ABUSE TRACKER

ARGENTINA
El Tribuno

Rubén Arenas

[A judge in Argentina has ordered priest Agustin Rosa to be housed in a jail. The priest, who is accused of sexual abuse, had petitioned for house arrest. He was ordered by the judge to go to the hospital at the penitentiary of Villa las Rosas to recover from his ailments.]

La jueza de Garantías Ada Zunino denegó ayer el pedido de detención domiciliaria del cura Agustín Rosa Torino y ordenó que sea trasladado al hospital del penal de Villa las Rosas para que realice allí el tratamiento de recuperación por las dolencias que lo afectan.

Con esta medida, la magistrada confirmó lo que se vino sosteniendo desde un comienzo cuando el abogado defensor del sacerdote, Raymundo Sosa, firmó una caución para que su cliente retorne a su domicilio en finca la Cruz luego de que los profesionales que lo asisten le dieran el alta médica.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

MEEHAN, BARRY M.
67 of West Warwick died suddenly on December 8, 2016. Born in Providence, RI, he was the beloved son of the late Charles and Marie (Voccia) Meehan. He held several advanced degrees in Theology and History which he earned at the Angelicum in Rome and at Providence College. He was a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Phi Alpha Theta and Kapa Delta Pi honor societies.

Barry is survived by his dear brother, Charles Meehan and his wife Gail, of Warwick, and one nephew, Charles Meehan of Florida. He also leaves beloved cousins Robert A. Voccia and his wife, Kathleen, of Cranston, and their sons Robert, Christopher and Jonathan Voccia, all three of whom are his godsons, and June St. Peter of Warwick. A Mass of Christian Burial was offered last week. Burial was private.

Published in The Providence Journal on Dec. 27, 2016

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyVoice

[with video]

BY MICHAEL TANENBAUM
PhillyVoice Staff

The Northeast Philadelphia man who gained recognition for hoisting a “Hillary 4 Prison” sign on Roosevelt Boulevard during the 2016 presidential campaign burst into The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul early Monday and delivered a screed against the Cathlolic Church, invoking the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory in the process.

Howard Caplan had already made his fringe views known in November, when he went to Washington, D.C. to protest outside Comet Ping Pong Pizza, the restaurant embroiled by false accususations of covering up a child sex operation run by Hillary Clinton and her former campaign chairman John Podesta.

At midnight mass on Monday, Caplan entered the Center City church and began shouting at the congregation about Pizzagate and its alleged connection to the otherwise well documented child sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church over the last several decades. Eventually, Caplan was confronted and led out of the church while continuing to denounce its history. (Note: Video contains explicit language).

The Pizzagate conspiracy, which appears to have originated on the message board 4chan, took on a dangerous life of its own in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in November. Earlier this month, a 28-year-old man armed with an assault rifle entered Comet Ping Pong Pizza and threatened a store employee before he was apprehended by authorities, fortunately with no injuries.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Monday, December 26th, 2016

SANTA FE, N.M. — A former Archdiocese of Santa Fe priest who surfaced in Morocco this year is the focus of a lawsuit filed last week by a New Mexico man who alleges that he was sexually abused as a teenager by Arthur Perrault at the University of Albuquerque campus.

Another lawsuit filed against the archdiocese last week alleges that a former Las Vegas priest sexually abused seven San Miguel County residents when they were children in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Perrault lawsuit alleges that the former priest sexually abused a 17-year-old boy who enrolled in a college preparatory program at the University of Albuquerque, a now-defunct Catholic university where Perrault served as a faculty member. The lawsuit was filed in 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque on behalf of a 65-year-old New Mexico man identified only as John Doe 64.

The archdiocese responded in a written statement that it does not comment on pending litigation, but it works closely with civil authorities to ensure safety of parishioners.

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FRANCE
Paris Match

L’archevêque de Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, admet que “(son) réveil a été tardif” face aux abus sexuels commis par des prêtres, notamment dans son diocèse, dans un entretien au Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France de dimanche.

L’Eglise française a été secouée par des mois de révélations d’affaires de pédophilie dans plusieurs diocèses français, dont celui de Lyon.

L’affaire du père Bernard Preynat, prêtre lyonnais soupçonné d’avoir abusé de plus de 60 jeunes scouts, a valu au cardinal Barbarin d’être visé par des plaintes pour non dénonciation, plaintes classées sans suite début août.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

L’archevêque de Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, admet que “(son) réveil a été tardif” face aux abus sexuels commis par des prêtres, notamment dans son diocèse, dans un entretien au Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France de dimanche.

L’Eglise française a été secouée par des mois de révélations d’affaires de pédophilie dans plusieurs diocèses français, dont celui de Lyon.

L’affaire du père Bernard Preynat, prêtre lyonnais soupçonné d’avoir abusé de plus de 60 jeunes scouts, a valu au cardinal Barbarin d’être visé par des plaintes pour non dénonciation, plaintes classées sans suite début août.

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FRANCE
Tele-Loisirs

[In an interview with Le Parisien / Aujourd’hui Sunday, the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, admitted that he woke up too late to the sexual abuse committed by priests, especially in his archdiocese. If he had been in direct contact with the victims earlier he would have seen the severity of the damage, he said. These remarks shocked humorist Muriel Robin who decided to answer him on Facebook.]

Dans un entretien accordé au Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France de dimanche, l’archevêque de Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, admettait que “(son) réveil a été tardif” face aux abus sexuels commis par des prêtres, notamment dans son diocèse : “Si j’avais été en relation directe plus tôt avec les victimes et que j’avais vu la gravité des dégâts, je me serais dit : il faut agir immédiatement.”. Des propos qui ont choqués l’humoriste Muriel Robin qui a décidé de prendre la parole sur son Facebook pour lui répondre.

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FRANKREICH
Domradio

[French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin has shown remorse after the abuse scandal in his archdiocese and said he “woke up” to late to the issue.]

Der Lyoner Kardinal Philippe Barbarin hat Fehler im Umgang mit einem sexuellen Missbrauchsskandal in seiner Diözese eingeräumt. “Tatsächlich bin ich zu spät aufgewacht”, sagte der Primas von Frankreich im Interview der Zeitung “Le Parisien”.

Hätte er sich früher mit den Opfern getroffen, hätte er sich sagen müssen: Ich muss sofort handeln, so Barbarin. Gegen den Erzbischof von Lyon war im Frühjahr wegen Nichtanzeige sexueller Übergriffe in seinem Verantwortungsbereich ermittelt worden. Im August stellte die Staatsanwaltschaft die Verfolgung des Falles ein. Es habe keine Hinweise auf eine Straftat seinerseits gegeben, hieß es.

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GERMANY
NDR

[The public prosecutor’s office in Oldenburg has stopped her investigation against a priest from Lohne – but now another prosecution authority is investigating the man.]

Die Staatsanwaltschaft Oldenburg hat ihr Ermittlungsverfahren gegen einen Priester aus Lohne eingestellt – nun aber ermittelt eine andere Anklagebehörde gegen den Mann. Das teilte die katholische Kirche am Donnerstag mit. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover habe ein abgetrenntes Teil-Verfahren eröffnet. Dabei geht es nach Angaben des Bischöflich Münsterschen Offizialats in Vechta um den Verdacht des Besitzes jugendpornografischer Bilder. Für die Dauer dieses neuen Verfahrens ruhten die innerkirchlichen Ermittlungen, teilte das Offizialat weiter mit. Der Priester bleibe beurlaubt.

Anzeige nach Gerüchten in Lohne

Die Oldenburger Staatsanwaltschaft hatte wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den Priester ermittelt. Der 73-Jährige sollte Jungen im Alter von 13 bis 14 Jahren von auswärts, die in seinem Haus übernachteten, pornografische Bilder gezeigt haben. Der Verdacht habe sich laut Staatsanwaltschaft aber nicht bestätigt, teilte das Offizialat am Mittwoch mit.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Riley Laychuk

A Winnipeg man is suing a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada after allegations of sexual assault and abuse were bought forward decades after they were said to have occurred.

In a statement of claim filed in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench, the man says he still suffers severe physical and emotional pain, alcohol and substance abuse, PTSD and other effects following incidents he says occurred both in a church in The Pas, Man. and at the priest’s residence on church property in the town, approximately 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg

He is suing the Diocese of Brandon, which employed the priest named in the claim, for damages.

The priest is believed to now be dead, the bishop of the diocese said.

The claim states the priest performed oral-genital intercourse on the plaintiff, who was under 10 years old at the time, attempted anal intercourse and masturbated him in the priest’s residence. Similar acts were performed in the church basement in another incident, the claim says.

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ARGENTINA
El Tribuno

[The priest Agustin Rosa, who is accused of sexual abuse, works on his release. With a laptop he prepares his defense. He is still detained in a clinic after his arrest and has not yet received a response to his request for house arrest.]

En la habitación de la clínica privada donde permanece detenido, el sacerdote Agustín Rosa Torino utilizó el tiempo durante el fin de semana para analizar las acusaciones por ABUSO SEXUAL en su contra y avanzar, con una computadora portátil, en un boceto del descargo que presentará por la imputación.

El fundador del Instituto Religioso Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista pasó la Nochebuena acompañado de dos curas de esa misma congregación, según contó a este diario su abogado Raymundo Sosa.

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Jay R. Jordan, jjordan@hcnonline.com

Magnolia pastor Ronald Mitchell was indicted Thursday on four felony child sexual assault charges.

Mitchell, 57, pastors Body of Christ Church near Magnolia. He was arrested Nov. 1 after SWAT team member with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office raided the church and allegedly found evidence of the sexual assault.

The pastor is facing four second-degree felony counts of sexual assault of a child – one for every time prosecutors say Mitchell had sex with a 16-year-old congregation member over a four-month period from 2015 into 2016. He is facing up to 80 years in prison for those charges, but Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office detectives believe there could be more victims.

Court documents show Mitchell had the girl staying with him at his church in the 40200 block of Garwood Court near Magnolia, telling the girl’s mother that she needed to be “watched” and have “more supervision.”

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ARGENTINA
El Tribuno

[The lawyer representing priest Agustin Rosa, who is accused of sexual abuse, has asked for house arrest of his client]

Pablo Ferrer

En Ciudad Judicial llamó la atención que el cura no aparentaba dolencias. Lucas Alascio
El sacerdote Agustín Rosa Torino, al parecer, deberá seguir detenido en la clínica donde ahora está alojado, si su salud así lo requiere, o en la Unidad Carcelaria de Villa las Rosas. Altas fuentes judiciales aseguraron a El Tribuno que la jueza de Garantías Ada Zunino habría resuelto denegar la solicitud de arresto domiciliario que le había cursado, el jueves pasado, el abogado del imputado por abuso sexual ultrajante agravado por su condición de cura.

