ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

March 15, 2018

Michigan priest accused of grooming, groping teen

SOUTHFIELD (MI)
WJBK

March 14, 2018

A Michigan priest has been charged with sexual assault after a teenager said the priest fondled him, provided cash, and requested that they ‘party together’ with drugs. It started with two victims but police in Saginaw fear many more are out there.

Robert Deland, 71, went from the cloth to the jail jumpsuit. Known as Father Bob, he’s accused of preying on young men while a priest at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Freeland, near Saginaw. The charges involve a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old, who worked undercover to make the arrest.

Todd Weglarz with Fieger Law is representing the 17-year-old, who first met DeLand when he was 16 at his friend’s funeral after that friend committed suicide last May. The teen had been in legal trouble and it’s alleged the priest invited him to do community service at his church.

“It’s a progressive, gaining your trust-type thing, and then he starts moving in: Let’s start getting drugs, let’s party, I have a special bedroom for you.Then the assaults. Yes, this is very well calculated,” Weglarz 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.

George Pell accused of abuse at family trip to lake

AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

March 15, 2018

By Lucie Morris-Marr

Cardinal George Pell has been accused in court of alleged abuse during a water skiing trip in rural Victoria.

The Vatican treasurer, 76, whose committal hearing for multiple allegations of historic sexual abuse continued at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, was alleged to have been invited to join a Catholic family for an afternoon when he was working as an assistant priest.

A family member said Cardinal Pell arrived with another priest at a lake in regional Victoria just after lunch and enjoyed a trip on skis behind the family speedboat before joining them for afternoon tea. His visit apparently lasted about two hours.

However, Robert Richter, Cardinal Pell’s lead barrister, questioned the father of the alleged male victim about why he did not mention Cardinal Pell’s name in a statement to Sano Task Force in 2015.

In heated exchanges, Mr Richter told the witness, who cannot be named, that the reason Cardinal Pell was not mentioned was because he did “nothing wrong”.

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Lawsuit: Priest quoted Bible during abuse

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

March 15, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

A former altar boy and Boy Scout alleges he was forced to engage in oral sex with a priest and was told that by doing so he was “one to one with God,” states a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Superior Court.

J.G., 49, who used his initials to protect his identity, filed a civil complaint against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and retired priest Louis Brouillard.

The plaintiff alleges the sexual abuse began when he was 9 and served as an altar boy at San Vicente Ferrer-San Roke Catholic Church in Barrigada where Brouillard served as parish priest and scoutmaster.

The lawsuit states Brouillard would walk around before Mass exposing himself to the altar boys and while in his room would sexually abuse J.G. by rubbing his private parts over his clothing in a sexually suggestive manner and fondle the boy.

The abuse also occurred during outings at the Lonfit River where Brouillard allegedly instructed the boys to swim naked, the lawsuit states. The priest allegedly groped J.G. and others and took pictures of them naked. The lawsuit states Brouillard told the boys they “needed” to do these things to obtain their merit badges.

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Our Editorial: Statute of limitations deserves debate

DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News

March 14, 2018

Lawmakers are in a hurry to come to the aid of the women who suffered abuse from Larry Nassar while he was employed by Michigan State University. And while the victims deserve justice, the dramatic changes proposed to the state’s statute of limitations deserve much more debate.

Sen. Margaret O’Brien, R-Portage, who spearheaded the package of bipartisan bills, has said she wants the legislation to “put fear into the heart” of sexual perpetrators — especially those who would harm children. But some of the bills, which have now passed the full Senate, are also striking fear into the hearts of university, business and local government leaders.

Republicans heard Tuesday from a plethora of groups concerned with extending the statute of limitations for decades and eliminating governmental immunity in cases of sexual abuse.

Top legal voices statewide and nationally are also cautioning against having such a wide window for civil lawsuits, as proposed.

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Paedophile priest abused young boys at Irvine school and Magnum leisure centre

GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
The Daily Record

March 15, 2018

By Irvine Herald

Father Paul Moore now faces a lengthy prison term, writes Wilma Riley.

A disgraced retired priest has been convicted of the appalling historic sexual abuse of three young boys and a trainee priest.

Eighty-two-year-old Father Francis Moore was told by judge Rita Rae that he had abused his position as a parish priest.

Moore who was also known as Father Paul, was found guilty on Wednesday after trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Some of the jurors were openly weeping as they delivered their verdicts.

Judge Lady Rae told the priest: “Mr Moore you have abused your position as a priest in the most horrible manner. You have been convicted of , particularly in relation to the young children, appalling 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.

Michigan Senate passes legislation backed by Nassar victims

LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

March 14, 2018

By David Eggert

The Michigan Senate on Wednesday passed bills inspired by the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case, voting to retroactively give the imprisoned sports doctor’s victims more time to sue, restrict governments’ ability to claim immunity from such lawsuits and require more people to report suspected abuse to authorities.

The fast-tracked legislation was sent to the House for further consideration more than two weeks after Nassar victims helped unveil it at the Capitol. Measures that would extend the statute of limitations and strip the immunity defense in certain cases had received pushback from universities, schools, local governments, businesses and the Catholic Church over the broader financial implications of facing an unknown number of suits for old claims.

“This package of bills delivers justice, justice for the children who were sexually assaulted,” said a lead sponsor, Republican Sen. Margaret O’Brien of Portage.

Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, where Nassar worked for decades, have been sued by more than 250 girls and women. Among the school’s arguments in federal court are that many accusers took too long to sue and that it has immunity.

People sexually abused as children in Michigan generally have until their 19th birthdays to sue, which critics argue is inadequate because victims often wait to report the abuse due to fear. Under a bill approved 28-7, those abused as children in 1997 or later would have a one-year window in which to file suit retroactively — but not those abused as adults.

Prospectively, victims abused in childhood would have until their 48th birthdays to sue. For others, the three-year time limit would rise to 10 years.

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Lawsuit: Priest tells boy he’s ‘one to one with God’ when sexually abusing him

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

March 15, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

A priest would often tell an altar boy he was “one to one with God” when the priest was sexually abusing him around 1979 or 1980, according to a $10 million lawsuit filed Thursday in local court.

The lawsuit says Father Louis Brouillard, now a retired priest and former scoutmaster living in Minnesota, sexually abused a Barrigada parish altar boy, who also was a Boy Scout and around 9 or 10 years old at the time.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.G. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Brouillard would sexually abuse the boy in the priest’s room by rubbing his private parts over his clothing and would place the boy’s hands on the priest’s private parts.

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.

Priest who abused boys was sent to Canada for treatment

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

March 15 2018

By Wilma Riley

A retired priest has been convicted of the sexual abuse of three boys and a trainee cleric.

The offences were committed between 1977 and 1996 but the High Court in Glasgow was told that when the Catholic church was informed about allegations, Father Paul Moore, a priest in Ayrshire, was sent for treatment in Canada rather than being reported to the authorities.

Judge Lady Rae told the priest, who had denied the offences: “Mr Moore you have abused your position as a priest in the most horrible manner. You have been convicted of, particularly in relation to the young children, appalling abuse. The damage such conduct does to young people is immeasurable.”

The allegations against Moore, 82, who will be sentenced next month, were first raised in 1996 but it was not until 2015 that a major police investigation got under way after Graeme Pearson, a former senior policeman and Labour MSP, raised the matter in the Scottish parliament.

Bishop Maurice Taylor, 91, the bishop of Galloway between 1981 and 2004, told the court that in 1996 Moore admitted he had an attraction to young boys and had “a desire to abuse minors”. As a result, he was sent to a specialist clinic in Toronto for his problem. When he returned he was told he could no longer be a parish priest.

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.

Sex-abuse priest Finnegan ‘spent three years at parish in Laois’

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Independent

March 15, 2018

By Ian Begley

A priest who sexually abused children in Northern Ireland is said to have worked in a parish in Co Laois.

Fr Malachy Finnegan worked as a curate for three years in Rosenallis in the Slieve Bloom mountains from 1953 to 1956.

A spokesman from the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin confirmed to RTÉ it had “no knowledge or record of any complaint or allegation concerning Fr Finnegan”.

Finnegan later moved to the Diocese of Dromore where he is known to have abused children at St Colman’s College in Newry.

Earlier this week, former president Mary McAleese called on the authorities in Northern Ireland to launch a public inquiry into the Diocese of Dromore’s response to abuse complaints, which stretch back to the early 1970s.

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Lawyers for Vatican treasurer question accusers in Australian court

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
Reuters

By Sonali Paul

Lawyers for Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell questioned family members of two of his accusers during a second day of open testimony in a pre-trial hearing into charges of historical sexual offences in an Australian court on Thursday.

Australian-born Pell, 76, a top adviser to Pope Francis, was summoned by police last year and is the most senior Catholic official to face such charges. Details of the charges have not been made public.

Pell’s lawyers have said at previous administrative hearings he will plead not guilty to all charges. Pell is not required to enter a formal plea unless a magistrate determines there is cause for a full trial.

His lawyer, Robert Richter, questioned the fathers and a brother of two of his accusers about statements they had given to police about when and where certain events were alleged to have taken place and when they became aware of them.

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Former pupil speaks of his abuse by Fr Malachy Finnegan

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

March 14, 2018

By Patsy McGarry

‘I’m still shaking today when I think of that monster’

Donal remembers vividly one particularly beating by the late president of St Colman’s College, Newry, Fr Malachy Finnegan, mainly because the priest insisted his mother should witness it.

He was about 15 or 16 then and in 4th year at the time.

There was a rumpus in the class and Fr Finnegan was passing on the corridor outside. “He came in and grabbed me and two or three others and brought us into the corridor. He caught me by the throat and lifted me by the collar two or three feet off the ground and he said ‘go home and you won’t be allowed back until one of your parents comes in’.”

Donal was “shaking”.

He went home and told his mother. She came back to St Colman’s with him to meet Fr Finnegan. “He brought us to his office and asked her “What kind of Catholic have you reared?”

She was told she was there to witness Donal’s punishment. The priest explained it was the only way, or Donal would not be let back to the college.

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Law firm demands names of North Country’s abusive Roman Catholic priests

CANTON (NY)
North Country Public Radio

March 15, 2018

By Brian Mann

Westport NY – A law firm that represents victims of sexual abuse by clergy is urging the North Country’s Roman Catholic diocese to release the names of priests suspected of committing sexual crimes.

At a press conference yesterday, the firm Jeff Anderson and Associates published the names of eight priests suspected of molesting children.

They say Church officials have other names which haven’t been made public, a claim the Diocese of Ogdensburg confirms.

“Many many survivors still think that they are alone,” said Attorney Mike Reck, speaking yesterday in Syracuse, calling on the Diocese of Ogdensburg to release names of priests who face credible claims of sexual abuse. “The time for thinking about what’s right is done. It’s time to take action. It’s time to actually do the right thing.”

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Pedophile priest gets 63 years for abuse

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Mexico News Daily

March 14, 2018

It marks the first time in Mexican history that a priest has been jailed for pedophilia

For the first time in the history of the Mexican justice system a pedophile Catholic priest has been sentenced to jail, a decision deemed a “milestone” by the victim’s lawyer.

Carlos López Valdez will serve 63 years for the sexual abuse of Jesús Romero Colín over a four-year period after Romero, then a minor, agreed to live with López in the hope of one day becoming a priest himself.

López, now 72, was sentenced yesterday in Mexico City. He was also ordered to pay 75,000 pesos (US $4,000) in reparation.

The victim’s lawyer told the newspaper El Universal that the sentence was “a milestone with regard to clerical pedophile cases.”

At least two high-ranking members of the Catholic church, Jonás Guerrero Corona and Marcelino Hernández Rodríguez, the bishops of Culiacán and Colima, respectively, were aware of the abuse “but they did nothing,” said the lawyer for an advocacy group.

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Rights group: Mexican priest gets 63 years for sex abuse

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Associated Press via Fox News

March 15, 2018

A Mexican human rights group says a Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to 63 years in prison for abusing a boy.

The Action Group for Human Rights and Social Justice said Tuesdays the conviction and prison sentence for Carlos Lopez Valdes is the first against a priest in Mexico City. He would only have to serve 40 years, the maximum sentence applicable in Mexico City.

The Mexico City court system and prosecutors’ office do not normally announce or confirm such sentences.

The 72-year-old priest had been arrested about 1 ½ years ago. The man who filed the abuse complaint said it took years to convince prosecutors to file charges and ask for an arrest warrant.

