedian has represented more than 1,000 survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of priests in the Catholic Church.

According to Garabedian, the priests affiliated with the Diocese of Rochester were ordained or assigned over the last eight decades.

The priests named were Eugene Emo, David Simon, Francis Vogt, Stuart Hogan, Charles McCarthy, Gary Shaw, Richard Orlando and Thomas Valenti.

Road to Recovery, a non-profit organization that helps victims of sexual abuse, listed the timelines and locations for each accused priest and where they were assigned.

The text printed in bold indicates the time period during which they are accused of sexual abuse.

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
Catholic Courier

June 7, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Diocese of Rochester released the statement below in response to a June 6 press conference at which attorney Mitchell Garabedian alleged that eight men currently or formerly associated with the Rochester Diocese – including four who are deceased and one who resigned from ministry and was dispensed from the clerical state in the late 1970s – committed sexual abuse during their years of ministry. A story will follow; please check back periodically.

* * *

June 6, 2018

The Diocese of Rochester has been in correspondence for several months with the Garabedian law firm regarding the individuals named publicly at the news conference today. The Diocese has invited participation in a process of investigation and resolution. We have had little or no response.

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.

DES MOINES (IA)
We Are Iowa

June 7, 2018

By Sarah Beckman

An Iowa priest who was previously convicted for invasion of privacy has had his suspension from priestly ministry fully lifted.

According to a release from the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, Father Paul Monahan was previously convicted of five counts of invasion of privacy. But that conviction was reversed earlier this year. He was accused of invading the privacy of young boys inside a locker room at Treynor High School in 2016. Father Monahan was the former principal at St. Albert High School.

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.

GENEVA
Le Temps

June 7, 2018

By Simon Petite

Victims of sexual abuse keep the pressure on the pope

Avant la visite du pape François, un réseau international pour mettre fin à l’impunité des prêtres pédophiles voit le jour à Genève

La date de l’offensive de communication est préméditée. Deux semaines avant la visite du pape François à Genève, un réseau international pour lutter contre les violences sexuelles commises par les prêtres a annoncé jeudi sa constitution. Formée d’associations de victimes d’une quinzaine de pays, cette nouvelle organisation – nommée Ending Clerical Abuse (Mettre fin aux abus du clergé – ECA) – tient son assemblée constitutive ces jours-ci à Genève.

Devant la presse, ses représentants, dont de nombreuses victimes, ont chacun posé avec un portrait d’un religieux, accusé de violences sexuelles ou qui aurait couvert de tels crimes. «Nous lançons un appel au pape François pour qu’il tienne ses promesses de tolérance zéro à l’égard des actes de pédophilie au sein de l’Eglise», plaide le Français François Devaux, lui-même victime d’un prêtre dans les années 1970. Il préside une association, Parole libérée, qui met aussi en cause le cardinal de Lyon Philippe Barbarin accusé d’avoir maintenu ce prêtre qui a ensuite abusé d’autres enfants.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Tablet

June 8, 2018

By Rose Gamble

‘Without that vow [seal of Confession], who would be willing to unburden themselves of their sins?’

Catholic priests will be required to break the seal of confession in some cases after new laws passed the Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) Legislative Assembly in Canberra without amendment.

All three parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly supported the bill on 7 June to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches, including the Confessional.

The new laws will require religious organisations to report allegations, offences or convictions related to children to the ACT Ombudsman within 30 days and launch an investigation.

Writing in the Canberra Times, Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn said that the church “shares the government’s concern to protect the safety of children and wishes to be a part of the solution”.

He added: “The draft laws are a consequence of the profound failure of the leadership of the church and the duty of care we owe to children.”

But, he said he could not support a requirement to break the seal of confession.

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.

SPINDALE (NC)
The Associated Press

June 7, 2018

By Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr

Two members of a secretive evangelical church in North Carolina were charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in an alleged unemployment benefits scheme that former congregants have said was meant to keep money coming into the sect.

Marion Kent Covington, 63, and Diane Mary McKinny, 65, both of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Asheville.

Prosecutors say Covington and McKinny decided to lay off employees at Covington’s business so they could collect unemployment benefits in 2008 when the company was struggling financially. But the employees continued to work at the company, Diverse Corporate Technologies. They later put the scheme into place at Covington’s other business, Integrity Marble & Granite. Covington then put in place a variation of the scheme at Sky Catcher Communications, Inc., a company he managed, prosecutors say.

The scheme resulted in more than $250,000 in fraudulent claims between November 2008 and March 2013, according to court records. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of at least $309,660. Both defendants will be arraigned on June 18.

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.

GENEVA
RTS

June 7, 2018

Victims of Sexual Abuse in the Church Want Ads from the Pope

Des victimes d’abus sexuels du clergé et leurs défenseurs, regroupés dans une nouvelle faîtière mondiale, veulent que le pape annonce un tribunal lors de sa visite du 21 juin à Genève.

Il y a quelques semaines, l’ensemble de la hiérarchie de l’Eglise catholique chilienne avait démissionné pour ne pas avoir pris les décisions adaptées face à des dénonciations d’abus. Une décision qui n’a pas été validée par le pape, ont notamment déploré les victimes et leurs défenseurs.

Les scandales de prêtres couverts par des évêques sont “un problème mondial”, a dit jeudi devant la presse Peter Saunders, l’un des membres de l’association Ending Clergy Abuse (“Mettre un terme aux abus du clergé”, ECA) formalisée cette semaine à Genève. Il est impossible d’établir un nombre de victimes, ni dans le monde ni en Suisse.

Rien qu’aux Etats-Unis, il dépasserait les 100’000, selon une estimation de 2012.

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.

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Catholic News Service

June 8, 2018

By Jane Chambers

Teresa Correa, a mother of four and a member of the Catholic parish in the Chilean capital’s upscale Las Condes neighborhood, has lost some of her confidence in the Catholic Church.

Correa admitted to Catholic News Service in early June that the clergy sexual abuse crisis has left her and her friends wondering where the Church is headed. She said it’s “time for the laity to take the lead and help out.”

She also said it is important to be strong and brave during what is a difficult time for Catholics in Chile.

Her friend Pilar Concha, a mother of six, agreed.

“My children are between 15 to 6 years old,” she told Catholic News Service. “They see what is going on in the press. When we eat together in the evening, they talk to me about it, especially the older ones. They say, ‘Mummy, did you see what happened in such and such place with that bishop? Did you hear what the pope said?’”

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
Mount Pleasant Daily Voice

June 7, 2018

By Zak Failla and Joe Lombardi

A former priest in Westchester was among eight named by a prominent Boston attorney on Wednesday who allegedly sexually abused children decades ago.

On the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester on Wednesday, attorney Mitchell Garabedian announced the names of eight pastors – including Thomas J. Valenti, who served at St. John the Baptist Church in Yonkers for a decade before departing in 2014 – who are alleged to have sexually abused more than a dozen children while serving at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester.

Valenti currently serves as the parochial administrator at Blessed Trinity St. Patrick’s parish in Owego. Allegations against him in Rochester stem from his time as a deacon around 1976 and continued at his next stop in Ontario in Wayne County. Garabedian also called on him to resign his current position.

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.

GENEVA
National Catholic Reporter

June 6, 2018

By Joshua J. McElwee

Advocates discuss UN reports criticizing Vatican actions

A new global coalition of clergy sexual abuse survivors and advocates aiming to push the Catholic Church to better protect minors is set to formally launch June 7 with a press conference in Geneva.

Ending Clergy Abuse, an organization made up of some of the most prominent voices on the issue from 15 countries, will specifically call on Pope Francis to more thoroughly investigate bishops who have mishandled abuse cases and to create a centralized Vatican process to hold them accountable.

José Andrés Murillo, the head of an organization in Chile that combats child abuse and who is taking part in the new endeavor, said the coalition is different from previous survivors’ groups because its advocacy is focused on changing the church.

“We are not an organization of victims,” said Murillo, one of three Chilean abuse victims who met the pope at the Vatican between April 30 and May 2. “We are a group of survivors, but also advocates and activists. We search for change. We’re not searching for only justice, but we are searching for change.”

Ending Clergy Abuse began last fall with the help of the late Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Murillo and three other advocates will officially announce the group June 7 at the Swiss Press Club, a short walk away from the United Nations Office in Geneva.

The advocates say that in the days before the press conference they have also been meeting with U.N. officials, partially to discuss two 2014 reports by separate U.N. panels that criticized the Vatican’s handling of abuse.

In February 2014, the Committee on the Rights of the Child said the Vatican had adopted policies that led to “the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators.” Later in May 2014, the Committee Against Torture urged the church to place “meaningful sanctions” on bishops who mishandle abuse accusations.

Francis will be visiting Geneva June 21 for the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, which is headquartered in the city. He is not scheduled to meet U.N. officials during the one-day visit.

Murillo called the June 7 launch a symbolic action to bring the issue of abuse back into the spotlight at the international level.

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.

GENEVA
The Associated Press

June 7, 2018

Some of the most prominent figures in the fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are joining forces in a new international effort to end abuse and the impunity of bishops and religious superiors who enable it.

The multinational initiative, End Clergy Abuse, was announced Thursday in Geneva. One after another, more than a dozen members of the new organization held up their national flags and denounced a bishop who they said had botched an abuse case.

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.

LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

June 6, 2018

Three former Michigan State football players accused in the sexual assault of a woman have avoided jail time after pleading guilty.

