ABUSE TRACKER

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

The rape and carnal abuse case involving Moravian clergyman Rev Rupert Clarke has taken on an alarming new twist, including claims by the family of the girl he is accused of abusing that they were being harassed by people in their community to keep silent.

Checks by the Jamaica Observer with several members of the police in St Elizabeth revealed that, while they have heard of rumours of intimidation against the family, no actual reports had been made to the authorities on this particular matter.

“Yes, we have heard about these rumours of intimidation against the family of the girl in the mentioned case. In fact, we have heard of many other allegations in the case in question. We have investigated and are still investigating all these claims, but to date no one is willing to give a statement to us,” one policeman told the Observer last evening.

“This is most disconcerting for us, as people must come forward for us to either provide protection, or to share any information they have to assist us with the case. We cannot operate solely on rumours alone,” the policeman 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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

The sex scandal in the Moravian Church is deepening.

A former Moravian Minister has now produced a trail of email contradicting claims by the church leadership that it had no previous knowledge of allegations of misconduct against the 64-year-old pastor now before the court on a sex charge.

The email between Dr Canute Thompson and the president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica Dr Paul Gardner date back to 2014.

They have come days after Gardner rejected assertions that Rupert Clarke, the 64-year-old pastor charged with having sex with a minor was previously reported for sexual misconduct.

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.

TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

By J. Michael Parker and Elaine Ayala
January 9, 2017

Retired Archbishop Patrick Flores, a onetime migrant farm worker and high school dropout who overcame discrimination to eventually become the nation’s first Mexican-American bishop, died Monday in San Antonio.

Flores, whose full name was Patricio Fernandez Flores,waged a long battle with congestive heart failure, dementia and Meniere’s disease, a hearing disorder that causes veritgo, tinnitus and hearing loss. In the end, he suffered pneumonia.

He had not been seen in public much since 2008 and was living in Padua Place Residence, a retirement home for priests. …

He always said his deepest sorrow was over sexual abuse by priests. He insisted he’d acted in good faith and, with one early exception, always removed abusive priests from ministry immediately upon learning of credible allegations.

Others angrily disputed his claims, saying he didn’t believe their allegations and demanded proof.

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.

TEXAS
KIII

SAN ANTONIO (KENS5) – SAN ANTONIO – Former Archbishop Patricio Fernandez Flores passed away Monday at the age of 87, according to the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Flores served as the fourth archbishop of San Antonio from 1979-2005. The Archdiocese said he was the first Mexican-American elevated to this hierarchy in the Catholic Church in the United States.

After Flores’ ordination to the priesthood, he previously served at Houston parishes.

He also served as director of the Christian Family Movement and as director of the Bishop’s Committee for the Spanish-Speaking, a ministry that encouraged bilingual congregations.

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.

CALIFORNIA/UTAH
Angelus

January 10, 2017 – By JD Long-Garcia

Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis was listening to his brother priests during a morning deanery meeting in San Pedro when his cell phone began to vibrate. He ignored it. It went off again. And then again, but he didn’t answer.

He had another meeting later that afternoon, so he couldn’t join the others for lunch. He checked his phone and noticed that it was the papal nuncio — Archbishop Christophe Pierre — who had been calling. Bishop Solis called him back.

“Am I in trouble? What did I do?” Bishop Solis quipped once the archbishop had picked up the phone.

“No, no, no,” Bishop Solis recalled Archbishop Pierre saying, then adding as a side note, “The papal nuncio has a great sense of humor, you know?”

“Bishop, are you by yourself?” the archbishop asked Bishop Solis.

“Yes, your excellency.”

“I would like to share some good news with you.”

“What is it?” Bishop Solis said.

“The Holy Father has appointed you to be the ordinary in Salt Lake City.”

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.

UTAH
KATC

Updated: Jan 10, 2017

His Holiness, Pope Francis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles Oscar A. Solis as Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, the Vatican announced today.

Bishop Solis was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles on December 11, 2003 by Pope John Paul II and ordained on February 10, 2004, becoming the first Filipino-American elevated to the episcopacy in the history of the United States. He will now be the first Filipino-American Bishop to lead a Diocese in the United States.

Bishop Solis will be introduced in Salt Lake City at a diocesan press conference Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, 27 C Street, in the lower level Bishop Federal Hall, at 11:00 am CT/10 am PST. The press conference will be livestreamed at: www.ksl.com.

“It’s a beautiful thing to receive the appointment,” said Bishop Solis. “It’s a recognition of the diversity of the Church in America and the universality of the Church. I understand what it means to be a pastor, a shepherd of a particular diocese. It is a tremendous blessing and a responsibility and a privilege to be of service to the local Church in the United States of America, coming from the Philippines.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

Kate Hickey @KateHickey_ January 10, 2017

Today marks five years since Irish journalist, filmmaker, and writer Mary Raftery died of ovarian cancer, aged 54. Nominated in 2011 for “NNI National Journalist of the Year” for her work in exposing the clerical abuse of children in Ireland, Raftery was regarded as one of the country’s finest investigative journalists exposing not only clerical abuse but abuse in the Irish childcare system and the appalling conditions within the country’s psychiatric units.

Raftery famously made the 1999 documentary “States of Fear” and the “Cardinal Secrets” in 2002 and her work was widely viewed as having led to the establishment of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. The Commission reported its findings in May of 2009.

Beginning her investigative career with “In Dublin” magazine in the 1970s, Raftery later moved on to “Magill” magazine and then to RTÉ.

Speaking to RTE radio at the time of her death, Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin paid tribute to journalist and documentary maker, stating, “Bringing the truth out is always a positive thing even though it may be a painful truth.

“I believe that through her exposition of sins of the past and of the moment that the church is a better place for children and a place which has learned many lessons.”

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.

JAMAICA
Loop

People’s National Party councillor for the Trafalgar Division in South East St. Andrew, Kari Douglas is renewing her call for the Principal of Hampton High, Heather Murray, to resign.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Councilor Douglas said she welcomes news that Murray has apologised for attempting to bar the media from taking photographs at Court of the alleged child abuser, 64-year-old Moravian pastor, Rupert Clarke, who was charged with rape last week after being allegedly caught in a compromising position in his car with a 15-year-old girl in Austin district, St Elizabeth.

However, Councillor Douglas said she is shocked by Murray’s admission that she signed documents in relation to the accused child abuser’s move to secure his temporary freedom (bail).

Commenting further, Councillor Douglas said while it is not wrong to sign documents as a Justice of the Peace in furtherance of bail being processed, Murray should have recognised that her sensitive and substantive post as Principal, along with her duty of care to hundreds of young girls, should have compelled her not to associate herself with the process of the alleged child abuser securing his temporary freedom.

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.

RHODE ISLAND
ABC News

By MICHELLE R. SMITH AND NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jan 9, 2017

A Rhode Island judge is allowing a lawsuit seeking millions of dollars to move forward against the disgraced Roman Catholic order the Legion of Christ.

The lawsuit, brought by the national anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, says the Legion interfered with an inheritance the group should have received from a wealthy widow. It says the Legion conspired to get Gabrielle Mee to cut the group out of her will and instead give her entire $60 million fortune to the Legion. Bernard Jackvony, a lawyer for Americans United for Life, said up to $6 million is at stake.

It’s one of several legal battles facing the Legion in the U.S. stemming from the fallout of a sexual abuse scandal involving the order’s founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, and church officials. A church investigation determined Maciel sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children. The Vatican took over the order in 2010, and Pope Benedict XVI ordered a wholesale reform.

In its lawsuit filed last year, Americans United for Life says Mee had bequeathed it 10 percent of her estate in a 1991 will. She later changed her will to leave everything to the Legion. Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein last week rejected the Legion’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, although he agreed to dismiss two claims: fraud and undue influence.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Austrlaian

January 10, 2017

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The former Anglican bishop of Ballarat David Silk sounds defensive at first when called early in the morning at his home in southwest England.

Why ask these questions about one of his priests, he must be thinking? Why dig up the past?

His tone softens when the line of questioning becomes clear. In 1996, he employed a priest who transferred from Newcastle, in NSW, where the bishop at the time was the current Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft.

Was Monsignor Silk told at the time that child-sex alle­gations were made against the priest months after he arrived in the Victorian diocese, then made again in 1999? Or that the priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged by NSW police the following year?

No, he tells The Australian. The priest came personally recommended by Archbishop Herft.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

January 10, 2017

GREG BROWN
JournalistMelbourne
@gregbrown_TheOz

Former Victorian Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale has been charged with 36 historical counts of rape and assault that allegedly occurred in the state’s west between the 1960s and the 80s.

The 82-year-old former school chaplain and parish priest was charged by Victoria Police’s Sano Taskforce, which was established in 2012 to investigate child exploitation. He will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 20.

“Sano Taskforce detectives have charged a man following an investigation into alleged historical sexual abuse at various locations in the western region of Victoria between the 1960s to the 1980s,” Victoria Police said last night. “The 82-year-old man has been charged with more than 36 charges, including rape, buggery and indecent assault and common law assault.”

The Sano Taskforce continues to investigate historical sexual abuse claims made against the nation’s most senior Catholic, George Pell.

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.

JAMAICA
Loop

A group of women staged a quiet protest at the Nazareth Moravian Church in Manchester during the regular morning service on Sunday, to register their concern about the arrest and charge of Pastor Rupert Clarke of the church.

The 64-year-old pastor was charged after being allegedly caught by police personnel on patrol in St Elizabeth, in a compromising position with a 15-year-old girl nearly two weeks ago.

Dressed in T-shirts bearing messages against sexual abuse – “I will not be silent anymore” – the group, made up of some 15 persons, attended the church service and took seats in the front rows of the congregation.

The women, some of whom were reported to have been victims of sexual assault, expressed anger at the perceived silence of church on the matter of the pastor’s arrest.

The protesters said their actions were in support for the alleged victim.

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

IRELAND
The Journal

Cianan Brennan

THE DUBIOUS NATURE of the process surrounding the adoption of Irish children by American citizens in the 1950s has come to light with the publication of foreign policy papers dating from that decade.

The documents, which range from summaries of meetings to communiqués between civil servants to briefing notes for ministers, show a bureaucratic system that was entirely hands off and saw the adoption of Irish children born outside of marriage by foreign citizens as a fundamental ‘good’.

The papers detailing these adoptions are contained in Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Volume X, which covers the years 1951 to 1957, as published by the Royal Irish Academy.

At that time, as many as 10 Irish children a month, the vast majority of them born outside marriage and as a result resident in Catholic institutions, were being adopted by Americans. Some 330 such children left these shores between 1950 and 1952, with such records only being kept from the former date.

This trend was far from secret, and indeed was openly derided in the British press.