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March 14, 2018

Mary McAleese | Today with Sean O’Rourke

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
RTÉ

March 12, 2018

Sean, look, 1988, when John Paul wrote a letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, in which he set out the reasons why women couldn’t be ordained. That was 1988. And I wrote to the Pope at the time and said, look, I have great difficulty, I can’t believe this, I can’t accept it, I can’t teach my children it. I don’t want to be out of communion with my church – tell me, am I out of communion with my church? And he wrote back, through an intermediary, of course, saying, absolutely not, that’s fine, you know. And I accept, I absolutely accept the authority of the Pope. Do I believe absolutely everything the Pope says? I don’t have to, no, because only very occasionally does he speak with what we call infallible authority; a lot of the time he doesn’t. Let me just take very recently, a month ago he spoke in Chile, to victims of sexual abuse, and what he said was dreadful, hurtful, and also deeply inaccurate, very flawed. Do I have to accept that? Of course I don’t. I’m perfectly correct to say that that was hurtful to a lot of people. He himself had to apologise.

* * *

They are legion; they are legion, the silent sufferers. And they carry it with them through their lives and it remains unresolved and it causes dysfunction and it causes difficulties, and we know that story, because it’s the story of Ryan, of Murphy, of Cloyne, of Hart, of all these [reports]. And the sad thing for me is, that here we are, you know, and it’s 20 years after the new Guidelines were introduced and everything, and we were supposed to have diocesan audits, and we were supposed to be told, all the secrets were supposed to be out there, there were supposed to be no more secrets, and yet here we are, and there is a mountain of them, and a mountain of hurt.

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Australian Court Hears Public Testimony in Cardinal Pell Abuse Case

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 14, 2018

By Adam Baidawi

Melbourne, Australia – A judge allowed reporters into an Australian courtroom on Wednesday to hear witness testimony during a pretrial hearing for Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s third-highest-ranking priest, in a high-profile sexual abuse case that has largely unfolded behind closed doors.

Cardinal Pell has been accused of “historical sexual offenses,” meaning they took place decades ago, but the details of the criminal complaint have not been made public. For the past 10 days the court has been closed to the public as those accusing Cardinal Pell were questioned via video conference.

In general, Australian law tends to be more favorable to defendants, and proceedings more secretive, than in the United States. Such cases are often subject to the country’s contempt standards, and other legal restrictions, which prohibit journalists from reporting on details of criminal allegations.

The hearing, which is expected to run for at least another week, will determine if Cardinal Pell, the most senior member of the Catholic Church to face such accusations, will stand trial.

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OPINION: Five years on, Pope Francis has failed to deliver on his promises

VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

March 12, 2018

By Catherine Pepinster

The pontiff’s efforts at church reform have stalled, letting down liberal Catholics on issues such as child abuse and the role of women

If there is something the Roman Catholic church does supremely well, it is the spectacle of an election. From the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel voting and the white plumes announcing the election of a new pope, to the new man stepping onto the balcony of St Peter’s to greet the crowds, it is one moment of high drama after another.

Now such a huge global figure, it is hard to believe that when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires first greeted the crowds on 13 March 2013, and announced he would be called Pope Francis, most of the world – including Catholics – asked, “Who’s this?”

As Francis quipped on the day, the cardinals went to the ends of the earth to find a new pope. They made their decision based partly on the troubles the Catholic church faced, troubles that had so overwhelmed Benedict XVI that he had resigned. These troubles included the decline in Catholic numbers in the west, the mess of the church’s finances and evidence of money-laundering and corruption, the Vatican’s bureaucracy, the child sexual abuse scandals and the fading influence of Catholic sexual morality in the face of more secular influence.

And just as Francis had pleased the cardinals, he quickly won over the world. His modest lifestyle, his ready engagement with ordinary people, his desire for reform of the church’s structures and more compassionate attitudes to divorced, remarried and gay people, made him hugely popular. At the Vatican, he quickly took action, setting up a group of progressive cardinals to investigate how to reform it.

Five years on, Francis’s efforts at reforms have got stuck. The pope recognises the problems of overhauling the unwieldy structure of the Vatican bureaucracy: he has likened it to cleaning the Egyptian sphinx with a toothbrush. Then there is his calling of synods to discuss the family, especially the treatment of divorced and remarried Catholics. They have won him huge support among millions of people in the pews, but have led to open hostility from conservative prelates.

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5 things HR managers say about sexual harassment in #MeToo era

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

March 14, 2018

By Kristen Jordan Shamus

The steamroller of sexual assault and harassment claims have left no industry untouched in the #MeToo era.

Allegations of sexual misconduct took down media giant Matt Lauer, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and dozens of others. In Detroit last week, WXYZ-TV anchor Malcom Maddox was temporarily taken off the air when his former colleague Tara Edwards sued the station in federal court, seeking $100 million in a civil rights case claiming years of harassment.

Edwards said it’s the stories of others who’ve been empowered to talk about sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace that gave her “the courage to speak out. … I used to think no one would ever believe my story.”

The societal crescendo of truth telling has had another kind of ripple effect. It’s given a boost to human resources companies that investigate claims of sexual harassment and offer training to workers and their bosses about what is and what isn’t appropriate behavior.

“This is an important movement that is happening right now, and it is serious,” said Kristen Baker, vice president of Detroit-based HR Advantage Advisory. “From any company’s perspective, the need for training and proper reporting protocol is critical, not only to protect yourself but to educate employees and supervisors.”

She said her company has seen a 60% to 75% uptick in the number of requests for online or in-person anti-sexual harassment training in the months since news of the Weinstein scandal broke, as well as companies requesting help from an outside entity to conduct independent sexual harassment investigations.

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Abuse victim plea for Jehovah’s Witness inquiry

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

March 13, 2018

A founder of a sexual abuse charity is calling for an inquiry into the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation.

Peter Saunders said there should be a “broad” investigation into the religious group which he says has serious questions to answer.

An independent abuse watchdog has said it will carefully consider investigating.

The religious organisation said it did not “shield” abusers and suggestions of a cover-up were “absolutely false”.

The plea follows a BBC Hereford and Worcester investigation last year which uncovered claims of child abuse within the organisation.

Mr Saunders, 61, who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a family member, teacher and two Catholic priests, is the founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) and is currently participating in the Independent Inquiry into Sexual Abuse (IICSA) victims and survivors consultative panel.

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Despite Syracuse diocese claim, parishioners will help pay sex abuse victims’ settlements

SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

Mar 12, 2018

By Patrick Lohmann

In announcing a program to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse, Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse officials said payments to victims would not come from parishioners’ donations.

Instead, they said, the money would come from the diocese’s general liability insurance fund.

In reality, however, money collected from church members each Sunday will be used to help pay the victims.

That’s because the diocese is self-insured. It doesn’t buy insurance from a third party like an insurance company.

That means the diocese acts as its own insurance company, taking some of the money collected at each church and putting it aside into a fund to cover costs that normally would be paid by an insurance company, said spokeswoman Danielle Cummings.

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Catholic bishops will ‘fully co-operate’ with any abuse inquiry

IRELAND
RTÉ News

March 14, 2018

By Joe Little

The Catholic bishops have said they will fully cooperate with any statutory inquiry into clerical child sexual abuse, following former President Mary McAleese’s call for a public inquiry into the Church’s response to child abuse allegations against Father Malachy Finegan.

Responding to the call by former President McAleese for a public inquiry into the Church’s response to child abuse allegations against Finegan in the northern diocese of Dromore, a spokesman re-issued the bishop’s statement on child safeguarding published following last week’s regular Spring meeting of the hierarchy.

It recalled that the bishops met John Morgan and Teresa Devlin, the chair and CEO of the church-established National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

It continued: “Irrespective of improved standards, vigilance and greater awareness, bishops agreed that the Church can never become complacent concerning the safeguarding of children.

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Catholic Church fights new child sex abuse bills in Florida & Georgia as ‘unfair’

UNITED States
RT News

March 13, 2018

The Catholic Church is opposing new child sex abuse legislation in both Georgia and New York. One archbishop described proposed statute of limitations extensions for survivors to come forward as “extraordinarily unfair.”

A legislative proposal known as the “Hidden Predator Act” (House Bill 605), to extend the statute of limitations for adult survivors of child sex abuse, has been decried by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Georgia as a step too far. A lobbyist for the RCC’s Archdiocese of Atlanta is attempting to gut the bill, which would afford survivors more time to file lawsuits against groups, entities or organizations that harbored pedophiles in the past. The proposed rule change would extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases from age 23 to 38. It would also afford survivors additional recourse beyond that upper limit.

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Child sex abuse bill unfairly shields public institutions, Atlanta archbishop warns

ATLANTA (GA)
CNA/EWTN News

March 12, 2018

The Archbishop of Atlanta released a statement Friday announcing his opposition to a bill in the Georgia legislature that would discriminate between government and private entities in past cases of sex abuse.

House Bill 605, which is currently under session at the Georgia General Assembly, would extend the time limits for child abuse victims to sue their perpetrators, changing the age from 23 to 38, and potentially longer.

“In our Archdiocese of Atlanta, the Office of Child and Youth Protection helps us carry on our ‘Promise to Protect and Pledge to Heal’ by creating and maintaining safe environments and walking alongside survivors of sexual abuse on their journey to healing,” said Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta in a March 9 letter.

“With this commitment to safety and healing in mind, I write to inform you of an extraordinarily unfair bill currently pending in our state legislature,” Archbishop Gregory continued, referencing House Bill 605.

“All governmental agencies – park districts, public school districts, care facilities, and so forth – are inexplicably immune from the potential devastating effects of these lawsuits,” he wrote. “Churches, religious and private schools, non-profits and businesses are affected.”

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Authorities investigating 20 to 30 sexual abuse complaints against Saginaw church officials

SAGINAW (MI)
WJRT

March 12, 2018

By Terry Camp

Sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw may extend beyond the Rev. Robert DeLand.

The 71-year-old DeLand is accused in two sexual abuse complaints brought by a 17-year-old from Tittabawassee Township and a 22-year-old from Saginaw Township. He was arrested Feb. 25.

Since the arrest, authorities have received 20 to 30 more credible allegations of sexual abuse involving DeLand and possibly other Catholic church officials, said Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner.

He did not name any of the clergy from the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw named in the other complaints.

DeLand appeared in court Monday for a conference to see whether he and his attorney are ready for a preliminary hearing later this month. They asked for and received a delay.

“He needs to receive substantial discovery materials, reports, audio/video discs and the like,” Gaertner said.

The preliminary hearing will be set for another date.

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Abuse survivor tells IICSA of her battle for justice

UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

March 13, 2018

By Hattie Williams

A SURVIVOR of clerical abuse, Professor Julie Macfarlane, who brought a civil suit against the diocese in which she was abused, has said that an article she wrote in the Church Times “galvanised” the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG) into meeting to discuss settlement and change their civil-claims policy.

Professor Macfarlane of the University of Windsor, Ontario, in Canada, was giving evidence on Tuesday to the public hearing conducted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), in London, on the extent to which the Anglican Church has failed to protect children from sexual abuse.

In an article published in this paper in 2015, she spoke of how she had been abused for more than a year at the age of 16 by the rector of the church she attended at that time, and to whom she had gone for spiritual counselling after experiencing some doubts about her Christian faith (Comment, 11 December 2015).

She wrote: “He told me that God wanted me to kneel and perform oral sex on him. This was the start of more than 12 months of constant sexual abuse by the priest. He continued to make me perform fellatio on him, and masturbated on me, in multiple locations. He waited for me in dark alleyways as I walked home from the restaurant where I worked as a dishwasher in the evenings.”

She told no one about the abuse until she was in her 20s, and did not bring her civil claim against the Church, and a subsequent complaint to Sussex Police, until 1999 and 2014 respectively. The rector was not identified in the article, and was referred to in the hearing only as “F12” due to the ongoing police complaint against him.

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Three more Buffalo priests publicly accused of sexual abuse

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 13, 2018

By Mike McAndrew

The names of three more priests in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo publicly accused of sexual abuse – including one who was arrested – have emerged in recent days.

These new names are in addition to a Buffalo News list of 19 priests who worked in the diocese and were accused of sexual improprieties.

There has been a flurry of allegations against priests from the Buffalo area since the Rev. Norbert Orsolits admitted Feb. 27 to The Buffalo News that he sexually abused “probably dozens” of teenaged boys while serving as a priest.

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Calley: Michigan State University should stop fighting lawsuits from Nassar’s victims

LANSING (MI)
The Detroit Free Press

March 14, 2018

By Brian Calley

Leadership at Michigan State University needs to abandon its adversarial legal approach toward survivors of Larry Nassar and the culture that allowed him to hurt people for so long. Though Interim President John Engler has made some changes, the university’s legal approach has not changed. The current path won’t work — not for MSU and certainly not for the survivors who shouldn’t be dragged through years of litigation.

