ABUSE TRACKER

JAKARTA INDONESIA
UCA News

November 1, 2017

By Ryan Dagur

British cleric fires broadside at closed-door tribunals, calls for tranparency in disciplinary matters, appointing prelates

A British-born priest who has served in Indonesia for more than 40 years has called on the Vatican to end its tradition of keeping disciplinary cases involving the clergy confidential and demanded changes to the way bishops are appointed.

In an opinion piece published in Hidup, a weekly magazine published by the Jakarta Archdiocese, Divine Word Father John Mansford Prior, a missiology lecturer at the Catholic School of Philosophy in Maumere on the Catholic majority island of Flores said the handling of moral cases involving clergy must be “completely transparent, just like in the state system.”

“If the Holy See compels a bishop to withdraw, the results of the trial [of a bishop] must be officially announced,” he argued.

Father Prior, who also works at the Candraditya Center for the Study of Religion and Culture in Maumere is a former consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC).

His article, published in the Oct. 29 edition of Hidup, specifically addressed the resignation of Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Ruteng.

Pope Francis approved Bishop Leteng’s resignation on Oct. 11 after an investigation into allegations of misappropriating more than US$100,000 of church funds and an illicit relationship with a woman.

In its official announcement, the Vatican did not give a reason for Bishop Leteng’s resignation.

Father Prior told ucanews.com on Nov. 1, that in addition of transparency, the church should also encourage due process.

“If there were credible accusations, the clergy, whether it’s a priest or bishop being accused, should be immediately discharged, certainly with innocent prejudice,” he said.

The church is not credible in handling such cases, he argued because “priest investigates priest, bishop investigates bishop and it is done in private.”

“Who can really believe in the results of such a process?”

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VANCEBURG (KY)
The Lewis County Herald via The Ledger Independent

October 31, 2017

By Dennis K. Brown

Members of Vanceburg Christian Church learned Sunday that a civil lawsuit filed against the church nearly a year ago has been settled.

Clayton “Buddy” Lykins Jr., an elder at the church, told those attending services Sunday morning about the development and added the agreement prohibits the general disclosure of the terms of the settlement agreement.

“In December of last year, as many of you know, our church was the target of a lawsuit filed by a teenage boy, alleging that our former pastor, Duncan Aker, sexually abused him. The incident occurred a number of years ago,” Lykins told those who had gathered for Sunday morning services at the church. “Mr. Aker has not been associated with our church for the last seven years.”

Aker was the minister at Vanceburg Christian Church between 2006 and 2011.

“Also, last year, Mr. Aker pled guilty to sexual abuse of the young boy, which opened up the church to possibly be liable to the youth in a civil lawsuit,” Lykins said.

“No one at Vanceburg Christian Church had any reason to believe that Duncan Aker was engaging in any improper contact with this young person, or with any other person,” Lykins said. “However, because the sexual abuse apparently happened, and we could say this because Mr. Aker pled guilty, the church could possibly be liable for not supervising Mr. Aker’s actions.”

Aker was arrested in Greensburg, Ind., in May 2015 on a nine-count grand jury indictment. He was listed as a minister for Greensburg Christian Church at the time of his arrest.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

November 1, 2017

By Janela Carrera

The victim is seeking $5 million in damages.

Guam – As church sex abuse cases continue to be filed, this latest allegation comes from a 48-year-old man who says he was raped while giving confession at the Agat Parish.

The complaint was filed by a man with the initials J.C. who says he was only 10 years old at the time of the abuse. J.C. became an altar boy in 1979 with the Mt. Carmel Church where now-deceased priest Father Jack Niland served as a Capuchin priest.

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Bronx (NY)
New York Daily News

October 30, 2017

By Laura Dimon

An investigation into a former priest who was accused of taking $1 million from a city church found no evidence to back up the allegation, the Bronx District Attorney said Monday.

Peter Miqueli, 54, was at the center of a scandalous civil lawsuit parishioners filed in 2015. They alleged the priest, who worked at St. Frances de Chantal Church in the Bronx and St. Francis Cabrini on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island, used the cash to pay a hunky boytoy for S&M sex.

The Bronx DA did not investigate the salacious sex claims, but the Archdiocese did, a Church official said, and found “nothing has been brought forward to substantiate them.”

Bronx DA Darcel Clark launched an investigation into the parishioners’ allegations of financial misconduct and concluded they were unsubstantiated. As part of her probe, Clark looked at the civil case.

Miqueli was never criminally charged.

Clark did find, however, that St. Frances de Chantal Church improperly doled out more than $22,000 in reimbursements to Miqueli from parish accounts. The ex-priest was ordered to return the funds, Clark said.

“This investigation by the Economic Crimes Bureau found that Father Miqueli was improperly reimbursed for personal expenses,” Clark said. “The Archdiocese has reimbursed St. Frances de Chantal Church for the funds, $22,450 of hard-earned money donated by parishioners for the betterment of the parish. We have made recommendations to the Archdiocese and they have agreed to more oversight.”

In a letter that was disseminated to parishioners, the Most Rev. Gerald Walsh, vicar for clergy, said that, while $22,000 is a “significant sum,” it is a “far cry” from the $1 million Miqueli was accused of looting.

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AUSTRALIA
Eternity News

November 1, 2017

By Tess Holgate

Churches and institutions are being called upon to join the Federal Government’s national scheme to financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse.

In early 2015, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended the establishment of the national redress scheme. This included a call for churches to come up with a national response to the proposed national redress scheme.

The scheme is opt-in, meaning that any state, institution or church which does not want to sign up to compensate victims with payments of up to $150,000, will not be obliged to do so. The scheme also includes the provision of access to counselling and psychological services and a direct personal response from each participating institution responsible for the abuse, if requested by the survivor.

The Royal Commission estimated that about 60,000 children were sexually abused in institutions, but only approximately 1000 of them in Commonwealth institutions. For the scheme to provide compensation to the majority of survivors, state governments, institutions and churches will need to sign on to it.

Legislation to establish the scheme was tabled last week. If it passes, survivors will be allowed to apply for compensation from July 1, 2018.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

November 2, 2017

By Danny McDonald

[See also the report.]

St. Paul’s School has identified 15 additional victims in an ongoing investigation into sexual misconduct at the elite Concord, N.H., school, and five faculty members who are newly suspected of improper conduct, according to a report issued to the school community Wednesday.

The report, the second in six months detailing misconduct at the school, lists allegations of what school officials termed “profoundly disturbing” sexual behavior at the school over a span of 53 years, from 1956 to 2009, according to the letter to the school community.

The new report presents investigators’ findings relating to the alleged sexual misconduct of 16 former faculty members and staff. Of that number, five were reported for the first time, 11 were previously known to investigators.

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CONCORD (NH)
New Hampshire Public Radio

November 1, 2017

St. Paul’s School in Concord has notified parents and the wider community that there have been new accounts of sexual misconduct at the school.

The accounts are published in a supplemental report, released by the school Wednesday, by the law firm Casner and Edwards. St. Paul engaged the firm to investigate past sexual abuse and misconduct by faculty and staff. The results of the initial investigation were released in May.

Since then, the law firm says it has interviewed 43 people – including current and former faculty and former students — many of whom said they were inspired to come forward after reading the first report. They told stories of abuse by St. Paul teachers taking place over a span 53 years, with one incident as recent as 2009.

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PALOS VERDES (CA)
Patch

November 1, 2017

By Emily Holland

The former reverend had already been named in a 2015 child sexual abuse lawsuit, according to reports.

An ex-priest who served in Southern California molested at least four children at parishes in Redondo Beach, Palmdale, and Covina, according to lawsuits recently filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Former Rev. Chris Cunningham had already been named in a 2015 child sexual abuse lawsuit, according to The Daily Breeze. Civil complaints filed this year allege Cunningham sexually molested boys between ages 10 and 15 from the mid-1990s to early 2000s at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Palmdale, St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church in Redondo Beach and St. Louise de Marillac Catholic Church in Covina, according to The Daily Breeze.

The lawsuits name the churches and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as defendants and allege the archdiocese knew of the allegations against Cunningham, the San Gabriel Valley Times reported. The archdiocese didn’t investigate and opted to transfer the priest to various assignments and destroy the complaints, according to the court filings.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

November 1, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Former island priest Louis Brouillard was cooperative and appeared to make an effort to answer difficult questions during the first day of his deposition in Minnesota, according to one of the attorneys involved in the dozens of lawsuits accusing Brouillard of child sex abuse.

Brouillard, who has admitted to abusing boys decades ago on Guam, this week is providing additional sworn evidence related to more than 80 lawsuits accusing him of sexually abusing or raping Guam children. As of this week, Brouillard is named in 87 lawsuits.

Seattle-based attorney Steven T. Reich, a partner at the law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, said Brouillard has a “fairly decent memory, despite being 96 years old.”

Brouillard, “appeared to make an honest effort to answer the difficult questions put to him,” Reich said after the first day of Brouillard’s deposition, which lasted three hours. The deposition is in Pine City, Minnesota, where Brouillard now lives.

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KANKAKEE (IL)
Daily Journal

November 1, 2017

By Jeff Bonty

Father Richard E. Jacklin, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Goodrich, was arrested by Illinois State Police on Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting a resident at Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee.

The 65-year-old Jacklin has been preliminarily charged by state police with criminal sexual assault by force and sexual misconduct of a person with a disability.

“We are still gathering information,” Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe told the Daily Journal this morning.

That is all Rowe would say as the investigation is ongoing.

Jacklin will either be in court today or Thursday to have his bond set.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

November 2, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

A priest accused of sexual abuse was sent from Guam to Minnesota for “help with his personal problems” in 1981, and later barred from serving as a priest after questions arose about a house guest from the island, according to a statement from the Diocese of Duluth.

Louis Brouillard, 96, is accused of sexually abusing minors in 87 lawsuits filed since the beginning of the year. He served as a pastor, teacher and Boy Scout leader on Guam, and he has admitted to molesting 20 or more boys here.

In three recent lawsuits, he is accused of paying to bring boys from Guam to Minnesota, where he continued to abuse them. One of the lawsuits alleges he moved a boy into a two-bedroom retirement home apartment where he lived with his elderly parents.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

October 31, 2017

By Stephanie K. Baer

A former priest who served in Southern California and was named in a 2015 child sexual abuse lawsuit allegedly molested at least four additional children at parishes in Palmdale, Redondo Beach and Covina, according to lawsuits recently filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Civil complaints filed in July and October allege former Rev. Chris Cunningham sexually molested boys ages 10 to 15 from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Palmdale, St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church in Redondo Beach and St. Louise de Marillac Catholic Church in Covina.

The lawsuits, which name the churches and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as defendants, also allege the archdiocese knew of the allegations against Cunningham.

The archdiocese did not investigate, opting instead to transfer the priest to various assignments and destroy the complaints, according to the court filings. None of the plaintiffs is named in the lawsuits.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Guardian

November 1, 2017

By Rory Carroll

The film An Open Secret died upon release in 2015, but is seeing a renewed interest online amid a cascade of allegations against Hollywood’s elite

When the documentary An Open Secret tried to lift the lid on child abuse in Hollywood, it billed itself as “the film Hollywood doesn’t want you to see”. The marketing tagline did not exaggerate.

The film died upon release in 2015. There was no theatrical release to speak of, no television deal, no video-on-demand distribution.

“We got zero Hollywood offers to distribute the film. Not even one. Literally no offers for any price whatsoever,” said Gabe Hoffman, a Florida-based hedge fund manager who financed the film.

It did not seem to matter that it was directed by an Oscar-nominated director, Amy Berg, or that it uncovered damning evidence of the sexual abuse of teenage boys by figures in the film industry.

“There was nowhere to see it,” said Lorien Haynes, the film’s writer. “I don’t think it impacted at all. Nobody saw it. We released a film that didn’t [seem to] exist.”

Now, two years later, multiple “open secrets” of predatory behaviour are detonating across Hollywood and the documentary that blew the whistle is getting millions of viewers – but still no distribution deal.

Hoffman released the film for free on the video-sharing website Vimeo this month after reports about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults set off a chain-reaction, with James Toback, Tyler Grasham and Kevin Spacey among those accused of harassment and worse.

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BRONX (NY)
lohud.com

October 31, 2017

By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

A 96-year-old retired Catholic priest was charged Tuesday with more than 70 counts of possession of child pornography, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said.

Monsignor Harry Byrne, who celebrated weekend masses at St. Ann’s Church in Ossining during the 2000’s, was charged after a five-month investigation that determined he surfed online for images of young girls, prosecutors said.

Byrne was arraigned on 37 counts each of possessing obscene sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child.

A resident of St. John Vianney Center for Retired Priests in the Bronx, Byrne was released after the arraignment and is due back in court in January.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

November 1, 2017

By Harriet Sherwood

Prominent women in church say it should acknowledge prevalence of sexual harassment and establish independent process for raising concerns

The Church of England should take a lead in tackling sexual harassment by acknowledging its prevalence within its ranks and by establishing an independent process for raising concerns, according to prominent women in the church.