La magistrada debe evaluar el último informe médico sobre Rosa Torino para determinar dónde cumplirá la prisión preventiva ordenada en su contra. No se descarta que el acusado pueda ser derivado hoy al penal.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic World Report

Vatican City, Dec 24, 2016 / 10:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Two days after the announcement that Pope Francis has established a group to look into the circumstances regarding the recent dismissal of the Order of Malta’s former Grand Chancellor, the Knights responded – saying the decision was an internal matter.

The response follows the forced resignation of leader Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, which some attribute to controversy regarding the order’s charity branch being allegedly involved in distributing condoms in Myanmar to prevent HIV.

On Dec. 22 the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had formed a group of five “senior officials” tasked with “gathering any liable factors” and to “fully and quickly inform the Holy See on the matter that has recently affected the Grand Chancellor of the Order, Mr. Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.”

Members of the group include Archbishop Silvestro Tomasi, Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda S.J., Belgian lawyer Mr. Jacques de Liedekerke, Mr. Marc Odendall and Mr. Marwan Sehnaoui.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See on Saturday published the motivations of the sentence that found Spanish Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda guilty of leaking Vatican documents to the press.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. However Pope Francis this week had his jail sentence commuted and Vallejo Balda was put under “conditional freedom” because he had already served more than half of said sentence.

During the trial dubbed “Vatileaks II”, Vallejo Balda was found guilty and convicted while accomplice, Francesca Chaouqui, was found guilty of conspiring in the crime, but was not charged with the actual leak of the documents given a lack of evidence. She was sentenced to 10 months in prison for her role; however, the sentence was suspended for five years.

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ROME
LifeSite News

Claire Chretien

December 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The Knights of Malta have responded to the news that the Vatican will be investigating the firing of one of its top officials for overseeing the distribution of contraception by saying it’s an internal matter that “falls solely within” the Order’s “competence.”

According to a statement from the Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Order of Malta, “The replacement of the former Grand Chancellor is an act of internal governmental administration of the Sovereign Order of Malta and consequently falls solely within its competence.”

The Order has been in the news recently after one of top-ranking officials, Albrecht von Boeselager, violated his vow of obedience by refusing to resign after it was revealed he had overseen the distribution of contraception in developing countries through the order’s charity, Malteser International. Von Boeselager’s refusal to resign allowed the Order to take disciplinary action against him.

The Catholic Church teaches that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil.

Then, on Thursday, Pope Francis announced he was launching an investigation into the situation. The Times of Malta reported that the investigation was rumored to be focused less on the condom scandal and more on the process that led to von Boeselager’s sacking.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

The most human pope in recent memory slips out of the Vatican’s golden cage for a few moments, then lambasts the cardinals of the Curia who think they run the place.
Barbie Latza Nadeau

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU

12.24.16

VATICAN CITY—Oh the woe of being Pope Francis. On one hand, he clearly longs for the simple things in life, like shoe shopping. So much so that during the mad Roman pre-Christmas shopping rush, he left the protected grounds of Vatican City to visit a local pharmacy and pick up a new version of his famously simple orthopedic shoes. He blessed a cashier’s crucifix, signed a charge slip for the shoes, and went back through the hallowed gates to what some might be call his gilded cage.

On the other hand, Francis just as clearly revels in his role as the leader (and shaper) of a revitalized Catholic Church. During his annual Christmas greeting to the cardinals and senior officials of the Roman Curia, he lambasted those who show three types of resistance to his continued reform, which he described as “open, hidden and malevolent.” The audience included the cardinals who have publically condemned him and would love to see him ousted.

In the pontiff’s wide-ranging remarks, which included a promise to increase the “role of women and of lay persons in the life of the church,” he pinpointed the 12 guiding criteria he would follow to continue reforming the institution. In 2014, he identified 15 “diseases” he implied that many of the men in front of him suffered from and last year he offered up a “catalogue of necessary virtues” they should embrace.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
posted Saturday, 24 Dec 2016

The Pope’s end of year speech to the Roman Curia has become something of an event, thanks to two things. First of all, this is the Pope who is supposedly reforming the Curia, and that has aroused interest. Secondly, this is the Pope who made that speech back in 2014 which lambasted his audience for their fifteen spiritual ills including “spiritual Alzheimer’s”. So when the Pope gets up to speak on what had once been a rather dull routine occasion, people now tend to tune in rather than out.

Then there is a matter of the presents. In the old days each member of the Curia got a bottle of prosecco and a panettone from the Holy Father. The Pope has cut out such fripperies. On one occasion each was given a CD of the Pope’s speeches. This year it was a book, recommended by Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, who, funnily enough, is one of the Four Cardinals who sent the Pope the famous dubia which remain still unanswered. The book is entitled “Measures to treat diseases of the soul” (Industriae ad curandos animae morbos), by the Italian Jesuit Fr Claudio Acquaviva. No doubt it will make cheery Christmas reading.

But to the speech. This was, to put it mildly, cryptic, at least to English ears.

“The 12 principles for reform, translated by Vatican Radio, are: individual responsibility (personal conversion), pastoral concern (pastoral conversion), missionary spirit (Christocentrism), clear organisation, improved functioning, modernisation (updating), sobriety, subsidiarity, synodality, Catholicity, professionalism, gradualism (discernment).”

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OHIO
Courier-Journal

Andrew Wolfson , @adwolfson December 24, 2016

Raped by her pastor during a counseling session near Columbus, Ohio, a 15-year-old girl and her family sued him and the church for retaining him, despite two previous claims he’d committed sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

A jury awarded them $3.5 million, to compensate for her trauma. But it was reduced to only $250,000 in damages under an Ohio law that limits recoveries to that amount for pain and suffering and other so-called non-economic damages.

In a bitter, divided opinion, Ohio’s high court this month upheld the reduction, rejecting the argument that child sex abuse victims often require a lifetime of psychiatric care.

The majority refused to carve out an exception to the state’s 11-year-old law, passed by Ohio’s legislature to provide “a fair, predictable system of civil justice that preserves the rights of injured parties while curbing frivolous lawsuits, which increase the costs of doing business, threaten Ohio jobs, drive up consumer costs, and may hinder innovation.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Lori Gilbert
Record Staff Writer

It may take up to two years for Pope Francis to act, but I’m sad nonetheless that the tenure of Bishop Stephen Blaire, who has led the Diocese of Stockton since 1999, is coming to an end.

Knowing him has made me rethink the faith in which I was raised. It’s not easy to be a Catholic woman in the 21st century, or in the 20th or any other century for that matter. It’s a patriarchal faith and its position on some issues, such as an opposition to birth control, makes my blood boil.

But Bishop Blaire has made me want to be more than a Christmas and Easter Catholic. …

Bishop Blaire’s heart is big. Even as he dealt with the financial woes and loss of trust brought on by the sexual abuse scandal that his predecessors failed to stop, Blaire always appeared upbeat and unflappable. He had to make tough calls, including declaring bankruptcy in 2014. As he struggled with all that unpleasantness, he was never anything but pleasant and kind to others.

Even after he cleaned up the mess left by some predecessors who turned a blind eye to sexual abuse, Blaire was betrayed by priests on his watch. Dean McFalls left after announcing he had fathered a child. Lawrence McGovern was charged with sexual harassment after allegedly sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a gardener and firing him when his advances were rejected.

The shame is their own, but Blaire no doubt is weighed down by their sins, by their behavior that further erodes trust in the church, a church that the bishop loves.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

Alex Ross

THREE alleged victims of sex abuse at a Catholic children’s homes have been unsuccessful in their bid for compensation.

Only one out of four ‘test’ cases was awarded £14,000 in damages at Leeds High Court after a ruling was made by a judge presiding over compensation claims for former pupils at St William’s, in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

A total of 249 men lodged claims against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle institute, which ran the home until its closure in 1992.

They claim to have suffered sexual abuse there and, in one of the largest joint compensation claims against the Catholic Church, potential payouts could run into millions of pounds if successful.

But on Wednesday Judge Mark Gosnell ruled on the first four cases and only one was successful. His ruling is expected on a further, fifth case, in January.

The former headmaster, James Carragher, and the former priest, Anthony McCallen, were convicted of sex offences against boys at the school in November 2015. Carragher, 75, was convicted previously in 1993 and 2004 of sexual offences against boys at the school which closed in 1992.

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PORTUGAL
Avoz de Trasos Montes

[The Diocese of Vila Real clarified yesterday in a statement that the priest sentenced to 20 months suspended sentence for sexual abuse of minors is suspended from the exercise of priestly ministry and expressed “deep sadness” for the case.]

A Diocese de Vila Real esclareceu ontem, em comunicado, que o padre condenado a 20 meses de pena suspensa por abuso sexual de menores se encontra suspenso do exercício do ministério sacerdotal e manifestou “profunda tristeza” pelo caso.

“Queremos tornar pública a nossa profunda tristeza pelos factos, e manifestar aos menores que foram vítimas, e às pessoas que lhes são mais chegadas, a nossa pena, a nossa proximidade e o nosso compromisso em fazer tudo o possível para que factos destes não se repitam no futuro”, pode ler-se no documento assinado pelo bispo de Vila Real, Amândio Tomás.

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VATICAN CITY
Salina Journal

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Thursday named a high-powered commission to investigate a reported condom scandal at the Order of Malta, the conservative Catholic religious order that dates from the medieval Crusades.

The order’s grand chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, was forcibly ousted earlier this month after the Order of Malta said “an extremely grave and untenable situation” came to light. Italian daily Il Messaggero said the scandal concerned von Boeselager’s tenure as health minister and claims that he didn’t prevent the order’s workers in Africa from distributing condoms.

Church teaching opposes artificial contraception. However, even some Catholic priests and nuns in Africa and elsewhere have condoned the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

The order hasn’t provided details, but said the scandal involved von Boeselager’s tenure as health minister and said he had concealed the problems until an internal investigation uncovered them last year.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Published December 24, 2016 Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – The Order of Malta, the ancient Roman Catholic aristocratic lay order, has told Pope Francis that his decision to launch an investigation into the ouster of a top official over an old condom scandal is “unacceptable.”

In an extraordinary rebuke of the pontiff, the group said late Friday that the replacement of its grand chancellor was an “act of internal governmental administration of the Sovereign Order of Malta and consequently falls solely within its competence.”

Francis on Thursday appointed a five-member commission to investigate the Dec. 8 ouster of Albrecht von Boeselager amid evidence that Francis’ own envoy to the group, conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke, helped engineer it without his blessing.

One charge used against von Boeselager concerned a program that the order’s Malteser International aid group had participated in several years ago with other aid groups to help sex slaves in Myanmar, including giving them condoms to protect them from HIV infection.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gazette and Herald

Emily Flanagan

A TOP independent school in North Yorkshire is to be included in one of three public hearings carried out in the national child sexual abuse inquiry.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSE) has published an internal review, setting out how it intends to proceed with its inquiry under its latest chair Professor Alexis Jay, who took over the role this summer.