Former Hinsdale South star Josh King, Donnie Corley Jr. and Demetric Vance were sentenced Wednesday to three years’ probation, sex offender treatment and therapy. They pleaded guilty in April to seducing an unmarried woman, a reduced charge.

They could have been imprisoned for up to five years. Prosecutors recommended no jail time.

A woman says she was assaulted in an apartment bathroom last year. King, Corley and Vance were kicked off the team when charges were filed in June 2017 and later dismissed from school. All three were freshmen in 2016-17.

Karen Truszowski, the victim’s attorney, told WILX-TV it was best for her client to agree to the plea agreement to avoid a trial.

King, a defensive end, was the top-ranked football recruit in Illinois in 2016 and a two-time state champion in wrestling. He started two games for Michigan State as a freshman in 2016.

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.

BRIGHTON (ENGLAND)
Brighton Journal

June 6, 2018

By Jack Mitchell-Charman

Canon Dermod Fogarty’s legacy has been dramatically rewritten since his death

Dermod Fogarty, a fixture in the Brighton and Arundel diocese for 67 years, has been a figure of major controversy.

A dramatic video has revealed the destruction of the ex-senior churchman’s gravestone.

Following his death in 2012, a series of startling revelations surfaced.

An Oxford academic, Stephen Bernard, claims that Fogarty sexually abused him.

The abuse allegedly began when Bernard was aged just 11.

The claims were made in the acclaimed Paper Cuts, a book released by Bernard in 2018.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM13

June 6, 2018

On Tuesday morning, an attorney spoke on behalf of 17 survivors of sexual abuse, saying eight priests who were ordained or assigned in the Diocese of Rochester abused those individuals.

The attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, has represented more than 1,000 survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of priests in the Catholic Church. Garabedian said the priests affiliated with the Diocese of Rochester were ordained or assigned over the last eight decades.

Those priests are Eugene Emo, David Simon, Francis Vogt, Stuart Hogan, Charles McCarthy, Gary Shaw, Richard Orlando, and Thomas Valenti.

Road to Recovery, a non-profit charity that helps victims of sexual abuse and their families, listed timelines and locations for each accused priest and where they were assigned. Text printed in bold next to a priest’s name indicates a time period during which an individual is accusing them of sexual abuse.

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

IRELAND
The Irish News

June 7, 2018

By Brendan Hughes

A CATHOLIC priest who resigned from senior roles after a child safeguarding investigation into a “historical complaint” has moved into a parish-owned house near four schools.

Monsignor Aidan Hamill stepped down in November as parish priest of St Peter’s and St Paul’s in Lurgan and vicar general in the Diocese of Dromore.

It followed a probe into a complaint made in 2014. The diocese said the complaint was “upheld” but did not give further details.

Police were informed, but no formal complaint was made.

The retired priest has since been assigned to “some chaplaincy services in the diocese” and assisting with administration.

Mgr Hamill, who is in his seventies, is understood to have moved into a vacant house in Newry last week.

The property is understood to be owned by the parish and has previously housed retired priests.

Some residents have expressed concern over Mgr Hamill living there after learning of the child safeguarding complaint.

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.

KINGMAN (AZ)
91.5 KJZZ

June 5, 2018

By Lauren Gilger

Clergy are often some of the most trusted figures people can turn to in times of need. In one Arizona case of sexual abuse, that’s exactly what happened.

A Mormon bishop in Kingman was told about sexual abuse happening within a family. But when the victim didn’t want to report it to law enforcement, he didn’t.

That has sparked some concerns about the legal counsel he was given by a law firm for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now a prosecutor with the Mohave County Attorney’s Office has filed a bar complaint about it.

To explain all of this, The Show spoke with Nate Carlisle, who’s covering the case for The Salt Lake Tribune.

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.

ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

June 6, 2018

By Paul Wagner

Update on grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse.

There is new information about the grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse in Erie and five other catholic dioceses around the state.

We have confirmed that Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico testified before the panel.

He was invited to do so, and testified voluntarily.

Other bishops only gave written statements.

That information came out of a ruling yesterday by the judge overseeing the panel.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

June 7, 2018

Under the title “#MeToo for All,” Aid to the Church in Need has published an open letter to four famous actresses asking their help in publicizing the widespread sexual exploitation of women because of their faith.

The letter, addressed to Asia Argento, Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone and Uma Thurman, was printed as an ad June 6 in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. The four women have been leaders in denouncing sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood.

While the four actresses have been effective in “calling the world’s attention to the sexual molestation women have suffered, particularly in the world of entertainment,” Aid to the Church in Need said it was “intolerable” that little or no attention is given “to the very many women who endure sexual and psychological violence because of their faith.”

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.

MEXICO CITY
Catholic News Service

June 6, 2018

By David Agren

The Archdiocese of Mexico City and SNAP Mexico — the Mexican chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — have agreed to work cooperatively to protect children, promote healing and pursue justice in the cases of pedophile prelates.

The archdiocese and SNAP Mexico said in a joint statement June 4 that they “will be working to promote initiatives related to strengthening practices to protect children, young people and adults at risk against sexual abuse, along with promoting local responsibility in churches and vulnerable areas.”

The tasks to be undertaken by the two organizations include developing protocols to “help victims, to create consciousness and educate people on the need to protect children.”

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.

ROME
Catholic Culture

June 7, 2018

By Phil Lawler

The past few weeks have brought several positive signs from Rome:

The Chilean bishops resigned as a group after meeting with Pope Francis, thereby raising hopes that the Holy Father is finally following up strong statements with strong action against bishops who cover up abuse.

In a talk with Italian bishops, the Pope showed further evidence of a
new attitude, with a reminder that homosexuals should not be admitted to seminaries.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued his own reminder that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood, and that teaching can never change.
And the CDF, with the Pope’s approval, instructed the German bishops not to proceed with a new policy on intercommunion.

Each one of these new developments left some questions unanswered. (We don’t know how the Pope will react to the Chilean resignations, for instance; and the message to the German bishops could be read as “not yet” rather than simply “no.”) But at worst, these stories were not bad news for orthodox Catholics who have been shell-shocked by previous developments in Rome. Taken together, the welcome news items prompted both Jeff Mirus and myself to wonder aloud whether perhaps Pope Francis was shifting his sights. That question, too, remains unanswered—and is reason (as Jeff observed) for faithful Catholics to redouble their prayers.

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.

LAFAYETTE (LA)
Evangeline Today

June 7, 2018

By Tony Marks

The clergy at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ville Platte learned of new job responsibilities over the weekend. One of the new job responsibilities is as pastor of a parish in Plaisance with its chapel in Frilot Cove.
Parochial vicar of Sacred Heart Fr. Taj Glodd was named pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Plaisance and its mission St. Anne in Frilot Cove by Bishop Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette.

The new assignment will be made effective on Monday, July 2, and will be for a term of six years.

Pastor of Sacred Heart Fr. Tom Voorhies also learned that he was named interim administrator of St. Peter Church in Morrow and Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville.
The move came, according to KATC-TV, following news that “Father Michael Guidry, Pastor of St. Peter Church in Morrow and Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville, had been placed on administrative leave while allegations of sexual abuse against Guidry are investigated.”

During a press conference Monday, according to KATC, Bishop Deshotel “said the abuse was reported by the parents of the alleged victim and their current pastor in Ville Platte. The abuse allegedly occurred while the victim was a minor; he is now an adult. The alleged abuse happened since Guidry became pastor in Morrow.”

The allegations are being investigated by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff Office.

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.

The Catholic Spirit
Catholic News Service

June 6, 2018

By Peter Finney Jr.

The chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People said a two-year project to revise the charter that guides the U.S. church in protecting minors from sexual abuse is nearly ready to be presented to the full body of bishops.

Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, Indiana, the committee chairman, told the 13th annual Child and Youth Protection Catholic Leadership Conference in New Orleans that the proposed revisions of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” will be discussed and voted on at the bishops’ June 13-14 spring general assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“We’ve done a lot of nice work over the last two years,” Bishop Doherty said. “The great thing people should know is that this has been a collaboration among a lot of bishops’ committees and the National Review Board, who are professional people — judges, lawyers, therapists, trauma experts. There’s a lot of healthy conversation there, and our church can be very proud of the people who are working toward the protection of children.”

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Anglican Communion News Service

June 7, 2018

Survivors of abuse have been telling their stories to members of the Anglican Communion’s Safe Church Commission. The Commission was set up to promote the safety of people within churches of the Anglican Communion throughout the world, with a particular focus on children, young people and vulnerable adults. It met last month in South Africa to plan the next step of its work, and to meet with abuse survivors.

“Every time he would go to work I would just look through the window and just stand”, one survivor said as she recounted the abuse she had endured as a child. “Neighbours would see me and come close to the window and talk to me. I couldn’t speak it. I don’t know. . . even the word ‘help’ – I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know what to say. They want to reach out. They would ask me why I was not in school . . . but I can’t respond.”

Commission member Cleophas Lunga, the Bishop of Matabeleland, said that the Commission was “humbled” by the courage of the survivors who met with them. “In many cases, the stigma associated with such kind of stories makes it difficult for people to come out publicly, to tell their stories and to find ways as to how best that they can be helped. So the work of this Commission is quite important in that regard.”

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
Church Militant

June 6, 2018

By David Nussman

Report reveals diocese’s history of covering up priestly sex abuse

The diocese of Buffalo is under intense criticism for covering up alleged clerical sex abuse.