MSU’s reputation can never be fully restored, but the university can help write the last chapter in this tragedy with a bold change in their legal strategy. Doing so requires breaking the conventional rules and placing the victims’ interests ahead of its own. Hammering survivors in court is wrong. There is another way.

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Mexican priest sentenced to 63 years in jail for abusing boy

MEXICO CITY
IOL

March 14, 2018

By Andrea Sosa Cabrio and Sinikka Tarvainen

Mexico City – A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a Catholic priest to 63 years in prison for sexually abusing a boy between 1994 and 1998, the victim and his lawyer said.

Carlos Lopez Valdes, 72, was also ordered to pay 4 000 dollars in damages to Jesus Romero Colin.

Lopez was found guilty of abusing Romero while he was between 11 and 16 years old. The boy was assisting the priest at a Mexico City church.

Romero’s lawyer David Pena described the case as a “watershed” for being the first guilty verdict of a Catholic priest in a sex abuse case in Mexico City, one of the world’s largest Catholic dioceses, though there have been guilty verdicts elsewhere in the country.

Romero said he had reported Lopez for abuse already a decade ago, but both church and civilian authorities tried to shelve the case while the priest continued celebrating Mass.

Church authorities “argued that I wanted money, that I was lying, that I wanted to attack the church,” Romero said.

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Child-migrant sex compo spat

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

March 12, 2018

By Phoebe Wearne

About 3000 Commonwealth child migrants settled in WA after World War II are at the centre of an intensifying row between the State and Federal governments over redress for child sexual abuse victims.

With thousands of survivors expecting to be able to apply for redress across Australia from July 1, the Commonwealth is ramping up pressure on States, churches and institutions to join its national redress scheme, warning those who do not “will be judged harshly”.

Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter yesterday took aim at the WA Government over its reluctance to opt in until it receives more information.

But the criticism hit a nerve, with WA Attorney-General John Quigley questioning why Social Services Minister Dan Tehan is yet to respond to a December letter seeking clarification on key issues such as whether WA will be wholly responsible for compensating victims among the 2941 Commonwealth child migrants brought to WA.

“The Commonwealth brought thousands of child migrants to Australia after World War II, dumped most of them in WA and now washes its hands of all liability and says, ‘WA, you pay for those by yourself,” Mr Quigley said.

Mr Quigley also blasted Mr Porter’s role in handling a previous State-run redress scheme for victims of abuse in 2009.

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Cardinal’s alleged abuse victims end testimony in Australia

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Associated Press

March 14, 2018

The alleged victims of the most senior Vatican official charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis finished testifying to an Australian court Wednesday.

A hearing began last week in the Melbourne Magistrate Court to determine whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to put Australian Cardinal George Pell on trial.

Pope Francis’ former finance minister was charged in June with sexually abusing multiple people in his Australian home state of Victoria. The details of the allegations against the 76-year-old cardinal have yet to be released to the public, though police have described the charges as “historical” sexual assault offenses — meaning the events are alleged to have occurred decades ago.

The courtroom had been closed to the public and media while alleged victims testified by a video link from an undisclosed location but was reopened Wednesday afternoon after the final alleged victim gave evidence.

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Francis Sullivan says the Australian Catholic Church must take responsibility for offenders sent overseas

AUSTRALIA
The Newcastle Herald

March 14, 2018

By Joanne McCarthy

THE Australian Catholic Church needs to “deal with” the legacy issues of transferring child sex offenders overseas for decades, says the man who steered the church through the Australian child abuse royal commission, Francis Sullivan.

“This is certainly an issue the church leadership in Australia needs to respond to and deal with,” the outgoing chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council said a week before the council is disbanded.

“The sexual abuse of any child anywhere is an abomination and when the perpetrator is a Catholic religious or priest then the Catholic Church needs to take responsibility,” Mr Sullivan said.

“Survivors of abuse in Papua New Guinea or any other overseas jurisdiction by offenders sent to those places by Australian Church authorities should be treated in the same way as survivors abused in Australia.”

His comments came as Papua New Guinea police commander Andrew Weda said on Tuesday he would meet this week with police who have completed an investigation into “touching” allegations against Australian Vincentian priest Neil Lams while chaplain to a school.

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Eastern Montana Catholic Diocese wants to back out of bankruptcy

BUTTE (MT)
The Montana Standard

March 14, 2018

By Phoebe Tollefson

The Catholic diocese for Eastern Montana is hoping to back out of the bankruptcy proceedings it entered into a year ago, petitioning instead for a settlement with sex abuse victims in state court.

The move comes after negotiations were stalled by disputes over which church assets are fair game in the bankruptcy.

On Tuesday, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings filed a motion to dismiss its Chapter 11 case with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Montana.

The diocese initiated bankruptcy proceedings roughly a year ago as a way to settle 86 claims by people alleging sexual abuse by Eastern Montana Catholic clergy between the 1940s to the 1980s.

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Central African bishop accuses U.N. forces of rape, abuse

MADRID (SPAIN)
Catholic News Service

March 13, 2018

MADRID — A Catholic bishop in the Central African Republic accused U.N. peacekeeping troops of sexual abuse in his diocese and warned they could be guilty of crimes against humanity.

“Women are selling their bodies to the Blue Helmets out of desperation,” said Bishop Juan Aguirre Munoz of Bangassou.

“Many are doing this to avoid dying of hunger, and some of the abused are minors. When I asked their mothers what happened, they sank their heads.”

The bishop spoke while staying in his native Spain on U.N. advice after his diocesan vicar general narrowly survived a machete attack.

In an interview with Madrid’s Alfa y Omega Catholic weekly, he said up to 2,000 Muslims had been sheltering in the seminary adjoining Bangassou’s Catholic cathedral, protected by peacekeepers, since a wave of anti-Muslim violence in May 2017 left dozens dead.

However, he added that poor sanitary conditions had increased the risk of cholera, while many young Muslim men had resorted to violence after “losing everything.”

“That some women, even girls, have been made pregnant by the U.N. soldiers is a crime against humanity,” said Aguirre, who has ministered in Central African Republic for 38 years and was appointed to Bangassou, on the southeastern border with Congo, in 2000.

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Lynda Carter Reveals ‘Wonder Woman’ Harassment, Says Cameraman Drilled a Hole in Her Dressing Room Wall

UNITED STATES
IndieWire

March 13, 2018

By Zack Sharf

Carter says the cameraman was eventually caught and fired from working on the superhero television series.

Lynda Carter reflects on her own history dealing with sexual harassment in Hollywood in a new interview with The Daily Beast. The “Wonder Woman” icon told the publication that she was the victim of sexual abuse in the past and that her abuser is now facing justice and some form of punishment. Carter did not name her abuser or get into the specifics of his punishment.

“He’s already being done in. There’s no advantage in piling on again,” Carter said about. “I can’t add anything to it. I wish I could. But there’s nothing legally I could add to it, because I looked into it. I’m just another face in the crowd.”

Carter said she “fended off” her share of abusers throughout her career as a television star. The actress explained to The Daily Beast that she never reported the incidents because men would be ready to disprove her at every turn, so she relied on confiding in female friends.

“Who are you going to tell except your girlfriends and your circle of friends?” she said. “You’d say or hear, ‘Stay away from that guy.’ ‘Watch out for this casting director.’ And so you would hear it from other people, other people would hear it from other people. ‘Watch out for so and so.’ That’s how you protected yourself: through the grapevine.”

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Lynda Carter recounts alleged harassment on ‘Wonder Woman’ TV show set

UNITED STATES
CNN

March 13, 2018

By Sandra Gonzalez

(CNN)Actress Lynda Carter is sharing her #MeToo stories for the first time.

The legendary Hollywood figure, best known for her role in the “Wonder Woman” TV series, recounted two instances of sexual harassment to The Daily Beast in a new interview.

She insinuated that one of the men who had sexually harassed her had already been named in the wave of the #MeToo movement, saying he had victimized “a lot of people.”

She declined to identify him or detail the incident.

“He’s already being done in. There’s no advantage in piling on again,” she told the publication, adding that she’d explored legal options, only to find she had none.

“There’s nothing legally I could add to it, because I looked into it. I’m just another face in the crowd,” she said.

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Pierce County school district, Seattle Archdiocese settle child sex abuse lawsuit

TACOMA (WA)
The News Tribune

March 13, 2018

By Alexis Krell

A former Parkland Elementary student who says he was sexually assaulted by a teacher there in the 1980s has settled a lawsuit against the Franklin Pierce School District and the Seattle Archdiocese.

Franklin Pierce agreed to pay $950,000 to the alleged victim, identified in court records as D.W. The Archdioceses agreed to pay $1.5 million.

The complaint accused the Archdiocese of helping teacher Edward Courtney get hired in the public school system, despite the fact that he’d been accused of sexually abusing students at multiple Catholic schools where he worked before Parkland.

“Courtney then used his position at Parkland Elementary to gain access to Plaintiff D.W. and to sexually abuse him multiple times in multiple locations, including at Parkland Elementary and other activities that Courtney arranged through his position at the school,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in 2016 and was set to go to trial March 12.

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More charges for priest: ‘No doubt this defendant has very sadistic and deviant sexual interests’

BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman

March 13, 2018

By Katy Moeller and Nicole Blanchard

Editor’s note: Magistrate Judge James Cawthon presided at Tuesday’s hearing. An earlier version of this story listed the judge who originally was scheduled for the hearing.

A retired Boise priest was handcuffed and taken to the Ada County Jail on Tuesday morning — after a magistrate judge raised his bond to $1 million following the filing of numerous new charges of child porn possession and distribution.

That wasn’t the only surprise at the hearing: Prosecutors said a second person had come forward to accuse the Rev. W. Thomas Faucher of child sexual abuse.

Faucher, 72, was arrested Feb. 2 on 14 charges involving possessing and sharing child pornography, and drug possession. He was out of jail on $250,000 bond and scheduled for a preliminary hearing this morning.

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We need to talk about sexual assault in marriage

UNITED STATES
VOX

March 8, 2018

It feels impossible to discuss openly.

Eight years into our marriage, sitting in a therapist’s office with my husband, I mustered all my courage and said my deepest, darkest truth: “When we have sex, I feel like I’m being violated.” The unwanted sex at times made me sick: Once I had to run straight from bed to the bathroom, where I retched into the toilet. I spared him and the therapist that detail.

My husband shrugged and, staring ahead with more indifference than disdain, replied, “She’s always so melodramatic.” His response didn’t surprise me. It was his standard reaction to my complaints about the sad state of our marriage, his way of training me to see my needs — emotional connection and communication — as excessive, and his (primarily sex) as entirely reasonable.

I had dragged us to couples counseling because I could no longer live in the vacuum left behind after the emotional intimacy had seeped out of our marriage. My husband hadn’t noticed the loss, proclaiming himself happy. At home, having tried without success the therapist-prescribed exercises for restoring emotional connection — check-ins about feelings, “nonsexual” touch — my husband lobbied for his own solution: “The thing you need is really complicated and difficult, and it’s not something I can do. But the thing I need is easy and quick. Why can’t you just give me the thing I need?”

I acquiesced. At the time, it didn’t feel like a choice; it felt inevitable. I lived every evening dreading the signals of my husband’s desire. I bargained my way out of sex as often as I could. I gloried in being sick enough to have the right to refuse.

On the nights when I couldn’t get out of it, we used a method that I had taught myself to tolerate and that he, astoundingly, tolerated as well: I read a book to distract myself for as long as I could while he did the thing he needed to do. I did not let him kiss me for the last several years of our marriage. That was the rule: You can fuck me, but you can’t kiss me, and I don’t have to pretend to like it. This satisfied him.

Submitting to sex with a man who knew it was unwanted, who knew I felt deep pain at our lack of emotional connection, and who knew — who had been clearly told — that it felt like a violation, broke something in me. Knowing that he could still enjoy and feel emotionally fulfilled by that unwanted sex shattered my idea of our marriage. I felt like a sex doll. I felt unselfed.

But I blamed myself. I was the one whose desire was “deficient,” according to my husband and our sex-obsessed culture. When multiple couples therapists over several years made no significant impact, I blamed myself again: I should have been more forceful when I said my dark truth.

Only 15 years later, as I witness so much outrage on the behalf of women who have been shamed, coerced, and bullied into sex in so many other contexts, do I wonder: How could my husband listen to me say what I said — even once, even timidly — and sleep well that night, much less continue to insist on sleeping with me?

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Priest used camping trips to abuse boy

LONDON (ONTARIO, CANADA)
The London Free Press

Published on March 8, 2018; Updated March 13, 2018

By Jane Sims

Pedophile priest gets unfettered access to boy, because mother saw him as good influence

All she wanted was a positive male role model for her nine-year-old son.

Instead, the single mother got parish priest David Norton, a sexual predator.