The review states that it was reducing the number of public-inquiry style hearings into key institutions to speed up the process and refocus on preventing abuse now and in the future.

It will now hold public hearings into three of its investigations; the Roman Catholic Benedictine Congregation, children outside of the UK and Rochdale Council establishments.

The inquiry into the Roman Catholic Benedictine Congregation – which encompasses Benedictine monastic organisations across the UK, including Ampleforth Abbey and College – will be held in December 2017.

There will be further public hearings the following year into the archdiocese of Birmingham and the wider Catholic church.

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VATICAN CITY
LifeSite News

Jan Bentz

ROME, December 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has laicized a close collaborator of the late Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero and two other priests of the Archdiocese of San Salvador for crimes of sexual abuse, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, reported this week.

One of the three priests suspended since 2015 is Jesus Delgado, 78, who was accused of abusing a girl for years. Delgado was Romero’s former secretary and a close collaborator who went on to serve as the vicar general of the Archdiocese of San Salvador. He later became biographer and co-postulator of Romero’s case for beatification.

The press release for the laicization of Delgado can be found here. Laicization is the most severe punishment in the Catholic Church for a member of the clergy.

Also laicized were Francisco Gálvez and Antonio Molina. Gálvez was a parish priest of Nuestra Señora del Rosario church in Rosario de Mora and Molina served at Santa Cruz de Rome in Panchimalco. Both were removed for having sexually abused children more than 20 years ago.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Saturday, 24 December 2016

A former Anglican priest will appear in court next year, after being charged with alleged sexual assaults upon two boys in the Hunter region during the 1970s.

In 2013, officers from Newcastle City Local Area Command established Strike Force Arinya 2 to review allegations that between 1971 and 1975, a man assaulted two boys at various locations including Edgeworth, Minmi, West Wallsend, Gateshead and Belmont.

Following inquiries, a 79-year-old man, from Ballarat, was issued a Future Court Attendance Notice (FCAN) for 20 offences, including assault with intent to commit buggery, five counts of buggery, and 14 counts of indecent assault on male.

Four charges were also reinstated for buggery and three counts of indecent assault on male.

The man is due to appear at Newcastle Local Court on Thursday 2 February 2017.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Anglican priest has been charged with alleged sexual assaults on two boys in the NSW Hunter region in the 1970s.

The 79-year-old man from Ballarat was issued a court attendance notice for 20 offences, including assault with intent to commit buggery, five counts of buggery and 14 counts of indecent assault on a male.

Police charged the man following inquiries into the alleged assault of two boys at various locations including Edgeworth, Minmi, West Wallsend, Gateshead and Belmont between 1971 and 1975.

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ARGENTINA
La Jornada

AP

Buenos Aires. La justicia ha identificado a por lo menos 22 víctimas de presuntos abusos sexuales cometidos por dos curas católicos y tres empleados de un instituto para sordos en la provincia argentina de Mendoza, un caso que escandaliza a los investigadores.

Las víctimas, de unos 20 años de edad en la actualidad y entre los que hay sordomudos y jóvenes con distintos problemas de audición, brindaron en los últimos días su testimonio a fiscales con la ayuda de intérpretes y psicólogos, dijo el lunes a The Associated Press Alejandro Gullé, procurador de la Corte Suprema de Mendoza, unos mil kilómetros al oeste de Buenos Aires.

“Este es un caso realmente gravísimo con consecuencias irreparables, sobre todo las psíquicas y espirituales, a un sector doblemente vulnerable no sólo por la edad sino también por la falta de comunicación”, sostuvo el jefe de los fiscales mendocinos. …

BishopAccoutability.org, un portal en internet sobre pederastia clerical, dijo días atrás que grupos italianos de víctimas de abuso le habían advertido al Vaticano en 2008 y 2014 sobre Corradi y otros acusados de abusar sexualmente de niños en una escuela para sordomudos en Verona.

“Es espantoso y doloroso que Corradi no haya sido frenado por el papa Francisco ni otras autoridades de la Iglesia. La presencia de Corradi en la escuela en Mendoza no era un secreto”, afirmó Anne Barrett Doyle, codirectora de BishopAccountability.

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ARGENTINA
Net Noticias

[22 VICTIMS OF PEDOPHILIA IN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.]

En un instituto para sordos se han identificado a por lo menos 22 víctimas de presuntos abusos sexuales cometidos por dos curas católicos y tres empleados, en Mendoza, Buenos Aires.

Las victimas de aproximadamente 20 años de edad en la actualidad, entre los que se encuentran sordomudos y jóvenes con problemas de audición, dieron su testimonio a fiscales, ayudados por intérpretes y psicólogos, informó el procurador de la Corte Suprema de Mendoza, Alejandro Gullé.

“Este es un caso realmente gravísimo con consecuencias irreparables, sobre todo las psíquicas y espirituales, a un sector doblemente vulnerable no sólo por la edad sino también por la falta de comunicación”, sostuvo el jefe de los fiscales.

Entre los cinco detenidos por presunto abuso sexual, se encuentra el sacerdote Nicola Corradi de 82 años, quien también fue denunciado por abuso en Italia, además el sacerdote Horacio Corbacho de 55 y tres empleados: José Luis Ojeda, Jorge Bordón y Armando Gómez, los cuales se desempeñaban en tareas administrativas y de jardinería. …

BishopAccoutability.org, un portal en internet sobre pederastia clerical, dijo días atrás que grupos italianos de víctimas de abuso le habían advertido al Vaticano en 2008 y 2014 sobre Corradi y otros acusados de abusar sexualmente de niños en una escuela para sordomudos en Verona.

“Es espantoso y doloroso que Corradi no haya sido frenado por el papa Francisco ni otras autoridades de la Iglesia. La presencia de Corradi en la escuela en Mendoza no era un secreto”, afirmó Anne Barrett Doyle, codirectora de BishopAccountability.

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ARGENTINA
Los Andes

La comisión de Educación, en conjunto con la comisión de Desarrollo Social de la Cámara de Diputados de Mendoza, se reunió con Carlos María Franzini en el Arzobispado, aunque poco fue lo que salió del encuentro: con legisladores de todos los partidos, el arzobispo aseguró que el Vaticano trabaja en el asunto y que convocó a las autoridades del Instituto Antonio Próvolo a nivel mundial.

Mientras tanto, la agencia estadounidense Associated Press aseguró que el Vaticano estaba advertido sobre la presencia de Nicolás Corradi en Argentina

La agencia dice que BishopAccountability.org, un portal en internet sobre pederastia clerical, había avisado que Corradi era culpable de abusos en Verona, Italia, y que ahora estaba en Mendoza

“Es espantoso y doloroso que Corradi no haya sido frenado por el papa Francisco ni otras autoridades de la Iglesia. La presencia de Corradi en la escuela en Mendoza no era un secreto”, afirmó Anne Barrett Doyle, codirectora de BishopAccountability.

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ARGENTINA
El Diario de Santiago

Los sacerdotes tenían una pequeña capilla en el Instituto Antonio Próvolo, provincia de Mendoza, Argentina, recinto educacional católico especializado para personas con déficit auditivo, lugar donde violaban a niños y niñas.

Como consigna Emol, “hay una capillita chiquita donde está la Virgen… con unas sillitas, donde a los niños los confesaban, les daban la comunión. Allí sucedían algunos de los hechos”, menciona el fiscal Fabrizio Sidoti, quien lleva el caso y quien ha recibido los testimonios de más de 24 jóvenes, entre estudiantes y egresados del recinto.

Las estudiantes denunciaron a dos sacerdotes, quienes habrían perpetrado las violaciones en los cuartos de baño, dormitorios y en un sótano del establecimiento. Uno de los acusados, Nicola Corradi, de 82 años había sido acusado en 2009 por delitos similares cometidos en 1950, en el mismo instituto pero en su sede en Verona, Italia, sin embargo la iglesia no hizo nada al respecto, enviándolo al país trasandino.

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ARGENTINA
El Universo

AP

En una capilla y ante una imagen de la Virgen María, dos curas católicos, supuestamente, violaron a niños sordos.

Al menos 24 alumnos y exalumnos del Instituto Antonio Próvolo para hipoacústicos de la provincia argentina de Mendoza denunciaron este y otros presuntos abusos ante la justicia. Uno de los sacerdotes ya había sido acusado de delitos similares en una escuela en Italia.

En una capilla, donde a los niños los confesaban o les daban la comunión, en cuartos de baño, dormitorios o un sótano ocurrieron las presuntas violaciones, manoseos y prácticas de sexo oral, según las denuncias contra los curas Nicola Corradi y Horacio Corbacho y tres laicos. El caso golpea a las puertas del Vaticano, que desoyó las advertencias de las víctimas italianas sobre Corradi, quien se encuentra detenido en Mendoza.

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ARGENTINA
Daily Mail

By Jennifer Newton for MailOnline

A child sex abuse scandal is unfolding at a school in Argentina where tormentors would allegedly chose their victims knowing the other children wouldn’t hear the screams as they were deaf.

Two Roman Catholic priests are accused of repeatedly raping pupils at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province.

At least 24 students at the school have come forward seeking the justice against Reverend Nicola Corradi, 82, the Reverend Horacio Cobacho, 55 and four other men.

Victims and prosecutors say the rapes by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school.

The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room. …

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse, said: ‘No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors.

‘In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the Pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.’

Earlier this month, the Pontiff appeared in a video using sign language to wish deaf people worldwide a Merry Christmas — a gesture that fell particularly flat in Argentina as Catholics struggle with the enormity of the scandal.

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NEW JERSEY
News 12

Updated December 23, 201

By The Associated Press

JERSEY CITY – A prosecutor says a church pastor who has been on the run for nearly two years after he was convicted of sexual assault charges may have tried to obliterate his own fingerprints.

The Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor said in court Friday that Gregorio Martinez’s 10 fingers were bloodied and bandaged when he was detained in Honduras in August.

Martinez was once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City. He was found guilty last year of molesting a 13-year-old boy he knew through church. Prosecutors say Martinez then fled to Nicaragua.

NJ.com reports that he appeared in court in Jersey City Friday and was held without bail pending sentencing March 24.

Martinez also faces additional charges after three 19-year-old men also accused of him of sexual assault following his initial conviction.

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CANADA
Bayshore Broadcasting

Owen Sound | by Kevin Bernard

No jail time for man convicted of assault in connection with a Chatsworth Area Church.

Two men have now been convicted and sentenced in connection with an investigation into a “cult” like church in Chatsworth.

61 year old Judson King of Oakville plead guilty last Friday (Dec. 16th) to 3 counts of assault and was sentenced to a 12 month conditional sentence (no jail time), 3 years probation, a 10 year weapons ban and he must submit a DNA sample.

King was originally charged with 6 counts including assault with a weapon and uttering death threats.