On June 1, survivors of priestly sex abuse called on Bp. Richard Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz to resign from their positions in the Church. They also called for a criminal investigation into the diocese.

In calling for the bishops’ resignations, the victims referred to investigative videos produced last month by local 7 Eyewitness News. The video reports documented the diocese’s decades-long history of covering up pedophile priests.

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.

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

June 7, 2018

By Stuart Macdonald

Father Michael Maher preyed on the girl at her home in 1968 when she was 12 and he was 25.

A priest who was exposed as a pervert when his victim confronted him 50 years after he molested her was yesterday jailed for six months.

Father Michael Maher preyed on the girl at her home in 1968 when she was 12 and he was 25.

The abuse continued for four years, including at his parish house in Coatbridge.

Maher was close friends with the girl’s parents and regularly called at their Lanarkshire home.

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

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
FOX16

June 6, 2018

A civil lawsuit was filed today in Pulaski County Circuit Court against the Boy Scouts of America for sexual abuse.

Today’s suit – filed by former scout William Stevens – alleges that the Plaintiff was sexually abused by his Scoutmaster, Samuel C. Otts, first in Webelos Pack 13 and then in Troop 16, which met at the Salvation Army in Hot Springs.

The suit alleges that Otts sexually abused the plaintiff – including on at least six occasions between approximately 1979 and 1980 when Plaintiff was approximately 10 to 12-years-old. The alleged abuse occurred during Scouting-related meetings, events, outings, and over-night excursions in and around central Arkansas.

The lawsuit alleges claims for negligence and fraud against BSA. Specifically, the suit alleges that, before the plaintiff was abused, the Boy Scouts knew about Scoutmaster Otts’ sexual abuse of other scouts. In fact, the lawsuit alleges that the Boy Scouts removed Otts from Scouting in Georgia for abusing boys, but then allowed him to register as a Scout Leader in Arkansas.

At the center of the victim’s allegations is a secret file kept by the Boy Scouts of America on Otts. The “Perversion file” on Otts – created at the Scouts national headquarters in 1977 – was kept secret at the Boy Scouts’ headquarters until it was ordered to be revealed by a Court in Oregon in 2012.

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.

SCOTLAND
Press Association

June 7, 2018

A nun has told an inquiry she may have lost her temper with children in her care but rejected suggestions she was “hard as nails”.

The woman, now in her mid-70s, denied being someone that youngsters would have been scared of.

She agreed there was “probably” a strict regime at Nazareth House in Aberdeen but told a probe she had not witnessed any abusive practices at the orphanage.

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.

UNITED STATES
Jezebel

June 7, 2018

By Laura Bullard

Emily Joy tweeted out her #ChurchToo story a full decade after the alleged abuse had ended. “I’m sure I’ll tease this out more in the months to come,” Joy wrote, “but after ten years I finally felt like now I could come forward. It’s a weird story. It’s ‘not that bad.’ It’s the kind of story women self-gaslight about.” Taking direct inspiration from Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement, she accused a youth group leader who was then in his 30s of “grooming” her for abuse when she was 16, and named him, in a Twitter thread that began:

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.

AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

June 6, 2018

By Elle Farcic

A FORMER Jehovah’s Witness who sexually assaulted three young boys says his homosexual inclinations were repressed by his religion and manifested in his crimes.

Gavin Andrew Lamont, 46, was jailed for four years today for assaulting two vulnerable teenagers in the early to mid-90s and another boy about 20 years later.

Lamont encouraged the teens to give him massages and suggested he needed help checking for testicular cancer.

District Court Judge Linda Petrusa said Lamont, who knew he was homosexual from about age 13, had significant cognitive distortions around sex because of his religious beliefs.

She said the victims, who were aged between 14 and 16, were vulnerable because of their youth and lack of sophistication.

Judge Petrusa sentenced Lamont to four years behind bars for indecently dealing with a child and four counts of indecent assault.

Lamont was kicked out of the Mundaring congregation in 1997 after one of his victims complained to other members, but was reinstated after doing counselling with elders.

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.

ROME
Crux

June 6, 2018

By Inés San Martín

In what amounts to Pope Francis’s latest attempt to resolve a massive clerical sexual abuse crisis, the Chilean bishops’ conference announced Wednesday that his top two investigators will return to Chile June 14-17, visiting a diocese where a controversial bishop has been accused of covering up acts of abuse.

The bishops’ statement said that Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, a former official of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a current official of the congregation, will be in the diocese over those three days.

Osorno is the diocese led by Bishop Juan Barros, appointed to the position by Pope Francis in 2015. That move caused an uproar and triggered Chile’s present crisis, which is seeing new revelations and allegations emerge almost every day.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Forbes

June 7, 2018

By Ewelina U. Ochab

In October 2017, the #MeToo movement went viral. It’s aim was to raise awareness of sexual harassment and assault, and to provide a platform for discussion about increasingly widespread reports of sexual harassment and assault, especially those perpetrated in the workplace. The movement received the support of several celebrities, including Alyssa Milano, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Jennifer Lawrence. It was followed by another movement, Time’s Up, which was established in January 2018. With similar aims to the #MeToo movement, it aimed to raise awareness on the issue of ‘ sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace.’ It established a Legal Defence Fund to help combat the issues. The Time’s Up initiative was originally supported by hundreds of women from the entertainment industry and the DMK cosmetic foundation. It quickly took over the Grammys in 2018 and the 2018 BAFTA Film Awards in London. Despite drawing some criticism, the initiatives are positive and helped to shed light on the disgraceful scandal of sexual abuse suffered by women in the entertainment world and beyond. They should be praised for providing a platform for survivors of sexual harassment and assault, and for making a clear statement that such treatment of women is not acceptable.

There is no doubt that the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have been the most successful such campaigns in years and have gained overwhelming public support. Despite this, there are still aspects of sexual abuse perpetrated against women that even the #MeToo or Time’s Up movements have not been able to adequately address. Indeed, neither movements have sought to actively encourage debate on the ever-growing issue of sexual abuse used as a method of religious persecution.

In response, on June 6th, 2018, Aid to the Church in Need, a Pontifical Foundation which provides humanitarian assistance to persecuted Christian minorities worldwide, published a letter in Vanity Fair aimed to raise awareness of this neglected issue. The Vanity Fair open letter is addressed to four famous actresses: Asia Argento, Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman and others who have publicly supported the #MeToo movement. The Aid to the Church open letter and its associated campaign are accompanied by photographs of three brave women who suffered such sexual abuse because of their religion; Rebecca, Sister Meena and Dalal.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

June 5, 2018

By John Kass

Rahm Emanuel isn’t bishop of Chicago. He’s the mayor of Chicago, for now.

But the shocking sexual abuse scandal at his Chicago Public Schools uncovered by the Tribune brings immediately to mind the sex scandals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Church leaders actively engaged in a cover-up over decades. The CPS abuse scandal seems more about the cost of bureaucratic indifference.

But the outcomes are terribly similar, aren’t they?

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.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

June 7, 2018

By Patsy McGarry

Most of the 135 allegations of abusive behaviour reported in last year occurred before 2000

There has been a significant increase in clerical child sex abuse allegations reported to Catholic Church authorities in Ireland over the past year.

A report published on Thursday morning showed that during the year April 2017 to April 2018, 135 notifications of allegations, suspicions and concerns were received by the Church’s child protection watchdog, its National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), compared to an overall figure of 86 for the previous year.

A total of 104 of the 135 notifications related to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The 135 notifications allegedly involved 35 diocesan priests and 63 members of religious orders or congregations, or 98 individuals in total. That compares with 76 in the previous year, an increase of 29 per cent.

Of the 98 clergy concerned 45 are deceased, 21 are unknown (identity not given by the complainant), and 32 are alive.

NBSC chief executive Teresa Devlin pointed out however that “with one exception, most of the alleged abusive behaviour occurred before 2000, in line with previous reports and should not be taken to indicate that the church is currently becoming a less safe place for children.”

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.

GENEVA
The Associated Press

June 7, 2018

Some of the most prominent figures in the fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are joining forces in a new international effort to end abuse and the impunity of bishops and religious superiors who enable it.

The multinational initiative, End Clergy Abuse, was announced Thursday at a press conference in Geneva. One after another, more than a dozen members of the new organization held up their national flags and denounced an individual bishop who they said had botched an abuse case.

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.

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

June 6, 2018

By Joshua J. McElwee

Pope Francis has been dealing over recent months with what has seemed like an unending saga of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis in Chile.

After being criticized for saying abuse victims had committed “calumny” during his January visit to the country, the pope has since admitted making “serious mistakes,” met with Chilean victims in Rome, and received offers of resignation from most of the country’s bishops after a three-day group encounter at the Vatican.

But if Francis’ response to clergy abuse in Chile has appeared unending, recent developments across the world indicate that an examination into how the global Catholic Church has handled — or, mishandled — sexual abuse is just beginning to ramp up.

These developments include: Two church officials being prosecuted in Australia, a local cardinal and the Vatican’s doctrinal chief being ordered to stand trial in French court, a police raid on a Michigan diocese’s chancery, a grand jury report on six dioceses in Pennsylvania, and nationwide inquiries in Australia, Scotland and England.

The litany of events has led some who have closely followed the church’s response to abuse to speculate that we may be entering a new phase in the decadeslong crisis — one where local and national authorities in countries the world over are showing less hesitancy in holding church leaders to account.