As the ripple effect of the Harvey Weinstein revelations spreads across Westminster, the arts world and the media, one senior lay figure said sexual harassment and abuse within the C of E was “manifold” at almost every level of the hierarchy.

A number of female clergy and lay members of the church have used the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, indicating that they have experienced sexual harassment or assault, including Jo Bailey Wells, bishop of Dorking.

Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester and the only female bishop to sit in the House of Lords, said the past few weeks had shown how widespread sexual harassment was in society.

She told the Guardian: “I think it’s an issue in society and therefore it would be strange if it wasn’t also an issue in the church. The danger is when we imagine that the church is somehow an elite group of people. Yes, we are trying to be followers of Jesus Christ and therefore we should be aspiring to living our lives differently. But actually we are all human beings.

“The danger is if we begin to think it doesn’t exist in the C of E. Of course it does. We need to ensure we have conversations to ensure people can come forward and will be taken seriously.”

Some female clergy and lay members are now calling for an independent mediation service to deal with sexual harassment and abuse claims. They say the church’s instinct to protect its reputation should not outweigh the need for redress and a change in culture.

In a letter to the Guardian, Jayne Ozanne, a senior member of the C of E synod, or governing body, said: “Abuse of power, particularly in relation to sexual misdemeanours, will never be dealt with by those within the same said power structures. The urge to protect one’s reputation is too strong.”

She added: “Make no mistake, the instances of sexual abuse and harassment within the church are manifold – at virtually every level of the hierarchy.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

November 01, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta

An academic who had access to one diocesan archive reports accounts of physical abuse and medical neglect and argues that the files are not accurately reflected in the McAleese Report into the Laundries, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

MORE than four years after its publication in February 2013, the McAleese Report on the Magdalene Laundries continues to generate headlines, but for all the wrong reasons.

It has been criticised by survivors, advocacy groups, the human rights community, and the United Nations.

The reaction of the Government to it has been rather odd. It continues to cite the report as the essential narrative of the Magdalene Laundries, a narrative which states that the “ill-treatment, physical punishment, and abuse” prevalent in the industrial school system was not something the women experienced in the Magdalene Laundries. Yet, it is surprised that, based on a reading of the McAleese Report, religious orders have refused to contribute any money to the redress bill.

Despite the report confirming what was known for years — that the State was involved in all aspects of the Magdalene Laundries — and despite the then taoiseach, Enda Kenny, admitting the same and apologising to the women, the Government is now claiming, repeatedly, that the report made “no finding” in relation to State liability with regard to Magdalene Laundries.

In July, an examination of Ireland’s second periodic review, by the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT), raised more issues relating to the McAleese Report and its findings.

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SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Sun via Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

October 31, 2017

By Stephen Ramirez

The pastor of the Muscoy United Methodist Church, charged with multiple counts of child molestation involving boys who attended the church, was found guilty by a San Bernardino County jury last week, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office said.

Stephen James Howard, 58, was convicted Friday, Oct. 27, of 32 counts of sexual abuse, including lewd acts upon a child, oral copulation of a person under 16 years old and sodomy of a person under 18, court records showed. He is being housed at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga with no bail, according to jail records.

Howard is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 29 in San Bernardino.

Howard was arrested and charged in March 2014, according to court records. Detectives had investigated reports that month that Howard had molested boys at several locations, including San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials have said.

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GUAM
USA Today Network

October 30, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

HAGÅTÑA, Guam —Father Louis Brouillard in 1979 allegedly allowed a non-Catholic youth to serve as an altar boy, sexually abused him, and later gave him a medallion for being the “best altar boy” at the Tumon parish, a lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday states.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as M.S.M. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Brouillard was aware the child was not Catholic, but still allowed him to serve Mass.

The $10 million lawsuit states M.S.M. lived across from the Tumon parish, so he served Mass as an altar boy almost every night and on weekends. He was around 12 years old at the time.

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THORNTON (CO)
9 News NBC via KUSA-TV

October 31, 2017

By Amanda Kesting

THORNTON – A former Thornton assistant pastor has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for sexually assaulting a girl at the church where we worked.

Robert Duane Wyatt, 51, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted first-degree assault and sexual assault on a child.

Prosecutors claim the abuse started when the girl, whose family attended Agape Bible Church, was 12, and lasted for nearly two years.

According to a release from the District Attorney’s Office, Wyatt first gained access to the girl by home schooling her at his house.

She reported that during this time, the sexual abuse began with inappropriate touching.

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PHILADELPHIA
The Inquirer

November 1, 2017

by The Inquirer Editorial Board

The sordid tale of how former priest James Brzyski raped and molested more than 100 boys from Philadelphia-area parishes again underscores the long overdue need for Pennsylvania lawmakers to abolish the statute of limitations for child-sex-abuse crimes and expand the legal window for victims to file lawsuits against their abusers.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the insurance industry have long fought efforts to hold abusers accountable for past crimes. But the decades-long sexual abuse scandal continues to torment victims and their families. Efforts to heal, let alone restore any trust, cannot occur until the crimes are confronted.

Brzyski’s gruesome story was told in vivid detail by staff writer Maria Panaritis, who conducted more than 40 interviews to document the behavior of Brzyski, who during the 1980s is believed to have sexually assaulted dozens of boys, many from St. Cecilia’s Parish School in Fox Chase and St. John the Evangelist School in Lower Makefield.

His trail of heinous destruction continues to haunt a generation of victims, including Jim Cunningham, who hanged himself in February, and Jimmy Spoerl, raped by Brzyski as an altar boy, who died in March 2016 after battling addiction.

The Rev. James Gigliotti told church officials that Brzyski was molesting boys, some as young as 11 years old. The church’s response was to send Brzyski for treatment in Maryland, where a clinician declared him a pedophile.

Brzyski admitted to “several acts of sexual misconduct,” including with a 7th grader, church records show. Cardinal John Joseph Krol, archbishop of Philadelphia, privately called Brzyski a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But what happened next is not just sad, it’s frightening.

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BRONX (NY)
New York Daily News

October 31, 2017

By Molly Crane-Newman and Larry McShane

A 96-year-old retired priest who once ripped the Catholic Church over its pedophile scandal filled his computer with pornographic photos of under-aged girls, prosecutors charged Tuesday.

Monsignor Harry Byrne “had dozens of photographs on his computer of girls eight to 14-years-old performing sex acts with men or posing naked,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

Visitors to Byrne’s room at the St. John Vianney Center for Retired Priests in the Bronx saw the vile collection of photos, the prosecutor said.

The probe began five months ago based on complaints from the home, officials said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
TIME

October 31, 2017

By John Manly

John Manly is the founding partner of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, California’s leading law firm representing child victims of sexual abuse. The firm has represented more than 150 victims of clergy sexual abuse in California and hundreds of others throughout the United States. The firm also represented plaintiffs in the $140,000,000 settlement against LAUSD in the Miramonte case, the largest sex abuse settlement against a School District in the US and currently represents more than 100 alleged victims of former US Olympic Gymnastics Team Dr. Larry Nassar.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal has done more than reveal the culture of sexual abuse that has infected the entertainment industry for generations. It has placed a spotlight on perpetrators and those who protect them using the despicable practice of non-disclosure agreements to intimidate and silence victims.

Throughout the past 25 years I have represented thousands of sexual assault victims in civil lawsuits against their molesters and the institutions that facilitated their abuse. Most of these victims were children at the time they were abused. One thing is common through all these cases, the perpetrators and their accomplices dwarf their victims in wealth and power. Indeed, sexual assault is not about sex, it’s about power.

The Catholic Church, media conglomerates, international sports organizations, major universities, public school districts, and corporations have all used non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of sexual assault and molestation — even when those victims are children.

Some attorneys contend that these agreements, which amount to buying the silence of victims, benefit victims by making it faster and easier to settle cases and get them financial compensations.

That is rarely true. Far more often these agreements protect serial perpetrators often shielding them from criminal prosecution and allowing them to seek new victims. How can anyone possibly justify allowing a priest, teacher, doctor or coach to hide their crimes from the public and continue having access to children?

For many years the Roman Catholic heirarchy paid victims an average of $250,000 to settle cases under confidentiality agreements then moved the priests accused of molesting them to other parishes where they continued their abuse.

That practice was ended by the Catholic bishops in 2002, largely as a result of demands made by survivors and their attorneys, as the number of cases against priests continued to escalate.

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LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles Times via City News Service

October 30, 2017

A decade after the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid about $600 million to settle allegations of clergy abuse, memories of the scandal loomed over a downtown courtroom today as prospective jurors were interviewed for a trial pitting the religious body and singer Katy Perry against a businesswoman concerning the purchase of a former convent.

Though the lawsuit filed against Dana Hollister deals with a real estate transaction and not with inappropriate behavior by priests with young parishioners, many jurors who spoke individually with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick and the attorneys said their memories of the molestations have not faded.

Archdiocese attorney Kirk Dillman and the other attorneys took turns questioning the prospective jurors, who were given a questionnaire last week to fill out regarding their ability to serve. A lawyer who said he was of the Jewish faith said he has no particular bias toward nuns or the Catholic Church in general, but was swayed by past media coverage of pedophile priests and believes that bishops and popes were heavily to blame for what happened to the victims.

“For me, the higher-ups probably had some knowledge and turned a blind eye, I suppose,” he said.

The juror also said that given the large amount of the 2007 settlement, it probably meant that the church agreed to the resolution based on the merits of the case rather than just to have it go away.

The juror, who says he manages seven attorneys in a law firm and that one of the cases they are currently handling is related to the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, said he bears no ill will toward the church.

“I don’t hate the Catholic Church, but I wouldn’t go into it with a completely blank slate,” he said. The juror was one of several individuals dismissed by Bowick based on their interviews.

Another prospective juror, who called himself an agnostic, wrote on his jury questionnaire that he was “not particularly fond of the Catholic Church” and that the clergy abuse was a major reason.

“It was a pretty big scandal,” he said. “I have children of my own. I know there were a lot of false accusations, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.”

A woman who said she belonged to an Armenian church said she, too, was affected by the media coverage at the time of the abuse revelations.

“I don’t mean to offend anyone in here,” she said.

She praised nuns in the church, saying they appeared to be “charitable and community-oriented.”

Yet another non-Catholic said she was disturbed by the way many abusive priests were simply moved to other parishes and said she believes high-ranking church individuals such as former Archbishop Roger Mahony were aware of the coverups.

“I don’t have the greatest opinion of organized religion,” she said, adding that many of her friends are “lapsed Catholics.”

The lawsuit alleges Hollister knew she did not have the written authority of the archbishop to buy the property on Waverly Drive, but recorded the deed anyway. The archdiocese and Perry maintain Hollister’s actions forced them to come to court and fight for two years to get the Hollister transaction undone.

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GUAM
USA Today Network

October 29, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Former Guam priest Louis Brouillard, the only accused clergy member who has admitted to sexually abusing children on Guam, is scheduled to provide additional sworn evidence during his deposition in Pine City, Minnesota, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.

Brouillard, 96, is accused in more than half of the 141 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in local and federal courts against the Archdiocese of Agana, 16 priests and three others on Guam.

The parties in the clergy abuse cases are pursuing mediation to try to settle the lawsuits, which have been filed in the wake of accusations in 2016 of child sexual abuse by three former altar boys and the mother of a fourth against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The archbishop was removed from the island in June 2016 for a Vatican trial that the Agana archdiocese believes has concluded, though the outcome remains unknown.

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SANTA FE (NM)
The Associated Press

October 29, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe says the archdiocese has received only two allegations of clergy sexual misconduct involving children since 1993 because of the numerous strict measures aimed at preventing further abuse.

Archbishop John C. Wester published an op-ed in The Albuquerque Journal on Sunday expressing “sadness and shame over the betrayal of trust” by clergy “who were supposed to love and protect our children,” and for the suffering of abuse survivors.

The op-ed follows the recent release by the archdiocese of a list of 74 clergy credibly accused of abuse and documents that shed light on how the church allowed three pedophile priests to continue to prey on New Mexico children more than 20 years ago.

“I offer my sincere apology on behalf of the Archdiocese to survivors and their families and my continued commitment to support and assist you on your road to healing and recovery,” Wester wrote.

His op-ed piece said psychological screening and background checks for prospective clergy and other zero-tolerance policies, such as training programs and workshops, are among steps taken to prevent further abuse.

Wester also said he personally meets with and apologizes to victims of clergy abuse, as did his predecessor, Archbishop Michael Sheehan.

Brad Hall, an Albuquerque attorney who has filed more than 70 lawsuits against the archdiocese on behalf of clergy abuse victims, said he welcomes any steps the archdiocese takes to prevent abuse and help survivors.

Some steps taken by the archdiocese, such as the release last month of a list of 74 clergy, were measures demanded for years by victims and long resisted by the archdiocese, he said.

Hall also said that not enough time has passed to know whether clerical abuse in the archdiocese ended in the early 1990s.