The facts supporting the sexual interference conviction of Norton, 72, a retired Anglican priest and former instructor at King’s University College, describe mentoring, grooming and then assaults.

Norton pleaded guilty a week ago to sexual interference involving the boy, now 34, who kept the abuse a secret until other charges involving children were laid against Norton in 2015.

While those charges are heading to trial in April, Norton has admitted to the abuse of his young charge from St. Mark’s church in London, where Norton had served as priest.

Assistant Crown attorney Chris Heron told Superior Court Justice Lynne Leitch the relationship between priest and boy, whose identity is protected by court order, began in 1991. The boy’s mother saw Norton as “a role model.”

For the next four years, Norton and the boy were often alone at the priest’s house, the boy’s house, in Norton’s camping trailer or his 1986 grey Mazda truck.

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Catholic Charities Appeal takes hit from growing sex abuse claims against priests

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 12, 2018

CEO says funds go toward services, not settlements

Sexual abuse allegations against Catholic priests in Western New York are having an impact on the annual Catholic Charities Appeal.

The $11 million campaign is behind other years, according to Catholic Charities of Buffalo CEO Dennis Walczyk. He tells 7 Eyewitness News that part of the reason is because some community members are reluctant to contribute out of concern that their donation will be used to pay out settlements between the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Walczyk stresses that donations go towards the organization’s services, not settlements.

“We want everyone to understand that contributions to Catholic Charities directly support the services we provide,” Walczyk said in a statement.

The Appeal helps fund 70 programs and services across Western New York. So far it’s reached 40% of its goal, with a little more than three months left in the campaign.

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Family stands by Kevin Braney’s claim of priest sexual abuse (Your letters)

SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

March 14, 2018

By Your Letters
To the Editor:

The Braney family, in support of our son and brother, validates the facts of his story as he has told it to The Post-Standard over these last four years. More importantly, the Vatican, the Diocese of Syracuse and their Diocesan Review Board found his sexual abuse claims against Charles Eckermann credible after months of investigation. This is contrary to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick’s recent and inaccurate public statements. Clearly, Fitzpatrick does not have all of the information about Kevin’s case.

Kevin’s family has learned of the painful events suffered by him many years ago through his healing process these past five years. We applaud both Kevin’s courage to speak out and his continuous and relentless efforts to prompt the Syracuse Diocese to release the names of the 11 remaining pedophile priests to this community to keep our children safe. We support him 100 percent!

Ronald and Patricia Braney
Manlius

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New report has details on 13 WNY priests accused of sex abuse

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

March 13, 2018

By Emily Lampa

A national law firm calls for the Diocese of Buffalo to fully disclose names and information of all priests accused of sexual abuse and address concerns over victim compensation program.

A national law firm that represents thousands of alleged abuse victims is calling on the Diocese of Buffalo to release the names and information of all priests accused of sexual abuse.

Attorney, J. Michael Reck, and former Catholic priest, Patrick Wall, gave local news agencies the details of a report, compiled by Jeff Anderson & Associates, PA – a law firm based in New York City.

“We’re here today,” said Reck, “to call on the Diocese of Buffalo to do the right thing. And to release the of other credibly accused clerics that it knows of that it continues to hold in secret.”

The report highlights 13 accused Western New York priests. Reck explained that while the report documents the reported transgressions of 13 clerics, based on publicly available data, the Diocese of Buffalo has acknowledged that 40 more priests have been accused of sexual abuses.

“From the 53 that the Diocese of Buffalo has publicly acknowledged. That means there are 40…40 alleged clerics from the diocese of Buffalo whose identities and whereabouts are unknown to the public,” Reck said.

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Sex abuse victim reaches $2.4 million settlement with archdiocese, school district

SEATTLE (WA)
KOMO News

March 13, 2018

A man who was sexually abused as a child has reached a $2.45 million settlement with the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the Franklin Pierce School District.

The man, whose name was not publicly released, alleged in a lawsuit that he was sexually abused in the early 1980s by former teacher Edward Courtney at Parkland Elementary, a now-closed grade school in the Tacoma area.

The $2.45 million settlement was reached just before the case was scheduled to go to trial Monday in King County Superior Court. It is believed to be one of the largest settlements involving the Catholic Church in Western Washington, said the victim’s attorney, Michael Pfau.

Under terms of the settlement, the Seattle Archdiocese will pay $1.5 million and the Franklin Pierce School District will pay $950,000. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain said he hopes the settlement will bring closure and assist the victim in his healing process.

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Francis fifth year as Pope: a fearless reformer overwhelmed by the Church’s sex abuse scandals

MONTEVIDEO (URUGUAY)
Merco Press

March 14, 2018

As Pope Francis marks the fifth year of his papacy next week, the pontiff once hailed as a fearless reformer is under fire for his handling of the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Since taking over in March 2013, the 81-year-old Argentine has championed the cause of the marginalized, saying he wanted a “poor church for the poor” and shunning papal palaces and ostentatious displays of wealth.

His reform agenda has introduced the possibility in certain cases to allow divorced and remarried believers to take communion, although he still agrees with the Church’s traditional positions on other issues, such as abortion, artificial contraception and gay marriage. But the sex abuse scandals have haunted his papacy and last month the Vatican announced it was reviving its anti-pedophile panel.

A trip to Chile in January was seen as a resounding failure after he defended a bishop accused of covering up the crimes of a pedophile priest. Francis, who like his predecessor Benedict XVI, promised a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual abuse, sparked uproar when he said: “The day they bring me proof against Bishop (Juan) Barros, then I will speak.” But he later apologized to the victims and sent a Vatican top expert on sex abuse to hear the witnesses in the case.

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‘We beg forgiveness’‚ says Archbishop Makgoba as SA author accuses priests of abuse

SOUTH AFRICA
Sowetan Live

March 14, 2018

By Matthew Savides

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Tuesday that he took responsibility for cases of abuse within the Anglican Church‚ even when it happened under the watch of his predecessors.

He was speaking after award-winning author Ishtiyaq Shukri issued a statement earlier this month that detailed years of abuse at the hands of priests in Kimberley.

Shukri’s revelation came in the wake of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s resignation as an ambassador for Oxfam amid a sex scandal that has rocked the international aid organisation.

Shukri said this resignation was hypocritical because Tutu had been silent on sex scandals in the church.

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$10M lawsuit alleges sexual abuse by priest

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

March 14, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

A Mongmong resident alleges he was sexually abused by a now-retired priest during Boy Scout outings more than 40 years ago.

P.Q., who used initials to protect his identity, filed a $10 million lawsuit in the District Court of Guam against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and Louis Brouillard.

While he never served as an altar boy or joined the Boy Scouts, P.Q. said at the age of 12, he would join the other boys from the village on outings with Brouillard, who was a parish priest and a scoutmaster.

The priest routinely drove from village to village to pick up the boys and take them swimming at the Lonfit River.

P.Q. would be picked up with the other boys at the Nuestra Señora De Las Aguas Catholic Church, court documents state.

Brouillard allegedly instructed the boys to remove their clothes and swim naked, and promised to buy them burgers, fries and sodas after the outings, the lawsuit states.

P.Q. alleges Brouillard groped and touched his private parts as he swam naked and then offered a reward to the boys by taking them out to eat at different restaurants.

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Survivor Calls For Change In How Churches Respond To Abuse Allegations

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

March 12, 2018

By Carol Kuruvilla

“The church should have been the first group to stand up and say, ‘We will not allow this.’”

In early January, a Tennessee pastor who stood accused of sexual assault received a standing ovation from members of his evangelical Christian congregation after confessing to a “sexual incident” with a woman 20 years before. Now, the woman who went public with her allegations against her former youth pastor is again speaking out about her experience, this time urging American churches to more fully reckon with their responsibility to sexual assault victims.

“We as a church, of all places, should be getting this right,” Jules Woodson said in a New York Times op-ed video published on Friday. “It’s unfathomable to me that the secular world, Hollywood, are taking a stand. The church should have been the first group to stand up and say, ‘We will not allow this.’”

Woodson came forward in January with allegations against her former youth pastor, Andy Savage. She claims that when she was 17 in 1998, Savage drove her to a private location after a church event in Texas and forced her to perform sexual acts. She said church leaders at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church (which later changed its name to StoneBridge Church) urged her to keep quiet and promised the church would take care of the matter internally.

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Law firm releases names of 13 more priests accused of child abuse, including six with ties to Genesee and Wyoming

BUFFALO (NY)
Batavia News

March 13, 2018

By Scott Desmit

Six priests with ties to Wyoming and Genesee counties were among 13 priests in the Diocese of Buffalo who were accused of sexually assaulting children.

Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm of Minnesota released the names during a press conference in Buffalo Tuesday morning. The firm has led the way in the fight for the victims of priests and has filed numerous lawsuits seeking compensation and accountability from the Catholic Church.

In all, at least 22 priests who served the Diocese of Buffalo have been named since the 1980s and nearly 100 more have been targets of various lawsuits and complaints.

Tuesday, the names of 13 more were released in an ongoing effort to get the Diocese to identify all the priests who have been accused.

Among those named were five who served in Wyoming or Genesee counties and one who was arrested and charged with sodomizing children at a camp in Wyoming in the 1980s.

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Law firm to release identities of 27 NY priests accused of sexually abusing minors

SYRACUSE and OGDENSBURG (NY)
Press Connects

March 14, 2018

By Hannah Schwarz

A law firm that specializes in clergy sexual abuse will disclose on Wednesday the names of 27 New York clergy members accused of sexually abusing minors, the firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, said Tuesday.

Nineteen of those clergy members are from the Diocese of Syracuse; eight are from the Diocese of Ogdensburg. The identities and other information on the clergy members will be released at a 10 a.m. news conference in Syracuse, where the firm will also discuss the Diocese’s recently unveiled sexual abuse compensation program, and will urge the Church to release the names of priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of minors.

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President McAleese is wasting her breath. The Catholic Church will never reform

IRELAND
The Avondhu

March 14, 2018

By Donal O’Keeffe

Former President Mary McAleese is a decent and fiercely-intelligent woman who is hugely respected by the Irish people. She’s in for a disappointment, though, if she thinks the Catholic Church values her opinion any more than it does that of any other woman, writes Donal O’Keeffe.

They gave Cardinal Bernard Law a grand old send-off all the same last December. Granted, the turnout in St Peter’s Basilica was clearly sparser than anticipated, with ushers stacking away the chairs which had been set out for an expected larger crowd, but Law’s funeral Mass was presided over by senior Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and the coffin was blessed by Pope Francis himself.

No mention was made at Law’s funeral of the reason he had been forced to resign on December 13 2002, after 18 years as Archbishop of Boston. Law’s resignation came at the culmination of a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning articles by Boston Globe reporters, in which they outlined how paedophile priests were moved – under Law’s watch – from parish to parish without notifying parishioners or authorities. This was dramatised in the superb 2015 film ‘Spotlight‘, a film I watched with a strange feeling of déjà vu, because – of course – we in Ireland had seen the Boston story before ever Boston saw it.

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Law firm begins unmasking of Ogdensburg, Syracuse priests accused of abuse

OGDENSBURG (NY)
Watertown Daily News

March 14, 2018

By Larry Robinson

The names of eight priests associated with the Diocese of Ogdensburg who are alleged to have sexually molested children were made public by a Minnesota-based law firm representing victims of child abuse.

The names, along with some 19 others from the Diocese of Syracuse, were being released during a live press conference streamed on Facebook by the firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates.

The priests associated with sexual abuse allegations within the Ogdensburg Diocese are:

Father John F. Fallon; Father Theodore M. Gillette; Father John Hunt: Father Liam O’Doherty; Father Robert M. Shurtleff: Father Clark S. White; Father David E. Wisniewski; and Father Paul F. Worczak.

Some of the priests are deceased, others are listed as whereabouts unknown, according to the report.

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Law firm preparing to name north country priests accused of sexual abuse

OGDENSBURG (NY)
Watertown Daily News

March 14, 2018

By Larry Robinson

A Minnesota-based law firm representing victims of child sexual abuse plans to release reports today that contain the identities, histories and background information on 27 priests accused of sexual offenses against minors in the Diocese of Syracuse and the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

The event will be streamed live on Facebook at 10 a.m. from the Marriott Syracuse Downtown Conference Center, according to a news release from the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates.

The news conference link is https://www.facebook.com/AndersonAdvocates/

Jeff Anderson & Associates is one of the nation’s leading law firms representing victims of childhood sexual abuse, according to its website.

The separate reports to be released today will identify 19 Diocese of Syracuse priests and another eight priests from the Diocese of Ogdensburg, according to the firm. All of the priests allegedly stand accused of sexual offenses against minors.