“The prosecutions of members of the hierarchy that would not have happened even a decade ago indicate that we are in a new era,” said Marci Hamilton, a noted lawyer and children’s rights advocate.

“Before the scandal became public, prosecutors often assumed that it would not be in their interests or anybody else’s interests to prosecute even priests or hierarchy,” said Hamilton, CEO of the think tank CHILD USA. “But the more facts that have come out … prosecutors are changing their calculus.”

Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from Francis’s papal abuse commission in 2017 over frustration with Vatican officials, said simply: “We are at a new point.”

“The more it is seen that the church is refusing to hold accountable its bishops, the more secular powers will move in and see it is done,” she said.

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Associated Press

June 6, 2018

By Gregory Katz

Prince Charles has been asked to give a witness statement to a public inquiry into how abuse allegations against a pedophile bishop were handled.

The request for a statement from Charles and his private secretary was made public Wednesday during an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse hearing.

The inquiry is looking into the way abuse allegations against ex-bishop Peter Ball were dealt with. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison in 2015 for numerous sexual offenses going back to the 1970s.

Inquiry lawyer Fiona Scolding said Charles’ lawyers have indicated he is willing to assist and have raised a number of issues being reviewed.

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)
CBS/AP

June 6, 2018

A 70-year-old convicted child rapist from Massachusetts who was set to be released from custody after two experts concluded he was no longer “sexually dangerous” will remain locked up. Wayne Chapman was arrested Wednesday in prison for indecent exposure and lewd acts that the Massachusetts Department of Correction said Chapman committed on Sunday and Monday.

A lawyer for some of Chapman’s victims said she was told Chapman exposed himself to a nurse.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

June 6, 2018

By Priscilla DeGregory and Lia Eustachewich

Lawyers for accused Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere asked that he be sprung from jail on $10 million bond — all while ripping prosecutors as the “morality police” for filing sex-trafficking charges against him.

In new court papers, Raniere’s team of five lawyers argue that he’s neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community and should be released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

He’s been held without bail since his arrest in April.

Raniere is accused of luring women through an offshoot of his self-help group Nxivm — pronounced “Nexium” — and blackmailing them into becoming his sex slaves.

Raniere and former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack — Raniere’s high-ranking “slave” who allegedly helped recruit women to a Nxivm side group called DOS — would brand their initials on their victims, prosecutors say.

Raniere’s attorneys, led by Marc Agnifilo, have maintained everything was consensual.

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.

NEWARK (NJ)
Fox News

June 6, 2018

By Michael Bartiromo

One of three U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers charged with hazing co-workers on a “rape table” has pleaded guilty in court.

Tito Catota, 38, admitted on Monday to forcibly assaulting, impeding, intimidating and interfering with two male customs officers while on duty at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2016 and 2017, the Associated Press reports.

Two of his CBP colleagues working at the airport — Parmenio Perez, 40, and Michael Papagni, 32, were also indicted on those same charges, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito confirmed.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

June 4, 2018

By Melinda Henneberger

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens: “This was an entirely consensual relationship, and any allegation of violence or sexual assault is false. This was a months-long consenting relationship between two adults.”

Benjamin Brafman, defense attorney for former big-deal Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein: “The only rape victim that Mr. Weinstein is accused of raping is someone who he has had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with.”

Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman: “In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.”

Have you noticed those accused of sex crimes talking about their culpability any differently post-#MeToo? I haven’t, though it’s a major myth that men can’t tell consent from its absence.

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.

LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

June 6, 2018

By Alice Yin

Sports coaches are rejoining the list of people required to report child abuse under a batch of Michigan bills spurred by the Larry Nassar scandal, a Senate committee unanimously decided on Wednesday.

Lawmakers convened in a hearing to clear for a Senate vote 24 bills that would revamp how Michigan prosecutes and reports sexual assault. They also moved forward an amendment to mandate that paid coaches and assistant coaches at K-12 and college athletics programs report suspected child abuse and neglect, bucking the House’s earlier decision to remove them due to concerns about clogging the child welfare system with excess reports.

The update is the latest iteration of the legislation introduced in the wake of Nassar molesting hundreds of girls and women while employed as a sports doctor at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, a training ground for Olympians. Nassar is now imprisoned after pleading guilty to sexual assault and possessing child pornography.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester First via WROC

June 6, 2018

By Howard Thompson

An attorney claims eight Diocese of Rochester priest are responsible for sexual abuse against children.

Of the eight priests, accusations against three of them were already public knowledge: Father Eugene Emo, Father David P. Simon, and Father Francis H. Vogt.

During a Wednesday news conference, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who says he is representing victims in the case, named the other five priests who face accusations of sexual abuse. He says 17 victims have come forward.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman, Meaghan M. McDermott and Katie Sullivan

Flanked by two former priests, a Boston attorney stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester and called Wednesday for the resignation of a Tioga County priest, naming him as one of eight clergy members accused of sexually abusing children in the Diocese of Rochester between 1950 and 1978.

The Rev. Thomas J. Valenti currently serves as the parochial administrator at Blessed Trinity — which includes St. James Church in Waverly, St. John in Newark Valley and St. Margaret Mary in Apalachin — as well as St. Patrick’s parish in Owego.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Shawn Dowd

Boston, Massachusetts, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented thousands of victims of clergy abuse, asks the Diocese of Rochester to come clean about sexual abuse by priests.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman

Eight Rochester priests accused of abusing kids

Saying it is time for “the church to stop these evil acts” a Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse called on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester to release records it may hold concerning allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Mitchell Garabedian on Wednesday stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester and named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of 15 men and two women, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were children.

Garabedian said the incidents took place between 1950 and 1978 when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese. He said the victims, all of whom approached him within the past six months, are now between the ages of 52 and 77.

“And as you can see from the assignment sheets from the official Catholic directory, these priests were transferred from parish to parish, which is typical of a diocese, or archdiocese or the Catholic Church,” said Garabedian.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
News10NBC

June 6, 2018

An attorney representing victims in the our area says eight priests assigned in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester are accused of sexually abusing children over almost three decades. The attorney released names of the priests. A list of dispositions against the Diocese of Rochester can be found here.

There are new allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Diocese of Rochester.

On Wednesday, the lawyer who helped break the abuse scandal in Boston and whose role was portrayed in the movie “Spotlight” was in Rochester with the names of eight priests, including five never before published.

Many of the eight priests are now dead. However, one is still the pastor of a church in the Diocese. Our news partner, News10NBC is not naming him or the other priest believed to be alive because they have not been charged with the crime of sexual abuse.

But in front of the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral, attorney Mitchell Garabedian said 17 people have come forward this year telling him they were abused by the eight priests.

“These priests were transferred from parish to parish to parish, which is typical of the Diocese or Archdiocese and the Catholic Church,” Garabedian said.

Garabedian said the abuse happened between 1950 and 1978. He said during that 28-year window the victims ranged in age from five to 18, and two of the 17 alleged victims are women.

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.

UNITED STATES
iHeartRADIO

June 6, 2018

Kimberly and Beck

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian speaks out against priests that sexually molested boys and girls and was also portrayed in the film Spotlight.

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.

FORT WORTH (TX)
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

June 1, 2018

By Kevin Ueckert

Based on a number of follow-up questions I have received this week, I am providing this additional statement related to our May 30, 2018 statement. The unanimous decision by the Executive Committee to immediately terminate Dr. Paige Patterson was prayerfully considered and warranted.

We confirmed this week through a student record, made available to me with permission, that an allegation of rape was indeed made by a female student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003. This information contradicts a statement previously provided by Dr. Patterson in response to a direct question by a Board member regarding the incident referenced in our May 30 statement. The 2003 rape allegation was never reported to local law enforcement. SWBTS will not release the student record to the public without additional appropriate permissions.

In addition, as previously disclosed, a female student at SWBTS reported to Dr. Patterson that she had been raped in 2015. Police were notified of that report. But in connection with that allegation of rape, Dr. Patterson sent an email (the contents of which were shared with the Board on May 22) to the Chief of Campus Security in which Dr. Patterson discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could “break her down” and that he preferred no officials be present. The attitude expressed by Dr. Patterson in that email is antithetical to the core values of our faith and to SWBTS. Moreover, the correlation between what has been reported and also revealed in the student record regarding the 2003 allegation at Southeastern and the contents of this email are undeniable.

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.

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

June 1, 2018

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey

In a bombshell announcement Friday night, leaders of a Southern Baptist seminary explained the reasons they decided two days earlier to fire their president, a longtime leader of the denomination. In a statement, they asserted that Paige Patterson lied about his treatment of an alleged rape victim in 2003, and that in 2015 he tried to meet, with no other officials present, with another woman who had reported a sexual assault so he could “break her down.”

Concerns surrounding the behavior of Patterson, who until a few weeks ago was a towering figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, with about 15 million members, have roiled conservative evangelical circles since recorded remarks surfaced this year that were viewed by many as demeaning toward women. They included Patterson’s advice to a woman to return to her abusive husband.

On May 22, the seminary’s trustees demoted the 75-year-old Patterson from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, citing vague reasons about his leadership that did not include mention of comments about or treatment of women. Many Southern Baptists considered that decision too lenient because it allowed Patterson to remain on staff as “president emeritus” with compensation and the ability to retire with a campus residence.

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.

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

May 30, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein and Sarah Pulliam Bailey

A major Southern Baptist seminary has fired one of the movement’s giants of the last quarter-century, Paige Patterson, after new information came to light regarding how Patterson handled a sexual abuse allegation while he led another institution, the school said in a statement Wednesday night.