The other charges were withdrawn by the Crown.

King, and his younger brother Fred were arrested in April of 2014 following a 16 month OPP probe into allegations of physical and sexual assault by 7 victims, involving a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ restored.

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

Katie Sobko , Staff Writer, @katesobko December 23, 2016

A fugitive who was convicted of sexual offenses against a 13-year-old boy in 2015 is now in custody at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, authorities said.

Gregorio Martinez, 49, a pastor and deacon at several churches in Hudson County, was convicted by a Hudson County jury of sexual offenses against the boy, a parishioner at his church, in February 2015, Hudson County prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

Martinez was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse. Before the jury selection process, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office had filed additional sexual assault charges against Martinez in connection with the sexual assault of a 19-year-old man who attended the church where Martinez was pastor, Suarez said.

After the verdict was reached, new sexual assault charges were filed against Martinez, accusing him of offenses committed against two additional 19-year-old men whom he had spiritually counseled. He failed to appear for a mandatory pre-sentence interview after his conviction in the initial case and he fled the country. Suarez said he was traced through Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.

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NEW JERSEY
The Trentonian

By The Associated Press
POSTED: 12/23/16

JERSEY CITY >> A former New Jersey church pastor will be sentenced on sexual assault charges nearly two years after he fled the country following his conviction in February 2015.

Forty-nine-year-old Gregorio Martinez is set to be sentenced Friday in Hudson County Superior Court on charges of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

Martinez, once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City, was found guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy he got to know through a church in North Bergen.

Prosecutors say Martinez skipped a pre-sentencing interview and fled to Nicaragua. He was apprehended in Honduras last week and brought back to New Jersey on Thursday.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

JERSEY CITY — The last time Gregorio Martinez stepped foot in a Hudson County courtroom, a jury pronounced him guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

Martinez, an evangelical preacher who held himself out as a prophet, walked out of the courtroom that day, free on $250,000 bail pending sentencing.

Within weeks, he was gone, frustrating his victim’s family and law enforcement officials.

On Friday, 22 months after he vanished, the former Jersey City resident finally returned to a Hudson County courtroom, this time in handcuffs.

Superior Court Judge John A. Young Jr. ordered Martinez, 49, held without bail in connection with the February 2015 conviction on charges of aggravated criminal sexual contact, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

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NEW JERSEY
WABC

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) — A former New Jersey church pastor was sentenced on sexual assault charges nearly two years after he fled the country following his conviction.

Forty-nine-year-old Gregorio Martinez appeared in Hudson County Superior Court Friday. He was sentenced on charges of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

Martinez, once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City, was found guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy he got to know through a church in North Bergen in February 2015. Additionally, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s office filed more sexual assault charges after three 19-year-old men also accused him of sexual assault.

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MOZAMBIQUE
allAfrica

Maputo — The Mozambican police in Gondola district, in the central province of Manica, have arrested a pastor, 56 year old Nelson Simoes, for “marrying” a 13 year old girl.

Simoes is a pastor in the Johane Maranje sect, who claim to be followers of the Zimbabwean “prophet” Johane Maranje, who died in 1963.

The girl, who has not been named, was the sixth wife of Simoes, who claims to have fathered 23 children. He told reporters that he “married” the girl last year. He claimed her parents asked him to take her to his home where she would serve as a spouse.

Simoes says he was surprised when the police arrested him on charges of child rape. “The woman married with the consent of her parents”, he said. “They wanted to charge me 17,000 meticais (about 240 US dollars) in ‘lobolo’ (bride price), and I paid 4,000”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

by Megan Cornwell

A landmark abuse claim that could see the Diocese of Middlesbrough paying out millions of pounds in compensation has had three of its first test cases dismissed by a judge.

Five former students of a Yorkshire school owned by the Diocese and run by the De La Salle Brothers until its closure in 1992, are bringing a civil case against the Church at Leeds High Court.

In 2012 judges ruled that both the Diocese and the religious order were jointly liable for compensation claims that run into the millions.

Over 200 people allegedly suffered abuse while they were students at St William’s residential school in Market Weighton from 1970-1991. Earlier this year the school’s former principal and former chaplain were jailed for sex offences against children at the home, which educated boys with emotional and behavioural challenges.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com December 24, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana, which is now facing 14 lawsuits over allegations that some of its current and former priests sexually abused altar boys, is expanding to different parishes to strengthen its protection of minors.

The archdiocese’s Task Force for the Protection of Minors, created in September under Vatican-sent Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai’s leadership, has been conducting training of faculty and staff at Catholic schools related to the protection of youth from sexual abuses.

The three latest Catholic schools to receive the training are Bishop Baumgartner Memorial School in Sinajana, Infant of Prague Catholic Nursery and Kindergarten in Ta’i, Mangilao, and Notre Dame High School in Talofofo.

By next year, these types of training will extend to the parish level, the archdiocese said in a statement issued Wednesday night.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse

Friday, December 23, 2016 – Syracuse

Most Rev. Robert J. Cunningham, Bishop of Syracuse, has announced that an allegation made against Father Paul Angelicchio has been deemed not credible by the Diocesan Review Board. The Board is made up of six individuals – four lay professionals, a member of the clergy and a religious – who have extensive backgrounds in areas related to child sexual abuse. Bishop Cunningham has accepted the Board’s recommendation and has returned Father Angelicchio to active ministry as Pastor of St. John the Baptist Church and Transfiguration Church in Rome, effective December 23, 2016.

Father Paul Angelicchio was temporarily placed on administrative leave on November 21, 2016 due to the allegation of abuse of a minor. The alleged incident would have taken place 27 years ago. The allegation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office which later forwarded it to the diocese after its review. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, in a recent interview, stated that his office found no proof or evidence of wrongdoing by Fr. Angelicchio. He added that he found nothing to back up the claim- no physical evidence, no crime, and no corroborating witness. Fitzpatrick said his office determined Angelicchio “was not a clear and present danger to any minors.”

It is important to note that in keeping with the commitment made under the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese of Syracuse must conduct a canonical (church law) investigation into any claim of sexual abuse once it has been reviewed by the appropriate District Attorney’s office. The canonical investigation is forwarded to the Diocesan Review Board which then makes a recommendation to Bishop Cunningham as to the credibility of the claim in order to assess the accused’s fitness for ministry.

Bishop Cunningham is grateful for the assistance from the District Attorney’s Office, the expertise of the Diocesan Review Board and the full cooperation of Father Paul Angelicchio.

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NEW YORK
Upstate NewYork

By Elizabeth Doran | edoran@syracuse.com

The Rev. Paul F. Angelicchio, a priest in the Syracuse area for years before becoming pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish in Rome, has been cleared of an abuse allegation made against him, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse said today.

Angelicchio has been reinstated today after the allegation against him was found to be ‘not credible,’ the diocese said.

The Diocesan Review Board – made up of four lay professionals, a clergy member and a religious member – who all have extensive backgrounds in areas related to child sexual abuse, cleared the priest, the diocese said.

Father Paul Angelicchio was placed on administrative leave Nov. 21 after an allegation involving abuse of a minor 27 years ago.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com in November his office found no proof or evidence of wrongdoing, and nothing to back up the claim. Fitzpatrick also said Angelicchio “was not a clear and present danger to any minors.”

The Diocese of Syracuse is required to conduct an investigation into any claim of sexual abuse once it has been reviewed by the appropriate ‘s DA’s office, the diocese said.

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NEW YORK
WSYR

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV)

Allegations of sex abuse leveled against Father Paul Angelicchio are ‘not credible,” according to a diocesan review board.

The Syracuse Diocese says the priest will return to active ministry.

The alleged incident involving a minor would have taken place 27 years ago.

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick has already said that the claims were not substantial.

The diocese noted:

[Fitzpatrick] added that he found nothing to back up the claim- no physical evidence, no crime, and no corroborating witness. Fitzpatrick said his office determined Angelicchio “was not a clear and present danger to any minors.”

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

A Rome priest placed on administrative leave last month returned to active ministry today after recent allegations against him were found to be “not credible,” according to the Rome Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

By Observer-Dispatch

A Rome priest placed on administrative leave last month returned to active ministry today after recent allegations against him were found to be “not credible,” according to the Rome Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

The Rev. Paul Angelicchio will now resume all duties as pastor of St. John the Baptist Church and Transfiguration Church in Rome, according to a news release.

Angelicchio was placed on leave Nov. 21 after allegations arose that he “was aware of sexual abuse committed in his presence (27 years ago) and did nothing to prevent it,” according to a statement from Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Allegations of misconduct against a Catholic priest in Rome have been deemed to be unfounded, the Syracuse Diocese announced today.

Bishop Robert Cunningham said the Diocesan Review Board found the allegations against the Rev. Paul Angelicchio from 27 years ago to be not credible.

Cunningham accepted the board’s recommendation and returned Angelicchio to active ministry as pastor of St. John the Baptist Church and Transfiguration Church in Rome, effective today.

The review board is made up of six people — four lay professionals, a member of the clergy and a religious, the diocese said.

The diocese placed Angelicchio on temporarily administrative leave Nov. 21 in response to allegations of abusing a minor. The accusation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s office, which later forwarded it to the diocese, according to a news release from the diocese.

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NEW YORK
TWC News

[with video]

A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese accused of abuse has been cleared of wrongdoing.

He had been placed administrative leave a month ago, following alleged abuse of a minor, 27 years ago.

The allegation was deemed not credible by the Diocesan Review Board which is made up of four lay professionals, and clergy.

The allegation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office which was later forwarded to the diocese after its review.

The DA’s office found no proof or evidence of wrongdoing.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

24/12/2016

I’ve been holding on to something for a week. Something that took me several days to digest. I then took another few days to try to sooth the anger, and remove as much emotion as I can out of any public response. A week later, and several therapy sessions later, the anger has not dissipated in any way – in fact, it has increased – so the emotion is still raw. I apologise in advance. But selfishly, it may assist me in moving beyond this matter. And hopefully it is of some benefit to others.

Last Friday I received an email from a journalist who is doing a story for a major Jewish/Israeli publication on my recently-published book and related matters. The journalist sought comment from Robert Goot, who stepped down from his role as President of Australia’s peak national body, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). Just a few years ago I was one of Goot’s deputies at the ECAJ. As has been documented, I have been publicly critical of the ECAJ and its leaders, especially Goot’s predecessor Danny Lamm, for their (mis)handling of the child sexual abuse scandal plaguing the Australian Jewish community. My book provides more details.

Last week Goot wrote the following email to the journalist:

Dear [REDACTED]

Further to your email below, please see the attached documents which are all part of the public record of the Royal Commission.