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
New York Daily News

Editorial

In a morally important move, Timothy Cardinal Dolan in October handed famed mediator Ken Feinberg a blank check to make right by those victimized by clergy in the New York Archdiocese, covering Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island and points north.

The first round of victims who can apply for compensation are 150 people who had already lodged complaints to the church.

Their deadline is Jan. 31, and participation is important. The choice is deeply personal, but the alternatives are to suffer in silence or wait and see if New York someday passes a law allowing lapsed claims to resurface.

About half of the 150 people, 72, have submitted claims. Feinberg is carefully weighing the awful details of each case and so far has produced 33 offers to compensate for suffering.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Now

Following the news that the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Report has been presented to the First and Deputy First Ministers, the Survivors (North West) group have issued a statement calling on them to give the matter the attention it deserves.

A spokesperson for the group said: “As a result of the announcement, that the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Report has been delivered to the First and Deputy First Ministers, we, Survivors (North West), hope that the First and Deputy First Ministers, will (notwithstanding other issues) give this report the attention that it deserves.

“Hundreds of Victims and Survivors have waited decades for justice. This Inquiry and the Report, we believe holds the key to that justice.

“Sir Anthony Hart, Chairperson of the Inquiry acknowledged in his statement on Friday both the pain and the courage of those who came forward to give evidence to the Inquiry. We have no reason to doubt that the Report will be a damning indictment of the system and the Institutions that he was charged with investigating.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

Tom Cowie, Melissa Cunningham

Ridsdale, 82, will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court next Friday for a mention hearing as part of an investigation by Victoria Police’s Sano Taskforce.

The disgraced Catholic priest has been charged with multiple offences against a number of alleged victims from across Victoria.

Charges include rape, buggery and unlawful and indecent assault of children between the 1960s and 1980s, when he was a priest in the Ballarat diocese.

A number of Ridsdale’s alleged victims are understood to have come forward to Victoria Police in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jan 09, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The Sunday pickets return. After taking a brief break for the holidays, dozens of members of the Concerned Catholics of Guam and the Laity Forward Movement resumed their Sunday morning protests on the steps of the Cathedral-Basilica.

Although most of their concerns have been addressed, they continue to demand that Archbishop Anthony Apuron be defrocked and removed of his title. Apuron faces a canonical trial in Rome as well as lawsuits here at home for alleged child molestation, which he has vehemently denied.

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 News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The protesters took a two-week break in light of the holiday season.

Guam – After a two week hiatus from their weekly protests, members of the Laity Forward Movement and the Concerned Catholics of Guam were back at it, picketing this past Sunday in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagatna.

Although the crowd continues at the steady dozens, the number of demands is gradually decreasing.

It started with several messages on signs calling for the reinstatement of a few beloved priests who were ousted by Archbishop Anthony Apuron; the return of the Yona seminary to archdiocese control; and the removal and defrocking of Apuron stemming from allegations of sexual abuse.

With the reappointments of Father Paul Gofigan and Msgr. James Benavente into senior positions within the church and the reversal of a controversial deed restriction on the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property, the remaining message at Sunday’s protest is for Apuron to be 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.

FLORIDA
ABC 7

NORTH FORT MYERS –
A child care worker was fired after being accused of child abuse at a North Fort Myers daycare.

Lee County deputies said Janet Crappse violently dropped a baby into a crib at Kings Kidz Academy. A spokesperson for the daycare said everything was caught on surveillance video.

Kings Kidz Academy is operated by North Shore Alliance Church on Mariana Avenue.

Crappse has been in trouble before. She was charged with theft in 2013. The head pastor said he didn’t know about Crappse’s previous charge and parents learned of the latest allegations on Thursday.

“She’s with the young kids; she’s with the babies,” said parent Nancy Macclugage.

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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

The recent case of a 64-year-old Moravian pastor charged with having sex with a minor is cause for great concern. According to police reports, about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 28, 2016, a motorised police patrol in the deep rural community of Austin in Myersville, south-east St Elizabeth, came upon a parked car in a secluded area.

It was reported that the pastor was found in a “compromising position” with a 15-year-old girl. They were taken to the Black River Police Station, where the pastor was charged with having sex with a girl under the age of 16 years.

After the story broke, I was interviewed on the radio programme ‘Beyond The Headlines’ about sexual abuse in the church, and made it clear that sex with minors is not confined to the church, but is a systemic problem throughout our society.

Following the broadcast, I received a message from a Christian friend of mine in my Facebook inbox. She confided to me that she is a member of the accused pastor’s church, and that stories of his inappropriate behavior had been circulating for some time, from even before he was transferred to his present location, and that she strongly believes that church hierarchy knew about it.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
January 9, 2017

CATHOLIC priest Gerald Ridsdale has been charged with fresh child sex offences.

The 82-year-old is listed to front the Melbourne Magistrates Court next week where it is expected he will appear via video-link.

The Herald Sun understands Ridsdale has been charged with abusing a string of children while working as a priest in the Ballarat diocese.

He worked at parishes including Ballarat, Mortlake and Warrnambool.

The charges follow Ridsdale’s evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By James Hancock

Former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale has been charged with a string of historical sexual abuse charges, including rape, buggery, indecent assault and assault.

The 82-year-old has been charged with at least 36 offences.

Police allege the offences occurred at several places in western Victoria from the 1960s to the 1980s.

The charges were laid by the SANO Taskforce, which was set up to investigate historical and new allegations of child sex abuse involving religious and non-government organisations.

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

AUSTRALIA
Weekly Times

Australian Associated Press
January 9, 2017

Former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale will face court over dozens of fresh historical sexual abuse offences.

Police say an 82-year-old man has been charged with more than 36 offences including rape, buggery and indecent and common assault.

It’s alleged the offences occurred at various locations in the western region of Victoria from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Ridsdale was charged by the Sano Taskforce, which was set up to investigate historical and new allegations of child sex abuse involving religious and non-government organisations.

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
Post-Star

Ken Tingley

The letter was written on Dec. 14 and addressed to me.

It was a serious letter written by serious people of depth and conviction.

That was clear.

It asked difficult questions and made points that made me uncomfortable.

I read the letter more than once.

I thought about throwing it away.

I thought about writing about it, changed my mind and then read it again before putting it away.

There were not easy answers to their concerns.

So I thought about it over the past month. I thought about it a lot.

The letter was signed by one man, but he indicated he was representing “Sunday and daily Mass attenders” who described themselves as “The Church.”

The letter took issue with my columns about a proposed piece of legislation that would allow victims of sexual abuse — and more specifically those abused by clergy — to have a one-year period in which they could bring suit against their abusers.

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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Sunday | January 8, 2017

Tamara Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Sunday service at the Nazareth Moravian Church in Manchester was the scene of a peaceful protest this morning by 14 women rallying support for the 15-year-old St Elizabeth girl allegedly abused by 64-year-old Rupert Clarke, the pastor of the congregation.

The 64-year-old pastor charged with having sex with a minor has been granted bail in the St Elizabeth Parish Court.

Clad in t-shirts bearing messages against sexual abuse, the women sat in the front rows of the congregation this morning.

The women, some of whom were themselves victims of sexual assault, expressed their anger at the church’s silence on the matter.

“They weren’t forced out of the church or anything but they definitely received some verbal attacks,” said a representative for the group, Taitu Heron noting that the women arrived in two sets.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Cian Murray, Alan O’Keefe
PUBLISHED
08/01/2017

An art installation which was designed to remember Ireland’s Mother and Baby Centres went up in flames in Dublin’s Temple Bar this afternoon.

The fire was located on the corner of Essex and Exchange Street near the Smock Alley Theatre.

A nearby premises, that wishes not to named, confirmed that the exhibition was alight until around 5:30pm, at which time it was extinguinshed.

Mannix Flynn, who designed the piece, said: “It is destroyed. The whole piece of work is destroyed. The artwork itseslf has been there for two years. It calls to remember all the children who have been vanished, the “Tuam babies” and also the many children we know nothing about in this part of our social history.”

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

IRELAND
The Journal

AN ART INSTALLATION remembering the children who died in Ireland’s Mother and Baby centres has gone up in flames in Temple Bar this evening.

Pictures have circulated showing the artwork, which was unveiled by councillor Mannix Flynn in November last year, on fire.

The feature, which is located on the corner of Essex Street and Exchange Street in Temple Bar, had listed hundreds of names of children who were deemed ‘illegitimate’ by the State.

Councillor Flynn said it’s a great shame that the fire has started and said he hopes “that it can be salvaged”.

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

WEEKLY PICKET: After going on break for a couple weeks in observance of the holiday season, protests continue in light of a message released by the Vatican concerning efforts to stamp out child sexual abuse. Lou Klitzkie, spokeswoman of the group composed of members of the lay organizations Laity Forward Movement and Concerned Catholics of Guam, said their mission remained the same: to keep protesting until Archbishop Anthony Apuron is both removed from his post as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana and defrocked of the vestments of the clergy. David Castro/Post

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

Nick Bramhill @IrishCentral January 08, 2017

One of Ireland’s most prominent ‘silenced’ priests has announced he will defy Church authorities when he turns 70 later this month by celebrating a public Mass in his local community center.

Fr. Tony Flannery, the outspoken founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, was banned from public ministry nearly five years ago by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) for his liberal views on women priests, homosexuality and contraception.

Since the start of his censureship the respected Redemptorist, from Athenry, Co. Galway, has spoken of his heartache at being forced by Church leaders to turn down a number invitations to lead Mass in public places – including an occasion last March when he reluctantly declined an offer to conduct a service to dozens of cancer sufferers.

He has since accepted there is little chance of the Vatican leaders ever relaxing their ban on him, meaning a return to the priesthood is highly unlikely.

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 JERSEY
NJ.com

Tom Moran
tmoran@starledger.com

My mother would have cried in joy to see Cardinal Joseph Tobin take over the Newark archdiocese on Friday, and for good reason.

Think of Tobin as our own Pope Francis. At the Vatican, he was the guy who defended spunky American nuns when conservatives wanted to discipline them for questioning church orthodoxies. And in Indiana, he was vigorous in his early and public embrace of Syrian refugees, as Jesus surely would have been.

“What I find is really important in positions like mine is being able to listen,” Tobin said.

Wow. That’s not the kind of Catholic leader I grew up with, to put it mildly. So to the 1.2 million Catholics in the archdiocese, a hearty congratulations and fervent best wishes that Tobin is as good as he seems.

Tobin’s elevation, of course, is only half the reason that Catholics are celebrating this week. The other is that Archbishop John Myers, a classic pedophile protector, is leaving.