Patterson was demoted one week ago from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary following the publication of a flurry of statements he made starting in 2000 about the Bible’s view of women and his beliefs about spousal abuse and why it’s not grounds for divorce. The school’s trustees moved him from being president to president emeritus, framing it as a desire for change and fresh blood.

Patterson supporters seemed willing to live with the decision but it infuriated many, especially conservative Christian women, who said Patterson had not been explicitly held accountable and had been allowed to retire with his stature intact. Ironically Patterson, leader of a historic conservative purifying in the 1980s and 1990s of Southern Baptism that called for male-only pastors and women to “submit graciously” to their husbands, was being held under the public light by conservative women, who by the thousand signed a May 6 petition calling for him to lose his job.

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.

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

May 22, 2018

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey

A prominent Southern Baptist leader at the center of controversy this spring over comments he has made about abused women allegedly encouraged a woman who said she had been raped not to report it to the police and told her to forgive her alleged assailant, the woman has told The Washington Post.

The woman said that she was raped in 2003 when she was pursuing a master of divinity degree in women’s studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., where Paige Patterson was president at the time.

“I had bottled it up,” said the woman, who works in public relations in North Carolina. “My husband didn’t know about it until last week. … I told him ‘I need to do something.’ ”

A man who a seminary official confirmed was the alleged assailant’s roommate at the time of the incident said that the woman told him about the assault shortly after it allegedly happened. The woman also provided an email to The Washington Post from the seminary’s dean of students at the time referencing the alleged incident.

The Post has a policy of not identifying victims of sexual assault. The former roommate is not being named so as not to reveal the identity of the alleged assailant, who was not charged with a crime and did not respond to several calls requesting comment.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman and Meaghan M. McDermott

Saying it is time for “the church to stop these evil acts” a Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse called on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester and its bishop to release records it may hold concerning allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Mitchell Garabedian stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester on Wednesday and named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of 15 men and two women, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were children.

Garabedian said the incidents took place between 1950 and 1978 when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese. He said the victims, all of whom approached him within the past six months, are now between the ages of 52 and 77.

“And as you can see from the assignment sheets from the official Catholic directory, these priests were transferred from parish to parish, which is typical of a diocese, or archdiocese or the Catholic Church,” said Garabedian.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Diocese of Rochester said it had been in correspondence with Garabedian’s law firm regarding the priests being accused.

“The Diocese has invited participation in a process of investigation and resolution,” the statement said. “We have had little or no response.”

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM13

June 6, 2018

By Carlet Cleare

The Roman Catholic Church has been dealing with claims of abuse by priests for decades. A dozen dioceses have filed for bankruptcy in order to settle victims’ claims.

On Wednesday, the attorney at the forefront of the largest investigation into the cover-up of abuse among priests in Boston, along with an anti-sexual abuse advocacy group, publicly named eight priests accused of sexual abuse.

“It’s really tragic,” said Carole Leary. “My heart breaks for these situations, because even in scripture it says if you hurt one of my little ones, it’s better to have a millstone around their neck and thrown into the sea.”

“As long as they were truly affected,” Kathleen Wyand said. “Some people have claims that there’s no substance to. So it should be investigated and settled.”

Clergy sexual abuse cases have caused several Catholic dioceses across the nation to file for bankruptcy, after paying out millions in settlements.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC-TV

June 6, 2018

By Daniella Genovese

Most of the local priests have passed away before these accusations but the victims of the clergy sexual abuse tell News10NBC that the actions of those perpetrators continue to haunt them every day. They say it feels like the murder of their souls.

“I have been contacted by 17 brave victims of clergy sexual abuse,” says Mitchell Garabedian, attorney.

The 15 men and two women are now between the ages of 52 to 77 however, the alleged sexual abuse stemmed from when they were between 5 to 18 years old.

“They finally have the courage to come forward because it’s time. This is why the statute of limitations in NY has to be amended,” says Garabedian.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC-TV

June 6, 2018

By Daniella Genovese

Most of the local priests have passed away before these accusations but the victims of the clergy sexual abuse tell News10NBC that the actions of those perpetrators continue to haunt them every day. They say it feels like the murder of their souls.

“I have been contacted by 17 brave victims of clergy sexual abuse,” says Mitchell Garabedian, attorney.

The 15 men and two women are now between the ages of 52 to 77 however, the alleged sexual abuse stemmed from when they were between 5 to 18 years old.

“They finally have the courage to come forward because it’s time. This is why the statute of limitations in NY has to be amended,” says Garabedian.

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Rome Reports

June 5, 2018

This expert from the Vatican commission for the Protection of Minors explains that to prevent priests from sexual abuse, two aspects must be stressed.

The seminary must closely review candidates before accepting; and once these men have been ordained, they must never lose their spiritual guidance.

“The median age for a priest who begins to sexually abuse is 39. Other abusers, such as family fathers, coaches, professors, psychologists, doctors or lawyers, start at 25.”

Hans Zollner explains that a priest can become an abuser due to psychological problems or another cause: emptiness. This can push him to go through with it.

“It’s very important to look at the age and expectations of the priest in his 40s. What’s happening to him? At age 40, he’s normally responsible for a parish or other institution, which entails more responsibilities, more work. On the other hand, the spiritual life frequently stops, perhaps because he doesn’t have spiritual guidance, there’s no spiritual growth alongside the increase in responsibilities. A pastor must guide a large group of people, he must manage funds, plan, see many people. He invests more time in that than his spiritual life and he ends up emptying his internal self.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors teaches bishops and laity from around the world how to prevent abuse. Its fundamental principle is that the solution is found by involving everyone, not only those who govern. Thus, Zollner agrees with the message given to the Chilean people by the pope in his May 31 letter.

In it, the Holy Father said in order to prevent further abuse, it’s necessary to put an end to abuse of power by elitist clerics who don’t listen to people.

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Rome Reports

June 5, 2018

This expert from the Vatican commission for the Protection of Minors explains that to prevent priests from sexual abuse, two aspects must be stressed.

The seminary must closely review candidates before accepting; and once these men have been ordained, they must never lose their spiritual guidance.

“The median age for a priest who begins to sexually abuse is 39. Other abusers, such as family fathers, coaches, professors, psychologists, doctors or lawyers, start at 25.”

Hans Zollner explains that a priest can become an abuser due to psychological problems or another cause: emptiness. This can push him to go through with it.

“It’s very important to look at the age and expectations of the priest in his 40s. What’s happening to him? At age 40, he’s normally responsible for a parish or other institution, which entails more responsibilities, more work. On the other hand, the spiritual life frequently stops, perhaps because he doesn’t have spiritual guidance, there’s no spiritual growth alongside the increase in responsibilities. A pastor must guide a large group of people, he must manage funds, plan, see many people. He invests more time in that than his spiritual life and he ends up emptying his internal self.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors teaches bishops and laity from around the world how to prevent abuse. Its fundamental principle is that the solution is found by involving everyone, not only those who govern. Thus, Zollner agrees with the message given to the Chilean people by the pope in his May 31 letter.

In it, the Holy Father said in order to prevent further abuse, it’s necessary to put an end to abuse of power by elitist clerics who don’t listen to people.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WTTW

June 4, 2018

By Matt Masterson

[See also the complaints.]

Two former students of Chicago Public Schools, whose reports of sexual abuse at the hands of a high school security guard were among the stories detailed last week in a bombshell report from the Chicago Tribune, are suing the Board of Education.

Kyana Aguilar and Andreanna Paris filed lawsuits Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the board, claiming it ignored complaints and warnings about their abuser for years, allowing the man to keep his job and eventually molest them both during the 2013-14 school year.

Their suits came hours after the Tribune published “Betrayed,” a series detailing systemic issues within CPS, which failed to correct “obvious child-protection mistakes” and allowed hundreds of students to become victims of sexual abuse by district employees over the past decade.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WTTW

June 4, 2018

By Matt Masterson

[See also the complaints.]

Two former students of Chicago Public Schools, whose reports of sexual abuse at the hands of a high school security guard were among the stories detailed last week in a bombshell report from the Chicago Tribune, are suing the Board of Education.

Kyana Aguilar and Andreanna Paris filed lawsuits Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the board, claiming it ignored complaints and warnings about their abuser for years, allowing the man to keep his job and eventually molest them both during the 2013-14 school year.

Their suits came hours after the Tribune published “Betrayed,” a series detailing systemic issues within CPS, which failed to correct “obvious child-protection mistakes” and allowed hundreds of students to become victims of sexual abuse by district employees over the past decade.

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.

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

June 4, 2018

By Mark Scolforo

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday ordered the release of documents sealed in the criminal case against former Penn State administrators over their handling of child sex abuse complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The three-judge Superior Court panel’s unanimous decision concerned many of the more than 200 records sealed in the case against former university president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.

Spanier is currently appealing his guilty verdict on a single count of child endangerment. Schultz and Curley pleaded guilty to the same offense and have served jail time. Lawyers for all three declined comment on the appeals court decision.

The judges said the basic information in many of the documents sought by The Associated Press has previously been made public and should be released, although they also ruled that sealed “proffers” were not made part of the court record and so are not subject to public disclosure. Docket entries also must be revealed.

The appeals court criticized the trial judge for issuing a blanket order sealing all documents rather than specifying why he was sealing each individual record.

News organizations applauded the appeals court’s ruling.