“There is an average of 30 years between sexual abuse by a person in a position of trust and the first time the survivor discloses it,” Hall said. “Hopefully, these days kids would report much sooner. But we don’t know.”

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

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 31, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Capuchin priest Jack Niland allegedly raped and sexually abused an Agat altar boy during confessions around 1979, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The lawsuit says Archbishop Anthony Apuron, other priests and the Capuchin Order were aware of Niland’s sexual abuses but deliberately remained quiet.

Apuron is also accused of sexually abusing four Agat altar boys in the 1970s, and he is undergoing a Vatican canonical trial.

The latest plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.C. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Niland sexually abused, molested and raped him in or about 1979. He was 10 years old at the time.

On several occasions, during confession, J.C. was forced to perform a sexual act on Niland, the lawsuit says.

“During one incident, while J.C. was on his knees with his eyes closed confessing, Niland pushed J.C. forward and pulled J.C.’s pants down. Niland then hunched over J.C. and began penetrating him,” the lawsuit says.

J.C., now 48, is represented by attorney David Lujan. He is demanding at least $5 million in minimum damages. Niland is now deceased.

J.C. is the 142nd person to file a clergy sex abuse lawsuit in local and federal court against the Archdiocese of Agana, priests and others associated with the Catholic Church.

Niland became a Capuchin in 1967 and was ordained as a Catholic Priest in 1976, according to the lawsuit. Niland’s first assignment on Guam was under Apuron at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat, where he worked in parishes and schools. During his assignment at the Agat Parish, Niland resided at the Mount Carmel Rectory. He died in 2009 at age 59.

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IRELAND
The Times

October 31 2017

By Siobhan Fenton

Victims of historical child abuse have urged Northern Ireland’s politicians to release compensation which has been blocked due to Stormont’s collapse, as talks aimed at restoring powersharing have so far failed to reach agreement.

Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia), which represents people who were abused, called on James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland secretary, to make provision for victims’ compensation if talks fail and a budget is introduced in Westminster.

After an inquiry into abuse at children’s homes, recommendations were made in January to the Northern Ireland Assembly to award compensation to victims and survivors.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

October 31, 2017

By Janela Carrera

Over a hundred lawsuits have been filed agains the church, over half of which name Father Louis Brouillard.

Guam – Once again, alleged pedophile priest Father Louis Brouillard has been named in a sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic Church, this time by a victim who was not catholic.

This latest claim was filed by 50-year-old M.S.M. who says he became an altar boy in 1979 even though he was not catholic.

M.S.M. served mass at the Tumon Parish but did not receive the bread when it came time for communion. M.S.M. says after serving mass, on at least two occasions he was sexually abused by Brouillard. But the victim also says that Brouillard often walked around the rectory in the nude and allowed the altar boys to drink leftover wine from mass.

M.S.M. is seeking $10 million in damages.

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GUAM
Kuam News

October 31, 2017

By Krystal Paco

A year ago today he was Vatican appointed to lead Guam’s faithful amid a laundry list of controversy. To commemorate his one-year anniversary, we sit down for a one-on-one with Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes.

“I’m at a lot of firsts,” said His Excellency. “The first thing was getting over the shock of coming to a place I’ve never been before.” Exactly one year ago, the Vatican appointed Michigan’s Michael Byrnes to serve as the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana.

“I remember getting up that very first morning and one of the first things I had was a meeting with the lawyers,” he said. Then, there were only 20 clergy sexual abuse lawsuits lodged against the Archdiocese of Agana. Fast forward to today, there are 140 and counting. “That’s been a constant source of distress,” said the archbishop. “I’d love to be able to do more. I just don’t know the venue for it.

“I think once we’re through with the legal case, I think we’ll have a greater freedom to extend more pastoral care.”

Now a year on the job, he reflects and prioritizes. “The sexual abuse cases is number one. Probably number two is the loss of trust, number three is the quest for financial transparency. I think that’s been a key effort,” he said.

Making his list of priorities, he says he wants to address the social ills affecting the island – issues ranging from domestic violence to substance abuse and high divorce rates. “If we’re doing our work right, we should see a lessening of some of those issues,” he explained.

Rounding out that list, he wants to continue to develop those who spread the gospel: the priests. “I’ve met with all of them. We’ve got some really good guys. This is more of a personal concern for me that we develop their ability to lead, to preach, to become even better priests than they already are,” he said.

So, how would he rate himself as Guam’s Sheppard for the faithful? He admits that while accountability can be painful, it’s working, noting, “I think we’re winning it back…I think we are.”

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GUAM
Kuam News

October 31, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Another clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed this afternoon in the District Court of Guam.

Only identified by his initials, 48-year-old J.C. names Father John “Jack” Niland, a Capuchin priest, as his perpetrator.

J.C. alleges the sexual abuse occurred at the Agat Parish, where he served an altar boy.

During confession, while J.C. was on his knees and his eyes closed confessing, he alleges the priest raped him.

Father Jack passed away in 2009.

He is suing for $5 million.

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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
Staten Island Advance

October 30, 2017

By Maura Grunlund

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A former Roman Catholic priest who served on Staten Island has received a $500,000 settlement from the Archdiocese of New York to resolve a sexual abuse claim, according to the New York Times.

Stephen Ryan-Vuotto was known as the Rev. Stephen Ryan when he served as pastor of St. Rita’s R.C. Church in Meiers Corners.

Ryan-Vuotto claimed that he was violated more than 50 times beginning at age 14 with sex acts that ranged from fondling to sodomy between 1975 and 1985 by the Rev. Robert V. Lott, according to the report.

The deadline is Wednesday for victims to apply for compensation through the Archdiocese of New York Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program.

Ryan-Vuotto plans to hold a news conference on Monday to encourage other victims to file complaints, according to the New York Times.

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CHILE
La Tercera

October 29, 2017

[Google Translate: Next Wednesday, March 1, Precht, the vicar’s guilt, is launched by journalist Andrea Lagos. A text that explores the life of the priest Cristián Precht, who in 2012 was condemned by the Vatican for “abusive behavior against adults and minors” and separated from the priestly ministry for five years, a term that is met in December. The book is part of the Collection of the School of Journalism UDP and Editorial Catalonia. Here, an excerpt from the chapter “I have received a complaint”.]

El próximo miércoles 1 se lanza Precht, las culpas del vicario, de la periodista Andrea Lagos. Un texto que indaga en la vida del sacerdote Cristián Precht, quien en 2012 fue condenado por el Vaticano por “conductas abusivas contra mayores y menores de edad” y apartado del ministerio sacerdotal por cinco años, plazo que se cumple en diciembre. El libro forma parte de la Colección de la Escuela de Periodismo UDP y Editorial Catalonia. Aquí, un extracto del capítulo “Me ha llegado una denuncia”.

El 15 de enero de 2011 asumió como nuevo arzobispo de Santiago el salesiano italiano Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, hoy chileno por gracia. Primero fue obispo de Valdivia y entre 2001 y 2006 se convirtió en la mano derecha del cardenal Errázuriz, como obispo auxiliar de Santiago. En 2006 fue trasladado como arzobispo a Concepción.

Es un legalista que toma nota de las instrucciones de Roma y cumple al pie de la letra. Fue cuestionado cuando, a pedido del nuncio Ivo Scalpolo, envió antecedentes sobre tres sacerdotes chilenos que se salían de la línea oficial en temas como el matrimonio homosexual, el aborto y el celibato: los jesuitas Felipe Berríos y José Aldunate, y el cura diocesano Mariano Puga.

Los denunciantes de Karadima afirman que en 2005, cuando Ezzati era obispo auxiliar de Santiago, fue informado de los delitos cometidos por el párroco de El Bosque, pero no hizo nada y el proceso canónico tardó cuatro años más en iniciarse.

A Precht lo mantuvo como vicario hasta julio de 2011, cuando ya había recibido dos denuncias de abusos de menores en su contra, las de Andrés y Gonzalo (ver recuadro). Entonces lo sacó elegantemente, argumentando que debía armar su propio equipo, y lo envió a una parroquia.

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LONG ISLAND (NY)
FIOS1 News

October 30, 2017

By Jessica Orbon

Stephen Ryan-Vuotto receives $500K in sexual abuse settlement from Archdiocese of NY

MANHATTAN — Former priest Stephen Ryan-Vuotto won a settlement from New York’s Archdiocese after he said he suffered sex abuse at the hands of another priest when he was a teenager.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian has worked with survivors of sexual abuse for decades.

Garabedian was portrayed in “Spotlight,” a movie Ryan-Vuotto says allowed him to reclaim his life.

“I knew I was holding a secret that took a lot of energy and strength to hold for all those years, and it was very debilitating. And this was the first opportunity I saw on a grand-scale to tell the truth,” says Ryan-Vuotto.

Ryan-Vuotto was 14-years-old, living in Greenwich Village when his family priest, Father Robert Lott, started sexually abusing him.

It took more than three decades and until Ryan-Vuotto was a priest himself that he decided to talk about it.

Ryan-Vuotto entered the New York Archdiocesan Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program and recently accepted a $500,000 settlement.

He is one of 181 survivors of sexual abuse who have been awarded settlements by the Archdiocese program.

The original deadline for victims to apply to receive settlements from the Archdiocese was Wednesday, Oct. 25, but the archdiocese has now extended the deadline to an unidentified date.

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GREENWICH VILLAGE (NY)
West Village Patch

October 30, 2017

By Ciara McCarthy

The allegations were made against a prominent Manhattan reverend.

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — A former priest has accused a well known figure in the New York City Catholic church of sexually abusing him for a decade staring when the victim was 14 years old.

Stephen Ryan-Vuotto publicly made allegations against Rev. Robert Lott, a priest who worked in the Greenwich Village and Harlem communities until his death in 2002.

Ryan-Vuotto first told his story to the New York Times on Sunday before hosting a press conference with his husband, Michael Vuotto, and his lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, on Monday.

Garabedian, the attorney who was depicted in the film “Spotlight,” has reached settlements totaling $2.125 million through claims against multiple New York area priests, he said on Monday.

Ryan-Vuotto’s story of years of abuse came after he reached a $500,000 settlement with the Archdiocese of New York through the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programs, which is funded by the Archdiocese of New York but independently run, he said. The program was established last year to allow victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy to apply for compensation from the church.

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UTAH
Salt Lake Tribune

October 30, 2017

Darran Scott, 53, directed ‘Spirit of the Game,’ about LDS missionaries playing basketball in Australia.

By Sean P. Means
·
An Australian filmmaker who made a movie about basketball-playing Mormon missionaries has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of sexually abusing boys — some of whom he met as a leader in his local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Darran Scott, 53, pleaded guilty to 16 charges related to the sexual abuse of 11 boys over a 25-year period, according to a report Friday by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC). He will serve at least seven years in prison, and will be listed on a sex-offender registry for life.

In testimony to the County Court in Morwell, in the Australian state of Victoria, Scott started grooming his victims in the early 1990s, when he was a junior football coach in the suburbs east of Melbourne. He joined the LDS Church in 2005, and reportedly lured another six boys while serving as a youth leader in his ward.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

October 30, 2017

By John Cassar White

The recent incidents alleging sexual harassment by Oscar-winning film producer Harvey Weinstein have opened a window on the dark phenomenon of institutional bullying.

It is wrong to assume that des­pite the much-publicised abuses of Rolf Harris, Jimmy Saville and now Harvey Weinstein, bullying by powerful people is limited to the world of entertainment.
While there is no universally accepted definition of institutional bullying, many associate bullying with a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in authority that causes either physi­cal or emotional harm. It can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation.

Sexual abuse is just one prevalent form of bullying but there are many others.

The phenomenon of bullying exists in most organisations. In the Church we have all read about the abuse of young vulnerable children by clerics who used their authority to satisfy their lust. Church authorities were far too slow to tackle this problem, much to their own detriment as a multitude of believers lost trust in their pastoral leaders.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change.com

October 30, 2017

By Susan Matthews

[See also the entry for James Brzyski in BishopAccountability.org’s database of accused U.S. clergy.]

I’ve been told, “Just let it go. It’s over.” The cover story from the The Philadelphia Inquirer linked below is an example of why Kathy and I won’t let “it” go. The clergy sex abuse scandal continues to claim and destroy the lives of victims and those who love them. “It” continues to put children at risk. Read James Brzyski’s timeline to see how. PA’s current statute of limitation laws allow these men to evade justice and live among us undetected.

We will shut down this site when the Catholic church makes real and lasting corrections, when the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference stops fighting child sex abuse legislative reform and when victims feel fully supported by society. In other words, we hope our nursing homes have good wifi.

Please read: “Stolen Childhoods,” by Maria Panaritis, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 26, 2017.

We believe the victims. Please let us know how we can help.

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ARGENTINA
Associated Press via El Nuevo Herald

October 29, 2017

By Luis Andrés Henao y Almudena Calatrava

[This article also appeared in English. See also BishopAccountability.org’s database of accused clergy in Argentina.]

Karen Maydana recuerda que tenía 9 años cuando el sacerdote Carlos José la manoseó en el banco de una iglesia frente al altar. Fue durante una confesión antes de su primera comunión.