Myers, who likes to be called “Your Grace,” will retire to an opulent estate in Hunterdon County that he has used church funds to gear up just right. It has five bedrooms, a three-car garage, two elevators, a swimming pool, an indoor hot tub, three fireplaces, and a gallery so large it takes up the entire third floor. All this for a bachelor.

The money spent on this home would have gone a long way to help poor families in the archdiocese. But Myers has his priorities. Sorry, your grace, but it has to be said. …

In his final months, Myers was still protecting pedophiles, and still lying about it with the careful word games of a smarmy public relations firm.

The recent case concerned Father Kevin Gugliotta, whose latest post was at the Holy Spirit Church in Union.

He was arrested in late October after police found child pornography on a computer at his vacation home in Pennsylvania. The obvious question is whether he endangered children in New Jersey during his decades as a priest in various parishes.

“There are no allegations that he may have engaged in similar activities in New Jersey,” Myers said in a statement issued by his office.

So we can relax and be assured that our kids, at least, were safe. Right?

Wrong. In 2003, a father of two children came forward to report that Gugliotta had fondled him 15 years earlier, just before Gugliotta became a priest. The alleged victim testified to both police and the archdiocese, and Gugliotta was suspended.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, January 6, 2017

Statement by Joelle Casteix, volunteer western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests SNAPNetwork.org, (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

New York’s families won a small victory today. Hopefully, the bill to extend the civil statute of limitations for victims of child sex crimes will finally become a law in New York State. Then, child predators across New York will be exposed. Survivors will get healing and a sense of justice.

[Washington Times]

The private institutions who employed and protected predators can be held accountable. Once that is done, we can work together with lawmakers to tackle the host of problems in writing a bill to address sexual abuse in our public institutions.The Catholic Church and other detractors should no longer fight statute of limitation reform. Cardinal Dolan’s victim compensation plan is short on transparency and details. The only way that victims and the public can be sure that all predators are exposed is to hold predators and the private institutions that employ them accountable in the tried-and-true civil justice system.

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.

UTAH
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Melanie Jula Sakoda, volunteer member of the Board of Directors of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (925-708-6175)

The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Thomas S. Monson, has been subpoenaed by lawyers in a civil suit to answer questions about what Monson knows about accusations of sexual abuse in a church-run program on a Navajo reservation during the 1960s and 1970s. Monson is the only official from the time who is still alive. The LDS has indicated that they intend to try to quash the subpoena.

[Fox 13]

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, believes that the best way to protect children, as well as insure a just result in the lawsuit, is to have the Mormon leader reveal what, if anything, he knows about abuse allegations within the program. The victims’ group urges the LDS Church to rethink their position and to allow Monson to freely testify in the deposition. Should the Mormons continue with their intended course of action, SNAP hopes that the judge in the proceeding will order Monson to comply with the subpoena.

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

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

PARIS GOURTSOYANNIS

Nicola Sturgeon’s government is under growing pressure to make sex education compulsory in Catholic schools amid growing alarm about the impact that online pornography and “sexting” is having on children in Scotland.

Campaigners and politicians are warning that children educated in faith schools are being left behind when it comes to combating the sexual harassment and “sextortion” threats posed by those abusing internet technology.

Scottish ministers have been told that faith schools, which teach one in five pupils in Scotland and are almost all Catholic, should no longer be allowed to follow their own guidance on sex and relationship education.

The calls follow moves by the UK government to consider making sex education compulsory in all schools south of the border.

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.

JAMAICA
Loop

The principal of the all-girls Hampton School in St Elizabeth has sought to explain her presence at Wednesday’s bail hearing for the Moravian pastor charged with raping a 15-year-old.

Heather Murray sought to explain herself in a statement issued Thursday as she came under heavy criticism on social media after it was reported that she attended the hearing of 64-year-old Rupert Clarke in the St Elizabeth Parish Court.

“I find it necessary to set the record straight in the matter of my presence at the bail hearing of Rev Rupert Clarke,” Murray said.

“His wife has been my very good friend since we both attended Hampton School in the 1960s/70s. We are both long time educators who have been serving together for many years on several boards, committees and commissions. We are both Justices of the Peace,” she added.

“Such is the closeness of our relationship that when the news broke, I was naturally the first person to whom she turned for solace and support,” the principal added. “I have not left her side since because I know that my friend needs me. She reached out to me as a wife, mother and friend.”

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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

January 6, 2017

Sherine Williams

The principal of the Hampton School, Heather Murray, has issued a statement defending her presence at the bail hearing of a Moravian minister of religion who is charged with having sex with a minor.

While outside the St Elizabeth Parish Court, Murray reportedly tried to block The Gleaner’s photographer from taking a photograph of the Moravian minister, Rupert Clarke.

Since then, Murray has faced huge public backlash, particularly from persons on social media who claim that Murray’s presence at the hearing was appalling, especially in light of her position as principal of an all-girls institution. In the statement last night, Murray sought “to set the record straight”, stating that she went to the hearing in support of the minister’s wife, who, she says, is a high-school friend of hers.

“We are both long-time educators who have been serving together for many years on several boards, committees, and commissions. We are both justices of the peace. Such is the closeness of our relationship that when the news broke, I was, naturally, the first person to whom she turned for solace and support. I have not left her side since because I know that my friend needs me. She reached out to me as a wife, mother, and friend,” Murray explained in the release.

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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

[with audio]

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

The executive committee of the Board of the Hampton School in St Elizabeth is to meet with the embattled principal Heather Murray over her conduct at the bail hearing of the Manchester-based pastor on sex charges.

Murray has been the subject of intense social media pressure since Wednesday when she appeared at the bail hearing of 64-year-old Rupert Clarke, the pastor charged with having sex with a minor.

She is also reported to have attempted to block The Gleaner photographer from taking images of the accused pastor while he was being led from the courthouse.

The chairman of board of the Hampton School Trevor Blake said the board held talks with Murray yesterday raising concern about the reports that she had sought to block media representatives and he said she denied interfering with journalists.

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.

JAMAICA
Loop

Outspoken councillor for the Trafalgar Division in St Andrew, the PNP’s Kari Douglas on Friday reiterated her call for Hampton High principal Heather Murray to be fired or resign after her appearance at a bail hearing for an accused child molester.

Douglas, in a media release, said she has taken note of media reports concerning the controversial attendance of Murray at a bail hearing for 64-year-old Moravian pastor, Rupert Clarke, in the St Elizabeth Parish Court. Pastor Clarke was charged on Tuesday after being allegedly caught in a compromising position in his car with a 15-year-old girl in Austin district, St Elizabeth.

Douglas, who had earlier called for Murray’s dismissal via Facebook, said she is troubled by the developments and finds unsatisfactory, Murray’s ‘explanation’ that she merely attended Court in support of her friend who’s the wife of the accused man.

The Councilor for the Trafalgar Division said she also finds deeply troubling that Murray has failed to address several reports which indicate that she attempted to block photographs being taken by the media of the accused child abuser.

Commenting, Councilor Douglas said, “for far too long, communities and especially so people in society who should know better have sent both overt and tacit signals of support for persons accused of sexually molesting our children. I have seen in my division and across the country cases where little girls who are being abused are fearful of speaking out because the abuser receives support from authority figures. Mrs. Murray’s explanation for her attendance at Court is unsatisfactory and should be rejected.”

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.

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

Sunday, January 08, 2017

The spotlight is on principal of the Hampton School for Girls in Malvern, St Elizabeth, tomorrow, at the start of the new school term.

Heather Murray was at the centre of an incident last week when she, along with two other supporters of a church leader accused of rape, turned up at the St Elizabeth Parish Court for the mention of the sex matter involving the clergyman.

Not only did Murray display her support for Rupert Clarke, 64, who is charged with raping a minor aged 15, but she also attempted to block a photographer from snapping images of the accused man.

The behaviour of the school principal was heavily criticised on social media, with some of her critics suggesting that she stepped out of line in leading support to the accused, considering that she is the administrative head of an all-girls school.

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

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

January 2, 2017

Almost the entire congregation at the Nazareth Moravian Church in northwest Manchester broke down in tears yesterday as worshippers wrestled with their emotions amid reports that their 64-year-old pastor remained in a St Elizabeth jail cell, accused of committing sex crimes against a 15-year-old girl.

“Today, the order of service is going to be a little different. We all know the crisis we are going through,” supplemental pastor, the Reverend Sherol Watson told congregants at the outset of the 11 a.m. service.

What followed were two hours of intercessory prayers and songs of penitence and faith.

There was no sermon and the welcome and notices were reserved for last.

Earlier, as worshippers trickled into the cut-stone edifice founded in 1838, they hustled to their pews, huddling into groups of twos and threes, discussing the week that was in hushed tones.

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.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

The St Elizabeth police have now opened a wider investigation into sex crimes allegedly perpetrated by a 64-year-old Moravian minister of religion.

The pastor was last night arrested and is now facing the possibility of rape and carnal abuse of a 15-year-old girl.

The police report that about 9 o’clock last night, a team was on patrol in a community near Black River when they observed a parked car that aroused their suspicion.

They went to investigate and reportedly found the pastor in a compromising position with the child.

He was immediately taken into police custody.

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.

JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner

January 3, 2017

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

The St Elizabeth police have now charged the 64-year-old pastor of the Nazareth Moravian Church in Manchester with a sex crime against a 15-year-old girl.

Rupert Clarke was charged by police investigators today with having sex with a minor.

He is booked to appear in the St Elizabeth Parish Court tomorrow.

In the meantime, the police say other charges are pending as they deepen their investigations into other allegations against Clarke.

The police report that about 9 o’clock on Wednesday night, a team was on patrol in a community near Santa Cruz when they observed a parked car that aroused their suspicion.

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.

JAMAICA
Loop

The principal of the all-girls Hampton School, Heather Murray, who, in one move, has hit the public spotlight, has been summoned, along with the school board Chairman, Trevor Blake, to a meeting with Education, Youth and Information Minister, Ruel Reid.

The principal has come under intense public criticism, especially on social media, for having attended the bail hearing of Moravian minister, Rupert Clarke, in the St Elizabeth Parish Court on Wednesday.

Pastor Clarke appeared in court on a charge of sexual abuse of a minor, after he was allegedly caught by police personnel in a compromising position with a 15-year-old girl in a car in Austin district in St Elizabeth.

At court, Murray was noticeably photographed attempting to block journalists from taking pictures and video footage of Clarke exiting the building after the hearing..

The school principal has since issued a statement, seeking to justify her actions.

In the statement, she said she attended the court hearing in a show of support for Clarke’s wife, who has been her close friend from their childhood days.

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.

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South Central Bureau
myersg@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, January 08, 2017

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Chief of police in St Elizabeth Superintendent Lanford Salmon has warned men who are attracted to underaged girls to heed the lessons from the recent arrest of a Moravian pastor on sex offence charges.