“Today’s decision is a victory for transparency,” said Lauren Easton, director of media relations for The Associated Press. “These records are a matter of great public interest, and The Associated Press is pleased that they will be unsealed.”

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.

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

June 4, 2018

By Mark Scolforo

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday ordered the release of documents sealed in the criminal case against former Penn State administrators over their handling of child sex abuse complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The three-judge Superior Court panel’s unanimous decision concerned many of the more than 200 records sealed in the case against former university president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.

Spanier is currently appealing his guilty verdict on a single count of child endangerment. Schultz and Curley pleaded guilty to the same offense and have served jail time. Lawyers for all three declined comment on the appeals court decision.

The judges said the basic information in many of the documents sought by The Associated Press has previously been made public and should be released, although they also ruled that sealed “proffers” were not made part of the court record and so are not subject to public disclosure. Docket entries also must be revealed.

The appeals court criticized the trial judge for issuing a blanket order sealing all documents rather than specifying why he was sealing each individual record.

News organizations applauded the appeals court’s ruling.

“Today’s decision is a victory for transparency,” said Lauren Easton, director of media relations for The Associated Press. “These records are a matter of great public interest, and The Associated Press is pleased that they will be unsealed.”

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

June 5, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

One hundred eighty-four people said they were sexually abused by members of Guam’s Catholic clergy or others associated with the church, but 10 of them decided not to sue, attorneys said at Tuesday’s court hearing on the status of efforts to settle the cases through mediation.

Mediation is set for Sept. 17 to 21, which is two days longer than initially anticipated.

Seattle-based attorney Michael Patterson, counsel for the Archdiocese of Agana, told judges 142 sworn statements have so far been gathered from the 174 who filed clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

The deposition-like interviews with plaintiffs on Guam, Hawaii and other states are for case review and claims evaluation. They could wrap up by the middle of July.

U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, along with Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo, said 116 cases have been filed in federal court and 58 in local court, for a total of 174 cases.

In addition to the 174 clergy sex abuse lawsuits, there are 10 other people who have come forward, are receiving counseling from Hope and Healing Guam, and are not suing the archdiocese, for a total of 184 alleged victims.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

June 5, 2018

By James C. McKinley Jr.

Harvey Weinstein returned to court in Manhattan on Tuesday to plead not guilty to sexual assault charges lodged against him in an indictment last week.

Mr. Weinstein, unshaven and in a black suit, limped slightly as he came into State Supreme Court in Manhattan at 10 a.m. The court clerk asked him how he pleaded to first-degree criminal sexual act and other charges, and he answered “not guilty” in a gravel baritone.

It was Mr. Weinstein’s first court appearance since his May 25 arrest on charges that he sexually assaulted two women in New York.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr. Weinstein, 66, on the same charges — one count each of first-degree rape and third-degree rape and one count of first-degree criminal sexual act.

Mr. Weinstein’s not-guilty plea had been expected. The disgraced movie producer has steadfastly denied he forced any of the dozens of women who have accused him of sexual misconduct to have sex with him. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said two sexual encounters described in the indictment handed up last week were consensual.

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.

BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Associated Press via Daily News

June 4, 2018

Woody Allen says he should be the face of the #MeToo movement in terms of what to do right.

In an interview that was broadcast Sunday night, Allen said he’s a “big advocate” of #MeToo, and once again denied allegations that he molested Dylan Farrow, his adopted daughter.

“It’s funny, I should be the poster boy for the #Metoo movement because I’ve worked in movies for 50 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses…and not a single one, big ones, famous ones, have ever, ever, suggested any kind of impropriety at all,” he told Argentine journalist Jorge Lanata in New York.

“I’m in principle, and in spirit, completely in favor of their bringing to justice genuine harassers,” Allen said during the interview with Argentina’s Channel 13.

“Now, if innocent ones get swept up in there, that’s very sad for the person, it’s unjust, but otherwise, I think it’s a very good thing to expose harassment.”

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.

PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

June 4, 2018

By Jane Musgrave

Photo caption: The Rev. John Gallagher talks about the libel lawsuit he filed against the Palm Beach Diocese Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The suit will also expose continuing Vatican efforts to publicly suppress child abuse cases from authorities, say he and his lawyer, Theodore Babbitt.

Rev. John Gallagher is taking his defamation case against the Diocese of Palm Beach to the Florida Supreme Court.

Arguing that an appeals court erred when it in May threw out his lawsuit, Gallagher on Friday asked the state’s highest court to overturn that decision. If it does so, a Palm Beach County jury would be allowed to decide whether the diocese defamed Gallagher by publicly questioning his sanity after he accused it of trying to cover up sexual abuse by a visiting priest.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal threw out Gallagher’s suit, citing the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.” The doctrine prohibits secular courts from getting involved in religious matters.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Archdiocese of Baltimore

June 4, 2018

By Jerri Burkhardt

Jerri Burkhardt, director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, sent the following letter to parishioners of Our Lady of Pompei in Highlandtown June-2-3. Click here for a Spanish version of this letter.

June 2-3, 2018

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Pompei,

A few weeks ago, we shared some difficult news with you about Father Luigi Esposito and an allegation of child sexual abuse against him from the 1970s. Since then, we have received another allegation from an individual who also claims to have been sexually abused by Father Esposito in the 1970s. This second individual was approximately 15 years old when the abuse occurred. Both alleged victims are females and were members of Our Lady of Pompei at the time the abuse occurred. The second allegation, which was prompted by public reports about the initial allegation, has been reported to civil authorities. The Archdiocese has extended an offer of counseling assistance to both alleged victims.

In response to inquiries regarding Father Esposito, he continues to be cared for and is in communication with family members. Any letters or cards to him should be sent to the care of Monsignor Hannon at the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 320 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We urge anyone who has any knowledge of any child sexual abuse to come forward, and to report it immediately to civil authorities. If clergy or other church personnel is suspected of committing the abuse, we ask that you also call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection Hotline at 1-866-417-7469. If you have any other information relevant to this matter, please contact the Archdiocese Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5599.

Sincerely,

Jerri Burkhardt

Director, Office of Child & Youth Protection

Archdiocese of Baltimore

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.

MADISON (WI)
WKOW

June 5, 2018

By Dani Maxwell

Jefferson – A Jefferson County judge says there’s enough probable cause for a trial in the case against the Rev. William Nolan.

The Catholic priest, 65, is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage altar boy in Fort Atkinson. Nolan was arrested in May and charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child. He was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

The investigating officer gave testimony, and the judge found cause to bind the case over for trial.

Ft. Atkinson Police Detective Lisa Hefty testifies the victim says when he was in seventh and eighth grade at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, he and Nolan engaged in oral sex on church property. “Also stated that it happened at the rectory, which is also located in the city of Fort Atkinson,” Hefty testifies. She also testifies there was another incident at a city park.

Nolan’s attorney asked Hefty to confirm Nolan denied having sex with the teen in 2006.

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.

YORK (PA)
WPMT FOX43

June 6, 2018

By Matt Maisel

Berks County Democratic State Representative Mark Rozzi was this week’s guest on the FOX43 Capitol Beat.

Rozzi sat down with FOX43 Morning News anchor Matt Maisel to discuss his push to reform Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations laws when it comes to child sex abuse crimes.

Rozzi has been Pennsylvania’s leading advocate for victims of child sex abuse since coming into office in 2013. Since then, he’s told his story countless times; when he was 13 years old, Rozzi was raped by his priest at his childhood church in Reading. He says as he’s gotten older, his trauma has gotten worse. Rozzi also considers himself fortunate; three of his childhood friends, also victims of the same priest, committed suicide.

Recently, the State Senate passed SB 261, which would give child victims until they turn 50 years old to seek civil damages against their abusers or those who could have potentially stopped the abuse. Current state law stops the window to sue at 30 years old.

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.

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press via York Daily News

June 6, 2018

By Marc Levy

A judge on Tuesday lifted the veil somewhat on a state grand jury investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse within six of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses, and refused to delay the grand jury report or allow parts of it to be challenged before it is released.

Judge Norman Krumenacker, in an 11-page decision made public, wrote that people who he did not identify had argued that they have a constitutional due process right to hearings in which they can challenge parts of the grand jury report to protect their reputations before they are named in it.

Krumenacker’s decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Krumenacker, a Cambria County judge who is supervising the state grand jury, did not say what information those unidentified people wanted to challenge or what they may be accused of. Arguments in the case were sealed.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman

A Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse by priests says a group of Rochester victims will come forward.

In a press release, Mitchell Garabedian named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of men, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were young boys. The incidents took place years ago when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese.

Three of the accused priests had been publicly identified in the past. Allegations of misconduct by Eugene Emo, David P. Simon, and Francis H. Vogt were reported by the local press and the accusations were acknowledged by the Diocese. Emo and Simon were removed from their ministry and Vogt has since died.

But allegations against five of the priests accused Wednesday had not been previously reported.

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.

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
US News

June 5, 2018

By Daniela Mohor

The child abuse charges in the country test the Vatican´s zero-tolerance policy toward sex abuse by clergymen.

James Hamilton recalls clearly the time in late April of this year when he traveled to the Vatican to visit Pope Francis and the pontiff shared a story from his earlier visit to Chile. A papal mass held at the port city of Iquique drew a crowd of 90,000, less than half of the 200,000 the pope’s entourage expected.

“The pope looked around and saw there was nobody,” says Hamilton, a physician who was one of the first Chilean victims of clerical sexual abuse during childhood invited to meet the pope. He and two other men allege that the abuses were covered up by the Catholic Church for decades.