In addition:
* In 2012 the ECAJ wrote a detailed submission, in consultation with survivors representatives, in support of the establishment of the Commission (attached)
* The ECAJ publicly welcomed the establishment of the Commission in a Media Release
* Peter Wertheim and I, met with the Hon Justice Peter McClellan AM and other officers of the Commission on 7 March 2013, shortly after the Commission was established to discuss how we could co-operate with and assist the Commission
* On 2 September 2014, I attended a ‘Private Roundtable’ of Faith-based Organisations, chaired by the Hon Justice Peter McClellan AM and Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald AM. The broad topics for discussion focused on approaches to reforms – distinguishing past abuse and future abuse and options for civil litigation reforms. I then issued a memo to all Jewish institutions involved with working with children
* On 7 January 2015, just before the hearings began into Yeshivah in Melbourne and Sydney, Peter Wertheim met with Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission to assist with preparation of the case.
* Our Media Release condemning Yossi Feldman’s comments to the Royal Commission have resulted in him suing us for defamation.

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TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Jesse S. Linam was ordained for the Galveston-Houston diocese in 1961. He assisted in parishes in Rosenberg, Houston and Galveston before pastoring in Channelview, Freeport and Bellview. In 1993 he was permanently removed from ministry due to unspecified allegations of child sexual abuse from years before. In 2002 he was the subject of a lawsuit, accused of having sexually abused a boy at St. Andrew’s in Channelview during 1973-1974. The suit alleged that Linam had sexually abused “numerous minor boys” between 1961 and 1993. It was dismissed due to the Texas statute of limitations, which required those alleging abuse as minors to come forward by age 20.

Linam is shown in the Official Catholic Directory to have been retired 1998-2010, after which he is no longer indexed. He is last known to have been living in Anderson TX.

Ordained: 1961
Retired: 1998

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ARIZONA
Daily Courier

Editor’s note: Due to the sensitive nature of this story, the commenting feature has been disabled. Feel free to send letters to the editor for consideration to editorial@prescottaz.com.

PRESCOTT – On Dec.20, Rev. Thomas J. Chantry was ordered held without bond in the Camp Verde jail, Chief Deputy County Attorney Dennis McGrane said.

Chantry, 46, was indicted in Yavapai County Superior Court on eight counts – five counts of child molestation and three of aggravated assault – for offenses committed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he worked at the Miller Valley Baptist Church.

Chantry left the Prescott area over 10 years ago and was arrested in Wisconsin in July. He was working as a pastor in the town of Hale’s Corners at the time; the church where he was employed has a message on its website saying that “Mr. Chantry is currently on a leave of absence from the church.”

After his arrest, on a warrant taken out by Prescott Police, he posted bond in Wisconsin, then came to court in Prescott and was allowed to return, said Dwight D’Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

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ARGENTINA
Fox News

The clerical sex abuse scandal unfolding at an institute for hearing impaired children in Argentina is now touching Pope Francis himself, after alleged victims of Rev. Nicola Corradi said they wrote a letter to the pontiff in 2014 warning him that the purported pedophile had been reassigned to the South American country.

Corradi, 82, and another priest, 55-year-old Horacio Corbacho, were arrested last month along with three employees for the alleged abuse of at least 24 deaf children who attended the Antonio Provolo Institute, in the city of Mendoza.

Police raided the institute and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.

The victims’ families contend that the Vatican knew about him since at least 2009, when he was publicly accused of abusing students at the Provolo Institute in Verona, Italy, where he then worked.

They allege nothing was done then nor later in 2014, when they told Pope Francis in a letter that Corradi was living in his native Argentina.

All five suspects in the Mendoza case are being held in jail and have not spoken publicly since their arrest.

“From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew,” one of the victims told The Associated Press through a sign language interpreter.

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NEW YORK
Rome Sentinel

Published Dec 23, 2016

BY STEVE JONES
Staff writer

A Rome clergyman is back from a leave of absence after an allegation against him was deemed not credible by the Review Board of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

Most Rev. Robert J. Cunningham, bishop of Syracuse, announced that the Rev. Paul Angelicchio has returned to his post as pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish.

Rev. Angelicchio was placed on temporarily administrative leave on Nov. 21, due to an allegation of abuse of a minor. The alleged incident would have taken place 27 years ago, the diocese noted. The allegation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office which later forwarded it to the diocese after its review. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, in a recent interview, stated that his office found no proof or evidence of wrongdoing by Rev. Angelicchio, the diocese noted. “He added that he found nothing to back up the claim — no physical evidence, no crime, and no corroborating witness. Fitzpatrick said his office determined Angelicchio ‘was not a clear and present danger to any minors,’” the diocese stated.

The Review Board is made up of six — four lay professionals, a member of the clergy and a religious — who have extensive backgrounds in areas related to child sexual abuse. Bishop Cunningham has accepted the Board’s recommendation and has returned Rev. Angelicchio to active ministry, effective today.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Somerset Live

By Daniel Mumby | Posted: December 23, 2016

The public inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Church of England and other institutions is to be sped up and partially scaled back.

Professor Alexis Jay, who is chairing the inquiry, has said that she wants to refocus the inquiry into preventing abuse.

She told The Guardian that she remained committed to pursuing all 13 investigations into “non-recent abuse” with institutions, including the Catholic church and the Houses of Parliament.

But she added that there would only be one or two public hearings into each key area – meaning that all incidents of reported abuse within the Church of England would have to considered together.

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WALES
Daily Post

BY DEREK BELLIS
22 DEC 2016

A Jehovah’s Witness preacher and elder has been jailed for having sexual activity with a girl of 14.

Family man Daniel Arthington, 46, of Llanddaniel, Anglesey, pleaded guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court and was sent to prison for two years and eight months.

“I’m satisfied there was an element of grooming involved in your successful attempt in snaring your young prey,” Judge Huw Rees told him.

“Your fall from grace is substantial but you have nobody to blame but yourself.’

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INDIANA/NEW JERSEY
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN
DEC. 22, 2016

INDIANAPOLIS — For about a year, the guys at the gym just called him Joe. He lifted weights in the early mornings wearing a skull-printed do-rag. He worked out on the elliptical, wiping it down when he was done.

Then one day Shaun Yeary, a salesman at a landscape supply company, asked him in the locker room what he did for a living. “I used to be a priest,” Joe recalled telling him. “And now,” he said, his voice growing quieter so as not to scare anyone in earshot, “I’m the archbishop of Indianapolis.”

“I was like, for real?” Mr. Yeary recalled. “This guy is benching two and a quarter!” — gymspeak for 225 pounds.

Joe, also known as Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, recently became one of the 120 men in the world who will choose the next pope. But he wants to be judged by his actions, not his lofty position in the Roman Catholic Church.

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WALES
BBC News

By India Pollock & Jenny Johnson
BBC News

An “urgent review” has been carried out by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse into its service in Wales following a complaint by a victim.

The victim, who wanted to remain anonymous, has criticised the “poor level of support” he received from the truth project – the arm of the inquiry for victims to share their experiences.

He said he experienced delays and that his support worker broke down in tears.

An inquiry spokesman apologised to the victim.

The IICSA has since put measures in place to prevent it happening again, the spokesman added.

The victim spoke to BBC Wales less than two months since IICSA opened its Wales office in Cardiff, on 26 October.

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NEW JERSEY
Washington Times

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) – A former New Jersey church pastor will be sentenced on sexual assault charges nearly two years after he fled the country following his conviction in February 2015.

Forty-nine-year-old Gregorio Martinez is set to be sentenced Friday in Hudson County Superior Court on charges of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

Martinez, once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City, was found guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy he got to know through a church in North Bergen.

Prosecutors say Martinez skipped a pre-sentencing interview and fled to Nicaragua. He was apprehended in Honduras last week and brought back to New Jersey on Thursday.

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NEW ENGLAND
Boston Globe

By Todd Wallack, Jenn Abelson and Jon Saltzman GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 23, 2016

State lawmakers and advocates in at least four New England states are pursuing legislation to make it easier to punish educators who sexually abuse students and make it harder for them to continue to work with children.

The moves come after Globe Spotlight Team report found more than 110 private schools in New England have faced allegations of sexual misconduct over the past 25 years. In more than two dozen cases, educators moved onto new schools after they were fired for misconduct, sometimes with glowing recommendations from the old school, in part because of gaps in state laws and regulations.

Massachusetts Senator Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) said she plans to introduce a comprehensive bill next month that will include a long list of changes, including making it illegal for high school teachers to have sex with students under 20 and eliminating the criminal statute of limitations for cases involving sexual violations of children.

“We have to take care of our kids,” said Lovely, who said she herself was the victim of sexual abuse at a young age.

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

23 December 2016

Another former altar boy has filed a lawsuit against Guam’s Catholic Church alleging historical sexual assault.

Sixty-two-year-old Ramon Afaisen De Plata alleged that he was molested by Reverend Antonio Cruz, who is now dead, in 1964, when he was 10-years-old.

Mr De Plata’s lawsuit is the 14th filed against Guam’s Catholic Church since the government in September removed the statue of limitations that prevented historical cases from being prosecuted.

Mr De Plata also told the Pacific Daily News that a then-seminarian, Anthony Apuron, was present when the abuse took place.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

21 December

The Inquiry Information Line will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 24th and 25th of December. It will reopen on Boxing Day 26th December from 9am to 8pm and will be open again on Bank Holiday Tuesday, 27th December, from 9am to 8pm. The number is 0800 917 1000

The Information Line provides the public, in particular victims and survivors, a means to engage with the Inquiry, by accessing details and updates about our work. It also provides information for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to enable them to share their experiences with us via the Truth Project.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Public hearings

Public hearings are central to the Inquiry’s work to examine and expose institutional failures.

During 2016 we held 11 preliminary hearings and 205 core participants have been designated across seven investigations. The Inquiry has sent legal requests to hundreds of institutions likely to have relevant information asking them to submit such evidence. We have received 86,000 documents so far.

The review has considered in detail each of the Inquiry’s existing investigations, to make sure that they remain fit for purpose and can be delivered in an appropriate timeframe. The Inquiry remains committed to pursuing each of these, as they play an important part in its task of examining institutional failure. We are refining the methodology for each investigation and will use a range of techniques to ensure they remain focused and deliverable. These include the use of statutory powers to obtain relevant evidence, reviews of official records, case studies, public hearings, primary research, issues papers and seminars, as appropriate.

We will accelerate the progress of public hearings and will hold four public hearings during 2017:

 In February, the first part of the child migration programmes case study in the Children Outside the UK investigation will be held. This will hear evidence from experts and others to provide an overview of the child migration programmes;

 In July, the second part of the child migration programmes case study will be heard. This hearing will cover evidence on behalf of key institutions based in England and Wales which were responsible for sending children overseas as part of the migration programmes;

 In October, a hearing in relation to the Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale investigation; and

 In December, a hearing in relation to the English Benedictine Congregation case study in the child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church investigation.

We are also planning public hearings in the Internet investigation and Chichester Diocese case study in the Anglican Church investigation in early 2018.