“The lesson for adult males is, leave the little girls on their own. Leave them alone. Allow them to mature and to make their own decisions at the right time,” said Salmon.

Rupert Clarke, 64, a senior pastor of the Moravian Church based in Manchester was charged recently with rape and also of having sexual intercourse with a child (a minor) under the age of 16.

Under Jamaican law, 16 is the legal age of consent in sexual matters, meaning that children under that age cannot legally consent to sexual relations.

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.

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

Editorial

Society, we know, has no absolute control over the perverted nature of individuals. But surely we can and must exercise greater control over the actions of these warped perverts who sexually abuse children, often resulting in life-altering experiences and permanent and irreparable damage to them.

This is the responsibility of every Jamaican, but the vast majority of us have manifestly failed to fulfil our duty to the children of Jamaica. All of us are culpable to different degrees, ranging from turning a blind eye to those heinous crimes, not speaking out against them or leaving the problem to be dealt with by parents, teachers, guardians, police, social workers or counsellors who are already overwhelmed. We all have to do more.

A society that does not protect the vulnerable, the children, the aged, the handicapped and the desperately poor is a failed society. Jamaica is not alone in its failure and sexual abuse of minors. It is a worldwide problem. But this does not exonerate our lack of action. …

Everybody is presumed innocent until proven guilty, therefore we must not pre-judge cases before the courts, as is now being done by some people in relation to the case of Pastor Rupert Clarke, who has been charged due to allegations of having sex with a minor.

However, while we observe that ideal, it should not prevent us from dealing with the issue of child abuse, which is really a national shame.

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.

INDIANA
Belleville News-Democrat

By The Editorial Board

When an institution measures time in centuries, change comes slowly. Still, it is dismaying that it takes a religious institution decades to finally find the moral high ground.

Last week a letter from Pope Francis to the world’s Catholic bishops was made public. He called for zero tolerance for child molesters within the clergy.

“It is a sin that shames us,” the pope wrote. “Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity.”

One wonders what finally made the difference? An epiphany? “Spotlight”? The pleas of deaf Italian children molested by their priest teacher?

It certainly wasn’t the pleas in 1993 of the victims of the first of 17 clergy members removed in the Belleville Diocese. It still wasn’t the judgments against the Diocese in 2009 for $1.2 million or in 2011 for $6.33 million or in 2012 for three undisclosed awards to clergy abuse victims.

Only two of those 17 abusers lost their collars. The shame cast doubt on scores of good clergy members, hurt the faithful and indelibly changed the relationship between priests and parishioners.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Whether to make any new child sexual abuse statute-of-limitation laws retroactive to include past incidents that have gone unpursued in the legal system became a point of contention in the Pennsylvania General Assembly last year.

It appears like the same political and legal debate might occur again during the 2017 session that recently got underway.

Currently, victims who were under the age of 18 when alleged abuse occurred can file civil charges until they reach age 30.

Criminal charges can also be brought until age 30 for individuals born before Aug. 27, 2002. That limit increases to age 50 for accusers born after that same date.

During the process, one group – led by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks – has sought to make any increase in the statutes include retroactivity, meaning alleged violators could face charges for past allegations that had already surpassed their time limit. That version overwhelmingly passed the House.

But the bill that unanimously got through the Senate included an amendment – introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson – that stripped the retroactivity.

No compromise was reached.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Liam Migdail-Smith

READING, PA

Mark Rozzi’s defining moment of 2016 didn’t come in the halls of the state Capitol, where his signature piece of legislation was suddenly propelled into the spotlight.

It came at the supermarket deli counter.

Rozzi, a state lawmaker, had championed a plan to reopen a window for people sexually abused as children to sue those responsible. For the Muhlenberg Township Democrat, it was a chance to channel his struggle with the memory of being raped by a priest as a teen into fighting for his fellow victims.

The proposal gained momentum, drawing long-silent victims out of the shadows to tell their stories. But when it was defeated in June, victims were devastated. And after a victim from Cambria County took his life, Rozzi began to question whether he was doing more harm than good.

That brief meeting at the deli counter in August changed his mind. An elderly man approached, put his hands on Rozzi’s and said: “I’m watching everything you’re doing. Please do not stop fighting for all of us.”

Then the stranger was gone. And Rozzi went back to work with renewed determination.

He decided he wasn’t going to settle for a watered-down version of his plan that would expand protection for victims abused now or in the future but not offer relief for those who have been struggling for decades.

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

NORTH CAROLINA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: William J. Kuder was a priest of the Diocese of Raleigh, ordained in 1936. He assisted at parishes in New Bern, Greensboro and Leaksville-Spray. After a three-year leave of absence, he was assigned in 1942 as pastor of St. Lucien’s in Spruce Pine, and from 1949 until his death in 1960, he was pastor of St. Joan of Arc in Asheville.

In 1995 a man reported to the Charlotte diocese (which absorbed Raleigh when established in 1971), that Kuder had sexually abused him at St. Joan of Arc for four years, beginning when the man was age 9 in 1952. He said the abuse included oral and anal rape, and that Kuder would drive him to rectories 20 and 50 miles away to confess his “sin” of sex with a priest. Kuder allegedly threatened the boy with eternal damnation if he broke the seal of confession. After coming forward, Kuder’s accuser said he heard from 10 more victims. His two brothers also alleged abuse by Kuder when they were ages 9-13, and said the priest drove them, too, to faraway priests for confession and used the threat of hell to silence them.

Born: 1898
Ordained: 1936
Died: March 24, 1960

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 JERSEY
New York Times

By JAMES BARRON
JAN. 6, 2017

NEWARK — In a ceremony that combined pageantry with a promise of a different style and approach, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin was installed on Friday as the archbishop of Newark.

In his homily, Cardinal Tobin said he was thankful for his new job, though he described it as “a daunting proposition.” But he focused his remarks on what he called “the chasm between life and faith.”

He had cited that chasm, he told a congregation that included bishops, priests and elected officials, when a woman at a recent dinner party asked him what he considered to be the greatest challenge facing the church. He said it was not the answer she was expecting. …

But for all the pageantry, Cardinal Tobin is inheriting a troubled archdiocese. The archbishop he succeeded, John J. Myers, was denounced for the archdiocese’s handling of pedophile priests and for allocating more than $500,000 for an addition to his weekend house in Hunterdon County, N.J. The Star-Ledger of Newark hailed Archbishop Myers’s retirement last summer with an editorial that declared, “Blessed are we to be rid of this 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.

MARYLAND
Inside Baltimore

“I’m No Longer Invisible,” Says Woman
Who Told Church, Police she was raped,
Later taken to view nun’s Corpse by Priest

“The Church is Finally Starting to see me!”
–Jean Wehner, after Recent Settlement

By Tom Nugent

January 2017 – A woman who 24 years ago tried to warn the Catholic Church in Maryland that a priest had shown her the body of a murdered teaching nun recently earned a $50,000 settlement from the Archdiocese of Baltimore (AOB) for clergy sexual-abuse “injuries” she reportedly received while attending a Baltimore girls’ Catholic high school in the late 1960s.

The mediated settlement marked the latest startling development in one of the most tangled and perplexing homicide “cold cases” in Maryland history . . . the 1969 slaying of a 26-year-old teaching nun, Sister Catherine Cesnik, who reportedly had been trying to blow the whistle on widespread sexual abuse by two priests at Archbishop Keough High School in southwest Baltimore.

Still unsolved after thousands of hours of fruitless investigation by Maryland police and the FBI, the shocking case made national headlines recently, when retired Baltimore-area homicide detectives disclosed that the Catholic Church had used its powerful influence to impede their investigation of the Cesnik murder (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/14/cesnik-nun-murder-maskell_n_7267532.html).

Now 63 and practicing as a certified Spiritual Director/Life Coach and Reflexologist in the Baltimore area, Jean Hargadon Wehner (CTACC, NBCR) became a highly controversial figure in the mid-1990s after telling police and Church officials that the priest who served as chaplain at her high school, Father A. Joseph Maskell, had taken her to a remote patch of open land near a dumpster a few miles from the school. There, she said, he had shown her the decaying body of her former English teacher.

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.

CONNECTICUT/NEW JERSEY
CT Post

By Stephanie Kim

Updated January 6, 2017

WILTON — New Jersey State Police are seeking help in locating additional victims of Ethan Chandler, 42, of Belleville, N.J, who was arrested on child sex charges.

Chandler lived in Norwalk, Stamford and Monroe during the mid-1990s, officials said, and used to work part-time at Hope Church in Wilton.

Cliffe Knechtle, who was an associate and senior pastor at Hope Church from 1989 to 2000, said Chandler worked part-time in music and later became more involved in youth ministry after he left.

Knechtle said they haven’t talked since the news of Chandler’s arrest. He described Chandler as a “very kind, very warm gentleman.”

“When I was there, he did an outstanding job,” said Knechtle, who’s been the senior pastor of Grace Community Church in New Canaan since its founding in 2001. “I pray that if they are false accusations, that they be dropped; if they are true, then he would face the truth and come clean and repent and get back on the track of following Christ.”

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 JERSEY
New York Daily News

BY
LARRY MCSHANE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, January 7, 2017

Joseph Cardinal Tobin was installed Friday as the new head of the Archdiocese of Newark, replacing his oft-criticized predecessor with a deft display of humility.

Tobin, chosen by Pope Francis to serve as shepherd to the flock of 1.5 million New Jersey Roman Catholics, told 2,000 worshippers in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart that the task ahead was challenging.

“It is a daunting proposition, not because of the size, rich history or wonderful diversity of this portion of the vineyard,” said the 64-year-old cardinal.

“Rather, the appointment reminds me the stakes are incredibly high, for if we permit the chasm between faith and life to continue to expand, we risk losing Christ, reducing him simply to an interesting idea or a comforting, nostalgic memory.”

Tobin replaces departing Archbishop John Myers, who alienated many New Jersey Catholics with his perceived mishandling of sex abuse cases involving priests and the construction of his posh $500,000 retirement home.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Spare Change News

By Jordan Frias

Fifteen years after the Boston Globe’s Spotlight series uncovered the widespread sexual abuse of Catholic priest — and more than a year after it became a highly acclaimed film on the big screen — the issue of priest molesting children still exists throughout Massachusetts and worldwide.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian and members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference to shed light on the Catholic church’s lack of transparency and cooperation in dealing with these cases and more recent accusations of abuse.

“Pope Francis is making compassionate statements but it’s not being followed with compassionate activity,” Garabedian, who helped the Globe expose the Catholic church in its 2002 Spotlight reports, told the audience. “Transparency is necessary. The records have to be released for this to begin to end.”