Culpa al trauma provocado por ese momento en 2004 de un intento de suicidio cuando era adolescente. Y, sin embargo, nunca había hablado en público sobre lo ocurrido hasta este año. Luego de escuchar que dos mujeres que estudiaron en su escuela de la localidad argentina de Caseros sufrieron supuestos abusos del mismo sacerdote, se les unió como denunciante en un caso que en julio llevó a la detención del cura, sospechoso de agresiones sexuales agravadas.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Washington Post

October 29, 2017

By Karen Heller

Rod Dreher’s life is an open book. Several, actually. “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming,” about his late sister. “How Dante Can Save Your Life,” about his love of the Italian poet. His latest, “The Benedict Option,” is a call to beleaguered Christians to divorce themselves from the increasingly secular American mainstream.

But really, every work by this conservative Christian writer is a literary act of confession, a quest for purpose and a purge of disillusionment. An influential and prolific blogger for the American Conservative — he averages 1.3 million monthly page views on his blog — Dreher is credited with helping introduce J.D. Vance of “Hillbilly Elegy” to a larger audience. He founded the “crunchy con” ideology — another book, back in 2006 — wedding cultural and moral conservatism with an organic, co-op-and-Birkenstock lifestyle.

***

He was raised a “Christmas-and-Easter Methodist,” but yearned for more faith in his life. He became a devout Catholic, converting in 1993.

But the priest sexual-abuse scandal wrecked him, “like having my faith pulled out of me by my fingernails.” In 2006, he and his family joined the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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GUAM
KUAM.com

October 30, 2017

By Krystal Paco

He wasn’t a Catholic.

But, the latest victim to file suit against the Church alleges he too fell victim to clergy sexual abuse.

Only identified by his initials, 50-year-old M.S.M. alleges he was sexually molested by Father Louis Brouillard at the Tumon parish.

Though he didn’t practice any religious belief, the complaint states his friend convinced him to become an altar boy.

Living across the Church, he served almost daily.

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GUAM
Catholic News Agency via Crux

October 29, 2017

At a press conference announcing the new policies for protecting children, recently-installed Coadjutor Archbishop of Agaña, Michael Byrnes, said, “The reason we felt we needed to develop a new policy, part of it was just the inadequacy of the prior policy … also when we decided to adopt the charter, it meant more than just a simple sexual abuse policy.”

The Archdiocese of Agaña last week adopted a new policy on child protection, following a child sex abuse scandal which has implicated the former archbishop and other clerics.

The recently-installed Coadjutor Archbishop of Agaña, Michael Byrnes, adopted the children protection policy Oct. 18, along with a safe environment program and a policy for an independent review board.

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CHICAGO
NBC-TV Chicago

October 29, 2017

By Mary Ann Ahern

More than 500 friends, family and those touched by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests founder Barbara Blaine attended her memorial in Chicago Saturday.

Blaine died suddenly in September after suffering a torn blood vessel in her heart. She was 61 years old.

Held at DePaul University, Saturday’s tribute brought together survivors of priest abuse from across the world who called her “a giant in changing the world.”

Blaine started SNAP in the late 1980s while grappling with and speaking about her own trauma. She was abused as an 8th grader by a priest who taught at the Catholic school she attended in Ohio, according to SNAP’s website.

In one of her first jobs after college, Blaine helped run a Catholic women’s shelter on Chicago’s South Side. She devoted her life to caring for those who were often neglected – from the Cook County Public Guardian’s office to her groundbreaking work forcing Roman Catholic Church leaders to remove abusive priests from ministry.

According to the organization’s website, SNAP is the nation’s oldest and largest self-help organization for victims of clergy sexual abuse with more than 20,000 members in cities across the U.S. and world.

Blaine’s work took her to the Vatican, Chile, Africa, Poland, even the international court at The Hague, but Chicago was her base, where she and her husband Howard Rubin were devoted to their family.

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
The Daily Telegraph

October 31, 2017

By Annabel Hennessy

A paedophile priest who betrayed the trust of families he had befriended to rape and abuse girls as young as 10 over three decades is about to walk free after spending just four years in prison.

Father Finian Egan, 81, will be released from jail on December 19, despite desperate pleas from his victims to keep him locked up.

“This sends a message not just to me, but to every child sex survivor,” victim Kellie Roche said.

It was Ms Roche’s courageous decision in 2010 to report Egan’s attacks on her while he was a parish priest at Carlingford in the 1980s that led to other victims coming forward. She even asked for the sentencing judge to lift the suppression order on her name so that she could talk about his crimes.

Ms Roche, who now works with the charity Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia, said setting Egan free was an insult to all child sex survivors.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 30, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Father Louis Brouillard in 1979 allegedly allowed a non-Catholic youth to serve as an altar boy, sexually abused him, and later gave him a medallion for being the “best altar boy” at the Tumon parish, a lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday states.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as M.S.M. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Brouillard was aware he’s not Catholic, but still allowed him to serve Mass.

The $10 million lawsuit states M.S.M. lived across from the Tumon parish, so he served Mass as an altar boy almost every night and on weekends. He was around 12 years old at the time.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 29, 2017

By Sharon Otterman

Stephen Ryan-Vuotto was 14 and had recently lost his father to lung cancer when a priest in his Greenwich Village parish began inviting him to sleep over at the rectory. His mother was happy, he recalled, because she revered priests.

In particular, she loved the Rev. Robert V. Lott, the man who had befriended her son. He had ministered to the boy’s dying father, and was starting charitable organizations. Before his death in 2002, Father Lott’s reputation grew, as he led an effort to build hundreds of low-income housing units in East Harlem. To this day, an assisted living center, a home health care organization, a community development corporation and a charitable foundation in East Harlem are named for him.

But those nights at the rectory were not innocent. In August, Mr. Ryan-Vuotto was awarded a $500,000 settlement from a compensation program being run by the Archdiocese of New York for sexual abuse by Father Lott. In an interview, Mr. Ryan-Vuotto said he was abused more than 50 times between 1975 and 1985, in acts ranging from fondling to sodomy. But he kept silent, in part because after the abuse ended, he became a priest.

Mr. Ryan-Vuotto, who was known as Father Ryan for nearly 20 years, is one of 181 victims who have been awarded settlements by the New York Archdiocese for sexual abuse by priests or deacons in claims reaching back to the 1950s. The deadline for victims to apply is Wednesday.

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PARANÁ (ENTRE RÍOS, ARGENTINA)
APFDigital

October 28, 2017

[Lawyers for a priest sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting children are asking that the sentence be nullified, arguing that: 1) the judges previously had issued an opinion in the case, and 2) one of the judge’s friendship with the prosecutor.]

[See also the case summary for Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria in our database of accused clergy in Argentina.]

Pidieron el apartamiento de los magistrados por haber actuado con anterioridad, y por la “amistad” que dicen tener acusadores y jueces

“La presente causa es llevada adelante por el Fiscal Dr. Federico Uriburu como parte acusadora, quien entabla una relación de amistad con una de las integrantes de este Tribunal, la Dra. Marcela Badano; esto se confirma con la captura de pantalla adjunta al presente donde consta que la Dra. Marcela Badano es amiga del Sr. Federico Uriburu”.

Con ese argumento, los defensores del cura Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria, los abogados Milton Ramón Urrutia y Juan Pablo Temón, con el patrocinio de María Alejandra Pérez, recusaron a la vocal de la Cámara de Casación Penal, Marcela Badano, y a los otros dos integrantes del tribunal, Marcela Davite y Hugo Perotti.

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CHICAGO
Daily Herald

October 27, 2017

The Archdiocese of Chicago is holding a Mass for Hope and Healing of Child and Youth Sexual Abuse Survivors and their Families at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at Holy Family Church, 1080 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago.

Michael Hoffman and Jim Richter, both victims-survivors, will give witness. Attendees will include clergy, victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse, family members and caregivers of survivors, church lay ministry staff, Catholic school leadership and others committed to the protection and safety of children and youth.

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
Brisbane Times

October 28, 2017

By Rachel Browne

When Cheryl Brealey describes her childhood as tough, it’s an understatement.

The second-oldest of nine children, she was raised in Balmain, Glebe and Leichhardt in the 1950s, well before they became the gentrified inner west.

With no money, an absent father and a mother who suffered mental health problems, she was often forced to beg shopkeepers for food.

By the age of nine, she was separated from her family and placed in Burnside Presbyterian Homes for Children in North Parramatta, where she experienced unimaginable torment for two years.

“I have suffered from physical, sexual and mental abuse,” Ms Brealey said.

“It was extreme, vindictive, traumatising, sadistic violent abuse to my mind, my body, my soul and my wellbeing. They took my worth as an innocent child.”

Now 64 and living in Brisbane, it took decades for Cheryl to disclose her story and work up the strength to seek compensation.
Through her lawyer, she approached the Uniting Church, which formed in 1977 when the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches merged.

Cheryl was shocked to discover that because her abuse occurred in NSW, the Uniting Church’s redress scheme would offer her significantly less than abuse survivors in other states.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Associated Press via Crux

October 29, 2017

Archbishop John C. Wester published an op-ed piece in The Albuquerque Journal on Sunday expressing “sadness and shame over the betrayal of trust” by clergy “who were supposed to love and protect our children,” and for the suffering of abuse survivors. He also said a series of panel discussions scheduled from Nov. 7 to Jan. 31 at five parishes will “promote further transparency and healing.”

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe says the archdiocese has received only two allegations of clergy sexual misconduct involving children since 1993, due to the numerous strict measures aimed at preventing further abuse.

Archbishop John C. Wester published an op-ed piece in The Albuquerque Journal on Sunday expressing “sadness and shame over the betrayal of trust” by clergy “who were supposed to love and protect our children,” and for the suffering of abuse survivors.

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
The Daily Telegraph

October 29, 2017

By Annabel Hennessy

A paedophile brother who admitted to raping and abusing schoolboys as young as nine has bizarrely been given taxpayer funding to appeal his sentence on the grounds of “good character” — even though his only evidence was a two-page letter he wrote himself.

Victim’s advocates are horrified after Michael Stanton, who last year pleaded guilty to 19 charges of historic child sex abuse, was given legal aid money to appeal his 23-year sentence on the grounds the original judge had failed to take into account his “good character”.

The appeal was knocked back by the Supreme Court last week after the only references Stanton could provide of his “good character” was “a two-page document prepared by the Applicant himself which was not otherwise supported or corroborated by any other person”.

The case comes one year after former NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton launched a review into legal aid after an investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed millions of dollars were being spent each year to bankroll appeals from rapists and serial killers who had pleaded guilty in the first place.

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UNITED STATES
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse

By David Katzenstein & Lisa Aronson Fontes

Published online: July 17, 2017 (Pages 752-767, Volume 26)

Abstract

Child sexual abuse remains an underreported crime throughout the world, despite extensive research and resources dedicated both to improving investigative techniques and helping children disclose their experiences. The discovery of rampant cover-ups within the Catholic Church has exposed some of the ways religious and cultural issues can impede reporting to authorities. This article examines specific factors that contribute to the underreporting of child sexual abuse within Orthodox Jewish communities. It also explores ways in which these communities have handled child sexual abuse reporting in the past and describes recent progress. Implications are offered for CSA prevention, detection, and recovery in Orthodox Jewish communities as well as other minority religious groups.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 29, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Former Guam priest Louis Brouillard, the only accused clergy member who has admitted to sexually abusing children on Guam, is scheduled to provide additional sworn evidence, during his deposition, in Pine City, Minnesota, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.

Brouillard is represented by attorney Thomas Wieser of the law firm Meier, Kennedy and Quinn based in St. Paul, according to Archdiocese of Agana attorney John Terlaje.

Among Wieser’s specialties are defense of sexual abuse claims, and church and religious laws, his law firm’s website says.

At the deposition, Brouillard, 96, will be represented by Wieser, Terlaje said.

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes said Terlaje and Seattle-based co-counsel Michael Patterson will also be at the deposition.

Attorney David Lujan, the counsel for all plaintiffs who have sued Brouillard in federal court, is scheduled to attend the deposition, as are attorneys for those who sued Brouillard in the Superior Court of Guam. Brouillard left Guam for Minnesota in 1981.

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SANTA FE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

October 29, 2017

By Olivier Uyttebrouck

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has received only two allegations of clergy sexual misconduct involving children since 1993 due to the numerous strict measures the church has implemented to prevent further abuse, Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester wrote in an op-ed piece published in today’s Sunday Journal.

Psychological screening and background checks for prospective clergy and other zero-tolerance policies, such as training programs and workshops, are among steps taken, Wester said in the public letter and apology addressed to “My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.”

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SANTA FE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

October 29, 2017

By John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe

[See also the Santa Fe archdiocesan list of accused perpetrators. It includes more than 20 persons not previously known to be accused. See BishopAccountability.org’s webpage about the Lists of Accused Priests Released by Dioceses and Religious Institutes for more information.]