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MCALEESE CALLS FOR INQUIRY INTO CHURCH HANDLING OF FR FINNEGAN ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

IRELAND
The Tablet

March 13, 2018

By Sarah Mac Donald

McAleese also revealed that her 49-year-old brother had been ‘seriously, physically, sadistically’ abused by Fr Malachy Finnegan

The former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese has called for an independent inquiry into the Church’s handling of allegations of abuse against the late Fr Malachy Finnegan, a one time president St Colman’s College in Newry, and a priest of the Diocese of Dromore.

In an interview with RTE Radio’s Sean O’Rourke programme this week, Dr McAleese said she believed the victims were “legion” and said the first complaints against Finnegan dated back to the 1970s not the 1990s.

She also revealed that her 49-year-old brother had been “seriously, physically, sadistically” abused by Fr Malachy Finnegan for all the years he attended St Colman’s College.

“There are huge questions to be answered by all the people who were involved at a senior level in that school and in the diocese as to what they knew and when they knew it. It shouts for an inquiry really,” she said.

Mrs McAleese said that her 90-year-old mother had only learned about her brother’s treatment, when Clem Leneghan wrote a letter about his experiences at the college to the Belfast Telegraph last month. He described Malachy Finnegan as a sadist who had “presided over a culture of bullying, violence, intimidation and secrecy.”

In her RTE interview, Dr McAleese became emotional as she admitted that because the “culture of silence” was “so oppressive and because these children were made to be so fearful”, she had only learned of her brother’s abuse within the past year.

Fr Finnegan taught at St Colman’s from 1967 and was president of the school between 1976 and 1987. He later served in parishes in the diocese of Dromore and died in 2002.

“So many people who were in the school had to have known; so many people who could have done something about it. We know now that the very first complaints about Malachy Finnegan go back to the 1970s not the 1990s.”

Responding to Ms McAleese’s call, a spokesman for the Irish bishops indicated that they would cooperate with any public inquiry into child sexual abuse by Fr Finnegan.

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Priests tied to abuse listed

NIAGARA FALLS (NY)
Niagara Gazette

March 13, 2018

By Mark Scheer and Rick Pfeiffer

REPORT: Some of accused clergy have ties to Niagara County.

A list of priests accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo includes several names with previous ties to parishes in Niagara County.

The list, released Tuesday morning by attorneys representing sexual abuse victims, covers clergy associated with the Diocese of Buffalo who have been accused of committing sexual offense crimes against minors.

Of the 13 priests on the list compiled by Jeff Anderson & Associates, P.A., five were shown to have service histories with ties to Niagara County communities, including Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda and Lockport.

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FEDERAL SEX ABUSE LAWSUIT NAMES BP. CISTONE, SAGINAW DIOCESE

SAGINAW (MI)
Church Militant

March 13, 2018

By Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D.

17-yr-old victim accuses bishop of engaging in cover-up

A sex abuse victim is filing a federal lawsuit accusing the Saginaw diocese and Bp. Joseph Cistone of a cover-up.

According to the complaint, Linden v. Saginaw, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, John Doe — the 17-year-old male victim — alleges that he was the victim not only of Fr. Robert DeLand (arrested for sexual assault) but also of Bp. Cistone and the Saginaw diocese, who knew about DeLand’s criminal behavior but did little to address it.

The complaint claims Fr. DeLand engaged in grooming behavior, giving him cash and other gifts (including buying John Doe an expensive “vape” machine), and paying for counseling sessions for John Doe as he dealt with a friend’s suicide. The priest allegedly called or texted the boy 17–20 times a day, and told him “he had set up a special bedroom” in his condominium that was offered to the boy for use.

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Call for swift inquiry into priest abuse

IRELAND
The Times

March 14, 2018

By Ellen Coyne

Mary McAleese’s younger brother has called on the British government to hold a swift inquiry into a priest who abused him and others at a school.

Clem Leneghan has said that many people both at St Colman’s College in Newry, Co Down, and the diocese of Dromore knew about Father Malachy Finnegan’s actions and failed to act. In a statement yesterday, he called on all those who knew about the abuse to come forward to the PSNI.

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Catholic deal looms for redress payments to sex abuse victims

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

March 15, 2018

By John Ferguson

The Catholic Church yesterday began historic negotiations to join the Turnbull government’s $4 billion sex abuse redress scheme, a move that would place intense pressure on the remaining states and faiths yet to sign up.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said Catholic Church officials had agreed to hold intensive talks in the next three weeks to iron out problems with the draft laws to enable the faith to lead the way among non-government institutions. If the church opts in before the July 1 start — as expected — it will transform the rollout of the scheme in Australia.

Mr Tehan met Catholic officials in Canberra where the path was laid for the church to opt into the scheme, which would provide up to $150,000 in redress to proven victims but with a lower burden of proof compared with the courts.

Catholic bishops have agreed to opt into the scheme but officials are attempting to clarify and resolve a series of outstanding concerns to enable the church to become involved. No firm timeline has yet been agreed.

Church officials only received key documents on the scheme on Friday and are yet to see draft legislation proposed by the Victorian government.

But with momentum heading towards a deal within weeks or months, smaller institutions and churches will be under enormous pressure to fall into line. There remain real concerns that some entities with high abuse rates could be sent broke by the scheme.

The NSW and Victorian governments decided last Friday to opt into the scheme.

A spokesman for Mr Tehan said there would be intensive talks in the lead up to Easter.

“It was agreed to have ongoing, detailed discussions over the next three weeks with the intention of Catholic Church entities opting in to the national redress scheme,” the spokesman said. “The minister welcomed the constructive way the Catholic Church has engaged on the issue and looks forward to an ongoing dialogue.”

The Australian understands the church will negotiate on a series of concerns it still holds, many articulated in the Truth Justice Healing Council submission to a Senate committee investigating the original federal bill that was drafted to set up the scheme. Concerns in that submission include the standard of proof required to receive a payment, the formula for which compensation payments will be decided and the desire that all state governments should commit to participating in the redress scheme as a matter of urgency.

The scheme, if passed by parliament, will require participants to release offending institutions from civil liability for the abuse but in turn will enable them to receive a one-off payment or an additional top-up payment if any original redress were deemed inadequate.

The remaining states, churches and other institutions are facing intense pressure to opt into the scheme amid concerns they will struggle to fund some payments. Labor backs a $200,000 cap but the federal government and major states believe $150,000 will be as high as the scheme can go. The key number will be the average cost of each claim, which is likely to be about $75,000.

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Pedophile priest gets 63 years for abuse

GUADALAJARA (MEXICO)
Mexico News Daily

March 14, 2018

By César Hernández

Read original article

For the first time in the history of the Mexican justice system a pedophile Catholic priest has been sentenced to jail, a decision deemed a “milestone” by the victim’s lawyer.

Carlos López Valdez will serve 63 years for the sexual abuse of Jesús Romero Colín over a four-year period after Romero, then a minor, agreed to live with López in the hope of one day becoming a priest himself.

López, now 72, was sentenced yesterday in Mexico City. He was also ordered to pay 75,000 pesos (US $4,000) in reparation.

The victim’s lawyer told the newspaper El Universal that the sentence was “a milestone with regard to clerical pedophile cases.”

At least two high-ranking members of the Catholic church, Jonás Guerrero Corona and Marcelino Hernández Rodríguez, the bishops of Culiacán and Colima, respectively, were aware of the abuse “but they did nothing,” said the lawyer for an advocacy group.

Luis Ángel Salas of the Action Group for Human Rights and Social Justice, said his organization and Peña are considering filing lawsuits against both bishops.

Romero asserted that instead of cooperating on the case, the Catholic church tried to dismiss the accusations against López.

The Archdiocese of Mexico issued a statement expressing its solidarity with Romero, and its willingness to collaborate with authorities.

The archdiocese said it will not rest until acts of abuse are eradicated from the church.

Source: El Universal (sp)

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Did a Couple Adopt a Native American Child for $10 in 1952?

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Snopes.com

March 13, 2018

By Dan MacGuill

The story behind a decades-old letter that went viral in 2018.

A letter purportedly documenting a Catholic orphanage’s sale of a Native American child to an Illinois couple received widespread attention decades later on social media, highlighting a practice that has not made it into many American history books — but which is an indelible part of the country’s recent past.

In the 1952 letter, Fr. John Pohlen, who ran the Tekakwitha Indian Mission in Sisseton, South Dakota, wrote:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seely,

Thank you very kindly for your donation of 10.00 for my little Indians. Yours is the first invitation that was ever extended to one of our papooses [Native American children] to come and spend the vacation somewhere. We have a few little boys and girls who have noone at all interested whether they live or die or come and go.

I would send a little boy of six years or older or a little girl whatever you prefer. These Indian children are very little trouble, especially the one I have in mind. If you really mean it, I will see that we get him ready; you may have him any time you desire. I am not making any inquiries about you, because it takes a good person to make an offer as you did.

Please, let me know.

With kindest regards,

Father John

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James Levine’s Final Act at the Met Ends in Disgrace

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 12, 2018

By Michael Cooper

The Metropolitan Opera fired the conductor James Levine on Monday evening, ending its association with a man who defined the company for more than four decades after an investigation found what the Met called credible evidence that Mr. Levine had engaged in “sexually abusive and harassing conduct.”

The investigation, which the Met opened in December after a report in The New York Times, found evidence of abuse and harassment “both before and during the period” when Mr. Levine worked at the Met, the company said in a statement.

It was an extraordinary fall from grace for a legendary maestro, whom many consider the greatest American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.

The Met did not release the specific findings of its investigation, which it said had included interviews with 70 people. But the statement said that the investigation had “uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority.” It said that it was terminating its relationship with Mr. Levine, who is currently the company’s music director emeritus and the artistic director of its young artists program.

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With James Levine Fired, Should We Rethink Maestro Worship?

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 13, 2018

By Zachary Woolf

It was about 9:30 on Monday evening at the Metropolitan Opera, just a few hours after the Met had fired the conductor James Levine, its musical lodestar since the early 1970s, for what the company found was sexual abuse and harassment, including of young artists under the Met’s guidance.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the 43-year-old the company has hired as its next music director, was taking his bow after Strauss’s “Elektra,” an opera about killing your parents that Mr. Levine led three dozen times with the Met. The audience roared its approval as Mr. Nézet-Séguin grinned. It felt like an anointing.

But is an anointing what the Met should want? The fate of Mr. Levine, 74, who has not commented publicly since denying any misconduct in December, after The New York Times reported a series of accusations, may be an opportunity to think about what it means to be a maestro, to consider the vast power we grant to conductors and whether that power has outlived its usefulness.

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Mary McAleese on Today with Sean O’Rourke

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
RTE, Today with Sean O’Rourke

March 12, 2018

By Mary McAleese

[This important video might be viewable only through March 14, 2018. At 12:22 of the video, McAleese discusses Pope Francis’s statements about Bishop Barros. At 27:50 she discusses her brother’s abuse by Fr. Malachy Finnegan; her view that Pope Francis should visit Newry during his trip to Ireland in August 2018; and her position that an independent inquiry on Finnegan is needed.]

The former President of Ireland joins Sean O’Rourke to discuss recent comments she made about the Catholic Church.

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International Women’s Day address by Mary McAleese

ROME (ITALY)
Independent Catholic News

March 8, 2018

By Mary McAleese

[See also a video of McAleese’s speech at the Voices of Faith conference.]

Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland, gave the following address today at the Voices of Faith International Women’s Day Conference, on the theme ‘Why women matter’ – held at the Jesuit Curia in Rome.

The Israelites under Joshua’s command circled Jericho’s walls for seven days, blew trumpets and shouted to make the walls fall down. (cf. Joshua 6:1-20). We don’t have trumpets but we have voices, voices of faith and we are here to shout, to bring down our Church’s walls of misogyny. We have been circling these walls for 55 years since John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris first pointed to the advancement of women as one of the most important “signs of the times”.

“they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons” .… The longstanding inferiority complex of certain classes because of their economic and social status, sex, or position in the State, and the corresponding superiority complex of other classes, is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

At the Second Vatican Council Archbishop Paul Hallinan of Atlanta, warned the bishops to stop perpetuating “the secondary place accorded to women in the Church of the 20th century” and to avoid the Church being a “late-comer in their social, political and economic development”. The Council’s decree Apostolicam Actuositatem said it was important that women “participate more widely … in the various sectors of the Church’s apostolate”. The Council’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes said the elimination of discrimination based on gender was a priority. Paul VI even commissioned a study on women in Church and Society. Surely we thought then, the post-Conciliar Church was on the way to full equality for its 600 million female members. And yes-it is true that since the Council new roles and jobs, have opened up to the laity including women but these have simply marginally increased the visibility of women in subordinate roles, including in the Curia, but they have added nothing to their decision-making power or their voice.