For the first time, we are providing a progress report for each investigation (Annex A). This includes proposed changes to the scope and timing of the hearing for the investigation into the institutional responses to allegations of sexual abuse involving the late Lord Janner of Braunstone QC. Annex A also includes information about key milestones in the investigations and more details about the Inquiry’s working methods for investigations such as those into failures in Lambeth and Rochdale. If the Inquiry identifies matters which require investigation in order for it to fulfil its terms of reference, it is able to launch further investigations as necessary.

In addition to the public hearings, the programme of preliminary hearings will continue.

Preliminary hearings are an important mechanism for updating core participants and the public on the progress of investigations. They also allow the Chair to hear legal submissions and make the procedural decisions that are necessary to progress the investigation to a public hearing. The preliminary hearings will cover a number of subjects, including the child migration programmes case study, accountability and reparations for victims and survivors of abuse and the investigation into institutional responses to allegations of child sexual abuse involving the late Lord Janner of Braunstone QC.

Hearings will be held in the Inquiry’s new hearing centre in Southwark in central London.

Initial agreement was reached with the landlord on 1 November and preparatory work is now underway. The new centre is expected to be ready at the end of May 2017. Any hearings before that date will be held in the International Dispute Resolution Centre in central London – a venue used previously by other public inquiries.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Darlington and Stockton Times

Emily Flanagan

A TOP independent school in North Yorkshire will be included next year in one of three public hearings carried out in the national child sexual abuse inquiry.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSE) has published an internal review, setting out how it intends to proceed with its inquiry under its latest chair Professor Alexis Jay, who took over this summer as the fourth head of the inquiry.

The review states it will reduce the number of public-inquiry style hearings into key institutions to speed up the process and prevent future abuse. As a result it will hold public hearings into three of its investigations; the Roman Catholic Benedictine Congregation, children outside of the UK and Rochdale Council establishments, with scope for other public inquiries later.

The inquiry into the Roman Catholic Benedictine Congregation – which encompasses Benedictine monastic organisations across the UK, including Ampleforth Abbey and College – will be held in December 2017. There will be further public hearings the following year into the wider Catholic church.

The internal review stated the investigation will examine the extent of “any institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales”. It will include two case studies, the first relating to the English Benedictine Congregation and the second to the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The review stated that so far more than 4,000 documents have been obtained from abbeys and associated schools at Ampleforth, Belmont, Buckfast, Douai, Downside, Ealing, St Mary’s, Stanbrook, Worth and Curzon Park.

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GEORGIA
News4Jax

By Elizabeth Campbell – Reporter
December 22, 2016

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Pastor Ken Adkins, who has been in the Glynn County Jail for nearly four months since he was accused of molesting a teenage boy, will likely remain locked up until another bond hearing, which has been postponed until Dec. 30, his attorney, Kevin Gough, said Thursday.

Adkins, 56, pastor of the Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship, was denied bond in September on child molestation charges, was indicted by the Glynn County grand jury last month on three counts of child molestation, five counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and one count of influencing a witness.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a young man told investigators that Adkins molested him in 2010 when he was a member of Adkins’ church as a boy under the age of 16.

Gough filed a new motion for bond and in reaction to the indictment said, “Having already demanded a speedy trial, and eager to clear his good name, Pastor Kenneth Adkins and his family look forward to his day in court.”

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NEW JERSEY
PIX 11

DECEMBER 23, 2016, BY TALIA TIRELLA

NEWARK, N.J. — A pastor accused of sexual offenses and child abuse against four parishioners is returning to court Friday after he fled the U.S. following his initial conviction and was found in Honduras.

Gregorio Martinez, 49, allegedly sexually abused a 13-year-old boy and three 19-year-old men while working as a pastor at various churches and leader of prayer groups in North Bergen, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office. Martinez escaped from the U.S. after several charges were brought against him for the incidents, and he was detained by Honduran authorities in August.

Martinez was charged in February 2015 with one count of aggravated criminal sexual contact, one count of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of child abuse after it was found he had allegedly committed sexual offenses against a 13-year-old boy who was a church parishioner, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s office.

Before jury members could be selected for a case based on these initial charges, Martinez was charged with additional assault charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a 19-year-old man who was also a church attendee.

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IOWA
Catholic Globe

By RENEE WEBB
rwebb@catholicglobe.org

The Diocese of Sioux City was informed on Nov. 18 it is in compliance with the data collection requirements pertaining to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Dallas Charter) for the 2015/2016 audit period.

Colleen Sulsberger According to Colleen Sulsberger, coordinator of the Office of Safe Environment for the diocese, the United States bishops selected the national auditing firm and for the last four years have used StoneBridge Business Partners.

“They are a national auditing firm that specializes in compliance auditing for large organizations,” she explained. “StoneBridge compiles the data from each diocese and reports this data to the USCCB Committee on Child and Youth Protection. They also make recommendations to us as to how our safe environment programs can be improved.”

Although auditors from StoneBridge were in the diocese two years ago, Sulsberger noted they visit every three years. This year there was no visit, just a data collection audit.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

A former Hunter priest who ended up having child abuse charges withdrawn has had charges reinstated and more laid, but is expected to die ahead of court proceedings.

During a recent royal commission hearing into Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese, abuse survivor CKA said he was abused by a priest known as CKC.

CKA told the commission he was an altar boy between 1971 and 1975 when he was sexually abused.

He said CKC once told him: “This is our special secret — remember how good a friend father CKC is”.

CKA told the commission: “At the time I didn’t think I could disclose CKC’s secret because no-one would believe me”.

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ARGENTINA
San Francisco Chronicle

ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 22, 2016

LUJAN DE CUYO, Argentina (AP) — The children said they wailed as the two Roman Catholic priests repeatedly raped them inside the small school chapel in remote northwestern Argentina. Only their tormenters would have heard their cries since the other children at the school were deaf.

The clerical sex abuse scandal unfolding at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province would be shocking enough on its own. Except that dozens of students in the Provolo Institute’s school in Italy were similarly abused for decades, allegedly by the same priest who now stands accused of raping and molesting young deaf Argentines.

And the Vatican knew about him since at least 2009, when the Italy victims went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named names. In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis again naming the Rev. Nicola Corradi as a pedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Yet apparently, nothing was done.

At least 24 students of the Provolo institute in Argentina have now come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Corradi, 82, another priest, the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men. The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.

All the suspects are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since their arrest.

“From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew,” one of the Mendoza victims told The Associated Press through a sign language interpreter.

Another victim said the priests would rape again if released.

“This happened in Italy … it happened again here, and it must end,” the victim said, insisting on speaking anonymously. “Enough!” …

Advocates of sex abuse victims by priests question how Francis could have been unaware of Corradi’s misdeeds, given he was publicly named by the Italy victims.

“No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse. “In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the Pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Gian De Poloni

A former Western Australian priest will appear in court next month charged with child pornography offences.

Adrian Richard Vanklooster, 74, was arrested in November after police carried out a search warrant on a house in Maddington.

Police charged Vanklooster with one count of possessing child exploitation material after officers allegedly found a CD containing the material in the home.

Vanklooster is a former member of the Catholic Diocese of Bunbury and served as a priest at the Leschenault Catholic Parish in Australind.

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NEW YORK
DNA Info

[the complaint]

By Gwynne Hogan | December 22, 2016 5:08pm
@gwynnefitz
TwitterFacebookEmailMore

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A fundraiser for Mayor Bill de Blasio who oversees government relations for a network of yeshivas was charged for running a $30,000 federal food-stamp scam, according to a criminal complaint.

Yitzchok Iziel (Isaac) Sofer was arrested by the FBI Thursday morning for filing false claims under the federal food subsidy, SNAP, between 2012 and 2016. He claimed poverty while at the same time taking out a life insurance policy in which he reported making $100,000 per year and having $600,000 in assets, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged.

Sofer collected $30,516 in food stamps during that period, according to the federal complaint.

His arrest comes as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, the indictment stated, though prosecutors would not say if was related to a March raid of the Central United Talmudical Academy’s offices.

At CUTA, Sofer oversees government relations for a group of yeshivas in Williamsburg, Borough Park and at schools upstate, according to the Jewish Forward, which first reported his arrest.

The yeshivas cater to the Orthodox Satmar community called Aaronis, after Grand Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

22 December 2016 | by Christopher Lamb

In-fighting has left Catholicism’s oldest military order in disarray

Pope Francis has announced an investigation into the Knights of Malta, Catholicism’s oldest and most illustrious military order currently in the midst of an internal crisis after a senior figure was sacked.

Retired papal diplomat Archbishop Silvano Tomasi is to look at the dismissal of Albrecht von Boeselager, the Order’s number three who was dramatically sacked by the Grand Master, Matthew Festing.

Boeselager, a respected member of the Order, was twice ordered to resign by Festing in a row allegedly about the distribution of condoms.

After he refused to step down, Festing dismissed him but Boeselager’s supporters say the sacking was in breach of the Knights’ rules and are accusing the Grand Master of sparking a constitutional crisis.

Festing has hit back, denying the claims and arguing that Boeselager behaved in a “disgraceful” way. He threatened to discipline any Knight questioning his decision.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who is patron of the Order and its link man with the Holy See, had become involved in the saga, but by announcing the inquiry today the Pope has taken power out of the Cardinal’s hands and put it into those investigating the Knights.

Along with Archbishop Tomasi these include Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit priest and former rector of the Gregorian University; investment banker Marc Odendall who sits on a Vatican financial board; Marwan Sehnaoui, a senior knight from the Lebanon; and Belgian lawyer Jacques de Liedekerke, who is also a member of the Order.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Journal

By NICOLE WINFIELD –
12/22/16

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis launched an investigation Thursday into the ouster of a top official at the Order of Malta, the ancient aristocratic religious order, amid evidence that Francis’ own envoy to the group engineered the removal without his blessing over a years-old condom scandal.

Albrecht von Boeselager, a high-ranking official in the order for three decades, was removed as grand chancellor Dec. 8 after he refused to resign.

One charge against him concerned a program that the order’s Malteser International aid group had worked several years ago with other aid groups to help sex slaves in Myanmar. The trafficked women had been forced to work as prostitutes and were given condoms to protect themselves from AIDS, two people familiar with the case said.

An internal investigation was conducted and von Boeselager admitted he knew about the condoms, which were distributed by other aid programs, not his. The Vatican was informed, Malteser International’s participation in the program ended and an ethics committee was launched to ensure that future projects adhered to Catholic Church teaching, the officials said.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis on Thursday ordered an investigation into the ousting of the deputy head of the ancient order the Knights of Malta, who an Italian newspaper said was sacked for promoting the use of condoms in the developing world.

A Vatican statement said a five-member committee had been tasked with looking into the ousting of Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, whose official title was Grand Chancellor. The statement did not elaborate.