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.

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Sports

June 5, 2018

By Jeff Passan

Sometime over the next 48 hours, a Major League Baseball team is almost certain to ask a convicted, admitted child molester to play in its organization. It’s likeliest to happen Tuesday, during Rounds 3 through 10 of the MLB draft, or perhaps Wednesday, over the draft’s final 30 rounds. And on the off-chance that the handful of teams with Luke Heimlich on their draft boards opt against selecting him, the chance that he goes unsigned is basically zero.

For more than a year now, teams have grappled with the idea of Heimlich. He is Oregon State’s ace and one of the best college pitchers in the nation; he is the signatory of a guilty plea to molesting a 6-year-old female relative when he was 15. He is a left-hander whose fastball tops out at 97 mph; he is an endless supply of bad headlines, treacherous questions and awful publicity. He is worthy of a second chance, with low recidivism rates for the crime to which he admitted; he now says that despite the guilty plea, he didn’t commit that crime, which only confuses the matter more.

Sports so often stumbles as it tries to strike the balance between talent and principle, and Heimlich’s case is no exception. His eventual signing will represent a clear value judgment: that his ability as a baseball player outweighs the moral quagmire of his actions and serves as an admission that the organization will embrace someone who in his guilty plea wrote “I admit that I had sexual contact” with a little girl.

It presents a litmus test that the Baltimore Orioles took last year, when they engaged in conversations with Heimlich about signing him as a non-drafted free agent, three sources familiar with the conversations told Yahoo Sports. While the sides did not strike a deal, the discussions with the Orioles showed Heimlich that even a few months after the disclosure of his case by The Oregonian, he was not entirely toxic to teams.

The calculus to draft Heimlich, according to three general managers who said he is not on their boards, is simple: The amateur draft is one of the last places to reap significant surplus value. The notion of viewing Heimlich in such a manner – purely as an asset, with child molestation not a heinous act but simply a negative-value line item – is terribly cynical.

“And it’s true,” one GM said.

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

BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

June 4, 2018

A judge on Massachusetts’ highest court cleared the way on Monday for the release of a 70-year-old convicted child rapist in poor health, drawing condemnation from an attorney for victims who vowed to continue fighting to keep the man locked up.

Wayne Chapman, who was convicted in 1977, lured young boys into the woods by pretending he was searching for his missing dog and then sexually assaulted them, court records say.

He has been civilly committed since his prison sentence ended in 2004 because he was deemed to be “sexually dangerous,” but two experts who recently examined him concluded he was no longer dangerous and should be released.

Justice Scott Kafker of the Supreme Judicial Court said in his ruling that Chapman’s victims were “understandably upset and frightened” about his potential release. But Kafker said the proper requirements governing Chapman’s release were followed under the law.

Wendy Murphy, an attorney for victims, blasted the decision and filed another bid on Monday to block his release while she tries to convince the full court to review the matter.

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.

ENGLAND
BBC News

June 5, 2018

The gravestone of a senior Roman Catholic priest has been destroyed following allegations he abused a boy.

Canon Dermod Fogarty, who died in 2012, is accused by Stephen Bernard in a book written by the Oxford academic.

Dr Bernard says the four years of abuse started in 1987 when he was 11 years old.

Deirdre McCormack, the canon’s next of kin, called for the stone’s removal as she felt the epitaph to a “much-loved, wise priest” was a “blatant lie”.

The Church agreed to remove the stone following a meeting with Ms McCormack and in a statement said it would replace it with a simple headstone.

Ms McCormack arranged for the destruction of the headstone to be filmed and asked for it to be broadcast.

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.

LAFAYETTE (LA)
WWL

June 5, 2018

The pastor of St. Peter Church in St. Landry Parish has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor in an alleged incident that occurred several years ago. 75-year-old Michael Guidry has been a priest for nearly 50 years, while running St. Peter for the last nine. Lafayette Bishop Doug Deshotel says the priest has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by law enforcement.

“If it was not then father can be restored, and his good name restored also, but if it is then there are civil penalties that will be applied, and also severe church canonical penalties.”

Guidry is also the head of the Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville.

Deshotel says the abuse occurred in a very small church community.

“St peters probably 75 to 100 families, and at Resurrection chapel maybe 50 families.”

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.

LAFAYETTE (LA)
The Advertiser

June 4, 2018

By Claire Taylor

Bishop Douglas Deshotel would not commit Monday to releasing the names of priests in the Diocese of Lafayette whose sexual abuse victims received settlements.

The Daily Advertiser, during a news conference Monday, asked Deshotel to release the list of priests whose sexual abuse victims were paid settlements by the diocese or its insurers.

In 2014, Bishop Michael Jarrell said the Diocese of Lafayette and its insurers paid $26 million to 123 victims of priest sex abuse between 1950 and 2002.

This occurred after sworn statements from the 1990s alleging abuse by local priests came to light.

At that time, The Daily Advertiser followed by an advocacy group asked Jarrell to release the priests’ names.

Monsignor Richard Green in 2014 responded that the diocese would not release the priests’ names. He said, “Bishop Jarrell sees no purpose in such action.”

Deshotel, questioned Monday by The Advertiser, said he was unaware of such a list or if he could release it.

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.

ENGLAND
The Tablet

June 5, 2018

By Rose Gamble

We say that the Catholic Church, including Ealing Abbey, is not a safe place for children and it is not something we should wait to act upon

Lawyers have called on Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the national inquiry into child sexual abuse, urgently to produce an interim report on the Catholic church, saying it is “structurally, culturally and doctrinally incapable of implementing and enforcing the minimum standards of safeguarding”.

David Enright of the firm Howe and Co, who are acting on behalf of a group sexual abuse survivors, said that following a three-week hearing into the English Benedictine Congregation in December last year, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had “heard enough” to compel it urgently to issue a report.

Mr Enright, along with other lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse, was making a submission on behalf of his clients to the IICSA panel at a preliminary hearing into the English Benedictines, which is due to consider evidence relating to Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School in Ealing over five days in February 2019.

“We say that the Catholic Church, including Ealing Abbey, is not a safe place for children and it is not something we should wait to act upon,” he told Professor Jay and the panel.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

June 4, 2018

The national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse continues to gain momentum with the Uniting Church the latest to opt in to the scheme, however the Western Australia Synod’s entry is conditional on the WA Government also signing up.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan apologized to victims at Monday’s announcement.

“We acknowledge the impact of child sexual abuse in the lives of those who have been abused in our institutions or those of our predecessor Churches,” Mr McMillan said.

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

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
BBC News

June 5, 2018

By Frances Mao

Reverend John Stanley says he will always remember the baptisms in his church, and the weddings and funerals that took place under its steeple.

Now, however, the church in Tasmania, Australia, is one of dozens of Anglican properties in the island state that are scheduled to be sold.

Religious organisations have grappled with how they will fund compensation for survivors of child sexual abuse.

In Tasmania, Anglican leaders say property sales will play a key part.

They plan to sell 108 properties, including more than half of the state’s Anglican churches – 78 in total – to raise an estimated A$20m (£11.4m; $15.2m).

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.

WHEELING (WEST VIRGINIA)
WTRF

June 4, 2018

By Falicia Woody

It’s been over a week since the Diocese of Steubenville removed retired priest, Monsignor Mark Froehlich after allegations of sexual abuse were deemed “credible”.

But “Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” or SNAP officials and alleged victims are now claiming the Diocese knew about the complaint since January.

There is a active investigation ongoing with the Belmont County Sheriffs Office regarding the issue, but according to SNAP, they want to see more being done.

Judy Jones, the SNAP Midwest Associate Leader, is standing alongside one of the alleged victims that came forward, Amanda Dutton. “The victim reported it way back in January. What took them so long?” says Jones.

Amanda tells me that she’s been trying to report the incident since she was a teenager. “It’s very hard to come forward…[Diocese said] Tell another priest, go within the Diocese. I did, I followed all orders, and once again they told me it was my fault for the way I was dressed.”

Fast forward to January 2018, and Amanda made a report to the Diocese of Steubenville. She later called them for an update. “I called the Diocese again, and they say ‘oh on the contrary. This has been handled.’ I said great! What happened? ‘We asked him if he did it or not.'”

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.

BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Starts at 60

June 5, 2018

She’s always one to speak her mind and former Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie didn’t hold back on Monday night’s episode of Q&A.

During a heated discussion about the Catholic Church and the National Redress Scheme, the 47-year-old called for the Catholic Church to “pay for its sins” in relation to compensating victims of sexual abuse within the institution.

Lambie became fired up after an audience member questioned why there was a big difference between the amount of compensation available to victims of family abuse and general crime, compared to that offered to people who had been abused at the hands of an institution. At present, victims of crime can access up to $10,000 in compensation, while people abused within the institution can be granted up to $150,000.

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

June 2, 2018

By Max Greenwood

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has agreed to establish a $210 million trust fund for 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse, church officials announced Thursday.

The payout is believed to be the second highest by the Catholic church in the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

“I recognize that the abuse stole so much from you — your childhood, your innocence, your safety, your ability to trust and, in many cases, your faith,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said at a news conference, addressing survivors of the abuse.

“Lives were forever changed,” he continued. “The church let you down. I am very sorry.”

The settlement resolves years of bankruptcy proceedings for the archdiocese.