Remarkably since the Council, roles which were specifically designated as suitable for the laity have been deliberately closed to women. The stable roles of acolyte and lector and the permanent deaconate have been opened only to lay men. Why? Both laymen and women can be temporary altar servers but bishops are allowed to ban females and where they permit them in their dioceses individual pastors can ban them in their parishes. Why?

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Former priest charged in sex abuse case returned to Colombia

AURORA (IL)
Associated Press via Fox Illinois

March 13, 2018

A former Catholic priest in suburban Chicago who was accused of sexually abusing two girls has returned to his native Colombia.

The Aurora Beacon-News report comes a little more than a month after the office said it had dropped felony charges of sexual abuse against 51-year-old Alfredo Pedraza-Arias in exchange for his guilty plea to misdemeanor battery with the understanding that the former priest would be removed from the United States when he served his jail sentence.

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Probation terminated after former Aurora priest removed to Colombia

AURORA (IL)
Beacon-News

March 13, 2018

By Hannah Leone

A former Aurora priest who avoided a jury trial on child sex abuse charges through a misdemeanor plea deal is back in Colombia, and his probation in Kane County has been terminated.

Alfredo Pedraza Arias, 51, lost his temporary religious worker visa after he was charged with sexually abusing two girls at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora and at one of the girls’ homes between 2012 and 2014. In June 2017, a federal immigration judge ordered Arias removed from the United States, a decision the priest waived his right to appeal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officers arrested Arias Feb. 10 at the Kane County jail in St. Charles after he completed his criminal sentence, ICE spokeswoman Nicole Alberico said in an email. On Feb. 26, ICE deportation officers executed the removal order and removed Arias to Colombia, Alberico said.

On Friday, an order closed the Kane County criminal case, terminating his probation.

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March 13, 2018

“Castigan con 63 años de cárcel a un sacerdote en México, por violar a un menor”

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Noroeste [Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico]

March 13, 2018

Read original article

“La sentencia contra el sacerdote Carlos López Valdés, es la primera contra un cura pederasta en la Ciudad de México.”

El Juzgado 55 en materia penal de la Ciudad de México informó una sentencia de 63 años de cárcel contra el sacerdote Carlos López Valdés, al ser culpable del delito de violación contra un niño de 12 años, cuando esté era monaguillo en una iglesia de Tlalpan.

“Esta es la primer sentencia condenatoria contra un cura católico pederasta en la Ciudad de México, no hay antecedente alguno y por ello representa un parteaguas en la procuración e impartición de justicia en nuestra ciudad”, dijo el abogado el abogado y defensor de derechos humanos, David Peña, integrante del Grupo de Acción por los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social.

La jueza Nayeli López Rodríguez consideró que las pruebas presentadas por la fiscalía y por los abogados de la víctima, Jesús Romero Colín, eran suficientes para demostrar que el sacerdote se valió de su posición de ministro de culto, para abusar del menor, en un caso que se remonta a 1994.

En aquel año, López Valdés era sacerdote de la iglesia de San Agustín de las Cuevas, en Tlalpan, Ciudad de México.

El Grupo de Acción por los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social, en un comunicado, explicó que en la Ciudad de México la pena máxima que puede cumplirse es de 40 años de cárcel. Sin embargo, López Valdés tiene ahora mismo 72 años, por lo que “tendrá que pasar el resto de sus días internado en una cárcel capitalina”.

Durante todo este tiempo, dijo Jesús Romero Colín -que presentó la denuncia hace una década-, “he tenido que enfrentar y superar muchos obstáculos, malos tratos, ofensas, agresiones de todo tipo, no sólo aquellas que me provocó el sacerdote sino otras muy diversas por parte de las autoridades y de un sector de  la iglesia católica”.

Esas situaciones, agregó, no le impidieron seguir luchando por su objetivo: “El luchar por la justicia en mi caso y por evitar que ese y otros sacerdotes siguieran haciendo más daño a más niños”.

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Metropolitan Opera fires James Levine after finding evidence of sexual abuse

NEW YORK (NY)
The Week

March 12, 2018

By Catherine Garcia

The Metropolitan Opera in New York fired James Levine on Monday, after an investigation into the conductor’s behavior found evidence of sexual misconduct and harassment.

A preeminent conductor, Levine, 74, made his debut at the Met in 1971, and went on to conduct 2,552 performances. He became artistic director in 1976, but stepped down two years ago due to Parkinson’s disease, taking on a new role as the head of the young artists program. Levine was suspended in early December when several New York newspapers printed allegations of sexual misconduct against him, some going back to the 1960s.

The firm Proskauer Rose was hired to head the investigation, and the Met said that after interviewing more than 70 people, investigators “uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority. In light of these findings, the Met concludes that it would be inappropriate and impossible for Mr. Levine to continue to work at the Met.” He has not been charged with any crime. Levine’s representative did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.

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Met Opera Fires James Levine, Music Director Emeritus Accused Of Sexual Abuse

NEW YORK (NY)
The Huffington Post

March 12, 2018

By Antonia Blumberg

The company suspended Levine in December over allegations dating back decades.

The Metropolitan Opera fired music director emeritus James Levine on Monday, citing “credible evidence” of sexual abuse and harassment by the once-renowned conductor.

The Met said in a press release that a months-long investigation carried out by “outside counsel” that included interviews with 70 people led to its decision to dismiss Levine.

The investigation, it said, “uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct towards vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority.”

“In light of these findings,” the statement said, “the Met concludes that it would be inappropriate and impossible for Mr. Levine to continue to work” at the opera.

Levine was fired as both music director emeritus and artistic director of the Met’s young artist program.

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Met Opera sacks legendary conductor Levine after abuse probe

NEW YORK (NY)
Agence France-Presse

March 13, 2018

By Shaun Tandon

New York’s Metropolitan Opera announced Monday it fired legendary conductor James Levine, for decades the face of its orchestra, after finding “credible evidence” that he sexually abused younger musicians.

The leading US opera house had already suspended Levine in December after allegations first became public against him. Levine guided the Met’s orchestra for 40 years as music director.

The Met said it has “terminated its relationship” with Levine, who retired in 2016 amid failing health but until the scandal had remained a frequent presence as a conductor.

“The investigation uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine had engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct both before and during the period when he worked at the Met,” the opera house said in a statement.

The three-month investigation concludes a spectacular fall from grace for a musician often hailed as one of the top US conductors of his generation.

Fittingly perhaps, his final Met appearance was conducting Verdi’s “Requiem” in December.

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Saginaw County priest wants more time to prepare sexual assault case

SAGINAW (MI)
NBC25/FOX66

March 12, 2018

A Saginaw County priest accused of sexual assault wants more time to prepare his case.

71-year-old Fr Robert Deland is waving his rights to a preliminary hearing in 21 days.

He’s charged with two cases of sexual assault while he was the pastor of St. Agnes Catholic Church.

The assistant prosecutor in the case says police are still getting calls about other suspects.

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Warrant out for alleged child molester

NOGALES (AZ)
Nogales International

March 13. 2018

By Arielle Zionts

Local authorities are searching for a Rio Rico man accused of child molestation who appears to have fled the area.

Mario Montano, 60, is accused of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child that allegedly occurred between August 2010 through August 2011. He is also accused of two counts of furnishing harmful items to minors – child and adult pornography – between August 2010 and Sept. 15, 2010.

The felony charges were filed at Nogales Justice Court on Feb. 27, a day before a warrant was taken out for Montano’s arrest.

“The investigation in this matter is still ongoing and law enforcement is working diligently to take Montano into custody,” said County Attorney George Silva.

Silva confirmed that Montano’s whereabouts are unknown, but he would not say where officials suspect he is living or fled to. He said anyone with information on where Montano is should contact law enforcement.

He and a spokesman for the Nogales Police Department said they could not share any other details about the case.

The charges against Monano and his fugitive status came to public light after a family member of the alleged victim sent an email to the NI and a number of other news outlets on March 5 labeled as “breaking news” and containing news release-style accounts in English and Spanish. Some Mexican media immediately published information from the email and a version of it is also circulating on Facebook.

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$5M lawsuit: Priest abused boy to ‘cleanse’ him of sins

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

March 13, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

A new clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana accuses deceased Rev. Ray Techaira of sexual abuse while Techaira was a priest serving at Niño Perdido y Sagrada Familia Catholic Church in Asan.

J.M.R., of Dededo, filed a civil complaint filed with the District Court of Guam on Friday alleging he had been sexually abused by Techaira after asking questions about the Catholic faith during confirmation class in 1984.

J.M.R. asked Techaira, according to the lawsuit: If there is only one God – the Father – why address Techaira as “father?”

The priest became upset and told J.M.R. to stay after confirmation class, the lawsuit alleges. After the other kids had left, Techaira instructed the teen to go to the office and stand in the prayer position and allegedly began the sexual assault, the lawsuit alleges.

Techaira allegedly told the boy he had sinned and was not ready to receive the sacrament of confirmation.

When the boy told the priest to stop the sexual abuse, Techaira scolded the boy, the lawsuit alleges. The priest allegedly instructed the boy to continue praying and told the minor, “I need to do this to you, to cleanse you of your sins,” court documents state.

J.M.R. told the priest he was going to report him, but Techaira told him no one would believe him because he is highly respected in the Catholic Church and in the community, the lawsuit states.

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Minnesota law firm prods bishop on names of local priests accused of abuse

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 13, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

A Minnesota law firm known for representing victims of clergy sexual abuse is urging Bishop Richard J. Malone to release details about the extent of abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, including identifying the names of accused priests.

Attorney J. Michael Reck of Jeff Anderson & Associates P.A. sued the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island in 2016, alleging that the diocese was committing a public nuisance by refusing to disclose the identity and history of allegedly sexually abusive priests.

Reck will be in Buffalo Tuesday to release a new report that identifies 13 priests in the Buffalo diocese who have been publicly accused of alleged sexual offenses against minors.

But Reck said in an interview that the number is a “big difference from what reality is. What’s the real number?”

Reck credited the Buffalo diocese with establishing an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

But, he also said, the new program falls short in the sharing of information with alleged victims.

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Lawyer calling on Bishop Malone to release names of priests accused of sexual abuse

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB News 4

March 13, 2018

A lawyer and advocate for sexual abuse victims of the New York Catholic Archdiocese is calling for Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone to release the names of every priest accused of sexual abuse.

It comes after Bishop Malone announced monetary settlements would be given to victims of the Buffalo Diocese.

Attorney Mike Reck says it’s a good step forward, but he thinks the Diocese is protecting the priests by withholding their names. He says it affects the victims even more.

“The secrecy breeds shame and shame means those survivors are held back from healing,” Reck says. “That holds them back from the accountability and the acknowledgment they need and they deserve.”

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Rachael Denhollander Exposes Sovereign Grace Ministries’ Cover-up of Abuse

UNITED STATES
Christian Headlines

March 12, 2018

By Amanda Casanova

Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse the USA Gymnastics doctor of sexual abuse, is now helping uncover child sexual abuse in the Sovereign Grace Churches.

Denhollander, a 33-year-old lawyer, has been speaking about the case and calling for justice.

Her comments come after the church network Sovereign Grace Churches was sued for a “pattern of sexual and spiritual abuse” within the network. The suit said that families were ostracized for not helping cover up the abuse and policies at the network discouraged filing police reports about the abuse.

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 2014, but a former youth leader was then convicted in a separate case of abusing three boys.

The church network changed its name to Sovereign Grace, relocated headquarters and replaced some of its leadership.

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Katy Perry lawsuit: Nun involved in property row ‘dies in court’

LOS ANGELES (CA)
BBC News

March 10, 2018

A nun embroiled in a property dispute with singer Katy Perry collapsed and died during a court hearing on Friday, US media report.

Sister Catherine Rose Holzman was 89.

She was one of two nuns locked in a legal battle with Perry and the Los Angeles Archdiocese over a former convent in the city.

Perry agreed to buy the property for $14.5m (£10.4m) in 2015, but the deal turned sour when the former residents objected.

Sister Catherine Rose and Sister Rita Callanan said they were uncomfortable handing the convent and its eight surrounding acres over to the star, whose sometimes provocative hits include I Kissed A Girl and Ur So Gay.

Perry reportedly visited the nuns to win them over, and is said to have shown them her tattoo of Jesus and sung a hymn for them. But the pair remained unconvinced.

“I found her videos,” Sister Rita Callanan told the Los Angeles Times. “I wasn’t happy with any of it.”

The nuns instead sold the residence to local restaurant owner Dana Hollister, without the approval of their Archdiocese.