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On Sept. 12 the Archdiocese of Santa Fe released a list of 74 priests, deacons and religious who have been accused of sexual abuse of children. The vast majority of these abuses occurred over 25 years ago. Since then, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has implemented a number of strict measures, including removing perpetrators from ministry, terminating employment of perpetrators, instituting a zero tolerance policy, and implementing Safe Environment and Victim’s Assistance Programs throughout the Archdiocese. As a result, since 1993 the Archdiocese has received only two reports of clergy sexual misconduct with a minor where the incident was reported to have occurred later than 1993.

On Oct. 18, Judge Alan Malott, a district court judge in Albuquerque, ordered the public release of approximately 1,000 pages of documents related to three of the most prolific child abusers to have ever served in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe: Arthur Perrault, Sabine Griego and Jason Sigler. Although their crimes were committed decades ago, it is my hope that the release of these documents to the public will further aid in the healing process for past victims and their families.

Psychological screening and background checks for prospective clergy and other zero-tolerance policies, such as training programs and workshops, are among steps taken, Wester said in the public letter and apology addressed to “My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.”

As a result of the measures, “the Archdiocese has received only two reports of clergy sexual misconduct with a minor where the incident was reported to have occurred later than 1993,” he wrote.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

October 29, 2017

By John Meagher

A case of sex abuse has repercussions beyond the obvious as the families of ­perpetrators are also drawn into the trauma

Betrayal. It’s the first word that Dr Marie Keenan thinks of when she considers the overriding emotion experienced when a family member is revealed to be a sex offender.

“That sense of betrayal is enormous,” she says. “This is someone they loved, whom they thought they knew intimately, and now they are having to confront the most horrific news.”

Dr Keenan, a lecturer at the School of Social Policy, University College Dublin, is one of the country’s foremost experts of the impact of sex abuse – not just on the actual victims, but those other people caught in the slipstream.

“It’s not just a private tragedy,” she says, “but when these cases go to court and the names are published, it becomes a public matter as well and that can be terribly traumatic.

***
Dr Keenan has written extensively about the sex abuse within the Catholic church and notes “the ripple effect” of abuse. “Of course, it’s hugely damaging to the victim, but I found that many of priests and some of the bishops too were greatly impacted. They had worked with someone for years and had not had the slightest inkling that there was paedophilia there. So there’s a sense of guilt that they carry around with them.

“People always ask themselves why they didn’t sense that something was amiss with the person in question, particularly if they worked with them for years.

‘Out there among us’

“It can be very difficult to accept and, certainly, in the Church there wasn’t enough counselling services provided. I would think it would be wise of ‘The Irish Times’ [Tom Humphries’ former employer] to offer counselling to anybody who worked with him in the past.”

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PHILADELPHIA (pa)
Philadelphia Inquirer

October 26, 2017

Excerpts from an Interview by Maria Panaritis

[Note: See also the major article Lost Childhoods.]

“The only thing that I get to control is how I tell my story.” – Gerad Argeros

Gerad Argeros, 46, says he was raped at age 11 by the Rev. James Brzyski at St. Cecilia’s in Philadelphia. In these interview excerpts, he describes a lifelong struggle with trauma and grief, and why he is choosing to speak publicly for the first time. He unsuccessfully sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and testified secretly before the Philadelphia grand jury that in 2005 uncovered decades of local clergy sex abuse. Brzyski, it said, sexually assaulted possibly more than 100 young boys. Argeros says decades of therapy saved him from suicide.

He had kept quiet for years about being abused at the parish.

“To get through, I started the biggest lie of my life.”

What was the lie?

“That nothing happened. That I just walked out of nothing. That I just walked out of church. … I remember when Oprah [Winfrey] came out and said she was sexually abused. I remember saying in my heart and in my body, ‘That does not happen.’ Cut to me running out of rooms screaming because I was convinced that everyone in the room was dead. When being in bed with a woman and her reaching around me in a particular way, and I would rip the room apart. … Waking up from dreams for years and years and years in a full rage. This is what kids have to do to survive. They have to disappear from themselves. And that becomes a habit.”

On the criminal statute of limitations that prevented prosecutors from charging Brzyski:

“I’m still ‘alleged.’ I’m an ‘alleged victim.’ I’m alleged not because it didn’t happen. I’m alleged because it’s never seen the light of day in court. I’m still a guy with a story. That’s all I am.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

October 27, 2017

By Steve Lopez

Eight years ago, producer Harvey Weinstein and a horde of Hollywood moguls and celebrities banded together in defense of child molester Roman Polanski.

The Polish director, who fled the U.S. in 1977 before being sentenced for forcing himself on a 13-year-old girl, had just been arrested while attending a film festival in Switzerland. The Weinstein gang was outraged at the disruption of the festival, among other things, and demanded Polanski’s release.

My, how times have changed.

* * *

And how does an entire industry go from denial to denunciation in just eight years?

“Maybe that’s the new norm,” said former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who called me last week to talk about the Polanski case and about Weinstein’s role in defending him.

Cooley said the long-running abuse of women by powerful men in Hollywood echoes the Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal, which his office investigated for years, fighting against church leaders who refused to turn over documents.

He’s onto something. In each institution, sex, money, career opportunity and public image are powerful forces that breed corruption, arrogance and abuse. The church and the entertainment industry were populated by people who knew what was up, but had reason to enforce a code of silence, if not to actively engage in cover-ups.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

October 28, 2017

By Dan Barry

Tuam, Ireland

Behold a child.

A slight girl all of 6, she leaves the modest family farm, where the father minds the livestock and the mother keeps a painful secret, and walks out to the main road. Off she goes to primary school, off to the Sisters of Mercy.

Her auburn hair in ringlets, this child named Catherine is bound for Tuam, the ancient County Galway town whose name derives from a Latin term for “burial mound.” It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese, a proud distinction announced by the skyscraping cathedral that for generations has loomed over factory and field.

Two miles into this long-ago Irish morning, the young girl passes through a gantlet of gray formed by high walls along the Dublin Road that seem to thwart sunshine. To her right runs the Parkmore racecourse, where hard-earned shillings are won or lost by a nose. And to her left, the mother and baby home, with glass shards embedded atop its stony enclosure.

Behind this forbidding divide, nuns keep watch over unmarried mothers and their children. Sinners and their illegitimate spawn, it is said. The fallen.

But young Catherine knows only that the children who live within seem to be a different species altogether: sallow, sickly — segregated. “Home babies,” they’re called.

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ISRAEL
Australian Broadcast Corporation

October 26, 2017

By Sophie McNeill

For the last three years, Malka Leifer has been hiding out in Israel avoiding extradition to Australia, and now her victims have come to demand her return.

“It is a bit nerve-racking and scary but at the same time I feel proud of myself,” Elly Sapper said.

The 28-year-old is one of the ex-students who are alleging the former school principal abused them.

She has come to Israel with her two sisters, also alleged victims, to launch a campaign demanding Ms Leifer return to face court in Melbourne.

“I want them to really understand what we are going through and that every day this lady is running free, running wild, it’s really traumatic for us,” Ms Sapper said.

Ms Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of child sexual abuse including indecent assault and rape, allegedly committed while she was the principal of the Adass Israel ultra-orthodox Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne.

But Ms Leifer has avoided every single one of her extradition hearings in the last three years, claiming she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety.

Australian officials were then shocked last year when an Israeli judge halted extradition proceedings while the former principal underwent a psychiatric treatment regime.

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RUSHVILLE (IN)
Rushville Republican

Oct 26, 2017

By Kate Thurston

Last week, Garry Evans, 72, was arrested after an investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual misconduct with minors.

Wednesday, Oct. 18, he was incarcerated at the Rush County Jail and facing numerous felony counts: three counts of child molestation (Level 4 Felony), four counts of sexual battery (Level 5 Felony) and five counts of child solicitation (Level 6 felony). Evans was taken into custody without incident shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday at the RPD.

No bond was set, yet Sunday, Evans was preaching at his church, Rushville Baptist Temple, located at 1335 N Spencer St., Rushville.

Evans bonded out on Thursday, Oct. 19.

Assistant Chief of Police Todd Click confirmed that Evans was out of jail.

“I’m not sure how a person with no bond can bond out of jail without a bond hearing taking place,” Click said. “It is very frustrating and I know a lot of people are upset over it.”

“We were told by the prosecutor that he was arrested with no bond. Judge Northam called the jail and told them he had to pay a $20,000 bond, so he was able to pay 10%. However, there should have been a bond hearing held where the prosecutor could argue against bond or a higher bond and that never took place,” Click said.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 27, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Father Louis Brouillard required an altar boy to strip naked in front of a mirror so that the priest could measure his size for a baseball uniform, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court. Brouillard then took photos of the nude boy before sexually touching him, it states.

The 56-year-old plaintiff, identified in court documents only as S.F.T. to protect his privacy, alleges that Brouillard and Boy Scouts of America scout leader Edward Pereira, now deceased, sexually abused him around 1959 to 1964.

S.F.T. was about 8 to 13 years old then.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

October 27, 2017

Social workers have warned the child protection system is “in no way ready” for the introduction in six weeks time of mandatory reporting of child abuse concerns, writes Catherine Shanahan

Frank Browne, chairman of the board of directors of the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), said: “You have to be sure before implementing a new system that it can deliver and there is no evidence that Tusla is ready.”

He said the IASW was “never in favour of mandatory reporting”, which, they believe, will lead to a massive increase in referrals to child protection services.

As it stands, more than 800 children regarded as “high priority” cases are without an allocated social worker.

“We see it as potentially placing children at greater risk because there will be more children on waiting lists,” he said.

“Mandatory reporting might tick all the boxes, but it means social workers will have to respond to what could be very superficial concerns.”

From December 11, under the Children First Act 2015, all individuals and groups dealing with children will be obliged to report child protection concerns that cross a defined threshold to Tusla.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 27, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron has asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood that he not be required to participate in potential settlement talks that do not involve the four cases filed against him.

The chief judge ordered Apuron to participate in mediation talks to try to settle more than 140 clergy sex abuse lawsuits. Most of the lawsuits are against former Guam priest Louis Brouillard.

Apuron is objecting, partly, to the chief judge’s order, saying it’s oppressive and costly to him.

Apuron’s attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje, in an Oct. 27 filing, stated that the archbishop does not want to participate in mediating the more than 130 other cases that do not name him as a defendant.

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EASTWOOD (NSW, AUSTRALIA)
Daily Mail Australia

October 27, 2017

By Nkayla Afshariyan

– A 78-year-old former Catholic Brother has been charged with child sex offences
– The man was arrested and charged on Thursday following a police investigation
– Police allege the man assaulted several young boys while a teacher in the 1960s
– A 60-year-old man claimed the abuse occurred when he was a boy, police report

A former Catholic Brother has been charged with numerous indecent assaults, after a 60-year-old man came forward to reveal the alleged abuse he suffered when he was a nine-year-old student.

Earlier this year, the alleged victim told police the Catholic Brother assaulted him when he was a young student at an Eastwood education facility in the 1960s.

The 78-year-old former Catholic Brother and teacher was taken to Eastwood Police Station on Thursday night, following a police investigation into several indecent assaults from the 1960s.

Detectives from Ryde Local Area Command began an investigation and discovered four other men, who all alleged that they had also been assaulted.

Police will allege that the five men were all assaulted within the Hillview Street, Eastwood education facility between 1967 and 1968.

The former Catholic Brother was later taken to Ryde Police Station where he was charged with fifteen counts of indecent assault.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear before Burwood Local Court on November 13.

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ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
LI Herald

October 26, 2017

By Nakeem Grant

The Diocese of Rockville Centre established an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program for survivors of sexual abuse by local clergy, it announced on Oct. 16. But the effort does not provide a voice for victims, said former West Hempstead resident Dave McGuire.

“It’s not about reconciliation. It’s about [the diocese] protecting themselves,” said McGuire, who alleges that he was a victim of clergy abuse from 1980 to 1982. “Rather than allowing the law to be the arbiter of whatever damages had occurred and whatever compensation needs to be paid, they want to keep it a secret, and they want to do it internally.”

McGuire, who currently lives in Los Angeles, said that he was 13 when he was sexually abused at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in West Hempstead, where he attended parochial school and was an altar boy.

“I think the culture in society at that time was that the Catholic clergy was kind of superhuman in a way,” McGuire said. “They were fairly untouchable and they were really held up on a pedestal.”

Phase one of the reconciliation program, modeled after those created in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn over the past year to help victims of abuse by priests and deacons, began on Oct. 16, and will handle claims already made to the diocese. The program is funded by investment returns and insurance programs.

Anyone wishing to file a claim of sexual abuse not previously reported to the diocese may be eligible to participate in phase two of the program, which the diocese anticipates launching in January. All claims will be investigated by the program’s administrators, including an independent oversight committee.

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BRONX (NY)
New York Daily News

October 27, 2017

By Laura Dimon and Rich Schapiro with Stephen Rex Brown

Jimmy Halpin grew up an ace student who was so devoted to his Catholic faith that he slept on the floor the night before exams.