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Australian Associated Press via The Guardian

June 3, 2018

Gregory O’Kelly named the special administrator of Adelaide following Philip Wilson’s conviction

Pope Francis has appointed Gregory O’Kelly, the bishop of Port Pirie, the special administrator of Adelaide following the conviction of Archbishop Philip Wilson for covering up child sex crimes during the 1970s.

O’Kelly, who will remain the bishop of Port Pirie, north of Adelaide, assumes administrative and executive authority in the archdiocese until any future decision of the Pope, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said in a statement.

Wilson was found guilty at Newcastle local court on 22 May of failing to report to police the repeated abuse of two altar boys by paedophile priest James Fletcher in the New South Wales Hunter region.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

June 4, 2018

By Gerard O’Connell

Pope Francis continues to work to repair the enormous damage done to the victims of the three abuses of power, sex and conscience by clergy of the Catholic Church in Chile, hoping to promote a radical renewal among its pastors and faithful people so that it becomes once again “a prophetic church” and regains the trust of the Chilean population.

Last weekend, Pope Francis hosted a second group of victims of Chile’s most notorious priest predator, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, at Santa Marta, his Vatican guesthouse residence. This time he met with five priests who were victims of Father Karadima, together with two other Chilean priests and two lay people who have helped them with their trauma and sufferings. He hosted the first group at the end of April—the three best-known victims of Father Karadima: Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and José Andrés Murillo. This time some of the five priests asked not to be identified, and the Vatican and Chilean press respected their wishes.

The group of nine arrived at Santa Marta on June 1. The following day, Francis celebrated Mass with the priests and spent more than four hours with the whole group and then met with each of the victims individually.

After their Saturday encounters, two of the priests spoke with journalists. According to media reports, they said they were deeply impressed by how Francis listened to their stories and left them feeling hope for the future.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

June 3, 2018

By Gerard O’Connell

In another historic step to assign key positions in the Catholic church to lay people, Pope Francis has appointed a married layman, Vincenzo Buonomo, as the new rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He is the first layperson ever to hold this important position in what John Paul II called “the pope’s athenaeum.” Some 3,000 seminarians, priests, women and men religious and lay students from 100 countries, including the United States, study at the university in Rome for degrees in theology, philosophy, civil and canon law.

The Vatican announced his appointment to lead the 245-year-old higher educational institution on June 2. He succeeds Archbishop Enrico dal Covolo, a Salesian, who served as rector of the Lateran University for the past eight years. Previous rectors include Cardinal Angelo Scola (1995-2002), the runner up in the 2013 conclave, and Archbishop Reno Fisichella (2002 -2010), president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

Professor Buonomo, 57, is a both a civil and canon lawyer and a specialist in international law. He is a professor at the Lateran University and also teaches future Holy See diplomats in the field of international law at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He has worked with the Holy See’s missions to various bodies at the United Nations since 1983 and has provided assistance to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Relations with States. He represents the Holy See at the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, and at the Advisory Committee of the U.N. Council of Human Rights. He is also a consultor at the Commission for Dialogue with Muslims at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

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.

LAFAYETTE (LA)
Daily Advertiser

June 4, 2018

By Claire Taylor

Diocesan records for the Rev. Michael Guidry, a church pastor accused last week of sexual abuse of a minor, show no prior complaints, Bishop Douglas Deshotel said at a news conference Monday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette issued a news release Saturday stating the diocese was informed of an allegation of abuse of a minor by Guidry.

As a result, Guidry, 75, was placed on administrative leave pending investigations by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office and the diocese.

Deshotel said Monday he believes the single alleged sexual abuse incident occurred at St. Peter Church parish, which is located in the St. Landry Parish community of Morrow. The congregation is “very small,” he said, with 75 to 100 families.

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.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

June 4, 2018

By Ralph R. Ireland

A high school acquaintance from years ago recently told me about an incident in her family that raised concerns about sexual abuse.

Her son played ball on a traveling team. On one trip he came home a day early. The following is a close approximation of the conversation that reportedly transpired.

“You’re home early.”

“Yes, luckily. Tonight was my turn to sleep with Father.”

A sophomoric joke? Perhaps not if you’ve been paying attention.

“Spotlight,” an Oscar-winning 2015 film co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy, tells the real-life story of how an investigative team at The Boston Globe during the early 2000s researched and released numerous reports exposing sexual abuses in the Catholic Church, producing a series of fact-finding pieces that resulted in the Globe’s team becoming the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner for public service.

“Spotlight” shows the pain and suffering of abuse victims as they tell their stories to Boston Globe reporters. Actor Neal Huff plays Phil Saviano, a Boston man who was abused by a priest when he was 11. In one scene, Huff holds a childhood photo. “When you’re a poor kid from a poor family and when a priest pays attention to you, it’s a big deal,” he states. “How do you say ‘no’ to God?”

How many in that situation, young and naïve, will say no to a priest who says he is only demonstrating a method to reduce sexual frustrations and save souls from aberrant cravings and sexual sinning?

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

June 3, 2018

By Mark McCleary

Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit Ireland since 1979

Participants attending the World Meeting of Families in August can be forgiven their sins or help a relative speed through purgatory.

Pope Francis has granted a “plenary indulgence” for those taking part.

In Catholic doctrine an indulgence frees you from being punished for your previously committed sins or it can be passed on to dead relatives to shorten their time in purgatory.

Even those following events on TV and radio can achieve a partial indulgence as long as they recite the Our Father, the Creed and other devout prayers.

Martin Luther’s opposition to the sale of indulgences was one of the main causes of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century.

The Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body dealing with forgiveness of sins, said pilgrims would have to attend confession and Mass, pray for the Pope’s intentions and participate in some function during the five-day event.

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.

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Mirror

June 1, 2018

By David Coleman

Pope Francis will make a flying visit to Knock by helicopter, it has emerged.

The Pontiff will travel by chopper to the holy village in Co Mayo when he visits Ireland in August.

His trip to the Marian shrine will also see him say mass at the Knock Basilica, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

A source said: “Helicopter arrangements are being made for Pope Francis to go to the Co Mayo village.

“It will take him from Dublin to Knock as it is the quickest option.

“There was always going to be a visit to Knock but the logistics of travelling had to be made.

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.

DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 4, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Rome – It’s a universally acknowledged reality of the sea that it’s never the tip of the iceberg that sinks a ship, but what lies under the water unseen. Yet, to the trained eye, the visible white mass usually is enough to warn of the dangers ahead and to change course.

In the case of Chile’s clerical sexual abuse scandals, Pope Francis first brushed against the tip of the iceberg in 2015, when he decided to transfer a Chilean bishop named Juan Barros, accused of having covered up abuse, to a southern diocese.

Yet Francis repeatedly ignored the alarms that came loud and clear. Victims of the pedophile priest Fernando Karadima, for whom Barros allegedly covered up, spoke with anyone who would listen, including members of the pope’s own Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The media, both in Chile and in Rome, kept the case in the spotlight. Chilean politicians sent a letter to the pope asking him to change course, and even some bishops spoke up against the nomination.

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.

DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 5, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Rome – As Pope Francis comes to terms with the magnitude of the abuse crisis in Chile, which pivots not only on widespread sexual abuse but also abuses of conscience and power, he has repeatedly called on the Chilean Church to recover its “prophetic” identity – which, presumably, means it had that identity once and, somewhere along the way, lost it.

The obvious question is, what exactly does it mean to be a “prophetic” Church? While people seem to agree on some broad outlines, the details often lie in the eye of the beholder.

Layman Alexis Parra of Catholic Voices Chile told Crux that for the Church to be prophetic, it has to “announce the Good News; denounce the structures of sin, that today have reached the Chilean Church at all its levels; [and] intercede through prayer, particularly with the Eucharist that is source and summit of Christian life.”

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.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

June 4, 2018

By Ramona Giwargis

Nevada gubernatorial candidate Chris Giunchigliani is revealing a painful truth in a new TV commercial responding to attacks ads from a group supporting her opponent.

“An 8-year-old girl was sexually abused for over a year,” Giunchigliani begins, looking straight into the camera. “Her sister was kidnapped, held in a trailer and raped for three days. I’m Chris G. And that 8-year-old girl was me.”

Giunchigliani shared the story after a PAC linked to the Clark County Education Association — which has endorsed her Democratic opponent Steve Sisolak — released an ad alleging that Giunchigliani “single-handedly protected perverts.”

The 30-second spot refers to a 2005 amendment introduced by the Nevada Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which was vice chaired by Giunchigliani. The amendment excluded certain people, including teachers, from registering as sex offenders — though they would have to register if convicted of sexual assault or child abuse.

The amendment and the bill passed unanimously. Giunchigliani has said that without the amendment, the bill would have died.

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.

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star-Tribune

June 4, 2018

By John Reinan

Blue Earth, Minn. – Only a year ago, Tonya and Dale Hurley thought they had found a home for life in this southern Minnesota community of 3,400.

But that was before four of their son’s high school football teammates allegedly beat him so brutally at a house party last fall that he lost consciousness.

Now, the Hurley home is for sale. Tonya and Dale Hurley have quit their jobs, and their 16-year-old son left school because of bullying. As the family packs a rental truck this week for a move to Nebraska, the couple’s marriage is in tatters, too.

“I’ve been depressed. Sometimes I sit here and I feel like I’ve just been in a fog,” Tonya Hurley said Monday, weeping as she described the fallout from the Oct. 18 assault that left her son with concussions.

On Monday, the first of the teammates charged in the case admitted his guilt.

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.