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Nun involved in lawsuit with Katy Perry dies in court

LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Associated Press

March 12, 2018

Sr Catherine Rose Holzman’s order is involved in a dispute over the sale of their convent

A nun who was involved in a lawsuit with pop star Katy Perry over the sale of a convent in Los Angeles died Friday after collapsing during a court appearance.

Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, had served the church “with dedication and love for many years,” Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement.

Holzman was a member of an order of elderly nuns involved in a dispute over the sale of their convent in the city’s Los Feliz neighbourhood.

Hours before her death, Holzman spoke to KTTV, decrying a judge’s ruling that cleared the way for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to sell the convent to Perry.

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Nun dies during court proceeding over property battle with LA Archdiocese, Katy Perry

LOS ANGELES (CA)
KABC

March 10, 2018

One of the nuns involved in a legal battle with the Los Angeles Archdiocese and singer Katy Perry over the sale of a Los Feliz property died Friday in court.

Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, died during a court proceeding related to the case. The archdiocese released a statement regarding her sudden death.

“Sister Catherine Rose served the Church with dedication and love for many years and today we remember her life with gratitude. We extend our prayers today to the Immaculate Heart of Mary community and to all her friends and loved ones,” the statement said, in part.

Holzman was part of the order of nuns known as The Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That order of nuns owned a large hilltop property that used to be a convent. In 2015, the nuns sold the property to entrepreneur Dana Hollister, bypassing approval from Archbishop Jose H. Gomez.

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Names of 13 priests accused of sexual abuse in Diocese of Buffalo revealed

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

March 13, 2018

By Evan Anstey

[Note: For more detail see “Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Buffalo“]

A lawyer serving as an advocate for victims has released the names of 13 priests in the Diocese of Buffalo who were accused of sexual abuse.

“The secrecy breeds shame and shame means those survivors are held back from healing,” Attorney Mike Reck said. “That holds them back from the accountability and the acknowledgment they need and they deserve.”

The priests of accused of abuse are the following:

Fr. John R. Aurelio
Fr. David W. Bialkowski
Fr. Robert J. Biesinger
Fr. James H. Cotter
Fr. Joseph P. Friel
Fr. Fred D. Ingalls
Fr. Gerald C. Jasinski
Fr. Timothy J. Kelley
Fr. Bernard M. Mach
Fr. Loville N. Martlock
Fr. Norbert Orsolits
Fr. James A. Spielman
Fr. William F. White

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Lawyers: 13 Buffalo Priests Accused of Sexual Offenses Against Minors

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 12, 2018

By Charlie Specht

Report will be released Tuesday

Thirteen Buffalo priests are accused of committing sexual offenses against minors, according to lawyers who are planning a news conference for Tuesday morning.

Minnesota law firm Anderson Advocates, which specializes in cases of sexual abuse by clergy, plans to release a report Tuesday at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Buffalo that details “assignments and information regarding the alleged perpetrators,” lawyers said in a media advisory sent to reporters on Monday.

The lawyers, in addition to detailing the new claims of sexual abuse by priests in the diocese, will call on Bishop Richard Malone to release the names of priests who have been accused of sexual abuse in the past few decades.

The diocese has steadfastly refused to release the names in the past, even though victims say the release of the names and files regarding sexual abuse by priests helps in their healing process and discourages abuse from happening again.

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Teen accuses Saginaw priest of ‘grooming’ him

SAGINAW (MI)
The Detroit News

March 12, 2018

By Mark Hicks

A teen is suing a Saginaw-area priest, accusing him of “grooming” the high school student with gifts and invitations to his condo, leading to inappropriate contact including back rubs, groping and suggestions to view gay porn.

The Rev. Robert DeLand was charged last month with criminal sexual conduct following accusations from two males, ages 17 and 21. Police say they have received other complaints since his arrest.

The 71-year-old priest is on administrative leave from St. Agnes in Freeland, where he has had been pastor since July 2011, the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw reported. The suit also names the diocese and its leader, Bishop Joseph Cistone, claiming steps weren’t taken to stop the cleric or look into allegations about DeLand’s conduct.

DeLand allowed the 17-year-old he met last year to perform community service at the church that the youth was ordered to complete over six months, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.

When the youth returned to school that fall, the pastor was a volunteer “greeter” there, participated in school events and “engaged in a systematic pattern of ‘grooming’ behavior …, targeting the minor child, gaining his trust and/or providing him with gifts and favors,” attorney Todd J. Weglarz wrote.

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Mary Mcaleese: My youngest brother was abused by paedophile priest

NORTHERN IRELAND
Press Association

March 13, 2018

A former Irish president has revealed her youngest brother was “seriously, physically, sadistically” abused by a paedophile priest Fr Malachy Finnegan.

Mary McAleese said her brother only revealed the abuse at the age of 49.

She said the physical abuse happened throughout his seven years at St Colman’s College in Newry, where Finnegan – who died in 2002 – taught for 20 years.

Mrs McAleese said: “My baby brother, the youngest of nine children was seriously, physically, sadistically abused by Malachy Finnegan.”

She said her mother only found out three weeks ago.

Four of the former president’s five brothers attended St Colman’s.

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Mary McAleese’s brother abused by priest

IRELAND
The Times

March 13, 2018

By Ellen Coyne

Mary McAleese has revealed that her youngest brother was “seriously, physically” and “sadistically” abused by Father Malachy Finnegan, head of a school in Co Down.

The former president said she only found out about the abuse suffered by Clem Leneghan, her brother, during his seven years at St Colman’s College in Newry in the past year.

Ms McAleese told RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Sean O’Rourke about the abuse during an interview in which she indicated support for the reform of Ireland’s strict anti-abortion laws and claimed that her support for LGBT rights had had her banned from speaking in the Vatican.

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Tipped workers invoke #MeToo in fight to raise minimum wage

NEW YORK (NY)
The Associated Press

March 13, 2018

By Deepti Hajela and David Klepper

As a waitress, Nadine Morsch was used to having to force an occasional smile for an unpleasant customer. But when a man she was serving made a reference to grabbing her butt, she warned him he better not try. And he made her pay.

For the rest of the hour he was in the diner, she says, he was “running me around as much as possible.”

Morsch says she tolerated him, because she needed a good tip.

Experiences like that are one reason activists are invoking the #MeToo movement in the push for more states to adopt higher minimum wages for tipped workers. They say a wage structure that leaves workers dependent on tips often forces them to put up with harassing and abusive behavior from their customers or risk not being paid.

The effort has been around for years but has taken on new momentum lately with the increased reckoning and awareness of sexual misconduct. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for public hearings; there’s a June ballot question in Washington, D.C., and an effort is underway to get the issue on the statewide ballot in Michigan.

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Vernon Hills coach, charged with sex assault, fired as police speak with more students

VERNON HILLS (IL)
Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press

March 13, 2018

By Rick Kambic

Four former Vernon Hills High School students are now talking with police after an assistant soccer coach at the school was charged with sexual assault Friday, bringing the total number of students or former students involved to seven, according to police.

Monday night, the Community High School District 128 School Board voted unanimously to terminate the coach’s employement.

Cori Beard, 28, of the 300 block of Farmington Lane, Vernon Hills, was taken into custody for questioning Thursday evening shortly after a parent contacted a school employee, who then contacted police. She was charged Friday with 12 counts of criminal sexual assault and remanded to the Lake County jail on a $1 million bond.

Those charges stemmed from her actions involving two current students, police said.

The school board met privately behind closed doors to discuss Beard’s situation, among other personnel matters, and then voted swiftly upon returning to open session.

School Board President Pat Groody and Superintendent Prentiss Lea declined to take questions following the meeting. When asked if there was any indication other employees might have known of Beard’s activities, Groody and Lea provided a joint reply.

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Congregation applauds priest threatened over predecessor’s abuse

NORTHERN IRELAND
Christian Today

March 12, 2018

A parish priest in Northern Ireland has received threats telling him to ‘get out of town’ following publicity about a separate priest in the parish who died in 2002 and has recently been revealed as a paedophile.

Fr Charles Byrne made the revelations to parishioners during mass yesterday in the Clonduff parish in the village of Hilltown, County Down.

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Church of England priest guilty of ‘spiritual abuse’ against teenage boy is banned from ministry

ENGLAND
Christian Today

March 12, 2018

A Church of England priest has been banned from ministry after being found guilty of ‘spiritual abuse’ against a teenager.

Rev Timothy Davis, of Christ Church, Abingdon in Oxfordshire, was ‘prohibited from the exercise of holy orders’ for two years by a disciplinary panel on Saturday.

It comes after he was found ‘guilty of conduct unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders through the abuse of spiritual power and authority over a person then aged 15-16’ in January.

The landmark case was the first of its kind in which a priest was found guilty of ‘spiritual abuse’.

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A courageous woman steps up again on behalf of child sexual abuse victims

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

March 13, 2018

By Peter Gogarty

A CONVERGENCE of events has got me thinking about a question I raised during the 2013/14 Special Commission of Inquiry into Hunter Catholic paedophile priests James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

They were the preparations in New Zealand for a child abuse royal commission, a chat with a friend, and the debt of gratitude offered to courageous Newcastle woman Anthea Halpin by the Philippines ambassador to New Zealand for her role in having McAlinden removed from the Philippines in 1995.

The question is what the Catholic Church has done to identify and support victims of the paedophile priests it knowingly and deliberately exported all over the world – a reality proven by formal inquiries in Australia, Canada, the United States and Ireland. I remain particularly concerned about victims in developing countries where faith in the Catholic Church has rarely been questioned – much less shaken.

In the Hunter inquiry it was revealed that from 1949 until 1996 Denis McAlinden abused children, that people in the church including Bishop Leo Clarke, Vicar General Patrick Cotter, Bishop Michael Malone, Monsignor Allan Hart and Father Brian Lucas had knowledge of McAlinden’s offending, but he was not reported to police until shortly before his death. Instead he was moved from place to place, and those places included England, Ireland, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.

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“Los abusos sexuales los curé con terapia, pero el calvario judicial y el encubrimiento no”

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
El País [Madrid, Spain]

March 13, 2018

By Jacobo Garcia

Read original article

Jesús Romero relata su lucha hasta lograr la primera condena a un sacerdote en ejercicio en Ciudad de México por violarlo durante cinco años cuando era menor

Jesús Romero llegó exhausto a la sentencia del jueves. Reconoce que es histórica pero también que fueron tan duros los abusos sexuales como los últimos 10 años litigando. De los 35 años que tiene ha pasado una década peleando para exigir justicia y recordando una y otra vez a aquel sacerdote que le sobó hasta el asco y le obligó a hacerle sexo oral decenas de fines de semana en su casa de Cuernavaca.

Por primera vez en la Ciudad de México, el jueves pasado, un sacerdote en activo, Carlos López Valdez, fue condenado por la violación de un menor. Un juzgado condenó a 63 años de cárcel al religioso, de 70 años. La sentencia es también la primera que involucra directamente a dos obispos en activo, señalados por conocer y no denunciar las aberraciones.

Es casi un patrón en México que muchas víctimas tienen que denunciar, investigar, reunir las pruebas y hasta localizar a los culpables antes de obtener justicia. Si además los involucrados tienen que ver con la Iglesia, la tarea es titánica.

“Cuando conocí la sentencia rompí a llorar. Ni siquiera pensaba en todo lo que me hizo Carlos, sino en el martirio que he pasado después por denunciar. El Ministerio Público hizo desaparecer pruebas, me trató mal, me humilló, me citó en vacaciones o intentaba convencerme de que el caso había prescrito”.

La sentencia del 8 de marzo es también una suma de reproches al Ministerio Público por obstaculizar deliberadamente un caso repleto de pruebas y reabre el debate sobre el derecho canónicoy su acomodo en el derecho civil. ¿Es suficiente con esconder a los culpables en clínicas espirituales? ¿Por qué permitieron que el sacerdote siguiera en contacto con niños y oficiando misa una vez conocidas las pruebas?

En 1994 Jesús quería ser misionero. En las iglesias de San Agustín de las Cuevas y de San Judas Tadeo en el centro de la capital conoció al padre Carlos, con quien empezó a oficiar misa como acólito y a quien quería como un padre.

“Un día le pidió permiso a mis papás para que me dejaran pasar un fin de semana con él. Al anochecer me pidió que me acostara con él a pesar de que había dos recámaras más. Sentí algo muy raro el que yo fuera a dormir con un sacerdote en la misma cama, era como si yo no pudiera compartir ese lugar, que a pesar de estar fuera de la parroquia estaba, al menos para mí, impregnado de algo sagrado. Yo me puse mi pijama para dormir pero él me dijo que eso era antihigiénico, que me la quitara. Obedecí con mucha pena, ya que nunca había estado desnudo delante de alguien que no fuera mi mamá”.