The ancient chivalric order, which today runs charities, hospitals and disaster relief in about 120 countries, said in its own statement this month that von Boeselager, a German, was dismissed by Grand Master Matthew Festing after twice refusing orders to step down.

It cited “grave problems” that had occurred under von Boeselager when he was in a previous position and said he had kept these issues hidden from the order’s leaders when he was named Grand Chancellor.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

A 14th victim of child sexual abuse has come forward and accused a former Guam priest as the perpetrator.

According to a verified complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam yesterday, Roman Afaisen De Plata is now the 14th victim suing the Archdiocese of Agana for damages and suffering he endured as a child under the care of church clergy.

Names Cruz as abuser

De Plata’s suit names the deceased Rev. Antonio C. Cruz, and joins the complaint filed by Paul Borja on Nov. 23 as the second to level abuse claims against the now-deceased Cruz.

De Plata, now a 62-year-old resident of Chalan Pago, alleged that he was abused when he was about 10 years old in March 1964, when he was an altar boy at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago where Cruz ministered at the time.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

With 14 suits now targeting the Archdiocese of Agana and even more assuredly on the way, the financial arm of the church has been hard at working preparing for what could amount to millions of dollars in settlements to survivors of child sexual abuse.

“A lot has been happening,” said Richard Untalan, president of the Archdiocesan Finance Council (AFC).

While he was unable to provide specific details for obvious legal reasons, Untalan did confirm that the recent filing of the now 14 suits against the church was a major concern for the AFC, which would be the body tasked with oversight of any settlements made as a result of litigation.

“The Archdiocese (of Agana) is hard at work in establishing an abuse victims fund,” he said. “So yes, we are preparing and repositioning the patrimony of the archdiocese to cope with what we expect to be substantial financial liabilities.”

Untalan said that since the reconstitution of the AFC by Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai in October, council members have been meeting once a week to address the various issues under their purview.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Dale Anthony Guidry was ordained for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux LA in 1982. He assisted at a Galiano parish for three years, after which his status was “on leave.” In 1987 he resurfaced in the Honolulu HI archdiocese, assisting briefly at St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral in Honolulu then, for several years, pastoring a parish in Wahiawa. Guidry left HI in 1991 and settled into work in the Diocese of Amarillo TX. There he lead parishes in Childress, Memphis, Turkey and Dalhart. In 1999, without explanation, the bishop removed Guidry from ministry. He was “absent on leave” thereafter.

In July 2009 Guidry was arrested in Spring TX on charges of online solicitation of a minor. He pleaded guilty in July 2010 and was sentenced to five years in prison. Guidry died in Stockton TX October 20, 2013.

Born: April 6, 1954
Ordained: 1982
Died: October 20, 2013

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UNITED KINGDOM
AOL

Payments have been made to ex-residents of a notorious Church of England children’s home where girls were drugged and sexually and physically abused over nearly 20 years.

Around 24 former residents who participated in a damning review and report into life at Kendall House in Gravesend, Kent, have received ex-gratia payments.

The dioceses of Rochester and Canterbury said the payments acknowledged the “courage” of women who shared their stories, but one ex-resident described the money as an “insult”.

Disclosure of the payments came after an independent review this year revealed a catalogue of sexual abuse, ill-treatment and physical abuse at the home between 1967 and 1986.

Some girls were placed in strait-jackets, and youngsters as young as 11 were routinely, and often without medical assessment, given powerful anti-depressants, sedatives and anti-psychotic drugs.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Payments to ex-residents of a church-run children’s home where girls were routinely drugged, locked up and abused have been described as an “insult”.

Hundreds of girls were sent to the Church of England Kendall House in Gravesend from the 1960s until it closed in 1986.

About 24 former residents have received payments following a review.

The Church of England has apologised. None of the perpetrators of the abuse are still alive.

A review of the abuse at the home was launched by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev James Langstaff, earlier this year and found it had “broken lives”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Kent Online

22 December 2016by Tom Acrestacres@thekmgroup.co.uk

The Church of England has made a payout to more than 20 women who were drugged and sexually assaulted at a home for young girls in Gravesend.

Women were given the money after contributing to a review into Kendall House commissioned by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev James Langstaff, in January 2015, the results of which were first published in a 137-page report in June this year.

More than three decades of cruelty was exposed by the findings of an expert panel led by Dr Sue Proctor, who chaired the investigation into disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, and a further report was published last week.

All of the former residents who contributed to both reports have now been paid, which a spokesman for the dioceses of Rochester and Canterbury described as “an expression of our gratitude”.

They said: “Ex-gratia payments have been made to all of the former residents of Kendall House who participated in both the initial review and in the production of the addendum report, as recommended by the panel.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Libor Jany Star Tribune DECEMBER 20, 2016

The pastor of a north Minneapolis church and his son were arrested last week on assault charges for beating a 12-year-old boy with a 2-by-4 and an electrical cord as religious discipline, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Dong Wook Kim, 51, of Good News Church, at 3000 W. Broadway Av., was charged with two counts of assault in the second- and third-degree, and a single county of malicious punishment of a child, all felonies, prosecutors said. His 19-year-old son, Joo Seong Kim, faces the same charges.

Police say that father and son repeatedly struck the young victim with various objects — a piece of lumber, electrical cord and a wooden closet rod — and forced him into a “push-up position and plank” for long periods, because the youngster was misbehaving in school and had rejected his faith.

The abuse allegedly occurred between Dec. 14 and 17.

After the most recent alleged beating, the victim fled the church and was found wandering the streets after dark in below-freezing temperatures, police said. A neighbor let him into her home and called police to find out whether the boy had been reported missing, the complaint said.

The boy was taken to a nearby hospital with bruising on his arms, buttocks, back and thighs, “one of which was the approximate size of a football,” the complaint read.

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MINNESOTA
New York Daily News

BY
CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, December 21, 2016

A Minneapolis pastor and his son were arrested for disciplining a 12-year-old with a two-by-four because the child “wanted to test God.”

Dong Wook Kim and his 19-year-old son Joo Seong Kim are accused of using the wooden plank and an electrical cord to repeatedly hit the youngster in the basement of the Good News Church for more than four days of punishment.

The unnamed child was discovered in shorts and a T-shirt on Saturday after he ran outside as temperatures hovered at 3 degrees and asked a stranger for help, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Police found the 12-year-old with a black eye, lash marks on his back and a football-sized mark among the bruises on his behind and thighs.

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ARGENTINA
TN

[They arrested the priest Agustín Rosa, accused of sexual abuse. An exclusive investigation of TN.com.ar revealed two criminal complaints and another 25 canonical complaints against the founder of the Religious Institute Disciples of Jesus of San Juan Bautista. He was arrested in a private clinic where he had been sent for health problems.]

Detuvieron al fundador del Instituto Religioso Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista tras la investigación de TN.com.ar que reveló denuncias de abuso sexual. Efectivos de la policia de Salta que investiga delitos contra la integridad sexual arrestaron al sacerdote Agustín Rosa, en la finca La Cruz, donde estaba alojado desde que fue separado de su cargo por la Santa Sede. Está citado a declarar mañana.

La fiscalía de Salta dipuso rápidamente que un médico evalúe la salud de Rosa. El profesional optó por dejarlo internado en la clínica privada Santa Clara de Asís, informaron fuentes judiciales a TN.com.ar.

La orden de detención fue dictada por la jueza Ada Zunino del juzgado de Garantía de Primera Nominación. Rosa y el cura Nicolás Parma fueron señalados por testimonios exclusivos de este sitio.

El exnovicio Yair Gyurkovitz los denunció por abuso sexual simple. La fiscal del caso, Luján Sodero Calvet reconoció que en su declaración “hay fuertes indicadores de experiencias traumáticas”.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com December 22, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana received nearly 600 pages of documents related to the development of a law that lifted the civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse — which made it possible for at least 14 former altar boys to separately sue the Catholic Church over allegations that priests sexually abused them.

Sen. Frank B. Aguon Jr. released 589 pages of documents, in electronic form, related to Bill 326-33, which Aguon’s committee worked on. The Legislature passed the bill with a 13-0 vote. Gov. Eddie Calvo signed it into law on Sept. 23.

The documents include the committee’s invitation to attend the public hearings on the bill and written testimony on the bill, along with written testimony of former altar boys who publicly accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and former island priest Rev. Louis Brouillard of sexually abusing or raping them decades ago.

Aguon responded to church legal counsel John Terlaje’s Dec. 12 submission of a Freedom of Information Act request related to the bill. Introduced by Sen. Frank Blas Jr., the measure lifted the statute of limitations on civil cases related to child sexual abuse, allowing victims to sue abusers and institutions that supported them.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Richard Noone
Central Coast Gosford Express Advocate

A FORMER Central Coast school principal was jailed last week for a minimum of three years over historical assaults against young boys.

Christian Brother Desmond Eric “Neil” Richards pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault, with a further six charges taken into account during sentencing.

The 78-year-old faced the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney on Friday, where he was sentenced to six years’ jail, with a non-parole period of three years.

The charges came after Richards was jailed in November 2014 for two years and three months for sexually abusing four Catholic schoolboys between 1972 and 1982.

The offences occurred at various postings, including Albury, Wagga Wagga and Strathfield.

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WASHINGTON
Inlander

By Mike Bookey

In 1961, John P. Leary, a Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) became president of Gonzaga University. Seen as a visionary leader in the realm of educational theory, Leary was beloved at the university and oversaw the school during a period of growth.

But in 1969, Leary left Spokane abruptly. A regional Jesuit leader told the community that Leary had resigned for health reasons, and the priest was reassigned to other posts in the western United States. The university released a similar statement.

Thirty-seven years later, the real reason for Leary’s departure became public — the priest was a pedophile who’d molested several young boys and at least one Gonzaga student, the order later admitted. Back in 1969, Spokane police, fully aware of Leary’s monstrous behavior, didn’t arrest the priest. Instead, they gave him the opportunity to leave Spokane within 24 hours.

Leary went on to continue working in education, eventually founding the New College of California, a progressive university in San Francisco that was unaffiliated with the church, which eventually folded in 2008. He also launched innovative educational endeavors throughout California and was widely regarded as a pedagogical guru. Leary died in 1993 here in Spokane, which didn’t say much for the police’s already reprehensible choice to allow him to leave town instead of facing charges.

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ARGENTINA
La Nacion

[The priest Agustín Rosa was arrested in Salta after being accused of sexual abuse against minors.]

El sacerdote Agustín Rosa, que fundó el instituto religioso Discípulos de San Juan Bautista y fue denunciado por abuso sexual, fue detenido esta tarde en su residencia de Finca La Cruz, y luego trasladado a una clínica privada, donde quedó internado con custodia policial por padecer diabetes, hipertensión y problemas cardíacos.