Garabedian said he is handling 49 cases in Connecticut’s federal court alone against Douglas Perlitz, a Jesuit priest at Fairfield University who is accused of sexually abusing children at a school in Haiti. He’s also received calls across the country about abuse from other priests.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer
Telegram & Gazette Staff

An Uxbridge Cub Scout leader and instructional assistant at Northbridge High School was arrested following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on child pornography charges Thursday. Dozens of pornographic videos of children were found posted online from his home and school Internet service, authorities said.

Jason A. Andolina, 42, an Uxbridge resident who worked in Northbridge, appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Worcester before Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy. A preliminary detention hearing was set for Monday.

Northbridge Superintendent of Schools Catherine Stickney notified parents by automated phone call Thursday and posted a message on the district’s website, which reads in part: “Today, I was informed by law enforcement personnel, that an instructional assistant at Northbridge High School has been arrested for criminal conduct. We have been informed that his criminal conduct does not involve any students in the Northbridge Public Schools. After receiving this information, I immediately removed him from the workplace including restricting his access to school district buildings, grounds, and events. …

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston confirmed Mr. Andolina is a Cub Scout leader. A Telegram & Gazette article from 2015 lists Mr. Andolina as the Pinewood Derby chairman for Pack 25, which is chartered by St. Mary’s Church in Uxbridge.

The church office was closed Friday and no one was available for comment.

Raymond L. Delisle, communications director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, said he could not comment on an individual’s criminal offender record information check, but said, “Our process is that anybody who is serving (at a parish) has to be CORI’d.”

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

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Jan. 7, 2017

Some Guam Catholics want action instead of words from Pope Francis after his renewed call for bishops to observe zero tolerance for child abuse, now that at least 15 former altar boys have come forward alleging they were sexually abused or raped by priests on Guam.

“I am hopeful that Pope Francis and church leaders are addressing what has been covered up for too long. In some cases, the bishops in certain dioceses covered up the terrible abuse by clergy and allowed further abuse to occur,” Concerned Catholics of Guam Vice President Andrew Camacho said.

The Vatican released on Jan. 2 the text of a Dec. 28 letter the pope sent to bishops about the atrocities toward children, including wars, slave labor, malnutrition, lack of education, and sexual exploitation, including abuses by priests.

“It is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity. We regret this deeply and we beg for forgiveness. We join in the pain of the victims and weep for this sin,” the pope said.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsweek

BY RALPH CIPRIANO ON 1/6/17

In the latest twist in the rapidly unraveling “Billy Doe” sex abuse case, a lawyer for one of the four men sent to jail by the testimony of a former altar boy says prosecutorial misconduct should clear his client from further legal jeopardy. Thomas Bergstrom, a lawyer for Monsignor William Lynn, said in court that the lead detective in the case told the District Attorney ’s office he didn’t find the boy credible but that his warning was ignored.

Billy Doe’s claims that he had been brutally and repeatedly raped over a period of several years put three priests and a former Catholic school teacher in jail, where one of the men died.

In a pretrial hearing on January 4, Bergstrom charged that when Detective Joseph Walsh told a top prosecutor about his grave concerns, she didn’t want to hear it. “You’re damaging my case. You’re hurting my case,” he claimed former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen replied.

“You can’t turn a blind eye to that,” Bergstrom told Judge Gwendolyn Bright, arguing that this was prosecutorial misconduct. He then asked the judge to invoke the ultimate penalty for that malfeasance by dismissing the pending retrial of Lynn.

Walsh met with Bergstrom in November and December and provided what Bergstrom described in court as exculpatory evidence regarding possible misconduct in the prosecutor’s office. While Bergstrom and ADA Patrick Blessington battled over what Walsh and Sorensen said and did, the detective, now retired, paced in the hallway outside the courtroom.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Now

Friday 6th of January 2017

A report has been completed into allegations of child abuse at a number of residential homes in Derry.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was set up in 2013 to look at historical abuse claims at homes throughout Northern Ireland

These included former children’s residential homes in Derry at St Joseph’s Home at Termonbacca, Nazareth House Children’s Home, Fort James and Harberton House.

The inquiry also dealt with institutions run by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Derry, Belfast and Newry.

The inquiry today submitted its report to the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

The chairman of the Historical Abuse Inquiry Sir Anthony Hart has thanked those who came forward to give evidence.

He was speaking as the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry submitted its findings to Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness on Friday, ahead of the report being made public on Friday, January 20.

The handing over of the report to the First and Deputy First Ministers prior to its general publication was a requirement under the Historical Institutional Abuse Act (Northern Ireland) 2013.

In delivering his Report, Sir Anthony Hart said: “I want to thank everyone who came forward to tell us of their experiences as I know how hard it was for many to find the courage to do so.

“I also want to thank all those who worked with the Inquiry in a co-operative way, and by doing so helped my colleagues and myself to complete our Report on time.”

The Report will be formally published on January 20, following a statement by the Chairman, Sir Anthony Hart at a public meeting in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Shaws Bridge, Belfast.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Amanda Ferguson

The report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland is to be published on January 20th.

The inquiry had a remit to investigate physical, emotional and sexual childhood abuse and neglect in residential institutions in the North over a 73-year period up to 1995.

The inquiry chairman, Sir Anthony Hart, confirmed he had submitted his report to First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

“I want to thank everyone who came forward to tell us of their experiences as I know how hard it was for many to find the courage to do so,” he said. “I also want to thank all those who worked with the inquiry in a co-operative way, and by doing so help my colleagues and myself to complete our report on time.”

The report will be formally published following a statement by the chairman at a public meeting in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

An inquiry team that investigated historical child abuse at Northern Ireland residential homes has passed its final report to Stormont’s leaders.

The Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry heard harrowing testimony from hundreds of former residents who made claims of sexual, physical and emotional suffering over many decades in church, state and charity-run homes.

While the report will not be made public until later in the month, the panel has already made clear it will be recommending some form of compensation be offered to victims.

Inquiry chair, retired judge Sir Anthony Hart, said: “I want to thank everyone who came forward to tell us of their experiences as I know how hard it was for many to find the courage to do so.

“I also want to thank all those who worked with the inquiry in a co-operative way, and by doing so helped my colleagues and myself to complete our report on time.”

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.

TEXAS
NewsChannel 5

[with video]

Nick Beres
Jan 5, 2017

GALLATIN, Tenn. – A former pastor at a well-known Middle Tennessee church has been accused of a crime.

Detectives said the charges came after an investigation involving an alleged video made of a teenage girl.

The suspect in this case, identified as Jody Dwayne Brown, was a worship leader for both adults and youth ministry at Freedom Church in Gallatin.

Brown has been charged with attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and unlawful photography in violation of privacy.

“We have young people and older people and mix of two and video taking place that maybe shouldn’t take place, but it’s important to investigate,” said Sumner County Sheriff’s Detective Eddie Cripps.

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.

VATIKANSTADT
Katholisches

[The pope has urged zero tolerance in sexual abuse of minors.]

(Rom) Papst Franziskus veröffentlichte am 28. Dezember, dem Fest der Unschuldigen Kinder, einen Brief an alle Bischöfe der katholischen Kirche. Darin forderte er die Brüder im Bischofsamt zum Thema Kindesmißbrauch auf: „Machen wir uns den Auftrag zu ‚null Toleranz‘ in diesem Bereich klar und aufrichtig zu Eigen.“ In dem Schreiben geht es um „Notsituationen und anhaltende Krisen“, um „Sexualhandel“ um Migration und „Unterernährung“, „Kinderarbeit“, „Sklaverei“, Schulbildung, Ausbildung und „äußerste Armut“.

Wörtlich schreibt Franziskus:

„Wir brauchen den Mut, sie vor den neuen Gestalten eines Herodes unserer Zeit zu verteidigen, welche die Unschuld unserer Kinder missbrauchen. Unschuld gebrochen unter der Last der Schwarz- und Sklavenarbeit, unter der Last der Prostitution und Ausbeutung. Unschuld zerstört von Kriegen und gezwungener Auswanderung zusammen mit dem Verlust von allem, was dies mit sich bringt. Tausende unserer Kinder sind in die Hände von Banditen, von Mafiaorganisationen, von Todeshändlern geraten, die nichts anderes machen, als ihre Bedürfnisse zu missbrauchen und auszubeuten.“

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
General-Anzeiger

[BONN. In 1959, clerics of the Redemptorists abused an eleven-year-old boy. The victim lamented in vain. Only now the order has officially apologized to Dieter Beckmann.

06.01.2017 BONN. 1959 missbrauchten Geistliche der Redemptoristen einen elfjährigen Jungen. Das Opfer klagte vergeblich vor Gericht. Erst jetzt hat der Orden sich offiziell bei Beckmann entschuldigt.

Es sind vor allem die nächtlichen Gerüche von Schweiß und Sperma, die Dieter Beckmann auch Jahrzehnte nach den Missbrauchstaten nicht mehr loslassen. Es sind diese widerwärtigen Geräusche von Männern, die ihm, dem damals Elfjährigen, Gewalt antaten. Es ist dieser Spalt Licht einer immer nur kurz geöffneten Tür, aus der nie Rettung kam. „Die haben mich als Opfer betrachtet, das sie jede Nacht aufs Neue abriefen“, sagt Beckmann tonlos.

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.

ITALIEN
Focus

[Police are investigating an Italian priest.]

Ein italienischer Pfarrer soll in seinem Pfarrhaus in Padua Orgien abgehalten und bis zu 15 Frauen prostituiert haben. Drei weibliche Gemeindemitglieder verständigten die Polizei. Die ermittelt nun wegen Zuhälterei und Ausübung psychologischer Gewalt durch den Pfarrer Andrea Contin.

Mehrere Sexspielzeuge und Videos, die Orgien auf dem Grundstück der San Lazzaro Kirche in der norditalienischen Stadt Padua zeigen sollen, seien konfisziert worden, wie die britische Zeitung “The Times” berichtete.

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.

OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Danae King
The Columbus Dispatch • Friday January 6, 2017

Pope Francis, speaking Wednesday at the Vatican, has renewed his call to rid the Roman Catholic Church of child sexual abuse. But Columbus activist Carol Zamonski said the past promises have produced too little action.

Though many reacted positively when Pope Francis recently called for “zero tolerance” of child sexual abuse, Carol Zamonski just felt insulted.

Zamonski, a North Side resident and central Ohio coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said she’s heard it all before, but little has changed.

“It just confirms my general feeling about the Catholic church, that it’s got such a strong culture of dishonesty and corruption,” said Zamonski, who said she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a priest. “It will take a lot for them to clean up their act, and so far no one has even come close to getting to that level of action with the Catholic church.”

The pope addressed the issue in a letter to bishops dated Dec. 28 and released Monday. “We hear these children and their cries of pain,” he wrote. “It is a sin that shames us.”