“So Jesus could sleep in the bed,” said Halpin, who attended the St. Raymond’s Boys School in the Bronx.

At the age of 15, the Rev. Joseph Theisen entered Halpin’s life.

It was summertime in the early 1980s and Theisen quickly took a liking to young Jimmy. After that, Halpin’s slide into tragedy did not take long.

By the fall, the spark inside him had been snuffed, replaced by a darkness that led to years of substance abuse.

“I’m not going to be in denial about this anymore,” Halpin, now 52 and a third-grade teacher in Harlem, told the Daily News. “I was practically a child and I did nothing wrong.”

Halpin is the latest priest abuse victim to step forward after collecting a settlement from the church’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program for victims.

Roughly 180 victims have received payouts since the program was launched late last year.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

October 27, 2017

By Clare Blumer

The Australian Catholic Church estimates it will be liable for $1 billion in compensation to child sexual abuse victims as part of the new national redress scheme, but this comes with a really big ‘but’.

The Federal Government today tabled a bill for a national redress scheme for child sexual abuse victims.

Under the bill, people who were sexually abused while in Commonwealth and territory institutions will be entitled to compensation of up to $150,000.

But that is only a tiny minority of the victims, as the majority suffered abuse in state government or non-government and church institutions.

So an estimated 60,000 victims subjected to sexual abuse as children would not be eligible, unless the state and territory governments sign up.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Unless everyone signs on, the victims would be able to apply for further compensation in state and territory courts.

That means that non-government institutions, particularly the churches, would not join the scheme because they would still be open to being sued in multiple jurisdictions.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said as much in his introduction of the bill today.

“Accepting the offer of redress has the effect of releasing the participating institutions from any further liability … this means the survivor … will undertake not to bring or continue any civil claim against the responsible participating institution in relation to the specific abuse,” he said.

He repeatedly urged the states and territories to sign on in his address.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

October 27, 2017

By Mindy Aguon

A former altar boy and Boy Scout alleges he was sexually abused by a priest and Boy Scout leader in the late 1950s to ’60s.

S.F.T., 66, who used initials to protect his identity, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and retired priest Louis Brouillard.

The civil complaint, filed in the District Court of Guam, alleges that Brouillard sought permission from S.F.T.’s parents to allow him to sleep overnight at the rectory so he would not be late to prepare for Mass the following morning.

The lawsuit alleges he was 8 years old when Brouillard allegedly forced him to sleep naked and sleep next to the priest, who sexually abused him.

The abuse continued during Boy Scout outings as S.F.T. recalled the first swimming outing to Tagachang Beach in Yona with more than a dozen other boys who all rode in Brouillard’s Volkswagen.

The priest and scoutmaster allegedly told the boys to remove their clothes and swim naked or they would have to walk back home, court documents state.

Brouillard allegedly frequently went to S.F.T.’s home looking for him, but the boy would run and hide in the grass whenever he heard the priest’s car coming to his house.

The victim said that Brouillard was also involved with the baseball league and was in charge of the uniform orders. The lawsuit alleges the priest required the boys to strip naked in front of a mirror as he took measurements and then took nude photos of S.F.T. and then sexually abused him.

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GIPPSLAND (VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA)
ABC Gippsland

October 27, 2017

By Robert French

A judge has jailed a man for 10 years over child sexual abuse in Victoria’s east, describing him as a “sexual predator” who showed no remorse.

Darran Scott, of Archies Creek, will spend at least seven years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to 16 charges relating to child sexual abuse.

Scott, now 53, worked as a film director, actor and as a freelance cameraman for WIN News.

He started grooming his victims in the early 1990s as a junior football coach in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

The County Court in Morwell heard he plied the boys with sleeping pills, cannabis, alcohol and pornography.

He also indecently assaulted several victims on surfing trips and at his home, near Wonthaggi on Victoria’s Bass Coast.

In sentencing, Judge John Smallwood told Scott he had “ruined lives” and hadn’t shown any remorse “other than self pity”.

“It’s a long way from the remorse anticipated from a man who has done the damage that you have,” he told Scott.

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NEW YORK (NY)
ChurchMilitant.com

October 26, 2017

by David Nussman

New York archdiocese and Brooklyn diocese pay reparation to 6 sex abuse victims

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) – Six victims of homosexual priestly sex abuse are receiving $1.8 million in settlements from the archdiocese of New York and the diocese of Brooklyn.

Attorneys announced the settlements on Wednesday. A total of eight priests were implicated in the lawsuit. One of the victims in the settlement is a woman, but the other five are men.

Commenting on the settlement, abuse survivor advocate Joelle Casteix told NY Daily News that the New York archdiocese’s leadership has failed to even address the behavior of these abusive priests.

“They did nothing to tell parents,” she asserted. “And they did nothing to reach out to the survivors for years. Cardinal Dolan should be ashamed of this.”

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
The Indy Star

October 26, 2017

By Fatima Hussein

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that sex offenders are allowed to attend church services even while children are present to attend Sunday school.

The ruling handed down Tuesday stems from a letter the Boone County sheriff sent to his county’s registered sex offenders in July 2015 informing them of the passage of Indiana’s “serious sex offender” law. The law prohibits “serious sex offenders” from entering “school property.”

School property, under the state’s interpretation of the law, includes a church if the church conducts Sunday school or has child care for children of the ages described in the statute. Sex offenders faced arrest and prosecution if they attended such a church.

Citing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, three unnamed sex offenders sought a court injunction to attend church. They argued that preventing them from attending services, even when children are present, places “a substantial burden on their exercise of religion.”

“It is a very serious infringement on rights in telling someone they cannot go to religious services,” said Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, who is representing the sex offenders.

“Everyone seeks religious service for different reasons — to exclude someone seems problematic.”

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FRESNO (CA)
The Fresno Bee

October 26, 2017

By Brianna Calix

A Madera police dispatcher who is a church elder is charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl he mentored, Fresno police reported.

Fresno police received an anonymous tip on Sept. 20 about Martin Ramos, 43, and launched an investigation, Sgt. Daniel Macias said.

Investigators learned that Ramos was an elder at a Jehovah’s Witnesses church in the 4000 block of West McKinley Avenue. There, he met a teen girl and her family three years ago.

Ramos mentored the girl, and the two communicated through text messages. At one point, the two exchanged “inappropriate” photos and their relationship turned physical, Macias said.

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GUAM
Kuam News

October 27, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Yet another lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America. The latest by a former Mangilao resident only identified as 66-year-old S.F.T.

S.F.T. names both Father Louis Brouillard and Boy Scout leader Edward Pereira as his abusers.

On church grounds, on swimming trips, and camping trips, he alleges the adult men took every opportunity to sexually abuse him.

While fitting for baseball uniforms, he alleges the priest forced him to strip down and stand in front of the mirror so he could take photos.

S.F.T. is suing for $10 million.

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COWICHE (WA)
KIMA TV

October 26th 2017

by Marie Schurk

COWICHE, Wash. – A new child sex abuse lawsuit is filed in Yakima County Superior Court on allegations that a Reverend sexually abused a parishioner who was a minor at that time.

The former St. Juan San Diego parishioner filed a civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Yakima that claims Reverend Gustavo Gomez Santos abused him, according to an Oct. 25 news release.

The plaintiff said Father Santos sexually abused him at the parish rectory.

The lawsuit claims the Diocese knew or should have known about the danger the priest posed to children but did not take steps necessary to remove him from his position.

Father Santos was permanently removed from his position as of May 2017.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 27, 2017

by Haidee V Eugenio

[Note: Includes video interview]

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes, who marks his first year on Guam, said one of his challenges has been addressing the loss of trust in the church and island clergy.

Pope Francis appointed Byrnes, 59, on Oct. 31, 2016, giving him the rights to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron should Apuron resign, retire or is removed.

Apuron is undergoing a Vatican canonical trial and is accused of sexually abusing or raping four altar boys in the 1970s when he was the parish priest in Agat.

Byrnes said the most challenging reality for him is dealing with child sexual abuse on Guam, allegedly committed by the clergy decades ago, and restoring people’s faith in the Catholic church and its leaders.

Byrnes said no current member of the clergy on Guam has been accused of abuse, and, should that happen, the Archdiocese of Agana is better equipped to deal with the matter because of new and revised policies to protect the young. Among other things, an independent panel, and not the archbishop, will decide how to proceed with accusations.

There are now 140 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in local and federal court, with the latest one filed on Oct. 27.

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.

CASEROS (ARGENTINA)
Associated Press

October 26, 2017

By Luis Andres Henao and Alumdena Calatrava

[Note: See also BishopAccountability.org’s Database of Accused Argentine Priests.]

Karen Maydana says she was 9 years old when the Rev. Carlos Jose fondled her at a church pew facing the altar. It was her first confession ahead of her first Holy Communion.

She blames the trauma of that moment in 2004 for a teenage suicide attempt. And yet she never spoke about it publicly until this year. After hearing that two women who attended her school in the Argentine town of Caseros were allegedly abused by the same priest, she joined them as complainants in a case that in July led to his arrest for investigation of aggravated sexual abuse.

“Unfortunately, there are many of us. But speaking about it now also gives you strength to carry on,” Maydana, 22, said. “I have a 9-year-old niece who’s receiving her Communion this year, and this is not going to happen to her.”

The allegations are part of a growing trend: While Pope Francis struggles to make good on his “zero tolerance” pledge to fight clerical sex abuse worldwide, victims in his native Argentina are denouncing abuses in unprecedented numbers. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that the number of clerics publicly identified as alleged sexual abusers has increased dramatically in the last two years.

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.

MUNICH (GERMANY)
Bayerischer Rundfunk

October 26, 2017

By Klaus Rüfer

[Google translation: The CDF has concluded the church procedure against the 83-year-old Franciscan Minorite Father, M., for the sexual abuse of minors. According to this, the public celebration of the Eucharist and the donation of the sacraments, as well as any contact with minors, is prohibited. He is forbidden to stay in the dioceses of Cologne, Bamberg and Würzburg. There he was employed as a pastor in the course of his service.]

Die römische Glaubenskongregation hat das kirchenrechtliche Verfahren gegen einen 83-jährigen Franziskaner-Minoriten wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs beendet. Der für schuldig befundene Pater darf auch weiterhin keine Sakramente spenden und keinen Kontakt zu Minderjährigen haben.

Die römische Glaubenskongregation hat das kirchenrechtliche Verfahren gegen den 83-jährigen Franziskaner-Minoriten Pater M. wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger abgeschlossen. Demnach wird dem für schuldig befundenen Pater die öffentliche Feier der Eucharistie sowie die Spendung der Sakramente untersagt, ebenso jeglicher Kontakt mit Minderjährigen. Ein Aufenthalt im Gebiet der Diözesen Köln, Bamberg und Würzburg ist ihm verboten. Dort war er im Laufe seiner Dienstzeit als Seelsorger eingesetzt.

Sexuelle Übergriffigkeit gegenüber Minderjährigen

Der von 1977 bis 2010 in Würzburg tätige Pater wurde im Jahr 2010 der sexuellen Übergriffigkeit gegenüber Minderjährigen beziehungsweise des distanzlosen Verhaltens beschuldigt. Das Bistum Würzburg beurlaubte den Franziskaner-Minoriten sofort von seinen Tätigkeiten im Bereich der Diözese Würzburg und entpflichtete ihn am 04.10.10. Die Ordensleitung wandte sich wegen weiterer kirchenrechtlicher Schritte an die Generalleitung der Franziskaner-Minoriten in Rom, die die Glaubenskongregation informierte.

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.

HILDESHEIM (GERMANY)
Diocese of Hildesheim

October 16, 2016

[Google translation:

Bishopric publishes expert opinions on alleged abuse
Report identifies omissions and gives recommendations for the future

The Diocese of Hildesheim has today published the report on several alleged abuse cases, which the Institute for Practice Research and Project Consulting (IPP) from Munich has commissioned on behalf of the diocese. The expert report, particularly in dealing with various allegations of sexual abuse against the retired priest Peter R., points out clear failings of the bishopric.]

[Note: This article provides useful links to relevant statements, as well as the report, Gutachten: Untersuchung von Fällen sexualisierter Gewalt im Verantwortungsbereich des Bistums Hildesheim – Fallverläufe, Verantwortlichkeiten, Empfehlungen (Report: Investigation of cases of sexual violence in the area of responsibility of the Diocese of Hildesheim – case histories, responsibilities, recommendations).]

Bistum veröffentlicht Gutachten zu mutmaßlichen Missbrauchsfällen
Bericht benennt Versäumnisse und gibt Empfehlungen für die Zukunft

Das Bistum Hildesheim hat heute den Bericht zu mehreren mutmaßlichen Missbrauchsfällen veröffentlicht, den das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) aus München im Auftrag der Diözese erstellt hat. Das Gutachten benennt vor allem im Umgang mit verschiedenen Vorwürfen des sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den pensionierten Priester Peter R. deutliche Versäumnisse des Bistums.