Fuentes del Ministerio Público Fiscal de Salta confirmaron a Télam que la detención fue un pedido de la fiscal penal Luján Sodero a la jueza de Garantías 1, Ada Zunino, tras una serie de diligencias que se concretaron hoy, en el marco de la causa por abuso sexual iniciada en contra del sacerdote.

La jueza hizo lugar a la solicitud de la fiscal, que integra la Unidad de Delitos contra la Integridad Sexual, por lo que efectivos policiales procedieron a la detención del cura, denunciado ante la justicia por dos miembros de la comunidad religiosa que él mismo fundó en 1996.

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ARGENTINA
La Gaceta Salta

[Agustin Rosa, the priest accused of alleged sexual abuse, was arrested yesterday on the Finca la Cruz property where he was being held. The doctor reported that he was not in good health and could not be accommodated in the police station. He was transferred to a private sanatorium in the capital of Salta where he remains with police custody. He will then be transferred to the Criminal Prosecutor’s Office.]

1. Rosa fue detenido por abuso sexual y permanece internado

El sacerdote acusado de presuntos abusos sexuales fue detenido ayer a las 19 en la propiedad de Finca la Cruz donde permanecía recluido. El médico informó que no se encontraba en buen estado de salud y no podía ser alojado en la alcaidía policial. Fue trasladado a un sanatorio privado de la capital salteña donde permanece con custodia policial. Luego será trasladado a la Fiscalía Penal que lleva el caso para la correspondiente declaración. Se esperan novedades sobre el estado de salud del cura de la parroquia de la Santa Cruz.

2. Ganancias hoy será ley

Luego de un extenso debate sobre las reformas al proyecto del impuesto a las Ganancias, el Senado lo aprobó ayer por ámplia mayoría al proyecto acordado por el Gobierno, provincias y la CGT, que eleva el mínimo no imponible y actualiza las escalas. El texto fue girado a Diputados para su tratamiento en comisión y, de no mediar ningún conflicto, la Cámara baja lo sancionará hoy.

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CANADA
Metro

By: Bob Weber The Canadian Press Published on Thu Dec 22 2016

Piita Irniq, one of a generation of Inuit leaders who took his people from igloos to iPhones, has seen and accomplished much, but one loose end haunts him.

It’s the lonely search for justice for his friend, who died young after a lifetime of pain from the child sexual abuse he told Irniq was inflicted by a missionary Arctic priest.

Why, Irniq asks, does the man his friend named as his abuser remain safely overseas? And why has Canada, bent on reconciliation with indigenous people, failed to get the priest back despite an active 18-year-old arrest warrant for him?

“Maybe I want to see a wrong righted,” says Irniq, his lively smile suddenly shadowed.

“Maybe I’m a little bit angry.”

Irniq, 69, was born in Repulse Bay, N.W.T., now Naujaat, Nunavut. So, a few years later, was Marius Tungilik.

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NEW MEXICO
The Daily Progress

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Another man has come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against a former New Mexico priest who until recently was on the lam.

The claim was filed in court in Albuquerque on Wednesday on behalf of 65-year-old man and former University of Albuquerque student.

The man says The Rev. Art Perrault sexually abused him.

The lawsuit was filed against The Archdiocese of Santa Fe and Servants of the Paraclete, which were the target of dozens of lawsuits in the 1980s and 1990s alleging that priests were molesting children. Many cases alleged that pedophile priests came to New Mexico for treatment by the Servants of the Paraclete and were then sent to churches around the state.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 22, 2016

ROME

Pope Francis on Thursday lashed out against high-level Catholic prelates who have been opposing his efforts to reform the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, using an annual pre-Christmas meeting to say that while some cardinals and archbishops offer questions in a spirit of goodwill others practice a “malevolent resistance.”

Such sinister opposition, the pontiff said, “sprouts from twisted minds and presents itself when the devil inspires bad intentions.”

The pope also said it “finds refuge in tradition, in appearances, in formality, in the known, or in the desire to make everything personal without distinguishing between act, actor, and action.”

Francis was speaking Thursday in an annual meeting that under previous pontiffs had simply been a polite encounter to exchange greetings before the holidays.

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ARGENTINA
Contexto

[Civil authorities have arrested the priest Agustin Rosa, founder of a religious congregation in Salta, following a newspaper report by TN that documented allegations of sexual abuse. He was arrested in La Cruz where he has been staying since since he was removed from office by the Vatican.]

Detuvieron al sacerdote Agustín Rosa, fundador de una congregación religiosa en Salta, tras un informe periodístico que realizó TN donde lo acusan de abuso sexual.

Efectivos de la policia de Salta arrestaron al cura en la finca La Cruz, donde estaba alojado desde que fue separado de su cargo por la Santa Sede. Está citado a declarar mañana.

La orden de detención fue dictada por la jueza Ada Zunino del juzgado de Garantía de Primera Nominación, informa TN.

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ARGENTINA
Religion Digital

[The Salta archbishop has expressed unity with the alleged victims of priest Agustin Rosa and said he will cooperate with civil authorities.]

Después de que se conocieran las denuncias por abuso sexual contra el padre Agustín Rosa, el Arzobispado de Salta emitió un comunicado por el caso. A continuación reproducimos el documento.

Comunicado del Arzobispado de Salta

Ante los acontecimientos que son de dominio público y que afectan a los Institutos de los Servidores de Jesús de San Juan Bautista y de las Servidoras de Jesús de San Juan Bautista, ambos de derecho diocesano de esta Iglesia particular, el Arzobispo de Salta, después de haber consultado con el presbiterio y luego del comunicado emitido el día de ayer por el Señor Comisario Pontificio de dichos institutos, Mons. Luis Stockler, informa a la opinión pública:

El arzobispado, cuando recibió las denuncias en abril de 2015, procedió de acuerdo a lo establecido por las leyes eclesiásticas y envió la documentación correspondiente a la Santa Sede. Una vez que la misma decidió la intervención nombrando un Comisario Pontificio, el proceso correspondiente está en manos de la Santa Sede, según lo ha informado Mons. Luis Stockler.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Australian Associated Press

A former Queensland Uniting Church minister who sexually abused a 12-year-old boy five decades ago will walk free after a judge noted he lived an ‘exemplary life’.

Barry Dangerfield, 83, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court today to five counts of indecently treating a child under 14 and six counts of indecent practices between males.

In sentencing, Dangerfield’s defence lawyer Julian Noud accepted the seriousness of the offence, but argued for a wholly suspended sentence given the delay of 55 years since the abuse occurred.

He said there was ‘ample material’ to prove rehabilitation and Dangerfield deserved credit for good character as a popular community leader and devoted husband.

‘He’s lived a completely blameless life, this man,’ Mr Noud said.

Chief Judge Kerry O’Brien said it was ‘a most unusual case’ because Dangerfield’s conduct over the past 50 years demonstrated significant rehabilitation.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Krystal Paco

The Archdiocese of Agana has issued a statement on the latest allegation of child sex abuse in the catholic church. Last week, 60-year-old James Bascon of Inarajan alleges he was around 12 or 13 years old when Father Louis Brouillard molested him, both as an altar boy and as a Boy Scout. Bascon is the thirteenth individual to file a civil suit, which was made possible with the passage of Bill 326 into law.

A release from the church issued Wednesday states, “We extend our prayers to Mr. Bascon and his family. The archdiocese is committed to ensuring that all people, most especially minors ,are served in a safe, loving and caring environment, fully protected from sexual abuse and harm of any kind.” The release adds that a task force for the protection of minors continues to conduct trainings at the island’s catholic schools and will continue through the New Year.

The church also has two 24-hour hotline numbers for reporting incidents of sexual abuse in the church. The numbers to call are 685-7305 or 727-7373.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com December 22, 2016

Another former altar boy filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana over allegations of sex abuse by a now-deceased priest, Rev. Antonio C. Cruz.

Ramon Afaisen De Plata, now 62, alleged that when he was about a 10-year-old altar boy at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago, in or about March 1964, “Cruz attempted to sexually molest and/or rape” him “by enticing and luring him to engage in acts of sexual conduct, which occurred on multiple occasions.”

The complaint cites as an example a night after Mass during Lenten week, when Cruz sought and obtained permission from the parents and guardians of several altar boys, including De Plata, for the boys spend the night at the Chalan Pago Parish rectory, where Cruz resided.

“During the night at the rectory, Ramon witnessed Cruz sexually molest and abuse an altar boy, together with a seminarian named Anthony Sablan Apuron, who would later become an ordained priest on Guam and ultimately serve as the archbishop of the Agana archdiocese,” the complaint states.

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SWITZERLAND
La Croix International

Malo Tresca

On December 5, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference finalized the establishment of a compensation fund for persons sexually abused by religious where victims are barred from legal action because of the expiry of the statute of limitations period.

The decision was announced yesterday before a handful of victims who gathered under the imposing arches of the Valère basilica in Sion for a “penitential prayer” service.“We wanted a tangible sign of recognition – going beyond pardon and prayer – of the moral responsibility of the Church, expressed in the form of financial compensation,” states Jacques Nuoffer, president of the Support Group for Persons Abused in a Relationship with Religious Authority (SAPEC).

The fund will compensate victims who address themselves to “contact points,” namely the ecclesial commissions in each diocese. These victims include those who have already submitted a request to the Commission for Listening, Conciliation, Arbitration and Reparation (CECAR), a body specially created in French-speaking Switzerland to offer them recognition and reparation.

“We want a neutral commission that is independent of Catholic Church authorities so that the latter do not remain on a ‘pedestal’ with respect to victims,” explains Nuoffer, who has worked since 2010 for the establishment of the commission. Its implementation follows an agreement that was reached at the end of 201 between the SAPEC group, Bishop Charles Morerod of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg and other parties, with the support of parliamentarians.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

Lawyers have vowed to fight on with a long-running, multimillion-pound compensation claim over alleged sex abuse in a Catholic children’s home in East Yorkshire, despite losing three out of four first “test” cases.

A total of 249 men have lodged claims against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Institute which ran the St William’s children’s home in Market Weighton.

They claim to have suffered sexual abuse there and, in one of the largest joint compensation claims against the Catholic Church, potential payouts could run into millions of pounds if successful.

Five men gave evidence during the recent civil claim hearing involving St William’s and were cross-examined by lawyers acting for the defendants.

But today a judge at the High Court in Leeds ruled on the first four cases and only one was successful.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Care Appointments

Written by The Press Association

Lawyers have vowed to fight on with a long-running, multimillion-pound compensation claim over alleged sex abuse in a Catholic children’s home despite losing three out of four first “test” cases.

A total of 249 men have lodged claims against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Institute which ran the St William’s children’s home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

They claim to have suffered sexual abuse there and, in one of the largest joint compensation claims against the Catholic Church, potential payouts could run into millions of pounds if successful.

Five men gave evidence during the recent civil claim hearing involving St William’s and were cross-examined by lawyers acting for the defendants.

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