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)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on an article by Ralph Cipriano on the latest developments in the case of Msgr. William Lynn:

Ralph Cipriano deserves a Pulitzer Prize for his comprehensive and authoritative accounts on the proceedings against Msgr. William Lynn.

His latest article reveals new dirt on the corruption that has long marked the Philadelphia D.A.’s office in its witch hunt against the Philadelphia archdiocese.

There is a reason why some of us are increasingly skeptical about the veracity of many priestly abuse cases; the bogus claims against Msgr. Lynn being Exhibit A.

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.

ARGENTINA
La Nacion

[Abuse: home detention for Corradi. After paying a $ 50,000 bail and receiving an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements, Italian priest Nicola Corradi benefited from house arrest due to his advanced age and health status in the judicial case investigating abuse of deaf and hearing impaired at the Antonio Próvolo Institute in Mendoza.]

. VIERNES 06 DE ENERO DE 2017

Tras pagar una fianza de $ 50.000 y recibir una pulsera electrónica para monitorear sus movimientos, el sacerdote italiano Nicola Corradi fue beneficiado con el arresto domiciliario, por su edad avanzada y su estado de salud, en la causa judicial que investiga abusos de menores sordos e hipoacúsicos en el Instituto Antonio Próvolo de Mendoza. El sacerdote, de 82 años, había sido detenido a fines de noviembre pasado junto con el cura Horacio Corbacho (55), el ex empleado de ese instituto José Luis Ojeda, el monaguillo Jorge Bordón (55) y el jardinero Armando Gómez (46).

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 JERSEY
CBS New York

[with video]

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — In a historic first for the Archdiocese of Newark, a cardinal will be installed as archbishop.

CBS2’s Meg Baker spoke Thursday with Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who calls himself a man of the people.

Tobin was handpicked by Pope Francis to be the first cardinal named as archbishop of Newark in 163 years.

“I am just kind of overwhelmed by the kindness of people here associated with the archdiocese,” Tobin said.

Tobin was last the archbishop of Indianapolis. He said he was completely surprised that he would be named a cardinal and moving to New Jersey.

“I got no phone call. I got no phone call,” Tobin said. “Francis just got up St. Peter’s Square, reached in his pocket at the end of his announcements, and read these names.”

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 JERSEY
News 12

Security has been increased around the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark as the city gets ready to welcome its new archbishop.

Over 500 church officials gathered at the cathedral Thursday night for a vigil for Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who be the first cardinal in New Jersey to be installed as archbishop.

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 JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Katie Park, @kathspark Jan. 5, 2017

HOWELL – A Howell man was charged with sexually assaulting a relative more than once, dating back at least 10 years, according to a criminal complaint.

Joseph “Joe” Prioli, 48, was arrested Dec. 30 and compelled to appear in court Jan. 3 for orally and digitally penetrating a victim who was over the age of 13 but under 16 “on various dates,” according to the complaint.

The alleged abuse stopped Jan. 1, 2007. The complaint did not state when the reported sexual assault began.

Prioli is charged with committing aggravated criminal sexual contact of a minor older than 13 but younger than 16, committing aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Howell police did not respond to who was representing Prioli by press time.

Prioli was a teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, a private, all-boys school in Middletown, for around 15 years but resigned a year ago to pursue other work options, ​Brother Frank Byrne, Christian Brothers Academy President, told the Press Thursday.

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)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The lead detective in the “Billy Doe” sex abuse case didn’t find the former altar boy to be a credible witness after he spent hours confronting the alleged victim over numerous factual discrepancies in his many conflicting stories.

And when Detective Joseph Walsh voiced his doubts about the D.A.’s star witness to a top prosecutor, she didn’t want to hear about it.

“You’re damaging my case, you’re hurting my case,” is what Thomas A. Bergstrom, a lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn, claimed that former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen said about the star witness whose testimony sent three priests and a former Catholic school teacher to jail.

“You can’t turn a blind eye to that,” Bergstrom said when he asked Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright to invoke the ultimate penalty for prosecutorial misconduct, namely dismissing a retrial of the criminal case against Msgr. Lynn scheduled to begin May 30th.

During a three-hour pre-trial hearing today, Bergstrom and Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington battled over what Walsh and Sorensen allegedly said years ago to each other behind closed doors in the D.A.’s office. Meanwhile, the detective, now retired, was sent outside the courtroom to pace the hallway.

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)
Metro

After being convicted of child endangerment, released, sent back to prison and freed again, Monsignor William Lynn is now trying to block a retrial on the original charges.

Lynn, 66, has a hearing scheduled Wednesday on whether prosecutors withheld potentially exculpatory evidence in his case, according to court records.

Lynn, who served as secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, was convicted in 2012. He was the first Catholic administrator in the U.S. to be convicted of a crime related to child sex abuse.

While Lynn was never charged with molesting a child, he was convicted of child endangerment on the grounds he placed a pedophile priest in proximity to a child.

But Lynn’s lawyers argue that new evidence questions the credibility of alleged victim, identified in court as Billy Doe.

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.

UTAH
Fox 13

JANUARY 5, 2017, BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawyers for a group of people suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over accusations of sex abuse have renewed a deposition subpoena for President Thomas S. Monson.

They want the 89-year-old leader of the LDS Church to sit for a deposition and answer what — if anything — he knows about accusations of sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s and ’70s in a church-run program on the Navajo reservation.

“We believe we have a right to question President Monson about how he was briefed, what he learned about child sex abuse and what was done to protect kids in the future,” Craig Vernon, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told FOX 13 on Thursday.

Four people have filed lawsuits against the LDS Church, accusing it of not doing enough to stop the abuse they allege they suffered while in the church-run “Lamanite Placement Program” or “Indian Placement Program.” As children, the plaintiffs (who are only identified by initials in court documents) claim they were taken from their homes on the Navajo reservation, baptized into the Mormon faith and placed in host homes in Utah where the alleged abuse occurred.

“He is the only apostle that is currently alive back then,” Vernon 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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Laura Crimaldi GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 06, 2017

Fifteen years after the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston broke into public view, hundreds of victims around the world continue to come forward, including some who say they were attacked as recently as 2001, advocates said Thursday.

Two victims’ support groups and a lawyer who has represented more than 2,000 survivors worldwide denounced church officials for doing too little to help those who were abused and to protect children from harm, despite ongoing revelations about the scope of the crisis.

“You have reportedly the most moral institution in the world acting the most immoral,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian said at a news conference Thursday in downtown Boston. “There is no excuse for it.”

The event coincided with the anniversary of The Boston Globe Spotlight Team’s 2002 reports about former priest John J. Geoghan, who was shuffled from parish to parish despite evidence of his predatory sexual habits.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A Newcastle lawyer has written an open letter to the retiring Anglican Archbishop of Perth, urging him to forfeit his right to a church pension.

Roger Herft announced he was retiring last month, after previously standing aside to hear evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Archbishop Herft admitted to the commission that he let down abuse survivors when he was bishop of Newcastle between 1993 and 2005.

Peter Kelso grew up as a ward of state before becoming a lawyer and now represents victims of abuse making claims against churches and other institutions.

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.

CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

January 5, 2017 Joelle Casteix

Bad Politicking about Child Sex Trafficking

No, child prostitution is NOT legal in California.

But a new law in California may have some problems. SB 1322, which became law Jan 1, made it impossible for a child to consent to engage in the criminal behavior of prostitution—just like a child can’t consent to sex with an adult.

Therefore, the minor cannot be criminally charged. This is good. We don’t want children being sent to jail for a crime they cannot consent to committing. We need to help these kids, get them out from under their pimps’ control, and save their lives—not slap them with rap sheets and prison records.

The law has good intentions, but there are some potential problems. Unfortunately, those problems are pointed out in stories with headlines like “CHILD PROSTITUTION NOW LEGAL.”

And we all know there is no such thing as child prostitution. It’s child sex trafficking. It’s selling kids for sex.

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)
Philly.com

JANUARY 5, 2017

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER

A Philadelphia judge has set a hearing for Wednesday to determine if city prosecutors withheld evidence casting doubt on the credibility of a key witness in the 2012 trial that sent Msgr. William J. Lynn to prison for 33 months.

Lynn, who turned 66 on Thursday, was the first Roman Catholic Church official in the U.S. convicted for supervision of priests accused of sexually molesting children.

He was released from his three- to six-year prison term last August after a state appeals court granted him a new trial following protracted appeals that twice went to the state Supreme Court.

At Thursday’s hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright, Lynn’s attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom argued that the evidence he said prosecutors withheld was so egregious that she should bar retrial.

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.

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted Jan. 04, 2017

WEST BATH, Maine — The founder of the Midcoast Youth Theater charged in September 2016 with six counts of unlawful sexual contact and sexual exploitation of children pleaded not guilty Tuesday to those allegations, as well as 10 additional charges alleging similar conduct against two others.

Henry A. Eichman, 56, now of New Gloucester, was indicted by the Sagadahoc County grand jury in December on 16 counts, including seven counts of Class B felony unlawful sexual contact, three counts of Class C felony visual sexual aggression against a child under 12, and six misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual touching, according to court documents.

The crimes took place between April 2013 and July 2016, according to the indictment.

Eichman, who also taught drama at St. John’s Catholic School in Brunswick, was arrested in September after three young girls, all members of the Midcoast Youth Theater, told police that the incidents occurred during sleepovers at Eichman’s Topsham home, WCSH reported.

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

ARGENTINA
Clarin

[The traditional Cardinal Newman College of Argentina is in the midst of a controversy with a report of sexual abuse that was allegedly suffered by a former student of the institution in the late 1970s. The case involves Father Finnlugh MacConastair, known as Father Alfredo, the Irish chaplain of the college in those years. According to reports Rufino Varela, now 52, ​​married and with two children, said the priest abused him in 1977 at school. Varela told La Nación newspaper that he had been a victim of abuse by his landlord from the age of four. And one day, when he was 12 and was in seventh grade, he approached MacConastair in confessional secrecy to tell him what was wrong: the priest not only did not stop the abuser but he took the boy to his room and abused him. When he was in third year of high school, he told another of the religious, Desmond Finegan what had happened and told him that he had to forgive MacConastair because he was old.]

El tradicional colegio Cardenal Newman quedó en el medio de una polémica al conocerse una denuncia de abusos sexuales que sufrió un ex alumno de la institución, a fines de los 70.