“En la madrugada comencé a sentir que me tocaban mis partes íntimas. Desperté asustado y me di cuenta de que era él. No supe cómo reaccionar, simplemente no lo podía creer. A lo único que me pude aferrar fue a pensar que él estaba dormido”, recuerda sobre aquellos días. Jesús tenía en 11 años.

Los abusos continuaron hasta que un día descubrieron en una caja decenas de fotos y correspondencia postal del religioso con otras personas, “supongo que pederastas también, que le pedían más fotos mías. Entonces, él las intercambiaba”.

Todos los detalles del caso los contó la periodista Sanjuana Martínez en su libro Manto Púrpura (Mondadori) y después Alejandra Sánchez en el documental Agnus Dei: Cordero de Dios.La cinta es la infatigable búsqueda de Jesús por todas las parroquias de la ciudad hasta encontrar y confrontar al “hombre que me jodió la vida”.

Durante esos años (1994-1999) al menos dos obispos en activo estaban enterados de la existencia de un sacerdote que se rodeaba de niños, con los que pasaba los fines de semana en la alberca de Cuernavaca y al que le gustaba fotografiarse con ropa interior femenina.

El obispo de Sinaloa, Jonás Guerrero, y de Colima, Marcelino Hernández, vieron aquellas imágenes y se limitaron a enviar una carta al religioso sugiriéndole su ingreso en Casa Damasco “para atender su problemática”. Casa Damasco es una de las tres enigmáticas viviendas con las que cuenta la Iglesia mexicana para atender aquellos casos de sacerdotes con algún trastorno sexual.

“Todo este tiempo la principal dificultad ha sido romper los vínculos políticos con los religiosos y legales. Impidieron que avanzara la investigación”, señalan Luis Ángel Sala y Jesús Romero abogados de la organización de Derechos Humanos Grupo de acción para la justicia social, que se ha encargado del caso. La ONG anuncia que interpondrá dos denuncias contra los obispos ante la fiscalía para delitos sexuales.

“Lo que me hizo ese hombre lo he logrado superar después de muchos años de trabajo en terapia. Pero no lo que sucedió después. Yo pensaba que era la víctima, que había sufrido abuso y violación y que todos se pondrían de mi lado para meter a un delincuente en la cárcel y alejarlo de cualquier niño. Pero no, todo se convirtió en un calvario”.

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Mary McAleese’s brother calls for people who knew of priest’s abuse to come forward

IRELAND
The Journal

March 13, 2018

By Aoife Barry

Clem Leneghan said he does not want his story to take the spotlight away from where it belongs.

MARY MCALEESE’S BROTHER Clem Leneghan has said that he doesn’t want reports of his abuse to take the spotlight from the quest for justice against his abuser – and he wants those with knowledge of what happened to come forward.

He released a statement to the Today With Sean O’Rourke show on RTÉ Radio One this morning, in response to comments by his sister, the former President, yesterday.

In her interview with O’Rourke, McAleese said her brother was “seriously, physically, sadistically abused by Malachy Finnegan”.

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Teen sues Mid-Michigan priest accused of sexual abuse

SAGINAW (MI)
WNEM

March 13, 2018

By Jessica Royce

A teen is suing a Mid-Michigan priest, accusing him of engaging in “grooming” behavior before groping the boy at his condo.

Fr. Robert DeLand was charged last month with criminal sexual conduct after accusations from two males following an undercover investigation.

According to lawsuit filed on Monday, March 13, the teen, referred to as John Doe, met DeLand at a friend’s funeral in May 2017 when he was 16-years-old. The teen was court ordered to perform community service at St. Agnes Church where DeLand was a priest.

When the teen returned to school in the fall, DeLand was a volunteer “greeter” at Freeland Community School District and often participated in school events.

The lawsuit claims DeLand would allegedly remove the teen from class, “taking him to an isolated area of the school to talk,” and making the teen late for on a daily basis.

“DeLand also made inappropriate physical contact with John Doe during the school day, including back rubs, hugs and groping of the buttocks,” according to the court documents.

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AP investigation: Justice elusive in child sex abuse on base

JACKSONVILLE (NC)
The Associated Press

March 13, 2018

By Justin Pritchard and Reese Dunklin

A decade after the Pentagon began confronting rape in the ranks, the U.S. military frequently fails to protect or provide justice to the children of service members when they are sexually assaulted by other children on base, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Reports of assaults and rapes among kids on military bases often die on the desks of prosecutors, even when an attacker confesses. Other cases don’t make it that far because criminal investigators shelve them, despite requirements they be pursued.

The Pentagon does not know the scope of the problem and does little to track it. AP was able to document nearly 600 sex assault cases on base since 2007 through dozens of interviews and by piecing together records and data from the military’s four main branches and school system.

Sexual violence occurs anywhere children and teens gather on base — homes, schools, playgrounds, food courts, even a chapel bathroom. Many cases get lost in a dead zone of justice, with neither victim nor offender receiving help.

“These are the children that we need to be protecting, the children of our heroes,” said Heather Ryan, a former military investigator.

The tens of thousands of kids who live on bases in the U.S. and abroad are not covered by military law. The U.S. Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over many military bases, isn’t equipped or inclined to handle cases involving juveniles, so it rarely takes them on.

Federal prosecutors, for example, pursued roughly one in seven juvenile sex offense cases that military investigators presented, according to AP’s review of about 100 investigative files from Navy and Marine Corps bases.

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Catholic Archdiocese Says New Ga. Anti-Sex Abuse Bill May ‘Drastically Damage’ Mission

ATLANTA (GA)
Christian Post

March 12, 2018

By Michael Gryboski

A Roman Catholic archdiocese has come out against a bill in the Georgia legislature that would, among other things, expand the opportunities for victims of sex abuse to file lawsuits, arguing that if enacted it could “drastically damage” their ministries.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, the head of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, released a statement of opposition last week to Georgia’s House Bill 605.

Published by the Archdiocese’s official publication The Georgia Bulletin, Gregory listed multiple objections to the bill, including a concern over HB 605’s expansion of the statute of limitations for sex abuse cases.

“HB 605 would allow lawsuits against churches, private schools, businesses and non-profit organizations for actions asserted to have occurred many decades ago, potentially as far back as the 1940s, and the accused are very often deceased,” argued Gregory.

“Recognizing that these lawsuits can be very difficult if not impossible to defend, and risking grave injustice, the vast majority of states simply do not permit them.”

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Police now say female high school soccer coach, 28, may have sexually assaulted SEVEN male students over three years

VERNON HILLS (IL)
Daily Mail

March 12, 2018

By Keith Griffith and Mary Kekatos

– Suburban Chicago police on Monday said they were speaking with more potential victims of Vernon Hills soccer coach Cori Beard, 28
– Beard was charged on Friday with 12 counts of criminal sexual assault
– She allegedly engaged in a dozen sex acts between 2016 and February 2018
– Police do not believe that any of the sex acts occurred on school property
– Beard has coached both boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at Vernon Hills High
– She is currently being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $1million bond

Police in suburban Chicago have said they are speaking to additional potential victims of a female high school soccer coach.

Cori Beard, 28, was initially charged with 12 counts of criminal sexual assault in relation to three alleged victims, and cops in Vernon Hills, Illinois said on Monday they are speaking with four more.

‘All of these males have since graduated from Vernon Hills High School but were attending the high school when there may have been criminal conduct on the part of Ms. Beard between her and the boys,’ Vernon Hills police Deputy Chief Patrick Zimmerman told the Daily Herald.

No additional charges have yet been announced, however.

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Female guards at Edmonton prison launch lawsuit alleging bullying, sex assaults

EDMONTON (CANADA)
The Canadian Press

March 12, 2018

By Chris Purdy

Warning: Some of the details below may be distressing to readers.

A lawsuit claims female prison guards in Edmonton endured prolonged abuse from male co-workers that included sexual taunts, physical assaults, waterboarding and pepper spray being put on a toilet seat.

One female prison guard alleges a male co-worker pushed her over a desk, stuck his hand down her pants and locked a set of handcuffs through her underwear. She says she was put in choke holds and slammed into hard surfaces by her hair.

Another woman alleges she was constantly harassed for being gay and once suffered chemical burns on her buttocks and upper legs after she used a washroom where pepper spray was left on a toilet seat.

The claims are detailed in a lawsuit recently filed by four female guards at Edmonton Institution against the Correctional Service of Canada and the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

None of the allegations have been proven in court and statements of defence have yet to be filed.

The suit alleges that sexual assaults, abuse, bullying and harassment were rampant for decades at the maximum-security prison on the northeast edge of the city.

The lawsuit comes after an investigation at the prison last year that concluded the work atmosphere was toxic and made dozens of recommendations for change.

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March 12, 2018

Attorney-General Christian Porter sledges Catholic Church

AUSTRALIA
Eternity News

March 12, 2018

By John Sandeman

Frustration with slow response to national redress scheme builds

The Attorney-General Christian Porter has described the Catholic Church’s response to the news that NSW and Victoria had signed on to a national redress scheme as “pretty underwhelming.” The redress scheme will provide compensation to survivors of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions, including churches. (All the main parties in the South Australian election next week have said they will sign on, but the Queensland and West Australian state governments claim they need more information.)

According to Porter, the Catholic Church’s Archbishop Denis Hart has said the church would like to examine the Victorian Government’s basis for signing up to see if it is a good scheme for survivors.

“When you say that you need a review into how the state Government has signed on – as the Archbishop of Melbourne has said – to a scheme that has been reviewed more often than any scheme in Australia, quite frankly it starts to look like excuse-making,” Porter told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas.

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Clergy abuse victim says of Springfield Catholic diocese discipline: too little too late (photos, video)

CHICOPEE (MA)
Mass Live

March 9, 2018

By Stephanie Barry

Richard Koske sits at a restaurant not far from the Roman Catholic parish where he has worked as a janitor and handyman for 15 years.

It seems a suitable role for a devout man who traces many of his 62 years of memories back to the Catholic church — for better or for worse. A longtime South Hadley Falls resident, Koske and four siblings were students of Catholic schools growing up.

But he and the church remain at odds over the discipline of a once-trusted pastor who sexually assaulted him once when Koske was an adult — reflecting a hangover of sorts more than a decade after an international clergy abuse scandal enveloped the church. Massachusetts was ground zero for that calamity.

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Michigan seeks changes to abuse reporting law after Nassar

LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

March 11, 2018

Michigan is looking to shore up its law that requires certain people to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities to address gaps that were exposed after disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar admitted to sexually assaulting female athletes.

Nassar’s victims are spearheading the initiative, saying he could have been stopped decades ago if coaches, athletic trainers or others at Michigan State University had listened to them. More than 250 women and girls have said the now-imprisoned Nassar molested them with his ungloved hands under the guise of medical treatment.

No one has faced charges yet for not reporting the abuse, but multiple investigations are underway into Michigan State’s handling of complaints.

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Abuse that stretched to Atlanta among reports emerging in Buffalo

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 9, 2018

By James Dearie

More details about the handling of predatory priests in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, are coming to light after a 52-year-old man came forward last week with allegations that he was abused by Fr. Norbert Orsolits, a now-retired priest of the diocese.

The Olean Times Herald reported March 2 that Orsolits, now 78, claims he was assigned to serve at multiple parishes and to teach at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean, New York, after receiving treatment for his predatory behavior in the 1980s. Earlier that week, Orsolits had admitted to The Buffalo News that he had abused “probably dozens” of young boys during his career as a priest.

Some who knew Orsolits during his time as a pastor of a parish in Portville, New York, his next assignment after Olean, told The Buffalo News March 1 that Orsolits had worked extensively with children there, too, leading youth groups and ski trips, often as the only adult present.

When asked about Orsolits’ claims regarding his post-treatment service, an attorney for the diocese said at a press conference March 1 that he was “not aware of that,” but the diocese would “take a look and see if” the claims were true.

Orsolits also says that he did not molest any more victims after his release from treatment.

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Saginaw County Prosecutor Forms Team To Investigate Priest Abuse Allegations

SAGINAW (MI)
WSGW

March 8, 2018

By John Hall

Saginaw County Prosecutor John McColgan says a special investigative team is being formed to coordinate and address allegations of abuse involving officials within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. The announcement Thursday follows criminal sexual conduct charges filed recently against 71-year- old Rev.Robert DeLand, which came from two male accusers, ages 17 and 21. Saginaw County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mark Gaertner estimates 20 to 30 accusations of abuse have been delivered to authorities, with some dating as far back as the 1970s. Gaertner predicts more tips will be provided that will have to be followed up on, possibly leading to other charges. He said those may not only involve Deland, but possibly other priests, as well.

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