„Die eigene Schuld und das eigene Versagen im Umgang mit diesen Fällen lastet auf uns. Die Opfer und ihre Angehörigen bitte ich im Namen unseres Bistums um Vergebung. Uns ist sehr bewusst, dass ihnen großes Leid widerfahren ist. Mich beschämt das zutiefst, und es macht mich zerknirscht und traurig“, sagt Weihbischof Dr. Nikolaus Schwerdtfeger, Diözesanadministrator des Bistums Hildesheim.

Im Umgang mit den Vorwürfen gegen Peter R. attestieren die Gutachter dem Bistum, während seines mehr als 20-jährigen Wirkens in der Diözese Ansatzpunkte für straf- und kirchenrechtliche Ermittlungen ignoriert und den Schutz möglicher weiterer Opfer außer Acht gelassen zu haben. Auch seien Peter R. nie wirksam Grenzen aufgezeigt worden.

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.

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The Federal Government has tabled a bill that would entitle victims of child sexual abuse in Commonwealth and Territory institutions up to $150,000 in compensation, but it excludes victims who have served time in jail.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the response of institutions to claims of child abuse were “inadequate”.

“No child should ever experience what we know occurred,” he told the House of Representatives.

“The establishment of this scheme is an acknowledgment that sexual abuse suffered by children in institutions operated by a number of governments was wrong, a shocking betrayal of trust and simply should never have happened.”

Mr Porter said the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had estimated there were 4,000 institutions across Australia where child sexual abuse happened.

Of those:
– 2,000 were Catholic institutions
– 500 were run by the Anglican Church
– 250 were run by the Salvation Army

He said 20,000 victims were estimated to have been abused in government-run institutions and 40,000 in non-government facilities.

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

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

October 26, 2017

By Haidee V. Eugenio

[Note: See also Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan, Jr.’s report.]

Archbishop Anthony Apuron released a recorded video Tuesday evening in which he denied allegations that he sexually abused an altar boy about 40 years ago.

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron said a federal judge’s report, stating that the clergy sex abuse lawsuits against Apuron should not be dismissed, is “erroneous and contrary to law, and should be rejected.”

Apuron has again asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to dismiss the complaints against him, stating the incidents, which allegedly happened more than 40 years ago, are time-barred and take away the archbishop’s due process rights.

The archbishop is represented by attorney Jacqueline Terlaje.

Apuron is being sued in federal court for allegedly sexually abusing or raping four altar boys in Agat in the 1970s when he was a parish priest. He is also undergoing a Vatican canonical trial to determine his fate as a member of the clergy.

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

October 26 2017

By Bernard Lagan

Sydney – The Australian Catholic Church believes it will be liable for at least A$1 billion (£583 million) in compensation payments to thousands of children who were sexually abused by the clergy.

The church has already paid at least A$300 million to victims, some of whom gave evidence to a royal commission that, when it concludes in December, will have taken testimony from 8,000 people abused as children by Catholic priests, other clergy and government staff.

The royal commission has proposed a national compensation scheme for victims, which caps payments to individuals at A$150,000. Much of the compensation will be paid by Australian taxpayers but the Catholic Church has assessed its own liabilities at about A$1 billion.

Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the Australian Catholic Church’s Truth, and Justice Healing Council, said: “Our analysis is that the national redress scheme proposed by the royal commission over a ten-year period was going to cost in total about A$4 billion and of about A$4 billion we think our exposure is A$1 billion.”

The royal commission has estimated that there were 4,000 institutions across Australia in which child sex abuse happened up until the early 1980s, including those run by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Salvation Army and the government. Half of the institutions were operated by the Catholic Church.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s head of finances and a former leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, was among those to have appeared before the commission.

He was charged in June with historical sex offence charges in relation to multiple complainants. He has returned to Australia from the Vatican and his case will be heard by a court early next year.

Christian Porter, Australia’s social services minister, told parliament today that 20,000 victims were estimated to have been abused in government-run institutions and 40,000 in non-government facilities including 2,000 operated by the Catholic Church.

He said that the institutions’ response to the claims were inadequate, and announced laws that would set up the national compensation scheme for abuse victims.

“No child should ever experience what we know occurred,” he said. “The establishment of this scheme is an acknowledgment that sexual abuse suffered by children in institutions operated by a number of governments was wrong, a shocking betrayal of trust and simply should never have happened.”

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

By Edgar Sandoval and Larry McShane

A half-dozen survivors of childhood sexual abuse by priests reached a $1.8 million settlement with two New York archdioceses, their attorney announced Wednesday.

Lawyer Michael Reck, in revealing the payouts, also publicly identified a pair of Bronx priests for the first time as sexual predators: Rev. Herbert D’Argenio and Msgr. Casper Wolf.

“We see two men that the Archdiocese of New York knew were child sex abusers, and they did nothing to warn children,” said survivor Joelle Casteix, who was not part of the settlement.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Spectrum News NY 1

October 26, 2017

By Lindsay Tuchman

[Note: Includes a video showing a poster naming eight accused New York priests:
– Msgr. John O’Keefe (with photo)
– Fr. Herbert D’Argenio
– Msgr. Casper Wolf (with photo)
– Fr. Peter Kihm (with photo)
– Fr. Ralph LaBelle
– Fr. Francis Stinner (with photo)
– Fr. Richard Gorman (with photo)
– Fr. Gennaro “Jerry” Gentile (with photo)

Two of these priests, D’Argenio and Wolf, are being accused publicly for the first time. Some of the settlements referenced in this article pertain to D’Argenio and Wolf. It is not clear from the article which of the other eight priests on the poster are involved in the announced settlements. A media advisory from Jeff Anderson & Associates about the settlement announcement provides assignment histories for the eight priests and two others:
– Fr. Herbert McElroy
– Fr. Francis Stinner.
See also BishopAccountability.org database entries for O’Keefe, Kihm, LaBelle, Stinner, Gorman, Gentile, McElroy, and Prochaski.]

Six new settlements in some child sex abuse cases facing the Catholic Church were announced Wednesday as part of a new program within the Diocese of Brooklyn, which also covers Queens, and the Archdiocese of New York, which covers the other three boroughs. As NY1’s Lindsay Tuchman reports, two unidentified abusers were also revealed.

The law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates presented the photos of some Catholic priests who are accused of sexually abusing children in the city.

The Catholic Church has made financial settlements with their accusers, six of those settlements having been announced Wednesday.

“This is a methodology to create some acknowledgement, some accountability, and some measure of justice that’s not available for survivors of childhood trauma through the court system,” said Mike Reck, an attorney with the law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates.

Five men and one woman were awarded a total of $1.8 million as part of the “Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program” (IRCP), which was established by the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The program is a mechanism for sexual abuse victims to file claims for financial compensation.

The six victims said they were abused as children from 1959 to 1988. Two of the priests, Father Herbert D’Argenio and Father Casper Wolf — both of the Bronx, and both believed to be dead — were publicly named by their accusers for the first time Wednesday.

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.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

October 25, 2017, updated on October 26, 2017

By Aimee Green

A former employee of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon has filed an $845,000 lawsuit against the diocese and Bishop Michael Hanley, claiming the bishop physically assaulted a female priest and misused money donated by the deceased grandmother of Mayor Ted Wheeler.

Mary Macy, who was the top finance officer for the diocese, claims she was fired from her job last year because she spoke up about Hanley, the diocese’s leader who oversees more than 70 churches with 15,000 congregants in western Oregon.

Macy claims in her lawsuit filed Tuesday that Hanley allegedly assaulted the Rev. Margaret McMurren in Salem while he visited her congregation, Prince of Peace Episcopal Church, three years ago.

Macy saw Hanley wrap his arm around McMurren’s neck and move with her down some stairs when he came to her church in 2014 for a breakfast and service, said Matthew Ellis, Macy’s attorney.

McMurren’s attorney, Harris Matarazzo, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that multiple witnesses reported seeing the same thing. Witnesses also saw the bishop push the front of his body against the back of McMurren’s body and heard him make discouraging comments about her age in front of congregants during the visit, he 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.

YAKIMA (WA)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

October 26, 2017

A lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor has been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Yakima in Superior Court.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of a young man who says Rev. Gustavo Gomez Santos abused him at St. Juan Diego Catholic Church in Cowiche in 2012 when the alleged victim was 16 or 17 years old.

The lawsuit claims the Diocese of Yakima knew or should have known that Gomez posed a danger but failed to prevent him from sexually abusing the plaintiff.

After the man reported the abuse to the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office in May, Bishop Joseph Tyson removed Gomez from public ministry. The diocese is seeking to have him defrocked.

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.

YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic

October 25, 2017

By Jane Gargas

[Note: See also BishopAccountability.org’s database entry on Gómez Santos.]

A lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor was filed against the Catholic Diocese of Yakima in Superior Court on Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a young man who said that the Rev. Gustavo Gómez Santos abused him at St. Juan Diego Catholic Church in Cowiche in 2012 when the alleged victim was 16 or 17 years old.

Last May, after the young man reported the abuse to the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, Gómez was permanently removed from public ministry by Bishop Joseph Tyson.

The lawsuit claims that the Diocese of Yakima knew or should have known that Gomez posed a danger to children but failed to take steps to prevent him from using his position as a Diocesan priest to sexually abuse the plaintiff.

The lawsuit, filed by the plaintiff’s attorney, Michael Pfau of Seattle, did not name the amount of monetary damages being sought.

Gómez has denied that any abuse occurred.

The plaintiff, a former Mattawa resident who now lives in King County, alleged that he was fondled by Gómez while he attended confirmation classes at St. Juan Diego Parish in Cowiche, where Gómez was pastor. He claimed that the priest used his position to groom and to sexually abuse him. He said the priest frequently gave him massages and subsequently sexually assaulted him in the parish rectory.

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.

AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
Stuff/Fairfax Media

October 26 2017

By Mike Mather

A former Catholic priest jailed for molesting boys in the 1970s and 80s has been sentenced for another indecent assault.

However Mark Mannix Brown won’t have to serve any more time in jail to account for his latest charge of indecent assault.

Brown, 74, was sentenced on a new charge of indecent assault on a boy aged under 12, when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday, via audio-visual link from prison.

He is currently serving a 26-month jail term, imposed on him in August for charges against three historic victims.

The latest charge – which relates to incidents against another victim that took place between December 1, 1976 and December 31, 1977 in Raglan – resulted in a 10-month jail sentence, which will be served concurrently.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

October 26, 2017

By Maria Panaritis

[Note: See also Panaritis’ major article Stolen Childhoods.]

John Delaney, 47, was altar boy of the year at St. Cecilia’s in Northeast Philadelphia in the 1980s – years in which he was being raped by the Rev. James Brzyski, later identified as one of the most brutal abusers ever to serve in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Delaney has been one of his most vocal victims. In excerpts from recent interviews, he talks about the damage.

He recalls an innocent childhood before Brzyski came to his parish.

“I was an athlete. I remember seeing kids up at the Fox Chase Recreation Center smoking weed, thinking, ‘Those guys are losers.’ My goal was to be like my dad. He was a cop.”

Brzyski arrived. The little boy changed.

“I was being abused, I was running away from home, I was cutting school, I was getting drunk and high. I was 13 years old, whacked out on coke, serving Mass. I passed out on the altar one day.”

Later, he would spend time in and out of prison. He married, had two kids, got divorced. He kept returning to drugs.

“It’s a very common thing with victims. It kills the pain and it takes your mind away from it. But the sad reality is that when it’s over, it’s still there — only 10 times worse.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

October 26, 2017

By Maria Panaritis

[Note: This major article includes photos of many Brzyski survivors, quotes from interviews with them, and video interviews with survivors, family members, and friends . It also links to In His Own Words, excerpts from Panaritis’ interview with Brzyski survivor John Delaney. See also the 2005 Philadelphia Grand Jury Report’s materials on Brzyski: assignment history, summary of victims and incidents, a 1984 archdiocesan document, the report’s case study of Brzyski, and a brief pattern study. See also BishopAccountability.org’s database entry about Brzyski.]

Decades later, the damage from one Philadelphia predator priest still torments a generation of victims.

In the rear of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, the old school friends of the man in the casket were growing agitated. The funeral service for Jim Cunningham was about to begin.

It was a terrible loss: A 45-year-old father, prison counselor, and hostage negotiator — dead by suicide.

Handkerchiefs were out in the other pews. But near the back, fury decades in the making was boiling over.

“No. I can’t do it,” Kevin Emery told the others. “We can’t stay here for this.”

Like Cunningham, each had been a student in the same Northeast Philadelphia parish school, St. Cecilia’s, in the 1980s when the Rev. James Brzyski turned their community into a stalking ground. Brzyski (BRISH-kee) had sexually assaulted possibly more than 100 boys during stints at St. Cecilia’s and a prior parish, St. John the Evangelist in Lower Makefield, a grand jury later asserted, but like so many abusers had eluded prosecution.

As far as any of Cunningham’s boyhood friends had known, the scrawny bookworm with a million-dollar smile had been among the lucky altar boys to avoid the predator’s reach. He had earned a master’s degree, built a career, even won a seat on his local board of supervisors.