El caso involucra al padre Finnlugh Mac Conastair, conocido como padre Alfredo, capellán irlandés del colegio en esos años. Según denunció Rufino Varela, hoy de 52 años, casado y con dos hijos, el sacerdote lo abusó en 1977, en el colegio. Varela relató al diario La Nación que él había sido víctima de abusos por parte del casero de su casa desde los cuatro años. Y que un día, cuando tenía 12 y cursaba séptimo grado, se acercó a Mac Conastair en secreto de confesión para contarle lo que le pasaba: el cura no sólo no lo contuvo, sino que lo llevó a su cuarto y lo abusó. Cuando estaba en tercer año del secundario, le relató a otro de los religiosos, Desmond Finegan, lo que había pasado y le dijo que tenía que perdonar a Mac Conastair porque estaba viejo.

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.

ARGENTINA
Infobae

[The terrible case of a boy who was doubly abused: in the household of his family and by a priest of the school Cardinal Newman.]

Por Alfredo Serra 30 de diciembre de 2016
Especial para Infobae

Rufino Varela es un hombre común.

Tiene 52 años, mujer, dos hijos.

Ningún rasgo, a priori, indica que carga con un drama, salvo cierta ansiedad y desconfianza que cada tanto lo agitan.

Fue profesor de tenis, y ahora importa muebles de jardín. Datos nada relevantes.

Sin embargo, hace 36 años, fines de los años 80, recién cumplidos sus 15 y a solas, puso en su frente el caño de una escopeta cargada, decidido a matarse.

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.

CHILE
ADN

[This Friday is the deadline for Minister Juan Manuel Muñoz to deliver judgment in the lawsuit that Jose Murillo, James Hamilton and Juan Carlos Cruz filed against the Archdiocese of Santiago for its responsibility in the acts of sexual abuse committed by priest Fernando Karadima.]

Por Francisca Carvajal, ADN

Este viernes comienza el plazo para que el ministro Juan Manuel Muñoz dicte sentencia en la demanda que José Murillo, James Hamilton y Juan Carlos Cruz, presentaron contra el Arzobispado de Santiago por su responsabilidad en los hechos de abuso sexual cometidos por Fernando Karadima.

El juez había solicitado antecedentes a la iglesia chilena y al Vaticano para cerrar la investigación que lleva a cabo donde declararon más de 30 personas, entre ellos los cardenales Francisco Javier Errázuriz y Ricardo Ezzati, además del propio expárroco de El Bosque .

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

January 6, 2017

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Catholic leaders across Australia have welcomed a letter from the Pope saying the church “weeps bitterly” over the sexual abuse of children by priests, ahead of a final royal commission investigation into how these crimes could occur.

In what represents one of the most frank admissions of institutional failure by any pontiff, Pope Francis used the letter to say: “We … weep for this sin. The sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of abuse of power.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a final, three-week hearing next month attempting to establish how widespread this abuse is and what cultural issues allowed it to occur.

About 40 per cent of the thousands of victims who have given evidence in private to the commission say they were abused in Catholic institutions. The hearing is expected to investigate the role of the Vatican, canon law, celibacy and the use of secrecy within the church.

Brisbane archbishop Mark Coleridge said the letter, sent to bishops worldwide and which also talks about the trafficking and starvation suffered by children, was meant to support church leaders “to gather up the tears of the young”.

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

AUSTRALIA
MN News

The truth must be before our eyes daily as we try to be a better church and to do what we can for those who suffered.

BISHOP BILL WRIGHT PUBLISHED JANUARY 05, 2017

I hope that this Year in Review document will be seen by many in the diocese and beyond. Through my working life as a priest, I have struggled to find ways to help people to be aware of the things that go on in their community that are beyond their personal involvements − and it is hard work. On one occasion I was berated by three ladies after Mass for our parish’s lack of a Bible Study group, despite the fact that one had existed for years, was frequently mentioned in the parish bulletin, had a new season beginning that had been advertised for the preceding six weeks and had, in fact, been spoken of in the notices not five minutes before. Until that week, however, the ladies concerned had not ‘needed to know’ and had contrived not to know.

Similarly, in another place, we brought together all the different groups in the parish to speak about what each actually did. We had to take two Sunday afternoons to get through it all and, of course, everyone was astonished by all that went on that they knew nothing about. And these were our most involved and active parishioners! In short, there can never be too much sharing of information about our church community. I hope this annual report makes a good deal available in an accessible form.

This year has had some remarkable features across the diocese. It has been the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis and we actually grabbed some international attention through the activity of our travelling ‘Missionary of Mercy’, Fr Richard Shortall SJ, in his mobile home, doing the rounds of our communities. It has been a ministry of great, but largely immeasurable, importance. Fr Richard has been able to preach and exhibit the mercy of God widely, but he has also had to share and bear the pains of many along the way as he has tried to bring them to some reconciliation and peace. Many individual stories of grace will remain unknown to most of us.

In this diocese, while celebrating the sesquicentenary of Bishop Murray’s arrival as our first resident bishop, we have celebrated the contribution of the religious sisters, brothers and priests who began arriving shortly after the bishop. These have been joyous celebrations because so many people have lovingly seized the opportunity to honour the gifts of faith and humanity that the sisters and brothers gave to them over many years. Of course there was also a good deal of wry humour about the personalities and customs of the past. You can read more about this on page 27.

Not all of our past, however, is worthy of our calling in Christ. Dark chapters were exposed again in the case study of child sexual abuse in the diocese held by the Royal Commission this year. Nothing can erase the harm done to those people who were abused as children and to their families. Nothing can erase the shame that these things happened in our community and happened, all too often, despite the knowledge of our leaders. In fact, we do not wish to erase these memories. The truth must be before our eyes daily as we try to be a better church and to do what we can for those who suffered. I have again apologised to the victims of childhood abuse collectively and to many individually, but our apologies will only be as good as our efforts to ensure the safety of our children today and to support the survivors of past abuse as best we can. These commitments are also reflected in this Year in Review on page 5.

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

ROME
Crux

John L. Allen Jr. January 4, 2017
EDITOR

ROME – By now, we already know much of what’s on Pope Francis’s plate in 2017, including two confirmed trips – Fatima in May, and India and Bangladesh probably later in the year – and the likelihood of a couple more, one to Africa (perhaps Congo and South Sudan) and one to Latin America (beginning with Colombia.)

The pontiff will also make quick stops in Milan and Genoa inside Italy, meet bishops from around the world in Rome making ad limina visits, receive dignitaries and heads of state, preside over the usual liturgies for Holy Week, continue meeting with his C9 council of cardinal advisers to wrap up an overhaul of the Roman Curia, and so on.

With Francis, however, it’s often what you don’t see coming that really tells the tale.

Trying to predict what this maverick pope will do is a fool’s errand. Yet we can at least say that in 2017, he’ll have the chance to continue doing something arguably more important than almost anything else in terms of framing his legacy and shaping culture in the Church, which is naming bishops.

As a longtime friend of mine who works in the Vatican likes to say, in the Catholic Church a good bishop can do an enormous amount of good, and a bad bishop can do an even greater amount of harm!

Bishops generally enjoy wide latitude to run their shops as they see fit – a point that’s been given an exclamation point of late by the contrasting ways various bishops have chosen to implement the pope’s document on the family, Amoris Laetita. As a result, perhaps no single thing any pope ever does is more consequential than the kinds of bishops he appoints.

We got another small but telling reminder on Wednesday, when Francis replaced Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary in Canada with Bishop William McGrattan.

Henry is a hero to the strongly pro-life camp in the Church, among other things because of his refusal to permit a government-backed vaccination program against a sexually transmitted disease in Catholic schools because he believed it promoted promiscuity, while McGrattan is seen as a more “Pope Francis” kind of bishop whose focus is generally on dialogue and cooperation over confrontation

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
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Thursday, January 5, 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York lawmakers will again face a proposal this year to lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes.

Supporters of the bill gathered at the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to pass the bill, which has faced repeated obstacles in the Legislature.

The proposal would give victims more time to file civil lawsuits or seek criminal charges against their abusers.

In previous years the measure has run into opposition from institutions such as the Catholic Church.

The bill would also create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits even if the statute of limitations has already run out.

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

UNITED STATES
Verdict

5 JAN 2017

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Republicans would do well to catch up to the rest of the culture on the issues of sex assault and child sex abuse. They are quickly being outpaced by a society that no longer is willing to wink at the rapist or child abuser. Context for rape and child abuse no longer matters: the people are sick of child sex abuse and sex assault, period, whether it occurs in the religious, sports, school, university, or family arena. Smart politicians are seeing that this is a scourge with no political preference.

Yet, too many Republicans—with rare exceptions like Rep. Jason Spencer of Georgia and Rep. Deborah Hudson of Delaware—are responsible for blocking simple legislative change that would identify the hidden predators and provide justice to victims. And they are doing it for all the wrong reasons.

A Case Study: Ken Starr’s Spectacular Fall from Grace

The spectacular fall of Ken Starr in the wake of an ugly Baylor University scandal involving the cover up of sex assault by football team players needs to be studied by ambitious and currently powerful Republicans. This is not like the Dennis Hastert scandal where everyone could pretend his problems from the past don’t affect Republicans now.

Starr, the son of a minister, was a literal star in the Republican firmament: he clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger, was appointed a federal appellate judge of the powerful Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1983-89), and then served as the solicitor general (1989-93). During that time he was on President George H.W. Bush’s short list for the Supreme Court, though the appointment eventually went to David Souter. Starr has been a distinguished litigator for Kirkland and Ellis and also served as Independent Counsel (1994-99) investigating the scandals surrounding the Clintons, including the death of Vince Foster and then-President Bill Clinton’s dealings with Monica Lewinsky, which led to the historic House vote to impeach Clinton in 1998. The investigation was politically charged, and Starr was criticized heavily. He even later expressed regret for having taken on the Lewinsky assignment. Still, in 2004, he landed softly as dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law (2004-2010). As dean, he continued to take on headliner cases, including the defense of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein against statutory rape charges involving numerous girls brought to his home. Epstein eventually pled to one charge of soliciting sex from a minor and served minimal time in jail near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Newchannel 10

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – In stories on Nov. 24, 2014; Dec. 1, 2014; and Jan. 2, 2017, about former Bishop Thomas Dupre, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he was defrocked by the Vatican in 2006. The Diocese of Springfield says Dupre was not 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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – JANUARY 4, 2017

THIS IS THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON GLOBE “SPOTLIGHT TEAM” COVERAGE OF THE CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON, MA (2002-2017)

VICTIMS/SURVIVORS, ADVOCATES, AND AN ATTORNEY WILL DISCUSS THE CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE CRISIS IN THE BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE AND WORLDWIDE, INCLUDING ITS HISTORY DURING THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS, ITS PRESENT STATE, WHERE IT IS HEADED, AND WHY IT HAS NOT ENDED