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

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

October 26, 2017

By Mindy Aguon

Photo Caption: Louis Brouillard, now 96, has been named in dozens of clergy sex abuse cases filed in the local and federal courts on Guam.

A former altar boy and Boy Scout has come forward alleging a priest offered to teach him how to play basketball but instead sexually abused the boy in the Malojloj convent every Sunday for three months.

M.P., 56, who used initials to protect his identity, filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Guam on Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and retired priest Louis Brouillard.

M.P. was raised by his grandparents, who were friends with Brouillard when he was the parish priest at the San Isidro Catholic Church in Malojloj in the 1970s.

The priest requested M.P. be allowed to become an altar boy and join the Boy Scouts.

At 13 years old, immediately upon becoming an altar boy, Brouillard began to sexually molest and abuse M.P., court documents state.

After serving his first Sunday Mass, M.P. was in the convent with the other altar boys and Boy Scouts and witnessed Brouillard walking about naked, groping and fondling the boys, according to the complaint.

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

NEW YORK
ABC7 Eyewitness News

October 25, 2017

NEW YORK (WABC) — Attorneys for child sex abuse victims have announced six settlements involving priests with the Archdiocese of New York and Brooklyn.

The settlements involve the actions of five different priests.

There were strong words from advocates for these victims at a news conference Wednesday, who claim that the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Brooklyn did nothing about this until now. The new settlement is another $1.8 million being paid out to the six additional victims, ranging from $50,000 to $450,000 for abuse dating back to 1959.

Five priests are being talked about in this latest settlement. Three are now deceased and all have been removed as priests.

Father Gennaro “Jerry” Gentile, Monsignor Casper Wolf and Father Herbert D’Argenio were all from the New York Archdiocese.

Father Adam Prochaski and Father Herbert McElroy were from Brooklyn.

The two names that were not released until Wednesday are Father D’Argenio and Msgr. Wolf. Both are now deceased.

Monsignor Wolf is significant because he worked at Cardinal Hayes High School for nearly three decades.

Advocates for the victims say this is a shameful day for the archdiocese.

“What we have seen today is a shameful example of what the Archdiocese of New York considers business as usual,” said Joelle Casteix, a victim’s advocate. “When we look at Monsignor Casper Wolf and Father Herbert D’Argenio, we see two men that the Archdiocese of New York knew were child sex abusers, and they did nothing to warn children. They did nothing to tell parents and they did nothing to reach out to the survivors for years.”

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.

AURORA (IL)
Aurora Beacon-News

October 24, 2017

by Hannah Leone

A Kane County investigator in a former Aurora priest’s sex abuse case may have destroyed some notes while withholding others, according to the former priest’s lawyer, who is seeking information about the investigator’s recent resignation from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Alfredo Pedraza Arias, 51, is scheduled for a November trial on felony charges he sexually abused and assaulted two young girls between 2012 and 2014 while a priest at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Immigration officials revoked the temporary religious worker visa for Arias, who is from Colombia. His trial has been repeatedly delayed while he faces deportation. Prosecutors have accused Arias of trying to use his deportation to avoid trial.

In a hearing earlier this month, Kane County Circuit Judge Linda Abrahamson said the recent disclosure about the notes was “like an atomic bomb” and that the trial may be affected by whether lawyers have access to the man who investigated the case for the Kane County Child Advocacy Center.

The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office would not confirm the investigator’s employment status, stating they don’t comment on personnel matters.

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

ST. CATHARINES (ONTARIO, CANADA)
The St. Catharines Standard

October 24, 2017

By Grant LaFleche

[Note: To read The Standard’s investigative series The Wolf in Priest’s Clothing about William O’Sullivan’s story and Donald Grecco go to www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2017/09/10/the-wolf-in-priests-clothing-complete-series]

There was no forgiveness in William O’Sullivan’s heart Tuesday for the priest who sexually abused him as a child. But there was empathy as he watched Donald Grecco be led away from a St. Catharines courtroom to serve the next 18 months of his life in prison.

“I know where he is going. I know what it is like, so I have some empathy. I’m human,” said O’Sullivan, who has served time in prison. “But when they led him away and got the handcuffs out, that was good to see.”

Justice Joseph Nadel sentenced Grecco to 18 months in prison, with three years of parole after his time is served, for three counts of gross indecency for the sexual abuse of three boys from 1975 to 1982.

Nadel also ordered Grecco’s DNA be recorded for the national sex offender registry and banned him for life from attending public places where those under 16 are likely to be, including public parks, school grounds and community centres.

Grecco is also forbidden from contacting people under 16 in any fashion whatsoever and after his release will have to stay half a kilometre away from his victims.

Grecco, who came to court wearing a winter jacket and a black toque, did not speak during the hearing and looked at the ground as he was being led away by court officers.

Grecco pleaded guilty to the charges in May. This is his second conviction for sexually abusing children while he was a Catholic priest. In 2010, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for abusing three boys.

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.

BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman

October 24, 2017

By Michael Katz and Nicole Blanchard

The Most Rev. Michael P. Driscoll served as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise for 15 years. He died Tuesday of natural causes at the age of 78, the diocese announced in a statement.

Driscoll was born in Long Beach, Calif., and was ordained as a priest in 1965. He was later ordained a bishop in 1990. Pope John Paul II appointed him the seventh bishop of Boise on Jan. 19, 1999. He held that position until he retired in 2014.

The bishop oversaw several shifts in the landscape of Idaho’s Catholic churches. His outreach to the growing Hispanic community brought an influx of priests from Mexico and Colombia to Idaho, and he was closely associated with Catholic Charities, the church’s social justice arm. Driscoll founded the Idaho branch of the charity in 2000, and it now operates in both Boise and Idaho Falls.

Driscoll also emphasized the roles of youth and young adults in the church and brought to Idaho a program that provides ongoing education for priests.

As the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandal reached Idaho in the early 2000s, Driscoll stripped several Idaho priests of their ministry duties and restricted the roles of others as he offered apologies and outreach to victims. His actions were met with mixed praise and criticism, particularly from victims.

“Upon my first visit to the diocese, I soon realized that Bishop Driscoll was a pastoral and compassionate shepherd to the people and his priests by the manner in which he passed the leadership of the diocese on to me,” said Peter Christensen, who took over as bishop after Driscoll left. “His love for this diocese was evident not only in his words, but also by his pastoral care for all. He was truly a gentle and kind man.”

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.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

October 23, 2017

By James Rufus Koren

Harvey Weinstein. Bill O’Reilly. Roger Ailes. Bill Cosby. The Catholic Church.

All were able to skirt years and sometimes decades of allegations of sexual harassment or assault through the use of settlements or contracts that included nondisclosure agreements: legal provisions that swear employees or alleged victims to secrecy.

Those cases — and especially the unfolding Weinstein scandal — have sparked criticism that the agreements allow powerful companies and individuals to stave off scrutiny and continue abusive practices. Now, there is a move afoot to place clear restrictions on their use.

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.

SALTILLO (Mexico)
Vanguardia

October 25, 2017

Por Armando Ríos

[Google Translate: Suspected victim of Father Meño in Piedras Negras, reported having suffered threats]

Presentará un libro que contiene los casos de pederastia que fueron tapados por el cardenal Norberto Rivera

Tras haber huído del Estado por una serie de amenazas, José Ignacio Martínez firmó con una asociación civil, dedicada a dar acompañamiento psicológico y legal a las víctimas de pederastia y abuso sexual infantil.

Ignacio Martínez asegura que su alineación con Inside es un parteaguas para los casos de pederastia en Coahuila, que asegura ya tiene contemplados para la atención y la denuncia, con el acompañamiento de la Pronnif y el Gobierno Estatal.

“Yo no puedo hablar de los casos, deben ser ellos. A mí me escoltaron de mi casa para sacarme del Estado, porque rayaban mis paredes, me llamaban y me dejaban cartas con amenazas. Evitamos que le pase eso a otros”, señaló.

José Ignacio Martínez, quien denunció haber sido víctima de pederastia por parte del padre “Meño”, Juan Manuel Riojas, en Piedras Negras, anunció que tendrá una visita a Monterrey, donde junto con la asociación y la familia Garza Sada se presentará un libro que contiene los casos de pederastia que fueron tapados por el cardenal Norberto Rivera.

Por su parte, Jesús Romero Colin, activista y presidente de la asociación Inside, señaló que esta asociación tiene trabajando desde este año, donde se le ha dado acompañamiento junto con su experiencia, a por lo menos 10 casos de pederastia de toda la República.

Explicó que dos de los factores que han notado del por qué residen este tipo de problemas dentro de la Iglesia, son la castidad pactada por el clero, y el alojamiento que se da a criminales que después se convierten ante la sociedad en “guías espirituales”. “Por cada cura pederasta hay por lo menos 20 víctimas. Conozco casos de curas que superan las 100 violaciones hacia niños”.

“Pretendemos visibilizar la situación, darle seguimiento a los casos en todos los aspectos, pero también crear métodos de prevención. Que las familias sepan que hay que ponerle atención al tema del abuso infantil, llámese en el clero o fuera de él. Este es un tema que sólo se puede prevenir dando información”, señaló Romero Colin.

Por último, el presidente de la asociación hizo un llamado a Raúl Vera, para coadyuvar en las investigaciones donde se señale existan casos de pederastia, y trabajar en conjunto para que no exista ni un niño abusado más.

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MICHIGAN
Times Herald

October 23, 2017

by Nicole Hayden

A civil lawsuit was filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court on Friday against Grace Ministry Center in Kimball Township and its former pastor Mitch Olson.

The suit was filed on behalf of the woman who accused Olson of groping her during a religious ceremony. The suit seeks in excess of $25,000. Allegations against Olson include battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Allegations against Grace Ministry Center include negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

The lawsuit comes after the St. Clair County Prosecutor’s Office declined to bring criminal charges against Olson after he was accused of sexually assaulting the woman, 20, of Port Huron. A police report was filed in August that stated Olson placed his hands on the woman’s breasts, buttocks and pubic area during an anointing ceremony inside her apartment.

Olson resigned from his position at the church on Oct. 8, according to a recorded farewell letter he read to church members. Olson was served with the lawsuit on Sunday at Grace Ministry Center during his farewell gathering.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

October 25, 2017

By Janela Carrera

Brouillard allegedly promised to pay for the victim’s college education. But upon arriving there, J.T. says he realized that was never going to happen.

Guam – The latest sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Agana involves a former altar server who claims he was summoned to live with a Guam priest in the states under the guise of pursuing a college education only to discover that he was an intended sex slave.

Most of the sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the church and the priest described as having the most sexually deviant behavior involve abuse that occurred on Guam. But perhaps for the first time, this latest lawsuits details abuse that stretches all the way to Minnesota where Father Louis Brouillard relocated to after serving as a priest for over a decade on Guam.

The alleged abuse began on Guam in the early 1970s when J.T., who’s now 53 years old, served as an altar boy at the Malojloj Parish. J.T. appeared to be Brouillard’s favorite as he often pulled J.T. out of class to accompany him on errand runs, often times sexually abusing the minor during these times.

The abuse only stopped in 1976 when, according to J.T., Brouillard was transferred to another parish. As a result, J.T. left the church and never returned.

But about 5 years later, in 1981, Brouillard resurfaced in J.T.’s life when the priest, now living in Minnesota, offered J.T. a deal his parents could not refuse: to pay for J.T.’s airfair, college tuition, food and housing, so long as he moved to Minnesota to live with him.

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EMBU (KENYA)
Daily Nation

October 23 2017

By Charles Wanyoro

An Anglican Church of Kenya clergyman was on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of defiling his seven-year-old orphaned niece.

Embu Principal Magistrate Samuel Mutai ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the reverend, 38, who ministered at the Embu Diocese committed the offence.

The court heard that on or before April 19 last year, at Spring Valley estate, within Embu municipality, he unlawfully and with intention assaulted the girl.

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Agence France-Presse

October 25, 2017

Chandrama Raj, a pastor with the Indian Mission Church in Bihar, was arrested after one of the alleged victims filed a rape complaint in September

NEW DELHI: The police have arrested a pastor in Bihar who is accused of raping two women on the pretext of driving out evil spirits, an official said today.

Chandrama Raj, the pastor with the Indian Mission Church in Bihar, was arrested after one of the alleged victims filed a complaint in September.

“We conducted a preliminary inquiry and have arrested the priest. He has been sent to judicial custody,” Manu Maharaj, the senior police superintendent of the state capital Patna, told AFP.

The women accused the pastor of inviting them to his home where he promised to drive away their evil spirits through prayer. It was there that he raped them, police said.

India has a grim record of sexual assaults, with 34,651 cases reported in 2015, according to government data.

It is not the first time the church in India has faced accusations of sexual abuse.

Two high-profile exposes by former Catholic nuns have in recent years revealed the scale of sexual exploitation by priests and the prevalence of same-sex relations in Indian convents.

Last year an Indian priest was sentenced to 40 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl in 2014.

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