What
A press conference featuring victims/survivors , advocates, and an attorney who will discuss the state of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston and worldwide, including its history, the present state, where it is headed, and why the Catholic Church has not been successful in ending it

When
Thursday, January 5, 2017, at 11:15 am

Where
Hilton Hotel, 89 Broad Street, Boston, MA 02110

Who
Robert Costello, victim/survivor of a Boston Archdiocesan priest

Barbara Dorris, St. Louis, MO, a victim/survivor of clergy abuse, who is the Victims Outreach Director for SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, based in Chicago, IL

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, whose information about the “secret files” of the Archdiocese of Boston made it possible for the Boston Globe to uncover and publish hundreds of stories about them, and who is featured in the movie, Spotlight, portrayed by actor Stanley Tucci

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists sexual abuse victims, based in Livingston, NJ; former religious brother and priest; a victim/survivor of sexual abuse in Boston by an Irish Christian Brother, and former Assistant Headmaster of Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, MA, who blew the whistle on sexual abuse by a Boston priest in 1981 but was ignored

Why
Despite rhetoric and promises, the Catholic Church has not made significant progress in its efforts to eradicate clergy sexual abuse. Pope Francis’ promise of zero tolerance of clergy sexual abuse has not been realized. In addition, his pledge to fire bishops who have mishandled and covered-up sexual abuse cases has not been fulfilled, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the Pope’s special consultant on clergy sexual abuse, has not been transparent and open about clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston and in his role as head of the worldwide Papal Commission on Sexual Abuse.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA. – 617-523-6250 – garabedianlaw@msn.com

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

UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, the Gateshead Rav Hair, recently spoke about “The Halachic Obligation of Reporting Abuse to the Authorities” in a telecast aimed at an Australian rabbinical audience.

Rabbi Zimmerman is a Haredi who holds a prominent pulpit as the main posek for Gateshead, a Haredi community centered around the UK’s first kollel formed during WW II by R. Eliyahu Dessler and others.

R. Zimmerman showed courage in the case of Todros Grynhaus by publicly declaring the community erred in the past in trying to manage his abuse by counseling. This was in contrast to the former mashgiach of Gateshead, R. Matisyahu Salomon, who continued to run back channel interference to obstruct the legal process. In the end, Grynhaus was convicted of sexually abusing two minors. Rabbi Zimmerman’s testimony contributed to that conviction.

In this talk he demolishes most of the pseudo-halachic misrepresentations put forth to conceal abuse from the authorities. At one point he declares that those who invoke the shulchan aruch on mesirah to block reporting are either ignorant of choshen mishpat or deliberately misrepresenting it.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

BY AARON MOSELLE

Monsignor William Lynn, the first American Catholic Church official to be convicted of covering up clergy sex abuse of children, will be in court Thursday morning with hopes of avoiding a new trial that is currently scheduled for May.

Lynn, 65, was released from prison in August after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated his 2012 conviction. The high court affirmed that jurors were “prejudiced” by hearing hours of evidence about abuse unrelated to Lynn’s actions as a supervisor with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

During Lynn’s three-month trial, prosecutors presented 21 examples of the Philadelphia archdiocese covering up child sex abuse, some dating back to the 1940s, long before Lynn was in charge of assigning priests.

At the time of his release, Lynn had served nearly three years of a 3-6 year sentence and was slated for parole.

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.

MAINE
The Forecaster

By The Forecaster on January 4, 2017

WEST BATH — The founder of the Midcoast Youth Theater in Brunswick pleaded not guilty Tuesday in West Bath District Court to 16 counts of molesting children at his home in Topsham.

Henry Eichman was released on $5,000 cash bail, with conditions that include no contact with any child younger than 16, the court clerk’s office confirmed Wednesday. His next court appearance will be March 8.

Eichman, 56, who was also a teacher at St. John’s Catholic School, was charged Sept. 9, 2016, with unlawful sexual contact and sexual exploitation of a child under 12. He founded MYT in 2003, and was a part-time drama teacher at St. John’s since 2008. He has been suspended from employment and banned from the campus until his court case is resolved, according to spokesman Dave Guthro of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

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.

WISCONSIN
TMJ4

Casey Geraldo
Jan 3, 2017

A Waukesha pastor will spend four months in jail after he admitted to inappropriately touching a child.

72-year-old Peter Knebel, a pastor at Fox River Christian Church, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl.

He apologized in court Tuesday before the judge handed Knebel his sentence. Knebel has a year total in jail: Four consecutive months, followed by four months where he will be able to leave for counseling or work. The final four months can be used by his probation officer if Knebel breaks the terms of his probation.

That probation will last 10 years, and may be completed in Winnebago County as he has been living in Oshkosh with his brother. The terms of probation include no unsupervised contact with minor girls and no contact with the girl he sexually assaulted, unless she reaches out for therapeutic purposes.

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.

CANADA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary

In accordance with canon 401 § ii of the Code of Canon Law, his Holiness Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Frederick B. Henry as Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary due to health concerns.

Most Rev. Luigi Bonazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, ANNOUNCES THAT THE HOLY FATHER HAS NAMED BISHOP WILLIAM TERRENCE MCGRATTAN, currently the Bishop of the Diocese of Peterborough, as his successor.

The installation of the new Bishop will be on Monday, February 27, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. which will be at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

In the meantime, Bishop Henry has been named Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Calgary.

We thank Bishop Henry for his unstinting service, and we welcome Bishop McGrattan to our Diocese.

To read Bishop Henry’s resignation letter sent to Pope Francis, CLICK HERE.

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.

CANADA
Calgary Herald

BILL KAUFMANN

Published on: January 4, 2017

Bishop Fred Henry, Calgary’s leading Catholic authority for 19 years, has resigned from the Calgary Catholic Diocese.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published the news Wednesday morning, but gave no reason for Henry’s departure.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation and has appointed William Terrence McGrattan, Bishop of the Diocese of Peterborough, as his successor.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published the news Wednesday morning, but gave no reason for Henry’s departure.

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.

MISSOURI
ABC 17

By: Sarah Bono
Posted: Jan 03, 2017

OWENSVILLE, Mo. – The Owensville Police Department confirmed it was investigating allegations against a priest Tuesday.

According to Bishop John Gaydos of the Jefferson City Diocese, Fr. Bob Duesdieker was put on administrative leave December 28 while the Diocese and law enforcement investigate a report of alleged inappropriate conduct with minors that occurred 25 years ago. At the time, Fr. Duesdieker was serving at Immaculate Conception parish in Owensville.

Bishop Gaydos said Fr. Duesdieker denied any misconduct.

“The Diocese first received information about this complaint earlier last month from a second hand source who was only willing to provide limited information,” said Bishop Gaydos in a statement. “We have, this past week, learned additional information that requires further investigation and caused me to make this decision. The Diocese will cooperate with law enforcement, as appropriate.”

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.

MISSOURI
Marshall Democrat-News

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

In a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City Tuesday, Jan. 3, Bishop John R. Gaydos announced a Marshall priest had been placed on a temporary administrative leave while an investigation of alleged misconduct was conducted.

Fr. Bob Duesdieker was placed on leave Wednesday, Dec. 28, while the diocese and law enforcement investigate a report of alleged inappropriate conduct with minors approximately 25 years ago, Gaydos states.

The alleged misconduct occurred while Duesdieker was serving at Immaculate Conception parish in Owensville. The bishop’s statement was read during weekend Masses at St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

According to the statement, Duesdieker denies any misconduct.

Gaydos states the Diocese first received information about the allegations from a second-hand source in early December, who provided limited information, and further information was received within the past week giving cause for further investigation.

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.

RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) —
The state attorney general is expected to dismiss charges Wednesday against a former Roman Catholic priest who died while awaiting trial on sexual assault charges.

The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office said Barry Meehan died of a heart attack on Dec. 8. He was 67.

Meehan pleaded not guilty in 2014 to five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two young men in the late 1980s and early 1990s while Meehan was a priest at parishes in Providence and Cranston.

He resigned as pastor of St. Timothy’s Church in Warwick in 2013 after state police conducted a joint investigation with the Diocese of Providence beginning in 2012. The Vatican laicized Meehan last year.

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.

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

Saturday, December 31, 2016

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Police say a Moravian pastor based in Manchester, who is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl on Wednesday night, faced more questioning yesterday and was expected to be charged with “having sex with a girl under 16 years old”.

Under Jamaican law, the age of consent for sexual relations is 16. Anyone below that age is a minor and therefore not eligible to consent to sexual intercourse.

Police say that about 9:00 pm on Wednesday, a motorised police patrol in the deep-rural community of Austin in Myersville, south-east St Elizabeth, close to the Alpart plant in Nain, came upon a parked car in a secluded area. Further inspection revealed the pastor and the 15-year-old in what the police describe as a “compromising position”.

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

UNITED STATES
AlterNet

By Peter Montgomery / Right Wing Watch January 2, 2017

Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has announced that six faith leaders will take part in his swearing-in ceremony by offering prayers or delivering readings. Among them are Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Bishop Wayne Jackson, who draped a prayer shawl from Israel over Trump’s shoulders when Trump made a campaign stop at his Great Faith Ministries International church in Detroit for a scripted interview. …

Timothy Dolan

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan criticized Trump’s nativist rhetoric in 2015, but more recently has praised Trump’s positions on abortion and “religious liberty” and has said since the election he looks forward to the appointment of Supreme Court justices “who will reform the injustice and travesty of Roe v. Wade.” …

Documents released in 2013 showed that Dolan, when archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2007, had asked for and received permission from the Vatican to, as The New York Times reported, “move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.”

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 04, 2017

In many ways, former Springfield bishop Thomas L. Dupre epitomized the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.

Dupre, who died Dec. 30 at 83, was the first Roman Catholic bishop to be indicted in the scandal, which burst into public view 15 years ago this month when the Globe’s Spotlight team began reporting about the church hierarchy’s protection of priests who abused minors. Advocates for victims say Dupre had cultivated a culture of secrecy that kept such abuse shrouded for years.

But the Vatican never punished him beyond accepting his resignation — at least not publicly. And Dupre was never prosecuted for his crimes because the statutes of limitation had expired, preventing prosecutors from seeking justice.

“This man should have been held accountable,” said Eric MacLeish, a lawyer who represented two men who accused Dupre of abusing them as minors. “He should have died in prison for the damage he did.” …

Terence McKiernan, a spokesman for BishopAccountability.org, an online archive of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, said Dupre’s story reflects the Vatican’s past failures — and ongoing struggles — in holding bishops accountable for the abuse of children.

“Dupre, even though he paid a price in the sense that he did resign once his past was revealed, that’s a pretty mild punishment,” McKiernan said. “And I think most bishops who enabled abuse, and even some bishops who offended themselves, paid no price at all.”

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.